The exploration into the origins of common superstitions continues with spilling salt as a bad omen.
The Victorian newspaper archives are full of unusual ghost sightings, but there aren’t many as unique, or with a more
From midwinter feasting at Neolithic British sites like Durrington Walls, to the Haloa of Ancient Greece and the Norse Yule
In America’s Dairyland, expressing one’s ethnic identity sometimes means not only participating in the revitalization of a folk art but
‘Snow-White & Rose Red’ is a literary tale, adapted by Wilhelm Grimm from a short story ‘The Ungrateful Dwarf’, written
The Japanese raccoon dog or tanuki, a shape-shifting, hedonistic and jovial trickster, has always lived in the borderlands between human
This legendary fat-stealer stalks indigenous communities in the rural Andean highlands. In the Peruvian Andes, they say he wanders the
In some regions of Madagascar, it is considered fady to eat certain lemurs, meaning local taboos can actually act as
‘Dreaming Bread and Skyrie Stanes: A Celebration of Scottish Folk Magic and Community Traditions’ is a day-long symposium organised by
King Leir and his youngest daughter, Queen Cordelia, were legendary rulers of the the Britons. Their story appeared in
Jánošík, a young outlaw with braided hair, carrying a shepherd’s axe called valaška, and wearing rural clothing, is the unlikely
The winter solstice has been celebrated in some form all around the world for centuries. Individual human cultures often
Celtic folklore has given us some of the darkest and most frightening tales in folkloric history: three-headed monsters, headless horsemen,
A nineteenth century autobiography written by the minister William Leask offers a fascinating insight into supernatural belief in contemporary Orkney.
Mermaid sightings have been documented for centuries but they become really hard to deny when they happen in the same
Mention Maid Marian and Sherwood Forest in the same breath, and most people think of Robin Hood’s lady love. The
Many classical sculptures today have lost their penises to time and prudery but the ancient world was awash with explicit
For a writer whose most famous book is about the biology of animal faeces, it may seem like a stretch
While landscape changes and stories decay, the marriage of the two – folklore – remains the constant dance in
The epic unfinished poem, The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, published 1590-96, created a parallel of the medieval universe.
The effects of the Chernobyl disaster will endure for thousands of years to come. So how will that legacy be
anukkah is one of the most celebrated holidays in the Jewish calendar. It’s known by some as the Festival of
Werewolves are considered to be a traditional monster in the twenty-first-century popular culture.
