The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore & Practices

Description

Why do we hang a horseshoe for good luck or place wreaths on our doors? Why does the groom carry his new bride over the threshold? These customs represent the last vestiges from a long, rich history of honouring the spirits of our homes. They show that a house is more than a building: it is a living being with a body and soul.

Examining the extensive traditions surrounding houses from medieval times to the present, Claude Lecouteux reveals that before we entered the current era humanity had an extremely sacred relationship with their homes and all the spirits who lived there alongside them. From the spirit of the house itself to the mischievous elves, fairies, and imps who visited, invited or not. Learn how every aspect of constructing and keeping a house involved rites, ceremony, customs, and taboos to appease the spirits. Including the choice of a building lot and the very materials with which it was built.

Uncover the lost meaning behind door and window placement, the hearth, and the threshold, tales of house spirits, offerings used to cajole the local land spirit into becoming the domestic house spirit to the good and bad luck bestowed upon those who seek the help of the “Little Money Man.” Drawing on studies and literature from old Europe. From Celtic lands and Scandinavia to France and Germany to the far eastern borders of Europe and into Russia to explain the pagan roots behind many of these traditions.

Revealing our ancestors’ charms, prayers, and practices to bestow happiness and prosperity upon their homes, Lecouteux shows that we can invite the spirits back into our houses, old or new, and restore the sacred bond between home and inhabitant.