Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain

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A parish ale is a type of party in the parish usually held to fundraise money for a particular purpose. [49] Davies, Owen (11 June 2019). "The Wild Hunt in the Modern British Imagination". Folklore. 130 (2): 175–191. doi: 10.1080/0015587X.2018.1493861. S2CID 166360154– via Taylor & Francis Online. Atherton, Mark (2017). The Making of England: A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World. I.B. Tauris. pp.59–75. ISBN 978-1-00-300753-1. Williamson, Craig; Kramer, Michael P; Lerner, L. Scott (2011). A Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Songs. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1129-0.

Monroe, Alexei (15 January 2019). "The Wild Hunt: Nationalistic Anarchism and Neofeudalism Unleashed". Third Text. 32: 620–628. doi: 10.1080/09528822.2018.1555302. S2CID 150174959– via Taylor & Francis Online. Jaine, Tom; Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food (3ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7. King Arthur is the legendary king of the Britons, the Once and Future King and True Born King of England. The origins of King Arthur and his exploits are vague due to the many reproductions of his character. The Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae reference many battles of an Arthur, Annales Cambriae also referencing Mordred, a rival, and Merlin, a wise mentor. Although these sources have been used as proof for Arthur's origins, their credibility has been disputed as mythology rather than history. [32] As English folklore has progressed, King Arthur's retellings have been classified into romances such as Malory's Morte Darthur, chronicles such as Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae, and fantasies such as Culhwch ac Olwen (whose author is unknown). [33] Finally, we end by moving on to a more modern British legend. The character of James Bond has proved to have enduring appeal sufficient to give him legendary status. Originating from a set of novels by Ian Fleming, James Bond – also known by his code name 007 – is a secret agent whose work sees him travelling the world on the trail of various interesting and unique villains, some of whom appear in more than one story. Meeting a host of beautiful women along the way, Bond’s adventures generally involve thrilling fight scenes, fast cars and clever gadgets. Bond has been taking on international intrigue of one sort or another on the big screen since 1962, when Sean Connery was the first to play the character in what many have seen as the definitive James Bond performance. Since then, several other actors have had the privilege of filling Bond’s shoes, and with movies continuing to be made, the legend of James Bond looks set to continue.By his own account, that was what happened to renowned climber, scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society, J Norman Collie, at the end of the 19th century. Years later, he recalled hearing slow, deliberate footsteps – one vast step for every three or four of his own – following him on the mountain.

As for English folktales, some such as Weber argue that they were passed down for the purpose of reflecting the grim realities of a child's life and hence instilled valued English morals and aesthetics. [17] Others such as Tatar would counter that these folktales' fantasies were so removed from reality that they were a form of escapism, imaginative expression, and linguistic appreciation. [18] Most folklorists would agree that the purpose of English folklore is to protect, entertain, and instruct on how to participate in a just and fair society. [19] Folktales [ edit ] Bramwell, Peter (2009). "Herne the Hunter and the Green Man". Pagan Themes in Modern Children's Fiction. Macmillan Publishers. pp.38–83. ISBN 978-0-230-23689-9. Standing stones are man-made stone structures made to stand up. Some small standing stones can also be arranged in groups to form miniliths. [42] Similar to these geological artefacts are hill figures. These are figures drawn into the countryside by digging into the ground and sometimes filling it in with a mineral of a contrasting colour. Examples are the Cerne Abbas Giant, the Uffington White Horse, and the Long Man of Wilmington and are the focus for folktales and beliefs. [43] Blust, Robert (2000). "The Origin of Dragons". Anthropos. 95 (2): 519–536. JSTOR 40465957– via JSTOR. During the Renaissance, artists captured these customs in the written word; such as Shakespearean plays' reflections of English folklore through their witches, fairies, folk medicine, marriage and funeral customs, superstitions, and religious beliefs. [1]Keegan-Phipps, Simon (29 Mar 2017). "Identifying the English: essentialism and multiculturalism in contemporary English folk music". Ethnomusicology Forum. 26: 3–25 – via Taylor & Francis Online. a b Mingazova, Liailia; Sulteev, Rustem (2014). "Tatar and English Children's Folklore: Education in Folk Traditions". Western Folklore. 73: 410–431 – via ProQuest. Victorian folklorists set out to rediscover the pre-industrial traditions of Britain and ended up reinventing a lot of them. The flower children reinvented a bit more. Historians, occultists, anthropologists and drop-outs all weaved a vision of a country that was weirder and more entertaining than the motorways and service stations that strung it together. A Wyvern is a smaller relative of dragons with two legs rather than four. It also has smaller wings and cannot breathe fire. [22] The Project Gutenberg eBook of Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem". www.gutenberg.org . Retrieved 2022-01-10.

As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch, sounded behind me, I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles,” Collie told a meeting of the Cairngorm Club in 1925. Cornish piskies There was a belief that those born at the chime hours could see ghosts. The time differed according to region, usually based around the times of monk's prayer which were sometimes marked by a chime. [28] a b Harte, Jeremy (2 March 2018). "Superstitious observations: fortune-telling in English folk culture". Time and Mind. 11: 67–88. doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2018.1433357. S2CID 165848305– via Taylor & Francis Online. The scholarly, monocle wearing second son of a Duke, who solves bizarre murders ably assisted by his manservant Bunter might seem an anomaly among the Wallenders and Rebus's of today's detective fiction but against unlikely odds Lord Peter Wimsey, created by Dorothy L Sayers, continues to delight readers. Despite her death in 1957 her character lives on not least thanks to Jill Paton Walsh who has taken on the task of continuing Wimsey's adventures, beginning with Sayer's unfinished manuscript Thrones, Dominations. She's just published her fourth Peter Wimsey book The Late Scholar and joins Mariella Frostrup and lifelong Sayers' fan, Sarah Crown, to discuss his, and the books', enduring appeal. A hagstone, also called a holed stone or adder stone, is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt. In England it was used as a counter-charm for sleep paralysis, called hag-riding by tradition. [54]

6. The Beast of Bodmin Moor

Grose, Francis (1787). A provincial glossary, with a collection of local proverbs, and popular superstitions. London: S Hooper. p.62. Rutty, John (1757). A Methodical Synopsis of Mineral Waters, comprehending the most celebrated medicinal waters, both cold and hot, of Great-Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy, and several other parts of the world. London: William Johnston. p.351. What Collie had experienced was a classic case of a brush with the Big Grey Man (Am Fear Liath Mòr) of Ben Macdui, an enduring myth of an extremely large, Sasquatch-like grey figure covered in short hair. Wherever the Grey Man ventures, he is accompanied by a sense of irrational panic and dread. Full of maps with icons for things like ‘Drowned or Lost Lands’, ‘Mysterious Stones’ or ‘Bells’, the book portrays a Britain that is full of strangeness and mystery: strangeness and mystery that is happening all around you. Forbes, Bruce David (2007). "First There Was Winter". Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. pp.1–14. ISBN 978-0-520-93372-9.

Opie, Iona; Tatem, Moira (1992). A Dictionary of Superstitions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-172687-3. Petrie, Flinders (1926). "The Hill Figures of England". The Antiquaries Journal. 7: 540–541. doi: 10.1017/S0003581500057486– via Cambridge University Press. Phelan, Joseph (2019). "Arthur Hugh Clough, Francis James Child, and Mid-Victorian Chaucer". Studies in English Literature. 59 (4): 855–872. doi: 10.1353/sel.2019.0037. hdl: 2086/16572. S2CID 213125784– via ProQuest. Before England was founded in the year 927, Wessex and its surrounding areas' cultures were transformed by the invasion of the Danish King Guthrum between 865 and 878. [5] The king of Wessex, King Alfred, prevailed against King Guthrum's troops in 878 and King Guthrum was baptised and became the ruler of East Anglia. This continued the process of the assimilation of Norse words into the English language. Eventually English folklore melded with Norse traditions such as in their iconography, which became more Greek, and in their clothing and folktales which adopted more Nordic elements. [6] The folklore of the people of England continued to be passed down through oral tradition. [1] Avery, Gillian (1965). Nineteenth century children: heroes and heroines in English children's stories, 1780-1900. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp.8–11. ISBN 978-90-5005-492-8.Gillings, Mark (2015). "Betylmania? - Small Standing Stones and the Megaliths of South-West Britain" (PDF). Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 34 (3): 207–233. doi: 10.1111/ojoa.12056. On May Day, the first day of May, a tall, decorated pole is put up as a symbol of fertility called a maypole. The maypole represents a phallic object impregnating the earth at the end of spring to ensure a bountiful summer. The maypoles were decorated originally with flowers and carved from the branches of trees about to bloom to symbolise the birth of new life. Eventually the flowers were replaced with ribbons and May day became a day for celebration and dancing in which a May queen and sometimes a May king would be crowned to also symbolise fertility. [48] Sykes, Richard (1993). "The Evolution of Englishness in the English Folksong Revival, 1890-1914". Folk Music Journal. 6 (4): 446–490. JSTOR 4522437– via JSTOR.