#folklore

See tagged statuses in the local bookrastinating.com community

Random folklore tidbit from the Hungarian collection I'm reading today:

"When popping popcorn, people were told that if they laugh, the corn will pop faster."

🍿

I love doing gigs where the kids tell me what kinds of stories they'd like to hear and I just go with it 😊 Today we had requests for:

Dogs
Heroes but funny
Japanese
Mice
Hungarian dragons
Foxes and funny

I could match all of them from folklore 😄 Had an amazing time too!

20: Pick two other writers' works that would pair well with yours.

I recommend Jean-Claude Schmitt and Claude Lecouteux for starters. They cover in a much scholarly way, but that's what makes their books good companions to mine, since I provide the actual examples of German folk tales in full length.

https://bookrastinating.com/author/94485/s/jean-claude-schmitt
https://bookrastinating.com/author/29443/s/claude-lecouteux

Ran into a fully generated "folktale" collection 😡 If the two-headed raccoon had not been enough:

"The most popular European fairy tale with a raccoon is The Three Little Pigs. Another is The Brementown Musicians"

"In African folklore raccoons are good luck."

Most readers can identify the inaccuracy with 3 Little Pigs, but few would spot problems with "Native American" or "African" stories. And AI makes up A LOT of that crap.

🦝 Please don't use AI for research!

Screenshot of a Google Play book page. The book is called "Fascinating Facts, Tales and Legends about Raccoons". The cover features a clearly AI generated image of a raccoon that somehow has two heads. The book costs 232 HUF to buy (about $0.5). The author is the nonexistent Pasquale De Marco. Blurb reads: "Raccoons are fascinating creatures that have captured the imaginations of people around the world. They are intelligent, adaptable, and resourceful animals that have thrived in both urban and rural environments. Raccoons have been featured in folklore, history, and popular culture for centuries, and they continue to captivate us with their unique behaviors and endearing qualities."

Yesterday, I followed the magical procession of Bristol 'Jack in the Green'; a beautiful May Day tradition celebrating the return of summer. Dressed in leaves and flowers, Jack is paraded through the streets of the city by attendants, dancers and musicians, reviving a custom that dates back to the 18th century. Originally part of the chimney sweeps' May Day festivities, Jack symbolises fertility, growth, and the power of nature. Such a vibrant, joyful way to welcome the green of the summer season. Bristol knows how to keep tradition alive!

Keep an eye on my blog for more about Jack in the Green this week.

Have you ever seen Jack in the Green?



I have made some art, like this monoprint, about some of the many folk traditions around May Day. May Eve is celebrated with bonfires for Walpurgisnacht and Hexennacht (Walpurgis night and Witches’ Night as celebrated in Germany). May Eve is the feast day of Saint Walpurga in celebration of her canonization May 1, 870. But folklorists tie it to a more ancient celebration 🧵

A monoprint made with gel plate on watercolour paper (7.75” x 9.8” but displayed on a square with extra black margin on sides) of a somewhat abstract painted scene of three figures in black with witches’ caps in front of a bonfire at night.

I cannot stress this enough:

In a lot of traditions what we call fairy tales (or wonder tales) were for adults. Often told by grown men at the barracks or during work.

Which means uncensored fairy tale texts often include a whole lot of cussing. Because you'd yell "Sh**!" too if a devil chased you.

And this is how we get the scene where an evil king offers a hero money for his services and the hero flat out says "Your majesty, suck my d***"

Hungarian Roma

A man catches a glimpse of the Fairy Queen and starts saying that even the sole of her foot is prettier than the King's only daughter. He almost gets executed for this, but the Fairy Queen shows up in the last moment to prove that the sole of her foot IS indeed prettier than the princess.

(The King at this point decides to marry the Fairy Queen, and goes through a whole lot of adventures to win her. Also, Fairy Queen has flying elephants.)

4/9. How much room for the fantastical is there in your work?

In my translations of German folk tales, I am focusing on the fantastical tales, so the answer is "lots".

I mean, there are plenty of non-supernatural folk tales as well. But many concern some local history and trivia that probably won't be very meaningful to an international audience.

(Incidentally, if I ever get around to translating the second volume of the Brothers Grimm's "Deutsche Sagen", this will be a problem - because that part of their collection is full of ancient German tribes and kings with little supernatural shenanigans. So how can I make these tales interesting for the readers?)

So... I am considering eventually making my older books available for free to the general public, but I don't want to do that on the because I don't want it to be mistaken for pirated works (which are rife over there).

Are there any platforms suitable for submitting works on ?