Avalon

Avalon is the place where the legendary King Arthur was taken after receiving mortal wounds in battle. Although it is a mythical place, there are sites on which Avalon may well have been based. Avalon is mentioned in a widely read text in History of the Kings of Britain (1138), written by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100–1154). Part fiction, part history, and partly based on Celtic folktales, Geoffrey’s work was the first popular source to depict the exploits of King Arthur, a leader believed to have ruled in Britain during the fifth or sixth century. That era falls within the Dark Ages, a period after the Roman Empire retreated from northwestern Europe and the area was assailed by invaders from eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Not much is known about the history of that period. Geoffrey’s work helped bring attention to myths of the Celtic people, who were overwhelmed by Romans and then other invaders during the first six centuries. His recounting ofthe exploits of King Arthur inspired a trend of tales written and told about Arthur and his knights. The tales were especially popular in the courts of Europe from about 1150 to 1250, and have enjoyed several revivals since. After Arthur received mortal wounds in battle, he was tended to by a maiden and placed aboard a boat bound for Avalon. The location of Avalon, usually called an island, varies according to which of the many Arthurian tales is being read. Some sources suggest Avalon lies off the coast of Great Britain, or “across the sea,” a term some have interpreted as the Atlantic Ocean, with Avalon possibly being the island of Greenland or a location in North America. Geoffrey likely took the name from “Avallon,”a Celtic term equivalent to “apple place.” Celtic myths had identified a paradise in terms that translate to an “island of apples.” The old Welsh language, where the word “Avallach” referred to a mythical island, is another possible source. Arran, an island off the coast of Scotland, has been considered a possible model for Avalon. The name Arran derived from “Emhain of the Apple Trees.” Another popular
claim for the site of Avalon is Glastonbury,a longtime apple-growing area in England.

What is Folklore?

in modern usage, an academic discipline the subject matter of which (also called folklore) comprises the sum total of traditionally derived and orally or imitatively transmitted literature, material culture, and custom of subcultures within predominantly literate and technologically advanced societies; comparable study among wholly or mainly nonliterate societies belongs to the disciplines of ethnology and anthropology. In popular usage, the term folklore is sometimes restricted to the oral literature tradition.

Folklore studies began in the early 19th century. The first folklorists concentrated exclusively upon rural peasants, preferably uneducated, and a few other groups relatively untouched by modern ways (e.g., gypsies). Their aim was to trace preserved archaic customs and beliefs to their remote origins in order to trace the mental history of mankind. In Germany, Jacob Grimm used folklore to illuminate Germanic religion of the Dark Ages. In Britain, Sir Edward Tylor, Andrew Lang, and others combined data from anthropology and folklore to “reconstruct” the beliefs and rituals of prehistoric man. The best-known work of this type is Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890).

Large collections of material were amassed in the course of these efforts. Inspired by the Grimm Brothers, whose first collection of fairy tales appeared in 1812, scholars all over Europe began recording and publishing oral literature of many genres: fairy tales and other types of folktales, ballads and other songs, oral epics, folk plays, riddles, proverbs, etc. Similar work was undertaken for music, dance, and traditional arts and crafts; many archives and museums were founded. Often the underlying impulse was nationalistic; since the folklore of a group reinforced its sense of ethnic identity, it figured prominently in many struggles for political independence and national unity.

As the scholarship of folklore developed, an important advance was the classification of material for comparative analysis. Standards of identification were devised, notably for ballads (by F.J. Child) and for the plots and component motifs of folktales and myths (by Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson). Using these, Finnish scholars, led by Kaarle Krohn, developed the “historical-geographical” method of research, in which every known variant of a particular tale, ballad, riddle, or other item was classified as to place and date of collection in order to study distribution patterns and reconstruct “original” forms. This method, more statistical and less speculative than that of the anthropological folklorists, dominated the field throughout the first half of the 20th century.

After World War II new trends emerged, particularly in the United States. Interest was no longer confined to rural communities, since it was recognized that cities too contained definable groups whose characteristic arts, customs, and values marked their identity. Although some Marxist scholars continued to regard folklore as belonging solely to the working classes, in other circles the concept lost its restrictions of class and even of educational level; any group that expressed its inner cohesion by maintaining shared traditions qualified as a “folk,” whether the linking factor be occupation, language, place of residence, age, religion, or ethnic origin. Emphasis also shifted from the past to the present, from the search for origins to the investigation of present meaning and function. Change and adaptation within tradition were no longer necessarily regarded as corruptive.

In the view of “contextual” and “performance” analysis in the late 20th century, a particular story, song, drama, or custom constitutes more than a mere instance to be recorded and compared with others of the same category. Rather, each phenomenon is regarded as an event arising from the interaction between an individual and his social group, which fulfills some function and satisfies some need for both performer and audience. In this functionalist, sociological view, such an event can be understood only within its total context; the performer's biography and personality, his role in the community, his repertoire and artistry, the role of the audience, and the occasion on which the performance occurs all contribute to its folkloric meaning.

Mermaids

There are few tales of the fairy folks’ friends that are as captivating as those that deal with
the mermaid, those ocean-dwelling divinities that are half-human and half-fish. Although there are mermen, the greater fascination has always been on the mermaid with her top half a beautiful woman and her bottom half that of a fish. Traditionally, the mermaid is also gifted
with a lovely singing voice, which can be used to warn sailors of approaching storms or jagged
rocks ahead. Or, in many of the ancient stories, the seductive siren song of the mermaids lure
the seamen onto the jagged rocks and to their deaths. As with all of the “middle-folk,” mermaids can be agents of good or of destruction.
As in the folklore of the selkie, sometimes mermaids fall in love with humans and are able to come ashore in human shape and to live on land for many years. They may even
have children with their human husbands. But in all of these tales of mercreatures and human mates, the mermaid longs to return to the sea, and one day she will leave her human
family and do so.
The Ceasg is a type of mermaid that haunts the lakes of the Scottish highlands. Her upper body and facial features are those of a beautiful, well-endowed woman, but her lower half is that of a large salmon. Like most supernatural beings, the Ceasg is of a dual nature. If a handsome young man should capture her attention and treat her well, she may assume human shape and marry him, at the same time granting him three wishes that may make them wealthy. If she feels that she has been disrespected or treated badly, she may use her beauty to lure a fisherman to the deepest part of the lake and drown him.
In Lake Tanganyika in the small East African country of Burundi, the Mambu-mutu is very much the classical mermaid, half attractive woman and half large fish. In her case, however, she does not fancy humans, and her only intention is to drag them under the lake’s surface and suck their blood.


In Estonian folklore, the Nakh are shapeshifting water demons who walk freely on land
as handsome young men or beautiful women who lure their victims with the sound of their sweet, seductive singing. Once they have enchanted their victims, they lead them to
river, lake, or ocean and entice them to watery graves.
The Nix is a particularly nasty shape-shifting entity who, like all the fairy folk, loves to
dance. According to German folklore, the Nix are attracted to the sound of music at
fairs, carnivals, or outdoor concerts, and they appear as attractive men or women who
enthrall the human audience with their skill and grace on the dance floor. Once they have lured a charmed human to join them at water’s edge with the promise of romantic dalliance, they reveal themselves to be ugly, green-skinned fairies who drag their victims into the water and death by drowning.