227 words
The Meaning and History of Christmas
1,506 words / 9:56
Translations: Czech, French, German, Swedish
Audio version: To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save target or link as.”
It was about twenty years ago when I first noticed that the greeting “Merry Christmas” was being replaced by the bland, neutral “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays.”
1,217 words
On Christmas of 1996 I was at a crossroads. I had spent seven years in Boston — a life’s goal, and they were seven of the happiest years of my life — but in 1991 I moved to Columbia, Missouri, to live with Mother. I had worked and saved money, ostensibly planning to go to library school at the university, then return to Boston, ready to get hired. But things didn’t turn out that way. (more…)
Phil Eiger Newmann, Final Notice, 2020.
Phil Eiger Newmann, Final Notice, 2020.
1,090 words
Apparently, Uncle Sam has decided to dress as Ebenezer Scrooge this Christmas.
I don’t know much about economics — if I did, I’d be a millionaire rather than a writer — but I know enough to realize that the US economy is wrecked beyond belief. (more…)
Philippe de Champaigne, Saint Augustin, 1645-1650
Philippe de Champaigne, Saint Augustin, 1645-1650
2,637 words
The key problem of our age is disconnection from truth. This takes several distinct forms. The first, and most obvious, is the prevalence of lies. As everyone knows, modern, Western civilization is founded upon lies about human nature, culture, and history. The most significant of these — underlying, in one form of another, most of the rest — is the equality lie; the myth of human equality, which is the chief myth of our age. (“Myth,” as most of my readers know, can have a positive or a negative connotation, as there are salutary myths; here, obviously, I am using the term in its purely negative sense.) (more…)
1,167 words
The Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, gave me the gift of time to reflect on much that has been on my mind. I hope you’ll use the dark days to do the same, remember old traditions, and find the beauty that still exists. When the nights are long and cold, we as a people have always turned inward to search, and outward to create something beautiful.
Autumn collapses into winter through low-hanging gray clouds and lands in the deep-cold. (more…)
3,427 words
Yule is the midwinter festival celebrated by my ancestors and by Germanic neo-pagans today. Midwinter is a time when much of nature seems to die or to depart. The trees are stripped of their leaves. The birds abandon us, flying off to warmer climes. Bears, badgers, chipmunks, and squirrels hibernate. Water freezes over. The earth is covered in ice and snow, so that nothing can grow. The air is so chilled that when we are out in it for too long, death becomes something tangible, and we rush inside. (more…)
395 words
Translated by Greg Johnson
We are approaching Christmas (another name for the winter solstice). Associated with the evergreen tree, Christmas has always been celebrated in European countries (more…)
Ferdinand Lindner, Altnordisches Julfest, from Die Gartenlaube magazine. 1880.
Ferdinand Lindner, Altnordisches Julfest, from Die Gartenlaube magazine. 1880.
1,818 words
Christmas is my favorite time of the year. From Christmas decorations to Christmas songs, I always get into the holiday spirit wherever my travels and adventures take me. Although I prefer spending Christmas with friends and family, I have spent a few holidays by myself in various countries. While I was never one to question (more…)
1,892 words
In keeping with my annual Christmas season ritual, I am currently enjoying a much-needed vacation with extended family in Appalachia. Every year, my aging aunt graciously hosts my family: me, my children, and our dog. This year the experience has been all the more special because she bought a DVD copy of It’s a Wonderful Life, the 1946 Christmas classic starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, and last night we gathered around her flatscreen to watch it. (more…)
1,506 words / 9:56
Translations: Czech, French, German, Swedish
Audio version: To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save target or link as.”
It was about twenty years ago when I first noticed that the greeting “Merry Christmas” was being replaced by the bland, neutral “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays.”
