Greetings!
This year is quickly drawing to a close and I hope it has been a wonderful year for you. While full of ups and downs, the year has certainly been exciting and allowed me the opportunity over the last 6 months to learn more about the Kingdom and the wonderful members of the Middle Kingdom.
One of the many things I have learned is that Middle Kingdom Law is in need of an update. To that end, the members of Curia and I have begun to take a closer look at our Kingdom Law in order to take care of some housekeeping items, see where change may be needed, and, hopefully, to find a way to better organize it so it is easier to reference. Keep an eye out for these changes and hopefully by next year a fully revised version of the Kingdom Law will be available. (Well, that’s my goal at any rate.) Maybe that would be a good New Year’s resolution!
I wish everyone safe travels as you celebrate the Holiday Season, especially in the lands of snow and ice. I love research, in case you haven’t noticed, and thought I’d share with you some of what I found regarding ancient holiday traditions this time of year so we can celebrate together and understand how interconnected we are.
For example, many ancient religions held great importance for the phenomenon of the winter solstice, the time when daylight was at its shortest and the night was at its longest during the year. In the Julian calendar, this date originally fell on December 25th. It was at this point in the year that the Romans held midwinter celebrations called Saturnalia, which was the god Saturn. This included feasts and the custom of giving wax dolls to children as presents. In the Celtic areas of the Roman empire, it was tradition for men and women to dress in clothes of the opposite sex and then go dancing with animal masks on. Around the year 300 a new religion, Christianity, created a holiday to celebrate Jesus’ birth and, since the actual date was not recorded, it was decided to celebrate it on December 25th as it coincides from a theological basis exactly nine months from March 25th, which was believed to be the day on which the world was created.
These are just a few religious holidays, on a single day, our medieval ancestors celebrated this time of year. I wish you a Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, Merry Kwanzaa, Wonderful Diwali, Spectacular Ramadan, Festive Yuletide, Joyous Winter Solstice, and Happy Holidays, including any I might have missed.
Yours in Service,
Master Cerridwen verch Ioreword, OL
Middle Kingdom Seneschal
[1]Christmas in the Middle Ages. 2 December 2015. <http://www.medievalists.net/2010/12/25/christmas-in-the-middle-ages/>