folklore has such a fleetwood mac vibe to it that makes for such a good listening experience. the vocals, the production, the lyrics are just something else. i love folklore with all of my heart ⭐️ @taylorswift@taylornation
“Myth March: Day 1 The Wendigo” … I decided to start it with my favorite folklore creature. The Wendigo is a mythological creature or evil spirit which originates from the folklore of Algonquin First Nations tribes based in and around the East Coast forests of Canada, the Great Plains region of the United States, and the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. The wendigo is often said to be a malevolent spirit, sometimes depicted as a creature with human-like characteristics, which possesses human beings. The wendigo is known to invoke feelings of insatiable greed/hunger, the desire to cannibalize other humans, as well as the propensity to commit murder in those that fall under its influence. (PLEASE DON’T REPOST OR TRACE IT, THANK YOU)
Vesna is a personification of spring season and also the opposite of Morana, thus blooming life, birth and abudance. More (folk)lore, info and WIPs of this project on my P/treon.
[a commissioned digital painting created for @k_trattner on twitter based on their novel a modern retelling of Tam Lin a fairy ballad originating from the Scottish Borders]
Rusalka is a female water spirit in Slavic mythology and folklore. According to Vladimir Propp, the original “rusalka” was an appellation used by Pagan Slavic tribes, who linked them with fertility and did not consider rusalkas evil before the nineteenth century. They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.
In nineteenth century versions, a rusalka is an unquiet, dangerous being who is no longer alive, associated with the unclean spirit. According to Dmitry Zelenin, young women, who either committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage (they might have been jilted by their lovers or abused and harassed by their much older husbands) or who were violently drowned against their will (especially after becoming pregnant with unwanted children), must live out their designated time on earth as rusalkas. However, the initial Slavic lore suggests that not all rusalkas occurrences were linked with death from water.
It is accounted by most stories that the soul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake would come back to haunt that waterway. This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and would be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged. Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, into the depths of said waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long red hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her body in order to reach the surface. She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed. It is also believed, by a few accounts, that rusalkas can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce, although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.
Bealtaine, May Day, was once considered the first day of summer.
On the eve of May we feasted, scorched bones and bread, prayed for protection, danced, and sang.
The next day, still full and light headed, we went to a friend’s home to cover ourselves in flowers, dance with ribbons, and make some butter.
The early flowers that I’m used to bloom late in Maine. Still, everything is waking up.
Beannachtaí na Bealtaine oraibh.
Demetri for 2, 4, 9 who did 3?
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[Image descriptions:
(1) Demetri smiling at the camera wearing a flower crown in front of the maypole. (2) Me, smiling at the camera wearing flower crowns in front of the maypole. (3) Maggie, myself, Demetri, and Noel are putting ribbons up on the maypole in the lawn. (4) A group of people standing in a circle holding colorful ribbons that connect to the pole off camera. We ate wearing flower crowns. (5) Photo from below of new, colorful ribbons woven along the maypole with a flower crown at the top of it. Behind it is blue sky and treetops. (6) A simple porch and screen door with a porch light and mailbox. Yellow flowers and grass hang in a bundle from the porch light, and yellow flowers are strewn in front of the doorstep. (7) Medium sized statue of Diana wearing a flower crown and a red ribbon. There is a drum, an archery bow, lightswitch, thermostat, picture frame, and a horn on the wall behind her. (8) An indoor selfie with my flower crown. (9) Video of Maggie and me dancing on pieces of plywood in a lawn. Our foot rhythms are accompanying a song in Irish that we are singing together. I am wearing a flower crown. Behind us is a maypole, a bonfire, and a green house on the other side of a fence. End descriptions.]
