h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Christmas Traditions - A6904226
Author: summerbayexile - don't let your fears get in the way of your dreams - U208939

Hi all,
An entry from a dedicated, and unashamed, Christmas lover cobbled together from years of teaching about my favourite time of the year. Hope you like it. A companion piece about Christmas music is in the pipeline, time permitting!
SBE

'The red robes of the Bisops of Myrna..... The actual derivation of his red and white outfit despite the claims of the Coca Cola company who merely popularised it'.



But see my Entry on 'Yhe Influence of Fly Agaric on the Iconography of Father Christmas', A6084218.

'In 1823, the American poet Charles Clement Moore wrote a poem that introduced another few strands of the Santa Claus legend'.

You will see from my Entry that this is now believed to have been written by one Major Henry Livingstone Jr.

I notice you haven't made any links to other EG sites, SBE.

There are several 'out there' to which you might consider making a link, eg

Christmas Traditions on the Isle of Wight, A690987
Tradition of Christmas Decorations, A665949
Traditional Christmas Cake A663617 (Incidentally, I notice that you don't mention Christmas cake at all in your Entry)

'A companion piece about Christmas music is in the pipeline, time permitting!' >

Be aware that there is already an EG Entry on Christmas Carols at A832420.






SBE

Three nits, SBE:

- It's 'Sinterklaas', not 'Sinte Klass' or 'Sinterklass'.

- Instead of 'Holland' you should probably say 'The Netherlands'. 'Holland' applies, strictly speaking, only to two of the western provinces.

- Sinterklaas is also celebrated in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

Good luck with your entry.

Good entry - have some .

Some suggestions though...

Following on from the previous comment, for the 'Sinterklaas' section, you'd be better to refer to Black Peter by his Dutch name of 'Zwarte Piet' (probably with a footnote translating it).
It may be worth mentioning the story that Zwarte Piet is supposed to keep a record of what children do, in a big book; good children are then given presents by Zwarte Piet, who comes down the chimney (hence why he is black). This is the origin of the idea of Santa Claus keeping a list (as in the song 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town': '...he's making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice...').

It should be 'Kristkindl' in Germany, not 'Christkindl'.

Since you mention the church taking the holly to symbolise Christ's crown of thorns, you may want to mention that the Christmas Tree is supposed to symbolise an arrow pointing upwards to God.

As mentioned above, it's probably worth including a few links to other entries in the Edited Guide: A663617 is a good entry on Christmas cake (as is A6859092 which is in Peer Review at the moment) and A665949 covers Christmas decorations.

Your entry's a good summary though!

Have some more

Cheers Nite Owl and Casper Have dealt with your nitpicks I think! I know I didn't mention Christmas Cake, but you can't mention all the Christmas food out there!! I always link to other entries eventually, so worry not. Big Al - The case against Moore is by no means proved as he is still credited with the poem in every site on the net where I have looked, so the link to your entry will just open up another idea for those interested. Likewise, the robes of the Bishop of Myra were red, fungi notwithstanding!! Again its a fascinating side path for completists to go down. I know there is an entry on carols, which is why I specified music. My real area of expertise is Christmas pop records!!! Surely deserving of an entry with Slade, Shaky, Lennon and The Pogues to mention a few!! Thanks for the feedback.

SBE

Think of it as a shop window for all the entries on Christmas. It will help interested readers find everything they need!
SBE

Hi!
I was a little confused, someone said it should be Kristkindl, not Christkindl in German...I only know it spelled with Ch (There's also a beer, Christkindl Bier, and that's spelled with ch )
And you wrote that in Germany, there's a bell ringing so that the children go to sleep. I only know a bell ringing to show that the kids are allowed to go into the livingroom (or where ever the christmas tree is) to open their presents. Which happens on the 24th, Christmas eve. Good for greedy people like me, who couldn't bear to wait until morning

Looks good on a quick scan, I'll read more tomorrow!

One more nit to pick, SBE: Sinterklaas Eve is December *5th*, not 6th. (The 6th is his name day.)

And is there any reason for not mentioning it's also being celebrated in Flanders?

Once again, good luck!

This entry talks about there being many traditions, but then skips a lot of them. Christmas really is a worldwide phenomenon, but you'd never guess from this article. Perhaps it might be better titled "Some Christmas Traditions".

Christmas in Uganda: http://www.lhmint.org/christmas/traditions/uganda.htm
Christmas in Japan: http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/culture/christmas.html

Fair comment, but its such a huge subject that one entry could never cover everything. In any case there is still time before it goes anywhere near the EG. It is still a work in progress, so a little more patience is required and would be appreciated!

SBE

Hi SBE,

What a wonderful subject to write an entry on. Packed full of fascinating facts, I really enjoyed reading it. I wouldn't change much of anything in what I read so far.

Now, don't take any notice of me if you like, but like SeaChange, I'd love to see a bit more on different Christmas traditions - just one fact per country is enough, I should think - otherwise you'd be writing till next Christmas!

I found you a couple of links to look at and see if you like them (do keep the volume down for the last one though!)

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/library/christmastraditions/

http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm




Wilma

Many thanks for the useful links. It is always nice to receive balanced, constructive and polite comments! The entry will reflect as wide a variety of cultures as possible as was always the intention.

SBE

There's nothing particularly wrong about writing about a huge subject. But as your article now stands, it is not meeting the submission criteria posted at the top of the page of Peer Review unless you do a lot more work, or change your title. Usually authors think they are mostly done when they submit here.

Thankfully, the University is open again, so if you like, you can make it into a real project and get yourself a nifty Field Researcher badge.

there is a brillaint tradition in scandinavia i think of the krampus a horned devil that either works with santa or steals the preasents and santa has to fight him to get them back. every one desees up in really scaru devis costumes. its possibly a pagan tradition.
i think there is more info here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus

I have always ended up adding bits to my entries when they've been in PR. I have changed the title, because you seem to be expecting me to write a 30,000 word opus on everything to do with Christmas otherwise. Your attitude seems to be that I have come in with some half baked idea and made a really bad job of it. Well, you are entitled to your opinion but if you think it is that bad why not unsubscribe? The original comment seemed to indicate that you thought me guilty of ethnocentrism. I found that extremely insulting. I am sorry that you take such a dim view, but I do know the PR guidelines and do not feel that I have put this in in error.

SBE