Martin's Almanack

Today, December 25, is  Christmas Day , celebrated by many, often with family and friends.  (Well, some, like me, actually follow the tradition of celebrating on the 24th, not the 25th.)   The English word  Christmas  invokes a Christian tradition, but other languages, like my native Czech, are much less precise in attributing the ownership of the tradition. Christmas  is really a holiday that historically spans cultures and religions. It is a continuation of a very old custom to celebrate the time around the winter solstice. Ancient Egyptians celebrated  Horus  and the resurrection of  Osiris , Nordic countries celebrated the time of Yule , Germanic ones, the god Odin . Persians had their  Yalda  (where " Yule " probably comes from), Romans had their  Saturnalia and it was only when  Pope Julius I  declared the 25th to be the official birthday of Jesus (partly to counter the hedonism of  Saturnalia ) that the...

  “ November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.” ― Emily Dickinson Oh, time does move so decidedly and, suddenly, the end of November is here, as if a stealthy shadow sneaked behind a building when you were not watching and now it has enveloped you fully and for an escape, there is none.  And temperatures tell you so, too, and not in a shy way.  The first snow is here and so is the early evening darkness. The night is freezing fast, To-morrow comes December; And winterfalls of old Are with me from the past... ― A.E. Hausman But this blog is not about Norway and not about November, either.  There is a lot to write about that fascinating country, its history and all that happened in it and because of it. There is a lot to write about that fascinating penultimate oddly named month, too, how it came to be and all those world-changing events which happened during that month.  But I don't have time for much writing right now - maybe lat...