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Category Archives: Sighted Elsewhere
Nine Christmas Monsters
I’ve already mentioned many of these in my posts on Krampus and the Yule Lads, but I’m grateful for the rundown. Hans Trapp is new to me, but I had at least heard of all the rest.
The International University of Santa Claus
Helmed by Tim Connaghan—who has suited up in the big guy’s red suit for the past 45 years and is an inductee in the International Santa Hall of Fame—more than 2500 Santa wannabes have earned their diplomas. But what prerequisites does Santa Claus need to graduate? Here’s a snapshot of 11 workshops covered in the IUSC’s official textbook,“Behind the Red Suit—The Business of Santa.”
Easter Island
Two anthropologists, Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo, from the University of Hawaii, are advancing a new theory about the collapse of society on Easter Island. It is in some ways complementary to what Jared Diamond previously suggested in his book Collapse.
Diagon Alley in Google Maps Street View
No giants on motorcycles to be found, but I think I spotted a Death Eater.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
It’s still lost, apparently, but historian Eric Klingelhofer has proposed a new theory that suggests the colony split up to better survive whatever catastrophe befell it. Some of them, he says, may have relocated westward to the mouth of the Chowan River.
A clue uncovered in a long-forgotten, centuries-old map of the area called “La Virginea Pars”—drawn by the colony’s governor John White—kicked off a reexamination of the fate of the lost colonists. An artist and employee of explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, White was later appointed governor of the new lands; he was also the grandfather of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World.
Two patches on the map made Brent Lane of the First Colony Foundation (the group behind the latest archaeological trip and a National Geographic grantee) in Durham, North Carolina, wonder if they might hide something beneath.
Scientists at the British Museum looked into the patches and discovered a tiny red-and-blue symbol. Could it have indicated a fort or a secret emergency location?
Christmas in the Reich
Matt Soniak has posted a fascinating article at Mental Floss about Christmas in Nazi Germany.
Wherever possible, in both public and private spheres, Christmas’ religious aspects were de-emphasized and replaced with nationalistic and pagan symbolism. “People’s Christmas trees,” were erected in many towns and cities with the traditional star topper replaced by swastikas, Germanic “sun wheels” or the Nordic “sig runes” used by the SS as their insignia.
These trees became the subject of numerous Christmas carols rewritten with no reference to Christ or religion, as well as the focal point of Christmas celebrations, events and activities organized by like the Hitler Youth, the League of German Women and the German Workers Front and the state. The Nazi Party organized massive celebrations across the country where the Hitler Youth reenacted solstice rituals and soldiers swore “oaths of fire” before huge bonfires. Joseph Goebbels often appeared at celebrations like this at the tree in Berlin, handing out presents to children like a jackbooted Santa Claus.
Santa, of course, still existed in Nazified form, as someone had to bring gifts to good National Socialist children. Instead of St. Nick in the red robe of a bishop, though, he came in the form of the Norse god Odin, riding around the planet on a white horse to announce the coming of the winter solstice. Presents were still exchanged among families, friends and co-worker, sometimes with a depraved twist: the special Yule lanterns that SS leader Heinrich Himmler handed out as gifts to his officers were made by the inmates at the Dachau concentration camp.
Bronze-Age Irish Kings Had a Very Responsible Position
If anything went wrong, they were held responsible:
Cashel Man suffered violent injuries to his back and a sword or axe wound on his arm, but this level of violence is not unusual for bog bodies. Keeper of Irish Antiquities, Eamonn Kelly, who has worked on all the major bog body finds, theorizes that the bog bodies died violent deaths as a form of sacrifice.
He explained to the BBC, “When an Irish king is inaugurated, he is inaugurated in a wedding to the goddess of the land. It is his role to ensure through his marriage to the goddess that the cattle will be protected from plague and the people will be protected from disease.”
He continues, “If these calamities should occur, the king will be held personally responsible. He will be replaced, he will pay the price, he will be sacrificed.”
(H/T: Celtic Myth Podshow)
World’s Largest Gingerbread House
The community of Bryan, Texas has constructed a gingerbread house Guiness-certified as the largest in the world. The project is now being used as a tourist attraction to fund a new facility to for the trauma program at nearby St. Joseph Health System.
The 39,201.8-cubic-foot structure was built on the grounds of the Texas A&M Traditions Club. It is nearly 3,000 cubic feet larger than the previous record holder built in 2006 at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
Other than requiring a tarp to protect it from the elements, the only drawback is the bees: a cluster of about 2,000 bees has moved in to avail themselves of the free sugar.
The Lady of the Lake
Here’s an interesting summary of the origins of the Lady of the Lake from the legends of King Arthur. The writer explains that, in her earliest form, she is actually a Celtic water goddess or nymph known as Coventina.
Reindeer
Jill Harness of Mental Floss has collected some interesting things you might not know about reindeer. As it pertains to Santa lore, I was already aware that the old guy’s team might, in fact, be all female in composition. I was not aware that they were probably of the Svalbard subspecies. Though not strictly Santa-centric, I was deeply intrigued to learn that reindeer can see ultraviolet light. That’s got to come in handy when you’re flying around the world in the dead of winter, right?
Darrell J. Pursiful 