Do the Holidays Influence Your Blog

December is ripe with holidays from several religions and cultures. Has any of the celebrating come to your blog? Some bloggers adopt a new color scheme (red and green or blue and silver). Others add holiday music that plays on page loading. I've even seen my mouse pointer turn into Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

So tell me, A to Z bloggers, who among you is bringing the holiday spirit (or anti-spirit in some cases)?

• Where can I click to find kittens in Santa hats?
• Has anyone done a book review guide on the best eight books to give this Hanukkah?
• Is there a craft blog with instructions to make a shimekazari for Omisoka?
• Is there a recipie for a Kwanzaa dish?
• Any blog posts out there with tips on what card to send to my favorite atheist scientist?
• How about a list with the very best movies to watch this month?
• Is anyone posting about the best games?
• What about the mythology behind all the December celebrations?
• Who has the best history post about the Greek letter "Chi"?
• Is there a web comic to explain Boxing Day to Americans?
• Any lifestyle bloggers giving insight to the fasting, introspection and prayer that takes place during Ramadan?
• Is there a great personal blog out there with posts about what a certain holiday means to that blogger?
• Which photography blog has the best pictures of the Rockefeller Center tree, and which has the most unique pictures of another December icon?
• Have any of you poetry bloggers written a poem to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe?
• Has there been a travel blog post showcasing a Saturnalia traditions?
• How many writers out there have a sale special going in December? (Perhaps a naughty special from the Adult Content bloggers?)

The holidays in December are a wonderful time to explore our diversity and to show the very best parts of our religions and cultures. Be good to each other this month. And please share some links to entertain me!


by J Lenni Dorner
Reference and Speculative Fiction Author
A to Z Challenge Co-Host
Operation Awesome Debut Author Spotlight Organizer

New and upcoming story collections to keep an eye on

Hi All! Your resident storyteller and folktale blogger here. Since not many news sources bother with updating you on upcoming folk- and fairy tale collections, here are a few delicious new books to keep an eye out for if you (or your friends) love tales, legends, and mythology:

The Power of a Tale: Stories from the Israel Folktale Archives
A collection of 53 folktales celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Israel Folktale Archives at the University of Haifa. The stories represent 26 ethnic groups from Israel, 22 of them Jewish:  "The narrators of the stories come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and education levels. They include both men and women of various ages who worked in diverse fields. Some were long settled in Israel while others were recent arrivals when their stories were collected and transcribed. They all shared one conspicuous quality-their talent as storytellers. The stories they tell encompass a myriad of genres and themes, including mythical tales, historical legends, sacred legends, demon legends, realistic legends, märchen of various sorts, novellas, jokes and anecdotes, and personal narratives."

The book looks like a very promising collection, and a great example of diversity in the oral tradition. 

Tales of the Narts: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Ossetians
The first English edition of the Ossetian Nart corpus (published this summer), this book is full of amazing stories. The Narts are a group of legendary heroes and warriors that go on epic adventures, fight mythical monsters, and live their lives with courage, passion, and a great deal of curiosity. There has been a theory recently that the Nart sagas have been responsible for the beginnings of Arthurian legends, and while the theory is questionable for multiple reasons, they definitely have all the makings of awesome hero stories.
(I will be doing a performance of these tales in California in October, and I love working with them!)

Nart Sagas: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Circassians and Abkhazians
The second edition of this volume is now available, after a long hiatus. Like the stories in the book above, these are also tales of the Nart heroes, collected from the traditions of different Caucasian ethnic groups. Published with ample commentary, footnotes, linguistic appendices, and everything else you always wanted to know about Caucasian mythology but never thought to ask.

George Macpherson: The Old Grey Magician
One of Scotland's most famous living storytellers, George Macpherson has once again created a truly amazing book: He tracks one mysterious figure, the Grey Magician, across time and space, from legend to legend, from tale to tale, trying to find out who he is, what he wants, and how he affects events in some of the most famous Celtic traditions, such as the Fionn Cycle. If you are interested in Scottish lore or Celtic myth at all, this one is a must-read.




Happy reading to all the folklore-lovers out there!

The Moon is round

It's full moon tonight, and it'll be low enough in the northern sky to shine through my bedroom window when I'm asleep.  I explained why in my blog yesterday.

I like moon-gazing, in fact I like all sorts of natural phenomena, which is why I'm working on making that my theme next April. I'm a long way from being the only moon-gazer, and the moon has played a huge part in our folklore and mythology.  Csenge is a better person to tell you about that than me, and then, of course, there are all those other stories with reference to paranormal influences from the moon!

Whenever I see the phrase "The Moon is round" I think of an old game that was in a book of 'Wonders' I had as a kid, showing various party games to mystify your friends.  The idea was that you had a stick (or pole, or rod) which you used to draw on the ground a circle (representing the moon), then adding two eyes, a nose and a mouth with dots and a line.  You recited "The Moon is round, and he has two eyes, a nose and a mouth" followed by passing the stick to the person on your left and asking them to do it exactly as you did it.  Most of the time the person would not follow your actions perfectly, and you said "No, try again", or passed on to the next person.  Anyone that did it exactly as you had you congratulated, which mystified the rest of your friends even more.  The secret was that you drew the moon with one hand, but passed the stick into your other hand before passing it on, and most people never changed hands.  Silly, but a fun (or infuriating) way to pass the time - especially with nothing more than a stick to play with.

If you're still wondering about a theme for next April's A to Z Challenge, you could look at games, children's games, folklore, or your preferred science.  If you cover any of these things in your blog, why not add a link in the comments below.

Jemima Pett writes scifi-influenced stories for children and adults, including the Princelings of the East books - mystery with a time travel twist - and her new series about asteroid miners caught up in a freedom fight.
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