"On the First Day of Christmas, Moss Gave to Me..."

The Twelve Birds of Christmas, Stephen Moss

There are many stories about what the "12 Days of Christmas" song means, even going as far to say it's a Christian allegory. In truth it's a forfeit song, sung during Christmas games in the 18th century as a penalty for losing a game. You also may ask "Aren't there only six birds mentioned in the song?" Yes, technically...but Moss here makes a delightful case for the song referring to a dozen birds, from the classic partridge, turtledoves, chickens (French hens), blackbirds ("calling" birds is a corruption of the original word, "colly," meaning black), geese, and swans, to the yellowhammer ("yolring" corrupted to "gold ring"), nightjars (who supposedly "milked" goats' udders), cranes (who do a courting dance), grouse (who leap as part of their courting ritual), sandpipers, and woodpeckers (both for obvious reasons).

You pretty much need to be a bird lover to really enjoy this book, but if you are, it's a delight, but also a little bit sad, since you learn about so many birds, like the black grouse and the partridges, and especially the turtledoves, who are endangered species now because of changed farming methods. You'll learn that all swans in England don't belong to the queen, how Canada geese are an invasive species, the amazing spectacle of black grouse displaying themselves in order to find a mate, the origins of the domestic chicken, and more. The chapter about the nightjars are fascinating because they are such odd-looking birds and the belief that they sucked milk from goats--in reality they were eating the insects that surrounded barn animals--was really odd!

A Christmas Gathering Turns Deadly

The Dead of Winter, Nicola Upson
Detective Archie Penrose has an interesting Christmas proposition for Josephine Tey (Tey's real name was Elizabeth MacIntosh, but in this series Upson refers to her as a real person named Josephine Tey) and her partner Marta Fox: join him on the picturesque island of St. Michael's Mount for a lavish Christmas gathering which will benefit refugee Jewish children already fleeing from Hitler's tyranny; the castle on the island belongs to the family of his old friend Hilaria. He tells them he will be escorting a "famous actress" who will also be in attendance. To his surprise, one of the locals on the island is Reverend Richard Hartley, who he met 18 years earlier at the scene of a horrific murder. But the Christmas gathering is already getting tense: one of the guests is a Nazi sympathizer, Archie's "actress" is herself being stalked by Nazis, at least one of the guests isn't who they seem, and all sorts of secrets are being held on the island.

This is Upson's riff on a Agatha Christie mystery trope (people trapped in a remote location) crossed with a little social commentary. You are actually an eyewitness for more than one crime and know who some of the guilty are. The main charm of this book is that it's a mystery set at Christmas on a unique island off the coast of Cornwall, England, that can only be reached at low tide, and which was coveted by the Nazis. The family Upson portrays as owning the castle actually did, and the descriptions of the castle, the village, and the island people is very evocative and fascinating.

Some of the other plot choices seem odd. It was interesting to learn about "the Hollywood star"—a real-life person—that Archie brings to the island, but she seems to be in the story for no reason but to feature this particular person. Also, this time Josephine and Marta take a back seat in the investigation; it's nice to see Archie in action, though, so I didn't quibble too much. I ended up enjoying the story very much.

Note: In the United States this book is known as The Secrets of Winter, which isn't half as ominous as the British title.

Over the Border from Wales

A Monmouthshire Christmas, Maria & 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 historic or literary era instead.

I knew nothing about Monmouthshire, so I was surprised and happy to discover it is just over the border from Wales (and now known as Gwent), so we have several entries about the Welsh Calennig custom (similar to caroling or "souling" in which groups go around offering songs and a decorated apple known as a "Monty"). While many of these books have excerpts from fiction, this book is comprised almost completely of memoirs from people from the early 1900s all the way until the 1960s of the uniquely Welsh customs like Plygain or Mari Lywd; or growing up poor or in orphanages, but still enjoying the small tokens they received at Christmas--one multi-page selection chronicles centuries of entertainment at Tredegar House, the manor house of the Morgans; while the narrative talks about pre-1900 parties, there are photos of 20th century entertainments, too. Caroling, a ghost story at a priory, and some commentary on Tintern Abbey also make for great reading, plus there are photos and engravings galore.

A very interesting volume of holiday memories to start off the season!

"Stir Up, We Beseech Thee, O Lord..."

Here once again is the "Last Sunday in Ordinary Time" in the Christian calendar. Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, in which Christians begin to prepare for Christmas. In stores this means a frenzy of shopping and the putting up of Christmas decorations.

In the past this preparation was more subtle; it was behind the scenes. Christmas decorations didn't go up until Christmas Eve, and then they remained up until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. In the very oldest of traditions, you needed not take down your decorations until Candlemas, February 2.

The earliest preparation was that of the Christmas Pudding, or "plum pudding," which was made and then let rest (allowing all the alcohol in the mix to "settle in"). This was made on "Stir-Up Sunday," from the text for that Sunday from The Book of Common Prayer: "Stir-up, we beseech thee, oh Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may be thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."

"The whole family participated in Stir-Up Sunday, with each member taking a turn to stir the pudding mixture—always from east to west to honor the journey of the Magi—making a wish as they did...Also symbolic is the notion that the Christmas Pudding should have thirteen ingredients to represent Jesus and the twelve Apostles. Traditionally, the ingredients were raisins, currants, suet, brown sugar, breadcrumbs, citron, lemon peel, orange peel, flour, mixed spices, eggs, milk, and brandy. (No plums.)"*

* from the Christmas 2021 issue of "Early American Life."