fellerbuckers

Fellerbuckers are traditional wooden effigies central to forest harvest rites in the fictional region of Aldermere. The name derives from historical woodworking terms feller (one who felled trees) and buck (to cut a log), reflecting their original function as symbolic representations of the logging cycle.

Typically between 60 and 120 centimeters tall, Fellerbuckers are carved from locally available softwood and painted with natural pigments. The figures depict a forester with traditional tools such as an axe or a bucking saw, often accompanied by animal or plant motifs to symbolize forest life.

Carvers, known as master fellerbuckers, work in seasonal workshops and pass the pattern through generations. Some figures feature articulated joints or simple mechanical elements that allow the arms to raise during the procession.

In ritual use, Fellerbuckers are placed along processional routes or stood at forest clearings during harvest festivals to mark the end of a felling cycle and to invoke protection over the woods.

The earliest references appear in Aldermere chronicles dating to the 13th century, with production peaking in the 18th and 19th centuries. Industrialization and new land-management practices led to a decline, but the tradition has been revived in recent decades by crafts guilds and regional museums.

Regional variants differ in stylistic details, color schemes, and tool motifs, but all share a common iconography connected to woodcraft and forest guardianship.

Today, Fellerbuckers are studied by folklorists as artifacts of working-class ritual life and are exhibited in ethnographic collections and folk-art fairs.