This episode asks how we can take the natural themes of the month and separate them from the contexts that have framed and sometimes twisted them, so we can use them to empower all beings – especially, this month, foxes and geese. It surveys November droving and pannage traditions, Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th, fox hunting and its complex legacy, St. Martins day on November 11 and its entanglement with goose lore, and St. Catherine’s day on November 25th, which opens the season of the Germanic winter goddesses, whose later folklore connects spinning and wheels, snow, wild animals, flying, geese, and children.

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https://open.spotify.com/playlist/094rCk7NZWNOSLmoHHPqc2?si=83d27558f563416b

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Songs featured in this episode:

“The Fox” by Laura Viers
Buy Laura Viers’ music on Bandcamp:
https://lauraveirs.bandcamp.com/track/the-fox

“Kadrilaul” by Collage / Choir of Tallin University of Technology
Buy Collage’s music:
https://music.apple.com/gb/album/kadriko/1100185926

“Martinmas Time” by James Yorkston
Buy James Yorkston’s music digitally:
https://jamesyorkston.bandcamp.com/

Buy James Yorkston’s records:
https://www.jamesyorkston.co.uk/shop/

“Goose and Common” by the Askew Sisters
Buy the Askew Sisters’ music:
http://www.askewsisters.co.uk/

Opening theme:
Forest March by Sylvia Woods
Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:
www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

Some sources for this episode:

The Year in Ireland by Kevin Danaher, 1972.

Folk-Lore and Folk-Stories of Wales by Marie Trevelyan, 1909.
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book//lookupid?key=olbp54204

Article: “The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda, and Related Figures” by Lotte Motz
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HDXoKGBG3PojPXDJrJXZ3Ae2A7HQCCA7/view?usp=sharing

Article: "Perchta the Belly-Slitter and Her Kin: A View of Some Traditional Threatening Figures, Threats and Punishments" by John B. Smith
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1280qQAcXA-p0bbrF3_zujAbB0tJMr0Bo/view?usp=sharing

Frau Holle in the Grimm's Fairy Tales:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm024.html

An article about enclosure:
https://medium.com/@daveuwakwe/what-a-poem-about-a-goose-teaches-us-about-property-3dfe6f7972ec

St. Martin Lore from County Kerry ℅ the National Folklore Collection of Ireland: https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4666609/4666442 (Search the vast collection for more!)