Christmas Every Day

This is another page from the set of gospels made in the 1350s for the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander. Here, at the top, the wicked King Herod consults his advisers as to the location of the “King of the Jews” whom the Magi have come to worship. At the bottom, the Wise Men are told to seek the child in Bethlehem and then return to report to Herod.

As the handful of loyal readers of this blog will know, I am a sucker for medieval illuminated manuscripts. The illustration below is from a mid-14th century set of gospels made for the Bulgarian tsar Ivan.

Note that the treatment of the figures in many ways imitates Byzantine ideas of the Nativity. You will see on the bottom left a disconsolate and bewildered Joseph sitting apart, to indicate that he is not the true father of Jesus. In the centre bottom is the midwife bathing the baby. Mary is depicted reclining while ox and ass look on; and the Magi are seen coming on the left and departing on the right. Note that the Wise Men represent the three ages of man: a beardless youth, a mature man with a black beard, and an elderly greybeard. An angel addresses two shepherds, one of whom seems to be holding a microphone.

Unlike Hitler who was happy to use the traditional “Weihnacht” to denote the winter holiday period, the SS elite preferred the more pagan “Julfest” and “Jahreswende” (solstice). They didn’t care for Christmas carols either.

Who’s that coming down the stairs? Why it’s Der Fuehrer! Come, fellow members of the Hitlerjugend, let’s wish our dictator a Merry Christmas.

Santa has been used to advertise every thing from weapons to condoms to alcohol to power tools to Turkish tobacco. I can’t say I would take smoking advice from anyone who looked like the dude in these 1915 and 1919 ads.

I always wanted a more exciting name than Gerry Bowler. For years, I wished I had been baptised something like “Lance Sterling”.  I would have settled for “Frank Manley”, the name attached to this turn-of-the-centry boy’s own hero.

Look at the short length of those hockey sticks; playing with them must have caused plenty of back ache.