The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 25

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Only kidding! This is the Chrismologist's perfect Christmas song!

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 24

Jesus refulsit omnium (meaning 'Jesus, Light of the Nations) is the earliest known hymn in honour of the Nativity, which means, effectively, it must be the first Christmas carol!



To find out more about the history of the Christmas carol, pick up your copy of Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 23

Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalry has to be one of the least Christmas-y songs ever...



Topped only by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules' cover version of the Tears For Fears song Mad World, which was Christmas No. 1 in the UK in 2003, beating The Darkness to the coveted top spot.



To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, including those of a musical variety, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 22

It wouldn't be Christmas without a former Beetle warbling about the festive season now would it?



To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 21

It's the Twenty-First of December, which means that it's officially the first day of Winter! So let's mark the occasion with a duet by two late greats - Bing Crosby and David Bowie...



To find out more about the winter solstice and its many myths, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 20

It's Chriiiistmaaaas! Well, almost...



There's still time to order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts!

The book is also available from Skyhorse Publishing in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 19

Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas will forever be associated with the festive seasonal, having first been released in 1984...



However, 2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the recording of this version of the song, which was even played on Radio 1!



To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 18

Do you remember The Computer's First Christmas Card? Well this is a bit like The Computer's First Christmas Carol...



And you thought  Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You couldn't get any worse...

To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 17

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...



To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 13

Today it's the turn of one of my favourite Christmas carols as re-imagined by one of my favourite '70s prog-rockers...



To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 12

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a perennial favourite, at this time of year, but here's a rather different take on Scrooge's story by the steampunk band The Men Who Shall Not Be Blamed For Nothing...



Another perennial favourite is the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 11

One among many Christmas traditions is the annual trip to the ballet, to see Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker...



To find out more about festive traditions, including visits to the ballet and the pantomime, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 9

Nothing says Christmas like a bunch of Eastenders in fluffy white fur coats accompanied by a smattering of tubular bells...



To find out more about the festive season, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 6

Today is Saint Nicholas' Day, so if you've not made your Christmas list yet, maybe it's about time you did...



To find out more about the fat man with the big sack, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas and makes for the perfect Secret Santa gift.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 2

It's getting quite wintry here in the UK, so here's a seasonal favourite from David Essex.



Did you know, the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts even explains the mysteries of snow and ice!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 1

This year, the Chrismologist's Advent Calendar is going to consist of popular Christmas songs and carols. Can you guess what will be the final song of the season that will be revealed on Christmas Day itself?



To find out more about the festive season, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

     

Christmas Eve

Yes, it's almost here - there's only one day to go until Christmas Day! So, what does Christmas Eve itself have in store?

Well, traditionalists will be putting up their Christmas trees and other decorations today, whilst last minute shoppers will be panic buying, spending (on average) £33 on last minute purchases (if they can get to the shops, that is).

There are many traditions associated with this day, but some have long been forgotten. First there is the tradition of the Dumb Cake (a type of loaf!) which a young spinster would make in silence to help her determine the identity of her future intended.

Christmas Eve was considered a day of abstinence and, as such, was a day when traditionally fish was eaten rather than meat. It is also a day when younger parishioners attend a Crib Service at church.

Of course it is tonight when hopeful children (and some adults) hang up stockings (or sacks!) in the expectation that Father Christmas might fill them to bursting with presents.

And some people attend Midnight Mass with churches welcoming in Christmas Day with a peal of bells (announcing the birth of Christ and the death of the Devil).

You can read more about these traditions (and a number of others) in What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany, which is still available from good bookshops until they close for Christmas later today.

What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany make the perfect Christmas stocking fillers!

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

These days we take the traditional Christmas tree for granted. After all, it's - well - traditional! But if you stick to tradition, then you shouldn't actually put your tree up until Christmas Eve (tomorrow), and not in August like some people!

But to find out precisely how the Christmas tree became a staple of the festive season, you need to pick up a copy of What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, or the US version, Christmas Miscellany.

But while you're waiting for your copy to arrive, did you know that six species account for about 90 per cent of the Christmas tree trade in the United States? Scots pine (also known as Scotch pine) ranks first, with about 40 percent of the market, followed by Douglas fir, which accounts for about 35 percent. The other big sellers are noble fir, white pine, balsam fir and white spruce.

The first national American Christmas Tree was lit in 1923 on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge, while Franklin Pierce was the first president to introduce the Christmas tree to the White House in 1856.

The Three Wise... Men?

In 2004, the General Synod of the Church of England agreed to a revision of the Book of Common Prayer. A committee agreed that the term Magi, as used in the Bible, was the name used by officials at the Persian court. This means that not only were the three wise men who visited Jesus not kings, they did not number three and were possibly not even wise. They might even have been female as well!

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If you have anymore questions about the history and traditions of Christmas, then you'll probably find them answered in What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, published in the US as Christmas Miscellany.

Mistletoe demystified

A popular practice among the more lascivious of middle-aged middle managers at the office Christmas party is that of coping a kiss off any unsuspecting young temp who happens to stray too close under the tawdry sprig of mistletoe sellotaped to any convenient light-fitting, smoke alarm or door lintel. But how did such a pervy practice ever come about, especially during a season linked to chaste Christian thoughts and virgin births?

Like so many others, it is one of those traditions that is a hangover of our pre-Christian past. Both the Ancient Greeks and the druidic priests of the Celtic peoples revered the mistletoe, believing it to have supernatural healing properties. To the Romans the mistletoe was a symbol of peace and used as part of the Saturnalia celebrations.

Like other plants that remained green all year long, is was taken as a symbol of prosperity and fertility. Thoughts of fertility returning to the land were foremost in the minds of the early peoples who relied on the land for their immediate survival, especially in the bleak midwinter. In Norse mythology, the plant was sacred to Frigga (also known as Freya) who was the goddess of love.

In medieval times, mistletoe was fed to cattle to make sure they calved in the spring, and any woman hoping to fall pregnant would carry a sprig of it about her person. It was also considered an effective treatment for toothache, nervous disorders, epilepsy, heart disease and snakebites. It was even believed to bring quarrels to an end, and was a sure means of protection against witches and lightning strikes! (One strongly-held belief had it that mistletoe was formed when lightning struck a tree.)

The more modern practice of kissing under the mistletoe can be traced back to 18th century England. Young women who stood underneath the mistletoe could not refuse a kiss and if any unfortunate girl remained unkissed under the berries it was said that she would not marry at all during the coming year.

In one version of the custom, every time a young man stole a kiss from a girl he plucked a berry from the mistletoe bough. When all the berries had been plucked, the privilege ceased, as is recalled by this ditty:

Pick a berry off the mistletoe
For ev’ry kiss that’s given.
When the berries have all gone,
There’s an end to the kissing.









Did you know...?The name 'mistletoe' comes from two Anglo-Saxon words, mistel, meaning ‘dung’ and tan, meaning ‘a small branch’. Birds, (usually the mistle thrush) feast on the mistletoe’s berries, then, having had their fill, they do what everyone does after a big meal – they void their bowels. The seeds excreted in this way germinate in the bark of the tree and a new mistletoe plant grows.

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You will find many other such facts about evergreens in my book What is Myrrh Anyway?- and its American counterpart Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.