Books, books - Glorious books ...

Are you a bibliophile? Do you like plain books, reference books, illuminated manuscripts? Ancient books on parchment, clay tablets, papyrus scrolls? Did you know, that at first, words were not separated from each other (scriptura continua) and there was no punctuation. Reading today can be tricky sometimes, with punctuation and with word breaks .. how about then – 1800 BC with neither?

Books: Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina; Amartya Sen – The Argumentative Indian; Edwards -The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain; Clark – a Farewell to Alms; A L Basham – the Wonder that was India; Gurcharan Das – India Unbound

On top of that, texts were written from right to left, then following on from the left to the right – so alternate lines read in opposite directions. The technical term for this type of writing is ‘boustrophedon’, which means literally ‘ox-turning’ for the way a farmer drives an ox to plough his fields. Another topic, another day, I think.

At home we used to have lots of reference books around, as well as book books – I started voraciously reading all the fairy stories, fables, parables and we had a well stocked childrens’ ‘library’ .. I miss them ‘they felt like home’. I then moved on to detective stories, novels, historical romantic stories, English literature and plays, and so on as we all go through our lives & I found a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover – that had just been unbanned .. I read it – as any teenager would have done?

When I had my first flat in London .. I filled it mainly with information and reference books and they’ve stayed with me ever since – we needed those then, and despite the net I still use them now, some older editions with a duplicated more up-to-date version. I also have scores of cookery books, books on Africa .. and seem to collect as I go: I’m sure we all do – what books have you got on your shelves?

Since I’ve started this blog I’ve learnt so much – subjects that interested me, snippets and pictures that my mother has loved, and articles to which my uncle was able to add to my beleaguered knowledge, without reference to books or the internet. He was often delving in his encyclopaedia – 24 volumes of it – searching for answers.

A 15th century incunabulum (is a printed (not handwritten) book or sheet of text before the year 1501). Notice the blind-tooled cover, corner bosses and clasps.

In my ‘research’ I often use the magic of Wikipedia and am amazed at the information that is open to us at the touch of a button. I sometimes have great difficulty keeping myself on the topic I have selected – sometimes it changes – and recently I’ve started keeping notes of ideas I come across.

We know written records have been around for millennia, but I’ve been struck by the range of subjects that were written early on, which then have set the standards: eg Codex. A codex (Latin for a block of wood, book) is a book in the form we know it today – it was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, and was the first form of book in Eurasian cultures.


Real-size facsimile of Codex Gigas: the largest medieval manuscript in the world, created in the early 13th century.

The earliest code of Roman Law (451 – 450BC), compiled by the Decemviri (a commission of ten learned men) was written on 12 tablets, which in Cicero’s time was required to be learnt by heart.
Julius Caesar’s book on The Gallic War (52 – 51B) is still highly regarded today, being written in clear Latin, while also being the first authoritative book for Latin students: this was confirmed when the Asterix albums came out, as gags had been included for the French schoolchildren, who had the Commentarii de Bello Gallico as a textbook!

Probably, when I was looking for Christmas recipes on feasts – the post got hung over! – I came across the Roman cookery collection from the late 4th or early 5th century AD, called De Re Coquinaraia (On the Subject of Cooking), which contains recipes for stuffed chicken, hare, pig and dormouse! To top it off these recipes were written in a language that has been described as being closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin – now did you know there was a language called “Vulgar”?

Libraries surprisingly were well established in Roman times, having first appeared in classical Greece, and it was estimated that by the end of 3rd Century AD there were 30 public libraries in the city of Rome, which were available to anyone interested in using them. Later in the Middle Ages monasteries and universities also had libraries that were accessible by interested parties; however the books could not be borrowed and were often chained to reading stands or shelves to prevent theft – Chained Libraries.


Celsus Library, Ephesus, Asia Minor was built in 135 AD and could house around 12,000 scrolls

The most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript is the Book of Hours – all unique in their own way, but most containing a similar collection of texts, prayers and psalms, often with appropriate decorations. These Books of Hours were usually written in Latin, although many were written entirely or in part in vernacular European languages. Scotland’s oldest book, a Celtic Psalter, went on show in December in Edinburgh for only the second time in 1,000 years – it is written in Latin, but with Celtic and Pictish illustrations of dragons and other ‘beasts’.

Dioscorides, an ancient Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist, who practised in ancient Rome during the time of Nero (54 – 68 AD), wrote a five-volume book De Meteria Medica (Regarding Medical Matters), that is a precursor to all modern pharmacopeias. Pliny the elder was an author, naturalist and natural philosopher as well as writing an encyclopedic work “Naturalis Historia”, died in AD 79 endeavouring to rescue the citizens of Pompeii, during the eruption of Vesuvius.

A page from the 144 page medieval Psalter – reflecting the brightness of the manuscript – the greens, purples, reds and yellows. (Courtesy Medieval News)

Don’t forget the Venerable Bede, who wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (finished 731AD), and many other monks, other translations and all those developments since the introduction of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 – maps, atlases, dictionaries, guides, novels etc etc .. and now we have the internet and we can listen to books, read books on Readers, write books somehow, somewhere out there .. known as ebooks.

Will books last – I hope so .. we’ve been reading them for over three and half thousand years and are still learning more and more about our history through their pictures and text ... books, books, glorious books – but I too must laud Wikipedia and its concept.

Well Mr Postman I guess you do your fair share of book deliveries, but I expect you enjoy reading too, as well as researching the internet .. I know my mother loved her books and still loves learning .. and amazes me what she can remember .. lapis lazuli for instance – as a blue precious stone: we’d pulled one of her Christmas crackers and out popped a hair band with two blue ‘dice’ sized baubles .. fairly quickly my Ma said just like lapis lazuli – incredible for someone who has been confined to bed for nearly three years now, with very little input.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Blue Moons .... Last day of 2009

Blue Moons: do they exist? – well yes sometimes; are they rare? – well no they occur fairly regularly; are they the same thing? .. no! Is the moon made of green cheese – another idea promulgated in 1529, that’s stuck around. Bad housekeeping causes blue moons – in other words the atmosphere is dirty from this earth of ours exploding and depositing ash into the troposphere.

In 1883 the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupted with the effect that the ash microns scattered red light – discriminatory ash I reckon! Other colours were allowed through – hence the blue moon and green cheese effect, which lasted for over two years. For more technical information – just what you need on New Year’s Eve?! please see the Space.About.com site here.

See here for the blue moon as depicted by NASA in this photo.

We probably know the phrase “blue moon” from the1934 popular Rogers and Hart song, or being used as a metaphor for a rare event, expressed as “once in a blue moon”. They do occur relatively regularly .. if you can call 7 times in 19 years ‘relatively regularly’!

Green Cheese Moon - http://www.jgossman.com/art_prices.htm

Moons were named in folklore according to the time of year – usually twelve in preparation for the different growing seasons .. but if a moon came too early, and therefore couldn’t have a seasonal folklore name it was called a “blue moon”. As we know most years have twelve full moons occurring approximately monthly, but the solar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days over and above the lunar year. So about every 2.7154 years this “blue moon” occurs.

The Church being responsible for the calendar ensured that the important date of Easter related to the timings of the full moon. The Lent moon cycle (late winter moon) falls before Easter, while the next full moon is the egg moon (early spring moon) and Easter usually falls on the first Sunday after the full egg moon.

Man in the Moon http://www.carolheyer.com/maninthemoon.htm

Every one to three years, the Lent and egg moons would come too early – the clergy would have to tell people whether the moon was the Lent moon or a false one, which they may have called a “betrayer moon”.

So the term “blue moon” may have come about from the first recorded usage of the term in 1528, in a pamphlet violently attacking the English clergy, entitled:

“Rede Me and Be Not Wrothe” (Read me and be not angry)
“Yf they say the mone is belewe” (We must believe that it is true)

In 1529 a similar moon-related adage was recorded “They would make men beleue ... that the Moone is made of grene chese” ....

.. reflecting the Old English meaning of belewe as “blue” or “betrayer”.

As the years where there are 13 new moons are relatively rare .. today in the northern hemisphere there is one! – but if you’re in the southern hemisphere the ‘blue moon’ will not occur until late January next year (as it’s only 2009 now).

Harvest Moon

There are two full moons in one month in the following years, based on the Roman calendar and time zones: today, 31 December 2009, the full moon will occur at 19:13 Universal Time.

2012 the year of the Olympics here in London, which will take place between 27 July and 12 August; with the Paralympic Games occurring between 29 August and 9 September – covers the two full moons on August 2nd and August 31st.

2015: will have full moons on July 2nd and July 31st.

I haven’t mentioned the two American Farmer’s Almanacs either, both of which are still published today – so the old is not the old! Oh well ... it is the last day of 2009. Then there’s the Sumerian Farmer’s Almanac, dated around 1500 BCE, discovered by an American expedition to Iraq in 1949.

The clay tablet is tiny (3 inches x 4 ½ inches), forming part of the middle section of the overall almanac – the complete document contains 109 lines of text, written by a farmer for his son giving instructions for the purpose of guiding him through their agricultural activities: which we can read about 3,500 years later.

This is a terribly simplified article about blue moons – without fully clarifying all aspects, beliefs and cultures, let alone which half of the planet you live in .. so for details on Harvest Moons, Hunter’s Moons, Black Moons, Wet Moons, seasonal moons and many more please see the net and Wikipedia.

A Black Moon means there is no moon in the month of February; but does that mean in Australia and the southern hemisphere January is a month with two moons – it appears it may do .... but is 2010 a year with 12 or 13 moons? I don’t know .. as these brains have had it – and the Roman calendar and time zones only enlighten me as far as Universal Time is concerned – not even GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

Happy New Year everyone – and thank you to Devon Ellington for reminding me that there is a Blue Moon today in the northern hemisphere – in his latest post here in “Ink in My Coffee – A Writer’s Journal”.

Dear Mr Postman – another calendar year has come round and my Ma, when she’s awake, is as with it as ever – quite amazing ... I still get ticked off!! Oh well ... I don’t think we’ll be seeing the Blue Moon here it is cloudy .. but if we’re lucky perhaps they’ll clear away in another 4 hours. Here’s to a happy New Year to you and thank you for continuing to deliver my letters for me.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Pantomime - Lord of Misrule - Grand Dame ...

That very English Christmas tradition of putting on a musical-comedic theatrical production to entertain the family, occurs in many villages, towns, boroughs and cities for some weeks during December and January. The tradition may well have stemmed right back to Roman times when a “Lord of Misrule” was appointed to oversee the wild party festivities in the pagan tradition of Saturnalia.

The Christmas Pantomime colour lithograph bookcover, 1890, showing the harlequinade characters

Historically a ‘pantomimos’ in ancient Greece was a group who imitated all, and were accompanied by sung narrative and instrumental music, often played on the flute: pantos = all, mimos = mimic. This was a popular form of entertainment, and became so in Rome, because like theatre it encompassed genres of comedy and tragedy, and evolved over time during the different eras.

In the Middle Ages when Kings and their Courts, professionals – the apothecaries, the tradesmen etc were all able to travel more easily to enhance their rank, their knowledge, increase their trade, learn new crafts - the entertainers went too. Theatre in Italy had been popularised through the Commedia dell’arte (Comedy of Craft) being characterized by masked ‘types’, the advent of the actress, and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios.

Commedia dell'Arte troupe Gelosi in a late 16th-century Flemish painting (Musée Carnavalet, Paris)

From these traditions are characters we recognise today – Harlequin, Pantelone, Petrushka, Pierrot and Clown, while since the Victorian times pantomimes have tended to be based on Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, established story lines. Commedia dell’arte is notable in that female roles were played by women – whereas in England theatre critics generally denigrated the troupes with their female actors .. Ben Johnson (1572 – 1637 English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor – a contemporary of Shakespeare) referring to one female performer of the commedia as a “tumbling whore”.

These groups of professional artists travelled from province to province in Italy and then France, they improvised and told stories which told lessons to the crowd and changed the main character depending on where they were performing. Each story had by that time the same fixed characters: the lovers, father, servants (one being crafty and the other stupid) etc and can still be found in today’s pantomimes.

Prince Charming meets Cinderella in a 1912 book of fairy tales

These performance conventions continue – the leading male juvenile character (the principal boy) is traditionally played by a young woman, clearly laying out her female charms; while an older woman (the pantomime dame – often the hero’s mother, is usually played by a man in drag. The gender role reversal resembles the old winter festivals and can be traced back to pre-Christian European festivals when it was customary for the natural order of things to be reversed.

Euan McIver as Pantomime Dame

Risque double entendres are used, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases: this is in theory over the heads of the children in the audience. The audience is encouraged to participate – to boo at the villain, “awwww” at the poor victims, to call out “He’s behind you” – warning the character that they’ll be overheard; and “Oh, yes it is!” and “Oh, no it isn’t!” in making sure the ‘correct’ information is given, ensuring a noisy interest by the audience.British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dress, in-jokes, audience participation and mild sexual innuendo. The schedule is demanding two shows a day, six days a week .. but some actors just love it and settle in to the annual routine in their planning, while actors we would refer as serious professionals accept parts, and overseas actors come over to join in this peculiarly British theatre.

In the past Sir Ian McKellen (the great Shakespearean actor, as well as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings) played Widow Twankey in Aladdin in 2004 and 2005; "At least we can tell our grandchildren that we saw McKellen's Twankey and it was huge," said Michael Billington, theatre critic of The Guardian, December 20, 2004, entering into the pantomime spirit of double entendre (see Wikipedia).

In recent times, the in pantomimes have featured soap stars, comedians or former sportsmen rather as celebrity attractions, supplemented by jobbing actors and pantomime specialists. Pamela Anderson, this year, is playing the genie in Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre; The Fonz (Henry Winkler) plays Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Liverpool Empire.

A good time is had by all in this extremely British tradition, though around the world Pantomime is now performed in mainly British settled countries, or where there’s an ex-pat community – Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands to name some countries.

Henry Winkler and Steve Guttenburg kick off the start of pantomime season: Henry Winkler (Captain Hook in Peter Pan) known by many as The Fonz from Seventies hit comedy Happy Days, was joined by fellow Hollywood star Steve Guttenberg (Baron Hardup in Cinderella) at a Shopping Centre to launch the 2008 London pantomime season. c/o Chattahbox.com

In America pantomime as such is seldom performed, and as a consequence Americans tend refer to the art of mime (as was practised, for example by Marcel Marceau) as a pantomime. Some shows come from pantomime traditions, especially Peter Pan, and are performed quite often – the tradition is spreading out and becoming part of Christmas time American style.

This is the time for those with theatrical ambitions to tread the boards – covered in thick gaudy make up, singing sometimes bawdy songs, exhorting the audience to participate and to provide a slapstick entertainment for all to enjoy.

Years ago we went en famille to Windsor theatre to see Peter Pan – I used to love Peter Pan – and surprise surprise we had a box .. wonderful .... until the very smelly, large, overly made up “Dame” appeared in our box – shouting to the audience and performers below ... I’m not sure it went down too well (we weren’t extroverts!) – but I do remember it!! Fun times ...

Dear Mr Postman – my Ma seems well – she’s had two days of sleep having sat up watching Hamlet the other night! How much she took in .. I do not know! The weather is terrible today, but at least we have rain and not the snow that's in the north.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Wassail .. and "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

Wassail – be hale and healthy – was an important ceremony practised in pagan times where the workers wassailed the various important areas of the lands – the apple orchards in cider producing regions, the byres where the animals were kept, or the coldharbours – the areas so described as being protected from the worst of the winter storms.

The Peasant Wedding, by Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1567 or 1568

The settlements gathered together to sing to the trees, then on to the coldharbour, stables, the byre – this wassailing was believed to bring prosperity and protection from evil – before moving on to their feudal lord for his charitable giving. Their work for the day would need to have been done – the animals being fed a double ration, so if the peasant didn’t quite rise in time, at least the animals would not be too starving!

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning on Christmas Day until the 5th January, the day before the Feast of the Epiphany. This period is also known as Christmastide. The traditions during this twelve day period have changed over the centuries, due to the differing churches, sects, eastern and western Christianity.

Boxing Day here in England (26 December) became so described as the day when gratuities were distributed by the priest, then the apprentices in Industrial Britain approached their masters’ customers for small donations into a box, which continued with the postal workers, the dustmen and errand boys until being phased out after World War II.

The custom of wassailing (old English and German) began in pagan Europe, where the timing of it varies due to the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, and also now has different connotations around the western world. In England some of these old customs still prevail and continue to be practised. The Lord of the Manor would give food and drink to the peasants in exchange for their blessing and goodwill .. often with a song:

Eight Maids a Milking - watercolour by Yvonne Arbor, England

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
A Happy New Year.

The Wassail cup is a hot, spiced punch, associated now-a-days with Christmas, made with cider or wine, sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon, sometimes honey and vanilla... can’t you just smell it wafting around? Historically wassail drinks were completely different, more likely to be mulled beer or mead (honey wine) – mixed with sugar or honey, available spices and topped with slices of toast as sops – a filling drink for the peasants on a cold wintry night.

French Red-Legged Partridge

The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” originally came from France, while being kept alive through the oral tradition of singing and reciting. Three French versions of the song are known, and if the “partridge in a pear tree” is to be taken literally, then it is likely that the chant came from France, since the red-legged (or French) partridge perches in trees more frequently than the native English common (or grey) partridge.

It is likely it became more popular from the early 1600s, as William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, was probably preceded by a “memories-and-forfeits” game using the cumulative chant of this English Carol: the leader recited a verse, each of the players repeated the verse/s and added another, and so on until one of the players made a mistake, with that player paying a forfeit ... such as offering up a kiss or a sweet. This is how the game is recorded in its earliest known printed version, in the children’s book “Mirth without Mischief” (published c1780) while the melody we know today was only written and registered in 1909.

Malvolio courts Olivia, while Maria covers her amusement, in an engraving by

R. Staines after a painting by Daniel Maclise (1806 – 1870).

The carol or song has enduring qualities and catchy rhymes, which over time has had religious symbolism attached to each element that we now know so well today; as I had not realised these attributes I thought I would set them out here – courtesy of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas':
the full lyrics and tune are also available at this website:

1 True Love refers to God

2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace

6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation

7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.

The intricacies of different countries’ symbolisms, traditions and cultures are still evolving around the December and January periods of Advent, St Nicholas, Santa Claus, Christmas Eve and Day, St Stephen and on beyond Epiphany towards Candlemas (2nd February) vary so much, though the links all go back to pagan times, we all remember in our different ways and celebrate this season.

The Bagpiper, by Hendrick ter Brugghen (17th Century, Netherlands

Dear Mr Postman – it’s good to see you back after a few days’ rest; my mother had a lovely time and this year stayed awake and enjoyed herself. I am so pleased I decorated the room – though at one stage she’d said to me “don’t worry” – as she is loving the change.

A merry time to you all as we prepare for the coming of 2010 ...
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Mum and Hardwick - decking out the tinsel ..

I feel as though you’re taking me for a ride – my mother’s comment as I appraised the Christmas decorations I’d packed away two years ago – not able to remember what I’d kept. This year my Ma has decided she’d like some decorations in her room .. so I must still go to work. I tipped the box out and spread the tinsel out around her and over Hardwick .. this was when she said “I feel as though I’m being taken for a ride”!

I feel as though you're taking me for a ride?!

Hardwick is a very special life like dog – he goes everywhere now with Mum ... either in her mind, or to the hospital .. and amuses everyone, as he’s so real and often mistaken as such!

Below: Hardwick - the favoured one! & "I'm not posing"!

The Christmas tree (below right) was given to Ma a few years ago by Elizabeth, her great friend in Cornwall, it plays a few tunes with the lights on, or just has the lights on twinkling away – she loves it! I rather hope she’d say she didn’t want it .. the tunes are ‘chippy’!! Good thing I didn’t give it away 2 years ago - isn’t it.. this is now its third year by her bedside?!

The flowers, which weren’t at their best, are anemones from Cornwall – they are jewel like colours and we all love them, pink freesias, then on the tv table – that we don’t watch – are narcissi and chrysanthemums – all replaced today – pink tulips instead, and a mass of narcissi, from Cornwall again. The jewels weren’t available – sad: Mum loves them.

Please spot the snowman on the made-up frieze above the window - Mum likes the dark curtains they keep out the light.

These pictures are all taken with an Apple iphone on a December afternoon in England! I'm impressed - just emailed and transferred across?!

A Christmas poem read to us recently .. appropriate for today as there’s snow around and it hasn’t melted during the day:

My Snowman Friend

I call him Mr Frosty-Face!
He brings us so much fun,
With black coal eyes, and carrot nose,
with a smile for everyone!

If we play Ring-a-Roses,
Then all our friends join in!
But, when the game is “Statues”,
He always knows he’ll win!

When I talk, I know he’ll listen
To every word I say.
I can shout, or knock his hat off,
And he’ll never run away!

But, when the weather’s warmer,
Then Frosty-Face must go –
Until the next time that he comes
with winter’s ice and snow.

Too right Mr Frosty you’re here to stay with us I suspect, at this unseasonal snow fell before Christmas, with more threatened.

Some lights from the harbour at Newlyn – my Ma’s Care Home overlooked this harbour, with views across Penzance, St Michael Mount’s Bay to The Lizard .. wonderful at all times of the year for the patients – as there was always lots going on out of their rooms or from the large window fronted sitting room.

Now the corner of the room that my Ma can see is decorated .. so more pictures .. up above the window (see above) – sit two Mr Frosties – mirror images ..

This small amount of area (only a corner and round the window) of taking down previous cards, putting up Christmas cards – making some “whizzy” of the decorations .. and even though I say it myself – I think it’s pretty good - & my mother is amazed – she wakes up to decorations ..

The first thing she said to me was – thank you .. and aren’t they wonderful, and how clever I’d been – she is truly a star!

Dear Mr Postman .. these pictures may not be very large – we shall have to see and then I need to learn what to do ... this took me a mere 12 hours .. and it’s tiny! Oh well .. it’s bringing huge pleasure. Mum think Hardwick’s outfit is very special. In fact emailed iphone pics have turned up trumps!!

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Kissing under the Mistletoe - how did it all begin? and Asterix!

One plucked berry at a time .. and when the last berry has gone, there should be no more kissing under the mistletoe. This became an English Christmas-time custom dating back to at least the early 17th century (1600s). The correct procedure!, now seldom observed, is that a man should pluck a berry when he kisses a girl under the mistletoe, and when the last berry is gone there should be no more kissing... sad to say!

Shakespeare mentions mistletoe in Titus Andronicus Act II in an unflattering reference “Overcome with moss and baleful mistletoe”, though why mistletoe should be so described is open to conjecture .. perhaps it was because the white berries form in winter, or it hangs in a tree open to the elements on bare branches at the time of the winter solstice.

Mistletoe in Silver Birch

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub. The word ‘mistletoe’ possibly comes from the old German Mist for dung and Tang for branch, since mistletoe can be spread in the faeces of birds moving from tree to tree, which can happen within 4 to 25 minutes. However the Old English word ‘mistel’ was also used for basil. Mistletoe had figured prominently in Greek and Roman mythology, while in Scandinavia the Norse God Baldr was killed with mistletoe.

In England and Europe the mistletoe favours apple trees, while the Druids held it in great veneration when found in oak trees; but as a parasitic plant, which mainly uses the host for water and mineral nutrients, it can be found in more than 200 trees and shrub species. Most mistletoe seeds are coated with a sticky material which are then spread by birds, such as the Mistle Thrush in Europe, the Silky Flycatcher in south western North America or the Mistletoebird in Australia amongst others.

Mistletoe Thrush

European mistletoe has waxy white berries in dense clusters of two to six; in America the Eastern mistletoe is similar but has longer clusters of 10 or more berries – and it is this variety in the States that is harvested for Christmas. There’s a red berried mistletoe in New Zealand, which is a threatened species, while Australia has the grey mistletoe, which is beloved by the mistletoe bird. South Africa too has its mistletoes.

Megan of It’s All About Joy! Suggested that in the States mistletoe for Christmas would be shot down, that may well be so as mistletoe would be found out in the woods when the men were hunting. Here, in the UK, our gun laws are distinctly stricter – though I could imagine years ago that the hunters might have gathered it that way – or if they are of Robin Hood ilk would have used a bow and arrow.

Mistletoe is commonly used as a Christmas decoration, though such use was rarely alluded to until the 18th century, though it was not used in Church. According to custom, the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as the last of Christmas greens at Candlemas (2nd February); however in the old days it may have been left hanging through the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it was replaced the following Christmas Eve. The tradition has spread throughout the English-speaking world but is largely unknown in the rest of Europe.

Mistletoebird

Mistletoe was often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, but was recently recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community. A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds.

The sticky seed of the mistletoe stuck to a branch after it dropped.

The dense evergreen witches' brooms formed by the dwarf mistletoes of western North America also make excellent locations for roosting and nesting of the Northern Spotted Owls and the Marbled Murrelets. In Australia the Diamond Firetails and Painted Honeyeaters are recorded as nesting in different mistletoes. This behavior is probably far more widespread than currently recognized; more than 240 species of birds that nest in foliage in Australia have been recorded nesting in mistletoe.

If you like Asterix as a great many do (& I couldn’t resist this reference to mistletoe) - Getafix, the druid in the Asterix comics, was often seen up trees collecting mistletoe for his magic potion.

Asterix and the Big Fight (Le Combat des Chefs)

To fight Vitalstatistix, chief of Asterix’s tribe, the Romans enlist a Gallo-Roman Chief, Cassius Ceramix of Linoleum. Vitalstatistix would surely win with Getafix’ magic potion of invincibility, but the Romans plan to dispose of the druid long beforehand. In an effort to rescue him, Obelix accidentally puts Getafix out of action with a menhir (large stone), the impact of which causes amnesia and insanity.

I love those names! - who said Latin was dead?

According to a listing I found in Lesley Gordon’s “Green Magic”: Flowers with the Sentiments which they Represent” – Mistletoe’s sentiment = ‘I surmount all difficulties’. While she also let us know that the official floral emblem of Oklahoma is the American mistletoe.
If mistletoe will help us “surmount all difficulties at this time of year” – it is probably a good piece of greenery to have around, with or without its berries (once kissed up) and as it will preserve the house until next year.

Dear Mr Postman I send you and our readers a mistletoe Christmas card circa 1900! We're well and my mother is enjoying her Christmas cards with news from family and friends, from far and wide.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Cricket Ball Squash, Santa Claus, Italy and us ...

We do have some weird and wonderful mixtures of words and descriptions ... and as of last night my story today was not going to be on cricket, balls, squash, or Italy .. yes Santa Claus and obviously the blog. But there we go, another tale to tell.
What on earth could the connection be? Well – a friend of my mother’s, who lives in Cornwall, visits Italy twice a year .. and sees an old friend of hers, who used to live in South Africa, as I did. So one connection down! Elizabeth asked me if I’d heard of cricket ball squash .. “no”: I said – I’ve heard of and eaten spaghetti squash, but not cricket ball squash.

Oryx (a gazelle) – face similar to CedarPond’s herd .. but not the same!

The words don’t come out so easily now-a-days: too much going on – but I guessed that the little green round squash might hold the answer. This morning .. little gems came to mind. However I searched for “cricket ball squash” and up immediately up came the answer – little gems (acorn squash) halved, or baked and served a la Jamie Oliver. So that connection was solved – why it’s called cricket ball squash, when cricket balls are usually red – I have no idea.




Acorn or Little Gem Squash



The second of the searches stumbled me into CedarPond’s blog – and this wonderful picture .. which you have to click over to see – it epitomises Christmas as I’d love to see it outside my house – wonderful sheep (I tried to find out their name – not Bighorn, nor are they Mouflons – I hope Cedar Pond will tell us!) with their beautiful faces and clear eyes looking at us across the snow. On top of that Cedar Pond have their very own Santa Claus – and a very pretty good looking brood – looks like they’ll be having loads of fun at Christmas.

CedarPond had also seen the cricket ball squash and been so enamoured of it – they have posted a recipe for it. Well I have to say when I started out today I never thought our ubiquitous English game of cricket , usually played with a red ball not a green one, and certainly I never played squash with a ball larger than a squash ball – and the little gem is somewhat larger. Though the mess of hitting a little gem in a squash court with a cricket bat is a thought too far – especially now when we really don’t need any more cleaning up to do.

So I’ve solved one of Cilla’s (in Italy) question s – now the other escaped me .. it concerns Aesop’s African Fables .. and that I cannot find out about. However I have also been asked some other more suitable questions for this time of year – such as Advent, the 12 days of Christmas and the decorations of the Christmas tree – this last part was answered in my earlier post: What Christmas memory comes back to you at the beginning of December?

Mouflon in Buffalo Zoo (also not the same)

Santa Claus is another mix up – as his name is actually a contraction of Santa Nikolaus, the patron saint of German children, and he’s just had his feast day on 6th December, which still forms a major role at this time of year in certain European countries. He would be absolutely thrilled to visit CedarPond and all families with believing children to be able to work his magic there; as Santa Nikolaus distributes gifts to “good children”.

The present custom with his reindeer being introduced into England from Germany in about 1840, whereby small toys and other small presents are put into a stocking (as it would have been in the 1840s), so when they wake up on Christmas morning they find Santa Claus had remembered them. The wonders of childhood.

Merry Old Santa: 1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who, with Clement Clarke Moore, helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus

The beginning of the Church year is called ‘Advent’ and commences on St Andrews Day, 30 November, or the first Sunday nearest to it. It is the four week period before Christmas Day and commemorates the first and second coming of Christ; the first to redeem and the second to judge the world. The first Sunday in Advent is the beginning of the Church year. Elizabeth in Cornwall asked about this.

So now away from Cornwall and Italy to America, Japan and China .. another reader, whose wife is Chinese asked about the 12 days of Christmas ... in simple terms as far as the West is concerned it is the 12 day festival starting on December 25, and ending on January 5, known as Christmastide or the twelve days of Christmas.

The characteristic reindeer in Svalbard, an archipelago between Norway and the North Pole

As I described here Christmas as a date and period of celebration has over the past two thousand years been affected by societal development, from Saturnalia and paganism, to the more prescribed Roman practices, followed by Christianity and other changes .... including the move away from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in the Middle Ages, also mentioned in this post.

The Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 is a Christian feast day celebrating the revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ, as described by the Magi (the three wise men) when they bore their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the baby Jesus. Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” (1600-1601) was so called because it was written for acting at the Twelfth Night revels.

Byzantine art usually depicts the Magi in Persian clothing which includes breeches, capes, and Phyrgian caps). A restored mosaic, dated circa 600, found in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.

This third part of the Liturgical year has concluded our cricket ball squash story, Santa Claus and his hide out at CedarPond, and our tour around part of the world connecting questions raised with answers. Please continue to enjoy your Advent before the merrymaking of Saturnalia commences.

Dear Mr Postman .. many thanks for delivering this letter on what appears to be our last warm day before the cold of winter really sets in. All seems quiet at the moment with my mother and she is pleased to get her Christmas cards as they are starting to come in and it cheers her that she hears from family and friends. I have yet to do the decorations!

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories