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Beside being part of the Swedish Christmas celebrations Julbocken was also a mystical creature in the folklore. The goat was connected with the Devil. These stories might hail from priests, trying to stop the use of Julbocken.
On legends tell of the Christmas goat as a straw doll which were decorated with colorful ribbons and then placed in the barn. One evening a girl goes there to dance with the goat. Instead she meets the Devil, who tears her to pieces. #adventfolktale #folklore #advent

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#GothicAdvent Day 8:

On Sundays (Sunnandæg [ ᛋᚢᚾᚾᚪᚾᛞᚫᚷ ] ) the #Goddess of the Sun can feel very far away at this time of year, especially when the mysterious Swaailen (a thick sea fog that appears on the #IsleOfWight ) rolls in.

People would close their shutters tight, ensure that mistletoe was hung over all doorways and that the fires in the harth were stoked and cared for.

The Swaailen was known to creep its way down the chimney, through he cracks and even up the floorboards. Each icy tendril having a will of its own and that will could snatch away an unprepared bystander.

So the people would say the charms and pray the prayers to keep them safe as the fog and the darkness encroached. The one thing they would never do though, is let themselves be out in the winter's cold and darkness, when the Swaailen came a-visiting.

#Folklore #Sunday #Sunnandæg #Magic #Pagan #Advent #Fog #Winter #WinterIsHere #FolkHorror

@folklore

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Thought I'd better introduce my photography side on here! Geology got me into photography when I found myself getting distracted when supposed to be taking field outcrop photos. I love how it helps me educate and enthuse about geology! This one is of the limestone reef out at Castlepoint, North Island, NZ. These were connected once but sea erosion has separated them. I brought them back together.
#geology #photography #rocks #science #LandscapePhotograhy #sedimentary #limestone #erosion #nz

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The Ordovician-Silurian mass extinctions events occurred between 450-440 million yrs ago. It is the earliest, & the 2nd-most severe. About 85% of marine animal species went extinct over two close spikes of extinction.

One family of trilobites, the Trinucleids (pictured), flourished in the Ordovician but became a victim of the end Ordovician extinction. They lived in deeper water, and all share an easily recognisable wide pitted fringe on their headshields.
#extinction #trilobite #fossil

Love the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. Here’s something for taken on May 2019. Wishing the small tree fern in my garden looked like these. It survived the extreme UK sumner temperatures but many more frizzled fronds than usual.

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It's customary to 'Tell The Bees' of a death in Shropshire.

In 1961 the Bee's of Sam Rogers from Myddle (totalling 14 hives) were told of his death as custom dictates. Having heard of his passing, they turned up at his service and settled on the flowers at his grave 💚

#Folklore #Folktales #Bee's #Shropshire #FolkloreNerd #FolkloreThursday #Beekeeper #Storytelling

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As an ant biologist, I think the discovery of “ant milk” might be the single biggest research finding during my lifetime.

Across ants, maturing pupae make a nutritional exudate for their nestmates:

#science #ants #biology

nature.com/articles/d41586-022

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Just a small printed "s" waiting to become an illuminated initial in this 1503 print. The small "s" indicates: please include a colored big "S" after the print run. Early printed books kept this illuminating tradition from the manuscript age.

The page with the left space for the to be illuminated initial is part of the "Epistolarum D. Francisci philelphi equitis aurati..." Have a look: sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de

#BookHistory #histodons

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I promise I will post half sensible, half intelligent things, eventually.

But my present concern, today, is the current lack of quolls on this platform (well… this seems on par with their virtual extinction on the Australian mainland.)

An under-appreciated and critically threatened animal.

#quolls #marsupialpost #endangered #spottedquoll #Dasyurus #easternquoll #tigerquoll

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Chimimoryo is a Japanese term referring collectively to all the evil spirits of the rivers, mountains, forests, swamps & other parts of nature. These #yokai have bestial bodies with a human-ish face. They trick humans who walk through the woods or swamplands, causing them to lose their way. Chimimoryo then attack & kill their victims & feed on their corpse. They are also known to bring disease & misfortune.
#JapaneseFolklore #folklore #japodon @folklore #DailyFolklore
🎨Matthew Meyer

Had a little more time than usual on my morning walk to look for fungi. Still had to battle with a lively spaniel on a lead, but pleased with what I found.

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Brexit imagery 

Scrolling through the photos on my phone and found some memorabilia from 2019

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#otd 1016 Edmund Ironside, King of the English, died. According to Henry of Huntingdon, he was murdered on the lavatory - from below. #MedievalDeath #medieval @histodons Ms.: Matthew Paris, Life of St Edward the Confessor, MS Ee.3.59, Cambridge University Library, fol. 5r

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Another gargoyle from my trip to Wherwell over the summer for #TombTuesday. Such an unassuming little mausoleum in a tiny village and yet it had all these funny little faces on it. Must do some digging into it and find out why! #grave #graveyard #gargoyle #tomb #uk #spooky #creepy #mementomori

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