I Love This Time Of Year

[nanna 0]

Well its here November i love this time of the year.There is so much exciting events going on.To start it all off we have 1st november all saints day and in Belgium this is the time of year when people visit loved ones graves and place chrysanthnums pot plants on their graves.Then we have the 11th November Rememberence day where people remember people who died in any of the wars.In england on the first Sunday nearest to the 11th this is called poppy day and the Queen and the royal familie and members of the government lay poppy wreaths at the cenetarth and in towns aroun england poppt wreaths are laid at war memorials.On a happier note on the last Thursday in November you have Thanks giving which all Americans celebrate.I know this is to celebrate pilgrims and years ago i dont know if this still happens there used be put at everyones place at a dinner table 3 pieces of parched dry corn was placed Something like this happened please if your reading this correct me if im wrong.The day after Thanksgiving is the start of the Christmas season.We now enter December where we have four weeks before Christmas in the church calander we have the start of advent and here in england we have a tradition where we have advent calanders which has 24 doors on it an we open a door each day until Christmas eve.And now in Europe on the 6th December we celebrate ST Nicholas this occasion is really for children. If the children have been good all year round then ST Nicholas leaves the children toys and lots of nice sweet goodies like chocolate figures marziepan figures speculass biscuit figures clementines and lots more.But if children are naughty then they go in Zwarte piets zak (black peters sack).And now we arrive at 24th december Christmas eve the start of christmas this is also the night Father Christmas comes when everyone is in bed.The 25th December the biggest and bestest day of the year Christmas Day where we celebrate the birth of christ.And families open presents that Father Christmas has left.And in england we have a big roast dinner with roast Turkey and all the trimmings at this time of the year we say eat drink and be merry.The day after Christmas Day is Boxing day also known as the feast of saint Stephen.We are now at 31st december New Years Eve the last day of the year this is more of the celebration for adults where some go out and celebrating seeing the new year in and at Midnight they sing Aud Lang Syn.We now start a new year 1st January this is normally a quiet day where people are resting and getting over there hangovers from the night before.On the 1st January in London and New York they have the New Years Day Parade.Well i hope you can see from reading this you van see why i like this time of year.

[sheepdog 10]

Great post, it's interesting to learn about customs in places other than the USA. But for me, I am not really a fall person. Mostly because I know winter follows fall, and I do truely hate winter. After reading threw your post, I think I now know why they have all those holidays you mentioned to brighten your spirits up this time of year. Because without them we would all (or at least many of us) be massively depressed over the lousy winter weather.

[k_nitin_r 8]

In the UAE, there are just two seasons - summer and winter. There are trees with leaves that do not fall off at the change of the season, it may rain in winter but that is rather unpredictable and barely lasts for over a week though we can have rainfall twice or thrice in a season, and there is never any snow because it does not get cold enough. The rain often causes flooding as the city is not prepared to deal with such a large amount of precipitation but they do manage to get water pumps around quickly enough to get rid of the flood waters within six to twelve hours. It helps deal with the floods after the rainfall but during the rainfall you could have traffic congestion and blocked traffic. One thing is for sure though - the summer would be hot and the temperatures can go as high as 48 celcius, which on the fahrenheit scale is about 118 fahrenheit (I used Google to convert celcius to fahrenheit by typing in "48 celcius in fahrenheit" - try it out! Google is rather smart at figuring out the temperature conversions and can convert other types of units too). Needless to say, the summers are more depressing than the winters especially if you are standing outdoors when waiting for someone.In the UAE, Dubai does organize the annual Dubai Shopping Festival around January or February, and the Dubai Summer Surprises around July or August. There is the Global Village which has stalls setup from all across the world and each set of stalls has a theme of a particular nation and performances so it is rather entertaining. It could take you two or three days to explore it all so do plan an early start in the evening if you plan to get there. The Dubai Shopping Festival is what Dubai is popular for - get out there and shop for whatever fancies you at bargain prices while getting a raffle coupon to win a car, gold, or even another vacation! The Dubai Summer Surprises is for the school kids who have time off from school during a month-long summer vacation and so there are lots of activities from face-painting to becoming a part of a kids city, being a part of the largest display of flowers, and meeting various characters amidst performances.

[mrdee 1]

For me, the fun days are about to start soon too.

In a bit over a week, on December the 6th, we will have St. Nicholas visit the grandchildren, which is a lot of fun.

 

Saint Nicholas is the Roman Catholic version of Father Christmas (Or, should I say, Father Christmas is the Protestant version of Saint Nicholas (hence the name Santaclaus), as the Saint Nicholas tradition is older than the Father Christmas one).

 

Anyway, Saint Nicholas was a bishop in Myra (then Greece, now Turkey) and he lived between 270 and 343 AD.

He helped a lot of poor people by leaving food and sometimes silver or gold coins at their houses, he did this during the night, so the identity of the benefactor would not be revealed.

Also a number of miracles have been accredited to him and there is a legend where an evil butcher was said to have killed three children and had pickled their flesh in a barrel, but St. Nicholas brought them back to life, which also made him the patron saint of children.

 

The fact that he was a bishop explains why Saint Nicholas is dressed as a bishop, and he obviously has a long, white beard.

He often arrives during parades near the beginning of December, sat on a beautiful white horse (see picture below).

In his works of roaming the towns and delivering his presents, he is assisted by Black Peter (picture on the left), but he has quite a bunch of Black Peters since there are lots of presents to deliver.

 

Peter is black because of going through the chimneys.

Black Peter is also the one who is not very forgiving for naughty children.

Saint Nicholas has a beautifully ornamented book in which the behaviour of all the children is written down, and Black Peter punishes the naughty children by either:

Not giving them any presents or just a piece of coal

Caning them with his bushel (picture on the right)

Putting them in his sack and taking them away.

The good children, on the other hand, get sweets, such as Saint Nicholas shaped chocolate, marzipan, fruit, gingernuts and more, and they get toys as well.

 

Near december, you can also (in certain countries) find Saint Nicholas in the supermarkets and many factories and places of work organise Saint Nicholas parties for their workers' children, where they get a whole bunch of presents, and so do many organisations like football clubs, political parties and all kinds of organisations.

 

So, on December the 6th, Saint Nicholas will come here for our two grandchildren, and the table will be filled with sweets and toys and we will have hot chocolate and buns for breakfast.

(In Belgium they have angel cakes for breakfast, big buns in the shape of a man, but you cannot get them in England, unfortunately).

 

 

So, our children and grandchildren have the best of two worlds.

They get their presents at Saint Nicholas, while Santaclaus visits them too at Christmas.

 

Just to clarify: when the first Protestant churches came into existance, they were not allowed to have saints, so, to keep the tradition of a childrens' friend, hey invented Father Christmas (aka Santaclaus or Santa for short) who took the shape of a benevolent wizard who rides through the sky in his sleigh on Christmas Eve and gets down the chimneys to leave presents behind.

He looked a lot different than we know him to begin with, but Coca Cola decided to dress him in red in a major advertising campaign in the fifties.

 

And, just like children leave Santa a mince pie and a drink on Christmas Eve, the other children put their shoe down next to the chimney in the days leading up to December 6th (which is actually the dying date of St nicholas), and in their shoe they leave a carrot or a lump of sugar fo St nicholas' horse, which they find replaced with a sweet, a tangerine, a piece of marzipan or a piece of chocolate when they get up in the morning.

Obviously, when they have been naughty, they might find a piece of coal in their shoe.

 

Saint Nicholas (or, Sinterklaas, as he is called in Dutch) is mostly celebrated in countries in Western Europe such as Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Scandinavia.

 

Then, after Saint Nicholas (the Christmas tree is already up then) it is time to start preparing for Christmas.

Nothing much happens on Christmas Eve, except for putting the presents in the sacks, but on Christmas morning, obviously, Santa has visited and the rest of the day it is "eat, drink and be merry", with turkey, sweets, cakes, nuts, fruit and lots to drink.

 

A day later we have Boxing Day,so called because in the UK, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.

 

On Boxing Day, there is a traditional roast dinner with roast beef, and the day after that, we eat "bubble and squeak", which is a fry-up of the left over potatoes and vegetables with the left over meat, while on the day after that, we traditionally eat chips with all the meat that is left over (and, believe me, that is often quite a bit).

 

Then we "try to" let our stomachs settle for a few days, until New year's Day comes, when we have another special family meal (usually meat fondue or raclette or something similar).

 

This means a whole week of great celebrations with the whole family together.

 

Then, after January 2nd, things start to get back to normal again, when you feel a bit sad about another Christmas/New Year gone by, but when your main resolution is to get rid of the extra pounds you put on over the Festive Season.

Edited November 29, 2011 by mrdee (see edit history)

[demonboy1990 0]

i like the winter not because of Christmas But because in the summer and spring my Hayfever starts up i also like Christmas also having a nice Christmas movie Wrapped up in my bed and drinking a bit of something strong.i hate the warm weather but this part of the world we mostly have rain and wind so on warm days i can just goto a part of the house where it is colder and stay there until it gets dark and cooler.