By Sandra Schwab
In comes I, Old Father Christmas,
Am I welcome or am I not?
Sometimes I'm cold, sometimes I'm hot,
I hope that Old Father Christmas will never be forgot.
Room, ladies and gentlemen, room I pray,
While I lead St. George and all his noble men this way.
Walk in St. George and act thy part,
And shew the ladies and gentlemen thy valiant art.
Walk in, St. George.
This is the opening of the "Sussex Tipteerers' Play," a mummers' play which was recorded by Frederick E. Sawyer in 1884. Mummers' plays are seasonal folk plays which were performed by local men or young boys on specific times of the year, typically around Christmas and New Year, but in some places also on All Souls' Day or at Easter. They emerged in the early eighteenth century as a working class custom. In rural areas there was usually only one group of mummers and one play per village, while in urban areas there were often several different groups.
Traditionally, the members of a team of mummers wore costumes which made them appear all the same. The men sometimes heightened this effect by blackening their faces. Over time, the uniformity of the costumes diminished, with characters like Father Christmas or the Doctor being the first to appear in distinct costumes. Some of the Souling plays also feature a Wild Horse character (sometimes called Dick) with a rather elaborate costume consisting of a painted horse skull with snapping jaws on a pole.
Mumming was a visiting custom: the teams went from house to house and from pub to pub in their areas to perform their plays. In the early days of mumming, they (or only a presenter like Old Father Christmas) would simply burst into the house and start with the play. This explains why Old Father Christmas in the quotation above asks for room (to perform). There is strong evidence to suggest that by the nineteenth century, the mummers only visited houses where they were sure of their welcome (and reward!).
World War I marks a decisive cut in the history of mumming. Many of the performers didn't return from the war, and those who did often didn't have the heart to continue with the custom without their dead team members. Consequently, after 1918 the numbers of teams rapidly declined until in 2002 there were only six teams left whose history extended beyond the 1940s. Most of the groups active today were formed in the wake of the folk revival movement in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Here's a modern day example of a Souling play (don't you just love the Wild Horse character?):
By Jennifer Linforth
Not a single season can turn without first turning over a new year. With 2010 fast upon us, why not have some fun visiting New Years traditions around the globe?
New Years Eve in Austria is known as Sylvesterbend, or the Eve of Saint Sylvester. Homes, taverns, and inns are decorated with garlands of evergreen and a punch of cinnamon, sugar, and red wine is traditionally served. Dinner is usually a suckling pig to symbolize good luck, and dozens of tiny marzipan pigs decorate the tables. Four leaf clovers are popular and often a dessert of peppermint ice cream fashioned into a clover is served. To ward off the evil spirits of the previous year, mortars are fired, and during midnight masses trumpets may be blown from church towers. The now famous Strauss concert is performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and watched by millions worldwide.
In neighboring Germany, folks would often drop molten lead into cold water in an attempt to predict the future. Dinner plates were rarely cleared as bits of food were left upon them until after midnight to ensure a well-stock larder in the new year. Carp was a popular food as it symbolized wealth.
Traveling to Denmark? Don't forget your dishes--pile broken ones at the door of your friends. Eat boiled cod, stewed kale and cured pork. End your meal with a famous ring cake of marzipan consumed at midnight.
In Ireland girls head to bed with sprigs of mistletoe, holly, or ivy leaves under their pillows to summon dreams of their future husbands. A simple chant of "Oh ivy green and holly red, tell me, tell me whom I shall wed" was often recited. An odd custom was to take a large loaf of Christmas bread outside and hammer it against closed doors and windows to drive out misfortune and let in happiness.
Happy New Year!
By Erastes
One of my Regency novellas is set around the last official Frost Fair in 1814, and people have been saying how much they'd like a sequel to it. I'm not normally swayed by being asked for sequels but a couple of years after the Frost Fair, in 1816, there came another unusual event: The Year Without a Summer, and I think that I might do a sequel with the same characters set there.
These days, with geological evidence and satellite and all sorts of gadgets, the meteorologists tend to know what causes blips in the weather after the event (even if they still can't forecast it very successfully), but back then when something like the summer of 1816 happened, people must have been pretty concerned. I believe that sunspots were blamed for the unseasonable weather at the time, no-one thought for one moment that it was a volcanic eruption that had taken place the year before.
In fact, 1812-1817 were hugely active for volcanoes around the world, causing temperatures to drop all over the place but it was the volcano of Tambora that did the damage, all the way over in Indonesia.
Tambora killed 10,000 people from the explosion and another 82,000 people from related causes such as starvation and disease world-wide. To date, Tambora is the world's worst volcano disaster in recorded history. The dust from the massive explosion reached 10km high, entering into the stratosphere. Two other volcanoes had erupted previously, Saint Vincent (1812) and Mayon in the Philippines (1814), but this third explosion added more dust to the atmosphere and changing the weather throughout much of the world.
Median temperatures of around 13 degrees meant that, in England, crops failed and famine ensued. Snow was seen in June in many places, such as in New England and northwestern Europe. The lack of light contributed to the failing crops as photosynthesis struggled to take place.
Turner painted this in 1816, and even though Turner's skyscapes were often odd-coloured, this gives a real flavour as to what people were seeing that year, with the brown dust colouring the sky.
One thing related to writing did take place however. In a secluded house in Switzerland during that dark dank summer, a group of writers gathered together and with the gloomy atmosphere to inspire them, challenged each other to write ghost stories. And thus Frankenstein was born.
By Elizabeth Lane
Why do we have decorated Christmas trees? Where did they come from? In the 7th century a monk from Devonshire went to Germany to spread the Word of God. Legend has it he used the triangular shape of the fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity. Converts began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree. By the 12th century it was being hung upside down from ceilings at Christmastime, as a symbol of Christianity.
The first known decorated tree was in Latvia in 1510. Martin Luther, in the early 16th Century, is said to have decorated a small tree with candles to show his children how stars twinkled on Christmas eve. By the mid 16th Century, special Christmas markets in Germany were selling shaped gingerbread and wax ornaments for people to hang on their trees. Some early trees were made to symbolize the Paradise Tree in the Garden of Eden. Trees were often decorated with candy and paper flowers, symbols of plenty.
The Christmas tree was brought to England by the Georgian kings, who came from Germany. The British people, not being fond of their German rulers, rarely followed the custom at the time. However, when the popular Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, a German, and they put up a tree for their family, Christmas trees became the instant fashion, not only in Britain but on the East Coast of America. The Christmas Tree had arrived!
Although the Christmas tree had been introduced in America by Hessian soldiers during the American Revolution, the custom didn't catch on widely until the mid 1800s. Advances in communication--magazines, newspapers, etc., spread the custom.
Most decorations at the time were homemade. Young women crocheted snowflakes and stars and sewed little pouches for gifts. Small bead decorations and silver tinsel came from Germany, along with angels for the top of the tree. Candles were often placed in wooden hoops for safety. About 1880 the first glass ornaments came to America, quickly followed by American patents for electric lights (1882) and metal hooks for hanging decorations (1892).
Small artificial trees were fashioned from goose feathers for years. But the artificial tree as we know it came along in the early 1900s. In America, the Addis Brush Company created the first brush trees, using the same machinery that made their toilet brushes. They were more durable than feather trees and would hold heavier decorations.
Whatever kind of Christmas tree you have at your house, if any, I wish you a warm and happy holiday season.
By Lisa Marie Wilkinson
"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la..."
Caroling is a rich oral tradition going back countless generations and suspected to have its roots in feudal societies where the poorest citizens would travel from door to door, often pausing to sing for their supper.
The term "caroling" is thought to be a derivative of the old French carole, a kind of dance, or from the Latin, carula, meaning a circular dance. Carols were originally secular pieces of music associated with traditional folk dances. A celebration of song and dance designed to honor the Winter Solstice; the "Festival of Yule" is believed to have played a part in the evolution of caroling as a Christian tradition.
Early Christians substituted hymns for the pagan songs sung around stone circles. Songs to commemorate the birth of Christ date back to the 4th century, but it took several centuries for traditional somber Christmas music to gradually give way to a new version of carols that incorporated upbeat Latin rhythms and joyous lyrics. St. Francis of Assisi is credited with beginning the popular tradition of the Christmas song with the advent of his nativity plays in the 13th Century.
There are several theories speculating how the practice of caroling--alternately known by the old Norse term, "wassailing"--originated. One theory holds that carolers went door to door because carols were viewed as a pagan custom and they were refused permission to perform the songs in churches. Another hypothesis claims that the practice is actually a pagan custom adopted by Anglo-Saxon peasants, who stopped at the doors of their superiors and proceeded to sing in exchange for a meal or a hot beverage. A hot, spiced beverage known as "wassail" was often served to these impromptu guests.
In 17th century England, the joyous spirit in which carolers serenaded their hosts offended Puritan Oliver Cromwell, resulting in a ban on caroling that lasted for an entire decade. The carols survived because people still sang them in secret; however their popularity had dimmed by the 16th century. The practice of caroling was revived again during the 18th century and experienced a dramatic resurgence in popularity during the 19th century Victorian Era.
Interesting Carol Facts:
"I Saw Three Ships"
First written in the middle ages, this carol married a traditional English folk melody to lyrics written by wandering minstrels. Several versions of the lyrics have existed, with the original believed to describe the skulls of the three wise men being carried by vessel to Cologne cathedral in Germany. The version sung today features a tale of Mary and Joseph as they travel to Bethlehem.
"Silent Night"
An Austrian priest wrote the lyric in 1816, and the words were fitted to a melody by his friend Franz Gruber in 1818. The carol made its debut when performed by its writers in a midnight mass Christmas service that same year. The original German lyric was translated into English in 1863 and in 1914 "Silent Night" became the first carol sung to mark the Christmas Truce during World War I because it was the only carol known by soldiers on both sides.
"Jingle Bells"
This perennial Christmas favorite was actually composed by James Pierpont in 1857 as a song to commemorate Thanksgiving, and was originally titled, "The One Horse Open Sleigh."
"The First Noel"
Although words and melody were not published together until they appeared in a collection of hymns in the early nineteenth century, this carol dates back to the dramatizations of Biblical stories known as Mystery Plays in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
"Ave Maria"
With a melody rooted in liturgical chants dating back to the tenth century and words derived from an old Roman Catholic prayer based upon biblical scripture Luke 1:28, "Ave Maria" is felt by many to be the most sacred of hymns. The version of the hymn we celebrate today was orchestrated by composer Franz Schubert in 1825.
"Joy to the World"
Although the lyric was eventually traced and validated as having originated from the Old Testament, the American composer, Lowell Mason, credited the lyric to George Handel when setting the words to music in 1839, in an effort to ensure the popularity of the song. For over a century Handel was erroneously credited with having written the lyric until music historians were able to prove the true author of the lyric: King David.
With the invention of radio and recorded media, we can now enjoy our favorite carols sung by our favorite artists at any time of the year. These days, carols invoke the season as much as the scents of holiday baking, decorated Christmas trees, special church celebrations, and the sighting of Santas in every mall.
By Jeannie Lin
The fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar is celebrated as both the Duanwu summer solstice festival, as well as the Dragon Boat festival. Also known as "double fifth," the celebration usually falls between late May and mid-June on the western Gregorian calendar.
Dragon boat racing originated in China over 2000 years ago and is most known for the colorful, canoe-like boats powered by 40 to 50 paddlers to the rhythmic beat of a drum. Today, dragon boat racing is regulated by the International Dragon Boat Federation and has become a popular competitive sport.
The summer Duanwu festival celebrates health and renewal. In Chinese mythology, the number five is a sacred number representing, of many things, the five elements: earth, fire, water, wood, and metal. On the summer solstice, people would throw food and offerings into the rivers to appease the dragon kings. They would also drink wine and hang herbs in their households to restore balance and case away sickness. Nowadays, people celebrate by eating triangular wrapped rice cakes called zongzi, drinking wine, and racing boats carved to resemble dragons.
This early practice was combined with the commemoration of the drowning of famous poet, Qu Yuan. In 277 BC, the poet wrote a lament about the fall of the imperial capital and then committed suicide by walking into the river. According to the legend, villagers raced out in boats to try to save him and threw rice and offerings into the river to ward the fish away from his body. Later versions of the legend embellished his death and claimed that he was consumed by a river dragon, merging it with the earlier folklore surrounding Duanwu.
In a final fascinating twist, the "double fifth" is also believed to be the day when all demons must reveal their true selves, making the Duanwu celebration a fascinating blend of Chinese numerology, folklore, and history.
By Jacquie Rogers
The Chinese Moon Festival is an ancient festival over 3,000 years old, and is celebrated in autumn, the 15th moon day of the month of the Chicken. It's the night of the full moon, of abundance, the festival to honor family ties and romantic relationships. Families, even those divided by oceans, try to come together during this time. But if a family or a couple is unable to unite, separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, they can still share the moon on that night and be together.
Legends
There are four legends primarily associated with the Moon Festival: the story of the lady, Chang Er (or Chang'e); of the man, Wu Kang; of the hare, Jade Rabbit; and of the Moon Cake.
Chang Er was the wife of Hou Yi, who shot down nine of the ten suns that were scorching the earth. As a reward, Hou Yi was given the elixir of immortality for himself and his wife. When villains tried to steal it, they killed Hou Yi, and Chang Er swallowed the elixir so the bad guys wouldn't get it. Turned immortal, she flew to the moon, where she lives to this day. There are many versions of this story, one of the nicest told on Laputan Logic, where links to several other versions are given as well.
Wu Kang's story is also about immortality. He was a man who sought challenges, and hopped from job to job to find new adventures, until he decided the greatest adventure of all would be immortality. He headed for the mountains to study under an immortal. Not one area of study could hold Wu Kang's interest, though, so the immortal got frustrated and told Wu Kang to chop down the cassie tree, and he couldn't return to earth until he did. But the cassie tree grew back to its full size if it wasn't felled by sundown. Since the job couldn't hold his attention, Wu Kang never did keep on task to fell the tree in one day, so to this day, he's still on the moon, chopping on the cassie tree.
The Hare didn't fare so well, but is well-remembered. A hungry old man needs food. A monkey, an otter, and a fox, hoping to do a good deed, each offer the man some food, but the hare, knowing he has nothing to offer but himself, throws himself into the fire and cooks himself. The old man was really a monk, and in gratitude, gave the Jade Rabbit immortality on the moon, where he serves Chang Er even now.
Moon Cakes are the newest legend of the Moon Festival. It is said that in the 14th Century, when the Chinese were ruled by the Mongols and assembly was illegal, that those who fomented revolution passed their plans and instructions to the people inside moon cakes. On the night of the festival, the people revolted and thus began the Ming Dynasty.
Celebration
The festival is at harvest time, a time of bounty, and celebrated by a family feast similar in spirit to the modern Thanksgivings of Canada and the USA. Moon cakes, filled with bean paste, meat, lotus seeds, or a few other popular foods, are both given and traded. It's a time filled with joy. and the children love getting to stay up until the wee hours during the lantern parade--and are especially delighted if they get to carry a lantern in it.
I'm using the Chinese Moon Festival as a ticking clock in my novella, "Faery Hot Dragon." It's a time for lovers to sit on hilltops gazing a the moon. And perhaps other things. A perfect opportunity for a romance novel!
Whatever the season, have a happy one!
Jacquie
Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues (See the Book Video featuring Justin Saragueta) * Jacquie Rogers * 1st Turning Point * Myspace * Twitter * Facebook * Faery Special Romances Book Video * Royalties go to Children's Tumor Foundation, ending Neurofibromatosis through research.
By Margaret Mallory
In Medieval times, everyone who was anyone attended the king's Christmas Court. The Christmas festivities started later then--no Black Friday shopping--but they went full-bore through Twelfth Night, January 6th. The nobility and others lucky enough to be invited to Christmas Court feasted for days. And, since the water was bad, they drank wine by the gallon.
Christmas Court was a time to see and be seen, ask favors, and ingratiate yourself with the royals with a special gift. Perhaps a lion for the royal menagerie? Of course, it was important to dress to impress.
Woe to the nobleman who didn't get an invitation! And being a no-show was dangerous, particularly if your monarch was the sort to see plots everywhere. (Seriously, my hero in KNIGHT OF DESIRE had no choice but to leave his pregnant wife to make an appearance, even though he had just rescued her from the rebels.)
The royals provided lavish entertainment to make their guests merry, from acrobats, jugglers and mummers to dog fights and the occasional joust. Everyone enjoyed music. The sound of lutes, psalteries, and horns would float down from the gallery. Even the king or queen might take up the harp or sing a song. (You'd best clap loudly if they do.)
The king himself might appear in costume, so be careful what you say. It wasn't at Christmas, but at another celebration, Charles VI of France and a few friends masqueraded as hairy wild men in outfits made with frayed hemp and pitch. Such fun! The king's ambitious younger brother, however, "happened" to get too close with a torch and set the men afire. One lady sacrificed a spectacular gown to save the king by throwing her train over him, but several others died of their burns.
(Note the musicians in the gallery above the burning men.)
The royal kitchens worked overtime to prepare countless courses and elaborate presentations for the feasting. Peacock anyone?
In France, at least, the royals were expected to cook enough food to have mounds of leftovers to give away. After England's Henry V marched into Paris and celebrated the holidays at the Louvre, he was bad-mouthed for years for not giving the common people the leftovers.
Who can blame my young couple in KNIGHT OF PASSION for sneaking off to one of the guest's bedchambers at the Louvre Palace while everyone else is feasting, drinking, and politicking? I suspect they weren't the only lovers to take advantage of the opportunities for clandestine meetings during Christmas Court.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season! My advice is to sit at the high table where they serve the good wine and ale and avoid over-indulging in the peacock.
*All images from Wikipedia.
By Zoe Archer
We've been talking a whole heap about winter traditions and winter events here at UH, but couldn't we all use a little jolt of summer fun as we dip closer and closer to the longest night of the year?
Villages and towns all over the world often host festivals, outdoor amusements and sporting events during the summer months, capitalizing on warm weather, high spirits and short nights. Lest you think that the modern Olympics has cornered the market on multi-sport competitions, might I turn your gaze eastward, toward Mongolia, and the traditional naadam festival. The festival dates all the way back to the 3rd century BCE.
Nowadays, the naadam festival is traditionally held every July, the largest being held in the capital of Ulan Bator from July 11-13. It celebrates Mongolia's "three manly sports:" horseracing, wrestling and archery. In modern times, women also participate in the archery and children vie in the horseracing event, but the wrestling is strictly for men. (Take a look at the wrestling costume. Now you know why women don't compete in that event. In fact, according to legend the costume was devised after a woman secretly entered the wrestling competition and won.)
After an opening ceremony of music and dancing, the competition begins. Wrestling is a hugely popular event. (Again, look at the costumes.) Men from all parts of Mongolia travel to compete. There are no weight divisions, meaning a big man can go toe-to-toe with a smaller man, and no time limits on bouts. The loser is the man who falls first. Bouts can happen very quickly, or seem to take a very long time as the wrestlers look as if they are standing in an embrace, waiting for the perfect opening to throw their opponent. Then the winner performs the "eagle dance" as his defeated opponent takes off his jacket and walks under the winner's outstretched arm.
Mongols come from a nomadic tradition which is still very much part of Mongolian life. In order to cross huge expanses of steppe, horses are essential, and it is often said that a Mongol child first learns to ride before he or she can walk. Genghis Khan and his descendants relied on their expert horsemanship to create and maintain their vast empire. So it's no surprise that horseback riding is part of the naadam. Horses are ridden cross-country, with the length of each race determined by the horses' age class. The true competitors of the horse racing event are the horses, not the jockeys. In fact, most of the jockeys are between the ages of five (yes, five) and thirteen, ensuring their smallness so as not to tire the horses. Feasting inevitably surrounds the races as spectators eat and cheer their horses to victory.
Archery is another key Mongolian sport. Bow hunting and bow-based warfare are both vital historical aspects of life on the steppe. At the naadam, men and women compete in separate divisions. All the competitors dress in traditional dress. Unlike modern archers' use of compound bows, Mongols vying in the naadam use recurved composite bows of horn, leather and bark. Arrows are made of willow branches with vulture feather fletching. They shoot at round, leather targets. Men stand 75 meters and women 60 meters from the targets. Nearby judges evaluate each shot with a shout of "uukhai" ("bull's-eye") and a raised hand. Winning archers are those who hit the targets the most times.
Accompanying all these competitions are, of course, celebrations, music, games, dancing and feasts--all the things Mongols love, and they take special delight in celebrating during the brief summer.
When I began researching Mongolia for my upcoming "Blades of the Rose" novel WARRIOR, I learned about the naadam. The whole festival captured my imagination, being so emblematic of Mongol life and culture. I knew I would have to incorporate the naadam into WARRIOR's plot--and I did, but I can't reveal just yet how the festival plays an important part in the story. For that, you'll have to read the book. Until its release next September, stay warm and dream of competing on the wide, grassy steppe beneath the eternal sky.
By Michelle Styles
Jul--or, as it is sometimes spelt, Yule--may come from the Old Norse Jol. Jol blot was a mid winter festival associated with sacrifice and the rebirth of the sun. Blot means "sacrifice," often of blood.
When Scandinavia became Christian around 1000 AD, King Haakon moved the festival of Jol to coincide with Christmas. The two have been intertwined ever since. Of course Christmas was originally developed to counteract Roman Saturnalia, and celebrations started about 200 years after Christ. There is a tradition in Coptic Christian Church of celebrating Christ's birth in May.
Where they could, the new religion incorporated the older traditions. However since Christ had sacrificed himself for everyone, the blood sacrifices died out. But very little is known of the actual meaning and celebration of Jul. Some believe that it was the time of Odin leading the Wild Hunt and that the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living was very thin. Scholars are divided on the length of the festival. Some say three days, others twelve. In Iceland there is a tradition of Yule boys bringing presents in the 13 days before Christmas. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that it was a multi-day feast.
There are a few references in the sagas about Jul being broken or a berserk withholding a fight as he did not want to break Jul, so some believe that this period was a time of peace or truce. It was also a time of promises, unbreakable oaths and resolutions. These were often conducted over a boar sacrificed in Freyr's honour. Freyr was a god of the harvest and fertility.
Things like the Boar's Head Carol (English), where a Boar's head is bedecked with bay and rosemary or even the tradition of a Yule Ham, are thought to be related back to Viking tradition. It remains a popular tradition in Norway to give a marzipan pig at Christmas for good luck and prosperity.
Because the goat was special to Thor--another god honoured at this time of year--people would go around dressed in goatskins, singing and making merry. It is from here that some believe wassailing developed.
In Norway, there is a tradition of a Jul beer or a specially brewed beer for the Yule season. This beer was not brewed at other times.
The Yule log was important because it kept fire in the world and helped to ensure the next harvest would be good. Today it is more likely to be a cake eaten for good luck.
While the religion that inspired the traditions has long since vanished, the rituals remain. However you celebrate, may this season bring peace, joy and prosperity to all.
Michelle Styles's latest romance, THE VIKING'S CAPTIVE PRINCESS, is out now!
.jpg)
By Carrie Lofty
Attacking Russia in the winter is just a poor, poor idea.
Ask Napoleon. And Hitler.
But even before those notable examples, we must look at Charles XII of Sweden. He braved General Winter's devastating conditions to attack Peter the Great's empire in 1707. He just happened to chose the worst winter of the 18th century, when even the salt water port in Venice froze solid. Only 19,000 Swedish troops remained by the end of Charles's disastrous campaign, effectively ending Sweden's turn as a military power.
Napoleon decided he could do it better. His Grande Armée, numbering 610,000 men, launched the French invasion of Russian in June of 1812, and actually managed to get as far as Moscow. Soldiers entered the city and began looting, the culmination of which was the Great Fire of Moscow in 1812. But by then, only one-third of all Moscow residents remained; they'd fled well in advance of the French invasion, in preparation for a swift counterattack.
The weather only came into play after the capture of Moscow. Napoleon learned of an attempted coup back in France and rushed home, leaving his generals to cope in a city devoid of resources and a scorched-earth landscape that offered no grass for cavalry horses. Eventually, as the snows began to fall, those horses became food and the army retreated.
The following graphic by statistician Charles Minard shows the extent of these losses: the beige color represents the forces entering Russia, while the black line represents the Grande Armée's diminishing strength as it fled. Click and take a look--it's very interesting, especially the temperatures listed along the bottom during the French retreat.
Some eyewitness reports, however, have starving Frenchmen surrendering even before the onset of winter. Supply lines, not necessarily General Winter, may have been more crippling. The French embarrassment over their failure in Russian may have prompted claims that the weather was to blame because, in fact, the winter of 1812-13 was relatively mild.
But the devastating losses--more than one million civilians and more than 700,000 military casualties--and the harsh lessons regarding supply lines and the weather did not deter Hitler during World War II.
The Eastern Front in the European Theater of Operations is still referred to by Russians as "The Great Patriotic War," because they viewed the conflict as a do-or-die struggle for their sovereignty and fought accordingly. The German army's Operation Barbarossa, conducted between June and December of 1941, claimed more than one million dead and over three million injured. The invading forces could see the spires of the Kremlin in Moscow when the first blizzards hit. They advanced no farther.
The connection between Napoleon's hubris and that of Hitler was not lost among his men. One German general noted in his diary: "They remembered what happened to Napoleon's Army. Most of them began to re-read Caulaincourt's grim account of 1812 ["With Napoleon in Russia"]. That had a weighty influence at this critical time in 1941. I can still see Von Kluge trudging through the mud from his sleeping quarters to his office and standing before the map with Caulaincourt's book in his hand."
The Soviet counter-attack did not wait for spring. Instead they launched their ski-clad armies westward in January, splitting the German front. The following winter, when the German 6th Army surrounded Stalingrad in a deadly, months-long siege, other panzer divisions tried to reinforce the offensive but stopped only 40 miles short. The siege ended with the Germans in retreat.
In January of 1944, convinced that the Red Army must be on its last legs, Hitler ordered his men to hold the Dnieper line--the last line of defense between Germany and Russian territories. But the Russians liberated Odessa and Sevastopol by spring. After that, the Russian forces would not be limited to defensive strategies and sieges, but continued aggressive offenses no matter the conditions. For example, they entered Warsaw in January 1945.
I think this is where we must end with a famous quote from The Princess Bride, where Vizzini said to Westley: "You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia."
And certainly never attack the Russians in winter!
By Isabel Roman
It's been immortalized in books (Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub and Truce by Jim Murphy), movies (The Christmas Truce and Joyeux Noël), songs ("Belleau Wood" by Garth Brooks) and even by cartoon characters (Snoopy vs the Red Barron or Merry Snoopy's Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen).
But what really happened? And was it as prevalent as the myth that surrounds it leads us to believe?
December 1914 alternated between freezing cold and miserable wetness. Seems logical soldiers who thought the war would be won and they'd be home in their own beds by Christmas 1914 would want a little comfort for the season.
It's important to note that this truce happened between the German and British troops, not so much with the Belgium (Flanders) and French troops, whose countries were occupied and who probably weren't in a holiday mood. Plus Germany and Britain were closer culture-wise, language-wise, and monarchy-wise. While I don't know if that had anything to do with the truce, it's worth mentioning.
Along the front the enemy was sometimes no more than 70, 50 or even 30 yards away. Both Tommy and Fritz could quite easily hurl greetings and insults to one another, and, importantly, come to tacit agreements not to fire. Incidents of temporary truces and outright fraternisation were more common at this stage in the war than many people today realise--even units that had just taken part in a series of futile and costly assaults, were still willing to talk and come to arrangements with their opponents.
FirstWorldWar.com
And then came presents from home. Gifts, baked goods (though I don't know how those survived to be at all edible!). A British Daily Telegraph correspondent wrote that Germans slipped a chocolate cake into British trenches. Yum...German chocolate...
I was going to summarize what happened, but frankly the site says it perfectly:
[A] message asking for a ceasefire later that evening so they could celebrate the festive season and their Captain's birthday. They proposed a concert at 7.30pm when candles, the British were told, would be placed on the parapets of their trenches. The British accepted the invitation and offered some tobacco as a return present. That evening, at the stated time, German heads suddenly popped up and started to sing. Each number ended with a round of applause from both sides.
The Germans then asked the British to join in. At this point, one very mean-spirited Tommy shouted: 'We'd rather die than sing German.' To which a German joked aloud: 'It would kill us if you did'.
Along many parts of the line the Truce was spurred on with the arrival in the German trenches of miniature Christmas trees--Tannenbaum. The sight these small pines, decorated with candles and strung along the German parapets, captured the Tommies' imagination, as well as the men of the Indian corps who were reminded of the sacred Hindu festival of light.
It was the perfect excuse for the opponents to start shouting to one another, to start singing and, in some areas, to pluck up the courage to meet one another in no-man's land.
Of course, the British high command didn't like it, but they were in a luxurious chateaux, some 27 miles behind the front. Typical. German high command didn't like it, either, but the trench officers had the same attitude as British trench officers, with the result that those who protested are now considered idiots and those who didn't 'one of the soldiers'.
Was it tradition? Yes. It was tradition to celebrate Christmas no matter where they were. They celebrated with the enemy and it evolved into a beautiful story about a horrific war that stands today.
By Blythe Gifford
This month's theme is The Seasons. In today's world, that makes us think of falling leaves, spring flowers, long, hot lazy summer days, and at this time of year, homey holiday traditions.
But one thing I've learned from writing in the medieval time period is that for those folks, "the seasons" were not a pretty landscape to be viewed from a cocoon of heated (or air conditioned) comfort. Each new season was literally a matter of life and death. Will there be enough rain? Too much? Will the harvest be abundant or will we go hungry?
Or worse?
Many of our pleasant, seasonal celebrations have their roots with our primeval ancestors as they gave joyful thanks or tearful entreaties to the gods during the change of seasons. I discovered one of these as I researched my upcoming Scottish-set release, HIS BORDER BRIDE (May 2010). The celebration that evolved into "May Day," with its seemingly innocent dancing around the May pole, had origins deep in pre-history. Like so many of these things, no one can quite pinpoint where, but similar commemorations of the return of summer were held in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Sweden.
It is worth noting that Beltane/May Day is exactly six months before Samhain/All Souls Day/Halloween. They open and close the fruitful, summer season. Both feature hilltop bonfires and, at both times, the veil between world of humans and spirits is supposed to be particularly porous.
In Scotland, the May holiday was called Beltane--or Beltaine or Bealltainn or any one of a number of other variations. Each area had its own traditions and in the course of history, the date has ranged from April 30 to May 1 to the first full moon after May 1 to the blooming of the rowan.
It was an outdoor celebration, with bonfires lit on hilltops. As civilization grew more crowded, that meant you could see your neighbor's fire, no doubt a reassuring sight.
The common themes were fire, the return of the summer sun, and the rebirth of fertility. This meant prayers for abundant crops and agriculture. It was also the time of putting livestock back out to summer pastures and this was a key part of the celebration, as the animals were driven between two bonfires for good luck.
But it also meant human fertility. A Queen and King were chosen to represent the Goddess and God and after the bonfires were lit, celebrations continued all night. Given that it was a fertility festival, the "celebration" apparently produced a Beltane baby-boom nine months later.
The return of the summer sun was symbolized by the return of fire. The night before, all fires were extinguished. Then, as the sun slipped below the horizon on Beltane Eve, a new, sacred, "needfire" was lit.
If this sounds like a symbolic nicety, think again. This pre-dates matches. Man did indeed need fire in order to live. Without a flaming brand or candle to light the wood, how could man start a new fire? Rubbing two sticks together?
Well, yes.
In some of the older traditions, there are reports of great wheels being built and the men all running together to turn them fast enough to create enough friction to start a fire. Regardless, faced with this monumental challenge, the community needed all the gods' favor to bless their efforts.
To insure it, comes another aspect of the tradition, more sinister and less enjoyable than the celebrations of fertility.
As part of the ritual, a "Beltane" cake (or bannock, a small oat bread) was passed. One piece was marked and the one who got it was called the cailleach bealtine for the evening. This is described as a term of "great reproach." The unfortunate man left holding the marked piece was shunned, or "treated as dead," for the evening (longer in older traditions) and even swung towards the fire as if, well, as if to be a sacrifice to the gods.
Which, no doubt, used to be the case.
While the exact rituals performed under the Druids or the Celts are lost, the celebration continued not only during my 14th century setting, but into the 19th century. Charles Dickens wrote of the remnants of this tradition as it was observed during his lifetime.
Today, in Scotland, Beltane lives on. In Peebles, they've moved it to June and incorporated it into a "riding," or Reivers celebration. The Beltane Fire Society now organizes a huge event in Edinburgh every April 30. Though it incorporates many aspects of the old traditions--queen, king, fire, symbolic death--the Society does not claim to be recreating, but reinterpreting the holiday.
Indeed, some will claim that there never was a human sacrifice at Beltane. Yet the rituals seem to speak to the core ideas of the human psyche and our mythology:
Love, Death, and Rebirth.
Traditionally, the members of a team of mummers wore costumes which made them appear all the same. The men sometimes heightened this effect by blackening their faces. Over time, the uniformity of the costumes diminished, with characters like Father Christmas or the Doctor being the first to appear in distinct costumes. Some of the Souling plays also feature a Wild Horse character (sometimes called Dick) with a rather elaborate costume consisting of a painted horse skull with snapping jaws on a pole.
