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Yuletide
Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples. In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the heathen Anglo-Saxon ("Mothers' Night"). The term ''Yule'' and cognates are still used in English and the Scandinavian languages as well as in Finnish and Estonian to describe Christmas and other festivals occurring during the winter holiday season. Furthermore, some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions. Etymology The modern English noun ''Yule'' descends from Old English , earlier ''geoh(h)ol'', ''geh(h)ol'', and ''geóla'', sometimes plur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmastide
Christmastide, also known as Christide, is a season of the liturgical year in most Christianity, Christian churches. For the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Anglican Church, Methodist Church and some Orthodox Churches, Christmastide begins on 24 December at sunset or Vespers, which is liturgy, liturgically the beginning of Christmas Day. Most of 24 December is thus not part of Christmastide, but of Advent, the season in the Church Year that precedes Christmastide. In many liturgical calendars Christmastide is followed by the closely related season of Epiphanytide that commences at sunset on 5 January—a date known as Twelfth Night (holiday), Twelfth Night. In many Christian denominations, Christmastide is identical to Twelvetide (Twelve Days of Christmastide). There are several celebrations within Christmastide, including Christmas Day (25 December), Saint Stephen's Day (26 December), Innocents day, Childermas (28 December), New Year's Eve (31 December), the Feast of the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Winter Festivals
This is an incomplete list of multinational festivals and holidays. January ;Christianity * Feast of the Circumcision: ''1 January'' * Twelfth Night (holiday), Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve): ''5 January'' * Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany: ''6 January'' – the arrival of the Three Magi * Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Apostolic Christmas: ''6 January'' * Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christmas: ''7 January'' – in churches using the Julian calendar. Until the year 2100, 7 January in the Julian Calendar is equivalent to 25 December in the Gregorian calendar. ;Secular * Basil of Caesarea, Saint Basil's Day: ''1 January'' – In Greek traditions, he is the Father Christmas figure. * New Year's Day: ''1 January'' – First day of the Gregorian Year. * Old New Year: ''14 January'' – New Year's Day according to the "old" Julian calendar. Includes a winter ritual of strolling and singing that was later incorporated into the Christmas carol. * Burns Sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other geographical factors such as climate and ecology. Climate The climate is mainly Oceanic climate (Cfb), Humid continental climate (Dfb), Subarctic climate (Dfc and Dsc) and Tundra (ET). Geography Northern Europe might be defined roughly to include some or all of the following areas: British Isles, Fennoscandia, the peninsula of Jutland, the Baltic region, Baltic plain that lies to the east, and the many islands that lie offshore from mainland northern Europe and the main European continent. In some cases, Greenland is also included, although it is only politically European, comprising part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and not considered to be geographically in Europe. The area is partly mountainous, including the northern volcanic islands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heathen Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, or Anglo-Saxon polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centuries AD, during the initial period of Early Medieval England. A variant of Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe, it encompassed a heterogeneous variety of beliefs and cultic practices, with much regional variation. Developing from the earlier Iron Age religion of continental northern Europe, it was introduced to Britain following the Anglo-Saxon migration in the mid 5th century, and remained the dominant belief system in England until the Christianisation of its kingdoms between the 7th and 8th centuries, with some aspects gradually blending into folklore. The pejorative terms ''paganism'' and ''heathenism'' were first applied to this religion by Christianised Anglo-Saxons, and it does not appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faroese Language
Faroese ( ; ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 69,000 Faroe Islanders, of whom 21,000 reside mainly in Denmark and elsewhere. It is one of five languages descended from Old Norse#Old West Norse, Old West Norse spoken in the Middle Ages; the others include Nynorsk, Norwegian, Icelandic language, Icelandic, and the extinct Norn language, Norn and Greenlandic Norse. Faroese and Icelandic, its closest extant relative, are not easily Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible in speech, but the written languages resemble each other quite closely, largely owing to Faroese's Orthographic depth, etymological orthography. History Around 900 AD, the language spoken in the Faroes was Old Norse, which Norse settlers had brought with them during the time of the settlement of Faroe Islands () that began in 825. However, many of the settlers were not from Scandinavia, but descendants of Norse settlers in the Irish Sea region. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icelandic Language
Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian languages, West Scandinavian language, it is most closely related to Faroese language, Faroese, western Norwegian dialects, and the extinct language Norn language, Norn. It is not mutually intelligible with the continental Scandinavian languages (Danish language, Danish, Norwegian language, Norwegian, and Swedish language, Swedish) and is more distinct from the most widely spoken Germanic languages, English language, English and German language, German. The written forms of Icelandic and Faroese are very similar, but their spoken forms are not Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. The language is more Linguistic conservatism, conservative than most other Germanic languages. While most of them hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gothic Language
Gothic is an extinct language, extinct East Germanic languages, East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text corpus. All others, including Burgundian language (Germanic), Burgundian and Vandalic language, Vandalic, are known, if at all, only from proper names that survived in historical accounts, and from loanwords in other, mainly Romance languages, Romance, languages. As a Germanic language, Gothic is a part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is the earliest Germanic language that is attested in any sizable texts, but it lacks any modern descendants. The oldest documents in Gothic date back to the fourth century. The language was in decline by the mid-sixth century, partly because of the military defeat of the Goths at the hands of the Franks, the elimination of the Goths ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, type of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wassailing
The tradition of wassailing (also spelled wasselling) falls into two distinct categories: the house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting wassail. The house-visiting wassail, which traditionally occurs on the twelfth day of Christmastide known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve (January 5), is the practice of people going door-to-door, singing and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in exchange for gifts; this practice still exists, but has largely been displaced by carol singing. The orchard-visiting wassail refers to the custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions of England and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year. Notable traditional wassailing songs include " Here We Come a-Wassailing", " Gloucestershire Wassail", and " Gower Wassail". Etymology According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the word "wassail" originated as a borrowing from the Old Norse salutation ''ves heill,'' corresponding to Old English ''hál wes þ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yule Goat
The Yule goat is a Scandinavian and Northern European Yule and Christmas symbol and tradition. Its origin is from Germanic paganism and has existed in many variants during Scandinavian history. Modern representations of the Yule goat are typically made of straw. History While its origins are unclear, a popular theory is that the celebration of the goat is connected to worship of the Norse god Thor, who rode the sky in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr; it goes back to common Indo-European beliefs. The last sheaf of grain bundled in the harvest was credited with magical properties as the spirit of the harvest and saved for the Yule celebrations, called among other things Yule goat (''Julbocken'').Schager, Karin. ''Julbocken i folktro och jultradition'' (Yule goat in Folklore and Christmas tradition), Rabén & Sjögren, 1989. This connects to ancient Slavic mythologies, proto-Slavic beliefs where the Koliada (Yule) festival honors the god of the fertile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yule Log
The Yule log is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a winter tradition in regions of Europe, and subsequently North America. Today, this tradition is celebrated by Christians and modern pagans on or around Christmas/Yule. The name by which this tradition goes, as well as when and how the Yule log should be burnt, varies widely with time and place. The first solid evidence for this tradition originates in 1184 CE as a Christian Christmas eve tradition. The practice was originally known as the Christmas log (and still is in languages other than English), with Yule log first used in the late 17th century. The origins of the yule log are unclear, with scholar proposing a variety of possible theories ranging from a medieval Christmas tradition, a surviving ritual from Albanian, Roman, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic or Slavic paganism, or as a Proto-Indo-European ritual that has survived in a variety of cultures until today. Folklorist Linda Watts provides the following overview o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas And Holiday Season
The Christmas season or the festive season, also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrations during this time create a peak season for the retail sector (Christmas/holiday "shopping season") extending to the end of the period ("January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies are customary traditions in various locales. In Western Christianity, the Christmas season is traditionally synonymous with Christmastide, which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 ( Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas. Christmas in Italy is one of the country's major holidays and begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
