It is presumed that in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, the Lords a’Leaping are in fact professional Morris dancers, which would have been popular at medieval banquets in England. The Morris dance is one of those peculiar British traditions which, like most British traditions, is all about form and structure.

It is a highly structured dance wherein a side (the term for a group of dancers) will prance about in formation. Individuals within a side will have specific roles, such as the squire responsible for calling the dances and speaking to the audience. One way to recognize a troupe of Morris dancers is their common use of props. They may be waving scarves in the air, jingling bells, or tapping sticks on the ground… but only one of the above.

The sticks, they figure, points to the origin of this dance tradition as the Moresca of Spain. In that, swords are used by the dancers as they celebrate the expulsion of the Moorish people from Spain in 1492.

In the year 1600, William Kempe, one of Shakespeare’s original actors, made headlines when he Morris danced his way from London to Norwich. It was called his “Nine Days Wonder” as the journey of over 100 miles took nine days.

There are but two days left on our Twelve Facts of Christmas journey. We wrap it up with a bit of a musical extravaganza featuring pipes and drums.

• Source: Morris Dance – Wikipedia

On the fifth day of Christmas, so the song goes, we get five golden rings. Or, I should say, fiiiive goooolden riiiings. I must admit I expected this article to be easier to research. I intended to pick out five different rings of historical significance and share their tales. However, much to my surprise, there really aren’t many real life rings of significance. Once again video games have lied to me.

I did learn that Plato wrote of a mythical ring around 380 BC that could render the wearer invisible at will, but beware… for it could also corrupt your morality. Sound familiar? Yup, people figure J.R.R. Tolkien used it as inspiration for his Lord of the Rings story.

The most famous ring in regular Earth, however, seems to be the Ring of the Fisherman. The fisherman in question is Saint Peter, the Apostle Simon Peter, who Catholic tradition states is the founder of the Roman Catholic Church and the honourary first pope. The Ring of the Fisherman, featuring an image of Peter plying his first trade, is the ring worn by every pope. The very ring that gets kissed should a you meet the pope.

The Apostle Peter was also given the job of keeper of the keys to the kingdom of heaven which is why, in every joke you’ve ever heard, you meet Saint Peter at those pearly gates. (the founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith, claimed that Saint Peter appeared to him to grant him apostleship and to pass on those keys)

Now, back to the ring. The Ring of the Fisherman is not an antique. While the first mention of the ring appeared in 1265, the original ring is long gone. Destroyed, actually. Cut in pieces and scratched. On purpose! Not only the first, but all 82 or thereabouts rings since then.

As part of the first actions taken upon a Pope’s death, the Ring of the Fisherman is removed and immediately destroyed. (odd side note, the death of the Pope is ceremoniously confirmed by tapping their head three times with a silver hammer. I guess if that doesn’t wake him up…)

At the coronation of the new Pope, a freshly crafted Ring of the Fisherman, featuring the new Pope’s name, is slipped on he third finger of his right hand.

Which reminds me of another ring factoid; a Medieval reasoning for the third finger of the left hand getting dubbed the ring finger. The belief was that that finger contained a vein with a direct connection to the heart. However, in many non-English traditions, other fingers are chosen as the ideal spot for a wedding ring.

Tomorrow for the Twelve Facts of Christmas we’ve got geese a-laying.

• Source: Ring of the Fisherman – Wikipedia

It’s Groundhog Day. For those of us in cooler climates, this gets a lot of attention. Personally, I’m not a fan, but I won’t let that get between you and the facts. So, he says with a fake cheer that could rival any TV weatherman, what’s up with this crazy Groundhog Day tradition?

The gist of it is that a groundhog, an animal that sleeps all winter, is supposed to poke it’s head out the door and from whether or not it sees its own shadow, we can determine that warm weather is on the way… or not. First of all, a groundhogs have never shown any particular meteorological inclinations… they were just the convenient hibernating mammal of choice. Now even I would make an effort to tune in the weather report for “Grizzly Bear Day”.

This whole thing is based on the fact that February 2nd falls precisely in the middle between Winter Solstice (first day of winter) and Vernal Equinox (first day of spring). An ancient religious ceremony that came to America with German settlers is responsible for the weather predicting element.

Called Candlemas, it was believed that the weather on this day would predict the rest of winter. If it was nice and warm, then it was a calm between winter storms, and spring would be late. If today has crummy weather, then the idea is that winter will get tired without a break, and spring arrives early.

That directly translates to Groundhog day as a warm sunny day means that Punxsutawney Phil (America’s foremost weatherhog) will cast a strong shadow that’s hard to miss… thus “early spring”. With poor weather, the cold dreary overcast of Pennsylvania means no shadow, and more winter. Basically, the groundhog here serves no more useful purpose than that of a stick.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole thing is that in a 50/50 situation Phil’s prediction record of the last century is quite poor at 39% accuracy. That suggests he’s actually trying to be wrong. That’s what you get for trusting a groundhog.

• Source: The Origin of Groundhog Day – Hubpages

Across the world a whole lot of gifts will get wrapped this week, and I’m gonna guess at least 50 percent of those will have ribbons. (the half wrapped by girls… but let’s face it, they’re probably doing the vast majority of wrapping anyways) The really fancy wrap jobs will also have those ribbons curled, and that brings us to today’s fact. Curling ribbons.

To be clear, I’m talking about plastic ribbons and the popular technique of scraping a blade of your scissors along the ribbon to create a permanent curl. The reason this happens is a molecular stretching of the plastic, but the outside of the ribbon (away from the blade) stretches more than the inside, producing the curl.

In that stressful action (for the ribbon only, I hope) the outer edge has a little bit further to travel. If you imagine breaking a branch. You hold on to the ends, and push with your foot on the middle. The branch always breaks on the outer side first. The inside of the branch has to curve around your foot, but the outside has to curve around your foot AND the inside portion of the branch. It has to stretch farther, and eventually breaks. Same deal with the ribbon, except the plastic stretches enough to avoid breaking.

A scientific study has shown that the best ribbon curls are produced with a slow stretch. I’ve seen some gift wrappers who rip along that ribbon like they are trying to start a lawnmower. However, the finest curls comes from a steady pace with consistent pressure. The reason for this is because the elasticity of the plastic can somewhat recover from a quick stretch, while the longer stretch leaves more permanent results.

• Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=secret-of-ribbon-curling

It’s Tuesday! But we came very close to calling this “Marsday” instead of Tuesday. Originally, in the ancient civilizations of Babylon, Greece, and Rome, each day of the week was named for the planets. At the time there were seven planets visible to the naked eye; Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and the Sun. (remember, in those days they assumed the sun revolved around the earth… well, everybody except for this guy)

Now those are the Roman names for the planets, named for their gods. So in Latin the days of the week were as follows: dies solis, dies lunae, dies Martis, dies Mercurii, dies Jovis, dies Veneris, and dies Saturni. All of the day names in the western European languages have descended from this, and some have not fallen far from the tree.

In French, for example, the Roman influence is strong: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, and samedi. Dimanche, the french word for Sunday, derives from a later update changing the Latin day to dies Domenica, the “day of the lord”.

The English names of the days share in that ancestry as evidenced in our Sunday, Monday (moon-day) and Satur(n)day. The other days come from an Anglo-Saxon substitution of the gods. While the characters mostly remained the same, the Germanic people changed the names of the gods to Woden (Odin), Tiu, Thor, and Freya. If you add “day” on to those they begin to sound familiar. Woden’s day, Tiu’s day, Thor’s day, and Freya’s day.

So be sure to celebrate Tuesday today in honour of the one-handed god of heroic victory and glory.

• Source: http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dow1.html

Today is Friday the 13th. While this pairing of number and day might cause some people concern, we’ve already established that I’m not to worried about the coincidences of calendars. But you may want to be on your guard today to ensure you don’t walk under a ladder.

There are a few theories out there for the origin and history of why it’s considered bad luck to wander underneath a ladder. The first comes from the Christian nations, where the ladder represented the holy trinity of father, son, and spirit. This is because the ladder forms a sacred triangle, whether free-standing or leaning against a wall, and to walk through this triangle is to “break” the trinity… to commit blasphemy. So, you walk under a ladder, you’re in league with the devil. Simple as that.

Another theory suggests that a ladder was associated with the gallows, a raised platform to facilitate public hangings. Naturally, anything related to that would have the bad luck stigma attached.

My boring old logical theory suggests that when you walk under a ladder, especially with somebody working above, you would be significantly increasing the odds of having something fall on you. In the same sense, it’s “bad luck” to stand at the train station on the bit of concrete that’s spattered with pigeon poop.

Now, if you do find yourself accidentally stumbling through a ladder/trinity today, don’t panic. There are things you can do to put the universe right again. Pick any one of these bad-luck-reversing tricks:

1. Spit. You can either spit three times through the rungs of the ladder, or alternatively spit on your shoe. But don’t dare look at your shoe until it has dried. (how are you supposed to know you hit your shoe in the first place? And what if you’re wearing sandals?)

2. Put it in reverse and back your way through the ladder again. Clearly this will undo what just happened.

3. Cross your fingers until you find a dog.

4. The bonus LSNED exclusive solution: stop believing in luck and keep on walking.

• Source: http://www.timelessmyths.co.uk/walking-under-a-ladder.html

This week British people will be celebrating Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th. They are celebrating the safety of the king, because in 1605 King James I almost didn’t live to see November 6th. On the other hand, there may not have been any risk at all. I smell intrigue!

Like most violent historical events, this one is also about religion. For 50 years, Queen Elizabeth I ruled England with a rather anti-Catholic attitude. The Catholics in England were optimistic for change when King James I came into power in 1603, but the same attitude prevailed. In the name of religious freedom a plot was hatched to blow up the parliament building along with everybody inside, including the king and many other officials who were down on Catholics. The theory being they could get a fresh start in the morning, the princess would be forced to marry a Catholic prince, and life would go on.

A group of 13 men planned the attack, but things went south on night of the 4th, and Guy Fawkes was discovered by guards waiting in the Parliament cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder. Over the next few days, the men were rounded up, tortured into extravagant confessions, then publicly hanged, drawn and quartered. (which means they were killed once, then killed again for show) The citizens of London immediately started a big old party to celebrate the king being alive, a tradition which continues today.

There are a few details of the story which don’t quite add up, and the theory is that the whole plot was discovered by the government early on but they let it play out, and indeed manipulated the events, in order to act on their own political agenda. (which included the killing of two Catholic Jesuits who were “mentioned” by the tortured prisoners)

Part of the celebrations of Bonfire Night, still practiced today, is throwing a Guy Fawkes dummy into the flames. Sometimes a dummy of a Catholic Pope is thrown in for good measure. (I’m assured this is just for the sake of tradition rather than religious intolerance) Occasionally a modern politician look-alike gets tossed in as well, for good measure.

Another tradition that remains from 1605 is that on the one day a year the monarch enters the Parliament building, the cellar is first checked and secured by the royal guard. Again, it’s pretty much just ceremonial, but hey, better safe than sorry.

• Source: http://www.bonfirenight.net/gunpowder.php