Tag: Halloween

Alfredo Cattabiani: "The feast of All Saints and the Celtic New Year"

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Anthropology, Christianity, Extracts, folklore, Middle Ages, History, History of Religions

November 1st is the watershed between one agricultural year and another. At the end of the fruit season, the land, which has welcomed the wheat seeds destined to be reborn in spring, enters the period of hibernation. For Christians, two important feasts are celebrated in these days, All Saints' Day and the Commemoration of the dead. But once upon a time, in the lands inhabited by the Celts, which stretched from Ireland to Spain, from France to northern Italy, from Pannonia to Asia Minor, this period of transition was the New Year: it was called in Ireland Samuin and it was preceded by the night still known today in Scotland as Nos Galan-gaeaf, the night of the winter Kalends, during which the dead entered into communication with the living in a general cosmic mixing, as has already been observed in other critical periods of 'year.

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"Santa Claus executed", or the eternal return of an immortal rite

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Anthropology, Esotericism, folklore, History, History of Religions

With an essay with a provocative title, "Santa Claus executed", Claude Lรฉvi-Strauss is inspired by a bizarre news event at his time - the hanging and holocaust of a puppet of Santa Claus by the Dijonese clergy - to arrive to the understanding of the "true meaning of Christmas", based on the reciprocal relationship between the world of children and that of the dead. The method used for this purpose is a synchronic and confrontational approach with non-European societies.

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