LL-L: "Holidays" LOWLANDS-L, 09.JAN.2000 (03) [E]

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: "Holidays"

> From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
> Subject: Holidays
>
> Thanks for the information, folks.
>
> It was interesting to hear that Twelfth Night is when Christmas
> decorations
> tend to be taken down and away.

Yes, this is strictly observed where I live in Scotland.

In Scotland the Twelve Days of Christmas are called the "Daft Days" (from
the French "Fe^te des fous") and were in historical times characterised by
role-reversal, e.g. men dressing up as women, young dressing as old &c. Mary
Queen of Scots would abdicate during the Daft Days and the other Marys (Mary
Fleming, Mary Beaton &c) would take over. The church was less accomodating -
laymen attempting to act as clergy were sometimes jailed for the period to
keep them out of mischief, but attempted jailings sometimes backfired and
resulted in churchmen being thrown in the river or whatever.

The great Scots poet Robert Fergusson wrote a longish poem about the Daft
Days, but less well-known is the following, which is the Scottish version of
the English counting song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". For some reason
(possibly like the way in which some languages use 8 or 15 for a week and a
fortnight respectively) the song has 13 days rather than 12 (and I don't
know why it uses "three" for most of the days instead of counting properly):

THE YULE DAYS

The King sent his lady on the first Yule-day,
A papingoe, ay.
Wha learns my carol, an cairies it away?

The King sent his lady on the saicont Yule-day,
Three paitricks,
A papingoe, ay.
Wha learns my carol, an cairies it away?

The King sent his lady on the third Yule-day,
Three plovers,
Three paitricks,
A papingoe, ay.
Wha learns my carol, an cairies it away?

&c, &c until:

The King sent his lady on the therteent Yule-day,
Three stalks o merry corn,
Three maids a-merry dancin,
Three hinds a-merry huntin,
An Arabian baboon,
Three swans a-merry soomin,
Three deuks a-merry layin,
A bull that wis broun,
Three gowdspinks,
Three stirlins,
A goose that wis grey,
Three plovers,
Three paitricks,
A papingoe, ay.
Wha learns my carol, an cairies it away?

papingoe - parrot
deuk - duck
gowdspink - goldfinch
stirlin - starling
paitrick - partridge
broun - brown
wha - who
ay - yes
cairies - carries

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Holidays

Thanks, Sandy!

What you described above about festive role reversal is rather reminiscent of
Carnival (Shrovetide) in many Roman-Catholic-dominated areas, which will take
place not long from now, in the early part of the year, just before Lent, I
believe.   Carnival activities oftentimes result in a "mirror" being held up for
society, very much à l'Ulenspegel (Eulenspiegel), our own medieval Lowlandic
prankster.  Usually there is mocking of the establishment, of officialdom, of
deep rooted customs, of ivory tower learning and hierarchy, and of entrenched
thinking patterns, sometimes even mocking of oneself, usually by doing the
opposite of what is "normal."  This includes fancy dress, also cross-dressing
(preferably things like hefty males wearing tutus, of course).  In Germany's
Rhenish regions, there is for instance the reverse military salute: saluting on
the opposite side of the forehead or with the left hand on the right side of the
forehead.  Also, there are "official"-like meetings with speeches made from
within wine barrels (_Büttenreden_) by folks wearing outlandish hats, all to
mock the seriousness of the rest of the year.  It is tradition to invite to
these functions VIPs (preferably political leaders, of course), to something
that is rather like a type of "roast," where they receive the medal for "brutish
seriousness" (_Orden für den tierischen Ernst_), must wear silly hats, smile
while being mocked and hold humorous acceptance speeches (a tall order for many
a politician) after being raked over the coals all night long.

Of course, many of us SLOPs (sober Lowlandic Protestants) find all this rather
silly ...  ;)  Seriousness?  What seriousness?!

Best regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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