Folk This Way: An intro

Like many children, I was drawn to the enchanted, the mythical, and the magical from an early age. My bedroom was a cove of fairy figurines and dreamcatchers. I built fairy houses out of coloured card and left them at the end of my garden, then woke early each morning to run barefoot over the dewy grass (no time for slippers) to see if the fairies had visited, and whether they’d enjoyed the Rice Krispies I’d left out for them.

Some time after this, I grew up and subscribed to the notion that this sort of thing wasn’t for grown-ups. I did my degree. I studied languages, literature, and customs from around the world, somehow forgetting to pay attention to my own roots in the meantime.

After an almost ten-year reading hiatus, I picked up a book on Irish myths and folklore. The old spark caught again. My interest in all things mythical, folkloric, and fantastical stirred back into life. I devoured book after book and listened to podcast after podcast, and slowly grew frustrated by the difficulty I had finding folk tales from my own neck of the woods. So I began collecting them. Reading, listening, researching, squirrelling away tales and pondering how best to share them.

Which brings me to Folk This Way.

This is my collection of folklore and folktales from the South of England. I’m from the New Forest in Hampshire, so my focus will linger here and venture into the surrounding counties.

But first: what is folklore?

If you’re already here because you love folklore, feel free to skip ahead. If you’re here because you’re my friend, relative, or someone kindly indulging my latest whim, but still not sure what I’m talking about, read on.

Folklore is the collection of traditional beliefs, stories, customs, arts and practices shared by a particular community or culture. It’s passed down mainly through oral tradition or everyday practice rather than formal written texts. It encompasses various elements, including myths, legends, fairy tales, proverbs, songs, rituals, superstitions, and traditional crafts, and it carries the values, history, and identity of a place or community, often evolving over time as it’s retold or reinterpreted.

And if you think you’ve not come across much folklore before, you’re probably mistaken. Folklore isn’t a thing of the past; it’s still very much everywhere. Ever debated the existence of the Loch Ness Monster? Kissed under the mistletoe? Touched wood for good luck? Read Jack and the Beanstalk to an excited child? Got goosebumps from your local pub’s ghost story? That’s folklore.

Folktales, in particular, served many purposes. They taught lessons in morality and safety. They were cautionary tales, particularly important for children in largely non-literate societies. They made sense of the world around us when no other explanations were available. They were also a significant form of entertainment, keeping local heroes and memories alive. Even if not historically accurate, folk tales preserved cultural memory.

So what will Folk This Way look like?

Having only drafted my first post, I can’t quite tell you that just yet, because I don’t really know. I don’t think my role here is to retell tales; there are already plenty of folk doing wonderful jobs of that. But I do want to record and share them, and I expect the format in which I do that will take shape as I go.

If you’re interested in the tales our ancestors told, the customs they practised, and the creatures they feared or befriended, I’d love for you to subscribe and join me. My first post will explore the fairies and pixies of the south.

Welcome, folk, this way.