Think we’re probably a little later than usual with our minimalist Christmas decorations. We’ve collected a very few things that have travelled with us over the years since retirement (twenty-five of them now) mostly in the Middle East. And our ideas of what is quintessentially Christmassy have shifted a little. With only minor apologies I will quote from a post of my own from a couple of years ago:
But only since spending the Christmas holiday period here has it become clear how very western - and in some cases recent - Christmas imagery tends to be. OK, the manger scene and shepherds are Middle East, as they should be. And snow not unknown in Bethlehem although not all that frequent - we’ve been in Jerusalem when it snowed. Yule logs and mistletoe both ancient signs of life after the winter solstice, dating well back into pagan and Druid traditions. The Germans seem to have been the first to bring an evergreen inside and decorate it. In fact we can thank that Anglo-German couple Victoria and Albert for popularising the Christmas tree and much of what we regard as traditional Christmas custom. Traditions which with the help of the Dutch (think Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas) crossed the Atlantic to North America. Though only in North America is Saint Nick depicted as being fat. European Saint Nicholases (origin Türkiye by the way) tend to look slim, serious and episcopal.
Posts
