Icy Sedgwick's Blog, page 18
May 7, 2022
The Northumberland Silky: Mischievous Fairy or Lonely Ghost?
Many lonely and remote parts of the British Isles echo with tales of local spirits. Whether they’re fairies, remnants of older mythologies, ghosts, or Land Spirits decked out in another guise, their stories live on. The north east of England has one such spirit known as Silky. William Henderson lists Silky among the ‘local sprites’ […]
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April 30, 2022
Cider Folklore: Wassailing and the Apple Tree Man
We’re finishing the Folklore of Drinks theme with cider folklore. Cider has a long history, especially here in Britain. When the Romans arrived in Britain, they discovered the locals drinking a beverage made from apples. It wasn’t quite cider yet, and no one knows how long this drink existed prior to this point. Cider then […]
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April 23, 2022
Meeting The Devil’s Drink: Coffee Folklore in Legend and Ritual
Like its hot beverage sibling tea, coffee is an incredibly popular drink all over the world. Director David Lynch reportedly said, “Even a bad cup of coffee is better than no coffee at all” (James n.d.). Here in the UK, we imported £780 million worth of coffee in 2020 (Ridder 2022). And, like tea, coffee […]
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April 16, 2022
Wine and Witchcraft: A Beverage fit for Apotropaic Success
Like beer, wine has enjoyed a long and prosperous history. It’s been enjoyed by the ancients, used as a safe alternative to water, prescribed as medicine, and offered in ritual. And like beer, wine also has patron deities from a range of cultures. We even have a link between wine and witchcraft. But how does […]
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April 9, 2022
The Folklore of Tea: Magic, Predictions and Poison
Tea is not simply the ‘go-to’ comfort beverage in the UK. Bill Laws describes tea as a history-changing plant (2016: 26). So naturally, the folklore of tea is bound to be an extensive topic. The earliest records about tea are a preparation guide written during China’s Tang dynasty between 760 and 762 CE. That said, […]
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April 2, 2022
The Legends and Folklore of Beer: Remedies, Witches & Saints
Beer is a popular drink in many parts of the world. In the US, it’s the most popular alcoholic beverage. It’s not surprising then that we’d have plenty of folklore of beer to explore. It also enjoys an incredibly long history. Barley beer is likely to come from the Middle East, since evidence of beer […]
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March 26, 2022
The Lily and the Lady: Plants of Purity and Protection
There are few flowers quite as recognisable as the lily. Yet despite its beauty, the lily (Lilium) is a toxic plant. All parts of the plant are poisonous, which is why it’s recommended not to grow them if you have pet cats. It’s probably helpful then that the orange variety represents hatred and revenge, as […]
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March 19, 2022
Lavender Folklore: The Tales Behind The Calming Plant
From cleaning wounds to repelling plague, lavender has had a myriad of uses throughout the centuries. It’s now quite a common garden plant in the UK. It’s come to represent devotion, purity, luck, cleanliness, and compassion (Gray 2015: 112). It also represents constancy, faith, humility, and love (Dietz 2020: 126). Yet in the Victorian language […]
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March 12, 2022
From Medicine to Murder: How the Apothecary Garden Found Its Dark Side
There’s something about the concept of a poison garden that either titillates or terrifies, depending on your preferences. The UK’s most famous poison garden is at the Alnwick Garden. Its influence is so far-reaching that if you Google “poison garden”, it dominates the first several pages of results. So much so that I assumed the […]
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March 5, 2022
The Victorian Language of Flowers: Hiding Secret Messages in Plain Sight
If a bouquet of flowers arrives at our door, we’re more interested in who sent them. The Victorians were more concerned with what it meant. The Victorian language of flowers, also known as floriography, was a way to send messages using specific plants and flowers. Combining different flowers allowed them to send more complex or […]
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