A sorry old drunk is walking
Down
the street one morning
Together
with Santa Claus
The
tooth fairy and of course
Honest
John the Solicitor
When
suddenly on their tour
At
the very same moment
They
spot on the pavement
Someone’s
discarded wallet
So,
who was it who got it?
The
old drunk obviously
Because
all of the other three
The hanging of greens, such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.
Greenery
was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that
spring was not far away.
For
hundreds of years before the birth of Christ the ancient Druids used mistletoe
to celebrate the winter solstice.
The
Druids gathered the parasitic evergreen plant and used it to decorate their
homes.
They
had an affinity with nature and believed the plant to have special healing
powers for a variety of ills from female infertility to poison ingestion.
The
Scandinavians thought of mistletoe as a plant of peace and harmony and
associated it with their goddess of love, Frigga which is why the Norse folk
believe the custom of kissing under the mistletoe is believed to have derived
from this belief.
The
druids regarded the mistletoe as sacred and they made certain that it never
touched the ground and it was dedicated to the Goddess of Love which is the
Druid explanation of kissing under it.
Originally,
when a boy kissed a girl, he plucked a berry from the cluster and presented it
to her. When there were no more berries, there were no more kisses.
The
custom of kissing under the mistletoe originally was a belief that the
evergreen plant increases your sexual power or promotes fertility.
In
a small number of places in the world its potency was so highly regarded that
it could improve the productivity of the soil, it could make cattle more
fertile and curer impotence in men and any girl who had not been kissed under
the mistletoe would be barren.
The
Druids believed mistletoe's magic extended far beyond fertility and they
thought it could cure almost any disease and was therefore known as 'all
healer'.
A
Sprigs fixed above your doorway would protect from lightning and ward of evil
from your home.
As
the plant was a parasite and grey on other trees it had no roots and so it was
believed that it grew from heaven.
Even
the gathering of the mistletoe is steeped in ritual.
A
Druid priest using a sacred sickle had to cut the mistletoe from an oak tree
On
the sixth day of the new moon when he had done so a virgin girl had to catch
the falling plant before it touched the ground.
If
it touched the ground it was spoiled.
The
early Christian church banned the use of mistletoe in Christmas celebrations
because of its pagan origins and they favored the use of Holly as an
appropriate substitute for the Christmas greenery conveniently forgetting pagan
origins of Holly.
Nowadays
mistletoe is used merely as an excuse for taking liberties at the office
Christmas party.
Every year
as a token of their gratitude the people of Norway present Britain with a 70
foot Christmas tree which stands in Trafalgar square.
However the tree has not always been received in the same spirit as it was
given at times the discord has soured the season of goodwill.
In 1960 Westminster City Council wanted to charge the Norwegians for the
electricity used to light the tree but thankfully Parliament intervened.
While In 1980 the very same council tried to stop the tradition altogether by
refusing to accept the tree in an attempt to save the £5,000 cost.
Good sense again prevailed and now the costs are met by the Greater London
Authority.
Other bureaucrats have tried to interfere and spoil Christmas this time from
Brussels and they complained about the breaking of import restrictions.
The tree has also over the years suffered physical damage, on a number of
occasions from high winds and on one occasion it was attacked with a chain saw
by anti-war protestors.
In 1987 protesters actually chained themselves to the tree although I don't
know what their cause was.
The room was full of Christmas,
Steeped in the essence of the season,
Fragranced with Apple and Cinnamon,
And decorated in festive livery
Fresh cut garlands of evergreens,
Tinsel, candles and coloured lights
And on the peaceful Holy night
With the velvet drapes pulled shut
Against the bitter cold of winter
A perfect couple held each other
In the soft warm glow of firelight
“The War On Christmas” is a very funny Christmas Comedy about the Winters family who are totally crazy for Christmas, except that is for the 16-year-old daughter, Nikki (Juliette Angelo) because, her family's over-the-top Christmas celebrations have made her life a total misery.
At Performing Arts summer camp, she meets Tanner (Javier Bolanos) who is her perfect
antidote to the Christmas craziness that is year-round at home, unfortunately
at the end of camp they went their separate ways to opposite sides of the
country.
It wasn’t the end for them though as they were in constant
contact and facetimed regularly but when her long-distance boyfriend decides to visit for the
holidays, she's determined to spare him her family's Christmas obsession.
So, the only solution is to create a fake family, so she
hires actors to play her parents and stages a fake Christmas dinner in the
empty house next door with hilarious results.
Sans Day Carol
English
(Cornish) traditional Music and lyrics authorship unknown
Now
the holly bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary bore Jesus, all wrapped up in silk:
And
Mary bore Jesus our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly.
Holly! Holly!
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!
Now
the holly bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died on the cross:
Now
the holly bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died for us all:
Now
the holly bears a berry, as blood is it red,
Then trust we our Saviour, who rose from the dead:
The saint and the butcher is a popular St Nicholas tale in northern France which is told every year before St Nicholas day.
The Tale tells of three children who
wandered away from their village and got lost. They continued on their way
until Cold and hungry they came to an unfamiliar village.
They were discovered by a wicked
butcher who lured them into his shop with the promise of food and warmth.
Once inside his shop he attacked the
three children and he salted them away in a large tub.
They children would have been lost
forever but for the intervention of St Nicholas who rescued the children and
returned them safely to their families.
From that day forward St. Nicolas has
been regarded in France as the protector of children.
The evil butcher became Père
Fouettard who forever follows St Nicholas with switches in hand to threaten
children and it’s the evil butcher who leaves any naughty children with a
bundle of birch twigs.
On the eve of St Nicholas day, the
children put their shoes near the chimney and sing a song to the Saint before
going to bed.
The next morning the shoes overflow
with special Saint Nicolas sweets, chocolates and cookies.
Even the best of children will find
by their shoes some birch twigs tied with a ribbon as every child does
something naughty in the year.
