It has been a New Year’s tradition in Germany since 1972, and in other parts of Europe since then, including Austira, Switzerland, and as far as South Africa and Australia. It holds the Guinness World’s Record for most repeated single broadcast television show, and has a cult following across the world, although it is little-known… Continue reading Dinner for One
Of course Christmas itself has just passed (and I hope that those of you who celebrate it had a wonderful holiday, even if you only do so as a secular holiday of family, plenty, and generosity, with no religious overtones, like my family does), but the traditional date of Yule is still more than two… Continue reading Julbord – traditional Yule dishes
Well, it’s not quite Yule, but still…
Now we move on to the second day of Yule. As we saw last year when I compared the traditions surrounding the feast of St. Stephen as celebrated in the North, there are a number of connections between the figure and the god Freyr, specifically the connection to both boars and horses. In England, St. Stephen… Continue reading The Big Day: Yule (Part Two)
What a wealth of winter traditions we’ve uncovered so far, leading up to Yule: A week before the longest night of the year, also the start of the old Heathen month of Mörsugur (“marrow-sucking”), we see Krampusnacht, originally connected with the story of the laming of Thor’s goats. Thor and the goats visit homes, punishing… Continue reading The Big Day: Yule (Part One)
During last night’s Asatru 101 class, which was covering much of the Yule information I’ve been presenting here over the last few weeks, one of the attendees asked a very insightful question in regards to my connecting the myth of Thor’s goats with the celebration of Krampusnacht. I’m paraphrasing, but it was something like “Do… Continue reading Why did Snorri pick those myths?
(This is a repost from 2015) Today marks the arrival of the first of the Yule-lads (IS jólasveinarnir); mischievous spirits who arrive one per day for the next twelve days, and each stays for exactly thirteen days, so on the 25th of December, they’re all present. They are the sons of the Icelandic trolls Grýla and Leppalúði,… Continue reading Welcome Yule Lads!
Mother’s Night and the New Year behind us, we find ourselves more than two weeks from the solstice, and a week before Yule itself. We now find ourselves at St. Knut’s Day, which is celebrated in Sweden and Finland, but not Denmark or Norway. The timing of this feast day deserves a little attention, as… Continue reading St. Knut’s Day
So over at Renew America, one Gina Miller (not the woman who sued the UK to try to prevent the Brexit being implemented, as far as I can tell) has an article up proclaiming loudly that Christmas is not pagan or ‘holiday’ (sic). Let’s take a walk through this together, shall we? (I’m quoting the… Continue reading Is Christmas Pagan?
This is a follow-up (and correction) to last year’s post about Mother’s Night. Additionally, it will be something of an addendum to my post on New Year’s Traditions a few days ago, which sort of conflated New Year’s Eve with New Year’s Day. Properly, they should be separate, as we shall see. Just to lay… Continue reading Mother’s Night