Folkbyte May 2026

Greetings, and mòran taing for taking the time to read my newsletter. This is the May 2026 edition of Folkbyte, and I'm writing it on the heels of completing the paper I mentioned last month, which I'll be delivering at the ISFNR conference in Reykjavik this summer. I'm planning to make that paper my Special Dispatch offering for July, so keep an eye out for it then.

Dispatches from the Word Mines

The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore is out for peer review, and I probably won't hear back from my prospective publisher until sometime in June. FYI, this publisher sends robust proposals - and not completed manuscripts - to reviewers, but because the book is over half written, I had plenty of material to provide my peers. I'm so looking forward to signing my contract and sharing my publication news with you in full. Look for it sometime later this year.

Meanwhile, many of you will remember that the Folklore & Fiction dispatch and podcast series - which was the precursor to The Storyteller's Guide to Folklore - was plagiarized by two groups of women in their online folklore offerings while I was a graduate student. I'm not inclined to revisit those incidents here, but I do want to mention that I've discussed them with my agent and prospective publisher, who have been supportive of my concerns. I'm both grateful and relieved to report that my intellectual property is in good hands, and I'm not alone anymore in defending it.

Onward.

This Month on Social Media

Long-time subscriber and friend Alan Shahry responded to April's Special Dispatch "Folklore In Dark Places" with a couple of thoughtful questions. With his permission, I'm printing our email exchange, as I thought some of you might be interested in reading it.

Dear Ceallaigh,

Thanks for writing and sharing your experience. I have two questions that I’d love to ask:

• In your research on dark folklore, such as witch trials and nationalism, how do you approach understanding the motivations of those who might have contributed to these darker chapters of history?
• What role do you believe folklore plays in modern societies, particularly when it touches on difficult subjects like violence, oppression, or hate? Given its power to reflect on these issues, how can folklorists use folklore as a tool for education and healing while addressing the harmful aspects it sometimes conveys?

Thank you!
Alan Shahry

Hello Alan,

It's great to hear from you, and what excellent questions!

To your first question: Folklorist ethnographers spend time in their communities of interest. We ask questions of research participants and strive to understand the contexts of their lived experiences. Analysis of human lived experience is always a difficult undertaking, because even when we disagree with a person, we still have to respect that person. So that's how we get at motivation. For example, I interviewed a lovely vegan attorney years ago who told me that while she was an ethical vegan, she would never insult another person's food choices because she grew up in an environment of food scarcity. By listening to her, I was able to learn about her motivations and express them to you. It's not always that easy or that straightforward! But we try always to honour our research participants first.

Your second question is a big one, and many folklorists have thought about this very issue. But in brief, folklore is the study of human expressive culture. We make that culture every day, for good or for ill, and there are so many contributing factors to the culture we make. Folklorists try to understand that culture and those contributing factors, and we try to help others do the same. There is a point at which we have to decide whether or not to become "activist folklorists," and you might think I'm one of those kinds of folklorists, given the fact that I both am a vegan animal rights activist and studied vegan animal rights activism. But while my personal values are certainly important to me, I would have done a disservice to the people I interviewed if I allowed my values to speak over theirs. My dissertation supervisor once said that good scholarship is good activism, and I agree with her wholeheartedly.

Warm Regards,
Dr. Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran

In other news, subscribers will have received the aforementioned April Special Dispatch titled "Folklore In Dark Places," which discusses some of the ways folklorist ethnographers approach difficult research topics. My new short video for April was titled "Folkloristics, Magical Practice, and the Ethics of Cursing," which is, in part, a response to some of the concerns my fellow Heathens, Pagans, and Witches are raising about the lack of ethical touchstones in online conversations about spellcasting.

Final Thoughts

You'll probably only hear from me once next month - in the Folkbyte newsletter - as I'll be travelling in Iceland and getting my garden in the ground. But I'll be back on my regular schedule in July, with a newsletter, dispatch, and video. Meanwhile, I wish you a blessed growing season.

Another Spring
by Christina Rosetti

If I might see another Spring,
I’d not plant summer flowers and wait:
I’d have my crocuses at once,
My leafless pink mezereons,
My chill-veined snow-drops, choicer yet
My white or azure violet,
Leaf-nested primrose; anything
To blow at once, not late.

If I might see another Spring
I’d listen to the daylight birds
That build their nests and pair and sing,
Nor wait for mateless nightingale;
I’d listen to the lusty herds,
The ewes with lambs as white as snow,
I’d find out music in the hail
And all the winds that blow.

If I might see another Spring –
Oh stinging comment on my past
That all my past results in “if” –
If I might see another Spring,
I’d laugh to-day, to-day is brief;
I would not wait for anything:
I’d use to-day that cannot last,
Be glad to-day and sing.

Beannachd Leibh,
Ceallaigh