Folk Humor Research Articles

Baltisaksa huumor ja pastorianekdoodid

Baltic German humour and anecdotes about clergymen Keywords: anecdotes, Baltic Germans, humour Baltic German anecdotes (Pratchen) are a relatively unexplored part of Estonian folk humour, much like Baltic German culture within Estonian culture as a whole. This study focuses on anecdotes about Lutheran clergymen, which offer material for comparison with the more thoroughly researched Estonian counterparts. These humorous tales provide valuable insights into the cultural history, mentality, language as well as everyday life of the Baltic German community. Older Estonian anecdotes about clergymen often emphasize the social and ethnic differences between Estonian peasants and the clergy. In contrast, Baltic German anecdotes provide an internal perspective, exploring the role of the clergy within the Baltic German community and their outreach beyond it. The anecdotes can offer explanations for certain aspects that remain obscure and are therefore ridiculed in Estonian anecdotes. Two key features of Baltic German humour are its oral nature and the tradition of competing in witticisms (pliggern), a “national sport” possibly rooted in student culture. Initially shared orally, these anecdotes often referenced known people and places. They were later written down to preserve the memory and cultural history of the community. Older anecdotes published between the world wars, became classics that kept appearing in various forms in later collections. World War II added a final layer, with humour providing a way to encapsulate and process epochal events. In Baltic German anecdotes, clergymen are depicted in everyday activities and relationships, often taking on the role of the trickster parson. Unlike in Estonian jokes, the dynamic between the nobility and the church features prominently. This often takes the form of a humorous tug of war between the clergyman and the noble patron of the church, who may have attended school together in the past. The parson’s attitude towards parishioners is usually benevolent but patronizing, with the parish clerk, sexton, and coachman often playing supporting roles. Another central theme is the clergyman as a political figurehead, reflecting the tensions caused by the official campaigns of Russification and conversion to Russian Orthodoxy.

INTERPRETATION OF LITERARY WORKS IN THE CHOREOGRAPHIC ART OF UKRAINE OF THE 20TH – EARLY 21ST CENTURIES

The article deals with the determining role of the primary literary source on the Ukrainian theme in the creation of ballets. This made it possible to assert that at the junction of various arts, choreography and its special plastic form contribute to the creation of new avant-garde forms of art, thereby realizing the richest artistic potential of the direction. Based on this, it becomes clear that the relationship between literary and choreographic arts is close, because it affects the enrichment of the ballet repertoire. Creating a choreographic work based on a literary background is one of the most important achievements of choreography.The artistic integrity of choreographic works forms the basis of the principle of art synthesis. The author of the article determined the important role of Ukrainian dance in creating a choreographic performance based on a literary source, because Ukrainian choreographic art is noted for its inexhaustible wealth of dance colors, emotional fervor, subtle folk humor and sincerity of performance, therefore creating a choreographic work based on literary works, especially on national themes, which is an auxiliary factor for activating the harmonious interrelationship of the specified time, space and transmitted events of the work with the means of stage and everyday dance vocabulary. The aim. The purpose and task of the article is to show the interpretation of literary works in the Ukrainian choreographic art of the 20th and early 21 centuries. Research methodology. A content-comparative method for comparing the works of researchers in different fields, the method of historicism - for researching a phenomenon within specific chronological limits, the method of generalization - for identifying the common and different points of view of scientists on the phenomenon under study. Research results: however, in the Ukrainian ballet theater of the late 50s of the 20th century, new aesthetic principles began to dominate, which were of great importance for the development of all musical and choreographic creativity. It is about rejecting prosaic plausibility as the only way to reproduce the truth of life on stage, restoring the hegemony of dance in the system of expressive means. In the ballet work of Ukrainian artists, the direction towards the heroization of the genre, the tendency towards the epic type of drama and the wide use of folklore becomes noticeable. Conclusion. In the process of working on the embodiment of a literary work or an image, the dramaturgy has the ability to change, develop, acquire specific features and details, the dramaturgy becomes alive, filled and exciting for the viewer. The ballet master’s solution to the embodiment of the literary source is embodied by the ballet dancers, who bring it to the audience with their art. The development and enrichment of choreographic art, the search for new forms, in this way, we observe in a creative union with adjacent muses, in interaction with other arts, where choreography does not dissolve in them, but while keeping its face, makes a fruitful contribution to the development of this union. The artistic integrity characteristic of the best choreographic works is based on the principle of synthesis of arts. Forms and means of dance-plastic action, principles of music-choreography dramaturgy, which allow to create works commensurate with the outstanding achievements of other arts, were formed in this experience. The key to the success of choreographic art is the mastery and development of this experience.

The collective and individual expressions of humour in social media spaces

This article seeks to establish a theoretical framework for considering how the collective and individual expressions of humour in social media spaces have been used and presented in the socio-political context of Jordan after the 2011 Arab Spring. This framework moves from the collective to the individual and makes Mikhail Bakhtin and Sigmund Freud complementary to the study of Jordanian social media humour after the Arab Spring. It argues that Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of carnival and the carnivalesque (folk humour) have a functional similarity to Sigmund Freud’s theory of humour (release theory) because both seem to agree on the role of repression to influence the production of humour. Although repression is being understood differently (for Bakhtin it is political repression, which is usually a conscious decision, while for Freud it is self-repression, which is usually unconscious), humour can provide us with a strong mechanism for overcoming repression, or at least, giving the individual or the crowd the impression that they are challenging repression without necessarily challenging the status quo i.e., calling for regime change or revolution.

Drawings by Cornelis Moninckx in the Hermitage collection

The article analyses three drawings by the Dutch artist of the middle of the 17th century Cornelis Moninckx (1623–1666) from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. Cornelis Moninckx (1623–1666) from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum are analysed. The sheets presented are published for the first time. The drawings come from three different collections, which are important components of the museum’s graphic collections. They are executed in a technique characteristic of the artist: black chalk on parchment; two drawings are signed by the author, and another was attributed by the author of this article on the basis of the stylistic features of Cornelis Moninckx’s work. Only a corpus of genre drawings, a few engravings and a design for a sculpture have survived from the master’s artistic legacy. Three finished and large-format sheets from the Hermitage collection considerably expand the known field of the master’s works. The study of Moninckx’s works from the national collection gives grounds for assumptions about the reading of the subjects. The themes chosen by the master are inextricably linked with pictorial tradition and folk humour. Moninckx turned to the work of the masters of the 16th century, in particular Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and was interested in the work of his contemporaries: Adriaen Braughel the Elder, Adriaen Brauwer, Adriaen van Ostade and others. In this scientific article, the master’s drawings are analysed from both the point of view of iconography, and formal and stylistic method, and a comparative analysis is applied. The works are put in line with other known works by the artist.

Vernacular Chinese Urbanonyms as a Reflection of Ordinary Urban Culture in the City of Chengdu, China

The article deals with the Chinese vernacular urbanonyms as part of the modern urban language and culture. The author studied the origins and use of popular urbanonyms with their speech practices and nominative creativity. The research involved some methods of cultural and social linguistics, as well as an online questionnaire of Chengdu citizens. The respondents saw vernacular urbanonyms as a sign of familiarity with the urban environment. Such words were popular with young people and working-age residents, regardless of their education background. In general, vernacular urbanonyms were seen as part of informal interpersonal communication and were evaluated quite positively. According to the respondents, vernacular urbanonyms emerge for the following reasons. They contrast with boring official names because they are "vivid" and "lively", with emotional, evaluative and figurative connotations. They help to distinguish between similar environmental objects with the same functions. They are shorter than official names. They identify nameless urban objects. They preserve old names that are out of official use. The onomasiological analysis established that vernacular urbanonyms verbalize a number of motives, e.g., a landmark, a reinterpretation of official urban names, a reduced official name, a metaphor, phonetic similarity with the official name, etc. As a result of social practices of ordinary city culture, vernacular urbanonyms reflect the values of everyday city life, e.g., wayfinding, linguistic economy, expressiveness, and subjectivity. The pragmatics of urbanonyms reveal crude folk humor and irony. However, some of them demonstrate positive and even lyrical imagery, which is typical of Chinese national linguistic culture.

Popularization of Slovak Folk Tales in Poland

The reflection about research on Slavic folklore must be accompanied by a careful reminder that in the 19th century many people showed general interest in it and carried out field studies: these were amateurs, travellers, journalists and professional gatherers, i.e. ethnologists, and in the 20th century – folklorists (who continued the earlier work following accepted scientific curricula). The close linguistic affinity of the Slavs, similarity of political situations and social structures of folklore depositaries throughout history facilitated and developed comparative research on various folklore genres (tales, songs, legends, proverbs, comic stories). In the 19th century, Slovak songs were distinguished by Oskar Kolberg. Conversely, a concrete example of pioneering academic achievements in folk tale studies in Slovakia includes the tales collected by Pavol Dobšinský and Samuel Czambel, and later (in the first half of the 20th century) by Frank Wollman and his followers; and after World War II – by Viera Gašpariková. Many integrative, interethnic and comparative research initiatives have been directly linked to the tales and resulted in printing valuable collections of texts edited by folklorists from Poland and Slovakia e.g. Śpiewająca lipka. Bajki Słowian Zachodnich (The Singing Linden Tree. The Tales of the West Slavs), Zbójnicki dar. Polskie i słowackie opowiadania tatrzańskie (The Robber’s Gift. Polish and Slovak Stories about the Tatras), Słoneczny koń. Bajki słowackie (The Sunny Horse. Slovak Tales), Skarb w garncu. Humor ludowy Słowian Zachodnich (The Treasure in the Pot. Folk Humour of the West Slavs), Bajki słowackie (Slovak Tales by P. Dobšinský). According to the author of the article, Polish and Slovak work in the field of tales stands out among the research on folklore genealogy of the Slavs. Therefore, she focuses on the anthologies that promote and popularize Slovak tales in Poland.

THE IMAGE OF “AN ORDINARY AMERICAN” IN J. UPDIKE’S SHORT STORIES

The article is devoted to the study of the short story genre in the context of the second half of the twentieth century American literature, an attempt is made to show the way of the genre from the form of standard story to so called “psychological sketch”. The short story manifested the national originality of American prose, the peculiarities of the national character and local color earlier and more fully than other forms. It developed the traditions of folk stories, folk humor, and satire. The object of analysis is J. Updike’s short story "Pigeon Feathers", that is concentrated on the middle class problems of American society and the “ordinary Americans”. Updike became an innovator in the short story genre, embodying the best ideas of his predecessors and developing his own ideas of genre diversity. According to both national and American critics, the main stylistic feature of Updike's short story collections is the close connection between them, most of them continuing each other, leaving behind a through plot and a single emotional experience.

Humor of Canadian Ukrainians: After the Diaspora Editions (the 1910s – 1980s)

The article is an attempt to describe the peculiarities of the laughing culture and humor of Ukrainians in Canada (1910s – 1980s – the first – fourth waves of emigration) as one of the important factors in the preservation of national identity, traditions of folk culture, indicators of the reflection of the sociology of Ukrainian immigrants and their descendants, the dynamics of the communication field of the diaspora community, transformation of Ukrainian language in the multicultural environment of Canada, which is reflected in humorous speech and other creative genres. A review (on a selective basis) of the works of the representatives of the humorous workshop, which has been imprinted on the pages of diaspora editions of Canadian Ukrainians (magazines, calendars, calendar-almanacs), providing their space for published works, promulgation, distribution of various forms of laughing culture and folk humor is known as a testimony (generated in a word) of the immortality of the Ukrainians national culture. Ukrainian humor, which occupies its niche in the linguistic picture of the world, is considered as a reaction of the linguistic personality-immigrant on the social and cultural processes of the English-speaking surroundings. The materials submitted in this article reflect Ukrainian humor – very emotional, sharp, witty, snarky, and from time to time – ironically-sad, merciless to oneself as an individual, but never angry, not poisonous, not such as to degrade human dignity of a stranger – this is the eternal height of the ethnic culture of the people, its worldview, outlook, philosophy. A unique cultural and historical phenomena of preservation of the national culture of their historical homeland, its peculiarities, traditions, and mentality by Ukrainians of Canada is described in the light of the Institute of Laughter Culture, the space of which includes not only the printed word, stage art, but also ethnic choreography, musical and artistic works. Applying the methodology of a whole range of humanitarian disciplines, a section of the history and development of social communications in the immigrant surroundings is investigated from the point of view of one, but multifaceted and multi-colored factor – folk humor, the change of the Ukrainian folklore complex; the speed of integration into the English-speaking culture and the inevitable objectivity of this process and ability of the immigrant community to comprehend and perceive creatively the influence of other cultures of multicultural Canada, but at the same time, to resist acculturation, the absorption of its ancient culture. The problem hasn’t been investigated in science, in particular, in history, in Slavic folkloristics, in such a formulation.

Laughing at revolutionary times: the socio-linguistic and pragmatic functions of Jordanian political humour after the Arab Spring

ABSTRACT This article investigates the socio-linguistic and pragmatic functions of Jordanian political humour after the Arab Spring revolutions from the perspective of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of carnival and the carnivalesque (folk humour). The analysis undertaken here of Jordanian political humour reveals a peculiar use of carnivalesque political humour via the use of humour as a socio-linguistic and pragmatic device that allows the ridicule of the government but not of the monarch. This occurs through the use of (1) conversational implicature, (2) rhetorical question, (3) malapropism, (4) taboo language and (5) reference and inference. This humour appears to be a form of ‘licensed disruption,’ an idea that is used extensively by some scholars of Bakhtin to talk about the popular politics of resistance and its limits and targets – what can and cannot be said within legal frameworks and societal expectations. Such humour, I found, has constantly called for reform of the government but not for regime change or revolution and has led to significant socio-political changes in Jordanian society, through which people are more willing to criticise and mock the government in social media platforms, such as Facebook.

Лубок в советском плакате эпохи Гражданской войны

The author of the present article studies the implementation of the lubok in the Soviet agitprop art of the Civil War through the analysis of the posters published by the publishing office of the Political Department of the Revolutionary Military Council (Litizdat PUR). The relevance of this study is due to insufficient information and research about the creation of luboks at that time. The research is aimed at analyzing the lubok and its relation with the poster of the indicated period in the context of propaganda art. The formulation of the research problem brings forth the relevant objectives of studying the plots and forms of the lubok, the issues of its production and distribution, and its target audience. These research tasks are solved by the application of a set of methods, including the chronological approach, the typological and comparative methods, and the iconographic analysis. In the period under discussion, the line between the poster and the lubok was blurred. Comparing luboks and posters, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that since the Civil War luboks had a poster size, they are closer to the poster rather than to the lubok itself. To such pictures, the terms “lubok-style poster” or “revolutionary lubok” can be applied. Archival documents reveal the personalities of those who supervised the production of luboks and posters in the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the State Publishing House (Gosizdat) (A.A. Divilkovsky, I.M. Kasatkin, V.U. Mordvinkin, V.A. Karpinsky, V.P. Polonsky). The lubok contributed to the development of the “folk” poster type in which the ideas of the Bolsheviks took on a popular form. These lubok posters were intended principally for peasants, who often were illiterate. The author concludes that the influence of the lubok on the poster of the Civil War period can be reduced to the following: a stylized traditional form, multi-frame composition, and the usage of folklore and folk humor.

Royall Tyler’s The Contrast: The cultural foundations and the Contradictions of his Campaign for Freedom Explained

This research seeks to explore in detail the cultural foundations and the contradictions in Royall Tyler’s campaign for freedom in The contrast (1787). More particularly, it puts emphasis on how Tyler wages his “culture war” and what measure of success he achieves in the highly divisive debate about cultural nationalism in the early American republic. To shed light on the issue of cultural independence, the play is placed within the context of the turbulent early years of the new nation, when each and every American across gender, ethnic, social class, faction or party lines challenged their fellow citizens to stay true to the revolutionary principles of democracy and freedom. It is argued that with The contrast, Tyler, irked by the cultural dependency of America under The Articles of Confederation, stepped into the public sphere in 1787, the year when the first draft of the Constitution was adopted, to make up a wake-up call for Americans still captured in the culturally corrosive cobweb of British texts and textiles. The socio-historical considerations brought to bear on the drama, together with the study of the text proper, have helped us to demonstrate that the play draws its inspiration from two major American cultural sources: the American culture of performance or culture of gentility and the American culture of folk humor or laughter. This research rounds off the argument about Tyler’s cultural nationalism with the highlighting of Tyler’s curtailment of the very freedom that he seeks to expand. The curtailment of freedom in The contrast is explained in terms of Tyler’s loyalty to a strand of republicanism based on class and gender hierarchies.

Epic Humor: Elpidio Valdés and the Mythopoetics of Populist Laughter

Whether emplotted as epic or as tragedy, the tales told about a nation’s revolutionary past do not tend to elicit laughter as much as awe and solemnity. This is the case with Cuba’s national epic, the story of its nineteenth-century wars for independence (1868–98)—the story of Cuba Libre. This essay analyzes how the animated cartoon shorts and film series Elpidio Valdés (1974–2003) comically inflects the story of Cuba Libre with ridiculing laughter and choteo (folk humor). The series puts forth both a hero more akin to a populist trickster than a Spartan and a revolutionary war more akin to carnivalesque drama than to the Homeric epic. In so doing, it subtly critiques the didactic and panegyric rhetoric that has shrouded the national (as well as the socialist) epic and, in its stead, offers a jocular and fallible revolutionary subject in a more participatory and less austere epic.

Joking about Jihad: Comedy and Terror in the Arab World

Joking about Jihad: Comedy and Terror in the Arab World

Стереотипізація тваринного світу в русинських фразеологізмах

The article regards stereotypes for presenting zoonyms in Rusin phraseology in the psycho-cognitive aspect of ethnic mentality. The zoonymic metaphors are considered to be double-natured: originally, the animal character epitomizes human features, and then, the human is seen through animalist characteristics. The ability to metaphorically nominate a human in the phraseological world concept is mostly revealed in the names of domestic animals. Stereotyped zoonyms in Rusin phraseology are based on the anthropomorphic analogy: zoonyms are used to analyze a person’s psycho-emotional and physiological states and characteristics. Zoonyms are quite frequent in paradoxes in which folk humor can be easily traced: there they creatively trigger the instances of irony as a basis for generating some witticisms. Zoomorphic metaphors are semantically dominated by lowered emotive estimating features being the most powerful expressive means to lower the addressee’s status. Negatively charged zoomorphic nomination is mainly connected with features of character, behavior, intellect, physique, social status, and psychology, which compare a person with a beast. Zoonyms are used to denote the relations of space, time, measure, and quantity. Stereotypically related phraseology units with zoonym components had been shaped in the Rusin culture through naïve beliefs, traditions and myths. As evaluating stereotypes, zoonyms are found in curses or biddings of grief, jokingly uttered. Presented in linguistically arranged texts, zoonymic stereotypes appear to reveal strong connections between language, culture and ethnic entity, as well as main features of Rusin mentality.

Гумор та сатира у відносинах українського народу і духовенства (історико-джерелознавчий аналіз)

Fundamental differences in the value categories of the Ukrainian people and the clergy have a long history. The specific attitude of the people to the representatives of the elite clerical caste of society in different historical periods had many contradictions. Ukrainians have deep respect for traditional religious cults for a long time, but openly mocked and distrusted church and clergy. At a time of growing anti-feudal popular sentiments, the clergy became an unconditional example of negative social behavior and the embodiment of a rigid state exploitative policy in the people's consciousness. Popular protest manifested itself in satirical and humorous folklore – fairy tales, fables, stories, parodies, jokes. Representatives of the clergy appeared in folklore in the form of greedy priests, prone to drunkenness and brawls, deacons who spent working and free time in the inn and at the gaming table. Folk artists sharply ridiculed the ignorance of priests and their unwillingness to perform their direct duties. The problems of the relationship between the clergy and the peasantry and its coverage in folklore were covered in ancient chronicles, stories, scientific and ethnographic publications of prominent researchers and representatives of the literary elite. In the XIX – early XX century most periodicals paid much attention to the publication of folk tales, jokes, poetic stories. For example, outstanding masterpieces of folk humor were „The Lamentation of the Kiev Monks”, which was first published in 1881 in the magazine „Russian Antiquity” and „Poem about Father Negrebetsky”, which was published in the „Notes of the NTSh” in 1905. humorous works are published in multi-volume books by P. Chubynsky, ethnographic collections by M. Dikaryov, collections by the outstanding philologist B. Hrynchenko, „Notes of NTSh” edited by I. Franko, etc. A large layer of folk anti-clerical humor was preserved in the form of folk jokes, the heroes of which were clumsy priests and uneducated flocks. Folk playgrounds and performances of „merrymakers” and buffoons were perceived by the priesthood as manifestations of demons. They violated the sacred dogmas of the church, and therefore were subject to destruction. But attempts to destroy the satirical and humorous folk tradition led to completely opposite results – laughter became a sharp weapon for the people, able to resist oppression and violence.

Narrative Genres in Uyghur Folk Humor and Their Performers

Mizah, hayatın gülünç ve anlamsız taraflarını değerlendirip sergileyebilme yetisidir, insana özgü olmakla birlikte toplumsal bir olgu olarak bilişsel, duyuşsal ve davranışsal özellikler gösterir. Toplumdaki uyumsuzlukları, salt yıkıcılıktan ziyade ince bir nükte ve iyileştirici bir söylemle ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Toplumların mensup olduğu birçok değişkene (dil, din, coğrafya, iklim, kültür...vb.) bağlı olarak farklılık gösteren ve karaktere bürünen mizah, sözlü, yazılı ve görsel olarak bünyesinde birçok tür barındırmaktadır. Her türlü toplumsal ve ideolojik temanın işlenebildiği mizah türleri aynı zamanda birey-toplum ve birey-birey ilişkisini diri tutan hassasiyetlerin de ele alınabilmesine olanak sağlamaktadır. Çalışmada örnek metinlerden hareketle Uygur halk mizahı içerisinde sözlü yaratım ve aktarımdan beslenen latife, çakçak, yumur, laf, kızık ve kikas gibi anlatmalık türler ele alınmış olup Uygur halk mizahı içerisinde ön plana çıkan Nasreddin Ependi, Seley Çakkan, Molla Zeydin ve Hisam Kurban gibi mizah icracıları tanıtılıp değerlendirilmekte ve işlevleri ele alınmaktadır. Ayrıca Uygur toplumunun kolektif belleğinde nesilden nesle aktarılan mizah icracıları ve biyografilerine dikkat çekilmeye çalışılmaktadır.

The Evolution of the Funny: American Folk Humor and Gimbel’s Cleverness Theory

Abstract In 2017, Steven Gimbel published Isn’t That Clever: A Philosophical Account of Humor and Comedy. This book proposes, among other vastly interesting notions, a definition of humor that eschews audience reactions in favor of focusing exclusively on the craft and intention of the responsible comedian. This article intends to provoke that definition and show why humorous performances cannot be crafted without an audience-centric mindset, proving Gimbel’s notion problematic at best. To poke this definition, I draw on the American Folk Humor tradition and compare its historic roots with modern tourist attractions that on the surface appear to channel its spirit. These include the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue dinner show at Walt Disney World and The Brewery Follies at Virginia City, Montana. After showcasing the differences between these modern performances and the tradition they pretend to espouse, I conclude that Gimbel’s theory cannot account for the evolution of a funny genre.

Folklore and the Internet: The Challenge of an Ephemeral Landscape1

Through the lens of memetic folk humor, this essay examines the slippery, ephemeral nature of hybridized forms of contemporary digital folklore. In doing so, it is argued that scholars should not be distracted by the breakneck speed in which expressive materials proliferate and then dissipate but should instead focus on the overarching ways that popular culture and current news events infiltrate digital folk culture in the formation of individuals' cultural inventories. The process of transmission and variation that shapes the resulting hybridized folklore requires greater scrutiny and contextualization.

Spatial Practices in the Space of Haze City

As China undergoes rapid industrialization and urbanization, haze has become a serious environmental problem, which has brought about some significant changes to the urban space. By examining the changes to the space in haze city using a social–cultural approach, the article suggests a triadic conception of spatial practice in a haze city and analyzes its three component factors: risk experience, stress behavior, and resistant discourse. People’s risk experience in haze space has led to a behavioral tendency toward isolation or escape and resulted in the creation of an ironic folk humor culture as a discourse of resistance. The author believes that people’s spatial practice in haze city has been exerting increasing pressures on the Chinese authorities, urging them to take measures to improve the environment.

The Adrenaline Rush of Children’s Pranks

The article attempts to introduce, describe, and theoretically justify the phenomenon of the children’s prank as one of the natural features of childhood. According to the author, the children’s prank deserves to be conceived of as a particular category due to the many descriptions of this phenomenon in children’s literature. The author defines the specific features of the children’s prank as a particular socio-educational phenomenon on the basis of the socio-educational framework of A.V. Mudrik, Mikhail Bakhtin’s ideas about the carnivalesque and the culture of folk humor [narodno-smekhovaya kul’tura], and Eric Berne’s theory of transactional analysis. An analysis of Russian and foreign works of literary fiction about childhood and adolescence allows us to identify the various features of the children’s prank: it consists of an action that is aimed at overturning adult expectations, including in order to obtain a material gain. The prankster demonstrates a code of honor. The prank is publicized as a challenge. The prankster then often becomes self-conscious of the fact that he has performed a provocative act and fears punishment. Based on an analysis and interpretation of narrative interviews that were obtained from respondents who were born between 1935 and 1978, we were able to ethnographically reconstruct the cultural practices of Soviet teenagers during their summer vacations at Pioneer camps. In this situation, children pulled pranks to have fun; freely socialize with peers without adult supervision; experience thrilling emotions as a result of setting off on an adventure, such as when boys confronted girls or when one troop of children challenged another, and so on. The problem of children’s pranks that is raised in this article warrants additional study from a socio-educational perspective. In particular, the culture of modern-day pranks should be explored.