Atlantic Canadian Folklore Collection of Creighton Report (Assessment)

Introduction

Half a century ago, Helen Creighton was a hopeful inexperienced Nova Scotia author who desired to discover regional shade and cultural context for her journal piece and tales:

When it was suggested to me by Dr. Henry Munro, Superintendent of Education for the province, that I look for ballads in my search for literary material within this coast of adventure and romance, I thought the possibility of finding any such songs very remote indeed…. Yet be it said in defense that until the early summer of 1929 I had never heard a ballad sung in this my native province. (Reid 119)

So a path as a gatherer and promoter of customs started, and it has extended for fifty years. Helen Creighton’s memoirs, ‘A Life in Folklore’, give sufficient proof to her accomplishments as an explorer in the area of Maritime myths. The fact that is not so obvious to understand is the exact position of Helen Creighton in the record of North American study of the mythology generally and of Atlantic Canada especially.

Analysis

As soon as Helen Creighton started gathering ethnic music in Nova Scotia, she appeared to be, undeniably, somewhat of an explorer. Just W. Roy Mackenzie had earlier completed an important job in the area. Kittredge inspired scholars to gather ethnic melodies and chants and using this support Mackenzie went back to indigenous Pictou County, Nova Scotia, starting in 1908, in order to gather something that he and nearly every one of chant researchers of the present considered to be the final existing fragments of the verbal custom. He was, without a doubt, one of the most excellent of lots of folk gatherer-researchers that got under the impact of Kittredge during the first forty years of the twentieth century.

His work in folklore was restricted to two books — The Quest of the Ballad (1919), an account of his folksong collecting in Pictou County, with many detailed character sketches of the singers and some valuable insights into the social contexts of traditional folksong, and Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia (1928), a major achievement of accurate collection and comparative annotation with an excellent introduction, a work that towers above many other regional folksong collections from the same period. (Reid 123)

As a research work, the second one goes beyond Helen Creighton’s ethnic melodies compilations as well. Mackenzie did nothing else in mythology, and until the middle of the first decade of the twentieth century had ended in the pleasant post as an accomplished and skilled Shakespeare academic and division director at Washington University that is situated at St. Louis.

In a case when Fowke’s declaration is correct, an additional differentiation has to take place, and Helen Creighton needs to give the illustration. She already established herself as an outstanding, skilled mythology gatherer, and the evidence of her occupational accomplishment can be noticed in her numerous writings. As a researcher of the folklore, she still is a recognized novice. For the entire time of gathering and all the appealing fable she stored in the Maritimes, she not a single time put the mythology she gathered inside of a foundation which would stimulate enlightening of the communal, cognitive, or archival sense of the information to the ethnicity from which it originated.

This appears to be a weak point she distributes with lots of other remarkable explorers of North American mythology research — reasonably, as there was no North American degree in Folklore until the middle of the twentieth century, and the first Folklore doctorates from an English-language Canadian institution of higher education were not granted until the second half of the twentieth century. Earlier, there had been outstanding area scientists and relative academics, similar to Helen Creighton and Mackenzie, but to find out what legends have to propose to the apprentice of Atlantic Canada we have to give attention to the more modern investigation of skilled folklore researchers.

‘Folklore of Canada’, the publication was written by Edith Fowke presents a collection of extracts from printed workings with several types of research that were not printed before. Moreover, it is a perfectly explained potpourri of collectanea that embodies a lot of various categories of traditional stories and myths. The maritime publication comprises several brief collections from Mackenzie, Helen Creighton, Fraser, and Fauset (Reid 125). Despite being quite extensive, this research provides no innovative information and generates no hypothetical foundational for the promising area of mythology schoolwork in Canada. A lot of researchers claim that in order to receive a better insight regarding the topic, one should try to find the material in innovative and unique resources. The appendix and the index of the ‘Folklore of Canada’ by Edith Fowke deliver a preliminary point.

The revolutionary in Atlantic Canada mythology investigation was conducted almost a decade before the ‘Folklore of Canada’, the publication was written by Edith Fowke. In 1962, Memorial University of Newfoundland presented Herbert Halpert, who was just an American researcher, with an opportunity to enter its educational institution, with the purpose of founding a foremost epicenter of mythology investigation. Herbert Halpert was a previous leader of the American Folklore Association and an intercontinental acknowledged academic of mythology and traditional stories. His preceding contact with the ethnos and history of Newfoundland was rather short-term. According to Halpert himself, “during the Second World War, with a brief layover when his U.S. Army plane landed in Gander, he went out around the bay and collected folklore. He had done the same thing, more extensively, when he was stationed in Alberta” (Creighton 56). On the course of two and a half years after Haleprt’s appearance at Memorial, investigation discussions on Newfoundland traditional stories were being prearranged and systematized.

In 1967, the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive and the Department of Folklore was found. After some time passed, ‘Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland’, which is an assortment of documents in folklore, history, sentence structure, and sociology, prepared by Herbert Halpert and his colleague, was published by the University of Toronto Press. The beginning of the work can be found in one of the initial conventions, and Herbert Halpert was its impulse. A number of the works had a great influence on the records in the cultural collection.

In the report of Christmas Mumming in the Journal of American Folklore, it was described as perhaps the most popular and effective cooperative determination to book inscription since the innovative conduct of the King James’ Bible. Furthermore, it should have, if adequate academics be present at its demonstration, as much inspiration on the schoolwork of mythology as the mentioned above book had on Christianity (Creighton 81). Moreover, the expert declared that this was fundamental research, not only for the reason of its focus on the theme particularly but due to its process and the discernment of its writers.

‘Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland’ is an excellent case of cooperative research, with a lot of interesting information and several evocative understandings of a certain Newfoundland custom. Its effect on mythological researches, sadly, was not that huge.

A couple of the works in this special issue, done by recipients at Memorial, are of special value to mythology study in Atlantic Canada. John R. Scott introduced a study of the public purpose of tricks and pranks to Newfoundland representatives; Monica Morrison described the public significance (and malfunction) of the marriage nighttime joke, near Woodstock, New Brunswick. Together Scott and Morrison, along with other patrons, demonstrated in their paper the great effect of Herbert Halpert by the means of their importance on the public and traditional background of the cultural heritage. Later, Michael Taft, who nowadays educates in Saskatchewan, wrote first of a number of modern mythological writings from Newfoundland. Clearly restricted in its range and appropriateness, Michael Taft’s catalog is, however, an exemplary for researches that fill the space between traditional customs and common culture. His mythological collection for Nova Scotia is one more helpful study instrument for the district.

From the time of the Michael Taft collection, another six folk papers have been published. They are not so rememberable and important like ‘Christmas Mumming’; none of them are as cautiously created as Michael Taft’s catalog. Few of them are so mysterious to Newfoundland traditions that their effect in the region can be only the smallest.

Canadian folklore has always been the conventional historic information that the citizens of the country hand over to their inheritors from generation to generation, both as verbal collected works and ‘by tradition or repetition’. It consists of melodies, traditional stories, anecdotes, poems, aphorisms, weather wisdom, fantasies, and various experiences such as common food-production and craft-manufacture. The biggest frameworks of folklore in the region have their place in the indigenous and French-Canadian societies. English-Canadian mythology and the customs of contemporary colonizer clusters made their contribution to the nation’s ethos.

Several wide subjects could be recognized in indigenous folk tales of Canada. Legends about the foundation of the world appear to be in the midst of the most hallowed to indigenous beliefs. For example, Haida legends of the Raven, a spiritual creature, enlighten the people of Canada about the formation of the sunlight. The Haida term for Raven could be translated as the creature that is willing to command things, and it was Raven who implemented the rules of the wildlife and was the witness to the creation of the first people on the planet.

Another creation legend that comes from the Northeastern Woodlands communities designates the formation of North America; at that time, the territory was called the Turtle Island, and it was created by Muskrat and Turtle (Diamond 18). The legends about the roots of scenic landscapes, such as highlands and water streams, are communal in indigenous verbal customs.

Paranormal creatures are rather noticeable in the big amount of legends about the derivation of residences, wildlife, and other regular wonders. “Nanabozho is the “trickster” spirit and hero of Ojibwa mythology (part of the larger body of Anishinaabe traditional beliefs). Glooscap, a giant gifted with supernatural powers, is the hero and “transformer” of the mythology of the Wabanaki peoples” (Philip and Wilkinson 41). Mystical involvements with regular persons are originated in various other legends. For instance, the Chippewa are known for their legends establishing the origin of the first corn and the first robin, which were generated by an apparition of a simple youngster. Some of the legends provide an explanation for the backgrounds of hallowed ceremonies or matters, “such as sweat lodges, wampum, and the sundance. Cryptids, or mythical beasts, exist in some aboriginal folklore. Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, the Wendigo, and Ogopogo are popular examples” (Philip and Wilkinson 58).

The melodies and traditional stories of Newfoundland’s populaces are prejudiced by their descendants, colonizers who mostly came from the coasts of Ireland and England. The ethnic legends of Newfoundland could from time to time be found in Ireland and Great Britain, relying on the typical personality or the role of Jack. The repeating of these legends and passing them from generation to generation in the inaccessible remote Newfoundland outports of the landmass provided them with an opportunity to receive a typical Newfoundland essence. Similar to the other folklore stories where Jack person is mentioned, the Jack of Newfoundland tradition appears to be indolent or ill-behaved; nonetheless, he is close at all times quick-witted while confronted with harsh conditions, for example, in cases when he opposes goliaths or ghosts. Native traditional compositions and customary music of Ireland continue to be prevalent in Newfoundland, along with gaining popularity within the Maritime Countryside, where the traditional fidget music of Canada appeared to have a significant role in the local ethos (Bennett 141).

Ghost legends appear conspicuously in the traditional stories of the Atlantic outlying areas. “One example is the story of the Dungarvon Whooper, a tale involving a logger from the Dungarvon River near Miramichi, New Brunswick in the 1860s. According to the legend, the logger murdered a camp cook for his money” (Colombo 31). It has been appealed that unnerving cries and wails have been overheard in the forests by the Dungarvon River eternally from that time.

Conclusion

The study of the mythology in Atlantic Canada has reached an unprecedented height since the time when Helen Creighton departed for the first time in order to bring together folksongs and stories in the first half of the twentieth century. The research of Helen Creighton and other early academics on the subject of mythology up to the present day delivers a compact foundation of information upon which more current background and practical training have the opportunity to base. With the studies such as ‘Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland’ and ‘Joe Scott, The Woodsman-Songmaker’, the ethnic customs of the area have delivered enough information and data for training of infrequent superiority.

Nonetheless, the information about the area’s traditional stories is relatively irregular. Not enough research, for instance, has been conducted by the academics on the customs of coal pit workers, and a lot of investigation needs to be completed on the folk backgrounds of the coastal and offshore fishermen. A more complete and broad comprehension of the local folk ethos of Atlantic Canada can arrive solely in cases when mythology educations have converted to be an essential part of the investigation and schooling in Maritime academies. The researchers cannot stop but believe that this will start to happen in a little while.

Works Cited

Bennett, Margaret. “Sonny’s Dream: Essays on Newfoundland Folklore and Popular Culture.” Folklore 125.1 (2014): 140-142. Print.

Colombo, John. Ghost Stories of Canada, Toronto, Canada: Dundurn, 2000. Print.

Creighton, Helen. Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, New York, New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print.

Diamond, Beverley. “MacEdward Leach and the Songs of Atlantic Canada.” Oral Tradition 28.2 (2013): 17-21. Print.

Philip, Neil, and Philip Wilkinson. Eyewitness Companions: Mythology, London, United Kingdom: Penguin, 2007. Print.

Reid, John. “Folklore Research in Atlantic Canada: An Overview.” Acadiensis 8.2 (1979): 118-130. Print.