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Family folklore is the branch of folkloristics concerned with the study and use of folklore and traditional culture transmitted within a family group. This includes items of material culture, crafts produced by family members or memorabilia saved as reminders or remainders of significant family events. It also includes family photos and photo albums in paper and electronic format, along with bundles of other pages held for posterity: certificates, letters, journals, notes and shopping lists. Family stories and sayings, originally recounting actual events, are told and retold until the historical facts give way to a distilled expression of common identity. Family customs are performed, modified, forgotten, created or resurrected with alarming frequency; each time with the goal of defining and solidifying the perception of this family as unique, distinct and different from other families. Family folklore has long been included in the documentation of the folklore of regional, ethnic, religious or occupational groups.〔Margaret R. Yocum (1997). "Family Folklore", pg. 279. In ''Folklore An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art'', ed. Thomas Green. California / ABC-CLIO.〕 It is only since the 1970's that this lore has also been investigated as a defining element of the family group itself. Heralded by a call from Mody Boatright to document the "family saga" in 1958,〔Mody C. Boatright (1958). "The Family Saga as a Form of Folklore". In ''The Family Saga and Other Phases of American Folklore'', eds. Mody C. Boatright, Robert B. Downs, and John T. Flanagan. Urbana / University of Illinois Press.〕 folklorists responded with published accounts of stories and traditions passed down in their own families.〔Kim S. Garrett (1961), "Family Stories and Sayings", pp 273–281. In ''Publications of the Texas Folklore Society'', Vol. XXX.〕 L. Karen Baldwin’s unpublished dissertation (1975)〔L. Karen Baldwin (1975). ''Down on Bugger Run: Family Group and the Social Base of Folklore''. University of Pennsylvania / Unpublished Dissertation. 〕 laid further theoretical groundwork for family folklore "… not only is the family a folk group, it is the first folk group anyone belongs to."〔Polly Stewart (2008), "Karen Baldwin (1943 - 2007)", pp. 485–486. In ''Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 121, Fall 2008.〕 The field has since blossomed, broadening to include an ever expanding understanding of family. The conventional extended family, consisting of a heterosexual married couple with children and grandparents now incorporates gay partners, unmarried committed relationships and children adopted or born through non-traditional methods and procedures. The family traditions themselves are transformed to meet the needs and expectations of these new members and new relationships. The study of family folklore is distinct from family genealogy or family history. Instead of focusing on historical dates, locations and verifiable events, its unique stories, customs and handicrafts identify the family as a distinct social group. At the same time, the family lore passed along has been molded and transformed to relay a sense of family identity and set of values both within and without the family group. The family lore defines the family story. For an individual family, folklore is its creative expression of a common past. As raw experiences are transformed into family stories, expression, and photos, they are codified in forms which can easily be recalled, retold, and enjoyed. Their drama and beauty are heightened, and the family’s past becomes accessible as it is reshaped according to its needs and desires. … Its stories, photographs, and traditions are personalized and often creative distillations of experience, worked and reworked over time.〔Steven J. Zeitlin, Amy J. Kotkin, and Holly Cutting Baker (1993). ''A Celebration of American Family Folklore: Tales and Traditions from the Smithsonian Collection'', pg. 2. Cambridge / Yellow Moon. 〕 == Family as a folk group == A new baby is born or a child is adopted into an established family group, which contains a microcosm of social alignments found in many larger groups: the vertical relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, the horizontal relationship between siblings and cousins of a generation or age group, clusters of girls or boys and skill-based family alliances.〔 Barre Toelken (1996). ''The Dynamics of Folklore'', pp 196–197. Utah / Utah State University Press.〕〔 Sims, Martha C., Martine Stephens (2005). ''Living Folklore'', pg 31. Utah / Utah State University Press.〕 The child grows up in this family, sees and learns the family lore as it is performed throughout the seasons and the life cycle. Not only is the family the first folk group of the child, it is "the group in which important primary folkloric socialization takes place and individual aesthetic preference patterns for folkloric exchange are set."〔pg. 279.〕 The dynamics of family folklore remain unsettled not only through the addition of newborns and adoptions, but more particularly by the regular incorporation of new adult family members through each marriage or committed relationship. In the formation of each new family node, a unique subset and combination of the customs and traditions of both families is incorporated into a new story, both modifying and enriching the current family lore. As part of the ongoing national discussion of "family" and what it means, family folklore redefines itself as well. Along with the classic family "father-mother-child(ren)", it expands to include single-parent families, blended families, communes, gay and lesbian families. The indicator for family now includes any group which self-identifies as a family based on intimacy, shared space and shared history. Any collection of adults and children in a committed relationship which sees itself as "us", unique and separate from other families, will develop and transmit stories and customs which are unique. Non-traditional families frequently strive to re-establish and re-enact traditional family customs and lore. This becomes a demonstration both to themselves and to outsiders that they are indeed a family of "tradition". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Family folklore」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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