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Hi reader!
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Welcome to the December 2024 newsletter! A special welcome to new subscribers, I am so glad you are here!
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Happy New Year!
Are you part of a secular community? Do you have a podcast or event coming up that I can help with? I would love to chat with you! Reach out at Betsy@BetsyDeVille.com
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I am already starting to schedule events for 2025 and the calendar is filling up!
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Cosmic Connections: A Secular Christmas Gift Box of Wonder and Belonging
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Discover a gift that celebrates the beauty of human connection, scientific marvel, and the spirit of the holiday season. This carefully curated collection invites you to explore wonder, family, and the extraordinary universe we call home.
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The winter holiday season is in full swing. I wanted to share a short except from my book about Christmas from the chapter about Benevolent Strangers...
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There are ethereal visitors in many end-of-the-year customs. Some are unpleasant and even violent. Others are benevolent gift-bearers. Most early gift-bearers brought New Year's gifts with a theme of rewarding good and punishing bad. Here are a handful of some lesser-known characters:
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Woden/Wotan/Odin and his flying, gray, eight-legged horse, Slepnir, led an army across the sky during Yule. He had black ravens that would act as lookouts during his journey. Sometimes, members of his army gave a gift of something plain, like a bag of rocks, and the next day, it would turn into a bag of gold. Children would leave hay, carrots, and sugar for his horse, Sleipnir. Public banquets that spanned days included masters serving the enslaved; and gifts exchanged included dolls, candles, and caged birds. The participants elected a king of the festivities who would preside over the celebration.
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St. Martin is an adult male dressed as a bishop, complete with a wooden staff. He gives apples, nuts, and cakes to obedient children and rods to bad children. In some stories, he fills stockings. Some suggest that St. Martin may have taken the place of Odin.
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Befana/Grandmother was part of Italian folklore. Befana would visit homes with children the night before the Feast of the Epiphany. She would come while the children were sleeping and fill their stockings with candy and presents, or coal. Families would leave a glass of wine and some snacks for her. She may also sweep the house. Befana traditions are believed to have originated in Rome and spread from there.
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Attention shifted from Befana to someone new, Nicholas of Myrna. The shrines originally intended for Befana were rededicated to Nicholas of Myrna. However, Italians still celebrate Befana with festivals and other gatherings.
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Saint Nicholas of Myrna/Sinterclaus is best known for secretly gifting sacks of gold to three young, unmarried women. The sacks of gold could be given as dowries or payments for marriage. At the time, women without money or goods to give a husband were not attractive to marry and their limited options included slavery and prostitution. They celebrated Nicholas as a patron saint of sailors and giving gifts in secret. His rise in popularity came from a small but devoted group who spread their devotion throughout the world.
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Traditions around Nicholas grew and changed. During the Middle Ages, giving anonymous gifts to the poor was associated with Nicholas.
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NEW! DNAtheist Full Zip Hoodie
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This warm and comfortable all over print hoodie features a design that combines the atheist A symbol with the beauty of the DNA double helix into a classic pattern you can wear anywhere!
In 2007, a bold red letter A was adopted from The Scarlet Letter to represent atheism. In The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, is an unwed mother in a Puritan community who is tried and convicted of adultery when she has a child but is unmarried. Her sentence is a requirement to wear a large red letter A as a visual mark of her crime. This design includes symbolism representing atheism, skepticism, and feminism.
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I have a special digital download this month! It’s available only to newsletter subscribers as a free download you can print at home.
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Instructions are included. Cardstock is recommended.
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Please use code darwin at checkout.
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Do you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter? Sharing is caring!
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