Oral Folk Art

Oral folk art (folklore) is the collective, anonymous, orally transmitted artistic creation of a people, passed from generation to generation and existing in variants. The main features of folklore are: orality, collectivity, variability, traditionality, and syncretism (the unity of word, music, and movement). Folklore is divided into kinds and genres — epic (dumas, bylynas, tales), lyric (ritual and domestic songs), drama (vertep, folk games), and the minor genres (proverbs, riddles, incantations). Ukrainian folkloristics as a science was founded by Mykhailo Maksymovych (the collection Malorossiiskie pesni, 1827), Mykola Kostomarov, Oleksandr Potebnia, Mykhailo Drahomanov, Volodymyr Hnatiuk, and Filaret Kolessa. Folklore is the foundation of national cultural identity and an inexhaustible source of professional art.