Tag: folklore
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More than Just a Funny Word – The Meaning behind and Origin of Abracadabra
You might be tempted to think that the word 'Abracadabra', beloved of magicians and children's party entertainers, is just a silly made up word - but you'd be wrong. It's a very real and very ancient word with some sinister connotations.
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Mysteries of History : Atlantis
HISTORY RECORDS ACTUAL EVENTS whereas myths spin tales that help explain a culture’s worldview. It’s where history and myth intersect that we find some of the most enduring legends. In this particular article we look at Atlantis.
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Historical Superstitions We Still Observe Today
We like to think that our modern world is free from superstition – we are enlightened people living in an age of science fact. Well, not quite, we still find ourseves observing superstitions – sometimes consciously and sometimes by habit. In this article we look at some historical superstitions we still observe today.
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Guernsey Folk Remedies & Superstitions
Guernsey folklore used to possess a rich set of ancient cures and remedies for various ailments intermingled with many superstitious tales. In this article we look at a few.
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Supernatural Guernsey
Guernsey folklore possess a rich set of superstitious tales, involving a variety of different supernatural beings, some helpful to the Guernsey folk, some not. In this article we look as a few of these “characters” that our ancestors were sure inhabited and stalked across the island.
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Was King John really that bad?
If there’s one English Monarch who’s consistently had a ‘bad wrap’ it’s King John I. He’s the ultimate in abuse of absolute power, an archetypal villan – portrayed as the cruel King oppressing his people with taxes and arbitrary justice. But is this true ? Was his rule really as bad as folklore seems to say ?
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The Origins of the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness, the largest by volume, of all the many lochs in Scotland, is possibly the most famous body of water in the world. The reason, of course, is what is claimed to lie in its deepest, darkest depths – The Loch Ness Monster!
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Pouques & Other Guernsey Folklore
Legends and superstitions thrive in Guernsey and form a large part of its rich folklore heritage. Stories all of witchcraft and fairies, devils and ghosts have been passed through the generations from family to family
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Jersey Legends & Folklore
Both Guernsey and Jersey folklore is full of stories of witches and ghosts. But in Jersey in the 18th and 19th century’s ‘witch balls’ entered the popular folklore of the time.
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Guernsey Legends – The Devil and the Schoolmaster
One of Guernsey’s more intriguing legends because it is about the appearance of the Devil to, of all people, a schoolmaster.
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Guernsey Legends – Guernsey Pouques
Three short tales of the “Pouques” that, as every Guernsey countryman knows, sometimes help sometimes hinder mortal men.
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More Old Guernésiais Cures, Remedies & Superstitions
Guernsey used to posses a rich set of folklore tales, ancient cures and remedies for ailments and many superstitious tales. Some of the more intriguing and somewhat amusing wisdom of the old Guernésiais folk.
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Old Guernésiais Cures, Remedies & Superstitions
Being a small community isolated from the rest of the world it’s no surprise that Guernsey used to posses a rich set of folklore tales, ancient cures and remedies for ailments and many superstitious tales. In this article we’ve gathered together some of the more intriguing and somewhat amusing wisdom of the old Guernésiais folk.
Read MoreGuernsey Legends – The Sorcerer of Les Landes
There are many Guernsey legends but few as strange as the “The Sorcerer of Les Landes”
Read MoreWhy is Friday the 13th Considered Unlucky ?
If you’re honest with yourself can you truly say that you have never felt a twinge of concern in the morning when you realize it is Friday the 13th? You may not be a true “triskaidekaphobe” but there are millions of people out there who do hold to such beliefs. So why is 13 considered unlucky and Friday the 13th especially unlucky?
Read MoreGuernsey Legends – Duke Richard of Normandy and the Devil
It is said that some of the strange imprints on some of the rocks and granite boulders in Guernsey were made by the Devil’s cloven feet as he has prowled around our island home. This legend is one such tale about how Duke Richard of Normandy actually met and fought the Devil
Read MoreGuernsey Folklore – Witches Seats
Witches Seats … something that you may not even notice but they’re there all right on many an old Guernsey cottage and farm house.
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