Book description
Pregnancy and childbirth remains a mystical and magical time,
characterised by feelings of hope, uncertainty and worry. No matter how
many scientific innovations come along, there's still room for
home-grown beliefs and traditions handed down through the family.
Couples buying a pram may still ask for it to be delivered after the
birth, and some grandparents will shrink from tickling the baby's feet
in case it grows up to have a stammer.
Monday's Child is Fair of Face
gathers together these beliefs and customs, explaining how and why they
arose, in which parts of the country they have been particularly
popular, and to what extent they survive today. Arranged thematically,
it's the perfect book to dip into, and its mixture of familiar,
unfamiliar and frankly bizarre beliefs makes for compelling reading.
Steve Roud recently retired from his position as Local Studies Librarian
for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of
the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching
British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the
Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore
, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the
Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland
, which
won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. He also compiles the
Folk Song Index
and the Broadside Index
, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk
and popular song. He lives in Sussex.
