Happy Christmas
[As I listen to the annual A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, I thought I would re-run this post.]
The British have some wonderful Christmas customs that have survived the incursion of Christianity, especially the Puritan party poopers. Stealing customs from the Celts, Germans, and Scandinavians, they have created a wonderful holiday that I fondly remember from time spent there.
The bird is a European robin that is featured on British Christmas cards, as it is a Winter bird in England, unlike the fair-weather laggard of the same name in America. It is bracketed by holly and mistletoe. All go back to the druids and solstice celebrations.
If you read the Harry Potter books you will get a taste, but not the full effect of a British Christmas. A full-on Christmas dinner is wretched excess to the nth degree – Thanksgiving on steroids.
The BBC has the background on Father Christmas.
I would note that real mistletoe is in short supply this year because of the drought conditions in the US South. It requires humid conditions to grow as a parasite on oak trees.
2 comments
Have a belated Christmas present then.
http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/virtual-tour/
I visited in person when I was in the Air Force, and had a relative who attended the day school at King’s College when his father was working in the Middle East, several decades ago, which is why I listen to the program.
I thank you for the kind thought.