Category Archives: The Gift Bearers

Dec 05 2021
3 Comments
Krampus, Midwinter, St. Nicholas, The Gift Bearers

St. Nick & the Midwinter Gift Bearers

The nights grow longer and darker on our approach to the solstice of Midwinter, and in these final few weeks of night expanding, the first of the midwinter gift bearers, magical beings that they are, begin their journeys in the lands where they are known and loved. The first of them comes tonight, for tomorrow is St. Nicholas’ Day, and in these overnight hours, on its eve, the old Bishop of Myra makes his way through places like Germany and the Netherlands, Austria and Northern Italy. I’m afraid that by the time most of you read this, it will already be the Sixth of December, St. Nicholas’ Day, and you may be left wondering how your shoes came to be filled with nuts and sweets and other small presents overnight. Well, now you know. (Book of Days subscribers: I apologize for my belatedness; ’tis a busy time of year for your Convivio Bookworks guys.)

This St. Nick is an older version of the jolly fellow we know so well here in the States. The Old World version is not so portly, and he wears the long robes and miter of a bishop, for St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra in the fourth century. He was known in that distant land for bestowing gifts upon those who most needed them. As a saint, the Dutch sailors implored his protection during storms as they sailed the high seas, and he is a patron saint of Bari, the Italian homeland of my father’s family.

If you awake on the Sixth to find small gifts in your shoes but also scratching your head, wondering what was up with those bad dreams you had, this may have to do with the presence of St. Nicholas’ dark companion. The companion goes by many names, depending on the region––Knecht Ruprecht, Black Peter, Pelznickel… but he is best known as Krampus: half man, half goat, horned and furry, with an astonishingly long tongue. St. Nicholas concerns himself with the good children. Krampus deals with the naughty ones. Krampus carries chains or birch switches and oftentimes a sack, in which he gathers up the bad children who deserve nothing more than to be carried away. It’s a bit terrifying, but also good fun––especially in the Krampusnacht parades that feature both St. Nicholas and Krampus.

Our local Krampusnacht will take place a bit belatedly (you may be spotting a pattern, though I have nothing to do with the belated date of this one): the American German Club in suburban Lake Worth will be hosting its inaugural Krampusnacht celebration this Friday from 7 to 11 PM. We’ll be there that night and all the weekend that follows with our largest ever pop-up shop, and you can shop our traditional artisan goods for Christmas and everyday, too (including Millie’s Tea Towels), as the somewhat scary Krampusnacht on Friday night evolves into the lovely Christkindlmarkt Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are required, and I’ve just found out that Christkindlmarkt tickets are already sold out, but Krampusnacht tickets are still be available (click here). The folks at the club are telling us that this Krampusnacht is for the adults, not the kids. Take that to mean whatever you’d like. Krampusnacht and Christkindlmarkt are most likely our last public pop-up events for this Yuletide season before Seth and I, too, shift into resting a bit and making our own house as fair as we are able for Christmastime.

St. Nicholas may be the first of the midwinter gift bearers, but there is a long line of others to come over the course of these long dark nights, all depending on the lands in which you live. He and Krampus will be followed over the next few weeks by the Christkindl in Germany, by Sankta Lucia in Sweden, by Father Christmas and Santa Claus, by los Tres Reyes (the Three Kings) in Latin America, and a kind old witch named Befana who travels through Italy sweeping away the remnants of the Christmas season in early January. Ah, but that is far away or long ago, depending on your perspective, and for now, we wish you all good things this St. Nicholas’ Eve. May Krampus keep his distance. Sweet dreams!

CHRISTMAS STOCK-UP SALE
For those of you not around here (or who don’t want to be scared by furry goat creatures on Friday night), there’s the Convivio Bookworks Christmas Stock-Up Sale. Spend $75 on anything and everything in our catalog, and save $10 plus get free domestic shipping: a total savings of $19.50. Just use discount code STREETFAIR at checkout. Click here to shop! We always offer free domestic shipping when you spend $60 –– no discount code is required for that. I think you’ll be amazed at all you’ll find that’s new at our website, especially if you haven’t visited in a while! Locals, you can choose Free Local Delivery at checkout no matter how much you spend… I’ll deliver on my vintage Raleigh bicycle in the 33460 zip code.

Image: “Nikolaus und Krampus,” from a vintage penny postcard produced in Austria, circa early 20th century. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. These two seem pretty happy to be pals. Darkness & Light?

 

Dec 02 2021
Advent, Book of Days Calendar, Krampus, Midwinter, St. Nicholas, The Gift Bearers

Gathering the Holly, or Your December Book of Days

Two days into the last month of the year, and here is your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for December. Last night, we lit our daily Advent candle for the first time, and opened the first window of our Advent calendar. The decorations in our house still revolve around leaves and pumpkins and Indian corn, but we will soon be bringing in the evergreens like fir and holly. Hence our cover star for this month: a watercolor from 1901 called Christmas Eve, which, in those days and for centuries before, was the day to first bring in those festive decorations. We rather like that slow approach, and that building of anticipation. The painting is by Carlton Alfred Smith, who, no doubt, appreciated these things, as well.

We are on the approach to Christmas and to the solstice of midwinter: the nights grow darker and longer, just as they’ve been doing since the solstice of midsummer in June, but now we are approaching the zenith, and the longest night of the year. The midwinter gift bearers will soon be making their appearances in their traditional lands, beginning with St. Nicholas on the night of the 5th, who is accompanied in some of those places by dark companions like the Krampus, who we are about to meet in person. You can, too, if you are local and come see us on Krampusnacht at the American German Club west of town on Lantana Road. Here’s a list of the outdoor pop-up markets where you’ll find us these next couple of weeks before Christmas. If you come, please do say hello and introduce yourself. We have one job this time of year: to dispel the night. We do that with candlelight and with the lights of the season, and we do it with the light from within. A friendly hello is the essential first step.

HOLIDAY NIGHT MARKET & FESTIVAL at SOCIAL HOUSE
Saturday December 4 from 6 to 10 PM at 512 Lucerne Avenue in Downtown Lake Worth Beach. Inspired by traditional European Christmas markets. We’ll be in the outdoor courtyard with a large selection of our Advent and Christmas artisan goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, Shaker culinary herbs and herbal teas, and some of our textiles from Kei & Molly Designs and Millie’s Tea Towels.

KRAMPUSNACHT at the AMERICAN GERMAN CLUB
Friday December 10 from 7 to 11 PM at 5111 Lantana Road in suburban Lake Worth. Tickets required. It’s the night before Christkindlmarkt and you should get a babysitter, because this one is for the adults. What once was meant to frighten youngsters into good behavior, Krampusnacht in Europe has taken a twist over the decades and become a fun night of mischief and dancing, as the Krampus of German legend rules the scene. Expect to see many Krampuses at this inaugural Krampusnacht celebration! Our largest pop-up shop ever, which will carry over into Christkindlmarkt the following two days, will include Advent candles and calendars, Christmas artisan goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, Shaker culinary herbs and herbal teas and soaps, Millie’s Tea Towels, our new line of tea towels and reusable bags from Kei & Molly Designs, market bags from Mexico, and more.

CHRISTKINDLMARKT at the AMERICAN GERMAN CLUB
Saturday December 11 from 2 to 10 PM and Sunday December 12 from Noon to 8 PM at 5111 Lantana Road in suburban Lake Worth. A traditional German Christmas market. Tickets required. Our largest pop-up shop ever will include Advent candles and calendars, Christmas artisan goods from Germany, Sweden, and Mexico, Shaker culinary herbs and herbal teas and soaps, Millie’s Tea Towels, our new line of tea towels and reusable bags from Kei & Molly Designs, market bags from Mexico, and more.

CHRISTMAS STOCK-UP SALE
For everyone else, there’s the Convivio Bookworks Christmas Stock-Up Sale. Spend $75 on anything and everything in our catalog, and save $10 plus get free domestic shipping: a total savings of $19.50. Just use discount code STREETFAIR at checkout. Click here to shop! We always offer free domestic shipping when you spend $60 –– no discount code is required for that. I think you’ll be amazed at all you’ll find that’s new at our website, especially if you haven’t visited in a while! Locals, you can choose Free Local Delivery at checkout no matter how much you spend… I’ll deliver on my vintage Raleigh bicycle in the 33460 zip code.

Image: “Christmas Eve” by Clayton Alfred Smith. Watercolor on paper, 1901 [Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons].

 

Jan 06 2021
10 Comments
Christmas, Epiphany, La Befana, The Gift Bearers, Yule

20 + C + M + B + 21

TWELFTH DAY of CHRISTMAS
Epiphany

I know, I know: the title of this chapter of the Convivio Book of Days looks more like part of an algebraic equation than the start of a piece about the Twelfth Day of Christmas. It’s actually an inscription, one that we will be writing in chalk on the lintel above our door tonight. It is Epiphany: the day that tradition tells us the Magi arrived at the stable to see the newborn child. It is the part of the Christmas story that expands it to the world beyond Bethlehem, for the Magi came from afar to see this miracle, and brought the news with them back to their lands. Seeing the child was their great epiphany, and in turn, ours.

They are known as Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, those three wise men, and it is their initials, surrounded by the new year, that make the inscription that we will write above our door. It’s a tradition taught to my family by Father Brice, who would bless chalk and give it out to his congregation at St. Paul’s in Lighthouse Point each Epiphany Mass. I’ve never known anyone else to follow this custom but Father Brice and my family, but two summers ago––when Seth and I traveled to the part of Austria where a half hour drive could find you in Switzerland or Germany or Lichtenstein, depending on which direction you were going––we saw so many doorways inscribed, both indoors and out. The doorway in the photo today is the door to the chapel at Schattenburg, the 13th century castle that looks out over the City of Feldkirch in Austria. I photographed an awful lot of doorways that trip. Surrounded by so many lintel inscriptions, I felt like I was amongst people I understood, and who understood me.

The holiday itself is older even than Christmas, as holy days go. It is one of the earliest celebrations of the Church. In some places, Epiphany rivals Christmas––especially in Latin America, where the Three Kings made their rounds last night, delivering presents, just as they did that first Christmas. They stop on their way through Italy, too, to invite la Befana, the kindly old witch, to join them. As usual, she was far too busy with her housework, which, in my experience, is usually the way things go. (My family is full of Befanas, women and men who get so wrapped up in making sure their houses are as clean and tidy as possible, and I’ve no doubt they would have declined the invitation of the Magi, too.) But that first Christmas, when la Befana told the Magi to carry on without her, she eventually grew remorseful for not joining them… and so she set out to find them. Alas, it was too late. She never found the three kings and she never found the child, and so each Twelfth Night, even to this day, she rides out on her broom in search of them all. As she searches, she leaves presents in the shoes of good children. (Not so good children? They get coal, but even that isn’t so bad, because la Befana’s coal is sweet as candy.)

It is la Befana’s job to sweep away Christmas, too, for another year. Before she does, though, you will find us outside on the porch with a stepladder and a piece of chalk (no longer blessed, for Father Brice is long gone). We do this here at our home, and we’ll do it at the family home, too, when next we are there. All who are gathered will take turns writing the inscription on the lintel above the door: it is, as I said, the initials of the wise men, blanketed on each side by the year, punctuated with crosses: 20+C+M+B+21. Each year, my silent prayer outside in the cold night air is that no one will be missing when we next gather to do this. There the inscription stays, all the year through if the weather be fine. And though Christmas be gone, still the inscription reminds us of Christmas’s presence as we pass each day through that portal. The inscription is a magic charm of sorts, protecting the house and those who pass through that doorway, harboring the goodwill and spirit of Old Father Christmas.

And while I promised that you’d be rid of me now, after twelve continuous days of writings, the fact remains that tomorrow brings another Christmas-related holiday: the 7th of January each year brings St. Distaff’s Day, the first of the Back to Work holidays on the heels of the Christmas season. It’s too fascinating to not discuss… so if you have room in your hearts for one more visit from me this week, I will do all I can to be there. And so be it.

I’ll be talking about these things and showing some good books, too, today at 3 PM Eastern on a Jaffe Center for Book Arts webinar called Book Arts 101: Caravan. You have to register to watch the live broadcast on Zoom: click here to register. There will be a simulcast on the Jaffe Center’s Facebook page, too. And on Friday, from 2 to 5 PM Eastern, you’re welcome to join me again as I host the Real Mail Fridays St. Distaff’s Day Social. Come and go as you please; most folks joining in will be writing letters, but sometimes I do other things, like bind books. There is good music and lots of quiet working time in the company of others, and once or twice an hour, we break for a some focused conversation. 

 

Tagged
← Older posts
Newer posts →