This fascinating encyclopedia explores the rich and varied cultural traditions of folklife in America -- from barn raisings to the Internet, tattoos, and Zydeco -- through expressions that include ritual, custom, crafts, architecture, food, clothing, and art.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• A
• Adolescents
• Aesthetics
• African American Communities
• Alaska
• Allegheny Region
• Altars
• Amana
• American Samoa
• Amish, Nebraska
• Amish, Old Order
• Animals
• Appalachia
• Arab Communities
• Archives and Libraries
• Armenian Communities
• Art Environments
• Atlanta
• Atlas
• Automobiles
• B
• Baltimore
• Banjo
• Baptists, Old Regular
• Barn Raising
• Barns
• Baskets and Basketry
• Basque Communities
• Belief
• Bikers
• Birth
• Blue Ridge Region
• Bluegrass Music
• Blues
• Body Modification and Tattooing
• Bodybuilders and Weight Lifters
• Bosnian Communities
• Boston
• Boy Scouts
• Branding
• Brooklyn
• Buddhists
• Bulgarian Communities
• C
• Cajun Communities
• Cape Cod
• Cape Verdean Communities
• Carnival
• Carolina, Down East
• Carpatho-Rusyn Communities
• Catholic Charismatics
• Catholics
• Chain Letters
• Charleston and Lowcountry South Carolina
• Chicago
• Chicano and Mexican Communities
• Childhood
• Children's Groups
• Chinatowns
• Chinese Communities
• Christmas
• Church of the Brethren
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
• Coastal Carolina Plain Region
• Cockfighting
• Communal Societies
• Communication
• Community and Group
• Consumerism
• Context
• Courtship
• Cowboys
• Craft
• Creoles, Louisiana
• Croatian Communities
• Croatians, Louisiana
• Cuban Communities
• Cults and Rumor-Panics, Satanic
• Cultural Register
• Czech Communities
• D
• Dance, Liturgical
• Dance, Secular
• Danish Communities
• Deaf Communities
• Death and Funerals
• Delmarva and the Eastern Shore Region
• Delta, Mississippi River
• Denver
• Des Moines
• Detroit
• Dialect
• Dialect Stories
• Dominican Communities
• Drama
• Dress and Costume
• E
• Easter
• Eastern Orthodox Christians
• Education
• El Paso
• Environment
• Estonian Communities
• Ethnic and Immigrant Folklife
• Ethnography and Fieldwork
• F
• Family
• Fans, Automobile Racing
• Fans, Extreme Metal
• Fans, Heavy Metal
• Farmers
• Feminism
• Fetishes
• Filipino Communities
• Film and Video
• Finnish Communities
• Firefighters
• Fishing Communities
• Folk Art
• Folk Festivals
• Folk Music and Song
• Folk Society
• Folk Speech and Language
• Folklife and Folk Culture
• Folklife Organizations
• Folklore
• Folklorists
• Foodways
• Fourth of July and Juneteenth
• Franco-American Communities
• Fraternal Organizations
• French Canadian Communities
• Function and Functionalism
• G
• Gamblers and Gambling
• Games, Drinking
• Games and Toys
• Gangs
• Gangs, Youth
• Gardens and Gardening
• Gay Communities
• Gay Fire Island
• Gay San Francisco
• Geography
• German Communities
• Germans, Great Plains
• Gestures
• Gospel Music
• Goths
• Gravemarkers
• Great Plains Indians
• Great Plains Region
• Greek Communities
• Grottoes
• Guam
• Gullah, or Geechee, Communities
• H
• Hair
• Haitian Communities
• Halloween
• Hare Krishna
• Harlem
• Hasidim and Misnagidim (Haredim)
• Hawaiians, Native
• Healing, Faith
• Healing and Medicine
• Hillbillies
• Hindus
• Hip-Hop
• History and Heritage
• Hmong Communities
• Holidays
• Hospitals
• Houses
• Houston
• Humor
• Hungarian Communities
• Hunting
• Hutterites
• I
• Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge
• Internet
• Irish, Boston
• Irish, Chicago
• Irish Communities
• Italian Communities
• Italian Community, Detroit
• J
• Japanese Communities
• Japantowns
• Jewish Communities
• Jews, Crypto- and Protestant Millennialism
• K
• Korean Communities
• Ku Klux Klan
• L
• Landscape
• Lao Communities
• Las Vegas
• Latvian Communities
• Legends
• Lithuanian Communities
• Little Egypt
• Little Havana
• Little League Baseball and Youth Sports Organizations
• Little Sweden
• Loggers, Maine
• Los Angeles
• Love Feast
• Lumbering
• Lutherans
• M
• Macedonian Communities
• Maine, Down East
• Märchen
• Mardi Gras
• Martial Artists
• Material Culture
• Medicine, Folk
• Memorial Day
• Memphis
• Men and Masculinity
• Mennonites
• Mennonites, Reformed
• Mennonites, Wenger
• Metal and Metalworkers
• Methodists
• Miami
• Middle Atlantic Region
• Midwest
• Migrant Workers and Hoboes
• Millennialists
• Milwaukee
• Miners, Anthracite
• Miners, Bituminous
• Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area
• Molokans
• Montagnard-Dega Communities
• Mormon Culture Region
• Mormon Fundamentalists
• Mormons
• Museums and Exhibitions
• Muslims
• N
• Names
• Narrative, Personal
• Nashville
• Nationalism
• Netherlands Dutch and Belgian Communities
• New England
• New Orleans
• New Year
• New York City
• Northern Appalachian Region (Catskills and Adirondacks)
• Northwest Coast
• Norwegian Communities
• Nuer Communities
• Nurses
• O
• Occupational Folklife
• Old German Baptist Brethren
• Old Order River Brethren
• Old-Age Communities
• Old-Time Music
• Oral and Folk History
• Organizations, Corporate and Work
• Organizations, Voluntary and Special-Interest
• Outsider Art
• Ozarks
• P
• Paper Arts
• Parades
• Pennsylvania Culture Region
• Pennsylvania German Communities
• Pentecostals
• Performance Approach And Dramatic Arts
• Philadelphia
• Photography
• Picnics
• Pittsburgh
• Place and Space
• Polish Communities
• Polka
• Popular Culture
• Portuguese-Speaking Communities
• Potlatch
• Pottery
• Powwowing
• Prisoners
• Proverbs and Sayings
• Psychobilly
• Psychology
• Public Folklife
• Puerto Rican Communities
• Punk
• Q
• Quakers
• Queens, Borough of
• Quilting
• R
• Railroaders
• Rangeley Lakes Region
• Recreational Vehicle Communities
• Region
• Religion
• Reunions
• Riddles and Riddling
• Rio Grande Border Region
• Rituals and Rites
• Rocky Mountain Cultural Region
• Rugs and Rug Making
• Russian Communities
• S
• Saddles and Saddle Making
• Sailors
• Saint Louis
• San Diego
• San Francisco Bay Area
• Santa Fe
• Scottish Communities
• Senegalese Communities
• September 11th
• Serbian, Slovenian, and Montenegrin Communities
• Shakers
• Shenandoah Valley Region
• Showers, Wedding and Baby
• Shrines and Crosses, Roadside
• Shrines and Memorials, Spontaneous and Vernacular
• Sicilian Communities
• Sikhs
• Skateboarders
• Skinheads
• Slovak Communities
• Snake-Handling Sects
• Soldiers
• South, The
• South Asian Communities
• Southeastern Indians
• Southwest
• Southwestern Indians
• Spiritualists
• Sports Teams
• Steelworkers
• Stone
• Storytelling
• Straight Edge
• Students
• Suburbs
• Supernatural
• Swedish Communities
• Symbol and Structure
• T
• Taxi Drivers
• Texas
• Text
• Thanksgiving
• Tibetans
• Toasts and Dozens
• Tradition and Culture
• Trial Lawyers
• Truck Drivers (Long-Haul Truckers)
• Tulsa
• Twelve-Step Groups
• U
• Ukrainian Communities
• Unions
• Urban Folklife
• V
• Vietnamese Communities
• Visual Culture
• Voodoo and Santería
• W
• Washington, D.C.
• Weddings and Marriage
• West African Communities
• Wiccans
• Wiregrass Region
• Women
• Wood
• Wrestling, Professional
• Z
• Zydeco
• Master Bibliography
• Books and Articles
• Web Sites