FolkloreThursday

Great to see you here!

a black and white photo of a woman with a surprised look on her face and the words `` oh , time flew by '' . ALT: a black and white photo of a woman with a surprised look on her face and the words `` oh , time flew by '' .

Wow! The #FolkloreThursday hashtag day FAQs were first posted on the website TEN YEARS (and two weeks) ago!

How time flies!

We've just updated them: folklorethursday.com/faq/

Postcard showing two figures under water with diving helmets and oxygen tanks with a giant squid-like creature to the side. One person is attacking the creature with a spear.

Today's #FolkloreThursday was brought to you by:
@willowwinsham.bsky.social
@botanicafabula.bsky.social
@mythcrafts.bsky.social
@crystalponti.bsky.social
@shanonsinn.bsky.social
Thanks to all for a fabulous day, and we'll see you all next month!

A scary dragon-like monster (called the Leviathan) swims on the surface of the water with water bubbling around it. Its eyes look evil and angry and its mouth is open showing a lot of sharp teeth. There is a very small amount of sky at the top of the image, showing a horizon that is far away.

That's the end of an epic #FolkloreThursday 🦈

Today's theme was "Water Spirits & Shape-Shifters: Creatures of Lakes, Rivers and Seas”

This is @shanonsinn.bsky.social signing off - your very last host today! Wishing you a happy Lunar New Year 🌙

1908 Arthur Rackham

A ship is tossed by the waves, bright orbs of light glow on the mast.

In France and Germany, St Elmo's Fire was explained as being the lost soul of a drowned sailor warning of sea storms. In Brittany, it was known as the wandering candle. In Greece, it was seen as a bad omen come to destroy the ship... #FolkloreThursday 🎨Book Illustration c. 1860

Behold the strömkarl of Trollhättan! He’s both folkloric and industrial.

Strömkarlen (as the piece is titled) was created by sculptor, Carl Johan Eldh, in 1908 in conjunction with a project that harnessed the power of the Göta älv.
#FolkloreThursday

#FolkloreThursday
The sons of a 'Lady of the Lake' and a mortal man were taught the arts of healing by their mother before she returned to her abode beneath Llyn y Fan Fach - renowned for its healing waters. Their descendants were known as the Physicians of Myddfai.
🎨Faerie Trails 📷ohwhataknight

River merrow: salmon tailed merfolk, seaweed lore and the history of a loric beach dwelling wulver coil through my next book Collected Curiosities which is now available to preorder www.botanicafabula.co.uk/collected-cu... #folklorethursday friends may well enjoy😊✨🌿📚🐺🌊

Blakemere formerly k/as Blackmere in Stafford Moorlands, UK - home to either a mermaid or a witch ......

Mermaid from a medieval manuscript - source unknown - tail's flipped upwards, the mermaid's looking into a mirror.

Blakemere is a pool of black water nestled in the Staffordshire Moorlands. There are two legends linked to these black waters. One tells of a land-locked mermaid who, following the death of her mariner-lover, would lure young men to a watery death if they passed by at night 1/2 #FolkloreThursday

Jenny Greenteeth is a supernatural being or ghost from rural NW England. She haunts ponds and other bodies of water—sometimes even the sea—pulling children under the water to their death. Tales of her nefarious deeds can be traced from 1850-2019 #folklorethursday

1978 Brian Froud & 2019 Simon Young

“There is something mysteriously attractive in all that nixies do. Under the quiet water there may lie hidden so much that is sweet or terrible! The fishes, who may know somewhat thereof, are ever mute; or do they keep silence because they are cunning?”
(Heine)
 
#folklorethursday #bookologythursday

Nixie in the Lake near Wanzka

Water spirits can compel their intended victims to come closer to their lake so that they can kill them more easily.

#FolkloreThursday
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Nixie_in_the_Lake_near_Wanzka

a little kappa made of japanese fabric

oops, I almost completely missed #folklorethursday ! Here's a little kappa that I made, the best water-dwelling yokai, holding one of its favorite things, a cucumber. Its other favorite thing, of course, is the shirikodama, a mysterious orb that is found in the human butt😅

River spirits often symbolize boundaries. Crossing water in folklore marks transition into new phases of life or danger. #FolkloreThursday

Art: Abhishek Singh

#FolkloreThursday

"When the wind is blowing we can go there, can go past. If the wind stops you can't go any further, because they are there!"

The Martu of Western Australia believe cannibalistic Ngayurnangalku live under Kumpupirntily lake - in a world with its own sky & a sun that never sets ...

A wooden church bench, whose end is carved with a worn image of a mermaid. She had long flowing hair and is clutching a round mirror and a comb.

In Zennor, #Cornwall, a mermaid sometimes attended church services & is said to have one day lured a handsome chorister to her home beneath the waves. This bench end was carved with her image, to warn other men about these dangerous creatures. #FolkloreThursday #folklore #mythology

A top-hatted and green cloaked figure is poised on a rock as mist rises up around the rock. On the rock is a thin plant with waving leaves and a bird sits quietly. The landscape around is deserted except for more rocks and more mist.

Old Boneless is a coastal fairy made of clinging fog and mist haunting the seashores of Down and Antrim, obscuring the rocks from unwary mariners. Over the centuries, it has drifted towards the towns where it sustains itself on the smoke from chimneys... #FolkloreThursday 🎨Sedlacek

The Three Maidens from the Lake

Three mysterious maidens once visited one of the villages near Mummelsee lake. But they had to return to the lake each night before their curfew ended.

#FolkloreThursday
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Three_Maidens_from_the_Lake

Hi Willow! Great to see you too 😊

Hi Olivia! Isn't it great? Seeing the different species in the water 🤩

Hi Dirk! Nice to see you too! Hope you are doing great 🤘

Cadborosaurus rises out of the water off the coast of Vancouver Island. Illustration by Susan Laurie-Bourque.

Cadborosaurus is a sea serpent with a horse-like head that has often been reported around Vancouver Island, BC - most famously at Cadboro Bay, Victoria. Various carcasses that have washed ashore have been claimed to be a cadborosaurus, but most turn out to be whales or sharks.
#FolkloreThursday

Henry Sandham’s 1889 engraving: A sorrowful Lorelei, her long hair cascading, kneels on a rocky cliff above the Rhine, her body language heavy with despair, as she gazes into the river below.

“The waves eventually devour
Both sailor and boat, I believe;
A deed which with her singing,
Lorelei did achieve”

In 1824, Heine’s “Lore-Ley” established the Rhine siren sitting singing on her rock, combing her hair & luring boatmen to their watery grave

#folklorethursday #bookologythursday

Painting of a mermaid and a man embracing. She is coming up from the water and he has one leg in the water and one leg kneeling on a rock. The mermaid has long greenish hair decorated with shells and beads, and her silvery tail is partially visible beneath the water.

'... I call to the dwellers along the shore
With a voice of gramarye evermore.

And if one for love of me
Gives to my call an ear,
I will woo him and hold him dear,
And teach him the way of the sea...'
~From 'The Sea Spirit' by L.M. Montgomery

🎨 Howard Pyle
#BookologyThursday
#FolkloreThursday

Art of the weird elongate monster with eyes all over its body, bunched up to look like a cow's entrails. Inset is an outline showing the scale next to a person (it is much bigger) and a map of Europe showing where the lake is in Switzerland.

#FolkloreThursday Lüschersee is a small Swiss Alpine lake which is said to be bottomless. In its depths lives the Butatsch Cun Ilgs, a monster described as looking like an enormous cow's stomach covered with hundreds of hypnotic eyes, which can also shoot fire.

abookofcreatures.com/2015/09/23/b...

Greetings #FolkloreThursday 🐉

That was Crystal at @crystalponti.bsky.social sharing your posts before the break! I'm @shanonsinn.bsky.social your final host today (for the next hour).

Today's theme is Water Spirits & Shape-Shifters: Creatures of Lakes, Rivers and Seas 🧜‍♀️

1928 Ivan Billibin

The Lure of Water and Wood Amazon.com: The Lure of Water and Wood: 9780986266669: Lundström Erwin, Helen: Books

1/2 Thank you @folklorethursday.bsky.social for having me today!
Thank you to everyone who joined us and for your excellent questions. Great to be in a crowd with people with the same interests.
If you want to to read The Lure of Water and Wood, here's a link.
www.amazon.com/dp/0986266663

A vibrant, stylized painting shows two horses in shades of blue and purple standing near a shoreline at sunrise. Their bodies are textured with mosaic-like brushstrokes, while colorful paint splatters fill the foreground and sky, creating a lively, dreamlike atmosphere.  

I'm @crystalponti.bsky.social and that’s a wrap on this hour of #FolkloreThursday! Thanks for a wonderful session. It was a delight exploring water spirits and shape-shifters with you all. Up next: @shanonsinn.bsky.social returns to host the final session of the day at 6:30 GMT.  

Art: Emily Ward

Good to see you! Love the animation! :)

#FolkloreThursday 🐎
The Scottish Kelpie: a notorious shape-shifting water horse haunting lochs & lonely rivers. 🌊
It appears as a lost dark grey or white pony, tempting the unwary to climb aboard—then drags them to a watery grave beneath the depths.
Beware the sticky hide that traps riders fast! 🏇