Second Day of Christmas
Happy Christmas! Bread 'n Molasses Magazine's 12 Days of Christmas special event continues today with Christmas Traditions submitted by Debby Frost. Debby asked her friends and family to share their various holiday traditions with our readers and she also writes about how her own family honours the season. What's your family tradition? Join the discussion by leaving a comment.
Christmas Traditions
By Debby Frost
Everybody has their Christmas and New Year’s traditions. Some are unique to a particular family or neighborhood.
My friend, Cynthia Goulette, says:
If you eat salted herring at midnight on New Year's Eve, you will not run out of money all throughout the New Year. (You have to have some in your mouth right at midnight.) New Year kisses will be a bit salty though! Ha! Ha! Ha!
At the Bowie household:
My mother worked in a Lebanese home when she was younger. She always made these Fatayers—homemade bread done in squares and filled with hamburger, onions and pine nuts. She also made meat pies but only with ground beef, and ground pork. That is different from the meat pies traditionally on the Miramichi.
No opening presents on Christmas Eve and everybody had to be up before my father passed out presents. Always have stockings with an orange or apple in the toe. Filled with candy, no toys. Barley toys with wool stuck all over them. Mmmm.
My mother always kept an extra gift or two in case we had somebody stay over on Christmas.
Fifty years ago at our house, my father and mother generally went out to a New Year’s Ball and left us with our grandmother. Because they had such a good time, they wanted us to have a good time too so Mrs. Claus always brought us candy on New Year’s. This kept us good for another day of the year. To this day I don’t know if it was Mom and Dad or my grandmother who did the job for Mrs. Claus.
From Astrid Gibbs:
In my Christmas of Yore, we had a hanging stocking for every child on the wall (especially during wartime) a MUST was barley and ribbon candies. Our traditions were mostly centred around food like tourtières (meat pies) or rabbit paté, shortbread or scotch cookies, and later on, fruitcake. But our most important tradition was having our Christmas meal at our grandparents' house. On New Year's Day, relatives visited their loved ones with wishes for the coming year. So I guess food and the social aspect was paramount within Christmas traditions.
At the Frost household:
My children decorate the tree (they are 22 and 30 now). They took turns putting the angel on top. My husband had to lift them at first and then they got tall enough to do it on their own. They never forgot from one year to the next whose turn it was to put the top on. The angel is from our first Christmas, 34 years ago, as a married couple and is plastic and had cotton batten on it and is ratty. They still want us to use that angel. I bought a beautiful angel and a beautiful star and my daughter refuses to put it on.
At the Mitchells:
Always go to Midnight Mass, never Sunday morning. Only open one gift Christmas Eve and it is usually jammies or something small. Go to my friends house Christmas Eve and we always have meat pie. We open our gifts after breakfast and after everyone is seated, and then we take turns, opening the best ones last. We travel to Miramichi Christmas morning and Lee’s parents (and before that Mom) wait until we get there and we open them with them.
My friends, Ann and Susan:
If a dark haired man knocks on the door at New Year’s, it is going to be a good year. It's called First-Footing. The first person to go through the door on New Year’s Day is supposed to be a dark haired boy for good luck (up until two years ago they thought it was supposed to be a light haired boy) Apparently there are a bunch of twists, like you have to leave a gift and they must leave through a different door. Ann's family has done it forever and her and Sue and their mother follow it every year, never fails. I think they used Sue's dog one year because there were no boys there.
Mulder's Family Tradition:
My father Jerry was born in Deventer, Holland, and every year we celebrate this Dutch tradition. Every December 6th is known as St. Nick's Day in our household. When you wake up in the morning on St. Nick's day traditionally there would be one treat left behind in your wooden shoe placed by the fireplace. This symbolized that you've been a good girl or boy for the year. If you did not find a treat that would mean Black Pete would pay you a visit. Black Pete is St. Nick's chimney sweeper and he is dressed up in black from head to toe. If you were a naughty girl or boy, Black Pete would find you and give you a pat on the bum with his broom. No one wants a visit from Black Pete. This tradition stays in our family every year celebrated with Dutch cookies and chocolates. We play Dutch Christmas songs and have a cup of coffee every December 6th to start our morning. Just something to get the Holiday Season started.
At the Brideaus:
Meat pie every Christmas Eve before opening our first gift.
At the Sillikers:
We have opened our house on Wren Day (St. Stephen’s Day) for many years. We invite people to come over and we open our house so that they can listen to some music, eat, something other than Turkey, and gather with friends and family. Gary has been known to make Haggis. It is a day to hear what people have been doing this year and what their plans are for the New Year. It has enabled Gary and I to maintain a tradition no matter where we were in the world. We have a wrought-iron Wren in our living room but one year we actually had a wren hanging around outside.
The children were always encouraged to bring their friends. There is one story when we were in Newfoundland when I told the kids to go check the bathroom to make sure everything was clean. I reminded them to wash the soap. Sarah and Shamus and their friends will never let me forget that one.
Christmas and New Year’s Meals in New Brunswick:
•Turkey or Duck or Goose
•Dressing with summer savoury (it’s not available out west)
•Potatoes, gravy, carrots, turnips
•Meat Pie (chicken, pork, beef, rabbit) usually on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve
•Chicken bouillon
•Poutine Rapée
•Grape leaves
•Fatayer
•Fruit cake
•Scotch cookies
•Gumdrop Cake
•Sweets, sweets, sweets, squares, cookies, pies, cakes
Join us tomorrow for a story called Poppy’s Christmas Present by Myna Beth Lambert.
Christmas Traditions
By Debby Frost
Everybody has their Christmas and New Year’s traditions. Some are unique to a particular family or neighborhood.
My friend, Cynthia Goulette, says:
If you eat salted herring at midnight on New Year's Eve, you will not run out of money all throughout the New Year. (You have to have some in your mouth right at midnight.) New Year kisses will be a bit salty though! Ha! Ha! Ha!
At the Bowie household:
My mother worked in a Lebanese home when she was younger. She always made these Fatayers—homemade bread done in squares and filled with hamburger, onions and pine nuts. She also made meat pies but only with ground beef, and ground pork. That is different from the meat pies traditionally on the Miramichi.
No opening presents on Christmas Eve and everybody had to be up before my father passed out presents. Always have stockings with an orange or apple in the toe. Filled with candy, no toys. Barley toys with wool stuck all over them. Mmmm.
My mother always kept an extra gift or two in case we had somebody stay over on Christmas.
Fifty years ago at our house, my father and mother generally went out to a New Year’s Ball and left us with our grandmother. Because they had such a good time, they wanted us to have a good time too so Mrs. Claus always brought us candy on New Year’s. This kept us good for another day of the year. To this day I don’t know if it was Mom and Dad or my grandmother who did the job for Mrs. Claus.
From Astrid Gibbs:
In my Christmas of Yore, we had a hanging stocking for every child on the wall (especially during wartime) a MUST was barley and ribbon candies. Our traditions were mostly centred around food like tourtières (meat pies) or rabbit paté, shortbread or scotch cookies, and later on, fruitcake. But our most important tradition was having our Christmas meal at our grandparents' house. On New Year's Day, relatives visited their loved ones with wishes for the coming year. So I guess food and the social aspect was paramount within Christmas traditions.
At the Frost household:
My children decorate the tree (they are 22 and 30 now). They took turns putting the angel on top. My husband had to lift them at first and then they got tall enough to do it on their own. They never forgot from one year to the next whose turn it was to put the top on. The angel is from our first Christmas, 34 years ago, as a married couple and is plastic and had cotton batten on it and is ratty. They still want us to use that angel. I bought a beautiful angel and a beautiful star and my daughter refuses to put it on.
At the Mitchells:
Always go to Midnight Mass, never Sunday morning. Only open one gift Christmas Eve and it is usually jammies or something small. Go to my friends house Christmas Eve and we always have meat pie. We open our gifts after breakfast and after everyone is seated, and then we take turns, opening the best ones last. We travel to Miramichi Christmas morning and Lee’s parents (and before that Mom) wait until we get there and we open them with them.
My friends, Ann and Susan:
If a dark haired man knocks on the door at New Year’s, it is going to be a good year. It's called First-Footing. The first person to go through the door on New Year’s Day is supposed to be a dark haired boy for good luck (up until two years ago they thought it was supposed to be a light haired boy) Apparently there are a bunch of twists, like you have to leave a gift and they must leave through a different door. Ann's family has done it forever and her and Sue and their mother follow it every year, never fails. I think they used Sue's dog one year because there were no boys there.
Mulder's Family Tradition:
My father Jerry was born in Deventer, Holland, and every year we celebrate this Dutch tradition. Every December 6th is known as St. Nick's Day in our household. When you wake up in the morning on St. Nick's day traditionally there would be one treat left behind in your wooden shoe placed by the fireplace. This symbolized that you've been a good girl or boy for the year. If you did not find a treat that would mean Black Pete would pay you a visit. Black Pete is St. Nick's chimney sweeper and he is dressed up in black from head to toe. If you were a naughty girl or boy, Black Pete would find you and give you a pat on the bum with his broom. No one wants a visit from Black Pete. This tradition stays in our family every year celebrated with Dutch cookies and chocolates. We play Dutch Christmas songs and have a cup of coffee every December 6th to start our morning. Just something to get the Holiday Season started.
At the Brideaus:
Meat pie every Christmas Eve before opening our first gift.
At the Sillikers:
We have opened our house on Wren Day (St. Stephen’s Day) for many years. We invite people to come over and we open our house so that they can listen to some music, eat, something other than Turkey, and gather with friends and family. Gary has been known to make Haggis. It is a day to hear what people have been doing this year and what their plans are for the New Year. It has enabled Gary and I to maintain a tradition no matter where we were in the world. We have a wrought-iron Wren in our living room but one year we actually had a wren hanging around outside.
The children were always encouraged to bring their friends. There is one story when we were in Newfoundland when I told the kids to go check the bathroom to make sure everything was clean. I reminded them to wash the soap. Sarah and Shamus and their friends will never let me forget that one.
Christmas and New Year’s Meals in New Brunswick:
•Turkey or Duck or Goose
•Dressing with summer savoury (it’s not available out west)
•Potatoes, gravy, carrots, turnips
•Meat Pie (chicken, pork, beef, rabbit) usually on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve
•Chicken bouillon
•Poutine Rapée
•Grape leaves
•Fatayer
•Fruit cake
•Scotch cookies
•Gumdrop Cake
•Sweets, sweets, sweets, squares, cookies, pies, cakes
Join us tomorrow for a story called Poppy’s Christmas Present by Myna Beth Lambert.
Labels: 12DaysChristmas, Culture, Family, Holiday
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