Folklore Mythology category: 2054 books

This exhaustive volume catalogs nearly three thousand demons in the mythologies and lore of virtually every ancient society and most religions. From Aamon, the demon of life and reproduction with the head of a serpent and the body of a wolf in Christian demonology, to Zu, the half-man, half-bird personification...

A preacher battles a bear, a mother returns from the dead, and a clever servant conducts a Big Feet Contest in this rich anthology of African-American folklore. Scores of humorous and harrowing stories, collected during the mid-twentieth century, tell of talking animals, ghosts, devils, and saints. The...

Reveals the true nature of medieval belief in the Double of the Soul • Demonstrates the survival of a pagan belief that each individual owns three souls, including a double that can journey outside the physical body • Explains the nature of death and the Other World hidden beneath...

Introduction by Derek Brewer.The aim of this book is to discuss the characteristics of the traditional fairy tale in Europe and North America, and various theories of its development and interpretation. The book deals with the main collections - the Grimm brothers, Hans Andersen, Perrault and Afanes'ev...

The author of Witches of Pennsylvania and “Pittsburgh’s Historian of the Supernatural” takes on the region’s folklore, ghost stories, and urban legends (Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership). The ghostly woman of Summit Cut Bridge, a black hound that guards the Gates of Hell and the whispering...

Many have heard the legend of the Jersey Devil of the Pine Barrens, but what about his relative in Somerset County? The Great Swamp Devil was captured by an American Patriot, terrorized a Victorian family and was rediscovered by Depression-era adventurers. Clearly, Somerset County has a rich oral tradition...

A fascinating look at the myths, folklore and botany behind over 70 British wildflowers. From hedgerows to meadows, wildflowers can be found throughout our green and pleasant land. In this book, journalist and garden writer Rosamond Richardson traces the history and myths behind each flower to discover...

Southern folklife is the heart of southern culture. Looking at traditional practices still carried on today as well as at aspects of folklife that are dynamic and emergent, contributors to this volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture examine a broad range of folk traditions. Moving...

Shaman and Kushtaka, both struck terror in the hearts of the Tlingit and Haida, for both possessed frightening supernatural powers. Among the Natives of the Pacific Northwest Coast, the shaman was honored as a person who could heal the body and spirit as well as see into the future. In his struggles...

Myths & Legends of the Polynesians is an account of the history, art and mythology of the Polynesian peoples. The Polynesians had many myths and legends, but through the ages they had been circulated by word of mouth, and not recorded. They were recalled from the vast storehouse of time...

The term Edda (Old Norse Edda, plural Eddur) applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age. The books are the main sources of medieval skaldic tradition in Iceland and Norse mythology.

From Paul Verhoeven’s The Cold Heart in 1950 to Konrad Petzold’s The Story of the Goose Princess and Her Loyal Horse Falada in 1989, East Germany’s state-sponsored film company, DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft), produced over forty feature-length, live-action fairy-tale films based on nineteenth-century...

Introduction The subject of urban myths and legends is one I have been interested in for a couple of years now. It occurred to me, one day at lunch with friends on the Isle of Dogs, that many long rambling conversations (and ours are certainly long and always rambling) will include a tall tale...

A fascinating, beautifully illustrated guide to the monsters that are part of our collective psyche, featuring stories from the Lore podcast—now a streaming television series—including “They Made a Tonic,” “Passed Notes,” and “Unboxed,” as well as rare material. They live in...