There is always some debate here about Twelfth Night...
Is it January 5th or January 6th?
My mum always took our Christmas decorations down on January 6th and we have followed suit... except for the year the tree fell over, or the year the needles had all fallen off by Boxing Day, or the years when we really feel we must clear Christmas away to make way for Bookhound's birthday on January 2nd.
I turned to my definitive and much-thumbed copy of Steve Roud's The English Year for some advice, and once he had unravelled the confusion of 'Old and New Style dates created by the change of calendar in 1752' the date became clear...
'In earlier times, 'Twelfth Night' meant 5 January, i.e. the Eve of Twelfth Day, in the same way Christmas Eve precedes Christmas Day. But nowadays most people regard 'Twelfth Night' as meaning the evening of Twelfth Day (6 January).
My mum was right enough.
Anyway, it's only January 4th, I'm a bit ahead of the day but thought it would be good to wind up any thoughts on The Dark is Rising.
The discussion on Twitter continues and has been a well-conducted, erudite and proper book group discussion, much of it investigating and interrogating the book and its meaning and allegories in some depth, with some fascinating observations and contributions. Proof that these things can work even when contributors have only 280 characters to play with.
Me...well, I've read much more superficially this time, for the joy of a page-turner knowing others were reading simultaneously around the world, and for the way it somehow accessed my Inner Child reader.
So I have no deep and meaningful thoughts to share, just the feeling that comes from turning the last page on a book that contributed so much to my Christmas and Midwinter atmosphere and mood this year. Sometimes I find myself in overdrive, trying too hard to feel 'Christmassy'... this year it just happened of its own accord and much of it thanks to The Dark is Rising and paying some mindful attention to Midwinter, the solstice and the Shortest Day...
And not forgetting this poem by Susan Cooper which someone mentioned in comments here, and I thank them for it.
The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper
So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!
Please do add your The Dark is Rising thoughts in comments; learned, deep and meaningful, or just happy-to-have-read-it... all are welcome, and thank you one and all for joining in.
I have really enjoyed this shared read so how about (deo volente) we read The Box of Delights by John Masefield over Christmas 2018... someone please remind me I suggested that.
Recent Comments