The Christmas Star
You may have heard a news report regarding the appearance of the “Christmas Star” on Dec 21 in 2020 (coincidentally the Winter Solstice). If you looked to the western sky that evening just after sunset, you would have seen Jupiter and Saturn in close proximity. (This was very low in the sky so you would have needed an unimpeded view.) The astronomical term for this is a conjunction. One theory for the explanation of the Christmas Star involved the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 7 BC. It happened not only once but three times that year. And all three conjunctions took place in the constellation Pisces (the fish). The fish is an ancient Jewish symbol so this was considered to be quite significant.

So while this current conjunction was not quite the triple event of 7 BC and this time it was in the constellation Sagittarius, it was still significant. The two planets were at their closest on Dec 21st of that year. If you use Stellarium, you can run the date back to Dec 21. If you then zoom in until the FOV (field of view) setting in the upper right corner is around 20°, you will see that part of the sky as it appeared to the eye at that time.

While this collection of heavenly bodies fits one explanation of the Christmas Star it is in fact much more complex. For a discussion of the various candidates for the Star of Bethlehem, click here.

The Signs of Christmas
The signs of Christmas have been all around us now for some time. Many stores started before Halloween (there is a psychological term for this - Premature Decoration!) with the decorations and the music. This explains why I don’t like to set foot in the Mall or Wal-Mart or Target until after New Year Day. (Actually, I don’t like to enter Wal-Mart anytime. I’m not against their size or their business practices, I just don’t like the store - the layout, the hugeness of the space or the stuff.)

So, first comes the music and the lights. Then comes the shopping and the gifts. And finally, the Ol’ Gent shows up, we eat till we drop and it’s all over till next year. And all along, food keeps showing up and by the time the season ends, we have gained 20 pounds! No wonder we all join Weight Watchers come first of the new year.b

Contrary to some beliefs, Christmas was not celebrated until the 4th century A.D. Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ, is literally the Mass of Christ, which in Old English is "Cristes maesse". But long before this date was declared as the official day of Christmas by Congress in 1870, this season of the year was celebrated as the Winter Solstice. Before the advent of Christianity, this time was commonly observed by ancient people as the shortest day of the year when the world began to change from extended darkness back to light. In Scandinavia, this included the burning of a giant Yule Log to turn back the darkness. (Today the Yule log is reincarnated by the French in the Bûche de Noël - a decadent chocolate confection studded with meringue mushrooms. Again, the food!)

The Romans celebrated the festival of Saturnalia which extended from December 17^th through the 24^th. This included general carousing and the giving of gifts. They also observed two other festivals, Juvenalia and Mithras, around this time of the year.

When the Church finally decided to observe the birth of Jesus in the 4^th century, they chose the date of December 25^th. This date was selected either to offer a rival for the pagan festivals of the day or to “hide” theChristian celebration amongst the other festivals. As a result, many of the traditions of the pagan festivals found their way into the Christian celebration - the Yule Log, the exchanging of gifts and the excessive celebration and eating. So I guess the heathens are responsible for the joy and frivolity of the season. Oh yeah, the Christmas tree was unknown until 1846 when Prince Albert introduced it to Windsor Castle.

And so I say, bring on Christmas with its parties and its revelry, its gifting and its eating, its over indulgences and its shopping...well, Internet shopping. And Merry Christmas to you all!

A Flew Family Christmas (c. 1960)
On the run up to Christmas, one of our favorite things was to drive around town looking for houses or, sometimes, entire neighborhoods that had decorated for the season. One street in particular was named Candy Cane Lane though I don't think it was the official name. If so, it doesn't exist as such today.

Pop would string the eaves of the house with those big colored lights (this became my duty when I got old enough). He would also hang a speaker on the porch and play Christmas carols from an old turntable that could be heard throughout the neighborhood.

I'm not sure what age I was but it became my task to get the Christmas tree each year. We lived on the edge of town and I would trek off into the woods and fields beyond our house looking for the perfect cedar tree which I would cut down with my machete and drag it back to the house. Seems like we would put up the tree and decorations about 2-3 weeks before Christmas. I remember one year, probably in the mid-60s Mom decided she wanted one of those fancy aluminum trees with the rotating colored light.

We had a record, an old 45 maybe by Perry Como, with Clement Clarke Moore's "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". Frank, Cissy and I would play it over and over, taking turns being Santa Claus. When Santa came down the chimney, the Santa of the moment would jump off of our toy box. We would do this over and over until Mom and Pop had enough and made us go to bed.

On Christmas Eve we would gather with some of our aunts and uncles for a dinner of turkey and dressing (Yankees call it stuffing), a concoction of cornbread, seasoned with sage, celery and onions, moistened with chicken broth and baked till brown on top. Sometimes Mom would add canned oysters, usually in a smaller container since oysters were not to everyone's liking. Mom might also bake a glazed ham with brown sugar and studded with pineapple slices with maraschino cherries stuck in the pineapple holes. None of our cousins were ever present. Pop was the third of four children (the others were sisters who married early) and he married Mom when he was forty. So all of our cousins were grown, married and lived in other states and had their own families.

After dinner, we would gather in the living room with the Christmas tree and exchange gifts. All of the uncles would get socks, ties or cologne while the aunts would get hankies or cologne. We didn't sing carols or such…actually our family was totally devoid of any musical talent except for Pop who had a beautiful tenor voice.

After that, the grownups would go to the kitchen and partake of eggnog cut with a little whiskey. Not sure what kind since we weren't privy, but it was probably a cheap bourbon.

Finally all of the aunts and uncles would leave and we would be off to bed. Sometime during our sleep, "Santa" would show up and deposit our stash under the tree. Usually Frank was the one of us who would wake up about 3am, check to see if Santa had come and then wake the other two. Mom and Pop would stay in bed until after daylight. Possibly because of too many eggnogs.

We would eventually have breakfast, nothing particularly special. Lunch and dinner were leftovers from the night before. Not being particularly religious, we did not attend church services, even when Christmas was on a Sunday.

Among the many toys we received, I remember four - a rocket launcher (just a tube that the rocket slipped over connected to an air bellows that you struck to launch the rocket), a science kit that probably contained chemicals that would be deemed "unsuitable for children" today, a planetarium which was a plastic globe with a light bulb inside and pin holes that projected constellations on a plastic semi dome and, my favorite, a telescope that I used for several years.

Once the day had passed, all that was left was to take down the tree, lights and speaker until next year when we would do it all over again.

The Real Meaning of Xmas
I know many people that are offended when they see Christmas written as Xmas. “This”, they say, “takes Christ out of Christmas!” But should they really take offense at this? Does it really take Christ out of Christmas? Hmmm…

The use of Xmas far precedes any modern attempt to remove Christ from Christmas. It dates back to the 16^th century, perhaps even to the 14^th century. Before the invention of the printing press, the use of abbreviations was very common when a book or manuscript had to be copied by hand, perhaps hundreds of times. The letter X, which comes from the Greek letter “Chi”, is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, which translates in English to…Christ! Monks often used the “Chi” to represent Christ. The “Chi-Rho” is one of the earliest Christograms, taken from the first two letters of Χριστός.

So the next time you pass someone on the street this season, you might just greet them with "Merry Xmas”!

Play/Pause
Music Random Play List (select a song)

Volume

Click here for the Dusty & Hurricane Sally Videos!

Some Christmas Links
Videos from the History Channel
For some amazing Christmas Ideas
Christmas around the World
Read the Christmas Story
The Christmas Story in Great Art
Take a Tour of Santa’s House on Zillow

Here're some Christmas Webcams
George Square, Glasgow, Scotland
The Kirkwall Hotel, The Orkneys, Scotland
Santa Clause Village, Lapland Finland
Rovaniemi, Finland
Estes Park, Co