Rudolph Day, January 2012

"Rudolph Day" is a way of keeping the Christmas spirit alive all year long. You can read a Christmas book, work on a Christmas craft project, listen to Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie.

Here's a few Christmas blogs to get you going:

Deck the Halls of Home With Joy

Karen's Christmas Cottage Blog

For music fans: A Christmas Yuleblog


I learned last fall that the Guideposts people had published their last "Ideals" edition at Christmas this year. The "Ideals" seasonal publications go back some years. If you find older editions you will note that, although the writing has remained warm and inspirational, the illustrations which accompanied them were often badly colored, overly chromatic, or just insipid. The newest issues have been beautifully illustrated with both sentimental paintings and gorgeous photography, and one of the joys of each fall was buying the defunct Thanksgiving edition for its stunning fall photography. Now the Christmas issue, too, is gone.

But Ideals left us with one last treat, a trade paper compilation called The Ideals Treasury of Christmas, which comprises two earlier volumes, Home for Christmas and The Greatest Gift. Both are crammed with homey reminisces, essays by noted writers such as Madeleine L'Engle and Faith Baldwin, nostalgic illustrations and warm photographs of cozy interiors, snowy scenes, bright decorations and nostalgic settings. Heartfelt verses, sheet music of loved Christmas carols, and recipes complete this crammed volume best read in a comfy chair with a hot drink beside you. Ever-so-recommended for setting a holiday mood.

Auld Lang Syne Time is Here Again

So it's time for the festivities again:

New Year's Eve at Answers.com

New York is all set:

Times Square Alliance

And you can even watch it live on the web:

Earthcam Covers Times Square

The folks in Sydney will be putting on another "rilly big shew" again this year:

New Year's Eve in Sydney, Australia

Some cities have a non-alcoholic celebration featuring artists and performers, music and drama; it's called "First Night" and was started in Boston in 1976. Heaps of fun:

First Night International

New Year's Eve celebrations are held on St. Sylvester's Day:

Round About New Year's Eve: St. Sylvester's Day

The most famous ethnic celebration on this day is the feast of Hogmanay, in Scotland. The customs include "First Footing," in which a carefully-chosen person enters your house at midnight to bring luck to the New Year. More about Hogmanay (and which person needs to cross your doorstep when the clock strikes twelve):

What is Hogmanay?

Hogmanay Customs

Hogmanay Traditions

Hogmanay.net

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me three Christmas games:

See how far you can get the Yeti to bop the penguin.

A cutie with music: the higher the bunny hops onto the bells, the more points you get.

This one's neat: you draw a slope from left to right, click "play," and a little man slides down the slope you have made. The smoother the line the better; if you draw the curves just right you can get him to loop-the-loop without falling off the sled.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Not sure why they have Epiphany on January 7, though.

Catholic Culture: 12 Days of Christmas

On the Third Day of Christmas...

The feast of St. John.

On the Second Day of Christmas...

The Snopes folks clear up a few misconceptions about Boxing Day.

Elaine's Boxing Day Page

So who was St. Stephen?

The Irish Holiday of St. Stephen's Day

"Hunting the Wren" on the Isle of Man

Who was "Good King Wenceslas" and what about that song about him?

On the First Day of Christmas

A Christmas Mystery—12 Days' Worth

Did Coca-Cola Create Our Image of Santa Claus?

Many histories claim that, although St. Nicholas/Santa Claus was an American character fixture from the early 1800s, the way we see him today, red-and-white suit, jolly life-sized man, was actually created by a soft drink company. Here's the scoop in Cokelore (The Claus That Refreshes).

"The Shortest Day"

Ancient Origins: Solstice

A 2003 Kids' News Entry about the Winter Solstice

The BBC Talks About the Winter Solstice

And, of course, Susan Cooper's poem which is read annually at the Revels Christmas performance:

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

(Meanwhile, our friends in South Africa, the southern tip of South America, Australia and New Zealand are celebrating exactly the opposite. Happy summer to you all!)

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Traditions

Chicken Soup Stories

"The Last Straw," a Christmas story.

St. Nicholas in the News in Europe

Saint Nicholas: The Bearded Legend

Christmas Backlash: Saving St. Nicholas from Santa Claus

On the other side of the coin:

Vienna Kindergartens Saying No to St. Nicholas and Santa's Evil Sidekick Gives Jolly Fright to Kids, about the Austrian St. Nicholas' companion Krampus.

Lil' Devils Take Over "Mikulas", about children dressing up on St. Nicholas Eve.

The Most Famous Christmas Poem of All

Pat Pflieger's essay on Clement Clarke Moore and "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

(Pat has a super site about 19th century children's reading. Please visit!)

Great Site to Read On "Stir Up Sunday"

The Christmas Archives by Countess Maria Hubert von Staufer

Famous Thanksgiving Songs

One secular, one religious.

This is the long version of Lydia Maria Child's "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day," a.k.a. "Over the River and Through the Wood." Nope, they're not going to Grandmother's (or Grandfather's, rather) house for Christmas. A very Northern New England poem!

Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather's house we go;
the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather's house away!
We would not stop for doll or top,
for 'tis Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood-
oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose,
as over the ground we go.

Over the river, and through the wood.
with a clear blue winter sky,
The dogs do bark and the children hark,
as we go jingling by.

Over the river, and through the wood,
to have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring, "Ting a ling ding!"
Hurray for Thanskgiving Day!

Over the river, and through the wood-
no matter for winds that blow;
Or if we get the sleigh upset
into a bank of snow.

Over the river, and through the wood,
to see little John and Ann;
We will kiss them all, and play snowball
and stay as long as we can.

Over the river, and through the wood,
trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground like a hunting-hound!
For 'tis Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood
and straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go extremely slow-
it is so hard to wait!

Over the river, and through the wood-
Old Jowler hears our bells;
He shakes his paw with a loud bow-wow,
and thus the news he tells.

Over the river, and through the wood-
when Grandmother sees us come,
She will say, "O, dear, the children are here,
bring pie for everyone."

Over the river, and through the wood-
now Grandmothers cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

About Lydia Maria Child

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to His name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

A Hymn's Long Journey Home:
The Surprising Origins of "We Gather Together," a Thanksgiving Standard

This isn't the version I learned, incidentally. Apparently there is a Catholic version that contains the following verse:

We gather together to sing the Lord's praises,
To worship the Father through Jesus His son.
In this celebration all sing with jubilation;
We are His holy people whose freedom He won.

But I don't remember the rest. I was so very puzzled the first time I watched the America segment "Home From Home" and heard them singing "We Gather Together" with the three verses stated above.

And just for a bit of Thanksgiving jocularity (I can hear William Christopher doing Father Mulcahy now), here's Tom Lehrer's version of that venerable hymn:

We gather together to ask the lord's blessing
For turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce.
It was slightly distressing, but now we're convalescing,
So sing praises to his name and forget not to floss.

Our nearest and dearest we don't want confessing,
It's sort of depressing to have them so near.
Our feelings suppressing for lightly acquiescing,
And perfectly professing we're glad they were here.

We gathered together and got the lord's blessing
Of course we're just guessing 'cause how can you tell?
Our stomachs are bloating, our kidneys nearly floating,
Hellos are very nice, but goodbyes can be swell.

"Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November..."

If your only experience with the name "Fawkes" is reading Harry Potter novels, here's the skinny on Guy Fawkes, whose Gunpowder Plot and its defeat have provided the British with an annual holiday devoted to fireworks and bonfires.

Lesser known is that Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated in "the colonies" at one time, although its name was changed and some definite Catholic bashing went on.

"17th and 18th-century Bostonians celebrated the anniversary of the English Gunpowder Plot as Pope's Day. To mark the occasion, residents of the North and South Ends held separate parades, carrying effigies of the Pope with them. Both parades led to the center of town, near the Old State House. When the two groups met, a riot typically ensued; each group fought to secure the other's effigy of the Pope. The group that succeeded in doing so was declared the winner."

From Boston History.org

More on Guy Fawkes Day:

Fawksian Society Website

Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night

Wikipedia Entry

Scrap Album's Guy Fawkes Victorian Images

Woodlands Junior School's Bonfire Night Site

Holiday Spot's Guy Fawkes Day Site

Hallowtide

The name "Hallowe'en" is a a corruption of "All Hallow's Eve," which is the night before All Saint's Day, November 1. The following day, today, is All Souls' Day, where prayers are said for those who have died. The entire period is called "Hallowtide."

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: All Souls' Day

123Holiday.net's All Souls' Day Page

During the 19th and 20th centuries children would go "souling"—rather like carol singing—requesting alms or soul cakes:

A soul, a soul, a soul cake.
Please good missus a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us merry.
Up with your kettles and down with your pans,
Give us an answer and we'll be gone.
Little Jack, Jack sat on his gate,
Crying for butter to butter his cake.
One for St. Peter, two for St. Paul,
Three for the man who made us all.

The "Soulers" would go around the houses singing this song. Soul-caking has survived throughout the west Midlands, from Coventry to Manchester to Sheffield.

From Woodlands Junior School's Facts About November.

"Souling" is thought to be one of the origins of "trick or treating" on Hallowe'en.

Additional lyrics:

God Bless the master of this house, the mistress also,
And all the little children who around your table grow.
Likewise your men and maidens, your cattle and your store,
And all that dwells within your gates we wish you ten times more.

The lanes are very dirty and my shoes are very thin.
I've got a little pocket I can put a penny in.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha' penny will do;
If you haven't got a ha' penny, then God bless you.

You can see that it shares some similar lyrics with the round "Christmas Is Coming (The Goose Is Getting Fat)."

Here's a soul cake recipe:

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup caster/superfine sugar
4 cups plain flour, sifted
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons currants
a little milk

Method

- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale in colour and fluffy in texture.
- Beat in the egg yolks.
- Fold in the sifted flour and spices.
- Stir in the currants.
- Add enough milk to make a soft dough.
- Form into flat cakes and mark each top with a cross.
- Bake on a well-greased baking tray in a hot oven until golden."

Peter, Paul and Mary sing "A Soalin'" (sic) on their "Holiday Celebration" CD.

Found This a Bit Late

Saved for next year:

Carve Your Own Pumpkin

Spooks and Goblins from Years Past

Vintage Halloween Postcard Gallery

Early 1900s Crepe Paper Halloween Costume

Old Fashioned Halloween Party

A New Leaf

It's that time of year when a "young New Englander's fancy turns to thoughts of leaves" (not to mention the middle aged and old New Englander—LOL).

Here's a Mount Washington Cam and a view of Mount Washington Valley. Looks like the color will be good this year.

Not much obvious color in Providence yet from the panorama shot, however, if you click on the second picture from the right, which is the new Johnson and Wales campus (where the old Outlet Department Store used to be), several maple trees are heralding the turn of the season.

(Can't see much color here in Burlington, VT due to the camera position, but look at Lake Champlain!)

Columbus Day weekend is the traditional "leaf peeping" weekend for New Yorkers and New Englanders. Even the folks at the Yankee Magazine home headquarters have forsaken the shot of the green in Dublin, NH, in favor of the treecam.

Wonder what I-91 going toward Rockingham, VT, looks like. It parallels the Connecticut River and is lined with trees. When we went up to the Vermont Country Store there two years ago, it was way past peak.

More fall links.