Like all members of the category of ‘fey’, or the beings of the preternatural world, including fairies, elves, and pixies, goblins are renowned for being tricksy. In other words, best avoided.
How did Halloween get associated with the spooky?
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Tok Thompson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A folklorist explains how Halloween continues an ancient Celtic tradition of the celebration of the dead.
The Essex Serpent follows Cora as her science comes in conflict with the religious and superstitious beliefs of the locals in the Essex village of Aldwinter.
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Everyone is going ‘goblin mode’, but does the trend unfairly malign goblins of folklore?
A Ukrainian soldier wanders down a railway past the bodies of dead Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Irpin, Ukraine, March 1, 2022.
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The Russian army has fared poorly and the Ukrainian military has fared well, defying experts’ predictions about the war in Ukraine. Can children’s fairy tales help explain the difference?
Folklore isn’t a whimsical fancy - it’s happening all around us all the time.
A street painting in Bucharest, Romania, depicts Bram Stoker, right, the author of Dracula, sharing a drink with Vlad the Impaler, left, the medieval Romanian ruler who inspired the book.
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Did vampires ever really exist? The myth is likely related to a medical condition with symptoms that may explain many elements of centuries-old vampire folklore.
Smiling schoolboys reveal their missing teeth.
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During this unsettling time, global leaders have assured children and adults alike that the tooth fairy, free from the risk of infection, is indeed an essential worker.
His life’s work was asserting the humanity and history of the Bantu people, while proposing that the soul was able to bring knowledge of the past and of the future into the present.
Couples get romantic on Qixi, a lovers’ festival similar to Valentine’s Day.
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China’s Qixi Festival is a celebration of love based on the legend of a mortal who married a goddess, causing his furious mother-in-law to create a Milky Way to divide these two twinkling stars.
Knocking on wood may be a holdover from the pagan days of Europe, when tree spirits were believed to bring luck.
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While the science is crucial, it is also important to know what sense the people who live in and around Laetoli make of these ancient footprints.
Poster for the 23rd National Folk Festival in Maleny, Qld, 1989. Since 1994, the Festival has been held in Canberra.
Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive and Kim Brown, 462585.