Christmas Festivities Research Articles

‘Every Child Rises Early on Christmas Morning to See the Johnkannaus’ [Harriet Jacobs]: The Competing Meanings of Christmas for the Enslaved in North Carolina

ABSTRACT Drawing on archival material from slaveholding families in North Carolina and the narratives of formerly enslaved in the State, the John Kooner parades and other Christmas festivities are employed in this article as a lens to consider what meanings Christmas might have held for some members of the enslaved within this State. Such celebrations were arguably used by enslavers to demonstrate their good will and benevolence by allowing some of the enslaved to engage in carnivalesque behaviour–costuming, dancing, drinking, and feasting–for a brief period of time over the festive season. Such activity allowed some of the enslaved in the state to temporarily upend the social and racial hierarchies of the antebellum south, locating themselves in physical and psychical spaces they were usually not permitted access to. Others however were not permitted to enjoy the festivities at all. The analysis therefore will explore the varying experiences of Christmas in North Carolina for the enslaved and the wider meanings we might draw from this. The article concludes by reflecting on how this period of brief respite for the enslaved was brought to an abrupt end by New Year’s Day, often the date set for the hiring and selling of the enslaved. It will consider the repercussions of these moments of departure and family fragmentation, especially in the wake of the Christmastide celebrations.

Artifacts from the Perspective of Effutu Masquerade Performance: An Aesthetic Album

Artifacts from the Perspective of Effutu Masquerade Performance: An Aesthetic Album

MODELING OF TRADITIONAL CHARACTERS USING 3D SOFTWARE THAT IDENTIFIES AND ENHANCES THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF RIOBAMBA

The new generations are losing the historical and cultural significance of the different characters that participate during the Christmas festivities in the city of Riobamba; the introduction of foreign characters through movies, series, animations, or other media has caused the loss of identity, history, and traditions in the city. The purpose of this research work is to present, rescue, and preserve the cultural manifestations of the town of Riobamba, relying on three characters identified for performing dances and dances of the local culture during the parade of the child King of Kings. The ethnographic or qualitative research methodology was applied, using observation as a data collection technique. Using the Autodesk Maya software for 3D modeling, it was possible to obtain high-quality images of the representative characters. The character modeling process followed the phases of the XP software development methodology. The survey was used to validate the results. It is possible to validate the three characters before a sample of 287 students of the Software. Graphic Design careers, identifying that the Identification and Similarity variables present values between 51.6% and 96.9%, equivalent to satisfactory and very satisfactory; the lowest point has the Chromatic variable. of the Curiquingue character with 43.9% that guarantees a redesign of the character for future works. The enhancement of the cultural heritage of Riobamba is achieved in public surveys since some students state that they do not know the modeled characters but are willing to use souvenirs to make more people aware of the culture and heritage of Riobamba.

Переводные практики Ивана Бунина (рассказ «Волхвы»)

The paper is devoted to the analysis of Ivan Bunin’s translated short story “The Magi” (1931), which was included in the cycle “Provençal Tales Retold”. The research aims to comprehend the role of Russian folklore in the formation of the poetic world of the Bunin text created as a translation (more precisely, a “retelling”) of a novella by the French writer Frederic Mistral (1830-1914), Nobel laureate (1904). The authors of the paper identify the main motives that prompted Bunin to turn to foreign folklore, to the regional epic of Provence, determine the hidden intentions that influenced the writer when creating the translated text. In particular, the authors pay attention to the tendency of “straightening” the plot outline of F. Mistral’s memoirs, state that I. Bunin gave the translated text poetic imagery through motifs and speech-stylistic formulas of Russian folklore. The study is novel in that it is the first to analyse the short story “The Magi”, which has not previously attracted critics’ attention, and to interpret the strategies of Bunin’s “translation” activities. As a result, it has been proved that the motive for Bunin’s turn to the folklore of southern France, which was foreign to him, was not the semantic layer of F. Mistral’s folk records and memoirs, but the nostalgic feelings that the folklore of Provence awakened in the prose writer’s soul, which conjured up the memories of the Christmas festivities of the abandoned Russia. It has been shown that Bunin’s knowledge of the basics and principles of Russian folklore helped the writer, on the one hand, to preserve the identity of Mistral’s memoirs, on the other hand, to bring additional nostalgic intentions mediated by the techniques and principles of Russian folklore into the “foreign” translated text.

Well begun is half done

In these days preceding Christmas festivities and introducing us to the new year, we close the volume of the first year of our journal Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (BTVB) [...].

Representation of the Postcolonial Migrants’ Multi-Religious Cultures and the Fantasy of Christianity in John Lanchester’s Capital

Literary writings have broadened that the world broaches the religious and cultural discrimination between the imperialist countries and the colonized immigrants. John Lanchester spreads over the conflicts of the multi-religious culture of migrants and the pride of the Christmas festival in European countries in his novel, Capital (2012). The Christian countries have defeated the migrants by showing pretentious prevailing city life in London. Unfortunately, some migrating laborers are illiterate to encounter them all. He forces migrants not to convert themselves from one religion to another for getting jobs. He also emancipates his presser to look after the life of migrating people in European countries. He then indirectly talks about the three religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. He proves that London is a place for Christianity, which is reflected in Christmas decorations. This novel elongates many themes related to the social and economic exploitation of poor migrants at Pepys Road in London.

Green Christmas: bryophytes as ornamentals in Croatian traditional nativity scenes

BackgroundThe bryophytes are a plant group that is smaller than and not as well known as the vascular plants. They are less used and are almost completely neglected in ethnobotanical studies. Traditional nativity scenes depicting the birth of Christ are commonly decorated with both vascular plants and bryophytes. The aim of this study was to document the diversity of decorative bryophytes sold during the Advent season at farmers’ markets in Croatia (Southeastern Europe, Balkan Peninsula).MethodsTwenty-eight farmers’ markets in the two largest Croatian cities (Zagreb in the continental part and Split in the Mediterranean part) were studied in the search for local vendors selling bryophytes during the pre-Christmas season. The bryophytes collected were identified and analysed with respect to families, growth type, life forms and threat status.ResultsAmong 275 collected specimens, 43 moss and four liverwort species were identified. The mean number of species per vendor was 3.5. The most frequent species were Hypnum cupressiforme, Homalothecium sericeum and Ctenidium molluscum. Mats, wefts and tufts were the most common life-forms, while pleurocarpous prevailed over acrocarpous mosses, as they are usually pinnately branched and form large carpets, suitable for decorations. The overall selection of bryophytes and the decorations made of them were more diverse and abundant in inland Croatia, where 49 vendors at 15 farmers’ markets sold goods containing 43 species. In Mediterranean Croatia, at six farmers’ markets only 29 vendors sold goods, which contained 18 species. A considerable number of species that are less attractive to harvesters were collected non-intentionally, entangled in carpets of other, more frequent species. Among them, Rhodobryum ontariense and Loeskeobryum brevirostre are rare and insufficiently recorded in Croatia so far.ConclusionsThe present study provided a first perspective on the use of bryophytes in traditional nativity scenes in Croatia and Southeastern Europe, contributing to scarce ethnobotanical documentation of the decorative use of bryophytes in Christmas festivities in Europe and globally.

An investigation into the food related traditions associated with the Christmas period in Rural Ireland

ABSTRACT The interdisciplinary nature of food studies lends itself to the study of food through many avenues, most notably in this research, through folklore and the oral history transcripts of the Schools’ Collection made by the Irish Folklore Commission in 1937–1938. Folklore can give us an insight into sometimes overlooked features of society and how people’s lives can be studied and highlighted through their relationship with food. The Christmas period was an extremely important time in Irish tradition, and food was a main aspect of that celebration. This paper, therefore, at first delves into the literature surrounding Christmas, folklore, and food; diet and social class; gender, and food in rural Ireland, before comparing it with the oral history transcripts of the National Folklore Collection’s online archive, to unearth a better understanding of the relationship and the role of food in the Christmas festival in Ireland’s recent past.

Christmas Festivities and COVID-19: A Foreseeable Risk to Anticipate

Christmas Festivities and COVID-19: A Foreseeable Risk to Anticipate

Review: Greening the Black Urban Regime: The Culture and Commerce of Sustainability in Detroit, by Alesia Montgomery

Review: <i>Greening the Black Urban Regime: The Culture and Commerce of Sustainability in Detroit</i>, by Alesia Montgomery

Semantics of festivities in “Christmas Carol” by Ch. Dickens

The article concerns the language units, forming the semantics of festivities in one of the most popular works by Charles Dickens - the great English writer of Victorian Era, namely A Christmas Carol (1843). This work has been the subject for a lot of research, the story however is not investigated within the framework of some allied sciences. An attempt to use linguistic, linguistic culture and literary criticism approaches has been made to analyze the story. The eleven theme groups were found and the linguistic units were picked up. Those units create the unique picture of Christmas festivities. The examples from the text are analyzed. Around one thousand language units describing Christmas are analyzed. The conclusion is made that the writer created the morally important, educating work. At the same time, he attracted attention to Christmas in Britain, criticizing the drawbacks of the society as well as in Victorian England. The palette of stylistic and language means is rich and wonderful.

BRASS BAND MUSIC IN GHANA: THE INDIGENISATION OF EUROPEAN MILITARY MUSIC

Local brass bands have become an indispensable factor in weddings, processions, rituals of birth or death, at Christmas and New Year festivities in many parts of the globe. Remains of European brass bands are widely distributed throughout Africa, India, Indonesia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. )ese bands are of both military and missionary origin. They are an important component of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century colonial expressive culture. Despite their uniqueness and widespread presence across the world, brass bands have received limited attention in Ghana. )is paper aims to address this lack by offering a comprehensive account of the contemporary situation of brass band music in Ghana. I trace the history of this musical world and explore the diverse ways military and missionary activities have shaped amateur brass band musical activities in Ghana. I discuss the distribution and band formations across Ghana, viewing it in five sections that detail different types of brass bands; church, town, service, school and “sharbo” bands. I continue by looking at the beginning, development, workings and indigenisation of European military music in local popular culture and provide an account of brass band music as observed in Ghana today. I argue that indigenisation is not a straightforward process of adaptation, rather, indigenisation is a process of ongoing aesthetic tensions and differences resulting in new musical forms and new forms of socialisation organised around musical performance.

Beyond Watt Market Roundabout Audiences: Redesigning Tourists Oriented Theatres in Calabar

Calabar, a coastal town in South-South Nigeria, has had a long-standing history of cultural tourist-oriented theatre performances. And today, its image as a tourist city has grown in leaps because of the Christmas Festival (A 32-day entertainment art and cultural events) it hosts annually plus other tourism products or attractions that complement the festival. Carnival seems to be a major attraction. Other attractions are not emphasized. This study explored how tourism-oriented theatres can be developed to add to existing attractions and increase varieties for tourists. The study used a combination of research methods including experiential theatre performances, participant observation, and focus group discussion. Findings show that local culture and arts and creative industries i.e., theatre can be used to promote destinations and enhance their attractiveness. They can help build the image of the city and promote indigenous arts and culture. This research significantly models the utility of theatre in the service of tourism and urban development. Some key recommendations this research makes include, the collaboration of the tourism industry, the performing arts sectors, and private business owners. Creating demand and market for specially packaged theatre products for tourists working with travel agencies to ensure that theatre is taken from the mainstream to the tourists.

Beyond Watt Market Roundabout Audiences: Redesigning Tourists Oriented Theatres in Calabar

Calabar, a coastal town in South-South Nigeria, has had a long-standing history of cultural tourist-oriented theatre performances. And today, its image as a tourist city has grown in leaps because of the Christmas Festival (A 32-day entertainment art and cultural events) it hosts annually plus other tourism products or attractions that complement the festival. Carnival seems to be a major attraction. Other attractions are not emphasized. This study explored how tourism-oriented theatres can be developed to add to existing attractions and increase varieties for tourists. The study used a combination of research methods including experiential theatre performances, participant observation, and focus group discussion. Findings show that local culture and arts and creative industries i.e., theatre can be used to promote destinations and enhance their attractiveness. They can help build the image of the city and promote indigenous arts and culture. This research significantly models the utility of theatre in the service of tourism and urban development. Some key recommendations this research makes include, the collaboration of the tourism industry, the performing arts sectors, and private business owners. Creating demand and market for specially packaged theatre products for tourists working with travel agencies to ensure that theatre is taken from the mainstream to the tourists.

Christmas tales of H. C. Andersen “The Fir Tree” and A. I. Kuprin “The Life” in historical-literary dialogue

This article presents a comparative analysis of the tales of H. C. Andersen &amp;ldquo;The Fir-Tree&amp;rdquo; and A. I. Kuprin &amp;ldquo;The Life. Both tales are based on the theme of Christmas, which celebration becomes the culmination in life of a fir tree; as well as have common elements &amp;ndash; description of the life of trees in the forest, gathering of people, Christmas festivities. Tale by the Danish writer moves towards death, demise of the tree that can be considered as punishment for indifference and ambitiousness, inability to find joy in what is given by life. Kuprin&amp;rsquo;s story contradicts Andersen&amp;rsquo;s tradition, demonstrating a markedly different writer&amp;rsquo;s position &amp;ndash; affirmation of life in contrast to death. Attention is focused on not only the plot, but also genre peculiarities of each composition. Tales are allegorical, they can be called the philosophical tales-parables, urging the reader to reasoning on their own life. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that the text of A. I. Kuprin&amp;rsquo;s tale is being analyzed for the first time. It is viewed in related to the tradition set by Andersen&amp;rsquo;s tales, as a Christmas text. The article also determine the role of the late among the works of the writer.

Cultural Comparison between Tibetan New Year and Western Christmas Festival

世界科学出版社（World Science Publishing-WSP）立足国际，积极配合中国“走出去”出版战略，大力推进版权输出与引进，并不断拓展国际间的交流与合作，取得显著成绩。WSP国际图书出版项目力倡中国科研人员出版英文图书，出版社具有丰富的国际传播资源与雄厚的编辑、翻译、出版力量，拥有一批著名的中外翻译专家、出版专家，及一支精通国际出版的编辑、翻译和国际营销队伍。探索“科学进步”与“社会进步”是人类永恒主题，WSP推崇以科学信仰引领学术方向，遵循各国法律和地方法规，能够协助您优质、快捷、低

Agave angustifolia as a Traditional Element of Christmas Festivities in Coastal Veracruz, Mexico

Agave angustifolia as a Traditional Element of Christmas Festivities in Coastal Veracruz, Mexico

Gender, kitchen resources and students’ academic performance and retention in thermochemistry in Cross River State, Nigeria

This paper studies the destination information marketing as an aid to the Cross River Tourism bid. A questionnaire was designed to elicit responses from the stakeholders in the tourism industry. Out of 69 questionnaire copies administered on tourist and workers in three popular hotels in Calabar (University of Calabar Hotel, Marian hotel and the Transcorp, Calabar) 50 unusable copies were retrieved and used in the analyses. The findings showed a predominance of domestic tourists in Cross River State. The sites/events most frequently visited included Christmas Festival, Obudu Mountain Race, Tinapa Holiday/Business Resort, Obudu Mountain Resort, Marina Resort (Water Front) and Leboku New Yam Festival. The single bedroom accommodation and double rooms are the most preferred accommodations. The most preferred tourist means of transportation included public mass transit, chartered taxis and car hire services. The most popular sources of tourism information in Cross River State were tourist guide books, internet and the Tourism Bureau. The most preferred souvenirs on Cross River State included indigenous art works and utilities. The most frequent complaint of tourists was the bad state of the roads. The most frequent complementary remarks were: “the state is very clean and beautiful”, “the people are very friendly”; “the state is very, very peaceful”. Suggestions were given for improvement. Keywords: Marketing, Destination Information, Tourism Driven Economy, Cross River State

Frado, Linda, Ellen, and Iola

Frado, Linda, Ellen, and Iola Cherene Sherrard-Johnson Like many other budding scholars and writers, I was a voracious reader prone to solitude and imagining "castles in the air" (117). It's no surprise that I would declare publicly that my favorite character from Louisa May Alcott's classic was Jo; however, in secret I also admired Amy's frank penchant for luxury and material comforts. I was never attracted to Meg's dutifulness or Beth's transcendent morality. Yet the scene I most remember is when the Moffats make over Meg into a "newly dressed doll" (76) in "borrowed plumes" (77) in chapter 9, "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair." As one of the few black girls in my private primary school, and later as the only black student in honors classes in my public high school, I knew what it was to constantly feel out of place, to be reminded subtly and overtly of your difference, and to want desperately to belong. That is why this scene at the "small party" (73), where, despite her desire to fit in, Meg has the "queer feeling" (77) of being made a spectacle, is memorable. It's where she and her sisters learn the importance of not judging yourself by the barometers of others but "to know and value the praise which is worth having" (83). Not until I was in graduate school at Cornell University in Lois Brown's class on nineteenth-century black women writers would the names of heroines from African American women's literature become as familiar to me as those from Little Women. The groundbreaking recovery work of Hazel Carby, Ann duCille, Frances Foster, Claudia Tate, and others would exponentially widen my literary landscape. While the March sisters are bemoaning how "dreadful to be poor" and a "Christmas without any presents" (11) in the midst of Civil War, Linda Brent's chapter "Christmas Festivities" describes enslaved women's attempts to "gladden the hearts of their little ones" despite the slave auction that presages "the Slaves' New Year's Day" (Jacobs 118, 15). Slowly, memorable exclamations like Amy's "Oh, Jo, how could you? Your one beauty" (132) in response to Jo's sacrifice of her abundant chestnut hair to bring her father home from the Civil War hospital would be supplanted by Iola Leroy's declaration that she was "tried but not tempted" by white men's propositions (Harper 115). Alcott's autobiographical novel set the standard for a decidedly American, New England girlhood, but nineteenth-century black women authors would deploy sentiment and sensation in their autobiographical fictions for a different objective. [End Page 99] In their hands, Alcott's tropes (with influence from Harriet Beecher Stowe and Lydia Maria Child) became powerful tools of resistance, shining the spotlight on "little women" who were not allowed a true or intact childhood; whose plot trajectories forked not between artistic spinsterhood and marriage, but who became adolescent mothers confronted with a choice for freedom with or without their children; whose domestic labors served others, toiling like the unaffectionately nicknamed Frado as "Nig" under the constant threat of a beating; and whose adventures abroad involved stowing away on a ship (Linda Brent) or gendered and racial passing on a train (Ellen Craft). I'm glad that on its 150th anniversary Little Women can be read intertextually alongside new classics that portray the diversity and texture of what it meant to grow up female in a nation besieged by racial injustice and sexual predation, but with the grounded hope that like Marmee's daughters they would have the opportunity "to be beautiful, accomplished, and good; to be admired, loved, and respected, to have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send" (84). [End Page 100] Cherene Sherrard-Johnson University of Wisconsin–Madison Copyright © 2019 University of Nebraska Press

The impact of social and weather drivers on the historical electricity demand in Europe

Climate change, technological innovation, as well as electrification of energy services to meet carbon targets, have a significant impact on electricity demand magnitude and patterns. Increasing generation from renewable energy sources is already changing supply variability at the hourly and seasonal timescales. Our aim is to conduct a rigorous study of European historical demand, to understand its relationship with social and weather drivers and, therefore, to gain insights into appropriate storage needs.Daily activity profiles exhibit notable differences across European countries, with some of them reporting a consistent demand reduction, up to 25%, during school closures and Christmas festivities. In addition, temperature sensitivity differentiates demand by countries’ latitude (north vs. south), and by technologies (electric heating vs. other fuel based heating). Assuming a 100% renewables scenario, European countries would display quite distinct periodicities and amplitudes of their residual electricity demands.Annual load curves and temperature sensitivities of nations with high electric heating or cooling demand can assist in the prediction of future electricity and other fuel consumption under increased electrification and climate change scenarios. Fourier periodicity and residual demand analysis suggest that, in addition to grid storage, European countries with mutual energy needs – in terms of seasonal demand and generation surplus – might benefit from international trade to balance unmet demand. Our study of consumption variability in response to social and weather drivers constitutes a valuable resource to formulate country-specific demand scenarios, as well as to improve the design of energy system models.