Saturday, September 19, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Folklore Theory
Studies of folklore, superstition, and belief — the scholarship of the uncanny.
✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦
Texts
A Book of Folklore — Sabine Baring-GouldA Book of Folklore — Sabine Baring-Gould's study of the origins and layers of British folk belief, tracing the pagan substrata beneath Christian popular religion: spirits, sacrifice, death customs, pixies, skulls, and birth rites (1913).A Guide to Mythology — Helen A. ClarkeHelen A. Clarke's complete historical mythology reader, with seven chapters of comparative discussion, stories, hymns, and notes.A Study of Fairy Tales — Laura F. KreadyLaura F. Kready's 1916 pedagogical study of fairy tales for early education — their worth, selection, telling, history, classification, and sources — with an introduction by Henry Suzzallo.Bygone Beliefs — H. Stanley RedgroveH. Stanley Redgrove's complete 1920 collection of twelve historical essays on medieval thought, magic, talismans, symbolism, alchemy, and philosophy.Christmas in Ritual and Tradition — Clement A. MilesClement A. Miles's 1912 study tracing Christmas from its pre-Christian winter-festival roots through medieval liturgy, drama, and folk custom across Europe.Coffee in the Gourd — ed. J. Frank DobieThe Texas Folk-Lore Society's 1923 folklore miscellany: cowboy dance and courting customs, Big Bend pictographs, Gillespie County German and Rio Grande Mexican-border folkways, W. C. Handy on the blues, and more, reprinted from Texas Folk-Lore Society Publications No. II.Curiosities of Superstition — W. H. Davenport AdamsW. H. Davenport Adams's complete historical survey of religions, rituals, divination, and superstition across nineteen chapters.Custom and Myth — Andrew LangAndrew Lang applies comparative folklore and anthropology to myth, ritual, tales, divination, family history, and visual art.Demonology and Devil-lore — Moncure Daniel Conway — Volumes I–IIMoncure Daniel Conway's complete two-volume historical study of demons, dragons, devils, witchcraft, and the cultural construction of evil.Dragons and Dragon Lore — Ernest IngersollErnest Ingersoll's 1928 survey of dragon myths from China, Korea, Japan, and India through to Western Europe, with an introduction by paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn.Fairies — Gertrude M. FauldingFairies — Gertrude M. Faulding's essay: a meditative survey of fairy belief in English and Celtic tradition, drawing on Shakespeare, Drayton, Herrick, and the folk tradition to characterize the nature and world of the fairy folk.Famous Men of the Middle Ages — John Henry Haaren and A. B. PolandJohn Henry Haaren and A. B. Poland's 1904 schoolbook of thirty-two biographical sketches of medieval figures from Alaric the Visigoth to Warwick the Kingmaker, opening with the Nibelung legend and the Teutonic gods.Fifty Christmas Poems for Children — Florence B. HyettA 1923 anthology of fifty Christmas poems for children, gathered by Florence B. Hyett from Herrick, Milton, Blake, Rossetti, Tennyson, folk carols, and contemporary verse.Folklore as an Historical Science — George Laurence GommeGeorge Laurence Gomme's complete 1908 historical argument for using folklore as evidence in social and cultural history.From Ritual to Romance — Jessie WestonFrom Ritual to Romance — Jessie Weston's 1920 study of the origins of the Grail legend in pre-Christian vegetation ritual: the Fisher King, the Waste Land, the Grail Castle, and the sacred drama of death and renewal underlying the Arthurian romance tradition.Funeral Customs — Their Origin and Development — Bertram S. PuckleBertram S. Puckle's 1926 survey of funeral and mourning customs — death warnings, coffins and grave-goods, wakes and mutes, mourning bells, burial places, cremation, and epitaphs — traced to their pagan and folk origins.Manners, Customs, and Observances — Their Origin and Significance — Leopold WagnerLeopold Wagner's 1894 numbered-entry miscellany explaining the origins of British customs and etiquette — heraldry and royal symbols, courtship and marriage, mourning, patron saints, and church and civic festivals.Mazes and Labyrinths — W.H. MatthewsW. H. Matthews's 1922 history of mazes and labyrinths from Egypt and Crete through medieval church labyrinths, turf mazes, and hedge mazes, with a bibliography of the subject.Modern Mythology — Andrew LangAndrew Lang's complete 1897 defense of the anthropological study of myth in debate with philological mythology.Moon Lore — Timothy HarleyTimothy Harley's 1885 comparative-folklore study of the moon — its markings, worship, superstitions, and supposed inhabitants — documented with nearly five hundred scholarly notes.Myth, Ritual and Religion — Andrew Lang — Volumes I–IIAndrew Lang's complete two-volume comparative study of myth, ritual, religion, and folklore, preserved from the Project Gutenberg witnesses.Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Charles M. SkinnerCharles M. Skinner's 1896 collection of American ghost stories, treasure legends, and regional folk tales gathered from every part of the United States, from the Hudson highlands to the Pacific coast.Myths and Myth-Makers — John FiskeJohn Fiske's complete 1872 collection of seven essays interpreting folklore, fire myths, werewolves, swan-maidens, and ghost belief through comparative mythology.OphiolatreiaAn anonymous 1889 survey of serpent-worship across world mythologies and cultures, from Egypt, Greece, and India to the Americas, presented as a facet of phallic and solar worship.Ritual and Belief — Edwin Sidney HartlandEdwin Sidney Hartland's complete 1914 comparative studies of ritual, belief, religion, and magic, with historical-method framing.Signs, Omens and Superstitions — Astra CieloAstra Cielo's complete 1918 collection of signs, omens, charms, divination, household beliefs, seasonal customs, and occupational superstitions.Sun Lore of All Ages — William Tyler OlcottWilliam Tyler Olcott's 1914 comparative survey of sun myths, worship, festivals, omens, and burial orientation across world cultures.The Book of Nature Myths — Florence HolbrookFlorence Holbrook's 1902 collection of fifty-four short nature myths retold for young readers, mostly drawn from Native American and other folk traditions, explaining why animals, plants, and natural phenomena are as they are.The Book of Noodles — W.A. CloustonW. A. Clouston's 1888 comparative study of 'noodle' or simpleton tales — the Men of Gotham and their counterparts in Greek, Indian, and European folklore — tracing shared plots and jests across cultures.The Evil Eye — Frederick Thomas ElworthyFrederick Thomas Elworthy's 1895 comparative study of evil-eye belief and its counter-magic — amulets, gestures, horns, and charms — across ancient and modern folklore from Italy, England, and beyond.The Fairy Mythology — Thomas KeightleyThe Fairy Mythology — Thomas Keightley's 1850 comparative survey of fairy lore across European traditions: English, Irish, Scottish, Scandinavian, German, French, Italian, and Oriental fairy belief, their origins, types, and underlying unity.The Golden Bough — Sir James George FrazerA monumental study of comparative religion and mythology, tracing the universal pattern of the dying and resurrecting god through cultures worldwide.The Legend of Perseus — Edwin Sidney Hartland — Volumes I-IIIEdwin Sidney Hartland compares the Perseus legend across supernatural birth, life-tokens, magic, rites, Andromeda, and Medusa in three volumes.The Magic of the Horse-shoe — Robert Means LawrenceRobert Means Lawrence's complete 1898 collection of studies on horseshoes, luck, salt, sneezing, days, animals, and number lore.The Making of Religion — Andrew LangAndrew Lang's comparative study of religion, anthropology, folklore, and psychical research in the complete 1900 second edition.The Mysteries of All Nations — James GrantJames Grant's complete 1880 antiquarian compilation on superstition, witch trials, magic, divination, omens, charms, and folklore.The Myth of the Birth of the Hero — Otto RankThe Myth of the Birth of the Hero — Otto Rank's 1914 psychoanalytic study: the comparative analysis of hero-birth myths across twenty-three cultures, from Sargon and Moses to Perseus and Romulus, revealing the universal pattern of the exposed and recovered divine child.The New Word — Allen UpwardAllen Upward's 1910 philosophical essay on the Nobel Prize's call for an 'idealist' literature — a wide-ranging etymological and philosophical inquiry now chiefly noted for coining the word 'Scientology' decades before its later, unrelated use.The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs — T. Sharper KnowlsonThe Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs by T. Sharper Knowlson — a systematic survey of the mythological and psychological roots of common English folk beliefs, customs, and superstitions, tracing their origins from pagan religion through medieval Christianity to Victorian survivals.The Science of Fairy Tales — Edwin Sidney HartlandThe Science of Fairy Tales — Edwin Sidney Hartland's 1891 systematic folklore study: the Supernatural Birth and the Swan-Maiden, Changelings, Visits to Fairyland, the Prohibition and the Chain of Events, and the comparative mythology of Celtic and Teutonic folk belief.The Stories of the Months and Days — Reginald C. CouzensCouzens's 1923 children's mythology primer explaining the pagan Roman and Norse gods and stories behind the English names of the months and days of the week.The Unicorn — A Mythological Investigation — Robert Brown, JrRobert Brown, Jr.'s 1881 comparative-mythology study arguing the unicorn originated as a lunar symbol, tracing it through heraldry, ancient art, and Near Eastern, Vedic, and Zoroastrian myth.The Wandering Host — David Starr JordanDavid Starr Jordan's 1904 allegory of the spiritual life as a journey over a mountain toward a river, tracing how organized bands, dogma, ritual, and reform rise and fall away among the pilgrims.The Worship of the Serpent — John Bathurst DeaneJohn Bathurst Deane's 1833 comparative study arguing that serpent worship across the ancient world preserves a scattered folk-memory of the Fall of Man.Tom Tit Tot — Edward CloddTom Tit Tot — Edward Clodd's study of the Rumpelstiltskin story type (Guessing the Helper's Name) and its folklore significance: a classic of comparative folklore methodology (1898).Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore — Charles HardwickCharles Hardwick's complete 1872 study of Lancashire and northern English folklore, seasonal customs, witchcraft, fairies, sacred places, and comparative mythology.
Animal Mythology2 pages
Historical studies of animal symbolism, legendary zoology, and the comparative mythologies attached to creatures of earth, air, and water.
Folk Song and Ballad Studies1 page
Folklore Journals2 pages
Complete volumes of the founding periodicals of folklore science — the journals where the discipline argued itself into existence, article by article, from the 1880s onward.
Ritual and Romance1 page
Historical ritualist studies of romance, sacred kingship, seasonal ceremony, myth, and literary transmission.
Ritual and Sacred Performance1 page
Historical comparative studies of ritual movement, sacred dance, ceremony, procession, and religious performance.
Shapeshifting and Lycanthropy1 page
Historical studies of werewolves, shapeshifting, transformation lore, and the changing explanations attached to them.