Twelve Days of Christmas Archives - Bone and Sickle

Christmas is Carnival: Carols and Calendars

December 18, 2025 boneandsickle A Season of Madness, calendar, Carnival, Carol of the Bells, carols, Catholicism, Christmas, EPISODE, folk customs, history, holidays, Kalends, Krampus, Perchten, Slavs, Twelfth Night, Twelve Days of Christmas

Historically, the celebration of Christmas and Carnival could overlap, and there is some reason to believe that customs associated with[…]

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Christmas Superstitions

December 15, 2023 boneandsickle Christmas, EPISODE, folklore, mumming, New Year, Twelfth Night, Twelve Days of Christmas

The Christmas season is rich in superstitions. The whole period from the beginning of Advent, through the day itself, and[…]

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Christmas Devils and the Feast of Fools

December 12, 2022 boneandsickle Boy bishop, Catholicism, Christmas, Devil, EPISODE, Feast of Fools, folk theater, folklore, history, holidays, manuscripts, New Year, Nicholas Plays, Satan, St. Nicholas, Twelve Days of Christmas

From St. Nicholas Day through Christmas, the Devil figured prominently in medieval plays, embodying a subversive seasonal element also celebrated[…]

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