Deer Folklore: Omens, Cults, and White Stag Legends

Fabulous Folklore with Icy

Human relationships with deer stretch back thousands of years. Archaeologists uncovered red deer skulls at Star Carr in Yorkshire which are 11,000 years old. No one knows what they were used for, if they had practical applications or were used in shamanic rituals.

But it suggests some kind of relationship between humans and deer, even if we're not sure what that involved. Deer appear in mythology all over the world, although this post will focus on the British Isles.

From shapeshifting deer to fairy cattle, deer cults to white stag legends, let's explore the appearance of the deer in British and Irish folklore and legend in this week’s episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/deer-folklore/

Deer Woman article by Carolyn Dunn: https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/articleslist/deer-woman-and-the-living-myth-of-dreamtime-by-carolyn-dunn.html

National Leprechaun Museum podcast episode with Mark and Tracey Norman: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3mK66mxwarcOlIiKZBorQ7

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