“The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.”  - Wikipedia (not the spy kind but the info kind)


This quote from another site on the history of the Christmas seems to make light of the effort and time that went into the advent of the decorated tree. To expand, Riga, in 1510, was a thriving village consisting of 2 castles, a NEEDS store, a gas station (Irving - what else) and a bar - not the crow kind but the booze kind.


“In castle #1 lived the Count Schnappit Hindendork and his fair wife Grunhilda Hindendork. Hindendork came from a long line his grandmother once heard at a Solstice Ball held in Bremen.

On the other side of town was the castle of the Baron Heinrich Splatzenberg of Splotz, a small dot on the map of the area to become known as Austria-Hungry of WWI starting fame. The good Baron shared his castle with the Baroness Finckles Splatzenberg, 13 horses, 7 sheep ( another story for another time), 6 Leaping Lords and a partridge.

Now because the area of Riga was a stronghold of the native pagans (of frolicking naked through the woods under a full moon fame (is there any other way to frolic??), also know as the eaters of small children and practisers of witchcraft and druidism), both the Count and the Baron felt it prudent to maintain certain traditions of said pagans. The least harmful of these traditions, in the eyes of the good castle owners, was that of taking some greenery into ones home/hut/abode/shed. (One man’s hut is another man’s castle) during the Solstice.

The good lady Finckles Splatzenbrg had long thought that her neighbour Grunhilda went a little too far to satisfy the pagans, but also was always a little jealous that Grunhilda’s Great Room always looked just a bit better than that of the Splatzenbergs. As the 1510 Solstice approached she ordered her Manservant (!) to bring in more greenery than the usual bough. Having no idea what the “good” lady desired, Fritz (the Manservant) had an entire tree brought into the Great Room under the logical belief it would be easier to remove what was left after the decorating than to continue making trips to the woods for more boughs.

Now it came to pass that Schnappit came to visit his friend Heinrich and noticed the tree standing in the corner of the Great Room. Unaware that the tree was an expedient and not an ornament, he mentioned this escalation in the bough wars to his wife, who ordered HER Manservant to bring in a larger tree ( size does matter). The very next day, Heinrich went to visit Schnappit, and noticed HIS tree in HIS Great Room - to add insult to injury, from where he was sitting, Heinrich saw, through the boughs of the bigger tree, the flickering lights of the candles on the mantle. Unaware of what exactly he saw, Heinrich hurried back to his castle and ordered HIS (Finckle’s) manservant to put some candles ON the tree standing in the corner of his Great Room...


After the fire department left, Heinrich consulted with his armourer, who came up with a plan to pound some left over armour into thin clips that would hold the candles in a somewhat safer manner. Well,  it went down hill from there....Grunhilda wanted candles too, and remembering how her jewellery glowed in the candle light when she wore it, hung a pair of ear rings (cheap ones, not the good stuff) on the tree to catch the glow. Finckles hung a string of pearls, Grunhilda hung a tin star HER armourer made for her. The partridge got into Finckle’s tree ( not at all anticipating another legend about a pear tree  to come in later years).  Foretelling electric train sets of 400 years later, Schnappit put a toy dog cart under his tree........”



quoted from Christmas and other Lies
                     Wikipedia
                     2004

Ahhhhh Wikipedia at it's finest  ;D
And all these years I thought it was a Petrocan station.

It was but they sold it.  ;D

Think I'll get my armour person to hammer out a new plane. Do you think it would fly IMAC? Wonder how it will look under the tree? Probably would glisten under all those pretty lights.

al wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2013 at 2:40pm:

It was but they sold it.  ;D Think I'll get my armour person to hammer out a new plane. Do you think it would fly IMAC? Wonder how it will look under the tree? Probably would glisten under all those pretty lights.

would surly glisten if you light the candle    >:(

:postpics  and acid :))

I can suppppplyy the ac.....ooooooohhhh look at the pretty purple mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :I Didnt Do It :Naaah :YaRight

Yak Man wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2013 at 4:47pm:

:postpics  and acid :))

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Well now that sure beats Christmas in Kalarney!
LOL, Now I know I'm going to regret getting into this.  Sandy, ac comes from the wall and Bruce provided the pic but I kind of was hoping it would be from the  frolicking naked(please let it not be you Bruce :stop :That Was Close ) through the woods under a full moon fame type. Just saying
[smiley=laugh.gif]

Fingers wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2013 at 5:07pm:

I can suppppplyy the ac.....ooooooohhhh look at the pretty purple mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :I Didnt Do It :Naaah :YaRight

..id but it is hard to come by. More controls on it than fertilizer  >:( This time of year, with all the bright lights and music (like Brenda Lee Rocking around the freakin' tree  :wallbash) a good tab can add an entirely new dimension  :Raa Raa

Did everyone else see that purple cow?? And the thought of Bruce frolicking in any form just wastes what's left of my mind.... :excited

Here's your fantasy Al.   :Really Im Reading :Really Im Reading

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wow! Frolicing Fraulines, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Nice.............considering we need to keep this PG [smiley=laugh.gif]

Reminds me of a typical Friday night in my youth. Oh how I loved the frolicking fraulines of Montreal!

Glen wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2013 at 2:14pm:

Ahhhhh Wikipedia at it's finest  ;D And all these years I thought it was a Petrocan station.

Started as a Shell Station (think about it) then sold to Petrocan thence to Oiving)

heck, I met those ladies at meat cove in cape breton.  ring of rocks, nice fire, flowers all over the rocks..... 8-)

pretty darned near the end of the earth up there. 

ran into them another time while at maragree, on that big cliff near the duck cove in, at sunset, smoking babes...... ;D

ahhh...memories lol

whitey wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2013 at 12:19pm:

Reminds me of a typical Friday night in my youth. Oh how I loved the frolicking fraulines of Montreal!

not to mention the  latter FF's of Moncton  :bedtime  and I'm not mentioning them   ::)

al wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2013 at 1:20pm:

ran into them another time while at maragree, on that big cliff near the duck cove in, at sunset, smoking babes...... ;D

Ramsey smokes babies - in his green machine; I believe the FF's at Duck cove  were chucking them, as in off the cliff.....

:popcorn
Sandy.......the purple comment did not go unnoticed! :thinking

I wasn't asking about a purple comment - was asking about a purple cow  :HitPalm

On far off hills
And distant rills,
Sounds a distant moo.
A purple spot
I think I caught,
Yes! I see it, too!

In Bovine majesty she stands,
Her purple tail she swings,
The amethyst cow,
To my heart somehow,
Perfect joy she brings.

And yet the thought of being
Of that race of royal hue,
Though glowing like the violet sweet,
It really would not do.

OMG the man's a poet!!! Captures the essence of the majestic bovine, distant rills, swinging rills and royal purple hues.....................

what a talent, actually it's by the Hollanders but we won't tell anyone... ::)

One lonely, gloomy, windswept eve
A mournful sound did I perceive.
I cast my eyes beyond the pane
And to my horror down the lane
Came a sight; I froze inside
A spectral cow with purple hide.

They also wrote this parody of Poe... :D

Hey!! Or hay, if you prefer, how'd we get from Riga and Christmas trees to purple cows? - Cool, this is all your doing  :protest

Quote:

Started as a Shell Station

Hath someoneth forgeteth the White Roses that once upon a time used to dot the sides of the hi-ways and Bye(buy)-ways? :-?

Remember one being in Hatchett :timetobuild Lake and another in Indian Harbour.

they all fell victim to the War of the Roses  me thinksus..... :Thank You Loyal Fans

[quoteDid everyone else see that purple cow][/quote]

Yes. ;D

And can do one better.... :Mooo
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Had one [smiley=vrolijk_26.gif]





By the way, All the foolishness of the season to you, one and all.