#FolkloreThursday – Putting the folk back into folklore since 2015!

Fancy a folkloric read? Check out #FolkloreThursday’s books!

July 18, 2023 by #FolkloreThursday

Fancy a folkloric read? Check out FolkloreThursday’s books!

British Legends: Elen of the Hosts – Saint, Warrior Queen, Goddess of Sovereignty

June 21, 2018 by zteve t evans

Historically, Elen of the Hosts was a real woman who lived in the 4th century, but in British legend and Welsh and Celtic mythology may go back even further.

Magic, Myth & Medicine in the Calvin Wells Archive

September 13, 2018 by James Neill

Detail from The Extraction of the Stone of Madness, a painting depicting trepanation https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cutting_the_Stone_(transparency).png

A project cataloguing the archive of a renowned British palaeopathologist has revealed fascinating insights into how superstition and a belief in magic influenced ancient peoples’ approach to medical diagnosis and treatment.

The Future Folklore of Chernobyl

December 17, 2020 by Darmon Richter

The Church of Our Lady of Kazan in the village of Zamoshnya. Established in 1898, this village was once home to a thriving Old Believers community. At its peak it had 240 residents, but the village was evacuated and abandoned following the Chernobyl disaster. © Darmon Richter

The effects of the Chernobyl disaster will endure for thousands of years to come. So how will that legacy be understood by future civilisations?

From Thor to Twitter: Flyting and the Norse Tradition of Insulting Your Enemies

January 12, 2017 by Samantha MacLeod

Loki taunts Bragi by W. G. Collingwood. By W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932) - The Elder or Poetic Edda; commonly known as Sæmund's Edda. Edited and translated with introduction and notes by Olive Bray. Illustrated by W.G. Collingwood (1908) Page 244. Digitized by the Internet Archive and available from http://www.archive.org/details/elderorpoeticedd01brayuoft This image was made from the JPEG 2000 image of the relevant page via image processing (crop, rotate, color-levels, mode) with the GIMP by User:Haukurth. The image processing is probably not eligible for copyright but in case it is User:Haukurth releases his modified version into the public domain., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4746099

One of the main tactics the Norse gods employed in their struggles, aside from outright trickery and brute force, was trading verbal insults.

Tapping the Admiral: Nelson, Trafalgar & the Corpse in the Cask

February 21, 2019 by Robert Kilburn

The Fall of Nelson, Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805. By Denis Dighton - National Maritime Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9938222

The phrase “Tapping the Admiral” originates from a piece of folklore surrounding the death of Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in October of 1805.

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