Living
Column: Mistletoe
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Luke Babb recounts their attempts – not all of them successful – to bring the spirit of mistletoe into their Yuletide traditions.
Living
Reviving the ancient visiting traditions of Europe
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TWH – Opportunities to knock on the doors of neighbors — with the expectation that they will provide a gift upon the opening of the door — has largely been relegated to trick-or-treating customs. But these visiting traditions extend back thousands of years in many parts of Europe. Typically the ritual involves some sort of exchange between the visitor and the host that bolster community ties, reinforce common values of culture and religion, and — at least symbolically — redistribute wealth. Sarah Stockwell-Arthen, a member of the EarthSpirit community in western Massachusetts, has researched “visiting” and made efforts to recreate some of these practices in her neighborhood. That effort began with wassailing, for which many songs still survive and from which she could glean understanding about how and why it was done. She has also experimented with going a-maying and even knocked on doors around Samhain.