The Tradition of riddling questions in contemporary Lithuanian children’s folklore

• Unesco-centerbg.org: straipsnio tekstas

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Folkloristika; Minklės; Mįslės; Mįslės klausimai; Mįslės tradicija; Vaikai; Šiuolaikinis vaikų folkloras; Šiuolaikinė tautosaka; Children; Contemporary childrens folklore; Contemporary folklore; Folkloristics; Riddles; Riddling questions; Riddling tradition.

ENRiddles and riddling questions play an important role in children’s life and education. However, Lithuanian researchers have dedicated only very little attention to them as children’s folklore. Thus, the aim of this paper is to present and discuss riddling questions in the context of children’s culture, i.e. as a genre of contemporary children’s folklore. The methodology of the research consists of analytical descriptive and comparative analysis. The following are the main research questions that the present study aims to investigate: By who, when, and how are riddling questions performed nowadays? What are the main features of children’s riddling questions’ repertoire? What are the tendencies in the development of riddling questions’ tradition? The present research has shown that, on the one hand, parents and grandparents give riddles to children for entertainment and educational purposes, traditional variants are published in schoolbooks and other children’s books. On the other hand, riddling questions are performed exclusively in children’s groups for amusement, without the participation of adults or are even given to adults by children. Children’s riddling skills improve with age; the first young children’s riddling questions tend to be quite simple and primitive, whereas older children share more sophisticated texts, and new (sometimes, translated) riddling questions found on the Internet. [From the publication]