52 Days Until Christmas

A Very Merry Holiday Movie Guide, Rachel McMillan
This is a fun book for anyone who likes the romance movies on the Hallmark Channel (and some on the Lifetime Channel), but unfortunately I don't. You know the ones: they've got cutesy names like Mistletoe Kisses, A Prince for Christmas, Merry and Bright, and they're basically all the same plot with the same gorgeous lead woman and the same hunky lead guy, who despite all obstacles they fall in love, sometimes with the help of a cute puppy or kitten, an adorable child or children, or a magical small town where everybody knows your name and believes in Santa Claus. I would not have read it had I known that. I thought it was a guide to all holiday movies with some activities to go with each theme (classic Christmas, romantic Christmas, etc.) Some classic films are mentioned, but very briefly. Also, it really isn't a guide to the movies at all, like describing the plot, listing the actors, and giving a rating to the film. A three-line synopsis is all each movie gets. The only movie in the book that I remember seeing and liking was the updated Little Women take The March Girls at Christmas, and even that has its flinching moments, like John Brooke and Teddy Lawrence being immature.

If you are a Hallmark Channel fan, you may enjoy the setup. There are fifteen themes, like "the shoppers Christmas," "the family Christmas," "the destination Christmas," suggested movies for each theme, and suggested activities (baking cookies during baking themed movies, exploring a city at Christmastime with the Christmas in the City films, etc.). Each chapter also has some Christmas trivia, such as when Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer joined Santa's team, or the importance of "Silent Night," or how Santa Claus was portrayed in older times, and there are some recipes.

Otherwise it's a big commercial for Hallmark Christmas films and a total bore. Very girly, too. Give me A Christmas Carol, The Homecoming, and The House Without a Christmas Tree any day.

"The Closing Year"

by Patricia Beesley, age 13, in "St. Nicholas," November 1932

Autumn's gorgeous banners

Fling their challenge from the trees,

And a host of hurrying warriors

Are marching with the breeze.

Oh, don't you think they know their fate,

As they go marching on their way?

It takes a hero's courage

To live only for a day.

For winter's leaden war clouds

Are spread across the sky,

And autumn's gallant army

Is going forth to die.

Winter's white-clad soldiers

Are riding with the storms

Against the leafy heroes

In their gay, red uniforms.

The battle will soon be over,

And the stom king will win;

For autumn fights her last fight

And winter's closing in.

The History of Hallowe'en

What Do You Call The Night Before Hallowe'en?

If you said "October 30," you're not alone. But in some places, the night before Hallowe'en has other names.

• In Detroit and other places in Michigan, it's Devil's Night.
• In New Jersey's it's called Mischief Night...or Goosey Night, or even Cabbage Night.
• In Cincinnati it's also Mischief Night.
  
• In Washington state, some call it Devil's Eye.
• In some places, it's called Gate Night, a name that goes back decades.

The custom of trick or treating began in the 1930s precisely to stop what happens on October 30: once harmless pranks that turned destructive. In the 19th century, it was common for teens and even adults to hold costume parties on Hallowe'en. They'd play games like bobbing for apples (as is done in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown) and fortune-telling games, although most of the latter was carried out by young women hoping to find out the names of their future husband. (There were many ways of doing so, including peeling an apple, dropping hot lead into water, walking backward downstairs with a mirror in your hand, eating onions covered in salt, and more.) Later on, as depicted in the film Meet Me in St. Louis, children wandered around in costume pulling harmless pranks: dressing in old clothes, tossing flour in people's faces, tipping over outhouses (occupied as well as unoccupied), tying people's front and back gates up (hence Gate Night), soaping windows and tossing eggs at front doors. Gradually, the pranks became so destructive—fires were set, property was damaged, people were hurt—that it was outlawed altogether, and trick or treating substituted (with the relatively harmless pranks the last to vanish, the "trick" in trick or treat).

It wasn't long before the pranksters set up the night before Hallowe'en to play their tricks. Again, they started small and harmless, then became destructive, especially in cities where population was dwindling like Detroit, where so many fires were set in abandoned buildings one October 30 that the police and fire department couldn't keep up. Citizen patrols formed groups to stop the carnage, calling their force "Angels Night."

 

66 Days Until Christmas: That's What Christmas is All About...

 

What is Christmas? Well, to some people it's a deeply religious holiday chronicling the birth of the Christ Child and the events surrounding it. Celebrants attend religious services, erect nativity scenes, do good works in the name of Jesus, and some also indulge in the secular events of the season. To most people it's a happy holiday revolving around light displays, a pine tree (real or artificial) hung with lights and shining decorations, gift giving, eating tasty food (some of which is only eaten at Christmas), gathering with family and/or friends, and, sometimes, indulging in activities eschewed during the rest of the year.

 

To too many people it's a shop-till-you-drop, massive financial outlay, exhausting ordeal of buying presents, erecting tasteful decorations, corralling overexcited children and dour older relatives, cooking until your ankles swell and you hate the smell of cinnamon, and the constant thrum of the advertisers to "Buy! Buy! Buy!" so that your family may be happy and you will be fulfilled.

 

If that sounds all too familiar, the following three books may prove useful:

Celebrate the Wonder: A Family Christmas Treasury by Kristen M. Tucker and Rebecca Lowe Warren

Unplug the Christmas Machine by Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli

The Christmas Survival Book by Alice Slaikeu Lawhead

All discuss the crazy hopes we have piled on Christmas, once just a reverent celebration of the birth of a special child intertwined with older, secular customs celebrating the turn of the year, when the days have begun lengthening again, featuring feasting and drinking, games, conviviality, gatherings, and singing: elaborate meals that will dazzle all who eat them, extravagant gifts that will prove our worth or fulfill our dreams, celebrations that will magically heal our marriages, revive our down-at-the-heels home, banish our teenagers' disinterest, cure our ex-spouse's selfish ways...oh, and make it snow. In Phoenix, Arizona. Just this once.

These are a breath of fresh air about how to make Christmas meet your expectations rather than you have to march to its: that you can simplify preparations, work out quiet spots, lose traditions that you hate, plan to deal with the unexpected without being torn emotionally about "how Christmas is supposed to be celebrated." The Lawhead book focuses the most on the Christian aspect of the celebration, and Celebrate the Wonder has a lot more about Christmas customs not native to the United States, but all three have a lot to say about quieter holidays, alternate celebrations, and peace on earth.

The bad news is that these are out of print. The good news is that they can all be found to borrow, albeit under their sad new "borrow for one hour" rule (there's no rule that says you can't read for one hour and then immediately "re-borrow" the volume) at the Internet Archive. I recommend all.

"When the Frost is on the Punkin'"

James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,
And the clackin’ of the guineys*, and the cluckin’ of the hens,
And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,
With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here-
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock-
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries-kindo’ lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below-the clover over-head!-
O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse** and saussage, too! ...
I don’t know how to tell it-but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me-
I’d want to ’commodate ’em-all the whole-indurin’ flock-
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock! 

 

* Guinea hens, a type of small tame fowl.

** A type of pickling spice, thus the meat preserved with it, usually pork.

78 Days Until Christmas: The Feast of St. Francis

St. Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, was the son of a prosperous silk merchant and his French wife. He lived the high life until nearly dying from sickness, although he was always partial to giving gifts to the poor. His illness and a vision converted him to a life of selfless charity, and he was the founder of an order of monks, now known as the Franciscans.

Francis was a known animal lover and preached the Gospel, it is said, even to the birds. All animals were his brothers and sisters, as all men and women were. He is usually represented with at least one bird on his shoulder and perhaps another one in his hand, or at his feet, sometimes other small animals like squirrels and foxes near him, and statues of St. Francis placed in gardens often have him with one hand extended holding a shallow dish for a bird feeder. Today churches often have a Blessings of the Animals day on or near October 8 where people bring their pets to an outdoor service. In 1979, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Francis as the patron saint of ecologists.

St. Francis is connected with Christmas as the person who created the display that today we call a "nativity scene," a "manger scene," a "presepio," "crib," or "crèche." He realized that people still could not grasp the fact that the Son of God had come to earth as a "real person," not some idealized God-figure. He was born as an ordinary baby, raised as an ordinary human child who was to respect his parents, do chores, help his father in the carpenter shop, and grow up to be a carpenter himself, taking care of his widowed mother. So he created the first "living nativity" scene in a church, having villagers take the roles of the figures of the story: the Holy Family, the shepherds, the innkeeper, townsfolk, and the Magi, and he brought live animals to the display, ones that might have been found in any humble stable: the overworked little ass, the ox or cow, the lowly but useful sheep, goats, pigeons, perhaps a horse or mule. While elders complained that this was being a little too realistic, animals doing what animals are wont to do, St. Frances wanted to recreated the conditions of the story, to show the child Jesus of being from lowly origins, not being some patron of the wealthy.

Once the displays became popular, they were recreated with artificial figures. Today one can find expensive porcelain figures down to carved wooden statues all the way down to plastic reproductions and even children's hand-made clay figures. In the middle of the 20th century the "five and dime" stores would have a section of bins where you could buy chalkware and later resin or plastic "manger figures" individually, so even a poor family might add one or two to their scene every year. You might start with the Holy Family and an angel, add some shepherds and a sheep next year, the Magi the year after, an ox and or ass another year, camels and more sheep, perhaps a goat or a dog or a boy carrying eggs as a gift to the Christ child or, especially with Italian figurines, the ever-present zampognari, or bagpipe player. Perhaps even a little drummer boy. In France and other European countries figures are even made for other townspeople: the baker, the butcher, the candle maker, etc. The French call these little figures santons and they can be found in every Christmas market and shop during Advent.

There are almost as many ways to display your nativity scene as there are figures. Some traditionally put their manger scene under the Christmas tree. Some have a special console table or china cabinet top or shelf or area that is cleared out before the holiday and set up with nativity figures instead. Some families leave the crib empty until Christmas Eve, when the Baby Jesus is finally laid inside, and others don't put the Magi out until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, when the travelers finally found the child. In some families the Magi are set up in another corner of the living area and inch their way slowly toward the stable.

 

81 Days Until Christmas

What's in your Christmas reading stack?

Here's mine:

Plus I have the new Ideals Christmas ordered.

Happy Michaelmas Day!

Michaelmas celebrates St. Michael the Archangel on one of the four "quarter days" in Great Britain, holy days which were associated with the paying of rent and renegotiating agreements. The angel Gabriel (who delivered the joyful news to Mary of the conception of Jesus) and the angel Raphael (also the angel Uriel in some versions) are also celebrated on this date. Michael is said to have personally defeated Lucifer in his war against heaven.

A legend associated with the holiday is that when St. Michael defeated Lucifer, described in Revelations 12, Lucifer landed on a blackberry bush. In rage, he spat on and cursed the bush. So you should pick and eat blackberries by Michaelmas, before the devil gets a chance to spit on them!

The traditional main course on Michaelmas Day is roast goose. So traditional, in fact, that old Irish name for the holiday was Fómhar no nGéanna, "goose harvest." Eating goose on this day is considered good luck.

In the northern hemisphere, because Michaelmas falls several days after the autumnal equinox, the holiday is associated with fall and marks the end of the harvest season, and the beginning of preparations for winter.

Pronounced, incidentally, "micklemas."   

Customs and Traditions Associated With Michaelmas Day

Michaelmas Foods and Traditions

British Michaelmas Traditions

Catholic Traditions of Michaelmas Day

St. Michael the Archangel

Because Something Good Had to Happen in 2020...

 

With apologies to Edward Pola and George Wyle...it mostly scans:

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

O the pumpkins are glowing,

Chrysanthemums showing,

And sweater time's here--

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

 

It's the hap-happiest sea-son of all!

It's all cinnamon-smelling

In fall-bedecked dwelling--

Savor the apples of fall--

It's the hap-happiest sea-son of all!

 

There'll be chestnuts a'roasting

And corn mazes hosting,

And fresh preserves up on the shelf;

There'll be nostalgic stories

Of bonfire glories,

And gingerbread baked by yourself!

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The leaves are a'changing

With colors amazing:

Gold, red, orange appear--

It's the most wonderful time,

Yes, the most wonderful time,

O the most wonderful time...of the year!

 

Christmas Countdown: 100 Days Until Christmas

It's the time of year when I usually pull out my pre-Christmas books, Unplug the Christmas Machine and The Christmas Survival Book (also Celebrate the Wonder), to see what I can do this year to keep the holidays happy and sane. I'm sure it's going to be an odd Christmas this year, what with remaining COVID-19 restrictions. I can't see Black Friday happening, for instance—just too many people in one place at one time. And many people have been out of work, some for only a few months, right now for some people this is ongoing. So this has been seen online and it sounds like a nice gesture.

Some people have pointed out that December 24 seems too late to donate to a food pantry; that food for the holidays may have already been distributed. Why not start your collection on Thanksgiving? (You might locate your closest food pantry first—this is important; last year I had food to donate and the pantry I had intended to give it to, one operating out of a small church, had closed due to a declining congregation—and give them a call to find out if there is a specific date to donate before Christmas?) And, while you're at it, why not start another box on Hallowe'en night, so that you may treat someone before Thanksgiving?

There is no need to limit yourself to brand names. We eat any number of store brands in our home, and they are actually supplied by the same companies that furnish the "brand names" like Del Monte, Kelloggs, etc. We once asked a friend who worked in a meat packing plant what the difference was between Winn Dixie meat and Kroger meat. His answer: "The label."

You can also avail yourself of the pre-packaged bags you can buy at the grocery store for a donation of $5, $10, and $20, but I tend to avoid these as they supply a lot of processed food in these packages. I find I can afford food with better nutritional value from the shelves. You might buy foods with low salt or low sugar, as often people on limited incomes cannot find these in their local grocery stores (we have to go looking for them) and have health conditions where it would be preferable for them to eat reduced salt or sugar.

So, we finally made it through the summer months. Now for it to get cool, and please God, someone find a method to combat COVID-19.

Happy Independence Day!

"To a Butterfly"

          "Butterfly,
               Thou trifling thing,
          Bright of color,
               Light of wing,— 
Hast thou, then, no other care
Than to ornament the air?
          Hither, thither,
               High and low,
          Why and whither
               Dost thou go?"
"From the garden to the hedge.
From the field-flower to the sedge,
  I flutter, flutter everywhere.
          Save to be fair
               I have no care,—
          An idler am I."
               "Oh, fie! Oh, fie!
Hence, thou useless thing, away!
Nay!—thou needed beauty,—stay!" 

⸺ Elizabeth Hill, "St. Nicholas" magazine, August 1892

"A Jewel Song"

Hey! for turquoise sky and sea,
      Emerald grass and leafy tree
Topaz sunlight, onyx shade,—
      Ho! for Spring, the joyous maid.

Hey! for sapphire ocean blue,
      Opal sky and moonstone dew,
Agate night and amber day,—
      Ho! for Summer bright and gay.

Hey! for garnet bough and vine,
      Amethyst grape and ruby wine,
Golden setting for them all,—
      Ho! for brilliant, sad-heart Fall.

Hey! for silver glistening frost,
      Pearls of snow past any cost,
Diamond ice and crystal air,—
      Ho! for Winter cold and fair. 

 

Happy Easter!

Lady Day

"Lady Day" is the traditional name in some English-speaking countries for the Feast of the Annunciation. In Christian tradition, this is the day that the angle Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would be the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

Luke 1:26-38:
And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.

And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.

And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?

And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God.

And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her

 In England, Lady Day was one of the four "quarter days,"  "the four dates in each year on which servants were hired, school terms started, and rents were due."

• Lady Day (March 25)
• Midsummer Day (June 24)
• Michaelmas [Feast of Michael the Archangel] (September 29)
• Christmas Day (December 25)

Before tradition designated January 1 as New Year's Day, Lady Day was considered to be the first day of the New Year, appropriate as by March 25 spring would be in full bloom and the growing year would lie ahead.

The Importance of Lady Day in Regency England

Lady Day on Astrology.com

Catholic Encyclopedia: Annunciation

Lady Day Feasting at Catholic Cuisine

Orthodox Church: Annunciation

Pagan Library: Lady Day

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Candlemas!

Wait, isn't it "Groundhog Day"?

Well, yes, but the Groundhog Day custom came from Candlemas.

Candlemas is (from Wikipedia):

"also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ and the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Christian Holy Day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is based upon the account of the presentation of Jesus in Luke 2:22–40. In accordance with Leviticus 12: a woman was to be purified by presenting lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy's circumcision. It falls on February 2, which is traditionally the 40th day of and the conclusion of the Christmas–Epiphany season. While it is customary for Christians in some countries to remove their Christmas decorations on Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve), those in other Christian countries historically remove them on Candlemas. On Candlemas, many Christians (especially Anglicans, Methodists, Lutherans, Orthodox and Roman Catholics) also bring their candles to their local church, where they are blessed and then used for the rest of the year; for Christians, these blessed candles serve as a symbol of Jesus Christ, who referred to Himself as the Light of the World."

Robert Herrick, the late 16th-17th century poet, wrote the following verses about Candlemas:

1. Down with the rosemary and bays,
Down with the mistletoe;
Instead of holly now upraise
The greener box for show.

2. The holly hitherto did sway,
Let box now domineer,
Until the dancing Easter day,
Or Easter's Eve appear.

3. Then youthful box which now hath grace
Your houses to renew,
Grown old, surrender must his place
Unto the crisped yew.

4. When yew is out, then birth comes in,
And many flowers beside,
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin,
To honour Whitsuntide.

5. Green rushes then, and sweetest bents,
With cooler oaken boughs,
Come in for comly ornaments,
To readorn the house.

6. Thus times do shift;
Each thing his turn doth hold;
New things succeed,
As former things grow old.

(If you can't imagine keeping your Christmas decorations up until February 2, remember these customs began in countries where winter was bleak and cold. Bringing greenery into the house—especially greenery that might have bright berries like holly and mistletoe—and decorating fireplace mantels, picture frames, doorways, and windows would have added a cheery air to a dark season. Furthermore, fire-lit homes, while looking cozy in photos, without the backup of central heat or at least a stove, were still quite cold. Historians estimate those cozy images you see of "the little house on the prairie" or other pioneer homes don't pass on the reality that the temperature inside that house was only about 55°F! No wonder they wore long woolen underwear!)

However, the groundhog tradition comes from these old verses about the holiday:

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

or

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half o the winter's to come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half o the winter's gone at Yule.

German tradition postulated a badger that came out of his burrow on February 2 and either cast a shadow (dry and fair) or did not cast a shadow (rainy, or at least cloudy), and this sign meant the same thing. When Germans first migrated to the United States, they did not see badgers, so the custom was transferred to the woodchuck, commonly known as the groundhog.

Many people read this backward: that the groundhog seeing his shadow means spring is coming, and not seeing his shadow means winter is sticking around. But it is indeed the other way around: if he sees his shadow, the winter chill is continuing and will soon "blow itself out" and spring will come early. If he sees his shadow with the weather being sunny and dry, winter is "taking a breather," then is sure to come back stronger than ever.

And One Final Book Review for the Holiday Season...

Hanukkah in America, Dianne Ashton
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I bought this book, but I thought it was going to be more about how Jewish people have come up against the juggernaut that is Christmas each year and how they counter with a celebration from their own culture that was a minor holiday, but which has expanded in response to being in proximity to the Yuletide frenzy that happens in December.

It does indeed address that issue, but is a lot more in depth than that, and delves more deeply into Jewish tradition and pre-Jewish-American-culture customs. In hindsight, I wish I had known a little bit more about the latter to truly appreciate how Hanukkah affected Jews.

Again, Hanukkah was a minor holiday on the celebratory calendar, one that did not require you to not work during the holiday period. However, when Jews migrated in great numbers to the United States, not only did they face Christmas advertising and celebration in every store window and in their children's schools, but they also came into contact with American culture itself, some of which ran counter to Jewish custom from "the old country": longer working hours and working on High Holidays, a narrative of the past that included "action heroes" like the Western pioneers and scouts, greater freedom for women, etc. For instance, Judah Maccabee would be compared to men like Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill Cody, and for Jews he would be considered a patriotic hero who fought against tyranny, like George Washington, the Union soldiers of the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War combatants. It would only be later that the miracle of the oil lasting eight nights and celebrating each night with your family in lighting the menorah would be emphasized more as Hanukkah did go head-to-head with Christmas, to show that both holidays had similarities: celebration of Light, miracles, family gatherings, special food, specific games, and gifts.

Not having background in traditional Jewish (read: Orthodox) customs did not keep me from appreciating this book, and how Jewish culture adapted and changed (like my own Italian culture) in order for the immigrants to assimilate as Americans yet keep their Jewish heritage. Enjoyable and approachable if you are looking for a more scholarly study.

"Snow-Flakes"

by Mary N. Prescott, "St. Nicholas," March 1880

"Come," said the Snow-flakes, "it's time we should rally,
     To tuck up the roots of the grass,
To shine on the hill-top and whiten the valley
     And touch the world up as we pass.

All the huts that are ruined and ugly
     Let us change into marble halls,
We will cover the naked hedges up snugly,
     And festoon the ragged stone walls.

We will build our drifts on the king's highway,
     Mimic the shape of star or feather,
We will silently waltz the livelong day,
     Or sculpture garlands together.

Never, outside of the spider's loom,
     Shall be spun such laces as ours,
And never, after the summer's bloom,
     Shall be seen such wonderful flowers."

"I Sprang from My Bed..." To See Who Wrote the Poem

Inventing Santa Claus: The Mystery of Who Really Wrote The Most Celebrated Yuletide Poem of All Time, Carlo DeVito
On December 23, 1823, a poem called "A Visit from St. Nicholas" was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel. It went on to become the most beloved Christmas poem of all time, and established much of the mythos of the Santa Claus character as we know it today: the sleigh, the eight reindeer and their names, his pipe, his jolly face. St. Nicholas himself was popularized in the New York area by Washington Irving. For years the poem was reprinted as being from "anonymous," until the family of Clement C. Moore, a theologian and scholar, claimed he wrote it. Moore, usually a serious man, did not take credit for the poem until 1844, when it was included in a book of his more serious verse.

But the family of Henry Livingston, Jr., related to Robert Livingston of Declaration of Independence fame, stated that the poem was his, and had been written earlier than the 1820s. They stated that its famous rhyming couplets were typically used by Livingston in his other poetry (he was noted for his light verse).

This slim volume discusses the history of both Moore and Livingston, the facts surrounding the printing and the reprinting of the poem, and the claims of both the families, taking them both into the present time. DeVito takes no sides in the quarrel, just presents as many facts as he can gather about both sides of the story.

There is a more detailed book on this subject (Who Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"? Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question by MacDonald P. Jackson), but this appears to be more succinct and accessible.

From Drunken Revel to Family Holiday

Re-read: Christmas Past, Gavin Weightman and Steve Humphries
This British trade paperback was a purchase from the remainder table of original Borders Books on Roswell Road in Atlanta. I was delighted to find it because I had seen (and videotaped) the original television special years ago when it was broadcast on A&E (back when A&E showed documentaries and wasn't overburdened with overwrought reality series). It is a history of the celebration of Christmas in Great Britain, and, like the television special, is crammed full of historical photographs about bygone holidays. It is especially fascinating talking about customs that are pretty much unknown in America, from the most familiar which might be the "Christmas cracker," a festively wrapped tube with candy, paper hats, and funny mottoes inside that "cracks" when you open it, hence the name, to obscure customs like the "Mari Llwd," a horse's skull carried from house to house in Wales which was a legacy of pagan times (along with the wassailing of Christmas trees). Another once-popular custom—even more popular than having a Christmas tree—was a decoration called a "mistletoe," crossed barrel staves decorated with tissue paper and hung with holly or mistletoe mounted at the the center and perhaps with little ornaments on the outside, that would be dangled from the ceiling as the main display. There are also memoirs from men and women who grew up poor in the early part of the 20th century and remember the meager Christmases of their youth, as well as memories of children and adults who had to celebrate in the workhouse. A lot of the language is a bit more salty than appeared on the edited American version.

And wait—there's more: memories of colonial Christmases in India, the Victorian contribution to the celebration, wartime Christmases with rationed foods and celebrations in air-raid shelters...as full of goodies as a stocking hung on the mantel. Highly recommended

Because There's No Place Like...

More Holmes for the Holidays, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Jon L. Lellenberg, and Carol-Lynn Waugh
I enjoyed the first volume so much I decided to send for a used copy of the sequel, but was a little disappointed when it arrived. It's a much smaller volume than the first, with fewer stories. However, most of them were pretty enjoyable, and written by familiar names like Anne Perry, Peter Lovesey, Barbara Paul, and Loren Estleman, among others. The Perry story that opens the book is a subject close to Holmes' heart: violins and a superb performer of violin music. Holmes' unique solution to the problem includes a very special Christmas gift for him. "The Four Wise Men" revolves around an old Army compatriot's request of Watson, that he play Joseph in a unique neighborhood Christmas pageant that involves his Army friend carrying a priceless star made of silver and studded with gems, and includes a chase with Watson in biblical regalia.

Other adventures include Chinese carol singers; a Yuletide plot to destroy goodwill between England and France; a tale involving choirmembers, a spoiled boy soloist, and stolen collection money; and one involving a young woman who has inherited an estate and an old curse. One story is a sequel to "The Copper Beeches," and to me is the one really weak story of the lot, playing on an old story to achieve its climax. Other stories feature Holmes with real-life people: Erskine Childers, Oscar Wilde, and Charles Darwin, and, in my favorite of the stories, Kipling appears along with an adult Timothy Cratchit, who is trying to fulfill the final part of Ebenezer Scrooge's will. I guessed the twist in that one at once, but the story was so entertaining I didn't care.

Still a worthwhile purchase, but do be aware there is less content than the original.

Keep Calm and Christmas On

A Wartime Christmas, compiled by Maria and Andrew Hubert
Alan Sutton Publishing has a series of these "Christmas anthologies," the first which I bought at a book sale several years ago, and I try to pick up inexpensive copies when I can find them. Most of them concentrate on a certain shire or area in England, but there are a handful, like A Dickens Christmas and A Bronte Christmas that are set around an era instead. This is their World War II volume, and, predictably for the subject, it is in an oversize trade-paper format.

The contributions cover a varied range of subjects: the memories of children evacuated to the country, tales of trying to produce a typical Christmas feast with rationed food and sweets, stories of overseas celebrations (from soldiers putting on a raucous impromptu pantomime of Aladdin to men existing on meager portions as POWs), soldiers able to spend Christmas in Bethlehem and those assigned to long days in Iceland. There are several memories from Polish men who eventually came to England to join the RAF and who were one of "the few" who stood against Hitler in the Battle of Britain, and at least one memory of POWs attending church on Christmas Day to no acrimony.

The volume includes cartoons, vintage photographs, wartime recipes and peeks into recipe books of the time, old advertisements—and, typically for any English Christmas compilation, a ghost story!

If you are an Anglophile and Christmas fan, you owe it to yourself to check out these Sutton volumes!

The Real Spirit of Christmas

Re-read: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson
"The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain..." Their mother works double shifts to make ends meet, their father left home long ago, and they move through elementary school, as the narrator states, "like those South American fish that strip your bones clean in three seconds flat..." Luckily, they don't go to church, the one place the local kids have any peace.

Well, until our narrator's little brother tells one of the Herdman kids that the minister gives them snacks at Sunday School. And they just happen to show up the day the yearly Christmas Pageant is being cast.

This is a fast, funny, but ultimately poignant story about a misfit bunch of neglected kids who cause chaos but prompts at least one person, our unnamed narrator, and hopefully the reader, to take a new look at the Nativity story. Even though this story was published in the 1970s, it has a timeless quality that still makes it relevant nearly 40 years later. A great before-Christmas read.

Re-read: The House Without a Christmas Tree, Gail Rock
In Alan Shayne's book A Double Life, he talks about how the classic 1972 Christmas special was conceived; asked by CBS to concoct a Christmas tale and wanting to present one that hadn't been done before, Shayne took a prompt given to him by a co-worker, a Nebraska native named Roberta Gail Rock. In the process he asked Gail to write down everything she remembered about her home growing up: how it looked, how her grandmother and father looked and acted, what her schooldays were like, and she did.

I have a feeling most of those notes Gail took made their way into this terrific novelization of the television production, for not only is the script told pretty much verbatim, but she adds what the best media novelizations do: delightful details that flesh out Addie Mills' everyday life in 1946, especially with much more description of the critical character of her grandmother and her eccentricities. Little pieces of business like Carla Mae's home life, Addie and Carla Mae making their names out of the letters in alphabet soup, etc., just provide homey detail to an already touching story: for years 10-year-old Addie has wished to put up a Christmas tree in her home, just like her friends, but her distant father thinks it's a waste of money. This year Addie's request will bring things to a head—but in a way that will change things forever.

This is one of my two favorite Christmas specials ever, and the novel just adds richness to already rewarding tale. Thanks, Gail Rock!

A Bumper Crop of Reading

  Carols From King's, Alexandra Coghlan
Since 1918, King's College (commissioned by Henry VI and completed during the reign of Henry VIII) in Cambridge, England, has offered a program on Christmas Eve at 3 PM called "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols." I have a CD of the service, but for the first time this year had an opportunity to listen to it broadcast live thanks to the internet. I had also picked up this little book from the BBC about the history of the service.

What this "little book" is is delightful, telling not only the story of the "Nine Lessons and Carols" but the history of carols in general—they weren't originally just for Christmas, they were considered earthy folk contributions and generally didn't fit the "hymn" category of sacred, they came from disparate sources, the Puritans (of course) hated 'em. Another novelty about the service is that for many years now they have been commissioning a new carol for each year's service, and some of the disapproving comments King's has received about them are very funny. She talks about the backgrounds and the creation of several of the new carols, but, sadly, she missed one of my very favorites, "Candlelight Carol."

Truth be told, I was kind of disappointed when I saw what a small book it was, until I got into it: it's a little volume packed with a lot. If you've heard of or heard the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and would like to learn more about it, this is the right book for you.

  Ideals Christmas, from the Ideals Publication
I've been buying these seasonal books—I really, really, really miss their Thanksgiving/autumn edition—probably since the 1990s, when the photography and artwork improved, and every year it's a treat. This, their 75th anniversary issue, was delightful, with some poetry I had forgotten (e.e. cummings "little tree") and original verse written by readers, the usual Christmas essay from Pamela Kennedy, apt quotations, a couple of recipes (which is Quite Enough, thank you!), and the usual illustrated version of the two different Bible narratives (Luke and Matthew) about the Nativity.

Some of my favorite verse from this edition: "Silhouette," "Wonderful Wintertime," "Red Birds," "Christmas Brunch," "Chickadees," "Children's Winter," and "Sparkle Sparkle."

I also particularly enjoyed the essays/stories "Christmas Thoughts for All the Year," originally from "McCall's," Clara Brummert's "The New Skates," and Pamela Kennedy's sweet "A Long Way from the Manger."

The final third of the issue is a representation of covers over the years since 1944, the story of how Ideals came to be, and some representative pages from each decade. Truly a "box of delights" in the pages.

  Re-read: A Little House Christmas Treasury, Laura Ingalls Wilder with colorized illustrations by Garth Williams
This is a compilation volume of most of the Christmas stories from the "Little House" books: from Christmas in the Big Woods to Mr. Edwards' encounter with Santa Claus on the prairie to two different Plum Creek Christmases (Christmas horses and Laura's first Christmas tree) to Almanzo Wilder's food-filled Christmas to a Christmas celebration in May after the Long Winter to a final Christmas with Laura just before her marriage. It's sweet to go back and read these, about children who have such full lives that they are content with items like red mittens, a stick of candy, or a tin cup for Christmas.

These aren't all the "Little House" Christmas tales, however; this "Treasury" volume omits the story of Pa getting stuck in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve and also the Christmas when little Grace received the swansdown cape. To get all of them you must purchase both volumes (one red and one green) of A Little House Christmas.

Vintage Carols and Poems: "The Carnal and the Crane"

A Nativity parable.

[Note: a "carnal" is a French term for a crow.]

As I pass'd by the river side,
    And there as I did reign [run],
In argument I chanced to hear
    A Carnal and a Crane.

The Carnal said unto the Crane,
    If all the world should turn,
Before we had the Father,
    But now we have the Son!

From whence does the Son come,
    From where [or when] and from what place?
He said, In a manger,
    Between an ox and ass.

I pray thee,1 said the Carnal,
    Tell me before thou go,
Was not the mother of Jesus
    Conceived by the Holy Ghost?

She was the purest virgin,
    And the cleanest from sin;
She was the handmaid of our Lord
    And Mother of our king.

Where is the golden cradle
    That Christ was rocked in?
Where are the silken sheets
    That Jesus was wrapt in?

A manger was the [or his] cradle
    That Christ was rocked in:
The provender the asses left
    So sweetly he slept on.

There was a star in the West land,
    So bright it did appear,
Into King Herod's chamber,
    And where King Herod were.

The Wise Men soon espied it,
    And told the King on high
A princely babe was born that night
    No king could e'er destroy.

If this be true, King Herod said,
    As thou tellest unto me,
This roasted cock that lies in the dish
    Shall crow full fences three.

The cock soon freshly feathered was
    By the work of God's own hand
And then three fences3 crowed he
    In the dish where he did stand

Rise up, rise up, you [or my] merry men all,
    See that you ready be;
All children under two years old
    Now slain they all shall be.

Then Jesus, ah! and Joseph,
    And Mary, that was so pure,
They travell'd into Egypt,
    As you shall find it sure.

And when they came to Egypt's land,
    Amongst those fierce wild beasts,
Mary, she being weary,
    Must needs sit down to rest.

Come sit thee down, says Jesus,
    Come sit thee down by me,
And thou shalt see how these wild beasts
    Do come and worship me.'

First, came the lovely lion,
    Which Jesus's grace did spring,
And of the wild beasts in the field
    The lion shall be king.

We'll choose our virtuous princes
    Of birth and high degree,
In every sundry nation,
    Where'er we come and see.

Then Jesus, ah! and Joseph,
    And Mary, that was unknown,
They traveled by a husbandman,
    Just while his seed was sown-

God speed thee, man! said Jesus,
    Go fetch thy ox and wain,
And carry home thy corn again
    Which thou this day hast sown.'

The husbandman fell on his knees,
    Even upon [or before] his face:
Long time hast thou been looked for, [or talked of,]
    But now thou art come at last.

And I myself do now believe
    Thy name is Jesus called;
Redeemer of mankind thou art,
    Though undeserving all.

The truth, man, thou hast spoken,
    Of it thou may'st be sure,
For I must lose my precious blood
    For thee and thousands more.

If any one should come this way,
    And enquire for me alone,
Tell them that Jesus passed by
    As thou thy seed did [or had] sow.

After that there came King Herod,
    With his train so furiously,
Enquiring of the husbandman
    Whether Jesus passed by.

Why, the truth it must be spoke,
    And the truth it must be known;
For Jesus passed by this way
    When my seed was sown.

But now I have it reapen,
    And some laid on my wain,
Ready to fetch and carry
    Into my barn again.

Turn back, says the Captain,
    Your labor and mine's in vain;
It's full three quarters of a year
    Since he his seed has sown.

So Herod was deceived,
    By the work of God's own hand,
And [or No] further he proceeded
    Into the Holy Land.

There's thousands of children young
    Which for his sake did die;
Do not forbid those little ones,
    And do not them deny.

The truth now I have spoken,
    And the truth now I have shown;
Even the Blessed-Virgin
    She's now brought forth a son.

Everyone is Family at Christmas

The Tuckers: The Cottage Holiday, Jo Mendel
Dear America: Christmas After All, Kathryn Lasky
These are two of my yearly Christmas reads, and I've reviewed them so many times I'm loathe to repeat the reviews. You can search for the titles and review all the different things I've noted about them. They are both series books: one in a series about a family and one in a series of epistolary historical novels.

The Tuckers are a common series family: five kids, mom, dad, grandparents, the inevitable shaggy dog, and a cat. The kids occasionally quarrel, but are always ultimately kind to each other and other people. The vocabulary is simple, so this is safest for even younger children, although there is an incident involving an abandoned baby and a lost woman stalked by a cougar. The others in the series are alternately sweet or funny, but this one has a special touch to it as if the author was adding some depth to the character of Penny, who is pretty much just a sweet seven-year-old in the other volumes. Compared to her active brothers and sister, Penny is physically frail, and she hopes a Christmas trip to the family's lake home will help her find her own strengths. It's a wonderful snow romp with almost every Christmas dream you might have ever had as a kid: endless days playing in the snow, skating, cutting your own Christmas tree, lots of yummy food, and adventures with happy endings. The ending always brings a lump to my throat.

Christmas After All is a Christmas tale of a different sort: a family in 1932 Indianapolis having to tightening their belts as the effects of the Depression grow deeper. Youngest daughter and next-to-youngest child Minnie Swift narrates as the family closes off more rooms in their home to save coal, eats pretty-much-meatless meals as it's all they can afford, and notice that day by day their father comes home a little earlier until one day he doesn't go to work at all, as his company has gone out of business. Then a twist of fate sends them an orphaned cousin, Willie Faye Darling, who comes from a dust-bowl ravaged town in Texas. As Minnie and her science-geek little brother Ozzie and the rest of the family are awed by the different life Willie Faye has led, the Dust Bowl survivor also is fascinated with the chatty, diverse Swifts, who, like the Tuckers, rally around each other in times of need.

Yet it's quiet, artistic, humble Willie Faye that will prompt their inventiveness in a seemingly dark Christmas, and who will get the Swifts through their greatest family crisis. It's a dark story sometimes (something very upsetting happens to one of Minnie's friends, and then something shocking happens to the Swifts themselves), but also one full of hope. The one false note is the standard "Dear America" epilogue that strays into the realm of fantasy, and checks off every significant late 20th century historical event to involve the various members of the family with.

Otherwise, like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.

Vintage Carols and Poems: "Bells Across the Snow"

[Note: Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) was a noted writer of verses for Christmas cards. Her most famous verses were these.]

O Christmas, merry Christmas,
Is it really come again,
With its memories and greetings,
With its joy and with its pain!
There’s a minor in the carol
And a shadow in the light,
And a spray of cypress twining
With the holly wreath tonight.
And the hush is never broken
By laughter light and low,
As we listen in the starlight
To the “bells across the snow.”

O Christmas, merry Christmas,
‘Tis not so very long
Since other voices blended
With the carol and the song!
If we could but hear them singing,
As they are singing now,
If we could but see the radiance
Of the crown on each dear brow,
There would be no sigh to smother,
No hidden tear to flow,
As we listen in the starlight
To the “bells across the snow.”

O Christmas, merry Christmas,
This never more can be;
We cannot bring again the days
Of our unshadowed glee,
But Christmas, happy Christmas,
Sweet herald of good will,
With holy songs of glory.
Brings holy gladness still.
For peace and hope may brighten,
And patient love may glow,
As we listen in the starlight
To the “bells across the snow.”

Finding Home on Christmas Eve

The Story of Holly and Ivy, Rumer Godden
This is a darling little story that almost takes as long to describe as it does to read. Ivy is an orphan who has not been "claimed" by some nice person to spend Christmas, so she is sent by train to the orphanage's Infants Home. Rebelliously, she gets off the train in Aylesbury (for some strange reason changed to "Appleton" in newer versions), looking for a home with a Christmas tree but no children. In a nearby Aylesbury toyshop a doll dressed for Christmas named Holly wishes for a little girl. And close by, childless Mrs. Jones, wife of the town policeman, wishes for a little girl. For this is a story about wishing, simply told but full of detail and feeling.

A little gem.

Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot, Frances Frost
"On Friday, the last day of school before Christmas vacation, Toby gazed dreamily out the windows of the seventh-grade classroom.... The village lawns about the white houses lay withered and rusty yellow; the leaves had long ago been raked to the roadsides and burned; and the only brightness was the dripping scarlet of the barberry bushes around the north side of the square."  

I first read this book around 1964 and it was one of the first ones I looked for when I had my own money. Visiting with the Clark family in Vermont in 1948 is like visiting relatives, and I've been envious of their farm Christmas for years (although I really wouldn't want to be Mom cooking that Christmas dinner!). It awes me with the energy everyone has: Toby repairs a sleigh all day, does farm chores, and still has effort left for skiing. And the food! On Christmas day Toby gets up, does chores, opens gifts, eats breakfast, helps his Mom with dinner, eats cookies, has an enormous dinner and dessert, takes Tish into town and they both have hot fudge sundaes (!!!!), and later on eats more at a party. But he's so active he never gains a pound!

This book leaves you wrapped in warmth. As busy and as choked by chores as a farm family is, this family always has time for each other and their friends. They attend homey town functions, sing carols together, make sure no one feels left out, and do Christmas the way it should be done: not all about expensive gifts, but about togetherness and love. Along with that, there's an adventure with a bear and another with skiing, but the best parts are like the passage quoted above: time spent in homey actions and simple holiday preparations, and finishing up warm and happy with friends and family gathered around.

Vintage Carols and Poems" "Before the Paling of the Stars"

By Christina Rossetti

Before the paling of the stars,
Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cock crow,
Jesus Christ was born:
Born in a stable,
Cradled in a manger,
In the world his hands had made
Born a stranger.

Priest and king lay fast asleep
In Jerusalem;
Young and old lay fast asleep
In crowded Bethlehem;
Saint and angel, ox and ass,
Kept a watch together
Before the Christmas daybreak
In the winter weather.

Jesus on his mother’s breast
In the stable cold,
Spotless lamb of God was he,
Shepherd of the fold:
Let us kneel with Mary maid,
With Joseph bent and hoary,
With saint and angel, ox and ass,
To hail the King of Glory.

A Sermon on Skating, Distaff Day Celebrations, and Other Fenland Customs

A Fenland Christmas, compiled by Chris Carling
Alan Sutton Publishing has a series of these "Christmas anthologies," the first which I bought at a book sale several years ago. Now I try to pick them up used when they're a dollar or under, with the postage as the bulk of the purchase. I had two others picked out originally, then decided to get this one and A Lakes Christmas because of thoughts of Lord Peter Wimsey and Beatrix Potter, respectively.

Peter Wimsey makes his appearance briefly in a very short excerpt from The Nine Tailors, which takes place in the fen country, an area of England that is very like Holland in that it has lowlands tamed by dikes and sluice gates and worked by windmills. Because of the abundance of water, there are many essays about skating and other uses of the canals (including a sermon stating Job was probably a skater). The collection begins with, appropriately for a British Christmas collection, a ghost story about a woman awaiting visitors. The other offerings are mostly nonfiction essays from the early 1800s all the way to the 1980s on subjects as varied as butcher shops at Christmastime, larks and pranks of the choir members of King's College (who do the "Nine Lessons and Carols" each Christmas Eve), children's memories of lean but merry holidays in the early 20th century, kids' festivities on Plough Monday (the first workday after Epiphany; the celebrations sounded a lot like trick or treat), and even gift suggestions from 1896!

You might wonder why so many books are needed when there's only one England, but each shire has its own landscapes and geographical features as well as its own customs and literature. A fens Christmas is as different from a Lakes Christmas as one can get.

"Christmas Eve"

by Kate Douglas Wiggin

My door is on the latch tonight,
      The hearth-fire is aglow.
I seem to hear swift passing feet –
      The Christ Child in the snow.

My heart is open wide tonight
      For stranger, kith or kin.
I would not bar a single door
      Where Love might enter in.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

For the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, the theme is Peace.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
 
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Winter Solstice — Happy Yule!

THE SHORTEST DAY

Copyright Susan Cooper 1974

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 so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.
Welcome Yule!


Winter Solstice 2019: A Short Day That's Long on Ancient Traditions 

Farmer's Almanac: Winter Solstice 2019

EarthSky: Everything You Need to Know About the December Solstice

Susan Cooper's Classic "The Shortest Day" Made Into a Book

"The Christmas Path"

Far though we wander
Among the world of men,
Once a year a little path
Leads us home again,
Leads us through a starry night,
To holly on a door,
To stockings by the chimney
And toys upon the floor . . . 
Every home's a sacred place
A star may shine above,
If it hold a memory
Of child-and-mother love.
The world's way's a wide way
And leads me far a-roam,
But the little path to Christmas
Can always bring us home.


Anne Higginson Spicer

Embrace the Winter!

Merry Midwinter, Gillian Monks
I awarded this book the ultimate accolade: after reading the electronic version, I ordered the "real" book. So this is technically a re-read, although I notice that when I read anything electronic it doesn't feel like I've really read it.

Monks, who describes herself as a Quaker and a practicing Druid (I didn't think that was possible!) has written a great book about celebrating all of the winter holiday season, from Hallowe'en/Samhain all the way through Candlemas, as our ancestors did. She traces the history of all the wonderful customs of the season, from decorating with evergreens (greens which represented both the spirits of nature and the "ever green" eternal love of the Son of God) to celebrating female bringers of light like Saint Lucy and Frau Holle to the connection of the winter solstice to the establishment of Christmas by the Christian Church on a day that was already celebrated as a religious holiday (the Saturnalia of the Romans, the feast of Mithras by the Persians, and ceremonies for the Egyptian Osiris and the Greek god Apollo). And of course she addresses feasting, gift giving, the origins of some of the gift givers, including the now-ubiquitous Santa Claus, snow. As she states "Midwinter has always been a time for people to set aside their differences, lay down their weapons, and come together in a sense of community and celebration."

Her coziest chapters include some of her personal memories of each of the holidays marking the winter season; she once lived along a country road and had the pleasure of gathering her own winter greens like holly and mistletoe. Plus there are family recipes and DIY crafts, but the thing she emphasizes most of all is simplicity and anticipation of each phase of the season: not to rush any part of the winter season, but to enjoy each aspect of it, from the fun of Hallowe'en to the days building up to Christmas, and then not to let Christmas just stop at 11:59 p.m. on December 25, but to celebrate the entire twelve days of Christmastide and even the January days leading finally to Candlemas/Imbolc on the second of February by walking in wintry woods or enjoying the cold weather, and enjoying days doing crafts indoors when the weather is inclement. She firmly believes in the philosophy of "there is no bad weather, only inadequate clothing" and invites you not to bemoan the loss of summer warmth but to embrace the wintry chill. I loved this whole attitude of enjoying all the seasons, not overspending but making some Christmas decorations out of items found from nature (her example which goes throughout the book is having found a large branch just as the leaves were changing and bringing it inside to fasten in a container; she allows the leaves to fall off it naturally, and supplements it with items like acorns and berries in the fall, then tinsel and ornaments and winter-themed items at Christmas, then removes the tinsel and ornaments and just leaves the winter themed items until spring comes and the wood is ready to be recycled into firewood), and also of not allowing Christmas revelry to be trapped in a 24-hour period as our modern society dictates.

At the back of the book there is an extensive calendar of autumn and winter celebrations you can observe, like St. Catherine's Day devoted to reading and learning, St. Cecilia's Day with an emphasis on music, Feast of Fools Day on December 29 when you can go out with tomfoolery, Distaff's Day after Epiphany celebrating your work life, etc.

Vintage Carols and Poems: "Adoration"

by Byron Herbert Reece

If I but had a little dress,
A little dress of the flax so fair
I’d take it from my clothespress
And give it to Him to wear,
     To wear,
And give it to Him to wear.

If I had a little girdle
A girdle stained with the purple dye,
Or green as grass or green as myrtle
About His waist to tie,
     To tie,
About His waist to tie!

If I but had a little coat,
A coat to fit a no-year-old,
I’d button it close about His throat
To cover Him from the cold,
     The cold,
To cover Him from the cold.

If I but had a little shoe,
A little shoe as might be found
I’d lace it on with sheepskin thew
To keep His foot from the ground,
     The ground,
To keep his foot from the ground.

If my heart were a shining coin,
A silver coin or a coin of gold
Out of my side I’d purloin
And give it to Him to hold
     To hold,
And give it to Him to hold.

If my heart were a house also,
A house with room to spare
I never would suffer my Lord to go
Homeless, but house Him there,
     O there,
Homeless but house Him there!

"A Christmas Prayer"

"Let candlelight upon the tree,
My family have made for me,
Be soft with happines and love
Reflected from the sky above.

"Oh, let me, as I go to sleep,
Feel little dreams about me creep,
And let me say this evening prayer
For all the children, everywhere!"

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