Unravelling the Sexual Mystique of Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty has an allure that is undeniable. Her story has retained a place in our traditions. Time has reshaped her dilemma and salvation.
The Human Heart in the Middle Ages and the Practice of Ablation – or Treatment of the Dead for Valentine’s Day
As Valentine’s Day comes around, spare a passing thought for that ubiquitous red heart that has come to symbolize the event. Historically speaking, there is a lot more than is at the surface for that emblem of love.
The Dargle Lovers: An Interview with Storyteller Brendan Nolan
Today Dee Dee Chainey interviews Brendan Nolan, a storyteller and writer from Dublin, Ireland. His many books cover both fact and fiction, and he regularly shares his stories through workshops, public tellings and in schools. Q. The folklore of the story is very intertwined with the local places, and you evoke a sense of place […]
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – a Bewitching Masterpiece of Mediaeval Poetry
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is a fourteenth century poetic masterpiece. No mere Arthurian romance, it is a work of huge religious, spiritual and mystical power. In subjecting its hero to the hardest of temptations, it reveals the hollowness of the chivalric ideal, the weakness of men and the loneliness of the human condition.
Frolicksome Women: The Folklore of Wife Selling
Wife selling is often claimed to be an ancient practice, carried out by brutish men to free themselves of unwanted wives, but the truth is far more varied and fascinating.