Recording Children's Folklore

Children playing in the school yard in Dublin

Children playing in the school yard in Dublin

Children playing in the school yard in Dublin

Children playing in the school yard in Dublin

Children playing in the school yard in Dublin

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Children’s folklore was forever changed by the pioneering work of English husband-and-wife team Peter and Iona Opie during the 1950s – but the folklore of Irish schoolchildren was hugely influential in how society sees childhood today. In 1952, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes was released, followed by The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren in 1959, Children’s Games in Street and Playground in 1969, and The Singing Game in 1959. The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren recorded the lore that passes between children of ages 6-14, and was based on the contributions of 5,000 children attending 70 schools in parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Opies are still recognised as the world’s foremost authorities on childhood tradition, and their works are consulted by libraries, universities, and museums regarding details of children’s toys, books, and games.

The Opies comprehensively rebutted the idea that the mass media is destroying childhood traditions, showing that it actually helped spread them. In 1975, Eil í s Brady published a seminal collection of Dublin children’s games, songs, riddles, rhymes, and pranks. She also showed that the a changing Dublin, particularly the disappearance of the tenements and spread of suburban housing estates, was not killing children’s street games or speech – it was just changing their context.

Brady’s study included clapping and rhyming games, jeers and chants, playing house games, knick-knock pranks and mischief making, ball games, chasing games such as “tip-the-can”, hide and seek games, guessing games, statue games, games with chestnuts (conkers), and even the trick of placing a buttercup under a person’s chin to discover whether or not they like butter (if they do, the buttercup will reflect off their chin; if they do not, it will not).