A Night For Krampus; Or, Oh My Little Darling, You Have Coal In Your Stocking?

When I was growing up there were plenty of warning from parents, great aunts and uncles, and assorted other adults about receiving a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking as payment for a past year of bad behavior. So much for gifts as a sign of grace at Christmastide. On the other hand, perhaps we are a bit overdue on reinstituting some form of payment - punishment if you will - for the erosion of good conduct across the country. Of course, such a move should apply to all age groups but I suggest we begin with the young as they are most easily conditioned.

And the vehicle for this proposal? We don't have to create something new for this plan. Some years ago I stumbled on the perfect messenger. In fact, in many central and eastern European cultures, the visage has been around for centuries. To boot, for the last thousand years or so he has been associated with the most benevolent and generous of figures, Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas or as we know him today, Santa. So who  is the other half of this duality? His name is Krampus. 

St. Nicholas and Krampus, by Arnold Nechansky, Wiener Werkstatte, 1912

I first discovered Krampus through an interest in post cards. When I began looking at cards from central Europe, especially those printed by the magnificent Wiener Werstatte in the early decades of the 20th century, I noticed that two figures often appeared on the Christmas cards depicting a visit to a welcoming family. One was a traditional Saint Nicholas character dressed in ornate flowing robes and carrying a bag of gifts. The other was a shabbily dressed rather grotesque if not devil-like creature carrying a bundle of switches and a bag. The intention of the visit was to leave a nice gift for the good children or a lump of coal for the "behaviorally challenged." While good children enjoyed their presents, moderately bad boys and girls could expect a swat or two from the switches. The worst cases went into the bag. 

Please, I'm not advocating whipping or kidnapping as a corrective for youth beyond the bounds of civilized coexistence. Rather, I'd just like a little balance for all the feet jabbed into my Economy Class back between Atlanta and anywhere, the screaming tantrums endured at finer restaurants, and the cell phone use at theaters I no longer patronize. Yes, it is time to bring on the coal. 

Tonight, the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, is the Night of the Krampus. Although this night for European adults has taken on an almost Halloween-like character often fueled by alcohol, it remains a fascinating, ancient story of the dual nature of our existence. Those who understand that good does not stand without evil, just as there are no mountains without valleys, can learn more about the Krampus tradition here.

At Sunset On The First Sunday Of Advent 2013

The Descent of Peace                                       William Blake

I give you the end of a gold string. 

Only wind it in a ball, 

It will lead you to Heaven's gate

 built in Jerusalem's wall.

                                              William Blake, "Jerusalem"

As we enter into the seasons of Advent and Christmastide, it is time once more to explore almost two thousand years of music written and performed for this holy time. Dating from the 7th century, here is the plainsong, Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars at Night):

Here is some background on the hymn including its original text and an English translation.

Thanksgiving 2013: All's Well That Ends Well

As promised, it's time to share the Thanksgiving verdict on Skipjack Oyster Dressing. It say it was a strong positive in spite of the detractors complaining about that awful smell coming out of the kitchen. My response is that ever-so-popular phrase, "What difference does it make?"  For the neophytes, it was a minor hit. For the hopeless gastronomes, a feast.

Here's the recipe. And here's a word or two about where the recipe gets its name. Maybe you'll try it for Christmas?

Billy Strayhorn: The Man Behind So Much Music

For jazz, pop and Great American Songbook enthusiasts today marks another important birthday, that of Billy Strayhorn. He was the genius songwriter and arranger behind many of Duke Ellington's hits if not his fame. I have written about Strayhorn in a few posts over the years but never devoted one to him until today when I found Scott Johnson's Power Line tribute, Lush Life, just could not be ignored. Do check it out and make a note of his mention of Terry Teachout's new biography of Duke Ellington, a study that explores the Ellington-Strayhorn partnership at length.

As Johnson notes, the song, Lush Life has many fine interpretations. He makes mention of my favorite version. And thanks to You Tube, readers can listen to the Johnny Hartman-John Coltrane interpretation and make their own decision.



To me, it's the best. Hartman is superb here. No equal. Add Coltrane and we have even greater music history.

C.S. Lewis: A Christian Anchor With Heart Afire

A few days ago, November 22, we noted the death of C.S. Lewis, the most beloved Christian writer of the 20th century. Today marks the 115th anniversary of his birth (1898). I could easily write a few paragraphs and suggest some links for further study of this remarkable scholar. Instead, I ask that you set aside time for this brief documentary released by several student and faculty members at Asbury University (Lexington, Kentucky) earlier this year. It is a fine exploration of his reason, imagination, and journey to faith in Christ.

 

In the end there is something about taking measure of Lewis's significance that remains beyond our grasp. In the end the only way to fully appreciate the legacy he left is to pick up his books and open the door to the great adventure he left for us inside of them.

An Old Bay Ranger Thanksgiving

All of us have heard the story about the courage it took for the first troglodyte to slurp into a raw oyster. In all seriousness, I must give the guy credit, if reason was a part of his consciousness. The presentation hasn't changed much over time, so the aversion persists; however, some of us have courageously overcome it. I suppose growing up near the food source has made a difference.

For those who remember the Chesapeake Bay as a great seafood factory, oysters were a plentiful, essential food. My family enjoyed them in a variety of ways, but my favorites were always fried oysters and oyster stuffing. In Maryland, the oyster stuffing was reserved for Thanksgiving Dinner.

In 1976, I left the Chesapeake in a driving January snowstorm and, some years later, married into a family with other Thanksgiving traditions. It has been a losing battle ever since, with a lonely sage dressing gracing our holiday table for most of the past 31 Thanksgivings. This year marks another concession as we will have guests, and there will be dressing options, including oysters. I could veer my thoughts toward the question, "Is it stuffing or dressing?" or "Is it essential to stuff in order to call it stuffing?", but I will not.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture's Seafood Marketing Program came to my rescue with this recipe as my mother's is long lost. 

The rest of the menu? It's a lot like this one served on the U.S.S. Kentucky on this holiday in 1907:

And the day wouldn't be right without a prayer of thanks and food music:

From the good aromas in the kitchen to the savory feast on the table, the Old Tybee Ranger household wishes you and yours a most happy Thanksgiving

Menu for U.S.S. Kentucky's Thanksgiving Day 1907 courtesy of the Navy Department Library, Washington. Here's more of their holiday menu collection. We're going to eat almost as good as the ship; no cigars and cigarettes this year.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Cool

One of the most significant books in the historiography of the South, Ulrich Bonnell Phillips's Life and Labor in the Old South, begins with these words: 

Let us begin by discussing the weather for that has been the chief agency in making the South distinctive. ... The summers are not merely long but bakingly hot, with  temperatures ranging rather steadily in the eighties and nineties of the Fahrenheit scale.

The early 20th century single story Southern home, with its high-roof, wrap-around porch, and traditional "dog trot" breezeway, is a vernacular response to that baking heat. Homes of this type can still be found throughout the South, in fact, contemporary construction in the region often incorporates its features in vestigial form. But what has made the South so popular these days? I believes in particular the natural climate remains a significant draw, especially now that the social and political climate of the New South welcomes all Americans. Still, Southerners must deal with the heat. And that brings us to the significance of November 26.

On this day in 1876, a son, Willis H. Carrier, was born into an old New England family. By the turn of the century, Carrier developed a system of conditioning air in a stiflingly hot and humid Brooklyn printing plant. The new environment ensured stability in the paper and the perfect alignment of four-color printing. It was soon a huge success in several industries. By the 1920s, air conditioning became popular in retail trade and entertainment, especially the movie theater. It was a small jump from commercial systems to home systems, and by the 1930s, air conditioning began a slow but steady increase in usage until the post World War II era when it boomed. Carrier's application would have far reaching impacts on the American experience.

From an environmental perspective, air conditioning made the South livable year round. One could work hard outside on a mid-summer Georgia day and find comfort in an air conditioned break at work and a cool, comfortable supper and evening at home. Today, we take this comfort for granted across the nation giving it attention only when it's time to change the filter or the compressor dies.

If you call the South "home," take a moment today to thank Willis for his contribution, an invention you're going to appreciate perhaps as early as March of 2014 when that heat begins its sure increase to "bakingly" unbearable levels in the Southern summer.
For more information on the impact of air conditioning check out these sites:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/keepin-it-cool-how-the-air-conditioner-made-modern-america/241892/

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/how-air-conditioning-changed-america.shtml


N.B. Life and Labor in the Old South was written by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips (1877-1934) in 1929.Phillips reflects not only the biases one could expect of a Southern historian of the time, but the original scholarship one would expect of the finest historians of our time. If readers seek out fine writing and a curiosity about ideas that have shaped our present-day interpretation of the American South, slavery and its legacy, and race as a primary theme in American history, I suggest they begin with U. B. Phillips.

This is an edited version of an earlier post.