Paul Sébillot

Born on February 6, 1843, in Matignon, Brittany, Paul Sébillot became known as an ethnologist, folklorist, writer, and painter. He devoted much of his career to gathering traditional tales, customs, and popular beliefs, especially from Brittany, and became one of the important figures in the study of folklore in France.

Sébillot wrote and edited many works on oral literature and regional traditions. His books drew attention to the richness of local storytelling and helped treat folk culture as something worth studying seriously, not just something to be forgotten as modern life changed.

He died in Paris on April 23, 1918. Today he is remembered for preserving a wide range of traditional material that gives modern readers a vivid sense of the imagination, humor, and fears of earlier communities.