folkway

noun

1. (in-plural, often)A belief or custom common to members of a culture or society.

   “He [Van Wyck Brooks] had opposed to the folkways the standard of the humanistic life. It was needful that he continue to affirm that standard by making it visible in his own spiritual manner, by living boldly, dangerously, in the fashion of the artist, by giving himself to life as men in America had never dared give themselves. But it seems that for some reason he has shrunk from continuing the challenge.”

   “By the time you are grown up and can consider the folk-ways of your childhood with detached impersonality, you have forgotten what was of most value. Rarely will a child tell frankly of his lore, and rarely can an adult remember.”

   “[I]f he wishes to continue the memories of the past and his Jewish personality, the Jew must assume the obligations incumbent on the members of a national group. He must learn its language and literature, interest himself in the upbuilding of its home, and seek to adjust its traditions and folkways and religious thought to the wants of his time. Only in this way can the Jew maintain and perpetuate the Jewish personality.”

   “For years I've hoped that some enterprising editor would hire a hillbilly to go to the city and write his impressions of the quaint folkways of the cliff dwellers. I'd do it myself, cheap, and I've got a good questionnaire tucked away in readiness.”