When the cuckoo calls

Jolly frock-coated robins, majestic geese and arboreal partridges make for both literal and symbolic centrepieces at Christmas, says Matthew Dennison, as he revels in the cultural history of the season’s feathered fowl and game

Nadia Shaikh seeks good company for a search-and-gorge to get her through the ruthless darkness of the winter months

Absurd little birds across the world lay their eggs in the nests of other species, leaving the hapless parents to raise a changeling at the expense of their own offspring. The majority are cuckoos – o

While the original National Folklore Survey from the 1960s was unscientific and open ended, simply asking random people “what do you know to be true?”, its 21st century successor is a very different b

the first month of the year is named after the Roman god Janus. He is often depicted with two heads – one for looking ahead, the other behind. He is also the god of doorways, beginnings, and the risin

With Hallowe’en out of the way, Christmas is the next big ghostly occasion in the UK traditional calendar. But what, one may wonder, of the rest of Europe? Ghost hunter Peter Underwood called Europe “