Christmas List 2012: White Orca

I just saw a video of the first ever discovered all white Orca. And I want one. I know what you are thinking. How on earth would you get one for me? Well, I don't know. All I know is that if you really care about me you will find a way. Ha ha..OK, just kidding (kind of). But isn't this neat? I tried to find a better picture, but there weren't many that were very clear. His name is "Iceberg" and he was discovered by some Russian scientists off the coast of Kamchatka. I know I say this all the time, but I love nature. To think that I live in a universe that has produced something as beautiful as an all white killer whale makes me feel pretty lucky to be alive in it.

Christmas List 2012: Cute Little Shrimps!

Christmas List 2012: French Village

I just read an article about a town in France for sale! And I want it.  I know what you are thinking...I have such expensive taste, but it's really quite a steal. For a little more than I could spend on my 600 sq ft 1/1 apartment, I could have a whole town in France! There are 19 buildings, a town hall, old church, pool and tennis courts! I'll admit it could use a little work, but I've never been the type afraid of getting my hands a little dirty. I'd even be willing to share if you want in. You could be the mayor, and I'll be the sheriff. So, who's with me?

Christmas List 2012: Lorenz Attractor Christmas Ornament

SO, while watching my physics lectures I saw that the professor giving the talks got a small 3D printed model of the strange attractor (Lorenz attractor) as a gift from his students, and I totally want one! I think in red it would make a totally awesome Christmas ornament! (Ooohhh....or what about a charm for a necklace?) I know I'm kind of obsessed with this thing, but I really think it's just too cool not to be obsessed with, and it represents all the things in life that I find the most intriguing (as opposed to boring linear, periodic stuff...haha). If anyone comes across something like this on the internet let me know! If not, I might have to get a membership to The Tech Shop and make my own.

Christmas List 2011: Item 2

I'm not sure what this is...I think it's a new species of bat. But it's adorable and kind of looks like Eddie Murphy for some reason and I want it for Christmas.

Christmas List 2011: Item 1

I know it's only March, but you can never start planning for Christmas too early. So I am going to begin my Christmas list for 2012...and the first item is.....
A HIPPOPOTAMUS COFFEE TABLE! Sa-weet!

The Christmas Tree, A Biography

Rockefeller Center NY

As I will be getting my Christmas tree on Friday, I thought it might be a fitting week to delve into the origin of this bizarre and unintuitive custom.

Way Back When
Evidence of tree worship (especially evergreens) is recorded as far back as the ancient Egyptians. If Santa was born in Turkey, then the first Christmas tree it turns out, was most likely a date palm. (This would be an interesting twist to the holiday to celebrate it in it's oldest arid traditions:) Worship of evergreens was symbolic of the triumph of life over death, and helped guarantee the return of the sun after it's shortest traverse across the sky on the winter solstice. Holly and mistletoe also remain green all year, and held a similar status in historical times. Many cultures considered these plants to be magical, or specifically chosen by the gods. Pagans would place gifts in the branches of fir and pines to please the winter gods, and coax the sun back from wherever it went every December. Offerings ranged from trinkets to human sacrifice! Holly and mistletoe were hung over doorways to ward of evil spirits, and protect the inhabitants of the home against sickness, disease and death which were all common in the deepest of winter when food was scarce, and darkness prevailed.

Off on a Tangent

Kiss me under the parasite

It's hard to imagine what you'd think about things you couldn't explain if you'd have lived time when there was no way of knowing the truth. It seems silly to think people thought pine trees had magical powers, but what were they supposed to think under the circumstances? Would we fare any better without our microscopes and the Internet? Take mistletoe for example. I was surprised to learn that it's actually a parasite plant! How un-Christmassy is that? Yep, that's why you can't have a mistletoe tree. There is no such thing!  Mistletoe is passed from tree to tree by birds and squirrels and grows into a little bush on the branches and limbs of bigger, stronger trees. Sometimes it grows big enough to kill them! (That's super un-Christmassy). Mistletoe is hard to see in the summer when the leaves of the host are open, but in the dead of winter, it's quite a sight. I know all of this because one December evening a few years back I was sitting on my front porch and noticed a bunch of green leaves on the otherwise vacant walnut tree in front of my house. I thought it was the most bizarre thing! It seemed pretty amazing to me that there was a little green patch among the barren branches. How could that happen? I formed all sorts of hypothesis about how that could be. It took much searching on the Internet, but I finally figured it out, and that was when I discovered that I had mistletoe hanging over my home 365 days a year and I didn't even know it! Who knows what I would have thought if I'd discovered that 500 years ago?

 Sort of Back When

St Boniface: cooking a kid or baptizing him?

Anyway, back to the Christmas tree. Saint Boniface who lived in Germany during in 690's was the beginning of the Christian story, at least as far as most researchers can tell. Whenther teh events actually happened is debatable however. It goes like this. To prove Christianity to those who believed in the old Norse traditions Saint Boniface cut down a giant oak tree supposedly belonging to the pagan god Thor to demonstrate that nothing would happen to him and thus prove that Thor didn't exist. I find this to be a fairly good example of testing a hypothesis.  At some later point, up from the trunk grew a fir tree which St Boniface took it as a sign from God that he was right. He believed God had put the tree there. And I can't help but wonder how history may have been different if a pagan had gathered the nerve to test St. Boniface's hypothesis about God? Wouldn't that have been a great Christmas story with a moral? Unfortunately that did not happen. Instead Saint Boniface declared that from then on the fir tree (or any evergreen tree?) it should be a symbol of Christian faith. I find it interesting and ironic that the literal explanation of this aspect of Christmas so closely follows the metaphorical explanation of the Christmas holiday as a whole. A Christian holiday born from the roots of pagan traditions long since cut down and forgotten. Isn't that something?

Queen Victoria's Christmas Tree

Much later during the 1500's it is said that Martin Luther was walking through the woods one winter night and was struck with awe at the sight of an evergreen tree dusted with snow and sparkling in the moonlight. So he brought the first Christmas tree indoors and adorned it with candles (to simulate the snow) so his children could witness the beauty of a sparkling tree, and to celebrate the birthday of Christ. Candles have always represented life, birth, goodness, and purity, so lighting them to celebrate something makes sense, and that's why we have them on our birthday cakes! (I'm not sure what the blowing out of the candles represents...but I might leave mine lit next year just in case.)
Until the mid 1800's Christmas trees were not a standard in the way they are today. Not every household had one. Part of the problem was lighting it. Before electricity either you had to put candles in the tree (which were an extreme fire hazard, not to mention a perfect waste of candles if you were poor) or you had a dark tree that you could barely see (so you might as well just leave it outside in the ground). And part of it was decorating it. Most people could barely feed and cloth themselves, much less decorate a tree with trinkets and stuff leads of presents beneath them! At any rate a drawing published in 1850 of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert standing along side their candle lit tree finally brought the Christmas tree to aristocratic stardom. Well to do people all over England and the US began chopping down trees and dragging them inside to decorate with candles, and sugar cubes. It was not only pretty, but quite sophisticated since queens and princes were doing it.

Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

 Except for the lag during the Great Depression Christmas trees have been on a steady rise since the turn of the century. Once electric lights, generic ornaments and fake trees were invented ( the latter circa 1920's) getting a Christmas tree became much more economical and easier for the blue collar working class to afford. And from the 1950's on pretty much everyone who celebrates the holiday has had one!

 Now Day's
Now day's you can get a real tree, one made of purple tinsel, one that revolves on a post, a 15' tall one, or a tiny "Charlie Brown" tree with only one branch capable of supporting a singular red bulb. You can get a Star Trek  Christmas Tree, or a completely edible one. The giant bulbs (which got really hot and could burn a tree down) that are seen in A Christmas Story were eventually replaced with modern twinkle lights, and those have since given way to very cool, very energy efficient LED lights. The possibilities are infinite. The Christmas tree has traveled through the centuries from an Egyptian palace all the way to your living room. Whatever kind of Christmas tree you end up getting this year while you admire your handiwork in decorating it, don't forget to admire it's root's in the past!

 Authors Note
This year I am going to get a living Christmas tree, which is different from a real Christmas tree because it is still attached to it's roots, and can be donated to the city or town and be planted after the holiday season. I think it's a shame to cut down a perfectly healthy beautiful tree just so I can have it in my living room for a month. It always makes me sad when I take down all the ornaments in early January and abandon what was once my beautiful Christmas tree, but now is brown and dying to the curb to be picked up and dumped in a landfill. It just seems like such a horrible ending to such a wonderful season. But at the same time fake trees just aren't the same, and I'm not sure it would feel like Christmas at all if I didn't have any tree to stack presents under. This is the perfect solution for me, and I'd encourage any of you who feel the same way to look into living trees. I love the idea that my tree will have a long life in park somewhere filled with birds and squirrels and where kids will play in the shade beneath it's branches in the summer.

Santa Claus, A Biography

I thought I'd tackle the history of Santa Claus first, since he has become the unofficial spokesperson for the Christmas holiday. Everyone knows he's jolly, but what don't we know about him? I mean where was Santa born?It appears that the birth of Santa is (like most modern holidays) a combination of at least two, if not more, religious persons of different cultures.

The Early Years

Saint Nicolas

One Santa predecessor is the Christian Saint Nicolas, was a Greek bishop who lived in Turkey during the 4th century. He doesn't look anything like Santa, in fact he sort of creepy looking, and emaciated. But he is said to have given gifts to children and the poor including dowries to the daughters of a pious Christian man, who would have otherwise become prostitutes (the daughters, not the father.) In some versions of the story (depending on where you read it) Saint Nic had to drop the coins down the chimney at night because he didn't want the family discover his identity, and all the windows of the house were closed (which was his usual method). As they fell the coins accidentally landed a sweaty stocking that was hanging by the fire to dry (OK, OK I added the sweaty part:).  His "thing" was to give gifts secretly, because he wanted the faithful to believe the gifts were from God. (Obviously he wasn't entirely successful.) Only the Christians on their best behavior received gifts, and so parents began to use Saint Nicolas as a bargaining tool during the year when their children misbehaved. Parents all over Christendom began to threaten no gift on December 6th (Saint Nicolas Day) if their children were naughty.
Suddenly we have uncovered the (possible) origin of 1.) why Santa comes down the chimney and not through the front door 2.) why he comes at night when everyone is asleep, and 3.) why we hang stockings by the fireplace. Cool Hu?
A couple more interesting "facts" about Saint Nicolas are that in addition to being the patron saint of children, he is also the patron saint of thieves and sailors, which are the antithesis of innocent youngsters. I have no idea why this is, but it might have something to do with the fact that there weren't that many saints back then, so they had to double and triple up. Kind of like a small town drugstore that serves as a barber and vacuum repair shop.
Apparently after he died, several of his bones were distributed as relics among several churches throughout Europe. Most of them settled Bari, Italy and the bones there are purported to ooze a clear, watery, rose smelling liquid on Saint Nicholas Day every year. This "miraculous" material is collected by the clergy and put in a sarcophagus. Never mind that it's impossible for thousand year old bones to produce anything much less nice smelling rose water. It's like a double miracle: dry bones make water and it doesn't smell like moldy bacteria-infested remains. Either way, I think anything oozing out of bones or dead bodies is gross and should be avoided at all cost.

Odin and Sleipnir

Another proto-Santa, and one that predates Ol' Saint Nic in fact,  is the pagan Germainc god Odin, who had an eight legged horse that could leap great distances through the air. Odin is described as having a great, long beard and is usually depicted as an old, but strong man. He looks much more like the modern-day Santa Claus with flowing white hair, and he gave gifts as well. He would take  his octi-horse (called Sleipnir) on a long hunting trip during the Yule holiday on December 25th each year. As the story goes children across the land would put carrots, sugar or hay in their boots and set them by the door on Christmas Eve. As Odin hunted he would stop and let Sleipnir eat the snacks left out for him (to help keep his strength up), and replace the hay with candies as a "thank you" to the kids. And there you can see the origin of leaving cookies out for Santa Claus, the flying reindeer, and a holiday on December 25th (as opposed to December 6th).

The Teenage Years

Father Christmas

Although we can see a lot of similarities between Saint Nicolas and the god Odin with our modern day Santa Claus, we haven't addressed the red suit, or the jolly personality. But before we do that we need a little background. In the mid 1800's there were several versions of the Santa Claus character, but none actually called Santa Claus, in the red suit we know today. The English had Father Christmas, the Dutch Sinterklaas, etc. When Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol Santa didn't exist yet! It's hard to imagine that Charles Dickens is older than Santa, but there you have it. In fact, some people say that our modern fat man in red is partly based on the "Ghost of Christmas Present".

Coca-Cola Advertisment

During this time the Santa figure began being associated with happiness and holiday fun. I guess you could say he was finding his inner jolly-ness. As people began immigrating to the U.S. at the turn of the century, they brought their version of Santa with them. Over time they all adopted the American version: Santa Claus. Despite having finally found a solitary name, depictions of Santa remained varied and inconsistent throughout the early 1900's.Some renderings have him with a hat, some without. In some he is wearing a long robe, in others a more familiar suit. But in the 1930's that all changed. Who do we have to thank for our rotund, rosy cheeked Santa Clause? Believe it or not, it's the Coca-Cola Company! Their depiction of Santa in a furry red suit sipping an ice cold bottle of Coke is the birth of our modern day Santa. It's hard to believe that a Christmas staple like Santa Claus is only 80 years old, but those are the facts.


Modern Day
Today you can find a homogeneous looking Santa Claus on everything from underwear to greeting cards. He's got a red suit, a white beard, lots of presents, flying reindeer instead of an eight legged horse, and he always sneaks down the chimney on Christmas Eve. From his humble origins as saint, and god (which might account for his immortality and ability to reach all the children in the world in one night), to a modern non-religious hero, Santa has changed with the times. Now he uses GPS, and gives out Nintendo Wii to good children. He has an email address, and in the off season vacations in Hawaii. He might have been born in the Middle East, and reside in the North Pole, but he will always live in my heart as a symbol of jolly tidings and holiday cheer!

Christmas List 2010: Item 3

The long awaited (and I mean 100 years long) Mark Twain autobiography has finally been released!!! I believe it was unveiled November 14th. I am very excited about it and look forward to getting my hands on a copy. 2010 has definitely been a Twain year for me, and I think this would be the perfect way to round out the end of it.
I shall add it to my ever-growing Christmas list (which I have arranged by price, and store, and in most cases a photograph of the item:) What are my other items? Well, soap shaped like peppermints, a lobster Christmas ornament, a puppy, a cast iron skillet, and this book! But I'm not done yet!!! What do you want for Christmas?

A "Traditional" Christmas

Traditional Christmas

Is it too early to start talking about Christmas? I don't think so. Since I jumped the gun on Thanksgiving, I feel like I'm right on schedule:) This is going to be my first Christmas in my own place, without roommates and all the carrying-on that usually transpires when there are lots of people around. In the past we never had a solid theme (Snowmen, Santa, traditional, or modern etc.) because there were too many of us with differing ideas of how we wanted the holidays to look. But since I can do whatever I want this year I thought I'd go for more of the "classic", traditional (i.s. more holly and poinsettias and less cartoons, and snowmen) Christmas. You know lots of red and green, and the Coca-Cola looking Santa. If you are into Christmas movies I mean more of a Polar Express Christmas and less of a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer one.

Cartoon/kid Christmas

Anyway, I have been slowly getting in the holiday spirit (but not too much because I don't want to pass over Thanksgiving in my anticipation). How am I doing this you may ask?  I am reading up on the origin of the holiday and where all the traditions come from. Unlike many people I have no delusions about where Christmas originated. But that doesn't bother me at all, or change the way I view it. To me, the truth about it is actually much more interesting and way more fun than if it were in fact the birthday of Jesus. (Not that I am a practicing pagan:) There is just so much legend and history, fear and excitement, celebration and tradition, diversity and ethnicity wrapped into what we call "Christmas"! And I love it!
Just as living things evolve, so do holidays. They are what Richard Dawkins called memes. Social ideas that are analogs to biological genes in that they follow the same rules. They can be transmitted through a species, can replicate, can mutate and are ultimately shaped by the preferences of society in which they exist. Christmas is an amalgamation of many ideas and customs, that accumulated over a long period of time, not just one.

Religious Christmas

Most of us know that the origin of Christmas is pagan worship of the sun on the winter solstice. But there is much, much more to the story. And even those of us that are familiar with it's pagan roots actually know very little about where the modern day Christmas evolved from. Sure the pagans worshiped the sun, but what does that have to do with Santa? Why is it a holiday favored by children? What's up with flying reindeer?

Modern Christmas

In anticipation of the upcoming holidays (and to savor the excitement!!!!) I will post a blog a week about the historical significance and origin of some aspect of Christmas that we all take for granted today. If you have a specific request, post a comment and I'll see what I can do! Ho ho ho! Happy holidays!

Ohmigosh!

This is quite possibly the cutest animal I have ever seen! What is it? A Cama of course! A hybrid between a llama and a camel! I WANT ONE! I think I might add this guy to my Christmas List.

Christmas List 2010: Item 2

Christmas List 2010: Item 1