Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the timeless appeal of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and its historical significance, as well as the origins and evolution of Christmas traditions. They highlight how Christmas has shifted from a time of wild partying and drunkenness to a more commercialized and family-oriented celebration, and share their favorite holiday traditions. Bob explains how Christmas was once associated with rowdy behavior, while Marcia adds that the term ‘Merry Christmas’ was once linked to drinking and drunkenness. They also discuss various holiday traditions and celebrations, including Krampus, St. Nicholas Day, and Kwanzaa.
Outline
Handel’s Messiah and its history, with interesting facts and trivia.
- Bob and Marcia Smith discuss the enduring popularity of Handel’s Messiah, including its origins as a small-scale charity benefit in Dublin in 1742.
- Bob Smith shares interesting facts about Handel’s Messiah, including its controversial debut in England and the quarter-million notes in the composition.
- Marcia Smith adds to the conversation with a surprising fact about Christmas, which was once associated with riots, burglary, and street gangs.
Origins of Christmas traditions, including gift-giving, feasting, and Santa Claus.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of Christmas, revealing a history of rowdy and drunken celebrations.
- The holiday’s association with carousing and drunkenness evolved over time, with the term “Merry Christmas” having a different connotation in the past.
- Bob Smith explains the origins of Christmas traditions, including gift-giving, feasts, and singing door-to-door.
- Historians believe that the festival of Saturnalia, an ancient Roman celebration, influenced the date and traditions of Christmas.
Holiday celebrations and traditions, including Christmas, Hanukkah, Krampus, Kwanzaa, and more.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Hanukkah and its traditions, including the Festival of Lights and traditional foods, while Bob also questions Marcia about Krampus.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Krampus, a half-goat, half-demon figure from German folklore who visits naughty children during the holiday season.
- They also discuss St. Nicholas Day, which is celebrated on December 6th in some European countries, and Kwanzaa, a week-long holiday celebrating African American culture.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Kwanzaa and Christmas, with Bob incorrectly identifying a song lyric.
Christmas traditions, plant history, and accidental invention of artificial snow.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Christmas traditions and songs, with Bob sharing a story about his dad finding a Christmas record at a drugstore.
- Marcia and Bob incorrectly identify a Christmas plant as the poinsettia, but Bob corrects her, saying it’s actually called the red flowering plant in Mexico.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the accidental invention of artificial snow by Canadian scientists in the 1940s.
- The discovery could have made Dr. Ringer rich, but he had no interest in commercializing it.
Holidays, traditions, and customs from around the world.
- Bob Smith: St. Lucia celebration in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Italy on December 13.
- Japan’s New Year’s Eve holiday involves housecleaning to welcome Shinto god on December 31.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of table manners, including a biblical directive to keep elbows off the table.
- They also explore alternative festivals, such as Festivus, and their significance during the holiday season.
Bob Smith 0:00
This episode of the off ramp is an encore performance of an earlier holiday show. Hope you enjoy it.
Marcia Smith 0:07
What music has remained popular to this day since it debuted in 1742 for a charity fundraiser?
Bob Smith 0:15
Oh, that’s a good one. And what holiday was once synonymous with riots, burglary and street gangs
Marcia Smith 0:22
not my birthday. Oh
Bob Smith 0:24
yeah answer to those that other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith.
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy. Take his side road to Saturday and get some perspective on life. Okay, Marshall, let’s get to that interesting question of yours there.
Marcia Smith 0:59
It is interesting. The question is what music that debuted in 1742 for a charity fundraiser has remained popular to this day.
Bob Smith 1:10
So this is something that’s still played in popular 1742 G. My pop charts don’t go back that far. So I’ll just say what is the answer Marsh? Okay,
Marcia Smith 1:22
hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Bob Smith 1:25
Oh Handel’s Messiah. That’s it, okay.
Marcia Smith 1:28
The oratorio debuted at a Dublin Ireland benefit for three charities, prisoners debt relief, a charitable infirmary and Mercer’s hospital. I
Bob Smith 1:39
knew it was in Ireland, but I didn’t understand that
Marcia Smith 1:41
and get this okay, handle wrote it for a very small group of people, not hundreds of voices like we often hear it today. It was scored for just eight instruments and was sung by 32 people. Wow,
Bob Smith 1:53
that is amazing. That’s like a normal sized choir for some church and they wanted
Marcia Smith 1:58
to get as many people in as possible. So women, were encouraged not to wear those big hoop skirt. So they could smash more people. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. And 700 people attended. And they took in 400 pounds for the three charities. And they were able to set free 142 indebted prisoners. Wow, what
Bob Smith 2:21
legacy
Marcia Smith 2:22
their debt.
Bob Smith 2:24
That is amazing. So they left these guys because people were thrown in prison because they were poor in England and Ireland. Just because you’re poor. Yeah, you were thrown in prison sometimes. Wow. That’s amazing. Well, I’ve son parts of the Messiah as you know, and it’s beautiful. Did you know that he wrote that entire thing and just like three to four weeks I think 24 days tastes amazing. It’s gorgeous. I
Marcia Smith 2:45
can’t write a letter in that. And in fact, it’s such a large composition that NPR is music expert Myles Hoffman estimates there are a quarter of a million notes in the Messiah
Bob Smith 2:59
wow a quarter with all the parts it’s a quarter
Marcia Smith 3:02
well yeah it can it be well you have parts
Bob Smith 3:04
for each orchestra you know instrument and you have you have parts for for at least for probably six voices, six different levels of voices you know, bass, tenor, alto soprano. And then there’s other ones so when you put all those together and it’s I don’t know how many pieces it is how many pieces of music it’s many different scenes. That makes sense. But wow, what an accomplishment and what a legacy. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 3:25
for charities. Beautiful still tingles me.
Bob Smith 3:29
Did you know this? This is a related fact. Okay. Okay. At one point in history, Italian opera was illegal in Italy.
Marcia Smith 3:38
Why? Well, people hate it opera period.
Bob Smith 3:41
That was a net. opera performances in Rome were forbidden by the pope because many operas had sexually suggestive content. Oh, yeah, that’s one reason Handel’s Messiah was controversial when it debuted in England controversial because where they debuted it, it wasn’t in a cathedral but in an auditorium where opera was performed. Okay, that’s interesting. So the church frowned on performing religious works in auditoriums or music halls, where some suggestive comedy might be performed tonight later, and that’s one reason handled, debuted his Messiah in Ireland to get away from the English bishops. Okay. Very critical English bishops. Well, anyway, that’s, that’s very good. Well, I’ve got a good one for you, too.
Marcia Smith 4:21
Okay. The judge was I like to say, well, yes,
Bob Smith 4:24
you do say that a lot. All right. All right. Here’s mine. This holiday was once synonymous with riots, burglary and street gangs. I’ve got a hit.
Marcia Smith 4:35
Not my birthday,
Bob Smith 4:36
your birthday. Although that was pretty wild at times, as I recall back in the day. The commercialization of this holiday may have saved it from anarchy.
Marcia Smith 4:48
Really? Yeah.
Bob Smith 4:51
Commercialization of this wild ride at
Marcia Smith 4:55
St. Homesmith.
Bob Smith 4:56
That’s exactly right. Isn’t it amazing? That I didn’t know about this. This came in an article in the Wall Street Journal by Jason Zweig, and apparently Christmas, if not for the business of gift giving might still be what it once was a riotous Bacchanalia, you know, wild, wild parties drinking a time when drunken gangs broke out in the streets and sometimes bashed their way into homes demanding money and alcohol.
Marcia Smith 5:21
Sounds like my family and
Bob Smith 5:24
they still have that that tradition, don’t think. Yeah, that was what always set your family apart in my mind.
Marcia Smith 5:31
Is your COVID Put them down? No, but seriously,
Bob Smith 5:33
according to Jason Zweig, writing in The Wall Street Journal. For centuries, December was downtime for most people. And it had been that way for Europeans going all the way back to the rowdy pagan holiday. Saturnalia in ancient Rome. You know, the harvest was over. Yeah, they couldn’t do a lot of stuff in the winter. So when Christmas came around, hey, here’s a chance to celebrate. So rowdy, it went off the rails. And this makes sense. Now this is why Puritans made it illegal to celebrate Christmas in 17th century America. It wasn’t because they were killjoys. Christmas was not like it is today. The Puritans were upset with the disorder and anarchy that surrounded Christmas, the feasting, gambling drunken partying, that all went on at Christmas time. Wow. Well, that’s this this was for at least three centuries in Europe. This was the tradition. No kidding.
Marcia Smith 6:21
I’ll see. I never knew any of that. A
Bob Smith 6:23
historian named Steve Nissenbaum. His book, The Battle for Christmas describes the shenanigans that once surrounded the holiday. Now remember this you’ve seen those those great paintings of the Dutch and Flemish artists. They showed Drunken Peasants carousing in the snow and ice with Grog and everything beard. That was that was a depiction of the Christmas season in those days. You can see it in plays of Shakespeare too. You’ve heard of 12th night. That is a very rowdy party. It’s a 1601 play about the 12th night or the last night of Christmas. 12th night is not celebrated much in Christian dumb today, but it was in Elizabeth in England. And these weren’t your grandma’s Christmas parties. They were raucous, noisy events full of drinking mischief making. One tradition was cross dressing men dressing up as women women dressing up as men and in Shakespeare’s 12th Night cross dressing characters binge on Christmas cakes and Ale. So over time until the late 1800s. Christmas was synonymous with carousing and drunkenness. Now, one more thing on this okay, you know the term Merry Christmas? That was not a good term years ago, because Mary wants met drinking.
Marcia Smith 7:32
So Mary,
Bob Smith 7:34
so what changed all this?
Marcia Smith 7:37
What changed less than prohibition? No, it
Bob Smith 7:39
wasn’t prohibition. This is a unique way to look at it because we all think of Christmas being over commercialized. But these historians are saying no, it was the commercialization of Christmas, that saved Christmas, Santa Claus, all of these traditions came in of gift giving, not gift taking, not people coming into your apartment and you know knocking things around and stealing your alcohol. You notice in the night before Christmas, the narrator said of Santa I had nothing to dread that reflected the fact that that Christmas people in the streets used to break into houses. But even though Santa broke into his house, he had nothing to dread. And at the end of that poem, he didn’t say Merry Christmas to all into all a good night. He said Happy Christmas again, because Mary was a negative term. So these people all say that the commercialization of Christmas gift giving stores starting to have their own Christmas hours at night, all the mobs and the crazy people went away. And then the advertisers and the newspapers all promoted because everybody wanted to get rid of all this violence at Christmas taught about churches, churches wanted to get rid of the violence at Christmas time because they were broken into by the thugs as well. Good heavens. Well, Marcia, I think we’ve all heard of the Roman Holiday of Saturnalia, parts of the Christian tradition date from that. So do you know what some of those traditions are? That became part of Christmas celebrations?
Marcia Smith 9:03
The tree, the tree? Was that one of them? No, that wasn’t okay.
Bob Smith 9:07
I have three here. Okay, so it was an ancient Roman festival that honored the agricultural Gods Saturday. That’s why it’s called Saturnalia, and it occurred around mid December the winter solstice and lasted for a week.
Marcia Smith 9:19
That’s pretty much why they picked Christmas date, isn’t it?
Bob Smith 9:23
Historians believed that the festival involved three things any idea what they are?
Marcia Smith 9:27
Alright, it wasn’t a tree. What else presents?
Bob Smith 9:30
Yes. Okay. The exchange of gifts. Yes. Lots of food. Yes. feasts right. Okay,
Marcia Smith 9:35
and three is Santa Claus.
Bob Smith 9:38
No, no, no. No. Singing door to door. Oh, really? All those things? Yeah. feasts, the exchange of gifts and even singing door to door and house to house. All traditions that are now part of the Christmas season came from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.
Marcia Smith 9:53
Santa’s went look right in a toga. We no no thanks. All right, Bob.
Bob Smith 9:59
I have some questions on other holidays that happen and occur in December. Okay, all right, Moshe. What are the roots of Christmas Boxing Day? Now? This is something we don’t really celebrate here in the United States. England. Yeah. So what are the roots of Christmas Boxing Day? This goes back to the 1830s. I read
Marcia Smith 10:17
it in a novel, okay. And I can’t remember the answer and charitable routes, charity box up left leftover things or food or presents and take them to the poor houses.
Bob Smith 10:31
There are theories. Nobody really knows for sure, apparently. But it started with members of the upper crust, distributing Christmas boxes with food gifts and money to their servants and other employees. And then it became a different celebration. It’s like post holiday sales, you know, you’re taking Okay, take the stuff back that you didn’t like and take it back. So that’s, that’s what becomes known as now when it started in the 1830s. It celebrated in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Yeah, I see it on the calendars here. Yeah, by the year 2000. Many retailers began expanding their offerings for a full boxing week, running from December 26 to the 31st for returns. So that’s what it became known as. Okay, here’s another celebration that occurs at this time of the year of Hanukkah. Our Jewish friends have that. What is Hanukkah also known as I’ll give you some choices, the festival of feasts, the Festival of Lights, the festival of freedom,
Marcia Smith 11:25
Festival of Lights.
Bob Smith 11:26
How did you know that because
Marcia Smith 11:28
I’ve always known that what
Bob Smith 11:29
does that mean? Why is it called the festival lights? The
Marcia Smith 11:32
Hanukkah lights, the the candles, the oils and the oil that kept going
Bob Smith 11:38
the oil in the temple that kept the menorah candles burning for eight full days. You’re right. That’s right. All right now a follow up question on Hanukkah. Which of the following is not a traditional Hanukkah food? Christmas chocolate coins? jelly doughnuts, pork loin or Lapkus.
Marcia Smith 11:55
I think jelly doughnuts are a part of it.
Bob Smith 11:57
Which of the following is not is not luck? Because pork loin jelly doughnuts or chocolate coins? chocolate coins? No, you’re wrong.
Unknown Speaker 12:06
It’s pork. Yeah, of course.
Bob Smith 12:08
Flaccus. Their potato pancake. Yeah. Fried jelly doughnuts and chocolate coins are all Hanukkah treats. But consuming pork goes against Jewish dietary restrictions and is not commonly consumed. During the holiday celebrations. However, brisket is often consumed as a meat dish in its place. Okay, what does the European holiday Krampus knocked? Translate to prompt is not Krampus knocked and I’m going to give you some choices. Krampus night Krampus knocking Krampus nose or Krampus naughty?
Marcia Smith 12:43
Let’s go with naughty it
Bob Smith 12:46
isn’t it’s Krampus night sweat. It means the night that an evil character named Krampus visits children who behave badly bringing them cold and mischief. What country is this? It started in Germany apparently Krampus comes from the German word cramping, which means claw so Krampus was a half goat half demon figure. And the myth is believed to have originated in Germany. This again, this is stuff that happens during December during the holiday season. Again, Krampus is the central figure of the Krampus knocked celebrated December the fifth in Austria, Germany and many parts of Central Europe. So now what is celebrated on December the sixth.
Marcia Smith 13:24
That’s what’s his name? Our kids found out about it and then we had to do it St. Nicholas.
Bob Smith 13:32
Yeah, St. Nicholas Day for good little girls and boys follows Krampus not for bad little girls and boys. It celebrates a holy figure, the actual St. Nicholas bishop, and it was famous for his generosity. And it’s observed in many northern European countries on St. Nicholas Day, December the sixth St. Nicholas visits and leaves gifts for good children, often under their pillows or in shoes or stockings. I’ll
Marcia Smith 13:56
never forget that day. The afternoon the kids came home from school and said, Why don’t we have stockings up for St. Nicholas? And I said say why? Well, everybody else in class has it. I didn’t get the memo. But from then on, we get it. So
Bob Smith 14:13
St. Nicholas Day. So that was a major crisis for you. Is that right?
Marcia Smith 14:18
Yes. That’s when I called you at work and said, Hey, come home, bring some candy. Okay.
Bob Smith 14:26
There is a seven day holiday that starts on December 26 called Kwanzaa. Yes. What is that dedicated to? And here are the questions. Okay. Traditional Foods, prayer, black cultural figures, a different philosophy for each of the seven days. Which one is it?
Marcia Smith 14:42
Well, I don’t know if it’s cultural. I’ll go with that. That’s exactly
Bob Smith 14:47
what it is. Kwanzaa celebrates African American culture for seven days. And each of the days is dedicated to one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa unity, self determination, collective responses. ability, cooperative economics purpose, creativity, and faith are good things. Now I got a question for you there was a popular 1980 song that mentioned the Kwanzaa feast of caribou. Caribou. Now, you will know this song, but you probably didn’t know this is even mentioned there. So what is it part time lover by Stevie Wonder all night long by Lionel Richie. I’m coming out by Diana Ross or human nature by Michael Jackson.
Marcia Smith 15:26
I go with Stevie Wonder.
Bob Smith 15:28
It’s Lionel Richie all night long really. He pulled from different cultures for the lyrics including Kira mu, the Swahili word for a feast or banquet. That’s also the name of a family and community meal that takes place at the last day of Kwanzaa. So we have a lot of different celebrations that take place during this time of the year other than Christmas, and Hanukkah. I think it’s time for a break. All right, let’s
Unknown Speaker 15:51
take it all right. We’ll
Bob Smith 15:52
be back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 15:56
and Marsha Smith. I don’t stop there. I’ll
Bob Smith 15:59
be back in just a moment with more of the off ramp. Just nobody else just me
Marcia Smith 16:05
wouldn’t be any fun without me.
Bob Smith 16:06
I don’t know. We’ll see. Okay. We’re back and Marsha is back to with the off ramp here for the Cedarburg Public Library and for our podcast platforms around the world. Okay, here’s a good trivia question. Which Christmas novelty record? Use the names of three record company executives in its lyrics. In fact, it made these three record company executives names famous. A hint his first names only. And the idea it’s remember the Christmas song by David Seville in the chipmunks. That’s it. That’s the one Okay, Simon. Okay, Theodore. Okay.
So there’s a David Seville and the Chipmunks. David seals real name was Ross Bagdasarian. He was a record producer. And Alvin Simon theater. These are the names of executives at Liberty records, which produced the song.
Marcia Smith 17:13
Oh, see, I love that. See, I started out every Christmas morning with that. Okay, maybe like the chipmunks. Okay, now. gets you in the mood. You know,
Bob Smith 17:24
I got that. I remember my dad went out the night before Christmas in 1958. And the story came back later was that he went out to find this record at the last minute and he went all over town in western Ohio. And finally found it at a drugstore. Where they sold you know, records along with everything else. That was Christmas time is here. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 17:44
Did he love it? Or do you think we
Bob Smith 17:45
got it because of me and my sister. Oh, that’s pretty cool. Yeah, it was pretty neat.
Marcia Smith 17:50
So you must be what? 8090 95 years old, right?
Bob Smith 17:54
Absolutely. Okay. You liked that song though. And then you started with Christmas with every No, I don’t.
Marcia Smith 17:59
Oh, I was lying. What Christmas plant and there aren’t that many. So I don’t think you’ll miss this one. What Christmas plant was named after an American diplomat who brought the plant back to the US after he served in a foreign country.
Bob Smith 18:15
That must be the Christmas dandelion. Albert dandelion.
Marcia Smith 18:19
10. There aren’t that many Christmas plants.
Bob Smith 18:22
Obviously the dandelion is not a crystal
Marcia Smith 18:25
that is wrong. We have two plants in the house that are Christmas. We do
Bob Smith 18:31
not the Christmas tulip. Those red plants what are they called that? I never can think the names. Well, that’s the answer. Oh, the red plant the Christmas red flag. And that was by Albert red and that
Marcia Smith 18:41
would be called the poinsettia plant. Oh, okay. And it came to the US from Mexico via a guy named Dr. Joel Roberts, p o i n s e t t of South Carolina and he was the American diplomat in Mexico. He discovered the story of red flower in the early 1800s. The Mexican legend associated with the plant involved a poor little boy who went into the church with no present for the holy child. And just before he went inside, he knelt and prayed in tears wishing he had a present to give for the baby Jesus. And when he rose from his knees, he found a green plant with red blooms springing up at his feet. He broke off some of the blossoms and ran into the church to present the flowers as gifts to the holy child. The poinsettia plant I’ll be darned Mexicans must have had a name for that. But
Bob Smith 19:37
they didn’t call it Poinsett call it the red flowering plant. All right, well, here’s something that we associate with winter not necessarily Christmas, but it was an accident. The accidental discovery of artificial snow. Ever wonder what happens when you spray water on a cold running jet engine in a wind tunnel? Well that’s what how happens just
Marcia Smith 20:00
the other day happened to you? In the 1940s Canadian scientists Dr. Ray Ringer was trying to replicate conditions that caused icing on planes. He
Bob Smith 20:12
and his colleagues tried spraying water into the air of a lower temperature wind tunnel directly in front of a jet engines intake.
Marcia Smith 20:20
The objective was to create ice, but instead they got snow. Lots and lots of it. They
Bob Smith 20:25
got so much snow that Dr. Ringer and his researchers had to stop the experiment to repeatedly shovel snow out the back of the wind tunnel.
Marcia Smith 20:33
They could have just went and got some sleds. But now you think at some point
Bob Smith 20:37
someone would say we’re making snow. Think of how much money we can make doing this for ski slopes. But No they didn’t. They were scientists so they kept shoveling Yeah, over and over again.
Marcia Smith 20:49
Dr. Ringer had no interest in creating a snowmaking machine. Neither he or his lab patented the work but they did publish their results in scientific journals and surprise
Bob Smith 20:59
commercial folks picked up on it in 1949.
Marcia Smith 21:03
And over the next 60 years, scores of commercial snowmaking systems were built all over the world using Dr. Rings discovery he could have been one rich dude. Yeah,
Bob Smith 21:14
he was just trying to replicate the conditions that caused icing on airplanes. And he accidentally invented artificial snow. Now can you imagine that? It’s like lovely made snow. Let’s go on to the next experiment. You
Marcia Smith 21:25
know, that’s that’s lack of imagination. Well,
Bob Smith 21:27
yeah. But it took people who ran ski resorts go hey, we
Marcia Smith 21:33
just think and it’s constantly is now more than ever,
Bob Smith 21:36
you know, it’s funny, I think now you think about all the startups and all the entrepreneurs, people today who are inventors automatically think how can I make money with this? That’s just the way people have changed their minds about this. It’s like, Hey, here’s something we could use. Here’s an app we could use. So the artificial snowmaking app, okay.
Marcia Smith 21:56
Yeah, that well that’s down the road yet.
Bob Smith 21:58
St. Lucia or Lucius de la UCA is a December celebration in which of these countries Marcia, Brazil, Sweden, Germany or Mexico,
Marcia Smith 22:08
St. Lucia.
Bob Smith 22:12
Brazil, just a moment. Which country, Brazil and you’re wrong, Marcia. It’s celebrated in Sweden, Norway in some parts of Finland and Italy. It’s also known as St. Lucy’s de but Lucia Luc IAA. On December 13. Lucia, or Lucia or Lucy was an ancient mythical figure who is known as a bearer of light for dark Swedish winters. Modern Swedish celebrations appoint someone to play her role. She leads a procession of children dressed in white and wearing reeds of light in their hair on December 13. Hmm, okay, all right. Okay, Marsha. I have a Buddhist holiday that also takes place in December. It’s called body day. V. o di body day. What does that celebrate? Sidharth is birth? Sidhartha his death, the creation of Buddhism or the date of the Enlightenment? What’s
Marcia Smith 23:06
the day called again?
Bob Smith 23:07
Body day?
Marcia Smith 23:09
I’ll say the last one The Enlightened
Bob Smith 23:11
That’s exactly right. Yeah, it’s celebrated by Buddhists in China, Japan and parts of India on December the eighth, so it’s another December holiday in the world. It marks the moment in 596 BC when Buddhism is founded. Sidhartha got Hama, attained enlightened but becoming the Buddha or the awakened one. He said to have achieved this while sitting under the Bodhi tree. The day is marked in peaceful ways such as meditation chants and traditional meals of tea and cake. That sounds good to me. A lot of not a cake and hot drinks at anytime you celebrating anything this time of the year around the world. It’s interesting, nothing wrong with that. Okay, Marsha. Here’s another holiday. This is in Japan. What does Japan’s Alma Ahsoka holiday celebrate? Does it celebrate New Year’s Eve constitution de Hiroshima or a complete housecleaning?
Marcia Smith 24:02
Does it bring you joy, Bob? All right.
Bob Smith 24:06
Well, I gotta tell you, it is the housecleaning that goes along with the what was the book tidying up? Well, tidying up goes way back. Apparently, all Muskoka one of Japan’s most important traditional holidays occurs December 31. It’s marked with rice straw robe decor, the ringing of bells, and the complete cleaning of the house to bring good luck. It’s to welcome to Shinto god who is said to enter the house at midnight. He apparently wants a clean house when he doesn’t live here. Yeah, no. Okay. We have a little trouble with that. All
Marcia Smith 24:42
right. Why is it rude to put your elbows on the table when dining?
Bob Smith 24:46
Oh, this is perfect for the holiday season. I remember as a kid getting called off on that. I thought what’s wrong with putting my elbows on the table? What What’s that problem
Marcia Smith 24:54
here? Well,
Bob Smith 24:55
the problem is, I mean, I would love to be able to go to a Chris Mr. holiday dinner and put my elbows on the table. Why is that bad?
Marcia Smith 25:03
Well, where do many of these things come from? If it’s not Dickens, it’s who? Shakespeare Yeah. Or I mean, if it’s not Shakespeare, it’s who
Bob Smith 25:11
Dickens. The Bible. That’s it. Yes from the Bible. Yeah, the Old
Marcia Smith 25:15
Testament, so the Jews and the Christian it includes the line, be ashamed of breaking an oath or a covenant, and of stretching your elbow at dinner. Be ashamed of that lean lad. Many have translated this directive as a warning to keep elbows off the table. It’s the translations of people. Anyway, but table manners were originally introduced to prevent mealtime fights. And that’s why the knife and the fork helped establish boundaries at the table. Right? Yeah. And keeping your elbows off the table. Also allowed you to see the person down the road from
Bob Smith 25:54
you if they had their knife or fork ready ready to face dinner must not have been as the fun time we have today. Oh, no, not all these weapons and people are eating but somebody might kill you with their rapid there
Marcia Smith 26:06
were a lot more fights at the dinner table
Unknown Speaker 26:08
Holy Cow
Marcia Smith 26:09
never discussed.
Bob Smith 26:11
If the discuss politics or religion, the shall fight. Oh my who knew that? There’s enough rules in the Bible anyway. I don’t need to be told to keep my elbows off the table. Okay, okay,
Marcia Smith 26:23
good. I’ll finish with a quote. Okay. Hanukkah, as we were talking about before is upon us. As Adam Sandler so beautifully sings put on your yarmulke, here comes Hanukkah. So much fun occur. Okay. But here’s some meaningful words from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Hanukkah is about the freedom to be true to what we believe without denying the freedom of those who believe otherwise. Very
Bob Smith 26:52
good. And set. You mentioned that what is the alternative festival that was invented by a TV show? Because of Christmas being so commercial?
Marcia Smith 27:00
There was an alternative. But oh festivals, festivals, festivals
Bob Smith 27:04
on Seinfeld as an alternative to overly commercial Christmas season Festivus for the rest of us. Yes. And you remember what that celebrated with? Yes, it’s a poll and aluminum pool. And the activities include the airing of grievances and feats of strength. I
Marcia Smith 27:19
love it. I’ve got a Festivus pool on the hearth in the family room. So
Bob Smith 27:24
I think we’ve covered everything today Hanukkah, Festivus Kwanzaa, Christmas Carol. Few
Marcia Smith 27:29
more things in the world, Bob, but let that be enough for today.
Bob Smith 27:32
That’s enough for now. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us when we return next week with more fun facts and trivia here on the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
