Kwanzaa Boxing Day wren day wrenning 12 twelve days Christmas Twelvetide Day of the Wren Kallikantzaroi Callicandjari St Stephen

More quotes and customs, continued from December 26 in the Book of Days

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Today is

We hunted the wrenn
for Bobin, the Bobin
We hunted the wrenn
for Jack in the can.

We hunted the wrenn
for Bobin the Bobin
We hunted the wrenn
for everyman!
English traditional song

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
St Stephen's Day was caught in the furze
Although he was little, his honour was great
Jump up me lads and give us a treat

We followed the wren three miles or more
Three miles or more, three miles or more
Through hedges and ditches and heaps of snow
At six o'clock in the morning

Rolley, Rolley, where is your nest?
It's in the bush that I love best
It's in the bush, the holly tree
Where all the boys do follow me

As I went out to hunt and all
I met a wren upon the wall
Up with me wattle and gave him a fall
And brought him here to show you all

I have a little box under me arm
A tuppence or penny will do it no harm
For we are the boys who came your way
To bring in the wren on St Stephen's Day.
English traditional song

Joy, health, love, and peace be all here in this place 
By your leave, we will sing concerning our King 
Our King is well dressed, in silks of the best 
In ribbons so rare, no king can compare 
We have traveled many miles, over hedges and stiles 
In search of our King, unto you we bring 
Old Christmas is past, Twelfth Night is the last 
And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new.
English traditional song; the 'king' was the wren

Joy, health, love and peace
Be all here in this place,
By your leave we will sing
Concerning our king.
 
Our king is well dressed
In the silks of the best;
With the ribbons so rare
No king can compare.
 
We have travelled many miles
Over hedges and stiles
In search of our king
Unto you we bring.
 
We have powder and shot
For to conquer the lot;
We have cannon and ball
To conquer them all.
 
Now Christmas is past,
Twelvetide is at last,
And we bid you adieu;
Great joy to the new.
Pembrokeshire, UK wren boys carol

Yer Christmas be passed,
   let Horsse be lett blood,
For many a purpose
   it doth him much good.
The day of St Steven,
   old fathers did use,
If that do mislike thee,
   some other day chuse.
Thomas Tusser (1524 - 1580), Five hundreth pointes of good husbandrie: as well for the champion or open countrie, as also for the woodland or severall ; mixed in everie month with huswiferie, over and besides the booke of huswiferie, London: 'Printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie Denham in Aldersgate Street at the signe of the starre', 1586

If you bleed your nag on St Stephen's-day,
He'll work your work for ever and ay!
English traditional proverb

The last of the mystic twelve days is Epiphany or Twelfth Night, and it has been selected as a proper season for the expulsion of the powers of evil in various parts of Europe.
Sir James George Frazer (1854 - 1941), The Golden Bough, 1922

Gladly the boy, with Christmas-box in hand,
Throughout the town his devious route pursues,
And of his master's customers implores
The yearly mite.
Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988; on Boxing Day traditions

Some boys are rich by birth beyond all wants,
Beloved by uncles, and kind, good, old aunts;
When Time comes round a Christmas Box they bear,
And one day makes them rich for all the year.
John Gay, (1685 - 1732), English poet and dramatist

One writer says:--"The Romish Priests had masses said for almost everything: if a ship went out to the Indies, the priest had a box in her, under the protection of some saint: and for masses, as their cant was, to be said for them to that saint, etc. the poor people must put something into the Priest's Box, which was not opened till the ship's return. The mass at that time was called Christmas: the box called Christmas Box, or money gathered against that time, that masses might be made by the priests to the saints to forgive the people the debaucheries of that time: and from this, servants had the liberty to get box money, that they too might be enabled to pay the priests for his masses knowing well the truth of the proverb. 'No penny: no Paternosters'."
T Sharper Knowlson, The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs, T Werner Laurie, Ltd, London, 1930

He who shall hurt the little wren 
Shall never be belov'd by men.
William Blake, 'Auguries of Innocence'

I'll take my sleep in those green fields,
the place my life began,
Where the boys of Barr na Straide
went hunting for the wran.
Sigerson Clifford; from 'The Boys of Barr na Straide' (these words formed the poet's epitaph)

If they can catch or kill the poor Wren before sunrising, they firmly believe that it ensures a good herring fishing the next season.
PG Ralfe, The Birds of the Isle of Man, 1905   Source

The worshipful animal is killed with special solemnity once a year; and before or immediately after death he is promenaded from door to door, that each of his worshippers may receive a portion of the divine virtues that are supposed to emanate from the dead or dying god. Religious processions of this sort must have had a great place in the ritual of European peoples in prehistoric times, if we may judge from the numerous traces of them which have survived in folk-custom.
Sir James George Frazer (1854 - 1941), The Golden Bough,  1922; on today's ceremony of hunting the wren  

Feast Day of St Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian Church

(Purple heath, Erica purpurea, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Stephen's name means 'crown', and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr's crown. He was the first Christian martyr, or 'protomartyr'. Accused of blasphemy by certain among the Jewish Sanhedrin, he was stoned to death c. 33.  'St Stephen's loaves' are stones.

All we know of him is to be found in the Acts of the Apostles (he was one of the first seven deacons to serve the Greek-speaking Christians). While preaching the Gospel in the streets, angry Jews who believed his message to be blasphemy dragged him outside the city, and stoned him to death. In the crowd, on the side of the mob, was a man who would later be known as Saint Paul.

The miracle of his relics

"In the year 415 a certain holy priest named Lucian was awakened one night by a venerable man appearing to him clothed in white. He called him by his name and bade him go to Jerusalem and tell the bishop to come and open the tombs, in which lay the remains of several servants of God, together with his own. Through their means, he said, God would open to many the gates of his clemency.

"Lucian asked who it was who spoke to him. It is Gamaliel, the figure replied, the one who instructed Paul the apostle in the law. He told the priest that the body of St. Stephen, who was stoned to death by the Jews, would be found without the city beyond the northern gate. His body had been left exposed a day and a night, he said, without being touched, but he had exhorted the faithful to carry it away secretly at night to his home in the country. The bodies of Nicodemus who sought Jesus by night, together with others, would also be found.

"Lucian fearing that he might be deceived and if he made known these things be looked upon as an impostor, gave himself to prayer, asking that if this message was from God, it would be made known to him a second and a third time.

"Some days afterward Gamaliel appeared to him again as before and commanded him to obey. Still he delayed until a third message had been given him, then terrified lest some punishment should come upon him for his long delay, he went to Jerusalem. He laid the whole matter before the bishop who bade him go at once and search for the relics.

"The bodies were found at Kafr Gamala, though not immediately, contained in three coffins, engraved with Greek characters, the names of Stephen, Nicodemus, and Abibas. The bishop hurried to the scene with a multitude of people. When the coffin of Stephen was opened a sweet fragrance pervaded the air, and many miracles took place at the tomb. Stephen's relics were taken to Jerusalem, the others left at Kafr Gamala, which is about 20 miles from the northern gate of Jerusalem.

"His alleged relics, together with the stones reputedly used at his martyrdom, were translated first to Constantinople and then to Rome. The day on which they were translated, the Church now celebrates the principal feast of the saint. Many of the early Fathers of the Church testify to the authenticity of this wonderful discovery."   Source

St Stephen's Hungary Water

Alcohol (60%)                                                  1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp

Oil of lemon                                                      1/8 tsp

Oil of melissa                                                    1/8 tsp

Oil of rosemary                                                 1 1/2 tsp

Oil of peppermint                                              10 drops

Extract of rose                                                  3 tbsp

Extract of neroli                                                3 tbsp

 

Dissolve the oils in alcohol, then add the extracts.

Krochmal, Connie, A Guide to natural Cosmetics, N. Y. Times Book Co., (Quadrangle), NY

 

Bushwhacked Shamanism 10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF & World Bank The Book of Spells Spellcraft 365 Goddess Adventures in a TV Nation Michael Moore Drawing Down the Moon Globalization/Anti-Globalization Body Wisdom

Boxing Day According to one theory, today is so named for the annual collection of Christmas boxes on St Stephen's Day by the less wealthy members of English society. Gift giving was practised in the Saturnalia. The early Christian fathers denounced it but had little effect, and it became a Christian tradition, these days more commemorated on Christmas Day.  Tradesmen exacted contributions from their masters' customers. "Christmas-boxes are still regularly expected by the postman, the lamplighter (and) the dustman ..." says 19th-Century British folklorist, Robert Chambers, dryly. In Scotland these gifts are called handsels (usually collected in the New Year; see Handsel Monday). Boxing Day is also celebrated in some places where the English have settled, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. There is much dispute over the true origins of Boxing Day, but one common story of the holiday's origins is that servants used to receive Christmas gifts from their employers on December 26, after the family celebrations. These were generally called their Christmas boxes. Another story is that this is the day that priests broke open the collection boxes and distributed the money to the poor.  Boxing Day is now a public holiday in the UK, and traditionally a day of sport. Like other public holidays which may occur on a non-working day, the "day off" will occur on the first day after the public holiday that would otherwise be a working day. Boxing Day itself remains on the 26th if that is a Saturday, but moves to the Monday if the 26th is a Sunday (the Sunday in question being referred to as Christmas Sunday).  In Canada, Boxing Day is also observed as a public holiday, and is a day when stores, especially electronics stores, sell their excess Christmas inventory at radically reduced prices. Boxing Day has become so important for retailers that they often extend it into a Boxing Week.  In Sydney, Australia, the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race, one of the biggest and most prestigious ocean racing events in the world, begins on this day, as the yachts depart Sydney Harbour before many thousands of spectators around the harbour and in spectator boats. No annual yachting event in the world attracts the global interest as the start on Sydney Harbour. More Wrenning Day Some customs, quaint though they might be, are best when they have faded from practice. It was long a custom in Britain, and also to some extent in Europe, to find a wren and stone it to death in commemoration of the stoning of St Stephen. The bird was imprisoned in a lantern or wren house, paraded through the village then killed by the 'doluns' or wren boys. In some places Wrenning Day took place on Christmas Eve, and in others, Christmas Day, but it was commonly today, St Stephen's Day.  At Carcassone, France, every year on the first Sunday of December the young people of the street Saint Jean used to go out of the town armed with sticks, with which they beat the bushes, looking for wrens. The first to strike down one of these birds was proclaimed King. "On the 24th of December, towards evening, all the servants in general have a holiday; they go not to bed all night, but ramble about till the bells ring in all the churches, which is at twelve o'clock; prayers being over, they go to hunt the wren, and after having found one of these poor birds, they kill her, and lay her on a bier with the utmost solemnity, bringing her to the parish church, and burying her with a whimsical kind of solemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manx language, which they call her knell, after which Christmas begins. "This custom of Hunting the Wren, 'has been a pastime in the Isle of Man from time immemorial, and is still kept up on St. Stephen's Day, chiefly by, boys, who at early dawn sally out armed with long sticks, beating the bushes until they find one of these birds, when they commence the chase with great shoutings following it from bush to bush, and when killed it is suspended in a garland of ribbons, flowers, and evergreens. The procession then commences, carrying that 'king of all birds,' as the Druids called it, from house to house, soliciting contributions, and giving a feather for luck; these are considered an effectual preservative from shipwreck, and some fishermen will not yet venture out to sea without having first provided themselves – with a few of these feathers to insure their safe return. The 'dreain,' or wren's feathers, are considered an effectual preservative against witchcraft. It was formerly the custom in the evening to inter the naked body with great solemnity in a secluded corner of the churchyard, and conclude the evening with wrestling and all manner of sports.

"The custom is not peculiar to the Isle of Man, for we find it mentioned by Sonnini in his travels, that 'the inhabitants of the town of Cistat, near Marseilles, armed with sabres and pistols commence the anniversary by hunting the wren, and when captured is suspended, as though it were a heavy burden, from the middle of a long pole borne on the shoulders of two :men, carried in procession through the streets, and weighed on a balance.' 

"Crofton Croker, in his Researches in the South of Ireland, 1824, mentions this custom as prevailing there, and in Hall's Ireland (vol. i p. 23, 1841) it is also recorded, to which is added the air to the song as penned by Mr. Alexander D. Roche, as also a spirited woodcut of the wren-boys with their garland. The air is also given in Barrow's Mona Melodies, 1820."
George Waldron, Description of the Isle of Man, Publications of the Manx Society, 1869, Vol. 15 p. 151

Source

Day of the Wren, Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland today is a public holiday commemorating St Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr. In Irish (Gaelic) it is called both Lá 'le Stiofán and Lá an Dreoilín – the latter translates literally as the 'Day of the Wren'. This name alludes to several Irish legends linking episodes in the life of Jesus to the wren. In parts of Ireland persons carrying either an effigy of a wren, or an actual caged wren, travel from house to house playing music, singing and dancing. Depending on which region of the country, they are called Wrenboys, Mummers or Strawboys. A Mummer's Festival is held at this time every year in the village of New Inn, Co. Galway. St Stephen's Day is also a popular day for visiting family members.

The Wrenboys dress up in straw masks and colourful clothing and, accompanied by traditional céilí music bands, parade through the towns and villages.

The Wren Day celebration has descended from Celtic mythology. Druids apparently studied the flight of the wren, amongst other birds, to derive predictions about the future. Various associated legends exist, such as the wren being responsible for betraying Irish soldiers who fought the Viking invaders in the late first and early second millennia, and for betraying the Christian martyr Saint Stephen, after whom the day is named. 

This mythological association with treachery is a probable reason why in past times the bird was hunted by Wrenboys on St. Stephen's day. A captured Wren was killed and tied to the Wrenboy leader's staff pole. Fortunately, Wrenboys no longer practise this aspect of the Wren, although the event is still referred to as Hunting The Wren. Devoted Wrenboys, with their colourful straw costumes and masks, and with the accompanying céilí bands, continue to ensure that the Gaelic tradition of celebrating the Wren continues to this day. 

"Birds have great prominence in Irish mythology. They were seen as intermediaries, in pre-Christian times, between this world and the next. The flight patterns of birds, like the wren, were used as auguries by the Druids. Indeed, some believe, the Gaelic word for wren – dreoilín – derives from two words, draoi ean, or Druid bird."
Wrenning Day on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula

 

The Twelve Days in Greece

Greek tradition tells of the Kallikantzaroi, or Callicandjari, the goblins who appear during these twelve days of Christmas. These dangerous, mostly male sprites prey upon people only at this time. Descriptions of the Kallikantzaroi vary: in one area they are said to wear wooden or iron boots with which they kick people, while other areas believe that they aren't shod but hooved. Other regions see in them the shape of wolves or even monkeys. Some local festivals still include representations of the Kallikantzaroi, who may be derived from characters in the Dionysian festivals.

These imps are very mischievous. A woman once carelessly spoke out loud her intention to knead dough - a Kallikantzaros heard her, and jumped onto her wooden bread-trough as she was carrying it to the village bakery; he made her dance about the town all night, until the rooster's crowing freed her. In another legend, a young girl is forced to walk alone to a mill throughout the twelve days, because her stepmother is hoping that the Kallikantzaroi will steal her away.

Some households keep fires burning throughout the period, in order to keep the spirits from entering the house by the chimney – shades of Santa Claus, but in reverse. The 'yule log' in this case used to be a large log set on end in the chimney, kept alight for the duration. It was customary to suspend by the fireplace, protective herbs such as hyssop, thistle, and asparagus, to keep the Kallikantzaroi at bay. Some households will mark their front door with a black cross on Christmas Eve, burn incense and invoke the Trinity. Strong-smelling things may be burned to ward off the gremlins. Other households, perhaps less devout, used bribery and would put meat out (such as pork bones, sweetmeats, or sausages in the chimney) for the Kallikantzaroi. It is believed that at Epiphany, the ceremonial blessing of the waters by the local priest will settle the nasty creatures until the next year. The Kallikantzaroi are then said to cry 

Quick, begone! we must begone,
Here comes the pot-bellied priest,
With his censer in his hand
And his sprinkling-vessel too;
He has purified the streams
And he has polluted us.

It is possible for living humans to become Kallikantzaroi. Children born at Christmas are thought likely to become such sprites as a punishment for their mothers' sin in bearing them at a time sacred to the Mother of God, while in Macedonia it is people who have a "light" guardian angel who undergo this evil transformation.

"Another witching time is the period of twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany. Hence in some parts of Silesia the people burn pine-resin all night long between Christmas and the New Year in order that the pungent smoke may drive witches and evil spirits far away from house and homestead; and on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve they fire shots over fields and meadows, into shrubs and trees, and wrap straw round the fruit-trees, to prevent the spirits from doing them harm. On New Year's Eve, which is Saint Sylvester's Day, Bohemian lads, armed with guns, form themselves into circles and fire thrice into the air. This is called 'Shooting the Witches' and is supposed to frighten the witches away. The last of the mystic twelve days is Epiphany or Twelfth Night, and it has been selected as a proper season for the expulsion of the powers of evil in various parts of Europe. Thus at Brunnen, on the Lake of Lucerne, boys go about in procession on Twelfth Night carrying torches and making a great noise with horns, bells, whips, and so forth to frighten away two female spirits of the wood, Strudeli and Strätteli. The people think that if they do not make enough noise, there will be little fruit that year. Again, in Labruguière, a canton of Southern France, on the eve of Twelfth Day the people run through the streets, jangling bells, clattering kettles, and doing everything to make a discordant noise. Then by the light of torches and blazing faggots they set up a prodigious hue and cry, an ear-splitting uproar, hoping thereby to chase all the wandering ghosts and devils from the town."
Frazer, Sir James George (1854 - 1941), The Golden Bough, 1922

Some folklore of the day  

Marshfield Mummers, Marshfield, Gloucester, UK

Virtually unknown outside Britain and Ireland, mumming is an ancient tradition of the performance of folk plays. The word comes from the French mommerie, from Old French momer, to wear a mask, pantomime. It has a strong history and presence in some places such as Sussex and Gloucester today.

On Boxing Day, a mumming play is performed at Marshfield, South Gloucestershire, by the Paperboys, so-called because they wear costumes covering them from head to toe in strips of newspaper, though in the past the costumes were quite likely made of leaves or animal skins. Characters include Father Christmas, Little Man John, King William, Dr Phoenix, Saucy Jack, Tenpenny Nit and Father Beelzebub. Beginning in the Market place after the Christmas Hymns, the five-minute performances are repeated as the mummers continue up to the Almshouses. The final performance is outside one of the local pubs where the landlord delivers a tot of whisky for the 'Boys'. 

The play lapsed in the 1880s after an epidemic of influenza took the lives of many of the Paperboys, but was revived in 1931. It is said that a certain Rev. Alford heard his gardener mumble the words "Room, room, gallant room, I say" and encouraged the surviving troupe members to reform. 

Finland
An old tradition is for the people to throw a piece of money or silver, into the horse-trough, for prosperity.

Scandinavia
In Scandinavia, this day was devoted to horses.

Yorkshire (north riding)
Large goose pies were made today, and distributed among needy neighbours, except one which was carefully laid up and eaten on the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin (Candlemas, February 2).

Cheshire, UK
Servants were obliged to work only from New Year's Eve till Christmas Day. From Christmas they had a week of holiday and employers had to shift for themselves. The streets of Chester on Boxing Day were lined with servants with money in their pockets. A big celebration was had on his day. This is reminiscent of the ancient Roman Saturnalia, and probably derives from that Winter Solstice week-long festival, when the roles of master and servant were also reversed.

Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks, UK
'Stephening': all the inhabitants traditionally would visit the rectory, and eat as much ale, bread and cheese as they wanted at the rector's expense. This continued until the incumbency of Rev. Basil Wood in 1827. As the population of the parish had greatly increased, he didn't feel bound to continue the practice of Stephening. In 1834 it went to court but the parishioners could not prove a legal right.

Bleeding of horses
A curious superstition used to obtain on St Stephen's Day - that horses should, after first being well galloped, be copiously let bleed, to insure them against disease in the course of the following year. The Danes might have brought in the custom of bleeding horses on this day.

Sir Thomas More wrote (Works, 1557, p194, col. 2): "On St Stephen's day we must let al our horses bloud with a knife, because saynt Stephen was killed with stones."  

Poland

Traditionally, boys and girls throw walnuts at each other on Saint Stephen's Day, and oats and peas are thrown at Mass. Formerly, water and salt were blessed on this day and kept by farmers to be fed to their horses in case of sickness. Women baked special breads in the form of horseshoes (known as St Stephen's horns, or podkovy) which were eaten on December 26. We note that according to Brewer (Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988), "In regard to 'hot cross buns' on Good Friday, it may be stated that the Greeks offered to Apollo, Diana, Hecate, and the Moon, cakes with 'horns.' Such a cake was called a bous, and (it is said) never grew mouldy." We also note that bous was the word the Greeks used for cattle (cf English 'bull' and Latin 'bovis'). Many Middle Eastern female deities from Astarte (Ishtar/Innana) and Isis to the Virgin Mary (pictured at right) are frequently depicted with the crescent moon or similar-shaped horn emblems.

Diogenes Laertius, speaking of the same offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of which it was composed. "He offered one of the sacred Liba, called a Bouse, which was made of fine flour and honey." It is said of Cecrops that he first offered up this sort of sweet bread. Hence we may judge of the antiquity of the custom from the times to which Cecrops is referred. The prophet Jeremiah takes notice of this kind of offering when he is speaking of the Jewish women at Pathros, in Egypt, and of their base idolatry; in all which their husbands had encouraged them. The women, in their expostulation upon his rebuke, tell him: "Did we make her cakes to worship her?" Jerem. xliv. 18, 19; vii. 18.
Knowlson, T Sharper, The Origins and Superstitions of Customs, 1910

However, one commentator (Take Our Word for It) disputes parts of this theory, saying "As for bun, it has nothing to do with oxen and didn't even show up in the English language until about 1370, long after the Anglo-Saxons had been converted to Christianity and conquered by the Normans. Bun seems to be related to the French word beignet and the Spanish buñuelo 'bun, fritter'. Some have suggested that bun has its origin in the Old French word bugne, meaning 'a swelling caused by a blow'.  If this is correct, then it would be related to bunion."

There's a good article on the 12 days at Source: School of the Seasons

Birth of Freya
Norse Great Goddess, her consort is Frey, also born at Midwinter. (See Dec 25)

Basilindia, ancient Greece (Dec 22 - 28)

Festivals in ancient Greece

Halcyon Days, ancient Greece and Rome (Dec 14 - 28)

Goddess month of Hestia commences

Feast day of St Jarlath, 1st Bishop of Tuam

Feast day of St Amaethlu of Anglesey

Feast day of St Archelaus of Mesopotamia

Feast day of St Daniel of Villiers

Feast day of St Dionysius, pope

Feast day of St Margaret of Hohenfels

Feast day of St Marinus of Rome

Feast day of St Paganus of Lecco

Feast day of St Stephen the Martyr

Feast day of St Tathai of Wales

Feast day of St Theodore the Sacristan

Feast day of St Vincentia Lopez y Vicuña

Feast day of St Zeno of Gaza

Feast day of St Zosimus

Feast day of St Neol Chabanel

Second Christmas Day, Finland  

Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, Australia

Junkanoo, Bahamas
"In the Bahamas, they've taken Boxing Day and made it Junkanoo, a mummer's parade that combines something like Mardi Gras with African tribal rituals."   Source

Kwanzaa - (Dec 26 - Jan 1)

"An African-American holiday developed in 1966 by Professor Maulana Karenga. Kwanzaa centers on 7 cultural principals: unity; self-determination; collective work and responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity; and faith. Each day is dedicated to one of the principles, and gifts are also exchanged. Decorations include a seven-candle candleholder, fruit, ears of corn and a communal unity cup.  The holiday's origins are in the first harvest, from the phrase 'matunda ya kwanza,' which means 'first fruits' in Swahili. Karenga stated: 'Kwanzaa also has modern origins rooted in the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960's.  It is an act of freedom in the practice of our own culture and the return to our own history.'"   Source

Five common sets of values are central to the activities of the week: ingathering, reverence, commemoration, recommitment, and celebration. The seven principles (nguzo saba) of Kwanzaa utilize Kiswahili words: unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), and faith (imani). Each of the seven candles signify the principles. Like the Jewish Hannakah, candles are used to represent concepts of the holiday.

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More Christmastide customs and folklore

 

The day after Christmas
'Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house, 
Every creature was hurtin', even the mouse. 
The toys were all broken, their batteries dead; 
Santa passed out, with some ice on his head. 

Wrapping and ribbons just covered the floor, 
While upstairs the family continued to snore. 
And I in my T-shirt, new Reeboks and jeans, 
I went into the kitchen and started to clean. 

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, 
I sprang from the sink to see what was the matter. 
Away to the window I flew like a flash, 
Tore open the curtains, and threw up the sash. 

When what to my wondering eyes should appear, 
But a little white truck, with an oversized mirror. 
The driver was smiling, so lively and grand; 
The patch on his jacket said "U.S. POSTMAN." 

With a handful of bills, he grinned like a fox 
Then quickly he stuffed them into our mailbox. 
Bill after bill, after bill, they still came. 
Whistling and shouting he called them by name: 

"Now Dillard's, now Broadway's, now Penny's and Sears 
Here's Robinson's, Levitz's and Target and Mervyn's. 
To the tip of your limit, every store, every mall, 
Now charge away--charge away--charge away all!" 

He whooped and he whistled as he finished his work. 
He filled up the box, and then turned with a jerk. 
He sprang to his truck and he drove down the road, 
Driving much faster with just half a load. 

Then I heard him exclaim with great holiday cheer, 
"Enjoy what you got. . . . you'll be paying all year!"

Author unknown

Sent in by Almaniac, George Newnham of Australia