Unlike place names, which often give us information who once lived somewhere, street names can be a different case entirely. Sometimes they bear the names of notable (and often now infamous) people. 

Other times they refer to long-gone industries performed in the area - you can guess what happened on Cock Lane in London, site of the Cock Lane Poltergeist in 1762. 

Or street names might be the last remains of a now-dead language. Yet the continual building of new streets also sees the creation of new names more fitting to the time. Newcastle upon Tyne's Great Park development features a Sir Bobby Robson Way.

Given the different ways these street names can come about, let's explore the origins of some unusual street names in the UK and US in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/street-names-2/

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Place names are important and pass on a lot of valuable information, even if we no longer understand how to interpret it. Within them, they tell us who used to live in an area, or what natural features were important. Some of them even end up with a range of legends to explain names that might otherwise seem random or bizarre.

Folklore attempts to explain their origins. I've talked about unusual place names before, but this time, we're going to look at more of a range of names to see where they come from.

So let’s have a look at some place names from England, Wales, and the United States. Where did these names come from, and how does their original meaning compare to the names we know now? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/place-names-2/

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

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When I decided to write about goats in folklore, I thought I would find plenty of content. After all, they appear in mythology. Look at Amalthea, the goat reputed to have raised Zeus in Greek myth. Or the goats associated with the goatherd in the Auriga constellation. That's before we get anywhere near the sign of Capricorn.

Yet in terms of actual folklore, there's less than you would expect. Unlike pigs, there are few specific tales about goats. Instead, they pop up almost as a side character in relation to other animals.

That said, they do have associations with fairies, and of course, we can't talk about goats without addressing the devil-shaped elephant in the room. So let's see what folklore we can find about the humble goat in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

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

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Kimberly J. Lau is a professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of Erotic Infidelities: Love and Enchantment in Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" (Wayne State University Press), Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics, and New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden, as well as articles in a number of interdisciplinary journals. Her research interests include fairy tales, folklore, and fantasy; feminist theory and critical race studies; and the intersection of popular and political cultures. 

In this chat, we'll talk about her new book, Specters of the Marvelous: Race and the Development of the European Fairy Tale, and the ways in which racist tropes and stereotypes are embedded in European fairy tales from France, Italy, Germany, and Britain.

Find Kimberly online: https://www.kimberlyjlau.com

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

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Pigs appear in folklore in somewhat unusual ways. Sometimes, they choose the location where a church should be built. Or they appear as phantoms, haunting misty moorland.

Sailors or fishermen considered pigs unlucky, and wouldn't even say 'pig' at sea. If they met a pig on their way to the boat, they would postpone sailing. Some of them went so far as to ban pork products on board. While this superstition seems inexplicable on the surface, Jacqueline Simpson suggests it comes from the biblical association between pigs and uncleanliness.

Some believed pigs can't swim (they can, they're very good at it), and that they can see the wind. So what other strange things have people thought about pigs and collected into folklore? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

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

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Certain animals might spring to mind when it comes to folklore. Hares, horses, deer, cats - they all have an otherworldly quality to them. Would you consider the same of cows?

There's a surprising amount of folklore about cows. They can be death omens, fairy cattle, consumption cures, or even the guardians of treasure. That's not even considering the deities associated with cows, or their appearance in mythology. Just look at the various versions of the Taurus origin myth.

But let's take a look at some of the legends and lore associated with cows in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

Cattle in Irish myth and legend class: https://irishpaganschool.com/p/irish-animals-history-myth

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

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Following on from 2024's theme of the Folklore of Animals, this month we'll examine the Folklore of Agricultural Animals. This week, we'll explore the folklore, legends, and even folk medicine associated with sheep.

Sheep are not native to the UK. Neolithic settlers brought them to Britain from southwest Asia in around 3000 BCE. Sheepskin and other wool textiles appear in the archaeological record from the Bronze Age in northern Europe.

Following the Norman Conquest, sheep became the dominant form of livestock. They primarily provided milk, with meat, wool, and manure secondary products. By the medieval era, the focus switched to wool. Unsurprisingly, they appear in folklore through tales of sheep-stealing, but also fables, like the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Sheep appear in mythology too. The golden ram, Aries, who saved Phrixus and Helle from their evil stepmother, went on to both provide the famous Golden Fleece of Greek myth, and the Aries constellation.

But let's take a look at some of the legends and lore associated with sheep. in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

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

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Niina Niskanen is a Finnish artist, writer and a folklorist who specialises in Finnish, Baltic and Sámi Mythology. She is an online educator and hosted “Heart of Mielikki,” one of the first online courses about Finnish mythology for non-Finnish speaking audiences. Niina is also an artist with a BA in illustration. Her work has been displayed in numerous art exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Niina is the author of the book "Mythology of The Sámi, Stories from the North" and she has Sámi ancestry from the Lapland of Sweden and Finland. 

In this episode, we chat about Sámi myths, a beautiful legend about the northern lights, and some similarities between Finnish and Sámi mythology.

Find Mythology of The Sámi: Stories from the North here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mythology-S%C3%A1mi-Stories-Niina-Niskanen-ebook/dp/B0BX73TRTN

Find Niina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fairychamberart/

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If you think of the phrase "to be in mourning", you'll probably imagine a Victorian scene. Perhaps a black-clad widow ushers similarly black-clad children to a desolate graveyard in the depths of autumn. Or maybe you picture a grand house, shuttered up against the world that continues outside, while life is paused for those inside as they grieve their loss.

Clearly, humans have had mourning rituals and customs throughout history. Yet it is the 19th century that captures attention, perhaps through the industrialisation of mourning spearheaded by the Victorians. Such a high degree of buy-in by the public of all classes makes such customs worthy of study by a folklorist. Why did people adopt these beliefs and practices en masse? And, crucially, what happened to them?

Let's take a look in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

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According to legend, two green children wandered into a village in 12th-century Suffolk. No one knew who they were or where they came from. Their refusal to eat and unfamiliar language made locals wary. Over time, they gradually assimilated and told a fantastic story of their origins.

Were they fairies? Lost children with big imaginations? Extraterrestrials? The fever dream of medieval chroniclers?

Let's take a look in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/green-children-of-woolpit/

Resources for those affected by the LA fires/winds AND current volunteer & supply needs: https://tiny.cc/malan-fire

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