Harold B. Lee Library

Archive for the “Folklore” Category

• Pranks and Personal Narratives
  Posted January 20, 2012 by Kristi Young

  Folklore is sometimes viewed as a synomym for falsehood. That is not the case. One type of folklore is the personal narrative. These can be serious or fun but reflect events in a person’s life. Parents have long liked to tell stories about the scrapes their children get into as children or teens. The following [...]

• Christmas Customs
  Posted December 8, 2011 by Kristi Young

  Christmas is a magical time and Christmas customs are part of the magic. Every family has traditions that guide their observance of the season. One of the times that has customs that make it special is Christmas Eve. Our Customs Index outlines fun things that families do on that day. Many eat special foods on [...]

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  Posted November 12, 2011 by Kristi Young

  On November 10, 2011, we held the annual Founder’s Lecture for the Wilson Folklore Archives. The speaker was Dr. David Dollahite of the Department of Family Life at Brigham Young University. His lecture was “Turning Hearts to God and Family through Telling and Writing Sacred Stories. Dr. Dollahite has allowed us to post the slides [...]

• Halloween
  Posted October 12, 2011 by Kristi Young

  Halloween is a great time for children. While of course the actual trick-or-treating is the highlight, there are many other activities that children enjoy. One family uses their Family Home Evening the Monday before Halloween to carve pumpkins. Another uses Family Home Evening as a time for each member of the family to tell a scary [...]

• Losing Teeth
  Posted July 28, 2011 by Kristi Young

  Losing your first tooth is a rite-of-passage longed for by young children. They wiggle their teeth looking for one even slightly loose. Joy erupts when they finally find one. A variety of folk practices accompany this important event. Some children have stubborn teeth that seem to wiggle forever or even hang on stubbornly by a thread. [...]

• Engagements
  Posted July 6, 2011 by Kristi Young

  With the coming of summer, engagements and weddings abound. Naturally at BYU there are customs to mark the excitement of an engagement. The groom-to-be is automatically out several dollars as he treats his beloved’s roommates to a steak dinner. (FA14  1.1.3.1.1) The bride-to-be escapes with a lighter hit in the wallet. She needs to only [...]

• Sinterklaas
  Posted December 8, 2010 by Kristi Young

  Sinterklass is a Dutch tradition that is also popular in other areas in Europe, especially those with a Germanic background.  One young mother from the Netherlands whose husband is from the United States recreates this tradition in her Santaquin, Utah home with her children.  Generally on December 5, Sinterklaas and his horse and his servant [...]

• Back-to-School
  Posted August 30, 2010 by Kristi Young

  It is true that tense situations are hotbeds for folklore.  There is nothing like starting a new school year to expose insecurities.  One way that these tensions are dealt with is through jokes.  BYU students are no exception.  Here are few lighthearted observances from BYU over the years.  All are part of the Folktale/Joke collection [...]

• Is This Green Beans or Spinach?
  Posted February 11, 2010 by Kristi Young

  Why would anyone voluntarily taste baby food?  Not even babies seem that fond of it.  But one 1990s baby shower game involved taste testing baby food to see if it was possible to determine what it is.  In the 1990s  games were popular at baby showers, and this was one that was enjoyed.  One game [...]

• O Tannenbaum
  Posted December 15, 2009 by Kristi Young

  Christmas trees are common decorations in homes during the holiday season.  While having a Christmas tree is in itself a custom, there are many customs that accompany Christmas trees.  The debate over real or artifical is often heard.  Those who favor real often believe that it isn’t Christmas unless there are needles to pick up.  [...]

• Family on the Fourth of July
  Posted June 29, 2009 by Kristi Young

  Fireworks, parades, and programs honoring the Declaration of Independence and the founders of our nation are common throughout the nation.  However, many Fourth of July traditions involve being together with family.  One Provo resident loved to go to Pioneer Park and listen to musicians playing from the bandstand.  She developed a dream of having a [...]

• Victorian Gardens
  Posted May 29, 2009 by Maggie Kopp

  Gardening, whether indoors or out-of-doors, was as popular a pastime in the Victorian Era as it is today. Like modern publishers, Victorian printers produced a wide array of books and periodicals for the avid gardener, from deluxe botanical illustrations to how-to manuals and hobbyists’ magazines. Many such works were profusely illustrated. Typically, illustrations were created [...]

• Folk Cures from the Flu of 1918
  Posted May 7, 2009 by Kristi Young

  With rumors swirling through the airwaves and splattered on newspapers across the nation, the Swine Flu is grabbing the public’s attention.  While it appears that it will not turn into the pandemic that was originally forecast, it is interesting to look back at some of the folk cures that were adopted by people during the [...]

• Easter in another Time
  Posted April 9, 2009 by Kristi Young

  Each Easter Sunday they gather around the grave and the father reads the account of the resurrection of Christ from the scriptures.

• My Mother gives Us Pajamas for Christmas
  Posted December 3, 2008 by Cory Nimer

  Several years ago, I made a presentation about Christmas customs to an elementary school class. I asked how many of them received new pajamas for Christmas. Most of the hands went up. Then I asked how many got to open them on Christmas Eve. Most of the hands stayed up. We talked about why that [...]