Vol. 84 No. 2 – Spring, 2025

Editor’s Preface

Rachel V. González-Martin 

The Observation of Quilts and Other Trifles: Materials and Methods

Laurel McKay Horton

ABSTRACT: Folklorists typically study quilts by interviewing living makers, asking questions about the patterns and processes, the most visible aspects. But quilts exist in multiple contexts and hold numerous meanings for the makers, recipients, and viewers. Instead of asking for answers, a more useful question would be “What can you tell me about this quilt?” KEYWORDS: quilts, women, method, history, research

The Sexuality Barrier in Studying Children’s Folklore

Jay Mechling 

ABSTRACT: Sutton-Smith’s article, “Psychology of Childlore: The Triviality Barrier” (1970), identifies a reason why the study of childlore has been neglected and makes the case for developmental psychology as a discipline that sees the serious value of play. Now the study of childlore is thriving, but there remains resistance to the idea that children are sexual beings from birth. Some of the sexual content in children’s folklore is conscious and manifest, but interpreting the latent sexual meanings of much of the folklore of children and adolescents requires a theory of the unconscious and a Theory of Mind. A particularly profitable theory of the unconscious of the child is the psychoanalytic one, as demonstrated here with examples from the author’s ethnographic observations of adolescent boys at Boy Scout camp. KEYWORDS: children, adolescents, sexuality, Theory of Mind, psychoanalysis

The Enduring and Evolving Magical-Healing Practices in Pomerania over the Past Two Hundred Years

Krzysztof Ulanowski 

ABSTRACT: Western science tends to distance itself from magical healing processes. It fails to see that such processes reflect a very wide

range of issues, including beliefs, orientation toward the world and people, and all kinds of religious, mythological, and spiritual views. I am persuaded that adequate understanding of such processes illuminates a broad scope of social and cultural behavior. Here I focus on processes that have been present in Pomerania (the northern part of Poland and the Baltic Sea) over the past two hundred years. Delimiting a specific geographical area enabled a more detailed study of the changes, their origin, and future prospects within a particular community. The geographical, historical, and political area of Pomerania has been subject to transformations, and it is interesting to see if changes in magical- healing processes reflect these historical and political shifts. To capture this dual process accurately, I apply methods developed within social sciences and humanities, so as to enable observation of changes and their outcomes in Pomerania, and in particular, Kashubia. KEYWORDS: Pomerania, Kashubia, tradition, healing, woman-healer, magic, spells