Do I Have a Folkgroup?

From the beginning of this semester, I have struggled to identify the folklore that exists in my life. After reading chapter three, I'm still not exactly sure about where I fit in the realm of folklore and folkgroups.

I think the reason I'm struggling is because I have spent my entire life as a military dependent. While I can appreciate that somehow that should translate automatically into a folkgroup, it's only on the surface. Moving so much has kept me from developing any solid traditions that stick. For example, when I lived in Spain as a little girl, we celebrated the New Year in the Spanish tradition. For each of the twelve seconds preceding the stroke of midnight, we had to eat a grape...twelve grapes in twelve seconds is death-defying! Although we enjoyed the tradition, we stopped practicing it once we moved elsewhere. While living in Korea, we would attend festivals celebrating Budha's birthday, but none of my family members bother with it now.

So I thought to myself, "I'm a military wife -- that ought to count for something!" Yet I can think of no standing, across-the-board, tradition that I share exclusively with military spouses...except enjoying our commissary privleges on base. Everything else has a variance of some sort.

I did, however, manage to fit myself into two folkgroups. Being a Christian seems too broad a term, as there are many denominations within Christianity -- even though I don't think Christ intended it to be that way. To be more specific, I am a Southern Baptist. While we don't believe that being ritualistic is what Christ wants from us, and churches are becoming more & more contemporary, there are some favorite, traditional hymns that we like to sing. My personal favorite is "The Old Rugged Cross," and I even enjoy singing it to my children as a lullabuy -- which brings me to my next folkgroup!

I have three daugthers, ages 18, 16, & 8, and still sing to my youngest before bedtime. (By the way, when I tell her I'm too tired to sing, she'll pull out the guilt-card in a minute and ask me to sing to her about Jesus...the little schemer!) So that is a tradition I've kept up for 18 years and is part of mine & my family's lore. Also, for the last few years, my two oldest daughters have adopted a "side-language" that they affectionately refer to as "Emilyisms." My youngest daughter is named Emily, and they've collected all of her mispronounced words and funny phrases, and seem to inject them into EVERY conversation. The funny thing is, I'm habitually doing it too. (My husband thinks we're all idiots, mind you.) For example, if I'm fussing at one of my girls, another one will pipe in and say, "Wha's yu pwobwem, Mom?" and we'll inevitably start cracking up. If one of them wants to be left alone, she will say, "Get outta my rooN!" I have a feeling that our language of Emilyisms will be a part of our family tradition until our dying days...hopefully my husband will be able to stand it! If not, maybe I can make it up to him by singing him to sleep. =)