Because there is a darker, ghoulish, creepy side to Christmas. Among the many books I am reading at the moment, I have this one,
Christmas Curiosities, last year's Christmas present from
my brother. We often forget that Christmas in many ways was a "dark" holiday, that was much closer to my beloved Halloween. Pagan beliefs and traditions are still deeply rooted in it , and with it supernatural, monsters, ghosts, etc. Most of Western Christmas imagery
is rooted in Nordic legends. In Victorian times, Christmas was the season of ghost stories (
A Christmas Carol belongs to this tradition). In Québec, we have the legend of the
Chasse-Galerie, a cautionary Christmas tale that has very sinister tones.
But even the genuinely Christian side of Christmas is not devoid of a sinister tradition: who does not shiver thinking about the
Massacre of the Innocents? And there is also
The Legend of Saint Nicholas, which I blogged about before and which I might rewrite here, the same way I did with
The Legend of Jack O'Lantern. The legend of the evil butcher was maybe at the origin of the
Père Fouettard,
Krampus and other sinister Christmas
bogeymen. So I am reading this book with fascination. I love to go back to the primitive roots of Christmas, to its darkness that makes us appreciate its lights even more.
4 comments:
Je regrette un peu de ne pas l'avoir feuilleté plus avant de le faire emballer. Dès que je l'ai vu à la librairie, je savais que j'avais trouvé ton cadeau.
Ahhhh...we're on a wavelength here! I have plans for a blog series that explores some of these very topics (hopefully, I'll actually find time to write them up). Definitely need to get a copy of this book!
I'll have to track down that book! I've always been drawn to Christmas tales with a darker side.
@PJ-Il y a pleins de trésors comme ça si on se donne la peine de chercher dans les librairies.
@The Gill-Man-Great minds think alike! I will blog more about the dark side of Christmas.
@Halloween Spirit-In a way, pretty much all Christmas tales have a darker side, including the Nativity Story.
Post a Comment