Editing Folklore (section)

=== Customs ===
[[Tradition|Customary culture]] is remembered enactment, i.e. re-enactment. It is the patterns of expected behavior within a group, the "traditional and expected way of doing things"{{sfn|Sweterlitsch|1997|page=168}}{{sfn|Sims|Stephens|2005|page=16}} A custom can be a [[List of gestures|single gesture]], such as [[thumbs down]] or a [[handshake]]. It can also be a complex interaction of multiple folk customs and artifacts as seen in a child's birthday party, including verbal lore ([[Happy Birthday to you|Happy Birthday song]]), material lore (presents and a birthday cake), special games ([[Musical chairs]]) and individual customs (making a wish as you blow out the candles). Each of these is a folklore artifact in its own right, potentially worthy of investigation and cultural analysis. Together they combine to build the custom of a birthday party celebration, a scripted combination of multiple artifacts which have meaning within their social group.

[[File:Pvt. Evan Allen Dancer, center, smiles as Santa Claus, right, hands gifts to Destiny Hawley and her brother Justin Hawley of Scipio, Ind., during the 3rd Annual Operation Christmas Blessing event at Muscatatuck 111212-A-QU728-005.jpg|thumb|[[Santa Claus]] giving gifts to children, a common folk practice associated with [[Christmas]] in Western nations]]

[[File:Haji_Firuz_on_the_road.jpg|right|thumb|[[Hajji Firuz]] is a fictional character in Iranian folklore who appears in the streets by the beginning of [[Nowruz]], dances through the streets while singing and playing tambourine.]]

Folklorists divide customs into several different categories.{{sfn|Sweterlitsch|1997|page=168}} A custom can be a '''seasonal celebration''', such as [[Thanksgiving]] or [[New Year's Day|New Year's]]. It can be a '''life cycle celebration''' for an individual, such as baptism, birthday or wedding. A custom can also mark a '''community festival''' or event; examples of this are [[Cologne Carnival|Carnival in Cologne]] or [[New Orleans Mardi Gras|Mardi Gras in New Orleans]]. This category also includes the [[Smithsonian Folklife Festival]] celebrated each summer on the Mall in Washington, DC. A fourth category includes customs related to '''folk beliefs'''. Walking under a ladder is just one of many [[List of unlucky symbols|symbols considered unlucky]]. '''Occupational groups''' tend to have a rich history of customs related to their life and work, so the [[Sailors' superstitions|traditions of sailors]] or [[Lumberjack#Culture|lumberjacks]].{{efn|The folklorist [[Archie Green]] specialized in workers' traditions and the lore of labor groups.}} The area of [[folk religion|ecclesiastical folklore]], which includes modes of worship not sanctioned by the established church{{sfn|Dorson|1972|page=4}} tends to be so large and complex that it is usually treated as a specialized area of folk customs; it requires considerable expertise in standard church ritual in order to adequately interpret folk customs and beliefs that originated in official church practice.

Customary folklore is always a performance, be it a single gesture or a complex of scripted customs, and participating in the custom, either as performer or audience, signifies acknowledgment of that social group. Some customary behavior is intended to be performed and understood only within the group itself, so the [[handkerchief code]] sometimes used in the gay community or the [[Masonic ritual and symbolism|initiation rituals]] of the Freemasons. Other customs are designed specifically to represent a social group to outsiders, those who do not belong to this group. The [[Saint Patrick's Day in the United States#New York City|St. Patrick's Day Parade]] in New York and in other communities across the continent is a single example of an ethnic group parading their separateness (differential behavior{{sfn|Bauman|1971|page=45}}), and encouraging Americans of all stripes to show alliance to this colorful ethnic group.

[[File:Deal Hoodeners, 1909.jpg|thumb|right|Practitioners of [[hoodening]], a folk custom found in [[Kent]], southeastern England, in 1909]]

These festivals and parades, with a target audience of people who do not belong to the social group, intersect with the interests and mission of [[Public folklore|public folklorists]], who are engaged in the documentation, preservation, and presentation of traditional forms of folklife. With a swell in popular interest in folk traditions, these [[List of folk festivals|community celebrations]] are becoming more numerous throughout the western world. While ostensibly parading the diversity of their community, economic groups have discovered that these folk parades and festivals are good for business. All shades of people are out on the streets, eating, drinking and spending. This attracts support not only from the business community, but also from federal and state organizations for these local street parties.{{sfn|Sweterlitsch|1997|page=170}} Paradoxically, in parading diversity within the community, these events have come to authenticate true community, where business interests ally with the varied (folk) social groups to promote the interests of the community as a whole.

This is just a small sampling of types and examples of customary lore.

{{div col|colwidth=13em}}
* [[Amish]]
* [[Barn raising]]
* [[Birthday]]
* [[Cakewalk]]
* [[Cat's cradle]]
* [[Chaharshanbe Suri]]
* [[Christmas]]
* [[Crossed fingers]]
* [[Folk dance]]
* [[Folk drama]]
* [[Folk medicine]]
* [[Giving the finger]]
* [[Halloween]]
* [[Hoodening]]
* [[List of gestures|Gestures]]
* [[Groundhog Day]]
* [[Louisiana Creole people]]
* [[Mime]]
* [[Culture of the Native Hawaiians|Native Hawaiians]]
* [[Ouiji|Ouiji board]]
* [[Powwow]]s
* [[Practical jokes]]
* [[Saint John's Eve]]
* [[Shakers]]
* [[Symbols]]
* [[Thanksgiving]]
* [[Thumbs down]]
* [[Trick or Treating]]
* [[Yo-yo]]s

{{div col end}}