ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some lore of our own time which may help to describe and interpret the world entering the lore-laden twenty-first century. All lore carries us beyond history into mythology, rituals, and legends—channels into which creative instinct and insight flow. In 1820 London’s Gentleman’s Magazine wanted to substitute the English “lore” for the Greek “ology”—using birdlore instead of ornithology and starlore instead of astrology, for example. Then there are the countless combinations, when folk is linked to lore, belief, custom, literature, name, song, or speech. Folklore is crucial to preserving and understanding popular culture. In 1910, Finland’s Professor Antti Aarne developed a Type Index, now the standard system, allowing the storage and retrieval of folklore variants in a systematic archive. There are still enclaves of genuine folklore in America: in mountain hollows, on ships and in prisons, among the Pennsylvania Dutch, Gullah Blacks, or French Canadians.
