Erin O'Riordan writes smart, whimsical erotica. Her erotic romance novel trilogy, Pagan Spirits, is now available. With her husband, she also writes crime novels. Visit her home page at ko-fi.com.
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I don't necessarily recommend this Evangelical Christian tome. I wouldn't have chosen it or known about it except that it showed up as a donation in my Little Free Library.
"As the fact of Christ's birth was not recorded and there was no certainty as to its date, the early Christian Fathers very wisely ascribed it to Yule-tide, changing the occasion from the birthday of the sun to that of the Son. For a while the birth of Christ was celebrated on dates varying from the first to the sixth of January; on the dates of certain religious festivals such as the Jewish Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles; but the twenty-fifth of December, the birthday of the sun, was ever the favorite date.
"Pope Julius, who reigned from 337 to 352 B.C.E., after a careful investigation, considered it settled beyond doubt that Christ was born on or about the twenty-fifth of December, and by the end of the fifth century that date was very generally accepted by Christians. The transition from the old to the new significance of Yule-tide was brought about so quietly and naturally that it made no great impression on the mind of the masses, so nothing authentic can be learned of the early observance of Christmas."
- Yule-Tide in Many Lands by Mary Poague Pringle and Clara A. Urann
Happy 63rd birthday, Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. Your name is very Norman French, but you are from Ipswich, Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom.
"The grand Yule-tide festival is opened on the eve of St. Nicholas Day, December sixth; in fact bazaars are held from the first of the month, which is really one prolonged season of merrymaking.
"In Germany, St. Nicholas has a day set apart in his honor. He was born in Palara, a city of Lycia, and but very little is known of his life except that he was made Bishop of Myra and died in the year 343. It was once the custom to send a man around to personate St. Nicholas on St. Nicholas Eve, and to inquire how the children had behaved through the year, who were deserving of gifts, and who needed a touch of the birch rods that he carried with him into every home. St. Nicholas still goes about in some parts of the country, and in the bazaars and shops are sold little bunches of rods, real or made of candy, such as St. Nicholas is supposed to deal in. In some places Knight Rupert takes the place of St. Nicholas in visiting the houses. But Kriss Kringle has nearly usurped the place St. Nicholas once held in awe and respect by German children.
"Because St. Nicholas Day came so near to Christmas, in some countries the Saint became associated with that celebration, although in Germany the eve of his birthday continues to be observed. Germans purchase liberally of the toys and confectionery offered at the bazaars, and nowhere are prettier toys and confectionery found than in Germany--the country which furnishes the most beautiful toys in the world."
- Yule-Tide in Many Lands by Mary Poagle Pringle and Clara A. Urann, 1916
Happy Krampusnacht to all who celebrate. Don't forget to leave your shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill with goodies tonight, if you haven't been naughty and carried away by Krampus in his sack!
I bought this for my nephews.
My Top 100 Songs of the Spotify Year*:
1. Hymn to Virgil - Hozier: Not my literary art-rock ass loving a song about Dante's Inferno.
10. Nina Cried Power - Hozier: It's not the waking, it's the rising.
11. Disease - Lady Gaga: Up from its #50 position last year, when it had barely come out before the Wrapped cutoff date came up.
12. Cold Cold Ground - Tom Waits: In September 2024,Homicide: Life on the Street actors Kyle Secor and Reed Diamond started a podcast. I re-listened to some of the songs that were on the series when it originally aired (although not used in the streaming version on the Peacock network).
13. Spirits - The Devil Makes Three: I learned this song from a playlist on Jessie Lynn McMains's Substack.
14. The Devil's Nine Questions - Carolyn Kendrick: This neo-folk recommendation came from a podcast but I forgot which one.
23. Stay - Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. These oldies are from Perry's Mix Tape for Truman.
24. Cruel Summer - Taylor Swift: My #4 song last year and probably the Taylor Swift song that brings me the purest joy. But I can only listen to it in the summer. I abandon it when autumn comes. I forgot that I started listened to it because of Good Omens.
I have to admit, the revelation that Neil Gaiman is a garbage heap of a human being really dulled my enthusiasm for Ineffable Spouses. David Tennant and Michael Sheen, it's not your fault.
25. Burn Your Village - Kiki Rockwell
26. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost, Blake X: This poem is really nicely set to a melody. And I can only listen to it in the winter. I'm a mood listener as much as I am a mood reader.
27. Poet - Bastille: My #6 song from last year, I made myself chill out on listening to it quite so much so it wouldn't completely lose its power to affect me.
38. Kill of the Night - Gin Wigmore: I know this one from the first season of The Umbrella Academy.
39. Gin House Blues - Nina Simone
40. Ava Adore - The Smashing Pumpkins
41. Aloha Lucifer - Melanie [Safka], Charming Disaster: This is a particularly cute song, in which the singer claims to have ended up at Hell's gate by confusing the mellow "hang loose" hand gesture of Hawaiian culture with the "horned hands" hand gesture of Satanists and heavy metal enthusiasts.
49. How Bad Do U Want Me - Lady Gaga: Mayhem again.
50. Take Me to Church - MILCK
51. Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Sleigh Bells
52. Saints - The Breeders
53. Peacefield - Ghost: This one is about the Russian Revolution, I'm pretty sure.
54. Danger - The Vantages
55. Yes, I'm a Witch - Yoko Ono
56. Lover Please - Melissa Etheridge: Up from its #92 spot on last year's list.
57. True Religion - Shygirl, Club Shy
58. Kiss the Go-goat - Ghost
59. Goddess - PVRIS: Honestly? I can't remember what this song sounds like or what inspired me to listen to it. It's, like, deleted from my memory banks.
60. Building a Mystery - Goodwerks: The Sarah McLachlan song with a male vocalist; it's so Dean Winchester-coded that I put it on the Destiel playlist.
67. Creep - Scala & Kolaczny Bros.: I know this cover from the Simpsons episode "The D'oh-cial Network." I know the Radiohead original from being a teenager in the '90s.
68. 1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
69. Down Bad - Taylor Swift: This one is so brilliantly written, with its comparison of a failed love affair to an alien abduction.
70. Super Bon Bon - Soul Coughing: This one was also used on the Homicide: Life on the Street soundtrack in its original run.
83. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga: Because Alexander Skarsgard was in the music video and I remembered that when I watched Skarsgard as a self-aware robot construct on the tv series Murderbot.
Skarsgard Aside: I have to see the above-mentioned Swede in his recent film Pillion. He plays the leader of a biker gang who enters a BDSM relationship with a repressed young man. The young man is played by Harry Melling.
84. Stay ( Faraway, So Close!) - U2
85. Shallow - Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper
86. Black Parade - Beyonce
87. Gimme Shelter - Merry Clayton
88. Love Potion No. 9 - The Clovers
89. So Cruel - U2
90. I Need - Meredith Brooks
91. Wish I Knew You - The Revivalists
92. II Most Wanted - Beyonce, Miley Cyrus
93. Bodies Hit the Floor - Sofi Tukker, Drowning Pool
98. Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover - Sophie B. Hawkins
99. Low - Cracker
100. Venus - Bananarama: Yep, I love my girl groups.
*Fuck ICE. Chinga la migra. Yes, I share a Spotify subscription with my spouse. No, we do not agree with Spotify's decision to accept advertisements from the United States equivalent of the Gestapo.
"Yule-tide in France begins on St. Barbara's Day [Sainte-Barbe], December fourth, when it is customary to plant grain in little dishes of earth for this saint's use as a means of informing her devotees what manner of crops to expect during the forthcoming year. If the grain comes up and is flourishing at Christmas, the crops will be abundant. Each dish of fresh, green grain is used for a centerpiece on the dinner table."
- Yule-Tide in Many Lands by Mary Poagle Pringle and Clara A. Urann, 1916
