Folklore
Lullabies are frequently not comforting
Songs sung to get children to sleep share musical features across the world and, in their words, cover subjects a great deal darker than the tune suggests.
Topic
oral tradition
Every Kohopoho article tagged oral tradition — 5 pieces across 1 section.
Folklore
Riddles: the oldest game with words
Riddling appears across an extraordinary range of societies, frequently in formal settings, and it does considerably more than entertain children.
Folklore
Proverbs: an argument compressed into eight words
Every language has them, they frequently contradict each other, and that contradiction is a feature of how they are used rather than a flaw.
Folklore
The trickster: the figure who turns up everywhere and breaks the rules
Spider, coyote, hare, raven, fox, a wandering fool. Traditions with no contact produced characters who share a job, and the job tells you something about what stories are for.
Folklore
The flood story is everywhere, and the reasons are not what you think
Deluge narratives appear on every inhabited continent. Explaining that requires being careful about what counts as the same story.