Christmas Traditions # 4 - Orange and Clove Pomander

This week we have a very fragrant blog post because we are looking the orange and clove pomander decoration. Pomanders are basically balls made of perfumes. Often they were carried around but they were also hung up as decorations. The Victorian Era is when pomander balls became most popular. They used them to mask unpleasant smells that were around by hanging them up or wearing them. Eventually they were used more as decorations that gave off pleasant scents.

Oranges and cloves were a popular combination because the smells compliment each other so well. In the past, since oranges were imported from so far away, they would often spoil and instead of wasting those oranges, they would make them into pomanders during the holiday season and they paired them with cloves for a very festive scent. 

Orange and clove pomander have continued to be quite popular. Martha Stewart even has an article about how to make them!

I tried my best to create one for you this week. There’s no real right and wrong when making these, you just have to come up with your own designs and go with it. 

You will need an orange or oranges if you are going to make more than one. You will also need a whole bunch of cloves, toothpicks, a poky vegetable peeler or a needle or skewer, a marker, and twine and ribbon if you’re going to hang them and decorate extra.

I just went for it at first and started to dig out a design with the sharp end of a vegetable peeler, but then I stopped and took a felt to trace out my design which made it so much easier. I think using something that isn’t as thick as the vegetable peeler tip would be best.

After I dug out my design I poked holes with the toothpicks and then placed the cloves in.

I’m told is smells super fragrant, I have a cold so I don’t smell anything, but it looks really cool. It’s my first go at it so next time I would spend a little more time tracing out a cooler design and digging it out with a finer tip tool so that it looks more polished. 

You can make a bunch of them and display in a nice basket, bowl, or on a platter or you can wrap ribbon around them and hang them up as decorations that way as well. 

Christmas Tradition # 3 - The Yule Goat

When I was reading about different Christmas traditions from around the world, one that stood out to me was the Yule or Gävle Goat. We’ll talk about the Gävle Goat in a little bit, but let’s start by looking at the history behind the Yule Goat.

The tradition of the Yule Goat is most dominant in Scandinavian and Northern European countries. In Northern European countries hundreds of years ago they had festivals in December called Yule to bring in the Christmas season. One of the Yule festivals called Koliada, celebrates the goat which is considered as the god of the harvest and the fertile sun. In Sweden, the goat is thought to watch over the Christmas preparations and to make sure they are done right. The goat was said to help deliver Christmas presents and some people believed that Santa would ride a goat instead of a sleigh.

In modern days the goat is represented in a couple of ways. One way is by a straw decoration with red ribbon wrapped around it. Straw is used quite often at Christmas in Sweden as part of their decorations as it reminds them that Jesus was born in a manger. The goat ornament is traditionally made from the last grain of the harvest and bundled in a red ribbons and “kept as a token of hope for the New Year.”

Another way the goat is represented is by the Gävle Goat. The Gävle Goat is erected over two days in early December. Advertising consultant, Stig Gavlén, came up with the idea of making a giant version of the traditional Swedish Yule Goat made of straw. The first goat was designed by chief of the Gävle fire department and the construction of the goat was carried out by the fire department in 1966.

Since then the goat has had an interesting history. It has been burned down a total of 36 times over 50 years of it being erected. The town has tried to protect it by having guards as well as spraying it with fireproof chemicals, but vandals and arsonists keep attacking the poor goat each year.

Christmas Traditions #2 - Outdoor Lights

Lights and decorations are other big Christmas traditions that people all over the world partake in. Today we are going to look at outdoor Christmas lights. 

There are some really beautiful lights displays all over the world to celebrate Christmas. Indoor Christmas lights on trees began after many years of using candles on Christmas trees. Small lanterns and glass balls began to be used to hold the candles after many years of gluing the candles to the actual trees. Electric lights were introduced in the 1880s. 

Outdoor lights, which we are focusing on today, began in 1880 during that Christmas season. Thomas Edison introduced them outside of his laboratory which was near a railway season where there were lots of people passing through. Strings of Christmas lights were introduced by Edison’s fellow inventor who he supervised, Edward Johnson, a few years later. 1890 is when strings of lights were mass produced and displayed in shop windows and on the White House. Since then, public displays especially in the US have become super popular. When they became more affordable, people bought them to decorate their homes. Lights have come such a long way since when they were first invented. People go to great lengths to decorate the outside of their homes with elaborate light displays. There are different colours, sizes, shapes, and efficiency ratings that go along with the all of these lights.

Take a look at some of the most elaborate and beautiful public light display all over the world.

Toronto – For 46 years The Toronto Calvacade of lights kicks off the Christmas season and takes place on the final week of November until the 1^st of January.

Singapore – From November 20^th-January 2^nd  Orchard Road and Marina Bay in Singapore has its Tropic Christmas lights display up and going every year.

Paris – The City of Lights decorates all of its historic sights with beautiful light displays. The thing to see is the Christmas light decorated Eiffel Tower. 

Medellin – The Medellin River in Columbia decorates the thoroughfares, roads and parks with fairy lights.

Kobe – Italy donated thousands of hand painted bulbs after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. They were displayed and transformed into an intricate, gothic-style luminarie. Now every year from December 1-12 similar light displays take place. 

Baltimore – For 62 years “Christmas Street’s” light display has thousands of viewers going to see it. It’s just your average neighborhood street during the year, but in December all of the houses on the block are decorated in the owner’s unique style. 

Vilinus - Vilnius gets covered in colorful garlands of electric lights and the country’s largest ‘Christmas tree’ is lit up. The Old Town Christmas Market has a popular Magic Christmas display and the city’s cathedral is transformed into a colorful storyboard.

Disneyland – Disneyland gets transformed into a Winter Wonderland with shimmering icicle and sparkly twinkling lights. Many of the classic rides get a Winter Festive lighting added to them.  

So there you have it, a little history of the outdoor Christmas lights and some of the most elaborate and impressive in the world. Go check some out if you have a chance.

Christmas Traditions #1 -Cards

Ah! So October is over already and we’re on a countdown to Christmas already. Each year we do quite a few weeks of countdown to Christmas blogs and we’ve chosen Christmas traditions this year. Each week up until Christmas we’ll look at a tradition and explore it a bit and the places in the world where they are most popular. It’s only fitting that we take a look at a tradition that we are most familiar with and that is Christmas cards!

The tradition of giving out Christmas cards is largely dominant in North America and Europe (the UK in particular). The first Christmas card was created by Sir Henry Cole in 1843. A big tradition of the time was writing Christmas letters. It’s said that Sir Henry Cole had so many letters to answer from all of his friends that he asked a friend, who was an artist, sketch out a picture that he had created in his mind on cardboard which he had a greeting printed on. He then addressed each card with a personal little note and sent them off to all of his friends and that was the first Christmas card. Of course since then the Christmas card has changed and evolved greatly. You can find so many different types of cards each and every year. Some have cute little creatures on them, some are sparkly, some have beautiful scenes, some are 3D, there are so many to pick from. You’ll also see official Christmas cards that are sent out by the White House and the Queen. Another popular thing is charity Christmas cards in which the sales benefit a specific charity. A neat little fun fact is a that Jaqueline Kennedy painted two designs for Christmas cards which benefited the Kennedy Center; Hallmark still sells those designs each year because of their popularity. 

This year we’ve designed a new Christmas card. We’ve put a modern non-traditional spin on it by using bright different colours. So take a look, and see what we've come up with!