Seasonal Magic.
A collection of tales and traditions, from our holiday adventures abroad!
The Winter Wolf
Winter: a season of darkness, a season of dreams. Across the world, this deeply evocative time of year is ubiquitously enchanting. Spirits flood the ancient stories of every culture in an abundance of legend and lore, reviving a colorful spectacle of tradition into modernity. Many of the rituals and beliefs longest held revolve around the Winter Solstice on December 21st, and extend through early January. Tales of wood folk, forest goblins, and ghostly armies originally inspired the candlelit windows now associated with Christmas decorating. Gatherings around fireside hearths, the exchange of gifts, and a multitude of superstitions are practiced to welcome good fortune for the coming year, dancing away the darkness that lurks beyond the mystery of the shadows. In a throng of midwinter characters, one archetypal figure emerges clearly in the cold light of the haunting moon, primeval in its connection to the deepest known roots of humanity: The Wolf.
Tradition and Holiday Markets:
‘Tis the Season we call Christmas--though the traditions we cherish and celebrate are much older than living memory, and evolved from many names. Twinkling lights are hung like humble stars to brighten the lengthening stretches of nighttime. The world grows colder, and nature falls into deep slumber. We turn inward, inside the comfort of our homes and into the company of one another. It is a time for giving, for gratitude, and for gathering, rooted in the need for survival through the darkest season of the year. Winter tales and campfire stories thrive, stirring the imagination and awakening our sense of wonder in the warm embrace of a firelit hearth.
…From the dark edges where imagination blooms…
“Christmas requires the darkness. Every child understands that it’s only at midnight the Christmas mystery unfolds. The holiday we’ve spun from sugarplums and annual TV specials can’t exist without those dark edges where imagination blooms. Not by chance it aligns with the long, black night of the solstice and Nature’s last breath.”
—Al Ridenour, The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil
*Photo taken by Brian Hirschbine, in Nuremberg, Germany
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