Note: while some of these holidays are of a religious nature (some reformed folks might not care to celebrate saints days), the cultural aspects of each holiday are enjoyable and should be celebrated by those of that particular lineage.

November 30th: St. Andrew’s Day

10 Interesting Facts about St. Andrew’s Day

1)  He was a Galilean fisherman who was chosen to be the first disciple, although his brother Peter actually was the first disciple.
2)  The meaning of the “Andrew” in St. Andrew is manly.
3)  St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland.
4)  He was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras.
5)  St. Andrew’s Day is celebrated on November 30th and is Scotland’s official national day, although Robert Burns’ Day is more widely celebrated.
6)  St. Andrew’s Day is commonly referred to as The Saltire, and the Scottish national flag is flown on that day.
7)  St. Andrew’s Day is the day to celebrate Scottish culture, cuisine, and ceilidh-dancing.
8)  St Andrew’s flag is the flag of Scotland, a white X on a blue background.
9)  St. Andrew is the patron Saint of Greece and Russia as well.
10) St Andrew’s Societies exist around the world to celebrate Scottish culture.

St. Andrew’s Day

Free St. Andrew’s Day e-Cards

Traditions: Saint Andrew’s Day (warning: many pop-ups here as this is hosted on freeservers.)

December 13th: Luciadagen

Lucia festival

At dawn on 13th December in Sweden thousands of young girls, dressed in white gowns, holding a lit candle and, with a crown of electric candles on a wreath on their heads, bring light to the darkness of Swedish winter. She is known as “Lucia” and she leads a procession of maidens and “star boys” also wearing white gowns and pointed hats with gold stars on them. At the tail end of the procession are children dressed as little elves. ‘Cute’ does not begin to describe the scene as you hear the children singing traditional Xmas carols in the darkness and then you see the approaching light from their candles. Lucia and her maidens hand out saffron buns and ginger biscuits to the crowds as they go. It is a touching scene in the true spirit of Christmas.

There is a lovely slide show of the some of the larger Luciadagen processions on this website; however, individual families in Sweden often put on their own, less formal, Luciadagen processions, and mom and dad get breakfast in bed.

Amazingly enough, eHow has a page on Luciadagen. How to Celebrate St. Lucia Day. A good note is that the Lucia Crown, for safety’s sake, should use battery-powered candles instead of the real one. Nothing like a young lady screaming because her hair’s on fire to ruin a lovely tradition…

You can purchase battery-powered Lucia Crowns at Hemslojd and other Swedish import stores.

Recipes (in grams rather than ounces) for some Swedish traditional recipes, including Glögg (Swedish mulled wine), Pepparkakor (ginger biscuits), and Lussekatter (Saint Lucia buns) can be found here: KingSeany’s Swedish Recipes.

RecipeZaar has Pepparkakor, lussekattor, a non-alcoholic SAFT GLOGG (Swedish Fruit Juice Glogg) for those who want to have the kiddies share in the fun, and the traditional, alcoholic Glogg as well. They list a number of different Glogg versions, this is just one.

To be honest, my family with its solid Swedish background, never celebrated any traditional holidays. But it’s never too late to revive one!

God bless,
Laurel

Yule Tide And Christmas In America

Historical article about early American Christmases.

The Old and Sold web site has a number of very interesting articles on various subjects. Those of you who descend from the following European ethnic groups may find some of the following articles to be of interest.

Yule Tide And Christmas In Germany

Yule Tide And Christmas In Scandinavia

Yule Tide And Christmas In Russia

Yule Tide And Christmas In France

Yule Tide And Christmas In Italy

Yule Tide And Christmas In Spain

October 9th is Leif Erickson Day.

Leif Erickson, the REAL discoverer of the New World!

Leif Erickson

Excellent report by a high school student on Leif Erickson

Enjoy thinking about what might have been if he and his kind had thought to stick around here…

Laurel

And
Leif Erikson Day and America’s European Heritage

Given the date of today, I figured I’d post this here:

“Do you know what day it is?” I answered that it was the fourth of May. She shook her head as she said again: “Oh, yes! I know that, I know that! but do you know what day it is?” On my saying that I did not understand, she went on: “It is the eve of St. George’s Day and forwith shall spew the demons that are drunken tards. Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway?” - Bram Stroker “Dracula.”

Stroker has the date for St. George’s Day on the 5th of May, but most people celebrate it on the 23rd of April…(the same day Shakespeare passed on.)

I’m Scots-Irish so…I don’t really care about St. George one way or the other.

Still…it would be interesting to see how this day is celebrated in England.

St. George supposedly slew a dragon…maybe, as a personal celebration, I’ll try to conquer a problem or overcome some obstacle?

The more I think about this, the more I regret the careless and off-hand statement: “I’m Scots-Irish so I don’t really care…”

I’m inclined to believe that St. George really DID slay a dragon! And even if he didn’t, and it turns out to be a fairy-tale-like legend, well, it’s still fascinating. I can’t figure out if the day is supposed to celebrate evil, or good, or what! At any rate, it’s an organic expression of European culture, and so, I do care about it.

July 31, 2010, Saturday - 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
MONROVIA TRADITIONAL MUSIC GATHERING

In the courtyard behind the Dollmakers Store
412 block South Myrtle Avenue
Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 357-1091
When Pigs Fly
SoKattywompus
Dulcimania (no web site)
A Free Event. Free City parking lots nearby

This event, with different performers, takes place the last Saturday of each month from May-August. Always free.

Traditional American music. When Pigs Fly is awesome!