Profs and Pints Northern Virginia presents: “Folktales of Summer Forests,” with Brittany Warman, former instructor at Ohio State University and co-founder of the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.
Unique folklore emerges from the summer months, when the sun burns hot and nature bursts with full, lush beauty. Some of this lore is strange, some of it tragic, and some as beautiful as sunlight through branches.
Wander deep into the folklore of summer with Brittany Warman of the Carterhaugh School, an extraordinary educational organization which has earned a large and loyal following among Profs and Pints fans with its captivating talks on folktales, fairy tales, legends, and myths.
We’ll look at why the forest stands as the perfect setting for enchantment and mystery. It’s by turns a place of shade and rest and a place of uncertainty and fear. It can be dangerous, bountiful, tame, or wild. It shelters witches, fairies, monsters, and more under its branches.
From the forest come the legends of the illusive Green Man, the king of the woods. Also told are stories of sacred trees, hidden dances, and fairies who engage in midsummer abductions. Fairy tales like “The Witch in the Woods” and “The White Deer” tell of hidden doorways, magic rings, and cursed princesses.
Let Dr. Warman guide you through magical forests and you’ll emerge seeing the wonder in every leaf, stream, and wildflower. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: "Fairies in a Bird's Nest," an 1860 painting by John Anster Fitzgerald.