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POPS"Songs of the Murderous Saint" [Short story] This is the 4th in my series of adult faerie-tale short stories called The Long Yuletide War . All those clips with the text " SHORT STORY RESEARCH ", these are those stories. This one stands alone, or as part of the sequence. Pt 1: Whip of the Red Hunter Pt 2: NEWSFLASH: Dec. 12, 200- Pt 3: Blood of the Seið Woman
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POPSSaint Nicholas Timeline SHORT STORY RESEARCH . MORE: 1845 The Netherlands A new picture book by Jan Schenkman shaped modern Dutch customs by establishing Sint Nicolaas arrival on a steamboat from Spain with a Moorish assistant. Crowds still enthusiastically greet their arrival each year in mid-November. 1864—1886 Thomas Nast draws Santa Harper's Weekly features Nast's Santas with flowing beards, rotund shapes, fur suits, and clay pipes. 1931 Coca-Cola Santa Each year from 1931 to 1964 Haddon Sundblom created a new Santa for Coca-Cola's "thirst knows no season" campaign. His life-size Santas in white fur-trimmed red suits are now the American Santa Claus. 1994 St. Nicholas Defense Action committees in the Netherlands tell Santa Claus to stay away until after St. Nicholas Day, December 6th.
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POPSKrampus, you sexy devil! It seems not everyone is disappointed by getting a big, horny guy with a long tongue and a thing for S&M for the holidays SHORT STORY RESEARCH
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POPSIcelandic Yule Lads Dec. 18 Door-slammer (Hurðaskellir): he makes a lot of noise around the house. Dec. 19 Skyr-glutton (Skyrgámur): this guy loves to eat skyr which is a cultured dairy product like yogurt (more on skyr below) Dec. 20 Sausage-pilferer (Bjúgnakrækir): he climbs the rafters where sausages are traditionally left hanging after they're smoked (that whole sentence sounds dirty) Dec. 21 Window Peeper (Gluggagægir): this nosy fellow spies at windows and maybe steals toys. Dec. 22 Sniffer (Gáttaþefu): he has a big nose that he uses to sniff out cakes. Dec. 23 Meathook (Ketkrókur): he uses his hook to reach down the chimney and snag hanging meats. Dec.24 Candle beggar (Kertasníkir): in centuries past candles were an invaluable souce of light, and it was a treat for children to get a candle on Christmas Eve. This little guy wants one too. Beginning in the mid-20th century the Yule lads have also started to act as little Santas. Children leave their shoes on the window sil
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POPSCompanions of St. Nicholas These servants are often associated with, but are distinct from Saint Nicholas' helpers in the Netherlands and Flanders (called Zwarte Piet , meaning Black Pete(r) in English). SHORT STORY RESEARCH
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POPSAre parts of the Santa Claus myth based on Amanita muscaria poisonous mushrooms? More: Ott also speculates about Santa's bag of toys. According to historians, ancient Siberia was one of the first civilizations to use fly agaric in practice. The Siberian hut, or yurt, is equipped with a smokehole at the top. Ott suggests that a shaman entered the yurt through the smokehole with a sack of mushrooms in his hand, to be placed in stockings over the fireplace where they could be dried for celebratory use. I dunno... I was thinking of making a mushroom gravy for dinner that night, but not a shroom gravy, if you know what I mean... That might make the meal a little too interesting. ;-)
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POPSFather Christmas: The Untold Story I learned about Krampus the Christmas Ogre just a couple of days ago. And out of a flurry of typing came this really dark "secret origin" of St. Nick & Krampus. This is NOT the Santa Claus on the Coke can, that's for sure. But fairy tales were originally pretty dark, bloody affairs. Hope you enjoy.
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