Folklore is oral folk art. Features of folklore

The development of society is based on the ability of each new generation to perceive the experience accumulated by the people who lived before them. This applies to all spheres of life. What is folklore? This is exactly the kind of creative experience passed on to descendants for preservation and further development.

Artistic traditions are strong in the visual arts, folk crafts, music, and dance. But the basis that largely determines the national character has always been oral folk art.

Folk wisdom

The term “folklore” (Old English folc lore - “folk wisdom”) was coined in the mid-nineteenth century by William John Toms, an English historian and archaeologist. Scientists from different countries have different understandings of what folklore is. Its definition as folk literature and word-related forms of folk art is accepted by our art critics. In the West, folklore includes traditions in various aspects of everyday and cultural life: in housing, clothing, cooking, etc.

The general essence of these definitions is artistic creative experience, transmitted and preserved by many generations. This experience is based on the realities of life and is closely related to the working conditions and everyday life of people. Both epic tales and short proverbs are a reflection of folk concepts about the surrounding nature, historical events, spiritual and material things. A close connection with work and everyday life is the main feature of folk art, its difference from classical types of artistic activity.

Literature and folklore - the art of words

There are differences in the understanding of what folklore is and what traditional literature is. One of the types of verbal creativity exists in the memory of the people and is transmitted mainly orally, and the means of storing and transmitting literary text is the book. In literature, the author of a work has a specific first and last name. And folk poetry is anonymous. A writer mainly works alone; a fairy tale or epic is the result of collective creativity. The narrator is in direct contact and interaction with the audience, the influence on the reader is indirect and individual.

The novelty of ideas and innovation in views on reality is what is valued in the book. Traditions born of previous generations are what folklore is in literature. The writer has found a unique and precise place for each word in a story, novel, or novel. Each new narrator makes his own changes to a fairy tale or anecdote, and this looks like an element of creativity.

The connection between folk and traditional word creation is also obvious and significant. The most ancient monuments of literature were born from recorded oral traditions. Many forms of poetic and prose writings are borrowed from folklore. From the collective art of words come the fairy tales of Pushkin and Ershov, Tolstoy and Gorky, and the tales of Bazhov. What is folklore in literature today? Characters from folk art are present in Vysotsky’s songs. “The Tale of Fedot the Archer” by Filatov is folk in form and language. This is an example of the mutual influence of traditional literature and folklore. It was disassembled into quotes and “went to the people.”

Genre wealth

Like traditional literature, there are three types of folklore prose and poetry: epic (epics, tales, fairy tales, legends, traditions, etc.), lyrics (poems and songs of various types) and drama (nativity scenes, games, wedding and funeral rites, etc. .d.).

It is customary to divide folklore genres according to their affiliation with calendar and family rituals. The first includes poetic accompaniment of New Year, Christmas, Maslenitsa festivities, welcoming spring, harvest festivals, etc. These are carols, fortune telling, round dances, games, etc. The second includes wedding poems and songs, toasts and congratulations on important dates and events, funeral laments, etc.

A large group of folk poetry is associated with a functional environment. Songs, sentences, sayings, ditties help in work (crafts, workers, peasants), with them it is easier to endure hardships (soldiers, prison camps, emigrants). Narrative prose is associated with this group: fairy and everyday tales, short stories, narratives, fables, etc.

Children's folklore is composed by adults for children (lullabies, nursery rhymes, nurseries) and by children for games and communication (counting books, teasers, peace books, horror stories, etc.). What is folklore in small forms? Who doesn’t know proverbs, sayings, tongue twisters? Who hasn't heard or told jokes? They have always been the most active and relevant forms of folk art.

Word and music

The origins of folk art go back to the times of prehistoric rituals. Then music, songs, and dances formed a single action that had a mystical or utilitarian meaning. Together with elements of decorative and applied art: costumes, musical instruments, such rituals had a great influence on the development of art. And also on the formation of national identity.

Music performed on folk instruments occupies a large place in the performing arts. But what is folklore in music if not the accompaniment of poetic works of various kinds? Russian guslars, French troubadours, oriental ashugs and akyns accompanied epics and tales, legends and stories by playing musical instruments.

Folk song is a phenomenon of world culture. In every language, in sorrow and in joy, songs are sung, composed in ancient times and understandable to our contemporaries. In adaptations by classical composers and at grandiose rock concerts, folklore motifs are loved and relevant.

Soul of the people

In our global world, folk art is one of the most important ways to preserve national character, the soul of the nation. Russian folk art was born from Slavic mythology and Byzantine Orthodoxy. It is a reflection of national traits that developed during turbulent historical cataclysms. Nature and climate also undoubtedly left their mark on the Russian mentality. The dependence of the common man in big and small things on the lordly or royal will accompanied him for many centuries. But this dependence did not kill his love for his small homeland and awareness of the greatness of Russia.

Hence the main features of the Russian character. Taking them into account, you can understand what Russian folklore is. Patience in work and perseverance in war, faith in goodness and hope for the best, grief without boundaries and joy without restraint - all this is inherent in the Russian people and is reflected in folk poetry and music.

Until the spring runs dry

The art of the people is alive as long as the people are alive. It changes with him. They wrote epics about heroes, and now they make cartoons. But knowing what folklore is, how it influences national and world art, and preserving and developing traditions is important for any generation.

Word " folklore"borrowed from English and translated literally as a folk song. Folklore is, firstly, a collection of texts of various genres: fairy tales, epics, conspiracies, laments and lamentations, ritual and non-ritual songs, historical songs, urban romance, ditties, anecdotes. Secondly, folklore refers to fine folk art and music, traditional toys, and folk costumes. Folklore is everything that is created by the people. At the same time, the people are the collective creator of folklore works. This means that folklore works do not have a specific author. They were created and formalized over a long period of time collectively. As a result, a folklore tradition was developed.

Heroes and symbols of folklore

Tradition- This is a key concept for folklore. All folklore works are called traditional. Tradition is a certain established pattern, developed over a long time, according to which individual folklore works are created.

Tradition is closed. For example, a fairy tale has only six possible characters: the hero (Ivan Tsarevich), the sender (the king, the father), the desired character (the bride), the antagonist (Koschei, the serpent Gorynych), the giver (the character who gives something to the hero) and the helper (usually animals that help the hero). This is where her isolation manifests itself. There can't be any other characters here.

Folklore is a means, an instrument for consolidating, preserving and transmitting folk wisdom from generation to generation. This means that the performance of fairy tales, epics, and songs is initially necessary in order to convey traditional cultural information and experience from parents to children. For example, fairy tales convey moral standards that every member of society must comply with: the hero of fairy tales is brave, hardworking, respects parents and the elderly, helps the weak, wise, noble. Heroic epics talk about the need to defend one’s homeland: the hero-defender is strong, brave, wise, ready to stand up for the Russian land.

Folklore is symbolic. This means that folk wisdom is transmitted in symbolic form. A symbol is a sign, the content of which in folklore is the traditional folklore meaning. For example, a drake, a dove, an eagle, an oak are symbols denoting a good fellow. A dove, a duck, a swan, a birch tree, and a willow tree are symbols that represent the red maiden.

Folklore should not be taken literally. It is necessary to learn to see traditional folklore meanings behind symbols. The gold and silver bridle of a heroic horse does not at all mean that it is made of gold and silver. These metals symbolically denote the folklore meaning of “rich, noble.”

Who studies folklore?

Folklore reflects traditional folk culture. Russian traditional folk culture is a fusion of pagan and folk-Orthodox views on nature and society. In works of folklore, the characters are often animals and forces of nature (wind, sun). This reflects the pagan worldview of the people, who spiritualized nature, believed in wonderful creatures, and prayed to them. Along with this, there are Christian characters (Mother of God, saints) - these are Orthodox Christian traditions.

Folklore is studied by folklorists. They go on expeditions to record works of oral folk art. After this, the symbolism of these works, their content and structure are examined. Outstanding folklore researchers are V.Ya. Propp, A. N. Afanasyev, S. Yu. Neklyudov, E. M. Meletinsky, B.T. Putilin.

Folklore is a type of reflection of popular consciousness. And this distinguishes it from other forms of linguistic art, including literature, in which folk wisdom is expressed by the solitary personality of the author. A literary work can also reflect a purely personal perception of the environment, while folklore unites a collective, social vision. Modern literary criticism is increasingly turning to the phenomenon of mass literature and the peculiarities of its functioning within Russia. Authors of the 21st century have recently shown a tendency towards an active interpretation of the extraction of traditional culture. The growth in the popularity of mass literature is ensured by writers using the reader’s ability to reproduce on a subconscious level the images and plots already known to him, presented in the work. Very often this “base” is folklore.

Folklore motives

Folklore motifs are used sooner or later by all writers of both mass and elite literature; the difference lies in their function at a given level. In mass literature, folklore is, first of all, a “factor in the formation of national literature,” that is, a guarantor of the correlation of the text with generally accepted standards of literature that the reader is ready to consume. Under such circumstances, literary scholars are trying to determine: what folklore is in literature, how folklore motifs interact with works of mass literature and what are the features of their influence on the author’s text, as well as the transformations that a folklore text experiences as it is included in the plane of a modern literary work and changes it traditional meanings. Researchers establish the limits of the inclusion of a folklore text into a literary text and trace the transformations of universal folklore archetypes. One of the main tasks will be to find out what folklore is in literature, to explore their mutual influence and connections in works of mass literature.

Traditional folklore

Authors of popular literature set the main task when writing a work to interest the reader. To do this, first of all, they strive for a masterful depiction of intrigue. Zofia Mitosek, in her article “The End of Mimesis,” writes that “building suspense is a game of tradition and innovation.” And if by the concept of tradition we mean “the transmission from one generation to another of traditional forms of activity and communication, as well as accompanying customs, rules, ideas, and values,” then for the reader folklore is a worthy representative of tradition in literature. In modern society, it is necessary to instill in the younger generation the need to study traditional folklore.

School curriculum: literature (5th grade) - folklore genres

Fifth grade is an important phase in the development of language education of schoolchildren. The appeal to works using folklore materials is due to the need for self-affirmation, the significant receptivity of fifth grade students to folk art, and the correspondence of folklore as an oral word to the active speech of a child at the stage of constant development. A literature lesson gives a student such education in high school.

Genres of folklore that should be studied in modern schools:

Ballads and lyrical songs

• Ballads.
• Family and everyday songs.
• Social and everyday songs.
• Gunfighter and rebel songs.
• Ditties.
• Songs of literary origin.

Fairytale and non-fairytale historical prose

Folklore is a “genetic” element of worldview

The artistic action in the plot of works of literature is most often simple and understandable, designed to correspond to the everyday consciousness of the reader. Folklore is a “genetic” element of the worldview and, as a rule, is embedded in the consciousness with the first songs, fairy tales, and riddles from childhood. So, at school, the literature lesson (5th grade) gives the student the features of folklore works. Folklore makes the world clearer and tries to explain the unknown. Therefore, with the interaction of the functions of folklore and literature, a powerful resource is created to influence the consciousness of the recipient, in which the text is able to mythologize human consciousness and even cause a transformation in the rational sphere of human thinking. The answer to the question “what is folklore in literature” is determined by a whole area of ​​integral creative understanding and use. In works of folklore, ideas of creativity are often revealed on the verge of intersection with literature. Perhaps this is also influenced by primordial ritual folklore. Literature (5th grade) in modern schools is increasingly returning to the current topic of spiritual and cultural revival, to the fundamental basis of the existence of our people, one of the main carriers of information about which is folklore.

Tradition of analysis

In our time, there has already emerged a certain tradition of analyzing what folklore is in literature, according to which equating creativity with the standards of mass culture is considered inappropriate: despite the label of “mass” novels, they have their own style, creative manner and, most importantly, the themes of the works. They “regenerated” from the depths of the soul eternal themes, the reader’s interest in which had been dormant since the beginning of the new era. The favorite themes of ancient authors are the village and the city, the historical connection of generations, mystical stories with a love-erotic overtones. A modern style of “direct” description of events is built on established historical images; traditional culture is presented in a modified version. The heroes of the works are characterized by a breadth of comprehension of life and psychological experience; descriptions of their characters are emphasized by reminiscences of the history and culture of our people, which most often appear in the author’s digressions and remarks.

Desacralization of folklore

Emphasis is placed on the visualization of paintings, which is carried out using increased dynamism in the presentation of events and the effect of understatement, which stimulates the reader to creative “collaboration”. In every novel, the hero exists in a world created by the author himself, with its own geography, history, and mythology. But when reading, the recipient perceives this space as already known, that is, he penetrates the atmosphere of the work from the first pages. The authors achieve this effect through the inclusion of various folklore schemes; that is, we are talking about “imitation of myth by non-mythological consciousness,” according to which folklore elements appear under their traditional context and acquire a different semantic meaning, but at the same time perform the function of identification by the reader of ancient meanings already known to him. Thus, in the texts of mass literature there is a desacralization of traditions and folklore.

The phenomenon of modification of the past and present

The phenomenon of modification of the past and present can be traced even in the nature of the construction of almost all works. The texts are replete with proverbs and sayings, which makes it possible to convey the centuries-old experience of the people in a condensed, condensed form. The main thing in the works is that they act as elements of the hero’s monologues and dialogues - most often, elderly characters, bearers of wisdom and morality, are used in this. Signs and sayings also serve as a hint at the tragic fate of the heroes of that time. They carry a deep meaning; one sign can tell about the hero’s entire life journey.

Folklore is the harmony of the inner world

So, a certain mythologization and reference to folklore in works is a natural and as integral part of the created world as the specificity of the peasantry, ethnic flavor and live, real broadcasting. Mass literature is built on the “basic models” of the consciousness of the reader of a given nation (which are based on “initial intentions”). In works, such “original intentions” are precisely folklore elements. With the help of folklore motifs, there is a closeness to nature, harmony of the inner world, and other functions of folklore fade into the background, a simplification of sacredness occurs.

“The Russian people created a huge oral literature: the wise

proverbs and cunning riddles, funny and sad ritual songs, solemn epics - spoken in a chant, to the sound of strings - about the glorious exploits of heroes, defenders of the people's land - heroic, magical, everyday and funny tales.

It is vain to think that this literature was only the fruit of popular leisure. She was the dignity and intelligence of the people. She formed and strengthened his moral character, was his historical memory, the festive clothes of his soul and filled with deep content his entire measured life, flowing according to the customs and rituals associated with his work, nature and the veneration of his fathers and grandfathers.”

Words by A.N. Tolstoy very vividly and accurately reflect the essence of folklore. Folklore is folk art, very necessary and important for the study of folk psychology in our days. Folklore includes works that convey the basic, most important ideas of the people about the main values ​​in life: work, family, love, social duty, homeland. We are brought up on these works even now. Knowledge of folklore can give a person knowledge about the Russian people, and ultimately about himself

The word folklore literally translated from English means folk wisdom. Folklore is poetry created by the people and existing among the masses, in which they reflect their work activities, social and everyday life, knowledge of life, nature, cults and beliefs. Folklore embodies the views, ideals and aspirations of the people, their poetic fantasy, the richest world of thoughts, feelings, experiences, protest against exploitation and oppression, dreams of justice and happiness. This is oral, artistic verbal creativity that arose in the process of the formation of human speech.

The Russian heroic epic (epis) is a wonderful heritage of the past, evidence of the ancient culture and art of the people. It has been preserved in living oral history, perhaps in its original form of plot content and the main principles of form. The epic got its name from the word “byl”, which is similar in meaning. This means that the epic tells about what once really happened, although not everything in the epic is true. The epics were written down from storytellers (often illiterate), who adopted them according to tradition from previous generations.

The epic is an old song, and not everything in it is clear; it is told in a leisurely, solemn tone. Many Russian epics talk about the heroic deeds of the people's heroes. For example, epics about Volga Buslaevich, the conqueror of Tsar Saltan Beketovich; about the hero Sukhman, who defeated his enemies - nomads; about Dobrynya Nikitich. Russian heroes never lie. Ready to die, but not leave their native land, they consider service to the fatherland their first and holy duty, although they are often offended by princes who do not trust them. The epics told to children teach them to respect human work and love their homeland. They united the genius of the people.

Throughout his life, folklore helps a person live, work, relax, helps make decisions, and also fight enemies, as shown above in the examples.

By its specificity, folklore is the most democratic form of art, and under any circumstances - whether there is peace on earth or war, happiness or sorrow, folklore remains stable and also active.

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Introduction

1. History of folklore

2. The essence and concept of the term “folklore”

3. Specific features of folklore

4. Relevance of studying folklore

Bibliography

Introduction

Folklore - folk wisdom. Folkloristics is the study of folklore. Folklore combines different types of arts (music, pagan and Christian rituals and traditions). The core of folklore is the word. Folklore is a phenomenon, not an art; it combines arts. And above all, this is a synthetic phenomenon. At the time of the formation of folklore, syncretism should be attributed (mutually; penetration; unity; coherence.) One of the most important qualities of folklore is the oral nature of its existence. The genre of folklore dies when its work ceases to be passed on from mouth to mouth. Variability is widely developed in folkloristics (everyone who hears information conveys it in their own way). Tradition in folklore is rules, frameworks that must be observed. Contamination is the merging of several plots into one. Folklore reflects the people's position, education, morality, and worldview.

1. History of folklore

The spoken word, ancient stories passed from generation to generation, from mouth to mouth, were the beginning from which, over thousands of years, folk tales about the Gods, fairy tales and stories grew, and then history, science, and literature.

The people carried this spoken word, the rhythms of chants from the primeval forest through the centuries and settled throughout the earth, and, creating this or that culture in every corner, they placed the word and rhythm as the basis of their oral and musical creativity.

“The Russian people have created a huge amount of oral literature: wise proverbs and cunning riddles, funny and sad ritual songs, solemn epics - spoken in a chant, to the sound of strings - about the glorious exploits of heroes, defenders of the people’s land - heroic, magical, everyday and ridiculous tales.

It is vain to think that this literature was only the fruit of popular leisure. She was the dignity and intelligence of the people. She formed and strengthened his moral character, was his historical memory, the festive clothes of his soul and filled with deep content his entire measured life, flowing according to the customs and rituals associated with his work, nature and the veneration of his fathers and grandfathers." "Russian folklore" / Under the editorship of V.P. Anikin; - M.: Khud. Lit., 1985. - p. 3.

The term "folklore" was introduced into science by the English scientist William Toms in 1846. The term is accepted in international science and translated means the wisdom of the people. It is difficult to give a brief definition of such a concept. Folklore is the life of a people, its history, its gradual development. Folklore is not something invented from above, it is created by the people in the process of life and for the benefit.

2. Essence and conceptterm" folklore"

Folklore is folk art, most often oral; artistic collective creative activity of the people, reflecting their life, views, ideals, principles. Folklore includes works that convey the basic, most important ideas of the people about the main values ​​in life: work, family, love, social duty, homeland. Our children are still being brought up on these works. Knowledge of folklore can give a person knowledge about the Russian people, and ultimately about himself.

Folklore is artistic folk art, artistic creative activity of working people; poetry, music, theater, dance, architecture, fine and decorative arts created by the people and existing among the masses. In collective artistic creativity, people reflect their work activities, social and everyday life, knowledge of life and nature, cults and beliefs. folklore ethnography ritual

Folklore, formed in the course of social labor practice, embodies the views, ideals and aspirations of the people, their poetic fantasy, the richest world of thoughts, feelings, experiences, protest against exploitation and oppression, dreams of justice and happiness.

Folklore is national, this is its dignity. Every nation has traditions, customs, and symbols of worship. The nation cherishes its cultural acquisitions and passes them on from mouth to mouth as the most valuable. “Each national culture has its own spiritual discoveries and discoveries, its own dramas and tragedies, its own vision of the world... The future of each people is connected with the national culture, which is the guarantor of life for it. This idea has its own immanent logic: it is this that lays the spiritual and the intellectual potential of the nation, strengthens the spiritual health of the people, creates its moral ideal." Arnoldov L.I. National cultures: modern vision. M: IPCC, 1992. P. 5.

Folklore is a historical category. In works of folk art there live heroes who became famous for victories in wars and unprecedented discoveries. Songs and epics present events of long ago, proverbs and sayings born at the place of labor, and not just words. Each generation embraces its cultural gifts and carries them on. I.V. Malygina believes that cultural heritage is a very important, very significant part of every national culture, however, it is not always fully realized and understood if it is considered only from the point of view of modernity. Therefore, to comprehend the original image of the world of a particular people, it is necessary to expand the time frame of cultural research. The author classifies national culture as a historical science.

Folk art is a natural process. The people and works of art are integral parts.

Folklore forms a long chain of its works. Passed on from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, the works were modified and acquired new forms of existence, but the people preserved them and brought them to the present day. Works of folk art have neither authorship nor any affiliation; they are the priceless property of every nation. Works of folklore are not the creations of individuals, but the result of individual and mass creativity, dialectically interconnected. They are a reflection of real reality in the consciousness of the masses, the result of the processing of this reality in folk fantasy, and therefore allow us to look for the expression of folk ideals, aspirations, moods, and feelings in folklore.

Many writers, philosophers, and thinkers have been engaged in solving the mystery of the authorship of works of folklore. The intriguing process of the eternal life of some works made us think about its beginning.

Science is full of different opinions about the beginning of folk art. Many scientists are trying to understand the phenomenon of the existence of folk traditional culture. The problem of national heredity, expressed in the system of genres and in the implementation of the diachronological transfer of the wealth of national folklore from generation to generation, worries many ethnographers from the point of view of the historical and genetic tree of the nation.

Folkloristics

The science of folklore - folkloristics - is a completely independent, living and interesting science, closely related to another science close to it - ethnography. Ethnography deals with the description and study of the life of various peoples, their economy, crafts, artistic crafts, household tools and household items, clothing and weapons, beliefs, rituals and games. Each people’s way of life develops differently, and its historical life develops differently in different material and social conditions. And folklore, reflecting the life of the people in various manifestations, each nation has its own characteristics. “The true history of the working people cannot be known without knowing oral folk art” “Book about Russian folklore” / N. Kolpakova; - L.: Manual for secondary school students, 1948. - p. eleven.

Folklore studies a complex of verbal, verbal-musical, musical-choreographic, gaming and dramatic types of folk art. Its basic object is Russian folklore, the folklore of the peoples of Russia and foreign countries.

o theory, history, textual criticism of folklore;

o its classification and systematization;

o issues of its collection and archiving;

o study of the interaction between folklore and professional arts;

o methodology of folklore research;

o history of collecting and studying folklore.

For folkloristics, it is important to develop already established industries and create new ones. Philological folkloristics studies the traditional spiritual culture of the people in its linguistic expression.

About folklore in the words of great people.

"Folklore (English folk-lor) - folk wisdom, folk knowledge, works of folk poetry and music. Folklore - the science of folk poetry (folklore)." Precisely, briefly, laconically B.A. Vvedensky A famous Soviet and Russian scientist in the field of radiophysics. gives a definition to a large-scale concept - folklore.

A.S. Kargin, Deputy Director of the Scientific Research Institute of Culturology of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Sciences, gives the following definition: “Folklore is the most important element that makes up the history of culture, its protagonist, reflecting, on the one hand, the major events in the life of the people and the state, on the other - certain cycles of human life, times year, work activities. At the same time, folklore is an independent form of spiritual practice, developing according to its own laws and having its own capabilities and means of influencing the history of man, his thoughts and actions." Kargin L.S. Folk artistic culture: Course of lectures. M., 1997. P. 182.

L.L. Kupriyanova, Academician and Scientific Secretary of the Republican Academy of Additional Education, characterizing the phenomenon of “folklore”, calls it “the repository of the wisdom and vitality of the people.”

L.V. Shamina, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Professor of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, calls folklore a set of genres of folk art, united by functionality, poetic features, origin and historical destiny.

M.S. Kolesov, who believes that “folklore is a special sphere of non-professional spiritual culture of society, which: in content expresses the worldview and psychology of the masses; in form is art; has as its social carrier the people as a community of direct producers of material goods; performs both aesthetic and and practical functions."

3. Specific features of folklore

According to D.S. Likhachev, the attitude towards the past forms its own national image. Every person is a bearer of the past and a bearer of national character; he is part of society and part of its history. By not preserving the memory of the past within himself, he destroys part of his personality, and by cutting himself off from his national, family and personal roots, he dooms himself to premature withering.

Every nation has its own characteristics of development and existence. But these features are also influenced by some factors - geographical location, climatic conditions, historical background. Each nation finds its own forms of self-expression with a certain idea and meaning.

The specific properties of a people’s culture affect not only the entire history of the country, but also each individual. A person cannot live in isolation from his roots; he grows and absorbs the culture of his ancestors. Therefore, it is often and quickly possible to determine what nationality a person is and judge his genetic characteristics. “Every historical culture imposes certain permanent features on the individual and, knowing its general character, we can guess individual living faces underneath it, even if we haven’t seen them at all, just as, on the contrary, seeing similar faces, we can understand the general meaning of culture, which for for some reason it became unclear or was forgotten." Rozanov V.V. Religion and culture. M: Pravda, 1990. P. 82.

Culture is the basis for the development of an individual and society as a whole. The culture of an individual nation is specific, which is why all nations are so different, but the meaning, the idea of ​​a highly moral, artistic vision of the world connects everyone. Culture, despite constant intellectual changes, is the fundamental basis of social development, one of the productive means of shaping and becoming a person.

Cultures are specific, but the constant interaction of peoples of different countries brings creativity closer together. The culture of one people cannot live separately, just as a person cannot exist outside of this process. The complex act of merging and coexistence of cultures of different peoples is necessary for each of them. Thanks to this difficult action, the culture of an individual people is enriched. The boundaries and possibilities of each other's knowledge are expanding. In the process, commonalities emerge and differences are accepted.

It is characteristic of all types of folklore that the creators of the work are simultaneously its performers, and the performance, in turn, can be the creation of variants that enrich the tradition; Also important is the close contact of performers with people who perceive art, who themselves can act as participants in the creative process.

The main features of folklore include the long-preserved indivisibility and highly artistic unity of its types: poetry, music, dance, theater, and decorative art merged in folk ritual actions; in the people's home, architecture, carving, painting, ceramics, and embroidery created an inseparable whole; folk poetry is closely related to music and its rhythmicity, musicality, and the nature of the performance of most works, while musical genres are usually associated with poetry, labor movements, and dances. The works and skills of folklore are directly passed on from generation to generation.

Functions of folklore

Folklore contributes to deepening knowledge about folk spiritual culture in its past and present. Folklore introduces you to the life, traditions, and customs of your own and the “neighboring people.”

With the help of folklore, the assimilation of moral and behavioral cultural norms and values ​​enshrined in the culture of a nation is carried out. Moral and behavioral norms and values ​​are expressed in a system of images. Revealing the characters of fairy-tale characters, delving into the essence of their actions, the student understands what is good and what is bad, thereby easily determining his likes and dislikes, and comprehending popular ideas about human beauty. Wise folk proverbs and sayings inform about behavioral norms.

With the help of folklore, it is possible to develop a respectful attitude both towards the culture of one’s own ethnic group and a tolerant attitude towards other ethnic cultures. By studying folklore, a child realizes that the people are creators, creators of cultural heritage that should be admired and proud. Folklore is a centuries-old folk work that preserves the history of an ethnic group.

Folklore contributes to the development of aesthetic taste. The child feels the beauty of folk thought, he has a need to communicate with the people. He strives to understand what means people use in their creativity, and tries to apply them in the future.

The functions of folklore as a whole and its individual genres could not help but change depending on the general changes in the structure of the entire spiritual culture, on the type of relationship between folklore and, relatively speaking, “non-folklore” forms and types of spiritual culture.

Upon closer examination, the aesthetic function of many folklore genres turns out to be not the only one, not the dominant one. In its more or less pure form, it was formed relatively late. However, it was formed late even in the sphere of professional culture. Thus, in the history of Russian literary prose, what could be called fiction, for which the aesthetic function became dominant, arose only in the 17th century.

Classification of folklore.

Various experiments in classifying folklore were undertaken already at the end of the last century, and they were directly related to discussions about the scope of the concept “folklore”. At the same time, they reflect different methodological principles of different directions in science. Without pretending to be a complete review of general classifications, I will dwell on some of them that are of fundamental interest (special classifications of individual types of folklore will be indicated below, as the presentation progresses).

Naturally, those numerous folklorists who consider folklore as a set of various types of folk culture solve the problem of classification as a grouping of these types. Thus, J. L. Gomm united all the products of folk tradition into two main groups: one consisted of myths, fairy tales, legends, the other - customs, ceremonies, actions and beliefs (or, in other terminology, customs, rites, actions).1 A more developed classification was proposed by Sh.S. Ben. She combined all types of folklore into three main groups with the following divisions.

I. Beliefs and actions relating to: earth and heaven; plant world; the animal world; human existence; things made by man; soul and the other world; superhuman being (gods, deities, etc.); omens and predictions; the art of magic; diseases and healing.

II. Customs: social and political institutions; rituals of individual life; occupations and production; calendar holidays; games, dancing, sports and entertainment.

III. Prose, singing and sayings: stories perceived as true, i.e. myths, legends, heroic tales, etc.; stories for entertainment (fairy tales in all their varieties); songs and ballads; Proverbs and sayings; proverbs and nursery rhymes; local sayings.

Sentiv divided folklore into three large sections of the life of the “folk classes”: A) “material life”, B) “intellectual life” and C) “social life”. In the first group he included all types of folk material culture and various forms of production activity of the masses. The second group includes folk language, folk knowledge, folk philosophy, magical rituals, religious beliefs and prejudices of the masses, folk aesthetics with the following divisions: 1) folk art - graphics, decorations of household utensils, clothing, homes; folk imagery; art of sound - singing and instrumental music; 2) folk literature - riddles, dances, songs and ballads; fairy tales, fables and folk theater; folk books; rhythm of language and singing. To the third group, Sentiv includes family relationships, various associations, unions and societies in which “ordinary people” unite - up to amateur sports, hunting, singing, etc. societies, as well as various labor organizations, trade unions, etc.

American folklorist R.S. Boggs, who included only verbal creativity in the field of folklore, in the 40s proposed limiting the division of folklore into three large groups: A) literary folklore, B) linguistic folklore and C) scientific folklore (the system of ideas and beliefs of the masses, their prejudices, etc.) . P.). Another American folklorist, A. Taylor, who understands folklore more broadly, distinguishes its following areas - “folklore of physical objects”, or various types of folk material culture, “folklore of gestures and games”, “folklore of ideas” and, finally, “oral folklore” , or "folklore of words".

Genres of folklore.

All folklore genres are usually grouped, as in literature, into three groups or three types: dramatic, prose and song. Any folklore originates in small genres, which include riddles, proverbs and sayings.

A proverb is understood as an apt figurative saying of an edifying nature, typifying a wide variety of life phenomena and having the form of a complete sentence.

Proverbs satisfied many of the spiritual needs of workers: cognitive-intellectual (educational), production, aesthetic, moral, etc. Proverbs are not antiquity, not the past, but the living voice of the people: the people retain in their memory only what they need today and will need tomorrow . When a proverb talks about the past, it is assessed from the point of view of the present and the future - it is condemned or approved depending on the extent to which the past reflected in the aphorism corresponds to people's ideals, expectations and aspirations. A proverb is created by the entire people, therefore it expresses the collective opinion of the people. It contains a popular assessment of life, observations of the people's mind. A successful aphorism, created by an individual mind, does not become a popular proverb if it does not express the opinion of the majority. Folk proverbs have a form that is favorable for memorization, which enhances their significance as ethnopedagogical tools. Proverbs remain firmly in memory. Their memorization is made easier by the play of words, various consonances, rhymes, rhythms, sometimes very skillful. The ultimate goal of proverbs has always been education; since ancient times they have acted as pedagogical tools. On the one hand, they contain a pedagogical idea, on the other hand, they have an educational influence and carry out educational functions: they tell about the means and methods of educational influence that correspond to the ideas of the people, they give characterological assessments of the individual - positive and negative, which, in one way or another, determine the goals of personality formation , contain a call for education, self-education and re-education, condemn adults who neglect their sacred duties - pedagogical, etc.

Proverbs contain a lot of material of a practical nature: everyday advice, wishes in work, greetings, etc.

The most common form of proverbs is instructions. From a pedagogical point of view, instructions of three categories are interesting: instructions instructing children and youth in good morals, including the rules of good manners; teachings calling on adults to behave decently, and, finally, instructions of a special kind, containing pedagogical advice, stating the results of education, which is a kind of generalization of pedagogical experience. They contain a huge amount of educational material on issues of upbringing. Positive and negative personality traits, according to proverbs, are presented as goals of education and re-education, implying every possible improvement in the behavior and character of people. At the same time, it is noteworthy that all nations recognize the infinity of human perfection. Any person, no matter how perfect he is, can rise to another level of perfection. This step leads not only a person, but also humanity to progress. Many proverbs are motivated and reasoned calls for self-improvement.

The Literary Encyclopedia describes a riddle as “an intricate poetic description of an object or phenomenon that tests the ingenuity of the guesser.” The definitions of a riddle are based on the same features:

The description is often framed as an interrogative sentence;

The description is laconic and the mystery has a rhythm.

Thus, a riddle is a brief description of an object or phenomenon, often in poetic form, containing an intricate task in the form of an explicit (direct) or implied (hidden) question.

Riddles are designed to develop children's thinking, to teach them to analyze objects and phenomena from various areas of the surrounding reality; Moreover, the presence of a large number of riddles about the same phenomenon made it possible to give a comprehensive description of the subject (phenomenon). But the significance of riddles in mental education is far from being limited to the development of thinking; they also enrich the mind with information about nature and knowledge from various areas of human life. The use of riddles in mental education is valuable because the totality of information about nature and human society is acquired by the child in the process of active mental activity.

Riddles contribute to the development of a child’s memory, imaginative thinking, and speed of mental reactions.

A riddle teaches a child to compare the characteristics of different objects, to find commonality in them, and thereby develops his ability to classify objects and discard their unimportant characteristics. In other words, with the help of a riddle the foundations of theoretical creative thinking are formed.

A riddle develops a child's observation skills. The more observant a child is, the better and faster he solves riddles. A special place in the process of raising children is occupied by the diagnostic function of the riddle: it allows the teacher, without any special tests or questionnaires, to identify the degree of observation, intelligence, mental development, as well as the level of creative thinking of the child.

A saying - from the simplest poetic works, such as a fable or a proverb, can stand out and independently turn into living speech, the elements in which condense their content; this is not an abstract formula of the idea of ​​the work, but a figurative hint of it, taken from the work itself and serving as its substitute (for example, “a pig under the oak tree”, or “a dog in the manger”, or “he washes dirty linen in public”)

A saying, unlike a proverb, does not contain a general instructive meaning.

Proverbs and sayings are comparative or allegorical statements and contain the worldly wisdom of the people. From these two sprouts, metaphors (in riddles) and figurative comparisons (in sayings), folk poetry grows.

Song genres of folklore are represented by epic songs and ballads, ritual and lyrical songs, ditties, work songs and improvisations. Lamentations also join the song genre.

The songs reflect the age-old expectations, aspirations and innermost dreams of the people. The songs are unique in their musical and poetic presentation of the idea - ethical, aesthetic, pedagogical. Beauty and goodness appear in unity in the song. Good fellows, praised by the people, are not only kind, but also beautiful. Folk songs have absorbed the highest national values, focused only on goodness, on human happiness.

Songs are a more complex form of folk poetry than riddles and proverbs. The main purpose of songs is to instill a love of beauty, to develop aesthetic views and tastes. The song is characterized by a high poeticization of all aspects of people's life, including the education of the younger generation. The pedagogical value of the song is that beautiful singing was taught, and it, in turn, taught beauty and goodness. The song accompanied all events of people's life - work, holidays, games, funerals, etc. The whole life of people passed in song, which best expressed the ethical and aesthetic essence of the individual. A complete song cycle is a person's life from birth to death. Songs are sung to a baby in a cradle who has not yet learned to understand, to an old man in a coffin who has ceased to feel and understand. Scientists have proven the beneficial role of gentle song in the mental development of a child in the womb. Lullabies not only put the baby to sleep, but also caress him, soothe him, and bring joy. Some categories of songs are aimed at specific age groups, although, of course, most songs cannot be sharply differentiated and distributed by age. Some adult songs are sung by small children with special enthusiasm. Therefore, we can only talk about the predominant performance of certain songs at a given age.

Noteworthy means of educational influence are pestles and nursery rhymes. In them, the growing child occupies the entire attention of the adult. Pestushki got their name from the word to nurture - to nurse, to carry in one's arms. These are short poetic refrains that accompany the child’s movements during nurturing.

Pestlets make sense only when accompanied by a tactile device - a light bodily touch. A gentle massage, accompanied by a cheerful, simple song with clear pronunciation of poetic lines, puts the child in a cheerful, cheerful mood. Pestushki takes into account all the main aspects of the child’s physical development. As he begins to find his feet, he is told one thing; a child taking his first steps is taught to stand more firmly on his feet and at the same time other pestles speak.

Pestushki gradually turn into nursery rhyme songs that accompany the child’s games with fingers, arms, and legs. In these games there is often a pedagogical element - instruction in hard work, kindness, and friendliness.

Song is a complex form of folk poetry. The main purpose of songs is aesthetic education. But they aim to implement other aspects of personality formation, i.e. are a comprehensive means of influencing the individual.

The songs reveal the external and internal beauty of a person, the meaning of beauty in life; they are one of the best means of developing aesthetic tastes in the younger generation. Beautiful melodies enhance the aesthetic impact of the poetic words of the songs. The influence of folk songs on peasant youth has always been enormous, and their significance has never been limited only to the beauty of verse and melody (external beauty, beauty of form). The beauty of thoughts and the beauty of content are also among the strengths of folk songs.

And the very words of the songs, and the conditions, and the nature of their performance contribute to the strengthening of health and the development of hard work. The songs glorify health, it is called happiness, the highest good. People have always believed that songs develop the voice, expand and strengthen the lungs: “To sing loudly, you need to have strong lungs,” “A sonorous song expands the chest.”

The importance of songs in the labor education of children and youth is invaluable. As mentioned above, songs accompanied and stimulated the labor process; they contributed to the coordination and unification of the labor efforts of workers.

Fairy tales are an important educational tool, developed and tested by people over centuries. Life and folk education practices have convincingly proven the pedagogical value of fairy tales. Children and fairy tales are inseparable, they are created for each other, and therefore familiarity with the fairy tales of one’s people must be included in the education and upbringing of every child.

The most characteristic features of fairy tales are nationality, optimism, fascinating plot, imagery and fun, and, finally, didacticism.

The material for folk tales was the life of the people: their struggle for happiness, beliefs, customs, and the surrounding nature. There was a lot of superstition and darkness in the beliefs of the people. This is dark and reactionary - a consequence of the difficult historical past of the working people. Most fairy tales reflect the best features of the people: hard work, talent, loyalty in battle and work, boundless devotion to the people and homeland. The embodiment of the positive traits of the people in fairy tales has made fairy tales an effective means of transmitting these traits from generation to generation. Precisely because fairy tales reflect the life of a people, their best features, and cultivate these features in the younger generation, nationality turns out to be one of the most important characteristics of fairy tales.

Many folk tales inspire confidence in the triumph of truth, in the victory of good over evil. As a rule, in all fairy tales, the suffering of the positive hero and his friends is transitory, temporary, and they are usually followed by joy, and this joy is the result of struggle, the result of joint efforts. Children especially like the optimism of fairy tales and enhance the educational value of folk pedagogical means.

The fascination of the plot, imagery and fun make fairy tales a very effective pedagogical tool.

Imagery- an important feature of fairy tales, which facilitates their perception by children who are not yet capable of abstract thinking. The hero usually very clearly and clearly shows those main character traits that bring him closer to the national character of the people: courage, hard work, wit, etc. These features are revealed both in events and through various artistic means, such as hyperbolization. Thus, the trait of hard work as a result of hyperbolization reaches the utmost brightness and convexity of the image (in one night build a palace, a bridge from the hero’s house to the king’s palace, in one night sow flax, grow, process, spin, weave, sew and clothe the people, sow wheat , grow, harvest, thresh, thresh, bake and feed people, etc.). The same should be said about such traits as physical strength, courage, boldness, etc.

Imagery is complemented funnyness fairy tales The wise teacher-people took special care to ensure that fairy tales were interesting and entertaining. A folk tale contains not only bright and lively images, but also subtle and cheerful humor. All nations have fairy tales, the special purpose of which is to amuse the listener.

Didacticism is one of the most important features of fairy tales. Fairy tales from all peoples of the world are always instructive and edifying. It was precisely noting their instructive nature, their didacticism, that A.S. wrote. Pushkin at the end of his "Tale of the Golden Cockerel":

The fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it!

A lesson to good fellows.

Due to the features noted above, fairy tales of all nations are an effective means of education. Fairy tales are a treasury of pedagogical ideas, brilliant examples of folk pedagogical genius.

Folk theater, existing in forms organically related to oral folk art, originated in ancient times: the games that accompanied hunting and agricultural holidays contained elements of transformation. Theatricalization of the action was present in calendar and family rituals (Yuletide dressing up, weddings, etc.).

In folk theater, a distinction is made between live theater and puppet theater. The Russian Petrushka Theater was close to the Ukrainian nativity scene and the Belarusian batleyka.

The most characteristic feature of folk theater (as well as folk art in general) is the open conventionality of costumes and props, movements and gestures; During the performances, the actors directly communicated with the audience, who could give cues, intervene in the action, direct it, and sometimes take part in it (sing along with the choir of performers, portray minor characters in crowd scenes).

The folk theater, as a rule, had neither a stage nor decorations. The main interest in it is focused not on the depth of revealing the characters of the characters, but on the tragic or comical nature of situations and situations.

The folk theater introduces young spectators to verbal folklore, develops memory and imaginative thinking. Comic characters make fun of people's vices, dramatic characters teach empathy. By participating in his simple performances, the child learns to speak correctly and beautifully, give a speech in front of an audience, and overcome shyness.

Folk dance is one of the oldest types of folk art. The dance was part of folk performances at festivals and fairs. The appearance of round dances and other ritual dances is associated with folk rituals. Gradually moving away from ritual actions, round dances were filled with new content that expressed new features of everyday life.

Peoples engaged in hunting and animal husbandry reflected their observations of the animal world in their dance. The character and habits of animals, birds, and domestic animals were figuratively and expressively conveyed: the Yakut dance of the bear, the Russian crane, the gander, etc. Dances on the theme of rural labor appeared: the Latvian dance of reapers, the Hutsul dance of woodcutters, the Estonian dance of shoemakers, the Belarusian lyanka, the Moldavian poame ( grape). Folk dance often reflects the military spirit, valor, heroism, and reproduces battle scenes (Georgian khorumi, berikaoba, Cossack dances, etc.). The theme of love occupies a large place in folk dance art: dances expressing the nobility of feelings, respectful attitude towards a woman (Georgian kartuli, Russian Baynov square dance).

Dance allows you to develop plasticity, special coordination of movements, techniques for relating movement to music. Children learn to move rhythmically, communicate with each other in motion (round dance, stream).

Folk arts and crafts immortalize the vast, ever-living soul of the people, their rich practical experience and aesthetic taste. In Belarus, artistic woodworking, pottery, weaving, painting, weaving and embroidery were the most developed.

In certain features of folk art, norms of work and life, culture and beliefs can be traced. The most common element is the ornament born in antiquity, which helps to achieve the organic unity of the composition and is deeply interconnected with the technique of execution, the feeling of the subject, the plastic form, and the natural beauty of the material. Folk craftsmen have been highly valued since ancient times. The secrets of their craft were passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, combining the wisdom and experience of the past and the discoveries of the present. Children from an early age were involved in work and helping their parents. Working together helps children better master a craft, learn from the experience of a mentor (parents), and instills hard work.

4. Relevance of studying folklore

Attention to folklore, ancient layers of culture, tradition in general, as an inexhaustible source of human upbringing and development, has been especially active in recent years in the socio-pedagogical environment. This is due to the functional characteristics of folklore genres, the deep spirituality and wisdom of folk art, and the continuity of the process of transmitting national culture from generation to generation.

At the beginning of the new century, there is an increased interest in national culture, ethnic processes, traditional artistic creativity, and folklore. Scientists note a special growth in the historical and national self-awareness of each people, explaining this by socio-psychological and political reasons.

Preservation and development of national culture, one's roots is the most important task, which requires careful attitude to historical and cultural monuments, to traditional folk art. The revival of folklore, folk customs, rituals and holidays, traditional arts and crafts and fine arts is a pressing problem of our time. Folklore, its genres, means, and methods most fully fill out the entire picture of people's life, giving a vivid picture of the life of the people, their morality, and spirituality. Folklore reveals the soul of a people, its virtues and characteristics. From a scientific point of view, folklore is a phenomenon that deserves special study and careful evaluation.

Bibliography

1. Adonyeva S.B. Pragmatics of modern folklore. - SPb.: St. Petersburg. state univ., 2000.

2. Gusev V.E. Folklore: (History of the term and its modern meanings) // SE. - 1966. - N 2.

3. Kagarov E.G. What is folklore // Artistic folklore. T. 4/5. - M., 1929.

4. Putilov B.N. Folklore and folk culture. - St. Petersburg, 1994.

5. Rusin M.Yu. Folklore: Traditions and modernity. - Kyiv, 1991.

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