nPostednon December 26, 2015
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Inhave always thought of Good King Wenceslas as a Christmas carol, butnthe very first lines—
Inhave always thought of Good King Wenceslas as a Christmas carol, butnthe very first lines—n
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nGoodnKing Wenceslas lookednout / on the feast of Stephen,
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n—tellnus that it is actually a St. Stephen’s Day carol!
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nSt.nStephen’s Day, also known as The Feast of Stephen, is December 26. Atnleast, that’s the date of St. Stephen’s Day in the Western Church.nThe Eastern Church celebrates this feast day on December 27 or even –nusing the Julian calendar date – January 9!
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nAnlot of nations and regions celebrate St. Stephen’s Day as an officialnpublic holiday. The list includes Alsace (in France), Austria,nBalearic Islands (in Spain), Catalonia (in Spain), Denmark, nFinland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Moselle (in France),nNorway, Philippines, and Sweden.
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nThenEastern nations who celebrate St. Stephen on January 9 include Bosnianand Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Macedonia,nMontenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
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nLet’sncheck out a few of the St. Stephen’s Day customs:
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nTheren are ceremonial horseback rides in Austria, plus a blessing of then horses.
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nInn Catalonia, people gather to feast and to use up some of then Christmas leftovers; leftover meat is ground up and stuffed inn canelons, which aren tubular pastas.
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nInn Ireland, people dress up in straw hats and capes; they go from doorn to door and dance and sing. n
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nFinnsn take horse-drawn sleigh rides, complete with bells, and in this wayn visit relatives and friends. Some Finnish people hold parades andn dances. Some, called Star boys or Star singers, do a door-to-doorn event, singing carols and enacting a play about the Three Wisen Men.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversarynof a Curie discovery
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nAnniversarynof the commissioning of a hospital ship
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nSecondnDay of Christmas
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nBoxingnDay
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Anniversarynof the patent for the Frisbee
Anniversarynof the patent for the Frisbeen
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest pages on:
Checknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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