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\"Explores the tale literature of eighth- and ninth-century China to show how the written tales we have today grew out of a fluid culture of hearsay that circulated within elite society. The author focuses on two main types of tales, those based in gossip about recognizable public figures and those developed out of lore concerning the occult\"--Provided by the publisher.

Folk beliefs, which have their source in history, culture and geography, are among the most significant factors determining the identity and characteristic features of a people. In Tatar and Chuvash folk literature myths about mythological beings are often stories written in prose, describing supernatural creatures and spirits. These stories describe “encounters” between humans on the one hand and various mythological creatures, on the other. Among these Arçura/Şüräle is a Forest Spirit which has a very significant role in folk narratives of not only the Tatars and the Chuvash, but widely in the folk culture of other Volga-Ural peoples. These mythological beliefs help people of the VolgaUral region perceive themselves as a part of the universe. In this paper, the etymology of the word Arçura/Şüräle is investigated; then its characteristics and its comparison with some other neighbouring Volga-Ural Finno-Ugrian and shamanic Turkic-Mongol spirits are examined.

The Karbi are an indigenous community who mainly live in Assam, a state in North-Eastern India. The territory they inhabit includes dense forest, hardly accessible to humans that is said to be populated by different non-human and humanlike entities, such as deities, spirits, and a humanoid figure named Kenglong-po. According to Karbi folk narratives, the Kenglong-po is a jointless entity who used to be a Karbi child or man but was abandoned in the jungle and survived there. The narratives regarding the Kenglong-po are today confined to elders and are vanishing from Karbi folklore due to the disappearance of the dense forest environment. The present work outlines the perception and transformation of the forest environment within the Karbi community through analysis of the Kenglong-po and other entities that are said to inhabit the territory of this indigenous group.

Culture consists of material and spiritual values and tools that a nation has accumulated in the historical process. In addition to the most basic contexts such as language and religion, contexts such as sporting activities, art, public medicine, and the public calendar are also important environments that reveal their own cultural elements. Among these contexts, religion is very effective in shaping the daily life of the individual and, thus, society through the rules it enjoins. Religion does not dominate only the world of belief of the individual. Through the world of belief, it also directs their relations with the social institutions they are involved in. Sport is one of the most important activities and social institutions that stand out with various functions in daily life, with wrestling being one of the branches of sports that have emerged as a result of the imitation of the struggle of human beings with nature and other creatures with which they share nature. In particular, those involved in the nomadic way of life had to hunt in order not to starve and fight in order to survive. Wrestling, which emerged as a result of these obligations, held an important place among all Turks in the world for a period of time, especially in the transition periods of life, such as birth, marriage, and death. One of the conditions set forth by women as a condition of marriage was that their suitor defeated them in wrestling. Examples of this condition are also observed in literary texts belonging to different periods when Turks were not yet acquainted with Islam and the concepts of halal and haram, which entered their lives together with Islam. According to the provisions of the Holy Qur’an, right/unprohibited thoughts and actions are associated with the words good and halal, while wrong/prohibited thoughts and actions are associated with the words sin and haram. In this study, the social and cultural phases of wrestling as a sports branch among Turks in the historical process will be evaluated on the basis of the history of religions and religious references, in addition to the literary texts belonging to historical periods when Turks were members of different religions, in the context of two events that have been experienced and reported in the news. The study was carried out using the method of document analysis, a method of qualitative research, and the data obtained by this method were evaluated using content analysis. The narratives of Alıp Manaş, Alpamış, Alpamıs, Alıpmenşen, and Bamsı Beyrek, which are evaluated in this context, belong to the periods when the Turks had not been introduced to Islam or had only recently been introduced to it. Alıp Manaş was collated from different Turkic tribes such as the Altais, Alpamış from the Uzbeks, Alpamıs the Kazakhs/Karakalpaks, Alıpmenşen the Bashkirs/Tatars, and Bamsı Beyrek the Oghuz Turks. The narratives of Kirmanshah, Köse Kenan-Dânâ Hanım, Bey Böyrek, Shah Ismail, and Yaralı Mahmut, which are evaluated in the study, belong to the periods when the Turks became Muslim en masse, and are related only among the Oghuz Turks. These narratives are included in the study because they are similar to Alıp Manaş, Alpamış, Alpamıs, Alıpmenşen, and Bamsı Beyrek and they belong to the period when Islam was largely established among the Turkish masses in Anatolia. The effect of the new religion on wrestling, which is a branch of sport, will be revealed through these narratives belonging to different tribes and religious periods. Once more, an event that occurred in recent history, and was the subject of the news, was subjected to document analysis, and content analysis was carried out through the text of the news and evaluated in the context of the study. This study aims to explain the effect of religious rules on sports branches with theological, folkloric, and sociological references based on ancient literary texts belonging to the Turks and two incidents which were experienced.

Folklore has been linked to national identity formation. In this article, informed by Johann Gottfried Herder’s romantic nationalism and following Alan Dundes’s (1965) method of folklore studies, it is argued that Indonesia has historically followed this trail, and its recent movement of collecting and disseminating Indonesian folk narratives from across the archipelago is a culminating point in this endeavour. Although the move was claimed to support the national literacy and character building movement, the rigorous endeavour of the government in garnering folktales from all 34 provinces can also be read as part of the national political agenda of strengthening the national integrity, promoting unity in diversity and disseminating so-called national values. Examining further the contexts and procedures of how the narratives were collected and selected for publication, the study reveals an effort to inculcate national values targeted at students in formal education, but more particularly young children as the future harbingers of national values.

Air has been an important issue because it is a vital source of human. Many beliefs about weather and wind developed in ancient philosophy, mythological perceptions and celestial religions. In many of these imaginations, the wind is a divine sign. Similarly, when we turn to Turkish mythology, we encounter beliefs that the wind is dominated by gods and spirits. The Turks; the names such as “Yel Baba”, “Yel İyesi” believed that the souls they gave were the forces controlling the winds. These emerging beliefs have influenced not only social life but also folk literature. Indeed, mythological elements are treasures that enrich literature. In this context, it can be said that wind, which is an important part of mythological perceptions, frequently finds a place in the narratives. Wind is a phenomenon that positively directs the fate of the hero with a sacred touch in narratives and can transform the hero. However, we rarely witness that the wind brings negatives to heros and even the wind is the representative of evil beings. Regardless, there is a fact that the perception of wind is always associated with supernatural beings and is a decisive mystical element in the narrative. This study focuses on the meaning of philosophy, mythology, heavenly religions and sufism in order to illuminate the origin of the phenomenon of wind in the narratives. In order to support the ideas put forward in this study, the Altai epic from the South Siberian geography, “Maaday-Kara”, Shor epic “Altın Tayçı”, the Shor tales “Kayıp Kız” and “Şanssız Nekker”, the Hakas tale “Işık Işıkoğlu Hakan” and “Akkız and Karakız” from the Anatolian field will be examined. The aim of the study is to determine to what extent and how the reflections of wind imagery in Turkish mythology and cultural structure are reflected in folk narratives, and what functions they perform in the narratives.

Oral narratives play a crucial role in shaping the historical consciousness of Indigenous communities in Northeast India, where history writing is a relatively recent phenomenon. Among the Mizos, Nagas, Khasis, Kuki-Chins, and other Indigenous tribes of Northeast India, including the Bodos, the Garos, the Dimasas, or the Karbis of Assam, much of what is considered written history emerged during British colonial rule. Native historians later continued it in postcolonial India. However, written history, especially when based on fragmented colonial records, includes interpretive gaps. In such contexts, oral traditions provide complementary, and frequently, more authoritative frameworks rooted in cultural memory and collective transmission. Oral narratives, including ritual poetry, folk songs, myths, and folktales, serve as vital mediums for reconstructing the past. Scholars such as Jan Vansina view oral narratives as essential for understanding the histories of societies without written records, while Paul Thompson sees them as both a discovery and a recovery of cultural memory. Romila Thapar argues that narratives become indicative of perspectives and conditions in societies of the past, functioning as a palimpsest with multiple layers of meaning accruing over generations as they are recreated or reiterated over time. The folk narratives of the Mizos and Angami Nagas not only recount their origins and historical migrations, but also map significant geographical and cultural landmarks, such as Khezakheno and Lungterok in Nagaland, Rounglevaisuo in Manipur, and Chhinlung or Rih Dil on the Mizoram–Myanmar border. These narratives constitute a cultural understanding of the past, aligning with Greg Dening’s concept of “public knowledge of the past,” which is “culturally shared.” Additionally, as Linda Tuhiwai Smith posits, such stories, as embodiments of the past, and of socio-cultural practices of communities, create spaces of resistance and reappropriation of Indigenous identities even as they reiterate the marginalization of these communities. This paper deploys these ideas to examine how oral narratives can be used to decolonize grand narratives of history, enabling Indigenous peoples, such as the Mizos and the Angamis in North East India, to reaffirm their positionalities within the postcolonial nation.

Millî kültürün inşa edilmesinde ve şekillenmesinde önemli hizmetleri olan âşıklar, bu geleneğin yaşatılarak geleceğe taşınmasında müstesna rol oynamışlardır. Âşıklık geleneğinde destan ve halk hikâyeleri; millî kültürü ve tarihi yansıtması bakımından oldukça önemli bir mirastır. Manzum parçaların sıkça kullanıldığı bu edebi türlerin anlatılması, çok güçlü bir hafıza gerektirmektedir. Destan ve halk hikâyelerinin kuşaktan kuşağa intikal ederek günümüze ulaşmasını, âşıklara borçluyuz. Âşıklar; musiki, nazım, nesir ve tiyatro sanatı unsurlarını birleştirerek kendi sanatlarını icra etmişlerdir. 16.-17. yüzyıllarda Türk kültür coğrafyalarında altın dönemini yaşayan âşıklık sanatı, özellikle 19. yüzyılda pek fazla halk hikâyeleri ortaya çıkarmıştır. İrevan, Göyçe, Borçalı, Karabağ, Şirvan, Derbent muhitlerinin yanı sıra Karadağ-Tebriz, Urmiye, Horasan, Kaşkay, Zencan, Save gibi bölgeleri de kapsayan Azerbaycan âşıklık geleneği, Türk halk edebiyatının önemli bir kültür hazinesidir. 19. yüzyılda Azerbaycan âşıklık geleneğinin önemli merkezlerinden biri olan Göyçe, Azerbaycan Türk âşıklık geleneğine Ak Âşık (Allahverdi), Âşık Alı ve Âşık Alesker gibi dev üstatlar kazandırmıştır. Göyçeli Âşık Alı, 19. yüzyıl başlarında dünyaya gelen ve en uzun ömürlü sa-natkârlardan biri olarak bilinmektedir. Âşığın hayatı ve sanatsal faaliyeti ile ilgili en fazla bilgi, “Âşık Alı’nın Türkiye Seferi” adlı halk hikâyesinde yer almaktadır. Destan ve halk hikâyelerinde görülmekte olan farklı versiyon ve varyantlaşma, bu eser için de geçerlidir. “Âşık Alı’nın Türkiye Seferi”nin üç metni tarafımızca tespit edilmiş ve birbirine fazla benzemeyen bu eş metinler için çalışmamızda varyant terimi kullanılmıştır. Şimdiye kadar konuyla ilgili tek varyanttan bahsedilmiş ve ele aldığımız üç varyant arasında mukayeseler yapılmamıştır. Kullandığımız baskı yılına göre varyantlardan birincisi, Âşık İmran Hasanov ve Âşık Mahmud Memmedov; ikincisi, Âşık Hacı Bayramov; üçüncüsü ise Âşık Gulu tarafından anlatılmıştır. Çalışmamızda; Âşık Alı hakkında bilgi verilmiş, hikâyenin tanıtılması için Kiril alfabesiyle yayınlanan birinci varyantın ayrıntılı özeti çıkarılmıştır. Varyantlar, onları anlatan âşıkların adıyla adlandırılmış, her üç varyant arasındaki farklar ve yeni bilgiler tespit edilerek başlıca özellikleri açıklanmıştır. Varyantlar arasındaki farkları daha net görebilmemizi sağlaması ve hikâyenin önemli temel unsuru olan nazım parçalarını temsil etmesi adına “Ağrı dağı” şiiri, ayrıca incelenmiştir. Türkiye’deki Âşık İkbal (Yığval) ve Âşık Esmer’den bahsedilen hikâyede; Ağrı, Iğdır, Kağızman, Kars, Sarıkamış, Erzurum, Muş ve İstanbul gibi bölgelerin adı geçer. Eserde, Âşık Alı’nın; Yunus Emre, Karacaoğlan, Dadaloğlu, Pir Sultan Abdal, Âşık Ömer, Âşık Emrah, Öysüz Dede, Kayıkçı Kul Mustafa, Kul Mehmet, Kul Himmet, Âşık Hasan gibi üstatlardan haberdar olduğu ve onların şiirlerini ezbere bildiği görülmektedir. Bu doğrultuda çalışmamızın bir diğer amacı, “Âşık Alı’nin Türkiye Seferi” bağlamında 19. yüzyılda Azerbaycan ve Türkiye âşıklık geleneğinin yakın bağlarına dikkat çekmektir. The minstrels, who greatly contributed to the formation and shaping of the national culture, played an exceptional role in keeping this tradition alive and carrying it on to the future. The epic and folk narratives from the minstrelsy tradition is a very important heritage in terms of reflecting national culture and history. The recitation of these literary genres in which verses are often used requires really good memory. We should be grateful to minstrels that such epic and folk narratives have been passed on from generation to generation and have reached the present day. The minstrels recited these literary genres combining elements of music, poetry, prose and theatre. The golden age of the minstrel art within the Turkic cultural geography was in the 16th-17th centuries, and especially many folk narratives appeared in the 19th century. The Azerbaijani minstrelsy tradition, which includes regions such as Irevan, Goyçe, Borçalı, Karabağ, Şirvan, Derbent, as well as Karadağ-Tebriz, Urmiye, Horasan, Kaşkay, Zencan, Save, is an important cultural treasure of Turkish folk literature. Göyçe, one of the important centers of the Azerbaijani minstrelsy tradition in the 19th century, brought great masters such as Ak Ashik (Allahverdi), Ashik Ali and AshikAlesker to the Azerbaijani Turkish minstrelsy tradition. Ashik Ali from Göyçe is known as one of the longest-lived minstrels who was born at the beginning of the 19th century. The widest information about the life and artistic activities of the minstrel is contained in the folk narrative called \"Âşık Ali’nin Türkiye Seferi\" (Ashik Ali’s Journey to Türkiye). The existence of versions and variants characteristic for epics and folk tales is valid for this literary work as well. Three texts of \"Âşık Ali’nin Türkiye Seferi\" were identified by us, and the term \"variant\" is used in our study for these three texts, which are not very similar to each other. So far, only one option has been mentioned on this subject, and no comparisons have been made between the three options we have discussed. According to the edition year, the first of the variants was narrated by Ashik Imran Hasanov and Ashik Mahmud Memmedov, the second by Ashik Hacı Bayramov and the third by Ashik Gulu. In our study, information about Ashik Ali has been given and in order to introduce the narratives, a detailed summary of the first variant published in the Cyrillic alphabet has been provided. The variants have been named after the minstrels who narrated them, the differences between the three variants and new information have been identified, based on which their main features have been explained. In order to enable us to see the differences between the variants more clearly and to introduce the verse part that is an important basic element of the narrative, the poem \"Ağrı Dağı\" has been studied separately. In the narrative that mentions Ashik Ikbal (Yığval) and Ashik Esmer from Türkiye there are also references to such regions as Agri, Iğdır, Kağızman, Kars, Sarıkamış, Erzurum, Muş and Istanbul. From this narrative, we can also see that Ashik Ali knew such masters as Yunus Emre, Karacaoğlan, Dadaloğlu, Pir Sultan Abdal, Ashik Ömer, Ashik Emrah, Öysüz Dede, Kayıkçı Kul Mustafa, Kul Mehmet, Kul Himmet and Ashik Hasan and knew their poems by heart. In this direction, the other aim of the study is to draw attention to the close ties of the minstrelsy tradition of Azerbaijan and Türkiye in the 19th century in the context of \"Âşık Ali’nin Türkiye Seferi\" (Ashik Ali’s Journey to Türkiye).

In this lively and intellectually engaging book, Galit Hasan-Rokem shows that religion is shaped not only in the halls of theological disputation and institutions of divine study, but also in ordinary events of everyday life. Common aspects of human relations offer a major source for the symbols of religious texts and rituals of late antique Judaism as well as its partner in narrative dialogues, early Christianity, Hasan-Rokem argues. Focusing on the \"neighborhood\" of the Galilee that is the birthplace of many major religious and cultural developments, this book brings to life the riddles, parables, and folktales passed down in Rabbinic stories from the first half of the first millennium of the Common Era.

The study analysed samples of folk narratives, specifically three Batangas religious legends, from the lens of Archetypal criticism. In a collective sense, analysing the archetypes of religious legends revealed Batangueños’ spirituality, religiosity, and traits as a people. The theme of faith as an archetypal subject relates to the Batangueños’ deep trust in God amidst difficult circumstances. The caregiver female character archetype recurs in the legends, while the ruler, everyman, rebel, and sage are the male archetypes revealed by the study. The characters’ negative traits as embodied in the shadow archetypes reflect that, true to their nature as human beings, Batangueños have human flaws. The water that represents the archetypal image symbolises the Batangueños’ life cycle of birth-death-resurrection, purification and redemption, fertility, and growth. As gleaned from the two legends, the situation archetype may be related to the Batangueños’ ownership of patron saints as part of their religiosity. Since the study focused on the non-etiological classification of legends, future researchers may study other legends that may reflect the peculiar culture of their localities