PHILIPPINE

Folklore
• Folklore refers to the tales people tell
– folk stories, fairy tales, “tall tales,”
and even urban legends.
• Folklore is typically passed down by
word of mouth, rather than being
written in books (although
sometimes people write down
collections of folklore in order to
preserve the stories of a particular
community).
• The key here is that folklore has no
author – it just emerges from the
culture and is carried forward by
constant retelling.
The Importance of Folklore
• G.K. Chesterton, the famous
philosopher and author, explains the
importance of folk tales in this way:
“[They] do not give the child the idea of
the evil or the ugly; that is in the child
already because it is in the world
already. What fairy tales give the child is
his first clear idea of the possible defeat
of evil. The baby has known the dragon
intimately ever since he had an
imagination. What the fairy tale provides
for him is a St George to kill the
dragon.”
The Importance of Folklore
• That is, folk tales speak to an innate
psychological need shared by all
human beings. As we encounter the
world, we see pain, loss, and
emptiness everywhere. How can we
face such a world and not feel despair?
Part of the answer is that we tell stories
bout gods, heroes, and monsters –
when the good guys win, we gain a
psychological boost and learn valuable
lessons about courage and
Related Terms
• Mythology

• Legends

• Folk Music
Legend
• A legend is a kind of folklore.
Legends are typically thought to
have some truth in them, but they
may be highly exaggerated or
distorted.

• For example, the legend of Robin

Hood is a very popular piece of
English folklore – it was probably
based on a historical figure who
lived at some point in the Middle
Ages, but no one is exactly sure what
the truth is.
Mythology
• Folklore and mythology are very
similar terms, and the line between
mythology and folklore is pretty
subjective.

• The basic difference is that myth is

somehow held in sacred or religious
reverence, whereas a folk tale is
popular but not sacred.
Mythology
• Mythology (from the Greek mythos
for story-of-the-people, and logos for
word or speech, so the spoken story
of a people) is the study and
interpretation of often sacred tales or
fables of a culture known as myths
or the collection of such stories
which deal with various aspects of
the human condition: good and evil;
the meaning of suffering; human
origins; the origin of place-names,
animals, cultural values, and
traditions; the meaning of life and
death; the afterlife; and the gods or a
More on mythology
• G.K. Chesterton, the famous
philosopher and author, explains the
importance of folk tales in this way:
“[They] do not give the child the idea of
the evil or the ugly; that is in the child
already because it is in the world
already. What fairy tales give the child is
his first clear idea of the possible defeat
of evil. The baby has known the dragon
intimately ever since he had an
imagination. What the fairy tale provides
for him is a St George to kill the
dragon.”
More on mythology
• Myths express the beliefs and values
about these subjects held by a certain
culture.
• Myths tell the stories of ancestors and
the origin of humans and the world,
the gods, supernatural beings and
heroes with super-human, usually god-
given, powers.
• Myths also describe origins or nuances
of long-held customs or explain
natural events such as the sunrise and
sunset, the cycle of the moon and the
seasons, or thunder and lightning
More on mythology

ACCORDING TO PSYCHIATRIST
CARL JUNG, MYTH IS A
NECESSARY ASPECT OF THE
HUMAN PSYCHE WHICH NEEDS TO
FIND MEANING & ORDER IN THE
WORLD.
Superstition
• A superstition is "a belief or practice
resulting from ignorance, fear of the
unknown, trust in magic or chance,
or a false conception of causation" or
"an irrational abject attitude of mind
toward the supernatural, nature, or
God resulting from superstition.”
Criticisms on Superstitions
• Often, it arises from ignorance, a
misunderstanding of science or
causality, a belief in fate or magic, or
fear of that which is unknown.

• It is commonly applied to beliefs and

practices surrounding luck, prophecy,
and certain spiritual beings,
particularly the belief that future
events can be foretold by specific
(apparently) unrelated prior events.
Criticisms on Superstitions
• The word superstition is often used to
refer to a religion not practiced by the
majority of a given society regardless
of whether the prevailing religion
contains alleged superstitions.
• https://literaryterms.net/folklore/
• https://www.ancient.eu/mythology
/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/Superstition