Human relationships with deer stretch back thousands of years. Archaeologists uncovered red deer skulls at Star Carr in Yorkshire which are 11,000 years old. No one knows what they were used for, if they had practical applications or were used in shamanic rituals.

But it suggests some kind of relationship between humans and deer, even if we're not sure what that involved. Deer appear in mythology all over the world, although this post will focus on the British Isles.

From shapeshifting deer to fairy cattle, deer cults to white stag legends, let's explore the appearance of the deer in British and Irish folklore and legend in this week’s episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/deer-folklore/

Deer Woman article by Carolyn Dunn: https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/articleslist/deer-woman-and-the-living-myth-of-dreamtime-by-carolyn-dunn.html

National Leprechaun Museum podcast episode with Mark and Tracey Norman: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3mK66mxwarcOlIiKZBorQ7

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social

Tweet Icy at https://x.com/IcySedgwick