May is turning out to be the month of the wolf. Last week saw the news of the first Danish wolf pack in 200 years and Kaja has reported that revellers at May Day celebrations in the UK witnessed the appearance of the folkloric wolf at the Jack-in–the-Green Festival in Hastings. There was no shortage of wolves following Walpurgis nacht as it triggered some interesting articles on religion and sorcery which inevitably involved some werewolves. For example, Dr Karl E. Siegfried posted on the story of Tyr’s binding of the wolf Fenrir on his longstanding Norse mythology blog. (well worth a visit) He argued that
The story of Tyr’s binding of the wolf Fenrir is the only surviving myth of a god who must have once been a major figure in Germanic religion. Today, there are two popular readings of the role of the wolf that place twenty-first century identity politics over a deep understanding of the mythic figure itself. After examining the myth and the variant interpretations, maybe we can agree on a reading that is both historical and contemporary.
For the full article see ‘Tyr and the Wolf in Today’s World’
Ian Simmons also wrote about Werewolves and their appearance in Medieval Jewish thought for the Fortean Times. Thanks to Tamsin Rosewall for sending this article to OGOM (unfortunately there is not an online link) but you can view a scan via Twitter here https://twitter.com/autumnrosewell/status/858297956012838912
These May wolves are hugely significant as this month also marks the build up to our bid for a Being Human Festival event on humankind’s relationship to the wolf (we hope to make an announce here soon).
weather was not excellent).
The British may be known for being reserved but I think we secretly enjoy dressing up and letting our hair down. Putting on face paint allows us to lose our inhibitions and gives us a day off from the strictures of polite decorum. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing some rather bemused tourists getting their noses greened by buxom wenches in tight-laced bodies. Each year, the festival is renewed, much like the seasons and the performance of this ritual brings much pleasure. I’d love to see more folklore(ish) events taking place.
ellers. As Sam’s post about the English eerie and (were)wolves discusses, an engagement with our hidden or lost national past is also a way of acknowledging the cruelty we have enacted on the natural landscape. Deforestation and the destruction of indigenous animal populations haunts the landscape as much as human-on-human violence. This pale wolf, walking along an ancient road, reminds us of what we lost and what may return in a truly uncanny way.
To end on a lighter note, here’s a picture of me in my May Day get-up looking suitably like someone who might entreat a policeman to climb into a giant wicker structure. (And apparently enjoy it).
