Really glad to hear that :-) ... and if you want more, you can find the other 50-odd tales under the # #winterfolklore & #yulefolklore!
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Italy has a Christmas Witch. La Befana. She gives gifts to the little ones on the Eve of Epiphany.
But what does she do after a job well done, today, on Epiphany?
La Befana starts walking again and… - read more in our last #yulefolklore tale below!
🎨 Botticelli (detail)
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Most of my #yulefolklore tales are rather weird and dark... but I have one from Italy tomorrow, actually, that's not quite that.
Promise :-)
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Silent processions walk tonight on the Eve of Epiphany, so they say, made of the living and the dead.
Join those at your own peril, but we may at least watch them in a forest somewhere in Germany, in our 36th #yulefolklore story below!
🎨 Robert Paterson
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A moody monochrome scene rendered in ink-wash silhouettes. On a sloping hillside, a small cloaked figure stands facing a towering folkloric creature they hold by a thin leash. The creature has a long, hunched body, a jagged, toothy snout, and wild hair that looks like tangled branches decorated with beads or ribbons; leaves blow past its head in the wind. At the figure’s feet walks a small black cat with its tail raised. To the left stands a stark, leafless tree, and dark plants fringe the foreground, while a misty grey sky creates an eerie, wintry atmosphere suggestive of old seasonal legends.
Bone horses still walk the village streets. ‘tis the season!
But they are mummers, right?
Well, let’s go to Kent and find that out, in our 35th #yulefolklore story below.
🎨 Mark C. Greene
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A colourful, folkloric winter scene. In the foreground, a group of masked carolers — koledari — stand together in the snow, dressed in tall, bright robes decorated with zigzags and stripes. One costume has a long snouted wolf head, another wears a golden crown, a third has a large whiskered cat mask, and at the edge a small devilish figure grins with yellow eyes, wings, and a tiny trident. An elderly man in a dark coat and tall hat leans on a stick beside them. Behind the group, a row of wooden houses sits under thick white roofs, with bare trees and a softly painted hillside fading into a wintry sky. The mood is playful and slightly surreal, blending ritual, costume, and seasonal magic.
Mummers go from door to door in a lot of places during the season, but some might be more than dressed-up youths...
We meet a group of rather peculiar koledari in our 34th #yulefolklore tale in Eastern Europe.
Read how not to treat them below!
🎨 Józef Wilkoń
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Illustration of a misty pine forest with a giant, moss-green humanoid figure emerging from the trees. Its glowing white eyes and flowing hair blend into the foliage, while a small figure with an axe stands above it on a branch, and birds circle in the pale sky.
The Raunächte, the rough, magical nights of Winter are still in full swing and today is Waldmännchentag when angry wood sprites quiet the forests of Central Germany.
Don’t disturb the waldmännchen or else… read or 33rd #yulefolklore story what might happen.
🎨 Merilliza Chan
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Up North, the Wild Hunt rides and it is often saga heroine Gudrun or Guro Rysserova, as she is called here, who leads them.
We meet her in our 32nd #yulefolklore tale in the last night of the old year and meeting her means doom, of course, but read the story below nevertheless
🎨 weremoon
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Matchmaking at a crossroads in the days between the years? There is a custom from Wales, meeting your future spouse at midnight, but...
Cau dy geg, Gwen Know-it-all, shut your gob, or else!
Find out about the “else” in our 31st #yulefolklore tale below.
🎨 de Saedeleer
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There are a lot of things you better do not pursue during the Raunächte, lest a spirit takes offence, as our 30th #yulefolklore story here lets you know.
One is playing cards. Don't. Or Frau Perchta, Mistress of the Wild Hunt, comes for you.
Read the tale below
🎨 Ottilie W. Roederstein
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A naturalist depiction of a lone grey wolf (supposedly) in a winter forest - by Polish artist Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski from around 1900
All kinds of ghoulies, ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties stalk the long dark of the Raunächte. Werewolves among them, goes without saying.
We meet one, in the forest of the Ardennes, in our 29th #Yulefolklore story and it is not one that ends well.
Read it below.
🎨 Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski
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The Raunächte have begun, Twelve Nights’ grim contintental cousin, and Frau Perchta walks the snows collecting the souls of the unbaptised and the innocent.
We meet her in Styria tonight, in our 28th #yulefolklore tale.
Read it below.
🎨 IrenHorrors
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The Devil's Bird.
They go out and hunt the wren, the old trickster and king of the birds, today, on St Stephen's Day.
And so, we go to Ireland in our 27th #Yulefolklore tale and meet one, too – read how that goes below!
🎨 Rosamund Fowler
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Moosweibchen, the moss people, are gentle folk from the forests in the heart of Europe.
But the Wild Hunt is out to get them. And the Wild Hunt rides tonight.
Read what happens to a group of Moosweibchen in our 26th #yulefolklore tale below.
🎨 Brian Froud
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Some say the animals talk at midnight on Christmas Eve and what the animals say is seldom good.
But, of course, we hear what they have to say in our 25th #yulefolklore story, because it’s a proper #wyrdwednesday tale and… talking goats!
Read it below!
🎨 Edgar Hunt
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Prone to throw tantrums?
Naughty rather than nice?
Default mode is “Defiance”?
From Iceland?
Then you might end up in Grýla’s pot.
Read about her in our 24th #yulefolklore tale below!
🎨 Anette Pirso
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Yuletide is a time when the power of witches is said to peak and the people came up with all kinds of lore how to protect their homes, their families and their livestock.
We’ll meet another witch in our 23rd #yulefolklore story – she might not be what you expect.
Read her tale below!
🎨Nielsen
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Last night’s eve of St Thomas carries peculiar customs in the German-speaking South, such as divining future spouses. But it’s also the Solstice and the Wild Hunt already rides. What if… ?
Come and find out in our 22nd #Yulefolklore tale linked in the comments below.
🎨 F.O. Schmid
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On a cold #caturday before Midwinter, our 21st #yulefolklore tale brings us to Iceland where idle hands make food for the
YULE CAT!
Read the tale of dread Jólakötturinn in the link below.
🎨 IrenHorrors
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Our 20th #yulefolklore tale brings us back to England’s southwest and the classic Christmas ghost story:
In the ruins of Blackthorn Manor, Burning Beatrice still dances during long, cold Winter nights.
She is long dead, though.
Read her story below!
🎨 Edmund Henry Garrett
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Pet of the dreaded Perchten, trickster and, some say, harbinger of death. Half-goat, half-bird, sometimes a witch, always wild - the Habergeiß stalks the Alpine Winter nights - and she might test you, too!
We meet her in our 19th #yulefolklore story below!
🎨 Abigail Larson
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Io, Saturnalia!
Our 18th #yulefolklore story brings us to Trier and a world turned upside down when the local cathedral becomes all ancient Augusta Treverorum again on the morning of today’s Roman holiday.
A true #wyrdwednesday tale – read it below!
🎨 Leon Bakst
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Stregoi are rumoured to be most active on St Andrew's Night.
But what what happens if one is a bit late?
They are prone to tell the truth. Rather uncomfortable truths, too, goes without saying.
Hear what they have to say in our 17th #Yulefolklore tale below!
🎨 Hugo Steiner-Prag
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It's customary to tell ghost stories for Christmas, but have you ever heard of a haunted orchard?
Once upon a time in Somerset, there was something walking between the apple trees when it was wassailing time and we go there, of course, for our 15th #yulefolklore tale.
Read it below!
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Our 15th #yulefolklore tale takes us to Central Europe where we meet a West Slavic winter spirit.
A gift-giver, too, but, much like Virgil’s Danaans – beware those bearing gifts!
Read what happened in the link below.
🎨 Alphonse Mucha
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We light the candle crown of St Lucy in our 14th #Yulefolklore tale today, of course, but learn that there is always a dark counterpart, even when we keep the other at bay.
Find out how that goes in the link below.
🎨 John Bauer
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Tomorrow is St Lucy’s Day and her being a light in the darkness is celebrated in many European regions.
But on the eve of Lucy’s feast day, her dark counterpart Lussi rides through Sweden’s winter night with her demon retinue, the lussiferda.
Read of her in our 13th #Yulefolklore tale below!
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And, of course, our #yulefolklore tale today features a yule log... and what might happen if the flames ever go out!
Find out here ⬇️
www.tumblr.com/whatthecrowt...
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Yule logs are one of the most common elements to keep the darkness at bay in long winter nights across Europe since olden times.
But what happens if the flames ever go out?
Find out in our 12th #Yulefolklore tale in the link below.
🎨 Julius v. Klever
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We return to Germany for our 11th #yulefolklore tale, in a cold December night, when the birds suddenly fall silent.
Ominous enough, since our feathered friends are often seen as messengers between our world and the next since days of old.
Read the story following the link below.
🎨 Karel Zeman
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