Forget the sleigh? What!
"Misa de Alguinaldo"
In Caracas, Venezuela, church-goers attend mass early in the mornings, called "Misa de Alguinaldo", on the days between
December 16th and December 24th. Now while this may not sound all that much fun so remember it's all in the journey. Neighborhoods close the streets to cars until 8 am for the next morning, because everybody going to mass gets up bright and early and straps on their roller skates to get to church. So that nobody misses out on going to church in roller skates, before bedtime the kids tie one end of a piece of string to their big toe and hang the other end of the string out the window as the roller skaters pass by the windows and see the strings hanging out, they give a quick tug to make sure the kids wake up. If you're wondering how the first batch of roller skaters makes sure to get up on time, they don't mess around either, they get up to the sound of fireworks.O Sole Mio
Rather take your time waking up and add a mellower tradition to your holiday season? Gondolas!!! This holiday tradition takes to L.A. not Venice, Italy or Venice California even.
Take a Gondola Ride to admire the Christmas and Hanukkah lights on Naples Island in Long Beach, Marina del Rey or Newport Beach. There are other more economical boat tours available, but snuggling under a blanket while a gondolier serenades you with O Sole Mio or O Holy Night is the most romantic way to see the festive holiday decorations around Naples Island in Long Beach.
Here Comes Santy Clause...
Writing this, I couldn't help but thinking, so how did Santa decide to get a sleigh and reindeer?
Perhaps nothing has fixed the image of Santa Claus so firmly in the American mind as a poem entitled A Visit from St. Nicholas written by Clement Moore in 1822. Moore, a professor of biblical languages at New York's Episcopal Theological Seminary, drew upon early New Amsterdam traditions (New York City's first name) and added some elements from German and Norse legends. These stories held that a happy little elf-like man presided over midwinter pagan festivals. In the poem, Moore depicts the Saint as a tiny man with a sleigh drawn by eight miniature reindeer. They fly him from house to house and at each residence he comes down the chimney to fill stockings hung by the fireplace with gifts.
Clement Moore had written the poem for the enjoyment of his own family, but in 1823 it was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel. It became very popular and has been reprinted countless times under the more familiar title, The Night Before Christmas.
Where did Moore get the reindeer? The Saami people of northern Scandinavia and Finland often used reindeer to pull their sledges around and this found its way into the poem. Reindeer, which are much sturdier animals than North American deer,are well adapted to cold climates with their heavy fur coats and broad, flat hooves for walking on snow.If you're not ready to give up the sleigh and you want to watch Santa's make his way around the world, our friendly folks at the U.S. Defense Department, who after all brought us the Internet, have a website which tracks Santa's progress.
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