Befana Belsnickel The Witch & The Fox While I'm not particularly happy with the last three images of this project (I've been feeling uninspired and frustrated the last few days and it's felt difficult to create) The Witch & The Fox has a particular significance for me. During it's creation, I was thinking of all… Continue reading The Last Of The Darkest Days – Befana, Belsnickel And The Witch & The Fox
I was very small when I first read the story about the Christmas Ghosts, and I've encountered dozens of different versions in the thirty odd years since I first scared myself witless with it. The tale haunted me then, and I find it just as gloriously chilling today. The story I'm going to share with… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Christmas Ghosts
Something that I've discovered during my Darkest Days journey, and that I haven't been able to stop thinking about, is the age old tradition in Scandinavia of leaving food out for the dead on Christmas Eve. (I know mince pies aren't tradition in the Far North but I didn't have any pepparkakor or lutefisk to… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Feeding The Dead
While researching into Jack Frost, I found out that if you didn't praise the art he left on the window panes, you'd have to face his wrath...which could involve being led astray in sub zero temperatures. This led me to create the following poem. It's a very rough first draft, so please bear with me!… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Jack Frost
'...she was a creature of ice and snow and could not survive the warmth she felt in her heart. With the faintest sigh, she began to melt. As they stepped from the forest into the rays of the sun, Lel went to hold Snegurochka but, as he did so, her feet melted beneath her; she… Continue reading The Darkest Days – The Snow Maiden
Tonight the animals speak. (A poem is in the works...!)
And...it's back to Finnish lore. I think I first heard about Nuuttipukki (it's impossible for me to write Nuuttipukki without referring back to Google search to make sure I've got it right.) when a member of the Folk Horror Revival Group (Not in? Come join! It's the best place on the internet!) posted some fabulous… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Nuuttipukki
For someone who is as tied to the North as I am, my knowledge of Finnish lore really ought to be stronger than what it is. But hell, I need to stop putting myself down. I wanted to develop creatively and that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm gathering wisdom every day on this journey, and… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Louhi
Writing about the Slavic Pagan goddess Marzanna wasn't, for whatever reason, easy. Neither was capturing a portrait. It's happened a few times during the past weeks that things just haven't come together, no matter how hard I've tried. In theory, it should have been straightforward, she's the personification of my favourite season for crying out… Continue reading The Darkest Days – Marzanna
Celebrating the strange and the shadowy, the damned and unseen 