The word "folklore" was first used in 1846 by W. J. Thomas, an anthropologist who needed a word to cover the traditions, customs and superstitions of the uncultured classes in civilised nations. Scientists have made a serious study of folklore, but among historians there is considerable divergence of attitude.
Although history is the study of "What Happened", it is not sufficient for an historian to merely discover and record events. Every event has a cause and events themselves effect the future. For an historical study to be complete, cause and effect must be discovered and understood. In this process of discovery, the historian will frequently find information that is purely folklore, and, as with all other information, he must know how to use it.
Legend, one aspect of folklore is a form of distorted history. Legends grow in various ways. The amount of distortion depends on the storyteller relating the legend. If the member of a family recounting a narrative has great ability as a storyteller, and if the incident concerned lacks interest or importance, or if his knowledge of the events is incomplete, then he will be apt to embellish the incident. This is particularly true of those who do not let truth spoil a good story.
On the other hand if the storyteller has a full knowledge of the events which may be important in themselves, but lacks the ability to relate this in a clear simple manner, the listener is apt to obtain a confused version. Then the story will be passed on with the facts distorted.
The historian must not use legend as historical fact, nor should he ignore it. In a legend there is always the nucleus of a historical fact which might otherwise be missed.
In our district there was the legend that Richard Serpell donated the land for the Doncaster School. The school historian avoided the mistake of accepting this legend as historical fact, and searched the official records. He discovered the true fact was that Richard Serpell had sold the land to the Education Department. In this case the legend could have arisen by confusion with another donation of land.
Folklore is the result of a community's psychological reaction to its environment. This is one aspect the historian cannot afford to ignore. In our city, three different ethnic groups brought with them the folklore of their own country.
The English, German and Irish settlers each came from their own environments to the one locality with the one environment. A study of the folklore of these groups would show the extent to which they adapted to their new circumstance. Such a study would be most enlightening for, in most cases, these people tried to change this strange new environment to one more familiar, by imposing onto it some of the environment of their homeland. Examples of this is the use of place names from their homeland and the importation of familiar trees and plants. The legends and customs of a people do not always reflect the life and events that actually happened so much as the life and culture that they would have liked to have happened.
Thus it is an indication of the deeper feelings of the people that is being expressed in folklore. By studying the legends, customs and traditions of a community, the historian can obtain a truer understanding of the people he is going to portray. The history that ignores folklore can never be more than an empty recital of events.
1974 05 DTHS Newsletter
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