To think more should be made of our local myths, folklore and traditions

[Feelingathomenow]

Britain, and indeed the whole of the western world, seems to be becoming increasingly divided. Political ideologies v political ideology, Religion against religion, race against race, sex against sex.

For a society to be strong, it needs common values, common beliefs and common rituals. It needs shared stories we can relate to and make reference to.

This is where myths and traditions have always played a vital part. Britain is full of local stories that people have all eagerly shared, stories everyone knew that brought people together. story telling is so very important to humanity and always has been. Traditions where everyone played their part either as participator or spectator, either way it brought a community together, these kinds of rituals have proven benefits for all.

People in Devon and Cornwall always knew about the pixies and people round here often blame/thank the Pixies for good/bad luck. We have the Tar barrels every November which provides a focus for people, newer traditions referencing the old, like the pirate festival, celebrations around the landing of William of Orange etc. People talk about hairy hands grabbing the steering wheel of your car on a certain road, people know about Kitty Jays grave where fresh flowers appear on the grave of a suicide victim buried at cross roads even if your back is turned for a second or the Devil riding out across the moors with his hell hounds.

Many of these myths and legends have made it into some of the most popular stories, The hell hounds on Dartmoor made it into the hounds of the Baskerville (thanks to Doyle’s coach driver (a mr Baskerville) when he visited Dartmoor.obviously the Fantastic JK Rowling has introduced Dobies and Boggarts to children far beyond Scotland/East of England respectively. People across the world read these stories

So should we be talking about these things more, esp in schools to give common stories of Britain (or wherever you live) not so tied to the big religions or political ideologies, things that do however, fulfil the need for common stories and rituals based in the landscape of where people live? Should more be done to encourage everyone to take part in local traditions to bring communities together? Also interested to hear of any local legends/traditions etc.

Maybe we shout start a local group😀

Be fair. The Hairy Hands are due to pissed up Cornishmen driving home,

Also when I was at primary school we did country dancing. My daughters did it too when they were in the junior school. I really enjoyed it.

Love folklore, myths and legends. I remember something about Boggarts when I was at Brownies they are not an invention of JKR

I love the legends that King Arthur will return when Britain has need and also that Drakes Drum will sound when this land is in danger

I am sad that we have lost a lot of traditions - apparently Harvest Festival has gone?

Possibly true, but it doesn’t really matter what’s behind the story, it’s a story locals can get behind.

I think we need to reinstate mari lwyd, the Welsh horse skull that would know on your door around Christmas and challenge you to poetry battles. If it won it got to come in and eat all your food and drink your beer.

Harvest festival isn’t what it was. 30 years ago you’d have a whole Church front/school stage packed with food. Now you’re doing well if you get a tabletop of tins.

There is a focus on Welsh tales in schools now. I only recall the story of Madoc discovering America from my school days, but now it's common for Welsh traditional tales to be told, including the stories surrounding St David and tales from the Mabinogion.

No! Why would they get rid of harvest festival???

Have you been to king Arthur’s hall in Tintagel? That is really interesting. I’d love the tales of King Arthur to be more widely taught. It shares many strands common to those types of myths it’s a really useful one to know.

Yes JK Rowling was very clever using lots of pre-existing ideas from magic and myth and merging them into a story.

That is fantastic to hear, English schools need to follow suit.

I’m also strongly in favour of bringing back the Ceffyl Pren - a wooden horse used to serve out local justice. When men knocked young ladies up that they refused to marry, the villagers would cover their faces in soot, wear clothes of the opposite gender, and in the middle of the night visit the house of said man, stick him on the Ceffyl Pren, ride him through the village and force him to make it right for the young woman - either by way of marriage, or by making the man take in the baby if he was already married.

!) I have never been accused of right-wing dog-whistling...I don't understand what you mean here?

2. You are exemplifying precisely the half-baked attitude I mentioned with the teacher-training session. You think Morris Dancing is lame - but, does it not occur to you that the kind of thing we often see as examples of other cultures (and take at face value) might also be the equivalent of M D to those people, and also 'a bit lame'? I can't explain it any better, I'm afraid.

3)Who is 'we' in the bit about preferring rock music to traditional folk music? Do you mean yourself?

I'm not sure I understand much of what you say, but I think that might be mutual!

If only! There's so much to enjoy.

Alan Garner is a children's author local to the North West of England who uses lcoal folklore as the basis of his stories. He was popular in the 70s and 80s - I think he's since turned to writing books for adults, but still with the same themes.

i mean you can love rock music and folk music. I give you Jethro Tull. Interestingly Iron Maiden often describe themselves as in the bardic tradition and are big on story telling. They’ve told stories about King Arthur etc. Their lead Singers solo work is basically being a bard, using myths, legands , magic and poetry (with its own mythology) in fact he has recently created his own. Blind Guardian (a German heavy metal band have done the same - their lead singer again wrote a mythology). So I’d say a lot of rock and roll is folk music with distorted guitars!

Terry Pratchett borrows from a lot of mythologies and cultures too. ( I recently discovered that Sto Lat is the equivalent of Many Happy Returns in Polish 😀)

Ooh never heard of that

Oh now that’s interesting - I’ve tried so hard to like his books, just can’t for some reason

I find that there is a gap here between believing/practising/being involved in a local tradition (which can be quite gatekeepey as others have said) and being fairly ignorant of it/seeing it as for others. There isn't much of a shared knowledge/understanding of these stories and how important this sort of myth making was to local (and national) identities and the way things developed.

I'm Australian and while the relationship between Australia's First Nations and immigrant-descended populations leaves a hell of a lot to be desired, I do think that myth making and folklore from the Dreamtime stories in particular creates quite a strong sense of national belonging. The Rainbow Serpent, the tales of bunyips and yowies and how different places came to be are things most kids are exposed to growing up, whether through storytelling in the classroom or picture books for little kids or TV programmes. And tbh the stories I grew up with about post-1778 history have as much in common with a sense of national myth making - bushrangers, explorers, the Eureka stockade - have as much to do with creating folk heroes as understanding history in a way that England in particular seems to struggle with.

Here you don't seem to have many stories about why that hill over there looks like it does, or how Y spirit created the Wash. Legends are sidelined in favour of history -and while I'm a history nut there is so much to explore and understand about how England sees itself in the Arthurian legends, etc, and rather relying on oral tradition to pass them down through a dwindling number of families, and National Trust information boards, there is something distinctly interesting and English about those stories, as well as the more regional stories that are getting lost in urbanisation.

Very few Bristolians will heard of Goram and Vincent- giants who are said to have dug the Avon Gorge.

New to the area, then? You've not heard of Seth (or Sean, or Geoff) Lakeman or that the local myths and legends are taught in schools in the area? Or the standard Devon response to the Hairy Hands?

Your phrasing makes me wonder if you're what the in-laws would call 'Yet another DFL moved to Totnes'...

Thought I’d just link this place which has great information and displays museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/

I was brought up in Bristol and didn’t know this!

It is but she mentions preferring soul and rock'n'roll, both of which have their roots in the USA. Metal has a more European tradition and history, and, as you rightly say, has more in common with English Folk. Those are very much my genres, but then I'm "lame" enough to like Morris Dancing 🙄Whereas soul music feels completely alien to me.

Ha, I’m definitely not in Totnes lol. But yes I’m from elsewhere think I mentioned that upthread somewhere. But my DS hasn’t been taught anything like that in school interestingly.

I can't remember if I've visited Arthur's Hall in Tintagel but have been to the castle many times since childhood. I've always been fascinated by Arthur

I managed to crawl up Glastonbury Tor and am fascinated with Glastonbury as a whole but the Tor was a bit of a disappointment. Too many people I'm afraid and it's sad the church does not exist in it's entirety

I've visited Jay's Grave and also been in a pub on Dartmoor where its claimed the Devil put down his steaming drink and burnt a ring on the bar top. Whether this was also around the time of the devastation to Widdecombe Church and death of parishioners from a lightening strike which legend has attributed to a visit from the Devil I can't remember