Mary Shelley’s Creature was never meant to be a villain. He read poetry, begged for kindness, and learned cruelty only after meeting humankind. Some monsters are born. Others are taught. #BookologyThursday

Gothic literature fills ruins with specters and creatures that embody grief. The monster is often the lingering memory... and the one thing that refuses burial. #BookologyThursday Art: Gus Fink

Sea serpents in old sailor tales served as warnings about pride. The ocean is vast and the human mind small. Some monsters are humility shaped like teeth. #BookologyThursday

Real creatures become myth through misunderstanding. Owls were witches in disguise. Bats were omens. Hyenas were shapeshifters. Fear fills knowledge gaps quicker than facts do. #BookologyThursday Art: Ciruela Ácida

Modern stories reshape ancient monsters. Zombies now explore grief and societal collapse. Vampires examine immortality and desire. Werewolves unpack identity and rage. The beast evolves with us. #BookologyThursday Art: Anna Steinbauer

The Beast of "Beauty and the Beast" teaches the oldest truth in literature. The curse isn’t the fur. The curse is believing oneself unworthy of love. #BookologyThursday Art: Aaron Blaise

Legends tell of Frost Spirits who dance in the northern lights. Their steps shape the aurora’s colors, making the sky itself a winter performance. #LegendaryWednesday Art: Mike Bierek

Comedies of mistaken identity work only because humans secretly love inversion. We want the wrong person to be right. We want chaos to stitch meaning. We want the twist more than the ending. #WyrdWednesday Art: Ian Parker

Celtic lore marks Solstice as a battle... the Oak King rising, the Holly King falling, light triumphing over darkness for another turn of the wheel. #LegendaryWednesday Art: Lacey Bryant

In the darkest nights of the year, stories flip their own shadows... villains repent, heroes fail, and monsters cradle lost children. Winter loves a reversal. #WyrdWednesday Art: Caspar David Friedrich

The Yule Goat once carried gifts long before reindeer took over the job. In Sweden, straw goats still stand guard, reminding us that winter magic often arrives with horns. #LegendaryWednesday Art: John Bauer

Upside-down trees appear in folklore as omens, roots reaching skyward, branches sinking into soil. Worlds reversed, waiting for someone brave enough to right them. #WyrdWednesday

Jack Frost, depicted as mischievous, artistic, and unstoppable, grew from centuries of frost-spirits who painted windows and nipped at night travelers. He is winter’s signature. #LegendaryWednesday Art: Mary Evans

Fairy tales love reversals. A servant girl becomes queen, a beast becomes beloved, a frog becomes a prince, and the humble third child ends up saving the kingdom no one believed in. #WyrdWednesday Art: Heather Calderon

The Snow Queen, in Andersen’s tale, is not merely ice but isolation. Her world glitters with beauty and danger, proving winter’s magic is sharp as it is shining. #FairyTaleTuesday Art: Elena Ringo

Across Scandinavia, the Winter Solstice was once marked by the Julblot, a feast meant to coax the sun’s return. Fires burned bright against the darkest night, carrying wishes into the cold sky. #FairyTaleTuesday

Ancient Greeks believed monkeys knew more than they let on. Their cunning eyes suggested they understood human flaws and found them amusing. #MythologyMonday

Egyptian mythology once linked baboons with Thoth, god of writing and knowledge. Their dawn cries were said to praise the rising sun, turning morning into a sacred ritual. #MythologyMonday

Japanese macaques appear in the famous “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” trio, guardians of moral behavior and watchers against misfortune. Wisdom often hides behind paws. #MythologyMonday

And that's a wrap! The last #FolkloreThursday of 2025 was brought to you by: @folkloretodmorden.bsky.social @willowwinsham.bsky.social @botanicafabula.bsky.social @mythcrafts.bsky.social @crystalponti.bsky.social @shanonsinn.bsky.social Thanks for a fabulous day, we'll see you in 2026!

Caroling began as a protective rite. Songs in the cold kept unseen things at bay. The louder the carol, the safer the threshold. #FolkloreThursday Art: Sharon Hart

In many traditions, winter was the season when dreams grew stronger. Cold nights thinned the veil, and ancestors wandered into sleep with advice, warnings, or comfort. #FolkloreThursday Art: Zaira Dzhaubaeva

Winter solstice fires were thought to chase away the spirits of hunger and frost. Each spark was a promise that the sun had not abandoned the world. #FolkloreThursday Art: Nikolai Astrup

Many Alpine villages believed the wind at year’s end carried whispers from the dead. Doors were cracked open just a moment so loved ones could slip inside and warm themselves. #FolkloreThursday Art: Art Rave

Wassailing wasn’t just singing. It was a winter blessing for orchards, where people toasted trees with cider and hung bits of bread for the robins. A good harvest began with a good song. #FolkloreThursday Art: Pauling Baynes

In old Europe, a candle placed in a window on the longest nights guided wandering spirits home for warmth. Some said the flame burned brighter if an ancestor hovered nearby. #FolkloreThursday Art: Tracy Kiernan

Fairy tales often treat gifts as enchantments. A spindle, a mirror, a cloak are all simple objects transformed by intention. In folklore, a present is rarely just a present. #LegendaryWednesday

Earthquakes in ancient China were blamed on a giant underground creature turning in its sleep. Each tremor a reminder that the world above rests on a restless back. #WyrdWednesday

Ancient Egyptians buried the dead with gifts for the afterlife... bread, wine, jewelry, even board games. Reminders that generosity follows us beyond the veil. #LegendaryWednesday

In children’s stories, goblins steal socks. In older tales, they steal shadows, because shadows carry memories, and goblins feed on the past. #WyrdWednesday Art: Cameron Blake

In many cultures, offerings to gods or ancestors are considered a trade in goodwill. Leave a gift today, receive protection tomorrow. Reciprocity is old magic. #LegendaryWednesday Art: Chelsea Fuller

Folklore warns that goblins avoid sunlight not out of fear but preference. They thrive in the hum of deep earth, tunneling through roots and forgotten wells, listening for the footsteps of anyone who strays too close. #WyrdWednesday Art: Ministry of Art

The legend of Knecht Ruprecht depicts him carrying treats for kind children and switches for the ill-behaved. Folklore often blends mercy with mischief. #LegendaryWednesday Art: Adam Koford

The Krampuslauf, the famous “Krampus run," turns mountain towns into chaotic parades of fur, horns, and sparks. Performers streak through the streets as if the old folklore has slipped out of its cage. #FairyTaleTuesday

Gothic Christmas tales loved a good haunting. Fireside ghost stories were a staple of the season, reminding listeners that winter belongs just as much to the restless dead as to carolers. #FairyTaleTuesday Art: RaveIn Prints

Victorian Europe adored fright as much as festivity. Krampus postcards once showed the horned creature stuffing misbehaving children into wicker baskets while snow fell gently around him. Holiday cheer with a side of terror. #FairyTaleTuesday

Courage is the turning point of every myth. It's the moment the hero decides they are more than their fear. The story truly begins when they step forward. #MythologyMonday Art: Edmund Leighton

The Egyptians believed a soul’s honor was weighed against a feather (feather of Maʽat). All your courage, kindness, and choices distilled into a single moment of truth. #MythologyMonday

In Norse sagas, courage is facing fate even when the gods say the battle is already lost. True bravery is fighting the storm, knowing it will come again tomorrow. #MythologyMonday Art: Knud Bergslien

Many cultures feared the winter dead would wander, but they also welcomed them home. Lighted candles, open doors, and shared food kept the living and the dead in gentle company. #FolkloreSunday Art: Jeffrey Sparks

The dark half was once believed to be the dreaming season. Earth sleeps, animals hibernate, and humans turn inward. Folklore says this is when the soul’s stories rise like breath in cold air. #FolkloreSunday

Winter paradoxes are woven into old stories. The darkest nights host the brightest stars. The coldest months hold the warmest feasts. Shadows deepen, yet hearth light grows. #FolkloreSunday Art: Susannah Helene

The dark half of the year asks a question older than myth. What will you carry into the cold, and what must be left behind? Folklore says the shadows speak more honestly than the sun ever does. #FolkloreSunday Art: Collin A. Clarke

Deep winter has always been a threshold time. In folklore, the dark months weren’t empty but alive, filled with spirits, omens, strange visitors, and the quiet wisdom that only long nights can teach. #FolkloreSunday Art: Mountain Dreams

Many tales say that winter gifts must be given by night, before dawn lifts the spell. Darkness protects enchantment; morning dissolves it. #FolkyFriday Art: Igor Grabar

In Iceland, the Yule Lads bring gifts to well-behaved children, but their mother, the giantess Grýla, devours the naughty ones. Winter generosity has sharp teeth in northern lore. #FolkyFriday Photo: Andrii Gladii

In folklore, “Father Christmas’s keys” could open any locked door to bring cheer to households in need. Some believed he lent the invisible keys to spirits who guided the lost home on winter nights. #FolkyFriday

Even today, the greatest gift in winter folklore is not the present itself but the reminder that in dark months, humans share light with one another. That has always been the heart of midwinter mythology. #FolkyFriday Art: Eugenia Gorbacheva

Some medieval tales say Father Christmas carried a great book of deeds rather than a bag of toys. The gift he offered was mercy, a chance to start the new year free of mischief and regret. #FolkyFriday

Before he became the jolly figure in red, Father Christmas was a spirit of midwinter feasting, a tall, green-robed wanderer who encouraged generosity, good cheer, and a full table for all. #FolkyFriday