DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

"Hot cockles" was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times.  It was a game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow.  "Hot cockles" was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era. (Lets bring this one back into fashion!) "Wassail" comes from the Old Norse "ves heill"---to be of good health.  This evolved into the tradition of visiting neighbors on Christmas Eve and drinking to their health. A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard. Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday.  This tradition began in 1836. Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is not.  The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations

Orange and black are the colors of Halloween because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is the color of darkness. Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America. Halloween candy sales average over 2 billion dollars per year. The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night, so they began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human. Some people believe that if you see a spider on Halloween, it is the spirit of a loved one watching over you. According to superstition, if you stare into a mirror at midnight on Halloween, you will see your future spouse. Samhainophobia refers to an abnormal and persistent fear of Halloween.  This time of year may also stir up other phobias such as the fear of cats, witches, ghosts, spiders, the dark and cemeteries.

    Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows.  In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness.    In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 and 22, and is call the winter solstice.  Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and the winter came every year because the sun god has become sick and weak.  They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well.  Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.    The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown.  At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their

       People have been making jack o'lanterns  at Halloween for ages and ages.  The practice started from an old Irish myth about a man named "Stingy Jack".  According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him.  True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy the drinks.  Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul.   The next year Jack tricked the Devil into climbing a tree to pick a piece of fruit.  While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for