Just how wise were those three wise men? If they had only been more discreet when they spoke to King Herod, he might never have ordered that terrible slaughter of the innocents. It can't have been comforting for Jesus to know that so many babies died just so that he could be the only child with a divine pedigree. Mind you, as all the others were killed, it ruled out any possibility that the magi had picked the wrong kid. As we know, Christmas has pagan roots. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, it incorporated several ancient festivals and pagan traditions.
* Saturnalia
The customs of gift-giving, indulgent feasting and having fun comes from this Roman festival Saturnalia - which was celebrated around 17th of December. Saturn, to whom the festival was dedicated, was the Roman God of agriculture and plenty. Presents symbolised the redistribuion of wealth from rich to poor during the season of greatest hardship and the rich would lay on big feasts to feed their poorer neighbours.
* Mithras
The ancient festival to mark the solstice on 25th of December was to celebrate Mithras, the Roman God of Light. Traditionally the festival marked the renewal of hope and is believed to have been taken up by Christians as the birthday of Jesus around the fourth century.
* New Year's Eve
Decorating the home with greenery is today seen as a Christmas tradition, but originated from the Roman celebration for New Year's Eve. Dedicated to the two-faced God Janus (who looked both forward and backward ) Romans would have torch-lit processions, sing songs, have their fortunes told, give presents and decorate their homes with greenery to symbolise new life. Other ways of celebrating Christmas were adopted more recently. and were once peculiar to northern Europe. Typical of these, is the Yule log, which is believed to have arrived in Britain only in the 17th century. One theory is that it originated in the Germanic paganism that was practiced across northern Europe before Christianity; others argue it came from Anglo-Saxon paganism,
practiced in England in early medieval times. The Yule Log was seen as a protective amulet and also a source of rivalry between neighbours.
Jane
Completed Portrait
Jane: Next Steps
Jane: New Portrait
Vanesha: Finished Portrait
Vanessa's Portrait
Ruth's Portrait
Lunch, San Lorenzo
Hotel Christmas Tree
Dinner at the Dorchester
Birthday
Happy Halloween!
Sacre-Coeur
Montmartre by Night
Restaurant Le Consulat
Artists Quarter
Montmartre by Day
Louvre Museum
Pyramid
Cathedral
Notre Dame
Paris
Eiffel Tower
Peter in an Irish Pub
View from our room in Donegal
Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin
Entrance to the City of Ek-Balaam
Tlaloc God of the Rain
Mouth of the Serpent
Angel in Ek-Balaam site
Sculptures in Ek-Balaam
Ek-Balaam
Man on a Ledge
View from our room
Cancun
Hotel Beach
Cancun
Enjoying the sunshine
Ek-Balaam site
Sunset from our room.
Sunset. View from our hotel room.
Posing with a stolen apple.
"Mmm, Cheese!"
"No Mr Blair, I am not Spanish"
"What do you think, M. Sarkozy?"
Farmland
The Shrewsbury Road
Pastels
Farmland
Pastels
Other side of kitchen.
New kitchen
Merida, Mexico
Merida, Mexico
Peter, Maria and Richard Hammond
A Romantic Cruise
Lunch at Merida
Lunch at Cancun
Guest bedroom fireplace
Beams in Office
Master Bedroom fireplace
Patty Spilsbury, my sister
Not exactly a picnic
Towards the Farm
Back of our house
At the back of our home
Snow scenes at home
My son Hector Birchwood meeting Mrs Thatcher.
Hygeia
Work in Progress
Thanks to our camera crew for the photo
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Filming in Ireland: Heir Hunters
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Painting in Progress
Work in Progress
Floodlit Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, Evening
Early Evening in Lincoln
Painted when I was 13 years old.
Venice
More detail
Our House
Another show for Heir Hunters.
Filming at the Bear
Bear Hotel, Hungerford
Maria, Victoria and Peter
Victoria
Interview
Filming at Denbigh Record Office
Formal night on the 2010 cruise
Black Poodle
The younger Leonardo
Friends from El Salvador in Madrid.
Charlie 2
Sweet Dreams
Charlie
Cat-nap
The Adoration pf the Shepherds
Guido Reni (1575 - 1642)
Lough Rynn Castle Hotel
Leonardo da Vinci
Dog2
Dog
Maria
The Crystal Palace in El Retiro Park
The Royal Palace
The Plaza Mayor
La Cibeles Fountain and the Post Office
The River Manzanares and the Cathedral
Monastery of the Escorial, Spain.
The Royal Palace, Spain.
Birthday Celebration.
Birthday Celebration
Like the wine, I get better with the years.
Maria Spilsbury's Painting
Nudes
Nudes
Nudes
View from our Balcony
Neptune Fountain
Red Roses
View from the back of my House
View from my House
Sra Dina de Spilsbury
My Mother
Port of Isla Mujeres
Our hotel beach
View from Tulum
Tulum
Turtles
Tulum near Cancun, Mexico
Detail of the same Church
La Merced Church, Antigua, Guatemala
La Merced Church, Antigua
Earthquake damage
Church of the Cross
Another Guatemalan Church.
Cathedral, Antigua Guatemala
Parrot and me
Courtyard, Convento Hotel Antigua
Room at Convento Hotel Antigua
Room at Convento Hotel Antigua
Mother and Child
Flowers
About Me
- Maria
- Maria Spilsbury Birchwood started painting at an early age at the studio of the Spanish painter Don Valero Lecha and the muralist Violeta Bonilla, pupil to the great Mexican painter, Diego de Rivera. She received her first commission at the age of 13: a commission to paint a bullfight.When she was in her teens, she entered a competition and learned that she had won first prize. She was presented to the sponsor of the competition,who offered her a scholarship on behalf of the Dante Alligheri Society to study art in Rome. Maria continued her painting studies in Madrid, Spain at the school of San Fernando under the tutelage of the foremost landscape painter Jose Sanchez Carralero. She moved to England where, in 1982, she married forensic genealogist Peter Birchwood. Over the years, Maria has exhibited her work widely in different countries; at the Barbican Gallery in London, in California where she worked as a scenic artist on theatrical backdrops, Bedfordshire, and Wales, where she now lives. A recent commission was to paint the portrait of Liberal Member of Parliament Lembit Opik. The portrait is now hanging in the House of Commons.
Flowers in a Vase
23 comments:
Also, our way of celebrating Christmas has changed over time. For instance, Boxing Day originally wasn't a public holiday. It was simply the day when the church charity boxes for the poor were opened.
At a certain point, the Father Christmas legend was introduced, and at another point, turkey supplanted goose as the preferred Christmas dinner.
TV has lots of Christmas specials, but according to a programme the other day, these Xmas shows are all made during the summer. One man said that he was recording a Christmas show in sweltering heat when a man carrying a surfboard walked past the window, so that bit had to be edited out.
Yes, and it continues to change. Now a lot of people are buying their presents on line. You can even have them displayed on a model who walks with the clothes to get an idea how it would look.
Robert, what is the tradition behind Maundy Day when the Queen goes around giving coins to the poor ? Yes, the duck was replaced by the turkey when the American colonies celebrated Thanks- Giving Day. If I seem to recall, the Europeans were starving and the Indians gave them a feast with turkey so in the U.S. they still commemorate the day they nearly starved to death. Later on they repaid the generosity of those Indians by relocating them to barren and unworkable reservations. That is gratitude for you. Had they known... they would have put poison in the turkey. Ha,ha,ha.
Maria, Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. I think it has something to do with commemorating the Last Supper. The reigning monarch gives out specially minted coins, called Maundy Money, to old people. The monarchs used to wash the feet of such people too, but that was stopped 2 or 3 hundred years ago. I don't suppose it would mean much now anyway. The Palace officials would make sure that only nice people with clean feet had their feet washed, and also the people themselves would be washing their feet like crazy beforehand so that their feet would be nice and clean before the Queen saw them. I can imagine some old boy covered in medals washing his feet five or six times and using up his wife's best talcum powder on them before going to the Palace.
Wow ! I wonder why ? I mean.. wash their feet? Christ had his feet washed by Mary Magdalene before he died maybe the old...I'm just having a wild guess here Robert but it just occurs to me that perhpas as the old do not have many days left in this world..could this be ? or is there another reason behind this ritual of washing the feet?
We are now staring at the New Year and it seems incredible to realize that a decade has passed since we started the new millenium ! And not much has changed with the human race, they can hope to reach the stars but here on earth they are still doing wars like Afghanistan and Iraq, killing millions of people like the time of Herod except that now is worse since the children are being born malformed due to the plutonium that has been spread there with the "daisy" bombs. On a more positive note, the 'Heir Hunters' show should be on next month. We've seen four of the rough cut disks and they look good. We should have eight or nine shows in total.
Are there any special traditions in the U.K. apart than going to Trafalgar Square and sharing Champagne with strangers?
In Spain, you have to have a bunch of grapes and eat one very quickly for each second as the last 12 seconds of the Old year come to a draw for good luck ! It is really very difficult to eat them all, if the grapes have pips !
The old traditions have,or are dying /died out..but never fear new expressions of xmas cheer are taking the place of those old and withered customs of yesteryear.
Today we celebrate xmasby finding a complete stranger and stabbing him and relieving him of his mobile phone(and any loose change he /she might have in his pocket)....followed by the obligatory xmas eve gang bang perpetrated on any young lady fortunate enough to be walking the streets late at night.
But the holiday festivities really begin to brighten up come new years eve,when the newest and brightest parlour game is "Find a tramp-and set fire to him!"......if none of these take your fancy then go for the "big one"- put a towel round your head ....a bag of semtex in your backpack and head for heathrow airport,or as a possible alternative hijack a plane and aim to fly it into the highest building you can find......
Maria, I think Jesus washed the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper. Likewise, he had already allowed John the Baptist to baptise him instead of the other way round. The message is, a true Christian is humble.
The Scots have their new year hogmanay thing. Also the names of people in the New Year honours used to be announced after midnight, but they might do it a bit before midnight now. When I used to see in the new year, I always had a good film ready on video and watched that.
Yes, that's it. Jesus washed the disciples feet. I seem to recall that Mary Magdalene also washed Jesus' feet.
Hogmanay ? Does this mean that Dougie goes around chasing hogs?
Hoots mon !Maria..its a brae bricht moonlight nicht......
New years eve for me and many other Scots is a chance to get bladdered (though I dont drink) a chance to sing Auld langs syne,and make a thorough nuisance of ones self..The scots,by and large, celebrate new year(hogmanay) in a way that the english could never celebrate xmas(again ,by and large)...our doors are open,our hospitality during that period is well known..Ive never found the english to be as hospitable,they are more reserved,which comes across as being "stuck up"..but we forgive our country cousins that sad trait..they do their best,under the strict confines imposed upon them.
But for me,new year is a time to ponder things past..a time to reflect..and a time maybe to take in a verse or two of the grand master..och aye ! of course I mean or IS THERE FOR HONEST POVERTY
(Robert Burns)
Is there for honest poverty
That hangs his head, an' a' that
The coward slave, we pass him by
We dare be poor for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
Burns.......tOur toil's obscure and a' that
The rank is but the guinea's stamp
The man's the gowd for a' that
What though on hamely fare we dine
Wear hoddin grey, an' a' that
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine
A man's a man, for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
Their tinsel show an' a' that
The honest man, though e'er sae poor
Is king o' men for a' that
rouble yourself to read ,if nothing eYe see yon birkie ca'd a lord
Wha struts an' stares an' a' that
Tho' hundreds worship at his word
He's but a coof for a' that
For a' that, an' a' that
His ribband, star and a' that
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that
A prince can mak' a belted knight
A marquise, duke, an' a' that
But an honest man's aboon his might
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that
For a' that an' a' that
Their dignities an' a' that
The pith o' sense an' pride o' worth
Are higher rank that a' that
Then let us pray that come it may
(as come it will for a' that)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree an' a' that
For a' that an' a' that
It's coming yet for a' that
That man to man, the world o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that
That poem for me,alongside Kiplings "IF" says so very very much about man-the world-and of course (in a way) the new year yet to come......
As for hog hunting maria..no....its haggis hunting fae me...have you ever seen a real life haggis in the field....? such cute creatures.....all together..aaaaaah!
Hi Dougie,
But whenever the English fight the Scots or play foot-ball against them the English always beat the Scots!
Haggis? no. I have never seen them but my English husband informs me that the Scots eat them inside a sheep's belly! quite revolting. Maybe your diet cannot beat an English breakfast.
Good poem, Dougie. Now why can't the Scots see in the new year with that, instad of Old Lang Syne?
It's good to see a poem by that great Jewish poet Rabbi Burns whose lyrics for "Fiddler on the Roof" are still sung today.
It's a fine country and I believe that the inhabitants have been known to have a quiet and dignified celebration at the New Year.
Maria,
There are an awful lot of English who believe the Haggis is a creature which bearded kilted scotsmen hunt and kill with their claymores....of course its nothing of the sort....its a mixture of oatmeal,intestines various spices cooked in a sheeps belly so I believe....you really should try it.
England usually beat the scots ? as billy connoly said "Ach !do you ye bloody think so!"
In the days when football was a game which set the pulses racing,when it was the beautiful game,as opposed to the turgid,sleep inducing torture it is today,every top team had a nucleus of scottish footballers.My own uncle (now deceased) played for scotland when they beat the then world cup holders england at wembley..or was it hampden?..or was it both?
Jewish poet? fiddler on the roof? Rabbi? quiet and dignified celebrations? surely you speak in jest maria?..
How do the spanish celebrate xmas?do they break out a few crippled bulls for the horde of matadors and picadors to stab mercilessly until the bull expires..or have they stopped that barbaric practice?
Robert,
Maybe someone could sing the words of "a that" to the tune of auld langs syne....but i doubt if i could..tho it might be nivce to try
Hi Dougie and Rabbi
I thought you would find it amusing
it is a play on words. Robert, the Scots call their Roberts..Rabbi so this would be a Rabbi Burns poem. Yes, I'm aware of this Scottish dish as well as the black pudding, which is made out of blood! I remember the first time I saw it on my plate on my first trip to Scotland. I thought this black pudding was re-fried black beans! When Peter told me..I had the shock of my life.
In Spain, it is mostly the 6th of January that its celebrated, when the Magi brought the presents to the child Jesus. Who knew that gold frankincense and myrrh - first borne by these three wise men and given to baby Jesus during the feast of the Epiphany- actually have some rather useful medicinal properties of their own? Here are some of their health benefits. Frankincense: Just like gold, frankincense is believed to help stave off arthritis, as well as asthma and colitis. Specifically, the chemical derivatives in the frankincense (which is essentially tree resin) help fight certain health problems, according to the results of clinical trials. Myrrh: You've probably never heard of schistosomiasis. Not surprising, given that it's a tropical disease caused by liver flukes, Mirazid, one of the drugs that has been heralded as a 'miracle cure' for the disease, is actually derived from myrrh (a bitter resinous plant) MISTLETOE: Fights cancer in the body. It is found in cancer treatments today including Iscador and Viscum album, which is prescribed for two out of three German cancer patients. The mistletoe stimulates the white blood cells that are killed off during cancer treatment. HOLLY: A special species of holly bush from the reainforests of South America is tipped to have miraculoous cholesterol-reducing properties. It's a key ingredient in a type of herbal tea called Mate (popular in Argentina) which is also said to suppress appetite and help weight loss.
Dougie, why keep the tune? Let's get rid of Old Lang Syne with its mournful tune and have For A' That instead.
I've never had haggis though I've seen a veggie haggis in the shops. I would have thought that was a contradiction in terms.
A GREETING TO MY DEAR FRIENDS, However they may look like or wish to call themselves. You are part of me. 2009 has been a year of adjustments with lots of positive changes and challenges but also, remembering those who have departed, leaving behind a tremendous void in my heart. Today, I just want to thank you for being with me, despite the distance. As New Year's Eve approaches and the beginning of 2010 starts, I would like to have the certainty that this 2010 will be good, prosperous and a healthy one for all of us and the friendship that I have with you remain, until fate decides otherwise. To all of you, I give my great affection, my support and of course, my never ending and enduring friendship. I love you all. Have a very special and Happy New Year.
MARIA
It is New Years Eve here ..
SO HAPPY NEW YEAR .. MARIA, ROBERT AND DOUGIE,
I wish you all .. firstly ..happiness and good health .. and also a wonderful year in all respects of life.
Thank you for your friendship here, and whilst we were at casebook.
ps. Lovely greeting Maria, thank you.
Receive a big hug from me Victoria
May your dreams and hopes become true this coming year.
That's a lovely message, Maria. You are a true friend and I wish you all the happiness in the world for 2010.
Victoria and Dougie, a very happy new year to you. Victoria, you'll be the one who sees in the year first so perhaps you will write and let us know what 2010 is like. Then if I don't fancy it I can turn round and go back. Hee, hee.
Robert, the weather is damp and humid .. yuk, but there is no going back!
The new year will be what we make of it, how we accept the good and the bad.
With the right attitudes in our mind .. even the seemingly bad things can seem bearable.
Love to you all ..see you next year.
We most definitely would love to see you next year too, Victoria ! I will be watching the fire-works of Australia and the whole world this evening. Be sure to wear something new for good luck. As we are leaving behind the Old year let's envisage the New 2010 with optimism. Thank you Robert, you are a kind friend too. Victoria, Robert and Dougie, receive my best wishes and good luck for the coming year !
Happy new year to all.
Remember that whatever problems or hardships any or all of us might face in 2010,we still have the luxury of being alive,something that on occasion maybe we all take for granted.
Personally I think,for some odd reason my popularity is increasing,at least in my own garden lol..The reason I say this is that while observing and putting out some bread for the birds yesterday,two robin redbreasts came hopping over and almost but not quite began eating out of my hand.Of course ive heard of robins being as tame as that,but never experienced it before first hand.It gave me a warm feeling..methinks i shall try and garner their friendship.
anyway kind regards to the three of you....be kind-keep well,and most of all be good.
regards
"The birdman of north wales"
Wow ! Dougie that is really special and wonderful. I know how that feeling... it makes you feel really privileged to have this togetherness with our feathery friends. There were two blue-tits who would peck at the window of my studio to be fed if I dared to forget putting the bread on bird-table outside. It is a real joy to watch them eat their crumbs whilst at the same time, there are others on guard making sure the cat is not in sight. These are bright and charming and sweet ! Thank you for the kind wishes which I reiterate !
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