From The Fool to the World: The History and Folklore of Tarot Cards

This sheet (304 x 217 mm) shows all or part of twenty playing cards, dated c. 1500. It is part of the Cary Collection of playing cards, in the Beinecke Library at Yale. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34906134

When you think of tarot cards, do you picture a fortune teller predicting your untimely end in a darkened room? Do you think they’re evil? Thankfully, as you’ll soon discover, the former is unlikely and the latter is simply wrong. Let’s investigate the history and folklore of this much-maligned form of divination.

May Day, Weddings and Births – Folklore Trees and Traditions in Bavaria

Kindsbaum detail © Steve Toase

Maypoles are often seen as a quintessentially English tradition, yet in Bavaria the raising of the Maibaum (or May Tree) is also an important event, and it is not the only time a tree is hefted aloft in celebration.

Wobbly Poets: Joe Hill, Signe Aurell, and Scandinavian-American Laborlore

We perform our identity in different ways. Some of us make sure that everyone at the library knows that Folklore Rules! (Photo © Amber Rose. “Folklore Rules” sticker from Lynne S. McNeill and her book Folklore Rules.)

The songs and poetry of the American labor movement are an example of occupational folklore or ‘laborlore’, which records worker voices and traditions.

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