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A horseshoe wind chime, used as a good luck charm
Iron has a long and varied tradition in the mythology and folklore of the world.
While iron is now the name of a chemical element, the traditional meaning of the word "iron" is what is now called wrought iron. In East Asia, cast iron was also common after 500 BCE, and was called "cooked iron", with wrought iron being called "raw iron" (in Europe, cast iron remained very rare until it was used for cannonballs in the 14th century). At the end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age, tools (including weapons) of iron replaced those of bronze, and iron-using cultures replaced bronze-using cultures. Many early legends spring from this transition, such as Homeric epic and the Vedas, as well as major cultural shifts in Africa. Iron mixed with larger amounts of carbon has very different working properties and structural properties, and is called steel. Steel was rare; making it was difficult and somewhat unpredictable, and steelworkers were often associated with supernatural skill, until the Industrial Revolution. Now, steel is cheaper to make, and most of what is now sold as "wrought iron" is in fact mild steel. See ferrous metallurgy for more historical detail.
Iron has a long and varied tradition in the mythology and folklore of the world. While iron is now the name of a chemical element, the traditional meaning...
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ambiguous character from Slavic folklore (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who has two opposite roles. In some motifs she is described as...
vampires. Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire originates...
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in local folklore. The group created fish-shaped iron ingots, which were received more positively by the villagers and led to immediate increases in blood...
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teːg]) is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of Welsh and Irish folklore Aos Sí. Other names for them...
appearing in the folklore of a variety of cultures as legendary creatures. Remains similar to those of mythological hybrids have been found in burial sites...
hybrid entities from the folklore record grouped morphologically. Hybrids not found in classical mythology but developed in the context of modern popular...
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