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. In the United States, the term is often used in the title of research-based folklife festivals presenting the full range of traditional culture including music, dance, storytelling, crafts, costume, foodways, holidays, life-cycle rituals, and occupational skills. Folklife also includes the study of belief systems, including folk religion, folk medicine, and popular beliefs (the term preferred over "superstitions" by folklorists). Folklore is the body of narratives, including tales, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs current among a particular population, comprising the oral tradition of that culture, subculture, or group. ... In archaeology, culture refers to either of two separate but allied concepts: A material culture comprises physical objects from the past, the study of which is the basis of the discipline. ... Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with ones own hands and skill. ... Vernacular architecture is a term from academic architecture to categorize structures built outside of academic tradition. ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... The following dance categories are closely related to each other: // Folk dance Folk dance is a term used to encompass a large number of dances that tend to share the following attributes: They were originally danced in about the 19th century or earlier (or are, in any case, not currently... “Storytelling is humanity’s oldest form of literacy. ... Yarkand ladies summer fashions. ... In the United States, a holiday is a day set aside by a nation or culture (in some cases, multiple nations and cultures) typically for celebration but sometimes for some other kind of special culture-wide (or national) observation or activity. ... Look up belief on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Folk religion consists of beliefs, superstitions and cultural practices transmitted from generation to generation. ... Folk medicine is the collection of procedures traditionally used for treatment of illness and injury, aid to childbirth, and maintenance of wellness. ... A superstition is an irrational or invalid belief about the relation between certain actions (often behaviors) and other actions that is not true. ... Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore such as fairy tales and folk mythology in oral or non-literary traditions. ...

Reference

Bronner, S.J. ed. (1985) _American Material Culture and Folklife: A Prologue and Dialogue_. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press. Articles and dialogues on the current state of folklife studies (as of 1985) by material culture specialists and folklorists.

Cicala, J. (2005) "Pathfinder: American Folklife Resources." Ann Arbor, MI: Internet Public Library, The School of Information, The University of Michigan. Retrieved December 17, 2005, from http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48474. A current description of the print and electronic bibliographic sources of Folklife in America.

Dorson, R.M.ed.(1972) _Folklore and Folklife: an Introduction_. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Though dated, this collection of 25 essays by reknown American and European folklife specialists forms the basis of current folklife thinking.

Roberts, W.E. (1990) _Viewpoints on Folklife: Looking at the Overlooked_. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press. An anthology of seminal essays on folklife theory, folk crafts, folk art, and folk architecture.

Yoder,D. ed. (1976) _American Folklife_. Austin: University of Texas. A collection of scholarly case studies covering a variety of folklife genres.

Yoder,D. (2001) _Discovering American Folklife: Essays on Folk Culture & the Pennsylvania Dutch_. Mechanicsburgh. PA: Stackpole Books. A collection of articles in which he outlines the major areas of research in the field.