We cover here the range of material that comes under folklore and cultural tradition, including legends, customs, folk magic and others
The last column addressed the commodification of history as Spectacle; well, that’s modern tourism for you, and I’m not innocent of it. But the Society of the Spectacle is also at work in much humbler surroundings. In our last issue, a reader wrote in to lament ” Time was when it was possible to visit […]
#5: Spectacle, consumer capitalism and New Age religiosity Read More »
In 2010, Northern Earth invited readers to send in place-names and lore associated with saints – but not the bona fide type of saint. What we were looking for was spurious saints… here are some of the dubious divines we received.
‘Old Blighty’ has rarely lived up to its nickname as persistently as it has in the last few years. John Billingsley looks at some old techniques used by farmers to keep their animals sickness-free. It’s been a grim spring all round for lovers of rural environments, and especially for British farmers. The spectre of
Medical Care, Magical Cure: Traditional strategies for healthy livestock Read More »
Folk cures for humans as well as beasts involved the medical, the magical and sometimes the simply mystifying. Peter Watson reveals some of the techniques in traditional and historical medical practice The library of Chetham’s school in Manchester contains a remarkable if largely forgotten herbal, beautifully written and illuminated in a hand of the
Folk Medicine and Magic in Lancashire Read More »
David Bower relates a case of a concealed ‘witch bottle’ in West Yorkshire I read with interest John Billingsley’s article about witch bottles [1]. It reminded me of a discovery I came across when researching for a book on local Quaker history [2]. A lead plaque was discovered during the late 1980s, concealed in
The Curse of John Wood Of Newhouse Read More »
Readers may recollect NE’s debate about the ‘blackface’ tradition in British folk performance. NE in general supports established or revival traditions that can be understood as maintaining an element either of disguise necessary in a historical social context, or liminality. Sometimes, however, customs arise where people see things as ‘fun’ and do not realise the
Discussions on ‘Blackface’ issues Read More »
Mumming plays, like so much of British folklore, have been subject to questionable assumptions as to their age and meaning, but today research has shed a clearer light on their origins and functions, as Eddie Cass describes. Easter! Once again, hundreds of people from miles around – and further – will come into Hebden
What is the Pace-Egg Play? Read More »
Michael Haslam muses on the Easter mumming play, to make an important observation concerning its age It’s done because it’s done This much, I believe, is agreed: Pace-Egg, a variant of the St. George Play, is a Folk Play and a Calendar Custom. It was once widely distributed across Britain. Two of its most
Pace-Egg: Notes for a history of doggerel Read More »
One of the harbingers of spring in the north country was Spaw Sunday. John Billingsley reports on a recent revival in Cragg Vale, in W Yorkshire’s Calder Valley About 100 people turned up at Cragg Spa, in Cragg Vale, W Yorkshire, last Spaw Sunday (1st Sunday in May – in 2010 falling on Saturday
Spaw Sunday in the Calder Valley: Cragg Spa Read More »
A new ‘tradition’, or a new artefact? Members of the NEReaders subscribers’ e-group in 2005 discussed what appears to be an increasingly ubiquitous feature of country parks, especially along paths near rivers. The topic – ‘coin trees’, or, more accurately, ‘coin logs’ – involves what seems to be an example of evolving folklore – or