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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

Connecting Folklore, History and Theory in the 21st Century: Irish Folklore

  • 17/06/25
  • 19:00-20:30
  • online talk

National Folklore Collection, M010.19.00041. "Seán Ó Súilleabháin at Cliffs of Moher." Photographer: Albert Nilsson Eskeröd, 1935.

Connecting Folklore, History and Theory in the 21st Century: Irish Folklore A Folklore Society Online Talk by Prof. Sarah Covington (Queens College, New York) Tuesday 17 June, 19:00 BST This talk will use the folklore of Ireland as a way to urge scholars and students to think in new ways about the relationship between history and...

More Folklore Society events coming up

Folklore and the SensesFlying Saucery: How UFOs Landed in the British IslesLying in Legend and Tradition: Call for PapersRevisiting Oral Narrative: Anthropology, Folklore and History: Call for PapersMore events 

Announcements

The National Folklore Survey

In Charlie Cooper’s new series Myth Country (streaming on BBC I-player), the actor and writer reveals his passion for folklore and how the peculiar rituals and traditions of this country ‘bring people together’. Far from being outdated and trivial, folklore is, he says, ‘very much alive and thriving on social media’. The National Folklore Survey funded by UKRI...

Folklore without Borders

Folklore Society council members Dr Matthew Cheeseman and Dr Paul Cowdell have been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to run a research network through 2024. The network aims to understand how to embed greater equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within UK folklore. It hosts an international knowledge exchange on folklore theory, method,...

Fionn Folklore Database

Announcing the recently launched Fionn Folklore Database. The hero Fionn mac Cumhaill is said to have defended Ireland and Scotland from foreign and supernatural threat during a legendary third-century Golden Age. The stories and songs about him and his warrior band, the Fianna, form the most prolific body of narrative in the Gaelic tradition, spanning...

Ethics Guidelines for Collecting Folklore

Ethical guidelines for good practice in collecting, archiving and sharing folklore material. Folklore collection originally developed and flourished at a time when research ethics, and questions about intellectual property, were given little thought. Contemporary expectations demand that folklorists (and other researchers) pay attention to such matters. With this in mind, the Folklore Society suggests the...

Courses in Folklore Studies

Here’s a selection of courses and classes on folklore studies at various different levels, ranging from learning for fun to Masters and PhD. A History of Folklore: an online course from The Folklore Society Ever wondered where ‘folklore’ comes from? Who were the founders of our subject and how does their influence still shape what...

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

Our Latest Blog Posts

April 8, 2025

Echoes of Padstow project website now live

The Echoes of Padstow project is inspired by the incredible audio-visual collection of Doc Rowe, who first visited Padstow in 1963. It has become Doc’s life-long work dedicated to recording, collecting and preserving traditions such as Padstow’s May Day. The Echoes of Padstow website celebrates Padstow, its people and their Obby Oss May Day tradition....


March 25, 2025

The Folklore Society’s Doc Rowe Award 2025

We have renamed, revised and relaunched our biennial non-print media award’ as ‘The Doc Rowe Award’ in honour of his six decades of recording, filming and photographing seasonal events throughout the UK. Submissions are invited for the 2025 Doc Rowe Award, to be presented in November after this year’s Katharine Briggs Lecture. For more details...


February 24, 2025

Folklore Reimagined LATE

Folklore Reimagined: 2025 events at The British Academy April-May 2025 British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace London SW1Y 5AH How have global folklore traditions, stories, and customs shaped our identities? And what does contemporary folklore look like? Delve into fascinating topics like the lore of our landscapes, the importance of sung history, and how crafting...

More blog posts

 

Other Folklore Events and Calls for Papers

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

 

The 36th NEFK – Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference 11-14 June 2025 | Turku, Finland

  • Start date: 11th Jun 2025
  • End date: 14th Jun 2025
  • Åbo Akademi University and Turku University in Turku, Finland

NEFK2025 – ”Nordic 2.0 and beyond” The 36th international Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference will take place at Åbo Akademi University and Turku University in Turku, Finland. It is time to meet again at the Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference. The 36th edition of the conference aims to reconnect with the roots of NEFK. We therefore invite all Nordic scholars, a...


Spontaneous Memorials: Contemporary perspectives on their sociocultural, psychological and organisational impact

  • Start date: 12th Jun 2025
  • End date: 13th Jun 2025
  • University of Manchester and Online

We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the international conference on Spontaneous Memorials, which is organised by the Institute for Cultural Practices, University of Manchester, on 12-13 June 2025 (in person and online). The conference aims to explore sociocultural, psychological, curatorial, digital and research methodology dimensions of spontaneous memorials. In part...


The Agency of the Dead in the Lives of Individuals

  • Start date: 2nd Jul 2025
  • End date: 5th Jul 2025
  • Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The Agency of the Dead in the Lives of Individuals: Reasons, Triggers, and Contexts. International interdisciplinary conference July 2 – 4, 2025 Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia CALL FOR PAPERS Contrary to pre-modern European societies, and many contemporary non-Western societies, where the dead were considered members of the ...

More events and call for papers