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Off Topic => General Off Topic => Topic started by: IR_Kuoin on January 20, 2014, 01:01:35 pm

Title: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: IR_Kuoin on January 20, 2014, 01:01:35 pm
I've always been interested in some good o'l folklore, my favorite folklore from my own country are the forest roaming trolls etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll

If you have some good folklore from your own country that you like, please share :D
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: [ptx] on January 20, 2014, 01:03:16 pm
Latvian folklore has a lot of stories about werewolves. Even the romans described the Balt lands as the lands of the werewolves. Go figure.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: zagibu on January 20, 2014, 01:13:56 pm
We only have this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Bob_Ross on January 20, 2014, 01:29:49 pm
As a Frisian, probably http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutte_Pier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutte_Pier)

But I've also always liked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witte_Wieven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witte_Wieven)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Boerenlater on January 20, 2014, 01:31:57 pm
Here in the Netherlands we have stories about William Wallace, how he freed us from the Germans during the Roman era.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Armpit_Sweat on January 20, 2014, 01:35:45 pm
The one that pops-up instantly in my memories, is "змей горыныч". A multi-headed dragon of sorts. Every Russian kid knows this dragon :)
There are all sorts of mermaids, forest spirits, house spirits, and such, but that dragon is more special and unique imo :D

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The three mythical heroes who take part in many Russian fairytales "три богатыря":

(click to show/hide)

Илья Муромец. Добрыня Никитич. Алёша Попович.
They are most certainly a part of very Russian folklore.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Casimir on January 20, 2014, 01:36:32 pm
Discovery of America in 1170: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madoc

Also shit loads of Dragons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Ddraig_Goch

There is so much to Welsh folkelore it's a bit silly really: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_mythology


We also have An Hero(ine): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olwen
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: larlek on January 20, 2014, 01:49:26 pm
I suppose it would have to be Beowulf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_mythology#Mythology - More Anglo-Saxon mythology here if anyone wants to look.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Radament on January 20, 2014, 02:08:53 pm
bah we got an old lady (a good witch) bringing presents to children the night of January 5 , called Befana.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befana)

and obviously Rocco Siffredi , a true italian legend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocco_Siffredi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocco_Siffredi)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: IR_Kuoin on January 20, 2014, 02:09:53 pm
Quote from: Casimir on January 20, 2014, 01:36:32 pm
We also have An Hero(ine): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olwen

That's Lolwen alright
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Osiris on January 20, 2014, 02:11:15 pm
yeah England has a few :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_folklore

Elves
Dwarfs
Dragons & st George
Robin Hood
Tons of stuff in harry potter like boggarts and crap.
Big fuck off black dogs that kill the shit out of you  :D



Not sure Beowulf really counts as folklore as it was more a story than a folk belief
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Osiris on January 20, 2014, 02:24:46 pm
yeah everyone knows about the beast of bodmin :D That panther thing must be pretty damn old by now :D

There used to be a giant wooden man in the woods near me, guess he was carved out of a tree :D not sure what that was supposed to be O.o
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Casimir on January 20, 2014, 02:35:40 pm
Living in devon i had to deal with some much of drakes drum nonsense that i nearly went insane in school.

I think I've been to see it at least 6 times and have a folder which is filled with different brass rubbing's of it :P. Its really not impressive at all, although buckland abbey is beautiful so i didn't really mind.

Also the beast of Bodmin is just hilarious, reminds me very much of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Osiris on January 20, 2014, 02:42:47 pm
yeah the hound was based on Dartmoor some hunter sold his soul to the devil and rides around with big black hounds :P
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Gnjus on January 20, 2014, 02:43:10 pm
I wonder how it feels being Welsh.  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Casimir on January 20, 2014, 02:46:33 pm
Quote from: Gnjus on January 20, 2014, 02:43:10 pm
I wonder how it feels being Welsh.  :rolleyes:

yn well na bod yn llysnafedd fel chi.  :wink:
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Osiris on January 20, 2014, 03:05:08 pm
Gnjus should visit Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (yes actually the name of a village/railway station, guess its a big fuck you to anyone trying to pronounce it :D)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Franke on January 20, 2014, 03:23:33 pm
It's very hard to find folklore that is representative for all of Germany because there was no unified German state for so long. There's a lot of local folklore but the first thing without any regional referance that came to my mind is the Nibelungenlied (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied).

Although Wagner made (of course) an opera out of it, the original Legend of the Nibelung also has Nordic roots as far as I know so I'm not sure if you can count it as originally German folklore.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Moncho on January 20, 2014, 03:40:45 pm
Some interesting Spanish ones:

Caganer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer
Basically a figure of a guy shitting that is put in Nativity scenes accross Catalonia. I love this one.

Lovers of Teruel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovers_of_Teruel
Love story, both rich and in love since childhood, guy's family becomes poor, father forbids the wedding, guy says he will ask again in 5 years when he is even richer, returns 5 years and 1 day afterwards, she just got married, he dies, she dies, end of story.

A couple of local ones:

The Puig Campana hole: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puig_Campana
Near Benidorm, there is Puig Campana, a mountain with a hole near the top. There is also an island in the bay nearby. So there are stories linking them. Some versions say it is Roland fighting the moors that split it, some others that it was some Saint's horse that kicked it.

The face of the Moor:
(click to show/hide)
A face that can be seen in this mountain in Alicante, there is a legend about the tragic love story between the daughter of a Moorish lord and a Christian peasant. This one was imprisoned and executed, and it is said that resulted in the astonished face of the lord set in stone when his daughter threw herself down the cliff.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Tibe on January 20, 2014, 03:57:19 pm
Estonians national folklore is "Kalevipoeg" as in "Son of Kalev". Man I tell you, this is litterally some fucked up shit. The author has really let his imagination run wild, to say the least. It tells a tale of a gigantic superhumanly strong baltic pagan barbarian king who is quite daft and dies in the end due to his own stupidity. I mean this is just litterally so over the top imaginative that it makes Beowulf look completely subtle. And honestly thats why I never liked it. I mean it teaches a lot, I quess and it has some pretty good hidden messages behind it, but the unreality of it all kinda ruins it imo. A lot of fellow(older generation)estonians would bash my face in with a rock for saying it, but honestly thats how I feel.


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Its a good read, if you are into that folklore type of thing.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Mala on January 20, 2014, 04:27:33 pm
Here we have "Rübezahl" a quite moody mountain spirit. He has a different name in czech and polish but there are a lot of tales of him around the selisian border region.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCbezahl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCbezahl)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Daunt_Flockula on January 20, 2014, 04:38:31 pm
We have this from the Black Sea region of Turkey. Apparently, according to Wikipedia here, we share this mythic creature with Macedonians, Serbians and Bulgarians as well. This is a folk tale we share with Georgia too. What is told about this creature is pretty reminiscent of the Nordic troll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakoncolos

Here are varying depictions of the creature, each noticably different:
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Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Weren on January 20, 2014, 04:46:25 pm
Vaka vanha Väinämööinen...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4in%C3%A4m%C3%B6inen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4in%C3%A4m%C3%B6inen)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Falka on January 20, 2014, 04:54:00 pm
Quote from: IR_Kuoin on January 20, 2014, 01:01:35 pm
I've always been interested in some good o'l folklore, my favorite folklore from my own country are the forest roaming trolls etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll

If you have some good folklore from your own country that you like, please share :D


Hm, looks like your definition of folklore is different from mine... anyway, polish folklore? Let's think...


And bonus.

Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: HardRice on January 20, 2014, 05:18:59 pm
My favorite story is of John Henry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore)).

Bascially, he was a steel driver who tried to prove himself better than a steam-powered machine and ended up winning, but dying.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: SixThumbs on January 20, 2014, 05:43:00 pm
Eh, we have... Johnny Appleseed? And, the; eh....  Salem witch trials (not folklore)...?
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Tovi on January 20, 2014, 05:45:02 pm
In Britanny we have this

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A kind of death bringer.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: SixThumbs on January 20, 2014, 06:07:47 pm
Kind of sad that I had to look up my countries own folklore but the ones I remember hearing about in my childhood are Davey Crockett, Daniel Boone, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Sasquatch.

I think if you asked kids nowadays about any of them they would have little to no clue.
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Joseph Porta on January 20, 2014, 06:47:20 pm
The one where an old man with a white beard enslaves a bunch of afro americans and makes them clean the chimneys for him
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Joseph Porta on January 20, 2014, 06:48:55 pm
Quote from: [ptx] on January 20, 2014, 01:03:16 pm
Latvian folklore has a lot of stories about werewolves. Even the romans described the Balt lands as the lands of the werewolves. Go figure.

Dang i always imagined thered be werepotatoes that would seduce hngry farmers into a trap
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Joseph Porta on January 20, 2014, 06:51:48 pm
Quote from: Armpit_Sweat on January 20, 2014, 01:35:45 pm
The one that pops-up instantly in my memories, is "змей горыныч". A multi-headed dragon of sorts. Every Russian kid knows this dragon :)
There are all sorts of mermaids, forest spirits, house spirits, and such, but that dragon is more special and unique imo :D

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The three mythical heroes who take part in many Russian fairytales "три богатыря":

(click to show/hide)

Илья Муромец. Добрыня Никитич. Алёша Попович.
They are most certainly a part of very Russian folklore.
dang even back in the dark ages the russians made propoganda about their wars  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Armpit_Sweat on January 20, 2014, 07:01:13 pm
Quote from: ASGUARDIAN on January 20, 2014, 04:38:31 pm
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This guy :) Was hard to resist:

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: bavvoz on January 20, 2014, 08:16:31 pm
In north part of sweden theres something called vittra. Theres still some ppl beliving in them actually. I dont know that much about it though other than its very simular to the "version" vätte from the southern parts i think.

Humanlike beings that live alongside us. They rarely show themselves or make contact with humans, and usually its the females who do when they do. They are mostly harmless if u show them respect but have been known to kidnap humans or cattle if they feel threathened

I will try to ask some elderly person about them if i get a chance to learn more :)
Title: Re: Your countries favorite folklore
Post by: Daunt_Flockula on January 20, 2014, 09:05:52 pm
 :D Nice work as always Armpit

Quote from: Weren on January 20, 2014, 04:46:25 pm
Vaka vanha Väinämööinen...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4in%C3%A4m%C3%B6inen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4in%C3%A4m%C3%B6inen)

The songs Väinämööinen and Kalevala Melody by Ensiferum make more sense now.
(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)