February - "February the 31st" - A reading by Kate Abery

 

Kate Abery reads "February the 31st" from various exotic locations in and around Dubai. "February the 31st" is taken from "Wyrd Kalendar".

Wrap up warm - The Winter Mix Is Here...

Join the Kalendar Host this Winter for a delicious collection of wintry treats. Words from Wyrd Kalendar, Darren Charles and Howard Ingham mingle with music from the likes of The Incredible String Band, Pentangle, Moon Wiring Club, Tir na nOg, Keith Seatman, Sleeps in Oysters, Cleo Laine, Haushka, Sean Wesche, Atomic Rooster, Medieval Babes, Belle and Sebastian, Frank Zappa, Simon and Garfunkel, Aztec Camera, Family, Joy Division, Muddy Waters, Timo Hanninen, Panu Aatilo, David Cain, The Chills, The Fall, Vashti Bunyan, Wayne Slawson, John Williams, White Stripes, Gustavo Santolalla, Sigur Ros, Caravan, Kate Bush, The Tea Party, Danny Elfman, The Mamas and the Papas, Animal Collective, Pete and the Pirates, Gorillaz, Grouper, The Impressions and The Divine Comedy.



Buy the Wyrd Kalendar book.

Buy the Wyrd Kalendar Album.

Winter is Coming...

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - February Artist - Keith Seatman

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 February is the incredible Keith Seatman with a track called "Three Day Girl" based on the story "February 31st". We worked with Keith Seatman  on Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016 in which he created the incredible "Playing Hop the Scotch". Keith is currently working on a new EP called "Disjointed Oddities and Other Such Things" which will be out this spring.

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

In the meantime enjoy the current album from Keith Seatman entitled "All Hold Hands and Off we go". Once you have listened to that check out "A Rest Before the Walk" which I reviewed a few years ago.Revel in the beautiful aural strangeness that is Keith Seatman...

February is here...

It is February.

Open the Wyrd Kalendar and venture into a cold world with a young woman who experiences the days of February that the rest of us miss.

It is a lonely month but you will have company from The Unthanks, Eels, The Incredible String Band, Colosseum, Jesus Jones, King Creosote, Chungking and others who muse on the month and its many frosty wonders.

Wyrd Kalendar is a Folk Horror Revival project that includes a folk horror mix inspired by each month, a book of short stories and illustrations (published in 2017) which you can buy here... and an accompanying album to follow later this year.

Extracts from Chris Lambert's "February 31st" read by Natasha Trott

Countdown to Publication of Wyrd Kalendar - February

As we prepare for the publication of Wyrd Kalendar later this month enjoy the February mix that contains extracts from "February 31st" and explore some of our February discoveries here...

Shrove Tuesday - Threshing the Hen

You could have a pancake or...

Taken from "Folklore and Customs of Rural England" by Margaret Baker

Nickanan Night on Collop Monday

A Bacon Butty this morning.

It is pancake day tomorrow...
Once we have eaten our pancakes and got rid of our delicious treats we can prepare for the fast.
So today on Collop Monday or Shrove Monday or Peasen Monday we finish our meats.
We stuff our faces with our last steak or a bacon butty followed by pea soup ready for our veg only diet.
That all sounds wonderful but... beware of the vandals loose on Nickanan Night tonight...

Children playing Nick Nack on Collop Monday

In some villages naughty children play "Nick Nack" ... knocking on doors and running away. This is terrifying for anyone who owns a door and children should be warned against such shenanigans - as, not only does it frighten poor souls, it may result in the bairns who are caught getting no pancakes tomorrow or something even worse.

Nickanan the Demon - (Taken from the children's book "Nickanan and the Eggs" by Bernadette Teldwater)

It is well known that three knocks on three doors in succession are likely to raise the demon Nickanan who forces communities to abandon Lent in favour of forty days of a strict egg based diet. One village who suffered his visitation saved hundreds of pounds on toilet paper that year but were incredibly foul tempered throughout the feast of Lent.

Nickanan nights tend to be celebrated in Cornwall - if you have an experience of this tonight please do tell us here...

Catch the pancake...

"Shrive thee pancake! Do not smile at me oh sinner made from egg and flour!" said the little boy in a righteous fury.

Are you ready to shrive?

Next week is Shrove Tuesday, a day in which you must make confession and be rid of your past sins in the same way you will get rid of all your leftovers in a pancake.

This  pancake did not confess.

They will catch it... it will shrive... and then it shall be eaten as all sinners are...

Do not make the same mistake...

The Beast of February - Be my Valentine - The Dark Story Behind Valentine's Day

Artist's  impression of The February Beast - (Topsell)

It is often wondered why potential lovers keep themselves anonymous when they send cards, gifts and platitudes on Valentine's Day.

Some consider this to be linked to the apocryphal tale of Saint Valentine who left a note for the girl (who he had cured of blindness with his prayers) signed "Your Valentine".

Others consider it to be a sweet and genteel way of telling someone you admire from afar that you care for them.

However the truth behind the tradition is perhaps more bizarre and sinister than was previously thought. In short, the giving of gifts (or in these days cards) anonymously is said to placate or distract the ravenous attentions of the "February Beast".

We used to live in far more open and transparent times. If a young villeyn sought the attention of a peasant girl he would think nothing of approaching her publicly; across an open field, in a busy tavern or by strolling into her mother's kitchen. He would then happily take her in his arms and cover her nose and hands with kisses. If the maid did not strike him hard and give him what became known as "unrequited jaw" then a match would be made.

This was before Valentines Day...

Before the February Beast...

Clues as to how this tradition began were discovered by Sir Stanley Coulton; a late 19th century folklorist, historian and poet. In his explorations of Somerset he discovered and updated this ancient piece of prose which really gives an insight into the beginnings of Valentine's Day.

"Do not kiss, my love.
We must hide our passion.
I will hide my name
Lest the Beast come.

Stand in the shadows of the house
Or beneath the thick leaves of the oak
Let the willow hide our shame
Lest the Beast come.

I shall not give thee flowers
Nor sweetmeats or wine
I shall not sink upon one knee
Lest the Beast come."

The threat, Coulton realised, was very real to people of rural communities. Shows of affection, love or, heaven forbid, lust could result in the giver or recipient being attacked, injured or even killed by the February Beast, a creature seemingly only seen in the second month of the year. Coulton found an account of one of of these attacks in the back of a prayer book in a church just outside Bridgewater.

"And verily as the two did find themselves in tight embrace the February Beast, tail aflame, eyes burning like hot birch embers, crashed through the bracken and bit the head off the young gentleman with nary a murmur. Then the beast turned upon the woman biting off her head before devouring her and her lover's warm hearts."

Leading cryptozoologists suggest that it had a very specific hibernation, breeding and feeding cycle that meant that it was only present in February. Why it was attracted to young lovers could be linked to its breeding cycle, the pheromones given off by these lusty fools could have acted as catnip to this strangest of beasts.

It is more likely that the legend of the beast was concocted to ensure that those at the mercy of their libidinous desires held themselves back and followed the straight and narrow path.

However it does give one reason to pause...

This Valentines Day do be careful, do not reveal your name, do not give in to your lusty passion. Keep yourself safe from the February Beast...

February - Where has the little woolly atom gone?

Start your February with an extract from Statio Sexta. This is the poem that introduces the February activities in "Something to Do" by Septima. If we had some snow and some sheep this would work perfectly as we watch the little woolly atom disappearing into the white...

Ha! snow

Upon the crags!

How slow

The winter lags

Ha, little lamb upon the crags,

How fearlessly you go!

Take care

Up there,

You little woolly atom! On and on

He goes . . . ‘tis steep . . . Hillo!

My friend is gone!

It is February - Don't wander too far now...

It is February.

Open the Wyrd Kalendar and venture into a cold world with a young woman who experiences the days of February that the rest of us miss.

It is a lonely month but you will have company from The Unthanks, Eels, The Incredible String Band, Colosseum, Jesus Jones, King Creosote, Chungking and others who muse on the month and its many frosty wonders.

Wyrd Kalendar is a Folk Horror Revival project that includes a folk horror mix inspired by each month, a book of short stories and illustrations to be published later in the year and an accompanying album to follow in 2018.

Extracts from Chris Lambert's "February 31st" read by Natasha Trott

February is coming... be ready