Youth in the Annual Ring. A guide to customs and traditions for German youth 1937

Complete edition in the original publisher's binding (full cloth, 8vo, 12.5 x 19 cm) with spine title and cover vignette, top edge gilt, and the original color-illustrated dust jacket .Printed in 1937,2nd edition, 328 pages, with numerous photographic illustrations on art paper (in the image appendix) and numerous small text illustrations (drawings and woodcuts) by Heiner Rothfuchs / Leipzig, Dieter Evers / Potsdam, and Erwin Krumm / Elzach,

From the blurb: "The work first introduces us to the symbols our ancestors chose as the core of their customs, starting with the political and ideological foundations of the Hitler Youth's work on traditions and its confrontation with its opponents. This is followed by a detailed description and explanation of the meaning of the annual celebrations, always with a focus on practical implementation. The celebrations of one's own life are subsequently included in this context, because individual life is inextricably linked to the national community and the major events of the year."

 Contents: Foreword by Karl Cerff (Senior Regional Leader in the Reich Youth Leadership RJF) - Introduction - The Year as a Symbol of Eternal Rule (The will for national unity was the starting point of our work on customs - Our opponents' fear of the religious power of our German customs - Customs repeatedly arise from the peasantry as a response to the recognition of the great lawfulness of all events - Symbol instead of image - Of the wheel, the cross, and the painted cross - Of the three seasons and the three families of runes - The runic alphabet and its meaning - Of the moon's influence on timekeeping and customs - Of the three main seasons, the three realms, and the divine Trinity - Determination, feast, and games as ancient components of celebration - The history of ancient customs after the turn of the era) - The Year in Custom - Christmas, the great celebration of life (The threshold of time - The ecclesiastical calendar of the Christmas season and the Mithraic tradition - German customs of the nights of divination - Of the Germanic festival season and the Church calendar - Midnight and the Perchten procession - The forerunners of the Three Wise Men in myth, fairy tale and legend - On the transformation in nature, the Wild Huntsman, Mother Hulda and the solstice loop - The child as the center of these great life celebrations among the Indo-Europeans - The connection of Germanic ideas with Christian tradition in the figures of Santa Claus and the Christ Child - Birth,The life and death of this child are symbolic of our and heavenly destiny - Origin and history of the Christmas tree - Of the Christmas pyramid and the Kinjesbaum and their symbols - Of the festive meal, water customs, and fire during the Christmas season - Suggestions for celebrating the Advent season in groups and at home - Christmas Eve as a celebration of the home - New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and New Year's Day already lead into the spring customs of Carnival) - Carnival and masquerade (Carnival is a pre-spring wedding festival) - Awakening life through the striking of rods, the ringing of bells, and water customs - Of the flax custom and the dual form: of time - Wodan as "Wild Man" and pea bear - Of the rights of beggars - Age and meaning of animal masks and devil masks - Of driving out winter, reprimand games, and dances - Town and country in their influence on Carnival customs, beginning, and duration - Of prohibitions and indications of the age of the customs - The order of the customs in Spergau and Elzach and Villingen - From Ash Wednesday and Spark Sunday - The expulsion of death and the singing of summer) - Easter (Easter, an ancient Germanic spring festival - From Easter rod, wreath and Werder rune - Pre-Christian time of struggle and suffering in relation to fairy tales and myth - From Ostara as a symbol of light, etc. - German / Third Reich, German folklore / customs / folklore work in National Socialism, folklore in the Hitler Youth / Hitler Youth, National Socialist youth organization / youth education, folk customs, commemoration of the dead, Julklapp, illustrated books, NS State Youth, NS Schrittum, National Socialist / völkisch ideology.