https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/a-message-in-support-of-the-people-of-ukraine/

As a learned society long concerned with the everyday, overlooked and subtle ways that we make meaning in our lives and identities, we offer solidarity to our colleagues and friends in Ukraine at this most difficult time.  The threat posed by authoritarian regimes to free speech, free thinking and liberal civil society should be a matter of bygone historical fact rather than our present reality.  Any attempt to mobilise ethno-national identity as a tool of oppression and control should be vigorously and publicly rejected: we therefore affirm our support for the Ukrainian peoples and hold their plight in our hearts as events continue to unfold.

The cultural heritage of Ukraine is imperilled too. It was reported on 28 February that many works by Ukrainian artist Maria Primachenko, celebrated for her folk art style, were destroyed as the Ivankiv Museum of Local History burned down.

On 5 March, a data rescue session will take place online focused on identifying and archiving data and sites for music collections at cultural heritage institutions in Ukraine which may be at risk during the attack and invasion by Russia. Click here for more information.

Our colleagues at the American Folklore Society are also participating:  https://americanfolkloresociety.org/afs-condemns-the-war-in-ukraine-and-stands-with-all-who-oppose-this-violence/

Thursday, 29 October 2020, 7.00-9.30pm, online, via Zoom  

Free, but prior registration is required via Eventbrite (see below)

Members of the Centre for Contemporary Legend will be presenting at an pre-halloween online event  this THURSDAY 29th October entitled: Haunts – Haunted places and haunted practices

The event organised by Luke Bennett, Associate Professor in the Deptment of the Natural & Built Environment, at Sheffield Hallam University comprises of eight short presentations and is the first in an irregular series which across 2020-21 will explore new ways to investigate the relationship between places and their hauntings, through provocative and productive interdisciplinary conversations and juxtapositions. 

The presentations by CCL members will be as follows:

• David Clarke – The Devil’s Elbow: the genius loci of a Dark Peak landscape
• Andrew Robinson – The Return of the Plague: the haunted village of Eyam
• Diane A. Rodgers – Ghosts in the Machine: Haunted screens

For full details of the event and a list of all the speakers please visit Luke’s Blog HERE

About this event: 

• the SHU SPG is playful, and this event will be presented in that spirit
• the event will be recorded and disseminated afterwards
• the event will be inclusive and respectful, but is intended for an adult audience

This SHU SPG event is a co-production with SHU’s: Centre for Contemporary Legend. 

For further details about SHU’s Space & Place Group or this event please email Luke Bennett: l.e.bennett@shu.ac.uk 

This year on the last Sunday in August, for the first time in many years, Cucklet Delph (top left) was empty. The Plague Sunday service that usually takes place here to commemorate the sacrifice made by the villages of Eyam during the plague of 1665-1666 was cancelled and replaced by an online service due to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

During the worst days of the plague in the spring and summer of 1666 the twenty-seven-year-old village rector, William Mompesson, held outdoor services in Cucklet Delph in order to maintain social distancing amongst his flock and to try to prevent the spread of the disease. Since the bicentenary celebrations in 1866 a yearly service has been held in the Delph following a procession through the village with the Vicar preaching from the raised mound underneath which lies Cucklet Church which can be seen in the above photographs.

Plague Sunday coincides with the village’s much older Wakes Week which begins with the blessing of the three dressed wells followed by a week of activities culminating with the town carnival the following Saturday. This year most of the celebrations were curtailed due to Covid-19. As well dressing is a communal activity it couldn’t take place as normal so in place of the large well dressings small individual designs were created and displayed in the village close to the plague cottages on Carnival Day (5th September). The carnival itself was cancelled however the Hope Valley jazz band played in a driveway opposite Eyam Hall and local people donned fancy dress and gathered at the mechanic’s institute for a socially distanced drink.

Text and Photographs by Andrew Robinson.

by Andrew Robinson

The Covid-19 crisis has resulted in numerous communal and individual responses to the impact of virus and the resulting lockdown across the U.K. that have been widely shared and often copied in both the physical and online worlds.

Many of these activities have developed spontaneously as new customs and rituals, from the communal clapping on Thursday nights, to the display of rainbow drawings and teddy bears in front windows along with displays of scarecrows in gardens and beside roads.

Here at CCL, we are interested in such community responses to the crisis and along with other members of the team I’ve been collecting examples from my local neighbourhood during daily walks a small selection of which I include below.

Rainbows have been seen in many places despite the almost complete absence of any rain for most of lockdown.

Scarecrows have also been popular in many places – the Scarecrow on the left appeared on a Planes Road on the northern outskirts of Nottingham in early April in support of NHS keyworkers. A week or so after being erected a Boris mask was attached and not long after graffiti was added. Two months later the figure is still present if a little faded and the sans mask.

During May local residents organised a scarecrow festival to give children something to do and to provide something to look at on daily walks. Scarecrows have also been documented by other CLL members in and around Sheffield and the Peak District.

Curb Side Gifts have also been a common sight on streets across the country. A mixture spare time being used to clear out items, and the closure of charity shops and local tips along with far more people walking around the neighbourhood has led to fascinating offerings.

On one street nearby Fairy Doors appeared at the base of every tree and have survived now for nearly two months.

On another street, small inspirational quotes were pinned to every tree.

In Buxton, Derbyshire, a ‘Covid-19 Snake’ of painted stones gradually grew along the side of the Pavilion Gardens amassing more than 2000 pebbles. Similar snakes have appeared in other towns.

Photographs © Andrew Robinson, 2020.