Sarah Clegg | The Demons, Witches & Ghosts of Christmas
Sat 23 Nov 2024 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm
The perfect event for midwinter. Join Sarah Clegg who will introduce The Dead of Winter and take us on a journey through Europe in midwinter to explore the darker side of the festive season and to uncover the folk tales and arcane traditions that still haunt Europe’s winter months.
As winter comes and the hours of darkness overtake the light, we seek out warmth, good food, and companionship. But beneath the jollity and bright enchantment of the festive season, lurks a darker mood – one that has found expression over the centuries in a host of strange and sometimes unsettling traditions and lore.
In conversation with Anna Millward
Clegg explores the lesser-known Christmas traditions: from murderous plays enacted in the Cotswolds, encounters with the grinning horse-skull Mari Lwyd in Wales and modern pagan rituals at Stonehenge to Austrian Krampus runs, and the Nordic Lussinatt festivities (where a young woman is crowned with candles as the martyred St Lucy, who is both a beautiful, chaste Christian girl and also a rampaging witch).
At wassails, hoodenings and winter gatherings, she encounters snatching monsters and mysterious visitors, and explores how these traditions originated and how they changed through the centuries. She asks: if we can’t keep the darkness entirely at bay, might it be fun to let a little in?
Venue: Cambridge Union Libaray
Duration: 1 hour
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Author Biography
Sarah Clegg has a PhD in ancient history from the University of Cambridge. Her first book, Woman’s Lore, was shortlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown. She is a former bookseller and now works in publishing.
Chair Biography
Anna Millward holds an MSc in Old Scandinavian folklore and religion from the University of Iceland and a BA Hons from the University of Cambridge in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. She is a cultural events producer and programmer, and former Festival Manager of Cambridge Literary Festival. She currently works in a development role for press and media freedom nonprofit organisation, Index on Censorship.
