December 28, 2024, 4:28 pm | Read time: 2 minutes
According to an old custom, you shouldn’t wash or hang up laundry between Christmas and the New Year. However, the reason behind this has little to do with enjoying the festive season. myHOMEBOOK explains what’s behind it.
Stained shirts, dirty tablecloths, towels, and bed linen – a huge pile of laundry quickly builds up over the holidays. Especially when the family gets together over the festive period. As the dirty laundry doesn’t magically disappear into thin air, you have to get to work and do the laundry yourself. However, an old pagan superstition advises against this. According to this, bad things will happen if you do your laundry between Christmas and New Year.
The Rauhnächte at the Winter Solstice
The nights around the turn of the year are among the longest of the year. They are known as Rauhnächte or smoke nights. Traditionally, houses and stables were fumigated with incense during this time to protect against evil spirits. Rauhnächte often refers to twelve days – six before the winter solstice on December 21 and six after.

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The Myth of the Wild Hunt
According to legend, a so-called “Wild Hunt” takes place in the sky – the souls of the dead are said to rush across the sky together with ghosts and demons. The myth says that so-called wild riders gallop through the night. According to the legend, it is not the washing of clothes between Christmas and New Year that is the problem, but the hanging. This is because the wild riders could steal the sheets and laundry. The following year, they would then use them as a shroud for a member of the household.
What’s more, the wild riders could get caught in the clothesline – which would make them angry. And their anger could then be directed at the whole family. According to superstition, young women, in particular, should never hang out white laundry between Christmas and New Year. This could attract the wild horsemen. Seduced by the white sheets, they would then attack the young women – or so the myth goes. So, if you believe in old legends, it’s better not to do laundry between Christmas and New Year.