I've never been, and I am so excited. What I'm also excited for is the chance to do some camping.
When I was growing up, my family had a tradition of camping for Thanksgiving. I have so many good memories of helping set up camp, watching my dad build big fires, and taking hikes in the woods. It's been a couple years now since I've been camping, so I am stoked for this weekend!
Hence...I can't help but want to write about the folk knowledge of camping for my blog post this week. Please humor me.
One of the first things I wondered about camping was how in the world I could address it in terms of our history learning outcome. In its current form, it's actually a relatively new thing. The "invention" of camping as a recreational activity is credited to Thomas Hiram Holding who wrote a handbook about it in 1908. Yes, the knowledge was recorded and thus came out from the realm of pure folk knowledge, but bear with me because Holding's own history is a great example of the transmission and transformation of folk knowledge.
Holding developed his passion for camping as a 9-year-old when he crossed America's plains with his parents as part of a wagon train. You can read more about his life and contribution to camping here, but what I love most about his story is that he found pleasure in the skills that he learned as part of everyday life - how to cook, sleep and perform other essential tasks outdoors - to that point that practicing those skills became a form of recreation for him later in life.
I don't think anyone can deny that camping is a lot of work. Today, we don't learn the skills that it requires as part of our everyday life, but instead enjoy them as a specialized type of folk knowledge that allows us to challenge ourselves and enjoy nature. I know that's what I'll be doing this weekend! And who knows what new camping skills I might pick up along the way?
Camping is a lot of fun! It's always great to get away from your hectic day-to-day life and enjoy the great outdoors! I think that would actually be a good example of folk knowledge because, even if camping is a newer thing, survival skills in the wild have been around since the cavemen and it was an essential knowledge that was passed down for a very long time. I think camping is more of a way to ensure that we keep the knowledge of survival skills, even when we don't typically need them in this day and age. Who knows, we may need them eventually!
ReplyDeleteI do like how it's evolved from a necessity into a form of recreation, rather like hunting. That's probably why it took so long for people to "rediscover" it - they might have seen it as a primitive way of living that their ancestors had once been forced to deal with, but which they had now bypassed on their way to better things. I wonder what other skills or activities we might think of as antiquated today that our children will resdiscover just for fun?
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed camping as a recreational activity and not a survival necessity. But I believe camping can have a mantic use to it now where it had a sophic use before. Before camping was just another part of life and staying alive in the wild. But for us now it is a way to go to nature and see god's creation. Along with this we can become closer to the ones we love by sharing that experience of "roughing it" out in the wild with our dad or brother or even mom and sister! (Although in my experience, my mom wouldn't be caught dead camping.) Anyway, I think we have made camping a more spiritual and personal activity now then it was before and this way the folk knowledge has changed to a more mantic activity than sophic
ReplyDeleteAs an Eagle Scout who's been on many campouts yet still probably can't start a fire, I really enjoyed your post, Alicia. It's interesting to think that people evolved from living in tents and little villages in the wilderness to living in big cities that are far from trees and rivers and wildlife. In the Book of Mormon, in Alma 30:44, we read that Alma testifies unto Korihor that God exists, and he asks him, "will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." As society has moved away from nature, it is no surprise that society has become more sophic and less mantic. Nevertheless, the forms of religiousness that have existed in primitive and modern societies must be taken into account as well. For example, are modern-day Christians more mantic than primitive-animal worshippers who lived in Africa before the birth of Christ? Who is to say who is more mantic, and who is to say who is less?
ReplyDeleteI guess I have never thought of camping as folk knowledge before. I really enjoyed reading about your family tradition of camping at Thanksgiving. That is one of the great things about folk knowledge in my opinion; that it can be so personal and unique for those who share a common thread in it. I am not the biggest fan of camping in the world and I was wondering why that is. I think one reason is that my family hasn't made that a part of our family folk knowledge when I was growing up. Most of my camping memories are of grueling backpacking outings when I was in scouts. I wonder if past experiences with certain folk knowledge can affect how you apply those in your own life in the future. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteScott, that's a really interesting question. I would say definitely, YES, how you experience folk knowledge plays a big role in how you use (or don't use) it. For example, almost everyone learns through experience how to cook (at least a little bit) and help with chores like setting a table or washing dishes. But the way that these tasks are distributed among family members is different in every family, and you can see the effect of these differences when you get into a group setting that involves these jobs(like a school camping trip!) and see the different ways that and varying degrees to which people help out.
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