March's Theme is Folklore

Our upcoming March theme is Folklore, chosen by our Guatemala City chapter. It’s a beautifully global subject with highly local implications. So we turned it over to you: what comes to mind when you think of folklore? What folkways do you practice in your life? Here’s what you shared:

🤲 Collected Folklore

One of the most touching folklore rituals in Bulgaria is The Day of Forgiveness. On this day a family gathers around the table and the eldest person holds a thread, about 30 cm. long, attached to a peeled boiled egg or a lump of halva. He or she swings the thread in front of each one’s mouth until he manages to bite it. The ritual looks funny, but after that everyone asks the other to forgive him any misbehaviour, intentional or unintentional. It makes the family feel closer and warmer. - Lilyana Angelova Angelova

This free resource provides education on cultural uses of plants and animals from Guatemala. -Camila Morales

Patrigian Mi Tiri is a Jewish-Greek eggplant recipe that made its way to Jamaica and beyond. It reflects my mother, her mother, and our heritage. - Dr. Annette B. Fromm

I love the songs in The Sacred Harp hymnal and the tradition of shape note singing. (Editor’s note: you can learn more about shape note singing here.) - Mary Shumway

I’m sharing a collection of different types of bread made of corn, yam starch, and cheese. These types of bread are typical of Boyacá and Cundinamarca in Colombia, South America. The recipes are not written anywhere: they have been passed down to women in my family for generations now. - Carolina Segura Ruiz

I’m a mime whose work is inspired by ancient tales, modern literature, and current events, not to mention just a little silliness and “what if” to leaven things. I’m sharing Richard Dyer-Bennet singing “John Henry”. The song combines culture, story, ghosts, married life, and humor with the human voice. It is the essence of “folklore” and why it’s important. - Lelia Pendleton

The Folklore Advocacy Toolkit is a guide to promoting and sustaining folklore work in the U.S. I’m sharing the toolkit because I believe in the power of storytelling and saving our collective history. - Jennifer Keil

My Mom’s Bukharian cooking was the highlight of my L.A. childhood and pilau (or pilav) is a dish we savoured every Friday night. - Ruth Mason

Whenever I think about my own country, Italy, “Parlami d'amore Mariù” is the soundtrack that plays in my head. - Caterina Fuligni

I’m a folklorist, artist, and GRAMMY award nominated producer, and I founded Arbo Radiko as an Archival Storytelling Studio where artists activate archives. - Jocelyn Arem

March’s Theme is Folklore

The universe is vast and full of mysteries. Humankind spin stories to answer these mysteries without answers. As these stories are passed down and among a people, they become folklore. Who placed the stars up there? When a pot breaks, who might have been the unseen culprit? How do we celebrate the successes we can’t take credit for? Folklore exercises our mythic imagination, our way of seeing beyond the tangible to make sense of the enigmatic and the unfathomable.

A song about the origin of the world, a pot of simmering stew that draws the community to the table, a knot of ribbon in your hand. All of these moments and rituals bind us to our ancestors, our past to our future. Our collective and ancient wisdom is contained in folklore, we must simply look there.

Our Guatemala City chapter chose this month’s exploration of Folklore and Sara Ortega illustrated the theme.