Review: Girls, Goddesses and Giants by Lari Don

Brilliant collection of folk tales, legends and myths with active heroines 

Firstly, I have to comment on this gorgeous cover! Bold and strong, showing a silhouetted girl in action with a sword and decorated with dragon and pretty flowers, it's wonderfully attractive without playing to cloying stereotypes of femininity (for little girls). What a great job! And, as you might guess, this is absolutely the theme for the collection: bold, clever, resourceful and active girls taking charge and saving the day. It's the perfect antidote to the many pink and princessy collections out there.

The book features twelve stories, each from a different culture and all focusing on the actions of a central girl character. The stories themselves are quite short, and nicely illustrated with occasional bold silhouettes. The print is quite large, too, so the stories are not daunting for young readers. The book is perfect for bedtime reading to or with a child, and its cover and style make it likely to appeal to boys as well as girls.

There are mythical monsters and creatures of folklore to be defeated or outwitted, challenges to be met and prejudice to be ignored. Lari Don has done a great job in sourcing and retelling these tales. The narrative style is warm and friendly, well suited to reading aloud, and with perfectly judged pace and tension for the target age group (younger readers and pre-readers).

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this. As a beautiful hardback with dustjacket, it would make a lovely gift.

The cover blurb says:

Greedy giants. Unjust emperors. Shape-shifting demons. And the heroines who deal with them.

From China and Japan, the Americas, Europe and Africa, this collection of traditional tales shows girls who win the day, whether by cleverness, courage, kindness or strength. Who needs a handsome prince?

*************
Published 18 July 2013 by A & C Black
Find more info at the publisher's website
My grateful thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy

Review: Hagwitch by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick

Mystery and folklore in a theatrical setting for readers of 10+

This novel snagged my attention quickly and kept me entranced. It's spot on for the older child/younger teen reader and offers them a thrilling story, with enough challenge in the structure to keep them interested without turning them off, and brilliant characters to engage with.

Using a dual narrative to present the weird and creepy hagwitch lore in two separate timeframes, the structure has plenty of interest of its own. With just the right amount of danger and creepiness for the target age group, the novel also explores identity and being an outsider in a gentle and subtle way. I loved both Lally and Flea, each slightly awkward in their own ways. Both are trying to figure out where they belong, while also battling with the knowledge that something isn't right and the adults around them need their help to first notice and then solve the problem. Lally, living on a canal boat in an unconventional family, is modern and yet isolated - she doesn't go to school, have friends her own age or use the internet. Flea, a sixteenth-century apprentice is a country boy in London, often out of place and somewhat naive.

The settings are fabulous. London is a well-used setting, but offering a sixteenth century theatre-based setting to contrast with a contemporary timeline featuring a canal barge running a marionette theatre made it fresh and exciting. I'm sure many child readers would recognise some of the details about sixteenth century theatre from learning about Shakespeare (who does get a mention) and the Tudors, and that this would enhance their enjoyment. The puppet barge (based apparently on a real Puppet Theatre Barge) gives a quirky twist to the contemporary plotline.

The core mystery of the hagwitch, drawing on folklore around the hawthorn and bird lore (crows and jackdaws especially), is inventive and enticing. The story as a whole feels highly original and exciting, skilfully weaving folklore elements into both a historical and a contemporary plot.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this for many types of reader, successfully combining historical, fantasy and contemporary elements as this novel does.

From the publisher's website:

Gothic thriller for 10+ by Irish author Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. Celtic legend, a malevolent faery queen and the dark underbelly of the theatreworld come to life as two stories of 16th-century London and the modern day interweave in this gripping tale full of dark secrets and magic.

16th-century London, Flea Nettleworth, apprentice to a playwright, watches as his struggling master's fortunes turn, and all of a sudden London is in his thrall. But soon Flea's master can no longer tell where the imagined world ends and the real one begins. Could the arrival of a mysterious Faery Elder trunk hold the answer?

Modern day, Lally lives on a barge, roaming the canalways and performing shows with her puppeteer father. Then, after Lally's father pulls an ancient piece of wood from the canal and fashions it into a puppet, his success seems unstoppable. As her father's obsession with his puppet grows and his plays become darker, Lally begins to wonder if there is something rather sinister, dangerous even, about the wooden doll.

*************

Published March 2013 by Orion Children's

for more info, visit the publisher's website

My grateful thanks to the publishers for providing a beautiful review copy

Review: Hidden Among Us by Katy Moran

Brilliantly creepy YA urban fantasy with old-school fairies 

I loved this action-packed clash between our contemporary world and the old stories of the Fair Folk (here known as The Hidden). Deliciously menacing and utterly uncanny, there is no shirking from the fae's famed cruelty and absolute lack of humanity here. Yes, they are seductive, in that people can be dangerously beguiled by them, but there is no pretence at compassion or any kind of emotion from them. This is back-to-basics fairy lore.

The story is shared between three main narrators in alternating chapters (clearly headed with names). Rafe's is the first voice we encounter, describing the disappearance of his baby sister, Lissy. Most of the novel takes place fourteen years later, by which time Rafe has matured into a fascinating character, focused on his private mission to find out more about what happened to Lissy, which isolates him from other characters. The second chapter is narrated by Miriam, Rafe and Lissy's mother, whose voice we then hear only occasionally. Her viewpoint always reveals something tantalising though!

Lissy's own fourteen-year-old voice plants us firmly in the real world, with her normal teenage worries about her overprotective mother and how to gain more freedom. The third main narrator is Joe, the son of Miriam's boyfriend. I loved Joe. His mix of feelings as his family changes shape and he finds himself mixed up in Lissy and Miriam's drama is endearing and entirely convincing.

The plot is fast moving and in many ways thriller-like and yet Katy Moran still manages to find time to create atmosphere. The novel is eerie and chilling, just like The Hidden it centres on. The setting: the house of Hopesay Reach, built on sacred ground and with a complex history, has as much presence in the story as other famous settings such as the two houses in Wuthering Heights. The mystery element of the novel was another plus point for me. The writer does a great job of weaving clues and information about The Hidden throughout the story, maintaining tension and keeping our attention on the potential danger the human characters face.

Overall, I'd urge you to read this if you like a creepy tale and enjoy folklore. I would recommend it to those who don't usually choose 'fae' books, as these are not the watered-down fae you sometimes find and are always disappointed in: there are no doubts here about the danger they represent.

From the Back Cover:

When Lissy meets a mysterious and strangely beautiful boy on her way to Hopesay Edge, she is deeply unsettled by their encounter.

She discovers that the boy, Larkspur, is a member of the Hidden, an ancient group of elven people, whose secrets lie buried at Hopesay Reach. Before long, Lissy and her brother Rafe find themselves caught by a powerful magic and fighting to escape a bargain that can never be broken.

**********************

Published 7 March by Walker

Find more information at Goodreads

My grateful thanks to the publisher for sending a proof for review

Happy Halloween: marking the festival creatively

Are you trick or treating with the kids? Waiting in, prepared for the trick-or-treaters? Looking for something to do to tap into the spirit of Halloween but not sure what? Here are a few suggestions.

Decorate your windows

with simple paper cut outs for silhouettes and tissue paper to get a nice glow. Simple, strong outlines work best: orange tissue for a no-mess pumpkin face (use black paper or black marker to make the features so the orange face glows) or a circle of white tissue with a black wolf or bat silhouette against it also looks good, as do spider and bat silhouettes in black paper straight on the window.

Remember the dead

This time of year has always been about honouring those who have gone before. A simple and unobtrusive altar or shrine can easily be created using photographs, momentos or items which symbolise loved ones, perhaps together with a candle for focus.

Write something seasonal

Here's a couple of fun exercises I've used with a keen student creative writing group around Halloween:

• Practice 'show, don't tell' by writing a paragraph in which a character is scared. You must demonstrate their fear as many ways as possible and avoid the word 'scared' and its synonyms.
• Write a poem, a brief monologue or a flash fiction piece inspired by an unusual phobia. A handy list of phobias is available online at the phobia list.

Practise divination

Again, this is traditional at this point in the year, when the veil is said to be thinnest. If you've got divination tools such as tarot or oracle cards tucked away somewhere, now is a good time to pull them out and give them a go. If you've never really got to grips with them, try shuffling and concentrating on being open to whatever you most need to know right now. Draw a single card and see what it says to you. Don't reach straight for the book or leaflet - what does the image mean to you? Do take notice of ideas that appear in your mind; a lot of good information is too easily dismissed.

For the more practised, here's a great Halloween spread, working on the principle of Samhain as a beginning and an ending and seeking guidance for the coming year. Simply draw three cards: what to cast off, what to hang onto, what to bring in. This can be done as a simple three card spread, or made more complicated by applying these three ideas to different areas that you want to focus on such as love, career, family etc.

What do you do at this time of year?

Magical Monday: Here Be Dragons

Since it's St George's Day, I thought I'd celebrate with some dragon lore.

How cute are these wallpapers?

The story of St George and the Dragon is very similar to that of Perseus and Andromeda. A beast (in this case the dragon) is appeased by the people by means of a regular sacrifice. In the St George story, this was a sheep, then two sheep, then eventually humans were offered, chosen by lots. When the Princess was selected to be offered to the dragon, the King pleaded for it not to be so, but it had been his decision to use lots and the people were unsupportive, since many had lost their own children. It is at this point that St George appears and steps in. Some stories simply state that he killed the dragon and the people then converted to Christianity, (presumably since George was such a great example) but in some versions he requires people to be baptised into Christianity before he will slay the dragon, effectively holding them hostage to his demands. The dragon can therefore be seen  as an allegory the devil, or of the 'false' way of paganism. This religious appendix is not present in the Perseus and Andromeda myth.


I suspect that for most Westerners, dragons are fire-breathing winged lizards with four legs, but there are also stories of water dragons, often known as 'worms' (or wurms, or wyrms), which are more snake- or eel-like and are not credited with fire power. In stories like that of the Lambton Worm, such creatures can emerge from water and attack livestock and children. In this legend, John Lambton caught the worm when he was fishing and was warned not to throw it back, but he dropped it down a well instead. Trapped, the creature grew huge and the well water became poisoned and murky. Eventually, it grew to full size, left the well and wrapped itself around a hill, leaving only to attack livestock until the villagers realised that they could appease it with a regular offering of milk. After seven years of this, John Lambton returned from the Crusades to be told by a wise woman that he was the only one who could kill the worm. He had to get special armour made, covered in spikes, and was warned that once the worm was dead, he must also kill the "first to cross his path" to avoid cursing his family. He arranged to blow his horn three times as a cue for his dog to be released so that he needn't kill a person. Of course, this didn't work out as he planned and his father ran out to greet him before the dog was released. He killed the dog rather than his father and seems to have triggered the curse, as many generations of Lambtons after met unnatural ends.


In a lot of recent fantasy literature, dragons are portrayed as wise creatures with positive attributes. I haven't read much with dragons lately. Anyone got any good recommendations for dragon novels?

Love and Magic

So, it's Valentine's Day. The day that the birds traditionally pair up for mating, and people celebrate the idea of love and romance (or fertility, since 'true love' seems to be a relatively modern idea).

There's a ton of information around about love spells, for example:

• different coloured candles can be used to focus on different kinds of love (e.g. new love = pink; faithfulness = green; passion = red)
• over 150 different herbs have been associated with spells to attract love over at least the last few decades
• contemporary books on magic tend to emphasise the need not to remove someone's free will, and often advise creating a spell to facilitate meeting the right person, rather than a spell that asks for a particular individual's love

I think the existence of love spells reveals a desire to make love certain and predictable. But perhaps that's the point? Perhaps what makes us value 'true love' (or genuine commitment) is precisely the difficulty in finding it? Finding true love requires a leap of faith in making oneself vulnerable and even this cannot guarantee that love will be reciprocated. How much safer it would be if we could control the process and not have to risk so much! But then, would we put so much value on love?

Thrilling Thursday: Review of Hollow Pike by James Dawson

This creepy read is excellent. It's far more subtle than I expected, and extremely satisfying.

Author: James Dawson

Title: Hollow Pike

Genre: Chiller (YA)

Series: no

Publisher: Indigo (Orion)

Published: Feb 2 2012

Source: Kindly sent for review by the publisher

Find it at Amazon UK or Goodreads

The blurb says:
Something wicked this way comes...

She thought she'd be safe in the country, but you can't escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her.

Lis thinks she's being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn't believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn't believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you?

Not until you're alone in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps...

Hollow Pike - where witchcraft never sleeps.

My verdict: A fabulous debut that had me looking over my shoulder while reading. Strongly recommended.
I was really excited about this one, having first seen the cover in the summer - and what a cover! Witchiness, forest, birds - it's all there and all are important in the story. As I stated above, this was an excellent read which was more subtle in its witchiness than I expected, and all to the good. Sometimes the books you're most excited for can disappoint, but not so here. This debut demonstrates skill and control, above all: control of plot, character, setting and tension.

This is, primarily, a chiller which had me doing that horror film thing where you wait for the jump moment. James Dawson, you owe me for a shoulder massage to get rid of the tension you put there!

Lis is an engaging character who gains our sympathy immediately, as we meet her in the throes of one of her nightmares. The sense that she knows what's coming, the dread she feels and yet her complete inability to prevent it are palpable and guarantee you'll want to read on.

We soon also learn that she is moving to the country to get away from bullies. As the new girl, there are also attempts to bully her in her new setting. The teen relationships are a real strength of this book, portrayed realistically, as is their speech. It's clear that Dawson is familiar with kids this age (as a former teacher). I loved the 'weird kids', Kitty and Jack, and their attitude towards the 'in crowd'. The contemporary setting and believable characters intensify the tension in this perfectly-paced tale filled with misdirection.

As well as contemporary teen culture, Dawson also knows his folklore. The witchy elements to the story are well-researched and avoid any overblown or romanticised ideas, making certain that the novel retains the maximum creep factor. This is not a paranormal romance, even though it features both the paranormal and some romance - it's darker than that and the romance is not the main plotline.

Overall, I'd readily recommend this to lovers of chillers and witchy tales.

Magical Monday: 10 Fabulous Full Moon Facts

1. Today's full moon is known as the Old Moon, the Wolf Moon or the Ice Moon. (NB: different traditions have different names for each moon).
2. Violence and crime is said to increase at the full moon, with more cases of assault, murder, arson and suicide.
3. The rutting season for deer (and other herbivores) appears to be related to the full moon.
4. More babies are said to be born at the full moon.
5. Trying to conceive at a full moon is supposed to increase your chances of a son (it's the new moon for a daughter).
6. The Old Moon is said to be a good time for spells and rituals relating to the home and family and material matters.  
7. Salmon and other animals are noted to migrate in greater numbers at the full moon.
8. Cutting your hair at the full moon is claimed to make it grow more quickly.
9. The full moon is associated with the Mother aspect of the Goddess.
10. Herbs harvested at the full moon are believed to be more potent, as they contain more essential oils.

So, which of these have you heard before?

Family Friday: Peace and Love

As we near the midpoint of the traditional twelve days, a period of 'time out of time', I hope you're all enjoying the holidays in whatever fashion works for you.

Here are some of the aspects of Christmas/Yule holiday tradition that I particularly enjoy:

• all the light/fire references, reminding us that it all stems from a celebration of the return of the sun as the balance shifts from dark to light again
• the greenery decking the halls, a lovely piece of sympathetic magic encouraging the non-evergreen life to remember that life goes on
• the rich, warming, spicy food and drink (as I write this, I can smell a ham boiling away merrily in apple and orange juices with cinnamon, cloves and allspice) to nourish ourselves for the coming winter
• the sense of self renewal which has become the tradition of New Year Resolutions, possibly stemming from a natural inward-turning impulse in these longer and darker nights

This is my last post for 2011, so: whatever holidays you celebrate, I hope you're making great memories and that 2012 will be a great and positive year for you.

Magical Monday: But Aren't Vampires Supposed To...

This is not really a post about vampires. It's a post about folklore and who controls it.

My favourite vampires...

Vampires are a particularly interesting case in point, I think, because so much use has been made of them in popular culture, be it film, TV or literature. If you're going to have vampires in your story, although it may seem that they are a 'stock' character, there are decisions you can make, even about quite basic things. They may choose not to kill - like Terry Pratchett's brilliant 'Black Ribboners' who have sworn off human blood. They might be unable to be outside during the day at all, or they may only need to avoid full sunlight (possibly because they sparkle rather than burn to a crisp...). The method of turning a human into a vampire is also somewhat up for grabs these days - fluid exchange may be required, or it may be a complex ritual requiring considerable planning.

Anyway, who hasn't read, or watched or heard something featuring a vampire (or other folkloric creature/object) and come to a part that made you (or someone else) say "But I thought they couldn't do that/ could only do that if..."? But who says? What makes the version you previously heard/read/watched better or more accurate than this new idea?

I think we notice changes to folklore because usually folklore is something that changes gradually, over time, by consensus. When a writer decides to make a change to something from folklore, we notice and may wonder why they've done that. Is it more convenient for their plot? Does it question or parody something in contemporary society more effectively with that change in place? Are we convinced by their adaptation?

I suppose, ultimately, that last question is the most important. If something about the writing isn't convincing, we're more likely to question the need to mess with established patterns of folklore.

Thrilling Thursday: Review of Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

A spellbinding tale of love and death. What could be more thrilling?

Title: Midwinterblood

Author: Marcus Sedgwick

Publisher: Indigo

Publishing: 6th October

Find it at Amazon UK

The blurb says:
Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens.

In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. 

Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.


My verdict: beautiful, haunting and unlike anything else I've read. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a well-crafted story. Don't let the teens keep it to themselves!
This book gripped me instantly. I read it over three days of a very busy working week, which says a lot on its own. I'm not going to leave it there though *grin*. The novel has superb writing and makes intelligent use of folklore/myth, so it was always going to be a winner for me. I still managed to be surprised by just how fantastic it was though. I read recently somewhere that Marcus Sedgwick spends a long time planning (I think I read months), and this book is testament to that degree of careful thought.

The novel as a whole is like an orchestral suite, with different movements all sharing a key theme and a set of motifs which flow through the whole, adding cohesion and providing (I'm sure) satisfying recognition on re-reading. As always, Sedgwick's prose is relatively sparse yet beautifully lyrical. He doesn't waste words, nor does he need to use complex vocabulary to weave a clever story.

A particularly effective aspect of the opening story was the Wicker Man-style creepy vibe. This helps build the sense of inevitability which propels us through all the stories back to the beginning of it all. The trailer conveys this dark and spooky tone brilliantly.



Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely and it's a real contender for the best book I've read this year. I think it's worth saying that, for all the 'doomed lovers' stuff implied in the blurb, it's not a 'romance' title. Also, as an Indigo publication, it's being targeted at the Young Adult market, but I think there's life in it as a literary chiller for adults too.

My grateful thanks go to Orion for providing me with a proof copy of this wonderful book for review.
This is my nineteenth review for the British Books Challenge. 

Magical Monday: The Corn King

Today, 1st August is Lammas or Lughnasadh - the ancient festival of the first harvest (corn and grain). Stories and rites of this time therefore centre around sacrifice, death, rebirth and abundance. In old stories, this is the time when the Corn King (or John Barleycorn) is cut down in order to feed the people. Although there is sadness in the death of the king, everyone understands that this stage is necessary. Harvesting the corn allows more to be planted and allows the ground to regain its fertility. If the corn were left to die on the stalk, there could be no future crop either.

Corn dollies (as seen in the picture above) are related to Lammas celebrations and seem to have different meanings in different communities. To some, they celebrate the corn (symbolic of the whole harvest) and remind us of the abundance around us. To others, they are used in ritualised slayings of the Corn King or God (who sacrifices himself willingly for us). For others still, they are a kind of offering, a way of setting aside the last bit of the harvest rather than consuming it. Safeguarding the corn dolly through the year is sometimes seen as a way of protecting next year's yield, showing gratitude for the harvest and thereby proving we deserve another one. Yet another belief is that the corn dolly houses the spirit of the corn over the winter. For those following this final system, the dolly would be buried when the new crop was planted, sometimes quite elaborately, or driven into the newly-ploughed ground in the spring. Either way, this ensured that the corn spirit was never lost.

For the original version of the picture above, along with others and instructions on making one design, visit this site.

Lesbian Teen Novels Week: Ash by Malinda Lo

Ash as a Lesbian Novel

Usually my reviews don't contain spoilers, but really discussing this book under this banner is kind of a spoiler, so I apologise for that.   I have seen this title on a few 'gay YA' type lists, so it's not a huge secret, but I suppose I feel a little odd about it as the lesbian content is so subtle, not the main point of the book, and isn't apparent from the start. I have to also say that this is part of what I love about this book. It isn't a lesbian novel in the sense of a novel about lesbianism, it just happens to feature a lesbian love story.

While I absolutely understand the need for gay kids (particularly, but also adults) to have 'coming out' stories, I also think it's really important for stories like this to exist. Stories that aren't 'about' being gay. There is no use of the word 'lesbian or any equivalent in this book. No-one talks about whether girls (or boys) should, can or ought to get together, although it does appear to be a society which sees heterosexuality as the norm (the traditional marriage pressure centred on property and family name is present). This - a novel where some characters just happen to have gay relationships, without discussion or concern about matters of sexuality - is the kind of book that is important for everyone to read. Seeing homosexual, (and bisexual) characters as part of a wider canvas is great for combatting heterosexist culture where only 'straight' is seen as normal.

Ash as a Teen Novel

Gorgeous cover, too (it's metallic IRL)

I originally bought this book for my daughter as a fairytale retelling. It does not disappoint. Combining parts of the 'Cinderella' story with Tam Lin-style legends of the fae, it weaves its plot around a mysterious and compelling wood; a rich rural folklore of faeries and herbal spellcraft; an orphaned stepchild and a selfish and superficial stepmother with ambition for her daughters. I thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in Ash's world. This is a sweeter tale than many of the dark fae stories currently on the market - the faeries are mysterious and dangerous, but are not obvious enemies here.

Overall, Ash was a great read - magical and compelling. The voice has an old-fashioned, fairytale feel to it - Lo has really captured the genre beautifully. The characters were interesting and not stock characters, whilst still fitting into the fairy tale world perfectly. I liked the (as far as I know) book-specific tradition of the royal hunt being led by a woman, and I have added Huntress to my wishlist.

Thanks to Portrait of a Woman for inspiring me to read this now.

Exams, Luck and Folklore

It's that wonderful time of year again when students gather in the corridors outside all the biggest rooms, stressing each other out with last-minute revision/advice. It's a weird place to be as a teacher: obviously the exams are theirs, you've done your bit, but at the same time... And the anxiety coming off them in waves doesn't help.


Here are a few of the luck-attracting rituals and practices I've seen and heard of recently.

Special items

• Lucky pants and lucky socks seem to be the most common items of clothing with a special status. There are tales of students having to wear the same underwear for all exams, even if they fall on consecutive days...
• Lucky jewellery is also fairly common.
• Talismans, mascots and charms can also be found (students will sometimes try to bring little ornaments or toys into the exam room, but often are prevented from doing so as they are not sanctioned objects).
• The lucky pen is of course a standard exam season item. It's not at all unusual to hear a panicky student explaining that yes, they have another pen but their lucky pen has run out. Clearly failure will follow.

Special preparatory behaviours

• Ritual breakfasts are required by many, ranging from specific cereal that is only eaten at exam time (one boy swears by Coco Pops, but never eats them the rest of the year) to comfort foods like banana sandwiches.
• For others, not eating before an exam is essential (even an afternoon one - ack!).
• Some students use mp3 players while queuing for the exam room to avoid all that nervous 'did you revise x?' 'do you think y will come up?' that some find comforting and wrecks the mojo of others.

Exam room ritual behaviours

• The Lining Up Of Pens is a ceremony performed by many, requiring writing implements to be arranged in a very specific way.
• Some students have to walk around the little desk before sitting down. 
• Twiddling of bracelets and rings is commonly done in a ritual way, or a pendant or ring may be kissed for luck before commencing. 

Obviously, many students also place their faith in revision and study :) It's interesting how we find comfort in specific objects and odd little behaviours. I'm not suggesting that students believe wholeheartedly in these things, but these are very real habits that people have established as part of their coping strategies to get them through the horror of public exams. If that's not folklore, I don't know what is.

Who's Afraid of the Date?

Apologies for the repost, I was trying to fix some glitches with the labels. This was a post that was removed when Blogger had a fit last week.

So, this month we have a Friday the Thirteenth. Does this worry you? Will you be unable to leave your house in case of disaster? They do say that more accidents occur in the home than anywhere else, though, so that might not be the best plan.

Far from being an ancient piece of folklore, this one seems to be most definitely a more recent phenomenon. Snopes has the earliest reference in the US as 1908 and in the UK 1913, although there are plenty of earlier references for Friday and the number 13 being independently unlucky. Many sources link these to Christian events, such as Christ being crucified on a Friday, Judas being the thirteenth at the Last Supper, Eve tempting Adam on a Friday and so on. I've also heard that thirteen is a number associated with witches because a year holds thirteen full moons (or any other stage of moon cycle, of course...).

Interestingly, I also read that in some places, Friday the Thirteenths see fewer accidents than other days - and this is ascribed to people being extra careful because of the date. So perhaps it's a good thing after all, and we should be worried every day. Or perhaps not.

Birthday Celebrations

Family traditions around birthday celebrations are a special kind of folklore that can be very localised. People may celebrate with particular food or family customs. In our family, if a birthday is a 'school day', presents are opened after school, usually once everyone is home. As in many families, a cake is an important part of the celebration of a birthday, sometimes baked by some of us, sometimes bought. We tend to only do candles on the cake for kids' parties, not family celebrations.

I personally tend to view my birthday a bit like New Year, as a natural time for looking backwards and forwards and checking how far I've come. This works particularly well for me as my birthday falls in May, so a good time for measuring progress on New Year resolutions and the like. It's also nearly the end of the school year cycle (they're sitting their exams in the next few weeks), so the end-of-a-cycle thing works professionally too, and this is a time we're all naturally talking about how we'll change things for next year.

It's interesting how birthdays tend to cluster. For us, this is a busy week, with my birthday yesterday and my husband's to come on Saturday. We often have a joint celebration and sometimes joint gifts (films, music and edible goodies we like, but here's a hint: domestic-themed joint presents are not so loved!). The kids' birthdays aren't far apart either, being 29th September and 10th October. Oh, how I remember the older one's 5th birthday party when the little one was 11 days old and I was somewhat tired...

Cakes with candles are now common to many industrialised cultures, but did you know that in Japan and China, for example, it was traditional to celebrate everyone's birthday at the New Year? And that in many African cultures, individual birthdays aren't particularly marked? In that context, coming-of-age rites are important at specific milestone ages.

Do you mark birthdays in a way that is particular to you? Do you know of interesting traditions to celebrate birthdays?

April A-Z: Xenophobia

Tough one today! When I plumped for 'xenophobia', I was thinking of exploring how traditional legends, particularly of human and near-human creatures like vampires, werewolves and so on can sometimes be seen as an expression of xenophobia via fear of 'the other'. I was thinking also of how these (and other) 'races' of creatures from fantasy novels - trolls, dwarves etc - have been used by Sir Terry Pratchett in some of his Discworld novels to represent human races and to therefore play out issues of racism and xenophobia. I am sure this device has been used in other books also, but Pratchett's is the example I am familiar with.

Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because -- what with trolls and dwarfs and so on -- speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green.-- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

It occurred to me in preparing for this post, though, the xenophobia is perhaps more of a problem in the modern world, as we recognise diversity more and more, and live in increasingly mixed communities. This is perhaps why traditional beliefs and folklore show less obvious strands of xenophobia than more recently-occurring urban legends. In many developed countries, beliefs emerge about immigrants from poorer areas, often including some or all of the following:

• they eat inappropriate animals (often pets)
• they are unable to cope with technology
• they refuse to learn the language or customs of the land they are in
• they are incapable of appreciating the gifts of their host country, e.g. they are housed in a comfortable house but live only in one room, or wreck the house
• they are unable to adopt manners seen as basic in their new country, such as eating with cutlery
• they have poor hygiene

This xenophobia is also seen in national and racial stereotypes played out in jokes, and the use of a particular race in urban legends demonstrating extreme stupidity or incompetence - such as the one where someone assumes "cruise control" in their vehicle means they don't have to steer*.

*Of course, legends such as this might also feature other muted groups like a woman, a homosexual, an old person, a teenager, a transgendered person or someone in a job stereotypically believed to indicate low intelligence like a fast food worker or model.

April A-Z: Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht bonfire 

The first time I heard of this festival was in reading Goethe's Faust. It seems to me to be a cross between May Day and Hallowe'en: it falls on the night of April 30th into May 1st and is when witches are 'abroad'. It's celebrated in various European countries including Germany, Finland and Sweden.

It's interesting (to me, at least) that in many places, this night is celebrated with a large bonfire, which also forms part of traditional Beltane (or May Day) celebrations. Walpurgisnacht bonfires seem to be about scaring away spirits and witches while the people celebrate, while the Beltane bonfires seem to be more a symbol of purity and of fertility. Cattle would be driven between two fires at Beltane to purify them, and newlyweds would jump over a bonfire to bless their union and make it fertile.

Another similarity is in the decoration of the house with greenery or fresh flowers. This is (or was) practised in some European Walpurgisnacht celebrations and is often part of Beltane practice. Of course, greenery is used in many pagan-originating festivals, as both these clearly are. It's also significant that the 'may', or hawthorn is usually blossoming at this time, and it seems natural that there is a sense of the world re-awakening with the spring. Clearly, such a feeling is manifest in the new-blossoming trees and hedgerows, so the use of such natural decorations isn't greatly surprising. In some parts of Sweden, it used to be common for the young people of the village to collect greenery to decorate the exteriors of all the village houses. In an interesting cross-over to another festival, the payment for this greenery-collection was eggs!

The big difference between these two festivals is the belief that the devil, and/or witches, and/or evil spirits wander the world on this night. This is part of the Walpurgisnacht tradition, but is not associated with Beltane. In the system that includes Beltane, this belief is clearly part of the festival of Samhain (Hallowe'en), Beltane's opposite (since they are six months apart, at opposite sides of the wheel of the year). In both cases, people traditionally dress up in scary costumes - possibly to confuse the real scary things into leaving them alone, or simply to celebrate the spookiness of the occasion.

Have you seen or taken part in any Walpurgisnacht celebrations?

April A-Z: Taliesin

From TreeCarving.co.uk 

Just a quick thought today!

I have always found the story of Taliesin fascinating. I'm referring here to the all-knowing bard created by magic (as related in the Mabinogion), rather than the historical bard. People of legend are often more exciting than those of history, aren't they?

What I find interesting now is the part of the story where Ceridwen is pursuing Taliesin, and they're turning into different creatures to escape from or catch each other. It's a motif found elsewhere in British folklore - in ballads like "The Two Magicians" (Child ballad 44), folktales like the Grimms' Foundling-Bird (Aarne-Thompson type 313a). It is also used later in children's books such as T. H. White's The Sword in the Stone and Julia Donaldson's The Princess and the Wizard, although in the latter the Princess is allowed to transform in order to hide from the Wizard, while the Wizard doesn't transform and chase her - he just has to find her.

April A-Z: Succubus

The succubus is a female demon who visits men in the night and traps them in lurid dreams. In some versions of the myth, this is in order to gather semen, so that other demons (incubi) may use it to impregnate women, since demons are (obviously) sterile themselves. In other tellings, this temptation of men is an end in itself, or it may be a way of harvesting souls.

The succubus is a motif I've seen used in various ways. Sometimes the night time 'excitement' is enough to prevent a man from having normal relationships, or to destroy his existing relationship. Sometimes it's used as a kind of morality tale, leaving the man physically weak, due to his, er, energy being spent with the succubus. Clearly, succubi have been used as an excuse for wet dreams ('but the demon visited me ...'). On occasion, a man visited regularly by a succubus is being gradually killed.

Interestingly, there is a kabbalistic legend about Lilith (first wife of Adam) being a succubus who uses human men to reproduce (in some versions) or simply seeks to waste the seed of men. This legend, being so old, has diversified into different strands: Lilith may be a succubus and/or a vampire; she may seek to steal or kill children (especially boys); she consorts with demons/fallen angels; her offspring may be generic demons, succubi, djinns or other evil beings.

In searching for an image to accompany this post, I discovered an urban fantasy series featuring a succubus was Richelle Mead's first series. Book 1 is "Succubus Blues" - covers from two different US editions shown right. From her website:

Succubus (n) - An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men.

Pathetic (adj.) - A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.