#FolkloreThursday is trending

The Oak tree is King of the Forest. Sacred to the druids, its energy brings courage, strength & endurance. A rare 80 years of marriage is an oak anniversary. Img: The Major Oak, Sherwood Forest. Over 800 years old & believed to have been Robin Hood’s hangout. #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/NUGuwDrBSf

Hare spirits (1960) by Kenojuak Ashevak, influential artist of Inuit heritage #womensart #FolkloreThursday

The Celts associated both hazelnuts & salmon with wisdom. An ancient tale tells of 9 hazel trees growing beside a sacred pool, dropping nuts into the water for the salmon. The spots on the fish indicated how many nuts had been eaten & how much wisdom absorbed. #FolkloreThursday

There is a Celtic tradition of faerie women who appeared as deer. In Scotland, the Isle of Jura got its name from the Old Norseword for deer, dýr-ey, and was inhabited by seven huge deer-goddesses who lived within the woods with their herds #FolkloreThursday

Pan, the notorious woodland deity could be a helpful creature but he also had a dark side, in which his magick & terrible cry caused the unreasonable hysteria which many people experience in a dark wood. From this behaviour came the word we know as ... 'panic'! #FolkloreThursday

“‘A Moss-woman!’ the hay-makers cry, And over the fields in terror they fly. She is loosely clad from neck to foot In a mantle of Moss from the Maple’s root, And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows Is the hair that over her mantle flows." #FolkloreThursday

‘All tales are at some level a journey into the woods to find the missing part of us, to retrieve it and make ourselves whole. Storytelling is as simple - and complex - as that. That's the pattern. That's how we tell stories.’ John Yorke, Into the Woods. #folklorethursday

In Slavic folklore, the Leshy is guardian forest spirit. They serve as the protectors of the various forests and its animals. They naturally are the form of a large human-looking being, but can shape-shift into any plant or animal. #FolkloreThursday

🌿🦄🌿Unicorns were said to live within deep forests, as the magical refuge of the wildwood reflected their liminal and secretive nature. #FolkloreThursday

Wood Wives or Moss Woman, described as petite, can be young or elderly. Said to be helpful to humans, sometimes found crying, if assisted by the finder, they will impart wisdom of some kind, often herbal in nature #FolkloreThursday 🌿 Photo by Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen.

An ancient rhododendron. I had no idea they turned into this! Surely a home of strange creatures #folklorethursday

Monsters in America map 👁 #folklorethursday

Seen at the edge of forests in eastern France, teasing travellers, dangling strangers by their hair over waterfalls, The Dames Vertes are friends with the wind. They dress in green, emerge from ferns and leaves smelling of earth, mould and death @FolkloreThurs #FolkloreThursday

Legend tells of London highwayman Jack Judd who vanished into thin air while being chased by the authorities on Ham Common. 200 years later an ancient oak tree was chopped down on the Common and... trapped in a cleft in the trunk...was his SKELETON #folklorethursday (My photo)

"In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings." (source: Wikipedia). Sounds ideal. #FolkloreThursday (Art by me)

Moss folk or moss people, in German 'moosleute' or wild folk, 'wilde leute', were seen as spirits and guardians of the forest. They were also known as wood folk, 'holzleute', wood people and forest folk, 'waldleute' #folklorethursday #nature #photography https://t.co/4J3oin2ePc

Silvanus is a roman deity,the protector of the forest and of cattle. In Etruscan mythology he's known as Selvans. In playing the syrinx he resembles the god Pan. The sacrifices offered to Silvanus consists of grapes, ears of grain, milk, meat, wine and pigs. #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/pOfvBKABfT

"The ash was regarded as one of the spirit-haunted trees, and people avoided remaining long near it. At the same time they had a curious regard for the ash, which was supposed to find out the secrets of lovers, and to whisper them to the wind." #folklorethursday #wales

‘London-based archaeology group, unearthed bones of a gigantic dog from a shallow grave...in ruins of Leiston Abbey, Suffolk.Archaeologists estimate that the canine stood more than 7ft tall on its hind legs and weighed about 200 pounds.’ #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/dTFLOIDkPK

The first recorded mention of King Arthur's Round Table is in the 'Roman de Brut', a history of Britain written in 14866 lines of verse in Norman French by the poet Wace in 1155. This is the oldest surviving copy of the whole text. #FolkloreThursday #medievaltwitter #manuscripts

The Wolpertinger is a hybrid of a fox, bird, rabbit and deer, which is said to inhabit the Bavarian forests. This mischievous creature prefers the company of drunkards or beautiful woman. According to legend, it was born out of centuries of crossbreeding. #FolkloreThursday

The Yew was regarded as the gentle guardian of the dead and was formerly revered so much in Wales that to cut it down was considered an act of desecration, while to burn any part of it was looked upon as sacrilege. #FolkloreThursday #Wales #History

Ever blown dandelion seeds off a seed head? Some think the number of seeds left is the number of children you'll have. Others think it's the number of years you have left... #folklorethursday

Áine an Irish goddess associated with midsummer and the sun and is sometimes represented by a red mare. She is remembered in more recent times as Queen of the Fairies and often joins them in their woodland fairy rings. 🧚‍♀️ #FolkloreThursday Art: Eve of Saint John, Edward Robert.

The Rowan tree 🌳 during more superstitious periods of history, it was well advised to use this species for building a child’s cradle, because it was believed to grant protection from evil spirits & witches. Now the Rowan is known as the witches tree 🌲 #FolkloreThursday

Today is the feast day of St Carannog/ Carantoc. This statue keeps watch over Llangrannog Beach in the Ceredigion village he is said to have founded. His vita contains a legend in which he comes to the aid of King Arthur as he battled a giant serpent. #folklorethursday #wales

In Old Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is a massive sacred ash tree at the center of the universe with deep roots and branches stretching to the sky, serving as a meeting site for the gods This depiction of Yggdrasil is from an 1847 translation of the 13c Prose Edda #FolkloreThursday

Here be trolls ~ In Norse Myth there are ‘Jotun’ giants and dwarfs that live in the ‘utmark’, wilderness. Trolls, huge and grim, are found in folklore across Norway, they are only out at night time as sunlight turns them to stone. 📷 ‘Hidden’ app. #Folklorethursday #landscape https://t.co/biTaKQkd1v

The Circle of Hoia Forest in Transylvania- legend says it is the dancing ground of the Irodias, Fae like creatures who resemble both dryads and Bacchantes (and you definitely don’t want to join in their dancing) #FolkloreThursday

Hello, #FolkloreThursday! This is Crystal of @HistoriumU with you for the next 90 minutes. I’m excited to join you today as we share the folklore of legendary creatures from the woods. There’s nothing quite as magical as the forest! So, tweet away! (Img: E. Meseguer)

In Greek mythology, Centaurs are half-man, half-horse creatures that inhabited the mountains and forests of Thessaly. Said to be primal, they existed in tribes and made their homes in caves, hunting wild animals and arming themselves with rocks and tree branches #FolkloreThursday

Cwm Pwcca is a Welsh glen populated by fairies and goblins. If you should ever go there, Thomas Crocker's "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland" includes a helpful sketch of your new neighbors. You're welcome. #FolkloreThursday

THE WILD MAN Very common in Italian #folklore, he is an archetypal figure who lives in the woods. Shy and introverted, benevolent and generous, he is curiously said to smile in bad weather and cry in good weather.🤔 #FolkloreThursday 📷C15 fresco,Sacco, Valtellina,#Italy. https://t.co/f4oHRswTyn

Huldra is a woodland spirit that lures men astray. Although men are warned of her dangers, they are still allured by her beauty. To protect nature from humanity, she enchants and lures men to get lost in the woods, wandering until they die out of fatigue. #FolkloreThursday

Fairy wings, while common in Victorian and later artworks, are rare in folklore. Fairies flew by means of magic, sometimes perched on ragwort stems or the backs of birds. (Img: Amy X.) #FolkloreThursday

You will find a gnome colony amidst rocky woodlands and hilly meadows. They may live in a cozy, underground nook, or even in the bark of a willow, elm, or oak tree. Gnomes have pantries in their homes, where they store food for winter. (Art: E. Stuart Hardy) #FolkloreThursday ✨

Did you know traditionally birch was thought to be a purifier, so bundles of birch twigs were used to sweep away old spirits? This led to their association as the species out of which witches brooms were made! Read more @WildlifeMag: https://t.co/IVD1L5lfa1 #FolkloreThursday

What I find strange about this story is how getting turned into a deer & living in a magic #forest is presented as an obstacle to a happy ending. THAT *IS* A HAPPY ENDING, FRIEND #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/pd7L2tiCxf

The mountain ash or rowan was traditionally thought to be home of the fairies due to its white flowers. As a result the branches are considered to confer protection against enchantment. #FolkloreThursday

White deer have long been associated with the New Forest, with the white hart/stag being the most magical; called 'Judas' deer by locals because they expose the herd to poachers. Ancient Celts believed 'white' was linked to the Otherworld. #FolkloreThursday photo: Jane Baynes

Baba Jaga - is a very wise woman. She has the appearance of a deformed woman or hag. She will help; or she may just hinder those that seek her out for advice. She lives in a hut that stands on chicken feet... in the darkest bit of the woods. 🐓 #FolkloreThursday 💕

'The Beguiling of Merlin' by Edward Burne-Jones depicts the legendary magician entrapped in a hawthorn bush (sometimes an oak tree) by Nimue, the Lady of the Lake. Merlin's historical counterpart, 5th c bard Myrddin, spent some time as a wild man of the woods. #FolkloreThursday

The hidebehind, as parodied in the wonderful Gravity Falls, is a fearsome critter responsible for devouring lumberjacks in North America. It sucks in its stomach to be thin enough to hide behind trees. Alcohol can be used to repel it #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/j69sEWwAwV

CENTAUR Called Kentauroi by the Greeks, these creatures lived in the mountains & forests of Thessaly. Myth says that they were created when Centaurus mated with the cloud nymph, Nephele. #Folklorethursday #mythology #mythicalcreature

#FolkloreThursday Searching for the answer to a riddle as to "What women want most" #Arthurian knight #Gawain encountered the #LoathlyLady in a forest - the cost of getting the answer being to marry her .... The answer to the riddle; #FreedomOfChoice Image: #JuanWijngaard https://t.co/VtVqb7t3iC

The Green Man whose carvings are often found in churches is thought to be an old nature deity. #FolkloreThursday

Retweeting for #FolkloreThursday. Lone hawthorn trees in the landscape were said to be gathering places for fairy folk. https://t.co/3t9NcJrmoK

In some parts of the country, people believed you could walk around an oak tree and wish your illness away. The first bird to land in its branches would carry your pain away with it. #FolkloreThursday

Bluebells are one of my favourite woodland flowers. Some believed wearing a wreath made of bluebell flowers made you tell the truth. And try turning a flower inside out without tearing it. If you do, you’ll win the one you love. #FolkloreThursday

Turn your cloaks, for fairy folks are in old oaks!” ... would ward off the chances of being whisked off by the fairies in the woods. #FolkloreThursday #treelore #saying Andrew Murray #tree #Art

Woodland or forest gnomes are the most elusive, as they rarely come in contact with human beings. They live in dense forests, acting as guardians of the forest, and the creatures that live in it. #FolkloreThursday

#FolkloreThursday Beware the Yateveo tree that grows in Africa and South America. If agitated it hisses 'I see you' (ya te veo) and its tentacle-like branches will spear you with their poisonous barbs. There is no antidote to the poison and no escaping it if you are ensnared...

Happy #FolkloreThursday! ["Meadow Elves," Nils Blommer]

The 2nd January is known as the day of the "Waldmännchen" in hessian folklore. The Waldmännchen is said to be a goblin or forest gnome. Those who worked in the woods on his day, he pursued with revenge, which mostly meant death. #FolkloreThursday #folklore

#FolkloreThursday Ol' Rawhead and Bloodybones is a giant, monstrous skeletal hog that stalks the backwoods of Appalachia. He is descended from a British boogeyman. At night, you can hear his bones clatter together as he walks about, looking for victims.

The wild man (or "wildman of the woods") is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands. #FolkloreThursday

#Australian bush babies took the place of #fairies for many generations of Australian children. #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/m8iYbqBWjW via @mythcrafts

Where land touches sky int' Sandy, there still do oaks still walk free... #folkloreThursday One o' inspirations b'hind Nightjar >>> https://t.co/5KFW3APbsI #Woods #Trees #Writerslife #writingcommunity https://t.co/7Q8dpsX3dm

Wood sprite traditions in the county. #FolkloreThursday

In Chinese folklore, the Penghou is a tree spirit that looks like a black dog with a human face who has no tail but is edible, and a Jiafei is the essence of a 1000 year old tree that looks like a pig, but tastes like a dog... #FolkloreThursday (Artist: Hannelie Coatzee)

Grimms' "Old Woman in the Wood" #FolkloreThursday A family is beset by robbers in the forest and killed. Their maid, hiding in trees, fears she will too perish; a pristine dove unveils magical salvation hidden inside the old trees. Then he asks a favour... https://t.co/KvHMi78yDU

Baba Yaga: The Wicked Witch of Slavic Folklore https://t.co/vsWQeTA56R #FolkloreThursday

The legend and folk tradition that inspired Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/LKNqF6ubDz

#FolkloreThursday @FolkloreThurs An extraordinary and very beautiful myth from the Canadian Algonquin First Nation of Quebec tells of a benevolent tree fungus in the #forest that protects all the smallest forest creatures from danger https://t.co/wnaHFHme9K

Everything is on the table today. Chelsea Manning @xychelsea is facing her 2nd contempt hearing before a grand jury, some guy named @zoltan_istvan thinks death could soon become a curable disease, & as if that wasn't enough, it's #FolkloreThursday. Anything is possible! #biotech

The Falajitax is a Paraguayan #woodland #folklore creature with the head of a rhea, a snake's body, and earrings. It protects sources of honey in the #forests, can be reasoned with by shaman, and swallows people alive that can escape by cutting out its heart. #FolkloreThursday

#FolkloreThursday If you sit and stare at a hole in a tree, and keep very quiet and still, the tree elves will invite you in and take you down to the source of the golden fountain of life which sends energy from the roots to the tip of every bud as it opens to the blue sky.

A chilling @smellofwater report from Gavin Parry on @BBCTees tonight... looking at the "Old Hell Way", the Corpse Road to Danby Church... and the "unruly dead" who may be trapped nearby... 9pm! #FolkloreThursday

Aokigahara - at the base of mt Fuji. ‘Sea of trees’. It is believed to be haunted by yūrei, Japanese ghosts, and more recently has become known as the ‘suicide woods’. #storytelling #FolkloreThursday @FolkloreThurs

Flower fairy and elves having tea in the woods. 💖☕️🧚🏻‍♀️✨ #FolkloreThursday

In his book "Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods" (1910), William T. Cox told twenty bone-chilling tales about the most dangerous fantastical beasts in American folklore like the Snoligoster, Hodag, Wapaloosie, Squonk, Agropelter, Roperite, Gumbaroo and more. #FolkloreThursday

For #FolkloreThursday, check out @colin_gioia's podcast Crossing North https://t.co/qNFfS31SBE. "Werewolves on Campus" and "Bermuda Triangle of Music" are perfect for anyone interested in #folkmusic.