民俗

民俗(folklore)

一个民族被保存下来的口头文学及流行传统。主题包括神话、歌谣、史诗、民间戏剧、格言、谜语以及音乐、舞蹈、传统艺术与工艺。对民俗的研究始於19世纪早期，起初把重点放在人们认为未受现代方式影响的乡村农民等。其目标是探究古代的习俗和信仰。在德国，1812年格林兄弟（Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm）出版了他们的童话经典集。弗雷泽（J. G. Frazer）的《金枝》（1890）反映出民俗被作为重建古代信仰与仪式的工具。民族主义是研究民俗的另一个动机，其中强化了种族认同，并涉及政治独立的斗争。阿恩（A. Aarne）和汤普生（S. Thompson）发展出民俗故事和神话的主题系列，鼓励了不同地区和不同时代里同一故事或其他项目的变形比较。第二次世界大战後，民俗学家研究城市和乡村的人民，并从当代背景中考察民俗艺术。

English version：

folklore

Oral literature and popular tradition preserved among a people. Its subject matter includes fairy tales, ballads, epics, folk plays, proverbs, and riddles as well as music, dance, and traditional arts and crafts. Studies of folklore began in the early 19th century and first focused on rural peasants and others believed to be untouched by modern ways. The aim was to trace archaic customs and beliefs. In Germany Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their classic collection of fairy tales in 1812. James George Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890) reflects the use of folklore as a tool to reconstruct ancient beliefs and rituals. Nationalism was another motive for the study of folklore, which reinforced ethnic identity and figured in struggles for political independence. The catalog of motifs of folktales and myths developed by Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson encouraged comparisons of variants of the same tale or other item from different regions and times. After World War II folklorists studied urban as well as rural people and looked at folk arts in their present-day context.