The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in BritainFrom the twelve days of Christmas to the Spring traditions of Valentine, Shrovetide, and Easter eggs, through May Day revels and Midsummer fires, and on to the waning of the year, Harvest Home, and Hallowe'en; Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. His comprehensive study covers all the British Isles and the whole sweep of history from the earliest written records to the present day. Great and lesser, ancient and modern, Christian and pagan, all rituals are treated with the same attention. The result is a colorful and absorbing history in which Ronald Hutton challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past and the festivals of the present debunking many myths and illuminates the history of the calendar we live by. Stations of the Sun is the first complete scholarly work to cover the full span of British rituals, challenging the work of specialists from the late Victorian period onwards, reworking our picture of the field thoroughly, and raising issues for historians of every period. |
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User Review - particle_p - LibraryThingThis is such a dense text that I still haven't made my way through it after several months, not for lack of trying. The information is interesting, but the book has no "pull" to it beyond the facts ... Read full review
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User Review - LadyintheLibrary - LibraryThingPerhaps occasionally more information than one needs, but the arcane detail is often delightful and intriguing. Read full review
Contents
The Origins of Christmas | 1 |
The Twelve Days | 9 |
The Trials of Christmas | 25 |
Rites of Celebration and Reassurance | 34 |
Rites of Purification and Blessing | 42 |
Rites of Hospitality and Charity | 54 |
Mummers Play and Sword Dance | 70 |
HobbyHorse and Horn Dance | 81 |
The May | 226 |
May Games and Whitsun Ales | 244 |
Morris and Marian | 262 |
Rogationtide and Pentecost | 277 |
Royal Oak | 288 |
A Merrie May | 295 |
Corpus Christi | 304 |
The Midsummer Fires | 311 |
Misrule | 95 |
The Reinvention of Christmas | 112 |
Speeding the Plough | 124 |
Brigids Night | 134 |
Candlemas | 139 |
Valentines | 146 |
Shrovetide | 151 |
Lent | 169 |
The Origins of Easter | 179 |
Holy Week | 182 |
An Egg at Easter | 198 |
The Easter Holidays | 204 |
England and St George | 214 |
Beltane | 218 |
Other editions - View all
The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain Ronald Hutton No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
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