I am so behind on the blog and I will try to catch today. The American Charity Calendar is almost over for 2008 and it has been an extraordinary experience for me and my family. I am already thinking of next years TACC project and thinking of ways to make it better than the first year.
Today we have the picture of the traditional Danish Christmas Calendar count-down candle that is burnt down to no. 23. We have a few of those at our house too. In today’s Holiday TV episode we have Vienna create the traditional Danish woven paper heart that was invented by the great Danish fairy-tale writer and paper-cutter specialist, Hans Christian Andersen. I believe that you can still see the first one in the H.C. Andersen museum in Denmark. So take a look at the video and let me know if that does not make sense. Enjoy.
Draidle is a game played every year on Hanukah. Young and old gather around in a circle spinning a four sided top, hoping it will land on the side baring the Hebrew letter Gimel. The draidle has an inspirational story where a beautiful lesson can be learned.
During the Greek era the Jews were persecuted and the learning of Torah was forbidden. The Jews were penalized by death if this decree was broken. But that wouldn’t stop the Jews from doing what they loved. So they devised a plan in which the Jews would trick the Greeks into thinking they were playing draidle, but in reality they were actually learning Torah. The draidle was an important key which helped conserve the Torah for later generations to come.
Hanukah, an inspirational holiday with miracles and magical stories is often overlooked as an insignificant one. Many people don’t realize that Hanukah is enriched with powerful messages, like the draidle. The draidle, as well as other things were tools in which the Jews used to keep serving God. This is what helped the Torah survive such a difficult era. We should learn and see the importance of Torah from this, and just like the draidle, help preserve Torah for the next generations to come no matter what the situation is.
We were honored to have Barry Spacks on Holiday TV as a guest and sharing some of his favorite Holiday Moments. Here is some more information about Barry Spacks:
Barry Spacks is the first Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, Californa.
Nine poetry collections (most extensive: SPACKS STREET: NEW & SELECTED POEMS, from Johns Hopkins, 1982, winner of The Commonwealth Club of California’s Poetry Medal; most recent: REGARDING WOMEN, WordTech Communications, winner of the Cherry Grove Collections Prize, and THE HOPE OF THE AIR, Michigan State University Press, both 2004).
N.E.A librettist grantee; many poetry readings; poems in 18 anthologies and a multitude of journals, print and cyber; two novels, stories, essays, reviews.
For poems and novels: St. Botolph’s Arts Award, Boston.
Singer-songwriter, actor; Literature professor, M.I.T. (1960-1981); persistently Visiting Professor, U.C. Santa Barbara (Distinguished Professor in Humanities & Fine Arts, 1991). Senior Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) student of H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche.
Two CDs , A Private Reading, from WC Studios, contains 42 poems (plus chat) from 50 years of work and Selected Poems from Regarding Women.
So here it is Episode 14 – 24 hours late, but check out our amazing guest Sharon Sutton who owns Santa Barbara’s Cat House Hotel. If you ever need a place to board your cats while you are gone from your home, this it THE place to do it.
Santa Barbara Cat House Hotel
1922 De La Vina Street – Santa Barbara, CA 93101
805.563.9999
Sharon@cathousehotel.com
http://www.cathousehotel.com/
Vienna, our amazing host, who also happens to be my sweet daughter put on a huge surprise party for me last night. I was deeply touched and totally surprised……………..and it gave us little time to edit our episode for today. Today has been be a day of rest, celebration and much love. Vienna, thank you for organizing, cooking, planning and throwing a fantastic party and Wolf thank you for helping to make this happen too. Tune in later for episode 14.
The Festival of Santa Lucia is a Scandinavian winter tradition that honors Saint Lucy. Santa Lucia is actually a saint of Sicilian origin. It is believed by many that the Santa Lucia Festival, celebrated on the 13th of December, is relatable to early Viking celebrations of the Winter Solstice. Since Santa Lucia is associated with light, and with spiritual sight, the Festival brings light into the darkness of the winter months.
Saint Lucy, or Santa Lucia was a young girl who lived in about 300 CE. At a young age, her Christianity made her the target of anti-Christian sentiment. She was blinded and executed. Lucy is now associated with both light in the darkness and sight. The festival of Santa Lucia celebrates the light brought to one of the darkest days of the year, just as Lucy’s faith shown in a dark period for early Christians.
In many villages in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, the Festival of Santa Lucia is a national holiday. The festival begins early in the morning for some families, with the oldest daughter, called the Lucia bride, bringing coffee and buns to the family. She is garbed in white to represent purity. Sisters wear wreaths and belts of tinsel, and brothers may wear hats with stars on them.
Most towns have a festival and parade on Santa Lucia. Each town picks a representative Lucia bride, and all march carrying candles. It is also a tradition to give gifts or to make donations to charity on Santa Lucia, especially charities that help the blind. This is connected to Santa Lucia and her mother distributing all their wealth after Lucia’s mother was cured of an illness by the sepulcher of Saint Agatha.
The parade often includes many carols to Santa Lucia and to Christ. In fact, in Scandinavian countries, many consider the Festival of Santa Lucia to be the beginning of Christmas. This differs from observance in Christmas in other countries, where Christmas begins on Christmas and ends on Epiphany, which is the sixth of January.
When the parade is over, many continue the celebration of Santa Lucia with traditional foods. Ginger cookies and saffron buns are popular. As well, apple cider, or wine with spices helps to take off the chill. Many have full meals. In Sweden, a smorgasbord of familiar Swedish foods may be served.
OK – I will admit that today’s window picture of the balls of yarn and the knitting needles on the couch is a bit of a stretch with our Holiday TV guest Anthony Johnson. As you have noticed by now, we are figuring all this out as we are doing our first season. We promise you that it will get better and better each year ahead.
When I planned the window pictures much earlier this year, I wanted that knitting needle and yarn picture because it reminds me of the winters in Denmark where I grew up. We had a class in second grade that taught us to knit, so all people in Denmark (well – at least my age) know how to knit. As we grew up, we all had some kind of knitting project going, creating hats, scarves, mittens, sweaters or anything we could think about. A huge part of the fun was to choosing the yarns and making our own designs. These knitted creations also made fabulous Christmas presents and I have to say that my anytime someone gives me a present that they have created themselves, I love it more than anything else (my kids still don’t believe this J). My sister (who is still knitting in Denmark) made me a beautiful hand-knitted shawl for Christmas a couple of years ago and I use it at home almost every night in the winters here in California.
Living in Santa Barbara, CA where it is not that cold in the winter and where people don’t do much knitting, it was difficult to find guests who knit. So the way I see it is that Anthony Johnson could maybe represent that image because knitting is about creating something wonderful and that is what Mr. Johnson does.
The Dove Universally Symbolizes innocence, gentleness, conjugal affection, peace and constancy. It reminds us how important peace is. The peace symbolized by the Dove is that of the deepest kind. It quiets our worried and troubled thoughts, and allows us to find renewal in the silence of mind. In such moments of stillness we are able to appreciate simple blessings. It reminds us that no matter what is happening in our lives, there are always new possibilities open to us.
The Cultural Significance of The Dove:
In the Old Testament: the dove represents simplicity; harmlessness, innocence; meekness; guilelessness; incubation. It also embodies the souls of the dead.
Hindu: Yama, god of the dead, has owls and doves or pigeons as messengers.
Islamic: The three Holy Virgins are represented by stones, or pillars surrounded by doves.
Japanese: the dove was sacred to Hackiman the god of war, but it was a dove with a sword that announced the end to war.
Chinese: In China, Doves are symbolic of good digestion, impartial filial duty, and long life.
Pagans: it has been widely understood as a symbol of conjugal affection and constancy, because of the affectionate mating habits and constancy of the species popularly known as turtle doves.
Motherhood and Femininity:
Doves are sacred to all Great Mothers and Queens of Heaven and depict femininity and maternity; often two doves accompany the Mother Goddess.
According to legend the devil and witches can turn themselves into any bird shape except the dove.
The Olive leaf
The actual symbol of peace is the olive leaf, not the dove, which brought the leaf back to Noah. Perhaps this is the origin of offering an olive branch to signify peaceful intentions, like in The Aeneid, Virgil’s epic poem about the founding of Rome.
The olive branch is a dynamic symbol of the human desire for peace. Olives are naturally associated with peace because, practically speaking, one cannot cultivate an olive grove in a war zone. Many years of peace are necessary to grow olive trees, which take several years to produce their first fruit (and can live for 500 years). Farming itself is a peaceful occupation, but the olive has special qualities that can be associated with peace and harmony:
• Olives provide oil for lamps, so they bring light.
• The cleansing power of olive oil brings purification.
• The hardiness of the olive tree suggests fertility and vital energy.
• Hercules gained protection by wearing a wreath of olive leaves.
• Olive wreaths signified victory in the Olympic Games.
The mythological origin of the olive tree’s association with peace goes back to a contest between Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom*, and Poseidon, the god of the sea. Whoever could produce the gift most useful to mortals would win. Poseidon offered the horse, useful in warfare. Athena’s gift was the olive tree, which the gods judged to be the more useful. Athena was awarded the city of Athens.
As the Christian Bible tells, Mary was engaged to marry Joseph. After telling Mary she was to be the mother of the Son of God, the angel also spoke to Joseph. The angel told Joseph that Mary was to have a child who would be God’s son.
After Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph were married. Not long after they were married, the Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar, wanted to make a list off all Jewish people. The emperor wanted this list so he could collect taxes from everyone. This meant that the people would have to travel to their hometowns or to the hometowns of their fathers’ place their names on the special list there.
Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem. It was a long journey. It was also a tiring journey for Mary, for soon her son would be born. Mary rode on a donkey, and Joseph walked beside her.
When Mary and Joseph got to Bethlehem, they found many people were already there. There were so many people in Bethlehem that there was no rooms left in the inn. The only place they could find was a stable.
Mary and Joseph spent the night in the stable. During that night, Mary’s baby was born. Mary wrapped the baby warmly in swaddling clothes. Because there was no bed, Mary laid the baby on the sweet-smelling hay in the manger. And Mary named the baby Jesus, as the angel had said.
We wanted to add this fresh bowl of fruit in celebration for Kwanzaa. Unfortunately we did not have a guest on Holiday TV who celebrate Kwanzaa. But we want to tell you the significance of Kwanzaa.
History
Kwanzaa, is an African-American celebration of cultural reaffirmation, is one of the fastest-growing holidays in the history of the world. It took root 30 years ago, when graduate student Maulana Karenga, disturbed by the 1965 riots in Los Angeles’ Watts area, decided that African-Americans needed an annual event to celebrate their differences rather than the melting pot.
Not a religious holiday, Kwanzaa is, rather, a seven-day celebration that begins on Dec. 26 and continues through Jan. 1.
Kwanzaa is a spiritual, festive and joyous celebration of the oneness and goodness of life, which claims no ties with any religion. It has definite principles, practices and symbols which are geared to the social and spiritual needs of African-Americans. The reinforcing gestures are designed to strengthen our collective self-concept as a people, honor our past, critically evaluate our present and commit ourselves to a fuller, more productive future.
Kwanzaa, which means “first fruits of the harvest” in the African language Kiswahili, has gained tremendous acceptance. Since its founding in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa has come to be observed by more than15 million people worldwide, as reported by the New York Times. Celebrated from December 26th to January 1st, it is based on Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles), one for each day of the observance:
Umoja (OO-MO-JAH) Unity stresses the importance of togetherness for the family and the community, which is reflected in the African saying, “I am We,” or “I am because We are.”
Kujichagulia (KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH) Self-Determination requires that we define our common interests and make decisions that are in the best interest of our family and community.
Ujima (OO-GEE-MAH) Collective Work and Responsibility reminds us of our obligation to the past, present and future, and that we have a role to play in the community, society, and world.
Ujamaa (OO-JAH-MAH) Cooperative economics emphasizes our collective economic strength and encourages us to meet common needs through mutual support.
Nia (NEE-YAH) Purpose encourages us to look within ourselves and to set personal goals that are beneficial to the community.
Kuumba (KOO-OOM-BAH) Creativity makes use of our creative energies to build and maintain a strong and vibrant community.
Imani (EE-MAH-NEE) Faith focuses on honoring the best of our traditions, draws upon the best in ourselves, and helps us strive for a higher level of life for humankind, by affirming our self-worth and confidence in our ability to succeed and triumph in righteous struggle.
The Seven Symbols of Kwanzaa
Seven symbols are displayed during the Kwanzaa ceremony to represent the seven principles of African culture and community.
Mkeka (M-kay-cah) – This is the mat (usually made of straw, but it can also be made of fabric or paper) upon which all the other Kwanzaa symbols are placed. The mat represents the foundation of African traditions and history.
Mazao (Maah-zow) – The crops, fruits and vegetables, represent traditional African harvest celebrations and show respect for the people who labored to grow them.
Kinara (Kee-nah-rah) – The candle holder represents the original stalk from which all African ancestors came. It holds the seven candles.
Mishumaa (Mee-shoo-maah) – In the seven candles, each candle represents one of the seven principles. The candles are red, green, and black — symbolic of the African people and their struggles.
Muhindi (Moo-heen-dee) – The corn represents African children and the promise of their future. One ear of corn is set out for each child in the family. In a family without children, one ear is set out symbolically to represent the children of the community.
Kikombe cha Umoja (Kee-com-bay chah-oo-moe-jah) – The Unity Cup symbolizes the first principle of Kwanzaa — the unity of family and of the African people. The cup is used to pour the libation (water, juice or wine) for family and friends.
Zawadi (Sah-wah-dee) – The gifts represent the labors of the parents and the rewards of their children. Gifts are given to educate and enrich the children — they may include a book, a piece of art or an educational toy. At least one of the gifts is a symbol of African heritage.
The orange with the cloves holiday decoration is one of my favorite Winter Holiday traditions I have loved my whole life. Since I a “scent” person I do this as soon as November arrives, but this unique scent is more powerful when layered with the scent of fresh pine and candles burning.
About Cloves
Resembling small nails, the name clove is in fact derived from the French word clov, meaning nail. Each “nail” is an unopened flower bud of the clove tree, a tropical evergreen member of the Myrtle family. A clove tree, known botanically as Eugenia aromatica, may live 100 years. They begin producing fruit at seven years and come into full maturity around 25 years. The average crop yield is eight pounds although each year is different. The trees are indigenous to the Moluccas, also known as the Spice Islands. For a period of time around the 1700′s, it looked as if the clove trees would never grow anywhere but the island of Amboina.
As early as 200 BC, envoys from Java to the Han-dynasty court of China brought cloves that were customarily held in the mouth to perfume the breath during audiences with the emperor. During the late Middle Ages, cloves were used in Europe to preserve, flavour, and garnish food. Clove cultivation was almost entirely confined to Indonesia, and in the early 17th century the Dutch eradicated cloves on all islands except Amboina and Ternate in order to create scarcity and sustain high prices. This was the plan instituted by the Dutch government to control their monopoly of the valuable spice. They proceeded to destroy every clove tree that grew on any other island in the Moluccas.
In the latter half of the 18th century the French smuggled cloves from the East Indies to Indian Ocean islands and the New World, breaking the Dutch monopoly.
Widely celebrated in Europe, St. Nicholas’ feast day, December 6th, kept alive the stories of his goodness and generosity. In Germany and Poland, boys dressed as bishops begged alms for the poor—and sometimes for themselves! In the Netherlands and Belgium, St. Nicholas arrived on a steamship from Spain to ride a white horse on his gift-giving rounds. December 6th is still the main day for gift giving and merrymaking in much of Europe. For example, in the Netherlands St. Nicholas is celebrated on the 5th, the eve of the day, by sharing candies (thrown in the door), chocolate initial letters, small gifts, and riddles. Dutch children leave carrots and hay in their shoes for the saint’s horse, hoping St. Nicholas will exchange them for small gifts.
Germany
Houses are thoroughly cleaned and children clean and polish their shoes or boots in preparation for the saint’s visit. On the evening before St. Nicholas Day, children put letters to the good saint along with carrots or other food for his white horse or donkey on a plate or in their shoes. These are left outside, under the bed, beside a radiator, or on a windowsill in hopes of finding goodies from St. Nicholas the next morning. During the night Sankt Nikolaus goes from house to house carrying a book in which all the children’s deeds are written. If they have been good, he fills their plate, shoe or boot with delicious fruits, nuts and candies. If not, they may find potatoes, coal, or twigs.
Children practice poems and songs for Sankt Nikolaus and make little presents for him. Friends and neighbors come to share in the fun. Candles on the Advent wreath and the big Christmas pyramid with a nativity scene in the center are lit. Stories are read or songs sung as everyone waits for a knock on the door. When it comes, they all know it is Sankt Nikolaus, who comes in with his big book, golden crozier, and a big heavy sack. One of the children gets to hold the golden staff. Each child (and sometimes adults, too) stand in front of the saint. Nikolaus asks each child, “Have you behaved yourself?” “Do you do your homework?” “Do you keep your room tidy?” “Do you help your parents?” Then he opens his big sack and gives presents and candies and treats for all to share. And they give him the little surprises. Nikolaus leaves quickly as he has many places to visit. He travels with a white horse or a donkey and sometimes Ruprecht, his most common German companion, is with him.
Some areas have local customs. In Stuttgart, for example, kids dress up as Nikolaus and go door-to-door asking for sweets—much like trick-or-treating in the United States.
In some parts of Germany Nikolaus has come to look more like Santa and Father Christmas and comes at Christmas, not St. Nicholas Day. The influence of other countries, television, and large department stores makes it more difficult to find holy Bishop Nicholas. Even when he comes on December 5th, his appearance sometimes shows that Germany’s long-standing gift-givers, Sankt Nikolaus and the Christkindl, are being transformed.
We wanted to add this fresh bowl of fruit in celebration for Kwanzaa. Unfortunately we did not have a guest on Holiday TV who celebrate Kwanzaa. But we want to tell you the significance of Kwanzaa.
