• Welcome to BellGab.com Archive.
 

Winter Holiday Thread

Started by pyewacket, December 04, 2015, 12:33:34 AM


pyewacket

He had a magnificent voice and died far too young at 38.

I remember this song from a Christmas album, but it's more like a beautiful lullaby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U025d5CtLWU

pyewacket

The Twelve Nights of Christmas will soon be here as Christmas Eve approaches. To some Pagans, the period between Christmas Eve and the Feast of the Epiphany, or the Twelve Nights, is a gap in time when the veil between realms is thin or non-existent allowing the dead to walk the Earth and contact the living. These twelve days and nights are devoted to merry-making, gift-giving, mumming, divination, spell casting, and magic ritual.

Twelve is the number of completion. Almost everyone has heard one version or another of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Many speculate about the meaning of its verses. The one most familiar to us dates back to 1909. Some believe its roots are much older and pre-date Christianity and the original symbology was based on nature's birds. Each one had a specific characteristic that corresponded to the Twelve Days.

Quote from: icyousee.org
The code (with the gifts presented in the pre-Twentieth Century order)
partridgeA Partridge in a Pear Tree: The symbolism of the partridge comes from the fact that in the winter months, partridges leave their large flocks and form monogamous pairs (i.e. in a "pear" tree). As a pair, the two become one, and this Oneness, formed from the "two" out of the "many," is the ultimate Good.
2 turtle dovesTwo Turtle Doves: Turtle doves have long been emblems of devoted love. But with their mournful voices, turtle doves represent both love and loss. This is just one of many important Dualities: male and female, day and night, summer and winter, life and death.
3 French hensThree French Hens: The three hens are, quite simply, an allusion to the goddess in her triple forms of virgin, mother, and hag. Hag was not a term of derision -- it meant wise woman.
4 colly birdsFour Colly Birds: The birds are really Colly Birds, not Calling Birds. Colly birds may be any of several coal-black birds â€" crows, jackdaws, rooks, or ravens. These birds of the night carry the power and mystery of the dark season of the year. The raven was the bird of battle. Four is an important number to link with the darkness, since Four is the number of the Earth, which, though now asleep and filled in darkness, is still a potent elemental source of power.
5 golden ringsFive Golden Rings: They may not sound bird-like to you, but these are ring-necked pheasants. Not native to Europe, pheasants had been introduced there during Roman times and were quite common throughout Europe before the rise of Christianity. Pheasants were symbols of the element of Fire and sensuous sexuality. The number Five also represents sensuality and magic. Ever wonder why there is so much emphasis, rhythmically, to this verse?
6 geeseSix Geese A-Laying: The important element is the "a-laying" part. The Egg represents the creation cycle of birth, death, re-birth. And what about the number Six? Because of the shape of the number, which is a continuous, spiraling curve without angle, it too represents the cycle of life. Geese also represent Water, another of the Middle Ages' four elements.
7 swansSeven Swans A-Swimming: A message to celebrate the beauty of the unknown. Swans are birds of elegance and mystery. Seven represents mystery and elegance, largely in part to the movement of the seven planets (only seven were known until 1846). Planets moved unlike all the other stars and had their own intricate patterns â€" nothing was more elegant and mysterious. Oddly, although the swans are swimming they represent Air, which as an element includes the sky and the heavens.

8 maidsEight Maids A-Milking: Here be eight Magpies. Magpies are black birds with milky white patches. Magpies are birds full of power and are portents used in fortune-telling. Eight has many different meanings symbolically, but one very important one is a new beginning. Different numbers of magpies can mean different things, "five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never told," but eight magpies remind us to put the old behind us as we start afresh. It seems significant but must be only a coincidence that by some reckoning that New Year's Day is the Eighth Day of Christmas.
9 drummersNine Drummers Drumming: With this verse, the order of the gifts we sing is changed from the original. Instead of ladies dancing, in the earliest known version, on this day drummers were drumming. In England and mainland Europe, the most common drumming bird was the Snipe. Where and when snipes do their drumming is important. Snipes drum in the spring soon after fields have been plowed and are most fertile. The number nine represents harmony and eternity. Fertility coupled with both harmony and eternity creates the most powerful force we can know.
10 pipersTen Pipers Piping: We sing the song with the ten lords a-leaping, but originally it was ten pipers piping, at least in England. In earliest known variant found in North America, on the Tenth Day of Christmas, the true love sent ten Cocks A-Crowing. It's all the same, however. The English green sandpiper has a reputation for being noisy, excitable, loud, and shrill. Cocks, and to a lesser extent sandpipers, were legendary for being vain and arrogant, feisty, and sexually agressive. It was shortly after the broadside was published that the word "rooster" replaced "cock" in polite company in North America. That may help explain why we don't hear that version today. One explanation I've heard for this day is that it represents the Ten Commandments. That is not just silly, it is hilariously ironic. Can you imagine how many of the Ten Commandments might be broken on a day ruled by troublesome, brawling, lecherous, and loud noise-makers?
11 ladiesEleven Ladies Dancing: The dancing, of course, is a code word for passion and courtship. The dancing ladies are Lapwings that wildly wheel, roll, and tumble in the air during courtship displays. Eleven is a lucky number, but, of course, luck is a dual force that might bring good or ill. On this day of dancing, passion, and courtship, let's hope this day brings us good luck (knock on wood).
12 lordsTwelve Lords A-Leaping: The lords a-leaping are cuckoos. And the cuckoo hen notoriously lays her eggs in another bird's nest. Because of this the cuckoo became a symbol for immorality and disorder. Not just this day, but the whole season of twelve days was a time of misrule and sexual license. The world was turned upside down. During these twelve days, right is wrong, the strong are weak, the first is last, and the lowliest laborers might become the highest lords. The twelve lords a-leaping bring the song to an end, since twelve is the number of completion. As we return to normal life again, we remember that spring will be coming, life will be renewed, order will form out of disorder, and the cycle will continue.

http://www.icyousee.org/twelvebirds.html   

 

K_Dubb

Quote from: pyewacket on December 16, 2016, 10:55:35 PM
The Twelve Nights of Christmas will soon be here as Christmas Eve approaches. To some Pagans, the period between Christmas Eve and the Feast of the Epiphany, or the Twelve Nights, is a gap in time when the veil between realms is thin or non-existent allowing the dead to walk the Earth and contact the living. These twelve days and nights are devoted to merry-making, gift-giving, mumming, divination, spell casting, and magic ritual.

This matches nicely with Norse beliefs about Odin's hunt, in which some people find the origin for Santa's midnight ride.  He might be accompanied by the restless spirits of people who died far away and were not given proper burial, or other supernatural beings.  From Wikipedia:

QuoteOne tradition maintains that Odin did not travel further up than an ox wears his yoke, so if Odin was hunting, it was safest to throw oneself onto the ground in order to avoid being hit. In Ã,,lghult in SmÃ¥land, it was safest to carry a piece of bread and a piece of steel when going to church and back during Yule. The reason was that if one met the rider with the broad-rimmed hat, one should throw the piece of steel in front of oneself, but if one met his dogs first, one should throw the pieces of bread instead.

This pic always gives me the willies, though Sleipnir has only four legs:



Quote from: pyewacket on December 16, 2016, 10:55:35 PM
Twelve is the number of completion. Almost everyone has heard one version or another of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Many speculate about the meaning of its verses. The one most familiar to us dates back to 1909. Some believe its roots are much older and pre-date Christianity and the original symbology was based on nature's birds. Each one had a specific characteristic that corresponded to the Twelve Days.

http://www.icyousee.org/twelvebirds.html   



Oh that is interesting!  Always wondered why you would give people like lords and ladies as gifts; this makes a lot more sense.




albrecht

Quote from: K_Dubb on December 17, 2016, 12:26:29 AM
This matches nicely with Norse beliefs about Odin's hunt, in which some people find the origin for Santa's midnight ride.  He might be accompanied by the restless spirits of people who died far away and were not given proper burial, or other supernatural beings.  From Wikipedia:

This pic always gives me the willies, though Sleipnir has only four legs:



Oh that is interesting!  Always wondered why you would give people like lords and ladies as gifts; this makes a lot more sense.

His countenance and posture there reminds me of 'Stonewall' Jackson drawings/artwork, ignoring the other elements. Btw wiki claims 8 legged horse in Indian (dot) myths? I find also interesting that some of the images made of the steed has the legs bound. So 8 legs but still, presumably, would be able to operate as a normal horse but twice the speed?


K_Dubb

Quote from: albrecht on December 17, 2016, 12:51:45 AM
His countenance and posture there reminds me of 'Stonewall' Jackson drawings/artwork, ignoring the other elements. Btw wiki claims 8 legged horse in Indian (dot) myths? I find also interesting that some of the images made of the steed has the legs bound. So 8 legs but still, presumably, would be able to operate as a normal horse but twice the speed?

The only Viking-age depiction I know of suggests they operate in pairs.  They do appear to be caught in some knotwork but it's hard to know what that means -- a reminder of hanging on the world-tree, in which he (and later Christ) is sometimes shown bound?






albrecht

Quote from: K_Dubb on December 17, 2016, 01:03:15 AM
The only Viking-age depiction I know of suggests they operate in pairs.  They do appear to be caught in some knotwork but it's hard to know what that means -- a reminder of hanging on the world-tree, in which he (and later Christ) is sometimes shown bound?


Interesting. All I know is I'm going to revist some sagas. Great stuff. . My Christmas wish would he able understand all languages, current and former. I hear languages are dying all the time. But also to read old stuff and go anywhere and converse in dialect also. Be awesome.



K_Dubb

SÃ¥kaka, or sow-cake, was a type of bread baked during the Christmas season in Sweden.  It was stored to be eaten by the horses and men at the beginning of plowing and sowing season to convey what Swedish wikipedia calls the "brödets kraft", literally "bread force".  Bits were sown with the seed to return the grain to the earth.  Real magical baking.  The term is still used for saffron bread, but I haven't found an old recipe yet to confirm whether saffron was used in the ancient versions.  But "devil's bread' is an old name for saffron bread in some parts of Sweden, so it may be pagan in origin.  Saffron is suggested by the color of these casts made of hundred-year-old bread, though:





The distinctive shapes of lussekatter probably come from the symbols used to decorate the bread:



Now I want to make one.

pyewacket

Evil ToZ- Thank you for posting the retro  videos! Most of those toys were from my childhood. I've been getting some retro toys for my grandkids like model building kits, spirograph and games.

Mattel's ThingMaker was wildly popular and would not be sold today due to safety issues like heating the mold to about 390 °F (199 °C) on an open-face electric hot plate oven. The Plastigoop is cured by the heat, and when cooled forms semi-solid, rubbery replicas which can be removed from the mold.

It was great fun though and I never heard of anyone being seriously hurt. I guess we were risk takers at an early age.  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS07TPPu0SE

starrmtn001

What I awakened to this morning:

starrmtn001

What I awakened to this morning:

Beautiful, Starr.  I envy you.  Here in the South, those sights are rare.  It is just another gray, cloudy, drizzly weekend. Maybe in January or February we'll see some. Merry Christmas. :D

ItsOver

Quote from: pyewacket on December 17, 2016, 11:27:57 AM
Evil ToZ- Thank you for posting the retro  videos! Most of those toys were from my childhood. I've been getting some retro toys for my grandkids like model building kits, spirograph and games.

Mattel's ThingMaker was wildly popular and would not be sold today due to safety issues like heating the mold to about 390 °F (199 °C) on an open-face electric hot plate oven. The Plastigoop is cured by the heat, and when cooled forms semi-solid, rubbery replicas which can be removed from the mold.

It was great fun though and I never heard of anyone being seriously hurt. I guess we were risk takers at an early age.  ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS07TPPu0SE
Cool!  I remember the Thing Maker.  Also, the Vac Cu Form.



Mattel also made some of the coolest toy guns, that would actually fire plastic bullets, with their Greenie stickem caps.  Mattel was like the king of toys, when I was a kid.

http://youtu.be/W8qXLxHi9_8

The freaking MSM and "hide-in-the-closet" lefties would be crapping their pants if these were still being made. 

pyewacket

Beautiful pictures, starr! How much snow did you get- we only got about 4" and expecting sleet later.

I posted this last year and thought it was worth posting again, especially since the arctic weather is probably going to keep a lot of people in tonight and looking for something to do. It's one of my all time favorite Christmas movies that a local station where I lived showed every Christmas Eve for years, and it's one that unfortunately has almost been forgotten. TCM showed it a few years ago, and I can't understand why they don't show it every year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klouw-V0JpA

pyewacket

Quote from: Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost on December 17, 2016, 01:08:17 PM
I posted this last year and thought it was worth posting again, especially since the arctic weather is probably going to keep a lot of people in tonight and looking for something to do. It's one of my all time favorite Christmas movies that a local station where I lived showed every Christmas Eve for years, and it's one that unfortunately has almost been forgotten. TCM showed it a few years ago, and I can't understand why they don't show it every year.

I'm so happy to see you here, RGG!  Thank you for reposting this movie- I was going to search for it. I plan on watching this one every year.  :-*

Quote from: Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost on December 17, 2016, 01:08:17 PM
I posted this last year and thought it was worth posting again, especially since the arctic weather is probably going to keep a lot of people in tonight and looking for something to do. It's one of my all time favorite Christmas movies that a local station where I lived showed every Christmas Eve for years, and it's one that unfortunately has almost been forgotten. TCM showed it a few years ago, and I can't understand why they don't show it every year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klouw-V0JpA

Somehow that movie has been under my radar for my whole life and I love movies with Eugene Pallette.  Thank you for recommending this film.  :D :D :D

Quote from: pyewacket on December 17, 2016, 01:12:35 PM
I'm so happy to see you here, RGG!  Thank you for reposting this movie- I was going to search for it. I plan on watching this one every year.  :-*

Cheers, sweetie darling! I remember you liked it and am glad to hear it's become part of your Christmas tradition. I'm saving it for Christmas Eve. Don't forget the bubbly, joss sticks, and lots of lovely little nibbly things.

starrmtn001

Quote from: 21st Century Man on December 17, 2016, 12:42:25 PM
Beautiful, Starr.  I envy you.  Here in the South, those sights are rare.  It is just another gray, cloudy, drizzly weekend. Maybe in January or February we'll see some. Merry Christmas. :D
Thank you kindly, 21st.  I hope you do.

Happy Yuletide to you. :D

starrmtn001

Quote from: pyewacket on December 17, 2016, 01:07:55 PM
Beautiful pictures, starr! How much snow did you get- we only got about 4" and expecting sleet later.
Thank you so much, Pyewacket.

I haven't been outside yet, looks to be maybe a foot give or take. ;)

I wish you a Merry Yuletide. ;D

Quote from: 21st Century Man on December 17, 2016, 01:18:15 PM
Somehow that movie has been under my radar for my whole life and I love movies with Eugene Pallette.  Thank you for recommending this film.  :D :D :D

He's great as always in it, and the movie is reminiscent of "My Man Godfrey" in several ways.  Enjoy!

It's a shame it fell through the cracks and isn't better known today. As far as I can tell, it's never been released on VHS or DVD.

Quote from: Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost on December 17, 2016, 01:36:11 PM
He's great as always in it, and the movie is reminiscent of "My Man Godfrey" in several ways.  Enjoy!

It's a shame it fell through the cracks and isn't better known today. As far as I can tell, it's never been released on VHS or DVD.

Since Republic made the film, there should be a good copy out there.  Olive Films has been remastering a bunch of old Republic films from the era.  Keep an eye on their website.  It might pop up as a blu-ray or dvd in the next few years.

albrecht

I think I might have posted this before but will do so again. There is an odd phenomena in which an obscure, but hilarious, British comedy skit is popular viewing in Germany on New Years.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2005/12/the_mystery_of_dinner_for_one.html
You can view the skit- which never was aired in the UK or USA- here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1v4BYV-YvA

Powered by SMFPacks Menu Editor Mod