Celebrating the Southern Seasons: Rituals for Aotearoa

Author(s): Juliet Batten

NZ Non Fiction

Updated and expanded, the 10th anniversary edition of this pioneering work is even more valuable as a resource book than its predecessor. Exploring the natural world, astronomy and ancient civilisations, it shows how we can use tradition, intuition and ingenuity to adapt existing ceremonies and create our own.


As the twentieth century drew to a close, a pioneering book brought rituals and ceremonies down to earth and closer to home. 


Celebrating the Southern Seasons showed how the traditional European festivals we inherited can be a more profound experience if they are in tune with the seasons, how they can be adapted for Aotearoa, and how rewarding an appreciation of longstanding Maori festivals can be. New Zealanders are now much more inclined than previously to consider how various traditions can enrich our celebrations here and now. Matariki, the New Year celebration at Winter Solstice, has undergone a massive resurgence - and other seasonal festivities are springing up all over the country.


The time is ripe for an updated and expanded edition of Celebrating the Southern Seasons. In the tenth anniversary edition of this unique work, author Juliet Batten sheds more light on customs, symbols and meanings attached to seasonal changes. She reports not only on forms of celebration that New Zealanders have inherited and found but also on those we have devised and adapted. And she suggests readings, myths and stories to enrich our high days and holidays, strengthening the book's role as a valuable resource.


First published 1995; this revised edition 2005.

32.00 NZD

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Product Information

Juliet Batten, a teacher and artist as well as a psychotherapist and writer, has worked extensively on seasonal celebrations and ceremonies, leading rituals throughout New Zealand. This revised edition of Celebrating the Southern Seasons follows her award-winning fifth book A Cup of Sunlight: discovering the sacred in everyday life.

Preface to the tenth anniversary edition -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Permissions -- A new year for Aotearoa -- The meeting-point -- Seasonal celebrations and the nature of ritual -- Seasonal rituals for Aotearoa -- Winter Solstice -- First Light -- Spring Equinox -- Flowering and Sap-Rise -- Summer Solstice -- First Fruits/Lean Time -- Autumn Equinox -- Aotearoa -- Pagan Europe -- Christian Europe: All Souls, All Saints, All Hallows Eve, Halloween Rituals for today -- Seasonal rituals for the year: summary -- Celtic traditions and cosmology -- Maori traditions and cosmology -- Songs and chants for the seasons -- Bibliography -- Index.

General Fields

  • : 9781869417345
  • : Random House New Zealand Ltd
  • : Tandem Press
  • : 0.404
  • : August 2005
  • : 234mm X 150mm X 21mm
  • : New Zealand
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Juliet Batten
  • : Paperback
  • : Revised edition
  • : 398.330993
  • : 256
  • : line drawings