medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>From: "Ms Brenda M. Cook" <[log in to unmask]>
>IIRC from when I did Eng. Lit in 1960, the opinion then was that the Border
>Ballad literature contained motifs, plots and attitudes that were part of
>'our' common Indo-European ("Aryan") heritage and predated even Celtic
>culture. But scholarly opinion may have moved on. Folk literature is
>notoriously protean.
That may still be the opinion of English Lit though it sounds rather too
much like Golden Bough to me. My impression is that folklore has, in
general, moved on from the notion that there was a common culture through
the islands of Britain and Ireland. Also, I'd say that the perspective of
Celtic Studies has long been that there are significant regional
differences. In some respects, developments since 1960 have, I think,
emphasized those differences and pointed out the reality that even within
each larger region or coutnry there are distinct folkways.
Francine Nicholson, M.A.
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