Researching the Midwinter Yule, and the tradition of Yule Logs, has brought forth many fond memories for me. I loved gathering at the fireplace Christmas day to spend the day with my…
Month: December 2018
Midwinter Yule
One of my favorite aspects of the holiday season are all the holiday lights: our decorated Christmas tree, the candles in the windows, and a fire in the fireplace. These lights brighten…
The Christmas Tree – Old Tannembaum
Decorating the Christmas Tree has always been a very important tradition in my family. It’s the turning point in the holiday where the magic begins. Because my birthday is the 18th, my…
Christmas Stockings, A Brief History
One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up were the Christmas stockings my mom handmade and personalized for my brother and me. On Christmas Eve, we hung our stockings by the fireplace…
St. Lucia’s Day
Once, when I was a little girl, I had a friend who was so very excited about representing Saint Lucia at her church. St. Lucy was her favorite Saint, because my…
Christmas Tinsel: The Legend of the Christmas Spider
This was one of my favorite holiday stories as a child, and like all folktales there are many variations of it. This is the version I remember from my youth. The Legend…
Hanukkah – The Dreidels
In our A Brief History of Hanukkah blog, we mentioned the Dreidel game, a game associated now with Hanukkah and RoseAnna and I thought it would be fun to write a little…
St. Nicholas’ Day: Who Was Santa Claus?
When I was a little girl, I loved best of all, the magic of Christmastime. It was a strange time of year because my birthday is a week before Christmas. I was…
Written Accounts and Visual Representations as Primary Sources
Academic scholars also consider written accounts, such as diaries, writing on monuments, letters, commonplace books, autobiographies, wills, court documents, treaties, books of law, and merchant logs as primary sources.
A Brief History of Hanukkah
Hanukkah is known as the “Festival of Lights”, “Feast of Dedication” or the “Feast of the Maccabees”. It is a Jewish Holiday that commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem…