Goth Chick News: The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg is the Perfect December Read
One of my earliest holiday memories is watching Reginald Owen in the 1938 black and white classic A Christmas Carol on the local Chicago channel, at 6pm on Christmas Eve. It was (and still is) one of my favorite traditions, and to my young self, it felt patently unfair that you had to be a grouchy old man to be visited by ghosts on Christmas – well those first few, at least.
Being of first-generation Swedish descent, the stories that were told at my family gatherings in the cold of winter always had a bit of darkness about them. I remember Grandma telling me about the Julbock (the Yule Goat) who kept an eye on me for Kris Kringle. She had a large one made from straw which she moved around her house like an Elf on the Shelf, and which today is the holiday centerpiece on my own dining room table. To the Swedes, the Yule Goat represented the thin boundary between life and death during the long, dark nights of winter.
The Yule Goat
Until I was a teenager, I dressed up as “Saint Lucia” for a special church service every December 13 to mark the longest night of the year. I never knew that “Lussi Night,” originally referred to the witch-like figure Lussi and her followers, Lussiferda, who were said to roam the land in the dark of winter nights, punishing those who hadn’t prepared for the holy days. Because of Lussi, December was considered a dangerous time for travel, and people stayed indoors to avoid her wrath.
It was because of these stories that I was so excited to learn about and obtain a new book which hit booksellers earlier in November entitled The Dead of Winter, by Sarah Clegg; which is a fascinating exploration of the eerie and lesser-known traditions associated with the Christmas season.
The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked
Christmas Creatures (Algonquin Books, November 12, 2024)
Combining historical research with a storyteller’s flair, Clegg illuminates how folklore like Krampus, Mari Lwyd, and even “St. Lucy” the winter witch continue to captivate people during the holiday season. I absolutely loved how TDoW embraced the darker side of winter festivities, offering insights into ancient customs which somehow manage to balance fear and festivity.
Clegg is a Cambridge-trained historian, and I particularly appreciated how she infused her work with firsthand experiences of these traditions, such as attending Krampus runs in Austria and attempting a Swedish Year Walk. I know about Year Walks too. Called Årsgång, it is a tradition that involves embarking on a solitary, midnight journey, usually on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, passing through graveyards or crossroads. It was believed that undertaking this ritual could provide visions of the future or insights into one’s fate, but also came with risks.
These personal anecdotes truly struck a chord with me as many of the tales in TDoW were versions of stories I had heard before, some of which had their origins in other cultures, but which were incorporated into Scandinavian traditions.
For fans of cultural history with a spooky twist, The Dead of Winter is a wonderful addition to any holiday book list.
That St Lucia cosplay looks damn dangerous!
The book sounds intriguing, but I’d be interested to know if it addresses non – Northern Hemisphere / European folklore as well.
Mcannon, that’s not cosplay my friend, that’s church every December 13 for the first 12 years of my life. And no, the book doesn’t have stories from the southern hemisphere. This is probably because all of these tales sprung from cultures that experienced long, cold, and dark winter months that required intense preparation to avoid starvation or freezing to death, and gave birth to a lot of folklore about survival. The southern hemisphere does have regions with cold winters, such as southern parts of Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand, as well as Antarctica. However, these areas are less expansive than the colder regions of the northern hemisphere (e.g., Siberia, Canada, and Scandinavia). I’m sure they have their own stories, just not documented here.
It is not uncommon for mothers of little girls who stand representing St. Lucia to threaten to follow said little girls down the aisle with wet towels at the ready. Only in the past five years does it seem that electric candles have become accepted– before, it was largely sacrilege to suggest using anything but real candles in the crown.
KJesp – are you offering to follow me with a wet towel? Challenge accepted.
SGran– If you’re worried about your hair catching a-light the next time you don St. Lucia’s crown, sure. X)
The MGM Reginald Owen Christmas Carol was the first one I saw too, on one of our local Los Angeles stations, probably in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Objectively, I know that there are better versions, but the Owen is the one that is closest to my heart.
TPark, and that is just another reason that you will always be welcome in subterranean offices of GCN…