Editing Folklore (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Indian Folk Worship.jpg|thumb|right|Indian Folk Worship at [[Batu Caves]], [[Selangor]], Malaysia]]
[[File:Folk dancing Plovdiv Bulgaria 12.jpg|thumb|right|Folk dancing, [[Plovdiv]], Bulgaria]]
[[File:Serbian Folk Group, Music and Costume.jpg|thumb|right|Serbian Folk Group, Music and Costume. A group of performers sharing traditional Serbian folk music on the streets of [[Belgrade]], Serbia.]]
The word ''folklore'', a compound of ''folk'' and ''lore'', was coined in 1846 by the Englishman [[William Thoms]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://folklore-society.com/about/william-john-thoms/ |title=William John Thoms |work=[[The Folklore Society]] |access-date=15 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715184703/https://folklore-society.com/about/william-john-thoms/ |archive-date=15 July 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> who contrived the term as a replacement for the contemporary terminology of "popular antiquities" or "popular literature". The second half of the word, ''[[wikt:lore|lore]]'', comes from Old English lār 'instruction'. It is the knowledge and traditions of a particular group frequently passed along by word of mouth.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/lore |title=lore – Definition of lore in English |website=Oxford Dictionaries |access-date=8 October 2017 |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327184253/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/lore |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Schlinkert|2007|pp=30–37}}

The concept of ''[[wikt:folk|folk]]'' has varied over time. When Thoms first created this term, ''folk'' applied only to rural, frequently poor, and illiterate peasants. A more modern definition of ''folk'' is a social group that includes two or more people with common traits who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions. "Folk is a flexible concept which can refer to a nation as in [[Folklore of the United States|American folklore]] or to a [[Family folklore|single family.]]"{{sfn|Dundes|1969|page=13, footnote 34}} This expanded social definition of ''folk'' supports a broader view of the material, i.e., the lore, considered to be ''folklore artifacts''. These now include all "things people make with words (verbal lore), things they make with their hands (material lore), and things they make with their actions (customary lore)".{{sfn|Wilson|2006|page=85}} Folklore are no longer considered to be limited to that which is old or obsolete. These [[Cultural artifacts|folk artifacts]] continue to be passed along informally, as a rule anonymously, and always in multiple variants. The folk group is not individualistic; it is community-based and nurtures its lore in community. "As new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, [[:Category:Computer folklore|computer programmers]]".{{sfn|Dundes|1980|page=7}} In direct contrast to [[high culture]], where any single work of a named artist is protected by [[copyright law]], folklore is a function of shared identity within a common social group.{{sfn|Bauman|1971}}

Having identified folk artifacts, the professional folklorist strives to understand the ''significance'' of these beliefs, customs, and objects for the group, since these cultural units{{sfn|Dundes|1971}} would not be passed along unless they had some continued relevance within the group. That meaning can, however, shift and morph; for example, the [[Halloween]] celebration of the 21st century is not the All Hallows' Eve of the Middle Ages and even gives rise to its own set of [[Poisoned candy myths|urban legends]] independent of the historical celebration; the cleansing rituals of [[Orthodox Judaism]] were originally good public health in a land with little water, but now these customs signify for some people identification as an Orthodox Jew. By comparison, a common action such as [[tooth brushing]], which is also transmitted within a group, remains a practical hygiene and health issue and does not rise to the level of a group-defining tradition.{{sfn|Dundes|1965|page=1}} Tradition is initially remembered behavior; once it loses its practical purpose, there is no reason for further transmission unless it has been imbued with meaning beyond the initial practicality of the action. This meaning is at the core of folkloristics, the study of folklore.{{sfn|Schreiter|2015|p={{pn|date=August 2021}}}}

With the increasing theoretical sophistication of the [[social science]]s, it has become evident that folklore is a naturally occurring and necessary component of any social group; it is indeed all around us.{{sfn|Sims|Stephens|2005|pages=7–8}} Folklore does not have to be old or antiquated; it continues to be created and transmitted, and in any group, it is used to differentiate between "us" and "them."