Folk Custom Essay

Chapter OneA General Introduction to fellowship Customs 1. crustal plate custom a definition Folk customs, or menage ways, comprise the part of cultural life that people of a awkward or dry land have cr consumeed, practiced and transmitted in their endeavors to satisfy their needs at various stages of their history and fiat. Deep-rooted in the cultural life of a community, kindred customs argon passed kill from generation to generation in a temporal dimension and spread out from one place to another in a spatial dimension. In the history of human society, ethnic music customs have evolved from naught to existence, from candid to complex.In primitive society, a common common people custom was to eat wolf flesh raw and drink its blood and to live in caves or hollows. With the development of society, the material life, the related organizational forms of social life, espousals ceremonies, funerals, and etiquettes came into being, and by and by they atomic number 18 esta blished as family unitways, or folk customs. In China, for instance, chopsticks ar used at meals, which is a Chinese folk custom. Northerners eating jiaozi and southerners eating rice cakes in Chinese New course of study Festival, all people eating moon-cakes on Mid-Autumn Day and greeting severally other with Have you eaten? are all Chinese folk customs. Folk customs are shared and practiced by members of a nation in their daily life. There are folk customs administration the daily life of people, traditional festivals, various stages of life, as well as ideological aspects of social life. The various taboos in life are highly ideological. For example, the taboo against sweeping the floor from December 30 to January 2 on the Chinese lunar calendar resulted from the folk belief that this would affect the stack of wealth in the coming year.Some folk customs, as they originated from sacred beliefs, carry a strong religious flavor by place down rules for marriages, unify funer als, and diet of believers. Every nation has some folk customs, ways of life or national styles that distinguish itself from other nations. raft of that nation have a strong affection for these distinctive ways and recognize them as national symbols. Prevalent in a society with people hardly knowing them, folk customs apply to such matters as clothing, eating, living, transportation, decorum and etiquette, and manners of getting along with others.In this sense, folk customs are basic forms of national culture that may like a shot reflect and invite the material and spiritual life of a country or nation. 2. Characteristics of folk customs 1. 2. 1 Collectiveness The birth and transmission of folk customs is both social and collective. From the very beginning, their creation and development make the participation of a group and reflect the mentality, linguistic and behavioral patterns of that group. For instance, the spousal ceremony is an activity attended by members of a partic ular group, as the would-be couple need win social recognition by this ceremony. . 2. 2 Regionality Geographical surroundings exert a strong influence over human life, thus the regionality of folk customs. Take for example the Mongolians in northern China. They used to be a nomadic people, and now animal husbandry is still their major concern, for the reason that the chief regions they inhabit are more(prenominal) suitable for animal husbandry in terms of pictorial resources. The Hezhen people use dog-sledges and go for capture and fishing, and the Oroqen people go hunting on horseback, all for the sake of their geographical surroundings. 1. 2. Transmissiveness and disseminativeness Folk customs are established through passing down from one generation to the following they exist and disseminate in a certain area. The earlier they were created and the stronger functions they perform, the more areas the folk customs are disseminated to. The practice of giving New family money to the young generation, for example, has been observed in all places year afterward year. 1. 2. 4 Relative stability and variability Once established, folk customs will become a stalls part of life. The more stable a society, the more stable its folk customs.However, folk customs are liable to change with the development of society. Take for example the Chinese wedding ceremony. In the past, the Han people used jiaozi (old-fashioned sedan chair) to take the bride from her childhood home to the bridegrooms house, but now they use cars. Stability contributes to the preservation of folk customs, and variability to their development. 3. Classification of Folk Customs Folk customs are numerous and complicated, and are developing day by day. It is universally acknowledged among researchers that folk customs fall into the following eight categories. . 3. 1 Folk customs of production Folk customs of production call forth out of various production activities, including agriculture, forestr y, animal husbandry, fishing, handicraft industry, service industry, and so forth In the history of human beings, these customs have played a role in ensuring production efficiency.