After our first expeditions ashore on West Falkland, Le Lyrial began a journey of two days across the Scotia Sea to South Georgia. Scotia Sea, which covers the waters between Drake Passage, Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Island, the South Orkney Islands, and Antarctica, was our first experience in choppy ocean water.
Articles Categorized History
WASSAIL!
Wassail,( pronounced WAA – sl), comes from Old Norse ves heill, “Be Well”, and is a custom of long-standing. In the 14th century, the term referred to a warm beverage [recipe below] that included alcoholic spirits. The term also described the resulting raucous behavior in which wassailers called upon members of higher classes to wish
Christmas Carols, or, Boar’s Heads, Angels, & Partridges
With Thanksgiving behind us, we are on the cusp of Christmas Carol season. Retailers started playing the melodies weeks ago, but soon there will be a full roster of community, church, and school programs featuring traditional carols. On the left, is a sedate picture of a mother and her daughters singing in the dignified repose
Lady Mount-Edgcumbe, Faro’s Daughter
Have you ever taken a rapid, probably shallow breath, and said, “I feel like my hair is on fire.”? It isn’t, of course. It’s the same hair you’ve always had. It still sits on your head, and the flames that seem real to you are entirely invisible. You might be interested to find out that
Yule Tide Festivals
Winter Solstice on December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere is both the shortest day of the year, and the first day of Winter. The word solstice finds its root in the Latin words sol for sun and sistere, meaning “to stand.” The term also refers to new birth, as a new year rises from the
The Miraculous Gifts of St. Nicholas
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. These often over-looked lines from Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem about the night before Christmas raise at least two pertinent questions: Who was St. Nicholas? And, why does he need stockings? The Real St. Nicholas St. Nicholas
Time to “Deck the Halls”
With December almost upon us, it’s time to think about decorating for the festive season — a custom with long roots in our cultural history. Among the songs of the season, Deck the Halls seems to be about decorating dwellings and shops for Christmas, but, like many customs, the song and its meaning has changed
The Rehabilitation of Victoria Woodhull
Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to address a Congressional Committee and the first woman to run for president. She and her sister were known as spiritualists as well as being the first women to own a newspaper and a stock brokerage. But Victoria Woodhull’s most notorious reputation was her advocacy for free love. Thomas
The Sewing Machine Revolutionized Stitchery
The sewing machine, beloved by stitching hobbyists and home fashionistas, was invented by French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier. In 1830 he patented a mechanical device that could produce a simple chain stitch that would allow uniforms for the French army to be mass produced, rather than sewn by hand. Thimonnier’s innovation was not well-received. Realizing mechanized
Aphra Behn: Restoration Playwright
In 1929 Virginia Woolf published A Room of One’s Own in which she argued that if a woman is going to write fiction, she must have money and a room of her own. Woolf developed her theme by looking at female writers in history, many of whom did not publish their writings. In her observations
