We Are All of Us Stories

I'm going to go ahead and start us off with a ballad about my kithtypes. I'm crowkith and ravenkith and the term corbies can refer to either. This is a Scottish ballad dating back to at least the 1700s

The lyrics are a bit difficult if you're not used to balladry or Scots. Below I have a line by line of those lyrics in American English.

I make this sound so official, but really it's just me deciding I've spent enough time Not Finishing the Page™️ and I probably ought to actually ask folks for stories so maybe I'll get off my rump and finish the damn page. So! If YOU have any sort of folkloric stories about your kintype/theriotype/kithtype/linktype/whatever, please feel free to come share them!

What do I mean by folkloric stories? That's a term that tends to puzzle folks. Mainly that's because folks tend to equate words like "folklore" and "myth" with things that are made up or false. That isn't quite accurate. Folklore consists of many sorts of knowledge, but the ones we'll likely focus most on here are myths, legends, folktales, urban legends, folk music, and possibly art. In the academic field of folklore, a myth is defined as a sacred story. We're talking otherkin and therians primarily here, so that could be the story of how Raven stole the light and in doing so created the sun and the moon and the stars or it could be the story of Noah and the dove at the end of the Great Flood. These are both sacred stories that are considered true by those who follow their respective religions. That's what we mean when we say myth. A legend is a story that isn't considered sacred and that has elements of it that may seem larger than life. They're often supernatural or extraordinary in nature. A couple of examples would be Babe the big blue ox here in the US or the black dogs of the British Isles. As to folktales, fairytales, fables, these often involve magic, talking animals, and perhaps some sort of message. For exmaple, there is the frog prince, a fairytale in which a prince is cursed to become a frog, or the three blind mice. The three blind mice also feature in a folksong. These are songs that are just sort of part of a culture with no clear composer and sometimes no clear origin. One of my favorites is the Twa Corbies, a ballad about a conversation overheard between two crows, who were discussing eating the body of a freshly dead knight. It dates back to at least the 1700s.

Folkart is a bit less clear. This is really any type of traditional art - anything from basket weaving to bingata dyework - that is passed down within a culture. This, I don't expect will come up as much. It's a little less clearly defined for our purposes. Beyond that, there's also things like folkdance and traditional foodways and all manner of things. And if you know of anything that fits that bill, please absolutely feel free to share! With any of this, it doesn't necessarily have to be something that originates in a culture you're part of. However, I do ask that you approach all of this - especially mythology - with the same sort of respect and consideration you would give the lore you yourself grew up with and hold dear. All of this means something to the folks from whom it comes. So respect is paramount in folkloristics.

I don't have a page put together yet because of my laptop, but it's on the list for today. In the meantime, hello! I'm Rowan. I'm a spiritual polykin. My theriotypes are Canadian timber wolf and African golden wolf and my kintypes are coastal gryphon and river kitsune. (Yes, that is why the icon is currently a blue heraldic gryphon.) Additionally, I'm otherkith and my kithtypes are crow, raven, and red-tailed hawks. I'm also they host of the Mountain Woods system, which consists of myself and two fictive alters.

I'm a folklorist and cultural anthropologist by training! This blog is admittedly self-indulgent, but I suspect I'm not the only one of us who places great love and affection on lore about us. Folklore is probably my biggest passion in this life. While I focus primarily on balladry (come ask me if you want to know what exactly that is), I also love all things folklore. Foodways is something I would also love to study. And I have done limited study into folkdance. I am currently working on a paper to present at the American Folklore Society conference in the fall. It's not on the alterhuman community, but that just might be a thing I do down the road.