# holygrail folklore mythologymonday fairytaletuesday wyrdwednesday folklorethursday superstitionsat japanesefolklore yokai gothicspring owlishmonday ukiyoe preraphaelite caturday otd sabbat witches walpurgisnight walpurgisnacht artist dragon

Barabashka in Russian mythology is a noisy spirit. It is believed every building has its own barabashka. Also “barabashka” is nickname for an angry household spirit domovoi. If for some reason domovoi gets angry then he begins to make noises.

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2021-05-28

In Aztec religion, Chantico is the deity reigning over the fires in the family hearth. Chantico's name means "she who dwells in the house" or "she who comes to make the house." The male Aztec deity reigning over fire is named Xolotl.

4 14
2021-05-28

Devilish & deadly cover art from Der Orchideengarten, one of the first fantasy fiction magazines. Founded by Karl Hans Strobl in Munich & published from 1919-1921, it featured Gothic, horror, fantasy tales and illustrations.
(Uni. Heidelberg digital library)

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2021-05-21

The Arming and Departure of the Knights.
One of the sumptuous 19th-century tapestries by Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, & John Henry Dearle. ⚔️

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2021-05-21

Men grow mighty in the May,
Proud and gay the maidens grow;
Fair is every wooded height;
Fair and bright the plain below.

A bright shaft has smit the streams,
With gold gleams the water-flag;
Leaps the fish, and on the hills
Ardor thrills the leaping stag.

7 20
2021-05-21

Harpies appear in the stories of Charlemagne where they harried Senapus, the blind king of Abyssinia, by fouling his food so that he would have died of starvation if Astolpho had not arrived in time to drive them off and so save his life.

6 20
2021-05-21

-Changelings

"I want to tell myself she is not you,
This strange girl wearing my eyes,
Whose every gesture rings untrue,
Familiar, but in disguise."

5 33
2021-05-14

🍄🔥🍄Unbaptized babies were believed especially vulnerable to being stolen by the Fae, who would leave a changeling in their place. The child might be taken because of its beauty, to strengthen the Fae bloodline, or used to pay the septennial tithe owed to hell.

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2021-05-14

In Wales, changelings were known as crimbals. One story is of Dazzy Walters in Ebbw Vale who woke up just as her baby was being stolen, but managed to hold onto its foot before the fairies disappeared with it. 🧚🏼‍♀️



🎨 Kate Greenaway, April Baby Hush-a-bye, Baby.

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2021-05-14

'The goddess, from the "great above"
she set her mind toward the "great
below,"
Inanna, from the "great above" she set
her mind toward the "great below."
My lady abandoned heaven, abandoned
earth,
To the nether world she descended.'

🎨Marcela Bolivar

8 46
2021-05-07

"Why, the question is often asked of me
Do you choose as subjects for painting
So often death, perishing and the grave?
In order to one day live eternally
One must often submit oneself to death"

Caspar David Friedrich died 1840

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2021-05-07

"It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
⁠In the misty mid region of Weir—
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
⁠In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir" (E.A. Poe)

Join us tomorrow for with your tales and images of

"Gothic Landscapes"

We RT after 2 pm GMT

16 44
2021-05-06

I always loved the way Baum, in 1900, made Glinda, The Good Witch of the North, a witch who challenged the centuries-old “evil witch” archetype. He was a suffragist, & he made Glinda the Good a brilliant & strong protector over Oz.
🎨Fleming, Denslow, Fuseli

5 31
2021-05-01

Off to the to meet all those other who have shape-shifted into black cats.

Maggie Vandewalle

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2021-04-30

The "princess and dragon" trope is a common one in fairytales & folklore. In this trope we see a brave hero who rescues a princess (or noblewoman) from either a real dragon or similar danger. This trope is commonly a feature of folktale type 300, the dragon slayer

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2021-04-24

The Tarasque was an unusual dragon from Provence, France, 'fatter than an ox with a lion’s face and head, a horse’s mane, its back as sharp as an axe, bristling and piercing scales, six feet with bear’s claws, a serpent’s tail, and a shell like a tortoise.' [1/4]

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2021-04-24

This illustration from Harley MS 3244 f.59, mid 13th Century England, has been said to be the earliest fully-fledged modern Western-style dragon. Before this they were depicted as giant serpents or wyrms. Anyone know of any earlier representations?

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2021-04-23

The Dragon King & his Bride + Green Dragon Cocktail by Bertha Lum (1869-1954). Lum studied wood block printing in Japan & was inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e (floating world) prints + themes from Japanese legends & ghost stories as collected by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn

4 27
2021-04-23

Dragons have always existed in global, cultural imaginaries for thousands of years. In the late Victorian era, William Morris made ceramic tiles of his favourite kinds of dragons. Which is your fave? ☺️🐉❤️

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2021-04-23