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

The Katharine Briggs Lecture and Book Award

Tuesday 23 February 2021
17:00
online lecture

The Katharine Briggs Lecture, which was postponed from November 2020, will take place as an online lecture via Zoom on Tuesday 23 February 2021 from 17:00. The lecture will be given by Dr Juliette Wood (University of Cardiff): ‘“I Cannot Find the Hanged Man”: Tarot Cards in Fantastic Fiction’. This will be followed by the...

More events coming up

The Sky in Legend and Tradition

Other Folklore Events and Calls for Papers

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

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...

‘Lore, Law and Landscape: cemeteries and their management, past and present.’

Date: 3rd Feb 2021
online talk

Online talk by Dr Helen Frisby, hosted by the Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, Leeds Trinity University Weds 3 February 13:00--14:30: 'Lore, Law and Landscape: cemeteries and their management, past and present.' For more details and to book, contact Revd Dr Jane de Gay [email protected]

RURAL GOTHIC: QUEER HORROR

Start date: 6th Feb 2021
End date: 7th Feb 2021
Online, via Zoom

A two-day online conference looking at aspects of the queer in horror, folklore and the occult. Ten presentations, plus moderated Q&A with the speakers and online text chat forum. Presented via Zoom. All access ticket to the entire weekend, plus video replays for anything missed live (allows for timezones etc) is just £10. Full list of speakers and abstracts, plus booking...

Folklore Society News

Extract from FLS News no.92, Nov 2020

Here’s an item from our newsletter FLS News no. 92, November 2020, by Andrew Bennett: NEW CUSTOMS: CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS Folklorists are good at looking at old customs, and particularly vanishing ones; we should pay more attention to emerging ones. Take Christmas decorations for example. Decorative mistletoe, holly, and Christmas trees have been around at least since...

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,...

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