Tuesday, August 11, 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.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.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.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.Modern Mythology — Andrew LangAndrew Lang's complete 1897 defense of the anthropological study of myth in debate with philological mythology.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.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.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 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 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
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.
Water Cults and Sacred Wells1 page
Historical studies of sacred wells, water worship, healing springs, and the ritual geography of water in South Asia and Europe.