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Smoking in the rough nights: old rituals for new insights!
Find out how the rough nights between Christmas and New Year invite reflection and revive old traditions.
Smoking in the rough nights: old rituals for new insights!
The magical rough nights are back and invite us to pause and slowly find peace. Between December 25th and January 5th, these mystical nights offer an opportunity to close out the old year and prepare for new challenges. Barbara Bugelnig from Villach emphasizes that the rituals of smoking incense play an important role during this time in order to work with the spiritual world and find inner peace. Her method began after a tragic incident in the family, as smoking is said to help drive away evil spirits and create clear energy for the coming year, such as meinkreis.at reported.
Roots and traditions of the Rauhnächte
The origin of the rough nights goes back to the transition from the lunar to the solar calendar. Stories from the Middle Ages tell us about beliefs that were supposed to help people understand the dark and cold nights. According to customs researcher Lisa Maubach, the Rough Nights were considered a time of uncertainty and reflection. They marked a period in which the weather of the coming months could be prayed for, while rituals served to ward off evil spirits or to placate them. During these days one often stays in the house in order not to encounter the irritable spirits and to use the magic of time to formulate alternative wishes or to interpret the future Deutschlandfunk culture explained.
A popular ritual is the 13-wish oracle: 13 pieces of paper with wishes are thrown into a pot, with one being drawn and burned on each of the rough nights to ask for luck for the wishes to come true. The remaining piece of paper remains for the wish fulfiller himself. The Rauhnächte not only promises a tangible connection to old traditions, but also calls on us to leave the old behind us and look to the future with hope and clarity. In recent years this custom has gained popularity, with many people returning to these ancient rituals and seeking ways of inner contemplation as a response to the past turbulent years.