New Year's Myths: From Saturnalia and Yule to Krampus and Snegurochka
New Year's Myths: From Saturnalia and Yule to Krampus and Snegurochka
19.99 €
A book that immerses you in the sacred world of the New Year. An exploration of the origins of New Year's traditions, their mythological roots, and symbolic meanings. An opportunity to see familiar customs as part of a centuries-old cultural heritage.
The chimes of the clock, the lights of the New Year's tree, a kind wizard bearing gifts—it seems like it's always been this way. However, these traditions have evolved over millennia and have taken the most unexpected forms in different cultures, from the Babylonian battle of Marduk with the primordial Tiamat to the Slavic farewell to Yarilo and the Japanese rite of exorcising demons with handfuls of beans.
The starting point of a new year in the life cycle could be the flooding of rivers, the beginning of field work, a solstice, or an equinox. But all these holidays were united by the idea that the world must momentarily return to primordial chaos in order to be born anew.
This book traces the origins of familiar New Year symbols and shows how ancient myths, rituals, and calendar rites of different peoples have coalesced into a unified cultural code that still defines our understanding of the beginning of the new year.
The chimes of the clock, the lights of the New Year's tree, a kind wizard bearing gifts—it seems like it's always been this way. However, these traditions have evolved over millennia and have taken the most unexpected forms in different cultures, from the Babylonian battle of Marduk with the primordial Tiamat to the Slavic farewell to Yarilo and the Japanese rite of exorcising demons with handfuls of beans.
The starting point of a new year in the life cycle could be the flooding of rivers, the beginning of field work, a solstice, or an equinox. But all these holidays were united by the idea that the world must momentarily return to primordial chaos in order to be born anew.
This book traces the origins of familiar New Year symbols and shows how ancient myths, rituals, and calendar rites of different peoples have coalesced into a unified cultural code that still defines our understanding of the beginning of the new year.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Myths from start to finish