Folklore is associated with the cultural manifestations and customs of a people.
Folklore is a word from the English language that is also used in our language, although, according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) , it is written folklore . Sometimes, it may appear written as folklore , folklore or folklore .
The term refers to the set of beliefs, practices and customs that are traditional to a people or culture . The discipline that studies these subjects is also known as folklore.
Features of folklore
Folklore includes dances , music , legends , stories , crafts and superstitions of local culture, among other factors . These are traditions shared by the population and that are usually transmitted, over time, from generation to generation.
Scholars distinguish between four stages of folklore: nascent folklore includes recently created cultural features; Living folklore is that which is still practiced in everyday life; dying folklore preserves certain traditional elements, especially in the elders of the group; Dead folklore , on the other hand, belongs to an extinct culture.
Identity symbol
Folklore is distinctive and typical of each town. In times of globalization, culture tends to become homogenized and dominant countries impose their creations. That is why folklore represents an area of resistance for identity .
There are clubs , cultural centers and organizations that are responsible for defending folklore and transmitting it to the youngest with the intention of perpetuating it. In this way, folklore guarantees its intergenerational subsistence and does not depend only on the older group of people.
It is important to note that there are certain activities found within the folklore of a town that go against life and in favor of abuse, especially of animals, and that there are many groups of activists who fight to change that part of the culture to adapt it. to a more just reality for all .
The typical music of a community is part of its folklore.
Folklore and culture as tools for xenophobia
The value that roots have for a people can be a determining factor in their openness to other cultures. Although it is true that appreciating what is one's own is important and that it is necessary to understand where we come from to know where we want to go, the closedness so typical of peoples who have a well-rooted folklore is the cause in many places of important conflicts of discrimination against those who come from other countries or regions.
In many places, however, with the advance of globalization, customs are fading and losing importance or merging with currents that come from other countries. For lovers of pure culture, these are worrying issues and the way they deal with them is by belittling what comes from other countries or by trying to instill in their descendants love for the country and contempt for everything that comes from outside.
The danger of overvaluing one's own
Xenophobia is a problem from which no country is exempt and is the consequence of the overvaluation of ideas and customs to the detriment of humanity. In many countries there are even government plans that contribute to discrimination and make this problem even worse .
The folklore of a town is extremely important to understand the way in which it lives, its history, how the social structure that we can know today emerged, however it is important to note that it should not contemplate abuse of any kind. Therefore, just as horseback riding in certain Latin American countries and bullfights in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries should be suppressed, so should all those attitudes of people in defense of their traditions if these were against solidarity. and social integration.