The Old Magic of Christmas Quotes

“But the flame of magic, even the smoky rumour of magic, is a hard one to snuff out. No matter how thick a layer of ashes you kick over it, the fire always struggles back to life, though it may not burn the same colour as before.”
― Linda Raedisch, The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year

“There was also a belief, handed down from antiquity, that black made the wearer invisible to the spirits of the dead. (That is why black is the colour of mourning in the Western world: originally it was a means of protection, not an expression of sorrow.)”
― Linda Raedisch, The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year

“There is only one kind of reindeer suitable for pulling Santa’s sleigh and that is the harke, or castrated male. The harke, whose testicles were traditionally bitten off by the herdsman, is real Christmas-card material.”
― Linda Raedisch, The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year