Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/397

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SEVENTH REPORT, JUNE 1885. 389

IV. Miss Burne: —

{a) Definition : " The science which treats of all that the folk believe or practice on the authority of inherited tradition, and not on the authority of written records."

{b.) Divisions :

1. Traditional Narratives :

(a) Folk Tales ;

(b) Hero Tales ;

(c) Ballads and Songs ;

(d) Place Legends and Traditions.

2. Superstitious Belief and Practice :

(a) Goblindom ;

(b) Witchcraft;

(c) Astrology;

(d) Superstitions connected with material things.

3. Traditional Customs : (a) Local Customs ; (h) Festival Customs ;

(c) Ceremonial Customs ;

(d) Games.

4. Folk Sayings :

(a) Jingles, Nursery Rhymes, Riddles, &c. ;

(b) Proverbs ;

(c) Old Saws rhymed and unrhymed ;

(d) Nicknames, Place-rhymes, and Sayings ;

(e) Folk-etymology.

V. Signer Machado y Alvarez.

Definition. — Folk-lore includes two chief branches : demo- psychology, or the science which studies the spirit of the people, and demo-biography , which is not the sum of the biographies of the individuals who compose this said aggregate, but the description of the mode of life of the people taken in the aggregate.