Definitions for "Folklife"
The the living traditions currently practiced and passed down by word of mouth, imitation, or observation over time and space within groups, such as family, ethnic, social class, regional, and others. Everyone and every group has folklore.
Traditions passed down informally over time within a group. The tradition was not learned by formal education or from popular culture through magazines, books, or the media. Folklife includes folklore, folk art, beliefs and rituals, crafts, music, and occupations. The group may be a family, neighborhood, ethnic occupational, or religious group, or a region. See the Louisiana Folklife Program website for more information, as well as the virtual exhibit The Creole State: An Exhibition of Louisiana Folklife.
Folklife is an extension of, and often an alternate term for the subject of, folklore. The term gained usage in the United States in the 1960s from its use by such folklore scholars as Don Yoder and Warren Roberts, who wished to recognize that the study of folklore goes beyond oral genres to include all aspects of everyday life including material culture (craft, vernacular architecture, etc.). In Europe, especially Great Britain, Ireland and the Scandinavian countries, the study of folklife, called European ethnology, manifests itself in folk museums.