Because it is community based, real life, first hand knowledge of what really happened in days gone by and deliberately masked by those who want to push their own agenda.
Urged by one of my students, I wrote a brief history of Christmas for them a couple weeks ago. Now I can add more about the ancient history.
Since marrying in Japan, I have not celebrated Christmas at all. (It's no fun to do all alone, but when I was single, it was still possible.) Since it is not part of their customs, Japan treats it completely commercially. One of the big culture shocks was receiving a Christmas cake from some kind soul, and finding it totally tasteless. Really, they are made for looks only. Another big shock was when four men waiting on death row were assigned to die on Christmas about 20 years ago. Nothing says, "We actually hate the West" more painfully.
In the densely populated southern parts of Honshu, from ancient times the seats of power in Japan, they have enough of a winter that vegetarianism never took hold outside of monasteries, and there is a traditional midwinter feast "Oshogatsu" which was held at the Chinese new year and now the Western new year. I was warned by someone who had lived in Japan in the 1960s that the stores would be closed for two weeks, so stock up on food, but by the mid-1980s that was no longer true. Now, nothing stops. You can buy traditional "Osechi-ryori" foods at the supermarkets. Rather than tasty, they are mostly symbolic of long life or other good fortune. There was a shared enjoyment of these customs, but that seems to have disappeared after Corona. The blame in Japan was put on people who travelled, and especially those who went out from the cities to visit their rural families. (Somewhat like the blame in the West was put on people who "don't believe in science.")
I'm a Shinto priestess, and one song I always teach my students is "The Holly and the Ivy," The chorus "The rising of the sun and the running of the deer, the playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir," aside from "merry" and "sweet" is straight out of Shinto prayer imagery (gagaku is a wind ensemble resembling the pipe organ's higher registers). I note they also use green plant decorations at New Years, especially pine boughs and bamboo, with a strip of hemp, the most sacred plant. Another evergreen, sakaki, a relative of the camellia or tea plant, is used in all the Shinto rituals, summer and winter.
Thanks for the history lesson, Bohdanna and Roman! And also for sharing my post. :) I do have old-school lights but as you probably gathered from my article, I do less and less every year. What a difference that makes in this craziest of months. Happy December to you both. XO
Enjoyed listening to you both while frying up salmon & eggs in bacon grease (no kidding) this morning.
Nice! That sounds absolutely deeeeelicious! Did you save the bacon grease for later?
We have a mason jar of bacon drippings, I call the piggy bank. (:
We call it liquid gold or bacon butter 🤣
Not the healthiest of the meats/animal fats, but hey we all need a treat once or twice a month 🤤😋
It was delicious! Our “piggy bank” is never empty.
Glad to hear that, and that you could join us in bacon spirit! We had poached eggs with leftover (still yummy) trout for breakfast.
Thank you both for your very interesting podcast. I have a different perspective about Christmas now.
Thanks so much Brian-Leslie! We appreciate your kind words of feedback. What struck you as most surprising about the alternative history?
Because it is community based, real life, first hand knowledge of what really happened in days gone by and deliberately masked by those who want to push their own agenda.
Thank you for this podcast! Enjoyed very much.
Urged by one of my students, I wrote a brief history of Christmas for them a couple weeks ago. Now I can add more about the ancient history.
Since marrying in Japan, I have not celebrated Christmas at all. (It's no fun to do all alone, but when I was single, it was still possible.) Since it is not part of their customs, Japan treats it completely commercially. One of the big culture shocks was receiving a Christmas cake from some kind soul, and finding it totally tasteless. Really, they are made for looks only. Another big shock was when four men waiting on death row were assigned to die on Christmas about 20 years ago. Nothing says, "We actually hate the West" more painfully.
In the densely populated southern parts of Honshu, from ancient times the seats of power in Japan, they have enough of a winter that vegetarianism never took hold outside of monasteries, and there is a traditional midwinter feast "Oshogatsu" which was held at the Chinese new year and now the Western new year. I was warned by someone who had lived in Japan in the 1960s that the stores would be closed for two weeks, so stock up on food, but by the mid-1980s that was no longer true. Now, nothing stops. You can buy traditional "Osechi-ryori" foods at the supermarkets. Rather than tasty, they are mostly symbolic of long life or other good fortune. There was a shared enjoyment of these customs, but that seems to have disappeared after Corona. The blame in Japan was put on people who travelled, and especially those who went out from the cities to visit their rural families. (Somewhat like the blame in the West was put on people who "don't believe in science.")
I'm a Shinto priestess, and one song I always teach my students is "The Holly and the Ivy," The chorus "The rising of the sun and the running of the deer, the playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir," aside from "merry" and "sweet" is straight out of Shinto prayer imagery (gagaku is a wind ensemble resembling the pipe organ's higher registers). I note they also use green plant decorations at New Years, especially pine boughs and bamboo, with a strip of hemp, the most sacred plant. Another evergreen, sakaki, a relative of the camellia or tea plant, is used in all the Shinto rituals, summer and winter.
Thanks for the history lesson, Bohdanna and Roman! And also for sharing my post. :) I do have old-school lights but as you probably gathered from my article, I do less and less every year. What a difference that makes in this craziest of months. Happy December to you both. XO
Thank you Barbara.! Hope one day we’ll have only the candle light of our ancestors - a brilliant night sky full of stars.
Yes!! I count my lucky stars (pun intended!) that I can see the stars now after having lived in the city for so long. 🙏🏻 ⭐️ 🌟 💫 💕