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- Convenors:
-
Robert Piotrowski
(Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences)
Dariusz Brykała (Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization PAS)
Violetta Wróblewska (the Institute of Cultural Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.)
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Short Abstract
This panel explores how traditional folklore encodes human interaction with landforms and water bodies, often perceived as haunted or sacred. It draws on concepts from geomythology and geofolklore to examine the symbolic integration of abiotic environments into local belief systems.
Long Abstract
This session explores how traditional folklore interprets and assigns meaning to landforms and hydrological features, and how these are transformed into symbolically charged ‘cultural landscapes.’ The analysis may be based on both folk narratives and other forms of folklore that reflect attempts to interpret and culturally contextualize environmental features.
The focus lies on natural sites that are ‘haunted,’ liminal, or ontologically ambiguous – features of the physical environment that have acquired supernatural significance, either positive or negative. Their origins are often attributed to mythic or folkloric beings such as giants, devils, or saints, and their natural characteristics are interpreted through the lens of local belief systems.
The session invites contributions that examine the symbolic, spiritual, or mythological engagement with landscape features and the role of narrative in shaping local knowledge and memory. We encourage theoretical and empirical papers drawing on concepts from geomythology, geofolklore, hydromythology, or cultural geology to analyze the connections between folklore, environment, and traditional ecological knowledge.
Our aim is to foster a comparative and interdisciplinary dialogue on how natural landscapes are narrated, identified, and symbolically valued in folklore, and how these processes shape cultural memory, local identity, and ecological imagination.
We welcome proposals that:
Analyze supernatural beings in relation to landscape narratives.
Explore regional patterns in etiological myths tied to environmental features.
Examine how water bodies function as liminal spaces or sites of strong symbolic charge.
Apply geospatial, comparative, or computational methods to folkloric materials.
Highlight transdisciplinary approaches that combine folklore, cultural anthropology, and Earth sciences.
Accepted papers
Session 1 Tuesday 16 June, 2026, -Paper short abstract
This paper examines the role of algae in various forms of folk narrative from creation myth, to folk practice, to creatures represented by algae to trouble through the rise of harmful algal blooms due to climate change and investigate how public facing work can re-incorporate folkloric techniques.
Paper long abstract
Stories of seaweed, kelp, and algae are present in folkloric traditions across different cultures featuring consumption as well as personifications. This project seeks to reexamine the presence of algae across different established traditions and speculate on how these narrative orientations might be useful in rethinking the current, rising problem of algal blooms due to climate change. Through revisiting algae and seaweed and their attachments to misery, fortune, wayfinding, and nourishment across stories, this project seeks to challenge the current treatment of algae blooms as an omen of imminent doom and complicate their presence. This project also takes an applied folklore approach to how public facing humanities work can re-incorporate folkloric techniques when dealing in algal blooms.
Paper short abstract
Among the Alevi Zazas of Dersim (Central Anatolia), al-Khidr (Hızır) is revered as a divine figure whose essence is bound to water. Local springs, rivers, and sacred lakes embody his presence, serving as sites of pilgrimage and ritual.
Paper long abstract
In the religious worldview of the Alevi Zazas of Dersim (Central Anatolia), al-Khidr occupies a unique position as a divine figure whose presence permeates daily life, ritual practice, and natural landscapes. While sharing features with the universal Muslim al-Khidr, the Zaza tradition emphasizes his deep association with water as the source of life, renewal, and sacred power. Khidr is invoked in blessings, oaths, and amulets, reflecting his omnipresence and protective role. Yet it is his connection with rivers, springs, and lakes that most clearly reveals his liminal character: sacred sites such as Gola Çeto, located at the confluence of the Munzur and Pülümür rivers, or the Munzur springs (Munzur Baba Ziyareti), are central places of pilgrimage where Khidr’s presence sanctifies the waters and surrounding nature. Myths and legends describe Khidr’s meetings with other divine or semi-divine figures at watery thresholds, echoing the Qur’anic motif of the “junction of the two seas.” In the Alevi Zaza cosmology, al-Khidr embodies both the vitality of the natural world and the mediating force between human communities and the divine. His cult demonstrates how the universal figure of al-Khidr was localized within Dersim’s sacred landscape, acquiring distinct features through his enduring bond with water and nature. By tracing relevant narratives, the paper argues that nature is not a passive backdrop but an active partner in the sacralization of space. Saints and natural loci together generate a common sacred landscape, sustaining memory and cultural continuity.
Paper short abstract
This presentation explores typical topographic features found at sacred sites of folk belief in the Finnish forests, and whether specific motifs of folk belief tend to be connected to certain types of topographic features.
Paper long abstract
Finnish folklore archives contain a wealth of belief narratives about supranormal beings and events tied to specific places in forests. Studying folk belief with a departure point in specific places to which it is connected reveals new patterns which could not be seen by studying only the narratives in themselves.
This paper is not just based on archival and cartographic studies, but field visits to more than 150 forest sites in southern Finland identified by local belief traditions as inhabited by spirits or in other ways sacred or supranormal. Through field visits the sites can experienced with human senses, often revealing topographic features and other sensory elements which are not mentioned in the belief narratives and are often also not detectible on topographic maps.
This presentation will a) explore typical topographic features and combinations thereof found at sacred sites of folk belief in the Finnish forests, and b) examine whether specific motifs of folk belief, such as certain kinds of supranormal beings, tend to be connected to certain types of topographic features and whether there are regional variations.
Paper short abstract
This paper examines megaliths in Poland from a landscape and folklore perspective, focusing on location, terrain, visibility, and proximity to water, and considers their later role in folklore and social memory.
Paper long abstract
This paper explores megaliths in Poland from the perspective of landscape and folklore, emphasizing the interplay between physical placement and cultural meaning. Analyses focus on site selection, terrain features, proximity to water bodies, and visibility patterns. Evidence shows that megalith locations were deliberately chosen to serve ritual, communicative, and symbolic functions within the prehistoric landscape. In addition, the study addresses how megaliths were perceived and used in later periods - as folkloric landmarks, orientation points, and places of social memory - demonstrating their enduring significance across generations. By combining archaeological data with landscape analysis and folkloristic perspectives, this paper highlights the dynamic relationship between monuments, human activity, and cultural narratives, situating megaliths not merely as static artifacts, but as active participants in the shaping of both physical and cultural landscapes.
Paper short abstract
The paper examines the Klamath narrative about the formation of Crater Lake (giiwas), tracing its oral tradition to the Mount Mazama eruption 7,600 years ago, and situates it within a framework of geomythology and the “new euhemerism,” drawing on historical ethnographic sources and 2024 fieldwork.
Paper long abstract
The Klamaths (ʔewksiknii maqlaqs), together with the Modocs (moowat’aakkni maqlaqs) and Yahooskin Paiutes (nɨmɨ), constitute the federally recognized Klamath Tribes in present-day southern Oregon (US) and have preserved in their oral tradition the story of the formation of Crater Lake (giiwas), which recounts a mythological struggle between two powerful non-human beings from the local ontology, ultimately resulting in the lake’s creation. First recorded in the 19th century, the narrative has become a foundational case study for geomythology—an interdisciplinary research field that focuses on the traditions of pre-scientific cultures, where, in addition to folk explanations of specific landforms, fossils, etc., geomythologists search for mythologized accounts of actual (often catastrophic) geological events from the past. The version of the Klamath geomyth used by modern researchers was presented in a mid-20th-century anthology of Native American folklore and is a rewording of the earlier text. This paper emphasizes the ethnographic sources on which the geomythological interpretation is based, tracing the cultural transmission of the Klamath narrative back to approximately 7,600 years ago, when the volcanic crater lake was formed as a result of the Mount Mazama eruption. It aims to outline the basic assumptions of geomythology, situate them within a set of approaches collectively referred to here as the “new euhemerism,” and discuss the current state of anthropological knowledge regarding the Klamath geomyth, as well as the related cultural and religious significance of Crater Lake, based on the analysis of original historical ethnographic materials and fieldwork conducted in 2024 on the Klamath Tribes Reservation.
Paper short abstract
This contribution examines how distinctive hydrographic features and dynamic environmental processes—such as springs, sinkholes, lakes, torrents, and flash floods—stimulated myths, folklore, and ritual practices.
Paper long abstract
Hydrographic features have played a crucial role in shaping imaginaries, beliefs, and narratives rooted in local traditions. From a hydrologist’s perspective, particular importance lies in water bodies and environmental processes whose unusual characteristics deviate from everyday experience and foster myth-making. Springs, sinkholes, lakes of various origins (e.g., maar, proglacial), peat bogs, mountain torrents, and waterfalls have often served as symbolic centers of interpretation and ritual practices across cultures.
Their extraordinariness derives from specific physical and chemical attributes: water color (black, red, azure), distinctive odors (hydrogen sulfide, methane), unusual temperature regimes (geysers, ice-free waters in winter, “soup-like” lake stratification), or ecosystem vitality (absence or abundance of life). In addition, dynamic environmental processes—degassing, peat bog explosions, flash floods, or the occurrence of dry valleys—triggered attempts at explanation, frequently expressed through mythological or folkloristic narratives.
The perception of such phenomena resulted in hydronymy (names imbued with symbolic meaning), the creation of local narratives, and the emergence of cult practices, which in some cases contributed to the unintentional protection of natural sites. These interactions highlight the need to regard hydrographic features not only as components of natural systems but also as essential elements of geo- and cultural heritage.
Paper short abstract
By mapping folklore narratives of the “supernatural” and death-related rituals onto the landscape, interdisciplinary research demonstrates that village and estate boundaries embody liminal symbolism, marking thresholds between the “world of the living” and beyond.
Paper long abstract
By mapping folklore narratives and ritual activities onto the landscape, the research demonstrates that boundaries such as village and estate boundaries function as liminal spaces. Oral traditions concerning apparitions, sacrifices, burials, deaths, and killings of folkloric beings are particularly concentrated along cadastral and estate boundaries, endowing them with a “supernatural” dimension. Interdisciplinary analysis combining folkloristics, anthropology, archaeology, and geodesy further reveals that many old landscape boundaries were marked by Slavic mythical sites or Christian sacred places. In the Karst region of Slovenia, several village boundaries were also associated with ritual activities known as “dead resting sites.” These practices linked to marking the place of resting with the dead are interpreted as man’s last passage – from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Their occurrence specifically on boundaries can be understood through van Gennep’s theory of rites of passage, which emphasizes the transitional and transformative character of liminal spaces. Historical records also indicate that landscape boundaries were connected with a variety of ritual activities and narratives: worship of boundary deities, sacredness of the border pomerium in antiquity, sanctions for boundary violations, the establishment of sacred points, the deposition of objects during the demarcation of borders, ritual processions along them etc. Thus, boundaries were not merely physical divisions of “ours” and “theirs”, but complex cultural constructs. Crossing them meant entering an alternative reality, where the landscape itself articulated the threshold between the “world of the living” and the beyond.
Paper short abstract
The paper examines geofolklore of the Southern Baltic Lowlands, focusing on symbolic and utilitarian interactions between people and abiotic landscapes. It shows how folklore encodes geomorphological processes, shaping cultural imaginaries and forming part of geocultural heritage.
Paper long abstract
Folk narratives provide insight into the symbolic interactions between people and the abiotic environment. They reflect processes of recognizing and attributing meaning to specific landforms and natural phenomena. The relationship between folklore and geomorphology is shaped by cultural context and can be understood on two interconnected levels:
1. symbolic interaction, where landscapes and landforms become carriers of myths, legends, and supernatural
associations;
2. utilitarian interaction, where features such as boulders, lakes, or river valleys are integrated into practices of
everyday life, resource use, or spatial organization.
Both dimensions form part of the geocultural heritage, situated at the intersection of geology and culture. These relations are inherently polysemic, producing diverse cultural imaginaries that characterize local communities and their landscapes. The Southern Baltic Lowlands provide a particularly rich case for studying such processes, with folklore tied to glacial landforms, erratic boulders, wetlands, and extreme weather events. The proposed paper discusses how geofolklore captures both symbolic values and practical experiences of the environment, offering a broader understanding of human–nature relations in this transitional European landscape.
Paper short abstract
The aim of this paper is to present Polish folk narratives from the 19th - early 20th centuries concerning stone statues resembling human figures and and their connections with the natural landscape.
Paper long abstract
The aim of this paper is to present Polish folk narratives from the 19th - early 20th centuries concerning stone statues resembling human figures and and their connections with the natural landscape. Many legends on this subject suggest that they were created under the influence of a spell cast in anger by a dissatisfied person—for example, upon a wedding procession or a lazy girl. The greatest number of such tales has been recorded in Kashubia, though they also appear in mountainous regions. Stone figures are also present in magic tales, such as those about the quest for the water of life and people turned into stone after looking back despite a prohibition.
Narratives about stone people, sometimes linked to specific locations, can be associated with two phenomena. Firstly, with stone figures made by humans for cult purposes, and secondly, for instance, with natural mountain formations—granite shapes formed under the influence of climate. While today the causes of both types of stone formations are known, in the past folk stories provided explanations through the intervention of nature and/or the power of a word spoken at the wrong moment. The connection between rocks and humans or humanoid beings is also reflected in the names of stone figures, such as Prussian women, giants, or pilgrims.
Paper short abstract
This study integrates Indigenous knowledge with biology and other scientific explorations to map the natural and supernatural environments of mermaids from Aboriginal lore, exploring their habitats, forms, and personalities, and their relations with people and ecosystems.
Paper long abstract
Across Aboriginal communities of northern Australia, Dreamtime stories speak of mermaid women who inhabit specific landscapes and shift between forms. In the Yanyuwa language, mawurrangantharra means a dream that opens vision into the spiritual world. Mermaid Dreaming beings have appeared to Yanyuwa women as goannas, transmitting songs and dances about caring for country and being mothers and lovers (Mackinlay & Bradley, 2003). Near Belyuen community, some waterholes are known as mermaid dwellings, where spirits can lure and endanger unfamiliar men. West Arnhem traditions describe Yawkyawks as spirits who “live in the water, others on the land. Some have fish tails and others feet like humans. They can call out, and if you hear them, they can affect your mind,” recounts a song by Yalandja, a Kuninjku man (Garde, 2005).
Committed to understanding their habitats, this paper engages with mermaid spirits through the knowledge and experiences of Indigenous Australians. We aim to map their natural and supernatural environments through the abiotic and biological characteristics of the places they inhabit, while also attending to their diversity, personalities, and powers. By engaging with Indigenous knowledge alongside scientific approaches we broaden the scope of environmental thought, reframing geoheritage and ecological practices to include biodiversity and geodiversity as understood through Dreamtime and ongoing relationships of Aboriginal Australians with land and water.