Introduction

If work - the struggle to provide the means for subsistance - has tended to to be the focus of most people's lives over the centuries, recreation, relaxation and play have also been an essential part of human existance. Just as stories, songs, traditions and superstitions have grown up around work, from the eariest times 'play' has featured in the folk traditions and beliefs of European peoples. These have ranged from traditional children's games to more adult means of (temporarily) subverting the social order, to contemporary sporting rituals and superstitions. In this seminar we will consider the role of play in the folklore of Europe and how it has been represented.

Seminar Questions

• How are leisure activities represented in the folklore of Europe?
• Why is the study of folk traditions surrounding leisure, recreation and play important?

Required Reading

Gabbert, Lisa, 'Folk Drama', Humanities, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2018), pp. 1-11Link opens in a new window

Eichberg, H., 'Folk Sports' in Levinson, David and Pfister, Gertrud (eds.), Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport , 3rd edition (2013)Link opens in a new window

Brand, John, Observations on Popular Antiquities: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of our Vulgar Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions, ed. Henry Ellis, 2 vols (London, 1813), Vol. 2, pp. 273-314Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.

Further Reading

BBC Radio 4: Writing's on the WallLink opens in a new window (on superstition in sport)

Fabulous Folklore Podcast - Children's Folklore: Games, Rhymes and Telling FortunesLink opens in a new window

Belyukov, Dmitry, 'The Traditions of Fisticuffs in the North-West of Russia from the Early Middle Ages to the Modern Era', Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol. 54 (2013), pp. 147-156Link opens in a new window

Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new windowBillington, Sandra, A Social History of the Fool (Brighton, 1984)

Peter Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (3rd Edition) (Taylor and Fancis, 2009), Chapters 5 and 7.Link opens in a new window

Cliff, Janet M., 'On Relationships between Folk Music and Folk Games', Western Folklore, Vol. 51, No. 2 (1991), pp. 129-151Link opens in a new window

Del Negro, Giovanna, The Passeggiata and Popular Culture in an Italian Town: Folklore and the Performance of Modernity (Montreal, 2004)Link opens in a new window

Evans, George Ewart, Where Beards Wag All: The Relevance of the Oral Tradition (London, 1970)

Fournier, Laurent, 'Violence and Roughness in Traditional Games and Sports: The Case of Folk Football (England and Scotland)', Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol. 54 (2013), pp. 39-50Link opens in a new window

Henricks, Thomas S., Disputed Pleasures: Sport and Society in Preindustrial England (Westport, CT, 1991)

Hole, Christina, English Sports and Pastimes (London, 1949)

Lanclos, Donna M., At Play in Belfast: Children's Folkore and Identities in Northern Ireland (New Brunswick, 2003)Link opens in a new window

Malcolmson, Robert W., Popular Recreations in English Society, 1700-1850 (Cambridge, 1973)

Turk Niskac, Barbara and Srimpf Vendramin, Katarina, 'Play and Folklore in Children's Peer Cultures', Folklore Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol. 86 (2022), pp. 33-58Link opens in a new window

Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, Children's Games in Street and Playground, 2 vols (1969; Edinburgh, 2008)

Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (New York, 2001)

Palmer, Roy, and Jon Raven, eds, The Rigs of the Fair: Popular Sports and Pastimes in the Nineteenth Century through Songs, Ballads, and Contemporary Accounts (Cambridge, 1976)

Roud, Steve, and Julia Bishop, eds, The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (Harmondsworth, 2014)Link opens in a new window

Roud, Steve, Folk Song in England (London, 2017)Link opens in a new window

Roud, Steve, The Lore of the Playground: One Hundred Years of Children's Games, Rhymes and Traditions (London, 2010)Link opens in a new window

Roud, Steve, The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland (Harmondsworth, 2003)

Simpson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore (Oxford, 2003)Link opens in a new window

Simpson, Jacqueline, Green Men & White Swans: The Folklore of British Pub Names (London, 2010)

Sutton-Smith, Brian, 'Children's Games as Folk Customs', Western Folklore, Vol. 48, No. 1 (1989), pp. 33-42Link opens in a new window

Sutton-Smith, Brian, et. al. Children's Folklore: A Sourcebook (London, 1995)

Timpe, Julia, Nazi-organized Recreation and Entertainment in the Third Reich (London, 2017)Link opens in a new window

Tlusty, B. Ann, Bacchus and Civic Order: The Culture of Drink in Early Modern Germany (Charlottesville, 2001)Link opens in a new window

Vallely, Fintan, ed., The Companion to Irish Traditional Music, 2nd. ed., (Cork, 2011)Link opens in a new window

Warner, Elizabeth A., The Russian Folk Theatre (London, 2011)Link opens in a new window

Westwood, Jennifer, and Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-Heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys (Harmondsworth, 2005)

Westwood, Jennifer, and Sophia Kingshill, The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends (London, 2009)Link opens in a new window

Electronic Resources

The Online Guide to Traditional GamesLink opens in a new window

Folk Play Research - The Website of the Traditional Drama Research GroupLink opens in a new window

See here.