Thank you to everyone for comments on yesterday's Boar's Head post. It was interesting to find it was called Head Cheese in Canada. When I was a girl we often had it for tea at a weekend with salt and pepper and bread and butter and it was always tasty which is why I wanted to make it myself when we kept pigs. I'm now going to investigate the few proper butchers shops that are left around about to see if they sell it.
So.........onto today's post...............................
Last year I did lots of posts about the Ogham Tree Alphabet.
The Ogham Alphabet is the only native British writing system devised
over 2,000 years ago and carved using notches onto wood or stone. Although I knew of it, this book found at a boot sale 3 years ago really describes everything well.
Each tree represents a letter and a month and there are also trees for the other special days in the circle of the year.
The tree for the Winter Solstice is the Yew
I've written about Yew trees before HERE so won't repeat myself but this illustration for the Yew tree representing the letter I comes from the book.
So with the shortest hours of daylight today it's all is on the upwards and onwards from now. Between the 21st and the 31st daylight over here in the East will increase by..............................6 minutes!
And once again I have to include this poem, which I love
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Susan Cooper was born in the UK and emigrated to the US in 1963, she mainly wrote children's books
This poem was written for the Christmas Revels, which I looked for information about and found.........
On Christmas Eve in 1920, John Meredith Langstaff was born into a music-filled home where a rousing, wassailing carol party was the peak of his family's year. Half a century later, his inspired Christmas Revels was born, a theatrical weaving of traditional song, folkdance, and drama that has become a beloved institution across the country.
and this
Revels is a contemporary series of American seasonal stage performances, incorporating singing, dancing, recitals, and theatrics loosely organized around a central theme or narrative. The folk-tradition-based performances started in 1957, were restarted in 1971, and now occur in multiple cities around the US.
Wonder why we don't have similar here or maybe we do?
And tomorrow (22nd) is our summer solstice...longest day as in most hours of daylight. Then, even though the hot summer days are yet to come, it's all downhill for us. Swings and roundabouts- you'll enjoy the longer days and better weather when it arrives.
ReplyDeleteThis time of the year here it seems impossible to think summer will ever return. I guess that's why the ancient people lit fires and candles and brought in greenery
DeleteWe here in New Hampshire were treated to a beautiful sunrise for our shortest day of the year. So glad we have turned the corner to longer days to come.
ReplyDeleteCathy
Sadly not an ounce of sun to be seen here on the shortest day
DeleteWe had Swedish sylte/sylta headcheese in our home at Christmas when I was a child. My dad taught us to eat it with a dab of mustard. I haven't seen it for years; I have to look in a specialty Scandinavian shop nearby. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
Lovely memories - I wonder if you will find some
DeleteI will be glad for every little bit of daylight that will be added to each day now. We have sun today so I must get out for a walk to make the most of it!
ReplyDeleteIn the damp cloudy weather here I only went up the road to get my hair cut!
DeleteEven 6 more minutes would be welcome at the moment, it's pitch black here already.
ReplyDeleteVery true
DeleteMy youngest son was born on Winter Solstice 29 years ago, so it's always a special day for me. He was my miracle baby (very high risk pregnancy, almost lost him twice), and a reminder of more sunshine ahead. We've told him all his life he was prayed into this world. And he was... by people all over the world. My, how that world has changed in 29 years!!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful Christmas, Sue.
--Elise
Thank You Elise and Very Happy Birthday wishes to your son.
DeleteHope your Christmas is Merry and your new year is peaceful.
Here in the United States it was called "head cheese" too. I remember eating it as a child. It was a common lunch meat in my sandwiches growing up. Merry Christmas to you & yours... and a healthy happy New Year ahead. ~Andrea xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteThose book pages are so beautifully illustrated, aren't they. As for 'head cheese' - just the name is enough to put me off!
ReplyDeleteEvery December the Cambridge Revels gather in Harvard University's Sander's theater and they put on an excellent stage performance. Today was sunny and clear blue skies with 40+ degree temperatures. Tonight is overcast and still. The moon is hazy and it's much colder.
ReplyDeleteHappy Solstice! What a lovely poem. Thanks for all the great details. I love the alphabet book. It's another one of those great finds you seem to come across!
ReplyDeleteYour mention of Boar's head took me right back to the mid 70s. Back then, when we were newly married and not at all well off, I used to buy half a pig's head from the butcher for 50c, and knew how to take the skin off and get out the meaty cheek part, which then made a very good, slow-cooked Pork Sweet and Sour, feeding about 6. What it needed was a small, very sharp knife and the rest was easy. I haven't seen one in the supermarket/butcher for many years. I suppose the freezing works bone them out and the meat gets used for sausages and brawn.
ReplyDeleteWhat gorgeous illustrations in your book. A lovely poem too.