I'd like to to try and figure out if there's a more unknown area of english folklore as the most overt folklore in England is just folklore taken from other places within proximity (wales, scandinavia, germany). At least it seems like that. If I am wrong in this, please do correct me as I would like to learn more. Mainly posting this thread as I've suddenly had an interest into european folklore, specifically english folklore but don't want to get mixed up with other people's folklore.
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Any further reading you can point my way would be delightful anons.
Start with the Anglo-Saxons, go on through the Middle English period, and progress to the times of Shakespeare. While there are indeed many foreign influences, most cultures borrow aspects from others. The English were no exception.
Thankyou both, would either of you by chance know any good books on the topic?
very comfy anon
What I was referring to was mainly the 'most known' ones like King Arthur for example and will o'wisps are welsh, at least from what I can gather. I hadn't actually heard of the ones you mentioned so thankyou. Like above if you know of any books featuring as much as possible that would be delightful.
>will o'wisps are welsh
No they aren't, what the frick are you talking about? why are you talking out of your arse?
Calm down mate, not everyone is from here and not everyone has to know their shit. Things get misattributed all the time.
it's literally common knowledge you thick c**t. nobody has ever stated will o wisps are welsh so why are you making shit up?
half the shit on english folklore, or the folklore of any country for that matter you can find on wikipedia
or you can actually go to england and experience wassailing and the green man and the horn dance instead of talking so much shit
Apologies, I didn't address the former concerns regarding the will o'wisps being welsh. It was something that I got confused with as I had previously read that it was from the welsh.
Ah my apologies, do you perhaps know where one could read up more on these then? You seem to be fairly well versed.
ah that's a shame, but thankyou.
>one could read up more on these then
Books that is, as the anon above pointed that wikipedia seemed to be some-what reliable for this endeavour.
there is no difference between the welsh, irish, scots, briton. anglo-saxons are only a little different and are just the former groups dressed up a little bit
i think only the picts were legitimately different than the other island bongers
>there is no difference between the welsh, irish, scots, briton. anglo-saxons are only a little different and are just the former groups dressed up a little bit
moron esl detected
what are the meaningful differences between the welsh and irish? list three examples
different language, culture, religion
fricking hell americans are moronic
>Different language, religion
No longer relevant in the modern world. Let's be honest with ourselves, the average urban Dubliner (i.e most likely a liberal, atheist, Anglophone) has more in common with a Londoner or Cardiff resident than they do with their own great grandparents at this point
>i think only the picts were legitimately different than the other island bongers
nah they were almost certainly celts of either the P or Q sort
REH of conan fame said they were short hairy monkey people and ill believe him over you any day of the week kid
>Thankyou both, would either of you by chance know any good books on the topic?
Unfortunately I don't have any books specific to England. This is all knowledge I've picked up over the year attending literature and anthropology courses over the years, and it should be noted that I'm not from England myself nor did I study there.
It makes you want to cry knowing what England used to be vs. now
>overt folklore in England is just folklore taken from other places within proximity (wales, scandinavia, germany
Well duh, that's the case everywhere in Europe. My grandmother is German but she remembers bedtime stories that were identical to Polish/Slavic ones, because she was from an area that had a lot of contact with Slavs. The English being a Germanic people will also obviously share common myths the Scandinavians and Germans because they literally originate from the same Germanic ancestors.
Anyhow, Wikipedia unironically has a good list of English Folkloric creatures
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_folklore
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_mythology
Creatures like Elves have always been present in English myth, they're not a recent Scandinavian import. The name Alfred (which has been around since the 8th century) literally means Elf-council, for instance.
imagine living in your house with your family and working your land with your sons while your wife and daughters tend the animals and cook and then one of your daughters comes up with a big ol jug of warm ginger water (because cold drinks disrupt your humors, or thats what the wise folk say anyway) and wiping the sweat from your brow while drinking a glass with your son as he boasts that he bets your twice as strong as the neighbor-kids dad and you council him about pride before the fall but assure him that yes, you are the stronger man
>as the most overt folklore in England is just folklore taken from other places within proximity (wales, scandinavia, germany)
Why do you morons always post this shit? How the frick are redcaps or the black shuck or wassailing taken from wales or scandinavia?
Intersting how even though the English are Celtic/Germano mutts they have a 100 percent Germanic culture, no trace of celtic
It is partly because the celts of England were already largely Romanized before the saxon invasion. Vortigern would have likely considered himself more Roman than Celtic.
That being said the celts did leave an impact on local legends and customs.
Weren't the elites/urbanites of Romano-Britain culturally Romans but the hinterland Celtic-speaking and culturally so?
>That being said the celts did leave an impact on local legends and customs.
give ONE example
King Arthur
May Day Poles (possibly)
Anything pertaining to fairies or Stone circles
There's an entire mythology surrounding the founding of England...Hengist and Horsa, Treason of the Long Knives, etc., but basically nobody knows or cares about it. English people don't give a shit about their past for the most part.
There is an extremely popular TV series about the founding of England
You mean the Last Kingdom? That's not about the founding of England.
I'll take a gander, cheers.
> English people don't give a shit about their past for the most part.
It may sound daft but unfortunately I fell for that as it just had never occurred to me, and was never mentioned, which is why I would like to correct it. In any case I am hoping to learn a lot, thankyou.
Anon, I do live in England and was unaware entirely of the things you mentioned. They are not done or talked about in any of the areas I have lived. I would like to experience those things though. I'm afraid it is not common knowledge, though I hope perhaps one day it shall be. I made this thread as I have a desire to learn about it and as I have asked previously, I would be delighted if you could provide a book for the topic, as wikipedia as we're all well aware isn't going to be 'all' of it. Though if it's all that anons recommend, I shall suffice while I look for some books. Much obliged as always anon.
>I fell for that as it just had never occurred to me, and was never mentioned,
I feel you. I'm also English and had no idea of any if this stuff until I found it out myself. It's pretty sad how we grow up not being exposed to our own ancestral myths. Almost makes you think there's there's an agenda to divorce people from their roots.
There's no agenda, it's just the unfortunate cold reality of economic trends and modernity. As people become detached from the lifestyle which gave life to these myths, they inevitably fade from popular life and Imagination.
Nobody knows how to farm anymore, so things like farmers' superstitions or seasonal festivals lose their meanings. Nobody fishes and sails anymore, so things like sailor's wisdoms or legends die out.
Now we are a nation of urban dwelling office workers who spend more time eating kebab pizza than we do walking in our own forests and countryside.
The UK's greatest success (being the world's first industrialized country) is also its biggest curse
Correct. The countryside/peaceful market town life is still possible but so many in this country live a blighted existence.
>the most overt folklore in England is just folklore taken from other places within proximity (wales, scandinavia, germany)
it's almost like celts and bretons were on that island, vikings raided england, and anglo-saxons are from anglia and saxony
i can't believe english people would take their culture
in hindsight OP i shouldn't have been so snarky in my post, i apologize for that. it's good you're trying to learn about english culture. check out the history of the dark ages/early medieval period for starters although all medieval european history is pretty fascinating. arab and asian medieval history is fascinating too.
careful with wikipedia. it can be a good way to get an outline of some things, but many articles are very biased. one of their core policies is that articles should keep a neutral POV, but many use very loaded language to make you think the topic of the article is evil, immoral, and not to question the article's biases.
it's also used to paint modern imperialism in a good light, like modern american history. pic rel.
i remember being told in western school and college not to use it because anyone can edit it. it's amazing to see westerners on social media use it as gospel without even checking sources and just dismissing any differing opinions.
it's probably alright for this topic, but there could be related articles where it's necessary to be even more skeptical than usual of wikipedia.
All good anon :). I'd love to delve into middle eastern and asian medieval history and their respective folklores, but I think I'll take one step at a time and try to build up my knowledge starting with England and slowly branching out. Yeah I'll take wikipedia with a heavy pinch of salt, it's a tad why I was hoping that someone would have a grand book about parts of it. I'll endeavour to keep looking though.
Robin Hood?
Try this one:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.176844
It's a brief 80-page work, but it's a good starting point. As the author explains his motivations:
>It is only to draw attention to the richness, perhaps by many readers hardly suspected, of the living folklore of England.
>Our limitation will therefore be to what has been active during the last generation, but in most cases also to what has been noted after the war [WWI].
Some cool excerpts:
>There is a sort of faint reminiscence of the ancient “foundation sacrifice” about the notion that the first child baptized in a new font is sure to die.
>The dead seem to have been carried feet foremost from ancient times, in order to prevent their seeing their home and door and so being able to find their way back as revenants.
>It is still believed in several districts that, according to manorial custom, if a house can be built on common land, covered, and a pot boiled therein or at least smoke sent out of its chimney, all between sunset and sunrise, the ground on which it stands becomes the property of the builder.
>The first snowdrop must not be brought into the house, and to offer the flower to the opposite sex is as much as a wish for their death.
>Even when we are dead the corpse continues to give its omens, as if it does not stiffen there will be another death in the family within three months, and if the eyes do not close it is looking for a companion.
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