Living in Season: Preserving Stories, Making Books

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Living in Season

The official newsletter of School of the Seasons

November 19, 2007

Contents

Welcome

Seasonal Quote: Thomas Hood

My Season: Storing Nuts for the Winter

Update: November Calendar

Living in Season: Preserving Stories, Making Books

Winter Gifts from the School of the Seasons

 

Advent

SunWheel

Thirteen

Christmas Cookies

Yule Holiday

Packet

Twelve Days

of Christmas

Slow Time

Book

 

Upcoming School of the Seasons Products and Services:

 

Calendar

Companion Weekly Planner

French

Revolutionary Wall Calendar

Natural

Planning Journal (email)

 

Signs of Winter

Copyright

Subscribe - Un

Welcome

Welcome to my semi-monthly newsletter featuring ideas for bringing the

beauty of the current season into your life.

Please forward this newsletter if you enjoy it. If a friend sent you this

newsletter, welcome! You can for free at my website:

www.schooloftheseasons.com

We never rent, sell or give away r information.

Seasonal

Quote

 

No sun--no morn! No morn! No noon

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,

November!

— Thomas Hood

 

My Season: Storing Up Nuts for the Winter

Sorry this is a bit later than I planned. Having problems with my email

service. Aren't you glad that Mercury is finally going direct?

November has always been a busy month for me, even though this year I'm

not (for the first time in years) participating in National Novel Writing Month. (I am teaching a novel

writing class and writing a novel — just not quite at the frantic pace of

Nanowrimo).

So I'm looking forward to four-day weekend of Thanksgiving when I can slow

down, spend time feasting with friends, and begin working on my new projects:

a Calendar Companion weekly planner and a French Revolutionary calendar. Both

will be illustrated with fabulous photographs and available through Lulu by the second week in December.

Meanwhile I am a busy squirrel, a better image for a busy creature than a

hamster on a wheel, which is how I used to feel (not that I have anything

against hamsters; some of my favorite pets have been hamsters).

May you enjoy your preparations for the winter,

Waverly Fitzgerald

November Calendar

The November calendar of holidays is updated and can be

viewed here.

You should note that Advent begins on the last Sunday in November

(November 25) for pagans, that is, those observing the four Sundays before

Winter Solstice as the ritual time of waiting. For Christians, Advent begins

the following Sunday on December 2, as there are four Sundays before

Christmas Day. (Winter Solstice is on Friday, December 21). See below for the

School of the Seasons products that are designed to be used during Advent.

Living in Season: Preserving Stories, Making Books

In many cultures, Winter is the time of story-telling. The ancient Celts

told stories only at night in the winter (except for certain ceremonial

occasions) according to Alwyn Rees in Celtic Heritage. This was also true of

people in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Some stories took an hour

to tell, others six. They were always told around the hearth or fire-altar.

Stories make great gifts as well. One Christmas, I wrote down some of the

stories I had been telling my daughter about our pets: Chester, the Demon

Dog, and Faithfull, the Feline Fiend. Shaw illustrated them and we created a

little book which we gave as a gift to family and friends. These stories have

spread far and wide. A neighbor's child reminded me of the story of how

Chester ate the pumpkin pecan bread while we were working in the garden

together. My mentor, Helen Farias, read the story about how Chester and

Faithfull were angels at Christmas time during one of her Advent

celebrations. Now that both pets have died, these stores are even more

precious. So many details—like the names of Chester's friends at the Doggie

Club—which we would have forgotten are still with us because they were

captured in these stories.

This little book was the first of a series of books I've created as

Christmas gifts. One year I wrote about the tradition of baking thirteen

cookies for Christmas (which I first learned about from Helen Farias) and

provided recipes for thirteen traditional Christmas cookies, plus stories

about how these cookies reflected ancient Christmas customs and myths. I gave

the books as gifts to guests at my Winter Solstice party. (It's now available

in the School of the Seasons store; see below.)

Another year I created a book based on the research I had done in a

genealogy class on my father's family (the Fitzgeralds of Minnesota and South

Dakota). I illustrated it with family photos and sent copies to all of my

paternal relatives. Last year I did the same thing for my mother's family

(the Wittaks of Milwaukee) but I created a calendar instead. One page

contained photos and a brief text (I worked my way down from the Wittak ancestor

who sailed to America, through to my family standing in front of the

Christmas tree on December, and included pages for my mother's move to Los

Angeles and my grandfather's work place). The calendar grid contained

significant family dates, which allowed me to see some interesting patterns.

I find the technology of making books very satisfying. In the past, I've

used Word and printed the pages, pasting them up in alternating patterns in

folios, and then taking the originals to my local printing shop to have the

books photocopied and bound for a minimal price. But now the technology has

improved so immensely, you can produce a professional-looking book using the

print-on-demand technology available through companies like www.lulu.com

(through which I published my new Slow Time book).

If you have stories you want to preserve and share, think about making

this your Yule gift this year. If you feel overwhelmed by the idea, start

small, perhaps with the stories you remember hearing about your grandparents

(you can do the research later to find out if the stories are true, but it's

valuable to record these pre-edited versions). Or compile the recipes you've

collected over the years, with stories about the occasions you've cooked them

or the people who gave them to you. If you have a blog, select your favorite

entries and publish those. If you feel too shy to feature your own writing,

solicit stories or recipes from your friends and publish those.

I love giving books for Christmas but even more I love making them.

Winter Gifts from School of the Seasons

Two of my holiday books are designed to be used during Advent so you

should order them now if you want to have them in time to celebrate that

delicious period of waiting, preceding the rebirth of the Sun. Both are

available via email (sent within 24 hours of your order) and in print

versions (which take about 10 days to arrive).

Advent SunWheel by Helen Farias

I've been celebrating Advent for years using these suggestions from my

friend and mentor, Helen Farias.

This portfolio of ideas includes:

 

instructions

on making an Advent wreath

recipes for

traditional cookies and beverages

suggestions

for a weekly ritual

carols with

pagan lyrics.

Plus four

stories adapted by Helen from the Scandinavian tradition, perfect for

reading out loud while the Advent candles burn: The Ice Ship, Holle and

Holler, Sul's Return and Hulda's Ride.

 

The email version is $10 and the print version (which comes as loose

pages, suitable for removing and using each Sunday, in a portfolio) is $15.

Order through our Store.

Thirteen Christmas Cookies

It was Helen Farias who told me that it is traditional to bake thirteen

different kinds of cookies during the Christmas season, a charge I try to

carry out by making three different cookies each week of Advent. The book

contains

 

recipes for

traditional Winter Holiday cookies from many cultures including

Cavallucci, Zimsterne, Springerle, shortbread, Kourabiedes, etc.

recipes for

warming winter drinks

information

on the folklore embedded in each cookie's history

suggestions

for hosting your own Winter Solstice party.

 

The email version is $10 and the print version (a ring-bound book easy to

use I the kitchen) for $15.

Order through our Store.

Yule Holiday Packet

The Yule holiday packet is a big one: 60 pages stuffed with information on

midwinter holidays, magical gift-givers, recipes for Christmas morning

porridges and warming beverages, menus for Christmas dinner, instructions for

making luminarias and pomanders, and a selection of Yule songs.

I've posted some sample pages from my Yule packet at my website so you can

see how it turned out. This link will take you to pages on the tradition of

lighting lights in the darkness:

http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/pdfdocs/yulelights.pdf

It is available in an email version for $10 (sent within 24 hours) or via

snail mail for $15 (please allow 10 days for delivery).

Order through our Store.

Twelve Days of Christmas

I've been celebrating the magical time interval between Christmas and New

Year, when time is suspended and miracles can happen, for over 15 years and

it's become one of my favorite holiday rituals and one I love to share with

others. This illustrated book contains some of the traditions I've created,

as I review the year past and create visions for the year ahead, and some I

learned from my students when I offered this as an online class, plus

 

Folklore

about the 12 days of Christmas

Ideas for

celebrating each of the 12 Days

History of

the famous 12 Days of Christmas song (and alternate versions)

 

The email version is available for $10 (sent within 24 hours of your

order)and the comb-bound book is available for $15 (please allow 10 days for

delivery).

Order through our Store.

Slow Time Book

If you're looking for a gift for someone who is overwhelmed by business

and wishing for a slower, more natural relationship with time (maybe that's

you? I hope you buy yourself holiday gifts), consider my new book, Slow Time:

Recovering the Natural Rhythm of Life. It provides twelve weeks of ideas plus

gentle exercises for working with different intervals of time from the moment

through the lifetime. To see the book, read an excerpt or order a copy, go

to:

www.slowtimebook.com

Advance Notice: I'll be posting chapters from the book, one at a time, on

my website, throughout 2008, if you prefer the really slow version.

Upcoming: New Ideas from School of the Seasons

Calendar Companion Weekly Planner

I don't yet have a sample for you to see so I won't be selling this on the

website for a few more weeks but I wanted to let you know in advance that I

am planning to publish the weekly messages I wrote for the Calendar

Companion, each one paired with a gorgeous, seasonal photograph, as a weekly

planner. Facing each message/photo page, will be a page where you can write

in your appointments, or keep track of what's happening seasonally in your

neighborhood or garden.

French Revolutionary Wall Calendar

I will also be creating a French Revolutionary Calendar. This will be in

wall format and will display a picture appropriate to the corresponding month

in the French Revolutionary Calendar (November is split between Brumaire,

foggy, and Frimaire, frosty. The grid portion will show the plant, animal or

tool for each day. (For instance, next week beginning on Monday, you would

honor the service tree, the roller (tool), rampion, turnips (for

Thanksgiving), chicory, medlar and the pig (on Sunday November 25).)

Natural Planning Journal

For 2008, I'm launching a new email service that I'm calling for right now

a Natural Planning Journal. This will be a way of formulating themes and

goals for each season and moon cycle and using those natural rhythms (and the

balance they represent—with appropriate periods of rest as well as activity)

to accomplish your dreams. The service will include four weeks of preparatory

assignments via email in January, to help you identify your themes and goals

for the new year. (Those of you who start your new year in a different

season, can do this at any time.) For the rest of the year, email messages

will arrive shortly before each new season and new moon, suggesting possible

themes for the season or lunation, and reminding you of your intentions at

the start of the year. This will be a new adventure for me and I'm looking

forward to seeing how it works.

More on all of these new services and products will be available in the

next newsletter which should arrive the first week of December.

Signs of Winter

We've had two power outages in the last few weeks and it's marvelous to

see how dark it is, even in the city, when the lights are out. Joanna Powell Colbert writes in her blog about how she

wrestled with her desire to keep working as usual, when wind and rain knocked

out power to her island home, but finally realized the storms provided the

perfect opportunity for hibernation.

It's cold and dark and raining, raining, raining in Seattle. It's hard to

go outside. I would rather be huddling in front of the warm glow from my

computer screen.

Where ever you live, send me your signs of the season and I will post them

on the website at Signs

of the Season.

Copyright

Copyright © Waverly Fitzgerald 2007

All rights reserved. You may reprint material from

Living in Season in other electronic or print publications as

long as you credit me and provide a link to:

http://www.schooloftheseasons.com

Please send me a copy of the publication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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