Product Description

Comprehensive and engaging, this colourful study covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day. From May Day revels and Midsummer fires, to Harvest Home and Hallowe'en, to the twelve days of Christmas, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, and debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar year we live by today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47837 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

About the Author
Ronald Hutton is Reader in History at the University of Bristol.

Customer Reviews

A 'must' if you want to know the origins of folk festivals
In his third book on folk beliefs and faiths, Ronald Hutton takes a day by day look at the sacred year. The book can be read on its own -- indeed it is excellent as a reference book for answering all those queries generated by the folklore industry and the tourism industry. if you wqant to know about Guy Fawkes at Lewes, May Day at Padstow and lots of others, then this is the book for you. For me what was especially interesting, was the realisation that the myths surrounding the orignins of our festivals, was almost as interesting as the myths contained in the festivals and celebrations themselves. Professor Hutton expertly lays bare the fact that for many of our festivals -- they are not the archaic survival of ancient pagan rites - preserved as folkloric tradtion. In fact many of our festivals, with a few notable exceptions, date no earlier than the middle ages - a decent enough pedigree to be sure -- but definitely not pre-Christian.

Essential history, pacily written.
The definitive history of the british ritual year. From the origins of wassailing to why the English don't celebate St George's day, Hutton leaves no stone unturned in his relentless search for simplicity and truth in an arena that has for so long been dominated by fantasy and wishful thinking. While lacking nothing in academic rigour, Hutton's writing is also pacy and colourful, with occasional glimpses of a mischievous sense of humour. Contrary to previous 'reviewers' who have sought to undermine Hutton's work and peddle their own agendas on the amazon forum, the possibilty that this historian is an active participant in many of the rituals he describes makes his merciless debunking all the more credible. A remarkable piece of work: entirely non-partisan, essential reading for anyone involved in the folk world, essential reading for anyone who lives in Britain.

A Barrow Filled with Riches
Ronald Hutton is an excellent source of knowledge. I am buying this book as a present for a student of ancient british religions, because it is brilliant, informative and unbiased.

I have had the good fortune to be in the authors company on many occasions, and found him to be a wonderful and spiritual person, as well as being a learned and respected professor, which is why I first bought his work !

I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in history, culture, early religions, the wheel of our year, or ancient Pagan Britain.

I suspect that my collection of Hutton's work will expand with each new release - Stations of the Sun is a barrow filled with riches!!!