Hogmanay Rising
In Shetland, where the Viking influence remains strongest, New Year is still called Yules, deriving from the Scandinavian word for the midwinter festival of Yule.I wonder if the lack of Christmas is less compatible with America, or the idea of annually clearing all one's debts. The latter, I suppose.
It may surprise many people to note that Christmas was not celebrated as a festival and virtually banned in Scotland for around 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s. The reason for this dates back to the years of Protestant Reformation, when the straight-laced Kirk proclaimed Christmas as a Popish or Catholic feast, and as such needed banning.
And so it was, right up until the 1950s that many Scots worked over Christmas and celebrated their winter solstice holiday at New Year when family and friends would gather for a party and to exchange presents which came to be known as hogmanays.
There are several traditions and superstitions that should be taken care of before midnight on the 31st December: these include cleaning the house and taking out the ashes from the fire, there is also the requirement to clear all your debts before “the bells” sound midnight, the underlying message being to clear out the remains of the old year, have a clean break and welcome in a young, New Year on a happy note.
Holiday Travels
I have just returned from the ancestral homeland in east Tennessee, where I visited with both my father's and mother's people. The Newfound Gap was open on the way over, and we stopped to have a snowball fight. However, the park service decided to close it before my return trip, which added a very substantial detour in the pouring rain. I was grateful to finally return home late last night.
Visiting family more-or-less annually over decades, you begin to think you notice patterns in lives that begin in the same place but show marked divergence. I think religious observance must be quite important to holding one's life together, as even the more annoyingly evangelical of my relatives have flourished markedly over the less-religious ones. The most intellectually sophisticated have not flourished, not even relatively speaking; but the ones who go to church do, for whatever reason or set of reasons. Education correlates with success only somewhat. Hard work does not; laziness is often rewarded by luck, or simply by the virtue of being happy with less. Although I should add that those who have pursued higher education and self-disciplined hard work to the greatest degree of success are also religiously observant, so perhaps I don't have a large enough set to tease out the details.
Perhaps you have similar observations, or divergent ones.
Visiting family more-or-less annually over decades, you begin to think you notice patterns in lives that begin in the same place but show marked divergence. I think religious observance must be quite important to holding one's life together, as even the more annoyingly evangelical of my relatives have flourished markedly over the less-religious ones. The most intellectually sophisticated have not flourished, not even relatively speaking; but the ones who go to church do, for whatever reason or set of reasons. Education correlates with success only somewhat. Hard work does not; laziness is often rewarded by luck, or simply by the virtue of being happy with less. Although I should add that those who have pursued higher education and self-disciplined hard work to the greatest degree of success are also religiously observant, so perhaps I don't have a large enough set to tease out the details.
Perhaps you have similar observations, or divergent ones.
White papers with teeth
Why do right-wing intellectuals hate Trump, and by extension capitalism?
In the case of the anti-Trump right-wing intellectual, however, the genealogy of their disgust is slightly different. Rather than being possessed of the silly notion that the world will be just like school, they are possessed of a different, but no less silly, notion: that politics is just their insular conferences played out in public and backed by law, or their white papers given teeth—but that, in the final analysis, there’s no substantive difference between statesmanship and academia.
The Wren Song: With Liza Minnelli
Poor lass, she's hardly mentioned. But she's there, featured a moment among minor deities of the Celtic pantheon.
There's some bad songs woven in there, for those who know the history.
"As I was goin' to kill, and all..."
Happy St. Steven's Day.
UPDATE: If you're wanting a start on the bad songs, you can begin here.
Scenes of Christmas
Pastries, Croissant and Danish.
Closeup of the Danish pastries.
The hound of the hall sleeping near the fire.
The Feast of Christmas
Old comrade Joseph W. once said this was the carol he most associated with the Hall. It's a fine one.
But I like this song too, though it is perhaps more festive than observant.
And a couple more, one by Bach:
And another by the Baltimore Consort, this last done a few years ago at Trinity Church, London.
The peace of the Hall to all people of good will. Merry Christmas to you all.
But I like this song too, though it is perhaps more festive than observant.
And a couple more, one by Bach:
And another by the Baltimore Consort, this last done a few years ago at Trinity Church, London.
The peace of the Hall to all people of good will. Merry Christmas to you all.
Holiday mania tightens its steely grip
If I'd been getting some of this clickbait email a few weeks ago, I might be in even more crafty trouble than I already am. This morning I am completely lost in ideas for dyeing plain paper in tea baths and producing cunning paper bows with sprigs of this and that from the back yard. (Also, fringe scissors. But I already have some of those.) Luckily, I have no more presents to wrap and only two days remain before Christmas. But oh, my goodness, who could resist trying to make these woven stars? Especially, who could resist who actually has vast great quantities of long paper strips in stock just at the moment?
Last night neighbors joined us for a holiday dinner of oysters Rockefeller, standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, pureed peas with mint and cilantro, and a salad with grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, and Stilton cheese. Our guests arrived with a fresh loaf of sourdough bread, a grapefruit pie, and killer wines. I was particularly taken with my husband's Yorkshire pudding, which is something like a croissant and dangerously easy to make, judging as a spectator:
I see this as a future breakfast food, a worthy competitor to biscuits.
We're bang on trend this year with "foraged" holiday decor. (To be truly on-trend, we'd have to work "bespoke" in there.) I found last week that greenbriar makes a good wreath or garland late in the season after its leaves have turned red, but its stems are still flexible:
Last night neighbors joined us for a holiday dinner of oysters Rockefeller, standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, pureed peas with mint and cilantro, and a salad with grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, and Stilton cheese. Our guests arrived with a fresh loaf of sourdough bread, a grapefruit pie, and killer wines. I was particularly taken with my husband's Yorkshire pudding, which is something like a croissant and dangerously easy to make, judging as a spectator:
I see this as a future breakfast food, a worthy competitor to biscuits.
We're bang on trend this year with "foraged" holiday decor. (To be truly on-trend, we'd have to work "bespoke" in there.) I found last week that greenbriar makes a good wreath or garland late in the season after its leaves have turned red, but its stems are still flexible:
The Extremist Knights of Columbus
Two of our least respectable Senators, Harris and Hirono, ask a Federal judicial candidate if his membership in the Knights of Columbus isn’t disqualifying.
Given that the Knights’ positions are mere Catholicism, that sounds suspiciously like a religious test for office. Such tests are forbidden by the Constitution that these Senators have taken an oath to defend and protect. I wonder if either of them know what it means to take an oath?
The Knights of Columbus do.
Given that the Knights’ positions are mere Catholicism, that sounds suspiciously like a religious test for office. Such tests are forbidden by the Constitution that these Senators have taken an oath to defend and protect. I wonder if either of them know what it means to take an oath?
The Knights of Columbus do.
Yuletide
Tonight's solstice combines with a full moon and a meteor shower. I had planned to hike up to the top of the ridge and camp, in spite of the cold, in order to observe these wonders. Unfortunately, a snowstorm has blown in, and visibility is negligible.
So instead I shall sit by the fire indoors. I hope you have a good winter and a warm.
BB: 'Braveheart' to get All-Female Reboot
Lena Dunham will play the starring role of Willow Wallace, a "fierce Scottish she-warrior who don't need no man."
Co-stars include Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, and Beyonce. The band of female fighters will go on a brave quest to topple the patriarchy in 14th-century England... The majority of [their] army is, of course, slaughtered.
...
Paramount is hoping the film can make at least $10 at the box office, according to insiders.
When Joseph was an old man
When Joseph was an old man, an old man was he,
He married Virgin Mary, the Queen of Galilee.
And one day as they went walking, all in the garden green,
There were berries and cherries as thick as may be seen.
Then Mary said to Joseph, so meek and so mild:
"Joseph, gather me some cherries for I am with child."
The Joseph flew in anger, in anger flew he:
"Let the father of the baby gather cherries for thee."
Then up spoke baby Jesus, from out Mary's womb:
"Bow down ye tallest tree, that my mother might have some."
So bent down the tallest tree to touch Mary's hand.
Said she, "Oh look now Joseph, I have cherries at command."
The Syria Withdrawal
Without taking a position on the wisdom of the Syria withdrawal -- commentary is running strongly opposed, I notice -- I do think it poses an interesting challenge to the Republic. It's a common one with Donald Trump, the same one we've seen elsewhere. It is this: can an elected President defy the deep-set preference of the bureaucracy? If yes, however unwise a given decision, at least we still live in a Republic in which the people can alter the course of the government through elections. If no, well, the elected government may have become a kind of decoration (or, really, a decoy) for the real government.
So far the answer has been "no," but perhaps with repeated efforts this is changing. I hear the State Department has begun withdrawal efforts. The Pentagon seems to be dragging its feet so far.
So far the answer has been "no," but perhaps with repeated efforts this is changing. I hear the State Department has begun withdrawal efforts. The Pentagon seems to be dragging its feet so far.
Towards Feminine Strength
And against dependency. The author is a scholar of Shakespeare, so perhaps she has thereby learned something of human nature.
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