Winter Season Resources

A traditional Japanese winter landscape painting showing snow-covered houses, trees, and mountains. Two women are walking along a path, one with a red umbrella and the other carrying a large bundle on her back.

Bring the colder months alive with our Winter History Resources!

Explore snowy landscapes, winter festivals, and global traditions through free videos and classroom resources.

Light in the Darkness
Surviving the Cold
Winter Nature and Symbolism
Seasons and Cycles of Life

Look at Spring Resources . . .

(coming soon)

Across cultures, artists used lamps, candles, and glowing halos to symbolize hope and renewal during winter’s darkest days.

Light in the Darkness

Religious scene of the Nativity with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angels, and shepherds inside a wooden structure, with a landscape and buildings in the background.
Coming Soon! Nativity

Beasts

From Europe to East Asia, artists have long imagined creatures that blur the line between human, animal, and spirit. Monsters can symbolize danger, mystery, or the forces that lie beyond the realm of everyday life.

Surviving the Cold

A prehistoric carved ivory mask with elongated eye slits, mounted on a stand against a gradient background.
Coming soon! Yup'ik Snow Goggles

Winter Nature and Symbolism

Snow, evergreens, and animals became metaphors for resilience and transformation

Snow and Ice

A traditional Japanese woodblock print depicts a snowy scene with two figures walking along a snow-covered path. One figure carries a red umbrella, and the other wears a yellow coat and a conical hat. Snow-covered trees, buildings, and mountains are in the background under a dark, starry sky, with Japanese calligraphy and seals in the upper and lower corners.
Coming soon! Hiroshige's Evening Snow at Kanbara
A painting of a polar landscape with icy ground, mountains, and a boat, under a night sky illuminated by auroras and a large dark planetary body.
Coming soon! Frederic Edwin Church, Aurora Borealis

Seasons and Cycles of Life

A medieval illustration divided into three sections: the top shows a starry sky with an astrological chart and zodiac signs; the middle depicts a castle with a blue sky background; the bottom features hunters with dogs in a forest, actively hunting, with the castle in the background.

December

This manuscript page shows peasants harvesting grapes beneath a castle, reflecting the rhythms of labor in Autum

Coming soon! December Calendar Page in the Tres Riches Heures
A medieval illuminated manuscript depicting a banquet scene with several noble figures gathered around a table, with soldiers and banners in the background, and astrological symbols at the top.
Coming soon! January Calendar Page in the Tres Riches Heures

January

Farmers sow wheat, birds peck at seeds, and frost covers the ground, giving us insight into seasonal cycles and life in medieval France.

Explore other seasons

  • A serene Japanese garden featuring a pink cherry blossom tree supported by wooden stakes, with a traditional stone lantern and a gravel pathway bordered by lush green shrubs and trees.

    Spring

    Coming in 2026

  • Bright yellow sunflowers in a sunny field under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

    Summer

    Coming in 2026

  • A foggy autumn trail with fallen orange, yellow, and brown leaves, trees on the side, and a wooden post fence on the left.

    Fall

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