FOLK LORE

One very important knowledge is folk lore.Lore means learning.Folk lore is the learning or knowledge that has not been written down.It has been passed down orally from generation to generation.what is interesting about folk lore ?while the main body of knowledge is passed down,the details may change from area to area.They are bound up with the customs and traditions of the society .It includes tales ,legends,oral history,proverbs,jokes and popular beliefs.

Every country has its own body of folk lore.Agricultural societies were full of folk lore.In Europe folk lore became a serious study in the 19th century with a rise of nationalism.Sociologists study folk lore.Jacob and Wihelm Grimm collected the stories and legends known in Germeny and compiled them as one book.The English translation is known as Children's and Household Tales.This was published in 1812.Now we can read lots of tales from all other lands.

When we read stories about these lands we can learn about the nature of the land,the climate,the animals and the living conditions of the time.There are many stories about fire in my lands.Alaadin stuck a match.That was magic.Amal Biso went to a house to borrow some fire/light.The story of the Little Match Girl tells us how she sold matches in the cold wintry evenings.

These stories influence our lives too.The popularity of the teddy bears comes from the love of the stories.The bears in these tales are like human beings,kind and gentle.This attitude to bears is totally absent in cultures.Sometimes a similar story may be told in two different lands.There is a story in Ummaga Jataka very similar to the story told by Bertolt Brecht in A Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Some habits customs and taboos,that is things you must not do,also are part of folk lore.The use of lime and turmeric for cleansing is one such example.In ancient times when a person died and the dead body was taken out,the place was sprinkled with turmeric water.People returning from a funeral would rub themseleves with time.It is known that lime and turmeric have disinfecting properties.In ancient times in Sri Lanka people going into forests,crossing onto an unknown land would break a sprig and hang it on a tree.It was considered as an offering to Aiiyanaka,a local god of the area.However the custom had a very significant use or meaning.The spirgs dying on these trees would indicate the path to the traveller.So, the belief that 'if you did not observe the rites of god Aiiyanayake you would be lost,has a real meaning.Perhaps the fear of god would have made people not to forget to take this very essential precaution.