From English, the term "folklore" is translated as "folk wisdom", "folk knowledge." It was first used by the English historian William Thomson. In Europe and America, the term began to understand all types of folk art, including verbal and musical, as well as embroidery, woodcarving and bone. In domestic science, it is folklore that refers to folklore. Famous folklore genres are very diverse. These are large works, such as epics, fairy tales, epics, and small forms: ditties, riddles, proverbs and sayings, etc. This will be discussed in the article.
Small genres of folklore
The main features characterizing folklore are considered the oral form of their distribution, the collectivity of creation and a special art form. Therefore, non-author works are referred to folklore. According to these signs, folklore genres of ditties, riddles, proverbs and sayings belong to them. Let's consider some of them. A ditty is called a short Russian song, which most often has the appearance of a quatrain with a humorous content. The people who composed these comic songs used all the wealth and expressiveness of the Russian language. During the festivities in the villages, ditties were performed to accordion. This genre of folk art arose in the 19th century and was developed in the 20th century.
Proverbs and sayings are folklore genres, the main characteristic of which is a short, concise view, semantic ease and simplicity of presentation. Some of the sayings and proverbs come from the works of Russian folklore - songs, fairy tales, riddles. Proverbs and sayings reflected the life of the people, observation of natural and social phenomena. The classics of Russian literature, nurtured by folklore, enriched it with their own phrases from literary works. Such winged expressions can be found in Fonvizin, Pushkin, Griboedov, Krylov.
The traditions that have developed in Russian folk art, passed from generation to generation, over many centuries. So there were folklore genres, at the source of which is the language of allegories. For example, riddles. In the most ancient of them, the life of people who were engaged in hunting and raising livestock is reflected. In later ones, there are signs from the life of farmers. There was a belief that in speech one should not use the names of objects associated with important concerns about one’s well-being. If any rite (for example, a wedding) could, according to people's beliefs, be affected by evil forces, then allegories and riddles were used in everyday life so as not to pronounce forbidden words. To create a new word or replace the forbidden, consonance was used, and the meaning was lost in the phrase, but it was not important. In addition to riddles in which life or natural phenomena were reflected, there were also riddles-jokes. For example, the question of which stone in the river to which the answer is given is wet.
Works of folklore for children.
Folklore is interesting not only as a cultural memory of the people, but also an opportunity to study folk pedagogy. It is known that small folklore genres: lullabies, nursery rhymes, jokes, tongue twisters, were primarily intended for children. So, lullabies were sung when they rocked the baby in the cradle. Words and scale were so selected in them that an image of peace and silence was created. Diminutive words were used: “cradles”, “gulets”, a purring cat was mentioned. Remembering folklore for children, one cannot ignore tongue twisters. After all, they teach children to listen, be attentive to sounds and pronounce difficult ones. Non-fiction - short verses with a humorous content, make children laugh and think, comparing the lines of verses and the known aspects of life.
Modernity dictates a new pace of life, a new way of life, and communication between parents and children has also changed. Few parents will be able to recall at least one example from folk art to sing to a child. And, nevertheless, the interest in folklore in society remains.