Welcome to the first instalment of the Folklore Scotland Podcast! This week we will be looking at the Winter Solstice. We will be exploring stone circles, rebirth and reincarnation, the role of plants and nature in the solstice and what the solstice means to other countries.

Hosting the show this time we have David White, Linley Barba, Mila Georgieva and Rebecca Brown. Behind the scenes, Linley has also provided us with the wonderful cover art and music for the episode, Rebecca has edited the podcast and Roisin McCrimmon has been our little research elf. While we have had some teething issues with one of our microphones, we still think it’s a pretty great show so we hope you enjoy.

Folklore Scotland is a Scottish registered charity whose aim is to connect the tales of the past with the technology of today and you can visit our website at www.folklorescotland.com. For more information about our show check out the resources below.

Stone Circles

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/calanais-standing-stones/

http://www.megalithia.com/callanish/callan1.html

https://canmore.org.uk/site/65647/the-twelve-apostles

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dumfries/twelveapostles/index.html

Solstice Plant Lore

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/scotlands-lost-christmas-traditions-and-customs-596853

https://druidry.org/resources/tree-lore-holly

https://archive.org/details/oakkinghollyk00will/page/67/mode/2up?q=holly+king

https://www.jstor.org/stable/539700?seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://wrenlore.weebly.com/wren-hunt.html

Rebirth & Reincarnation

https://folklorethursday.com/myths/the-cailleach-irish-myth/

https://puffinsandpies.com/2019/12/14/the-cailleach-goddess-of-winter/

https://owlcation.com/humanities/TheCailleach

Winter Solstice Abroad

https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Feast+of+Juul

https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/wintersolstice.shtml

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/christmas/0/winter-solstice-2020-do-pagans-celebrate-shortest-day-year/

Tales mentioned:

White Cow of Lewis

https://folklorescotland.com/the-white-cow-of-lewis/

A Tale About The Cailleach

https://folklorescotland.com/angus-bride-the-battle-of-seasons/

Linley Barba:

http://www.linleybarba.com/

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