Reddit reviews The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year
We found 2 Reddit comments about The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Just stopping by to say Hi!
Also, I never read it, but this book looks appropriate and has good reviews: The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year
>The Celts weren't the only ones with solar/lunar calendars.
I never suggested they were.
>The lunar cycles were just named after the chores that had to get done that season.
I'd love to hear some examples. 'Cleaning & Seedlings Season' for your spring kinda thing-?
I'm reading this book right now and while it's decent, it also jumps all over the place re: time & geography that I get things mixed up.
Just looked it up & yeah so Yule's origins are actually Germanic/Norse mythology, not ancient Celtic or Druid. But the ancient Celts & Druids (of Gaul/France & Britain) predate Norse viking mythology, so I mean anyone could make an argument that ancient Celtic paganism influenced Norse paganism centuries later, but eh. Like you said, it's not like any culture gets dibs paying attention to seasons & lunar cycles. And we know so little about the ancient Celts that even if there are some leftovers hidden inside Yule (which then got hidden inside Christianity), it's kinda a "fuck it, whatever" scenario lol
As for the song, I have no idea. It was published in England in 1780 when any/all forms of modern Paganism were still demonized. It could've been created by a totally Christian group that had no idea there was a reference to Yule & passed around for centuries before it got printed by the English.
...not sure how you took the leap that the song lyrics depicting daily gifts from December 25th to Jan 6th represent seasons. I'd guess it was just one of many instances of the romantic era springing up.
Edit: apparently if anything, Christians have suggested the song actually hides key tenants to Christianity (not Paganism) while they were persecuted (which they weren't at the time & it's totally false for that reason among others). Seems like it was just a folksy memory game song.