Friday, April 6, 2018

F: Febold Feboldson



A Swedish-American plainsman from Nebraska, Febold is an American folk hero who could influence the weather as a cloudbuster/rainmaker. In one tale, he hypnotized frogs into croaking so loudly that a) the clouds thought it was thunder and began raining, or, depending on the version, b) the Native American rain god got a headache from all the noise and sent rain to shut the frogs up.

Febold is often in the same class as Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan, American heroes of lore who are perhaps not actually based on true folk tales but rather "invented" by writers. In the 1950s, this practice resulted in the coining of the term fakelore, meaning manufactured folklore presented as if genuinely traditional. But stories are fluid and change over time, and it can be difficult to draw absolute lines around them. So now, you're more likely to see the term folklorism in reference to the adaptation, or outright invention, of folklore.


7 comments:

  1. I have never heard of him. Wonderful post. "Fakelore"--clever that.

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    1. Thanks, Jacqui! Glad you stopped by for F.

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  2. A really informative post, Jenny. Like Jacqui, I'd never heard of Febold. I love the repetition in his name and the details of his story.

    F is for (The) Faraway Nearby

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    1. Yes I love how these stories are full of exaggeration!

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  3. Jenny,

    I remember when I was in elementary school, we'd sometimes get to watch a film featuring Paul Bunyan which was my favorite thing. I do not recall Febold, though. I knew Paul Bunyan wasn't a real person but it was neat to imagine that he was and the tales of how the Grand Canyon was formed by him or his Ox was just fun. Thanks for sharing and for visiting me at Curious as a Cathy with A2Z Creating iPad Art Sketches ‘Fairy’!

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    1. I loved Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox, Babe. So outlandish, yet almost believable to a kid!

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  4. Your posts Are very interesting, and entertaining. Thanks for the read.

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