The Skystone is a #glacial #erratic boulder in Bonney Lake, #Washington state. It was deposited approximately 13,000 years ago. It has over 20 pits pounded into its surface, presumably by members of the #Puyallup tribe. The holes seem to point towards both #astronomical and geographic features. #FolkloreThursday More: https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=58988 #folklore #archaeology

Commonly known is giving a coin to the dead in funeral rites, so that they can pay Charon's toll to cross the Styx: but what about those who don't pay and aren't given last rites? They wander the banks of the Styx for a century before they are allowed to cross. #FolkloreThursday

In the Book of Tobit, the demons Solomon controls rise up against him, led by Asmodeus; in some traditions, Asmodeus impersonates Solomon, while in others, this uprising is a possession of djinni. #TempleThursday #FolkloreThursday

In the Quran, Bilquis, the Queen of Sheba, brings her nation's sun worship to Solomon's court, where in time she submits to Solomon's faith; in some folk traditions, Bilquis is the daughter of a djinn. #TempleThursday #FolkloreThursday

For a sign of the future, look to the birds: since at least the time of the Hittites, omen and divination have looked at the flight patterns of birds for a sense of what's to come. This art, called ornithomancy, was popularized by Roman augurs. #FolkloreThursday

Hermeticism in Japanese Buddhism, particularly of Shingon and Tendai schools, is famous for its remote mountain living, its waterfall meditations and ablution as purification rituals, and for another topic: its self-mummification! Like many Buddhist ascetics, some lived so simply they mummifed, some drinking tree resin to slowly kill themselves while not framing it that way. Some remained critical of this, to the point that when the Meiji government began to persecute non-Shinto religions in Japan, they outlawed religious suicide alongside assisted suicide (rarely were these methods ever done alone), and by the end of the 1870s the practice was completely outlawed. Shrines to these ascetics remain open. #TempleThursday #FolkloreThursday

For centuries, estates in Europe had garden hermits, men who were paid to stay on site and live as a recluse on estate land, living in anything from a hut to a chapel but always provided for: in food, in payment, in service. While many stayed, some were allowed to wander as a true hermit or nomad, and were even seasonable. Most viewed these hermits with curiosity and were treated as entertainment for the rich: look how comedically these rustic ascetics live! Many others, more favorably, treated these hermits with respect and sought their advice on matters from maintaining the manor and farmland to management of perhaps even the kingdom, in the case of Charles VIII of France with his hermit Francis of Paola. Whatever the case, today we view them as a #mood #TempleThursday #FolkloreThursday

To walk widdershins, or counterclockwise, in the Anglophone is to walk opposite of the sun, and thus against the natural order: it removes what good luck you have and replaces it with bad luck, and to walk widdershins around a church is to summon misfortune. Yet this was not a cultural universal, as elsewhere in Europe and across the world, counterclockwise is favorable, fortunate, and done in rituals for good luck. Often, the devil is in the details. #FolkloreThursday

Free download: Five issues of Wisht Maen #Devon Earth Mysteries and #Folklore small press magazine produced by Tracey Ramsbottom in the mid 90s. Articles by Cheryl Straffon, Andy Norfolk, Jeremy Harte, Paul Broadhurst, Pete Glastonbury and many more. Issue 3 stands out as a beautiful example of pre-DTP cut and paste production. More details and download links at https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146414153
#FolkloreThursday #FolkloreNerd #Mythology #WorldFolklore #Pagan #FolkHistory #Witchcraft #Archives

Ammit is the Devourer of the Dead, the Eater of the Dead who devours the impure who are found wanting before Osiris in death. With the head of an alligator, torso and legs of a big cat, and haunches of a hippo, she embodied the three great man-eaters of Egypt. #FolkloreThursday

Baphomet is at once both male and female, a whole instead of a duality: this being, thought to be the "god of the Templars" and thus the justification for their destruction, has been revived by occultists in many ways, as god and metaphor. #FolkloreThursday

🖼: É. Lévi

Like animal yōkai, with enough time, care, and attention, or a lack of these things, objects can come alive, too. Famously umbrellas, called karakasa kozō, love to sneak up on people and deliver a big lick, and sandals might well run away from you. #FolkloreThursday

🖼: M. Meyer

The depths of winter is the time of the Yule-beings, an enigmatic name for the Norse gods. At Yule they ride across the sky, hooting and hollering and having a terrifyingly good time. Will you ride with them at winter's heart, above snow and ice? #FolkloreThursday

🖼: H. Boeving

Remember, on Mastodon you can also follow hashtags just like you follow people!

Here some active archaeology-related hashtags we've seen here on https://archaeo.social:

#Archaeology #Anthropology #DigitalArchaeology #DigitalHumanities #ScienceMastodon #Neolithic #BronzeAge #Hillfort #MaterialCulture #Classics #OpenSource #OpenData #Rchaeology #GISDay #FotoMontag #TombTuesday #HillfortsWednesday #ThinSectionThursday #ThrowbackThursday #FolkloreThursday #FossilFriday #StandingStoneSunday

On Caribbean Islands like Trinidad and St. Lucia, not all beautiful women are to be trusted, especially if they want you off the beaten path: La Diablesse is a woman cursed by the Devil to have one goat leg, so be aware or lose your head! #FolkloreThursday

🖼: KongQueror

First recorded among the ancient Greek, the evil eye and protections against it date back to the 6th century BCE. Protections are many, but most common are depictions of the eye, often with a hand. Stats put up to 40% of the world believing the curse. #FolkloreThursday

At the center of many Filipino myths is the Bakunawa, a dragon-like being whose movements inspire Filipino spiritual calendars. With a single horn, it takes on different roles in different regions, causing eclipses to the Cebuano and Bicolano via eating the moon #FolkloreThursday

There is an old wives' tale that that if a "snapper" bites you, it won't let go till it hears thunder. I don't know about you, but this monster? I wouldn't want to test that tale to find out! #FolkloreThursday #SouthernFolklore

[Photo: "Giant Snapping turtle spotted in Minnesota" source: Michael Fisher @InkedHellHound twitter]

RT @VenetiaJane: Legend says that the first white roses were created when Aphrodite, the goddess of #love, was born from the ocean. The waves carried her ashore and, as the sea foam touched the ground, white roses, symbols of purity and devotion, sprang up all around. #FolkloreThursday #flowers

🐦🔗: https://nitter.eu/Baroness_Nichol/status/1534938247700393986

Today I Learned about Talchum
#TIL #cryptid #folklore #FolkloreThursday
Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talchum#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DYeongno_%28%EC%98%81%EB%85%B8%29%3A%2Ccan_go_up_to_Heaven.?wprov=sfla1