Folklore Tapes Calendar Customs Vol. I - Fore Hallowe'en

[fumi]

I expect this to be in stupidly low quantities if past releases are any indication.

 

 

Whatever names they take today, many of our most venerable calendar dates have their origins in pre-Christian observances, often marking key points in the agricultural year when planting began or harvesting was completed. Mayday, with its dances, games and fertility ceremonies, is a fine example, reflecting the gratitude of an agrarian society for the sun’s rebirth and the bounty of the soil. Songs, games and rites often form an essential part of these occasions, and their echoes reach us today though the din of the ages, with hidden meanings and garbled messages. Our new Calendar Customs series attempts to explore this world of symbolism and ritual sonically, through research and artistic reinterpretation. We begin the series with fright night. Halloween.

If we cast our gaze back far enough, we can see the origins of today’s Halloween in the Celtic festival Samhain or Samuin (pronounced ‘sow-an’ or ‘sow-in’). This ancient, pre-Christian observance marked summer’s end and heralded the dark, winter nights to come with feasting, fire and sacrificial offerings. As a borderline festival between seasons Samhain was a time of supernatural intensity, when the boundaries between worlds were at their most porous and the souls of the dead might mingle with those of the living. Though much is lost to the murk of time, it also seems that at Samhain great bonfires were lit to both honour and guide the dead, as well as ward off such spirits and sprites as might be abroad that night.
Although the festival was Christianized in the fourth century, it never lost its predecessor’s supernatural flavour. Now linked to the holy days of All Souls’ and All Saints’, Hallowtide - as it became known in England - was a feasting day marked by prayers for lost souls in purgatory, but one which retained dark associations. Church bells were rung and bonfires lit to ward off demonic agency, while requiem masses were held to prevent the dead from returning to rectify wrongs committed against them while alive. From the Middle Ages, these solemn rites were joined by the carnivalesque, and Hallowtide became a season of masking and misrule, when ribboned mummers, guisers and Hobby horses could upturn the social norms. While the games and rituals of Hallowtide were attacked by the Protestant Reformation, many popular customs such as ‘Souling’ and ‘Lating’ continued, especially in the more Catholic northern areas.
By the time we arrive at the name Halloween in the eighteenth century, many of these traditions have subsided, though the night retains its reputation as a time when ghosts, spirits and witches might be abroad. At Dorstone in Herefordshire, one brave enough to stay the night in the local church would be greeted by the spectral forms of all those in the parish fated to die in the next twelve months.
In Lancashire, burning candles were carried during the hour before midnight and if kept aflame throughout the witching-hour, the bearer would earn one year’s immunity from witchcraft.

While the customs may change, they retain at their core an unyielding association with the supernatural, with death and the departed: the hidden otherworld beyond our senses. So many of these traditions are lost in the fog of today’s heavily marketed and Americanized Halloween. This tape will pick out a few vestiges from the festival’s past, rekindling the fires that burned Fore Hallowe’en

 

 

http://www.folkloretapes.co.uk/product/folklore-tapes-calendar-customs-vol-i-fore-hallowe-en

[Caretstik]

Thank you. I saw this on the site but didn't know it was up for pre order. Also notice of a reissue campaign, with a double 10" of Two Witches:

 

http://www.folkloretapes.co.uk/product/devon-folklore-tapes-vol-i-two-witches.

 

Personally, if I never buy another of their releases I have to bag Cheshire Folklore (thank you to WATMMer nebraska for putting me onto it), it being my home county and all.

[fumi]

The reissue campaign is due to a Kickstarter they launched last month.

[Caretstik]

Ah, never occurred to me that it was related to that.

[fumi]

Carestick, did you order the Halloween edition?

new details added:

 

Embossed Box
Contains:
Orange Cassette
24 page booklet
Poster
Pumpkin Seed
Download Code

 

Featuring:
Eva Bowan
Bokins
Mary Stark
D.Orphan
Children Of Alice
Ian Humberstone
Snail Hunter
Magpahi
Carl Turney & Brian Campbell
Rob St John

The Children of Alice track on DFT Vol 5 completely spooked me (and it wasn't even connected with anything supernatural).

[Nebraska]

anyone know when this is supposed to retail? i'd love to pre-order, but it's just too expensive for a cassette ($24+$9 shipping=$30)

 

if i can find it here in .us (hopefully) not inclusive of that shipping cost, maybe i can talk myself into getting it. can someone tell me if i'm being a cheap ass or my worries are warranted? i honestly don't even remember if i ever bought a vinyl record for $30

[fumi]

Some points to consider.

Firstly you're buying into a very niche circle. The last Devon Folklore Tapes set sold out in hours (Theo Brown) and the one before was limited to 30 copies in hardback form. There was a cheaper (but not by much) evvelope edition but I believe there were only about 80 or so copies ever made. These editions usually sell out in hours.

Looking at the site this morning, I'm astonished that there are even any left by now - maybe they over-estimated demand this time.

If it's any consolidation, I live in Japan and only get to visit home (England) once a year. It's too expensive to post stuff to where I am. However, even ordering the way I do, the total cost was £18 (28 dollars). Royal Mail postage even domestically in the UK is £3.

Another thing to think about, once they are gone. Ther're gone. They don't ever offer download codes separately for people who missed out.

Personally, I find them to be excellent pre-digital artifacts. They come in a nice, book style housing and look great.

[fumi]

The last edition before the Theo Brown set.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g46ibjjkmaualih/DFTV.jpg?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zmhnytffxfkeett/1DFTVB.jpg?dl=0

[Nebraska]

Firstly you're buying into a very niche circle.

 

believe me, i know this all too well. i purchased most of the early hardcover releases from this label, missed a few and got 2 in envelopes here in the united states then never found the rest (12 stations, harbinger of spring and chthonic tunnels)

 

i don't mind forking a little extra because the packaging and all the extras are hand made, bespoke etc, but i'd just like to know if i can still purchase said product without paying that full amount and saving a couple of bucks

 

p.s. i haven't been back home in 4 years. i'm from england too. howdy doody countryman

[fumi]

 

Firstly you're buying into a very niche circle.

 

p.s. i haven't been back home in 4 years. i'm from england too. howdy doody countryman

 

 

Yeah, it's weird, isn't it.

 

Sometimes, it's a liberating experience, other times you feel like you don't really belong anywhere. Out of place and time. Almost 'dream-like' occasionally.

 

Regards

[Caretstik]

Carestick, did you order the Halloween edition?

new details added:

 

Embossed Box

Contains:

Orange Cassette

24 page booklet

Poster

Pumpkin Seed

Download Code

 

Featuring:

Eva Bowan

Bokins

Mary Stark

D.Orphan

Children Of Alice

Ian Humberstone

Snail Hunter

Magpahi

Carl Turney & Brian Campbell

Rob St John

The Children of Alice track on DFT Vol 5 completely spooked me (and it wasn't even connected with anything supernatural).

 

I pre-ordered it before those details were added to the page, so I hope that'll be the version I'll get.

I think you're right about their making more pressings. According to Bleep the Twelve Stations 7" is also still available (as well as to download). Incidentally, I really must download the Children Of Alice track, don't know why I've dithered this long.

[fumi]

The Children of Alice track is really haunting and uneasy listening. I've never been able to put my finger on exactly why.

Maybe that's part of its attraction - in a hauntalogical sense.

[fumi]

Wondering if this is actually going to ship out before hallowe'en?

Seems a bit redundant if not.

[Nebraska]

they said it would be "unveiled on 31st october". not sure if that means it would ship before that date or whether if it's the official release date regardless or pre-orders etc.

[fumi]

Oh really? I don't remember seeing that. Probably missed it in my haste to order the damn thing.

[fumi]

Tapes have shipped.

 

https://www.facebook.com/FolkloreTapes/photos/np.241647189.536207724/708258899251788/?type=1

[fumi]

My copy arrived. Number 9 of 250.

There is quite a lot of stuff in the box - poster, download code and DFT Newsletter information.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1u3g4flqkyol3x4/2014-10-30%2014.35.22.jpg?dl=0

[Nebraska]

My copy arrived. Number 9 of 250.

There is quite a lot of stuff in the box - poster, download code and DFT Newsletter information.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1u3g4flqkyol3x4/2014-10-30%2014.35.22.jpg?dl=0

 

 

i don't think mine will be here anytime soon

[fumi]

If it's any consolation, that copy is sat in England, I have to make do with the Bandcamp download until then.

 

Only listened through once so far but the pieces are suitably haunting.

Thinking on the whole hauntalogical thing, I'm surprised they haven't done a hallowe'en thing before now.

 

According to DFT, these calendar tape editions will become regular seasonal things.

In the UK, that might mean Easter, a mid-summer edition, Christmas.

 

Wow. I don't think my credit card will take it.

[fumi]

This release is up on Bleep now. I think DFT over-estimated demand on this one. Usually they sell out within hours.

 

https://bleep.com/release/55562-various-artists-fore-halloween?utm_source=Bleep&utm_campaign=9e4b8229cf-Fore_Hallowe_en_Folklore_Tapes_11_4_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_db8ca97389-9e4b8229cf-296610

[Nebraska]

that, or they may have just announced it a little too late and people might still not be aware of it. either way, i hope future releases are available this way as well.

 

p.s. tape now sold out