Faecraft

Thunderbirds and lightning, very very frightening ME! (Galileo, Galileo, Figaro). 

Holly and Chelsea learn about thunderbirds, creatures that hold importance for indigenous peoples across North America. Chelsea pontificates on why she hates nineteenth-century ethnographies while Holly refuses to purchase a full text on Google Books. 

Sources:
 • Thunderbird (mythology) wikipedia
 • Harry Potter Wiki- Thunderbird 

La Llorona: the patriarchy makes me cry, too, sometimes. This week the Burk sisters learn about a fascinating figure from Mexican folklore, La Llorona, the weeping woman. We talk colonization, Coco, and Chicana feminism in relation to this powerful story of love, motherhood, loss, and grief.

Sources:

• Biggs, Mary Jo Garcia. "La Llorona." The Encyclopedia of Latino Culture: From Calaveras to Quinceaneras, edited by C...

What does the fox say?!

Holly and Chelsea find out in this week's episode focusing on the Japanese kitsune, or fox god. Hear all about how these adorable, powerful creatures became synonymous with Japanese culture, permeating all areas of life from religion to architecture to literature and more for centuries. 

Sources:

• 5 Great Kitsune Aime for Fans of the Nine-Tailed Fox
• 6 Things to Know About the Inari Fo...

Get ready to smell what the Florida Man is cooking in this latest installment of Faecraft! Holly and Chelsea dig into the stinky cryptid prowling Floriday from the Everglades to the Keys: the Skunk Ape. They discuss the ape's biggest proponents, Florida's history, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the correlation between white nationalism and cryptozoology.

Sources:

• Atlanta Daily World, July 21 1977. "Fla. Fam...

Holly and Chelsea have a WAIL of a time this week talking ... you guessed it, banshees! Fae in Ireland, ghosts in Scotland, these wailing women are thought to be harbingers of death, mourners ushering souls to the next realm, and family protectors.

Sources:

• Irish Mythology
• Soul Screamer book series (Goodreads)
• Banshee book series (Amazon)
• Banshee (Disney wiki)
• Scream of the Banshee movie (Wikipedia)
• Banshee (short story)- Wi...

Hello and welcome to Faecraft, a journey into tales of wonder, whimsy, and woe. Join us, the Burk sisters, for a romp with the Seelie and Unseelie courts in this our very first episode. Chelsea digs into historical research and origins of the magical Scottish courts of lore, while Holly shows us the lasting legacy of these creatures in popular culture.

Sources

• An Encyclopedia of Faeries, Katherine Briggs, 1976
• British Fa...

Cows! Fertility! Ravens!

This week on the podcast Holly and Chelsea tackle one of their favorite Irish goddesses, the Morrigan. Chelsea goes into the ways this oral tradition was collected and interpretive issues, while Holly looks at how the Morrigan is honored today.

Sources:

• Clark, Rosalind. The Great Queens: Irish Goddesses from the Morrigan to Cathleen Ni Houlihan. Irish Literary Studies 34, Barnes and Nob...