Rituals of winter: through the anonymous obscurity of centuries past, pagan and Christian customs blended and blurred to become folk traditions uniquely Swiss. Swiss News spotlights a selection of those taking place around the winter solstice.

Summary

---

CULTURE

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Rituals of winter: through the anonymous obscurity of centuries past, pagan and Christian customs blended and blurred to become folk traditions uniquely Swiss. Swiss News spotlights a selection of those taking place around the winter solstice.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

During December and January, and primarily in the Swiss-German parts of the country, ancient traditions are observed and celebrated around the time of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

The traditions centre on symbolic activities designed to usher out winter and welcome in spring, or. banish bad spirits and entice good ones. Typically occurring when the days start to get longer, they share with the calendar the heralding of the New Year, and with the Christian cycle the celebration of the birth of Christ. The resulting, tangled hodgepodge of influences makes ...

See the full content of this document

---