The Twelve Days Of Christmas A Celebration Of Nature

The author-illustrator behind Wildflower and The Book of Selkie brings her naturalist's eye to the classic song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, in this gorgeous giftbook edition. A boldly illustrated gift edition of the beloved English Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas -- with an artful twist. East Coast artist Briana Corr Scott brings her naturalist's eye to the classic holiday song, pairing the original lyrics with bold and whimsical illustrations that celebrate flora and fauna. A kaleidoscope of Monarch butterflies on milkweed flowers is Eight maids a milking; a bloom of ladybugs atop pincushion flowers is Nine ladies dancing. Six geese a laying are bordered by bright red Christmas cacti, and Five golden rings are found nestled in a magpie's nest. Influenced by botanical maximalism, this ornate and lushly illustrated, vintage-inspired book would be just at home on the shelves of a Victorian parlour or in the lap of a toddler. Includes an author's note and informative backmatter.

In this reimagined version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, winter wildlife is observed as the snow comes. What animals do you think you might see? Do you think bears will be included? Why or why not? The only way to find out is to read or sing along as animals watch their world get blanketed by gentle layers of snow.

In the whole body of Christmas carols sung in English, among the most famous and beloved is a song universally called "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Although its association with the holiday remains unquestioned, the tune was originally a raucous drinking song with wildly different connotations. This book documents the unfamiliar and distant history of one of the world's most well-known holiday songs, inextricably linked to the earliest celebrations of a festival suppressed by the Church itself. The rowdy and mischievous tone of traditional Christmas has vanished, as have the songs that accompanied the festival of drinking, gambling, fighting, feasting and sex. Modern participants of Christmas may be either embarrassed or pleased to discover the scandalous roots of a beloved holiday classic.

The song "The 12 Days of Christmas" is a mainstay of the holiday season, but the practice of celebrating Christmas as a twelve-day festival fell out of fashion long ago in most cultures. In Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, author Chris Marchand explores the history behind the season and individual feast days from December 25 to January 6, and then offers suggestions for how you can celebrate it with your family, church, or community. Along with this, he provides answers to many of the nagging questions surrounding the holiday, such as the history behind the twelve-days song, why December 25 was chosen as the date, and what to do about its supposedly pagan origins. The challenge before us is to first help people see Christmas as a holiday that begins, rather than ends, on December 25, and then to together figure out how to reinvent Christmas in the present by learning how it was celebrated in the past.

The song “The 12 Days of Christmas” is a mainstay of the holiday season, but the practice of celebrating Christmas as a twelve-day festival fell out of fashion long ago in most cultures. In Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, author Chris Marchand explores the history behind the season and individual feast days from December 25 to January 6, and then offers suggestions for how you can celebrate it with your family, church, or community. Along with this, he provides answers to many of the nagging questions surrounding the holiday, such as the history behind the twelve-days song, why December 25 was chosen as the date, and what to do about its supposedly pagan origins. The challenge before us is to first help people see Christmas as a holiday that begins, rather than ends, on December 25, and then to together figure out how to reinvent Christmas in the present by learning how it was celebrated in the past.

In Nature's Honor explores the eight solar holidays that mark the turning of the Wheel of the Year. Each chapter begins with a history of the holiday--the ways in which it has been celebrated from ancient to modern times, its relationship to other religious and secular celebrations and its cultural and mythological foundations. This history is followed by recommendations for specific activities to celebrate the season that individuals, families or small groups can enjoy. The chapters conclude with formal rituals suitable for use in larger faith communities. These include scripted narration, songs, dramatic enactments, litanies of seasonal blessings, readings from poetry and mythology and suggestions for ceremonial food. In Nature's Honor reconnects the modern spiritual seeker with the earth-centered practices of our ancestors. This work explores the seasonal rituals that celebrate the earth and our connection to it--which is not just physical but profoundly spiritual. FROM THE AUTHOR From the Authorz In writing this book, I discovered the most important theme running through the history of rituals related to the earth's seasons is renewal. The wheel turns and the old season gives way to the new, the old year to the new, the old life to the new. Each planting of seeds promises new possibilities. Each harvest brings sustenance for yet another year. Each fallow time regenerates the life of the soil. The sun deities retreat and return. The grain goddesses are lost and restored. The vegetation gods die and rise again. The cycle of life goes on and on, birth after death after birth. Perhaps what all the rituals celebrate is this ongoing-ness of life: the miraculous natural world that makes it possible and our abiding connection to it. For the ancients, the interdependence was clear. When the people fasted on the eve of a new season's beginning, they purified not just their own bodies, but the land itself. The fires that encouraged the fecundity of the land also made its people fertile. For us moderns distanced from the earth by technology, the interdependence is not as clear. And we are paying the price: in polluted air and water, in soil erosion, in deforestation, in global warming. How different the condition of the planet might be if we allowed ourselves to be renewed at each turning of the wheel of the year, if we took the time periodically to celebrate the beauty and bounty of nature.

An Australian Christmas - and counting - book that celebrates the unique birdlife that inhabits this remote and wildly beautiful island. On the first day of Christmas, the Island gave to me, an owl in a Lilly Pilly tree. Australia's Christmas Island is home to hundreds of species of birds, native plants and wildlife, many of which are not found anywhere else in the world. In this version of the much-loved Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas, we count down to Christmas and celebrate the unique birds that live on this wild and remote island. From the bright-red plumage of the Frigatebird to the iridescent green of the Emerald Dove, these vibrant birds capture the essence of the festive season, making The Twelve Days of Christmas Island a uniquely Australian Christmas book to be cherished and read year after year.

• Full-color, revised edition • Plans for weddings, holiday parties, and Renaissance fairs • Ideas for properly decorating the dining hall • Lyrics and music for songs and dances • Recipes for food and drink • Patterns for period costumes • Games and plays