What is Folklore?
"Folklore is not just another form of anthropology or literary study. The study of folklore touches on every dimension of human experience and artistic expression. It has grown out of the study of literature, has roots in anthropology, and contains elements of psychology and sociology. In many ways, it is the study of culture—visual and performing arts, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, literature, linguistics, and history rolled into one. [...] The discipline of folklore has evolved into a way of thinking about how people learn, share knowledge, and form their identity."
"Customary lore [...] is perhaps the most difficult to characterize. A custom is a repeated, habitual action, a usual way of doing something. [...] These practices may be stylized and/or framed by special words, gestures, or actions that set them apart from everyday behaviors, or they may be as simple as gestures used in everyday communication within an intimate group of friends."
"Children's games offer another example of how we might sort out the differences. In the last decade or so, Pokémon... [has] been popular among elementary school children, especially boys. Children learn about these games through the media. [...] and because of the way these items are created and distributed, they themselves (and the general craze or fad they generate) are part of popular culture. But, suppose several fourth-graders at a particular elementary school play the games everyday at recess, in the same corner of the playground. It becomes how other people recognize them, as well as how they recognize themselves. [...] The process of daily interaction that has made the game play a feature of this group's tradition and identity is folklore."
Citations from "Folklore," in Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions
by Martha C. Sims and Martine Stephens. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005, pp. 3, 5, 16.