Devoted to the Study of Folklore and Tradition

The Folklore Society (FLS) is a learned society, based in London, devoted to the study of all aspects of folklore and tradition, including: ballads, folktales, fairy tales, myths, legends, traditional song and dance, folk plays, games, seasonal events, calendar customs, childlore and children's folklore, folk arts and crafts, popular belief, folk religion, material culture, vernacular language, sayings, proverbs and nursery rhymes, folk medicine, plantlore and weather lore.

Next Folklore Society Event

Traditions of Death and Burial, by Helen Frisby

18:00--19:30
Online talk

Traditions of Death and Burial: Exploring English death and burial customs from the medieval era to the present day. an online talk by Dr Helen Frisby Tuesday 9 March 2021 18:00–19:30 GMT Death has been a source of grief and uncertainty for humanity throughout history, but it has also been the inspiration for a plethora...

More events coming up

The Sky in Legend and Tradition Creativity during the Covid lockdown: Life and Renewal During the Pandemic

Other Folklore Events and Calls for Papers

Please submit this online form if you would like us to publicise your event on our website.

Untold narratives, invisible marks

Start date: 1st Feb 2021
End date: 1st Apr 2021
Call for Papers

Having crossed the threshold of the millennium, people are overwhelmed by new intellectual, cultural and social challenges, which are brought about by the present time. Changes and demands are expanding, for this reason we feel a relentless need to go in search of new tools, we are constantly forced to rethink and revalorize old perspectives, the alterations in the social and cultur...

Genealogy journal special issue: Pandemics/Epidemics in Childhood: Call for Abstracts

Date: 30th Apr 2021
online

The journal guest editors are planning a special issue around the history of pandemics / epidemics in childhood. Among suggested topics are 'how pandemic / epidemic themes came to be reflected in children's play and leisure', and 'how pandemic /epidemic themes came to be reflected in their language, customs and folklore'. Deadline for abstracts of approx 200 words is 30th April 202...

Folklore Society News

The Katharine Briggs Award 2020

We are delighted to announce that the winner of The Katharine Briggs Award 2020 is William G. Pooley, Body and Tradition in Nineteenth-Century France: Félix Arnaudin and the Moorlands of Gascony, 1870-1914, published by Oxford University Press. And the runner-up is Jonathan L. READY, Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics: An Interdisciplinary Study of Oral...

Past Presidents of The Folklore Society

Dr Ross Macfarlane has very kindly compiled a list of all of our past Presidents on the Wikipedia entry for The Folklore Society: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Folklore_Society#Presidents Thanks Ross

The Katharine Briggs Award 2020

We are pleased to announce the shortlist for the Katharine Briggs Award 2020, which was postponed from last November to 23 February 2021. The shortlist is in alphabetical order: Karl BELL (ed), Supernatural Cities: Enchantment, Anxiety and Spectrality (Boydell Press) Deirdre MASK, The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power...

Non-Print Media Award 2021

Unfortunately, owing to pandemic conditions, we were not able to solicit entries to make a 2020 award viable. We remain committed to the Award, however, which seems to be more important than ever given the situation confronting publishers, and will be holding it in 2021. We are extending the eligibility period this year, to cover...

Announcements

Calendar Customs in Fiction

Sophie Parkes-Nield, a PhD student at the Centre for Contemporary Legend, Sheffield Hallam University, is searching for calendar customs represented in fiction. If you’ve spotted a custom in a novel or short story, please email her at [email protected] or tweet her via https://twitter.com/sophparkes

Fund-Raising for The Folklore Society

Following our move to 50 Fitzroy Street, the Society’s annual costs for office accommodation have significantly increased, so we are inviting all members and friends of The Folklore Society to support us by making donations via our Charities Aid Foundation page at CAF Donate: https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/11322

The Folklore Society office has moved to 50 Fitzroy Street

Our new office address is: The Folklore Society, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT, tel. +44 (0)203 915 3034 Office hours: Tuesday to Friday from 13:30-5:30 pm (and at other times by appointment). Our staff are part-time, so please let us know in advance of your visit in case we’re working away from the office...

MA in Folklore Studies at University of Hertfordshire

Exciting news for anyone wanting to turn their interest in folklore into an academic qualification: the University of Hertfordshire are now offering a Folklore Studies MA, which will run both part-time and full-time. For further details on the programme of study and how to apply, please see: https://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/ma-folklore-studies

Concealed revealed

The Concealed Revealed, a strand of the Inner Lives: Emotion, Identity and the Supernatural, 1300-1900 Project, is hoping to produce an extensive catalogue of concealed objects and domestic apotropaic devices, from shoes and cats to timber marks, across Britain. Dr Ceri Houlbrook, of the University of Hertfordshire, is not only seeking information about these objects but is also aiming to...

Folklore query? Ask the Folklorists

If you have a folklore enquiry, email us at thefolkloresociety @gmail.com and we will try our best to answer it or to refer you to someone else who can. Follow us on Twitter @FolkloreSociety and on our Folklore Society Facebook page