# folkloresunday gothicadvent cumbria ayrshirefolklore shakespearesunday winter animals druids swampsunday deeperolderdarker superstitionsat mythologymonday

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

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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

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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

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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

The village of 'Dragley Beck', now part of Ulverston, is the birthplace of Sir John Barrow, English statesman, and one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society. It gets it's name from the dragon that legend says, sleeps underneath it.

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2022-11-20

The name Phoenician means "purple people," as they were known for the rare, expensive purple dye only they could provide. It was called Tyrian purple after the city-state of Tyre, & was extracted from tens of thousands of predatory sea snails.

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2022-11-20

from my hometown, Ayr - Black Shuck haunts woodland on the outskirts of the town. These large, red-eyed black dogs from folklore have both malevolent and benevolent natures. This shuck however, was attempting to save a child from a wolf.

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2022-11-20

“The grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart & bids it break.” Macbeth 4:3

The Ice Maiden, guarded by her bears, searches for broken hearts at night. She keeps them alive in her castle by warming them in a circle of flames.

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2022-11-13

Season's Greetings! Postcards c.1912. So regarding plants, anything that is still green (and even better if it has berries) in is considered special.

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2022-11-13

The winter season has been associated with numerous deities: the Greek god, Boreas; Norse god, Ullr; Celtic goddesses Cailleach and Beira. Over time, the old gods and goddesses were often transformed into a more generalised 'Jack Frost'.

art: Baklaher

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2022-11-13

In the beginning there was only the Sun and the Earth, and the white reindeer created rivers from its veins, its fur became the forests, its antlers became the mountains

https://t.co/6NOzHShypO


art: Mary Evans

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2022-11-13

🌊💀🌊Voices of the drowned were believed to be heard in storms. In Norfolk they were said to scream their names. Cornish fishermen avoided old shipwrecks as they feared they would hear their own name called out by the dead crew - an omen that they would soon die.

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2022-11-07

Huelgoat forest contains a fairy pool where once a year, at the summer solstice, fairies congregate to judge those of them who have acted spitefully to humanity. Those found guilty are condemned to stay at the bottom of the water until the next summer solstice.

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2022-11-06

Peg Powler is the North East England equivalent of Jinny Greenteeth- a water hag who lurked in rivers and ponds ready to drown unsuspecting travellers and children

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2022-11-06

Fishermen toss this Slavic water spirit (vodyanoy) a pinch of tobacco and say~

‘Here’s your tobacco Lord Vodnik
Now give me a fish’

art by Elena Schweitzer

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2022-11-06

“Sing all a green willow...
The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur’d her moans
Her salt tears fell from her, and soften’d the stones...
Sing willow, willow, willow.”
Othello, 4:3



The willow grows near water & symbolises grief & sorrow.

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2022-11-06

The Welsh lake of Llyn Cowlyd has three mythical beasts associated with it; the water horse, the water bull and the Owl of Cowlyd.

https://t.co/0lcAWKmhK8

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2022-11-06

🌿🌗🌿Ancient hollow Yews - living doorways between the present, the past and a mythic reality, where longbows and silver-tipped arrows are your only defence...

📚Books back in stock!
https://t.co/aXWYbm57Vf

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2022-11-06

Samhain is the first month of the Irish calendar, and the beginning of the dark half of the year. In Gaelic folklore it is this time the Caileach lays out her cloak and walks with her frosty hammer, covering the land in ever-increasing white.

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2022-10-30