More Yuletide Folklore Link Dumping

Last night I was surprised with a message that Pete Seeger is following me on Twitter.   At least the PR person in charge of his account is following me.   And he already follows thousands of people, so I don't feel that special.   But it still gave me a kick in the pants.

Here's what's going on in the Folklore neck of the woods:

• The American Folklore Society has a new Fellow, Burt Feintuch of the University of New Hampshire.   
• Call for papers at the "Music, Identity, and Culture in the Caribbean" conference in Dominican Republic this coming April.   Topic of conference: "Caribbean Musical and Dance Folklore in the Age of Globalization."   More info here.
• Jack Zipes and Riki Salzman won this years's Wayland Hand Award.   
• The AFS has a call for proposals for 2013 Oral History Association Annual Meeting.  Deadline in just over a month (Jan. 18th).
• More awards!   It's like the Oscars and Golden Globes up in here!   Envelope says: The Benjamin Botkin Prize went to Robert Gates and Ethel Raim.
• Another interneational conference: this one dedicated to honor the work of Lauri Honko.   It's called "The Role of Theory in Folkloristics and Comparative Religion"  and it's in Finland! 
• Do you Tumblr?   You should, some cool stuff there.   Here's some Russian Folklore!
• And we are probably all interested in the role of Slavic rites in Polish Hip Hop, right?  Might just be me.

Happy Yule!

Wishing you all a nice stack of folklore books under your Christmas Tree, Yule log, Hannukah Bush, Festivus Pole, Kwanzaa thingy.   Whether you believe in Krampus, St. Nick, Hannukah Harry or Schwartzer Peter - enjoy the holiday season with any of these new folklore releases:

• Stranger Magic: Charmed States & The Arabian Nights - Marina Warner.  Vintage Books.
• Appalachia Mountain Folklore - Michael Rivers.   Schiffer Publishing.
• First Timers and Old Timers - Kenneth L. Untiedt, ed.  Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, University of North Texas Press.
• Folk Tales of the Maldives - Xavier Romero-Frias.  Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
• Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions - Raphael Patai and Haya Bar-Itzhak, eds.  M. E. Sharpe.
• Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System - Katrina Hazzard-Donald.  University of Illinois Press.
• Embracing Fry Bread: Confessions of a Wannabe - Roger L. Welsch.  Bison Books.
• Trickster and Hero: Two Characters in the Oral and Written Traditions of the World - Harold Sheub. University of Wisconsin Press.
• Barbecued Husbands: And Other Stories from the Amazon - Betty Mindlin.  Verso Books.
• Irish Myth, Lore and Legend on Film - Dawn Duncan.  Reimagining Ireland; Peter Lang.
• The Conscience of the Folk Revival: The Writings of Israel "Izzy" Young - Scott Baretta.  Scarecrow Press.

FLFOT! (Folklore Friday on Thursday!)

My Fridays are usually kind of busy - and I sometimes forget about Folklore Friday.  All right, I may have forgotten for many months.   Here are some links updating what is going on in the wonderful world of folklore studies!

• The Boiled Down Juice is collecting stories about Sulphur Springs, Arkansas.   Check them out here
• I saw a guy on the train reading Nancy Marie Brown's new book "Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths."   When I got to work I immediately looked it up and discovered the author's blog God of Wednesday.   Add this one to your reading list!
• Mr. Proverb - Wolfgang Mieder - is the winner of the AFS Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award
• Couldn't make the AFS meeting in New Orleans last month?   Read the report here.
• Indiana University - home of America's premiere folklore program - is looking for a lecturer
• .In more IU news: Professor Portia Maultsby was the Charles Seeger Lecturer at the Society for Ethnomusicology's meeting in New Orleans.
• Another blog to add to your blogroll:  Living Ethnography.   Now this is how to do a blog!
• New issue of JAFL!  

First of Tha Month

On the first of the month, to ensure good luck, you should say the words "rabbit rabbit rabbit" when you wake up.

I always forget.

But I never forget to sing these timeless lyrics:

"Wake up, wake up, wake up it's the 1st of tha month
To get up, get up, get up so cash yo checks and get up."

Here's some folklore books coming your way this month, two of these books I would love to see under my Festivus pole:

• Folk Culture in the Digital Age - Trevor J. Blank, ed.  Utah State University Press.   The last book on this topic by Trevor Blank was pretty good!   I told him so on Bookface.   It's called Folklore and the Internet.   People, read them both.   Might even inspire me to do some real folklore writing instead of this terrible blog.
• Appalachia Mountain Folklore - Michael Rivers.  Schiffer Publishing.
• Signs, Cures, and Withcery: German Appalachian Folklore - Gerald C. Mines.  Paperback version.   University of Tennessee Press.   I'm a squarehead who used to live in Appalachia!   And this book is now in an affordable paperback edition.   I hope my mutti reads this blog.
• Dictionary of 1,000 Chinese Proverbs - Marjorie Lin and Leonard Schalk.  Hippocrene Books, revised edition.
• Legends of the Scottish Saints: Readings, Hymns and Prayers for the Commemorations of Scottish Saints in the Aberdeen Breviary - Alan MacQuarrie, ed.  Four Courts Press.
• Adonis: The Myth of the Dying God in the Italian Renaissance - Carlo Caruso.  Bristol Classical Press.
• Voodoo Priests, Noble Savages, and Ozark Gypsies: The Life of Folklorist Mary Alicia Owen - Greg Olson.   Missouri Biography Series, University of Missouri.

Online Illustrated Guide to the American Folklife Center

The above picture is from the Illustrated Guide to the American Folklife Center.   It is from a Cambodian wedding ceremony as documented in Lowell in 1987.

The Illustrated Guide serves as a great introduction to the Folklife Center.   If you have ever had to answer the question about what exactly folklorists study, you would be well served to point the questioner to this site.

Octoberfest of Folklore Books

I am wearing my pumpkin colored sweater, drinking a Pumpkin spiced latte, full of Knockwurst and Munich Gold from this weekend's Octoberfest revelry in New Hampshire.

I am afraid all my updates are only lists of books.   But, you know, lists of books are kinda cool.

• Diana - Fay Glinister.  From the series "Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World."  Routledge.
• When Women Held the Dragon's Tongue: And Other Essays in Historical Anthropology - Hermann Rebel.   Berghahn Books.
• Letting Stories Breathe: A Socio-Narratology - Arthur W. Frank.  University of Chicago Press.
• Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions - Raphael Patai and Haya Bar-Itzhak, eds.   M. E. Sharpe.
• Media, Myth, and Society - Arthur Asa Berger.  Palgrave Pivot.
• Warrior Ways: Explorations in Modern Military Folklore - Eric A. Eliason and Tad Tuleja, eds.   Utah State University Press.
• Fairy Tale Queens: Representations of Early Modern Queenship - Jo Eldridge Carney.  Palgrave MacMillan.
• Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liar's Club - Christopher B. Teuton.  The University of North Carolina Press. 
• The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry - Daniel W. Patterson.  Richard Hampton Jenrette Series in Architecture and Decorative Arts, The University of North Carolina Press. 
• Passing It On: Folklore of St. Louis - John L. Oldani.  2nd Edition, Revised and Updated, Reedy Press. 
• Where is My Home?: Slovak Immigration to North America (1870-2010) - M. Mark Stolarik.  Peter Lang.
• Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms - Kay Turner & Pauline Greenhill, eds.  In Fairy Tales, Wayne State University Press.
• Tales of Magic, Tales in Print: On the Genealogy of Fairy Tales and the Brothers Grimm - Willem de Blecout.  Manchester University Press.
• South Central Pennsylvania Legends and Lore - David Puglia.  The History Press. 
• The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack: Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular Cultures - Karl Bell.  Boydell Press.
• Americo Paredes: Culture and Critique - Jose E. Limon.  University of Texas Press.
• Traditional Stories from Binandere in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea - Anita Tago.  Buai Series 3, University of Papua New Guinea Press.

Folklored: A Don Cossack "kurenj" hut. Quick notes.

Evgenia Samsonova has a very informative blog about Slavic folklore over at Folklored.   I encourage you to check it out!


Folklored: A Don Cossack "kurenj" hut. Quick notes.: The photos below show typical examples Don Cossack hut "kurenj" architecture seen around the southern regions of the Russian steppes. Mov...

Building a Better Folklore Library

I am always on the lookout for more folklore books.   I want them all!    Here are the new releases for July of this year.

• Folklore and Nationalism in Europe During the Long Nineteenth Century - Timothy Baycroft, ed.  National Cultivation of Culture, Brill Academic Pub.
• Legends of the Caucasus - David Hunt.  Saqi Books.
• Saints of Sage and Saddle: Folklore Among the Mormons - Austin E. Fife and Alta Stephens Fife.  Literary Licensing, LLC.
• Pop Mythology: Collected Essays - Laura A. Shamas.   Telemachus Press.
• Transatlantic Roots Music: Folk, Blues and National Identities - Jill Terry and Neil A. Wynn, eds.  American Made Music Series, University Press of Mississippi.  
• Kachina Tales from the Indian Pueblas - Gene Meany Hodge.  Sunstone Press.
• Gawain and the Grail Quest: Healing the Waste Land in Our Time - Jeffrey John Dixon.  Floris Books.
• Spirit Memory: An Ancestral Journey through Aboriginal and European Transformation - Mary Tasi.  Influence Publishing.
• Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen: Travellers' Songs, Stories and Tunes of the Fetterangus Stewarts - Elizabeth Stewart.  Compiled by Alison McMorland.  University Press of Mississippi/Elphinstone Institute.

Hot Folklore Fun in the Summertime: Folklore Reads on the Beach

Summertime.    And the fish are jumping.   Summertime.

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime.   Summertime.

Hot fun in the summertime.

Here are some folklore books to bring to the beach.  

• Post-Revolutionary Chicana Literature: Memoir, Folklore and Fiction of the Border, 1900-1950 - Sam Lopez.   Latino Communities: Emerging Voices - Political, Social, Cultural and Legal Issues, Routledge.
• Folklore in Action: Essays for Discussion in Honor of MacEdward Leach - Horace Palmer Beck and MacEdward Leach, eds.  Literary Licensing, LLC.
• The Art of Mythical Composition and Narration: Dagara White Bagr - Alexis B. Tengan.   European Interuniversity Press.   
• American Proverbs About Women - Lois Kerchen.  Booklocker.
• Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome - E. M. Berens.   Indoeuropean Publishing.
• What Happens Next?  Contemporary Urban Legends and Popular Culture - Gail Arlene de Vos.  Libraries Unlimited.
• Tales from 1,001 Nights: Aladdin, Ali Baba and Other Favorites - Anonymous.  Translated by Malcolm C. and Ursula Lyons.   Penguin Classics.
• Yes and No: The Intimate Folklore of Africa - Alta Jablow.  Literary Licensing, LLC.
• Norse Romance I: The Tristan Legend; Norse Romance II: The Knights of the Round Table; Norse Romance III: Haerra Ivan - Marianne E. Kalinke, ed.  Arthurian Archives, D. S. Brewer.   
• Archaeology and Folklore - Amy Gazin-Schwartz and Cornelius J. Holtorf, eds.   Theoretical Archaeology Group, Routledge.

Folklore Dump

Here are some links that are of interest to me:

• Bad Archaeology - A Snopes for the people who try to tell you the world will end in 2012 or that the pyramids were built by space aliens.
• Know Your Meme - This is how the youths communicate with one another.   
• John Miles Foley, RIP - founder of one of my favorite journals and author of a number of influential books on oral literature has passed.
• 100 Years of Titanic Songs - not counting Celine Dion.
• Paganfest - who are more ridiculous: pagans or juggalos? Discuss.
• Iran's Epic - new book out about the Shahnameh.   There can't be enough books about the Shahnameh, IMHO.  
• Eefing - American folk tradition.   If you don't know it yet, then start clicking!
• More Titanic Music (NO CELINE DION!)
• Блатная Песня - who doesn't love Russian prison songs?   
• Peasant Culture in Russian Cartoons - look, there's a metafilter about this.

Spring Reading List

I have just recently discovered that because I possess a coveted Boston Public Library card I am able to access on-line thousands of articles in "The Journal of American Folklore," "Western Folklore," etc.   Loading up my Kindle!   It's almost like I am back in academia without all the backbiting and politicking!

Here are the spring folklore books I want you to buy for me:

• The Seven Tengu Scrolls: Evil and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy in Medieval Japanese Buddhism - Haruko Wakabayashi.   University of Hawaii Press.   
• Miraculous Plenty: Irish Religious Folktales and Legends - Sean O Suilleabhain, ed.   Trans. by William Caulfield.   Scribhinni Bealodis/Folklore Studies Series, Folklore of Ireland Council.  
• Folk Tales of the Maldives - Xavier Romero-frias.   Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
• Enchanted Legends and Lore of New Mexico: Witches, Ghosts & Spirits - Ray John de Aragon.  The History Press.
• The Magical Imagination: Magic and Modernity in Urban England, 1780-1914 - Karl Bell.   Cambridge University Press.
• The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn - ed. by Lenn E. Goodman and Richard MacGregor.   Oxford University Press.
• The Irish Fairy Tales: A Narrative Tradition from the Middle Ages to Yeats and Stephens - Vito Carrassi.   Trans. by Kevin Wren.   University of Delaware Press.
• Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions - Jonathan Eyers.  Adlard Coles.
• The Voice of the People: Writing the European Folk Revival, 1760-1914 - ed. by Matthew Campbell and Michael Perraudin.   Anthem World History, Anthem Press.
• The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale - Caroline Sumpter.   Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture, Palgrave MacMillan.
• A Lark for the Sake of Their Country: The 1926 General Strike Volunteers in Folklore and Memory - Rachelle H. Saltzman.  Manchester University Press.
• The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science: A Mythologist Looks (Seriously) at Popular Science Writing - Gregory Schrempp.   McGill-Queen's University Press.
• The Denver Folk Music Tradition: An Unplugged History, from Harry Tuft to Swallow Hill and Beyond - Paul A. Malkoski.   The History Press.
• Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States - Kip Lornell.   American Made Music Series, University Press of Mississippi.
• The Irresistable Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre - Jack Zipes.   Princeton University Press.
• Intimate Distance: Andean Music in Japan - Michelle Bigenho.   Duke University Press Books.
• Villages on Stage: Folklore and Nationalism in the Republic of Moldova - Jennifer R. Cash.   Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia, LIT Verlag.
• A Companion to Folklore - Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan-Rokem, eds.   Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, Wiley-Blackwell.
• Fairy Tales Framed: Early Forewords, Afterwords and Critical Words - Ruth B. Bottigheimer.   State University of New York Press.

Happy readings!

Folklore TV on the Interwebs

Sometimes I don't know how things like this can go under my radar for so long, but there was a charming television show produced by North Carolina Public Television called "Folkways" hosted by musician David Holt.

I came across this by reading the latest Foxfire collection, which I recommend picking up.

You can find the show here at UNC-TV online. Viewing these episodes requires Realplayer, and I don't like Realplayer. But, happily, they are also available -FOR FREE! - on iTunes. I already have a few episodes loaded on my iPod for my next trip to the gym.

Add These to Your Bookshelf

It's the beginning of the month, and that means one thing at The New Vernacular Culture - that it's time to check out the new titles of interest to folklorists of all stripes. Here are some of the books I would like to add to my bookshelf soon:

• The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore: A Study in Comparative Archaeology - Christian Blinkenberg. Cambridge University Press. This book was originally published in 1911. It's in the Public Domain and can also be found here. And here. If you want a hard copy - for cheaper - try out the Harvard Bookstore; their machine Gutenberg will print out any pdf in minutes flat.
• Demonology and Devil-lore - Moncure Daniel Conway. Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge, Cambridge University Press. Reprint of 19th century work, in two volumes. Volume two here. Also free in many formats at Archive.org.
• Religion and the Decline in Magic - Keith Thomas. Penguin History, Penguin Global.
• Lord of the Dead: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl - Rudolfo Anaya. University of New Mexico Press.
• Ragnarok: The End of the Gods - A. S. Byatt. Myths Series, Grove Press. I don't know, I kind of like John Hodgman's version.
• The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale - Caroline Sumpter. Palgrave Studies in 19th Century, Palgrave Macmillan.

This month more than others, it appears that there is a surfeit of re-published folklore books and print-on-demand titles. Most of these titles are available for free many places - for the Kindle, on Archive.org and over at Google Books.

Shamanism and Folklore

The local alt-weekly recently published an article about contemporary uses of shamanism around Charlottesville in which they portrayed three local practitioners - one of whom is my friend, former boss and fellow Slavic folklorist Rachel Mann. I had the privilege of being Rachel's teaching assistant for a class on Story and Healing, which included a substantial segment on shamanism. This class was also ground-breaking in it's use of online collaborative writing tools, which is what propelled me into my sub-specialty of technology in folklore studies. It can be said that this class set both Rachel and I on paths that would shape the rest of our lives.

It was nice to read about how Dr. Mann is combining her academic background with her spiritual beliefs to create a local community of healing, you can check out the CVille weekly article here.

Here's some more resources on shamanism and folklore:

• "A World of Healing: The Mesa in Peruvian Shamanism" - Rachel Mann's article on Shaman's Portal.
• "Tuvan Shamanic Folklore" - Mongush B. Kenin-Lopsan. Excerpt from the book "Shamanic Worlds."
• "China's Dagur Minority: Society, Shamanism and Folklore" - Kevin Stuart, LI Wuewei and Shelear.
• "Shamanic Remnants in Hungarian Folklore" - I know it's a Wikipedia article, use your judgement.

New Year, New Link Dump!

Let's get this new year started right by cleaning my cache of recently highlighted folklore links:

• First off, I really love the postings from the Facebook profile Slavic Folklore. Follow her, she always has something interesting.
• Every so often NPR posts something of interest to the folklorist. Here is a story about the ballad in America.
• Someone found a Face Jug.
• Are you looking for a Public Folklorist job in Kentucky? Then click here.
• The American Folklife Center has a new incoming director. Congratulations, Dr. Petersen!
• Honestly, I could not get through these articles. And I don't have the energy or the inclination to correct them. Where knowledge rules, my ass!
• Nice bio and brief interview with folklorist (and Virginia native!) Anand Prahlad.
• What is Afrofuturism? Anything with Sun Ra gets my stamp of approval.
• As I can relate, Gerald Hausman was first introduced to the importance of the Wolf in Cub Scouts. Now if someone can only write a book about the importance of the Webelo in Native American culture.
• Call for papers! Ethnology at the Crossroads. Get cracking, start writing and submit.
• I like when people put their theses online. For free! It's like getting a free book! Congrats to Dr. Lewis for finishing her degree! I look forward to reading the thesis, "Aboriginal Britain"
• Review of "The Story Time of the British Empire: Colonial and Post-Colonial Folkloristics" was recently posted to the Journal of Folklore Research website.
• Speaking of online folklore journals, check out the latest ish of the Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, which includes pdfs which can be downloaded onto whatever you do your reading on nowadays.
• New book coming out on Dagestani folk tales.
• Architects design your favorite homes from folk tales.
• This book won the Russian Booker. I want to read it. It is said to have folkloristic overtones.

I only engage in the laziest type of blogging!

While 'writing' this post I was listening to the awesome bootleg recording of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan "Kickin' It." I recommend that you procure yourself a copy if you are a fan of either.

New Folklore Books for 2012

The new year has started - let's take a look at what is coming to your folklore bookshelf:

• The Ballad Collectors of North America: How Gathering Folksongs Transformed Academic Thought and American Identity - ed. by Scott B. Spencer. American Folk Music and Musicians Series, Hardcover, 272 pp. , Scarecrow Press.
• The Ecology of the Spoken Word: Amazon Storytelling and Shamanism among the Napo Runa - Michael Uzendoski & Edith Felicia Calapucha-Tapuy. Hardcover, 224 pp., University of Illinois Press.
• Herakles - Emma Stafford. Hardcover, 336 pp., Routledge.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!