pick#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks Total Pts: 2420
Krampus and witches and other Christmas creatures, oh my! I really love reading about other countries traditions and learning about the origins of them.
30 likes
Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures | 
pick#WinterGames24 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks Total Pts: 2420
Krampus and witches and other Christmas creatures, oh my! I really love reading about other countries traditions and learning about the origins of them.
pickThis was a fascinating read about some of the creepier early Christmas traditions and folklore that dissapeared from the holiday for many around the time of the Victorians. Clegg covered lore from Krampus to the Icelandic Christmas Witch Gryla, debunking myths about the origins of many of these figures along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the history of these holiday traditions and would absolutely read more in a similar vein.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️if you‘re a fan of folk horror or where these amazing stories about Krampus, mummers, waissling or other pagan rituals began, follow Susan Clegg around Europe, Iceland and Nordic countries as she learns the origin stories. Good stuff. I like my Christmas dark.
pick4.5/5
This was an incredibly interesting book about the history of Christmas monsters and ghosts from how they came to become folklore to their ongoing evolution and popularity. This wasn't something I had thought about much before, but I found it so interesting to find out what we know about these stories origins and what the can tell us about how Christmas, and midwinter in general, was celebrated historically in Europe.
#netgalley
pickClegg looks at the origins of the darker Christmas traditions still celebrated today. She looks at how Carnival traditions used to tie into Christmas, at Krampus and Santa Lucia, as well as the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge. And several more in between.
Short NF that's well worth a read at this time of year.
@Caroline2
"This is my account of a winter spent with monsters, but it's also an effort to understand their history, where and when they originated, and why they take the forms they do. It is an attempt as well to understand why we are so drawn to horrors at Christmastime."
so-soA look at the darker side of Christmas in Europe including: Krampus, Santa's alter-ego St Nicholas, & how Christmas carolling from door-to-door could have developed from the originally much more sinister practice of guising.
I've always thought that the words to 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' were a little bit sinister - demanding figgy pudding & refusing to leave until they received it - & if it did originate with guising then no wonder.
