The Stations of the Sun

From the twelve days of Christmas to the Spring traditions of Valentine, Shrovetide, and Easter eggs, through May Day revels and Midsummer fires, and on to the waning of the year, Harvest Home, and Hallowe'en; Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. His study encompasses the whole sweep of history in all the British Isles from the earliest written records to the present day. Treating rituals ancient and modern, Christian and pagan, Hutton's colorful and absorbing history debunks common assumptions about the customs of the past and the festivals of the present. Stations of the Sun is the first complete scholarly work to cover the full span of British rituals. Challenging the work of specialists from the late Victorian period onwards, the book reworks our picture of the field thoroughly and illuminates the history of the calendar we live by.