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Posted on Dec 27, 2008 by Jodie in English Cuisine, English Culture, English Places, English Traditions
With a history and culture as rich as it can be, there is no doubt that one can experience a myriad of festivities all throughout the country during the period of Christmas. As diverse as the activities are, one of the most popular is going around visiting various Christmas markets.
Year in and year out, visitors and locals alike look forward to Christmas markets all over the country. Here are some of the popular ones this year.
Bath Christmas Market
This has been a tradition in Bath since 2001. The town itself has a lot of other things to offer, especially the historic Abbey where the market is located. The traditional wooden stalls used as shops in the market add to the ambiance. More so, one can expect a lot of unique items.
Frankfurt Christmas Market
This is being held in Birmingham and is considered the largest Christmas market outside of Germany and Austria – definitely a unique experience!
Manchester Christmas Markets
Manchester is not to be outdone when it comes to markets this Christmas. It has more than one! There is a traditional German market, a European market, and an Arts and Crafts Market.
These are only a few of the on going Christmas markets in Britain today. More than the food, crafts, and other items on sale, visitors can enjoy the festive atmosphere with the entertainment being offered everywhere. This is a good time to feel the English culture at its festive best – wherever in England you may want to go.
Who has not heard of the Christmas card? Just like many things associated with Christmas, most people all over the world know about it. I actually do not know anyone – from Europe, the Americas, and Asia – who has not received or given at least one Christmas card in his lifetime. Have you?
For many, though, Christmas cards are merely part of the celebrations. They do not really know the origins of this tradition. Let’s take a step back in time and see where this humble – but powerful – piece of paper came from
The year was 1843. The protagonists men named John Calcott Horsley and Henry Cole. These two men came up with the idea of what we now know as the Christmas card. Yet was this really the root of the card? Historians actually say that even as far back as the ancient Roman times, a form of the Christmas card was already in practice. It is said that the emperors in those times received tablets with engravings as gifts for the New Year. The practice was for the people to send these tablets to their leader. In a sense, those tablets were the first Christmas cards.
Obviously, as time passed by, modifications were made and the Christmas card as we know it today could be traced back to Horsley and Cole’s creation. It was in 1846 that the first commercial printing of the Christmas card was done. The design was simple – a family drinking a toast and the caption “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” A thousand copies were made but they didn’t really sell.
From those humble origins, Christmas cards have gone a long way. Have you gotten and sent your Christmas yet?
You probably hear them everyday now. Christmas songs are played most everywhere and if you turn the radio on, you will probably hear them being played even more. In some countries, Christmas songs are played as early as September. More often than not, though, the really successful songs are those that were created eons ago – the classics, as we call them.
Over the decades, though, year in and year out, artists attempt to come up with their own Christmas songs. I am not talking about remakes of the oldies but modern originals. Yet I still have to find one that can hold its own amongst Christmas songs of old. It seems that the experts are thinking the same way. Pete Paphides of The Times Online tried his hand at defining what a great Christmas song is:
An uphill struggle? “Yes, that’s one way of looking at it.” Displaying the laconic realism that was once the hallmark of his old band Squeeze, Chris Difford is contemplating the task that he set himself when the BBC asked him single-handedly to revive the pan-generational irony-swerving Christmas classic. Has he pulled it off?
When his choir-festooned, bells-blazing cockle-warmer Let’s Not Fight This Christmas airs on The One Show on BBC One tonight — all proceeds to Children in Need — you’ll get to judge for yourself. You would have to be “optimistic to the point of madness”, Difford acknowledges, to go into such an enterprise thinking that you might emulate deathless seasonal classics by Slade, Wizzard and the Pogues. “Not only are you fighting against the quality of those songs,” he adds, “but you’re fighting against the nostalgia people feel for those songs, not to mention The X Factor.”
He goes on to say that it seems that Christmas songs coming from the working class are more successful. I honestly do not know – I actually walked away from his article a bit confused. All I know is that a good Christmas song makes me feel nostalgic and giddily happy at the same time.
What makes a good Christmas song for you?
It is a good time for film lovers right now. There are a lot of film festivals going on in many parts of the world but for those in the UK, there’s one interesting festival last week. Dubbed the British Urban Film Festival (BUFF), this event started on Tuesday of this week. So what is the BUFF all about? This is what the official web site has to say:
This is where it all begins. As film continues to diversify, The British Urban Film Festival is a fantastic opportunity to highlight our commitment to film and to celebrate the pivotal role we can play at every stage of the film-making process. Our single uppermost goal is to attract all film lovers as well as people who just want to be entertained. The content that we show offers genuine insight into people and places that are rarely documented and which demand attention.
BUFF provides an exciting environment for outstanding talent with a level of participation that goes beyond the screening. We hope that BUFF will be seen as an opportunity not just to watch great entertainment, but for the audience at large to be armed with knowledge, to appreciate the art of storytelling and to be inspired by the skills of the storytellers and become mobilised. We feel very privileged to serve you. Long may you enjoy the experience.
It is a pity that this year’s festival is now over. I am sure that with its success, though, it will be held again in the coming years. If I were you, I would support it. After all, they are reportedly having problems with the funding. I am hoping – along with their supporters, I am sure – that the government will see the value of BUFF and channel some funds into this worthwhile endeavor.
Photo courtesy of The Guardian
British artist Mark Leckey has been distinguished with the Turner Prize – something that most people just aspire for but never end up getting. The Turner Prize started in 1984 and is meant to celebrate remarkable developments in contemporary art. Every year since then, the Turner Prize has been awarded to a British artist under the age of 50 who held an exhibition (or something of that sort) in the past year. The group dubbed Patrons of New Art are the ones who came up with the Turner Prize, originally with the aim of helping to buy new art for Tate Gallery. The prize is named after JMW Turner, who was a great artist in his own right.
This year, it is Mark Leckey who was honored with this prize. Who is Mark Leckey? Wikipedia has this write up on him:
Mark Leckey’s video work has as its subject the “tawdry but somehow romantic elegance of certain aspects of British culture.” Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) is a video essay, made from found footage, about British youth dance subcultures. His 2005 DVD installation Drunken Bakers, based on the Drunken Bakers characters from the Viz comic, is about drinking culture in the North of England.
He exhibited alongside Damien Hirst in the 1990 New Contemporaries exhibition at the ICA but afterwards dropped from view, before making a “comeback” with Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore in 1999.
In 2004 he participated in Manifesta 5, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art. In 2006 he participated in the Tate Triennial and his works are held in the collections of the Tate and the Centre Pompidou.
Controversial or not, he was the favorite of the art circle for this year’s Turner Prize – and he came out on top!
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