Welcome to the December 25th edition of Street Prophets Coffee Hour, the place where politics meets up with religion, art, science, food, and life. Come in, have a (warm!) cuppa, take a cookie or three, and sit with us in this holiday season.
Note: If you are feeling alone, you can speak here or Kosmail me. Especially if it goes beyond just this one holiday. I’m planning some activities where a group will connect online (no reason to leave home) but probably not publicly, from all around the world. If you are still isolated, it’s because you’re choosing to be. There are people here willing to reach out. Not everyone can adjust to being housebound, but at least we can give you a window to a different, wider world.
For many, today is Christmas. For some, it’s approaching the end of Hanukkah. For others, it’s a secular celebration of gift-giving. Perhaps for some it’s still the mid-winter Pagan festival. For a few, it’s none of those things, maybe an ordinary day or maybe one to be actively ignored. Any way you look at it, the holiday traditions aren’t rooted in Christianity. Whether you believe in the birth of Jesus Christ (not today; this is a symbolic date); the birth, again symbolic, of Issa, Messenger from Allah; or you’re celebrating the Festival of Lights or Dedication; or just the turning back of the sun to save us from winter, this is a time of tradition and memories going back a very long way.
I would go into a long narration, but my very good friend in Glasgow, Jenny, the person behind Random Scottish History, has already done it. No reason to do it twice. Follow the link and enjoy. And while you’re there, click on the link to the music. Our friend Paul Burns plays many very old Scottish melodies on his fiddle. It isn’t all religious, or at least not the Christian religion. The history of mistletoe is there, too. And the Romans. And the Pagans. And. . .
A little treat. The English words to this song are Christian, but please listen anyway, for the exquisite sound of the young man.