Fall Festivals of Old

From School of the Seasons (very interesting site, BTW!):

September 28 Michaelmas Eve, Crack Nut Day
In the Scottish highlands and islands, an unblemished ram lamb called the Michael Lamb is killed for tomorrow's feast. Women make special cakes called struan Michael or Michaelmas cakes, from equal parts of all types of grain grown on the farm, kneaded with butter, eggs and sheep's milk, marked with a cross and cooked on a stone heated by a fire of sacred oak, rowan and bramble wood. A piece of the cake is thrown into the fire as a tithe to St. Michael's opponent, the Devil. Other cakes are made for special people, for the family and for the community. Cranberries, bilberries, brambleberries, caraway seeds and wild honey are baked into the cakes. Clearly part of the purpose of this charm is to take the bounty of the farm's harvest and use it to fashion an offering of thanks.

It is OK to steal horses on the eve of Michaelmas so the men sit up and watch their horses.

In Surrey in England, this day is known as Crack Nut Day and nuts are cracked and eaten in churches (see September 14). In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, people build bonfires on the Eve of Michaelmas and scatter grain for the wild birds to bring luck to the farm.

September 29 Michaelmas
This is the feast day of St. Michael and all the Angels. It is the most ancient of all the angel festivals. The Anglican church celebrates all angels, both name and unnamed on one day. Roman and Orthodox Churches separate them into two categories (with the unnamed angels having their feast day on October 2nd).

From fairly early on, Michaelmas was an important holiday, the religious or Christian equivalent of the autumn equinox. In England, it was considered the start of a new quarter. It marked the start of a new business year, a time for electing officials, making contracts, paying rent, hiring servants, holding court and starting school. Obviously we still see the remnants of this in the timing of our elections and school year.

This is also a time when the weather is known to change. In Italy, they say "For St. Michael, heat goes into the heavens." In Ireland, people expect a marked decrease in sickness or disease. The Irish also consider this a lucky day for fishing:

     Plenty comes to the boat on Micheael's Day.
     Barolini records a nursery rhyme about hours of sleep:
     Nature requires five,
     Custom gives seven,
     Laziness takes nine
     And Michaelmas eleven.

Michaelmas became the fixed date for the feast otherwise associated with Autumn Equinox or the harvest. As early as 1014, the laws of Ethelred in England prescribe a three day fast for all Christians before the feast. Servants weren't allowed to work during these days. Michaelmas was a time when rents were due, and rents were often paid in food. The traditional rent for Michaelmas was a goose.

Eating something rich like goose at this turning point of the year brings good luck. In Nottingham they say "If you eat roast goose on Michaelmas day, you will never want money all year." In Norfolk, they say, "if you don't baste the goose on Michaelmas Day, you will want money all year." In Yorkshire, they use the condition of the meat of the goose to predict the weather:

     If the goose breast at Michaelmas be dour and dull
     We'll have a sour winter, from the start to the full.

Fitzgibbon says the Irish used to stuff the goose with potato to cut the grease and absorb the flavor. This is like the traditional onion sauce served with goose in the 18th and 19th centuries and made from onions cooked in half milk and half water, with a slice of turnip, then mixed with butter, nutmeg, cream, salt and pepper and mashed. Apple sauce is the most common topping today.

In Italy, where this is clearly considered a harvest festival, they say "For St. Michael all the last fruits of the year are honeyed and ripe."

Cosman says that it is traditional to eat ginger on Michaelmas. She mentions ginger ale, beer and wine, gingerbread, ginger snaps, fish baked with ginger and two ginger desserts: charwardon (made with large succulent wardon pears, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger) and ginger caramels with curls of ginger-root shavings on top.

Michaelmas daisy is the name given to flowers of the aster family which bloom at this time. I've seen it applied mostly to purple asters but Barolini says she used to pick yellow Michaelmas daisies on the beaches near Rome. She also made a yellow sponge cake called "Margherita" (daisy) on that day.

St Michael
Michael is a warrior angel often pictured poised with a sword over a dragon (or demon) that he tramples underfoot. Other times he rides a white steed, and carries a three-pronged spear in his right hand and a three-cornered shield in his left. He cast Lucifer and the other evil angels out of Paradise. Thus, in the Middle Ages was invoked as the patron of knights and warriors.

He's been honored since ancient times as a protector. Most of his churches are on high places, for instance, Mont St. Michel in Brittany, the church on the tor at Glastonbury, the church on the tumulus at Carnac. They were often built on the sites where Lugh, the Celtic God of Light, was worshipped earlier.

Although all angels are sent as messengers from on high, Michael has a special task. He's sent to fetch the souls of those who have died for judgement. For this reason he is also considered the patron saint of all trades that use scales which mean he looks after pastry chefs and weighers of grain.

Carolee Colter translated this Litany of Saint Michael from the French prayer card she purchased while visiting Mont St. Michel in Brittany:

Saint Michael, archangel, pray for us.
Saint Michael, chief of all the angels, pray for us.
Saint Michael, filled with the wisdom of God, pray for us.
Saint Michael, very glorious prince, pray for us.
Saint Michael, strong in combat, pray for us.
Saint Michael, terror of demons, pray for us.
Saint Michael, vanquisher of Satan, pray for us.
Saint Michael, our support in the fight against evil, pray for us.
Saint Michael, prince of the celestial militia, pray for us.
Saint Michael, faithful servant of God, pray for us.
Saint Michael, messenger of God, pray for us.
Saint Michael, angel of peace, pray for us.
Saint Michael, guardian of Paradise, pray for us.
Saint Michael, support of the people of God, pray for us.
Saint Michael, guardian and patron of the church, pray for us.
Saint Michael, benefactor of people who honor you, pray for us.
Saint Michael, whose prayers reach to heaven, pray for us.
Saint Michael, who introduces souls to the eternal light, pray for us.
Pray for us, Saint Michael, archangel.

House Shadow Drake - Michaelmas

Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Michael the Archangel

Episcopal Readings for Michaelmas

The Michaelmas Daisy

A Michaelmas Blog Entry by Peter Walker

Feast of St. Michael (Michaelmas)

Holly Jolly Ho-Ho-Ho!

Just got back from "WallyWorld" where we saw some cute stuffed Rudolph figures. They all play some dialog from Rankin-Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer followed by a song. The largest is a Yukon Cornelius with his sled with Rudolph and Hermy sitting on it. This plays dialog from the story and then the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Then there are five (that we saw, anyway) single figures. Santa sings "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle." Yukon sings "Silver and Gold." Hermey sings "A Couple of Misfits." Rudolph sings...well, "Rudolph." :-) And the Bumble growls but I can't remember the song because by that time we had all the other figures singing as well. :-) I think it might be "Rudolph" again or "Holly Jolly Christmas."

Now I'm wondering if there is a Sam the snowman singing "Holly Jolly" or a Clarice singing "There's Always Tomorrow."

As the Year Turns

Celebrating the Autumnal Equinox

Defining the Autumnal Equinox

Symbols of the Autumnal Equinox

Autumn Greetings

The Fall is Upon Us

And just to celebrate with others:

Autumn Greeting Cards from 123Greetings.com

"We'll Deck the House with...Leaves..."

The cooler weather made me feel chipper enough to put out the fall things after I had opened up all the windows (and doors) and turned on the fans. (I'd love to stock this entire house with Vornado fans; I have our one Vornado next to my bed and it's so nice and quiet—on high it makes the same level of noise as our other fans make on low and on low you have to walk next to it to even hear it. But they cost about four times as much.) I replaced the seasonal things—the bouquet on the kitchen table, the lilac bouquet in the hall, the display table and plaques in the foyer, and the wreath on the front door.

I usually wait until the equinox to put up the change of seasons, but I read something this summer that made me pause: September 22nd isn't "the first day of autumn"; it's just the fall equinox. Meteorological fall begins September 1. So I've put things up because it feels like fall (even if the temps will go back up over the weekend).

The combination of the cozy fall colors and the liberating open curtains and windows was quite a contrast. We're used to living "dim" in the summertime with insulated curtains (except on the dining room windows) because it keeps the heat down in the house and helps the air conditioner not run as much, so it's a bright surprise to have the sun streaming in windows and filling the house with natural light. The construction of the old house, sadly, really didn't allow a lot of the sunlight to break through, which was a positive thing in summer, but made the rest of the year rather dull: the den was self-contained and dark because of the paneling, no matter how sunny it was the kitchen was always dark because of its placement in the tree'd back yard with the neighbors' larger house blocking most of the sunlight, and the upstairs rooms blocked by the hallway. It was like living in a cave most of the time.

While putting away the summer things, I peeked into the box of Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. I'm reluctant to overspend but am wondering if I should buy a couple of more Halloween things, mostly for the porch. Never been much of a Halloween person, but this year looks like it might be fun because of the neighborhood and the kids. I already have the three decorations I bought from Moores, plus a couple of signs and the old jack o'lantern; don't really want to get into the lights stuff. Maybe one of those stiff black spiderwebs with the purple spider? Or another sign from Michael's (Michael's has these signs with which, as James commented, you could make a reproduction of Diagon Alley if you tried.

Closet Treasures

One of the things we loved about this house was the walk-in closet on the ground level. It's not a huge closet by any means, maybe 4x5 feet, but it was certainly larger than the little coat closet where we had kept all our decorations crammed for ten years: mostly Christmas, but also for other holidays and seasons. When the seasons turned it was like a clown car with storages boxes coming out, being rearranged, and going back in; the only time it was half empty was during Christmas.

Today we visited Hobby Lobby. They had all their ceramic and resin figures and statues on sale. I'm not much of a Hallowe'en person still, but I had fallen in love with a jack o'lantern they had there: James actually thinks it's glass, with an opaque but iridescent type paint on it: the orange skin and a green stem, with the black eyes done in some sort of matte texture. Not sure of how it looks under incandescent light, but in fluorescent light it simply glows without having a light in it. It was counted in the half-price items, so I bought it. I also got the cutest fabric reindeer with my 40 percent off coupon. Both needed to be stored away.

It's occurred to me for several weeks, since bringing home various Hallmark ornaments and fall things, that I needed to clean out the "Christmas closet" and find the rest of my fall things, as we had bought some autumn decorations last August at A.C. Moore in Warwick, RI, and a few things at JoAnn and Michael's. So while James was at his club meeting, I dove into the closet. I'm still not finished and my feet hurt, but all the patriotic things are now in a container, all the summer flowers in another, the spring and Easter things in what used to be the Thanksgiving container, and the Thanksgiving and Halloween things in their own box which had been a hotchpotch of things. The big steamer trunk that was my grandparents' has been shifted again. I have an idea to do what my dad used to do and store the Christmas tree with the lights on it (thereby relieving myself of that dreaded job) under plastic, and I needed the corner where the trunk was for it to stand upright. It's clear but I haven't moved the tree yet since I want to vacuum there.

In the process of cleaning out things I tossed away some old decorations that were too dusty to donate and found some things that didn't need to be packed away: a couple of gifts, the apple crock that James bought me last year at the Christmas Extravaganza at the Cobb County Civic center (it's for dips; you put ice in the bottom part and then put the matching ceramic bowl inside the crock and it keeps the dip cold so you don't have to worry about the sour cream base spoiling), the Christmas linens (which I will put in our closet with the other rarely used kitchen things like the turkey roaster), the autumn tealight holders and the battery powered tealights that go with them, and the autumn wreath for the front door.

I still need a container for the winter/Valentine's Day decorations but everything's a little neater (or will be once I vacuum and put it all away).

For now I'm going out to supper...

Angels Unaware

TCM was doing David Niven movies today; I finally got a decent copy of The Prisoner of Zenda this morning. This evening they showed The Bishop's Wife, and, despite the fact that it's the depths of August, I settled down to watch it as if Christmas were approaching.

I love this movie. I've heard complaints that it's in black and white (eyes roll) or that it's too slow, but I find the leisurely pace magical, as Dudley the angel slowly makes the household happy and reminds Bishop Brougham what's important in life. There are wonderfully funny scenes with Monty Woolley as the Professor (especially the magically refilling wine glasses) and the Bishop's chair problems and the gossips at Michel's, and simply magical ones like Dudley telling Debbie the story of David, helping Debbie play in the snow, and finally the lovely ice skating scene. It brings back old-fashioned scenes of children romping in the snow, Christmas trees being decorated on Christmas Eve to surprise the children next morning, department store windows full of toys, live trees purchased from the florist, and beautifully paned windows—I even enjoy looking at the different windows in this exquisitely dressed film: the diamond colored glass of the Professor's apartment, the bottle-bottom round panes in Michel's, and the beautiful casement windows of the bishopric. The whole film is so colorful that I forget it's in black and white; I can imagine it all myself in living color.

This film was commonly shown at Christmas when I was quite small, then it disappeared. Of all the memories I took away from the film back then, it wasn't the actors or even the story, but of Dudley decorating the tree with a swish of his hand, and most of all the Christmas sermon about the empty stocking. It is a timeless one.

"Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking. Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry. A blazing star hung over a stable and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries; we celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, the sound of bells and with gifts—but especially with gifts. You give me a book; I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry could do with a new pipe. We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled...all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the Child born in a manger. It’s His birthday we are celebrating. Don’t ever let us forget that. Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most and then let each put in his share: loving kindness, warm hearts and the stretched-out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth."

Coping and Counting the Days

If you sneak into my cubicle right now I am playing Christmas music.

I was hoping perhaps this year it would be different, that being in a new house would make the difference in the way I felt in the summer, since James wouldn't have to climb on the roof to clear off the pine straw and clean the gutters and I wouldn't be standing there below with my heart in my mouth, and with a brand new air conditioner and airy-er rooms, hopefully no ant invasions to contend with.

But I can't help it, summer gets harder and harder to bear every year; if I could get the years back at the end of my life I'd consider hibernating May through September (and what would I do about work?). The hot flashes make it more difficult to bear the heat and when I get the least bit warm I feel "funny"—I can't even describe the sensation, but it makes me worry about my heart. Plus when I do get too overheated, like last Friday, my heart does start tripping a bit (not over 100), which is unsettling.

Add that in combination with end-of-fiscal year work—and the huge wasp that managed to get in last night; it disappeared after we saw it near the lamp and have no idea where it's lurking—and we're talking good old fashioned depression here. Hence the Christmas music.

I'm enjoying the fact that the crafts stores have their fall items and even some Christmas items out; I buy one or two small things to fit into the "Autumn Hollow" theme every weekend, which may sound like I'm going berserk, but it signifies that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train.

The foyer of the house is pretty much decorated up to peak, except that I would like to put a wreath on the wall that you face when you walk into the house. But because this wall is over the stairwell that goes downstairs, it is difficult to get to the area. James and I were discussing the possibility of, since it's a half wall, an overlook from the living room, that we could suspend the wreath on a ribbon from the top.

There are several fall angels, both wooden and ceramic, with leaves for wings, dotted about. I need to rummage around in the photo box and find a pic of my mom to put there; I have the frame already. Then there will be a real angel continuing to look after us all.

I finally finished what I wanted to do on the brickwork on the small porch on the front of the house. There is sort of an arch shape which almost looks as if a window could have been placed there but wasn't (there are sidelights on the door, so you really don't need one) and it looked bare. I put up a primitive-painted Americana type plaque there that I purchased at JoAnn, having gimmicked up the trees in the picture to look as if they have fall leaves on them and put a brown wash over the grass to make it look more autumn-y. But it looked dreadfully alone in that brick opening, so Friday with my Michael's coupon I bought a leaf garland, eschewing the more colorful ones for one with muted color and green leaves among the turning ones, to surround the plaque with. I removed the pumpkins and raffia it came with and used them in something else to mute it even more. It fills up the area a bit and adds to the house theme without being overt.

All the ceramics were on sale this weekend at Hobby Lobby, so I bought a dark leaf-orange "cake stand." I wanted something tall for the Expedit divider between the living room and kitchen and bought an apple topiary (because kitchen and dining room are themed in apples and cows). But it wasn't quite tall enough to "pull it up" the way I wanted, so I have the topiary on top of the cake stand, and around the topiary pot a large candle ring of autumn leaves to meld the two themes.

I'll have to keep up with the fall distractions until the real thing arrives, just to keep upbeat.

Three weeks from this coming weekend: the Yellow Daisy Festival, a wonderful precursor to fall. Yay!

Buffalo Gals and Bunnies

Remember A Christmas Story in 30 seconds reinacted by bunnies? Here's It's a Wonderful Life.

Golden Age Holidays

I don't see anything on their page, but if you subscribe to XM Satellite Radio, they are having a "Christmas in July" feature on their Radio Classics channel, 164, starting July 17 (the announcer didn't say how long it would run).

Some of these classic radio comedy Christmas stories are hilarious—the one where Jack Benny bedevils a store clerk played by Mel Blanc is a classic and was repeated on television. Sometimes for the holidays even the comedies would veer into sentiment. Many of them had regular features, such as Amos explaining to his daughter the meaning of the Lord's Prayer in Amos'n'Andy and the singing of Ken Darby's arrangement of "The Night Before Christmas" on The Johnson Wax Program (starring Fibber McGee and Molly). "The Cinnamon Bear" is a classic children's serial that ran in 24 10-minute increments on each of the December days before Christmas for many years.

Rabbity Goodness

A Christmas Story in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.

A St. Paddy's History

Found this interesting article after the fact:

READING ROOM: St. Patrick’s Day

Authentic Irish "Shamrocks"

Or are they? Heck, we had clover all over our old lawn. I like clover!

Selling "Shamrocks" a Seedy Business

A Holiday of Home (and Homecoming) and Hospitality

St. Joseph’s Day fast approaches!

St. Joseph’s Day, on March 19, honors the foster father of Jesus. As the St. Joseph's Day Home Page explains, this is a large, popular holiday in Italy, especially in Sicily, but it is also celebrated here in the United States in Italo-American neighborhoods with parades and other festivals. New Orleans has a St. Joseph’s Day parade almost concurrently with their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Some neighborhoods in New York City hold elaborate St. Joseph's Day get-togethers.

This Hallmark site explains a little more about St. Joseph’s Day.

Most of the articles mention as part of the celebration something called a St. Joseph’s Table, a tiered arrangement holding breads and other special items, especially used in Italy. I must confess that I’ve never seen one of these beautiful arrangements. The church I went to as a child, St. Mary’s, was the old-fashioned Italian church (as opposed to St. Ann’s, next door, the “Irish church”) and may have had these when I was very small; they followed the old ways until well into the 1960s. But after Vatican II and the English Mass rather than the Latin, these old customs were done away with, except for the Procession at the annual feast in July. I remember that St. Mary’s used to do a wonderful grotto-type nativity arrangement when I was very small, similar to the putz scenes used in German communities at Christmastime, with a mountain with various figures coming and going, miniature trees (as on model railroads), other flora and fauna, and the Holy Family in the center in a shallow cave, with shepherds and other figures around them. It’s possible they also had a St. Joseph’s Table back then. I think it’s sad that these old customs have been allowed to fade, since it is part of my heritage.

St. Patrick’s celebrations are usually thick with liquor; the Italian tradition for St. Joseph’s Day is to eat…”Mangia, mangia!” is the mantra of the day. Bread, fava beans, and frittate all have a place in the menu, but the food that most Rhode Islanders know best for St. Joseph’s Day is the zeppole. There are several different versions of zeppole, including a fried version a little like round doughboys (fried dough, elephant ears, whatever else they’re called around the country), but the most well-known version is pictured here on RI Roads St. Joseph’s Day page. This traditional zeppole has a cream-puff type shell filled with thick, flavorful yellow cream and topped with a ring of white cream with a maraschino cherry for trim. In the past the shell was fried, but now many of the bakeries bake them instead, to save a bit on the calories (although the cream is decadent enough!).

You can see by this recipe that they are extremely work-intensive, but the bakeries in Rhode Island (and I’m sure in NYC) turn them out by the thousands at this time of year. (In fact several RI bakeries now make them year-round because of customer demand). I noticed that the Providence Journal has an article this year telling people the best places to go for zeppole.

Italiansrus.com contains some links to other recipes for St. Joseph’s Day.

Another St. Joseph’s Day event is the annual return of the swallows to San Juan Capistrano Mission in California. These little birds make an amazing 15,000 mile round-trip migration every year, arriving at San Juan Capistrano on or around March 19.

(If you're in the Atlanta area, I believe the 48th Street Market in Dunwoody—off Mount Vernon Road—has zeppoles for St. Joseph’s Day; this is also a wonderful Italian deli which serves some other Italian pastries like sfogliatelles. Unfortunately they're not baked there, so you miss the authentic taste of an Italian bakery, but it's good for a sample at least.)

"Dust Thou Art..."

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption...[t]he ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense....[Catholic Online]

During Mass on Ash Wednesday, each attendee comes forward and is marked on the forehead by ashes from the priest's thumb, drawn in a cross, while the priest says "Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return."

The color for this liturgical season is purple, except on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, when the color is black to signify Jesus' death. On Easter Sunday the color becomes white, to symbolize His resurrection.

Some other links:

Catholic Encyclopedia: Ash Wednesday

BBC Religion & Ethics, Ash Wednesday

Ken Collins: Why Ashes on Ash Wednesday?

Ken also addresses the term "fasting." When I mentioned we used to "fast" on Fridays and often people "fasted" completely during Lent, many people interpreted that as not eating at all. Ken explains "Today the word 'fasting' means a total abstention from all food. In the historic Church, it means a disciplined diet so that your animal appetites become a sort of spiritual snooze alarm." We did not eat meat or other rich foods on Friday all year round before Vatican II, and during Lent you were supposed to observe this every day. After Vatican II, the requirement to eat only fish on Friday was lifted, except during Lent. Small children and the elderly were exempt from this requirement.

It is little known today, but there used to be other 40 day periods like Lent on the liturgical calendar. Advent, for instance, originally was a 40-day period, and fasting was observed, although not as strictly as during Lent.

The other tradition, of course, was "giving up something for Lent." Most Catholic schoolchildren remember giving up candy (or a favorite candy) or snacks for Lent; some gave up television altogether or at certain times, or eschewed comic books or something else they enjoyed. Some kids cheated and "gave up" foods they hated. I tried, but my mother said I was not allowed to give up spinach for Lent! :-)

When neighborhoods had churches in walking distance from their parishoners, many Catholics attended morning Mass every day during Lent. Churches usually had a 6 a.m. daily service back then and people would go before work.

The Lessons for Ash Wednesday, from the Episcopal Lectionary

Mardi Gras: It Isn't Just About Bacchanalia in the Streets

Shrovetide is the English equivalent of what is known in the greater part of Southern Europe as the "Carnival", a word which, in spite of wild suggestions to the contrary, is undoubtedly to be derived from the "taking away of flesh" (camera levare) which marked the beginning of Lent.

More about Shrovetide from the Catholic Encyclopedia

And more:

BBC Religion & Ethics: Shrove Tuesday

James Kiefer's Shrove Tuesday Page

All that drinking, eating, and partying in the streets originally came from an effort to rid your house of meat, milk, eggs, and the other rich foods you were forbidden to eat during Lent but which would spoil if left until Easter. In England, this meant the cooking and eating of pancakes, and there the holiday is usually referred to as "Pancake Day."

Woodlands Junior School's Web Page about "Pancake Day"

Elaine's Pancake Day Page

Domestic-Church.com's Pancake Day Page

The most interesting custom to come out of Shrove Tuesday were the pancake races. One, in Olney, England, has become world famous.

No one is quite certain how the world famous Pancake Race at Olney originated. One story tells us of a harassed housewife, hearing the shriving bell, dashing off to the Church still clutching her frying pan containing a pancake. Another that the gift of pancakes may have been a form of bribe to the Ringer, or Sexton that he might ring the bell sooner; for the ringing of the Church bell was the signal for the beginning of the day's holiday...[Olney Pancake Day Site]

Read more about the Olney races.

In 1950 the race became an international event. A challenge was received from the town of Liberal in Kansas, USA, where they had, after seeing press photographs of the race at Olney, conceived the idea of starting a similar custom. Olney readily accepted the challenge and, in a spirit of international goodwill and friendship, the two towns now compete annually and prizes are exchanged....[Olney Pancake Day Site]

More info from the city of Liberal and the International Pancake Day site.

"Will You Be My Valentine?"

I guess we were pretty typical as mid-60s elementary school kids.

The boys wore their hair short and parted to one side or the other. The occasional cowlick or bowl cut appeared. They wore button-down shirts—often "cowboy shirts" with piping—and pressed troussers (often courderoy in this winter season, or wool). The girls were in dresses, skirts and blouses, or jumpers. Short hair was popular (especially with moms who had to wash that hair), held back with a headband. They wore sturdy Oxfords or Hush Puppies, or strap shoes. A few extroverts whose moms allowed it wore patent leather dress shoes and might have had their hair permed. Ringlets were still popular, too, and hair bows. To stay warm during a long walk to school or at recess, the girls often wore snow pants under their dresses; these came off in the morning along with the thick winter coats and hats and scarves and rubber boots that fit over your shoes and were stowed in the chaos known as the cloakroom behind folding bulletin-board doors.

Valentine’s Day didn’t start immediately after Christmas as it does now. Yuletide was allowed to wind down past the new year before the candy started to appear, but it was only at the tail end of January and into February that schoolchildren started to gear up by surveying what classroom valentines were for sale in the eternal delight of the 60s child, "the five and ten"—Woolworths, Newberrys, McCrory, Ben Franklin, and whatever other local store plied the trade.

The least expensive Valentines, most endorsed by Mom, were just plain little hearts and cupids and other cartoon-like boys and girls or animals wishing each other a happy day or professing love or affection. Girls' Valentines featured dolls, flowers, cute animals, and lots of hearts. Boys' Valentines would more likely have their youthful protagonist in a train engineer's uniform or spacesuit, or would feature trains, cars, airplanes, or construction equipment. Specialty cards, like those with Disney characters or the cartoon heroes of the day like Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, or theme cards involving real-life race cars or spaceships or television programs were pricier. There was always one, larger Valentine in the box reserved for the teacher; the most common design was some sort of a blackboard with the message written in white "chalk." These were purchased and (sometimes) laboriously signedover and over for twenty to thirty classmates until the day you could dump them in the big box on the teacher’s desk. (Mom always insisted you make out one for everyone in the class, even the kids you didn’t like, so it would be "fair.") In the lower grades, the teacher decorated the box herself, usually with white or pink construction paper. White was favored since then the hearts could be made in both pink and white, and on it in red crayon would be neatly printed the grade and the teacher’s name.

As you grew older the teacher would allow the best artist in the class to decorate the big box. It was an honor to encrust the box with layered hearts or tissue paper flowers, although some students always wanted input on the design.

One February art class closest to the fourteenth was always reserved for making Valentine cards for your mom and dad. Copious piles of white, pink, and red construction paper (sometimes black was added for a cool shadow effect) were plied into service. Sometimes the teacher purchased foil-like cupids or hearts to embellish each card, and lace paper doilies were always a favorite for backgrounds for mothers' cards. Some kids brought in magazine cuttings to further add to the decorative effect. Twenty-five children wielded twenty-five snub-nosed scissors, folding a red sheet in half and carefully reproducing the lopsided teardrop shape with the flat side that would open up into a really-truly heart. The more ambitious children cut odd shapes from the edge and the interior of the folded heart and what unfolded was a confection in "lace" design. These hearts, plain or cut-out, were layered with smaller or larger hearts and then stacked together permanently with the inevitable paste (the flicking paste brush sending bits of white everywhere, including on the clothing and hair of unsuspecting classmates) and cheerfully crayoned with greetings.

We also cut out hearts, again both the plain and lacy variety, to decorate the bulletin board at the back of the room or on the pivoting cloakroom doors, white or red scalloped edges surrounding our best designs.

Later, at home, you would happily hand the now-stiff hand-fashioned card to Mom and/or Dad with a proud "Happy Valentines Day!" and Mom and Dad would admire it and then set it on top of the television console or on the kitchen table, leaned up against the vase of flowers Dad had brought for Mom so everyone could see it. If you were lucky, Dad would take Mom out to dinner and you could come, too, although in most households this was postponed to the Sunday closest to the holiday. Still fresh in your Sunday dress or suit, you'd all troup out to a nice restaurant whene the waiters wore suits and there were cloth napkins instead of paper ones and white tablecloths.

In that Valentine afternoon at school, however, you had received your own haul. The Valentine box was opened and the cards distributed. A few girls shyly smiled at a few boys, and a few boys embarrassedly tucked special Valentines away. There was the constant squeal of a few girls who had received sarcastic comic cards from the few whose moms had not supervised their card purchases and were sticking their tongues out at the guilty, laughing boys. Afterwards, there might be cupcakes and punch or some chocolates Hershey kisses and then it was time to run home and show Mom your cards (after carefully anointing a chosen favorite classmate with that ultimate winter valentine, a snowball!).

"Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?"

Now joining Conversation Hearts together!

There's also now a "to" as well.

Little Tokens of Love

Valentines Day is upon us again, its world done in colors of pink and red and a touch of lavender and white. Both the site Valentines Day at the History Channel and Story of Valentines Day relate how this "loving" holiday came to be—and no, it wasn't created by Hallmark Cards!

Here are just two Valentine customs from the past:

In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"

In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.

The longest-running Valentine tradition (besides a token gift of sweets or some memento) is the Valentines Day card. One hundred years ago, it was considered an special token of your affection if you made your own Valentine cards. Young men and women would spend evenings with a paste pot, red paper, white lace, and the enduring Victorian colored illustrations known as "scraps" to make Valentine cards for their favorite people. But a thriving business existed for "boughten" cards as well. In Victorian times lace-paper Valentines were the preferred missive. In the late Victorian era, a new type of card called a "comic Valentine" was printed. These were printed on cheap paper and featured rude caricatures of people emphasizing extreme body parts (long, warty noses, fat, etc). They were mainly sent by young men who thought the humor was funny and most contemporary publications had some not-so-nice comments to make about comic valentines—they asserted that "good, manly young men" would not think to buy such things.

Here American Greetings presents a History of Valentine Cards.

And here's the story of Esther Howland, "Mother of the American Valentine."

And since sweets and Valentines Day have gone together for more years than anyone can remember, here's a history of one of the most beloved of Valentine candies, Conversation Hearts from NECCO.

Remember Valentine Boxes?

It's funny, I don't. Not individual ones, that is, as narrated in these two stories:

Celebrating Valentine's Day the Old-fashioned Way

Love in a Box

I remember there being a huge box on the teacher's desk. It had a large slot so many of the small, store-bought Valentine cards could be crammed in at one time. After lunch the teacher would open the box and distribute the cards. As they got older, the boys, of course, sent borderline nasty cards (apparently Mom wasn't helping them choose anymore), which really annoyed us girls. We tried within the limit of our budget to get the cutest cards we could, and those "darn boys" just ruined everything. :-)

Some Hilarious Christmas Memories

Do note what site this is on. :-)

"The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time"

Candlemas

From The Holiday Page:

...[T]his is really a very old holiday -- one that has its roots in astronomy. February 2nd is one of four cross-quarter days. It lies about halfway between a solstice and an equinox. Today's cross-quarter day was celebrated as Candlemas in England, where it marked the beginning of spring.

Try this old English rhyme -- "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another flight. But if it be dark with clouds and rain, winter is gone and will not come again."

Or here's another old saying -- "Half your wood and half your hay, You should have on Candlemas Day."

In Germany it used to be said that "a shepherd would rather see a wolf enter his stable on Candlemas Day than see the sun shine." A German badger was said to watch for his shadow. The National Geographic Society once studied the groundhog -- and found him to be correct only one out of every three times. One final note. It's supposed to be bad luck to leave your Christmas decorations up after today.

As you can see, the old English rhyme (and another, similar, Scottish rhyme) form the basis for Groundhog Day, which is chiefly celebrated in the United States. However, the folks in Canada also have a groundhog, Wiarton Willie. In the Southern United States, there is "General Beau Lee," who lives at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Stormfax's Groundhog Day Site contains more info about Punxsutawney Phil, the "official" groundhog, the Candlemas rhymes, and even some info about the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. And of course here is Phil's official site.

This is a Catholic page about Candlemas history and customs.

Circle Sanctuary's site covers all the different customs surrounding February 2, Christian, pagan, and secular.

More Voices of Christmas Past

About a month ago I wrote this post, about a CD of Victorian/Edwardian Christmas music. I commented on how the singers' voices sounded markedly different in those days (and not just to do with the technical aspects of the recordings).

Well, it turns out that George Nelson, the "proprietor" of The Antique Christmas Lights Museum site, also collects old phonographs and has added to his site two pages of links to .mp3s of late Victorian/Edwardian/WWI-era Christmas music recorded from his own collection of cylinders and disks. He comments about his amazement at these disks still being viable after being recorded without the use of electricity 100 years ago.

In listening to these recordings, you can not only hear the difference in singing styles and voices, but also, on the earliest recordings, hear the custom of announcing the name of the piece and the singer or orchestra before the music started. Nelson also has two later pieces, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells" from 1942, played on a 1918 wind up phonograph.

(I love looking at Nelson's site, no matter what time of year, because I love looking at the technology of the time. I am not too young to remember when my mother's electric iron and other appliances around our house had thread-wrapped electrical cords instead of the plastic ones with a groove in it like today, and I remember the old lights with their two-color wiring. There were still some C-6 bulbs in the attic when we cleaned it out and I forgot to bring them home, to my regret. For the longest time, my parents kept as a "spare" an old toaster—with the thread-wrapped cord—which didn't "pop." Instead each side opened like the door on a toaster oven and you leaned the slice of bread against the wires and then had to watch it to make sure your toast didn't burn.)

...With a Compass in the Stock

Here's a fun site devoted to A Christmas Story. Follow the link to the site for the house, an actual Cleveland home which is being restored to the way it looked in the movie.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Here's a link I hadn't seen before about The Twelve Days of Christmas.

"What the Kings Brought"

A story for Epiphany by Ruth Sawyer.

Sawyer is perhaps best known for her Newbery-award winning book Roller Skates, about Lucinda Wyman's year as "an orphan" in gaslight-era New York City. Both Christmas and Twelfth Night play a significant role in the story. She did several Christmas-oriented books, including The Long Christmas, The Christmas Anna Angel and a collection of folktales called This Way to Christmas.

Here's a story of Sawyer's, The Primrose Ring, as a free e-text.

"Old Christmas"

It all happened in 1582.

The world at that time used the Julian calendar. But its calculation of time was slightly off when it was adopted, which added up to ten days by 1582. The spring solstice was falling, by the calendar, ten days too early. In that year Pope Gregory chopped ten days from the calendar and instituted other changes (such as leap years not falling on certain century years) to bring the calendar in line with the seasons.

The Catholic countries of Europe adopted the system immediately, but the Protestants wanted nothing to do with any Pope's proclamation--until the 1700s, when things were now 11 days off and posing problems. In 1752 in England and in the American colonies, September 2 became September 14. Many people rioted, demanding their 11 days back. (Think of it: rents and other monthly bills would now be due 11 days sooner.)

More about this calendar business. (And a scientific explanation.)

This produced an interesting effect in England re Christmas, related to the story of the Glastonbury Thorn:

"The Glastonbury thorn legend ties in Christ's death as well as the celebration of his birth. The legend goes that soon after the death of Christ, Joseph of Arimathea came to Britain to spread the message of Christianity. When he traveled there from the Holy Land he brought with him his staff. Being tired from his journey, he lay down to rest. In doing so, he pushed his staff into the ground beside him. When he awoke, he found that the staff had taken root and begun to grow and blossom. It is said he left it there and it has flowered every Christmas and every spring . It is also said that a puritan trying to cut down the tree was blinded by a spllinter of the wood before he could do so. The original thorn did eventually die but not before many cuttings had been taken. It is one of these very cuttings which is in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey today."

Note the reference to "flowered every Christmas." With Pope Gregory's calendar reform, the thorn that bloomed on Christmas "old style" now bloomed on January 5, so many people refused to believe in this "new" Christmas and continued to celebrate the holiday in January.

Here's more about the story.

And a link to Glastonbury Abbey itself.

Some Eastern Orthodox churches did not accept the calendar reform; therefore in those churches today is Christmas Day, with Epiphany falling on January 15.

Epiphany and "Old Christmas" have nothing to do with each other.

Here are some other Old Christmas links, several from the Appalachians, where people celebrated Old Christmas for years after the calendar change.

A British site, Christmas-Time's entry.

Telleco Hills "Old Christmas Eve".

Chuck Larkin's Old Christmas page, with links to other Appalachian Christmas tales.

"Old Buck," an Outer Banks Old Christmas tradition, with a photo of the celebration from the 1940s.

And here are some Christmas sites I hadn't seen before:

An antique Christmas ornament collector's site—check out the Gallery link for photos of beautiful antique ornaments.

Fashion-Era's Christmas Pages—this is a website of fashions; however, the Christmas pages also contain text, stories, and recipes associated with Christmas.

Also check out the entire Christmas-Time site.

"The Holly-Bough"

(Probably a little more appropriate a week ago, but I just found the full text.)

Charles Mackay

Ye who have scorn'd each other,
Or injured friend or brother,
   In this fast fading year;
Ye who, by word or deed,
Have made a kind heart bleed,
   Come gather here.
Let sinn'd against, and sinning,
Forget their strife's beginning,
   And join in friendship now;
Be links no longer broken,
Be sweet forgiveness spoken
   Under the Holly-bough.

Ye who have loved each other,
Sister and friend and brother,
   In this fast fading year;
Mother and sire and child,
Young man and maiden mild,
   Come gather here;
And let your hearts grow fonder,
As Memory shall ponder
   Each past unbroken vow:
Old loves and younger wooing
Are sweet in the renewing
   Under the Holly-bough.

Ye who have nourish'd sadness.
Estranged from hope and gladness,
   In this fast fading year;
Ye with o'erburden'd mind,
Made aliens from your kind,
   Come gather here.
Let not the useless sorrow
Pursue you night and morrow,
   If e'er you hoped, hope now--
Take heart, uncloud your faces,
And join in our embraces
   Under the Holly-bough.

"The Holiday Time Forgot"

Christmastide was a joyous period long ago. It began at dusk on December 24 and lasted through Epiphany. Twelfth Night, the eve of Epiphany, was a time for masquerade parties, a big feast, and the crowning touch, the Twelfth Night cake. A bean and a pea were traditionally baked into the cake; the man who found the bean was the King of the festivities and the woman who had the pea was the Queen. (Other little tokens were often put into the cake for "fortunetelling" purposes: a thimble symbolizing spinsterhood, a baby indicating the finder would become a parent, etc.) You had to be very careful eating a Twelfth Night cake!

Eventually the Twelfth Night cake because Britain's Christmas cake and Americans fell out of the habit altogether, developing a cookie tradition instead (the word "cookie" is derived from "small cake," so it still holds a bit of the meaning).

Many SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) groups still celebrate Twelfth Night and often have public gatherings at the time.

"Twelfth Night; or King and Queen"
Robert Herrick

     Now, now the mirth comes
     With the cake full of plums,
Where bean's the king of the sport here;
     Beside we must know,
     The pea also
Must revel, as queen, in the court here.

     Begin then to choose,
     This night as ye use,
Who shall for the present delight here,
     Be a king by the lot,
     And who shall not
Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.

     Which known, let us make
     Joy-sops with the cake;
And let not a man then be seen here,
     Who unurg'd will not drink
     To the base from the brink
A health to the king and queen here.

     Next crown a bowl full
     With gentle lamb's wool:
Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
     With store of ale too;
     And thus ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger.

     Give then to the king
     And queen wassailing :
And though with ale ye be whet here,
     Yet part from hence
     As free from offence
As when ye innocent met here.

Here's a very informative article about Twelfth Night called "The Holiday Time Forgot"

Plus

"Fish Eaters" Twelfth Night Page

School of the Seasons Twelfth Night Page

Recipe for King's Cake/Twelfth Night Cake

Shakespeare's "Twelfth NIght"

"Viva, Viva, La Befana!"

Befana is one of the gift givers in Italian Christmas culture. She is usually portrayed as a witch, complete with broomstick (this is how she carries and distributes her gifts); images vary on how "witchlike" her face is. Her traditional day to leave gifts is on the eve of the Epiphany ("Befana" is a corruption of the word "Epiphania"). Italian tradition would leave Christmas as a sacred holiday and leave Epiphany for gift-giving and partying. But today of course many Italian children follow the "Santa Claus" legend (he is also known as "Babbo Natale," "Father Christmas" there).

Befana is also left a treat, the way American children leave Santa Claus cookies and milk and British children give Father Christmas a piece of Christmas cake and a glass of wine: she is given a goblet of wine along with an orange.

More about La Befana, and another interesting page about her—and a Canadian Italian page as well.

The story surrounding her origin is similar to the Russian Babushka.

Too Cute

I went by the American Greetings store at Cumberland Mall and they had all the Carleton ornaments 75 percent off. Carleton does some cute stuff—I have all three of their Lassie ornaments—but they tend to concentrate on more media and commercial things than Hallmark does (not that Hallmark doesn't have their share of Disney, classic movie, Peanuts, etc. ornaments!). I saw ornaments for I Love Lucy, Dora the Explorer, Dean Martin, and more.

I got their set of four small Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ornaments in a decorated tin box and another ornament that features Santa and baby Rudolph; press the button in the back and you hear Stan Francis sing "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle." They had a third ornament with Hermey, Rudolph and Yukon Cornelius, but I skipped that...now I'm wondering what it does! (I skipped the Nancy Drew ornament and feel a bit sad that I did.)

Oddly, both Hallmark and Carleton did Rudolph ornaments this year; the Rankin/Bass folks struck a good deal, I guess!

Sears was selling off the last of their Christmas things, too; they had a dozen or so boxes of Christmas crackers. Do Americans actually use them, or are they for British or Canadian folks in the area, I wonder?

Holiday Excursions Once Again

We had a busy, busy day yesterday. First we drove down to Warner Robins (120 miles) to exchange gifts with James' mom and sister (his niece is in Michigan visiting a friend, and youngest sister was out). We stopped at Books a Million on the way down where I found the winter issues of Country and Birds and Blooms. The latter has the cutest photo of a chickadee on a holly branch as the centerfold. I cannot resist chickadees; they are so cute!

Then we called Ann and Clay, our friends in WR, and visited them and did "pesents." They have a third dachshund now, a longhaired mini named Chloe, who they adopted after her owner died. The three of 'em kept things lively, and we also saw Spot, James' grey tabby cat that he had to leave behind when he moved to Atlanta. Spot is eighteen years old now, but she still recognized James—after she ate her dinner she wandered over and sat on his chest and demanded to be petted.

We left early and were able to go by Alice and Ken's house for about 90 minutes to exchange gifts with them and chat with the friends they had at the house. At 8:30 we drove across town to Bill and Caran's annual party and were there until well after midnight. Saw many people we only see a few times a year, like Marilyn and Robert Teague and Marilyn's son Chris, and got to talk with Sue Phillips, who we hadn't seen in a dog's age.

We headed home about 12:30-12:45 and tumbled into bed soon after wishing Pidge and Willow a happy new year and also offering the same greetings to some folks on chat. Boy, I was tired: slept until almost eleven...

Creeping Pink

Yes, the Valentine stuff is taking over: JoAnn had hearts scattered everywhere and even has their garden things out. CVS is hung with pink hearts and so is Michael's.

I always tend to slide into depression after Christmas; the pink only makes it worse. I hate pink...

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

...the sobering events of Herod's paranoia is told at Feast of the Holy Innocents (Childermas). A priest's vestments will be purple today in memory of the infants who died.

Because of the massacre of the children, Childermas is considered an ill-omened day. No new projects should be started on Childermas day, lest they also meet with a bad end.

"Voices of Christmas Past"

I've been listening here this afternoon to this novel CD of old Christmas recordings—and I do mean old, since the newest song here is from 1922; the oldest is from 1898. It begins with Santa Claus addressing children and telling them he is hiding in the phonograph (1922). In an era when an Edison phonograph or a "Victrola" and records in the house was still high technology, imagine the faces of the small children of the house when they played this offering!

This is not the only spoken word selection in this collection. Recordings of comedy bits and scenes from plays were common in those days, and rural and ethnic humor was very popular. Two of the selections are about a country town called "Pumpkin Center" and loquacious old "Uncle Josh" narrates the stories, and another is an Irish dialect schtick. There is also a recitation of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and an interesting piece from 1917 about British soldiers around the campfire during the "Great War," telling jokes and singing.

Others are instrumental pieces, and some have the jazzy ragtime beat that was the rage in that era, and there are standard carols as well, one sung by the leading tenor of the "teens," John McCormack. One is an unabashed love song "Come and Spend Christmas With Me," also sung by a lush tenor, which was the fashion.

Two of the spoken pieces are duplicated on this page of .mp3s, which contain other songs not on the album. (One of the songs is from 1944 and the other from 1938, but the latter is done in the style of the older recordings.)

It is interesting listening to the voices of the singers and noting how the sound of people talking or singing has changed. The group singing sounds much like what we would call today "barbershop quartet" style. There is also an interesting accent in the voices which reminds me of Jerry Colonna when he was on stage (but it is not a "funny" effect like Colonna). I can only term it as kind of a warble. The spoken pieces are also what we might consider stagy today; it was the typical recitation voice of the time and even children, learning "pieces" for school, were trained to present their offerings thus.

This is a wonderful album to listen to if you are interested in history in general or in the history of sound recordings. The selections take you back to the time when our great-grands wound up the gramophone and enjoyed the "hits" of the day, scratchy record surface and all!

Let's Keep Christmas

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "Christmastime" or "Christmastide" as "A festival observed from December 24, Christmas Eve, to January 5, the eve of Epiphany." Other sources include January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, in the count. Scandinavians celebrate until January 13, St. Knut's Day, and depending on the reference, Christmas greenery can be kept up until Candlemas Day, February 2, but must be removed by then.

It's Christmastide, folks! Why are folks so all-fired quick to tear down their Christmas things the moment December 25 is over? It's Christmastide: go out and enjoy it! Some folks have spent weeks shopping, decorating, and baking. Now is the time to sit and enjoy it; make Christmas visits (after work, since we must) and still drink the eggnog and munch on a treat or two. Granted, the folks who've had their Christmas decorations up since before Veteran's Day may have pretty dusty ornaments by now. Why do folks put 'em up so early anyway when there's Thanksgiving to enjoy in November?

Even if you don't want to do the entire "twelve days of Christmas" routine, it would be nice not to see trees discarded in the trash at least until the day after New Year's. We always had the tradition that the Christmas lights stayed on all night both Christmas—to guide the Holy Family to your house and New Year's—to see the new year in. Why not keep the winter doldrums at bay a little while longer with the beautiful welcoming lights and adornments and music?

Those Thank You Notes!

The classic story "Down Pens" by Saki (H.H. Munro).

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It's Shopping We Go

Thank God most of the places we went did not have excessive traffic. The ramp to Gwinnett Mall wasn't even backed up, which was surprising. We didn't go to the mall {ugh}—we had to go to Fry's. I wanted one more set of dual DVD cases and another of triples to finish the video-to-DVD project. The videotapes need to be gone by the time we move.

James ended up getting a new motherboard and processor because his new computer has gone from locking up repeatedly only when it was cold (you had to leave it on or it locked up and had to be rebooted a dozen or more times before it warmed up) to locking up all the time. I replaced my "taped off Mystery" copy of Oliver's Travels with the UK-release version DVD (Mystery edited 15 minutes out of the first two parts) and also found a blast from the past at a discount price: a collection of Wild Kingdom shows that include programs with Marlin Perkins. Wild Kingdom was a Sunday night ritual at our house in the 1960s; Mom and Dad were thrilled that I loved watching educational programs and not just cartoons.

We also went to Media Play to see if there was anything worth buying and spending our last replay coupons. We bought mostly bargain books, but I found a Christmas book I'd never heard of before, European Christmas by Rick Steves and I did get a used copy of Sirens and also Bullwhip Griffin.

Our last stop was Borders at "the Avenue at East Cobb" (ohhhh...lah-dee-dah). The place is full of clothing stores like the Gap and Talbots and was packed, but we finally found a spot. Some friends (thanks Ron and Lin!) gave us some Borders gift cards for Christmas and that finally "pushed us over the edge." We took the two cards and the sixteen $5 Borders credit card rewards coupons I had been hoarding since after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out and bought The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, which Borders had finally marked down from 20 percent off to 30 percent off a few weeks ago. (I got a big kick out of reading my comics this morning and noting the subject of today's "Fox Trot." LOL! It's true!)

Carded

Got up early (well, 7:15 is early on a non-work day) and zipped to the nearest Hallmark store where I got my cards for next year. I couldn't decide between the chickadees and the English robins, both which I adore, so I got both; now I have cards for two years. I also got an English robin candle holder (which is sort of silly since I don't do candles, but I do have battery candles; those could work), a "tin" reindeer ornament, and another reindeer ornament. On the way out I noticed they were putting these "perpetual calendars" on sale, the type that has two blocks with numbers on all sides for the date and smaller blocks with the months on them. One was a "Nature's Sketchbook" calendar, like the English robin candleholder and cards (but it had a rabbit on it rather than one of the birds). I've always wanted one; when she went to ring it up it turned out it was a dollar! Too cool.

Boxing Day...

...dates from the Middle Ages when the contents of the church alms boxes, especially put out for the purpose at this time, were distributed amongst the needy. Apprentices also traditionally received small amounts of money from their employers and customers over the year. This would be collected in small earthenware money boxes that would be broken open with anticipation on Boxing Day. In [Edwardian] days, it was those who offered a regular service, such as the postman, who would be rewarded, along with farm labourers and needy cottagers living the estate of a kindly benefactor." Often the "box" included a meal or an assortment of food, and perhaps even some wood or coal for fuel, along with the money.
                                                   . . . . Sarah Hollis, Country Diary Christmas Book

"Merry Christmas!"

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.

Sing merrily, merrily, loud and strong,
Welcome the wintry season.
Just follow along with the holiday song.
Santa is here again, yes!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.

The reindeer fly, if you need any proof.
It's merely a matter of reason.
Just listen, you'll hear when they land on the roof.
Santa is here again, yes!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for a happy new year.

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Sing a song for the glorious season.
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
Its a magical, miracle, annual, lyrical,
sing-along now, sing a song for a happy new year!

                                         John Williams, Home Alone

Christmas Fun Fact

Before you start watching endless runs of A Christmas Story, here's the answer to the question "Are Peter Billingsly and Barbara Billingsly [of Leave It to Beaver fame] related?" The answer, from the askingman:

"The two Billingsleys are related, but very remotely.

"It begins with Sherman Billingsley, who ran New York City’s famous Stork Club nightspot during the 1940s and ‘50s. Barbara Billingsley was married for a time to Sherman Billingsley’s nephew, Glenn. They were long divorced before Peter came along. Peter Billingsley, meanwhile, is the son to another of Sherman Billingsley’s nephews.

"So that would make Barbara Peter’s ex-aunt, thrice removed from a previous marriage. Or something weird like that."

An Elfin Look

The idea that Santa has elfin helpers is probably related to ancient Northern European folklore. Scandinavians have long believed in small, magical men called tomten or julenisser...In order to ensure a prosperous year, farmers offered food to the elves to keep them happy. Later...the julenisser became bearers of holiday gifts in the popular imagination. These days they are believed to do helpful things like cleaning up the kitchen, making a batch of cookies, bringing in wood from the barn and keeping the fire going in the fireplace. If the family is good to the elves, leaving them a bowl of rice pudding or other dessert on Christmas Eve, the elves do even more important things like reminding the family to unplug the iron before leaving for a party, to blow out a candle, or put the screen in front of the fireplace before going to bed.....

                                                         . . . . . . . . . . . Annette Spence, Christmas

"The Mistletoe Bough"

Ghost stories at Christmastime, acknowledged in the present by a line in the popular Andy Williams-sung "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," were quite popular in Victorian times (not to mention earlier). Another popular "thrilling tale," which was also adapted as a song, was this poem which to modern ears sounds a bit morbid for the season. It was, nevertheless, apparently a favorite holiday recitation piece among young unmarried ladies who found the whole situation romantic.

"The Mistletoe Bough"

The Story of "The Huron Carol"

This First Nations page has the story of the Canadian Christmas carol, "The Huron Carol." This is a song I haven't heard played for years on any radio station, although I remember hearing and learning about it in school. It may be because in New England we were closer to the Canadian border. I seem to remember it being in one of our singing books in elementary school.

I've managed to find two different Christmas albums that have the "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime" translation on it. I'm not sure I've ever heard it in the original Huron.

"An Atlanta Christmas"

If you're somewhere in the range of a Georgia Public Broadcasting radio station this afternoon at 3 p.m. (or somewhere where you can listen to it online—Oooh, look, there's an announcement on the web page), they're presenting a short form version of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company's "An Atlanta Christmas." This version has a variety of the more humorous sketches from the presentation:

Old Atlanta Christmas (song)
Opening
Mr. Currier, Mr. Ives, and all that Snow
The Santa Claus Blues
USO Christmas
The Ultimate Christmas Pageant
The Legend of the Poinsettia
The Zen Santa Claus
The Experts
Bumpers Crossroads: Rose's Fruitcake

It repeats again at 10 a.m. Christmas morning.

NORAD Tracks Santa 50th Anniversary

NORAD's been tracking the big guy since just after I was born.

Here they tell you how it started and then how they do it. I didn't know Rudolph's nose gave off an infrared signature. Too cool!

Here are the test announcements from earlier this year when Santa participated in the famous Hollywood Santa Claus Lane parade.

Stay tuned.

In a Pickle

I don't know how old I was when I first heard the story about the Christmas pickle, but it was well into adulthood.

This site explains where the custom of the pickle came from.

And here are two sales sites, Catholic Supply and Christmas Decorations & Gifts, that also tell the story of the legendary Christmas pickle.

I thought it was a charming custom, and several years ago, while wandering in a gift shop in Helen, GA, James and I found a small pickle ornament. We have no children, but I hide the ornament on the tree nevertheless and when we have our Twelfth Night party, I allow the children attending the party to search for it and give a small gift to whomever finds it.

But is the Christmas pickle really a German tradition? About.com's section on German myths says it ain't so!

And here's a discussion about "the controversial Christmas pickle."

Looks like that old German tradition may not be so old or so German after all.

It's still a fun treat in a fun season.

Christmas Specials

Just finished watching Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol; I have watched this since it premiered on television in 1962. Even as a small child I loved the songs. Today it still holds up well—despite being abridged (nephew Fred is nowhere to be seen), whole passages of dialog are directly from the Dickens text and the music is excellent: it was written by Jules Styne and Bob Merrill, two Broadway veterans. Interestingly enough, the story is mounted as a play being presented on Broadway, with Magoo starring as Ebenezer Scrooge. The usual nearsighted Magoo jokes are woven within the Dickens dialog and sound completely natural (since Dickens at several times mentions Scrooge not seeing properly; it works well).

Broadway veteran Jack Cassidy is the voice of Bob Cratchit and lends his mellow tenor to several songs, including the inspirational "The Lord's Bright Blessing."

The backgrounds are typical sketchy UPA-animation art, but of a period flavor that works well. As an inside joke, UPA cartoon character Gerald McBoing-Boing (who, in his own stories, speaks only in sound effects) plays Tiny Tim and has a voice (and gets to sing about the infamous "razzleberry dressing").

Other Christmas-y stories watched lately: "Christmas at Plum Creek," the first and best of several Christmas stories done on Little House on the Prairie. The series' 70s links are even more obvious now and several anachronisms abound (the Ingalls have a Christmas tree, for example, when the family never saw one until Laura was much older and it was at church; the real Laura and her sisters received only small gifts, delivered in stockings—you can also tell the tree is artificial!), but it's a sweet little story about the family finding ingenious ways to give each other Christmas surprises. Laura's gift is an ultimate heartbreaker.

John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together—always fun: someone commented in a newsgroup that it was appropriate, because John at that time did look a bit like a Muppet. He certainly fits in in this combination of comedy and variety, with some serious overtones including the reading of the Bible story and singing "Silent Night." Miss Piggy, of course, causes most of the laughter, whether it's jazzing up her part in "The 12 Days of Christmas" to singing a round to sucking up to John Denver to get a larger role.

Hill Street Blues: "Santa Claustrophobia"—it's just business as usual at Hill Street station: a series of brutal shootings shakes up the neighborhood, Neil is consumed with guilt over an accidental shooting, Faye is upset (again) over Frank Jr spending Christmas with his dad, and a cynical kid has put the kibosh on Belker's stakeout. Add a hospital Christmas show for sick kids and Renko's infamous "Oh, Lordy God, it's Christmas Eve and I'm gonna be shot dead in a moose suit," and you've got an engaging hour of television.

The Waltons: "The Best Christmas"—the best of the three Christmas stories done on the series. The family plans to make the Christmas of 1937 extra-special for Olivia, then all are separated on Christmas Eve after Mary Ellen and John-Boy help after a car accident, Grandma and Grandpa are stranded after making a hospital visit, and John and Jason help ready the church for the Christmas service after a tree falls through the roof. I know this was filmed on a hot soundstage in August, but the wintry feeling is so well done that you wince and shiver when John-Boy and Harley Foster plunge into the icy pond to rescue a woman and her niece.

Our Ceppo

You might call this an "Italian Christmas tree." Most ceppos are pyramid shaped, but this is an alternate style. The largest level usually has a Nativity scene, and other levels contain food gifts and other little Christmas keepsakes.

The little tree at the top has all our Hallmark minis (and some miniature ornaments I bought at Thall's drugstore in Cranston before they closed). The little Nativity was something Hallmark put out once upon a time. I built the stable from balsa wood and the angel is one of the Thall's ornaments. We'll put our gifts under that. In the candy dish on the right are the few old glass ornaments left over from my mom's tree that I did not incorporate into apothocary jars as gifts for my cousins who cared for her so much. (If you can make it out, behind the ornaments is our partridge—Shirley, of course.) I didn't feel like digging in the bins for the winter flowers, so I put a garland and bow in the container hung on the wall. Next year I can put flowers in it.

Remember Glass Wax Stencils?

We all remember Glass Wax, don't we? It was a liquid solution with a pinkish white cast that came in a bright pink metal container. You shook it up, then applied it to your windows and let it dry. It dried to a white hardness, then you polished it off. (I always thought it was made by Johnson's Wax, but it wasn't. The company was Gold Seal.)

Some bright person realized that this whiteness could be used for another purpose and voila, Glass Wax stencils were born. These were made of waxed paper in all sorts of Christmasy motifs: Santa in his sleigh and also coming down the chimney, reindeer, bells, angels, snowflakes, a nativity scene complete with a shepherd and Wise Men with camels. You applied the Glass Wax with a dry sponge and presto, your windows were festive. Then when Christmas was over, you wiped off the stenciling and the windows were also clean. It was a decoration any mother would love. If you were really ambitious, you could add a few drops of food coloring to the liquid Glass Wax and have multicolor festiveness.

We had a big glass window in the living room, horizontally sectioned into four long panes. I used to decorate the entire window every Christmas. The third level would be the Nativity scene. I would reuse the Wise Man and camel motif carefully three times so there were three, not one; and make one pair of reindeer into eight (in fact I would then dab the sponge on only one of the reindeer and make Rudolph at the front, using the edge of the sponge to make "beams" of light from his nose. Santa and the deer were on the second pane down; the top pane had the star and banks of angels on either side, ringing bells or playing trumpets (the angels only came with bells; instead I improvised the trumpets from the edge of the sponge). The lowest level was reserved for the miscellaneous motifs: bells, holly, Santa in the chimney. It was a lot of fun.

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Ten days to go...

"Old Christmas" by Washington Irving

RIP John Langstaff

John Langstaff, the founder of Revels, Inc., died today at the age of 84.

I've always loved the Revels Christmas albums because they are different from the usual repetitive albums featuring a well-known singer and the same familiar songs or carols. The Revels albums feature some of the old standards, plus relics from medieval times and songs popular in regional areas of the US, England, and Europe. Some of the songs are old-fashioned rounds, shape-note music, or rhymes for children.

The live performances have a different theme each year, but all stress joy and audience participation. I hope to see a performance one day.

More about John Langstaff.

His obituary, quoted from the Boston Globe.

Trim Up the Towns

We took a ride to Helen, Georgia, today. There is a gristmill, Nora Mills, dating back to the early 1800s, just as you approach the town and James likes their country gravy mix. (They also have a wonderful multi-grain "pioneer porridge" that is great on cold mornings.) Plus, since Helen has a Bavarian motif, they "do" up a lot for Christmas.

The clouds were scudding across the sky all day, so we never knew quite what the weather was going to be up to. First it was high cirrus clouds, then it became overcast, and by the time we left not a cloud was left. It was in the high 40s, maybe up into low 50s by midafternoon, and quite nice for walking around.

We bought Willow some "gourmet dog treats" for Christmas and wandered in and out of different shops: quilts, the glassblower's store, a Christmas store (the old store is gone, darnit), and others. The streets was roped with garland and ornaments, and on corners and in front of shops were colorful "lollipops" made with bright cellophane coverings.

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall a few months ago, it brewed storms that swept through Georgia, including up in the north Georgia mountains where Helen is located. A tornado ran roughshod through the southern part of town as well as destroying many trees around the Nora Mills area. We had seen the report on the news, but like all things, it was quite different seeing it in person. They had fixed the Econolodge, which had its top story sheared off, but the area that had once been outlet stores was badly damaged, and sadly, the beautiful expanse of trees behind the outlet mall area, which had been a picnic area along the Chattahoochee River, and a hill of thick trees beyond that, were ravaged. The hill looked as if someone had begun clearing it for a development and then left it to rot: broken, bent trees and lots of mud.

After we left Helen, we headed back for home, but made a side trip to Dahlonega (site of the first US gold rush, back in the 1830s). This is a pretty old-fashioned town with older buildings around a town square that contains the old courthouse; I had seen photos of it decorated for Christmas in the latest Points North magazine and had wanted to stop by. Amazingly, we found a parking space right on the square and were able to walk around and window shop at the old stores, now mostly occupied by antique stores and gift shops, as well as go in the used bookstore and in the general store. There was a large decorated tree before the courthouse and an even larger, real fir tree between 15-20 feet high next to a wooden sleigh and reindeer affair that James figured was where children came to visit Santa Claus. The storefronts were wound with garland and lights and there were candles and wreaths on the windows of the old courthouse as well as in many of the shop windows.

We hadn't eaten lunch and, surprisingly, couldn't find anywhere where we could just have an inexpensive sandwich it was either a big dinner at four available restarants, or sweets, nothing else. So we had to leave without making an inspection of the antique stores nearby because James' blood sugar was showing as low.

Happy Holidays!

Surfing the Sirius channels and came upon Mike Church ranting about the phrase "Happy Holidays" again.

Granted, I think some of the PC stuff going on these days is silly. Calling a Christmas tree a "holiday tree" is as absurd as calling a hanukkiah a "holiday menorah." But ranting about "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" is equally ridiculous.

For one thing, this is a nation of many beliefs. Since you may have no idea if the person you are greeting is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan or of no religious affiliation at all, "Happy Holidays" is a friendly greeting that encompasses all the varied December holidays. "Season's Greetings" performs a similar function, but is rather formal and more for signage than for conversations.

I do chuckle at the complaints because the folks that are complaining act like "Happy Holidays" as an all-encompassing December celebration term is a new thing. It's not only been around for a good long time this century, but goes back to the 19th as well. A book I purchased last year, Christmas in the Old West, features newspaper and magazine ads from the Lewis and Clark era to the "closing" of the frontier and "Happy Holidays" is noticably used in many different types of advertising. This is because Christmas celebrations were latecomers to many parts of the United States—while the South and the Mid-Atlantic states and the new Western territories celebrated the holiday, New England families and Quakers and Shakers either didn't celebrate at all, or the celebration was strictly religious. As late as 1870, many New Englanders worked on Christmas Day and stores were open.

The Scots, whether those of Scottish descent in the US or in their native land, also did not celebrate Christmas. Their holiday was Hogmanay, New Year's Eve. Christmas wasn't a national holiday in Scotland until 1957.

So a significant population of the United States gave out gifts and/or celebrated on the New Year. One of the earliest Santa Claus references had him distributing gifts on New Year's Eve and apparently there were some editions of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" that had the first and final line changed to "New Year" for those who celebrated gift-giving on New Year's Day.

"Happy Holidays" covered all those who celebrated on either day, and is just as useful today. I don't see what the problem is.

"...And That's What Christmas Is All About"

Tonight is the 40th anniversary broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas. While it's traditional today, it was really quite novel when it premiered in 1965: Children did the voices of the characters instead of voice artists and Schultz touched on some of the real feelings about Christmas rather than going for slapstick humor and wildly exaggerated characters.

And of course there is the famous Bible passage that unnerved the executives at CBS.

The Vince Guaraldi score was inspired; it made the story timeless and is as much a part of it as the characters and the situation. Can you imagine the story done to a Hanna-Barbera-—or worse yet, Filmation-—type score?

Did you know you can buy a "Charlie Brown tree" this year? I saw it in last Sunday's newspaper. You get a scrawny, bent-over pine tree and a single red ornament. Here's the link at Urban Outfitters. (They seem to be sold out.)

You know, I've always wanted a sound clip of Violet saying "Oh, no, we're doomed." What a great comment to accompany opening Windows every morning! (Or at least Microslop Word—or even worse, Microslop Access...)

A Short History of St. Nicholas/Santa Claus

From St. Nicholas Center and linked at the bottom, from The Christmas Archives.

In fact, check out the entire site of The Christmas Archives.

Did Clement C. Moore Really Write "A Visit from St. Nicholas"?

In Common-Place.org, a publication of the American Antiquarian Society, Stephen Nissenbaum (author of one of my favorite Christmas histories, The Battle for Christmas), discusses the claim that Moore was not the author of the famous Christmas verse in the essay "There Arose Such a Clatter; Who Really Wrote "The Night before Christmas"? (And Why Does It Matter?).

For many years now it has been the claim of the Livingston family of New York that an ancestor, Henry Livingston, wrote the now-celebrated story of a visit from Santa Claus, not Clement Clarke Moore.

St. Barbara's Day

St. Barbara was a young woman who converted to Christianity and then was tortured for her beliefs; she was turned in to the authorities by her own father, who originally had her locked in a tower. Despite this rather morbid history, Barbara is the source of a beautiful European tradition that involves cutting small branches of flowering trees such as cherry or plum trees and taking them inside; with applications of warm water, care, and warmth, the idea is to have them bloom for the Christmas holidays.

St. Barbara is the patron saint of a number of occupations, including mariners (George Von Trapp of the famous Trapp Family Singers was particularly fond of St. Barbara), unexpected death (her father died suddenly after betraying her) and, oddly, gunners.

More about St. Barbara at Catholic Culture—Liturgical Year : December 04.

And here is G.K. Chesterton's poem "The Ballad of Saint Barbara."

O Christmas Tree! (O Christmas Treats!)

We found a new tree today. After looking again at Hobby Lobby and Michael's, we stopped at Seasonal Concepts on the way to JoAnn. (SC is very close to a tree lot and I'm having live tree envy this year. But I don't want to spend the Christmas holidays with bronchitis. Damn allergies!) Amazingly, they had more than two unlighted Christmas trees! Most of these trees, lighted and unlighted, were quite expensive—there was a 15-foot Douglas fir with white lights that was $1500!—and unfortunately the ones we liked the best, with very realistic spruce needles, were too tall, pre-lighted, and really expensive.

But amazingly we found a 6 1/2 foot tree with fairly realistic needles that was not too green like the other tree we had considered at Hobby Lobby. It basically looks like the tree we have now, but taller. It's also a slim tree because the place we have decided to put the tree in the new house will only be about 40 inches wide (but it's not one of those really anorexic-looking slim trees, either). This is very full; I'm already wondering if we're going to have trouble with our Hallmark spaceship ornaments!

James also fell in love with a neat-looking string of lights that look like little Christmas trees in five colors (no orange, unfortunately). They were half price so we bought two strings for an extra fillip.

They had many nice things: if I was really crazy like the folks on one mailing list I am on, I could have bought much of this wonderful stuff and decorated up a storm (at least next year; I still don't feel much like decorating this year, and it's not just being sick).

It was a nice find to a very gloomy day: when we left the house it was 39°F and drizzling ("But at least it wasn't snow!" Bosh!) I am still coughing but we had shopping to do (a pork loin coupon at B.J.'s that ran out today especially).

Earlier we had supper watching A Christmas Story and Ralphie's eternal quest for a Red Ryder BB gun. James had stopped by Costco to get gasoline and I ran inside to get some of their Asagio fresh-baked bread, with a crispy crust and a puffy inside so we could "zoop" the bread in the juice of the pork loin and apple and carrot stew we were cooking in the crock pot. We had run out of sugar-free ice cream bars and had nothing for dessert, so James dashed upstairs and baked a batch of Dromedary gingerbread. We watched Ralphie have "Chinese turkey" while enjoying warm gingerbread with Reddi Whip topping.

I'm presently watching a delicious (and I do mean delicious) special about Italian Christmas foods on the Food Network. Oh, what memories all that brings back! They have just finished talking about foods from Boston's North End, torrone and marzipan and they're doing panettone (a sweet cake with raisins). We always had torrone in the house and in relatives' homes at Christmas and Easter. You could get big slabs, but mostly my aunts and mom bought pieces in little rectangular boxes about two inches long and an inch wide. They had bright colorful paintings of Italian towns on the boxes.

I never could get into torrone; it was too sweet for me. But they were showing a dark chocolate torrone that I would definitely like to sample!

Later on I'm sure they will go to the main course of Christmas Eve fish. Traditionally you are supposed to have seven fishes on Christmas Eve (fish since you're fasting). My cousins Debbie and Richard still do the fish on Christmas Eve and since both of them are great cooks, this is quite a feast, I tell you. (It sure doesn't seem like fasting.)

December Song

Sing a song
     of snowy nights,
     of neighbors stringing
     twinkling lights,
     of sugar cookies
     shaped like stars,
     and trees tied
     to the roof of cars.
Sing a song
     of spangled kings
     and angels wearing
     wire wings,
     of paper boxes,
     silver bows,
     and gifts hid under
     attic clothes.
Sing of warm
     against the cold,
     of simple, peace-filled
     stories told,
     of drums that thump
     and bells that chime.
     Sing a song
     of Christmastime.

. . . . . Eileen Spinelli, Ideals Christmas 2005