English folklore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in England over a number of centuries. Some stories can be traced back to their roots, even predating the Roman invasion of Britain, while the origin of others is uncertain or disputed. England abounds with folklore, in all forms, from such obvious manifestations as the traditional Arthurian legends and Robin Hood tales, to contemporary urban legends and facets of cryptozoology such as the Beast of Bodmin Moor.
Morris dance and related practices such as the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance preserve old English folk traditions, as do Mummers Plays. Pub names may preserve folk traditions.
Most folklore traditions are no longer widely believed. Whereas some traditions were once believed across the whole of England, most belong to specific regions:
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[edit] Folklore of England
- Black dog
- Brownie (elf)
- Chime hours
- Corn dolly
- Cunning folk
- Drake's Drum
- English Country Dance
- Flibbertigibbet
- Green Man
- Hag Stone
- Lob
- May Queen
- Maypole dance
- Maypole
- Oak Apple Day
- Parish Ale
- Petrifying well
- Robin Goodfellow is a troublesome elf or hobgoblin
- Saint Swithun - English weather lore
- Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend
- Standing stones and chalk figures in the United Kingdom are the focus for folktales and beliefs.
- Well dressing
- Wild Hunt
[edit] Folklore of East Anglia
- Babes in the Wood at Wayland Wood
- The Black Shuck
- St. Edmund of East Anglia
- Hereward the Wake
- Molly dance
- Old King Cole and St Helena
- Caxton Gibbet
- Green children of Woolpit
[edit] Folklore of London and the South East
- Sir Bevis of Hampton
- Bran the Blessed's Head at the Tower of London
- Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of London
- Gog and Magog, legendary giants and guardians of the City of London
- Herne the Hunter
- Hoodening
- London Bridge is falling down
- Mallard Song
- Legend of the Mistletoe Bough
- Oranges and Lemons
- Rollright Stones
- Spring Heeled Jack
- Swan Upping
- Saint Swithun, patron of English weather lore
- Uffington White Horse
- Wayland the Smith
[edit] Folklore of the Midlands
- Black Annis
- Alkborough Turf Maze
- Border Morris
- Bottle-kicking
- Dun Cow
- St. Frideswide
- Fulk FitzWarin
- Godiva
- Guy of Warwick
- Haxey Hood Game
- Lincoln Imp
- Major Oak
- Robin Hood
- Royal Shrovetide Football
- Wise Men of Gotham
- The Wizard of Lincoln
- The Giant of the Wrekin
- Yallery-Brown
- Tiddy Mun
[edit] Folklore of Yorkshire and the North East
- The Barghest
- The Cauld Lad of Hylton
- The Devil's Arrows
- Jack-In-Irons
- Jenny Greenteeth
- Jingling Geordie's Hole
- Kilburn White Horse
- The Lambton Worm
- Long Sword dance
- Peg Powler
- Rapper sword
- Red Cap
- Robin Hood
- Ursula Southeil
[edit] Folklore of the North West
- The Wizard of Alderley Edge
- Eachy
- Folklore of Lancashire
- Long Meg and Her Daughters
- Pendle Witches
- Wild Boar of Westmorland
- Gazthew
[edit] Folklore of the South West
- Abbotsbury Garland Day
- Barber surgeon of Avebury
- King Bladud, legendary founder of Bath
- Bowerman's Nose
- Cerne Abbas giant
- Cheese rolling
- Childe's Tomb
- Corineus, legendary founder of Cornwall
- St. Dunstan is the origin of the lucky horseshoe
- Glastonbury and its abbey
- Hunky Punk
- Jay's Grave
- Lyonesse
- The Obby Oss of Padstow
- Pixies and Piskies
- The Reynardine is a werewolf of Dartmoor
- Jan Tregeagle
- The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe
- Widecombe Fair
- The Witch of Wookey Hole
- Jack the Giant Killer and Galligantus
- Rabbit rabbit
[edit] Folklore of the South Coast
Iannic-ann-ôd, the spirits of those drowned and lost at sea, are said to haunt all Celtic coastlines, especially in the South of England and Northern France.
[edit] Folklore in song
[edit] English folklore in other media
English folklore crops up in books, films and comic books and these appearances include:
- Some of the characters such as Jenny Greenteeth, The Black Shuck and Black Annis have all made an appearance in comic 2000 AD, in the short story London Falling by Simon Spurrier and Lee Garbett.
- Herne the Hunter and other references to English folklore and Arthurian legend can be found in Susan Cooper's books, The Dark Is Rising.
[edit] See also
- Merry England
- English mythology
- Sabine Baring-Gould
- Cecil Sharp
- Nursery rhyme
- Once upon a time
- Anglo-Saxon mythology
- Scottish folklore
[edit] Reference Books
- Hutton, Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England, 1999
- Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, 1959
- Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, (2nd edn) 1997
- Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem, A Dictionary of Superstitions, 1989
- Roud, Steve, The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Great Britain and Ireland, 2004
- Simpson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore", 2000
- Vickery, Roy, A Dictionary of Plant Lore, 1995
- Westwood, Jennifer, and Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's legends, 2005
[edit] External links
- Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District, by Charles Dack, 1911, from Project Gutenberg
- Project-IONA a repository of folk tales from England and the islands of the North Atlantic
- Website of the Folklore Society (UK)
- Pretanic World - Folklore and Folkbeliefs
- Dartmoor Legends
