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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.

Other Folklore Events and Calls for Papers

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

 

Virtual album launch: Doughboys and Molasses, Oh!
  • Date: 26th Nov 2020
  • Online

Please join the MMaP Research Centre for the launch of the latest album in our Back on Track Audio Publication Series: Doughboys and Molasses, Oh! Traditional Songs from the Gros Morne Region. The launch will be screened on MMaP’s YouTube channel and will feature performances of songs from the album by special guest musicians, as well as presentations by project partners. Do...

Roy Palmer Lecture 2020
  • Date: 29th Nov 2020
  • online

Because of the Covid-19 situation it has been necessary to postpone the talk we had planned, ‘Brother Workmen: Solidarity in Trade Folklore’ by Jeremy Harte, until 2021. We are delighted, however, to be able to announce that the well-known American performer, Jeff Warner, has agreed to give the 2020 Roy Palmer Lecture from his home in the USA as an online event. ​ His tal...

Online talk–Traditions of Death and Burial
  • Date: 28th Jan 2021
  • Online talk

Traditions of Death and Burial A FREE Online talk with Dr Helen Frisby exploring the fascinating traditions which have always surrounded death, grief and burial. Thursday 28 January 2021, 6:30-7:30 pm Tickets via Eventbrite...

Folklore Society News

Anatoly Liberman responds to John Hines’s Review

After the publication of John Hines’s review of Anatoly Liberman’s book In Prayer and Laughter: Essays on Medieval Scandinavian and Germanic Mythology, Literature, and Culture (Paleograph Press, 2016), in Folklore 131, no. 3 (September 2020), Prof. Liberman sent us the following response, and Prof. Hines sent the reply that follows the response below. Response:  Author’s...

We Herts Folklorists 4!

Here is our fourth and final post for a special weekly blog series we’ll be running over the next few weeks, showcasing some of the wonderful talent of people who have recently completed or are currently undertaking the MA in Folklore Studies at the University of Hertfordshire. Throughout this series you will see some great folklore-inspired...

We Herts Folklorists 3!

Here is our third post for a special weekly blog series we’ll be running over the next few weeks, showcasing some of the wonderful talent of people who have recently completed or are currently undertaking the MA in Folklore Studies at the University of Hertfordshire. Throughout this series you will see some great folklore-inspired work,...

Free Downloads of Owen Davies’ Articles in Folklore from 23 Oct to 31 Dec 2020

As a welcome to our new Folklore Society President, Prof. Owen Davies, the following articles published by him in our journal Folklore will be available to download free from Friday 23 October until 31 December 2020: ” Witchcraft and the Somerset Idyll: The Depiction of Folk Belief in Walter Raymond’s Novels” (Folklore, vol. 126, 2015):  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2015.1006955...

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