Did you know that in China, apples are a good luck food because the word is similar to "safety", while in Japan it's the KitKat because it sounds like "I'm bound to win"? Hence class snacks for our last Folklore Studies workshop of the semester 😭

Looking so much forwards to this (even if it means I may have to go by plane). I'll be speaking about letters to Santa, with the great @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social ! 🥳 #folklore #museumlife

So proud of @clairerakich.bsky.social for a brilliant paper on gendered motifs in the uses of folk songs in movies at today's Traditional Song Forum @porticolibrary.bsky.social - I'll never watch folk song in film the same way again!

Mia Marta Ruus travelled from Estonia to give us a fascinating insight into the life, songs, and contradictory characterisations of singer Mai Kravtsov - Mia even treated us to a live Estonian folk song

The second paper was a thought-provoking delve into the mysterious White Fisher song and singer Bell Duncan by Julia Bishop

First up was this fascinating paper by Dr Catherine Ann Cullen on the trials and troubles of women street singers in C19th Ireland

Back in my favourite place in Manchester @porticolibrary.bsky.social for the TSF conference on Women and Folk Song this Saturday 😍

We were lucky enough to have Simon Bailes of Dunton Folk pop into our MA Folklore Studies workshop to talk about his work on wassails (that's him in the BBC picture mid-wassail). We're hoping that our own inaugural wassail will make it into his forthcoming book 🤞 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Looking forward to chairing the next @folkloresociety.bsky.social online seminar by Helen Frisby on 'Picturing the Dead: Spirit Photography'. Intrigued? Get your tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/picturing-...

Ghost postcard genre. A favourite from my collection - "It Appears...". 1930s.

A reminder that I'm speaking at Conway Hall on Sunday 19 April. Book your tickets here: www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/eve...

I've been coming to Nantcol waterfalls for years and only just spotted the coin-tree - shame! Fieldwork slightly harder (but more fun) with a 7yo complaining that "mummy's folkloring again!"

Today I visited the most haunted cell of the most haunted wing of Shrewsbury Prison - said to have its resident Grey Lady (as any self-respecting public building older than 50 years must have). I'll admit it was particularly cold in that cell 👻

One of my very generous Folklore students brought me a souvenir back from Ukraine: an egg decorated in the beautiful vibrant flowers of Petrykivka painting, a style that's recognised by UNESCO as significant to the cultural heritage of Ukraine. Stunning! 🥰

Huge congratulations to MA Folklore Studies graduate Alex Curtis, whose collection of military sweetheart pincushions is now on display in 'The Material Heart' exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum. Alex did her research project on these beautiful, personal objects ❤️

Today I had a fascinating folklore conversation with @deborahhyde.bsky.social & @profchrisfrench.bsky.social (but I'm not allowed to tell you why yet)

Today @profchrisfrench.bsky.social and I saw saw @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social ! We'll tell you why soon (ish).

Our amazing DHeritage student @herts.ac.uk Janine Marriott has just had her fascinating research on C19th cemeteries published in the Routledge Handbook of Dark Events: 'Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem' 🪦💀📖

Just want it noted - in case we have another 67 childlore phenomenon - that in teaching my kid not to flip someone off I suggested "I bite my thumb at you sir". He loves it, has taught it to his friends, who also love it. They're all going around biting their thumbs at each other "sir" 🤣

Legendary trees. This was one of the last living trees, according to tradition, under which Dick Turpin was said to have sheltered. There were several such Turpin trees c. 1900. All gone now.

In honour of the #springequinox we assembled at the @herts.ac.uk allotment & explored some folklore customs of welcoming spring - including the Chinese tradition of egg balancing - it's harder than it looks!

Pi Day (3.14) gave us all the excuse we needed for class snacks when discussing contemporary traditions on the MA Folklore Studies in this week's workshop #piday

Place legends in postcards. Cute dog! But what is the stone? I know, of course. But can you guess?

Admiring the hag-stones of Chelsea Physic Garden. Why was I there on a work day? Watch this space

Legends in British postcards. Occasional quiz. Whose oak is this? A major major legendary figure ... Last seen in the 1970s. No longer exists.

Spent the first full day of my 40s how I mean to go on - with beautiful views and muddy boots

From now on it won't be a birthday unless my book is turned into a cake 😍🥲 Thank you family!

💚💚💚https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp8rjk02r0jt

Yesterday I had the honour of talking about my folklore-related work at the Folklore Studies Master's in Herfordshire Uni. Dr. @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social takes are something I could listen to for hours, and sharing perspectives with other fellow Folklore Nerds™ (as we are) makes for the best days.

Used my upcoming birthday as an excuse in class to talk about the caterpillar cake (be it Colin, Morris, Cecil, Maisie, Vic, etc) as a contemporary British birthday tradition - the American students were bemused, asking why a caterpillar. I had no pearls of wisdom to share. But I did have cake.

Gibbets. Bit of fieldwork yesterday. Name this replica gibbet! It would originally have been four or five times higher, though. Strange juxtoposition of a macabre historical location with fast food and speed limits...

Today we welcomed the amazingly talented @diesclara.bsky.social to class @herts.ac.uk who talked to us about her journey to folklore, her artworks & her myriad projects (including a very exciting delve into witchcraft in northern Spain). Thank you so much for joining us!

Some of our amazing folklorists about to graduate and already doing amazing things, making the world a better place by caring about people's stories, customs & beliefs. You make me so proud 🥲

Folklore out and about, bringing delight at every stopping point.

This issue also includes my review of @odavies9.bsky.social and @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social's Folklore: A Journey through the Past and the Present

In Folklore Studies class last week @herts.ac.uk we were celebrating Lunar New Year and exploring the ways it's adapted to the present day. Then I head over to Liverpool and amidst the Lion Dance am handed a red envelope by the God of Fortune - with a chocolate 2p coin inside it

Invasion of the Saucermen is a new exhibition at the Old Head Post Office at @sheffieldhallamuni.bsky.social, opening next month. We caught up with Andrew Robinson to hear about its conception - and how the Survey feeds into the display: www.nationalfolkloresurvey.co.uk/news/invasio...

Episode four of Folklore Matters has landed and it’s a special one: a recording of @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social and @odavies9.bsky.social at Off The Shelf in October discussing their latest book, Folklore: a journey through past and present. It’s a corker if we do say so ourselves!

If you've ever been a Girl Guide and collected badges for a blanket, please consider filling in this survey by one of my brilliant Folklore students: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Waiting to cross the tram tracks at Manchester's Lunar New Year parade

This is a solid reference book. I expected to read of folk revivals, pleasantly surprised by inclusion of rituals like the ice bucket challenge, #goblincore and other subcultures. Honestly hadn't thought of them as folklore, an eye opening treat. @odavies9.bsky.social @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social

Today was spent ostensively playing ATU 122E - and if you get what I'm saying, you're my kind of person

Really grateful to the incomparable Terry Gunnell for zooming in from Iceland to chat with the Folklore Studies students @herts.ac.uk about digital archives, folk motifs & TROLLS🧌

You know all about The Wicker Man… now hear from one of the Children of The Wicker Man. On Folklore Matters today, we talk to Dominic Hardy, son of Robin, to hear all about the film’s legacy and its impact on his family. Source it wherever you get your podcasts…

A reminder that my book on the history of protest is now published. It is superbly produced with a great cover. Buy it now from @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

Legends in postcards. I give you the "Joe Stone" of Gretton. Known enough in early 20thC to be turned into a postcard. Unknown now. Still there, though. But no one knows how it got its name. Possibly used as a customary stone for farmers' transactions. Who knows! Who was Joe?

If the below picture gets you thinking stats, classes, campaigns, and the incomparable joy of crit successes then please consider answering this short survey for my Folklore student's research project: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

If you are interested, check out all the work by @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social. and here's a bit of research we collaborated on about geocaches and lovelock structures as serial collaborative creations. (Open access) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Went back to visit my old Christmas tree, which had been dying in a pot in my yard so I planted it in the wild. So pleased to see some fresh growth at the top