Folklore of Food: Traditional Christmas Food
Food and feasting is at the centre of our Christmas celebrations, and folklore and customs play an important part in what we eat.
London Folklore: The Legendary Frost Fairs of the River Thames
he legendary frost fairs on the River Thames are depicted in a number of works of art that show just how cold, icy and severe the weather became during winter, in comparison to the weather experienced in London in modern times.
A Californian Krampus
Relentlessly sunny and known for a love of trend over tradition, Los Angeles is an unlikely home to a new incarnation of the old Alpine devil. It helps, perhaps, that make-believe is serious business in my town, and that it’s filled with creative people prone to see in an old tradition of folk Catholicism a revolutionary way to shake up the holidays.
Winter Plants: The Magic of Mistletoe
Mistletoe is known to most people for its Christmas associations, but holds a long folklore of magical associations, where it is connected with healing, travel to the Underworld, and even resurrection.
Kissing under the Mistletoe? Not in Medieval Herefordshire
Mistletoe is the stuff of folklore. It is found in Norse, Greek and Roman mythology, a plant of power and magic.