*Ø* Green Man is lurking
A midsummer night's imp
Watch out, watch out, there are imps about! Charles Kightly in his The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore tells us that the red-stalked Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) blooms around English houses in June, associated with Summer Solstice (June 21) and Midsummer (June 24). (In North America, however, it is a noxious weed.)
Herb Robert is also known as Death-come-quickly, Robin's eye, Robin Hood, Robin-i'-th'-hedge, Stinking Bob, Stinker Bobs and Wren flower. Weed or not, beware how you treat it, for it is Robin Goodfellow's flower and he might direct a snake to bite you, especially if you destroy it.
Robin Goodfellow is an English imp, a trickster from the woods. As a forest dweller, he symbolises the pagan (wood-dwelling) pre-Christian peoples who the Church worked hard at converting from their wicked ways. Robin is a cognate of the famous European Green Man (a name coined by Lady Raglan in 1939 for a medieval image usually found in churches), and of Robin Hood ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
A midsummer night's imp
Watch out, watch out, there are imps about! Charles Kightly in his The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore tells us that the red-stalked Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) blooms around English houses in June, associated with Summer Solstice (June 21) and Midsummer (June 24). (In North America, however, it is a noxious weed.)
Herb Robert is also known as Death-come-quickly, Robin's eye, Robin Hood, Robin-i'-th'-hedge, Stinking Bob, Stinker Bobs and Wren flower. Weed or not, beware how you treat it, for it is Robin Goodfellow's flower and he might direct a snake to bite you, especially if you destroy it.
Robin Goodfellow is an English imp, a trickster from the woods. As a forest dweller, he symbolises the pagan (wood-dwelling) pre-Christian peoples who the Church worked hard at converting from their wicked ways. Robin is a cognate of the famous European Green Man (a name coined by Lady Raglan in 1939 for a medieval image usually found in churches), and of Robin Hood ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 11:10 AM | Permalink
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