You still have a chance to see the Sanford Zoo’s Asian Lantern Festival tonight and tomorrow for this week and then it starts up again next Wed thru Sunday 12/4 – 8 and the Wed – Sunday goes on until 1/12/20. . Check above and below for more details. And while I wasn’t able to attend the festival I was able to make a visit to the Zoo this last week and I’ll have full details (including a few pictures (check out the main picture today for a couple of those beautiful lanterns that will be lighted at the Festival times.
Mistletoe was held sacred by the Norse, the Celtic Druids, and Native American Indians, because it remains green and bears fruit during the winter when other plants seem to die. Druids thought the plant had the power to cure infertility and nervous diseases, and to ward off evil.
https://greenglobaltravel.com/christmas-traditions-around-the-world/
France – France is widely known for its food and delicacies. People in the Provence region even go so far as to serve a sumptuous feast of seven main courses and 13 desserts at Christmas! Among the most popular festive dishes are: Fougasse (pancakes), nougat with honey and pistachios, pumpkin pie and dried fruits.
https://www.ef.edu/blog/language/christmas-around-the-world/
Around Belmont County, Ohio
and routes #147 & #800
Farmer Fields, forests and rolling hills makes this a lovely little piece of Americana and a good way to spend some time with family and friends exploring and enjoying a day’s drive or an overnight trip and find America.
One of the points of interest:
Bellaire: Home of the National Imperial Glass Museum.
Founded in 1901 in Bellaire as New Crystal Glass Company by 1904 t had become Imperial Glass. By 1907 it had sealed a deal with Woolworth Co and it’s two furnaces were nearly at capacity. It was producing carnival glass by D1909 thru 1920’s. In 1923 it added a Free Hand Line in 1923. (discontinued in 1928). In 1931 (Depression) it filed for bankruptcy and began reorganizing as the Imperial Glass Corporation which was sucessfu and by 1936 their Imperial glass Candlewick was a great success with over 200 items of that style being produced. But the 1950s brought tough times which resulted in the introduction of new lines in the 60’s. They were purchased by a party with no experience in the glassware line in 1973 and continued to decline being sold again in 1982 and went out of business in 1984. The factory was razed in 1994.
The museum has an outstanding collection of pieces produced by Imperial
For more info on the tour go to Belmont County, Ohio Drovers’Trail Scenic Byway: Routes #147 & 800 Driving Tour https://www.visitbelmontcounty.com/post/travel-the-drovers-trail
In Iceland, children put their shoes on the windowsill so the ‘Juletide Lads’, the Santa Claus, fills the shoes with little goodies.
https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/christmas-around-the-world.html
Another Gift for the person who has everything:
Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Nottingham, U K
It is estimated that this church was founded in the mid-7th c AD, The original building is thought to have been a wooden structure at this site at what was the center or close to it of Nottingham. It is listed in the 1086 Domesday survey as the only church in the royal borough and thus considered to have royal status.
The present building is said to be the 3rd on this site—and this new building was built from between the 13th and 14th centuries. It’s magnificent architecture is a testimony to the status of the city at that time. The town’s Guildhall stood nearby
Henry VIII”s directives, reformation and Civil War did much to strip the sanctuary of it’s original ornamentation and earlier Catholic trappings and the second world war didn’t help. but what you see today is a loving restoration and rebuilding of the city’s finest surviving medieval building.
Learn more history at www.nottsopenchurches.com
In the above view you see the 125′ tower (38 metres) supported by massive piers inside the church. Outside there are 3 stages: blind arcading at its lowest, large four light Perpendicular windows (on each side) in the middle and at the top are four narrower four-light Perpendicular windows flanked by pairs of blind arcading. The angle buttresses at each corner has five extensions, and the tower is crowned by battlements and pinnacles. There is a ring of 12 bells which are using regularly.
And the Lion and unicorn stand on either side of the crown that surmounts the west door and have been in the church sine the early 18th c.—though not originally in this position. It is believed that they were commissioned to commemorate the time that Queen Anne (a princess at the time) resided in the city during a Revolution in 1688 that took the throne from her father James II. They eventually became a memorial to the unionization of England (the Lion) and Scotland (the Unicorn) in 1707.
Christmas in Australia falls in summertime; a typical Christmas meal is a barbeque, which the Australians call a barbie, consisting of steak, prawns and fish (surf and turf). Ice-cream Cake is a popular Christmas dessert
http://www.fun-facts.org.uk/holidays/world_xmas.htm
Many people also associate specific foods and tastes with Christmas. Some of these delicious desserts and meals become traditions to top off the holidays. In Germany, for example, lebkuchen and linzer cookies are absolute staples during the holiday season. Lebkuchen is a gingerbread cookie that perfectly pairs with the delightful Christmas spirit. Many recipes have traveled across continents to infuse the heritage of the origin into the family celebrations. Making, sharing, and celebrating food is part of most Christmas get-togethers, though the dishes vary not only from country to country but from chef to chef.
The Legends of the Once and Future According to me
My own writings on the subject for what that’s worth.
Some may wonder if the sex of a person does in any way determine a person’s acquiring and using magical power. I have not seen this to be in anyway a determinate. I feel that women may have a closer connection to the earth and life due to their reproductive functions—but this is not an assumption I have found to be supported by those I have witnessed over the times of this account, for I have seen both male and female raise to high levels of power and capabilities over my many years of this recording.
Czech Republic: Single women stand with their backs to the door and throw a shoe. If the heel lands toward to door, she will remain single for another year. If the front of the shoe points to the door, she may move out of her parents’ house and should start making wedding arrangements.
Christmas Parades are popular holiday celebrations. Most major cities hold a Santa Claus Parade in November, with some spilling over into December. For bigger cities, like Vancouver and Toronto, if you’re not up to facing the thousands of spectators that turn out for those parades, or if you just can’t make the date, consider some of the smaller local parades that also take place during the holiday season.
Toronto’s Santa Claus Parade holds the record as the longest-standing children’s parade and has marched jolly St. Nick across town for more than a century.
https://www.tripsavvy.com/christmas-traditions-and-customs-in-canada-4178657
The southeast Asian’s Catholicism is a holdover from the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines, as are traditions like the marathon nine-day series of Christmas masses called simbang gabi.
So, too, are the festive parols, or star-shaped lanterns, that brighten windows during the entire holiday season. The lights, which are meant to reflect the Star of Bethlehem in design, are named after the Spanish word for lantern, farol In the Philippines, Merry Christmas is “Maligayang Pasko.”
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/5-unique-christmas-traditions-from-around-the-world
The three traditional colors of most Christmas decorations are red, green and gold. Red symbolizes the blood of Christ, green symbolized life and rebirth, and gold represents light, royalty and wealth
- Fruitcakes last a long time intentionally. They were originally baked at the end of harvest and some of the cake was saved to be eaten at the beginning to the harvest the following year as people thought that would bring a good crop. It is the sugar and alcohol combination that helps them last so long.
There is an old tradition that in some Irish houses (although now not many), people put a tall, thick candle on the sill of the largest window after sunset on Christmas Eve. The candle is left to burn all night and represents a welcoming light for Mary and Joseph.
https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/ireland.shtml
