Folk memory

Folk memories is a term sometimes used to describe stories, folklore or myths about past events that have passed orally from generation to generation. The events described by the memories may date back tens, hundreds, or even thousands of years and often have a local significance. They may explain physical features in the local environment, provide reasons for cultural traditions or give etymologies for the names of local places.

Some of the oldest purported folk memories include:

• various Great Flood myths, possibly reflecting a flooding of the Black Sea basin c. 5600 BC
• the Klamath Indian myth concerning the eruption of Mount Mazama c. 5700 BC
• Inuit string figure representing a large prehistoric beast, identified with the extinct woolly mammoth

See also

• Meme

References

Further reading

• Guy Beiner, Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory, University of Wisconsin Press (2007)