Midwinter

As we approach Midwinter my thoughts turn to the Winter Solstice, Christmas and New Year and to memories of family, friends, festive traditions and plans for this year.

When I was a child, it felt as if time passed so slowly waiting for Christmas Eve. We would open our advent calendars each morning, counting the days, in anticipation of the arrival of Christmas. We would wait until a few days before Christmas before putting up the Christmas Tree. I remember the excitement we felt in anticipation as the boxes of tissue wrapped glass baubles and decorations were brought down from the loft ready to trim the tree. 

When we lived in Germany we discovered that people selected and decorated their Christmas Trees on the first Sunday in advent, even if that fell at the end of November. We adopted this wonderful tradition and each year decorate the house at the start of advent, bringing light and cheer for the whole month of December and into January. Traditions such as eating chocolate log cake and singing carols have their origins in our Pagan Midwinter celebrations. The pre Christian festival of Juul was celebrated around the time of of the Winter Solstice by singing, lighting fires and burning a yule log to bring light in the depth of winter and herald the return to the light.

This year the Winter Solstice, or shortest day, is on Saturday 21st December in the Northern Hemisphere. Under the old Julian calendar the solstice fell on 25th December, Christmas Day, but with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar the solstice slipped back to the 21st of the month, the day we are now familiar with. 

Have a happy festive season, however you celebrate, and I look forwards to seeing some of you in Oxford in January at the Oxford Real Farming conference.

Christmas Markets and a Sense of Place

In the run up to Christmas I love to get out and about with the family visiting Christmas Markets. We usually visit a couple near us each year and often pick a destination further a field to explore as well. Visiting these markets helps to set the mood for the festive season and builds on our past midwinter traditions and customs.

Last year we travelled to the beautiful city of Bath, on the coldest day of the month, to follow the trail of wooden chalets embellished with lights and decorations around the cobbled streets.We drank spiced hot apple juice or mulled wine and ate warm mince pies and other festive foods as we meandered around the 200 plus stalls. I'm always on the look out for unique handmade gifts or locally sourced items from the wide variety of artisan producers.

It reminded me of the Christmas markets we visited in Germany when the children were small. Santa would arrive on a beautiful grey horse with his helpers and give out sweets, chocolates and tiny carved wooden toys to the children as they spoke to him. We enjoyed the warming gluhwein or kinderpunsch (children's punch) and maroni (roasted chestnuts) as we pottered around the villages.

The geographer Edward Relph talks about a 'sense of place' as the feelings held by people for places or the feelings about a place over time. Returning to our favourite places or using favourite recipes or family rituals can craft our feelings or link us to our memories. Something a simple as the trip to a Christmas market renews our relationship with that time and place or starts a new memory or sense of place.

Enjoy your holiday outings this year, wherever you spend them.