Tradition
Holiday Spirituality
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Task 1: Are there any places or events that are particularly spiritually meaningful to you this time of year? Share a picture or description with us. There are, and it’s put a damper on my Christmas not to be able to go there this and last year. Neither my […]
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Plum Pudding, Bibliomancy, Goblins and Other Charms
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Festive Tasks, Door 21: Good Luck Charms and Traditions Another multi-page post (as before, one page per task). Task 1: If you decorate for the holidays, when do you start putting up the decorations? When do you take them down? Are there any superstitions that you are aware of […]
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Personal Holiday Traditions
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Festive Tasks, Door 23 Task 1: How do you get through the festive season? Do you throw yourself in whole hog, are you happy to go with the flow, or do you hunker down and wait for it all to be over? Are you a traditionalist, or do you […]
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Holiday Lights
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Festive Tasks, Door 3 — Light(s), Task 2: Share some photos of your favorite light display, if you have them, or if you have a neighbor who goes ‘all out’, snap a photo to share. Our neighborhood is not an ostentatious one when it comes to Christmas light displays […]
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Festive Tasks: Door 15 – Correspondence, Tasks 1 – 3
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Same approach as for Like for Doors 7 (Gifts), and 13 (Holiday Shopping): one page per task. Task 1: Do you still send holiday cards? Do you go for amusing, inspirational, or make your own? I used to love sending holiday cards and spent a lot of time […]
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Festive Tasks: Door 11, Task 1 – Family Theatricals
Festive Tasks Master Update Post HERE Task 1: Each family celebrates things in a way that is unique to them! Does your family (by birth or by choice) have a particular holiday tradition above and beyond the classics? Family travel? Family movie night? Family snowball battles? Those of you who have read either the odd […]
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St. Martin’s Day Procession: Germany’s November Bonfire Tradition
24 Festive Tasks: Door 2 – Guy Fawkes Night, Bonus Task #1: Post pictures of past or present bonfires, fireworks (IF THEY’RE LEGAL) or sparklers. As a kid, one of my favorite holiday traditions used to be the St. Martin’s Day processions: The holiday celebrates St. Martin of Tours (France), a 4th century Roman military […]
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An Untraditional Christmas Tradition: A Nighttime Stroll Through My Neighborhood
24 Festive Tasks: Door 21 – Christmas, Bonus Task #1: Christine PNW’s untraditional family tradition for Christmas dinner is to gather around the fondue pot with her husband and children after spending the entire day in her pajamas and watching movies, playing video games or reading. Do you have any “untraditional” traditions for the day? […]
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Women’s Carnival: Sacrificial Neckties
24 Festive Tasks: Door 10 – First Day of Carnival, Bonus Task #2: Any man unwise enough to be found wearing a necktie during Women’s Carnival will have his tie cut off, as a symbolic curtailment of male rule. Obviously, men who don’t want to play along don’t wear a tie on that day in […]
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Santa in Literature: Theodor Storm’s “Knecht Ruprecht” and DEATH as Department Store Santa in Terry Pratchett’s “Hogfather”
24 Festive Tasks: Door 6 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 2: Share with us a paragraph / quote / description / image of your favorite Santa Claus / St. Nick depiction in popular culture, and then tell us why it resonates with you?” E.g., here is the description of Father Christmas from The […]
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Heinzelmännchen
24 Festive Tasks: Door 23 – Hogswatch, Task 2: A Cologne legend dating all the way back to the Middle Ages has it that once upon a time, there was a race of busy little household gnomes called Heinzelmännchen who would come at night and secretly do all your work: If there ever has been […]
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First Day of Carnival in the Rhine Valley: Dinner
24 Festive Tasks: Door 10 – First Day of Carnival, Task 1: Carnival – including its first day in the Rhine Valley (Nov. 11; officially beginning at 11:11 AM sharp) – is essentially one big party; fuelled, wherever in the world it is celebrated, by traditional local food / snacks and drinks. In the Rhineland, […]
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Neighborhood Christmas Decorations
24 Festive Tasks: Door 13 – Advent, Task 2: Tell us: What is your favorite holiday tradition? I don’t know if I have one particular favorite holiday tradition, but one of my favorite moments occurs on Christmas Eve, when we walk through the silent, festively-decorated night-time streets of our neighborhood on our way to church. […]
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A Childhood Diary … and a Scare
24 Festive Tasks: Door 7 – International Day for Tolerance, Task 2 — AND — Door 11 – Thanksgiving, Task 1: Door 7, Task 2: Share a story about yourself, or a story about your family that’s survived the generations, or share a particular tradition your family has passed on from generation to generation and […]
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Favorite Holiday Tradition
24 Festive Tasks: Door 13 – Advent, Task 2: The holidays season is in full swing – tell us: What’s your favorite tradition? I don’t actually have one single favorite holiday tradition — to me the holidays are pretty much a multi-faceted package, and each one of the components is equally important; everything from Christmas […]
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Glingleglingleglingle
24 Festive Tasks: Door 23 – Hogswatch, Task 1: Glingleglingleglingle – if you could wish any kind of god(dress) into existence, what would they be in charge of? Dusting? Weeding? We’re not aiming high here… tell us! The Cologne “Heinzelmännchen” fountain: detail A Cologne legend dating all the way back to the Middle Ages […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Final Tally
The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed Joker cards used: The Squares, Books and Other Tasks: Square 1: November 1st: All Saints Day / Día de los Muertos & Calan Gaeaf Book themes for Día de Muertos and All Saint’s Day: A book that […]
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Family Christmas Traditions
6 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 13 – Christmas Tasks for Christmas: Post a picture of your stockings hung from the chimney with care, –OR– a picture of Santa’s ‘treat’ waiting for him. –OR– Share with us your family Christmas traditions involving gift-giving, or Santa’s visit. Did you write letters to Santa as a […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Updates / Blackout
I’ve yet to read at least one book for some of the squares, but I’ve completed a minimum of either one book or one task for all of the squares, and in several cases, more. The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed […]
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November 11 in the Rhine Valley — Yet Another Sort of Holiday … and Party! (Also: Task for Square 11 of the “16 Festive Tasks”: Soyal)
In the Rhine Valley, where I live, November 11 has yet another meaning, in addition to (and even more so than) the two holidays we included in the “16 Festive Tasks”: 11/11, 11:11 AM marks the opening of the carnival season, which ends roughly three months later on Ash Wednesday (this season: Feb. 14, 2018), […]
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