Everyday Folklore by Lisa Frank
Daily folklore ideas to guide you through the ritual year from Brighton-based author and voice behind The Everyday Folk Lore Project, Liza Frank.
Everyday Folklore ~ An Almanac for the Ritual Year, is not your traditional almanac in that it doesn’t provide the times of the tides or the phases of the moon. You can, however turn to any date and find something to learn or do suggested by folklore of the day, the month, or the season.
Some suggestions will take no more effort than sticking your head out the window to look at the clouds, while others might involve knee pads and scouring giant chalk horses cut into hillsides.
#EverydayFolkore #LizaFrank @lilithepunk #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Taking inspiration from folklore found around the world, each daily entry is a tiny snapshot of what goes on – be it animal or plant lore, love predictions, the zodiac, the supernatural, food, festivals, divination, anniversaries, the weather or luck.
By following the customs and traditions of the ritual year, you’ll find yourself becoming more engaged with what’s happening about you and discover how every month and season creates its own identity.
Consider yourself curious? Dip into this fascinating book at any time of the year and discover something new and intriguing about the world around you.
Just beware of the hare…
My Review
Did you know that house spiders are rather partial to classical music and are said to descend their webs to listen, only to climb back up when the movement has finished? That’s no more Classic FM for me then. Anyway, I’ve chosen the following graphic because I was born in November. Nothing to do with those horrible eight-legged spawn of Satan.
Everyday Folklore is not a book that you would sit down and devour in one go like a novel. It’s a book to dip into, return to and savour. I’ve picked out a few of my favourites, like Goat-e-oke and flaying a corpse (the former is doable, the latter will have you locked up, probably permanently). I have had so much fun with this. I highly recommend it.
February 14th (Valentines’ Day) – probably my favourite
“Now if you find your garter slack and wish to resurrect your love, consider stealing into a graveyard after dark, liberating a nine-day-old corpse, flaying it from head to toe, wrapping the flesh strip around your lover’s leg while they sleep, removing it before they wake, and keeping the skin ribbon in a secret hidey-hole. Because that way, it’s said you’ll have their love for as long as you want it.” I hope you can find a secret hidey-hole in your prison cell.
February 20th
“…But if blisters are the problem, you can always find a weasel to suck on them while you sleep. Although given some say weasel spit is poisonous, probably best not.” Good luck with that one.
First Saturday in April is the day of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
“However, had your preference been a little less watery, previously you could have had a flutter on the Oxford and Cambridge Goat Race across the river at Spitalfields City Farm instead. Run at the same time as its more famous namesake, two goats, appropriately named Oxford and Cambridge, charged round a specially prepared course at the farm. But while this tradition is no more, you could still recreate another of the farm’s attractions that day: Goat-e-oke (the caprine version of karaoke), and belt out such classics as ‘Billy Don’t Be a Hero’, ‘Night Goat to Cairo’, or anything from The Trolls soundtrack.” Or you could simply revive the tradition?
Around May 27th
“Should you wish to spend the last May Bank Holiday Monday in danger of concussion or a twisted ankle, head to Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, where you can take part in a spot of cheese rolling.” I mention this because we live less than 10 miles away and I have been there.
“With an average incline of 45 degrees, competitors stumble and spin down the 200-yard Cooper’s Hill course, chasing after an 8-pound circular Double Gloucester, which has reportedly reached speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.” By the look of it so can the competitors. It’s considered extremely dangerous, and not just for the runners. My nephew was hit by the cheese while trying to film the race.
Or you could try something safer like “the famous shin-kicking championships held on Dover Hill near Chipping Campden,” a few days later. Note that steel toe cap boots are now banned (thankfully).
“World Gin Day is held on the second Saturday of June.” Enough said.
June 26th
It’s National Cream Tea Day. Such a lovely idea but steeped in controversy. “Take the cream and jam. The good people of Devon believe that cream should go on the scone first, while their neighbours, Cornwall, go for jam. Then your choice of jam might out you as a traditionalist (strawberry) or a radical (blackcurrant or raspberry).” For me there is only one jam – apricot. I’m not sure what that makes me, but I’ve had plenty of disapproving frowns.
And on July 7th “….it’s World Chocolate Day. You know what to do.” I do anyway.
August 18th
It’s National Bad Poetry Day. On this day you may want to don a black turtleneck and beret, and pen some of your best worst verse.
October 6th
“National Badger Day is an annual celebration of all things brock. Indeed, some have even designated October, Brocktober.”
And October 8th is “World Octopus Day, a day to celebrate these astonishing eight-legged cephalopods, comes on the eighth day of what was once the eighth month in the ancient Roman calendar.” (They are intelligent creatures so please stop eating them.)
October 26th (October is a busy month in the folklore calendar)
“Today is Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night, an annual tradition since 2009. Should you wish to take part and give a robust howl at the moon, you might want to consider those around you and ensure you do it in a place where your howl will not frighten the horses.” And tomorrow is National Black Cat Day. But don’t howl at them.
Of course October 31st is Halloween. “Where to start? It’s known by many names, including Mischief Night, Crack Nut Night, All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day Eve, Allhallows Even, All Hallows Eve, and Eve of Hallowtide. It’s also the start of Samhain and therefore another New Year’s Eve/Day (as it starts at sunset), and the beginning of Allhallowtide, Allantide or Hallowtide. Plus it is another of those nights when it’s said the worlds rub up against each other, making it easier for the Wild Hunt, Fairy Courts, fae in general, witches, the Devil and ghosts (hungry or otherwise) to appear, and for divination to work.”
For my granddaughters it’s almost as good as Christmas and more important than Guy Fawkes (though if you’re into “big torchlit processions through narrow, people-filled streets, Lewes, East Sussex, puts on a magnificent festival of giant parading effigies”). They start planning around the beginning of October.
December 1st is the day when we crack open the Advent Calendar. Personally, unless they contain a chocolate for each day, I’m not interested. Unless there’s a diamond in each window, or a gold ring. You get my drift.
And so the run up to Christmas has started (though for retailers it began some time around the end of September).
A quick aside, on December 3rd (or any other day presumably), “it’s said the best course of action should you be bitten by a snake is to ask it to suck its venom back. However, given snakes do not possess external ears and thus may ignore you, you could also try drinking your own urine or ingesting a rather unsavoury recipe (which the author won’t repeat), containing hippopotamus testicle and marjoram.” Or you could just enter I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, where you’ll probably have to eat it anyway.
And that’s it! There are too many Christmas traditions to mention here, but you will have your own, no doubt and celebrate as you do each year. Or maybe you’ll try a new one or two, but in the end it’s all about family and friends, not shopping and debt. Have a good one and many thanks to Liza Frank for this fabulous, insightful delve into folklore, both ancient and modern.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Liza Frank grew up watching B-movies and dreaming of being Chrissie Hynde before working backstage in theatre and film for over a decade. She has written extensively about folklore for The Everyday Lore Project and for a Masters in Folklore Studies from University of Hertfordshire, as well as teaching literacy and creative writing in primary and secondary schools. Out of the many traditions she’s tried, her favourite was recreating a Gruel Thursday ritual off the beach in Brighton. That and competitive mince pie eating. She also writes an agony aunt column using folklore to solve dilemmas, and searches for sons of preacher men to persuade them to teach her something. In 2007, her slightly wild photographic exhibition was published as the book My Celebrity Boyfriend. She still dreams of being a rock chick.
