Are black cats lucky or unlucky? What should you do when you hear the first cuckoo? Since when have people believed that it's unlucky to shoot an albatross? Why does breaking a mirror lead to misfortune? This collection answers these and other questions about the world of superstitions, and aims to form a browsable guide to this subject.
Longlisted for the Penderyn Music Book PrizeEngland was once dubbed 'the land without music', but in the early twentieth century collectors and enthusiasts such as Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger discovered a vital heritage of folk song, vibrant and alive among working men and women.
From conkers to marbles, from British Bulldog to tag, not forgetting 'one potato, two potato' and 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo', The Lore of the Playground looks at the games children have enjoyed, the rhymes they have chanted and the rituals and traditions they have observed over the past hundred years and more.
Takes readers month-by-month, day-by-day, through the festivities of English life. This book explains how the festivities originated, what they mean and when they occur.
In which part of North London were wild beasts once thought to roam the sewers? Why did 1920s working-class Londoners wear necklaces of blue beads? Who was the original inspiration for the 'pearly king' costume? And did Spring-heeled Jack, scourge of Victorian London, ever really exist? Exploring everything from local superstitions and ghost stories to annual customs, this is an enchanting guide to the ancient legends and deep-rooted beliefs that can be found the length and breadth of the city.
The Interface between Print and Oral Traditions
The book explores the contentious debate surrounding the origins of traditional songs, highlighting the significant role of street literature in their development. It reveals that many traditional singers learned from printed sources and that professional writers often composed these songs. By analyzing the interplay between street literature and oral traditions, the volume offers new insights into how these forms of expression have shaped each other over time.