What is First-footing and Can It Improve Your Year?
First-footing as a New Year custom is most common in Scotland and the north of England, but it does have regional, and international, variations.
Redwings and Bramblings: A Gap in the Lore of Our Winter Migrant Birds
Each autumn thousands of migrant redwings, fieldfares and bramblings visit the UK from their Scandinavian breeding grounds
British Legends: The Divine Tragedy of Guinevere
In Arthurian legend and romance, Queen Guinevere was famous as the wife of King Arthur and the lover of her husband’s best knight, Sir Lancelot du Lac.
British Legends: Gogmagog and the Giants of Albion
According to legend, Gogmagog was the last survivor of a mythical race of giants that ruled the island of Albion before the arrival of Brutus of Troy.
Margaret Helen James: a forgotten feminist folklorist in Victorian East Anglia
British regional folklorists of the 19th century remain, in many cases, rather obscure figures. Margaret Helen James (1859–1938) deserves particular attention for using her writing about folklore to give a voice to ordinary women and critique a patriarchal society, but until 2017 James was completely forgotten.