It being St Nicholas’ Day, I was going to put my tree up, as it’s said St Nick was the precursor to Father Christmas. Having said this, I’m yet to see any evidence of sweets being left for me today, although admittedly it is a toss up as to whether I’ve been naughty or nice this year. Anyhow, by the time I got to the tree place this afternoon, they only had whoppers left. So, Plan B it is. A bit of weatherlore.
Or it would have been, had I not realised that ‘the six and twentieth day of December’ meant the 26th and not the sixth AND the twentieth. Which, when you look at how complicated the below would have been, is now pretty obvious to me:
There is no Plan C. I’m too tired. Except I did warble an early Happy Birthday, lit my second Advent candle, and scratched off another day in my AdVent calendar. Which when you look at it from a certain point of view, today fulfils St Nicholas’ penchant for threes, albeit only twice over.
Resources
Chambers, R. (ed) (2004) The Book of Days, A Miscellany of POPULAR ANTIQUITIES in connection with THE CALENDAR including, ANECDOTE, BIOGRAPHY, & HISTORY CURIOSITIES of LITERATURE and ODDITIES of HUMAN LIFE and CHARACTER, Edinburgh, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd
Cooper, Q. and Sullivan, P. (1994) Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem: 366 Days of British Myths, Customs & Eccentricities, London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Kightly, C. (1994) The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, London, Thames and Hudson Ltd.
Markham, G. (1635) The English Husbandman, London, Henry Taunton
Did you put you slippers out by your bed last night? That’s probably why you didn’t get anything! My Mum is half German half Norwegian so we always put out slippers out ready on the 5th December. Thankfully always got clementines and Fudge bars!
I bet that was it! Although my slippers were within a meter of the bed… Did you get any sweeties today?
Lol,sadly not though i buy my own anyway these days!