Folkdays: Violets

A spring bloom I’ve been really drawn to this year is violets. A few months ago, I would have struggled to identify these plant from any other purple flowers I spotted in a verge. But now I know what to look for, I am spotting them everywhere! Recently, I have had a go at foragingContinue reading “Folkdays: Violets”

Folkdays: Snowdrops

It has been quite a tumultuous year since I wrote my Folkdays post on bluebells last May. At that time, I was adjusting to a new normal of being locked-down in a city, with only a few spots of nature to be found. Now, I have moved back home, to a place where nature aboundsContinue reading “Folkdays: Snowdrops”

Folkdays: Apple Lore

Summer comes to a close with the autumn equinox. Falling on or around 22 September, the days and nights are of equal length, before the balance tips towards steadily increasing hours of darkness. Known as Mabon in the Wheel of the Year calendar, this would traditionally be a time for collecting in the last fruitsContinue reading “Folkdays: Apple Lore”

Folkdays: Silbury Hill

The Avebury World Heritage Site is a prehistoric landscape which boasts stone circles, henges, burial mounds and barrows. It has been considered a site of pilgrimage since the Neolithic and Bronze age period in which these monuments were built, and continues to draw in visitors today. It’s a place rich with mystery and fascination, andContinue reading “Folkdays: Silbury Hill”

Folkdays: Taylor Swift’s ‘folklore’

On Thursday 23 July, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift unexpectedly released a new studio album. This is not the kind of content I’d usually cover on this blog, least of all on a Folkdays post. Yet the album’s title – folklore – suggests something worth a closer look here. I’m not a music critic: this postContinue reading “Folkdays: Taylor Swift’s ‘folklore’”

Folkdays: Reviewing ‘The Selkie’

I was delighted when the wonderful Imogen Di Sapia sent me her book, ‘The Selkie: Weaving & The Wild Feminine’. At first glance, flicking through the pages, I was entranced at the beautiful craftmanship of the book itself. I would continue to be spellbound by the folktale, poems, and photographs contained inside. I only hadContinue reading “Folkdays: Reviewing ‘The Selkie’”

Folkdays: Goldfinches

One of the things I feel I really miss out on when I live in the city are the birds. The skies above are mostly the domain of urban gulls and wood pigeons. Sometimes there will be the chattering of a magpie in the early hours, or the warbling song of a blackbird at dawnContinue reading “Folkdays: Goldfinches”

Folkdays: Folktale Closings

It has grown late, and the campfire has reduced to smouldering embers, which glow in the breeze that begins to creep in from the surrounding dark. As the flames recede, so does the story: both have spent hours dancing in the air, and both now begin to wane. The tale teller, as if to coaxContinue reading “Folkdays: Folktale Closings”

Folkdays: Reviewing The Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle

My very first Folkdays post was a review, of Shakespeare and the Folktale by Charlotte Artese. This was a book I had read, aside from simply for my own enjoyment, as preparation for my MA dissertation. Well, that dissertation is now underway, and so I have not had much time to dedicate to writing aContinue reading “Folkdays: Reviewing The Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle”