DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   Cranberry's are actually an evergreen shrub or vine.  The fruit starts out white and turns a deep red as they ripen.  The leading producer of cranberries is Wisconsin where half of the U.S. production of cranberries is harvested.  The second largest U.S. producer is the State of Massachusetts, and they grow 28% of the total domestic production.  The peak growing season for is from October to January, just in time for the holidays.  The Native Americans were the first known people to use cranberries as food and probably taught the early settlers about them.  Those two facts together may be how cranberries are considered traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas food.   The Indians made a dish called pemmican, that is a mixture of cranberries and venison or bear meat, but they also used cranberries for medicine and for dye.  Cranberries are rather tart and not usually eaten raw.  Instead they are used primarily as sauces, juice or s...

      Burning Yule logs is a tradition dating back long before the birth of Jesus.  In pre-Christian times, the Yule log was burned in the home hearth on the winter solstice in honor of the pagan sun god Odin, known also as the Yule Father or Oak King.     The winter solstice, known amongst pagans as Yule or Gwyl Canol Gaeaf, falls on December 21 or 22, whichever is the shortest day and longest night of the current year.  The Yule festival symbolizes a battle between the powers of light (Oak King) and powers of darkness (Holly King).  A Yule log, typically a thick branch taken from a oak tree, would be burned in the hearth beginning on this night as a celebration of the Oak King's triumphant defeat over the Holly King.  Burning the Yule log     The traditional Yule celebration would begin at dawn with the cutting of the oak branch, which was then ceremoniously carried into the house.  Lit by the father or ...