They past, they say is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Nowhere is this adage more true than in the contemplation of bizarre English Christmas cards from the Victorian era. What could have persuaded artists that these images were suitable for a Christmas greeting?
By the late i9th century American humour magazines were finding Santa a good source for their cartoons. Here are three from Puck magazine.
By the end of the 19th century the Santa Claus story had embedded itself in Anglophone family culture. Parents had discovered that Santa offered their children not just gifts but magic and imagination as well. In an astonishing display of altruism millions of fathers and mothers deflected the gratitude due them to an imaginary midnight Gift-Bringer. But, as this poem from 1880 shows, not all parents were that way inclined.
In 1887 the Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson was recovering for a moment from the lung disorder that would eventually kill him. In his convalescence he wrote his “Christmas Sermon”, a melancholy reflection on human striving. Here are a few of the notable passages from it.
To make our idea of morality centre on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto.
If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong. I do not say “give them up,” for they may be all you have; but conceal them like a vice, lest they should spoil the lives of better and simpler people.
To be honest, to be kind — to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation — above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself — here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy. He has an ambitious soul who would ask more; he has a hopeful spirit who should look in such an enterprise to be successful. There is indeed one element in human destiny that not blindness itself can controvert: whatever else we are intended to do, we are not intended to succeed; failure is the fate allotted.
There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbors good. One person I have to make good: myself.
In his own life, then, a man is not to expect happiness, only to profit by it gladly when it shall arise: he is on duty here; he knows not how or why, and does not need to know; he knows not for what hire, and must not ask. Somehow or other, though he does not know what goodness is, he must try to be good; somehow or other, though he cannot tell what will do it, he must try to give happiness to others.
Christmas seems always to be in danger of extinction, at least according to television and cinema. Indefatigable chronicler of Christmas in popular culture, William D. Crump, has listed 53 different programs where the holiday was threatened. In his book, How the Movies Saved Christmas: 228 Rescues from Clausnappers, Sleigh Crashes, Lost Presents and Holiday Disasters, Crump identifies the following five most frequent menaces:
Though not among the top 5 kidnapping Santa has featured in 10 films, including the amazingly dreadful Santa Claus conquers the Martians.
Some head-scratching posers for those who like to mix Christmas and sport.
(a) They had sleeves for the first time.
(b) They featured corporate logos.
(c) They all had black arm bands to honour military dead.
(d) They had no player numbers on the front.
(a) Melbourne
(b) Sydney
(c) Perth
(d) Canberra
(a) Elf roping.
(b) Chimney climbing
(c) Porridge eating
(d) Reindeer racing
(a) Eric Peterson, who played the grumpy Oscar on Corner Gas
(b) William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk of Star Trek
(c) John Dunsworth, also known as Mr. Lahey of Trailer Park Boys
(d) Steve Smith, who was Red Green of the Red Green Show
(a) The Immaculate Reception
(b) The Ghost to the Post
(c) The Hail Mary to Larry
(d) The Grab Heard Round the World
(a) A 3-3 tie.
(b) Red Army 4 Canadiens 2
(c) Canadiens 6 Red Army 1
(d) Canadiens win 4-3 in overtime.
(a) Ethiopia
(b) Finland
(c) Sweden
(d) Iceland
(a) Germany 3-British 2
(b) 3-3 tie
(c) Game called on account of renewed artillery fire
(d) British 3-Germans 2
(a) They were the first sports uniform to feature player names.
(b) They wore red fezzes with blue tassels.
(c) They sported blue balloon pants, or “bloomers”
(d) They played without shirts and their numbers were written on their skin with coal dust.
(a) Football
(b) Cheese-rolling
(c) Competitive drinking
(d) Archery
ANSWERS
1. Answer: D
2. Answer: B
3. Answer: D
4. Answer: C. He gave up cigarettes to train for the events and could run nearly 100 yards. The 2013 games were won by a Santa from Hong Kong.
5. Answer: B. The catch was made by Dave Casper, whose nickname was “The Ghost”.
6. Answer: A. Montreal outplayed the Soviets but Ken Dryden let in two soft ones over his left shoulder. Vladislav Tretiak was the star as Montreal outshot the Army 38-13. The photo above shows Tretiak surrounded by Pete Mahovlich and Yvan Cournoyer.
7. Answer: A. In fact the word for Christmas and the Ethiopian variety of field hockey are the same.
8. Answer: A. There is a lot of argument about the final score from different sources but everybody agrees the Germans won.
9. Answer: B. They were “Zouaves”, troops who wore uniforms like French Arab soldiers: red balloon pants, ornamental cloth jackets, white spats, and fezzes with blue tassels.
10. Answer: D
Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago is a time to look back on the old and prepare for the new year. The house must be given a thorough cleaning and decorated; a portion of the Christmas budget always goes to buying something new for the house at this time of year. New curtains are hung, windows are washed, furniture is recovered, long-delayed repairs are made, a new piece of linoleum is laid and the paint brush is busy. The famous Black Fruit Cake must be prepared well in advance to let the flavours be soaked up. The same is true for the home-made drinks: the plantain wine, sorrel, ginger beer and Ponche à Creme.
Christmas food is plentiful with the main course usually a ham, or perhaps a turkey, backed by sweet potatoes, pastelles, calaloo and crab, pigeon peas and rice. Extras must be oprepared for the relatives returning for the holiday from North America and visiros that are sure to drop in on Christmas and Boxing Day. Most island families will go to church for the Christmas Eve midnight service or the morning service on Christmas Day.
The most distinctive aspect of a Trinidadian Christmas is the music of the season, parang. The term is derived from the Spanish parranda or “spree”– Trinidad was a Spanish colony until 1797 when it fell to the British. The music itself is a lively combination of Spanish and Venezuelan influences which melded over the centuries. It was customary for groups of parranderos to go from house to house singing these Christmas songs (in Spanish for the most part) and receiving hospitality in return. Like the parrandistas of Christmas in Puerto Rico they have songs to gain admission to the house and different topics to sing once they are admitted. Today the traditional acoustic instruments have given way to electrified instruments but the spirit of love for the season and hospitality remain the same. Traditionalists worry about the modernization of the art form. A new variety entitled soca-parang has emerged, praising Christmas with different rhythms and English lyrics.
Once Christmas has passed Trinidadians begin to prepare for the onset of Carnival
Fans of antique Christmas cards know Nimble Nick as the chubby little boy in a Santa Claus suit adorning the work of the Whitney company in the 1910s and 1920s. His picture is often accompanied by a little verse or the image of a similarly-clad little girl.
From Saint To Santa The History Of Santa Claus by Gregory Branson-Trent tells us how St Nicholas is honoured along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Among Albanians, Saint Nicholas is known as Shen’Kollë and is venerated by most Catholic families, even those from villages that are devoted to other saints. The Feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated on the eve of December 5, known as Shen’Kolli i Dimnit (Saint Nicholas of Winter), as well as on the commemoration of the interring of his bones in Bari, the eve of May 8, known as Shen’Kolli i Majit (Saint Nicholas of May). Albanian Catholics often swear by Saint Nicholas, saying “Pasha Shejnti Shen’Kollin!” (“May I see Holy Saint Nicholas!”), indicting the importance of this saint in Albanian culture, especially among the Albanians of Malësia. On the eve of his feast day, Albanians will light a candle and abstain from meat, preparing a feast of roasted lamb and pork, to be served to guests after midnight. Guests will greet each other, saying, “Nata e Shen’Kollit ju nihmoftë!” (“May the Night of Saint Nicholas help you!”) and other such blessings. The bones of Albania’s greatest hero, Gjergj Kastrioti, were also interred in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Lezha, Albania, upon his death.
St. Nicholas (San Nicola) is the patron of the city of Bari, where the bones stolen from the saint’s tomb in Myra are buried. Its deeply-felt celebration is called the Festa di San Nicola, held on the 7-8-9 of May. In particular on May 8 the relics of the saint are carried on a boat on the sea in front of the city with many boats following (Festa a mare). On December 6 there is a ritual called the Rito delle nubili. The same tradition is currently observed in Sassari, where during the day of Saint Nicholas, patron of the city, gifts are given to young brides who need help before getting married. In Trieste St. Nicholas (San Nicolò) is celebrated with gifts given to children on the morning of the 6th of December and with a fair called Fiera di San Nicolò during the first weeks of December. Depending on the cultural background, in some families this celebration is more important than Christmas. Trieste is a city on the sea, being one of the main ports of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is influenced mainly by Italian, Slovenian and German cultures, but also Greek and Serbian.