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Interested in The Ceremony of Lating and similar of pre-Christian or early-Christian western European groups (Celtic, Alemannic, et al.) who ritually walked fields with candles or lanterns to purge evil spirits from the farmland. Probably the same grInterested in The Ceremony of Lating and similar of pre-Christian or early-Christian western European groups (Celtic, Alemannic, et al.) who ritually walked fields with candles or lanterns to purge evil spirits from the farmland. Probably the same groups who wassail, but I'm thinking more late autumn rather than midwinter. Might be concomitant with Samhain/All Hallow's, but not picky. Crop fertility over fields with light, anyway....more
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capn_ on LT. :) Introverted. Listopia addict esp. out-of-print forgotten books. Prefers dusty, faded secondhand books, especially obscure ones, due tocapn_ on LT. :) Introverted. Listopia addict esp. out-of-print forgotten books. Prefers dusty, faded secondhand books, especially obscure ones, due to aversion to all marketing and hype. Founded Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit. We Want Republished! Catalogues all known Mabel Esther Allan titles in foreign languages with their corresponding original work. Currently enjoying second childhood and reading midcentury kid lit. The Dark is Rising Sequence is great. The Song of Wirrun books are great. Alan Garner, Penelope Lively, Joan North,...! Reading outside of the current publication cycle is always a good move. You can learn much about human beings and cultural fads and norms by reading older books, too, and secondhand books are eco-friendly. :) Currently promoting my Primary School Puzzlers Listopia list - check out some old-school family-wide interactive content during a Digital Detox.
LenI didn't realize that your original query dated back to July. I had a quick search through The Golden Bough on Project Gutenberg and there doesn't seeI didn't realize that your original query dated back to July. I had a quick search through The Golden Bough on Project Gutenberg and there doesn't seem to be much on the subject. Samhain is mentioned a few times and the Beltane bonfires but nothing specifically on lating or the use of torches or flames in terms of improving agricultural fertility. I must admit I have never heard of the term myself and now I'm intrigued and want to know more. I've heard of offering alcohol, especially cider, to the roots of trees to encourage the production of fruit in the following year but not light or flames....more
Dec 27, 2025 06:17AM
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CapnThat's alright, Len - it seems a good solid work as it is, and Sem had already recommended another work by the same author sorry, another good one in That's alright, Len - it seems a good solid work as it is, and Sem had already recommended another work by the same author sorry, another good one in The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, so totally fine!
I read the term in The Very Scary Almanac as a kid, a replacement copy of which I ordered in the past few years. It mentioned very broadly the Ceremony of Lating and being a kid's book (a good one, it must be said!), the citations and references weren't really up to snuff. I figure he read it somewhere - was hoping someone might have known where.
The reason I'm so interested in it is that in Switzerland they have a pagan-era hangover called the "Raebeliechtliumzug" where they parade through the villages with lights carved from turnips/swedes. And it happens in November, at the end of the harvest, not so long after Halloween. And then I remembered Punkie Night in Cornwall, and this lit-candle-field-walking Ceremony of Lating, and I was certain I had found the origins of the Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, pumpkins being readily available in the New World and SO MUCH EASIER TO CARVE (those turnip lights are a b*tch to hollow out!).
I just wanted to know about that Ceremony, especially because I had an unpleasant experience of rabid born-again Christians condemning me to hellfire for putting up Hallowe'en decorations as a kid. Being Christian myself, I've long suspected that you could pretty strongly argue that Hallowe'en IS a Christian holiday (Samhain being the pagan precursor), fwiw. I don't really give a toss either way, but I do really like taking the mick of the Holier Than Thous. Especially given that Jesus would probably balk at most of what we'd consider "Christian Tradition" nowadays - his followers all got wrapped up into the Roman Imperial Pantheon's calendar and practices and rejected his own ethnic group and religion! XD
Anyway, it doesn't really matter. Traditions are mutable, always have been, always will be, and I just felt like trying to untangle that particular thread. I bet it's all kinds of folksy and interesting. :)...more
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Dec 27, 2025 07:00AM
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