Skip to main content

Christmas Countdown Characters #2


Today it was a hard decision whether to put the spotlight on Balthazar, one of the Three Wise Men or to focus on a more obscure Christmas character... Basil of Caesarea? 
St Basil - watercolour, ink, pencil - Wilma Simmons
B is for St. Basil ... Most likely very few other than those with a Greek heritage would know of St Basil's connection with Christmas. Basil was a  4th century Greek bishop of Caesarea, an area of what is now known as modern Turkey. He was an intellectual theologian and writer, but better known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. Basil, from a fairly wealthy family himself, gave away all of his own material possessions to the needy. This act in itself qualifies him as demonstrating the true spirit of Christmas, but there are other aspects of his story which suggests that he might be the Greek traditional version of Santa Claus. On St Basil's Day ( 1 January),  children receive gifts from St. Basil. . It is also a custom to serve "vasilopita" - a rich bread baked with a coin inside. Similar Christmas customs like visiting family and friends and singing carols are also customs associated with St Basil. I think St Basil, given his history and with  a name which means "king" deserves to be in the line up of Christmas characters - St Basil the Great.
Tomorrow, C is for Christmas, but who else will take the stage?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

Fragments

 Some days are just your lucky days - today I was very fortunate and privileged to open the first ever Australian exhibition "Fragments" by  UK  Fibre Artist  Sue Hotchkis .  Here is a little about the techniques of this amazing textile artist from her own website  ...  Working intuitively with print and stitch, marks, textures and colours are exaggerated, intensified to reveal the detail and complexity within the images. Materials are deconstructed using modern methods, ripped, burnt and dyed. Time is invested in their reconstruction; pieces can take from a week to several months to create. Whilst being aesthetically pleasing the work can also act as a metaphor for deterioration and ruin, associated with urban decay and ultimately death and loss. They evolve organically, built up with layers of print, cloth, paper, and stitch into three-dimensional abstract forms that hover between object and image; to create a unique, visual and tactile lan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christmas Countdown 25... Christmas Tree #1

Background : It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me to write an Advent blog - a series of posts leading into Christmas from 1 December . In the past,  I have featured Christmas characters by the alphabet, all you ever needed to know about Christmas cakes, Christmas Firsts  and  Christmas traditions.  I usually find myself on 30 November, thinking what  to do this year?  However, I've had  the idea of "crazy " Christmas trees in the back of my mind since last year.  So this year, it's about non- traditional, unusual, crazy, weird  Christmas trees.   There will also be a "handmade" element to my posts, so there may even be some links to tutorials or other ideas....  So here we go. Christmas Countdown 25 - 1 December.  Source : https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/455285843573622091 This is the image which started this line of thought....  a yarn bombed, crochet granny square Christmas tree.  I though...
Post a Comment
Read more