Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Folkways in Thomas Hardy

Folkways in Thomas Hardy

Firor, Ruth A.

Hardcover

Series: Anniversary Collection

Literary CriticismGeneral ReferenceMythology & Folklore

ISBN10: 1512811513
ISBN13: 9781512811513
Publisher: Univ Penn Pr Anniversary Colle
Published: Jan 29 1931
Pages: 368
Weight: 1.52
Height: 0.81 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

A veritable source book of superstition, this volume seeks out the abundant examples of belief in the forces of magic and the survival of old customs among the Wessex peasantry as revealed in the works of Thomas Hardy.

the fear of falling mirrors and single magpies; the belief that horses found in a sweat in the morning have been hag-ridden all night; the notion that cattle kneel in their stalls on Christmas Eve; the credulous use of corpse cures and love potions--all are but individual expressions of the complete acceptance of the supernatural by a people who still think in a way we consider unsophisticated.

A delightful portion of the book is devoted to descriptions of the great trade hiring-and-firing fairs, May festivals, country dances, caroling and wassailing, and to the legends of Druidical Stones on Egdon Heath and Roman roads through Wessex. In addition the study covers a wealth of related subjects, including English sheep-shearing songs; the ancient tradition of the magic powers of the mandrake, originally identified with the Black Aphrodite; the ritual significance of the Mummer's play; the medieval absurdity of the Vegetable Lamb, which lived suspended from a tree by a flexible stalk; the survival of the moon cult of Astarte in the Isle of Slingers, and many other equally absorbing topics.

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