Editor's Note


 

FOLKLORICA 2016, Vol. XX 

iii 

Editor’s Note 

This issue of Folklorica illustrates the flexibility and fluidity of 
the vernacular tradition. It features articles that discuss the 
intersection of popular culture, in the forms of Norshtein’s iconic 
cartoon Hedgehog in the Fog and the more recent Mel’nitsa 
production Ilya Muromets and Solovei the Robber, and the folk 
tradition. Nataliya Bezborodova’s article examines the connection 
between the beloved character of the Hedgehog and Ukrainian 
protest lore during the Maidan events of 2013-14. Kate Koppy’s 
work also explores the political, in this case in Russia, and the 
subtext of the retelling of the bogatyr Ilya’s story in the 2007 
animated feature. Two other pieces examine the interrelationship of 
differing traditions as well, this time with an emphasis on Turkic 
material. Nadezhda Oinotnikova discusses how biblical stories 
about Noah’s ark and the great flood were adapted into the legend 
cycles of the Siberian Turkic peoples. El’mira Kayumova provides 
an overview of data of the folk musical forms collected in 2013 
among the Kriashen Tatars in her field report. She details what 
musical forms persist and how they have adapted to changing 
circumstances and the influence of popular culture. Finally, Jelena 
Koreleva and Tatiana Filosofova study how the literary and folk 
traditions merge in a short story produced by the Latvian Old 
Believer and folk artist Maria Blokhina. 

At a time when we are faced with rising nationalist sentiments 
across the world, these works elucidate not only the resilience of 
vernacular practices, but also the importance of the folkloric 
approach to these question. Our work reveals how folk tradition 
overcomes cultural barriers between peoples of different cultures by 
adopting material from “opposing” societies and making it their 
own. At the same time, the articles in this issue also demonstrate 
how folklore may support agendas that are divisive and draw those 
very boundaries between cultural groups and their nations. In this 
climate, the folklorist and the ethnographer are voices that must be 
heard loudly and clearly. We grapple with the beautiful and the ugly 
messages in the material we study on a daily basis. We are able to 
contextualize the power of belief and tradition in ways that most 



 

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iv 

would simply write off as the product of faulty logic or a poor 
education. As editor of Folklorica, I am proud that the Slavic, East 
European and Eurasian Folklore Association continues to provide a 
space to hear the voices of folklorists from across the world on 
critical topics so central to our future. I hope we will continue to do 
so for many years to come. 

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, editor