Fair Folk Podcast

This episode my guest is Olle Möllervärn, Swedish folklore and paganism researcher and bear nerd! In this episode we discuss animism and how it brings us into more ethical relationship with animals, the connection between human fertility and bears, including human-bear romance, as well as the reason bears are connected with St. Tiburtius' day, April 14th.

Join my mailing list for a discount on my upcoming course on Old Norse polytheism, Gathering the Gods: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62d72c01da642d55a9868141 (Registration opens April 17th)

Olle Möllervärn on Academia.edu: https://miun.academia.edu/OlleM%C3%B6llerv%C3%A4rn

Norwegian bear dance - skip to 18:00: https://tv.nrk.no/program/FOLA69009669

Opening theme:

Forest March by Sylvia Woods

Purchase Sylvia Woods' music: https://www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

This episode outlines the folklore of April in northern Europe: April Fool's day, Palm Sunday, Easter, St. George's day, and the history of gathering greenery for ritual and soups, rising at the dawn to worship a goddess, cuckoo folklore, dragon lore, and lovely spring ritual songs to set the mood!

This month's April Almanac Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2AJtQbVqaNJKhwbSNpRqxc?si=4d2dafd206f74a15

Join the mailing list: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62d72c01da642d55a9868141

Goddess of the Dawn episode of Fair Folk: https://soundcloud.com/fairfolkcast/goddess-of-the-dawn

Goddess of the Dawn Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37OdQr0zs03bygse4ULS47?si=1dcb8ccce828438e

Resources:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, chapter: In the Footsteps of Nanabozho: Becoming Indigenous to Place.

A quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7192815-our-immigrant-plant-teachers-offer-a-lot-of-different-models

Mimisbrunnr entry on the Nine Herbs Charm (Nigon Wyrta Galdor): https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor

A nice German nine-herb soup recipe: https://www.kitchenproject.com/german/recipes/Suppe/Grundonnerstagsuppe/index.htm

Music in this episode:

Opening theme: "Forest March" by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Kuku Kaki Kultarinta by Honeypaw

Purchase:

https://honeypawband.bandcamp.com/track/kuku-kaki-kultarinta

Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene by Helena Ek and Goran Mansson

Purchase:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/edi-beo-thu-hevene-queene/1625877870?i=1625879088

Now the Green Blade Riseth by Caedmon

Purchase:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/now-the-green-blade-riseth/1491931796?i=1491932896

St. George by Waterson: Carthy

Purchase:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/st-george/1280110185?i=1280110191

Instrumental track at 54:29: A Madre De Jhesu Cristo by Trouvere Medieval Minstrels

Purchase:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/a-madre-de-jhesu-cristo/1346857580?i=1346857906

Bright morning stars are rising by Tony Saletan and Irene Saletan

Purchase:

https://folkways.si.edu/tony-and-irene-saletan/folk-songs-and-ballads

This almanac episode dives into the folklore of February through the lens of the Ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia on February 15th, tracing the themes of birth, milk, wolves, wildness, purification, death, twilight, and thunder through the month’s other pagan holidays, including St. Brigid’s day on February 1st, Candlemas / Gromnica / Perkunas Day on February 2nd, and Scandinavian St. Peter Hotstone on February 22nd.

This month’s episode asks what the notion of purification might mean in a pagan context, and suggests it may mean facing the shadow parts of ourselves that we tend to project onto animals (and women) so we can ritually integrate them, clarifying and owning our role as powerfully in-between creatures in a powerfully in-between world.

Important dates:

February 1: Brigid’s Day / Bride (Ireland / Scotland)

February 2: Candlemas (Christian) / Gromnica (Slavic) / Perkunas day (Lithuania) / Perun’s Day (Belarus)

February 14: St. Valentine’s day

February 15: Lupercalia

February 21: Mardi Gras / end of Carnivale / Start of Lent

February 22: St. Peter Hot-stone

Listen to the February Almanac playlist on Tidal:

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/4c148b82-bfe5-46cf-ba26-63b7bc2a7acd

Listen to the February Almanac playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2QSKLQ8WeAq9v26NWfpTtX?si=33e31c5e2fe74971

Music in this episode:

“Lupercalia” by Faun

Buy Faun’s music: https://shop.faun-music.com/

“Värgsangen” by Jonna Jinton

More Jonna Jinton music: https://www.youtube.com/user/jonnajinton

Buy Jonna Jinton’s art: https://jonnajintonsweden.com/

“Ulvetimme” (The Hour of the Wolf) Maria Franz and Christopher Juul

Buy Heilung’s (Maria Franz and Christopher Juul) music: https://heilung.bandcamp.com/

“Mary’s Keen” by Noirin Ni Riain

Buy this track: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/marys-keen/992023961?i=992023970

Buy Noirin Ni Riain’s music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/stor-amhran/41446103

“Grá” by Wardruna

Buy Wardruna music and merch: https://wardrunashop.com/collections/music

Buy Wardruna digital tracks: https://wardruna.bandcamp.com/music

Opening theme: "Forest March" by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Sources for this episode:

Watch Ronja Robbersdaughter: https://fsharetv.io/watch/ronja-robbersdaughter-episode-1-tt0088015

Watch Wolf Walkers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Z_tybgPgg

Emperors of Rome Podcast, Lupercalia episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/episode-cxxxv-lupercalia/id850148806?i=1000465237605

History and Folklore Podcast: Medieval Wolves episode: https://historyandfolklorepodcast.libsyn.com/medieval-wolves

Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs edited by Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, and John Lindow: entry: “Wolf [Canis Lupus] and Werewolf”

The Nordic Animist Year (book) by Rune Rasmussen

Candlelight Tales Podcast: Brigid episode: https://soundcloud.com/candlelittales/episode-7-brigid

Transcript:

Welcome to the podcast. This is the February Almanac episode  of Fair Folk called Wolf Milk.

In these Almanac episodes, I comb through European calendar custom. that is folklore relating to the cycle of the year, typically with a focus on Northern Europe. And I share what I find with you to help you orient the month ahead. Equipped with knowledge of nourishing traditions that can help reconnect you to the natural cycles of the year to land and the life in the plants, animals, our bodies, and ourselves.

Seasonal folklore and festivals call us back into community with all beings on the earth in its regular spinning wheel of life and death. And they help us to tend through ritual, our ties to our kin of all species, both our ancestral kin and our future kin to come. The recovery of European traditional cultures, the ones that privilege relationality, interconnection and respect for all beings, which you might call indigenous cultures, is so early in its stages.

In this January almanac episode, I share about how English Plough Sunday and Plough Monday rituals dovetail with pagan midwinter worship of Odin to present a quandary as rich today as ever:

How do we hold sacred the human capacity to employ technologies that multiply our power, while dancing on the delicate balance between service and domination?

How do we bless the hard work of human hands where it meets the life of the world?

This episode delves into traditions of chasing out the spirits of Yule, as well as blessing of apple trees, ploughs, and ultimately ploughboys as representatives of the overflow of human passion and physical power.

Sign up for UNEARTHED, my course on the roots of imperialism in the Christian Middle Ages: https://rustic-waterfall-641.myflodesk.com

Listen to the January Almanac playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2lcgJz369QMIDmN8J4LEAq?si=96bd3fac66c8482f

Contact me by email fairfolkcast [at] gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danica.boyce/

Music in this episode:

January Man by Lau & Karine Polwart

Buy it:

https://lau-music.bandcamp.com/track/january-man

Apple Tree Wassail by Jon Boden

Buy his albums https://hudsonrecords.co.uk/shopfront/jon-boden

Ploughboy’s Dream by Janice Burns and Jon Doran

Buy it:

https://bandcamp.com/download?cart_id=97060025&sig=7770feb4eddf1844063928c397bc5b88&from=checkout

Ploughboy’s Glory by Lisa Knapp

Buy it:

https://lisaknapp.bandcamp.com/track/ploughboys-glory

Instrumental track:

St. Agnes’ Eve by Carol Wood

Buy it:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/st-agnes-eve/130331483?i=130332115

Opening theme: Forest March by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Sources and Resources for this episode:

Rune Hjarno Rasmussen’s St Knut / Odin parallels video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l99YoPiPLrg

The Nordic Animist Year (book) by Rune Hjarno Rasmussen: https://shop.nordicanimism.com/shop/9-books-and-calendars/9-the-nordic-animist-year/

The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain by Ronald Hutton (book)

“The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda, and Related Figures” By Lotte Motz

dokumen.tips/documents/motz-lot…s-1985.html?page=5

“Perchta the Belly-Slitter and Her Kin: A View of Some Traditional Threatening Figures, Threats and Punishments” by John B. Smith

www.scribd.com/doc/17325747/Perc…itter-and-Her-Kin

Lyrics to folk song "Ploughboy’s Glory"

http://www.joe-offer.com/folkinfo/songs/362.html

Episode Image: by John Bauer from story "The Ring," by Helena Nyblom, 1914

Transcript:

This is the January Almanac episode of Fair Folk in which I will be discussing the folklore and pagan roots of January celebrations with an emphasis on nourishing traditions we can bring forward and apply to our modern lives, to help us connect to land and to history in productive and empowering ways.

This month I'll be focusing on the new cycle of years changing over the end of the Yule season and our relationship to labour and technology, which was a focus that arose for me while I was researching this January episode. That hasn't arisen for me before, but it definitely is an emphasis of English and Nordic tradition, and it'll explain more as we go ahead.

Other themes that arise in January folklore are the continued divination and predictive quality for the year ahead that we've may have already seen in December. Folklore also the supernatural and the feminine visiting from the wilds beyond, because it is still winter and these forces still rule.

There's often a theme in January songs especially of weather, bad weather, loneliness, cold and love, longing as metaphorically associated with those sensations of coldness and isolation in the wintertime. And of course, the slow return of the sun is being observed across European folklore, which is what I always focus on.

This episode explores folklore and pagan origins of the 12 days of Christmas, with a focus on the feminine winter figures of Perchta, Holle, and Grýla, featuring a conversation with Jenn Campus, author of A Guide to Celebrating the 12 Days of Yule.

Unearthed: medieval imperialism course: https://rustic-waterfall-641.myflodesk.com

Buy Jenn Campus’ book, A Guide to Celebrating the 12 days of Yule for $5: https://jenncampusauthor.com/product/a-guide-to-celebrating-the-12-days-of-yule/

Emilia Blom, who shared the solstice wishes ritual with me: https://www.instagram.com/vildmedicin/

My Big Fat Solstice playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2LFjxSUsJYrJE2S0nuYWdB?si=a743490a69a6459c

Gnome for Christmas Fair Folk episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ysFM2qushhgWVuEx5kLq1?si=6172f7663bc0479f

Join my mailing list: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62d72c01da642d55a9868141

Resources & references for this episode:

The Stations of the Sun: the ritual year in Britain by Ronald Hutton

"'He met his own funeral procession': The Year walk-ritual in Swedish folk tradition” Tommy Kuusela: https://www.academia.edu/9403910

The Icelandic Yule Lads poem in English

https://ingebretsens-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/The-Yule-Lads-Poem.pdf

“The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda, and Related Figures” By Lotte Motz

https://dokumen.tips/documents/motz-lotte-the-winter-goddess-percht-holda-and-related-figures-1985.html?page=5

“Perchta the Belly-Slitter and Her Kin: A View of Some Traditional Threatening Figures, Threats and Punishments” by John B. Smith

https://www.scribd.com/doc/17325747/Perchta-the-Belly-slitter-and-Her-Kin

‘Grýla, Grýlur, Grøleks and Skeklers: Medieval Disguise Traditions in the North Atlantic?” by Terry Gunnell

https://notendur.hi.is/~terry/articles/TerryGunnell-2001_Gryla,Grylur,Groleks_and_Skeklers.pdf

Music in this episode:

Opening theme: Forest March by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Malpas Wassail by the Watersons

Buy it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/music/player/albums/B09WJGTF52?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1483616862&sr=1-1

Spinn, Spinn, Spinnerinn by Herbergsuche Gruppe

Buy it: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/spinn-spinn-spinnerin/318155276?i=318155791

Grýlukvaeði by Thrju a Palli

Buy it:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/gr%C3%BDlukv%C3%A6%C3%B0i/1621787315?i=1621787688

Instrumental track: The Wanderer by Juniper and the Wolf

Buy Juniper and the Wolf’s music: https://juniperandthewolf.bandcamp.com/

This episode surveys the folklore of the first half of December, including St. Nicholas' Day on Dec 6th, St. Lucia's day on Dec. 13th, and the solstice. As we approach the darkest point of winter, I ask the listener to follow the rhythm of nature and turn your gaze to the small, the domestic and the precious.

Join my mailing list:

https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62d72c01da642d55a9868141

Music in this episode:

St. Nicholas by Anúna

Buy this track:

https://anuna.bandcamp.com/track/st-nicholas-2

Luciavisa by Lisa (singer Emma Härdelin)

Buy this track:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/luciavisa/204432292?i=204434789

There is no Rose by the King’s Singers

Buy this track:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/there-is-no-rose/79623724?i=79623213

Orientis Partibus by Trouvere Medieval Minstrels

Buy music by Trouvere Medieval Minstrels here: https://www.medievalminstrels.com/

Kąlėdų rytų saulė pražydo (The Sun Blossomed on Christmas Morning) by Sedula

Buy this track:

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/kal%C4%97d%C5%B3-ryt%C4%85-saul%C4%97-pra%C5%BEydo/1427982403?i=1427982982

Rex Tua Nolo Munera by Trouvere Medieval Minstrels

Buy music by Trouvere Medieval Minstrels here: https://www.medievalminstrels.com/

Sources for this episode:

Lyrics to The Sun Blossomed on Christmas Morning by Sedula:

https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=5162

Some more information about medieval animal carols:

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/friendly_beasts.htm

More information about medieval carols:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology-south-east/news/2020/dec/evolution-medieval-christmas-carols

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen:

https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen/short-story/the-snow-queen

This is a conversation with Scottish folk-magic blogger and social worker Scott Richardson Read about the Gaelic folklore figure called the Cailleach: the old woman known as Scotland’s midwife; landscape shaper, storm-bringer, sovereignty figure, ancestral being, resurrected once and again, and present all through the folk calendar of the year.

The Cailleach has been popularly associated with wintertime, which is why I feature her on Fair Folk now, at the beginning of winter.

Transcript of this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12oDeT-0u-0fnnascirU_k5izVU4kQHACj2zqTFI2wGA/

Resources referenced in this episode:

Cailleach’s Herbarium blog, Cailleach article #1

https://cailleachs-herbarium.com/2015/08/the-cailleach-a-tale-of-balance-between-darkness-and-light/

Cailleach’s Herbarium blog, Cailleach article #2

https://cailleachs-herbarium.com/2015/08/the-cailleach-a-tale-of-balance-between-darkness-and-light-part-two/

Cailleach’s Herbarium blog entry on an animist shrine dedicated to the Cailleach:

https://cailleachs-herbarium.com/2018/01/the-cailleach-scotlands-midwife-tigh-na-bodach/

Article: The Cailleach in Place-names and Place-lore by Alasdair C. Whyte:

https://clog.glasgow.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JSNS/article/view/58/107

Mckenzie’s Wonder Tale, Beira, Queen of Winter:

https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tsm/tsm04.htm

9th century poem about the Cailleach, “The Old Woman of Beare”

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65CWjdVcBmg

Text: https://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/anonymous/OldWomanBeare.html

Songs in this episode:

Opening theme: “Forest March” by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

“The Old Woman of the Mill Dust / Cailleach An Dudain” by Alison Kinnair & Christine Primrose

Buy Alison Kinnair & Christine Primrose’s music:

https://guysegers1.bandcamp.com/track/cailleach-an-dudain-the-old-woman-of-the-mill-dust-alison-kinnaird-christine-primrose (album)

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/cailleach-an-dudain-the-old-woman-of-the-mill-dust/294080419?i=294080481

This episode asks how we can take the natural themes of the month and separate them from the contexts that have framed and sometimes twisted them, so we can use them to empower all beings – especially, this month, foxes and geese. It surveys November droving and pannage traditions, Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th, fox hunting and its complex legacy, St. Martins day on November 11 and its entanglement with goose lore, and St. Catherine’s day on November 25th, which opens the season of the Germanic winter goddesses, whose later folklore connects spinning and wheels, snow, wild animals, flying, geese, and children.

Join the Mailing List:

view.flodesk.com/pages/62d72c01da642d55a9868141

Listen to the November Almanac playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/094rCk7NZWNOSLmoHHPqc2?si=83d27558f563416b

Fair Folk’s Patreon:

www.patreon.com/fairfolkcast

Songs featured in this episode:

“The Fox” by Laura Viers

Buy Laura Viers’ music on Bandcamp:

https://lauraveirs.bandcamp.com/track/the-fox

“Kadrilaul” by Collage / Choir of Tallin University of Technology

Buy Collage’s music:

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/kadriko/1100185926

“Martinmas Time” by James Yorkston

Buy James Yorkston’s music digitally:

https://jamesyorkston.bandcamp.com/

Buy James Yorkston’s records:

https://www.jamesyorkston.co.uk/shop/

“Goose and Common” by the Askew Sisters

Buy the Askew Sisters’ music:

http://www.askewsisters.co.uk/

Opening theme:

Forest March by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Some sources for this episode:

The Year in Ireland by Kevin Danaher, 1972.

Folk-Lore and Folk-Stories of Wales by Marie Trevelyan, 1909.

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book//lookupid?key=olbp54204

Article: “The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda, and Related Figures” by Lotte Motz

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HDXoKGBG3PojPXDJrJXZ3Ae2A7HQCCA7/view?usp=sharing

Article: "Perchta the Belly-Slitter and Her Kin: A View of Some Traditional Threatening Figures, Threats and Punishments" by John B. Smith

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1280qQAcXA-p0bbrF3_zujAbB0tJMr0Bo/view?usp=sharing

Frau Holle in the Grimm's Fairy Tales:

https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm024.html

An article about enclosure:

https://medium.com/@daveuwakwe/what-a-poem-about-a-goose-teaches-us-about-property-3dfe6f7972ec

St. Martin Lore from County Kerry ℅ the National Folklore Collection of Ireland: https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4666609/4666442 (Search the vast collection for more!)

Fair Folk is back in operation after a year's break! This episode shares some of the folkloric themes of October: it's the pagan start of winter, and features spooky post-harvest customs of feeding the dead, love longing, rekindling the community fire, and a cute dose of shoe folklore.

Call for key collaborators in the Pagan Monastery Project:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jq9XCt29MqQXEaRNtnoUj4n_5LObtqmWf-F-g8fGdto/edit?usp=sharing

Listen to the Pagan Monastery Podcast on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/pagan-monastery-podcast-with-danica-boyce/id1610505250

Listen to the Pagan Monastery Podcast on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/7xFdHUx1nJqge8Oq9Bs1GY?si=53d91206134049e8

Join the Mailing List:

https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62d72c01da642d55a9868141

Listen to the October Almanac playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6vxucYP0zGjsH2AxfwlayL?si=d5ae8d42bbbe473f

Fair Folk’s Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/fairfolkcast

Listen to Our Supernatural Landlords: folklorist Terry Gunnell on northern European winter guising traditions:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/fair-folk-podcast/id1177770160?i=1000501474652

Songs featured in this episode:

Tam Lin by Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer

Buy Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer’s album:

https://anaismitchell.ochre.store/release/250476-anas-mitchell-jefferson-hamer-child-ballads

Cheshire Souling Song by Cantorion CynWrig Singers

Buy the Cantorion CynWrig Singers’ music:

https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/cantorion-cynwrig/156043718

Holland Handkerchief by Chris Foster

Buy Chris Foster’s music:

https://chrisfoster1.bandcamp.com/music

Who’s Gonna Shoe my Pretty Little Foot by Barbara Dane

Buy Barbara Dane’s music:

https://barbaradane.bandcamp.com/

“Old Jacky Frost” by the Wildness Yet

Buy the Wilderness Yet’s music:

https://www.thewildernessyet.com/shop.html

The Wilderness Yet on Bandcamp (digital):

https://thewildernessyet.bandcamp.com/

Opening theme:

Forest March by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

https://www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Some sources for this episode:

Andreas Nordberg “Ritual Time and Time Reckoning.” The Pre-Christian Religions of the North: History and Structures, Volume ii, 725

On Shoes in walls: https://ztevetevans.wordpress.com/2020/08/12/strange-folklore-the-mystery-of-concealed-footwear/

For more info on boots and shoes and Hedwig: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781315166940-13/boots-saint-hedwig-jacqueline-jung

Recipe for Hedwigsohlen (Hedwig's soles pastries): https://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2014/10/soles-of-st-hedwig.html

British Calendar Customs: England (1942)

Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore. 1996.

Kevin Danaher. The Year in Ireland. 1972.

This episode announces that I will not be producing Fair Folk Podcast for the forseeable future. I am deeply grateful for all of the support you have all given me as I have grown this podcast, and I hope you will continue to connect with me in one of the following ways:

My mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/53d8b01c469b/newsletter

My Youtube channel with my partner Quinn: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw5BgVgYLuRWmEs66AHx38A

Instagram: www.instagram.com/danica.boyce

Patreon: patreon.com/fairfolkcast

If you stay subscribed to this podcast, you will receive updates on any further Fair Folk activity, and I'll let you know if I start another audio venture in the future!

All my love,

Danica