The Krampus Kalendar: S is for SNOWMEN

The creation of anthropomorphic sculptures formed from atmospheric water vapour frozen into ice crystals – more commonly known as a snowmen – is a popular pastime during the winter months... if it snows. Your typical snowman is made from two or three large snowballs, with sticks, pieces of coal, vegetables, and items of clothing being added to help create the illusion that they are in fact people.

There are documented records of snowmen being built since Medieval times – the earliest being an illustration in the margin of one of the pages of the 1380 Book of Hours, that resides in Koninklijke Bibliotheek, in The Hague – but it is likely that the practice dates back to the Neolithic period. After all, the representation of the human form, in no matter what medium, is as old as human beings themselves. Since Neolithic peoples painted the inside of caves with scenes of hunts, as well as those of everyday life, and stone age artists carved sculptures of the Earth Goddesses from the material that gave them their name, why wouldn’t they also have used snow to create effigies of the human form (when the weather conditions permitted)?

As snow can be sculpted without the need for tools, it would have been a very appealing material to work in. Ice-age man sought to create images of the idealised human form, which for him meant the maternal, female form – the voluptuous, well-endowed shape of Mother Earth herself. So it is highly likely that the snow sculptures we describe as snowmen actually started out as snowwomen. (It’s uncertain when snowballs were introduced.)

25,000 years later, and we’re still building human figures out of snow, but only if the snow is of the right consistency. As it approaches its melting point snow becomes moist and is more easily compacted, allowing for the construction of large snowballs simply by rolling. Powdered snow will not stick to itself and so is not an ideal building material for snowmen. The best time to build a snowman is the next warm afternoon following a heavy snowfall.

The snowman doubtless became a part of the Christmas festivities, not just because of the wintery time of year at which those celebrations took place, but as part of Christianity’s mass assimilation of seasonal pagan practices, such as the Christmas tree and Father Christmas.

I'm sure it won't surprise anybody to learn that snowmen appear in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and they will also appear in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is into its final two days of funding on Kickstarter.

   

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 Krampus Kalendar: R is for REINDEER

Did you know that a reindeer calf can outrun a man at only one day old, or that the Finns once measured distance in terms of how far a reindeer could run without having to stop for a pee?

The reindeer is the only deer that can be domesticated, and was the first hoofed animal to be domesticated. It provides the nomadic tribes who live within the Arctic Circle (such as the Lapps) with milk, cheese, meat, fat, clothing, footwear, tools (made from the antlers and bones), highly durable bindings (made from the animal’s sinews) and a means of transport.

In Iceland, reindeer meat (or hreindýr) is becoming an increasingly popular Christmas dinner choice, while the Lapp people of Scandinavia believe that taking powdered reindeer antlers increases virility. Reindeer themselves are vegetarians by choice but when when the supply of greenery runs out they will eat anything, and everything, from eggs and shed antlers, to placenta and even rodents!

Reindeer did not enter the Father Christmas story until the nineteenth century, and it was all the fault of the American Episcopalian minister called Clement Clarke Moore, who composed the famous poem An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicholas (a.k.a. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas), as a Christmas treat for his own children.

In his poem, Moore had a diminutive elf-like Santa pulled in a miniature sleigh by equally tiny reindeer. At one point Santa reels off their now so familiar names, but which were new to those reading the poem when it first appeared in print back in 1823.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

‘Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!’ 

Those same reindeer appear in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and also appear in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is into its final few days of funding on Kickstarter.

   

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 Krampus Kalendar: Q is for Snow QUEEN

The Snow Queen, or Snedronningen in Danish, is an original fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. The tale was first published on 21 December, 1844, and is about the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai.

The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed works. It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for children.

Andersen met the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in 1840, and fell in love with her, but she was not interested in him romantically, although the two became friends. Legend has it that Andersen was inspired to model the cold-hearted Snow Queen on Lind after she rejected him as a suitor.

More recently, the 2013 Disney film Frozen was inspired by The Snow Queen, and closely followed the original Andersen story early in the film's development.

The Snow Queen appears in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and she will also appear in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is into its final few days of funding on Kickstarter.

   

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 Krampus Kalendar: P is for PERCHTA

Not unlike Krampus the Christmas Devil himself, Perchta is a creature from Alpine myth, a product of the paganism once practised in the Upper German and Austrian regions of the Alps. Once venerated as a goddess, her name may mean "the bright one".

In the folklore of Bavaria and Austria, Perchta was said to roam the countryside at midwinter, and to enter homes during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany, but especially on Twelfth Night itself. She would know whether the children and young servants of the household had behaved well and worked hard all year. If they had, they might find a small silver coin next day, in a shoe or pail. If they had not, she would slit their bellies open, remove stomach and guts, and stuff the hole with straw and pebbles!

She was particularly concerned to see that girls had spun the whole of their allotted portion of flax or wool during the year. She would also slit people's bellies open and stuff them with straw if they ate something on the night of her feast day other than the traditional meal of fish and gruel.

I re-imagined Perchta for 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and she will also appear in her new form in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is into its final five days of funding on Kickstarter.

   

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 Krampus Kalendar: O is for Chocolate ORANGES

As my Best Man pointed out during his speech at my wedding (almost 16 years ago), I have a think of chocolate and orange in combination, and I love nothing more than a Terry's Chocolate Orange (apart from my wife and children, of course), a product that was first created in 1932 at the Terry's Chocolate Works in York, England.

In 1823, Joseph Terry joined a York sweets company, which specialised in orange and lemon candied peel, as well as other sweets. Terry used his skills in chemistry to develop new lines of chocolate, candied peel, and marmalade. The company opened the Art Deco-style factory known as Terry's Chocolate Works in 1926, and began launching new products. These included the Dessert Chocolate Apple (1926), Terry's All Gold (1931) and the Chocolate Orange.

In 1954, production of the chocolate apple was phased out in favour of increased production of the Chocolate Orange.

Did you know...?

• Chocolate Oranges appeared on the South Korean market in the GS25 chain of convenience stores in 2017.
• The Terry's factory in York closed in 2005. Chocolate Orange manufacturing was moved to near Jankowice, in Poland, but in 2017, with the sale of Terry's, manufacture was moved to France.
• Surveys have revealed that a Terry’s Chocolate Orange finds its way into one in ten British Christmas stockings.
• On 29 May 2016, the UK product size was reduced from 175g to 157g by changing the moulded shape of each segment to leave an air gap between each piece. Despite this, the price doubled in some retail outlets.

Take care when you examine the stockings in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, as they may not contain a Chocolate Orange. But I might have to put one or two into 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, or maybe the RPG could come with a free one at future conventions.

   

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 Krampus Kalendar: N is for NUTCRACKER

At Christmas time it is not uncommon for many families to attend the only ballet they will see all year. The name of that ballet? The Nutcracker. But how did a ballet about a mechanical device for cracking nuts become such a popular festive tradition?

The story itself upon which the ballet it based – The Nutcracker and the King of Mice, by E. T. A. Hoffman – is older than the version we see portrayed on stage, which is actually an adaptation by the French author Alexandre Dumas, better known for penning such classic novels as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Nutcracker was actually Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final and least satisfying ballet, after he took on the project with a marked lack of enthusiasm. It is ironic then that it is The Nutcracker that has become one of the most beloved Christmas traditions of the modern age.

The Nutcracker premiered in Tchaikovsky’s native Russia in 1892, but it wasn't until 1944 that an American ballet company decided to perform the entire thing. That year, the San Francisco Ballet took on the task, from then on performing The Nutcracker as an annual tradition.

But it was really George Balanchine who set The Nutcracker on the path to popular fame. In 1954 he choreographed the ballet for a New York company, and not a year has passed since when the ballet has not been performed in New York City.

You may encounter an animated Nutcracker in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and possibly in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas as well.

   

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 Krampus Kalendar: M is for MYTHS and Legends

There are many myths and legends associated with the Christmas season, some significantly better known than others.

For example, 1st December is the feast day of Saint Eligius – the patron saint of goldsmiths and other metalworkers, including blacksmiths – who died on that date in AD 660. There are a number of legends which are often linked to Saint Dunstan (another smithying saint), but which have also been applied to Saint Eligius.

In one, the Saint, formerly a blacksmith himself, was working at his forge when the Devil paid him a visit. The Devil had disguised himself as a beautiful woman, with a view to leading his victim astray. However, the Saint spotted Satan’s cloven hooves poking out from beneath the woman’s dress, and grabbed the Devil's nose with his red hot pincers, thus foiling the Evil One’s diabolical scheme.

According to another legend, Satan returned again as a weary traveller in need of a horseshoe. The Saint saw through the disguise a second time and beat the Devil until he pleaded for mercy, and swore never to enter any house with a horseshoe above the door.

'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas was, in part, inspired by many of the myths and legends associated with Christmas, not least those concerning Saint Nicholas and Krampus the Christmas Devil, and so is 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is currently 78% funded on Kickstarter.

   

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.