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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

Ghosts of the Goldfields

  • 05/12/2023
  • 19:00-20:30
  • Online talk

Ghosts of the Goldfields A Folklore Society online talk by David Waldron (Federation University) Tuesday 5 December 2023, 19:00 GMT In this talk, Dr David Waldron will discuss his research into ghost beliefs and stories of the 19th-century goldrush in colonial Victoria, Australia. He will draw on his research into ghost stories as a cultural...

More events coming up

Announcements

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...

‘Healthy Folk’: Fully-funded PhD: Applications Open for 2024

Healthy Folk – The role of vernacular knowledge in health-related decision-making. Applications are invited for an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award at The Open University, in partnership with The Folklore Society. This fully-funded studentship is available from October 2024. Further details about the value of an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP award are available on the...

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. PhD in Folklore, Contemporary Legend, Film & Media, at Sheffield Hallam University PhD opportunities in folklore, contemporary legend, film & media at the Centre for Culture Media and Society (CCMS), Sheffield Hallam...

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

Folklore query? Ask the Folklorists

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

Other Folklore Events and Calls for Papers

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

 

Ben Edge’s British Folk Paintings Documenting British Folklore in Paint, Photography and sculpture

  • Start date: 5th Oct 2023
  • End date: 31st Dec 2023
  • The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History, 11 Mare St, Cambridge Heath Rd, London E8 4RP

For nearly a decade Ben Edge has been documenting the seasonal folk Customs of Britain, travelling by bus, train and foot to the far corners of these Isles, to capture our often overlooked, unknown and unsung but thriving Folk culture of contemporary Britain. After a colourful childhood where eccentric family members would tell him remarkable stories about their lives and experience...


Call for Papers for a session on ‘Past Responses to Climate and Environmental Change Through the Lens of Mythology’ at the Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference on Climate (TAG 44)

  • Start date: 18th Dec 2023
  • End date: 20th Dec 2023
  • University of East Anglia, Norwich

Proposals are invited for 20-minute papers on the session theme to be sent (with a brief bio.) to Chris Wood at [email protected] and the conference team at [email protected] BY 15th OCTOBER 2023. Full details TBC, but attendance fees for speakers are expected to be in the region of £85-£100. Session Abstract Archaeology can reveal much about human responses t...