Profile avatar
drfrancisyoung.bsky.social
Historian of religion and belief | folklorist | Balticist | indexer | Lay Canon @stedscath.bsky.social | series editor for @universitypress.cambridge.org
3,589 posts 19,069 followers 3,502 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
Posts 16 Comments 34

Folks ought to be careful digging up their back gardens in Hexham, no telling who you might find

submitted 21 hours ago • 1 comment

As we approach Midsummer or 'St John's Night', as it is known in many European countries, I spoke to @universitypress.cambridge.org about the pre-Christian significance of this festival of fire and water - as well as my new book 'Silence of the Gods' 🔥💧🌿 www.cambridge.org/news-and-ins...

submitted 3 hours ago • 4 comments

The Summer Solstice will soon be upon us, and here's what Stonehenge looked like in the 16th century. #SummerSolstice British Library Add MS 28330; Lucas De Heere, Corte Beschryvinghe van Engheland, Schotland, ende Irland; 1573 CE-1575 CE; England (London); f.36r

submitted 11 hours ago • 3 comments

That it may please thee to strengthen such as do stand; and to comfort and help the weak-hearted; and to raise up them that fall; and finally to beat down Satan under our feet. #Litany

submitted 11 hours ago • 1 comment

Thank you to everyone who came to this evening’s launch and book signing for ‘Silence of the Gods’! 📚✍️ Signed copies are now available to buy from @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sil...

submitted 23 hours ago • 2 comments

I have arrived for the launch of ‘Silence of the Gods’! Hoping it goes better than a SpaceX launch…

submitted 1 day ago • 12 comments

I’d read it.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

College of Canons at St Edmundsbury Cathedral yesterday. Always lovely to meet a fellow Blueskyer IRL 🦋 @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social - looking forward to seeing your research of Edmund shared in a new way in the coming months with the Abbey Reborn project.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Are you interested in an evening of conversations about vampires, werewolves and Sami sorcerers, and lots more? 👀🧛 Join us TONIGHT for the exclusive book launch event for @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social new book 'Silence of the Gods'! 🤩

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

A new free Substack introducing ‘Silence of the Gods’: open.substack.com/pub/drfranci...

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

Have you ever wondered who were the last pagans in Europe? Well, there’s now an exhaustive book on the subject! Today is the official publication day for ‘Silence of the Gods: The Untold History of Europe’s Last Pagan Peoples’ 📚 www.cambridge.org/universitypr...

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

The Petersyn Witch Fortune Telling Cup. Lovely design & an auction favourite. But information on its origin confused & scant. But I've finally found who Petersyn was & when it was first made - 1909.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Today I met the mum of one of the original developers of Bluesky - it was like meeting Bluesky royalty, or at least the very old Bluesky high nobility

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

You know your dad understands you when - for no particular occasion - he sends you a history of late European paganism(s) - from pre-Christian and unchristianised cultures, through ethnography and folklore, to modern revivals and reinventions. (Thanks, Dad!)

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

There’s an ancient taboo (even in Britain) that a knife should not be bought, only given (which perhaps survives in vestigial form as the custom of giving cutlery as a wedding present, so there’s no need for the couple to buy it). But the origins of the taboo may lie in hunting

submitted 2 days ago • 7 comments