Category: folklore
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The Grimm Legacy
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were scholars in 18th century Germany, whose prolific works included a vast collection of folktales and other lore. The chance combination of their personal values and circumstances uniquely situated them to influence both generations of readers and the study of folklore. The contribution of the Grimm…
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Old Woman As Hare: Approaches to Narrative Folklore Analysis
Legends are narratives, which involve an element of belief that is grounded in time and place[1]. They tend to be shorter than folktales and provide a social function of expressing community fears in order to uphold values and maintain status quo. Authenticity is presented in these tales through naming of…
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Deathbed Liminality:
Persistence of Folk Beliefs and Practices in Care of the Dying “The poor and old are cared for now just as in days of yore When friars at their Abbey kept for all an open door And old friends who come to fish on island studded Mask Throw care away…
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Queer Readings of Three Grimm Tales: Motifs and Themes
The cultural legacy of the Brothers Grimm is fraught with incongruities, which complicate contemporary relationships to their collected folk tales. Folklorist, Simon Bronner, highlights several antagonistic dichotomies credited to the brothers, including “international diffusion and romantic nationalism…[and]…blatant literary license and fidelity to tradition.”[1] Though the brothers had sociopolitical justifications for…
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Bridging Appalachia Bookshop
Several folks have expressed interest in what I’m reading as I study folklore at UCD. I’ll continue to post pics in stories and highlights on @bridgingappalachia, but I’ve also created a shop on bookshop.org for any of the books they carry. Most of my current reading will be on the…
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Abhartach
The Abhartach – “It is very curious that, in some parts of the country, the people still retain a dim traditional memory of this mode of sepulture, and of the superstition connected with it. There is a place in the parish of Errigal in Londonderry, called Slaghtaverty, but it ought…
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Equinox Update
“By the equinox on 22 September, the fields have been shorn of crops, the main crop potatoes are being harvested, and the sun’s heat has greatly lessened. Stubble remains. The nights are longer and the shadows come earlier, with that peculiarly beautiful slant of sun…[it] is a month of clearing,…
Bridging Appalachia 