Ancestral veneration is a key function of winter rituals, a way to put our lineages in good order, encourage harmonious relations with the spirits of the ancient dead, and appease the restless dead who roam at night. On this night, we tell scary ghost stories that might include child-devouring crones, beer-stealing werewolves, dictator dogs and violent Santas. It's also a good day to honour the animal familiars who help convey gifts and goodness including flying goats, female deer, and horse skeletons.

There are also lighter aspects to the day including the reverence of Freya, hanging wreaths, and sacred spinning, weaving and fibre work.

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This is one of my favourite episodes because cultivating intimacy with the land I live on and the Spirits of Place is one of my favourite things to do. It also addresses, briefly yet deeply, how we can attend to the impacts of imperialism, colonialism and patriarchy in our spiritual work, especially4 at wintertime.

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It all begins with the Mother. Tonight on the longest night of the year, we honour our matrilineages and the spiritual lineages of prophesy, blessing, abundance and nurturance passed down through the ages through myths concerning Crones.

A Brief History of Christmas Tradition

Apple Tree Lore, druidry.org

A Visit from La Befana, JSTOR Daily

Bärbeletreiben

Biedermeier period

Berserks In History and Legend, M.Speidel

CHRISTMAS GIFTS AND THE GIFT-BRINGER, LESLIE D. JOHNSTON

Demons and Spirits of the Land: Ancestral Lore and Practices, C.Lecouteux

Deutsches Weinachsmuseum, All About Christmas Glass

Doe A Deer A Female Deer, Danielle Prohom Olson

Feasts and Feasting in the Fourteenth Century, Jon Mackley

foodtimeline.org

Frau Holle in Legend

HiddenGlen.org, Michael Newton's courses are chock full of Gaelic lore and language. Highly recommended.

Industrial Revolution, Chocolate Revolution

Lucy of Syracuse. Patron saint of eye disorders, Carlos Ortiz-Hidalgo

Marzipan Pigs Christmas Tradition

Notes on Italian Folk Customs, Stanley Gee

Otto Hofler, Wikipedia

Perchten and Krampusse: Living Mask Traditions in Austria and Bavaria, Molly Carter

Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead, Claude Lecouteux

Roast Beef, The New Poor Law, and the British Nation, 1834-63, N.Durbach

St. Lucia's Day: An Italian saint, a German child and a female demon all play a role in the story of 13 December, ScienceNorway.no

St.Lucy, Brittanica.com

Shedding Light on Saint Lucy, Aubrey Minshew

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Unknown author

Some Ancient and Modern Yuletide Customs (Dec.1939), L.Johnston

Sugar Past and Present

The Kissing Bough

The Ancient Jus Gentium of the Aryans (1899)

The Feast of Saint Barbara with Pagan Traditions

The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics, Gertraud Seiser and Matthäus Rest

The Lussekatter

The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year, L.Raedisch

The Pomander: A Brief History

The Problem of Mysteriousness of Baba Yaga Character in Religious Mythology, Evgenia V. Ivanova

The Rowan Tree and a Rowan Cross

The Scots Kitchen (1929), F.McNeill

The Silver Bough, Volume 3: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals - Hallowe’en to Yule (1961), F.McNeill

The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices, C.Lecouteux

The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, B.Walker

Unwrapping Yuletide: A Century of Icelandic Traditions, Gudrun Jonina Gunnlaugsdottir

We Don't Know The Origin Of The Candy Cane But They Almost Certainly Were Not Christian, Smithsonian Magazine

Witches, Werewolves and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages, Claude Lecouteux

Yule: The Pagan Holiday of Light, The TROTH | Education and Service for Inclusive Heathenry

Yuletide Monsters: Christmas Hauntings in Medieval Literature and Modern Popular Culture, Medieval Studies Blog Hosted by the University of Notre Dame's Medieval Institute

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Antifascism for the holidays!

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The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics by Gertraud Seiser and Matthäus Rest

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Inspiration for your holiday kitchen witchery!

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What's the deal with dead bird on Victorian holiday greeting cards? Plus, a rundown of some of the Yuletide bestiary.

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A look at Victorian holiday postcards and the botanicals of winter.

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NOTE: This episode contains a 7 minute guided meditation – do not listen while driving or operating machinery! We begin the Yuletide season by grounding into our values and prioritizing just a few rituals, crafts or special foodstuffs. Then we can relax and release pressure to have or provide perfect holiday moments; instead we can deepen into rhythm of winter's work of ritual, ceremony, reflection and restorative pause.

Himmeli straw can be found at The Straw Shop

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Learn about Fumbulvinter, the 12 Days of Yuletide and their themes, and the stories of European Yuletide folklore in my annual program, now available for free! 

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This episode is about the four intuitive tools I use to plan my year ahead, incorporating divination, dowsing, and more.

Before I dive in, I take a few minutes to stand on ceremony as I cross and important threshold with this podcast. It felt important to take some time to mark it well. I hope you find the Canadian Heritage Minutes interesting! limləmt to the Syilx Okanagan people for accepting us here on this land.

In this very full episode, I'm sharing about:

PLUS!

Referenced in this episode:

Chief Walking Grizzly Bear

Fur Brigade Trail

Syilx Language House

TNP226 Wild Horses of the Chilcotin with Wayne McCrory

The Divining Rod: A History of Water Witching, Dept. of the Interior US Geological Survey

About Family Constellations and generally all round awful person, Bert Hellinger

TNP229: What It Feels Like For A Girl with Emelia Symington-Fedy

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