Christmas Every Day

1493

Columbus issues a letter

Shortly before making landfall on his return from his first Voyage to the Indies, Columbus wrote this letter, excerpted below:

Since I know that you will be pleased by the great victory which Our Lord has given me on my voyage, I am writing you this letter, from which you will learn how in twenty days I crossed to the Indies with the fleet which the King and Queen, our most illustrious sovereigns, gave me. I found there very many islands inhabited by people without number, and I have taken possession of them all on behalf of Their Highnesses by proclamation and by unfurling the royal standard, and I was not contradicted.

To the first island I found I gave the name San Salvador in memory of His High Majesty who miraculously has given all this; the Indians call it Guanahaní. To the second I gave the name the island of Santa María de Concepción; to the third, Fernandina; to the fourth, Isabela; to the fifth, the island of Juana, and so on, to each a new name.

When I reached Juana I followed the coast to the west and I found it to be so large that I thought it must be the mainland, the province of Cathay; and since I found no towns or villages on the coast except small settlements with whose inhabitants I could not speak because they all immediately fled, I continued on that course thinking that I could not fail to find great cities or towns.

After many leagues, having seen that there was nothing new and that the coast was carrying me northwards, which was not the course I wished to take because winter was now drawing on and I proposed to make to the south, and as moreover the wind was carrying me forward, I decided to wait no longer and I turned round and made for a fine harbour. From there I sent two men inland to find out if there was a king or any great cities. They travelled for three days and found an infinite number of small villages and countless people, but no sign of authority; for which reason they returned. I understood well enough from some other Indians I had already taken that the whole of this coast was an island; and so I followed the coast one hundred and seven leagues to the east to where it ended.

I sighted another island to the east, eighteen leagues distant, to which I then gave the name Español… Española is a marvel; the sierras and the mountains and the plains and the fields and the land are so beautiful and rich for planting and sowing, for raising all kinds of cattle, for building towns and villages. The harbours are beyond the belief of anyone who has not seen them, and the many great rivers give good waters of which the majority bear gold. There are great differences between the trees and fruit and plants and those of Juana. On this island there are many spices and great mines of gold and other metals.

All the people on this island and all the others I have found or have learned of go naked, men and women alike, just as their mothers bear them, although some women cover themselves in one place with a leaf from a plant or a cotton garment which they make for the purpose.

They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they that way inclined, not because they are not well built and of fine bearing, but because they are amazingly timid. They have no other weapons than those made from canes cut when they are in seed, to the ends of which they fix a sharp stick; and they dare not use them, for many times I have happened to send two or three men ashore to some town to speak to them and a great number of them have come out, and as soon as they see the men coming they run off, parents not even waiting for children, and not because any harm has been done to any of them; on the contrary, everywhere I have been and have been able to speak to them I have given them some of everything I had, cloth and many other things, without receiving anything in exchange; but they are simply incurably timid.

The truth is that, once they gain confidence and lose this fear, they are so lacking in guile and so generous with what they have that no-one would believe it unless they saw it. They never refuse to give whatever they have, whenever they are asked; rather, they offer it willingly and with such love that they would give their hearts, and whether it is something of value or of little worth, they are happy with whatever they are given in return, however it is given …. I gave them thousands of pretty things I carried with me so that they would be well disposed and, moreover, would become christians, inclined to the love of Their Highnesses and the whole Castilian nation, and help us by giving us the things they have in abundance and of which we have need.

They knew no sect and were not idolaters, except that they all believe that power and good come from heaven, and they believed very firmly that I and these ships and crew came from heaven and in this belief they received me everywhere, once they had overcome their fear. And this is not because they are ignorant; rather, they are of subtle intelligence and can find their way around those seas, and give a marvellously good account of everything; it is only because they have never seen men clothed or ships of that kind. When I arrived in the Indies, at the first island I found I took some of them by force so that they could learn and give me information about what there was in those parts, and in that way they soon understood us and we them, whether by word or by sign; and they have been very useful to us. I still have them with me, and they still insist that I come from heaven, in spite of all the exchanges they have had with me, and they were the first to announce this wherever I went, and the others would run from house to house and to the nearby towns shouting: “come, come and see the people from heaven.” In this way they all flocked in, men and women alike, great and small, once they were confident about us; none were left behind, and they all brought something to eat and drink, which they gave with marvellous affection….

So I have found no monsters, nor heard of any except on an island here which is the second one as you approach the Indies and which is inhabited by people who are held in all the islands to be very ferocious and who eat human flesh. These people have many canoes in which they sail around all the islands of India robbing and stealing whatever they want; they are no more malformed than the others except that they wear their hair long like women and they carry bows and arrows made from the same cane stems with a small stick at the end for want of iron which they do not have. They are ferocious with these other people who are excessively cowardly, but I take no more account of them than of the rest.

In conclusion, to speak only of what has been achieved on this voyage, which was very rapid, Their Highnesses can see that I will give them as much gold as they require if Their Majesties will give me only a very little help; as much spice and cotton as Their Majesties may order to be shipped, as much mastic as they may order to be shipped, which until now has only been found in Greece, on the island of Chios, and the Genoese government sells it for whatever it likes, and as much aloe as they may order to be shipped and as many slaves as they may order to be shipped, and who will be from among the idolaters. I believe that I have found rhubarb and cinnamon and that I will find a thousand other things of value which the men I have left there will have discovered; for I have not delayed at any point whenever the wind gave me the opportunity to sail, except at the town of Navidad for as long as I might leave it safe and secure. And in truth I could have done a great deal more if the ships had served me as reason demanded.

That is enough. Eternal God, our Lord, gives to all those who follow His path victory over things which appear impossible, and this was a very notable example. For, although these lands may have been spoken or written of, that was all conjecture, without eye-witness, and those who heard the stories listened to them and judged them more as fables than as having the least vestige of truth. Therefore, since Our Redeemer gave to our most illustrious King and Queen and to their famous kingdoms this victory in such great matters, the whole of Christendom should be joyful and hold great celebrations and give solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity with many solemn prayers for the great exultation they will have when so many people return to our holy faith and for the temporal benefits which will bring solace and profit not only to Spain but to all christians. This is a brief account of what has been achieved.

Dated on board the caravel, off the islands of the Canaries, 15 February in the year 1493.

Your obedient servant. The Admiral.

St Valentine’s Eve

During the 19th century, inhabitants of the eastern English city of Norwich celebrated the unique custom described here in Chamber’s Book of Days.

At Norwich, St. Valentine’s eve appears to be still kept as a time for a general giving and receiving of gifts. It is a lively and stirring scene. The streets swarm with carriers, and baskets laden with treasures; bang, bang, bang go the knockers, and away rushes the banger, depositing first upon the door-step some packages from the basket of stores—again and again at intervals, at every door to which a missive is addressed, is the same repeated, till the baskets are empty. Anonymously, St. Valentine presents his gifts, labelled only with “St Valentine’s love,” and “Good morrow, Valentine.” Then within the houses of destination, the screams, the shouts, the rushings to catch the bang-bangs,—the flushed faces, sparkling eyes, rushing feet to pick up the fairy-gifts—inscriptions to be interpreted, mysteries to be unravelled, hoaxes to be found out —great hampers, heavy and ticketed “With care, this side upwards,” to be unpacked, out of which jump live little boys with St. Valentine’s love to the little ladies fair,—the sham bang-bangs, that bring nothing but noise and fun—the mock parcels that vanish from the door-step by invisible strings when the door opens—monster parcels that dwindle to thread papers denuded of their multiplied envelopes, with fitting mottoes, all tending to the final consummation of good counsel, “Happy is he who expects nothing, and he will not be disappointed.” 

This lovely practice disappeared but there are recent attempts in Norwich to revive the custom.

1952 The succession of Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith succeeded her father George VI on this day. She received the news while visiting Kenya as part of a royal tour. As part of Elizabeth’s formal accession she was required to sign this document:

The formal insistence on the monarch’s Protestantism was a product of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and is still a part of the job requirements. The Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church of England; whether her putative successor, the future Charles III, will be comfortable with that is open for debate. The great lummox had said he would prefer to be known as “Defender of the Faiths” [sic] but was, apparently, talked out of it.

The standard version of the royal anthem (which my generation regularly sang as schoolchildren) is:

God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!

1836 Politics by candle-light

The Speech from the Throne is a solemn moment in the conduct of business in those legislatures which have adopted the British parliamentary system (the supreme form of government ever conceived by humans.) In it the monarch (or his vice-regal representative) enters the Upper House (being forbidden to enter the House of Commons since Charles I’s invasion of 1642) and reads the speech which outlines the government’s plans for the forthcoming session. What follows is the 19th-century account of such a speech going awry.

The opening-day of the Session of Parliament in 1836 (February 4), was unusually gloomy, which, added to an imperfection in the sight of King William IV, and the darkness of the House, rendered it impossible for his Majesty to read the royal speech with facility. Most patiently and good-naturedly did he struggle with the task, often hesitating, sometimes mistaking, and at others correcting himself. On one occasion, he stuck altogether, and after two or three ineffectual efforts to make out the word, he was obliged to give it up; when, turning to Lord Melbourne, who stood on his right hand, and looking him most significantly in the face, he said in a tone sufficiently loud to be audible in all parts of the House, ‘Eh! what is it?’ Lord Melbourne having whispered the obstructing word, the King proceeded to toil through the speech; but by the time he got to about the middle, the librarian brought him two wax-lights, on which he suddenly paused; then raising his head, and looking at the Lords and Commons, he addressed them, on the spur of the moment, in a perfectly distinct voice, and without the least embarrassment or the mistake of a single word, in these terms:

My Lords and Gentlemen, I have hitherto not been able, from want of light, to read this speech in the way its importance deserves; but as lights are now brought me, I will read it again from the commencement, and in a way which, I trust, will command your attention.

The King then again, though evidently fatigued by the difficulty of reading in the first instance, began at the beginning, and read through the speech in a manner which would have done credit to any professor of elocution.

962 The first Holy Roman Emperor

Some consider Charlemagne’s coronation on Christmas Day 800 as the first creation of a Holy Roman Emperor, but credit should really go to Pope John XII crowning German king Otto I. Otto the Great united Germany, added other conquests, sparked the Ottonian Renaissance and saved Europe from barbarian invasion by defeating the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld.

1857 The first celebration of Groundhog’s Day

Growing out of immigrant German customs in Pennsylvania, the first official Groundhog’s Day is observed in Punxsutawney. Promoted by Clymer H. Freas, the editor of the local Punxsutawney Spirit, the town’s annual celebration is still the biggest of its kind and the model for the immortal Bill Murray comedy, Groundhog’s Day.

1943 Germans surrender at Stalingrad

From August 1942 to February 1943 almost two million men contested control of the city of Stalingrad on the Volga River. Hitler’s 6th Army wished to seize the area as part of the German plan to control the oil supplies of the Caucasus; Stalin’s troops fought to keep Volga river traffic open and prevent a propaganda coup in losing a city named after their Supreme Leader.

In November Soviet counterattacks succeeded in surrounding the city and creating what the Germans called “the kettle”. Hitler refused permission for his men to withdraw believing that they could be supplied by air and that his other forces could break the encirclement. It was not to be. Out of food and ammunition, 95,000 German and Romanian troops surrendered on this date. Only 5,000 of them, mostly officers, ever saw their homes again.

1661

Oliver Cromwell is executed post-mortem

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was a leading figure in the revolution that overthrew King Charles I and abolished the British monarchy. Cromwell was a successful general in the Parliamentary armies that defeated royalist forces in the Civil War, distinguishing himself as a cavalry commander at the battles of Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645). He favoured putting Charles on trial and signed the warrant for the king’s execution, thus becoming one of 59 “regicides” marked for vengeance should the monarchists regain the upper hand. After the establishment of the republic known as the Commonwealth, Cromwell led an army against Irish Catholics and Royalists in a campaign of massacre and atrocity that is still resented on the Emerald Isle. From 1653-58 he governed England as Lord Protector before dying of septicaemia.

The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 meant a reckoning for those who had advocated executing Charles I. Those regicides still living either fled for safety to the Continent or the American colonies, or were put on trial — most were imprisoned but 9 were given the traitor’s death of being hanged, drawn and quartered. The bodies of three dead regicides — Cromwell, his son-in-law Henry Ireton, and John Bradshaw — were disinterred from Westminster Abbey, mutilated and hanged in chains, after which the dismembered corpses were thrown in a pit. Cromwell’s head was preserved and is buried in a Cambridge college chapel. 

1963

The Pro Football Hall of Fame names its first inductees. How many names can you recognize? Do you recall which one was “Johnny Blood”, the “Galloping Ghost”, the “Old Master”, “Old Indestructible”, or the “Big Dog”? In alphabetical order they are:

“Slingin” Sammy Baugh, quarterback, punter, and defensive back with the Washington Redskins, 1937-52.

Bert Bell, founder and coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and NFL Commissioner, 1933-59.

Joseph Carr, owner of the Columbus Panhandles and NFL President, 1920-39.

Dutch Clark, running back with the Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions, 1931-38.

Harold “Red” Grange, halfback with the Chicago Bears and New York Yankees, 1925-34.

George Halas, end, coach, and owner, Chicago Bears, 1920-83.

Mel Hein, centre, New York Giants, 1931-45.

Pete Henry, tackle, Canton Bulldogs, Pottsville Maroons, and New York Giants, 1920-28.

Cal Hubbard, tackle, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1927-36.

Don Hutson, end, safety, and kicker, Green Bay Packers, 1935-45.

Earl “Curly” Lambeau, halback, coach, and manager, Green Bay Packers, 1919-53.

Tim Mara, owner New York Giants, 1925-59.

George Preston Marshall, owner Boston Braves/Washington Redskins, 1932-69.

John McNally, halfback,Milwaukee Badgers, Duluth Eskimos, Pottsville Maroons, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1925-38.

Bronko Nagurski, fullback, linebacker, Chicago Bears, 1930-37, 1943.

Ernie Nevers, fullback and coach, Duluth Eskimos, Chicago Cardinals, 1926-39.

Jim Thorpe, halback, coach, first NFL President, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, Oorang Indians, Rock Island Independents, New York Giants, Chicago Cardinals, 1915-28.

1640, the burial of a melancholy author

One of the most interesting books of the 17th century is The Anatomy of Melancholy, a massive treatise on mental illness, particularly depression. It is the work of the Oxford scholar Robert Burton (1577-1640). According to Dr Samuel Johnson, it was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.

Of his own mental condition Burton said:  “a kind of imposthume in my head, which I was very desirous to be unladen of and could imagine no fitter evacuation than this … I write of melancholy, by being busy to avoid melancholy. There is no greater cause of melancholy than idleness, no better cure than business”. In his view, melancholy was “a disease so frequent … in our miserable times, as few there are that feele not the smart of it”, and he said he compiled his book “to prescribe means how to prevent and cure so universall a malady, an Epidemicall disease, that so often, so much crucifies the body and mind.”

Here are some of his observations:

“He that increaseth wisdom, increaseth sorrow.”

“What cannot be cured must be endured.”

“Wine is strong, the king is strong, women are strong, but truth overcometh all things.”

1885 The death of General Gordon 

Charles George Gordon, aka “Chinese” Gordon, aka “Gordon of Khartoum” (1833-1885) was a charismatic and controversial military leader during the explosion of European imperialism in the last half of the 19th century.

Gordon was born into an English military family and joined the British army as an engineering officer. He saw action in the Crimean War at the siege of Sebastopol and then was sent to China which was then in the midst of the worst civil war in history, the Taiping Rebellion. He won lasting fame serving with the Chinese army against the rebels, building a reputation for incorruptibility, charismatic leadership and bravery. He led a mercenary force called the “Ever Victorious Army” to a number of victories, winning honours from the Chinese emperor, promotion from the British army, and a world-wide reputation.

In 1874 he entered the service of the Khedive of Egypt, on paper an official of the Turkish government, in his own mind the ruler of an independent Egypt, and to the British, a puppet ruler through whom they could control the Suez canal. The Egyptians wished to expand their control down the Nile, through Sudan toward equatorial Africa which was rife with the Arab slave trade in black natives. Gordon as Governor-General on the upper Nile, worked to suppress the slave trade and keep the corruption of the Egyptian army and officials to a minimum. In 1880 he returned to England.

About that time a remarkable rebel leader arose in the Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad (1844-85), who declared himself the Mahdi, a figure in Muslim eschatology who was expected to usher in the End Times.  Using messianic expectations he raised an army that scoured the countryside and threatened to cut off the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. He proclaimed: “I  am the Mahdi, the Successor of the Prophet of God. Cease to pay taxes to the infidel Turks and let everyone who finds a Turk kill him, for the Turks are infidels.”

Gordon was sent by the British government with instructions from Prime Minister Gladstone to evacuate British and Egyptian troops and civilians from Khartoum. However, after successfully extracting the majority of evacuees Gordon announced he would stay and defend Khartoum. The Mahdi’s army laid siege to the city and greatly outnumbering their enemies they took Khartoum, killed Gordon and beheaded him. His head was stuck on a tree “where all who passed it could look in disdain, children could throw stones at it and the hawks of the desert could sweep and circle above.” A relief army sent to his rescue arrived two days too late and finding only a massacred garrison in a destroyed city withdrew. The news was received with enormous anger in Britain and Queen Victoria publicly chastised Gladstone.

The Mahdi died a few months after his conquest of Khartoum and the harsh rule of his fundamentalist regime led to the sending another British army in 1898 under General Kitchener. The Mahdist caliphate was destroyed and the Mahdi’s body dug up and thrown into the Nile.

On January 22, 1879 the British army had been dealt a stinging defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana, losing over 1,000 troops to a Zulu army of 20,000. In the aftermath of the massacre, as Zulu detachments pursued those fleeing the battle, 4 regiments of warriors encountered a British outpost at a medical mission at Rorke’s Drift.

The detachment there consisted of engineers detailed to repair a bridge over the Buffalo River, a cavalry unit, Natal militia and regular infantry there to guard the supplies. Some time after noon, two British refugees from the disaster at Isandlwana brought the news to Rorke’s Drift and the officers in charge had to decide whether to retreat — a dicey proposition moving in daylight through enemy territory, burdened by hospital patients — or to fortify the camp and resist the Zulu force they had been told was coming their way. They decided to stay and fight, a decision which caused the native horse and infantry to desert, leaving about 150 men to face 3-4,000 Zulus.

These Zulu regiments had not fought at Isandlwana, only serving as a reserve force, and they may have been looking for a little action, because their commander disobeyed orders. Instead of sweeping past the post to block reinforcements, they attacked the outpost. There they discovered that the British had created high walls out of grain sacks. In 12 hours of hand-to-hand combat the hospital was set on fire and the patients there murdered in their beds, hundreds of Zulus were killed by British rifle fire, and the red-coats suffered 17 dead. On January 23, the Zulus withdrew.

To celebrate the bravery of the men at Rorke’s Drift, and to distract public attention from the defeat at Isandlwana, 12 Victoria Crosses were awarded. Cinematic treatments of the battle and its prelude are Zulu and Zulu Dawn, both well worth watching.