Gold for All Seasons · The collection
Gold through the year
Gold has many roles beyond the price chart. It is offered at festivals, given at weddings, worn as a sign of office, borrowed against in hard times and fought over on the goldfields. This collection gathers the stories behind the Gold for All Seasons calendar, so that each can be read at any time of year, not only in the weeks when it comes round.
Browse by theme, or by the month in which each occasion falls. New pieces are added through the year.
Theme
Festivals & faith
Religious festivals and observances in which gold is offered, worn, given or bought for luck.
January · Christian, worldwide
Epiphany: The Gold of the Magi
Gold as tribute to kingship, from a royal offering in London to the largest golden reliquary of the Middle Ages.
June · Peru
Inti Raymi: Peru's Festival of the Sun
A civilisation that valued gold without pricing it, and the conquest that turned it into money.
August · The Andes
Andean Pachamama Day: Gold Returned to the Earth
Offerings to the Earth Mother, and the old Andean idea that the metals underground are taken on loan.
August–September · Kerala, India
Kerala's harvest festival and wedding season, and gold as both heirloom and household reserve.
September–October · China and East Asia
Mid-Autumn Festival: China's Golden Moon
A night of reunion that opens China's autumn gifting season, gold mooncakes included.
October · India
Navratri: Nine Nights and the Return of Gold
Navratri honours the goddess Durga over nine autumn nights, and it is also when India's gold-buying year begins again in earnest.
October · India
Dussehra: Gold and the Triumph of Good
From Mysuru's golden howdah to Maharashtra's 'leaves of gold', one of India's most auspicious days to begin something new.
October · Northern India
Karwa Chauth: A Fast, a Moon and a Gift of Gold
A day-long fast framed by gifts between the generations of a family, gold among the most valued of them.
October–November · India
Dhanteras: India's Day for Buying Gold
India's single busiest day for buying gold, and an old instinct for holding something durable at the turn of the year.
October–November · India
Diwali: The Festival of Light and Gold
Gold on the Lakshmi Puja tray, in the opening of new account books, and even in a one-hour stock market session.
October–November · India and Nepal
Bhai Dooj: Gold and the Bond of Siblings
The close of Diwali, when brothers give sisters gold chosen because it lasts.
Every sixth Sunday · Ghana
Akwasidae and the Golden Stool
The Asante kingdom's day of the ancestors, the Golden Stool, and the brass weights of the gold-dust economy.
Theme
Weddings
The seasons and customs through which gold passes from one generation, and one family, to the next.
October–February · India
India's Festive and Wedding Gold Season
How India's most important months for gold are structured, and why the calendar matters as much as the price.
November–March · Arabian Gulf
The Gulf Wedding Season: Mahr, Souks and Bridal Gold
The mahr owed to the bride, the gold souks of Dubai, and a region that is one of the world's crossroads for the metal.
December · Nigeria
Nigeria's Wedding Season: Gold, Coral and Coming Home
Gold alongside coral in the bride's adornment, in a country bringing its own gold into the central bank's vaults.
Theme
Gold history
Rushes, rebellions and policy turns that shaped the market we have today.
December · Australia
The Eureka Stockade: Gold, Tax and Consent
A tax on the right to dig for gold, a rebellion at Ballarat, and the beginnings of Australian democracy.
Through the year
By month
Part of Gold for All Seasons · return to the calendar