Dec 24 2022 Christmas Stories

 

Christmas air this year is filled with snow squalls, strong wind and whiteout conditions.  The sound of Christmas winds blowing bring up all the seasonal songs "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Let the Blizzard Begin" are two that were on our song list for the Christmas concert this year.  Our blizzard this year has been termed "crippling" and being declared "generational".  That's the kind of storm that "wreaks havoc".  I guess a 3,000km storm can do that. Not like the Bing homepage picture of a dock with a Christmas tree in a lake in Alaska.  Very calm and beautiful, with Canadian associations of up north cottage country (just without the mountains).   That gives us time to check out Christmas facts.  Via Snopes. Mrs. Claus's first name?  No first name. They did the research. Celebrating Christmas illegal before 1836? False. It is true that the celebration of Christmas was indeed banned in colonial Massachusetts in 1659.  That ban was motivated largely by the austere Puritan religious beliefs of authorities in the colony, who objected to the December 25th celebration for two main reasons: because it was originally a pagan winter festival co-opted by Christians and lacking in any Biblical basis, and because it was typically accompanied by merriment and indulgence and therefore was anathema to the Puritan principles of sobriety and hard work.  Similarly, the Massachusetts Bay prohibition on Christmas was repealed in 1681, some 22 years after it was introduced. The Twelve Days of Christmas Was the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' created as a secret code by persecuted Catholics?  False. In these alternate versions, the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is said to have been developed by Christians who could not openly practice their faith because they lived in societies where Christianity was forbidden. Locating a place in the western world where the practice of Christianity was banned during the last several centuries is difficult enough, but trying to discern the usefulness of a Christmas song as a method of preserving tenets of Christianity in a society where the practice of Christianity itself was outlawed is truly a mind bender, since in such a society all facets of Christmas celebrations would surely be banned as well.  Santa Stuck in Chimney - Man dressed  as Santa Claus gets stuck in chimney and dies?  Urban Legend (means False) Legend:   A man attempts to surprise his family by dressing up as Santa Claus and entering the house by sliding down the chimney. He gets stuck, dies, and is discovered by his family after they light a fire in the fireplace. Although there have been numerous verified accounts of amateur Santas getting stuck in chimneys (and some would-be burglars dying there), no instance of a real Santa-garbed father's perishing in a chimney has yet surfaced. Thanks Snopes for my Christmas entertainment!   Here's Hidden Bench on a happy snow day. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Which National Day is It? That's Right - the Day the Music Died!

That's right - it's the day that Buddy Holly and his band died.  One website says that the name of the plane they were in was "American Pie." Snoops, the famous fact checker says:  FALSE. The song was written by Don McLean. Don McLean himself is quoted as saying: "the growing urban legend that "American Pie" was the name of  Buddy Holly's plane on the night it crashed, is equally untrue. I created the term".  There's another rumour regarding the title that it was chosen because McLean once dated a Miss America contestant, appears to be equally 'spurious', according to Snopes.  Another area of the urban legend is the number of people who "gave up a seat" on the ill-fated flight.  Snoops says this: "... the list of people who “gave up a seat” on this ill-fated flight has grown to rival the list of persons claiming to have been invited to Sharon Tate’s “quiet evening at home” the night the Manson family struck. Although Buddy Holly initially may have asked around to find other tour members...Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup were the only two persons who truly “gave up a seat” on Buddy Holly’s final flight. There's a website - it is in very strange font colours that has a line by line interpretation of the song.  The website home is the Wisconsin Historic Rail Connection and the photography site of Jim Kalrath. The song interpretation is HERE What do you think of today's image? You can see the entire metal panel with the rainbow stain caused by heat. It's been saturated to emphasize the colours.