Little Jack Horner

 

Little Jack Horner

Illustration by American illustrator W W Denslow (1856-1915) 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Little Jack Horner

Sat in the corner

Eating his Christmas pie;

He put in his thumb

And pulled out a plum

And  said, ‘What a good boy am I.’

I always thought this was a strange rhyme and wondered whether it had any relevance to Christmas. The rhyme dates from the 18^th century but appears to have its origins in the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16^th century.

Jack Horner was steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting. His responsibilities were to manage the church property and finances and to help the Abbot in administering the diocese.

 Glastonbury was the second richest monastery in England after Westminster by the end of the Middle Ages and was still affluent when Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509. In 1536 there were over 800 monasteries.

 Following the King’s separation from the Roman Catholic Church and the foundation of the Protestant Church of England, Henry ordered the dissolution of monasteries and other religious houses in England, Ireland and Wales, and appropriated their wealth. The dissolution was conducted for five years, from 1536 to 1541. The majority of the religious communities accepted their fate and the money and pensions they were given, but others, like the Abbot of Glastonbury, would not comply and were executed and their monasteries destroyed. Richard Whiting was hanged, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor for his refusal to cooperate.

It is said that the Abbot of Glastonbury, in a bid to appease the King for his non-compliance, sent Jack Horner to London with a Christmas gift of a plum pie. Hidden under the pastry crust were the deeds to twelve manors. Jack opened the pie and removed the deeds to the village of Mells in Somerset.

Thus, the ‘plum’ of the pie was the manor of Mells. The rhyme was about greed and opportunism and has been used by satirists to illustrate the nefarious activities of politicians and others interested in improving their lot in life by devious means.

 

Illustration by American illustrator Blanche Fisher Wright (1887-1938) 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The melody for the rhyme was first recorded by James William Elliott in  'National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs

Snapdragon

 

Snapdragon, but not the flower

                  Snapdragon being played in Elizabethan (?) times

                        Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The English game of snapdragon originated in the 16^th century and was played in England, Canada and the United States. It was a popular parlour game, particularly in the winter.

 On Christmas Eve in Victorian times, the family would gather round while raisins were put in a bowl of warmed brandy. Then one of the adults would set a match to them, all the lights would be extinguished and everyone would take turns to snatch a raisin from the flames. The idea was to put out the flame by closing the mouth around it and swallowing the raisin.

Although the traditional treats were raisins, other things might be substituted, like almonds, figs, candied fruits or grapes. Children often burnt their fingers and mouths and that may be why the game fell out of favour in the early years of the 20^th century.

Antirrhinum

 

Antirrhinum

In a pot in the front garden an antirrhinum has been bravely blooming for several weeks, withstanding wind, rain and frost. Antirrhinums or snapdragons normally flower between June and October.

 The snapdragon is a favourite flower for children who like to squeeze the throat of the bloom to open the mouth. Some cultures hold that opening the snapdragon’s mouth allows it to whisper secrets and wisdom. I always knew the flower as bunny mouth and remember the pleasure of playing with it.

 

Gilbert the Good – musical appreciation

   

Gilbert the Good – musical appreciation

My humans often play music and, being a musical sort of dog, I enjoy listening. Sometimes I join in but I don’t sing like Buddy Liver Spots used to. He loved listening to Maria Callas. He really appreciated her most distinctive voice and accompanied her with his fine baritone.

Instead of singing, I join in with my favourite instrument, the saxo-duck. The Youtube videoclip here gives you some idea of my expertise or it would, if the link worked!! Ditto the uploaded/downloaded/offloaded/unloaded clip from the computer.

I know it was really good because my humans couldn’t stop smiling and they sent a copy of the video to all the family.

😕   

TTFN

Gilbert

Difficulty

Difficulty

 

I know that Blogger often throws a spanner in the works, not deliberately, I’m sure. Everyone has experienced occasions when comments have been relegated to spam, while others have had comments from years past magically reappear. 

My current difficulty lies in uploading videos. I cannot now upload private or public videos. This is not an unheard-of problem. In Blogger’s ‘help’ section the question has been raised . . . and closed! 

Has anyone else resolved this particular problem? We’ve been all round the houses with it . . .

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas

This English Christmas carol is a cumulative song, each verse building on the one before. The twelve days start on Christmas Day and finish on 5^th January. January 6^th marks Epiphany, the day the three Magi arrived in Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus.

There are variations to the lyrics, but the following version from 1909 is familiar to many. It begins:

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree.

 

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

It continues, adding one more gift until on the twelfth day the list is complete:

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true love sent to me

Twelve drummers drumming,

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree.

It is not known how the song originated but it is likely to have sprung from a memory game for children, in the same vein as ‘This is the house that Jack built’. The earliest publication of the words was in a children’s book, ‘Mirth Without Mischief’ in 1780.

It was then a chant, but in 1909 the English composer and singer Frederic Austin (1872 – 1952) adapted a folk melody to fit the words and this is the tune that is sung today.

There is a splendid version on YouTube which I attempted unsuccessfully to download . You can find it here  My father played the organ and always said that playing the foot pedals was like dancing and there are many shots of the organist, William Elliott,  doing just that.

John Julius Norwich wrote an alternative version of the carol. It imagines the correspondence between 'my true love' and the recipient.

On the first day of Christmas, Emily, the recipient, is touched and overwhelmed with love.

By the sixth day she is becoming exasperated and rather less effusive in her affection.

On the tenth day she has reached the end of her tether, and Edward, her true love, is now persona non grata. He does not take the hint, persisting in his efforts to please her.

Finally, Emily makes it plain that Edward is never to darken her doorstep again.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley.

Hannukah

 

Hannukah

Hannukah, or Chanukah, often occurs around the same time as Christmas but this year the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights begins at nightfall on December 7^th and finishes on December 15^th. It celebrates a miracle that occurred in Jerusalem two centuries before the advent of Christianity.

The Syrian king Antiochus ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC to 164 BC and persecuted the Jews of Judaea and Samaria. He forbade them worshipping God and erected a statue of himself in the temple of Jerusalem, ordering them to bow before it. They refused because it transgressed the commandment forbidding them to worship any other than God.

The Maccabees, a priestly Jewish family, led a revolt against Antiochus and his army and after three years they recaptured the city from the Syrians. The Temple had been violated and most of the ritual olive oil desecrated. 

They cleaned and rededicated the Temple by lighting the menorah using the one remaining sealed vial of holy oil. There was only enough to keep the menorah alight for one day but yet it burned for eight days, the exact time it took to press new oil. This miracle is recorded in the Talmud, the primary source of Jewish religious law, written about 600 years later.

To celebrate this wondrous miracle the candles of the menorah, the central candle, called the shamash or attendant, placed centrally and higher than the rest, is lit and used to light the others.

On the first night, the shamash lights one candle. On the second night two candles are lit with the attendant and so on until by the eighth night all eight candles are burning.

Hannukah is a time of thanksgiving, remembrance and celebration. It will be a time of great difficulty and fearfulness this year for many Jews across the world.

Pumpkin Mice Tales (3)

 

Pumpkin Mice Tales (3)

When the colder weather came, the Pumpkin Mice decided to move to a warmer shelter. They found a lovely hole deep underground between the roots of an old oak tree.

One morning, White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail peeped out of the den. She squeaked with excitement. The other Mousekins scurried across to look.

They saw that visitors had arrived on the Tall Tower. Big Brown Mouse joined them. He had eaten a lot of books in his life and digested a lot of information. He told the Mousekins about the new inhabitants.

‘They have travelled from Antarctica,’ he said. ‘The black and white birds are penguins and the white animals are seals.’

The Mousekins gazed at Big Brown Mouse in awe, wondering if they would ever be as wise as him.    

       Big Brown Mouse continued, ‘Seals and penguins don’t like each other because seals eat penguins.’

 

 In this, though, Big Brown Mouse was mistaken for these particular penguins and seals were great friends. There are exceptions to every rule.

The penguins were brothers. The oldest, the one with the bobble hat, was called Bob Bobble. The first thing he and his brothers did was to build an igloo. They chipped the ice off the puddles and fashioned a rather fine dwelling just big enough for all the penguins to live in.

Mysteriously, the seals created a pond and stocked it with fish. They enjoyed watching Blue Scarf hauling fish from the icy pond. He was generous and shared his catch with them.

His brother, Rufus Red, was the youngest penguin and he was excited every night by the coloured lights that twinkled so brightly on the Tall Tower, lighting up the snowman he had built. ‘They’re better than the Northern Lights,‘ he said.

Little Grey, the smallest Mousekin, asked, ‘How long will they stay?’

Big Brown Mouse smiled kindly at him and answered, ‘I think they will stay until the weather starts to get warmer, then they will return to Antarctica.’ Seeing the disappointment on the Mousekins’ faces he added gently, ‘That will be a long time.’

White Mouse with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail said, ‘How did they get here?’

Big Brown Mouse sighed and said, ‘Nobody knows, ‘Tis a secret never to be told,’ and they all wiggled their whiskers and skittered back into the warmth and safety of their nest.

Advice

Good advice

 

Taxi, police car, hearse, ambulance

'Tis the season of idiot drivers. Avoid at all costs.

The first Friday

 

The first Friday

                     The window of one of the local estate agents

Every year, on the first Friday in December, Crowthorne high street is closed to all traffic from 4:00 until 8:00 p.m. for the annual ‘late night’ Christmas shopping event. Stalls are set up along both sides of the road, selling all sorts of goodies. Many of the shops offer free mince pies, mulled wine and coffee.

 Susannah, James and I went that night. It was amazing to see how transformed the street was and it was thronged with people and a surprisingly large number of friendly and well-behaved dogs. 

                         Carol singers outside the Baptist church

Carol singers representing all ages of the community, from little angels from a local school to bigger people in Father Christmas hats, sang for the passing crowds. Live music was everywhere, inside the shops and outside the library and other locations.

                                               A fuzzy angel

It was good to see so many people out and about and the weather played nicely, too. It had been a very cold day but it was dry and seemed warmer in the evening. Maybe that was warmth given off by the crowds!

A great deal of effort went into this event from the organisers and there was a general feeling of goodwill. It’s a pleasant place to live.

                                Outside one of the hair salons. We have an abundance of hair salons, barbers and estate agents . . .

My photographs are rather fuzzy, I’m afraid!

 

The Christmas Pudding Race

Traditional pursuits in December - The Great Christmas Pudding Race

This race has been staged for about forty years in Covent Garden, London. This year it takes place on December 9^th.

It is a fund raiser for Cancer Research UK. Teams of runners in fancy dress race around a course of inflatable obstacles while balancing a Christmas pudding on a tray. Volunteers along the way cheer them on with water jets, foam, flour-filled balloons and other encouragements. This video gives an idea of what takes place. For the avoidance of doubt the regal-looking lady is not the late Queen Elizabeth II but a convincing look-alike.

Other parts of the country also hold Christmas Pudding races, all for charities of different kinds. The wearing of headphones is discouraged and in some places banned outright, with the warning that runners attempting to wear them will be disqualified. One organising body says:  

 By taking up your position on the start line, you are agreeing that you are in good health, and have good fitness and sound mind to complete the course.

Headphones are not advised as the course does include a section of open road. Also the trail paths are open to the public and their horses, dogs, children, and may contain the occasional badger, squirrel or panther*. You should remain aware and alert to potential hazards at all times.*rumoured

The first race of the Christmas Pudding season takes place today in Dartford, Kent (boyhood home of Mick Jagger) and has 5k and 10k options. The Dartford Bridge race is free to enter.

On December 9^th the Langdale Christmas Pudding 10k is expected to take place in Great Langdale, in the Lake District. Every finisher is rewarded with a Christmas pudding.

Longridge Christmas Pudding Race in Lancashire will be on 10^th December, the same day at the Christchurch 10k race in Dorset and the Merthyr Mawr race in South Wales.

Broad Haven holds its race on 10^th December, as well, in Pembrokeshire. It has a Little Puds race for children on the beach and the children receive a wooden medal.

The East Sussex, Christmas Pudding 5 Mile Dash is on 16^th December in Pett.

The races in the wilder parts of the country are subject to the vagaries of the weather and may have to be cancelled!

The Green Children of Woolpit

 

The Green Children of Woolpit

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Woolpit (Old English wulf-pytt) is an ancient Suffolk village named after a pit used for trapping wolves. One day around 1150, the villagers found two young children next to the pit. They wore unusual clothes and spoke an unfamiliar language. More than that, they had green skin.

The children were taken to the house of Sir Richard de Calne, the local lord, who took them in and offered them food which they refused, although they were obviously hungry. In the garden they found some green beans, which they devoured. It is believed that they lived with Sir Richard for several years and gradually he persuaded them to eat other foods and as they did so their skin lost its green pallor.

They also learnt to speak English and when they were sufficiently adept they were asked where they had come from. They said they came from ‘the land of St Martin’ where the sun never shone and everyone was green.

 It may be a folk tale of otherworldly beings or else the basic story has become garbled through the years. One theory suggests that they were the descendants of Flemish immigrants but doesn’t explain how they arrived in Woolpit.

The green skin may have been caused by the ‘green sickness’, a form of anaemia caused by a lack of iron in the diet, which was alleviated by the introduction of good food.

Soon after the children were baptised the boy died but his sister, known as Agnes, continued to live with Sir Richard and later married the archdeacon of Ely, Richard Barre.

I wonder if Sue from ‘My Quiet Life in Suffolk’ can throw some light on this age-old legend.                                                                                                                                                                 

 

Bus

 

Bus

                            Frankie and Roxy grew up together

Bus: a vehicle for transporting people.

Last Saturday afternoon a bus pulled up outside Frankie’s house.  No, he doesn’t live next to a bus stop. This was a very special bus, a gaming bus. It would transport its passengers from the current world to one of excitement.

It was more of a mini-van than a single decker bus and inside was one wall of ten double decker screens opposite a bench seat that ran the length of the vehicle. It offered more than fifty games, some to be played individually, some with a partner, and kept twelve ten and eleven-year-old boys entertained for an hour and a half. The days of ‘party games’ in the home seem to be a thing of the past. Nonetheless, Frankie and his friends had a wonderful, noisy time playing hide and seek all over the house after their time in the gaming bus. At such times one realises that they are, in most respects, still little boys.

Source

It’s Frankie’s actual birthday today and he will be spending his birthday weekend with his father in London. He is our seventh grandchild, our fourth grandson, and he is 11 years old. Eleven is a significant age. It is the age at which most children in UK transfer from primary to secondary school in the state sector. Independent (fee-paying or ‘private’ schools) have different arrangements. About 5.8% of UK children attend independent schools.

So Frankie and his friends are in Year 6, the biggest fish in the pond. In September they will again become tiddlers in the lake, gazing wide-eyed at their new, much larger surroundings and wondering if they will ever reach the dizzying heights of the sophisticated and very tall 6^th formers they see.

For the moment they are at that intriguing pre-adolescent stage, still very reliant on their parents, though increasingly independent, sometimes easily upset and anxious, their voices and attitudes clearly those of children. Things are very black and white, right or wrong, fair or unfair and they remain largely egocentric though beginning to appreciate there are shades and tones in life. Time seems to pass quickly at secondary school – maybe not for them, but for the adults in their lives, especially their mothers. They move swiftly from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood, too rapidly it seems. Looking back, it appears to pass in a flash, but for the moment, they are still excitable ten and eleven-year-olds, full of energy and laughter.

Happy birthday, Frankie!

            
                                     Frankie, aged 6, with Bertie