self-sufficient, making many of the items required for their work and pleasure
themselves by hand, so unique crafts areoften characteristic of such groups. In
some folk cultures, it is not necessarily theuseof modern conveniences that is for-
bidden, but thelocationof such conveniences is restricted. For example, one of the
most studied folk cultures in the United States is the Amish, or “plain people,” as
they refer to themselves. In many Amish sects, telephones in the home are forbid-
den, but the use of a telephone, especially for outgoing calls, is not. Thus in some
Amish communities, it is common to see a rather incongruous telephone booth
located on the corner of a country lane, several hundred yards from the nearest
home. Members of the community who wish to make a call may use this tele-
phone, but rarely are incoming calls received. Likewise, most Amish are prohib-
ited from owning an automobile, but are allowed to travel in motorized vehicles
when necessary.
Folk cultures may be regionally defined. Such regions may be identified on the
basis of material objects, such as architectural styles, farming techniques or prac-
tices, cuisine type, or other qualities that distinguish a group. For example, in
western Ukraine several folk regions may be defined based on their traditional cos-
tumes, handicrafts, dialect, and other features. The Hutsuls, Lemkos, and Boykos
are all mountain-dwelling peoples who produce unique clothing, and the tradi-
tional decorated eggs known aspysanky. The areas each of these groups occupies
can be defined based on the differences inthe styles of these cultural attributes,
as well as others. In the United States, various folk regions may be delineated on
the basis of a characteristic as specific as agricultural barn architecture—tradi-
tional barns in the upper Midwest, where many Scandinavians and Germans set-
tled, are quite distinctive when compared to barns in the South or southern
California, where other ethnic groups dominated the cultural landscape. Nonma-
terial folk culture consists of music, dialects, folk tales, and other intangible man-
ifestations of culture. Although geographers who study folk culture distinguish
between material and nonmaterial folk culture, in reality both are typically found
together. Indeed, material folk regions often spatially correlate closely with the
linguistic geographyof a location. Folk tales, legends, and folk beliefs are also
a central part of nonmaterial folk culture, and these too may be correlated to a spe-
cific folk region. The Ozarks of southern Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and
northern Arkansas represent a distinctive folk region in the central United States,
and one expression of the region’s nonmaterial folk culture are numerous unique
folktalesandlegends.Musicisanotherimportant form of folk culture. Certain
styles of folk music are associated with specific regions. Bluegrass music, for
example, although now an internationally recognized genre of music, originated
from so-called hillbilly music played and sung mostly by Scots-Irish settlers in
the Appalachian highlands of the eastern United States. Bluegrass music also
Folk Culture 125