American folklore

American Folklore is that folk tradition which has evolved on the North American continent since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. While it contains much in the way of Native American tradition, it should not be confused with the actual tribal beliefs of any real band, nation or community of native people. American Folklore, rather, is that strange fusing of European ideals of "civilization" with a European obsession with the "exotic" and the "savage." Anyway you slice it, American Folklore is essentially about immigrants and their misunderstanding of each other, and of the new landscape they found themselves conquering, and of the people that had already been there when the first "white men" arrived.

Ultimately, American Folklore is a constant intertwining of the new and the old, the mechanical and the pastoral, the mundane and the miraculous, for no other purpose it seems than to fill up the space of a lazy afternoon.

Categories of American Folklore:

• Tall Men and their Tall Tales
  • Paul Bunyan
  • John Henry
  • Mike Fink
  • Pecos Bill
  • Casey Jones
  • Buffalo Bill
  • Billy the Kid
  • Jesse James
  • Johnny Appleseed
  • Kit Carson
  • Davy Crockett
  • Daniel Boone
  • Wild Bill Hickok[?]
  • Wyatt Earpp[?]
  • Doc Holliday[?]
  • Stagger Lee
  • Joe Hill

• And some women
  • Betsey Ross[?]
  • Bonnie Parker
  • Calamity Jane
  • Lizzie Borden
  • Marie Laveau

• Animals and Savages
  • Hiawatha
  • Pocahontas
  • Squanto[?]
  • Geronimo
  • Squonk
  • Bigfoot

• Literary
  • Stephen Vincent Benet[?]

• This Modern World
  • Conspiracy theory
  • Urban legend

• Songs and Games
  • jump rope[?] rhymes
  • stickball[?] or sandlot ball[?]

• Rituals
  • bridal showers
  • baby showers[?]
  • Halloween