| eggshaped
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| 69540. Fri May 12, 2006 9:10 am |
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Hmmm, good point.
I shall try that out with some of my friends tonight, and if it works will write it up tomorrow. |
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| Gray
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| 69542. Fri May 12, 2006 9:19 am |
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We had a couple of geese, and before we got around to building a pond for them, they took to the water bucket to satisfy each others' carnal pleasures.
It led to three goslings and a slew of risqué limericks. |
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| MatC
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| 69556. Fri May 12, 2006 10:03 am |
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I wonder if perhaps every regional TV newsroom has an “everyday xmas” man or woman on its files; I’ve seen the story several times over the years, and I feel that it wasn’t always the same person. That in itself might be quinteresting, if provable.
Also, there must, I presume, be an official psychiatric name for the condition or habit of celebrating xmas every day? |
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| MatC
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| 69569. Fri May 12, 2006 10:58 am |
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| Further to the Boston Tea Party, there are a number of sites (such as http://lonestaricon.com/2005/News/2005/39-40/39news01.htm) which point out that the idea that the Tea Party was a protest against taxes is a myth; apparently, it was really an anti-monopoly protest. |
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| MatC
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| 69596. Fri May 12, 2006 2:36 pm |
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Further to the seasonal suicides, I think I’ve already posted (somewhere) my Mythcon on the subject; some time later, I added the following update:
<<In FT144 (p.27) we dealt with the myth that Christmas is peak-time for suicides. An article about Battersea Dogs Home in _The Independent_ (9 October 2004) sinks another Scroogian factoid: summertime, rather than just after Christmastime, is when most dogs are dumped at the home, presumably due to summer holidays. Remember, “A puppy is for life, not just for Spring.”>> |
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| Frederick The Monk
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| 69961. Mon May 15, 2006 3:09 pm |
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Found the Viking pogoing ref - it's from the De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae ("On Ceremonies") of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII. In one of the very few descriptions of a pagan Viking Christmas scene (despite what some modern neo-pagans claim) he describes how:
"...two companies danced in a ring, striking their shields with sticks and shouting 'Yule, Yule, Yule!', and in each company two men were dressed in furs and masks". |
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| Molly Cule
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| 70329. Wed May 17, 2006 1:07 pm |
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| In Germany people put a spider on their Christmas tree. The story goes that spiders are responsible for tinsel. The day before Christmas, as the small house in Germany was being cleaned for Christmas, the resident spiders, not wanting to be swept up with the broom, hid in the attic. When nightfall came and all were settled into bed, the spiders crept downstairs. To their amazement, in the middle of the living room was a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree. They were so excited that they ran all over the tree. They scurried up the trunk and leapt from branch to branch. Unfortunately they had left their mark. A gray spider web now covered the whole tree. When Weihnachtsmann, also known as Father Christmas, arrived he saw the tree covered in spider webs. Now he faced a dilemma. The family would be disappointed to see their beautiful tree all wrapped in the webs, but the spiders were so pleased with their handiwork that he did not have the heart to take it down. What could he do? He magicked the webs into beautiful shimmering silver strands. From then on tinsel was used and a gold or silver spider is still placed on German trees. |
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| Frederick The Monk
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| 70769. Sat May 20, 2006 9:47 am |
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| The Italian equivalent of Santa - La Befana - is a woman who rides a broomstick. Not only does she leave sweets for children (on the night of 5th/ 6th January) but she sweeps the house before leaving. |
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| Gordman
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| 194521. Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:07 am |
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Well these sure are some weird customs, i guess we are all free to have our own beliefs. I can't imagine Christmas without the Christmas tree, but also i am sad to see too many beautiful trees are sacrificed leaving empty places behind. This is why i vote for artificial Christmas trees. They have unique wonderful designs and can successfully replace natural ones.
Commercial link deleted by QI Moderator three years later! |
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| smiley_face
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| 194591. Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:56 pm |
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| Gordman wrote: | | They have unique wonderful designs and can successfully replace natural ones. |
And are much cheaper! Ours is 19 years old and still going strong (although getting a little bit bare in places, it has to be said). |
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| Tas
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| 194600. Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:36 pm |
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Put enough tinsel on, and you cannot see the bare patches!
:-)
Tas |
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| eggshaped
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| 194679. Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:47 am |
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IMHO real trees are much better, plastic trees just dont seem as majestic and do not have the distinctive smell of Christmas.
Christmas tree growing is a business, so I'd have thought that most are specifically planted in order to be cut down for the festive season; in which case they would just be replanted.
One organisation who definitely do plant new trees are the forestry commission who manage Britain’s two biggest Christmas tree outlets. Last year they planted an additional 50,000 Christmas trees to the 100,000 they sold.
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/HCOU-54WPRV
http://www.christmastree.org.uk/documents/careoftrees.htm |
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| AlmondFacialBar
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| 194764. Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:32 am |
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| Molly Cule wrote: | | In Germany people put a spider on their Christmas tree. The story goes that spiders are responsible for tinsel. The day before Christmas, as the small house in Germany was being cleaned for Christmas, the resident spiders, not wanting to be swept up with the broom, hid in the attic. When nightfall came and all were settled into bed, the spiders crept downstairs. To their amazement, in the middle of the living room was a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree. They were so excited that they ran all over the tree. They scurried up the trunk and leapt from branch to branch. Unfortunately they had left their mark. A gray spider web now covered the whole tree. When Weihnachtsmann, also known as Father Christmas, arrived he saw the tree covered in spider webs. Now he faced a dilemma. The family would be disappointed to see their beautiful tree all wrapped in the webs, but the spiders were so pleased with their handiwork that he did not have the heart to take it down. What could he do? He magicked the webs into beautiful shimmering silver strands. From then on tinsel was used and a gold or silver spider is still placed on German trees. |
erm... i'm german and i've never heard of that. either that custom is confined to a very small region or you've fallen for an urban myth there...
:-)
AlmondFacialBar |
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| Billybob
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| 249946. Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:18 pm |
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| MatC wrote: | | there must, I presume, be an official psychiatric name for the condition or habit of celebrating xmas every day? |
Wizzardry? |
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| samivel
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| 250002. Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:08 pm |
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| lol |
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