American Folklore is that folk tradition which has evolved on the
North American continent since
Europeans arrived in the
16th century. While it contains much in the way of
Native American tradition, it should not be confused with the actual tribal beliefs of any real band, nation or community of native people. American Folklore, rather, is that strange fusing of European ideals of "civilization" with a European obsession with the "exotic" and the "savage." Anyway you slice it, American Folklore is essentially about immigrants and their misunderstanding of each other, and of the new landscape they found themselves conquering, and of the people that had already been there when the first "white men" arrived.
Ultimately, American Folklore is a constant intertwining of the new and the old, the mechanical and the pastoral, the mundane and the miraculous, for no other purpose it seems than to fill up the space of a lazy afternoon.
Categories of American Folklore:
- Tall Men and their Tall Tales