Evald Tang Kristensen

Evald Tang Kristensen (24 January 1843 – 8 April 1929) was a Danish folklore collector and author. Working first as a schoolteacher and later solely as a collector, he assembled and published detailed information on all aspects of folklore as he visited country people throughout his native Jutland.

Early life

Born in Nørre Bjert near Kolding, Tang Kristensen had a difficult childhood. After the death of his father when he was still young, he was brought up on the moors near Viborg by an unsympathetic stepfather and a mother who suffered from excessive housework. He was charged with looking after the family's two cows and was expected to care for his younger siblings. Bright for his age, he studied Danish with the local pastor. He wanted to be a doctor, but it was beyond the means available. In 1858, he was sent to the seminary in Grenå, where he graduated as a school teacher in 1861, soon obtaining positions of assistant teacher at Husby near Nissum Fjord, then Helstrup near Randers (1863–66). He prepared to take an additional examination as a cantor to offset his lonely life there. As a result, he became interested in folk music. As a boy he had taken an interest in collecting riddles, but it was only when he was teaching in Gellerup in 1866 that he realized he had a vocation to become a folklore collector.

Folklore collection

The first time he copied down the words of a local song was in 1867 while he was spending Christmas with his mother in Brandstrup. In the area where he was teaching, he soon discovered a wealth of songs and ballads, some dating back to the Middle Ages, which he recorded and, thanks to financial support from fellow collector Svend Grundtvig, published as Jyske Folkeminder I-II (1871–76). He gathered folk tales and legends, published as Jyske Folkeminder III-IV (1876–80), and fairy tales, Jyske Folkeminder V (1881). For the rest of his life, he continued to collect, record and publish all kinds of folklore. His investigations led him to travel throughout Jutland, although he only occasionally worked in eastern Denmark, where he felt less at ease with the inhabitants. While teaching in Fårup near Viborg and Brandstrup (1876–84), he received support for his travels from the State. In 1888, the State granted him a fixed amount of DKK 1,800 a year, allowing him to devote all his time to collecting folklore.