A thread to talk about your favorite folklore and/or if you practice any yourself. My favorites are split between Norse and Egyptian. I am getting ready to go to bed but those two and this topic is something that has interested me for a long time.

Celtic folklore is a beast!

I love hearing about the faeries and other things like them stealing people haha!

Highlander is right for there is no better folklore than celtic....of course I love any culture of north....my own oogry-moogry folklore and Scandinavian.......

I'll go for the Scandinavian folklore...maybe because that's the one I know the best

Celtic folklore, Mexican folklore, Peruan...There are many good cultures around the world.

So let's share them
I guess everyone could post myths, tales, whatever you want from these great cultures, it would be more interesting... When I have time, I'll translate tales with faeries and leprechaus even if some of you already seem familiar with Celtic folklore (my favourite along with the Egyptian one too)

I really enjoy reading about Celtic Folklore,Scandinavian folk lore,its all very interesting to me!

Written by GT on 06.08.2006 at 19:43

I'll go for the Scandinavian folklore...maybe because that's the one I know the best

Same here. The Norsemen had an interesting culture.

Written by [user id=833] on 04.08.2006 at 12:23

Celtic folklore is a beast!

I love hearing about the faeries and other things like them stealing people haha!

the same !!!
i really like all the creature from the Celtic folklore , all the legend , the heroes , etc ...

Once there was a man called Mundilfari and he had a son and a daughter who were so beautiful that he compared them to the Sun and the Moon....When Odin heard of this he got angry and as a punishment he made the young sister and brother drive the chariots of the sun and moon every day and night in the sky....the girl drives the chariot of the sun and her horses are called The One Who Wakes Up Early and The One Who Walks Fast....her brother drives the chariot of the moon and his horse is The Everfast....

In the Iron Forest dwelt a giantess who bore two sons....the wolwes called Sköll and Hati.....every day these beasts chase the Sun and the Moon for they wish to eat them.....

When the Ragnarök arrives, Sköll manages to eat the Sun but shortly before the goddess gives birth to a daughter who is as fair as she is and she shall light the new world with a new Sun.....

im not sure if its even on the level you people are talking (as you seem to be discussing intricate and very interesting matters of faerie lore and such) but i have heard of some more recent "folklore" as i heard it called ... though perhaps it could be called superstitions or something ..

such as that Ghosts in a house may live in a mirror, and that if a mirror is to inspire a strong feeling in a person when looked upon it may be possesed and should be destroyed to rid the house of the spirit ...

some movies and such have cottened on to that and used it as a point for ghost killings and such .. ..

If a grandfather clock chimes 13 times then a death will occur in the family (one that put me off grandfather clocks at a young age)

.. stories of Black dogs bearing huge teeth and having red eyes being involved with churches somehow ... leaving scorch marks on doors they have passed etc. (however there have been instances were these dogs have supposedly saved people rather than being malevolent)

umm .. traditional vampire folklore ...
vampires actually being decomposing corpses, and not reasonably handsome normal looking people ...
vampires not actually biting people in the neck, this is believed to be a misinterpretation of the term "Life-blood" which meant vitality (i think)
and a supposed vampire aparently was the bringer of disease and illness to a family ..


i have a feeling these aren't anything like what you were expecting in this thread ... so ill stop there .. and for the fact i don't feel like remembering anymore haha

^nosferatu actually means "plague-carrier"
romanian folklore is full(and i mean full) of stories like this: son of the queen of a distant lands needs to prvoe his mettle by bringing him life water and death water from the magic fountain from which the gods drank at the beggining of time(and then they pissed and thus made all oceans,rivers and etc. jk)and if he does this,he'll become king of all the great and vast lands seven seas and seven countries away kind of cheesy no?
also the ballad of miorita(the sheep) it's really interesting.there's about 1000 versions.the most wellknown is this
pe-un picior de plai
pe-o gura de rai
iata vin in cale
se cobor la vale
trei turme de miei
cu trei ciobanei
unu-i vrancean
unu-i ungurean
si unu-i moldovean
si asta vrancean
cu cel ungurean
pusera la cale
sa mi-l omoare
pe al moldovean
.....
translation: on a green plain, (not explicitly said)on a patch of heaven,here they come,they're coming down the valley,3 flocks of sheep,with 3 shepherds,one is from vrancea(region from the eastern romania),one's hungarian(actually from transilvania,but everyone fell into that cathegory of being hungarian regardless of nationality)and one's from moldavia.and the hungarian and the one from vrancea made a plan to kill the moldavian one(that "mi-l" is something like "my",so the original folk-artists were obviously moldavian)
the ballad continues with how one of his sheep warns the shepherd of the danger with the famous phrase "stapane,stapane,mai cheama si-un cane"(master,master,call a watchdog) and then the shepherd starts his huge monologue on his inevitable death,because it is his destiny or something,and some marriage with this beautiful girl,and his guests would be the moon and the stars.really breathtaking-it could top shakespeare easily.if you find an english version,you MUST read it,although i'd sugest you learn romanian and read it as is. it is just a materpiece.possibly one of the best folk ballads in the world
we're just so bored of constantly being drowned in traditional romanian music that young people don't check folklore anymore
as for other folklore,i reccomend beowulf.it's fantasticly epic

Altough Malta is a small country it has a rich folklore ! Well most of them were imported by other nations but still maltese gave them a shape .

In the end of Sep there was the recall of the "great siege of malta " in Valletta and Mdina . There were songs, battles, food and so many things.

Ok I have searched on Wikipedia.com and come up with this English Folklore:


Barghest, Bargtjest or Bargest is the name given in the north of England, especially in Yorkshire, to a mythical monstrous black dog with huge teeth and claws. It is said to frequent a remote gorge named Troller's Gill. There is also a story of a Barghest entering the city of York occasionally, where, according to legend, it preys on lone travellers in the city's narrow streets and alleyways



Chime Hours
According to English folklore, those born at certain hours could see ghosts. The crucial time was generally said to be midnight. In Irish folklore, those born in the chime hours would have the second sight


Corn dollies are a form of straw work associated with harvest customs.

It was believed that the corn spirit lived amongst the crop, and the harvest made it effectively homeless. Therefore, hollow shapes were fashioned from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crop. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in their homes until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season. "Dolly" is a corruption of "idol"


Adder Stone
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 Britain they are also called hag stones, witch stones, serpent's eggs, snake's eggs, or glain neidyr in Wales / Cymru and milpreve in Cornwall / Kernow. In Egypt they are called aggry or aggri. Adder stones were believed to have magical powers such as protection against eye diseases or evil charms, preventing nightmares, curing whooping cough, and of course recovery from snakebite. Supposedly a true adder stone will float in water


Lubber Fiend
He is typically described as a large, hairy man with a tail, who performs housework in exchange for a saucer of milk and a place in front of the fire. One story claims he is the giant son of a witch and the Devil




May Queen
The May Queen is also known as The Maiden, the goddess of spring, flower bride, queen of the faeries, and the lady of the flowers. The May Queen is a symbol of the stillness of nature around which everything revolves. She embodies purity, strength and the potential for growth, as the plants grow in May. She is one of many personifications of the energy of the earth.



Petrifying well
A petrifying well is a well with the ability to turn everyday objects into stone. This process is actually caused by the high mineral content in the water.
Notable "petrifying wells" are located in Knaresborough and Matlock, England.
At Knaresborough, in the days when Mother Shipton was born, it was deemed witchcraft.



Saint Swithun
Saint Swithun (or Swithin) (died 2 July 862) was an early English Bishop of Winchester, now best known for the popular British weather lore proverb that if it rains on Saint Swithun's day, 15 July, it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights.

St Swithun's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithun's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain na mair

Swithun was buried out of doors, rather than in his cathedral, apparently at his own request, so that the "sweet rain of heaven" could fall on his grave. In 971 it was decided to move his body to a new indoor shrine, and it is said that the ceremony was delayed by 40 days of torrential rain, a sign of Swithun's displeasure at the move.


Black Shuck
For centuries, inhabitants of East Anglia have told tales of a large black hellhound with malevolent flaming eyes (or in some variants of the legend a single eye) that are red or alternatively green.

Here is a nice folklore story about a demon named The "Red Cap":

Redcaps are said to murder travelers who stray into their homes, sometimes by pushing boulders off cliffs and on to them, staining their hats with their victims' blood (from which they get their name). Indeed, redcaps must kill regularly, for if the blood staining their hats dries out, they die. Redcaps are very fast in spite of the heavy iron pikes they wield and the iron-shod boots they wear. Outrunning the buck-toothed little daemons is quite impossible; the only way to escape one is to quote a passage from the Bible. They lose a tooth on hearing it, which they leave behind.

The most infamous redcap of all was Robin Redcap. As the familiar of Lord William de Soulis, Robin wreaked much harm and ruin in the lands of his master's dwelling, Hermitage Castle. Men were murdered, women cruelly abused, and dark arts were practiced. So much infamy and blasphemy was said to have been committed at Hermitage Castle that the great stone keep was thought to be sinking under a great weight of sin, as though the very ground wanted to hide it from the sight of God.

Yet Soulis, for all the evil he wrought, met a very horrible end: he was taken to the Nine Stane Rigg, a circle of stones hard by the castle, and there he was wrapped in lead and boiled to death in a great cauldron

Folklore... there are so many interesting cultures around the world... so, it's hard for me to decide for just one, well, right now I'm interested mainly in the nordic folklore, all those stories, customes, landscapes, etc, it's just fascinating, I want to get some norse literature, I've read in wikipedia the main topics on these stories and seem just amazing

I have this site in my favourites; http://www.godchecker.com/

It has some nice information about different mythologies for those interested.

Um.....I guess you mean Mythology? Well In any case, it's all very good. My favorites are Norse and Greek, however. Norse Mythology tends to delve into Subjects that teach good moral values that are still aplicable to everyday life today, not to mention all the good story that happens in the process. Greek just has some Juicy Drama that goes on, after all, they invented it. But seriously, the stories are all just so in depth and detail, it captivates me almost as much as norse Mythology.

I am also Fond of Celtic and Egyptian Mythology.

Hindu myth and nepali folklore, this is what I know about the best.
Besides them I'm interested in Norse, Egyptian, Greek and roman myths and I'm interested to learn about new folklore.
any questions about Hindu myths, you can remember me

My favorite folklore is definietely the slavic one. It's filled with so many bizzare demons/spirits
Likho, Kikimora, Vodyanoi, Domovoi