Importance Of African Folklore

Africana Folklore lives on today!
One may question how important Africana folklore is. Africana folklore has been around for longer than you and me. Many things has been learned from this. We all have seen or used Africana folklore tradition, dance or music just you may not realize it. As Africana folklore has been around for centuries and passed downed from generation to generation and preserved, for creating stories, teaching lessons for kids, teaching history for future generations to view upon information that may not be addressed in their history textbooks, and their fashion, dancing, and music sense still exist till this day, thus allowing us to continue preserving their cultures and following their beliefs and learning!
Folklore has

Story telling has been around for generations, people are told folklore at a really young age whether they hear it from school, their parents read them it, or they research it themselves. Africana folklore has always told a story which may be to entertain or teach a lesson. The African folklore story called Anansi the Spider, which was about a spider that had 8 legs and loved food, this story taught a lesson. The spider was offered food from many different animals and he agreed to take all the food and told the animals to let him know when the food was ready by tugging on his leg which he tied up to each of them. At one point all the animals tugged and well the rest is self-explanatory.(“Why Anasi Has Eight Thin leg” ) This taught a lesson of learning not to be greedy. Another story is called The Lion’s

(Prahlad, p256) As folklore itself has been around for generation’s it allows us to use facts as a cross reference. For example in a book Silencing the Past by Michel Rolph Trouillot, the first story was called “The three faces of San Souci”, which was about how the name came to be and where it came from as different places argued different things. (p. 67-68) There is times when you look into a history book that has one side of the story only. For example if there was a fight between two sides and only one side could write of course they would write all the good stuff about themselves and portray the other side in a negative way. But with the help of folklore people can go back and ask about stories, and go back to where the place was and ask people. (Trouillot. P67) They may not all be facts however it creates a start and allows for reference checks and a different side and point of view. Another way African folklore teaches history is with their myths such as the myth on how the world was created and where people went after death. There is a belief or myth of a guardian and trickster whom speak all languages and has the power to remove obstacles and give opportunities. It was the belief that all gods must consult with him first. (African