2001: A Texas Folklore Odyssey is a journey -- or odyssey -- through the Texas Folklore Society as of the year 2001 A.D. Contemporary topics include grandparenting, uppity women, and Spam. Historical topics include the Model T, the Yellow Rose of Texas, and hunting horns. Also included is a discussion of recipes from Austin's famed Green Pastures restaurant and The Texas Cookbook (reissued by the University of North Texas Press in August 2001).

The title and the idea for this book began in 1958, when Mody Boatright first published his essay, "The Family Saga as a Form of Folklore." What Mody identified was a long established form of folklore that was firmly entrenched among people everywhere.

The family saga--as Mody and this collection defines it--is made up of an accumulation of separate family legends. These are the stories of the old folks and the old times that are told among the family when they gather for funerals or Thanksgiving dinner. These are the "remember-when" stories the family tells about the time when the...

Texas has a large population who has lived on both sides of the border and created a folkloric mix that makes Texas unique. "Both Sides of the Border" gets its name from its emphasis on recently researched Tex-Mex folklore. But we recognize that Texas has other borders besides the Rio Grande. We use that title with the folklorist s knowledge that all of this state s songs, tales, and traditions have lived and prospered on the other sides of Texas borders at one time or another before they crossed the rivers and became ours.
Chapters are organized thematically, and include favorite...

"Inside the Classroom (and ""Out"")" examines folklore and its many roles in education. Several articles explore teaching in rural school houses in the early twentieth century, while others provide insight into more serious academic scholarship in the field of folklore itself. One chapter looks at the "early years," including works about day care centers, scout programs, children's books, and the basic definition of what we mean by "folklore." Another chapter covers high school: cheerleading, football, yearbooks, and beliefs of Hispanic students. There is a chapter dedicated to Paul Patterson...

Folklore is everywhere, whether you are aware of it or not. A culture's traditional knowledge is used to remember the past and maintain traditions, to communicate with other members within a community, to learn, to celebrate, and to express creativity. It is what helps distinguish one culture from another. Although folklore is so much a part of our daily lives, we often lose sight of just how integral it is to everything we do. If we look for it, we can find folklore in places where we'd never think it existed.
Folklore: "In""All of Us, In All We ""Do" includes articles on a variety of...

If there was any pleasure at all in hoeing, it was in the short row soon hoed rather than the one that in the day s high heat seemed to stretch to shimmering eternity. And that s what this collection of Texas folklore is, a series of short rows, easily and pleasantly hoed, promising a great crop as a reward for the reader s labors.
Here are high toned women and hayburners, loud pipes and calaveras, brown derbies and battles royal. And, oh yes, Welsh mains. And if these seem like unfamiliar rows, they are nonetheless pleasantly hoed, and in the process much will be learned about railway...

The first of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, "Round the Levee," edited by Stith Thompson, was published in 1916. By 1972, thirty-six volumes had appeared, recording approximately two thousand folktales, ranging in type from simple puns to complex relatings of marvels and adventures and in treatment from straightforward presentation to scholarly discussion. In his volume, James T. Bratcher indexes and makes the wealth of material in this series readily available to folklorists everywhere.

Beautifully illustrated with 75 duotone images.
"El ""Charro," or man on horseback, has represented the spirit of independent Mexico since he played an important role in the 1821 revolution. He is the Mexican version of the American cowboy, only much older, arising from the ranch culture first brought to Mexico by the Spanish. The Charreada is his rodeo, his opportunity to show off both his skills with rope and horse and his decorative, elegant costume. It is at the center of Mexican heritage and self-image, a source of mythology and genuine heroes that has been brought to Texas by...

What would cause someone to withstand freezing temperatures in a cramped wooden box for hours on end, or stand in waist-high rushing waters, flicking a pole back and forth over and over--in many cases with nothing whatsoever to show for his efforts? Why is it that, into the twenty-first century, with the convenience of practically any type of red meat or fish available at the local supermarket, we continue to hunt game and fish on open waters? The answer is that no matter how sophisticated we think we are, no matter how technologically advanced we become, there is still something deep within...

"The Texas Folklore Society has been alive and kicking for over one hundred years now, and I don't really think there's any mystery as to what keeps the organization going strong. The secret to our longevity is simply the constant replenishment of our body of contributors. We are especially fortunate in recent years to have had papers given at our annual meetings by new members--"young" members, many of whom are college or even high school students."These presentations are oftentimes given during sessions right alongside some of our oldest members. We've also had long-time members who've been...