Do let us know about any English areas you think have a great story to tell that you think doesn't get limelight! I've noticed they're far less recorded than Irish, Scottish, and Welsh tales and have recently acquired a new book on them! Also been reading up on Europe wide traditions surrounding everything home, hearth and garden and how these really have been sacred places for us over the centuries!

Tonight in Catalonia we celebrate the traditional midsummer festival, which is the 24th (traditionally days begin at sunset.) The 24th is the Roman dating of the summer solstice—the same way the winter solstice and the vernal equinox are on a 25th. The Roman midsummer was fully Christianized but Pagan folklore was retained to this day.

In the fifteenth century Catalan humanist Jeroni Pau recorded the custom of wearing myrtle wreath crowns during midsummer. This afternoon we’ll cut myrtle branches from our garden, we’ll make the wreaths, prepare the bonfire, and at the appearance of the 3 stars at dusk we’ll lit the bonfire and make our offerings and prayers to the Unconquered Sun reigning supreme.

Questions for Heathen/ general Trad Mums, that I would be super grateful for thoughtful answers to if anyone should have them:

1) Did you find a way to incorporate your practice of Heathenry into birth?

2) Did you get the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine? Do you have data on if it is safe? Links to well conducted studies (good numbers of participants, control groups, low drop out rates) are welcome. This is the only vaccine I am on the fence about during pregnancy, the covid jab is an absolute No and seeing as flu jabs are being promoted with them and given out in the same centres I am deeply suspicious of that too and won't have it.

https://twitter.com/HearthEuropa/status/1542952277547356163 I feel like this guy needed to know his omens a little better.

Hmm y'know given that I know traditional Germanic and Scandinavian culture and religions to have put great emphasis on hospitality to the point of housing literal enemies, I'm gonna take a punt on Swedes won't give you dinner being not at all true, and probably a massive excuse for more Europeans are the meanest people ever propaganda.

Speaking for the Brits on hospitality, depends on how much notice. If we know you're coming and you're staying and there will be a requirement for food, prepare to be overfed. My mum and aunties bought in Lots of food if guests were staying the weekend. Especially if you are coming to a barbeque on one of the very few days we can ever host one, you are gonna eat, so. much. meat. If you come round for a chat you can probably expect tea and snacks. However if it's impromptu, we don't do that very well. we will offer you tea, awkwardly apologise for the lack of any decent coffee in the house if you're a coffee drinker, if it's the first time we're making you a tea or coffee there will be an extensive questioning on how you "take it" (Milk? Sugar? How much milk? How strong? Y'know I'll let you add your own milk, it's personal isn't it?) If there are biscuits we will break them out just to diffuse the awkwardness, especially if we had an unopened fancy M&S selection from a recent occasion anyways. It isn't polite for you to stay long enough for us to have to give you proper food on that sort of occasion and if you don't take the hint, we might start awkwardly offering you, er, some things that we just sort of have, or some toast or something. Now you know!

"There is no such thing as a 'birthing parent'. There are mothers. And mothers are sacred. Resist the demons' agenda. Always use the real word; that word is 'mother'." - Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya

I am little worried about the health and fitness of Frens. I have seen some pretty extreme diets and regimens being adhered to in this space, and preached like they will work for everybody, long term, when it seems highly likely that they won’t. If you’re eating a super strict keto diet in a 2hr a day window and you feel great, you have a level of functioning you’re OK with, perfect, carry on.
If you feel utterly utterly depleted, defeated, miserable and hungry, there’s absolutely no shame in making adjustments until you can at least tolerate your diet. Food and exercise are important things to think about quite a lot, we should learn to meal plan, and cook for ourselves and avoid processed food, organic and growing our own is definitely an ideal to aim for, finding the forms of exercise we like doing, trying to find ways of liking the types we know are most beneficial but not fun.
However, equally, food and the gym shouldn’t be taking up your thoughts 95% of the day because you’re so hungry, or dreading that next bottle of mandatory milk the diet says you have to chug, or wondering if you actually will get through your work out on nothing but electrolyte water. I don't know how many people are actually in this place, but it seems like some are.
A sad situation crossed my path today of a clearly right wing aligned person who was so focused on losing weight fast that he was considering running through a back injury, and felt like not doing so would be giving in to demonic temptation. When we have right leaning people trying to push through, to the extent that they don’t even think about whether running through confirmed or suspected physical injury to a majorly sensitive place like the back is actually going to do more harm than good, then people in the comments applaud this, with only one person cautioning that this was a bad idea, with someone else then weighing in advising this person to “f* these people” advising caution “it’s going to hurt no matter what” I can’t help but feel, cumulatively, from all the negative self talk I have heard from my mostly male frens, all the extreme diets I have seen pushed, all the glorification of pain and struggle for it’s own sake, we may have veered down a path that could be detrimental to our actual health. Pretty sure the majority of ancient people wouldn’t have borderline purposely injured themselves or turned their nose up at bread when they got some, they were just radically accepting of the fact that injury, death and lack of bread was something that could happen. There are recorded instances of ordeals and rites of passage but in an age where every day of soul crushing modern life is an ordeal let’s not add malnutriton, extreme hanger or permanent injuries to the list of things already on our plate as advocates for Tradition.

https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/branscombe.htm The folklore of food actually isn't something I have explored much, may attempt to summarise a very weird collection of folkloric beliefs about bread in a later post. The traditional beliefs and associations which arise surrounding this food, which many people for various reasons completely demonise today, are indeed nuanced and fascinating.

This is an example of Well Dressing, a Derbyshire custom in which wells are decorated with boards covered in clay, onto which natural plant materials such as petals are pressed in order to create mosaic pictures. The custom includes both wells and springs and could be Roman or Celtic in origin. The process is extremely time consuming and requires considerable artistic skill, but has not been lost and is still widely practiced throughout the month of August (although can vary within the May to September range.)

Related to Hearth spirit stuff I was talking about on the twitter

The Cofgod, “Gods of the Room,” and the Ancestor Cult.

Part 1

The Cofgod is the Anglo-Saxon God of a household. A close comparison can be made with the Germanic “Kobold,” though this is no one-for-one equivalent, those being more closely related to the “Pūcan” of Medieval England. A closer match is the “Nisse/Tomte” of Scandinavian folklore, and the “Domovoy” of Slavic tradition.

To those of a Classicist background the direct comparison would be the “Penates.” This is probably the closest comparison from the little that we have on the Cofgodas (indeed it is used as an Old English transliteration of the Penates). In the Roman tradition the Penates were the primary deity invoked in domestic rituals. They would receive a portion of every meal in the hearth to ensure that families fortunes would be maintained or (if pleasing to the Penates) rise.

Posted about anti-violence on Hearth before. Just in case anyone needed their daily reminder, don't do edgy posting, don't do violence, don't share fricking terrorist manifestos. I know you're frustrated with the modern world but these wonked sort of perspectives aren't going to provide you with serious wisdom. Now this guy, and groups in which he had a major role, could all be in trouble because of stupid posting. Although I would add aforesaid group should have been hot on stopping this sort of stuff especially amongst spokespeople anyways. So don't get/remain involved in things with a culture that's wishy washy on matters like this and don't be this guy. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/kris-kearns-patriotic-alternative-terror-prison-spain-b1021359.html

Found an interesting phenomenon, "sunken churches" such as Abington Church Farm, formerly known as Sunken Church Field. It is said that a church once stood there and fell into ruin becoming buried, but curiously, if you kneel with your ear to the ground at night, you can still hear the church bells ringing. This legend, reminiscent of "Sunken Cities", is repeated throughout the country with various sunken churches, or kirks. Bells are personified in old churches, with it being Catholic custom to name and bless them. The sound of the ringing bells is associated with driving away fairies and bad spirits. There is a recurrent theme of their accidental loss, and the dropping of the new bell into deep waters where it continues to toll, such as in Kentsham. The bells even have objections to things that happen to them, a bell from Bosham sunk the boat it was stolen in, one from Barlinch refused to ring when it was forcibly transferred to Exeter Cathedral! This seems to be a faint remnant of house spirit beliefs.

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lol

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