Ramblings and webcomics from LeEMS
The Prelinger Archives are far from new, but I haven’t checked in on them recently. The impending spooky season is as good a reason as any, I think.
According to Wikipedia, Christmas in July can trace its roots back to 1892 in the release of a translation of the French opera, Werther. A later journal article for the National Recreation Association makes it clear that a type of Christmas in July celebration was a girl’s summer camp activity in 1935 and by 1940 the movie, Christmas in July, had a theatrical release.
The first year we put out the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to albums of holiday tunes had been filled with unemployment, home stresses, job hunting, and cancer. I had known that the Hallmark and ABC Family channels would sometimes roll out some Christmas specials in July, but when my household first embraced the pseudo holiday it felt new and unique and utterly necessary. The years since haven’t all been so eventful, thank heavens, but July still seems like a good time for a reminder to love each other, practice charitable acts, and embrace a spirit of giving that doesn’t really need to happen only once a year.
I collect little things all year, clipping from websites in my Evernote, saving or favoriting posts in my rss feedreader. These are things I don’t want to forget, but I do, until when things seem to slow down at the end of the year, I clean out all my files. I ‘liked’ the Boing Boing post “Library of Congress releases 11,700 freely usable photos of “roadside America,” taken by John Margolies” back in September, because I love the type of old road-side attractions that used to make up the bulk of Florida’s tourist activities back in the day. Of course, Florida doesn’t have a monopoly on these and John Margolies photograph collection at the Library of Congress beautifully captures a whole country’s worth of strange and lovely (gallery).
I do not usually read the newspaper anymore; nor do I watch mainstream news programming. I have a vague feeling that one of the original reasons for me turning away from traditional news media was the constant focus on lurid sensationalism, fear mongering, and general bad news. Yet, I have been spending plenty of time in the Chronicling America project. Do news papers now-a-days have articles on holiday customs around the world? Do they have suggestions for your next Halloween party, and serialized stories about plucky youngsters in a fairyland adventure? ‘Cause that might get me back to reading newspapers.
Anyway, La Befana is the Christmas witch of Italy (wikipedia). This article from the Midland Journal is just one variation of her legend. Like an old fashioned Santa Claus, she doles out presents and punishment as appropriate.
Food is one of the primary ways that I celebrate the holidays and changing of the seasons. However, I cannot claim to be a truly seasonal eater.
I do find that having a dish that you make only once a year, or even once a month encourages me to forget. At which point I end up in a routine of making the same thing over and over. To help me get over this, I put together a holiday recipe zine a couple of years ago. It didn’t completely capture my repertoire at the time, and I have added dishes since, so this would be a good time to add to it, yeah? Perhaps I could expand it with my recipe series and my comic about cumin pumpkin.
The quintessential foods that whisper ‘holidays’ to me are:
What are your quintessential holiday foods?
There is a list of movies and specials that ritualistically get watched during the Halloween season in our house. They range from common place (for most people) and, dare I say quality like Halloween, to slightly off the wall and maybe a little bad like the Paul Lind Halloween special. Somewhere in the middle is Martha Stewart’s Halloween special compilation.
“Oh, Charlie!”
The compilation features Halloween themed segments and episodes from the full range of Martha shows over the years including early episodes typifying her soothingly monotonous line delivery as well as episodes from shows later in her career where she obviously has become more comfortable in front of the camera. A couple of segments repeatedly provoke debate in our house on whether she’s under the influence. Oddly enough they seem to all deal with make-up. Perhaps make-up makes Martha high, or transports her to a grandmother’s closet she is five and trying on all the high heels and the lipsticks without knowing that the shoes go on her feet and the lipstick goes on her mouth. They are hilarious watching. One of the best is when her ?nephew? gets done up like a vampire while Martha alternately plays with make-uping her own face and falls into fits of giggles (the gif is only a hint).
I am a little calendar obsessed. And I live in Florida. Yet, I had never heard of Pascua Florida Day before this year. A spring time holiday, Pascua Florida means, roughly, feast of the flowers. It is a State of Florida celebration by statute, and as a state day it ” commemorates the sighting of Florida by Spanish explorer Ponce de León (LINK).”
Even so, it doesn’t seem like we do much with the day, which I think is a shame. I’m a little late in brainstorming this year. Thinking cap is on for 2020. What do you think would be the best way to celebrate Pascua Florida?
Before there was an Uncle Sam, the original thirteen colonies that made up a young U.S. were known as Brother Johnathan. He was a rougher version of the U.S., elaborated on at Atlas Obscura, that was balanced by the compassion, liberty, and pride of Columbia.
Columbia (above) hasn’t really been in circulation since the first World War, but her message and presence is more welcoming, compassionate, and nurturing. She was, like the Statue of Liberty, a welcoming beacon.
Happy Independence Day!
