The Christmas season is rich in superstitions. The whole period from the beginning of Advent, through the day itself, and especially throughout the twelve days (and nights!) between Christmas and January 6 or Epiphany are, in a sense haunted, a time when spirits are afoot and behavior is hemmed in by restrictions upon normal activities. Recently I stumbled upon a good collection of these folk beliefs in a volume from 1903 entitled Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World: (And subtitled, A Comprehensive Library of Human Belief and Practice in the Mysteries of Life). The book’s contents are indeed as comprehensive as that title, and from their section on Christmas, I’ll be sharing some of the more interesting examples.
The show closes with a recording of a song sung by costumed Swiss holiday figures known as Silvesterchläuse. In the hinterlands of the Canton of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, the se Silvesterchläus, groups of men and male youths wearing huge bells and ornate costumes, go door to door to offer seasonal blessings and sing songs like the one you will hear.
Swiss SilvesterchläuseThe post Christmas Superstitions appeared first on Bone and Sickle.
Dark Fairy Tales I: The Girl with No Hands
Electric Fairy Rings and the Slime from Space
The Seeress: Germanic Tribes, Vikings, and Witches
The Hellfire Clubs, Part Two
Hellfire Clubs, Part One
Grottos, Caves of Wonder
The Dead Lover’s Heart
Myth and Magic of the Smith
A Christmas Ghost Story IV
America and the Old, Dark Christmas
Transylvanian Vampires
Horror Hosts, Part Two
Horror Hosts, Part One
Ghost Trains & Railway Terrors
Marvelous and Rare III
Bird-Women of Greece and Russia
The Dybbuk
Ashtar, Orthon, and the Rosicrucians
Friends from Venus, Theosophists in Space
Hex Murders and Madness in Old Pennsylvania
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Lore