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A review by bookwyrmknits
The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures by Sarah Clegg
informative
medium-paced
4.25
I really enjoyed this as a first nonfiction book of the year. It felt like an appropriate time to be reading about Christmas monsters—perhaps I started reading a little after Christmas, but since this book's monsters span from early December through to Carnival in February, I read it at the perfect time.
I had heard about Krampus and the Lords of Misrule before, but never in this much detail. Sadly, though, the detail that we have still isn't as much as I want, since a lot of the records we have from this period are of Christian bishops (etc.) writing tracts condemning the practices, and very little about the rituals and festivities from the people actually participating. Still, Clegg does a good job with what we do know, and ties it all together into a sort of Christmas travelogue tracing the paths of the darker midwinter traditions.
I had heard about Krampus and the Lords of Misrule before, but never in this much detail. Sadly, though, the detail that we have still isn't as much as I want, since a lot of the records we have from this period are of Christian bishops (etc.) writing tracts condemning the practices, and very little about the rituals and festivities from the people actually participating. Still, Clegg does a good job with what we do know, and ties it all together into a sort of Christmas travelogue tracing the paths of the darker midwinter traditions.