Death, Burial and the Afterlife: Virtual Special Issue 1, 2010
Virtual Special Issues of FolkloreVirtual Special Issues of Folklore are selections of articles on specific themes, hand picked by our editor Patricia Lysaght, with a podcast introduction by our reviews editor Juliette Wood, and a list of featured articles and further reading. The articles are all free for Folklore Society members to download.
Excerpt from the podcast:
The sugar skulls sold for Mexico’s Day of the Dead; the personal mementoes left at the grave of a loved one; Oscar Wilde’s flamboyant, and probably apocryphal, pronouncement that dying was the very last thing he would do, all these evoke varying responses of celebration, grief and humour which accompany the passing of life and the continued remembrance of the dead. The articles in this virtual edition of Folklore and in the suggested further reading from the Folklore archive cover selected aspects of a broad subject.
Featured Articles from Folklore
The Roadside Burial of Suicides: An East Anglian Study, by Robert Halliday, vol. 121/1, 2010
The Return of the Dead: Revenants in Flemish Traditional and Contemporary Legends, by Katrien Van Effelterre, vol. 118/1, 2007
Was the Vampire of the Eighteenth Century a Unique Type of Undead-corpse? by G. David Keyworth, 117/3, 2006
Repentant Soul or Walking Corpse? Debatable Apparitions in Medieval England, by Jacqueline Simpson, vol. 114/3, 2003
Hospitality at Wakes and Funerals in Ireland from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century: Some Evidence from the
Written Record, by Patricia Lysaght, vol. 114/ 3, 2003
Russian Peasant Beliefs and Practices Concerning Death and the Supernatural Collected in Novosokol’niki Region,
Pskov Province, Russia, 1995, Part I: The Restless Dead, Wizards and Spirit Beings and Part II: Death in Natural Circumstances, by Elizabeth A. Warner, vol. 111/1, 2000, and vol. 111/2, 2000
Further Reading
The Vetlatori Dance: “Little Angels go to Heaven”, by José María Esteve Faubel and Danutė Petrauskaitė, vol. 121/2 , 2010
The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic Draugr and Demonic Contamination in Grettis Saga, by Ármann Jakobsson, vol. 120/3, 2009
Swedish Offerkast and Recent Roadside Memorials, by Anna Petersson, vol. 120/1, 2009
The Jew, the Blood and the Body in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, by Francesca Matteoni, vol. 119/2, 2008
Indigenous Spirit and Ghost Folklore of “Settled” Australia, by Philip A. Clarke, vol. 118/2, 2007
“Sensible Proof of Spirits”: Ghost Belief during the Later Seventeenth Century, by Jo Bath and John Newton, vol. 117/1, 2006
The “Innocent and Touching Custom” of Maidens’ Garlands: A Field Report, by Rosie Morris, vol. 114/3, 2003
Killer Khilats Part 1: Legends of Poisoned “Robes of Honour in India, and Part 2: Imperial Collecting of Poison Dress Legends in India, by Michelle Maskiell and Adrienne Mayor, vol. 112/1, 2001, and vol. 112/2, 2001
Roadside Crosses and Memorial Complexes in Texas, by Holly Everett, vol. 111/1, 2000