A mounted St George thrusts his lance into the mouth of a green dragon in a landscape of parched fields as a medieval lady looks on.
St George is sometimes associated with the colour green, vegetation and fertility. This links to the dragon, as these beasts were blamed for making land barren by obstructing or poisoning water sources. #MythologyMonday #folklore #mythology #history
Green man roof boss in Rochester Cathedral. It shows the face of a bearded man with green foliage growing out of his mouth and leaves on his forehead.
The Green Man, a common carving in medieval churches, is seen by some as a forest guardian figure. The carving does seem more common in heavily wooded English counties. Others feel the image may represent Christ, may be a warning against sin or just a decoration. #FolkloreThursday #folklore #weird
Sketch of the Jabberwocky - a large dragon type creature in a forest in front of a small girl brandishing a sword.
Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky may be based on the County Durham legend of the Sockburn Worm - a poisonous dragon who lived on a peninsula in the River Tees who was beheaded by a local noble. Carroll's father was the rector of the nearby village of Croft. #WyrdWednesday #folklore #literature #weird
Weathered, leaning gravestones in front of a honey-coloured stone church with a square tower.
St Mary's Churchyard, Whitby, which appears in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. The Count's 1st victim on English soil was a Mr Swales. Stoker took the name from a gravestone in the churchyard - the stone is still there & the name, though faint, can still be made out #FolkloreSunday #folklore #gothic #books
Metal sculpture of Bobby, a long-haired Skye Terrier, atop a memorial drinking fountain, with some grey, stone Edinburgh tenements in the background.
A famous young dog was Greyfriars Bobby - when his master died, he's said to have guarded his grave in Edinburgh's Greyfriars Kirkyard for 14 years, becoming a local and national celebrity. A memorial still stands just outside the churchyard. #MythologyMonday #folklore #dogs #gothic #mythology
Painting of a harlequin in a red and black patterned suit and cream-coloured hat clutching a staff, by Paul Cezanne.
The theatrical harlequin character - an astute servant & nimble trickster - originated from a devil figure in medieval mystery plays. This role, in turn, was based on a folkloric demon that scoured the countryside, searching for damned souls to send to hell #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #gothic
Two signs stuck to a lamppost by the side of a busy road - one reading '491' and the other 'Former 666'.
Route 666 (now renumbered) was an American highway long rumoured to be cursed. The road was allegedly haunted by a phantom 1930s car that forced drivers off the road, a demonic smoke-and-fire-belching truck, and skin walkers, dangerous creatures from Navajo myth. #mythologymonday #folklore #gothic
Shot from a 1931 trailer for the film 'Dracula' showing three women clad in white dresses in a cobwebby, gothic-looking crypt.
The 3 female vampires in 'Dracula' may have been inspired by the 3 witches in Macbeth. This dark play was often staged at the Lyceum Theatre, which Bram Stoker managed. His boss, actor Henry Irving, was a model for the Count. #FolkloreSunday #Folklore #gothic #ShakespeareSunday #literature #books
Oregano plant with pink and purplish flowers.
In Ancient Greece, oregano was seen as a herb of happiness. Newly-weds were crowned with oregano wreaths. If oregano grew on a grave, it showed the deceased was happy in the afterlife. #wyrdwednesday #folklore #mythology #plants #weird
Large stone church with an elaborate tower against a cloudy sky
In late March, St Clement Danes Church, London, holds a ceremony in which oranges & lemons are given out to local schoolchildren. The church claims to be the one in the famous 'Oranges & Lemons' rhyme - these fruits were once brought ashore at a nearby quay. #FairytaleTuesday #history #folklore
An old stone packhorse bridge spanning a small river. It is fringed by green trees and it is a sunny day with a blue sky. A golden Labrador stands in front of the bridge.
A headless black dog is said to haunt Ivelet Bridge in Swaledale, Yorkshire. Anyone who sees it is said to die within a year. The last sighting was around 100 years ago. #MythologyMonday #folklore #weird #Yorkshire
Black and white photo of children gathered in front of a church, watching a man holding up a hoop-like object.
A strange spring custom is Whuppity Scoorie, in Lanark, Scotland. Children run round a church, making noise & whirling paper balls over their heads. Some say the custom sought to drive off winter spirits; others claim it recalls the relaxing of curfews as days lengthened. #FolkloreSunday #folklore
The web of an orb spider, with a small, orangey coloured spider at the centre of it.
In spring, more spiderwebs appear, due to these creatures becoming more active as they prepare for the mating season. Some folklore asserts that the more spiderwebs you see in spring, the luckier you'll be. #FolkloreThursday #Folklore #Mythology
Don't think you could get a packhorse through it though.
A domelike boulder split neatly in two in a churchyard under a blue sky. Part of the church, some graves and a bench can be seen in the background.
In St Levan's Churchyard, Cornwall, is St Levan's Stone - a boulder split down the middle. It's said that when the split grows wide enough for a packhorse to walk through, "the world will be done". #mythologymonday #folklore #weird #Cornwall #mythology
View looking across a narrow sound to the smaller island of the Calf of Man from the Isle of Man. The landscape is very verdant but craggy. There are rocks and islets in the sound.
Some feel the Isle of Man is named after Manannan, a sea god fond of cloaking the island in mist. From Man's highest point, it's said you can see 7 kingdoms - England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland & Man, plus the Kingdom of the Sea & Kingdom of Heaven. #FolkloreSunday #folklore #mythology
Photo of Joyce seated, facing sideways. He is wearing glasses and a heavy dark coat and his hair is swept back.
"Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves." James Joyce, Ulysses. #BookologyThursday #books #literature #mythology #writing
Illustration from 1904 showing a multi-coloured salmon in the well sticking its head out of the water to catch hazelnuts falling from trees.
In Irish myth, the Salmon of Knowledge absorbed all the knowledge in the world by eating hazelnuts that had fallen into the Well of Wisdom. Fionn, when cooking the fish, burnt his thumb & sucked it - thereafter, he could access any knowledge by biting his thumb #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #mythology
Painting showing Hansel and Gretel by the side of the gingerbread house, with the witch leaning out of the door accompanied by two black cats. Otto Kubel (1930)
I found the witch's gingerbread house in Hansel & Gretel incredibly disturbing. It was made of delicious treats that were difficult to resist, but the more you ate, the more you'd get fattened up, until the witch decided to enjoy a treat of her own. #MythologyMonday #folklore #gothic #mythology
A hedgehog photographed in a natural environment.
In folklore, hedgehogs are believed to carry fruits on their spines back to their dens and to steal cows' milk by sucking at their udders. In reality, hedgehogs do not hoard food and they are lactose intolerant. #folklore #mythology #FolkloreSunday
A black cat perched on a wire fence, looking directly into the camera. In the background is the roof of a house, some trees and a blue sky.
A nice photo of a black cat here for #Caturday. In British folklore, black cats are ambiguous creatures, which can bring both good and bad luck. #folklore #gothic #mythology
Pyramidion of the royal scribe Ramose (Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1275-1240 BCE)) Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
Pyramidion of the royal scribe Ramose (Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1275-1240 BCE))
Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
I don't know - I guess they noticed the moon resembled a man's face and thought he must have been put there for some reason.
The name F. Rint written in bones mortared into the wall of Sedlec Ossuary, along with the date 1870.
Sedlec Ossuary is an underground chapel in the Czech Republic filled with artistically arranged bones, including a chandelier said to include every bone in the human body. The signature of its creator, Frantisek Rink, can be seen a wall - executed in bones. #wyrdwednesday #gothic #weird
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Print from Georges Méliès's 1902 film Le voyage dans la lune. The moon is depicted with a human face and a spacecraft having landed in his eye.
#Folklore depicts the Man in the Moon as having been imprisoned there for various crimes. Roman legend claims he was a sheep thief; Christian tradition states he is Cain or a woodcutter punished for working on the Sabbath. #FairyTaleTuesday
Aerial view of the ruined keep and walls of Richmond Castle. Some of the town's stone houses can be seen as well as a verdant landscape of fields and trees.
#Folklore claims soldiers discovered a mysterious tunnel in Richmond Castle, Yorkshire. They sent a drummer boy to explore it while they followed from above, but after half-a-mile his beats stopped. He was never seen again but his drumming can still be heard on dark quiet nights. #BookologyThursday
Two ravens perching on a rail in front of the Tower of London. The birds appear to be conversing with each other.
Though ravens are strongly linked to the Tower of London, the association may not go back further than Victorian times, when some beefeaters started keeping the birds as pets. Ravens became popular pets thanks to Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem. #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #gothic #poetry #mythology
Human skull photographed against a black background
England boasts several 'screaming skull' legends. One girl tormented Burton Agnes Hall, Yorkshire, with groans & poltergeist activity until her skull was exhumed from the churchyard & returned to the mansion. The skull remains in the Hall today. #mythologymonday #folklore #gothic #skull
