# yōkai merrychristmas 1stjanuary newyearsday yuletide yule ghosts folklore lakedistrict cumbria snow snowdrop winter faeries gothicadvent

In Shropshire the colour green is a symbol of the other, the ethereal & mystical realm. Such a colour is associated with the fair folk including the fairy queen Godda who along with her husband Edric the Wild, rides across the Stiperstones as part of the wild hunt

11 57
2023-01-16

Idun/Iduna is the Norse Goddess of Spring and the keeper of the apples of immortality that the gods would eat to preserve their youthfulness.
https://t.co/qmE821CCfm

🎨 Idun and the Apples by James Doyle Penrose (1890)

6 19
2023-01-09

NINGYO Japanese 'human fish' Appears first in the Nihonshoki in Osaka in the year 619 as a fish 'shaped like a child'; Ningyō bring good fortune & in some cases immortality; Happyaku bikuni is the myth of an 800 year old nun who ate Ningyō as a child

30 120
2023-01-08

Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) is one of China's most ancient goddesses. She lives in the mythical Kunlun Mountains where she tends the peaches of immortality in her garden. More in thread below.

🎨'Seiobo - Queen of the West' - Takeuchi Keishu, 1907
1/2 https://t.co/i4o8PfRqLI

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2023-01-08

The end is a new beginning in Ragnarok: the ruins of burnt Yggdrasil protect the last humans, who are guided to rebuilding the Nordic world by a reborn Baldr and Hodr, allowing the world an unscripted new chance.

15 64
2023-01-02

Everyone! is not here this Sunday but will return on for those who feel up & at ‘em on With the theme of NEW BEGINNINGS!
In the meantime, take care & have a wonderful Maude xx
(Brita as Iduna by Carl Larsson)

28 225
2022-12-24

- Vikings believed spirits known as Vættir lived in trees.
To prevent these small creatures from freezing during winter, trees were brought inside and decorated so the spirits could enjoy a warm, cozy home. https://t.co/AO4UplwBhK
🎄💖

28 101
2022-12-18

Yule was a time associated with the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is a procession of spectral huntsmen that streak across the sky. Some tales claim that the group is made of fairies, others elves, though most settle on the idea devilish beings.
https://t.co/O9knWdZ0St

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2022-12-18

The Holly King and Oak King fight for control during Midsummer and Midwinter! At the height of his power, the Holly King will be defeated and the world will return once more to sunny days and greenery!
🖼️ (Print available on Etsy)

9 33
2022-12-18

Oh Northern light!
Cleave this deathless night
Lingering above embroidering the sky
Oh Northern light!
Weave the wispy haze
To behold that eerie beauty in a daze
Painting the Heaven's Vault
My song and art "Northern Lights"
Listen here:
https://t.co/OLmjRAcG8I

4 9
2022-12-12

December's

We have a family tradition of telling ghost stories over the Festive period. I write about it's origin - the Banshee encounter, and tell a few Cumbrian folk tales also

https://t.co/t2GbnlIC9S

7 24
2022-12-11

Dark Beira, the Winter Queen was very old and her anger could be as strong and bitter as the cold north wind and as wild and unforgiving as the storm laden sea. Every winter Beira reigned but as spring approached her subjects grew restless https://t.co/feXM9y6Bps

5 13
2022-12-11

Once the snow yearned for colour as it had none, & the shy little snowdrop showed it a great kindness by offering up its colour when all the brighter flowers had sneeringly refused. In return the protects the from the harshness of

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2022-12-11

In Cumbrian dialect, 'hollin' is holly

During the winter months holly is brought into the home to protect it from malevolent faeries, or allow benevolent ones to shelter therein without friction with the human hosts


art: John Anster Fitzgerald

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2022-12-11

Morana is the feared one. Eastern Slavs Goddess of Winter, death, pestilence, disease, ruling over the dark time of year, bringing coldness with her frosty countenance. She lives in a mirrored palace where two bottomless streams meet, guarded by serpents. ❄️🐍❄️

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2022-12-11

Lussi, a Germanic sorceress, is the dark counterpart of Saint Lucia. On the night of December 13 -- 'Lussi Night' -- she rides through the sky on Odin's Wild Hunt, with her band of elves and faeries, called 'Lussiferda'.

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2022-12-05

Elves pack up and shut down shop before the first winter frosts arrive, for nothing grows without the help of the Alvar. Nothing can thrive in snow so they do not bother, choosing instead to sleep.

🖼: A. Rackham

20 76
2022-11-28

- The evergreen plant mistletoe was sacred to the Celts, the Norse, and the Native Americans. According to ancient beliefs mistletoe protected against thunder, lightning, warded off evil spirits, kept witches away, and was a healing plant. https://t.co/KhanLlvN5U

17 45
2022-11-27

The genus Helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of perennial flowering plants. Despite names such as "winter rose","Christmas rose" and "Lenten rose",hellebores are not closely related to the rose family.Many species are poisonous https://t.co/q5gSUvqzZB

10 39
2022-11-27

Vienna is a city with many stories about the things going on in its sewers, like in The Third Man, or this novel project I illustrated years ago.

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2022-11-21