Lyceum of Martial and Societal Antediluvian Chronicles
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The SAMS Lyceum of Martial and Societal Antediluvian Chronicles An addendum to The SAMS Sporran December 2020 Scottish History Do you hang your Christmas Cards on the stair railings? There is another time honoured Christmas tradition that of sending cards to one another. You probably surmised it was another creation of the Hallmark Company. However, they’ve been on the go since 1843, (Joyce Hall created Hallmark in1910) when Sir Henry Cole, of Penny Post fame, commissioned London artist John Callcott Horsley to create what is now accepted to be the world’s first commercially-produced Christmas card. The 1st Chriatmas card was a colourful, single-sided card that depicts a large group of family and friends raising a toast to one another with illustrations of charitable acts on either side. Initially, it was seen as encouraging families – children included – to drink alcohol, the card attracted criticism when it was first published, but is now regarded as the first of its kind – according to the world’s encyclopaedias anyway. Boy, does that sound like a feel good story, doesn’t it? But that might not be strictly true. There is a Scottish claim to the Christmas card crown and it dates back two years earlier. The Scottish city of Leith has a legitimate claim to having created the first Christmas card. Not the town but a resident of it. Two years earlier, in 1841 a Leith printer and publisher Charles Drummond sold a festive greeting card from his shop in the Kirkgate. The design was attributed to his friend, Thomas Sturrock and it was fixed on to a copper plate by Edinburgh engraver Alexander Aikman. Scotland at this time was more concerned with the celebration of the New Year than it was of Christmas. This was reflected by the card’s inscription: “A Guid New Year, An’ Mony O’ Them”. Drummond’s card was described in a letter published by the Edinburgh Evening News more than 90 years later in 1934. Part of the letter, which was penned in 1907, read: “The card showed the curly head of a boy, open-mouthed (minus a tooth in the upper row) with fat, chubby cheeks, merry twinkling eyes and an expression of such hearty laughter that the happy combination, by the natural infectious process, produced the desired result on the onlooker, who was greeted with the wish of ‘many happy years’”. A response to the letter was published a few days later. It was from Thomas Sturrock’s grandson, Douglas L. Sturrock, and explained that a copy of the card had been displayed on the walls of Leith Town Hall for decades until it was returned to the Sturrocks in 1920 following the amalgamation of Leith and Edinburgh. Then, in 1946, more than a century after it was first produced, the Evening Dispatch reported that the original plates had been discovered by a scrap metal collector. The plates were badly corroded but featured the happy, cherubic face with missing tooth that had been described years before. Even more incredibly, it was revealed that one of the plates bore the greeting “Wishing You A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year”, evidence that, at some point, Drummond and Sturrock decided to adapt their card for the Christmas market. While the old Leith’s ownership of the 1st Christmas card may continue to be omitted from the annals of history - at least for a while yet- there does appear to be sufficient evidence for Leith to stake a convincing claim. A Wee bit o’ Christmas Lore Many Christmas traditions are rooted in the Celtic celebration of the winter solstice when the shortest day marked the rebirth of the sun. The Druids, or Celtic priests, would cut mistletoe - a symbol of life - from the sacred oak tree and give it as a blessing .The tradition of the Yule Log was also started by the Druids. They believed the sun stood still for twelve days in the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit to conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year. Large scale Yule fires remained a common way to mark the season over the centuries in Scotland, particularly in northern harbour towns. They still can be found in places like: The Stonehaven Fireball Festival, The Burning of the Clavie at Moray Firth,Up Helly Aa in Lerwick Shetland, The Biggar Bonfire of South Lanarkshire and The Comrie Flambeaux Procession in Perthshire. American History It's Christmas Time and I'll bet you didn't know***? When one thinks of Christmas time the first thing that springs into most folks mind, although it really shouldn't, is Santa Claus. Most folks will tell you he is the modern day version of St. Nicholas of Myra. He isn't. Some might say he's our version of the Dutch Sinterklaaus. He isn’t. He is Father Christmas of the UK, isn't he? Nope. Maybe he’s Kris Kringle of Germanic origins. Wrong again. The contemporary American image of Santa Claus is actually an amalgam of several mythical creatures. He’s also annAmerican! So, just what is he? Santa Claus is actually a creation of the famous American writer Washington Irving. ( A Scot whose father hailed from Quholm, Shapinsay, Orkney) He first makes his appearance in one of Irving's earlier satirical works of fiction entitled A Knickerbocker's History of New York. Irving garnered a little piece of trivia from here, another there and quite a few other places and combined them to describe a jolly little character named Nick. However, this Nick is not a saintly bishop that the real St. Nicolas of Myra was or the Saint Nicolas and his Assistant Ziewart Piet (Black Peter, a Moor) of Luxembourg, the but rather an elfin Dutch burger with a clay pipe dressed in a green winter sailor's coat. The coat being borrowed from Father Christmas of the UK. Imagine the jolly old ghost of Christmas Past that Dickens wrote about and you will find part of him in Irving's creation. All these are a part of today’s Santa Claus. Also Nick was part of the Norse god Odin who flew through the night dropping gifts to children. The chimney idea is a throwback to the Italian tradition of La Befana, the kindly old witch whose clothes were covered with coal dust and soot from dropping her gifts down the chimney. The reindeer are Irving's own creation. Washington Irving wrote; “Old Santeclaus with much delight His reindeer drives the frosty night O'er chimney tops and tracks of snow To bring his yearly gifts to you.” (Do keep in mind that the original name of New York was Nieuw Nederland (New Amsterdam) and it was Dutch, hence Sinterclaus.) It is not a secret that Dr. Clement Moore based his character on Washington Irving's Santeclaus in his poem A Visit From St. Nick. It had been his custom to deliver turkeys to his congregation for their Christmas dinner. One year he needed one more turkey so he had to travel back down to what is now lower Manhattan to purchase one more. The trip entailed a snow covered dirt road that led into what then was the small village of New York. He got the inspiration for his poem from the bells on the horses pulling the sleigh. They reminded him of the stories he had heard about Santeclaus and he began to compose a poem for his children. The inspiration for his St. Nick was a combination of Washington Irving's Santecalus and his sleigh driver a portly old Dutch-American who smoked a pipe In Norse tradition and even today in remote areas reindeer are used in place of horses to pull sleighs in winter. You might also be interested in the fact that there were only eight reindeer and their original names included Dunder and Blixem. Dutch words for thunder and lightening. Over time the names were changed to the more Germanic sounding names of Donner and Blitzen. Old glowing nose Rudolph was a creation of Robert L. May. He wrote a small poem for the Montgomery Ward chain of stores. It was immortalized in a song by The Singing Cowboy Gene Autry, before he became a baseball team owner. In this age of Title IX and in the spirit of the season it should be noted that in Winter, male reindeer drop their antlers and replace them with larger ones in the Spring. The female reindeer do not drop their antlers. The reindeer who pull Santa’s sleigh have antlers.So all of the reindeer who pull Santa’s sled are ladies. Here are some other useless facts about reindeer. “Reindeer” are really caribou. Reindeer cannot eat hay, but they like bananas. They have been known to consume marijuana. Reindeer’s milk has more fat than cow's milk. There are more reindeer in Alaska than people. Reindeer have scent glands in their hind toes that enable them to leave trail for other reindeer to follow. The scent smells like cheese. So now I've got you thinking about Christmas traditions. How good is your memory? In the poem A Visit From St Nick by Clayton Moore can you correctly answer the following questions? 1. Three fruits or fruit products were mentioned, name them. 2. Four plants or parts of plants were mentioned. Can you name them? 3.How did St. Nick start his team of reindeer? 4.Can you name all eight of the reindeer? Rudolph doesn’t count! 5.What was St.