Stations of the Sun [Paperback]

Ronald Hutton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2001

Comprehensive and engaging, this colourful study covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day. From May Day revels and Midsummer fires, to Harvest Home and Hallowe'en, to the twelve days of Christmas, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, and debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar year we live by today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`a fascinating volume, which any future study of calendar rituals - or of 'pagan residues' in popular culture - will have to take into account.' Margaret Cormack, Speculum - A Jnl of Medieval Studies, 2000.

`Students of religion will be impressed by the ample evidence the book provides, not for the survival of pagan religious practices in a Christian era, but for the survival of Catholic practices in a Protestant one.' Margaret Cormack, Speculum - A Jnl of Medieval Studies, 2000.

`Well produced and written in a pleasing style, it is a rich source of information about late-medieval calendar customs whose scope extends far beyond the Middle Ages. Stations of the Sun belongs in the reference collection of any college library.' Margaret Cormack, Speculum - A Jnl of Medieval Studies, 2000.

`a tour de force from one of the liveliest and most wide-ranging of practising English historians this unfailingly stimulating, learned and engaging book places a relatively neglected aspect of English social history firmly on the map. ' Eamon Duffy, TLS

About the Author

Ronald Hutton is Reader in History at the University of Bristol.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (February 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192854488
• ISBN-13: 978-0192854483
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Source, August 18, 2000

By 

Doreen Taylor - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Paperback)

This book is a great source for information about British customs and lore. Hutton is excited about his subject and holds it in deep regard all the wile telling us the way it really is. I learned a lot from this book and I consider it essential reading for everyone (especially neo-pagans) who has an interest in this subject.

As a neo-pagan I wouldn't want to have this vast subject explained to me in one sentence - I want examples as to why a certain custom or seasonal festival is important/necessary in the wheel of the year. Ialso want sources states because if someone were to just say to me "Everything you have read about British seasonal customs is wrong" I would say, "Prove it". Hutton indeed takes the time to prove his arguments.

Hutton isn't against neo-pagans, but he is _for_ scholarship.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brick of Scholarship, November 19, 2005

By 

Brian P. Hudson "Writer@Large" (Dearborn, MI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stations of the Sun (Paperback)

This book is not for a casual reader. It is, instead, a compendium of primary source information for those curious about the calendar year in Britain. It's fascinating scholarship and absolutely authoratative in its research, but not for "just reading"! At some points, the paragraphs are so thick with citations and details that my eyes began to gloss. In general, though, the prose remains readable, even when detailing minutia.

I do want to address one criticism from an earlier reviewer, who said this about the book:

"Hutton debunks everything he presents; after a while it kind of got on my nerves. Virtually every description and explanation is followed by some sort of 'but this probably didn't happen' or 'this probably wasn't really the way it was' disclaimer. fter reading several chapters, my attitude morphed into 'why are you wasting my time telling me about stuff that didn't happen? Can't you tell me about anything that probably DID happen?'"

I'm not sure if this reviewer and I were reading the same book. Yes, Hutton debunks many myths surrounding these customs, but to say that he provides no information on what DID happen, or how it happened, is bunk. The book is thick with information, a real brick of scholarship. There are ten chapters alone on the evidence of various Christmas and New years traditions!

Those with a serious interest in the development of many Western calendar customs in Britain (many of which are also the ultimate root of our American traditions) should definitely add this boo to their collections.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of the holiday year in Britain., October 29, 1999

By 

Mark Howells (Puyallup, Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Paperback)

A very scholarly work on the origins and customs surrounding the holidays in Britain. This book has been a bit of a "tough read" for me as I worked through the dry parts of interest to folklorists between the parts of interest to genealogists. As an American, I had to have Guy Fawkes Night explained to me. As a genealogist working with UK sources, it's nice to understand what Rogationtide and Candlemas are, for instance.

In general, the book attempts to overturn the classical folklorist mistakes in the sources and symbolism of holidays dating back to Sir James Frazer's Golden Bough. Not every custom and tradition is a direct descendant of Celtic religious rites. Humanity has been very adaptable to inventing new "old traditions" as the need arises and our earlier ancestors where just as good at fulfilling these needs as were the Victorians who invented our concept of an "old fashioned Christmas".