Happy Boxing Day? More Like Joyous Yuletide!

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - I hope you all had a great Christmas. I know I did. It was strange not going home to visit my wonderful family, but I decided I wanted to try to create new holiday customs, and I did.

Christmas Eve was spent with cousins in Laguna Beach, which was fantastic and fun despite a need to channel my inner dog whisperer and an inordinate amount of teenage angst and texting, while Christmas Day was spent with good friends here at home, and a potluck brunch that turned out to be pretty fantastic. Overall, I would say that my effort at forming new traditions was met with pretty good success.

So, this post is about the holiday traditions at this time of the year. How did they start? Did they begin with Jesus? Interestingly, no.

Let's begin with today's celebration. It's the day after, what they call Boxing Day in the lands with the quirky accents - it's a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population. For trivia sake, in South Africa it's known as the Day of Goodwill.

Boxing Day is a noble holiday based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society. Unfortunately, the majority of people now look at it as a "shopping holiday" associated with after-Christmas sales. Therefore, it's very much akin to Black Friday here in America after Thanksgiving.

I find Boxing Day fascinating because it's all part of the wonderful world of weird traditions that came together to form our modern Christmas, or holiday celebrations. Even though I focus on Jesus, which I believe should be the focus, Christmas is actually an incredible amalgamation of cultural and tribal customs and beliefs. It's one of the few worldwide holidays, offering something for everyone, everywhere.

There are too many historical references to cite for this brief post, so it's easier just to point to the larger examples. Christmas grew out of a wealth of winter festivals that were popular with civilizations, cultures, and the occasional tribe across the northern hemisphere (since it's tied to winter).

The reasons for the various festivals were many, but the underlying reason involved temperature and light. It was too cold to work the fields, or grow anything, and the shorter days made it hard to see what you were doing. People were bored, so the smarter ones decided to find reasons to celebrate, which mostly meant to eat, drink and snog.

So, the winter "holidays" were invented by multiple tribes dragging in various traditions, making it the mutt of the holiday world. It's a fast mover too. Our traditional winter holiday season evolves quickly, if you watch carefully. We even see it changing today, in countries across the globe. Modern variations were even coined recently here in America, such as "Festivus" and "Chrismukkah."

The oldest Christmas tradition of gift-giving and merrymaking stems from Roman Saturnalia. That's also where a lot of the greenery (tree decorations), lights, and charity arose. It was a big part of the Roman New Year celebrations.

It later took bits and pieces from the Scandinavian pagans, who celebrated the winter festivals of Yule, or Yuletide, where kids would leave their shoes outside filled with straw for Odin to leave them gifts - if you call cheese a gift. Those same yule traditions explain the origins of elves and flying reindeer, which many claim are a result of a very early party culture.

You see, according to some, early tribes ate the yellow snow after the reindeer metabolized a poisonous berry providing a powerful hallucinogenic cocktail. They saw little people, glowing trees, and flying reindeer. Wow, they must have been wild, and fun. It must also explain why they bore so many more babies during the summer months.

Believe it or not, it gets weirder. Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus himself, wasn't even from the north. He was from Turkey, where snow was rare. He was actually Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop in Lycia who celebrated his faith in the 4th Century after Christ by putting coins in the shoes of children. I doubt he'd be allowed to get near children today. He was "Nicholas the Wonderworker," and his reputation for secret gift-giving became the model for Santa Claus.

Okay, so Christmas is the GUMBO of holidays. That brings us back to Boxing Day. It, like Roman Saturnalia, is about giving to those less fortunate. Unfortunately, it has a bit of the predictable English, snobbish, upper-class crap associated with it. In past centuries Boxing Day was about the aristocracy giving gifts to their employees.

So, in some respects, Boxing Day is the model for the modern office party. The only difference is that household servants and other service personnel were lucky to get a few shillings or guineas after working their butts off on Christmas Day. It is true, Republicans did run the world back then. So, HAPPY BOXING DAY everybody.

Incredibly, it's not the last of the Christmas folk holidays. There are a few more minor ones after today, wrapping up around Twelfth Night in January marking the coming of the Epiphany, or the adoration of the Magi. Some cultures continue to exchange gifts up until that day.

Oh what a tangled web we weave my fellow man, but this time the web is beautiful and spun across the entire modern world. The Christmas holiday season is an amazing thing wrapping ancient and modern traditions into a wonderful festival of global celebration.

It is uniquely human, since it wouldn't exist today unless it adapted, unless it evolved. It is so powerful that it spread to modern Asia, where people pick and choose their own parts of the holiday - most important is Santa Claus. They strive to create their own, unique winter festivals. It's grown so large even the Southern Hemisphere has joined the party.

So, as a cousin of the Commonwealth, I now plan to go shopping, and then give to the poor. Before it's all over, I will worship Jesus, celebrate Saturnalia, drink to Yule, thank Olin, praise Nicholas of Myra, and finally adore the Magi. Damn, what a wonderful holiday. Enjoy!

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Merry Christmas from Papamoka

I'm wishing all of you the very Merriest of Christmas celebrations.



You have to appreciate the talent and voice of these ladies...



And of course you can not have a true American Christmas without the TSO and Christams lights set to music...



Merry Christmas to all,
Papamoka

Be Right Back...

GONE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

I'm out and about stimulating the economy with my all powerful debit card. I'll back as soon as the card becomes a hot molten pile of plastic.

Funny little side note for you. My ten year old received a Dunkin Donuts gift card from one of her friends on her gymnastics team. She used it this morning to buy a doughnut and a hot cocoa. On the printed receipt that she carried like a good little consumer, she noticed her gift card balance had an expiration date of 01-01-3025! True to form she wondered out loud "Will I still be alive then?"

Papamoka

Sending Christmas Cards... Sort of

This year I resolved to get my Christmas cards sent out to all of my readers early. Well sort of early. It isn't December 24th and I'm still licking the envelopes like last year so I am way ahead of the game.

I'm still not starting my Christmas shopping till three days before Christmas. One goal a year is all I'm good for. Without any more delay I am sending these warm wishes for you and your families during this wonderful season of many holiday's.

Merry Christmas to all the readers of Papamoka Straight Talk from my family and I to you and your family.



Papamoka

*****Reuters has picked up this post

Mom’s and Their Babies at Christmas

Editorial note: Play the video for the full emotional effect of this post while you read.

My own Mom passed away in 1993. It still seems like just a few weeks or months ago, never years or even a decade. She died in her sleep and I will never forget what the Priest said at her service. Louise is dancing with Kings. He offered that analogy because she crossed over with a smile on her face. To this very day that is the one memory I cherish most when I think of my Mom. I remember her smile whenever she looked at me her baby in my mind. No matter where I am, no matter what I am doing, I can feel that love and smile and it makes the world an easier place to deal with.

Many years later in 2003, my wife’s Mom passed away. My wife was crushed and devastated. Her mother was her world and as much as they argued and fought and laughed together they both would run through a burning building to save the other. Judy loved her daughter with all of her heart and the grand children loved their Grammy. But the love her Mom had for her baby was priceless and you could not match it. The two of them were inseperable.

Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are hard when the Mom’s are no longer around. One thing is certain, Mom’s never stop loving their babies and Blake Shelton nailed the heartbreak that many people feel that have lost their Mom…



I’m not ashamed as a man to say that I cried when I first saw this video. It brought back to me so many memories of what I would have done different in my own life. Regrets for harsh words when I needed to be set straight. It made me sorry for all the stupid things I did when I thought I ruled the world. I loved my Mom with all of my heart and this time of year I miss her more than ever. Christmas has not been the same without my Mom or my Wife’s Mom in the world. And yet, we know that they are watching over us. Mom’s are forever and thankfully so! We love you Mom and miss you. Always in our prayers.

Thank you Blake Shelton for this song!

Papamoka

Dedicated to my wife’s Mom Judie Curtin Poulin
and my Mom Louise Courtney O’Keefe... We love you and miss you...