Mary Christmas makes the list of Britain's most unfortunate names

Mary Christmas is among the names compiled for a list of unfortunate monikers, along with the likes of Teresa Green, Jo King, Justin Case and (my favourite) Carrie Oakey (from the US).

But, of course, it's not only people that have names connected to the festive season, such as Holly, and even Snow! There are places too.

Within the UK there is a Cold Christmas (Hertfordshire), Stocking and Mistletoe Oak (Herefordshire), Turkey Island (Hampshire), Cranberry (Staffordshire), Sproutes (West Sussex), and Nut Crackers (Devon).

A Victorian Christmas on the farm

Victorian Farm is an historical observational documentary series showing on BBC2 at the moment. It follows a team living as Victorian farmers for a year (they wear period clothes and use only the materials that would have been available in 1885). The project is based on the Acton Scott estate in Shropshire.

Working for a full calendar year, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are rediscovering a lost world of skills, crafts and knowledge, assisted by an ever-dwindling band of experts who keep Victorian rural practices alive.

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This week saw them preparing for winter, as autumn came to an end, and of course there was a traditional Victorian Christmas to look forward to, including decorations, cookery and church carols. The programme ended with them celebrating Christmas Day with the friends they had made over the previous four months.

To see how the Victorians celebrated Christmas for yourself, log onto the BBC's iPlayer here.

Until next time...

Now that the Christmas season is well and truly over, I won't be posting here as regularly as I did in the run up to the big day (and the 12 days afterwards). That's not to say I'm shutting this blog down. I'll still post relevant, interesting tidbits as and when they come up, but just don't expect me to be very active for the foreseeable future. Of course, come Christmas 2009, it will be a different matter entirely.
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To keep up with everything else I'm up to you can log onto my Jonathan Green, Author blog, as well as the Pax Britannia blog, which will specifically keep you update with regards to all things steampunk.
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But, for the time being, until next time...

Signing this evening at Forbidden Planet, London

Jonathan Green

Pax Britannia: Human Nature

Join Jonathan Green at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, on Friday 9th January 6.00pm – 7.00pm.

Ulysses Quicksilver is chasing a mermaid – right up to the industrially polluted North of England and the fishing village where she was supposedly caught. What he finds are the horrors of man’s own selfishness; as he’s trapped within the very heart darkness, threatened in body and mind, he has to escape a fate that is literally worse than death.


This is a fantastical, steampunk science fiction novel from the co-creator of the Pax Britannia world!

S Rozhdestvom!

Or, in English, Merry Christmas to all our Russian readers!

Yes, today - thirteen days after the Western Christmas Day - on 7 January, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its Christmas, in accordance with the old Julian calendar. It's a day of both solemn ritual as well as joyous celebration.

After the 1917 Revolution, Christmas was banned throughout Russia, along with other religious celebrations. It wasn't until 75 years later, in 1992, that the holiday was openly observed. Today, it's once again celebrated in grand fashion, with the faithful participating in an all-night Mass in incense-filled Cathedrals amidst the company of the painted icons of Saints.

An old Russian tradition, which has its roots in the Orthodox faith, is the Christmas Eve fast and meal. The fast typically lasts until after the evening worship service or until the first star appears. The dinner that follows is very much a celebration, although meat is not permitted. Kutya, a type of porridge, is the main dish and full of symbolism - its ingredients being various grains for hope and honey and poppy seed for happiness and peace.

So, if you're celebrating the Russian Orthodox Christmas today - S Rozhdestvom and S Novym Godom!

The old ones are the best...

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me... twelveTwelfth Night traditions!

Twelfth Night is traditionally the time to take down your Christmas tree and any other festive decorations. To leave evergreens up in the house after this point is to bring bad luck on the household!

Here are some other Twelfth Night traditions that you might - or might not - be familiar with.

1) Twelfth Night is also known as Epiphany, the date on which the Christian Church celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child.

2) The feast of the Epiphany originated in the East during the third century, in honour of Christ’s baptism.

3) During a special service held at St James’s Palace, London, on 6 January, members of the Royal Household present the Chapel Royal with the three gifts brought to the Christ child by the Magi.

4) At one time, the highlight of the Twelfth Night celebrations was the cutting of the twelfth-cake, which was supposed to have a dried pea or bean hidden somewhere inside it. Whoever found the bean was proclaimed king or queen for the rest of the evening’s fun and frivolity.

5) Another tradition involving a cake, upheld by the cast of the play currently being performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is the eating of the Baddeley Cake. This is as a result of a stipulation made in the last will and testament of one Robert Baddeley, an actor from the eighteenth century, after whom the cake is named.

6) In the West of England Twelfth Night is the time when wassailing ceremonies are carried out.

7) At one time in England, Twelfth Night was known as being a good occasion on which to carry out various good luck rituals, as well as for its religious processions which almost went hand-in-hand with the spirited, and good humoured, revels.

8) One such ritual had farmers lighting bonfires to drive evil spirits away from their farms and fields, the tipsy agriculturalists cheering as they circled the fires to hasten the hobgoblins on their way.

9) There was also the time-honoured guessing game, whereby the (now probably inebriated) farmer had to guess what was being roasted in the kitchen before being permitted to re-enter his own home. This was not as easy as it might sound because his good wife might have something as ridiculously inedible as a shoe turning on the spit.

11) On 6 January you would also find Morris men dancing in the streets, along with fools and hobby-horses.

12) Practical jokes were the name of the game on Twelfth Night and the playing of games – particularly games of chance – with everyone determined to make the most of the last day of the holiday season.

So if you're planning to see Christmas out with a bang...

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you, and send you
A happy New Year,
And God send you
A happy New Year.