Friday, 19 March 2021

SANTA HAS TO WORK HARDER THIS YEAR

Santa has to work harder this year

At the North Pole I fear

Since the jackpot of Euromillions

Was one by Santa minions

THE BOARS HEAD

 

Serving a roasted boar's head was for many years associated with Christmas feasting in England.

It probably harks back to the Norse custom of sacrificing a boar at Yuletide in honor of the Norse god Freyr.

A more amusing telling of the story relates to a student at Oxford's Queen’s College who was attacked one Christmas Day by a wild boar.

As the Boar charged the poor student was armed with nothing more lethal than a copy of Aristotle, so with all his strength he thrust the book down the boar's throat killing it in its tracks.

The student however wanted his book back, so he cut off the animal's head which he took back to the college where it was served for Christmas dinner amidst much pomp and ceremony.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS (2015)

 

Jamie Patterson Mason Douglas is jealous of his rich friend Blake Matthews (Juliocesar Chavez) so when he gets annoyed at his parents (Antonio Sabato Jr and Shannen Doherty) he makes a wish to swap families with his wealthy best friend at Christmas.

To his delight his wish comes true, and he finds himself living the extravagant lifestyle he always dreamed of true However despite having everything he ever wanted, his new mother and father have little time for him, and her grandmother has been dumped in a home and so he ends up trying to put things back the way they were.

BELLS

 

On Christmas morning since medieval times Church bells are rung on Christmas morning to announce to the world the birth of Jesus Christ.

A legend has it that the bells were rung for an hour before midnight on the first Christmas Eve to warm the forces of darkness of the imminent arrival of the Savior and at the stroke of midnight the pitch of the bells changed into a joyous peal.

The sounding of the bells had another purpose namely to announce the death of the Devil which would come to pass upon by the coming of Jesus Christ.

This is why the church bell is also known as 'the Old Lad's Passing bell', 'Old Lad' being a euphemism for Satan.

The pealing bells also chase away evil spirits which easy repelled by any joyous sound.

The bells also have more frivolous uses than announcing the Savior on Christmas morning.

The bells are often used as Christmas tree decorations and also, they adorn Christmas cards.

Traditionally Wassailers would use bells to announce their presence by ringing them and Father Christmas has jingling bells accompanying the progress of his sleigh.

IN THE MORNING SANTA STOOD

 

In the morning Santa stood

by the window to peer

And said to Mrs Claus

“It looks like rain dear”

THE TINSEL WIDOW

 

The Christian legend of the origins of tinsel concerns a poor widow who was left alone to care for her large family.

It was the first Christmas since the death of her husband, and she was determined to make Christmas as special as she could possibly could for her children.

The poor widow worked every hour god sent her washing, cleaning, and baking for the town’s people.

She went to the nearby forest and cut a Christmas tree for the house, but it was a struggle for them to survive on her meager income and they could afford no decorations for it.

Instead, she and her children made decorations for the tree they made snowflakes from scraps of paper and garlands from strips of old cloth and for baubles they used pinecones.

Working together they trimmed it as beautifully as they could with what little they had.

Spiders invaded the tree as they slept and as they crawled from branch to branch, they left their shimmering webs behind them.

A watching angel knowing the family would be devastated by what the spiders had done transformed the webs into shimmering strands of silver.

When they awoke next morning, they could not believe their eyes and they did indeed have a very special Christmas.

BOXING DAY

 

Over the Christmas season alms boxes are placed in churches to collect for the poor and these are what are opened on Boxing Day the day after Christmas day.

The contents of the boxes are then handed out to the poor of the parish on December 26th, Boxing Day, also known as the Feast of St Stephen.

Stephen was a Christian martyr who was stoned to death for being a follower of Christ's shortly after his crucifixion.

Boxing Day is celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada and it has become a public holiday in the last century.

This has been a godsend to many families by having Christmas Day and Boxing Day as holidays this allowed them the time to travel to visit family members and celebrate with them.

It made it much easier for people to get together with those who were important to them.

It is perhaps better known today as a day of outdoor sports and horse racing and hunting rather than for any religious significance.