Happy Beheading Saint John the Baptist Day!

Thanks John the Baptist!

Today you will find true love if you squeeze the leaves of St. John’s Wort and they bleed red. This is all down to the FACT that the juice from Saint John’s Wort IS the blood of John the Baptist shed during his beheading.

 

It's over Swithun! Put that cloud down!

 

The reign of Saint Swithun is finished.

The 40 day tyranny of his weather curse is over.

Saint Bartholomew has taken the weather from his hands and now all bets are off.

He'll be back next year, but for now we can expect 10 months of unpredictable weather, unlike the last 40 days of course.

Ploughboys and Horses - WKTV

 In the second episode of Strange Folk Games Find out about the Orkney ploughing competition, urine on plough blades and Billy Whizz!

Happy Ploughing!

Happy HARMONIC CONVERGENCE Day!

According to the art historian Jose Arguelles’ interpretation of the Mayan Calendar the alignment of celestial objects* (on august 16th 1987) was expected to herald the start of a five year period of peace** and heavenly cleansing. This would prepare the way for a visitation by other worldly beings.***

New age enthusiasts joined together at specially selected sites around the world (Lake Titicaca, Ruins in New Mexico) ready for rebirth.

*The planets did not align as expected.

**There wasn’t a period of peace.

***No-one came to visit.

(Source – The Mystical Year – Time-Life Books)

Get Lazy! It's Saint Laurence's Day!

Today is a day to relax. Thanks to Saint Laurence, martyred by being cooked on a gridiron, today is a day you are allowed to be lazy due to the heat.  

Thank you Saint Laurence!

Saint Laurence (as well as championing the lazy) is the Patron Saint of Bakers. Because he was cooked to death. He laughs about it now.

Decorate your milk pail! It's Kit Dressing Day!

It is August the 4th.

The sun is shining.

The cattle are lowing.

And you the hearty milk-maid are ready for the kit-dressing.

You have your best kit (pail) and you have wound intricate twigs of willow around the handle and the sides.

Into these you insert flowers, silk and muslin ribbons and other trinkets.

Then you join the procession to the willow tree.

The Kit dressing ritual of August 4th is the inspiration behind the Wyrd Kalendar story "The Weeping will Walk" which you can purchase here.

This also inspired Icarus Peel to create this tune for the August track of the Wyrd Kalendar album.

Oi Witches! Stop bothering my cows!

Witches are such a problem at Lammas time. 

One of their main crimes (alongside curses, hexes and general chicanery) is of course COW BOTHERING.

Nobody wants to see a cow being bothered. No-one wants to see the results of cow bothering.

You’ve asked the witches nicely and yet on they bother.

Bothering the cows so the milk goes sour.

Bothering the calves so they forget to grow.

Bothering the bulls so their pintels droop.

What can you do? The answer is simple: 

Put a ball of hair into a pail of milk today and that will keep the witches from your cows!

Wrap up cold! It's a Dog day!

Feeling out of sorts?

Ill?

Can't get comfy?

Are their evil portents or foul things afoot?

Has your dog gone plum crazy?

Are you a bit hot?

Worry not! All that has happened is that the dog star has risen with the sun and we are in the midst of the Dog Days!

The Dog Days occur between the 3rd July and the 11th August.

To survive them you will need the following:

1. Ice

2. Water

3. Umbrella

4. Naked skin

5. A fan

6. Lemonade

7. A slice of lemon

8. A sprig of mint

9. Pimms

For more information watch the documentary "Dog Day Afternoon" presented by Al Pacino.

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - August Artist - Icarus Peel

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for August is the deeply groovy psychedelic god Icarus Peel who has created a track based on the month of August and the story "The Weeping Will Walk".

Icarus Peel has been leading West-country psych sensations The Honey Pot and writing songs for Crystal Jacqueline for several years. Somehow, he's also found time to record several solo albums including Tea at My Gaffe, Sunflower Army and Sing!!. His first two albums have distinct flavours of their own. Tea at My Gaffe is a collection of mainly shorter, idiosyncratic songs with an obviously English flavour, while Sunflower Army blends a big rock sounds with a more rustic feel.

His most recent album is "The Window On The Side of Your Head". Released by MegaDodo this work contains a sound that is "deep, groove ridden and loud."


 Check out and buy his earlier work here at MegaDodo
More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...
While you wait check out some fantastic tracks from this earlier deeply groovesome work...

Spectral Fields - Mix 2

The Kalendar Host has been reading.

He has found himself lost in “A Year in the Country - Wandering Through Spectral Fields” by Stephen Prince. This incredible work has inspired a new journey out of the Kalendar Heath and across these Spectral Fields to discover music, ideas, stories, folk horror jaunts, hauntological treats and nostalgic terror.

This is the second of four mixes dedicated to this new book. This mix explores chapters 14-26 through music, sound and key extracts, acting as an accompaniment or, if you will allow, an aural appendix.

Buy the book here. 

Discover the delights of Broadcast, Cat's Eyes, Virginia Astley, Brian Eno, Kate Bush, Jim Williams, David Colohan, Howlround, Keith Seatman, Loose Capacitor, The Twelve Hour Foundation, Shirley Collins, Stealing Sheep, Leyland Kirby, David Sylvian, Fairport Convention, Roy Redmond, Nirvana, Luke Haines, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior.

Spectral Fields Mix Number 2 - COMING SOON

This celebration of the next 13 chapters of Spectral Fields by Stephen Prince is currently cooking in the Kalendar oven I have mixed in tracks by Keith Seatman, Howlround, Shirley Collins, Loose Capacitor and many many more in this delicious August treat just for you.

Catch up on the first mix here... 

Buy the book here...

Wyrd Kalendar - A Mix for Summer

Join the Kalendar Host in a haunting hike upon the Kalendar Heath this summer. Peppered with the sounds of summer, music on the theme of summer and extracts from three summer based tales from Wyrd Kalendar (available to buy here). You will also be given the opportunity to pause in your trek as special guests from the Folk Horror Revival, Howard Ingham and Darren Charles discuss a vital summer film and album for your edification and delight.

 The Spring mix includes tunes by Belbury Poly, Marianne Faithful, Emil Richards, XTC, Kate Bush, Patricia Varley, Acid House Kings, The Style Council, David Cain, Percy Faith and his Orchestra, Animal Collective, T Rex, Aha, Belle and Sebastian, Jim Williams, Los Chicarrons, Terry Hall, G. Love and Special Sauce, Beck, Clannad, Reef, Cold Cave, Pink Floyd, The Divine Comedy, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Luke  Haines, Love, Nat King Cole, Luis Bacalov, The Sandals, The Kinks, The Flaming Lips, Lana Del Ray, Keith Mansfield, All About Eve, Patti Smith, The Heartwood Institute, Primal Scream, The Beach Boys, The Decemberists, The Bitter Sweets, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Stranglers, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra and Dusty Springfield.

Summer Mix Is Coming In... June 21st

Countdown to Publication of Wyrd Kalendar - August

As we prepare for the publication of Wyrd Kalendar later this month enjoy the July mix that contains extracts from "Grotto Day" and explore some of our July discoveries here...

Stick it to the Burryman!

Stick it to the Burryman this August!

If you are lucky enough to live in South Queensferry Scotland you will be familiar with the Burryman. Covered in thistle burrs he walks the town in mid August (usually the second Friday) and people throw more burrs at him (burrs coated in their own horrid sin and guilt) and the Burryman carries them away. Bless him.

Thistle Burr (fill it with your sin and chuck it at the Burryman!)

Raymond Burr (not to be filled with your sin or thrown at the Burryman under any circumstances...)

The Feast of Llamas

As everyone knows the start of August is traditionally the feast of Lammas.

 It is less well known that (between 1801 and 1816) in the village of Stourton at the start of every August, the local Lord of the Manor invited the villagers into his gardens. There they would feast on roast llama, wear llama masks, dance llama themed dances to llama themed music and watch llama races.

 This strange tradition ended when it was pointed out to the Lord of the Manor that he had a terrible ear for the local accent.

The festival had been repeated for so long because no-one had the heart to tell him that he had misheard and misinterpreted the Feast of Lammas in this way. They also really liked roast llama.

The village of Stourton does pay homage to this mistaken tradition still in their annual Lammas rite by baking  Llama’s bread and crowning the village Llama as Lord of the Manor and forcing the incumbent Lord of the Manor to  live in the Llama stable for a night in a llama mask made by local children.

The Willows are on the move... The August Mix is here...

The Kalendar Heath is ready to be explored this August, but beware, the willows are on the move.

Celebrate Lammas with the likes of Magnet, The Owl Service, Beacon Street Union, Bebel Gilberto, The Tiger Lilies, Love, Clinic, Carole King, Funkadelic, Hall and Oates, Grizzly Bear, Kingston Trio, Micky Newbury, Jacco Gardner, Julie London, David Cain, Lost Trail, The The and Isla Cameron.

This month's exploration of the Kalendar Heath includes extracts from this month's short story "The Weeping Will Walk" written and performed by Chris Lambert. The story will be published as part of "Wyrd Kalendar" a collection of 12 short stories written by Chris Lambert and illustrated by Andy Paciorek to be published in October 2017.

August is coming - Listen to the Willows