From Yuletide to Nativity: Christmas in Early England

with Dr Sam Newton

at Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo (map)
on Saturday, 19th December 2009

Rediscover the magic of Christmas with an exploration of the significance of the great midwinter festival and how it was celebrated in early England.

We begin the day with a look at the Old English calendar, which reveals how the pre-Christian year was structured. We shall then consider how this calendar was transformed into the Christian year – how, for example, did Módra Niht, “Mothers’ Night” become Christmas Eve?

We shall also consider some of the ways in which the feast of Yuletide and the legend of the Nativity came to be celebrated in England, using examples from Anglo-Saxon art and from Old and Middle English literature.

Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D at UEA in 1991 and published his first book, The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, in 1993. He has lectured widely around the country and has contributed to many television and radio programmes. His second book, The Reckoning of King Rædwald, was published in 2003. He is currently a Director of Wuffing Education, NADFAS lecturer, and Time Team historian.

Alexander, M., The First Poems in English (Penguin Classics 2008)
Barron, W.R.J. (ed. & tr.), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: text and facing translation (Manchester 1974).
Branston, B., The Lost Gods of England (Thames & Hudson 1957, 1974)
Chaney, W.A., The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England (Manchester 1970)
Ellis Davidson, H., The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe (Routledge 1993)
Hutton, R., The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Oxford 1996).
Mitchell, B., An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England (Blackwell 1994).
Newton, S., The Reckoning of King Rædwald (Redbird 2003)
North, R., Heathen Gods in Old English Literature (Cambridge 1997)
Tolkien, J.R.R. (tr), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Sir Orfeo, ed. C.Tolkien (Unwin 1975).
Turville-Petre, E.O.G., Myth and Religion of the North – The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (London 1964)
Wilson, R., The Lost Literature of Medieval England (Methuen 1952, 1970)

Bookings

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Wuffing Education,
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