First findings from the NFS
A quarter of respondents to the National Folklore Survey for England reported carving a pumpkin at Halloween. Big thanks to The Veg Lord for providing these beauties for a photo opportunity.
If you’re a regular visitor to our website – and there are many of you (thank you!) – or a frequent reader of our posts on social media, you’ll probably know that we’ve been analysing the data that came back from the survey, conducted on our behalf by Ipsos UK in the summer.
Well, we’re now beginning to scratch the surface and make some headway with understanding the findings and, this week we thought we’d make public our first findings, relating to our autumn traditions and spooky stories, beliefs and practices that we often turn to at this time of year. We know, however, that folklore is much more than the paranormal, what we’re calling ‘the unexplained and unexpected’, and traditions, so do watch this space for rolling releases of data on all different aspects of folkloric belief and narrative, including nature and the natural world, lucky and unlucky objects and practices, the folklore of the home, places and legends, and film, television, and social media.
But back to autumn, and a surprise: according to our respondents, Bonfire Night is celebrated by more people than Halloween (52% vs 46%). While participation in Bonfire Night tails off steadily as people get older, it is younger people who are celebrating Halloween. People aged between 16 and 44 are much more likely to celebrate or participate in Halloween-related activities, and once someone in England is aged 45 and above, their participation in Halloween festivities is far less likely. Our survey did not include respondents under the age of sixteen; if it did, we strongly suspect that these results might be different and Halloween would come out on top. As for the top Halloween activities, just over a quarter of people said that they carve pumpkins, almost a third said they give out treats, and almost 30% of respondents said they watch scary films or television as part of their seasonal traditions.
When it comes down to beliefs in the unexplained and unexpected, just over one in three people in England said that they believe in ghosts or the spirits of deceased people. Again, age proved a major factor: those aged 25-34 were the most likely to believe in the paranormal (including ghosts, magical beings, possession, spells, psychics, angels, and demons). Sixteen per cent of people surveyed said that have had an extraordinary experience but what we find particularly extraordinary is that almost a fifth of these people told us they have never discussed this experience with anyone, not even family or friends. Regardless of whether they believe in ghosts or not, over 60% of respondents knew a ghost story or legend related to their home region.
We also found it fascinating that approximately 10% of respondents reported having seen a UFO or ‘something in the sky that they could not explain’. This is significant when it is compared to data from North America, where this figure is almost double. Is it our pesky and persistent rainclouds getting in the way, do we think?
Twenty-four per cent of people said that they believe spacecraft piloted by aliens have crashed on Earth, while 27% stated they believe that the existence of aliens has been covered up by governments. Even more people surveyed (32%), however, said that they believe that all UFO sightings can be explained, either as something natural, man-made, or as a hoax.
So that’s our first lot of findings from the National Folklore Survey for England. What do you make of it? Is there anything you found particularly surprising or intriguing? Do get in touch with us, we’d love to hear from you. Otherwise, look out for more findings coming your way before Christmas and New Year.