Folklore, Customs, Legends and Mythology

 Beyond the tinsel and fake, cottonwool beards, there are older traditions clustered around the observance of Yule and midwinter. Depending on where you are, the friends and fiends of the season may wear different masks and ask for (or dispense) different favors. For example, there are the thirteen unruly Yule trolls who pester mortals for almost a fortnight - each troll gets his own night - with disturbances ranging from door-banging and window-peeping to all sorts of thefts around the house (and usually the kitchen). The Gloucestershire practice of wassailing sounds suspiciously similar to caroling, albeit with a few unique twists. Frau Perchta prowls the alpine mountainsides, while the eerie looking La Guajona lurks in the nocturnal gloom of wintry northern Spain. And then there's Krampus, the Wild Hunt, the Scandinavian tomten and the gnomes to worry about. In fact, this is a great space to get acquainted with the pagan origins of many Christmas traditions. Of course, this group is hardly limited to Yuletide figures, good or bad. There's standing stones, Appalachian folk magic and Native American artefacts. A post that really wowed me featured pages from the gorgeously laid-out Enchanted Gazette, which included a pagan calendar

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Magnificent Traditional Costumes of the World 🪭

Culture and ethnicity can be regarded as a vital element of identity. It often functions as the template through which a person interacts with the world outside. And, while globalization has injected a uniformity into how we dress and express ourselves, this delightful Facebook Group counters such blandness with diverse inspirations from locations such as Ethiopia, the Ukraine, Serbia, Mongolia, Angola, Tunesia, Macedonia, Peru, Bulgaria and Tibet. The posted photos are a feast of color, intricately crafted accessories and masses of cultural pride. 

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