I would like to argue that protest signs are folk art, and a form of creative expression that clearly reflects cultural context.

A favorite sign: one made last-minute by my kid

We love food lore!

The coracle of Celtic myth was light enough to be lifted and strong enough to cross realms. Woven of willow, covered in hide, it ferried saints, druids, and dreamers into otherworlds. The vessel was belief itself. #WyrdWednesday 🎨Chris Duffet

Very excited to take Public Folklore at GMU! Register and join me: the folklore program is absolutely filled with warm, welcoming, brilliant people who have thought-provoking insights and also sometimes bring snacks

This is a BRILLIANT episode! I do love a deep dive from Mark Norman. More of this please! If you enjoyed the Vampire series on Monster talk with @doctoratlantis.bsky.social and @karenstollznow.bsky.social, you will love this too #vampires #werewolves #folklore #thefolklorepodcast

'Bluesky has overtaken its flailing rival X in hosting posts related to new academic research, indicating the platform is fast becoming the go-to place for scholars to share their work.'

The world is a messy place. So here is a photo of kilted men.

because you asked nicely, here’s my latest work in progress song, “context clues”

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater is about Regency England. Faerie lore. Coded neurodiverse experiences. And it’s also about what happens when you realize that the world is very unfair. And where you go from there. Enrollment in HopeLore closes THIS FRIDAY, 4/11. courses.carterhaughschool.com/p/hopelore

This weekend, I watched a man teach several others how to arrange muskets in this interlocking pattern. Tradition is passed on every day, all around us, filling the world with #folklore

Court jesters in the Middle Ages were licensed to mock the king. Their jokes could defuse tension or deliver veiled truth. In a world of swords and silence, jesters spoke freely—if they played the fool well enough to survive it. #WyrdWednesday

A little #folklife today. My mom taught me to sew nearly 30 years ago. Today I'm working on an 18th century bedgown in a simple linen, because in the 1750s I am poor. Costume helps express identity, in reenacting and daily life, too.

In Slavic folklore, the effigy of Marzanna — winter personified — is drowned or burned in spring. Children carry her through the village, then cast her into the river. It is not merely a ritual — it is a symbolic exorcism of stillness, a summoning of bloom. #FolkloreSunday

In 18th-century German almanacs, it was recorded that bees should not be disturbed on the first warm day of spring. Superstition held that if bees swarmed too early, war would follow by summer. Beekeepers watched their hives like prophets watched stars. #FolkloreSunday 🎨Sherree Rodriguez

Wishing you a restorative Sunday!⁠ #carterhaughschool #dailyenchantment

A photo from the enslaved quarters at Mount Vernon. right now. This weekend, one of the events at the estate was the start of a sewing project. Two garments were started, both will be in the updated museum space when it finishes renovations.

Conspiracy theories are folklore! Like myths, they offer explanations for why the world is a certain way. Did ancient people genuinely believe myths? If people can believe in pizza gate, the idea that Zeus became a shower of gold to impregnate Danae doesn't seem so farfetched a belief.

Editors are accepting proposals for the new SIEF Series in Ethnology and Folklore. www.siefhome.org/publications... #folklore #folksky #folkloresky #ethnology #callforpapers #SIEF

It is good knowing I have made a positive contribution to the field

Here's an older blog post we wrote about folklore and authenticity! Read the whole post: carterhaughschool.com/what-makes-a... #carterhaughschool #folklore

Well, this is nice - Arkansas potter named living treasure: www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/ma... #folkcraft #pottery #livingtreasure #traditionalcrafts #folkloring

Monday in Fairfax, Va.! Details and tickets at www.ticketleap.events/tickets/prof... @folkloringpodcast.bsky.social @folklorepod.bsky.social @folkhorrorrevival.bsky.social @insidenova.com.web.brid.gy @washingtonian.bsky.social

Want to hear a pet peeve of ours about St. Patrick’s Day? It’s probably not what you think it is. carterhaughschool.com/the-dreaded-...

Our one-day online conference ‘Folklore and the Digital’ is on Saturday 29 March, 09:30-17:30 GMT. Tickets £30 (£20 for FLS members with Promo Code). For the programme and tickets see folklore-society.com/event/folklo...

A unique type of material culture: protest signs capture the mood and ideas of a group at a moment in time. Handmade signs, in particular, are both forms of personal expression, but designed to be seen in public as part of a group event. This, too, is #folklore

Booksellers! I have a 60 minute talk on the subject of Church and Churchyard folklore which accompanies my new book, for those who might be interested in doing signings etc. You can reach me here, or at thefolklorepodcast(at)gmail.com

Material culture is a delight!

Free speech on university campuses is essential. It allows for the exploration of ideals and development of critical thinking skills needed to innovate and expand knowledge. Dictatorships limit speech, democracies protect it.

This is a very interesting article about the dangers of superstition, particularly when combined with religious fanaticism: www.thestatesman.com/opinion/susp... #superstition #folklore #religion #religiousextremes #folkbeliefs

Today, Tues 11 March, 4pm! HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY talk at UC Santa Cruz @ucsantacruz.bsky.social, presented by the Center for Monster Studies @ucscmonsters.bsky.social. 1/2 💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/davies

New read just dropped 😯 upcolorado.com/university-o...

I have long suspected that cryptids were a smokescreen for something. I live in Appalachia, so I assumed our spooky landscape tales helped hide moonshine operations, but clearly there are other intriguing possibilities... folksongs seem often to celebrate interpersonal interaction, in contrast

For today’s #MissusMonday we’re sharing an Inuktitut version of the toe-counting rhyme, This Little Piggy, from M. Tuglavina of Makkovik. Can you help us give M. Tuglavina her first name?

Shirt is from Seductive Tees.

This is THE most important lesson of studying history. Intentions are not the same as outcomes... After Waterloo, European monarchies banned vaccines (!), tore out street lighting, welcomed back the Jesuits--all meant to end the era of revolution and republics. That era was just beginning.

Hi there! Interested in customs, beliefs & stories? Sign up to hear about the Folklore Studies MA at the University of Hertfordshire at the online 'open day' event, 4pm on 18 March www.herts.ac.uk/study/open-d...

In Russian and Slavic stories, like Baba Yaga tales, there is often a mention of a character "laying across the stove" which sounds very strange to us now. Old-style ovens often had a flat spot that could be used like a stove-top for warming, but also served as a bed.

Anti-intellectualism is a tool of the present US regeime. While it may not be exactly the sane as it was back then, it is worth considering, as academics, what we can do, and when it may be time to get out. I hate this for us, and for the world

Occupational folklore doesn't get enough attention. What workplace folkways have you participated in?

Beginning next week all episodes of The Local Mythstorian Podcast will be re-run, once a week for 4 months. If you’ve not heard it, and folklore and lost history are your thing, just search The Local Mythstorian on Apple, Spotify or Amazon (or frankly wherever you get your podcasts!)

Celebrate International Women's Day by interrupting men with your unsolicited opinions and taking credit for their work. If they get upset about it, be sure to tell them that they sound hysterical and should smile more.

‘One doesn’t become a witch to run around being harmful, or to run around being helpful either, a district visitor on a broomstick. It’s to escape all that — to have a life of one’s own, not an existence doled out to one by others.’ — Sylvia Townsend Warner #InternationalWomensDay

We've been saving this little pup for when we thought you all might really need a gold star. And, given the current circumstances, here she is. 13/10

This from look like it is absolutely living its best life.

Scottish selkies shed their sealskins to live among humans. But when they reclaim their hidden skins, they return to the sea, transformed yet whole. Some comebacks are about remembering who you are. #WyrdWednesday 🎨Aimee Easterling

My department at Uppsala university has just announced two open PhD positions: one in history of science and the other in history of ideas. We research, for example, colonial history of science, history of medicine, and intellectual history. Deadline: 8 April

Masks are a fascinating part of Costume Folklore. Like all adornment, they can signal belonging, convey messahes, seek to persuade, and create identity, but maska do all this while deliberately concealing as well, allowing for more trandformative possibilities