Harfoot harvest festival costumes and Slovenian & Bulgarian folk costumes

Stills from Ep 3 of season 1 of Rings of Power:

Photo of Slovenia’s Kurentovanje festival in Ptuj - celebration of coming spring - "Kurent"s urging winter to leave:

Source: wikimedia/wikipedia commons

Photo of Bulgaria’s Kukeri:

Source. 

Source: wikimedia/wikipedia commons.

Photo’s and blog on the Bulgarian Surva Kukeri festival nowadays.

Photo’s + article by National Geographic on the Bulgarian Kukeri.

John Sebastian, Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Stephen Stills, September 1969, Big Sur Folk Festival. ©️ Getty Images

The Hogmanay Lads - Part III

In South Uist, where the majority of the islanders are Roman Catholics, each person in turn seized the burning breast-strip and made the sign of the cross before sniffing it; then, in the name of the Trinity, it was put thrice sunwise round the heads of those present. The ceremony completed, food and drink were dispensed to the visitors. Before leaving a house where they had been made welcome, they went thrice sunwise round the fire, singing - Great good luck to the house, Good luck to the family, Good luck to every rafter of it, And to every worthy thing in it. Good luck to horses and cattle, Good luck to the sheep, Good luck to everything, And good luck to all your means. Good luck to the gudewife, Good luck to the children, Good luck to every friend, Great good luck and health to all. Sometimes they sang a single verse - May God bless the dwelling; Each stone and beam and stave. All food and drink and clothing, May health of men be there. But if they were not made welcome, they filed round the fire widdershins and tramped out noisily, shaking the dust of the house off their feet. At one time it was customary to build a small cairn at the door of an inhospitable house. This was called the caman mollachd, the cairn of the curse. When it was completed, the lads intoned a curse in a voice loud enough to penetrate to the inmates - The malison of God and of Hogmanay be on you. And the scath of the plaintive buzzard, Of the hen harrier, of the raven, of the eagle, And the scath of the sneaking fox. The scath of the dog and the cat be on you, Of the boar, and the badger, and the "brugha," Of the hipped boar and of the wild wolf, And the scath of the foul foumart. All the good things collected were carried by one of their number in a tanned leather bag of lamb-skin or sheep-skin to some roomy dwelling, barn, or other building as previously arranged, and here the girls of the township joined the lads in a feast and a dance. -The Silver Bough, Volume 3: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals - Hallowe'en to Yule. F. Marian. McNeill

Image of man sitting amongst trees, smoking a pipe and playing guitar; Mariposa Folk Festival: Innis Lake taken in 1966. Source:  Photographer: Popovich; Published in Toronto Telegram.

The Difference between Australian and Slovak Folk(lore) (ASSESSED)

As an Australian, I don’t participate in many rituals of national significance. Other than the yearly family barbeque lunch on Christmas day, or perhaps enjoying the day off on the AFL grand final, I don’t really actively participate in any customs unique to Australia, and I think many other Aussies would say the same. 

Because of this attitude, I was surprised to learn of how foreign this would seem to my Slovak cousins, who participate regularly in the folk festivals and events taking place in the cities. The town squares of central Europe are often bustling with life - not in the same way that the streets of Melbourne are, with everyone rushing to get to where they need to be. The squares of Slovak towns are seen as places to socialize and to hold community events. 

An example of one such event is the Východná folklore festival, which takes place in July and celebrates traditional Slovak folk art, culture and dance. It is attended by more than 1400 performers and 10,000’s of spectators. 

Images from the Východná Folklore Festival. Image courtesy of https://slovakia.travel/en/the-vychodna-folklore-festival#prettyPhoto

I can only imagine witnessing an event such as this would easily make me overwhelmed if not prepared. Such culture shock could easily trigger feelings of confusion or fear of the unknown.

However, one of the easiest ways of reducing this culture shock is to throw yourself into it and participate! Not only will participating allow you to learn more about the culture difference and minimize any confusion, but can also help you better reflect on how us Westerners are defined by our culture, and empathize with culture shock of others learning to live in western English-speaking countries.

traditional chinese firework 打铁花datiehua in spring festival/chunjie

The Middlewich folk and boat festival will be happening this year in June.

Joni Mitchell ⁣ at Newport Folk Festival, 1969.⁣ Photo : Jim Marshall.

joni mitchell, cass elliot, and judy collins at the big sur folk festival, 1968💐🌞

Mr. & Mrs. Folke

Bob Dylan & Joan Baez backstage at the Newport Folk Festival, July 25, 1964 © Jim Marshall.

1970 -> 2022 both sides now by joni mitchell | isle of wight festival & newport folk festival

something something playing with fyre

The Hogmanay Lads

The ritual of the Hogmanay guisers - the Procession of the Bull - is one of the most ancient and curious pagan survivals in Scotland. The hide of a bull, with horns, hooves, and tail attached, was kept in the rafters throughout the year and taken down on Hogmanay. One of the gillean Callaig or Hogmanay lads was enveloped in the hide, and each of his companions provided himself with a staff - usually a caman or shinty stick - to the end of which was secured a piece of sheepskin known as the casein-uchd, the Hogmanay breast-strip. "The casein-uchd," says Dr. Carmichael, "is a strip of skin from the breast of a sheep killed at Christmas, New Year and other sacred festivals. The strip is oval, and no knife must be used in removing it from the flesh. Two such strips were placed face to face to form a bag. Probably this was the ulim, the sacred bag for alms." Dr. Maclagan describes it as "a narrow strip, abut three inches wide, cut from lip or neck along the belly to tail." This, presumably, was the custom in Argyll. The skin of a cow, a goat, or a deer was occasionally substituted, and in Mull the principal singer of the party carried a singed sheep's tail. Towards midnight (to return to the Outer Hebrides), the band set off on a round of the township, the man in the hide leading, whilst his followers "kept beating the hide with their staves, making a noise like the beating of a drum, and shouting their rune, Caluinn a Bhuilg, Hogmanay of the Sack - Hogmanay of the Sack, Hogmanay of the Sack, Strike the hide, Strike the hide. Hogmanay of the Sack, Hogmanay of the Sack, Beat the skin. Beat the skin. Hogmanay of the Sack, Hogmanay of the Sack, Down with it! Up with it! Strike the hide! Hogmanay of the Sack, Hogmanay of the Sack, Down with it! Up with it! Beat the skin. Hogmanay of the Sack, Hogmanay of the Sack. The Silver Bough, Volume 3: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals - Hallowe'en to Yule. F. Marian. McNeill.

Kieran, handing you a Dipplin as he pushes his mask back down on his face: "H-h-here!!" You as you look down at your half eaten candy apple: 'Ah, uh, apple with a worm in it? Does he expect me to eat this? But I already have one?' Everyone staring, mouth agape: :OOOOO Carmine, sputtering out chunks of apple that go flying onto the pavement and then choking because Kieran just made the equivalent of a marriage proposal in front of their entire town: :OOOOOO You again: "Uh, let me finish... this one first..." *Holding up the half eaten apple by the stick* Kieran, face hidden under the mask:

phoebe bridgers and julien baker sing “everything is free” by gillian welch 7/8/2018