A Scott Bates version of the “Holly and Ivy” carol shows how multiple religious traditions blend seamlessly in Christmas rituals.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Christmas
Holly & Ivy Dance to the Music of the Moon
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Dance of the Holly and the Ivy", Paganism, Scott Bates Comments closed
Dickens Helped Shape Our Christmas
Charles Dickens helped solidify the idea of Christmas in the minds of 19th century England by his descriptions in “The Pickwick Papers.”
Night before Christmas on the Moon
Scott Bates’s “The Night before Christmas on the Moon” delightfully sets Clement Moore’s beloved poem in a lunar landscape.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Night before Christmas on the Moon", Scott Bates Comments closed
Christmas Life in the Face of Death
Comparing the Japanese film “Departures” with “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” give special insight into the meaning of Christmas.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged death, Departures, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Comments closed
Move with the Wind, Sleep under the Snow
Here’s a non-Christmas tree poem by Scott Bates for friends of the environment.
Inside These Wrappings, a Brighter Life
Spiritual Sunday Yesterday we had a white Christmas in Sewanee, Tennessee, where I am visiting my parents. The world was brown when we went to bed and white when we awoke. The symbolism of Christmas snow lies in the promise of wiping everything clean and starting anew. Grace appears to enter our fallen world. That’s […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Messiah (Christmas Portions), James Baldwin, Mark Doty, Music, Religion, Sonny's Blues Comments closed
A Roc for Christmas (Annual Bird Count)
Sports Saturday I don’t know whether bird watching is officially considered a sport but, what with Christmas falling on a “Sports Saturday,” let’s say it is. That way I have an excuse for writing about the annual Christmas bird count. Every year, between the middle of December and the first week in January, bird watchers […]
Our Greatest Christmas Movie
Film Friday It’s Christmas Eve, which gives me an excuse to write about what I consider cinema’s greatest Christmas movie: Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a Wonderful Life is a variation of the archetypal Christmas story, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Both feature extraterrestrial spirits. Scrooge is shown how the world will become […]
What Can I Give Him? Give Him My Heart
Spiritual Sunday Snow currently blankets southern Maryland as we enter the final days leading up to Christmas, making this the perfect time to print Christina Rossetti’s gorgeous poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”I love how it begins with hard and cold images and concludes with a simple gift of the heart. Although God is worshipped by […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christina Rossetti, Julian of Norwich, Religion, Winter Comments closed