Prepare For Post-Spamming (UPDATE)

Hello everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmases, or your Wednesdays, or other. This is just a very quick post to give you all a heads up. During the month of December I created an event called Advent Countdown- where I created a virtual advent calendar with a post for each day on it. I kept these posts hidden for the purposes of the event, but they'll be appearing on this blog starting today. The only way I could keep each post hidden, was to trick it into believing it had already been published at a far earlier date. I'm going back and correcting all the dates, which means they'll show up at the top of my blog posts. 

That's pretty much it. Now that the event is over, and the holidays are calming down a little (well, there's still New Year's), I'll be getting back into my regular posting schedule for reviews. What with one thing and another, I just literally have not had the time, but I'm happy to say that that won't be true for long. I have a book haul coming your way soon, so look out for that if you're interested. 

Well that's all I wanted to say. Happy Boxing Day to those who celebrate it. Have a wonderful Thursday to those who don't. See you all soon.

Day 25- Merry Whatever!

Credit: http://www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/2013/12/20/merry-christmas-happy-holidays-2013-2014/

Hello and welcome to Day 25 of Advent Countdown. We did it guys. Wooo, it's been a stressful month, and posting everyday is quite time consuming. Props to those who do. Thank you to everyone who has joined me for Advent Countdown. I hope you enjoyed it.

Anyway, this is just a quick post to say thanks and Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, have a great Wednesday, or whatever. Everyone have a great day (whatever you're doing). See you all next time.

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" sung by Weezer
Credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-6sSRej9Q

Day 24- Twas the....

Hello and welcome to Day 24 of Advent Countdown. Today I thought I'd tell you all a little about Christmas Eve traditions in my house.

Christmas Eve is a day of getting everything done. Some cooking takes place, some movies are watched, and some emergency shopping is done by some members of the family. Personally, I like to shop early, and get it all done by the beginning of December. I actually start a list of what I want to get people pretty early on. Anything I see during the year that I think might be nice for someone, I add to their individual list. By the end of November, I've done some fine-tuning and decided exactly what I want to get every person on my list. So when December comes around, I actually get it all done. If I'm ordering anything online, I think it's especially important to get it early. Things can go wrong. Shipping problems, sold out issues, life can get in the way, etc, etc. I spend a long time deciding what to get people, and it would be a shame if procrastination got in the way of being able to do that. For my own peace of mind, I always prefer to start early.

I usually spend my Christmas Eve wrapping gifts for everyone, listening to seasonal songs and watching my favourite festive movies, absorbing as much of the good cheer as possible. 

At night, everyone in my family puts out a stocking. And I mean everyone. Our pets get one too. No matter how old I get, this is a tradition that will be carried on through the years. Once you get old enough that your parents are no longer doing it, you find yourself making your significant other's. And someday you'll be doing it for your own kids. I think the stocking may be my favourite Christmas tradition. You wake up, see it at the end of your bed and you just know- Christmas has begun. 

Other than that, my family doesn't really do much for Christmas Eve. We like to spend it alone, just us and get ready for the insanity and hecticness that is tomorrow. 

Thank you all for joining me for Day 24 of Advent Countdown. I do have a Day 25 for you all tomorrow, so join me tomorrow for that. 

Day 23- You're a Mean One...

Hello and welcome to Day 23 of Advent Countdown. A little late today I know, but hopefully you can understand why when you see what I have in store for you.

My very own version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' by Dr. Seuss- though this one is based off the TV special from 1966. For legal reasons I have to say, I do not own anything. I simply re-recorded the audio, then applied images drawn by myself (obviously inspired by screenshots from the short) and turned them into a 'movie'. My goodness, this took a lot of work. And the recording nearly destroyed my voice. Haha, that Grinch voice is certainly hard to do for any period of time. Unfortunately, I also had a bit of a cold during the recording, but I don't think it's overly obvious. I'm afraid some of the quality was also lost in the upload- both in the audio and video too, but I hope you'll get some enjoyment out of it. I used a transcript I found here. Please enjoy:

Well I hope you did. If you'd like to share this attempt at entertainment, please ask me, and make sure to credit me please. Thank you all for joining me for this delayed day Day 23. See you all tomorrow for Day 24 of Advent Countdown. Are you panicking yet?

Day 22- He Sees You When You're Sleeping

Hello everyone, and welcome to Day 22 of Advent Countdown. Today I'm looking at the big man himself. In my culture that would be Father Christmas/ Santa Claus, depending on whether you prefer the British or American name. But who exactly is he? And how did he come to be? Well let's find out.

Frank Sinatra "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"

Credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GavVjuVko0

A man of many names. Some call him either of the two above, or Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle, or simply Santa for short, but do all these names refer to the same person?

Credit: http://crazy-frankenstein.com/free-wallpapers-files/christmas-santa-claus-wallpapers/santa-claus-arrived.jpg

Credit:
 http://www.saintnicholas.org/Files/image/Icons/st_nicholas_myra_500.jpg

Let start with Saint Nicholas. Often said to be the predecessor to the modern Santa, and the original gift-giver. But was he? Saint Nicholas was a Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Anatolia (now Turkey) during the fourth century. He was very religious, even from a young age, and devoted his life to Christianity. Famous for his generous gifts to the poor, including a famous event where he left three bags of gold anonymously on one family's doorstop, so their father could use them as dowries and his daughters wouldn't be forced into prostitution. 

So well loved was he, that for centuries people celebrated a day in his namesake- Saint Nicholas Day, on the sixth of December. During the Middles Ages, children were given gifts on the Eve of the fifth in his honour. During the Reformation (and its opposition to the worship of saints in many countries), the date was moved to the 24th and the 25th, and Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus. 

Credit:
http://www.biography.com/imported/images/
Biography/Images/Profiles/L/Martin-Luther-9389283-1-402.jpg

The custom of gifts for Christmas began with Martin Luther. He wanted children to focus on Christ, rather than Saint Nicholas or any other saints. It was he who suggested Christkind as the replacement gift-giver (who remains so in many cultures), but Saint Nicholas held his popularity in a majority. 








Prior to Christianity, the Germanic peoples (and the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule. When Christianity spread through Germanic Europe, many of the Yuletide traditions were brought into modern Christmas. 

Credit: http://www.asatru.ru/visions/wildhunt.jpg

During Yule, people believed that supernatural occurrences were much more frequent. One such event was the Wild Hunt- a ghostly procession through the sky. Many believe the leader of the hunt was Odin himself (as he has been given the names 'Jolnir' (meaning yule figure) and 'Langbaror' (meaning long-beard).  

Credit:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/
Georg_von_Rosen_-_Oden_som_
vandringsman,_1886_(Odin,_the_Wanderer).jpg

Odin is thought to have some mark on the formation of the current St. Nick- with his long, white beard, and his custom of  bringing gifts to children.
















In the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, St. Nicholas is often referred to as 'De Goede Sint' (The Good Saint) or Sinterklaas. He is portrayed as an elderly, serious man with white hair and a long, full beard. He wore a red cape over a traditional white bishop's alb, wore a red mitre, and held a long, gold shepherd's staff with a curled top (a crosier). He would distribute presents to children, checking his book of Saint Nicholas (full of childrens' names) to see if they had been naughty or nice.  This is a version of the real Saint Nicholas, who's celebration day is the 6th of December. He would arrive on a steam boat from Spain in mid-November, and begin to distribute gifts to all the houses (during a three week period), riding on a white horse above the rooftops.

Credit: http://www.kb.nl/sites/default/files/xkw_2865_voorplat_sinterklaas.jpg

Credit:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ucmj2UupKT4/TOn40brcxrI
/AAAAAAAAA3o/Ua6nXjAX9JE/s1600/Tomte_by_Jenny_Nystrom.jpg

In the 1840's, Nordic folklore celebrated a being known as 'Tomte' or 'Nisse'. In Denmark, he became their gift-bringer, and was normally portrayed as a short, bearded man dressed in grey clothes and a red hat. This was very much a corruption of the folkloric creature, now influenced by the new Santa Claus traditions making their way through Scandinavia. By the end of the nineteenth century, these new traditions had reached Norway and Sweden, replacing the Yule Goat. However, a straw goat is still a common Christmas decoration throughout Scandinavia.

Father Christmas had a different origin. In sixteenth century England (during the rule of Henry VIII), Father Christmas was portrayed as a large man dressed in green or red robes lined with fur. He was the embodiment of good cheer at Christmas, and brought peace, joy, good food, wine and revelry. At this point, England no longer celebrated Saint Nicholas Day, so Father Christmas' celebration was put on the 25th to coincide with Christmas. 

Credit:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1
/Scrooges_third_visitor-John_Leech,1843.jpg

He had many portrayals, and the Victorians brought him to new life. A famous depiction was the image of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', where he was illustrated by John Leech as a great, jolly man wearing green robes lined with fur. Around this point in time, Father Christmas and Santa Claus were widely seen as one and the same person. 












So Santa Claus himself is a mix of all three above- Saint Nicholas, Sinterklass and Father Christmas. His own name was first used by the American press in 1773. Many of his modern attributes (including flying, his sleigh, the reindeer and going down chimneys) were made canon by Clement Clark Moore's popular 'A Visit From St. Nicholas' (now more commonly known as 'The Night Before Christmas'), which he published anonymously in 1823.

Though his chimney entering ways may also have come from Pre-Christian Norse traditions. Odin would often drop down chimneys to deliver gifts on the Solstice. In Italian Befana tradition, a gift-giving witch is portrayed as constantly covered in soot from her trips down chimneys, and even in tales of Saint Nicholas himself, he would throw coins in through windows of peoples' houses. This evolved to down the chimney, as windows would often be locked. 

The hearth itself was seen as a sacred source of magic, used by elves and faeries as a portal to our world, that they used to deliver gifts. However, the association of chimneys with Santa Claus was down to Clement Clark Moore's aforementioned poem.

His base in the North Pole is thought to be down to an illustration done by American cartoonist, Thomas Nast. In 1863 he drew an image of the Jolly Old St. Nick, with the caption "Santa Claussville, N.P.".

Mrs. Clause may have come from a poem by Katherine Lee Bates in 1889 called, "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride",  but she was popularised and brought into the canon in 1956, when George Melachrino released a song called, 'Mrs. Santa Claus'. 

Woah, there was a lot to get through there. No doubt this isn't all the lore that brought the modern Santa to life, but I did my best. I hope you all enjoyed learning about one of the most famous men of all time. 

Thank you for joining me for Day 22 of Advent Countdown. See you all tomorrow for Day 23. 


References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus