Magpies are an incredibly common sight around Britain. They’re also well-represented in British bird lore. They appear as both omens of death and a fixture in a popular form of divination, the magpie rhymes. According to Lynx at Druidry.org, there are 20 species of magpie and treepie. The common magpie is exactly that in the […]
Folklore
British Big Cats: Ice Age Survivors or Escaped Illicit Pets?
After the wolf became extinct in Britain, the badger became “Britain’s largest native carnivore” (Goss 1992: 184). Yet that hasn’t stopped people from claiming the existence of mysterious British big cats in the countryside. They’re also referred to as alien big cats. Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud note the existence of 304 press items from […]
The Folklore of Time: Clocks, Calendars, and Church Bells
Time is one of those things that we never seem to have enough of. When we’re enjoying ourselves, it zips by too quickly. Yet when you’re stuck in a boring situation, it seems to slow down to a crawl. But how does time relate to folklore? A Patreon supporter requested a blog post on humanity’s […]
The Folklore of Unusual Place Names: From Pity Me to Wetwang
Place names are important and tell us a lot of valuable information. Yet many names come to us with centuries of use attached. They become distorted over time as people misspell or mishear them. In some cases, folklore becomes attached to explain their origins. As an example, you can find No Place near Stanley. Some […]
Meet Antenociticus, The God Adopted By The Romans
Antenociticus bears the most marvellous Roman-sounding name. Yet there’s a very good chance he’s actually a local deity, adopted by the Romans once they arrived in Britain. Yet he also poses several mysteries. He appears nowhere else in Britain. A high-ranking official dedicated an altar to him. And someone broke up a statue of him […]
Meet Jupiter Optimus Maximus – The Greatest and Best!
The name ‘Jupiter’ conjures up various images. The fifth planet from the sun, the most rousing part of Holst’s Planets suite, and the chief of the Roman gods. He’s like Zeus, except in one major way. Jupiter was not only the god of the Romans but also the state and its empire. Thomas Apel suggests […]
