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Countdown to Christmas 2016 - Week 6 - Iceland

Jólasveinarnir (Yule Lads) - photo courtesy of Iceland 24

In Iceland, Christmas (called Yule or Jól) festivities start at 6 pm on Christmas Eve, December 24th, and last until Twelfth Night (Epiphany, January 6th). In the high north, Christmas is linked to ancient traditions related to the winter solstice, called Yule.  Celebrations took place on a full moon during the time of year when the day was shortest. Not much is known about how the feast was celebrated then except that Icelandic chieftains were in the habit of inviting scores of people to Yule drinking and eating feasts.  Later, Yule was superseded by the celebration of the birth of Christ with the coming of Christianity around 1000 AD.

Countdown to Christmas 2016 - Week 6

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Countdown to Christmas 2016 - Week 5 - Portugal

In Portugal, Christmas is celebrated with festive fun, but since it is a predominantly Catholic country, there is also much solemnity to the holiday.  A family Christmas tradition is setting up the presépio (nativity scene), the representation of Christ's birth in the stable at Bethlehem. While some families keep the creche simple, displaying only the Holy Family, many set up elaborate scenes, including the Three Kings, shepherds and the sheep, angels, other animals, lakes (made with mirrors) and hills (made with stones, moss, and clay).  The materials used to decorate the presépio are traditionally collected by the children.  A few days before Christmas Eve, the Baby Jesus is taken out of the manger.

The Autumn Wind is a Pirate - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

Since I live in the Desert Southwest, autumn comes creeping slowly in with cooler temperatures.  Most of the trees here are evergreen so there isn’t much color change.  This time of the year, I always think about the forest we lived in for 10 years in Northern Virginia.  Oh, the glorious colors as the leaves on the trees changed.!!!  Sometimes almost blinding color combinations.  Then sometimes, the wind would hit and the leaves became a carpet of color on the forest floor.  I ran across this great quote about autumn wind from Steve Sabol:  “The autumn wind is a pirate. Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along swaggering boisterously. His face is weather beaten, he wears a hooded sash with a silver hat about his head . . . The autumn wind is a raider, pillaging just for fun.”  A pillaging wind playing with and swirling the colorful leaves!