Roy Vickery, the Green Man October 24, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary , trackback
Much of British folklore has been carefully curated and packed into volumes on library shelves: but most of British folklore lies, in truth, uncollected out in the fields. This brings us to one of the heroes of modern British folklore, Roy Vickery. RV is a botanist with a long-term interest in the folklore of plants: he has ‘extensively written on plant-lore, Quaker and green issues’. Beach has on his bench Roy’s book Unlucky Plants, the results of ‘a survey conducted by members of the Folklore Society’ from 1982-1984. Other important books include A Dictionary of Plant-lore, O.U.P., 1995 and the wonderfully named Naughty Man’s Plaything – Folklore & Uses of Stinging Nettles; a book that has so far remained regrettably out of reach. Roy is preparing a much more ambitious project entitled A Folk Flora and is still gathering in contemporary and not so contemporary plant-lore of all descriptions. He has two channels for information from the general public. First, he hosts plant walks up and down the country: ‘you provide the weed patch or the hedgerow, he will do the rest.’ He, then, gathers plant traditions from those who come along with him. The number of walks and talks he manages is incredible. Second, but apparently, less successful in terms of numbers of responses, Roy has a website where he gathers references in from chance visitors. He, then, regularly, updates the website with the new information he has attained. Beach would like to ask readers, particularly those from Britain and from Ireland to spend a few minutes getting in touch with Roy about your own plantlore traditions. If you are not sure what this means, here are some examples for Shepherd’s Purse. One of the most significant works of early twenty-first-century folklore is taking shape in Roy’s study: the more input the richer and more comprehensive it will be when it finally emerges.
Other folklore heroes: drbeachcombing At yahoo COM
