Gingerbread houses are a favorite holiday pastime with families, be it with parents, grandparents, or even both! But these delicious, decorative bread houses have always been a staple of the holiday season for as long as people can remember. Where did they come from? Who came up with the idea? To answer those questions, we must follow the ghost of holiday’s past into the history of Gingerbread House Day!
History of Gingerbread House Day
Food historians ratify that ginger has been seasoning foodstuffs and drinks since antiquity. It is believed gingerbread was first baked in Europe at the end of the 11th century when returning crusaders brought back the custom of spicy bread from the Middle East. Ginger was not only tasty; it had properties that helped preserve the bread. According to a French legend, gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 A.D. by the Armenian monk and later saint, Gregory of Nicopolis (Gregory Makar). Gingerbread figurines date back to the 15th century and baking human-shaped biscuits was practiced in the 16th century.
The gingerbread bakers were gathered into professional baker guilds. In many European countries, gingerbread bakers were a distinct component of the bakers’ guild. Gingerbread baking developed into an acknowledged profession. In the 17th century, only professional gingerbread bakers were permitted to bake gingerbread except at Christmas and Easter. In Europe, gingerbreads shaped like hearts, stars, soldiers, trumpets, swords, pistols and animals were sold in special shops and seasonal markets.
The tradition of making decorated gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800’s. According to certain researchers, the first gingerbread houses were the result of the well-known Grimm’s fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. In modern times the tradition has continued in certain places in Europe. In Germany, the Christmas markets still sell decorated gingerbread before Christmas. (Lebkuchenhaus or Pfefferkuchenhaus are the German terms for a gingerbread house.)
Fake Christmas Trees You'll Wish You'd Seen Sooner
(Even if you plan on bringing in a real one too, these fabulous fake trees are a must!)
Turn plastic-ware into unique mantel or tabletop decor, by stacking them into little trees.
Word of the Day
magdalene or magdalen
Mary Magdalene Reading (c. 1500-1510)
MEANING:
noun: A penitent woman, particularly a reformed prostitute.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Mary Magdalene, a Biblical character who was a follower of Jesus. Earliest documented use: 1563.
NOTES:
The name Magdalene means “of Magdala” in Greek and is derived after a town on the Sea of Galilee. The name Magdala, in turn, means a tower in Aramaic. So here we have a word coined after a person, who was named after a place, which was named after a thing. The word is also used for a home for reformed/retired prostitutes. Magdalene has given birth to another eponym, maudlin meaning “overly sentimental”.
Pope Gregory I, in a sermon delivered in 581 CE, conflated an unnamed “sinner” with Mary Magdalene. Pope Paul VI fixed the error in 1969, but the damage was done. Mary Magdalene forever remains identified as a former prostitute in popular culture. It took them 1,388 years to acknowledge the error. In comparison, Galileo got off easy. The Church took a mere 359 years to say that he was right after all.
So much for ex cathedra! Religion, fighting reality, since, well ... forever.
USAGE:
“Aniseed is inseparably linked in my mind to the bodies of fallen women. It is the madeleine that evokes a Magdalene.” Jonathan Meades; Filthy English; Jonathan Cape; 1984.
Pile up some extra pot and pan lids and then cover them in shimmering gold, for this repurposed rockstar of a tree.
Idiom of the Day
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
Sometimes it’s better not to know all the facts about something Person A: “Did you know that cake you just ate was 600 calories?”Person B: “I didn’t…ignorance is bliss!”
We know - your mouth just fell open a little bit. Add show stopping color with yours!
This Day in History
1800 - Washington, DC, was established as the capital of the United States.
1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker to be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives. 1896 - Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London. 1897 - The comic strip"The Katzenjammer Kids" (Hans and Fritz), by Rudolph Dirks, appeared in the New York Journal for the first time. 1899 - George Grant patented the wooden golf tee. 1917 - Father Edward Flanagan opened Boys Town in Nebraska. The farm village was for wayward boys. In 1979 it was opened to girls. 1925 - The "Motel Inn," the first motel in the world, opened in San Luis Obispo, CA. 1955 - British engineer Christopher Cockerell patented the first hovercraft. 1970 - In New Orleans, LA, the Doors made their last appearance with Jim Morrison. 1984 - In a telephone conversation with U.S. President Reagan, William J. Schroeder complained of a delay in his Social Security benefits. Schroeder received a check the following day. 1985 - Dionne Warwick received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1997 - Denver Pyle received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2001 - In Beverly Hills, CA, actress Winona Ryder was arrested at Saks Fifth Avenue for shoplifting and possessing pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. The numerous items of clothing and hair accessories were valued at $4,760. 2001 - Flutist James Galway received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
thanks, Heide
DAILY SQU-EEK
If You Were Born Today, December 12
You have a distinctly dual nature that, at your best, makes you versatile, and at your worst, downright confused (and confusing!). While a great lover of peace and harmony, you are also determined and fiery. While idealistic, you mostly have your feet on the ground. In relationships, the need for partnering and cooperating is strong, but freedom also matters to you. You are a natural counselor, offering excellent advice. There is usually quite a bit of drama and colorful emotion in your relationships, whether it's because you bring this to the table or attract these kinds of people. Famous people born today:
1745John Jay, US statesman and 1st US Chief Justice, born in NYC, New York (d. 1829)
1863Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and print maker (The Scream), born in Ådalsbruk, Løten, Norway (d. 1944)
1915Frank Sinatra, American singer (Strangers in the Night, My Way) and actor (From Here to Eternity) known as 'old blue eyes', born in Hoboken, New Jersey (d. 1998)
1950Rajinikanth [Shivaji Rao Gaekwa], Indian film actor (Centenary Award 2014), born in Bangalore, India
READERS INFO
1.
(Not So) Totally Useless Facts of The Day:
James Madison was the shortest United States President.
The tallest and that distinction goes to Abraham Lincoln. The 16th US President, who served from 1861 to 1865, measured at 6’4″.
While a British rock band made his name famous nearly 300 years after his birth, Jethro Tull (1664 – 1741) was renowned in his own right as an agricultural pioneer and the inventor of the seed drill, the horse drawn hoe, and an improved plough, all major developments in the agricultural revolution.
Tull's methods helped to provide the basis for modern agriculture. The progressive rock band Jethro Tull took their name after the 18th century agriculturalist. The name
proved to be popular and memorable, and it stuck.
Fresh snow absorbs sound, lowering ambient noise over a landscape because the trapped air between snowflakes attenuates vibration.
That's why it gets so quiet when it snows.
2.
CELESTIAL EVENT:
December 12 - Full Moon.
The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 05:14 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Cold Moon because this is the time of year when the cold winter air settles in and the nights become long and dark. This moon has also been known as the Full Long Nights Moon and the Moon Before Yule.
Remember when MTV used to show music videos around the clock? It’s been a while, but music videos are still alive and well as an extra component to draw listeners into an artist’s world. However, the majority of people resort to watching the latest at home on their computer or booting up YouTube on their fancy smartphones. Whatever happened to shared experiences? That’s where the annual Austin Music Video Festival comes in, offering five days of wildly entertaining music videos at a host of funky venues in downtown Austin, Texas. Not only will you celebrate the latest smash hits from national and international superstars, but you’ll also see a wealth of powerful music videos produced by local independent artists. With over 100 music videos in the lineup, lively music concerts, world premieres, an Awards Show and much more, the Austin Music Video Festival is one of the most sonically and visually stimulating festivals of its kind.
Swede Fest is a dream come true for anyone who constantly starts a movie only to find themselves snoozin' about halfway through. The festival features 4-minute mini movies that recreate the plot line of many popular TV shows and movies! Film fans can see the amazing creativity that goes into these short films and enjoy the unique take each filmmaker brings to their favorite stories.
Secaucus Public Library and Business Resource Center|1379 Paterson Plank Rd
The Black Maria Film Festival is truly one of a kind. Unlike most film festivals, this one is a traveling festival that moves across America exhibiting short, independent films to audiences in different settings. By exhibiting the work of diverse, non-commercial, passionate and exceptional filmmakers from the US and beyond, the Black Maria Film Festival is preserving the diversity, originality and spirit of short film.
Getting some height in your tree design is as simple as using a ladder - literally.
QUOTE
CLEVER
Use egg cartons to store your smaller ornaments.
thanks, Alice
EYE OPENER
thanks, Sam
The archaeological and historical evidence behind the birth of Christ
aleteia
The biblical telling of the Nativity contains numerous historical references and descriptions of specific places and customs that match what we know of the time period.
Every year at Christmastime the faithful must contend with the skeptics. Perhaps because Christmas has become largely secularized in the West (or maybe due to its association with the fictional Santa Claus), many people look at the Nativity as a similarly fictional story. After all, without belief it is hard to accept shepherds’ visions of angels, kings traveling far and wide to visit a baby, and a virgin birth.
While many might like to write off the Gospel accounts of the Nativity, they likely may not realize that the two earliest records of Christ’s birth were written by reliable sources. Matthew spent years following Christ and benefited from first-hand stories, and Luke was a historian who carefully investigated the claims of the apostles by speaking to people who were present for the events.
The biblical telling of the Nativity contains numerous historical connections and descriptions of specific places and customs that match what we know of the time period. Pastor Bryan Windle, of Island Bible Chapel, believes it is possible to determine the credibility of the Christmas story by examining these connections, alongside the archaeological evidence from the regions where the Nativity took place.
The existence of Nazareth
A common argument against the Nativity story is that Nazareth did not exist in the first century, as the Bible describes it. This was the topic of René Salm’s book The Myth of Nazareth, The Invented Town of Jesus. To be fair to Salm, there was very little archaeological evidence of first-century Nazareth when the book was written.
Recent archaeological digging, however, has vindicated the biblical record, as we now have a wealth of evidence that indicates a Jewish presence at the site in the 1st century. Archaeological excavations have uncovered storage pits and cisterns from the time of Jesus, as well as two first-century “courtyard houses,” one with doors and windows still intact. Windle notes that Dr. Ken Dark, lead archaeologist of the project, has presented evidence of early Christian veneration of the site, suggesting that it may have been the childhood home of Jesus.
The census in Bethlehem
In Luke 2:1-4, Caesar Augustus issues a decree for a nationwide census, the first of its kind, while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Two of these points have been argued: That there was no census taken at the time of Christ’s birth (shortly before the death of King Herod), and that Quirinius was not governor of Syria at that time.
The problem is mostly due to a copying error made by the Roman-Jewish chronicler Josephus, which was propagated in later manuscripts, suggesting Herod died in 4 BC. In a recent examination of the manuscripts of Josephus from the British Library and the Library of Congress, all 29 manuscripts dating before 1544 put Herod’s death in 1 BC.
Dr. Andrew Steinmann, the Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia University Chicago, has traced the death of Herod to the total lunar eclipse of January 10, 1 BC and the birth of Jesus to around 3 BC – 2 BC. Further Roman records indeed show that Quirinius was the governor of Judea during a census taken in 3 BC.
Jesus’s birth in a stable
The Church of the Nativity is a popular pilgrimage spot during the Christmas season. Built over a cave in 326 AD, many believe it marks the site where Christ was actually born in a stable. Nowhere in the Gospel, however, is it said that he was born in a stable or a barn.
Luke only says that he was placed in a manger and that there was no room in the inn. When people hear manger, they immediately think of a barn, but many houses of the time were equipped with mangers inside of the house. Permanent stone mangers have been found by archaeologists inside of 1st-century dwellings for the purpose of feeding animals that were meant for sacrifice.
Further, archaeologist Gary Byers has pointed out that the word Luke uses for “inn” is the Greek word kataluma. This word is only used in one other place in the New Testament; the story of the Last Supper in the kataluma (upper room/guest room). Had Luke wanted to convey that they were at an inn, he would have used the word pandocheion, as he does in the story of the Good Samaritan who takes the injured man to a “travelers’ inn.”
It was common for homes of Jesus’ time to have guest rooms or an upper spare room, and as there was a census going on at the time, it seems reasonable that many family members had traveled to the area, which explains why there was no room for the Holy Family. It is likely that Mary and Joseph were in the stable area of the house, as the other rooms were already occupied.
The visit of the shepherds
A little further north of Bethlehem there was a place known as Migdal Eder, “the tower of the flock.” While the exact location is lost, we know this was a place where certain shepherds tended special flocks that were meant for sacrifice at the Temple. In Micah 4:8, there is a mention of the site as the “watchtower of the flock,” curiously just a few lines before he prophecies the messiah’s birth in Bethlehem.
Of course, there is nothing that states that this is where the shepherds who visited Baby Jesus were from. It is likely that there were shepherds tending the paschal lambs on the night of Christ’s birth. It then would seem fitting that the angels would visit the shepherds to tell of the coming of the final Paschal Lamb.
Christ’s dedication at the Temple
When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” (Lk 2:22)
The telling of the dedication of Christ teaches us two things about the Holy Family. First, that the Holy Family was devout, and careful followers of the law. Second, that they were poor, as Leviticus 12:6 tells us the actual sacrifice for purification was a year-old lamb. Birds were only used when a family could not afford the lamb.
The visit of the Magi
It is largely unknown who the Magi, or “three wise men,” were. Matthew described them with the word magoi, the plural of magos, or magus. Thayer’s Greek Dictionary defines a magus as “the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldaeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augurs, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.” The Magi who visited Jesus must have studied Jewish Scriptures, as they recognized signs of several prophecies:
A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. (Nm 24:17)
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. (Mi 5:2)
Contrary to popular depiction, the Magi would not have been there to worship the infant Jesus on the night of the Nativity. Matthew uses the Greek word paidion,which means child or toddler, to describe Jesus, not the word baby. That Herod was killing toddlers of the age two and younger, a decision he came to from the information given to him when the Magi came in search of the newborn King, suggests Jesus was likely a toddler when the Magi arrived.
We also are not sure that there were three of them. The Magi are popularly depicted as three because they bore three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The biblical description of the Nativity is surrounded by historical corroboration. While none of these connections definitively prove the events of the the first Christmas, they demonstrate that the Bible is probably historically reliable. The rest is dependent on faith; after all, Christ himself said:
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:17-18)
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry. -Gustave Flaubert, novelist (12 Dec 1821-80)
OPTICAL ILLUSION
Move your eyes above this line and the black and white dots will look like they're rotating clockwise.
But focus on the central red or yellow dots and the outer ones reverse to show their true direction – counter-clockwise.
Pile up some extra pot and pan lids and then cover them in shimmering gold, for this repurposed rockstar of a tree.
We know - your mouth just fell open a little bit. Add show stopping color with yours!
1863 Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and print maker (The Scream), born in Ådalsbruk, Løten, Norway (d. 1944)
1915 Frank Sinatra, American singer (Strangers in the Night, My Way) and actor (From Here to Eternity) known as 'old blue eyes', born in Hoboken, New Jersey (d. 1998)
1950 Rajinikanth [Shivaji Rao Gaekwa], Indian film actor (Centenary Award 2014), born in Bangalore, India
The tallest and that distinction goes to Abraham Lincoln. The 16th US President, who served from 1861 to 1865, measured at 6’4″.
Tull's methods helped to provide the basis for modern agriculture. The progressive rock band Jethro Tull took their name after the 18th century agriculturalist. The name
proved to be popular and memorable, and it stuck.
That's why it gets so quiet when it snows.
Swede Fest is a dream come true for anyone who constantly starts a movie only to find themselves snoozin' about halfway through. The festival features 4-minute mini movies that recreate the plot line of many popular TV shows and movies! Film fans can see the amazing creativity that goes into these short films and enjoy the unique take each filmmaker brings to their favorite stories.
Tomato cage trees decked out in deco mesh are a voluminous and light addition to your display.
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