Dark Side of the Sun: A Brief Guide to Midsummer Lore in Britain & Ireland

Each morning the sun rolls across the sky. In Estonia it was the hatched egg of the enchanted swallow bird, an emu’s egg bursting into flames in Australia, and a golden piece of bacon for the Nama people of South Africa. In the evening, it descends into the sea, as a bridegroom or warrior, golden rays transformed into spears or robes of light, hissing with heat as the waters close over it, before swimming back to the east. Sometimes in gloom-shrouded nights, we may imagine it will never return and we will be plunged into unyielding darkness, but still it rises and always will, at least for the next five billion years or so!

The Devil in the Room: Researching the History of Witchcraft in Ireland

The narrative of witchcraft in Ireland is a subject often left out of major surveys of the wider history of witchcraft. Dr. Andrew Sneddon’s research explores the presence and complexities of witchcraft beliefs and traditions in an Irish context.

The Polish Tradition of Holy Sepulchre Guardians

A traditional festival is held annually in South Eastern Poland where locals re-enact what may be an historical event, yet is certainly a local legend. Legend tells then when Polish soldiers returned to their village on Good Friday in the 17th century, wanting to go straight to the church but being without uniforms, they donned the outfits of the Turkish army […]

Sky Goddesses, Spring Mechanisms, or Sprites: Why Is it Bad Luck to Open an Umbrella Inside?

Madeline D’Este explores the possible origins behind the common belief that the act of opening an umbrella indoors invites bad luck.

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.

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