#food and folklore

[foodandfolklore]

Easy Ways to Kitchen Witch

If you're new to the craft, or if your path is recently at a cross roads where you're feeling more drawn to kitchen witchcraft, you might be looking for some easy ways to start. So often when you picture Kitchen Witchcraft, you think of elaborate meals of baked goods beautifully decorated. And sure, that can be part of it; but if you try to make Instagram worthy food for every meal, you'll burn out real quick. So how can you Be a Kitchen Witch without braking bank or burning out?

Stirring your intentions

This is going to be brought up any time talking about Witchcraft and Food, so I figured I'd get it out of the way first. The idea being if you want to add energy or personal intention to food, so that when it's consumed the magic activates. A lot of witches swear by: Stir Clock Wise to Add, Stir Counter Clockwise to banish (Get rid of bad stuff in food). I've mentioned this before, I personally don't feel like this makes a difference. Instead, what makes a difference is stirring towards you to add Energy and intentions. Stir away from you to Banish or remove. Which direction is Towards/Away? Whatever way feels right to you.

The neat thing about stirring is you can do it with any food or drink. You don't need to be actively cooking to do some stirring. You can use a straw, a fork, a spatula; whatever. And if you have something that can't be stirred, like a slice of pizza, try turning the plate.

Candle to Raise Power

Any time you're cooking in the kitchen, or doing anything in the kitchen, consider lighting a candle. I have a round candle holder with a lid that I wash and reuse. Just plop a tea light or votive candle in there. Candles are great at heightening the energy in a room, and as someone who's struggled with depression and motivation, I've found this little ritual/routine helps gets me going.

A few tips, first you wanna make sure the candle is in a place where you can see it but not in a place where it may get in the way. I keep mine on the back of my prep counter. Next, avoid strong scented candles. Scented candles can be great for a lot of occasions, but the smell of the candle can muddle or mute the smell of the food. Finally, as with any time you use candles, please practice good fire safety.

Spell Ingredient Correlations can Carry Over to Food

Have you done extensive research on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme? Well I got good news! All of that research was not for nothing! Herbs and Spices used in Witchcraft and Spells are commonly used in food. If you use cinnamon in a lot of your spell work for prosperity and success, try throwing some in your food with similar intentions and see how it goes.

Granted, this is not going to apply to every spell ingredient as many plants used in witchcraft are toxic. Or at the very lest can be problematic when consumed in large amounts or if pregnant. So please use some caution and common sense. A little research can take you a long way.

Simmer Pots

These are great ways to elevate your home's energy. Also a good way to use up some dried ingredients that's been laying around. A simmer pot is not anything special. You can take any small pot you got, fill it about halfway with water, add dried or fresh herbs, and leave it on the lowest heat setting on your stove, uncovered. Everything will simmer and release amazing aromas and energy. The properties of the ingredients in your pot can release into the air of your home. This can be good to do in colder months when cleaning. Just warms up everything.

Saucy Symbols and Sigils

If your oils and sauces are in easy pour bottles, consider getting a little creative when you use it. Gunna put some Ketchup or Siracha on that? Why not draw a pentacle. Oiling a pan? Maybe cook your food in a symbol of infinity or life. Or create your own symbols and meanings. Add them to your food to help elevate their magic. You may feel limited by the pour spout, but remember it comes down to intention. But if it makes you feel better, you can always transfer your sauces to bottles with more precise pour.

Make a Magic Potion

If you are not a huge fan of Cooking or Baking, remember there's still options for Kitchen Witchcraft. Magic Drinks. You can infuse your magic into syrups, juices, teas, cocktails, mocktails, smoothies, and more. There are options for people who can't consume alcohol, caffeine, dairy, sugar, any dietary restriction. I think I a lot of people write this option off because they think it focuses too much on alcohol or they don't like tea/coffee. But there's a lot of options when it comes of conjuring drinks.

Cook with Sun and Moon Water

If you're not familiar with Moon water, it's fairly easy to make. You fill a glass jar and leave it out in moonlight to charge with moon energy. Same idea for Sun Water. I find Sun Water is better for general Cooking and Moon Water is better for Teas as the energy from moon water is more mellow.

Adding some Solar Energy with Sun water to soups or to cook your rice and pasta in can help infuse your food with some Solar energy. It ups the overall energy and power of the magic in the food, as well as adds success and thus increases the chance of things working. There's also many other benefits, but listing them all might be worth their own post.

Kitchen Witchcraft is more than Cooking

I think the most important thing to remember is that Kitchen Witchcraft is not just food. Kitchens are often the heart of a home, and many things will go on and get done in a kitchen. Family meetings or get togethers may happen in the kitchen, people may do their reading or web surfing there. Or maybe it's where they do their homework or paperwork. They may do their hobbies at the table or counter. There's more than just food going on in the Kitchen.

So, feel free to expand out. Do some crafts with kitchen supplies or for your kitchen. Protective charms and garlands made out of cinnamon sticks and other items. Or just try other kinds of Magic. Maybe you like the idea of knot magic and want to try knitting a protective scarf. Or you like plants and want to get into garden magic. You don't need to stay in some box; try some stuff out!

[prokopetz]

I fully recognise that this is, in some respects, trivialising the narrative, but it’s extremely funny to me to fuck around with the symbolism of Hades and Persephone by coming up with goofy alternatives for exactly what taboo she violated that obliges her to spend half the year in the Underworld. Like, a story where Persephone is bound to the Underworld because Hades tricked her into into eating six pomegranate seeds is a very different proposition from a story where Persephone is bound to the Underworld because she raided Hades’ minifridge for a six-pack of Monster Energy.

[iliadeleart]

Don’t you wake the Sweet Tooth fairy

Resting on its throne of cherry,

For when angered it might hunger

For your teeth, its favourite plunder

[pol-ski]

🤍

[kimberly40]

👨🏻‍🌾 Appalachian Garden Folklore:

In the mountains of Appalachia, it is said to be bad luck to say thank you if you ever receive cuttings or plants as a gift. The plant will not thrive. This is just one of many old folklore tells handed down from generation to generation. A lot of these folklores pertain to gardening. This was a way of life for many Appalachians and was taken very seriously. Their lives depended on their gardens producing well.

•Dreaming of thorns is bad luck.

•Tomatoes should be planted on Memorial Day.

•It’s good luck to steal herbs.

•A snowy winter portends a good year for crops.

•After planting a hill of beans, press the soil with your foot for good luck.

•Planting peppers when you’re mad, makes the peppers grow hotter.

•If 2 people’s hoes hit together, they will work in the same field next year.

•Trees that bloom twice in one year will have a bad crop.

•If you spit in your hands when cutting wood-you’ll have good luck.

•Don’t plant your garden until the oak leaves are the size of mouse ears.

•Always plant your potatoes on Good Friday.

•Plant your greenbeans on Good Friday.

•Anything planted on the first day of Spring will live.

•Bury nails around the roots of Hydrangea to make the blooms blue.

•To keep crows from bothering your garden, kill one and hang it nearby.

(Read more at https://growappalachia.berea.edu/2011/12/06/appalachian-garden-folklore-chad-brock-red-bird-mission/

By Chad Brock)

[sixminutestoriesblog]

Chinese New Year

What's better than one new year's celebration?

TWO new year's celebrations!

While most of the Western world marked the beginning of the new year on January 1st, most of Asia celebrates the the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, that can fall anywhere from January 21st to February 20th. The reason the new year falls on different days is because it uses the lunar calendar that marks holidays not by set days but by stages of the moon. This year the new year will fall on the 10th of February. An estimated quarter of the world's population celebrates this new year. Are you ready to celebrate too?

The first thing to know is that, if you're celebrating the new year traditionally, most businesses will be shut down, usually for at least a week, sometimes more. Not only does this give everyone plenty of time to prepare and celebrate the days of the new year, it also gives people time to go home to visit their relatives. The Lunar New Year is the cause of the largest annual migration of humanity each year. Family is a large part of the celebration and that includes the dead as well as the living. Graves are visited, offerings are made, memories are shared. On New Year's Eve a family reunion dinner is held, with family coming from far and wide to gather together to welcome in the new year. There's plenty to do for people who can't visit family as well because visiting friends is an important part of the holiday. And lets not forget the festivals themselves with delicious treats, fireworks, dragon and lion dances and floating lanterns. This is the biggest celebration of the year and there's no doing things by halves.

Let's talk about some of the traditions and folklore of the celebration.

First off, the legend is that the new year is celebrated the way it is because, long ago, there was a monster called the Nian that would come out every new year's eve to hunt and devour helpless villagers, creating destruction wherever it went. The Nian had a special fondness for the taste of children too. Finally, one year, everyone decided to hide from the beast. As they were gathering to leave, an old man approached them and said that he would stay behind while they hid and he would get their revenge on the monster when it came. While they were away, the old man hung up red papers in the windows of the village and set off firecrackers during the night. When the villagers returned, their village was unharmed but the old man had disappeared. Realizing that he was a deity that had come to help them and show them the way to defeat the Nian, the grateful villagers followed his example and hence the tradition of firecrackers and the brilliant color red became a tradition.

In some stories, its a brave boy that sets off firecrackers to drive away the Nian instead of an old man. In others, its an old beggar that a poor woman gives shelter to for the night.

No matter the story, firecrackers are still set off during the new year's festival, their loud sounds thought to drive off evil and to welcome in good luck. They're set off again during the Lantern Festival that ends the New Year festivities.

Red is still used everywhere too. It's the color of prosperity and energy, driving off the negative. Evenly paired couplets like:

Yīfānfēngshùn niánnián hǎo, wànshìrúyì bùbù gāo

"Smooth sailing with each year; success with each step."

are hung or painted on double doors or to either side of them in red as even numbers (the characters of the couplet that match length on both sides of the divide) are considered lucky as well as warding off evil spirits. Sometimes pictures of gods or heroes are hung in pairs on doors for the same reason. Red lanterns get hung up and much like some people cut snowflakes out of paper, symbols for luck, prosperity and health in the new year are cut out of red paper and hung on windows. There are even red diamond paper decorations with the Chinese character 福 (fú /foo) hung so the symbol is upside down. This is because 福 means luck and when it is upside down over a door the luck pours out over the entire household.

If you want to keep that luck in your house, make sure you do a full spring cleaning just before the new year. This will sweep all the bad fortune out and have your house ready for new blessings to come in. Once the new year arrives though, don't wash yourself the first day. You don't want to wash all that good luck down the drain. For the same reason, there's no cleaning, and especially no sweeping or throwing out trash, until after the fifth day of the celebration. You want to start the new year the way you want it to go on. As such, don't get into fights, say negative words, swear or try to rush people around. Don't use sharp objects like scissors because it will cut off your good luck; for the same reason, don't cut your hair either. Treat yourself to new clothes for the festival, red is best, avoid black and white which have unlucky connotations. Don't buy shoes as the word for shoes sounds a lot like 'evil' or 'bad luck'.

Don't forget the red pockets either! These are red envelopes with money in them. Elderly family give them to the younger generation as a way to symbolically pass on their wealth and blessing and the younger generation gives them to their elders to show appreciation and wish them prosperity and longevity. These are so standard that there are even phone apps these days so you can give them electronically. Remember, an even amount of money is lucky so don't give out an odd one.

And let's not forget the Chinese zodiac. The upcoming new year will be the Year of the Green Wood Dragon. The dragon represents power, success, honor and luck and will bring a creative and auspicious year of progress. People who were born in the year of the dragon however should be careful to wear red underwear every day of the year to keep bad luck from settling on them. And, if you can, be sure to watch the dragon (and lion!) dances as these too chase away the bad and bring in the good with them!

[artistsonthelam]

中秋節快樂! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 🌕🥮 Today we celebrate the fullest moon of the year! Spend time with your loved ones, gaze at the Super Harvest Moon tonight, and eat mooncakes! (The reasoning behind the bunny motif? It's the Jade Rabbit, the companion of the Chinese Moon Goddess Chang'e. 🐇) // (c) Jenny Lam 2023

[dendro80]

Today its been studies all day. And some time to just relax, decorate the house and enjoying the day. Finally some tomtegröt (porridge). In old Sweden, porridge was often put out for the house elf at Christmas (he looked like a smal gray santa). ✨

In nordic mythology, the house elf is a small being that looks like an old man with a long beard. They are usually dressed in gray and have a gray or red beanie. House elves are strong and good at work. They live close to people, usually in a stable or a barn, but sometimes in the same house as the people. A house elf is grumpy and doesn't want to be seen. But secretly he keeps track so that the people are kind to the animals and take care of the farm in a good way. If the people take care of themselves, they can get help from the house elf with many of the chores on the farm, and the elf creates security on the farm. But if the people, for example, don't give the animals enough food, they can suddenly get a kick in the ass, or an slap from someone they can't see. Then it's the house elf who is on the move and wants them to tighten up. A house elf can be several hundred years old and usually stays on the same farm for several generations of owners. Elves are basically quite friendly and caring creatures, as long as you don't annoy them. To show appreciation and keep house elf happy, people could set out a dish of porridge with a dollop of butter in it on Christmas Eve. Then the house elf was happy. ✨

A translation from Swedis radio, allways loved folklore.

December 2023 ✨❤️

Avesta, Dalarna, Sweden

[3cosmicfrogs]

i always miss my aunties this time of year...

[virtualcoffeemoon]

Hello! As someone who has never had a specific "aesthetic" I've always been all over the place with the clothing I get for myself cus like it could be a black silk button up or a oversized hoodie.

For like the last month I've been leaning towards what I call the q! Tubbo aesthetic ( basically greens, beiges, browns, sweater vests, a button up and some black jeans or this )

And it's been really nice finally having my mind together because I swore the second I got out of my house I would have a closet with barbie pink and maroon so yeah, if you are anything like me please go spend a couple days thinking about how you want to present yourself and how you want people to think of you

[localhollerhaint]

[foodandfolklore]

Jar of Sunshine - Lemon Curd

So I've shared stories about Lemons and I've shared stories about Eggs. Both items are staples in cooking and baking, but I thought I'd share a recipe that uses mainly these two ingredients. Lemon Curd.

Now, I'll be the first one to admit that the name "Lemon Curd" for a dish is not the most appetizing sound. It almost sounds like milk that has curdled so bad, it's as sour as lemon juice. Instead, I call it a jar of sunshine, as magically, it harnesses the best parts of the ingredients' solar energy. Lemons have been connected with the sun and this recipe uses mainly Egg Yolks. This allows you to help bring out some of the best aspects of solar energy like Passion, Courage, Energy, Inspiration, Rejuvenation and Joy. The later two I find I get the most out of with this recipe.

Need: 1 Cup White Sugar 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest 6 Egg Yolks 1/2 Cup Lemon Juice 1/2 Cup Butter 1/2 tsp lemon extract (Optional)

Zest your Lemons and add to sugar. Incorporate these together well to activate the oils of the lemon zest. You can shake in a bag, use a food processor, or just mix really, really well.

Juice your Lemons, taking care to keep seeds out. Add your juice and egg yolks into a pot. Whisk well. Slowly add your sugar and lemon zest mixture, stirring well with whisk. If you want lemon extract, add it now.

Place your pot on low heat and whisk continuously. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. This is going to take a while, but don't stop stirring or turn up the heat. It’s ready when you stick a wooden spoon in and it coats your spoon in yellow.

Remove from heat, and add your butter. Make sure it is cold and cubed. Continue stirring until butter has melted.

Pour your finished mixture through a fine mesh strainer. This will ensure your curd is smooth and silky. Put mixture in a glass jar with lid. Let cool at room temperature for an hour before lidding and putting in fridge. It will set completely in fridge. Will last several weeks in fridge and months in freezer.

Tip: -Do not stop whisking when eggs are on heat. Failing to do so may cause the eggs to overcook and become lumpy. -If your stove doesn’t go low enough, consider cooking in a double boiler. -Two Lemons should yield your needed Zest and Juice. -Use fresh lemon juice. The pre squeezed stuff you can get in a bottle will not cut it. -You can easily separate egg yolks from the egg white by tipping the egg back and forth between the shells. Or Gently use your hands to separate the yolk from the whites. -Do not fret if some egg white mixes in with your yolk. -Let your lemon curd cool completely before using it in baking. -When you make your lemon curd and you want it to have max solar energy, make sure you are cooking during the day. Not at night or in the evening. -Use less or even no lemon extract if you do not want your lemon curd to taste too strong.

[intheholler]

i'm sorry if this is a weird question but do you happen to know of any vampires, or vampire-like creatures in Appalachian folktales?

this isn't weird! for the future tho, the weirder the questions in my ask box i get, the better tbh

to your question, i haven't ever heard anything but i did a lil search and found something about the big stone gap vampire in appalachian virginia. hope this helps!

[purpleandgreen13]

I'm completely devastated by the continued amazingness of the peeps over on Grapefruit Sky. I am writing a Stardew Valley/Selkie folk tale over on AO3 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/49552153/chapters/125061994 ) and the first chapter is song lyrics, which the INCREDIBLE @robynewren put to music for me!

Listen to it here: https://www.tiktok.com/@becsnar/video/7287584339280350496

I have been listening to it all day and it's completely perfect and wonderful, as is Robyn herself

[popculturelib]

Folklore Week!

August 22nd is World Folklore Day, so we're bringing to you a sampling of our extensive folklore collection this week. Folklore studies, while pre-dating popular culture studies, is an important aspect of what we preserve at the Browne Popular Culture Library, since it seeks to learn about everyday people and how what we find significant is transmitted across time and space.

"Foodways" is the term used to describe the cultural practices around making, sharing, and eating food. Among our various books on foodways is the American Folklore Society's Digest: An Interdisciplinary Study of Food and Folkways (1991-1995), which the Department of Popular Culture Studies here at BGSU has been involved in at times. It features articles, reviews, photoessays, and calendars of important food festivals and conferences. Here are the covers of the four issues we keep in our collection:

The journal was relaunched in 2012 under the name Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture, and can be found at https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/digest/index. Its articles are open source, so consider checking them out!

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

[pinkhysteria]

ariana/ana. 23. bi. she/her. 🇯🇲/🇵🇷.

tag rambler + hyperbole addict

lover of delusional women & deadbeat fathers 😘

multifandom + whatever else

permanent pinterest resident

big brother era, so mute/blacklist #bb25 if needed!