Merry Christmas Eve ☃️ Under a slender crescent moon's soft glow, Children skate and laugh in winter's snow. Snowmen wave, lights tenderly gleam, Weaving the night in a magical dream. Heart warm, nights bright with growing light— Merry Christmas Eve, far and near! ~ Inspired by Lizzy Rainey's art

Got toBe Real! youtu.be/54HSk7-q960

Tis the Season for Retro Ugly Christmas Sweaters. 😆 I showed you mine, now show me yours! 😉

"Happy Winter Solstice! ❄️🌞 Winter Solstice: In ancient folklore, the White Stag leads spiritual quests to the Otherworld & heralds the return of light. The Deer Mother (Horned Goddess) embody wild fertility & rebirth—antlers often bearing the sun/cosmos. #FolkloreSunday 👩🦌 🌞

The #Cailleach (or Beira), the fierce Gaelic hag of winter in Scottish folklore, shapes mountains, herds deer, and rules the cold months with her icy staff——symbolically banished by burning the "Cailleach Nollich" Yule log on Christmas Eve. #ScottishFolklore 🎨 Natasa Ilincic

#BookWormSat 🎄👹 Greece's Kallikantzaroi—mischievous underground #goblins who emerge during the 12 days of Christmas! Born from a human mother on Christmas Day, they torment folks until Epiphany's holy waters banish them. Festive folklore with a dark twist! 🎄👹 #Christmas #Kallikantzaro

#BookwormSatOn On Christmas nights, the veil thins. In Victorian England, it was custom to gather by the fire on Christmas Eve & tell ghost taless—Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a famous survivor of this custom. Telling “winter tales” until midnight was believed to keep evil spirits away.

#BookWormSat 🎅🌙 Clement Clarke Moore's iconic poem, first published anonymously in 1823 as "A Visit from St. Nicholas. This beloved classic shaped our modern Santa Claus! 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

‘In the midst of the darkness, a solitary candle shone, and in its flicker, a promise of warmth and light.’ ~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol @racheldeering.bsky.social here for the rest of a Christmas #BookWormSat which embraces the Scrooges along with the festive revellers. 🖼️ Arthur Rackham

‘NAUGHTY AND NICE? said Death. BUT IT'S EASY TO BE NICE IF YOU'RE RICH. IS THIS FAIR? Albert wanted to argue. He wanted to say, Really? In that case, how come so many of the rich buggers is bastards?’ ~ Terry Pratchett, Hogfather. #BookWormSat

Frosty days and ice-still nights, Fir trees trimmed with tiny lights, Sound of sleigh bells in the snow, That was Christmas long ago. Jo Geis Lynn Bywaters #BookWormSat

"The holly in the windy hedge And round the Manor House the yew Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge, The altar, font and arch and pew, So that the villagers can say 'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day." - Betjeman (My village church in the snow) #BookWormSat #poetry #Christmas

‘We are all apt to think too much of Christmas, to try too hard to be merry, and to forget that for many, it is a time of loneliness and regret.’ ~ Anthony Trollope, The Mistletoe Bough. #BookWormSat 🖼️ The Christmas Tree, Jennie Walsh, 1916.

"In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago." (Christina Rossetti) 🎨 Heinrich Gogarten #bookwormsat #wintersky

‘Christmas always rustled. It rustled every time, mysteriously, with silver and gold paper, tissue paper and…shiny paper…’~Tove Jansson. This #BookWormSat, we will unwrap the gifts of literature by celebrating all aspects of Christmas…be they festive or disdainful. Do join us.

Beautiful friends, what a cracking #FolkyFriday. Thank you! 🖤 On the theme of endings, after two years of folky fun, today was our final #FolkyFriday. We launched the hashtag to encourage folky sharing on Fridays in lieu of #FaustianFriday - and now #PhantomsFriday has it locked down! (1/2)

#FolkyFriday ❄️🔥🪵 The Yule Log is an ancient Germanic and Scandinavian tradition. A symbol of the Sun's RETURN, it burns brightly in homes to usher in longer days. A piece is saved to light next year's fire, linking seasons in a cycle of renewal. #Yule #Yulelog 🪵🔥 #Midwinterlore ❄️☀️ 🎨Art by D.L.A.

#FolkyFriday #MariLwyd In Welsh tradition, the eerie Mari Lwyd—a decorated horse skull on a pole,goes door-to-door in midwinter gloom. ❄️🌞 The troupe sings riddling verses, battling wits for entry & ale. A rite marking the legendary ending of the old year, echoing ancient solstice #wassailing

#FolkyFriday 🌞❄️ #WinterSolstice In Celtic-inspired lore, the Holly King rules the deepest Winter Solstice night, wrapping the world in darkness & stillness. This legendary ending, the Oak King rises! Defeating his twin, he claims victory, heralding the Sun's #REBIRTH and light's return.

#FolkyFriday #WildHunt 🐾 Cŵn Annwn = "Hounds of Annwn." Ghostly dogs: snow-white with blood-red ears (sometimes small & liver-colored or black.) They hunt with the Wild Hunt for Annwn's ruler—Arawn (early Mabinogion) later Gwyn ap Nudd, king of Fae & underworld. Omens from the Otherworld!

Ho ho ho, it's #FolkyFriday! 🖤 Our theme today is "Legendary Endings and Midwinter Lore" ahead of Winter Solstice. From fin de siècle folktales to tragic endings, soaring romances, and 'Ever Afters' happy and sad, tag related posts #FolkyFriday for shares from 10am-6pm UK time!

According to Swedish folklore, the perfect way to ring in the New Year is to fast from food and social interaction all day, followed by a walk in the woods. This ritual, known as årsgång (or “year walk”), is meant to provide insight for the upcoming year. 🧵 #PhantomsFriday #FolkyFriday

According to legend, after clockmaker Master Hanuš built the Prague Astronomical clock in 1410, city officials blinded him to stop him creating another masterpiece. In revenge he cursed the clock, saying it would bring misfortune to the city if ever neglected 1/2 #PhantomsFriday #FolkyFriday

#FolkyFriday ❄️🔥🪵 The Yule Log is an ancient Germanic and Scandinavian tradition. A symbol of the Sun's RETURN, it burns brightly in homes to usher in longer days. A piece is saved to light next year's fire, linking seasons in a cycle of renewal. #Yule #Yulelog 🪵🔥 #Midwinterlore ❄️☀️ 🎨Art by D.L.A.

It's nearly time for a climactic #FolkyFriday! 🖤 Our theme will be "Legendary Endings and Midwinter Lore" ahead of Winter Solstice. From fin de siècle folktales to tragic endings, soaring romances, and 'Ever Afters' happy and sad, tag related posts #FolkyFriday for shares from 10am-6pm UK time!

#FolkloreThursday 🎅 🛷 🦌 Long before the red suit & reindeer, #Santa was St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, and more. The 1823 poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ (Twas the Night Before Christmas) shaped the modern Santa—flying sleigh, eight reindeer, chimney magic—blending lore into a beloved Christmas icon.

#BookologyThursday 🐎💧 #Kelpies Beneath Scotland’s misty lochs lurks the Kelpie: a sleek, shape-shifting water horse of folklore. In its true form, it lures the unwary onto its back—then drags them to a watery grave. Beware its bridle, for it holds the power to tame the beast. #BookchatWeekly 📖🫖

#BookologyThursday 📚🐉🔥 “From Welsh hills to Germanic forests, the Dragon soars in European folklore: winged, fire-breathing guardian of treasure & emblem of chaos. A beast of legend that still burns bright in our stories. Source: E. Nesbit’s The Book of Dragons (1900) #BookChatWeekly 📖🐉 #dragons

On #BookologyThursday, beneath the glowing Harvest Moon, French farmers labored late in the fields, haunted by the lurking Loup-garou. Folklore warns that the bright lunar light emboldened these werewolves, drawing them into the open to howl and summon their pack with wild, song. #BookChatWeekly

This #BookologyThursday, beware the Jólakötturinn—the monstrous Yule Cat of Icelandic lore! 😼🧥 —a colossal shadow with ember eyes and a sharp sense of fashion—who prowls Christmas Eve, devouring children who haven't received NEW clothes. 🧥😼 #BookChatWeekly

The return of #Festivus

#MythologyMonday 🐒🐒🐒 🐒✨ Dive into the wisdom of the Three Wise Monkeys! Representing "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," they remind us to focus on the positive. Originating from Japanese folklore, they're a beautiful symbol of mindfulness. Embrace their message today!

#MythologyMonday 🐒 Sun Wukong, the Monkey King Born from a stone egg, he becomes the Handsome Monkey King, gains immortality, steals a magical resizing staff, masters 72 transformations, and rebels against heaven itself!Trapped for 500 years, he's freed to protect a monk on the Journey to the West.

As we're now on the approach, I thought a little bit of practical Christmas folklore was in order. Today, it's what to include in your Christmas wreath...🎄🌿☃️🎁 #HouseholdLore #WatkinsWisdom #Folklore #Christmas #Booksky #Witchsky #Herbsky #FolkloreSunday #BookChatWeekly

Our 15th #yulefolklore tale takes us to Central Europe where we meet a West Slavic winter spirit. A gift-giver, too, but, much like Virgil’s Danaans – beware those bearing gifts! Read what happened in the link below. 🎨 Alphonse Mucha

‘The Devil pulls the strings which make us dance; We find delight in the most loathsome things; Some furtherance of Hell each new day brings, And yet we feel no horror in that rank advance.’ ~ Charles Baudelaire #BookWormSat

#BookWormSat 📚 Dan Brown's Angels & Demons (2000) – the ultimate clash of science vs. faith! Robert Langdon races through Rome decoding Illuminati symbols to stop an antimatter bomb at the Vatican. Perfect #angels 👼 vs. #demons 😈 thriller!

#BookwormSat 📚 👼 The Little Prince, a philosophical novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, tells of a young prince exploring planets and meeting adults embodying vanity, greed, and routine. Seen as an angelic, innocent figure. Published in 1943, it’s a timeless tale of innocence & insight.

#BookwormSat 📚 The Archangel Michael defeating Satan, 1635 by Guido Reni, is a Baroque masterpiece showing angelic might, with Michael as a graceful Roman soldier pinning a contorted, dark Satan beneath his foot, symbolizing triumph over evil famously housed in Rome's Santa Maria della Concezione.

#BookwormSat 📚 "The Devil's Walk", was not written by William Wordsworth alone, but was a collaborative satirical ballad co-written by Samuel T. Coleridge & Robert Southey. Published in 1799 in the Morning Post under the title "The Devil's Thoughts". poem: www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dev...

#BookwormSat Detail from André Orsel’s 1832 painting "Good and Evil" — Lucifer tempting a woman, symbolizing the battle between good and evil. 🎨👹 🎨Good and Evil: The #Devil Tempting a Young Woman), created in 1832 by the French artist André Jacques Victor Orsel.

#BookwormSat 📚 "The Devil and Tom Walker" is a short story by Washington Irving published in 1824 as part of his collection Tales of a Traveller. It's a retelling of the Faust legend, set in colonial Massachusetts around 1727, it features a man named Tom Walker who makes a deal with the devil.

#BookwormSat On St. Michaelmas (29 Sept), the #DEVIL was cast from Heaven, landing furious in the brambles—and spitting on the berries. 😈 Pick after Old Michaelmas (11 Oct), and risk bad luck or worse. Beware the devil’s curse! 🚫🤒

"The one principle of Hell is: bring back food or be food yourself." - C S Lewis, 'The Screwtape Letters' (Illustration is by Cruikshank for a story from 'The Ingoldsby Legends'. I admit it's a rather over-literal interpretation of the text!) #BookWormSat #CSLewis #devil #devils

'I know not how, but shuddering as I slept, I dreamed a banished angel to me crept' -George Meredith @signemaene.com welcomes you to #BookWormSat. 🎨Joseph Middeleer

‘What would your good be doing if there were no evil, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it?’ ~ Woland in Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. For this #BookWormSat we will cherish the angels of literature and relish its devils. Join us. 😇 😈

“From morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith like a falling star.” (Milton) 🎨 Gustave Doré #bookwormsat

'But always on that angel brow Rests such a shade of deep despair, As nought divine could ever know.' -Emily Brontë 🎨Alfred Stevens #BookWormSat

‘From his brimstone bed at break of day A walking the Devil is gone, To visit his little snug farm of the earth And see how his stock went on.’ ~ The Devil’s Thoughts ~ Coleridge. #BookWormSat

🌿 #FolkyFriday explores the magical #WishingChairs of Ireland and England! From Bundoran’s legendary seat where wishes are said to come true, to the basalt columns of Giant’s Causeway, these ancient stones are believed to grant wishes if approached with respect. Make a silent wish, tap twice.🍀