Why is the Bean Nighe seen as an omen of death in folklore?

Place names are important and pass on a lot of valuable information, even if we no longer understand how to interpret it. Within them, they tell us who used to live in an area, or what natural feature...

1 Mar 202521min

When I decided to write about goats in folklore, I thought I would find plenty of content. After all, they appear in mythology. Look at Amalthea, the goat reputed to have raised Zeus in Greek myth. Or...

22 Feb 202521min

Kimberly J. Lau is a professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of Erotic Infidelities: Love and Enchantment in Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" (Wayne ...

20 Feb 202551min

Pigs appear in folklore in somewhat unusual ways. Sometimes, they choose the location where a church should be built. Or they appear as phantoms, haunting misty moorland. Sailors or fishermen conside...

15 Feb 202518min

Certain animals might spring to mind when it comes to folklore. Hares, horses, deer, cats - they all have an otherworldly quality to them. Would you consider the same of cows? There's a surprising am...

8 Feb 202523min

Following on from 2024's theme of the Folklore of Animals, this month we'll examine the Folklore of Agricultural Animals. This week, we'll explore the folklore, legends, and even folk medicine associa...

1 Feb 202519min

Niina Niskanen is a Finnish artist, writer and a folklorist who specialises in Finnish, Baltic and Sámi Mythology. She is an online educator and hosted “Heart of Mielikki,” one of the first online cou...

29 Jan 202544min

If you think of the phrase "to be in mourning", you'll probably imagine a Victorian scene. Perhaps a black-clad widow ushers similarly black-clad children to a desolate graveyard in the depths of autu...

25 Jan 202527min