Some Characteristics of Irish Folklore

THE GROUP MIND : a Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology, with some attempt to apply them to the Interpretation of National Life and Character. By W. M'DOUGALL. Cambridge: University Press, 1920. £1 is. net. Reviewed by R. R. Marett.

MAN, PAST AND PRESENT, by A. H. KEANE, revised and largely re-written by A. HINGSTON QUIGGIN and A. C. HADDON. Cambridge University Press, 1920. Price 36s. Reviewed by W. Crooke.

A GLOSSARY OF THE TRIBES AND CASTES OF THE PUNJAB AND NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE, by H. A. ROSE. 3 vols. Lahore, 1911–19. Price 22s.

THE TALE OF THE TWO TRAVELLERS, OR THE BLINDED MAN : A COMPARATIVE STUDY, by REIDAR TH. CHRISTIANSEN. Folklore Fellows Communications, No. 26. Hamina, 1916, Published by the Finnish Academy of Science. Reviewed by E. Sidney Hartland.

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY AND OTHER LITERARY PIECES, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. London, Macmillan &; Co., 1920. Price 8s. 6d. net.

SÅJHER BHOG, by RAI SAHIB DINESH CHANDRA SEN. Calcutta, ?i?ir Publishing House, 1919. 1 rupee 4 annas net. Reviewed by J. D. Anderson.     

The Heroic Outlaw in Irish Folklore and Popular Literature

As a symbolic figure in Irish folklore and popular literature, the outlaw embodies folk morality in conflict with the self-interest and inequity of the state. In the aftermath of British colonisation, the Irish outlaw is represented as more than a criminal. He provides a hero through whom ordinary Irishmen and women can vicariously enjoy brief victories, and imagine their collective dignity in the midst of political defeat and its consequences. Legends, ballads and chapbooks portraying the outlaw are the products of hard-pressed people representing themselves to themselves, reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses, and contemplating issues of morality and justice.     

Memory and Legend: Recollections of Penal Times in Irish Folklore

Stories of priests being hunted down and murdered at Mass Rocks by priest-catchers and soldiers during the Penal era in Ireland persist to the present day. Using a tripartite taxonomy of memory, this article explores the reasons why these images continue to dominate and reflect the persecuted nature of Catholicism.     

Folklore Related to Pillboxes

SopuinTibetanmeansMongoliantribe.LegendhasitthatSopuTownshipinDainbaCountyeastoftheDaduRiverusedtobeinhabitedbyTibetans.ThislasteduntilagroupofMongoliansmovedtosettledowntheremany,manyyearsago.DuringmyrecentvisittoSopu,Ifoundaworldsteepedinancientfolklore…     

Approaching a folklore archive: the Irish Folklore Commission and the memory of the Great Famine

Using the Irish Folklore Commission's centenary survey of local accounts of the Great Famine (1845–50), this article posits a tripartite taxonomy of collective memory: the “global,” the “popular” and the “local.” Global memory was structured by meta‐narratives, the explanatory accounts of the Famine derived from the Catholic Church and nationalist political organisations. Local memory dealt with named individuals and places. The intermediate level of popular memory drew on both the local and the global (although the Church's interpretation of the famine had proved more acceptable among the rural, landowning farmers who made up the majority of the Commission's informants), but also on folk narrative tradition to create a coherent system of representation in which motifs were replicated over a large area (and over time).     

Index to Folklore 128, 2017

SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER. Edited by T. F. HENDERSON. 4 vols., 8vo. Wm. Blackwood and Sons, 1902. Price £2 2s. net. Reviewed by Charlotte S. Burne.

THE HOME-LIFE OF BORNEO HEAD HUNTERS, ITS FESTIVALS AND FOLK-LORE, By WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS, 3^d., M.D., F.R.G.S. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1902. Reviewed by E. Sidney Hartland.

ANTIQUE WORKS OF ART FROM BENIN. By General AUGUSTUS PITT-RIVERS. 1900. 12s. 6d. Privately printed. To be obtained from B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn. Reviewed by Margaret Eyre.

HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY OF THE MYTH-MAKING AGE. By J. F. HEWITT, Late Commissioner of Chotia Nagpur. With Map, Plates, and Diagrams. James Parker &; Co. 1901.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE. By L. B. PATON. THE THEOLOGY AND ETHICS OF THE HEBREWS. By A. DUFF. The Semitic Series. Vols. iii. and iv. London: Nimmo. 1902. 6s. each. Reviewed by A. H. Sayce.

SOHRAB AND RUSTEM : the Epic Theme of a Combat between Father and Son. A Study of its Genesis and Use in Literature and Popular Tradition. By MURRAY ANTHONY POTTER, A.M. London: David Nutt. 1902. Reviewed by W. Crooke.     

史前时期的崇鸟习俗及其历史背景

以绘画和雕塑方式表现的鸟禽形象广泛地存在于史前时代世界众多先民中。自19世纪后期在世界众多地区发现并被确认以来,对于其含义的解读便从未间断。《史前时期的崇鸟习俗及其历史背景》一文对于这些发现和研究作了比较全面的总结。这是一篇完成于40多年以前的文章,译者选择该文,当然不是着眼于考古资料本身,甚至也不在于作者的观点多么新颖,更为重要的是从学术史的角度,了解近半个世纪前西方人类学家在解读此类题材时所涉及的诸多理论。作者认同早期艺术中的动物形象具有鲜明的原始宗教意义,并从丰产巫术、成丁礼、图腾崇拜、通天媒介和鸟的死亡象征意义等多个角度对特定图像进行了功能性阐释。作者对于这类图像所采取的多重可能性解释本身,已经反映出此类问题的复杂性。半个多世纪过去了,我们发现,除了在考古学本体论方面我们"发明"了认知考古学,并将"符号"的概念赋予这些早期艺术品之外,对于"洞穴艺术"或"符号"含义的阐释,我们似乎并没有走很远。作者是一位人类学家,文中不经意间流露出的国外人类学方面的知识与信息,如鸟禽除了为人类提供肉食与禽蛋之外,鸟骨可以做成骨笛(现在知道我国新石器时代早期也有发现),可以盛放颜料,蛋清还可以当作调制颜料的粘合剂。这些,对于考古学者来说都是别有新意的。     

Index to Folklore 117, 2006

ANGELOS N. DEFTEREOS (In Greek) BREAD A T BIRTH AND DEATH: ITS SYMBOLIC AND MAGICAL USE IN MODERN GREECE. Athens, 1979. (No publisher: distributed by the author at 37 Kapodistriou Sir., Filothei, Athens). Pp. 266; 800 drachmas. Reviewed by Gareth Morgan.

VORZEITKUNDE: MÜNDLICHES ERZÄHLEN UND ÜBERLIEFERN IM MITTELALTERLICHEN SKANDINAVIEN NACH DEM ZEUGNIS VON FORNALDARSAGA UND EDDISCHER DICHTUNG. (Skandinavistische Studien, Bd. 13). By PETER BUCHHOLZ. Karl Wachholtz, Neumünster, 1980. Reviewed by H. R. Ellis Davidson.

I BUFFONI SACRI D'AMERICA E IL RIDERE SECONDO CULTERA. By GILBERTO MAZZOLENI. Roma-Bulzoni. 1st ed. 1973, 2nd ed. 1979. Reviewed by Douglas Gifford.

ETHNOGRAPHICA CARPATHO-BALCANICA. By BÉLA GUNDA. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1979.427 pp., illustrated. Reviewed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen.

JOE SCOTT: THE WOODSMAN-SONGMAKER. By EDWARD D. IVES. University of Illinois Press. 1978. Pp. 473. Reviewed by Paul Smith.

HISTOIRES D'ENFANTS TERRIBLES: By VERONIKA G?ROG, SUZANNE PLATIEL, DIANA REY-HULMAN, and CHRISTIANE SEYDOU. Maisonneuve et Larose, Paris, 1980. Pp. 301. Reviewed by Loreto Todd.

ÜBER SOMATISCHE, PSYCHISCHE UND KULTURELLE HOMOLOGIE. By OTTO HOFLER. Wien 1980 (?sterreichische Adademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte, 366. Band. Homologie—Studien zur germanischen Kulturmorphologie Nr.1). Reviewed by Peter Buchholz.

SWISS-GERMAN AND DUTCH-GERMAN MENNONITE TRADITIONAL ART IN THE WATERLOO REGION, ONTARIO. (National Museum of Man Mercury Series: Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, Paper No. 27). By NANCY-LOU GELLERMANN PATTERSON. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, 1979. Pp. 216,129 Figs. Reviewed by J. D. A. Widdowson.

SKILL AND STATUS: TRADITIONAL EXPERTISE WITHIN A RURAL CANADIAN FAMILY. (National Museum of Man Mercury Series: Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, Paper No. 28). By LAUREL DOUCETTE. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, 1979. Pp. 177,18 Figs. Reviewed by J. D. A. Widdowson.

TEXTILE TRADITIONS OF EASTERN NEWFOUNDLAND. (National Museum of Man Mercury Series: Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, Paper No. 29). By GERALD L. POCIUS. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, 1979. Pp. 89, 40 Figs. Reviewed by J. D. A. Widdowson.

LUNENBURG COUNTY FOLKLORE AND ORAL HISTORY: PROJECT '77. (National Museum of Man Mercury Series: Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, Paper No. 30). Edited by LAURIE LACEY. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, 1979. Pp. 142,22 Figs. Reviewed by J. D. A. Widdowson.

A MADMAN OF CH'U: THE CHINESE MYTH OF LOYALTY AND DISSENT. By LAURENCE A. SCHNEIDER. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1980. Reviewed by Michael Loewe.

INTERPRETING FOLKLORE. By ALAN DUNDES. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and London, 1980. Pp. 304, paperback. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.