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Show 10 THE GREEN SHEET Monday, December 22, 1986 Hear The Song bv Olga Milius Green Sheet Statf M riter GRANGER. Chestnuts roasting Jack Frost nipping at your nose- - winter memories encompass all the emotions and nostalgia of Christmas, but there are also other fondly remembered moments that happen only in the colder months of the year. For instance, I only have to hear that song to smell the aroma of the chestnuts which we would place on a shovel on the fire during a winter evening and roast them until the on an open fire - -- - Smell Chestnuts On An Open Fire skins popped and the warm nuts were ours for the eating. I havent roasted chestnuts in more than 40 years, but I can still smell them when I hear that song. And remember how they tasted, too. Or, how about hot roasted potatoes? There was a little old man and his family, who on a cold winter evening would park his handcart near the railroad station in a Lancashire town I knew; and as we left the station we would hear his not-so-o- call. Hot roast potatoes -- guaranteed to warm the cockles of 1 your heart. They did, too. You could cradle that hot, brown spud in your freezing hands and feel the heat go right down to your toes. Then, when your hands were warm enough, pop the skin and enjoy the warmth inside of you. And I often wish he was around when I have to go out on a cold night. Christmas itself lasted from early December until Twelfth Night, Jan. Twelve Days of 6, the end of the Christmas. Caroling went on through that night. Trees stayed up, decorations were in place, the whole exciting atmosphere of the holidays and the warmth it brings to winter were ours to enjoy. Among the customs in our part of the world was a visit by the New Years Eve mummers. Groups of young people would visit the home, enter without knocking and silently sweep the hearth. No word was to be exchanged as they performed their service and left, but the visit was a guarantee of good luck in the coming year. Always provided, of course, you d man was made sure a dark-haire- the first person to cross your threshold on New Years morning. Rather than leave that to chance, dark-haire- d many familes, owning a husband or son of their own, would send him out in the early hours to circle the block (row houses being common) and enter by the front door, letting in the New Year the way it should be done and, again, forassuring the household of a tunate year ahead. Twelfth Night parties were big. Most were costume parties, offering a chance to dress up as knights and ladies of old, or as Harlequin and . . . clowns, jesters, kings and queens, fairies, even animals. And the dances included the traditional Sir Roger de Coverly, as well as round dances offering a change in Games partners after each stanza. Gathermight include Here We Go Who, When, ing Nuts In May, Where? or The Ministers Cat. And the food always included all kinds of tarts - lemon curd, jam, mincemeat, chess; and, of course, trifle, thick with clotted cream and decked with candied cherries and nuts. Continued on page 15 Columbine, |
