WillowWinsham
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willowwinsham.bsky.social
WillowWinsham
@willowwinsham.bsky.social
Author and historian, specialising in witchcraft, folklore and cats. Co-founder of #FolkloreThursday

The Story of Witches - Out Now
https://bit.ly/3PNy8yC

willowwinsham.com
It hasn't been the best start to the year on several fronts, so I'm taking finding the perfect sweatshirt from @soverybritish.bsky.social as a big win this week. 💜
January 22, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Stirring from the post-Christmas/pre-New Year pit to share good news for US readers - there's 25% off pre-orders of Curious Cats and Fantastical Felines at Barnes & Noble from today until 1st January 2026!

Enter code PREORDER25 at checkout to claim your discount.
www.barnesandnoble.com
December 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
That's the end another epic #FolkloreThursday ✨🐿️☃️🥂

Today's theme was "Winter and Festive Folklore” This is @shanonsinn.bsky.social signing off - your last host of 2025! Wishing you a wonderful Winter Solstice and a happy holiday season ❄️🎄🌟

1880 circa English Card
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
At midnight on Christmas Eve all animals are endowed with the gifts of speech and prophecy. Apparently, those born on a Sunday can speak with them... #FolkloreThursday
🎨Brueghal the Elder
December 11, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
A fly in the house at Christmas is considered a sign of good luck in British folklore... #FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Feliz Navidad #FolkloreThursday ❄️✨🎄❄️

That was Crystal @crystalponti.bsky.social being merry and bright before the break! I'm @shanonsinn.bsky.social your elven host for the next one hour ⭐

Today's theme is "Winter and Festive Folklore”

1900s early German postcard
December 11, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Hello, friends! I’m @crystalponti.bsky.social hosting this hour of #FolkloreThursday as we celebrate Winter & Festive lore. BIG thanks to @mythcrafts.bsky.social for hosting before the break. Now, let’s make this thread sparkle with midwinter magic and holiday fun. Post away!

Art: Mary Stubberfield
December 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
In parts of rural Warwickshire c. late 19th/early 20th C, a giant cooked marrow filed with stuffing graced the Christmas Day dining table. Prior to the feast, the marrow was hung in the parlour.
#FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
In Scottish folklore, those born on Christmas day have the ability to see ghosts... #FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
the Tsurara Onna, Icicle Woman, is created by the longing of a lonely man gazing at an icicle in the winter. He falls in love with his beautiful visitor and lives happily till spring comes when the snow and icicles melt and she disappears, leaving him heartbroken #FolkloreThursday art @yokai.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Thank you #FolkloreThursday!
This is @mythcrafts.bsky.social signing off, but @crystalponti.bsky.social will be back for more after the break. Have a wonderful festive season
Img:London Ballet performing the nutcracker
December 11, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Fjøsnissen are small house spirits from Norwegian folklore who live in barns and do work around the farm. It's traditional for farmers to leave their fjøsnissen a bowl of rice porridge on Christmas Eve, and not doing so may result in him carrying out mischievous or malicious acts. #FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Most accounts of Perchta concur on the major themes: she was associated with spinning, she traveled with a litany of others, and she loved slitting open the bellies of naughty children and stuffing them with straw or garbage.

#folklorethursday

🔗👇

mythcrafts.com/2024/12/12/t...
The Rounder the Belly, the Harder it is to Slit! Beware Frau Perchta
Frau Perchta is a folkloric figure from the Alpine region, one that rewards the good and punishes the bad around Winter festival time. Like most folkloric figures, every locality has a slightly dif…
mythcrafts.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Krampus’ name is probably from the German kramp/krampen, which means claw (though another possible etymology comes from the Bavarian word krampn, which means dead or rotten)

#folklorethursday

🔗👇

mythcrafts.com/2024/12/05/g...
Greeting from Krampus!
For every Yin, there is a Yang. Every time the Beatles sang that they ‘want(ed) to hold your hand’, there was a Mick Jagger swaggering on a different stage, snickering just exactly wher…
mythcrafts.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Huge thanks to everyone for an enchanting hour of seasonal festive #folklorethursday stories~This is @botanicafabula.bsky.social off to tell a Yule tale or two~handing over to the wonderful @mythcrafts.bsky.social who will be your next host🌲Pic: The book of Christmas Hervey, Thomas Kibble 1799-1859
December 11, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Hello #FolkloreThursday! Thank you to @botanicafabula.bsky.social for hosting the last hour. This is @mythcrafts.bsky.social for some festive cheer!
Img from Wikipedia: Sinterklaas, the evolutionary link between St Nick and Santa
December 11, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Have you ever noticed how snow seems to melt faster right around a tree? That's the work of a yokai called Yukinbo, a one-legged child who hops in circles around tree trunks after it snows. #folklorethursday
art by @samkalensky.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
My first book tells a folktale of how robin got its redbreast. Robins are traditionally fire-bringers and robin fans the fire in the stable where Jesus is born, keeping the child warm and alive. A spark of fire burns robin's feathers - this red colour now a mark of its kindness... #FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Perchta from Germanic folklore visits houses during the 12 Days of Christmas. She leaves silver coins for those who have been good, and slits the bellies of those who have not, stuffing them with straw. #FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
One of my favourite festive stories to tell #folklorethursday friends is the tale of how the pine tree came to be covered in stars~I share it in my book The Time Traveller’s Herbal~it all begins in the heart of a forest on longest night…

www.botanicafabula.co.uk/time-travell...
December 11, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Many Alpine villages believed the wind at year’s end carried whispers from the dead. Doors were cracked open just a moment so loved ones could slip inside and warm themselves. #FolkloreThursday

Art: Art Rave
December 11, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Anyone else thinking "But I'd have put it in a "safe place" and then not be able to find it the next year"? 😂
“The old custom was to light the Yule log with a fragment of its predecessor, which had been kept throughout the year for the purpose; where it was so kept, the fiend could do no mischief.”
 
(Frazer “Golden Bough”)
 
🎨 H.M.Paget
 
#Folklorethursday
December 11, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Boreas is the Greek god of the cold north wind, storms, and winter. He is brother to the other winds, and son of Eos, the dawn. Boreas is very strong, with a violent temper, and his most well-known myth is his abduction of the Athenian princess Oreithyia.
🎨Stefano della Bella
#FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
A piece of Christmas folklore which I always follow... is taking down your decorations by Twelfth Night otherwise you'll have bad luck.
The way to avert the bad luck is keep the tinsel up all year.
#FolkloreThursday
December 11, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by WillowWinsham
Good morning! This is @folkloretodmorden.bsky.social kicking off today’s seasonal #FolkloreThursday. ☃️
Share your #Winter, #Christmas, #Seasonal #folklore with us!
A more modern tradition- who’s still in the game, and who is in Whamhalla?
🎅🎄🎅
December 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM