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Today many of us yearn to make the holiday season more meaningful, more loving, perhaps more spiritual. Candlegrove traces the winter holiday season daily from Thanksgiving through Epiphany. | ||||||
November 26, 2007Love those ancient artifacts! The ancient Romans were so devoted to units of 10 that they shoehorned their calendar into 10 months, despite the problems that caused. That's why the latter months of the year have names that are off, numerically:September (means 7th, but is actually ninth) Julius Caesar straightened things out somewhat in 46 B.C. by switching to a 12-month calendar -- something the Egyptians had come up with thousands of years earlier. He got a month named after him -- July -- as a part of the deal. Revels: In Celebration of the Winter SolsticeThe Christmas Revels are a wonderful way to celebrate and rediscover some of the holiday season's more ancient traditions. Revels performances blend song, dance and drama into seasonal celebrations that demonstrate how cultures in all times are fed by the same great river of myth, story and song. Performances take place the first couple weeks in December in 9 cities:
Even if you've never been to a Revels performance, you can also enjoy music from the Revels. Visit the Revels Web site to order online. Here are selections available from Amazon.com: Behold That Star American Folk Christmas songs Wassail! Wassail! Music of the season from Early Appalachian, African-American, Shaker and Native American folk traditions Sing We Now of Christmas Six centuries of French, British, Russian, Hebrew, Polish and Czech music of the season Christmas Revels Collection A boxed set, four disks that extends the six centuries collection even further The Christmas Revels Renaissance and Medieval Christmas music Christmas in an Irish Castle Celtic Christmas tunes, from the California Revels company A Child's Christmas Revels Tunes by the Revels Children's Chorus A Victorian Christmas Some old favorites, some you've probably never heard before Rose and Thistle English and Scottish holiday music Read our interviews with:Waverly Fitzgerald, of School of the Seasons |
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A note about the commerce links on this site: Candlegrove is essentially non-commercial. In some cases, links from this site yield a small affiliate fee. Half of all funds generated by such links help sustain this site. The other half is donated to environmental organizations. | ||||||
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