Collectable Mermaids and the Myth of the Merrow
The early sirens, the ones Odysseus encountered, were not fish at all but bird-women, but they had those great siren qualities – bewitching songs and the will to lure the unwitting to a bad end.
Why you need a bit of folklore in your life. Or feel the folklore fear and do it anyway…
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.
Was it Really East of the Sun and West of the Moon?
The Norwegian folktale, “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” in which a white bear comes to take a poor girl away, is loved by people the world over. It is also part of a huge cycle of folklore and myth that has spanned Eurasia in the last 2500 years.
“The neck! The neck! The neck!” – Kern Dollies, Corn Spirits & Harvest Home
Incorporating folklore can add authenticity, richness and whole new layers of meaning to historical fiction. Novelist Melissa Harrison explores how traditional practices and beliefs around the harvest informed her creative process when she was writing her new book, All Among the Barley
The Lessons of Monsters: As Learned from Cultural Demons Krampus and Namahage
Chris Kullstroem delves into the world of monsters, their cultural festivals and scare tourism…