Tickets £3 plus fee (online) and booking here.

Join us for an early Valentine's treat with folklore and tradition expert Dr Ceri Houlbrook, who shares her research on love-locks.

A padlock is a relatively mundane object, designed to fulfil a specific – and secular – purpose. However, a contemporary custom has given padlocks new significance. This custom is the love-lock, whereby padlocks are inscribed with names or initials, and locked onto public structures, in ritual declarations of love. Since the 2000s, this custom has emerged in locations as distant and varied as Paris and Taiwan; New York and Seoul; Melbourne and Moscow.

Drawing on interviews with love-lockers and the material culture of the love-locks themselves, this talk will explore the seemingly worldwide popularity of the love-lock as a ritual token of love and commitment by considering its history, symbolism, and cultural heritage.

Biography

Dr Ceri Houlbrook is a Senior Lecturer in Folklore and History at the University of Hertfordshire, and Programme Leader of the Folklore Studies MA. Her primary research interests include the material culture of ritual practices and popular beliefs, and contemporary adaptations of historic customs and folklore. She has published monographs on ritual “litter”, love-locks, coin-trees, and concealed objects. She is also the author of the novel Winter's Wishfall - a lovestory.