15 h 17 minAudiobook17 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a village ghost tale holds a thread that reaches far beyond the north of England?
In Traditions, Superstitions and Folk-lore, Charles Hardwick gathers the beliefs that shape everyday life in Lancashire and the north of England. Ghosts, witches, omens and charms fill these pages. As mills, railways and growing towns change the region, he records old country ways that are slipping from daily life.
Hardwick looks beyond local curiosities. He compares northern village tales with traditions from India, Persia and Scandinavia, arguing that many customs have eastern roots and mythical meanings. His Victorian theories may feel dated, but his central question invites curiosity: what might familiar stories reveal about the older beliefs people carry with them?
What you’ll discover
- Signs in ordinary life Explore how people read weather, animals and dreams for clues about what lies ahead.
- The north's haunted traditions Meet the ghost tales, witch beliefs and spirits that occupy Hardwick's account of northern life.
- Customs around life's turning points Discover beliefs surrounding birth, marriage and death, alongside customs tied to the turning year.
- Village tales with distant echoes Follow Hardwick's comparisons between northern traditions and stories told in India, Persia and Scandinavia.
- A changing Lancashire See the old country ways Hardwick records as towns grow and schooling spreads.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy local history, old customs and the stories behind everyday sayings. It suits anyone curious about Lancashire, about how myths travel between peoples, or about what our ancestors feared and hoped for.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Place names carry a buried Eastern past
- Bonfires and need-fire descend from sun worship
- Dragons and worms are storm battles retold
- Christmas and New Year keep ancient habits alive
- Easter and May Day welcome the returning sun
- Witch trials show fear and fraud feeding belief
- Boggarts, fairies and birds carry old omens
- Ghost hunters, sleeping kings and giants share one source
- Wells and rods show how myths are read
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Tradiciones, supersticiones y folclore
by Charles Hardwick · 1872
A Lancashire farmer burns a live calf to Bel, and Charles Hardwick traces the rite back to ancient India.
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In short
Charles Hardwick, a Preston antiquarian, published Traditions, Superstitions and Folklore in Manchester in 1872. He wrote it to show that the odd customs of Lancashire and northern England are very old.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Place names carry a buried Eastern past
Hardwick opens with language. He explains that Sanskrit, the old tongue of India, is so close to Latin, Greek and the Germanic and Slavic languages that scholars now think all of them come from one source. The people who spoke it, called Aryans, are placed near the upper Oxus river. From there some went west into Europe and some south into India. The Celts and Teutons, the main stocks of the British, are two branches of that one family.
The oldest Sanskrit writings are the Vedas, hymns to gods of sun, fire, sky and rain. Indra hurls lightning, Agni is fire, and Soma is the drink of the gods that falls from the clouds. Hardwick argues that these gods are the early forms of Zeus, Jupiter and Thor. He also warns that guessing at word origins is risky, and he offers his own ideas as suggestions, not as settled facts.
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What is Traditions, Superstitions and Folklore about?
It collects the customs and beliefs of Lancashire and northern England, such as bonfires, witches, boggarts and wells. Charles Hardwick argues that they share roots with beliefs across Europe and India, and he explains each with stories, quotations and local memories.
Who was Charles Hardwick?
He was a nineteenth-century antiquarian from Preston in Lancashire, who died in 1889. He also wrote a History of Preston and Its Environs, and he dug at ancient sites near Preston and Over Darwen.
What does Aryan mean in this book?
Hardwick uses Aryan for the people who spoke the ancestor of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and the Celtic and Germanic tongues. He argues they carried their gods and stories west into Europe and south into India.
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