Heather Freeman reviewed The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton
Excellent (and still most recent?) historical survey of British holidays.
5 stars
I read this a while back when I was trying to grok the Wiccan Sabbats (like -- Feast of Torches. My brain was just all, "Dude, how are you not just groundhog's day plus fire?") This is a very academic text, so you're warned. However that's precisely why I loved it. Hutton's methodologies are great and it was a fascinating read. This book is a bit older, and I'm sure there's new research on these topics. I don't know if Hutton plans a new edition, but I'd love for 1) an updated editon and 2) a similar text looking at which, when, and how these holidays continued to evolve after crossing the Atlantic.
I read this a while back when I was trying to grok the Wiccan Sabbats (like -- Feast of Torches. My brain was just all, "Dude, how are you not just groundhog's day plus fire?") This is a very academic text, so you're warned. However that's precisely why I loved it. Hutton's methodologies are great and it was a fascinating read. This book is a bit older, and I'm sure there's new research on these topics. I don't know if Hutton plans a new edition, but I'd love for 1) an updated editon and 2) a similar text looking at which, when, and how these holidays continued to evolve after crossing the Atlantic.