Thursday,24 October 2002


FOLK MAGIC BBC RADIO FOUR

 

Andrew Collins is to appear on BBC Radio Four's Open Country programme as part of its Hallowe'en special, talking about folk-magic in Essex. He will talk particularly about certain house charms found in the tiny village of Manuden on the border with Hertfordshire.

The programme is scheduled to go out first around 06.10 BST on Saturday, 26 October - although possibly without Andrew's interview - and it is then repeated on Thursday, 31 October at 13.30 BST, this time in an extended format.

Following on from his article `The Devil in Manuden: Folk Magic in Essex', which appears on-line, Andrew discusses the survival of folk magic in rural Essex, and the placement in houses of charms against witchcraft, including steel objects, such as knifes; the skulls of animals, such as the horse or ox, and the carcasses of domestic animals, such as cats and dogs. These were set up either within or by the hearth in order to deflect or nullify baleful influences deemed able to enter the building via this route.

It was a folk custom born out of the belief, common in Europe, that the hearth, and thus the fire, was the point of entry or exit into the otherworld. This tradition has survived into modern times through the idea that Father Christmas, originally St Nicholas or Santa Claus, climbs down the chinmey breast on Christmas Eve in order to deliver presents to children who have been good that year. Strangely enough, the hanging out of a stocking for presents derived from similar roots, for examples of stockings have been found rolled up in tight balls either in hearths or sealed in bread ovens.

Andrew concentrates also on why so long after the Essex witch trials of the seventeenth century, folk magic was able to survive in parts of Essex through to the twentieth century. Moreover, he explains why the village of Manuden might still be of interest to those interested in earth mysteries.

For further information go to BBC Radio Four on-line by clicking here. Also read Andrew's article `The Devil in Manuden: Folk Magic in Essex'.