Christmas Archives - Christmas Information, Facts, Legends & Customs

Christmas Archives, how it all began

By Andrew Hubert von Staufer

My wife, Maria Countess von Staufer (1945-2007) and I worked within the field of historic Christmas research for considerably more than 30 years. Basically we threw our respective careers out of the window when we married and concentrated on something that we both enjoyed and would fit in with raising our family. We worked on developing a career from Maria’s mixture of Yorkshire and Mallorcan traditions together my own Polish heritage, It wasn't easy.

I had been an air traffic controller & journalist while she was a Paris trained Cordon Bleu chef, qualified psychologist and former Franciscan nun. I met Maria on the Scottish Ski Slopes, I was her ski instructor, proposed within three days of meeting her and we were happily married in the very historic Catholic church of St Mary & St Michael Llanarth in beautiful Welsh Marches less than three months later.

Within a few years we were regular contributors to a variety of Radio & TV programmes, mounting exhibitions world wide, including originating a number of Christmas crib exhibitions and were creating specialist Christmas designs & sets for store windows, film production as well as theatre & church productions. Frequently I found myself pressed into service as Santa Claus.

Our basic tenet was that religion, folk custom culture and even the notion of society are closely entwined and we try to secularise it at our peril without stifling intelligent debate, or cutting edge research. That is not to say that we were in any sense overtly proselytising a Christian message or indeed ignoring a variety of co-existent religious and cultural influences.

Quite early on we had established excellent relations with Jewish, Moslem, Hindu and Buddhist groups all of which had adapted or enriched the sheer tapestry of worldwide Christmas celebration. Indeed that ethos has carried on into the next generation with our daughter Emma who worked for ten years in Japan, developing a marketing plan & themed exhibitions with a Christmas context, our eldest son Kazik has done a lot of original research into textual references to the Nativity from both Jewish and Moslem perspectives, while the youngest, Marijan is developing his PhD thesis in the spheres of politics, peace & reconciliation studies.

In 1991, we sold a considerable part of our then Christmas museum collection to the Felissimo Corporation of Kobe Japan, who to their credit have trained specialists who mount Christmas themed exhibitions and lecture on the life and work of my wife.

We still have a considerable archive of Christmas music and texts which have formed the basis of many books written over several years including such subjects as Jane Austen's Christmas, Christmas in Shakespeare's England and Wartime Christmas.

Maria died unexpectedly in Spain on September 21 this year following a routine operation that discovered a hitherto undiagnosed cancer.

The Christmas Archives website will continue to evolve with input from a wide variety of international sources.

 

Link to music - Polish Christmas Carol 'God is Born'

verything you need to know about Christmas is here or will be here soon! While I cannot, single-handed, answer every question you have, the really unusual ones I will try to answer! - questions like the lady who wanted to know how to bring the magic of Santa into the teaching of her 10 month old baby's life without losing the real meaning of Christmas; or the pastor who wanted to know the English meaning of 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo', things which you genuinely cannot find elsewhere after searching the Net - then please Email me and I will answer your question.

Christmas Weddings

Planning a wedding soon? Visit the page on Christmas in Mallorca to get some idea of the fantastic traditions there. Christmas begins on 1st December with the Christmas Markets, and the Advent services and Church decorating, and continues through to the 6th January with many of the stunningly decorated churches doing a play about the visit of the Magi, and the performance of the Sibil.la. The following Saturday starts the feast of St Antoni, and then St Sebastian, the city patron. Lots of parades and spectaculars for everyone.
If you would like to have your wedding between December and end January, please visit our sister site, MALLORCA-WEDDINGS.COM - the first company to offer weddings in Mallorca on the net. Fully professional service.

PRIEST HELPLINE This is a sister site set up by Countess Maria, who is a qualified Counselor for Clergy. Her completely confidential helplines for Roman Catholic priests appear on two sites where you can read Maria's credentials and find other counsellors too. One priest helpline is at www.WorldSociety.net, the other priest help line is on the Married Priests' web site at www.marriedpriests.org. This second help-line is frequently overloaded so an e-mail to both might be helpful for quicker response.

Priests are our first port of call when we have a problem - but who helps the priests when THEY in turn have problems. This has been Maria's lifelong work, and now she is offering a voluntary service on the two helplines. Canonical, transitional or left. Unfit, old, young. There is help for you.

WORLD SOCIETY is an interesting new venture. It has been introduced to encompass all those things of interest to the von Staufers, which does not relate directly to Christmas - there is still much work to be done on this site.

If you wish to order Maria's own Christmas titles go to MARIA'S BOOKS on this site to read the reviews and order.

Maria's completely private and confidential Priest Helpline resides on World Society too.Go to World Society and click onto the Christmas Tree baubles to visit these exciting new sites.

You can now also read about a fascinating new ski - SKIRIDER ™ .

Researchers, professors and students note, the Christmas Archives International Web site is growing, and will be maintained all year. The pages will grow, and be more useful. I shall be adding to a page of World Christmas customs which I hope will be the most comprehensive there is - but that is next year! Please visit and enjoy the pages I have prepared for your enjoyment this year............

• ALL ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS ARCHIVES & THE COUNTESS MARIA Read all about Maria's work as a Christmas historian and what the Christmas Archives are, and how you can help fill the archives with your own accounts of Christmas.
• POLISH CHRISTMAS CAROLS AND CUSTOMS Here you can read an extended account of the Polish carols arranged by Kazimierz Hubert. Also, an introduction to the beautiful Christmas music of Poland. Links to many other Polish carols and to many Polish sites. 
• A HUNGARIAN CHRISTMAS Here you can read a reminiscence of a Hungarian Christmas by June Meyer and her recipe for poppyseed cake.
• CHRISTMAS IN MALLORCA A little different from the Christmas in Spain sites, though there are some of the very best links to genuine Spanish sites which will tell you about Christmas in Spain in Spanish and in English. There is also an excellent link to a Catalan site which is an educational site related to the Crib. Mallorca (or Majorca) is the largest of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. The culture is old and has many different traditions to the rest of Spain. They speak Mallorquin which is similar to Catalan. This page will tell you all about Christmas on the Island, particularly about La Sibil.la, a very ancient custom held on the 6th January. You can also try making delicious Turron from the recipe there. You can also find out something about how the CATALANS spend Christmas. In English, Castillian and Mallorquin/Catalan.
  
  COLLECTORS OF THE WORLD - Here also is a site you MUST visit! The Collectors Club of Mallorca has attracted members from all over the world, and you can find and swap anything. Find it on the Christmas in Mallorca pages.
• HOLIDAYS IN MALLORCA - Mallorca is much more than sea and sand. Its Mountain walks and almond blossom; colourful parades and pilgrimages; wonderful history and some of the most hospitable people on earth - you just have to step back from the First Line of the sea to explore and find the real Island of Peace... And Winter, Christmas parades, shops aglow with lights, ancient customs and spectacles. Christmas shopping with a difference. Countess Maria offers her own family apartments for exclusive holiday rental. Click here for the first step to a wonderful holiday.
• PILGRIMAGES & HOLIDAYS IN SPAIN & MALLORCA Mallorca is one of those places which considers an excursion or pilgrimage to a local shrine or sanctuary a holiday!
• CHRISTMAS IN EGYPT The Coptic Christmas follows the old calendar, and takes place on the 6th of January. The Coptic Church is Catholic. It was founded by St Mark who spent much time in Egypt, and it is said that he wrote his Gospel there.
• PILGRIMAGE & HOLIDAY IN EGYPT For two thousand years the Holy Sites in Egypt have been visited by pilgrims from both East and West. Maria and Andrew followed the route traditionally taken by the Holy Family after their flight into Egypt. Read their account, and discover how you can make a unique pilgrimage following in their footsteps. Or even to Mount Sinai - or both!
• COUNTESS MARIA'S CHRISTMAS BOOKS Read Maria's own books about Christmas and buy them online securely using PayPal. Reviews and sample chapters from her books for you to print up and sample at your leisure - recommended for cosy winters evenings! 
• GREAT BRITISH CHRISTMAS England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, including the off-shore islands. Here you can read about their customs, traditions and foods. 
• CHRISTMAS MARKETS
  We have spent the past few years visiting Christmas Markets around Europe. It is a wonderful way to get Christmas spirit started. Usually these places are colder than the UK and often have a flutter of snow to add to the festive feel. It's easy to wrap up warmly; the places are dry, so one does not feel the chill of cold as we do in the UK. The hotels are well heated, and cosy.
  So far we have been to markets in Spain, UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. You can read about these places, and with some hints of where to stay too, together with a HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS MARKETS on the Christmas Markets' Page.
• A BEDTIME STORY An exclusive short story written by Countess Maria especially for her web visitors. You may print this one up for bedtime reading - recommended for a cosy winter's evening! Copyright. May not be used, copied or posted elsewhere on the Net without written permission from Maria Hubert von Staufer.
• CRIB FRIENDS ON THE NET Crib Friends, Krippenfreund, Amis de la Creche, Pessebristas...wherever in the world you hail from this part of the site will delight you. Links to Creche sites all over the world. In this section you will also find a comprehensive HISTORY OF THE NATIVITY, suggested dates of the events, and description of the whole medieval NATIVITY CYCLE. Original research copyright Maria Hubert von Staufer and Kazik Hubert 1999. Very interesting .
• CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE A different approach to the history of the Christmas Tree. Starting with early references and legends in the 7th century, this page looks at how the Christmas Tree has evolved, every era is illustrated with fine old engravings. 
• CHRISTMAS IN THE 21st CENTURY Started for the Millennium, this part of the site is under construction. In the years to come, it will be a complete history of the evolution of Christmas in thumbnail sketches, illustrations, accounts of personal recollections and links to other sites. This site will build up to be a complete reference of Christmas, done as a sort of Web dictionary or encyclopedia. It will be under construction for the next two years, and will then stay put as a researchers' resource, and as with any good dictionary, will be updated. 
• CHRISTMAS ACCOUNTS FROM HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS This page complements 'Christmas in the 21st Century' by filling in the details for those wanting a serious look at the history of Christmas in the context of the Christian Church, via carefully researched and translated manuscripts and documents from libraries, private collections and church sources.
• WORLD CHRISTMAS TOUR ROUND THE INTERNET
  This page links you to other Christmas sites - why is this different? Hopefully our tour will take you to places you have never visited before. Visit sites which will tell you about the customs of the peoples of that country, visit tourist sites and sample the pleasures of Christmas holidays, do some Christmas shopping on the Net, join in some Christmas music... its all here waiting for you at the click of your mouse. 
• THE NATIVITY ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT TRADITIONS: The Quoran (Islam)
• CHRISTMAS AT HOME. Or do you prefer a cosy CHRISTMAS AT HOME? Make some cookies (biscuits, as we in England call them) following the old English recipe given, settle down with a cup of hot malted milk, and follow these links. 
• ADOREMUS. An annotated collection of links to Christmas music, worship, and celebration around the world. 
• CHRISTMAS LEGENDS. A new feature, which begins with the story of the first Christmas Tree Lights. 
• THE SEARCH FOR THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS. Can you enjoy Christmas without spending a fortune on plastic, and regretting it the rest of the year?
• CHRISTMAS ARCHIVES PHOTOLIBRARY. The Christmas Archives is delighted to offer for the first time, images from the internationally known Christmas Archives Photo Library.

The exclusive images from the photolibrary are available as Christmas cards. They can be signed by Countess Maria if you want. They can also be printed with your personal message/address etc if you order before mid-November.

To see these cards and for details of how to order, please click onto the photogallery now...

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For anyone who likes Christmas and all its customs, but does not share the Christian beliefs, please read on, you will find everything here relating to British Christmas social customs and traditions.

For those who enjoy the whole of Christmas with its Christian elements, this site will please you too, especially when I get all the links sorted out! The Polishworld Site has so many fantastic links, many to religious pages and pictures of the unique Polish Creche, the SZOPKA.

IF YOU HAVE CHRISTMAS INFORMATION TO SHARE

If you have a background from one of the countries of the British Isles, and you have a custom not listed here, I would be delighted to hear about it. contact us

If you would like to share information about Christmas or join the discussion of Christmas resources, history, and web sites, please call back soon when we shall have our very own Forum here.

Here are some of my favourite sites. You will find many more in the pages listed above:

• Operation Letters to Santa
• Polishworld Christmas
• Christmasmarket Marketplace
• The Mining Co Urban Legends
• Santa's 50 Faves

A WORTHY TRIBUTE

This site was originally set up with the enormous help of Walt Howe, whose site on Internet skills you can access here. He is a great guy, and I admit that I could not have done this site without him. Sadly I have not heard from him for two years now, and do not know what happened to him. The site remains a tribute to his patience and many hours of unpaid work on my behalf. I miss him greatly. THANK YOU WALT FOR YOUR GREAT HEART... IT WAS A PLEASURE TO KNOW YOU.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO OUR SPONSORS AND HELPERS

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Thousands of Pages and Links of Free Information

The information which is not subscription-protected and readily available on the site may be used freely PROVIDING A WRITTEN REQUEST IS MADE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT MADE TO THE SITE. I shall continue to upload information, making this site a primary source of material for all educational, religious and social use.

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