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.
We all know that Halloween, as a festival, is not an invention of the trick-or-treating Americans but it is far older than many people realise.
Between St Distaff’s Day 2020 and Twelfth Night 2021, I practiced ritual year folklore every day, my experiences becoming Everyday Folklore: An Almanac for the ritual year, a practical guide on how to engage with folklore all year round.
Since the beginnings of human civilization, seeds have been revered for their gift of life. How we treat them in our gardens, the plants they produce, and the importance of the weather, reveal many fascinating practices, myths and superstitions.
Until the 20th century, the inadequacies of orthodox medical services left a large proportion of the population dependent upon traditional folk medicine – essentially a mixture of common sense remedies based on the accumulated experience of nursing and midwifery, combined with inherited lore about the healing properties of plants.
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