New Beginnings: Towards a National Folklore Survey

The study of folklore in England stands at a crossroads. Is it content with its current activities and achievements, or should it make a determined effort to move forward? A subject pioneered in this country, which gave it its name and early academic reputation, seems in danger of losing momentum. Its mission lacks a common purpose, and tends to be fragmented, and the discipline as a whole has largely been ineffectual in asserting its social and cultural importance. One way to redress these shortcomings is for the leading organizations concerned to undertake a comprehensive survey of the rich variety of traditions in our present-day multicultural society. This will generate a new impetus in efforts to document these aspects of English cultural heritage.     

Merovingian partitions: a ‘genealogical charter’?

This paper considers the classic accounts of Frankish partitions in 511 and 561 in light of the agenda of Gregory of Tours in the later 580s. While the partitions' political origins have long been emphasized, the concern here is with the political motivations of the source on which we depend, almost exclusively, for our knowledge. This discussion questions whether there were ever actually definite agreements to divide the kingdom, and suggests claims about shared inheritance supplied a 'genealogical charter' that justified and deflected attention from the interests of people like Gregory, in what was a continuously contested, evolutionary process.     

Making Witches: Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and Counterspells

Le Folk-Lore de France, par PAUL Sébillot. Tome iv. Le Peuple et l'Histoire. Paris: E. Guilmoto, 1907. By E. Sidney Hartland.

The Jataka, or Stories of the Buddha's former Births, translated from the Pali by various hands, under the editorship of Prof. E. B. Cowell. Vol. VI. Translated By Prof. Cowell and Dr. W. H. D. Rouse. Cambridge: The University Press, 1907. By W. Crooke.

Cradle Tales of Hinduism, by the Sister Nevedita (Margaret E. Noble). London: Longmans, 1907. By W. Crooke.

Folk Tales from Tibet, with Illustrations by a Tibetan Artist and some Verses from Tibetan Love-Songs. Collected and Translated by Capt. W. F. O'Connor. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1906. By A. R. Wright.

The Welsh Fairy Book. By W. Jenkyn Thomas. With 100 Illustrations By W. Pogány. Fisher Unwin, 1907. By Alfred Nutt.

Popular Handbooks of Religions.

1. J. Abrahams, "Judaism"; 2. E. Anwyl, "Celtic Religion in Pre-Christian Times"; 3. C. Bailey, "Religion of Ancient Rome"; 4. L. D. Barnett, "Hinduism"; 5. W. A. Craigie, "Religion Of Ancient Scandinavia"; 6. W. M. F. Petrie, " Religion of Ancient Egypt " ; 7. T. G. Pinches, " Religion of Babylonia and Assyria"; 8. C. Squire, "Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland. " London: Constable &; Co., 1906-7. By W. Crooke.

Short Bibliographical Notices.

Volkskundliche Zeitschriftenschau für 1904, herausgegeben im Auftrage der hessischen Vereinigung für Volkskunde von L. Dietrich. Leipzig: Teubner, 1907. pp. 328. By N. W. Thomas.

Transactions of the First Annual Congress of the European Theosophical Society, held at Amsterdam, 1904. Edited By Johan van Mauen. Amsterdam, 1906. Second Congress, London, 1905. London, 1907. Third Congress, Paris, 1906. London, 1907.

Trans. I., Amsterdam.

E. Weise, Fraternity as found in the Laws of Primitive Races. (Marriage-Laws, Taboo, Totemism, Etc.)

D. v. Hinlasper, Labbertav Kitab Tasaref. (A Dutch Paper, relating to a curious Javanese philosophical work.) By W. F. Kirby.

Trans. II., London.

A. Von Ulrich, The Religion of our Forefathers ; The Mythology of Germany in the Light of Theosophy. (Deals chiefly with the Eddas and the Sagas connected with them.) By W. F. Kirby.

Trans. III., Paris.

George M. Doe, Some Folklore Gleanings, principally from Devonshire. (An important paper, including notes on Omens and Warnings, Charms and Incantations, Witchcraft, and Beliefs and Customs.)

A. Von Ulrich, The Religion of our Forefathers in the SlavonicRace. (Some of the remains of old religious beliefs to be found among the Lithuanians, Russians, Bohemians and Poles, and the Wends and Prussians.)

M. U. Green, Some Notes on the Voyage of Bran, with special references to other Planes and States of Being.

Ed. Bailly, Invocation Aux Dieux Planitaires By W. F. Kirby.

Orkney and Shetland Old Lore, vol. i., 1907, and vol. ii., part i., January, 1908: together with Diplomalarium Orcadense et Hialtlandense. Collected and edited by Alfred W. Johnston, Amy Johnston, and Jón Stefánsson. London : Printed at the King's Weigh House for the Viking Club.