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Winter Solstice Celebrations in Denmark: a Growing Non-Religious Ritualisation
[journal article]
Abstract During the last decade, local celebrations of winter solstice on the 21st of December have increased all over Denmark. These events refer to the Old Norse ritual of celebrating the return of the light, and their appeal is very broad on a local community level. By presenting two cases of Danish winte... view more
During the last decade, local celebrations of winter solstice on the 21st of December have increased all over Denmark. These events refer to the Old Norse ritual of celebrating the return of the light, and their appeal is very broad on a local community level. By presenting two cases of Danish winter solstice celebrations, I aim to unfold how we can understand these new ritualisations as non-religious rituals simultaneously contesting and supplementing the overarching seasonal celebration of Christmas. My material for this study is local newspaper sources that convey the public sphere on a municipality level. I analyse the development in solstice ritualisations over time from 1990 to 2020. Although different in location and content, similarities unite the new solstice celebrations: they emphasise the local community and the natural surroundings. My argument is that the winter solstice celebrations have grown out of a religiously diversified public sphere and should be understood as non-religious rituals in a secular context.... view less
Keywords
EVS; Denmark; nature; municipality; ritual; festival; religiousness; regional factors
Classification
Sociology of Religion
Free Keywords
winter solstice; EVS 2017
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 1-10
Journal
Religions, 12 (2021) 2
Issue topic
Nonreligion Contesting the Public Sphere. Performing of Nonreligion Rituals in Public Institutions
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12020074
ISSN
2077-1444
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed