These days, with an emphasis on saving energy and on being more aware of our environment, inventions like LED Christmas lights are being used more and more. Because LED lights use up less energy, don’t get hot like traditional lights and last longer, their use has changed the face of Christmas lighting and lighting in general. But when did the idea to put lights up for the holidays first arise?

History of Christmas lights

The idea of using lights as decoration at Christmas was something that had been taking place for some time.

The first illuminated Christmas trees were lit with candles, but even before the age of Christmas, light played an important part in ancient festivities that took place around this time of the year. Sun-worshiping pagans lit candles during the festivals of the Winter solstice, which coincide with the modern Christmas period, because they hoped that providing light from candles and bonfires would encourage the sun’s warmth and light to return after the cold, dark winter.

With the Christianization of pagan holidays, the candle-lighting tradition was incorporated into Christmas customs although it seems that this tradition really regained major popularity after the 18th century.

Around the 18th century it became a popular tradition in many Protestant upper-class German homes to honor Christmas by decorating their Christmas trees with many small miniature candles. The candles were sometimes glued to the tree with melted wax and at other homes they were attached to the trees with pins.

Because of the fire hazard that the flickering candles presented, by the early 1900s lantern-like glass balls were used to hold the illuminated candles, and after the invention of the light bulb, eventually the glass balls of light evolved into the traditional Christmas lights we know today. In spite of the modernization of Christmas lights there are still some places in the world that continue to utilize the old-fashioned candle lights.

What do the Christmas lights symbolise to Christians?

Regardless of their pagan origins, the Christmas lights have amassed new symbolism and meaning since becoming a Christian Christmas tradition. What do the Christmas lights symbolise in Christianity?

I did have a chuckle when I heard the joke that the Christmas lights are put up to help Santa Claus find your house and easily locate the tree in order to put presents under it, but the Christmas lights also have a more meaningful religious symbolism:

• Symbol of the starry night on which Christ was born:
  Some people like to think of the lights representing the Star of Bethlehem, the sign that marked that Christ was born.
• Symbol of the light of Christ:
  In Christian tradition, candles are a symbol for Jesus and the light he brings to earth even in the darkest times. Some believe that the light is symbolic of the eternal light of Jesus’ spirit that is particularly kept in mind over Christmas. Different colored candles also represented different qualities, for example a white candle represents the purity of Christ whilst a pink candle represents joy.
• Symbol of the light, hope and good in the world:
  The Christmas lights also served to remind good Christians to provide light to others.
• Symbol of following the enlightened path:
  Some suggest that the Christmas lights are a reminder to follow the way of Christ. The path of lights that wind around the tree leading to the star at the top may be symbolic of the enlighted path to salvation.

Credits:
Article contributions from Robert Lobitz

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Acid Test Meaning

In the world of finance and banking, the term “acid test ratio” is a number that tells you about the financial integrity of the company. It tells you how likely a company is to pay its short-term debts and obligations on time. Typically companies with low ratio numbers (especially those less than 1) are considered risky, whilst those with a higher number are in better stead and pass the figurative acid test. Have you ever wondered why such an assessment would be called an “acid test ratio”?

In non-financial terms too, why do we use phrases like: ” The acid test for your friendship is seeing if a friend will agree to take you to the airport at 5:30am!” How did “acid test” come to mean “the ultimate test of genuineness, quality and worth”? How did the phrase “acid test” arise?

The Rise of the Acid Test Phrase

It is interesting that the term “acid test ratio” is often used in the world of finance because its origin is based on the testing of something financially very valuable: gold.

Between 1848-1855 the famous California Gold Rush occurred, where a man named John Marshall discovered gold in Coloma, California. The people who were trying their luck to strike it rich and search for gold had to have a way of finding out if the metals they found were indeed gold and not some inferior base metal. One simple, quick and cheap chemical test used to affirm that the metal was indeed gold, was the Acid Test.

A drop of acid such as nitric acid was applied to the metal. Gold is a stable metal and resists corrosion in most acids. If the metal fizzed and showed corrosion after the acid application, it was a clear indication that the metal was not pure, genuine gold and was likely made of less precious base metals like iron, copper, nickel and zinc.

Ever since the widespread use of the Acid Test in the Gold Rush days, the meaning of “acid test” was popularized as the definitive test of something precious, genuine and important.

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- Sleep Tight: Why do I say Sleep Tight?

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Why is there the Portuguese tradition of decorating things with good luck roosters?

If you’ve ever eaten at the Portuguese-Mozambican restaurant chain, Nando’s, you most likely noticed their logo: a stylized rooster. Although a rooster makes a good logo for a restaurant specializing in chicken, there is a deeper story behind this rooster which is connected to the restaurant’s Portuguese affiliation. If you ever visit Portugal you’re likely to see a rooster in many of the souvenir shops and also in many Portuguese homes. This Portuguese rooster is called the “Galo de Barcelos”, or the Rooster of Barcelos and it is one of the unofficial emblems of Portugal.

What is the Rooster of Barcelos and how did it become the emblem of Portugal?

The image of the Portuguese rooster of Barcelos is a reference to an old legend in which a rooster miraculously saved a man’s life!

The story is set in a city called Barcelos which is located in north-west Portugal. Pilgrims often passed through Barcelos as part of their pilgrimage to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela; A pilgrimage route also known as the Way of St James, which is still walked by devout Christians to this day. It was one such pilgrim who was instrumental in bringing the legend of the lucky rooster to life in Portugal.

Exhausted from the long walk, the pilgrim decided to rest his weary legs at an inn in Barcelos. Whilst there, a local man discovered that his silver had been stolen. Since the pilgrim was new in the town and happened to have been in the vicinity around the time when the silver went missing, an accusatory finger was swiftly pointed at the pilgrim. The pilgrim was duly arrested and set to be hanged for his dastardly deed.

Knowing he was innocent, the pilgrim made a desperate plea to appeal his case to the local judge. Agreeing grudgingly, the guards took the pilgrim to see the judge who happened to be in the middle of a sumptuous banquet. The spread was magnificent with a delicious roasted rooster sitting enticingly on the table. The pilgrim interrupted the feast and made his case. The sceptical judge ignored the pilgrim’s desperate words, saying that there was no proof of his innocence.

Certain of his innocence and unwavering in his belief in the power of a fair and loving God, the pious pilgrim fell to his knees and began fervently praying to his Maker. Spotting the roasted rooster on the table, he prayed that God would prove his innocence by making the rooster that was sitting on the platter before the judge, come to life and crow in protest should the hanging take place.

Unconvinced, but losing his appetite, the judge set the rooster aside in disgust and asked the guards to take the pilgrim away. The hanging would go ahead as planned.

The hour of the hanging of the unfortunate pilgrim arrived and just as the punishment was to be exected, a rooster’s loud crow pierced the air! Witnesses claimed to have seen the cast-aside roasted rooster standing up from the table and crowing, just as the pilgrim had prayed it would.

Realising the implications of the crow, the judge quickly regretted the hanging and commanded the pilgrim be released from the gallows immediately. Greatly relieved, the pilgrim was freed and continued on his way to Santiago de Compostelo, having been saved by the miraculous crowing roasted rooster!

Such a miracle was reminiscent of those only read about in the Bible. It was so momentous that ever since then the rooster took its proud place in the history of Portugal.

A symbol of the rooster was painted on objects to act as a reminder of this miracle and of the moral of this tale.

What exactly is the moral of this story? What does the Rooster of Barcelos represent?

The rooster of Barcelos stands for:

• Honesty: The pilgrim was innocent. He did not steal and expressed this truthfully. His honesty was eventually rewarded by God who provided a miracle that saved his life.
• Faith: If it weren’t for the pious pilgrim’s faith in God, the story may have had a different ending, so this legend demonstrates both the power of God and the importance of having faith.
• Fairness: The tale reminds us to be fair, refrain from believing unproven accusations and avoid making potentially unjust, snap judgements of our fellow man.
• Luck: Some call the rooster of Barcelos the “good luck rooster” or the “lucky rooster” because it was a rooster that saved the pilgrim’s life. As a result it is considered by some to be lucky to have his image around.

With all these positive messages behind it, it is no wonder that the rooster’s popularity has held strong to this day. And Nando’s restaurants can be proud of their logo because the traits it represents are admirable ones for any business to have!

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Most of us have heard of people who have made religious pilgrimages but for those who are not particularly religious or those who know little about the details of a pilgrimage, the idea of what drives a person to walk for days to get to a holy site can be quite mysterious when in our day and age they could get there through modern transportation. Why do people go on pilgrimages?

Reasons for pilgrimage:

The motivation is usually different for each person, but there are some basic common underlying themes behind why people go on pilgrimages:

1.) Pilgrimage as an act of penance for sins

You know how some people say “I’d do anything for you to forgive me!”? Well, pilgrimages are some people’s way of “doing anything” for the sake of forgiveness.

People who are truly sorry for something they’ve done may demonstrate how rependant they are by dedicating time and effort to go on a long pilgrimage which usually includes many hours walking on foot. Although many modern religions no longer promote suffering as a means of repentance, some religions still abide by these ancient customs, seeing the suffering of a person as they go on a gruelling journey as a form of penance for their sins. The idea is that God will see this action as a clear sign that they are sincerely sorry and can then be forgiven. God’s forgiveness is sought in the hope of improving their chances of going to heaven.

2.) Pilgrimage as an act of devotion to God in exchange for a miracle

Those who seek something that seems very difficult or almost impossible to achieve, like receiving a healing from a long-term incurable problem like illness or infertility, or finding success in a field of their life which up until now has evaded them, be it work, romance or anything else, may all look for a miracle from God. In exchange for the miracle, they demonstrate their devotion to God by going on a pilgrimage. Henry VIII is said to have made such a pilgrimage (to Walsingham) when he implored God to give him a male heir.

Many stories of miracles occurring to pilgrims during or after a pilgrimage exist. One source for example, notes that the Catholic Church recognizes 65 miracles to have taken place at the pilgrimage hotspot, Lourdes.

3.) Pilgrimages in order to touch a holy relic which can bring good fortune

Many of the religious sites sought out by pilgrims were made were popular because they housed some religious relic, such as a cloth soaked in the blood of a saint, or a piece of a saint’s skeleton, or a part of Jesus’s cross. Some believed that coming in close proximity to artefacts touched by holy people could rub some luck off on them, especially if the artefact belonged to someone with traits that are desired, such as being famous for great courage or for healing abilities.

4.) To experience the joyous feeling of spiritual connection and being close to God

Some people go on pilgrimages simply because it is an opportunity for them to enjoy the feeling of connection with God and all His creations.

Joy can be experienced in every little thing that is usually taken for granted. The joy of waking up to a fresh day, delighting in the observation of your life-giving breath, experiencing all the wonders around you – the trees, flowers, sky, mountains, the unique aromas in your surroundings, the sounds, the sensation of the soft breeze on your skin.. Pleasure can be felt as you observe yourself, your environment and the people around you, feeling how everything is connected by being one creation of God.

It can make you realise how we are all equal and no-one is superior or inferior to one another. On a pilgrimage, there is a feeling that all are equal in the eyes of God, regardless of their status in the everyday world. This can bring a wonderful sense of “togetherness” and belonging.

All this awareness and appreciation can be tremendously exhilarating and fill you with a delicious feeling of bliss.

5.) Pilgrimages as a form of escapism from distractions to give an opportunity to reflect and to receive God-given guidance

A pilgrimage is an opportunity to have some quiet time away from the demands of daily life, to reflect. In everyday life people are often preoccupied by their relationships, work, leaky roofs and other niggling troubles. As a result many find little time to take a step back and reflect on the most important things in their life. By presenting a break from such worries, a pilgrimage gives a person a much needed chance to clear their head, focus positively and gain a renewed perspective on life.

Devout pilgrims would consider any new insights and solutions gained on a pilgrimage to be God-given. It is generally believed that without the distractions of the mundane it is easier to hear Divine guidance.

6.) Pilgrimages as an adventure

A more modern, non-religious reason for pilgrimages is because it can be seen as a fun adventure. It provides an opportunity to meet people of your faith, have an enjoyable time stretching your legs, exercising those muscles and being out in the great outdoors.

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When you think “sailors” you may picture men in Cracker Jack style Dixie cup hats and Popeye-esque anchor tattoos, or you may picture men in navy and white horizontal “sailor stripe” shirts. Have you ever wondered why nautical fashion involves the famous sailor stripes?

Why sailors wear stripes:

It was the French navy that is thought to have been the first to utilise the sailor stripe pattern for its sailors in 1858, and its function was purely practical: If a sailor fell overboard the bright, distinctive striped pattern acted like a modern-day neon jacket which could easily be spotted amidst the waves. Later, many French fishermen also adopted these “marinière” striped shirts for similar reasons.

The sailor stripes are particularly associated with the coastal French region of Brittany, from where it is thought that the sailor stripe originated and from whose port many stripe-shirted sailors set off to sea. For this reason the pattern is also known as the “Breton stripe”; Bretons being the locals of Brittany. The sailor stripe pattern is so closely linked with Brittany that their flag, designed in 1923, also contains the Breton stripe pattern, although it’s in black rather than in navy blue.

Why is the color of the sailor stripes blue and white?

If being spotted at sea was the general idea, lots of colors could have been used to do that job: red, yellow, bright green.. so why were the colors blue and white chosen?

One theory is that the navy blue symbolises the color of the sea and also of the skies, whilst the white may symbolise either the point at which the sea and the sky meet at the horizon, or it may symbolise the white frothy surf of the waves.

Is there meant to be a certain number of stripes in a sailor stripe shirt?

Some sources say that originally the French navy’s Breton stripe shirts had exactly 21 stripes; symbolising 21 of Napoleon’s victories.

These days, aesthetics is the main thing that determines the number of stripes.

How the Breton stripe sailor fashion became a fashion staple in the landlubber world

You may have noticed that in our day and age you don’t have to be a sailor nor a Frenchman to don the Breton stripe. In fact famous people ranging from Kate Moss to Andy Warhol and even Picasso have all been photographed wearing the Breton stripe. How did a sailor shirt enter the non-nautical fashion world?

It is said that the force behind the emergence of the Breton stripe in the world of fashion was one influential French lady: Coco Chanel.

It is believed that when fashion designer, Coco Chanel, travelled to the coast some time in the early 1900s, she noticed the distinctive pattern on the sailors’ shirts and was taken with it. Inspired, she began incorporating the stripes into her own designs, wearing the Breton stripe herself. With her backing, the design quickly caught on in the fashion world, making the Breton stripe shirt a popular choice amongst celebrities, fashion-lovers in France, and later, throughout the world.

Despite many a landlubber adopting this sailor stripe pattern, its connection with the sea is often retained, because to this day fashionistas frequently don the design in summery beach weather, on sailing expeditions and whilst holidaying by the sea.

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If you’re British or are familiar with British customs, you’ll know that in the UK there is a different date for Mother’s Day celebrations than in the States. What’s more, traditionally the British day of celebration is not known as Mother’s day, but rather as Mothering Sunday. With all these differences, it’s not surprising that the history of Mothering Sunday is a very different one from the American Mother’s Day. This article explores the story behind the origin of Mothering Sunday.

When is Mothering Sunday?

Whilst the American Mother’s Day which occurs in May, Mothering Sunday usually takes place in March. The exact Mothering Sunday date is always the fourth Sunday of Lent, which means that it falls on slightly different days each year. If you want to pencil it into your diary, Mothering Sunday falls on the following dates in the coming years:

• 2012 :: 18 March
• 2013 :: 10 March
• 2014 :: 30 March
• 2015 :: 15 March
• 2016 :: 6 March

Why is Mothering Sunday celebrated on this date?

Historical records seem to suggest that Mothering Sunday has been celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent since at least the 16th century, however, it is likely that it was celebrated long before then because the history of its celebration may well date far earlier than this.

To further understand its allocated date of celebration, let’s journey into the history of Mothering Sunday.

The first Mothering Sunday may have been for a Greek or Roman mother goddess

Some suggest that the modern British Mother’s day celebrations evolved from a far earlier pagan celebration of a different kind of mother: a mother goddess.

Many early civilizations had a “mother goddess” figure that was honored and celebrated at certain times of the year. In Ancient Greece the Mother of the Gods (or the Magna Mater) was called Rhea, and it may be that celebrations held for this goddess around the 6th century BC were the earliest form of “Mother’s day” celebrations.

Later, around the 3rd century BC, the Greek traditions were adopted by Ancient Romans, and similar celebrations took place in honor of Rhea’s Roman equivalent, the mother goddess, Cybele. Interestingly enough, the celebrations for Cybele occurred in March, around the same time that we celebrate Mothering Sunday today.

Romans celebrated Cybele in a festival called: Hilaria. Why did they celebrate on this particular date in March? Because it was around the time of the Vernal Equinox, (where Vernal Equinox literally means: Vernal = Spring; Equinox = equal night and day). It was a celebration of the first day which had a longer day than night, marking the end of the gloomy winter, and the onset of a more joyous, sunny spring.

From “Mother’s day” celebrations of Mother goddesses to celebrations of the Holy Mother and the Mother Church

Many festivals celebrated by the Ancient Romans were converted into Christian celebrations when Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire and of most of Europe. This adaptation of existing Roman festivals was done to help the people adapt more easily to the new Christian religion.

The Roman festival of Saturnalia became Christmas, the Roman celebrations of Juno Februa and Lupercalia eventually became Saint Valentine’s Day, and although the evidence is not unequivocal, it is possible that Cybele’s Hilaria celebrations became Mothering Sunday. In order to make the festival more Christian, the heads of the church may have deemed this “mother goddess” celebration to be an appropriate time at which to replace pagan customs with their own, honoring Mother Mary and the Mother Church. (Mother Church was the term given to the biggest church in the area, often where local Christians would have been baptised.) The date of the celebration was also Christianized to relate directly to Easter and Lent, setting the date of this new festival to fall on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The church services held on this day are likely to have been themed around a Motherly theme, talking about Mary’s maternal love, and of maternal love in general.

Mother Church congregations became an occasion for family reunions with an emphasis on the maternal member of the family

By the 16th century, it was customary to visit the Mother Church for a special service on Mothering Sunday. Visiting the Mother Church on this day was colloquially known as “going a-mothering”.

Although this was a holy day and had little to do with celebrating mothers in any way, the congregating of people at their Mother Church celebrated the joyous coming together again of families. In those days it was common for children as young as ten to be put to work as apprentices, maids and domestic servants, working and living in various country manors, sometimes a fair distance from home. Being given a day off for a reunion with their mothers (and the rest of the family) was an exciting occasion (particularly since some sources suggest that for many working children this was amongst the only days off they had).

On their way home from their work posts, some children would pick flowers to give as a gift to their mothers.

Others would bring home a cake from the manor house where they worked. The most common cakes that were thought to have been made were fruit cakes known as simnel cakes, which are to this day the traditional Mothering Sunday cake that is made.

In some churches, the happy reunion was integrated into the Mother-themed church service where the spring flowers that were picked by the children would be blessed by the church before being presented to the mothers. To this day, flower bouquets are amongst the most common gifts given to mothers on Mothering Sunday.

By the 1940s Mothering Sunday Traditions underwent a transformation to resemble the American Mother’s Day

Somewhere along the line between the 16th century and the early 20th century, Mothering Sunday celebrations began to fade and celebrations became more subdued. But around the 1940s two main things occured which led to the revival of Mothering Sunday and its rebirth as the official Mother’s day celebration we know today:

The first thing that happened was that in the United States, a lady called Anna Jarvis campaigned for an American celebration of mothers throughout the country. Her success resulted in the first national American celebration of Mother’s Day in 1908. Some of her enthusiasm made its way to Britain to a woman called Constance Penswick-Smith who, inspired by Anna Jarvis, campaigned for the closest British equivalent Mother’s day celebration, Mothering Sunday, to be revived. Constance’s Mothering Sunday Movement campaign lasted a good few years, all the way from 1914 to the early 1920s. Although this served to prick up a few ears, nothing much changed in Britain. What did make a huge impact on the resurgence of celebrating Mothering Sunday in Britain, was the second event that happened around this time: World War II.

During World War II, English, American and Canadian soldiers worked alongside one another and had a chance to socialize and talk. One thing that they all had in common was missing their mothers, wives and girlfriends back home. With this newly realized appreciation for their mothers in the darkness of war, at some point (perhaps even on American Mother’s day itself) conversation turned to the American tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day. Inspired by the American celebrations, the British soldiers brought back with them a new found eagerness and desire to celebrate their mothers using the closest thing they had to Mother’s Day: Mothering Sunday.

By the 1950s, Mothering Sunday was once again celebrated throughout Britain with great enthusiasm; an enthusiasm that may have been helped by the exuberant marketing of the festival by merchants selling Mother’s Day related gifts.

A merging occurred between new American traditions and old Mothering Sunday traditions as British mothers began being shown love and appreciation on Mothering Sunday. The merging of traditions was so strong that people even began calling Mothering Sunday, “Mother’s Day”.

Today many people believe that Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day are one and the same thing, and although the two celebrations have distinctly different origins, they share the same principles at their core: a celebration and appreciation of mothers, be they holy, human or otherwise.

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The phrase “butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth” is one of the most misunderstood phrases in the English language. Some people think it is used to mean that a person is sweet and innocent whilst others are adamant that it means that a person is a manipulator or a liar. It seems a bit surprising to find one phrase with such polar opposite interpretations. So which is it? And what’s it got to do with butter melting? What’s the story behind the idiom “butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth”?

The original meaning of the phrase “butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth”

Originally, around 1530, the phrase was far less obscure than it may seem today, because when it first started being used, it was directly related to a person having a cold, detached and emotionless manner (where “cold” used in this way is an older metaphor itself). The idea was that a person was so cold that his mouth was at a temperature at which butter wouldn’t melt.

Evolution of the phrase

Throughout time the phrase “butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth” evolved.

From cold and detached, it came to be used to refer to people who were prim and proper, who acted by society’s rules regardless of their own feelings about any situation. (This disregard for their feelings is where the cold, emotionless side of the phrase came into the equation). For the purpose of doing the socially-determined “right” thing, girls may have pretended to be modest and shy, or high society men and women may have pretended to be interested in politics or theatre or whatever society deemed as the “proper” things to be interested in.

This is where the confusion of this phrase began:

The meaning of the phrase began to branch in two directions:

1.     Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth meaning “liar”:
   Some people began associating the phrase with phony people in society who were putting on an act to fit in and be seen favorably. They lied about their true feelings and were therefore seen as insincere, liars or manipulators.

2.     Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth meaning “sweet and innocent”:
   Other people focused on the “prim and proper” nature that was a result of ignoring personal feelings for the sake of fulfilling society’s expectations. Throughout much of history, it was the prim and proper thing, especially amongst young ladies, to appear sweet and innocent; hence this new meaning became attached to the “butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth” phrase.
   When used in this sense however, there is often a negative twist on the phrase. When used to describe someone as sweet and innocent, it is almost always followed by a “but”.
   A good example of this can be seen in William Makepeace Thackeray’s Pendennis (1850): “When a visitor comes in, she smiles and languishes, you’d think that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth: [BUT] the minute he is gone, very likely, she flares up like a little demon, and says things fit to send you wild”.
   Over time, some people have forgotten the “but” and have begun associating the phrase with genuine sweet innocence, even though this isn’t the strictly correct use of the original phrase.

In essence, both of these definitions have some truth to them, but both definitions only tell part of the whole story. The full story is that “butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth” only if you are at some level acting in a way which is cold and detached from your true emotions.

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The idiom, “in a nutshell” is used when you want to say that the description you’re giving is concise, to-the-point and brief. It is the information boiled down to its simplest form. The question is: where do nuts enter this equation?

In a nutshell origin

It is thought that the first use of the phrase “in a nutshell” was a literal one. It was used by Pliny the Elder around the 1^st century AD. In the text, Pliny’s Natural History – Book 7, (xxi 85), Pliny tells us that fellow famous Roman, Cicero told him that he saw a copy of the famous poem, Homer’s Iliad, being miniaturized so that the whole text, written on tiny parchment, could fit into a walnut shell. Why would anyone do such a thing? Some people have unique hobbies. My guess is that they probably do it for the mere challenge and satisfaction of success that it brings.

In any case, throughout history this incredible feat was repeated with various other texts being miniaturized including the Bible. Later one man named Huet, Bishop of Avranches, tested the miniaturization of the Iliad, fitting the whole thing onto a piece of parchment sized 27cm x 21cm. To achieve this he had to write 80 verses of poetry in a single line! When the final paper was filled with minute writing and was folded up, it could indeed fit in a nutshell.

Although this is all very interesting, copying the whole of the Iliad in full detail is a far cry from how we’d describe the Iliad “in a nutshell” today. Using today’s phrase, the Iliad in a nutshell would be written in an abbreviated, shortened form, where the text would only contain the paraphrased, brief, main gist of it. So how did the phrase “in a nutshell” come to mean “brief and concise”?

The idea of having a detailed amount of information containing all the facts, neatly contained in a small, compact nutshell somehow evolved into the idea of having *just* the facts you need, minus the superfluous waffle. In a nutshell gradually became connected to the idea of the information itself become compacted.

So next time you’re writing something “in a nutshell” you can be glad that you’re writing it according to today’s interpretation of the phrase rather than literally squeezing your words into a nut!

References
Ayto J. 2000. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Collins; 16th edition
Forsyth M. 2011. The Etymologicon. Icon Books

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If you’re ever in Britain around Christmas time, you’ll find pictures of robin red breasts adorning Christmas cards, ornaments, stamps, chocolate boxes, shop windows and Christmas wrapping paper. Their images can even be found decorating Christmas cakes. How did the humble European robin become the Christmas robin?

Why Robins are on Christmas cards

Although robin folklore existed for many years, the robin became far more widely associated with Christmas after it was depicted on Christmas cards in 19th century England; a tradition that has been retained to this day. (1)

Why are robins on Christmas cards? It’s all inspired by the robins who used to deliver the Christmas cards in 19th century Britain.

In the 1800s, British postmen wore bright red uniforms. They wore red in honor of the crown since red is considered both a Royal color and an important color on the English flag. (Incidentally, this may also be one of the reasons why British post boxes were eventually standardized to be red). The postmen in their red-breasted coats resembled the much-loved British bird, the robin red-breast, earning Victorian postmen the nick-name: Robins.

Around Christmas time, people would eagerly await the Robins’ delivery of Christmas cards from near and far. Some greeting card artists were inspired by this to illustrate their cards with the joyous delivery of letters, and instead of drawing a postman, one artist decided to draw the Robins’ namesake, the robin birds, delivering letters in their little beaks. The trend caught on and survives to this day despite the fact that the postmen’s red coat uniforms and the postmen’s Robin nickname have long been retired to the history books.

Robin Folklore

Aside from the postman-robin association explaining the robin’s presence on Christmas cards, the robins already had a rich association with Christmas because various folklore stories exist surrounding the Christmas robin. Below are three of the most popular Christian tales of robin folklore regarding how the robin got its red breast:

1.) The kind-hearted Robin who got its red breast tending to baby Jesus’s fire

One tale from robin folklore is that when Mary was giving birth to Jesus, the fire that was burning to keep the stable warm and comfortable was about to go out. Just as Mary was starting to worry about the chill of the night descending upon her and her newborn, a tiny brown bird alighted by the fire, singing and flapping its little wings. The flapping made the embers glow brightly, re-igniting the fire. In some versions of this tale, the little bird also brought small twigs in its beak to help feed the fire.

As the robin flew around, tending to the fire, the flames crackled and snapped, and a stray red-hot ember flew from the hearth, landing on the brown bird’s breast, making it glow bright red. When Mary saw all this, she declared that the red breast was a sign of the bird’s kind heart and that the bird and all its descendants would wear a red breast proudly for evermore. (2)

2.) The robin who got its red breast trying to help Christ at the crucifixion

Another story about how the robin got its red breast is based on Christ’s crucifixion. The story goes that as Christ was dying on the cross a little brown bird flew beside him, trying to comfort him with its song. The bird clamped its little beak on Jesus’ thorny crown, trying to remove it, and although the bird was not strong enough, in its passionate attempts pulling on the thorns, a little bit of Christ’s blood stained the bird’s breast red. (3)

3.) The robin who got its red breast when giving water to souls in Purgatory

A less popular bit of robin folklore tells of the robin who was kind enough to fetch water for the souls in Purgatory or hell. As it flew in this fiery place, its breast was accidentally scorched, giving the robin its red breast. (1)

Today the robin is considered by some to be Britain’s favorite bird. (4) With the existence of so many positive tales about the robin red breast in folklore and also in everyday life with its cheerful song and its role in keeping gardeners company, it is easy to understand why the robins were well-liked enough to be retained as decorations for Christmas cards and decorations well after their original meaning was forgotten. Well… forgotten until now!

References
(1) de Vries, A. 2004. Elsevier’s Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Emerald Group Publishing.
(2) Egan L.B. 1988. A Christmas Stocking: A Child’s Treasury for the Festive Season. Simon & Schuster Ltd
(3) Cooper J.C. 1992. Symbolic and Mythological Animals. Harpercollins
(4) British Bird Lovers website

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Have you ever wondered how a circled straight line intersected by an upside down V-shape became a peace symbol? Here’s a look at the peace sign origins:

History of the Peace Sign:

The peace symbol came into existence in 1958, but at this time it didn’t stand for peace; it was a British-derived symbol representing the anti-nuclear movement; a movement which rallied together against British testing of nuclear weapons.

Between 1956 and 1958 Britain was experimenting with hydrogen bombs to develop nuclear weapons for the country’s security. Many people were against nuclear weapons for many reasons similar to the ones people in the anti-nuclear movement have today, including:

• Threat to lives everywhere:
  - Nuclear weapons have a lot of killing power, and even if used in “legitimate” self-defence it has the potential for killing a lot of innocent people and other species.
  - If nuclear weapons get into the wrong hands, the situation could be catastrophic.
• Health side effects of nuclear testing: Radiation exposure from uranium mining and nuclear testing leads to health problems like cancer (although it would not really make us glow luminescent green, in spite of what many people believe based on some cartoons and Hollywood films).
• Nuclear weapon development is a waste of resources: It is costly and wastes money that could be better spent developing things to improve the country’s quality of life rather than developing weapons that hopefully will never be used.
• Creates dangerous waste matter: Safe storage of radioactive nuclear waste is a costly problem.

One group that was against the 1956-1958 nuclear tests was an organization called “Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War”, an early precursor of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (the CND), that exists today. In 1958 the London-centered anti-nuclear war groups had been organising their first major anti-nuclear protest, and when artist Gerald Holtom showed his sketches for a nuclear disarmament symbol, the march organizers agreed it was a great visual aid to their cause, giving a memorable symbol to remind people what they stood for.

The symbol Holtrom designed represented the letters N D (standing for Nuclear Disarmament), in the Semaphore arm-signalling language used by the Navy at sea, where much of the nuclear tests were taking place.

In Semaphore, N is formed by placing the arms on either side of the body in an upside-down V-shape, and D is formed by placing one arm up and the other down, forming a straight line. Holtrom merged these two Semaphore letters, adding a circle around it, thus giving rise to the famous “peace” symbol.

Holtrom later revealed that part of his inspiration for the symbol was picturing a figure with its arms held in despair. Holtrom said he was representing his own feelings of despair, some of which may have been connected to the imagined pain that could result from nuclear weaponry.

After it was publicized on banners and buttons in the London anti-nuclear weapons protest in 1958, more and more people began associating the cause with Holtrom’s symbol.

Anti-nuclear enthusiasts like Albert Bigelow spread the symbol to the newspapers when, as an act of protest, he sailed into nuclear testing waters in a boat fitted with the Nuclear Disarmament symbol.

How the Nuclear Disarmament became the Peace Symbol

One American university student called Philip Altbach, an active member of the Student Peace Union at the University of Chicago, had spent time in the UK working with peace and anti-war groups like the anti-nuclear war organizations. He took a liking to Holtrom’s symbol. In 1960 Philip had a heap of the Nuclear Disarmament buttons shipped over to the United States, after talking the Student Peace Union into adopting the symbol. This was the turning point of the sign into representing a wider “peace” message.

Philip and the Student Peace Union sold their peace buttons on college campuses throughout the early 1960s, right during the hippie era where peace promotion was everywhere, encouraging “peace” buttons to sell like hot cakes.

Through other similar routes, various humanitarians took up the “peace symbol” in their civil rights marches too, and celebrities who campaigned for peace further publicized the peace symbol.

By the end of the 1960s, Holtrom’s Nuclear Disarmament symbol had become known as “the peace symbol”.

Little note…

After seeing his symbol spread in popularity throughout the world, and gain a new meaning of “Peace”, Holtrom is said to have regretted his original inspiration for the symbol arising from a negative place, being based on an image of a man with his arms reaching out in despair. He remarked that in hindsight he would have preferred to draw the symbol upside down, representing a person with his arms raised in celebration of joyful peace. Holtrom tried to campaign to have the symbol inverted to reflect this image of joy but sadly his wishes were not heeded. Holtrom, this one’s for you:

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