Sublime

folklore is by its nature not handed down by an authority. It is of the people, by the people—even if those people are children. So although kids may crib from pop culture and adopt things they learn from adults, making something their own and using it for their own purposes is what transmutes it into childlore.

In the west of Ireland there are many stories about ghosts, spirits or fairies who had a special association with particular places; these legends were as natural as the landscape to the mind of the local people.

Folklore is layered. Each recounting is a revision suited to a particular time and place. I would like to believe that this process can go on, even in a society that has shifted from a tradition of spontaneous storytelling to one that privileges writing and recording.