These days there are so many esoteric books to choose from. And alongside this ever widening selection there is the cliche: that every witchy book simply repeats the information in all the other books. If you have been running in this circle for any amount of time you will know just what I mean: moon cycles, a list of crystals and what to use them for, the wheel of the year, etc.
I really love the modern witchy movement and am totally for celebrating the wheel of the year and incorporating the timing of the moon and even a crystal or two into my craft. But, there are times when I want to reach a bit farther back into the historical record and learn about folk traditions rather than those imagined and reinvented by modern practitioners.
That is why I titled this post "a much awaited" book - not only have I been eager to get a copy since I learned of it but also even previously. If you don't know, Alanna has been one of the most popular witches in the Spanish speaking section of YouTube. She has been publishing videos for close to a decade. Her craft has transformed from the typical Wiccan path to that of a folk witch, following the traditions of her local culture in Spain.
That is the subject of this book; an "Almanac of the Traditional Witch" is a calendar of the traditional holidays celebrated in Spain as a whole and many of these holidays are also celebrated all over the Spanish speaking world. This is particularly relevant to me as I live in South America and for a long time have been wishing to get involved in local celebrations. The only problem is that though Argentina is opening up to the influence of other cultures, and even celebrates Andean traditions like Dia de la Pachamama, most of the holidays are quite Catholic - a religion I was brought up in but don't identify with.
This book has really helped me see the holidays associated with saints in another light because well, those ARE the traditional holidays of Spain and Latin America, at least in living memory.
According to Alanna's research there may have been a distant past where goddess, gods, and nature spirits were celebrated openly. But, as Christianity became the religion of the ruling class, those traditions were combined with those of saints and Catholicism as a whole.
The holidays associated with the saints are the mystical traditions of our ancestors whether they are native to our current location or came from far away. & I am excited to dive more deeply into this book over the coming year and even celebrate the saints, something I was never interested in before.
