# folkloresunday japanesefolklore yokai painting mayday may1 cumbria birds witch fairy gothicspring ireland

The Axehandle Hound is a creature of lumberjack folklore in Minnesota & Wisconsin. These forest-dwelling dogs have heads like axe blades & bodies like wooden handles. They feed exclusively on discarded axe handles left in forests.

3 13
2022-05-15

In Welsh lore, corgis are considered fairy dogs, as fairies ride them like horses & use them to pull coaches. In one legend, a farmer's children bring home two corgi puppies they found in a hollow, & the farmer declares them gifts from the fairy folk.

13 43
2022-05-15

In Bavaria farmers will tie small baskets of wild strawberries to the horns of their cattle as an offering to the elves. It is believed that by offering the elves their favourite foods they will in return ensure the cows produce plentiful calves and milk.

17 81
2022-05-08

In there is definitely a for every occasion. When it comes to fruit, I present suika no bakemono, which appears as a watermelon-headed samurai. Unfortunately very little is known about this strange supernatural creature. It comes...

1/3

34 147
2022-05-08


Sweetest of the flowers a blooming
In the fragrant vernal days
Is the Lily of the Valley
With its soft, retiring ways.–Paul Laurence Dunbar

A fairy favourite, folklore says this flower’s scent prompts the nightingale to find a mate. It will also avert bad luck.

4 16
2022-05-08

✨🍀✨Clover lore...
Brings good luck if kept in the house, or worn in buttonholes or hats.
Protects against evil spells and enchantments.
If seen in dreams it foretells a happy and prosperous marriage.
Carrying a four-leafed clover allows you to see the Fae.

36 123
2022-05-08

Peter Rabbit loses one shoe among the cabbages & the other amongst the potatoes & his escape from Mr McGregor is impeded by getting caught in a gooseberry net by his buttons. He loses his jacket while escaping a giant sieve & finally runs home in no clothes!!

25 118
2022-05-02

Beginning with the 15th century Europeans around the world began to revel in exotic clothes, bringing these into their own fashion to show their status as a worldly romantic traveler. Famous examples include the fez, the kimono, and animal skins from the Americas.

3 14
2022-05-02

Carretero y capatáz by Claudio Gay, 1854

Hats have acted as indicators of social status. In this a foreman (with horse) wears a hat of greater height than the accompanying inquilino (19th-century Chilean labourer).

3 2
2022-05-01

The perilous red shoes that won't stop dancing 👠

🎨Adrien Segur for H.C. Andersen's fairy tale.

5 22
2022-05-01

To make images of the Greek gods be recognizable by everyone, even people who can't read, each god was given some distinctive piece of clothing or accessory - Athena, Hermes, and Ares each wear a particular helmet, Hera wears a crown, Apollo carries a lyre, etc.

10 30
2022-05-01


An old custom on May Day was to give a May basket. Children created the baskets, filling them with flowers they had picked, homemade trinkets and other goodies. On May Day morning the baskets were hung surreptitiously on the front door of their friends’ homes.

8 27
2022-05-01


The May Queen, a young girl chosen and crowned in a traditional festival. She rides or walks at the front of the parade, leading the celebrations. It is customary for her to wear a white gown symbolising purity, and a crown of flowers in her hair.

10 28
2022-05-01

A 'hob-thross' lived in Millom Castle. He slept by the fire during the day, and worked all night, doing the chores the humans didn’t want to do. One harsh winter he was offered clothes, a terrible insult to a hob-thross, so he left.


art: Eric Edwards

8 15
2022-05-01

Rhitta was a Welsh giant who loved to conquer kings and then weave their beards into his cloak. By the time he tried to take King Arthur's beard, Rhitta's cloak already had a hundred beards sewn into it. However, Arthur killed him and buried him under Mt Snowdon.

3 17
2022-05-01

The tradition of "counting crows" as a divination tool began in 17th c. Europe.

"One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three for a wedding
Four for a birth
Five for rich
Six for poor
Seven for a witch
I can tell you no more."

7 18
2022-04-25

FAIRY ENCHANTMENT the fae cast an enchantment over woodland animals and birds; bird-riding fae are commonplace in folklore as seen in the fantastical world of French author and illustrator Jean-Baptiste Monge and his delightful transport

37 125
2022-04-25

In Kerry, it’s said the fox and the duck had a competition
to see who was first to announce the day.
The sly fox stayed up all night & in the morning
the fox said ‘oh duck, duck …’
But the smart duck woke up & called out, ‘day! day!’
So the duck is first!

5 8
2022-04-25

Renwick 1733: a Cockatrice took up residence in the ruined church, but John Tallantine killed the creature using rowan tree branch.
Some believe it can still be seen flying around the church at night.

12 45
2022-04-24

In Irish mythology, Clíodhna, Queen of the Banshees & patron of Co Cork in has 3 brightly coloured who eat apples from an otherworldly tree! Their song is said to heal the sick! ©? 🦜🐦🦚🌳

15 66
2022-04-24