'Tis the Season for Witches, Elves, and a Legion of Ghosts Not so very long ago, Yuletide was as much a chilling season of ghosts and witches as it was a festiv

An examination of the sacred botany and the pagan origins and rituals of Christmas • Analyzes the symbolism of the many plants associated with Christmas • R

Insights into the culture of pre-Christian Europe are provided as the author seeks out the origins and meanings of songs, food, legends, and other items associa

What if our entire civilization could write its own memoirs and tell the complete story of Christmas past? Surprisingly, the tale would begin not in Bethlehem,

The Krampus, a folkloric devil associated with St. Nicholas in Alpine Austria and Germany, has been embraced by the American counterculture and is lately skewin