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Cover Page
Name:
Iveta Krumova
Student number:
122118881
Module Code:
FL2111
Lecturer Name:
Shane Lehane
Title:
Topic five: A comprehensive analysis of “Vernacular tradition”
Word Count:
2500
Date:
12/12/2022
I declare that this is my own work
Iveta Krumova
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Table of Contents
Cover Page ................................................................................................................................. 1
Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................. Ошибка! Закладка не определена.
Example one : Reading and writing ........................................................................................... 4
Example two : Baking ............................................................................................................... 6
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 8
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 9
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Introduction
The definition of the nature of Vernacular has been evaluating during the last decades. It was
first recorded in 1595-1605, from Latin which translates to “household, domestic, native” {1}.
Later it was defied as “Native crafts, the use of local materials, and vernacular buildings were
considered integral to each country's heritage, and their preservation and revival became part
of the movement to forge a strong national identity by Wendy Kaplan in 1995. {2} Finally,
according to a book in 1988 “Not long ago the term vernacular was seldom used except to
refer to regionally recognizable language patterns.” {3}. However, today, the term receives
wide definitions from a variety of people, but they all have seldom the same meaning fulfilling the most basic needs of human settlements. Vernacular tradition is the foundation
of folk life studies. Examples of vernacular traditions are traditional crafts, costume and
material culture, vernacular architecture, landscape, customs and tradition, and old crafts. As
a result, there are four essential concepts in the Vernacular tradition.
Firstly, response to need, which refers to the first level in the Maslow pyramid of human
needs. This is the most basic level of the needs, the physiological ones like air, water, food,
shelter, and clothing. {4} This is the true nature of the Vernacular coming back to the roots,
the simple things in life, and what is vital to surviving, like fire. The second principle is
materials to hand, which means using resources close by like wood, mud, leaves, fruits, and
stones. Thirdly, sufficient to purpose, which is an important factor in Vernacular tradition. It
means that the materials are useable and have the characteristics to fulfill the objective.
There is no need for the resources to be perfect, it is enough to work. Finally, having the
inherited know-how which is the tradition of knowledge of technology. It is about the vital
skills that every human being should have. In this regard, the concept of survival/ folk life
includes habitation, heat, light, food, clothes, transport, objects of everyday use, and
recreation.
At last, Vernacular traditions it is not solely about survival, although this is the origin of the
concept, it is also a reference to show how much the environment and people’s life today has
changed. The needs, materials, and know-how are tremendously different from the past.
However, the Vernacular tradition is the starting point where everyone goes back. This essay
will examine two examples of the vernacular that have “re-emerged” in modern times.
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Baking
When it comes to survival, one of the first associations made with this topic is food. The most
basic food made from raw material is bread. Depending on the climate some geographic
regions have used wheat and other like Ireland has used oats.{5} The Irish tradition of bread
consist of making flat thin hard bread from oats because this was the main crop and there
were no big ovens for baking. Therefore, the bread was served often in the form of porridge.
{6} This is a tradition that persists today and there are millions of recipes for all kinds of
porridges using products that are widely available now across the globe thanks to
globalization. {7} The vernacular tradition of porridge gives a foundation for modern
alternatives that meet not only the primary need of people for survival but implement the
aspect of creativity.
In addition to crops, other materials to hand a priori are water. “Water was vital for all
households and farms” {8}. And heat, “Pots, kettles, or griddles for baking unleavened 'griddle
bread' could be suspended over the fire, from a hook attached to a chain hung from a
horizontal rod in the chimney” {8} Those the materials and tools which are still essential parts
of the tradition of baking. In the past, there were different types of loaves of bread according
to available materials and occasions {9}. According to statistics, in 2022 it is recorded more
than a hundred types of bread exist, and even more when it comes to cakes. {10} This shows
that the tradition is protected and continues to grow.
Another major point is that the making of bread was in fact a domestic tradition for women
{5}. This is the ordinary folk life “A man would build his own house, boat, and furniture; a
woman would knit clothing, stitch quilts, bake bread.” {11}. This was one of the main activities
of the housewife’s working day. Nowadays, this is an ongoing conversation about gender
roles, sexism standards, and equality between men and women. {12} However, the vernacular
tradition of bread persists but is elevated in a more efficient way using advanced technology
and is suitable for all genders. In this regard, the invention of bread ovens is an interpretation
of the vernacular tradition. It makes the process easier, demanding less effort and time which
is the most valuable token in our fast -pasted society. This is the solution for a lot of modern
households which want to get closer to their roots by making bread for themselves. However,
this is a simulation of the vernacular, because as mentioned earlier it is more about the
process and the know-how behind the tradition than the result itself.
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In relation to that, a recent event made the whole world stop and slowdown from its mass
consumption and economic sporadic production - the pandemic Covid 19. The virus that
spread worldwide forced government to put restrictions on every sector in the economy and
everyday life e.g., less imports and exports, wearing masks, closing shops and restaurants,
and, curfews. As a result, “In 2020, baking product sales soared as more people were spending
much of their time at home and looking for productive activities to occupy their time”. People
rediscovered the joy behind making their own food at home, chiefly bread which is a staple
on every household’s table. In times of stress, baking comfort foods has also been prominent
during the pandemic. This made people discover baking as a hobby and made it an essential
part of their eating habits. In addition to that, the healthier lifestyle is embraced by more and
more people which pushed some people have turned to baking snacks and treats.
The pandemic created new consumption patterns and made people reconsider their
lifestyles. These changes are presumed to stay as people continue to work from home in 2022,
spending more time on hobbies. Parallel to vernacular tradition learning skills like baking,
sharing it with the family to keep the tradition going and making it a three-dimensional
heritage - useful, pleasant to make, and visually appealing.
A more hidden aspect, behind making bread nowadays, is that it is an activity that is sexualized by films and series, the same way as pottery. This can be interpreted both ways, on the
one hand, it subverts the core value of bread, which is to feed the family, and bring people
together to the table. It is a symbol of family love, peace, and home. On the other hand, the
scenes with couples in movies with a sexual focus on movements, chiefly kneading the bread
together, make a throwback to vernacular traditions, fulfilling the basic need of reproduction.
To sum up, the Vernacular tradition entails domestic, homemade, and local, traditions that
respond to basic human needs. This influences people’s life today by bringing them back to
the past when people were less distracted by technology and a fast-changing environment. It
is also a question of time and appreciating the process of creating something by ourselves. In
a way, it is transferring old approaches into new days to learn to enjoy life again.
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Writing and reading
After the basic physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, like food, a human being can move
to the next levels in the Maslow pyramid of needs – love and belonging, self-esteem, selfactualization. {4} Part of this levels is exercising recreation activities like singing, dancing,
writing, and reading. This section will focus on the last two activities as a representation of
vernacular traditions interpreted through modern techniques.
Vernacular arts can take many forms, and span a wide range of ordinary objects of day-to-day
life, e.g. a book and a pen. {11} All start with reading text aloud in Europe like ancient Greeks
read, then “Text technologies, like moveable type, and the rise of vernacular writing helped
usher in the practice we cherish today: taking in words without saying them aloud, letting
them build a world in our heads.” {12} It has always been a need to communicate with others,
to share, and to inform what we have learned throughout the know-how process. This makes
a reference to storytelling which is a vernacular tradition on its own.
In terms of writing, it begins with learning and practicing specific writing of symbols like letters
and numbers depending on which part of the geographic cart the term is different, but the
need is the same. {13} Journaling, writing a memoir is a way to perpetuate knowledge, and
skills, but also share experiences and emotions. An example is a fictional protagonist based
on a true person and story - Robinson Crusoe in the eponymous book by Daniel Defoe. “He
carefully documents in a journal everything he does and experiences.” {14} After he has
fulfilled his primary need of habitation, safety, and food. Thanks to journaling, he kept his
sanity. This is still a common practice today, it has numerous benefits for mental health which
translates to physical health. “ A study from 2013 found that 76% of adults who spent 20
minutes writing about their thoughts and feelings for three consecutive days two weeks
before a medically necessary biopsy were fully healed 11 days later. Meanwhile, 58% of the
control group had not recovered. “{15} Although the use of computers in day-to-day life is
prominent, people still write on people, and this is what is recommended in school to
preserve this vital skill.
In this regard, writing a journal or some type of memoir is a vernacular tradition because it is
a form of heritage. For instance, cooking notebooks with recipes passed from generation to
generation. In addition to that, a re-emerging way of writing on paper is calligraphy. There
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are workshops {16}, tutorials on the web and accessible materials in every craft store. Thus,
transmitting the know-how and keeping the traditions alive.
The continuation of writing is reading, that gives a sense of continuity and solidarity to the
reader. However, in the past “The masses were still illiterate, and written material only
reached them through public readings. Public readings took place in royal courts and
monasteries.” {17} Throughout the ages, people learned to read for different purposes,
mainly because reading was a crucial part of education and a major avenue for entertainment
but chiefly as a spiritual ritual. Reading the Bible would help people during the darkest times
in history – wars, epidemics, slavery, etc. {18} Thus, reading is a vital skill from the vernacular
tradition.
A key know-how related to reading is in fact reading silently. Originally, the texts were created
to read out loud, but more and more people got literate, hence, the need of developing the
skill of reading silently. An example from a reding silently practice in 1937. {19}
Fast forward to the 21st century, after the print evolution, construction of libraries, and the
creation of the World Wide Web, the public has open access to archives, studies on every
topic, and tons of information on the Internet. There are two consequences of the vernacular
tradition of reading. Firstly, due to the boom of television and image-oriented content for
educational and entertainment purposes, reading has decreased globally. According to
statistics “Reading times in the United States have gradually declined, from 23 minutes per
day to just 17 minutes” and one in five kids in the UK cannot read at the same level as their
classmates. {20} There is also the fear that paper books are disappearing with the invention
of online reading. In recent years, e-books have become increasingly popular. However, this
is solely a change of medium following the evolution of the world, it is still sufficient to
purpose which is the second principle in the vernacular. With the release of Kindle by Amazon
in 2007 and online subscriptions to the biggest newspapers in the world, this is an efficient
and easy way for people to satisfy their basic need for knowledge.
Finally, there is a rebound in paper books, mainly because people miss the feeling of paper, it
is more successful while educating kids and studying in college and it is better for the health
as it reduces the time spent looking at touch screens. {21} Therefore, people do come back to
the foundation, the vernacular way of reading.
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Conclusion
To conclude vernacular tradition is about going back to the roots. It digs into knowledge of
techniques and appreciating the process than the result itself. This concept follows four key
principals - response to need, materials to hand, sufficient to purpose and inherited knowhow in other words the tradition.
Primary need is food and a break in the tradition, i.e., technology is to make bread, bake, and
make food. A skill equals survival and making bread is a skill of high priority. In addition to
that, the vernacular also tells us to take pleasure, and knowledge from the process. This
means enjoying life and experiencing the connection between people and traditions. In this
regard, people rediscovered baking during the pandemic in 2020 and although it was an
unfortunate event on many levels for the economy and the health of people, it brought
people back to authenticity, nature, and experiencing live without distractions.
The physiological needs defined by Maslow are habitation, safety, food, and reproduction.
Examples of vernacular are settlement patterns - living outside the town and vernacular
architecture - houses with a rounded bridge on the roof to protect from the wind. Moreover,
using materials like mud or clay refers to the clay tablets used to illustrate signs which were
the begging of writing and reading. In the past, in other words, the folk life people use to take
satisfaction doing old traditions and they were willing to give them time and patience
something that lacks now, and people can learn from going back to the vernacular.
Nowadays, our society puts a heavy focus on efficiency, quickness, effectiveness, and
maximizing productivity. The technology around us and the lifestyle the modern society has
is beyond that level of basic need the vernacular is about, but through exploring and
examining examples of traditions people can acquire survival skills and knowledge, and
knowledge is power. Baking, reading, journaling, building a boat, or constructing a house are
in-depth learning experiences about the way contemporary society lives today by looking
back at the preindustrial techniques, in other words, the vernacular tradition.
What the past has shown and how today’s society reformulated vernacular traditions gives a
perquisite to believe that in the future people will continue to refer back to the vernacular
implementing it through another prism but taking the same meaning from it.
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Bibliography
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Mcleod, S. (2020) Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Simply Psychology. Available at:
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