What is Childlore?

 

 

Childlore is the folk culture of children, what it means to be a part of that folk group and the activities and rituals displayed by most members of that special club. Brian Sutton-Smith describes the group as a way for children to escape the mundane of the adults around them, as a response to boring routine; “It is a revelry of their own youthful actions that no longer seem profound of moving to adults, or it is a antithetical reaction to the institutional and everyday hegemonies of the life about them.”(Brian Sutton-Smith, pg.6). To remove oneself from the expectations of the generation who have forgotten what it truly means to be a child, one must create a world full of fun and often this fun is in the form of nonsense verse and nursery rhymes on subjects ranging from the witty to the inappropriate.  

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The Childlore of Nursery Rhymes

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Peter and Iona Opie were one of the most famous collectors of the rhymes children used in England in the early to mid-twentieth century. They explored the subjects with which children rhymed and the variations up and down England. Their collection in the book The Lore and Language of School Children depicts only slight variations as they visited schools in many counties. These changes regularly reflected differences in local food preferences or local vernacular, for as small as England is when we compare it to places like the US, it varies substantially from corner to corner. In their Introductory the Opie’s describe child lore as different to nursery lore because it is not the mother goose nursery rhymes saved by adults for repetition to children, these rhymes are full of inappropriateness meant only for the children, they go so far as to say “...part of their fun is the thought, usually correct, that adults know nothing about them.” (Peter and Iona Opie, pg. IB). The Opies tell us that these rhymes are as much used to cover a child’s inability to handle awkward situations or silences, perhaps just to explore the language they are still learning about in a way no adult allows them to. Rhymes about death help children deal with emotions surrounding them, they can use the rhymes with other children in a way that adults would not accept. For example; 

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“Poor old Peggy’s dead 

She died last night in bed. 

We put her in a coffin 

And she fell right through the bottom,  

Poor old Peggy’s dead.” 

(Peter and Iona Opie, pg. 32) 

Martha Sims and Martine Stephens describe response verse as a part of the rituals in these cultural performances “performances of folklore happen naturally within daily conversations and situations.” (Sims and Stephens. Pg. 131). To demonstrate knowledge in a given situation Idoms may be used to demonstrate and opinion “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” (Sims and Stephens. Pg. 131) or response rhymes when something happens or is seen for example when someone is seen going into and ambulance; “Touch your head, touch your toes, Hope I never go in one of those.” (Lore and Language of School Children, pg. 215). These performances are formed over time and are used in almost scripted situations, the intertextuality matters, phrases and rhymes used without prior knowledge by those around them leads to confusion, some rhymes make no sense without prior conversations leading to that point (Blackwell, pg. 4). These times of intertextuality vary in occasion, and they are not always just for lighthearted fun, and definitely not adult approved. The Opies denote an occasion when, in the 17th Century, gangs of children would trapse around Oxfordshire the week before Easter. They sing a special song at the house, if no gift is received, they respond with; 

“Here sits a bad wife 

The devil take her life 

Set her upon a swivell 

And send her to ye Devill” 

(Peter and Iona Opie, pg 231) 

 

This rhyme was only used to portray their feelings about not getting a gift, it was a form of begging and the curse upon the woman of the house at that time period would have been seen as vulgar and possibly scary. Those that knew of the routine scripted performance would probably have felt compelled to give a gift to dissuade the follow up rhyme. 

One of the most fascinating parts of the child lore of nursery rhymes is how it still endure today, in his book Alton Kelsey describes the child lore of London in his book published this century (those material was sourced in the later 19th century), he says “It is probably not an overstatement to claim that children’s lore is the most real and vigorous of the oral folklore still alive in London.” (Alton Kelsey, pg. Xxiii). Kelsey describes much more about the use of nursery rhymes as things to recite when participating in another activity, such as ball play or dips to count out for a game. The Opies and Kelsey describe variations in gender usage of rhymes, the boys tending to the more vulgar, but that there was cross usage for many. This folklore is one that will continue but will necessarily change and develop as language and experiences vary. Most adults in modern times are less daunted by child vulgarity these days, and many of us still bear witness to children living out these scripts just as we did as children, however, these performances are not for us. They are an important part of being a child and finding belonging within a folk group that understands your scripts and performances for exactly what they are, and not as a display of misbehavior that an adult would assume it was.