United Kingdom – VoVatia (original) (raw)

Category Archives: United Kingdom

Tammy and Tommy in Fairyland

Picture by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law I’ve come across multiple mentions of the Ballad of Tam Lin, so I thought that might be something worth addressing in a post. The Scottish song is thought to have existed as far back as … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, British, Celtic, Diana Wynne Jones, Fairy Tales, Greek Mythology, Halloween, History, Holidays, Magic, Music, Mythology, october daye, Poetry, Relationships, Scottish, seanan mcguire, United Kingdom, Welsh | Tagged fairies, fairyland, fire and hemlock, heaven, hell, night and silence, oberon, prophecy, robert burns, tam lin, thomas the rhymer, walter scott |

Angling for the Saxons

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s idea for an America First Caucus based on Anglo-Saxon values sounds kind of bizarre to those of us who don’t run in white supremacist circles. Like, why Anglo-Saxon in particular, and why would a group focusing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Arthurian Legend, Authors, British, Celtic, Colonization of America, England, Ethnicity, Etymology, History, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Lewis Carroll, Monarchy, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Norse, Politics, Prejudice, Roman Empire, United Kingdom | Tagged america first, angles, anglo-saxon attitudes, britons, dragons, english, geoffrey of monmouth, hengest, historia regum britanniae, horsa, jutes, king alfred the great, king arthur, king vortigern, marjorie taylor greene, mary rambaran-olm, merlin, nationalism, normans, odin, picts, racism, robin hood, rowena, saxons, through the looking-glass, time magazine, vikings |

Give Me Back My Name

A subject I’ve sometimes seen come up on Dragon Quest fan communities is that of the names in DQ2. You give the hero, the Prince of Midenhall, whatever name you want, and that somehow determines the names of your companions, … Continue reading →

Posted in Arthurian Legend, British, Buddhism, Comics, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Food, History, Holy Roman Empire, Language, Mythology, Names, Norse, Religion, United Kingdom, Video Games | Tagged alefgard, bran the blessed, cain and abel, charlemagne, conan the barbarian, dragon quest ii, dragon quest iii, dragon quest ix: sentinels of the starry skies, dragon quest of the stars, dragon quest vi, early modern english, eleanor of aquitaine, emblem of roto, erdrick, ernest tonnelat, final fantasy iv, fortune street, game boy, game boy color, kain highwind, king arthur, king lars, king lorik, knights of the round table, lady lora, loran, lorasia, manga, nintendo entertainment system, orfeo, orpheus, prince of cannock, prince of midenhall, princess gwaelin, princess of moonbrooke, queen guinevere, satori, sir gareth, sukesan, tantegel castle, tonnura |

Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child

Beth has mentioned to me that she really likes the Coventry Carol, which I can’t say I was particularly familiar with. It’s a very bleak sort of song, which makes sense considering what it’s about. But we both know it … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Christmas, Donkey Kong, History, Holidays, Mario, Middle East, Music, Mythology, Plays, Religion, Roman Empire, Tori Amos, United Kingdom, Video Games | Tagged benjamin, bethlehem, bible, coventry carol, epiphany, genesis, gospel of matthew, gospels, greensleeves, jeremiah, jesus, john henry hopkins jr., joseph campbell, king herod the great, massacre of the innocents, moses, nativity, rachel, thomas paine, three wise men, we three kings, what child is this?, william chatterton dix, world war ii |

Cole Mining

While we know that Old King Cole was a merry old soul with a love for music, whether he actually existed is a matter of some debate. There are records of a few different British rulers named Coel, dating back … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, British, Comics, England, History, L. Frank Baum, Mythology, Nursery Rhymes, Oz, Oz Authors, Robert Rankin, United Kingdom | Tagged bill willingham, coel hen, constantine, fables, geoffrey of monmouth, king arthur, merlin, mother goose in prose, old king cole, the hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse, the toyminator |

It’s a Round, Round Table

We all know about the Knights of the Round Table, King Arthur’s fierce warriors, initiators of chivalry, hunters of the Holy Grail, and able to take out Sephiroth with no trouble at all. But did the Knights really exist? I … Continue reading →

Posted in British, Christianity, Final Fantasy, History, Mythology, Religion, United Kingdom, Video Games | Tagged annales cambriae, camelot, chivalry, chretien de troyes, elaine of escalot, excalibur, final fantasy vii, fisher king, geoffrey of monmouth, green knight, holy grail, judas iscariot, king arthur, king ban of benoic, king bors, king constantine of britain, king leodegrance of cameliard, king lot of orkney, king pellinore, king uther pendragon, knights of the round table, lady of the lake, last supper, merlin, monsters, monty python and the holy grail, morgan le fay, questing beast, robert de boron, sephiroth, siege perilous, sir agravain, sir bedivere, sir bors, sir ector, sir gaheris, sir galahad, sir gareth, sir gawain, sir gawain and the green knight, sir gromer, sir grummore grummersum, sir kay, sir lancelot du lac, sir mordred, sir perceval, sir thomas malory, t.h. white, the once and future king, the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle, wace |

Merlin Makes It Magic

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s long been fascinated by the character of Merlin, the wizard who’s appeared in various media as everything from a vat-dyed villain to a kindly old man. I’d have to say my favorite … Continue reading →

Posted in British, History, Mythology, United Kingdom | Tagged ambrosius aurelianus, demons, geoffrey of monmouth, gorlois of cornwall, igraine, julius caesar, king arthur, king uther pendragon, king vortigern, merlin, merlinus, merlyn, myrddin wyllt, nimue, stonehenge, t.h. white, the once and future king, the sword in the stone |

Angling Toward Anglicanism

We’ve been looking in previous weeks about how Protestantism took hold in various European nations, but I think England might be the only case where it was instituted by a king, and for personal reasons at that. The monarch in … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglicanism, Catholicism, Christianity, Historical Personages, History, Protestant Reformation, Religion, United Kingdom | Tagged anne boelyn, anne of cleves, archbishop of canterbury, arthur tudor, catherine howard, catherine of aragon, catherine parr, edward vi of england, elizabeth i of england, ferdinand ii of aragon, greensleeves, henry viii of england, house of tudor, isabella of castile, jane seymour, queen mary tudor, thomas cranmer |

Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knox

In the past few weeks, I’ve looked at some of the major Protestant reformers on the European continent, but the British Isles remain to be addressed. The story of how King Henry VIII split with the Catholic Church for personal … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Historical Personages, History, Presbyterianism, Protestant Reformation, Religion, United Kingdom | Tagged elizabeth i of england, george wishart, james vi of scotland, john knox, king edward vi of england, mary of guise, mary queen of scots, queen mary tudor, the first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regimen of women |

Talk Like a King, My Son

The King’s Speech – I hadn’t originally intended to watch this movie, but my mom had received tickets from her work for agreeing to work on Christmas, so we went to see it today. I didn’t really know anything about … Continue reading →