Episode-1491- The Christmas Special for 2014 – Corrected
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Note – Somehow the first time this show was published the audio didn’t attach to it, I have now republished it as a new post with audio attached. I apologize for the mix up.
Most of today’s show is a recreation of 2008’s Christmas special. Today we pause and take a moment to reflect on Christmas and how it has become the Holiday we celebrate today. Many American’s have no idea just how Christmas became unique here in America, the role it played in bringing our nation together after two wars of independence and the civil war.
Christmas is special and a time to pause and reflect. Christmas is indeed a special time of year, today I will cover many aspects of it that may make this Christmas just a bit more special. There is also a full text transcription on of the non commercial portion of today’s show in the show notes below.
Tune in today to hear about…
- Christmas was banned in England at one time and even parts of America
- Early Americans didn’t really celebrate Christmas, (congress was in session on Dec 25th, 1789)
- In the early 1800s Christmas was a rowdy holiday spurred by class conflict, turmoil and unemployment
- In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon bringing us many “ancient customs”, he simply invented
- Leading up to the Civil War, Christmas was a “southern holiday” and Thanksgiving a “northern holiday”
- How Christmas and Thanksgiving together helped to heal a young America
- Today is a time to pause, reflect and just be, prepping, planning and stress will all wait patiently for you
- Different ending music for today’s show! The most beautiful version of Oh Holly Night I have ever heard, just pause, listen and realize what really matters while it plays.
Resources for today’s show…
- Written Transcript of the Original Christmas Show (right click and save as for best results)
- Video I Made Using the Song By Martina McBride “O Holy Night” (song from the end of today’s show on Youtube)
Thank you Jack,
That was a very beautiful Christmas story. It was also a wonderful surprise to hear the history on Washington Irving concerning the origins of Christmas and the traditions that came out of it.
I find myself looking back over memories for comfort, pulling out an old shirt of my Dad’s or something from my Mom or grandparents when I’m in need of comfort and reassurance. Partly to be closer to them and partly to remind myself of how things were before I knew what being an adult meant.
I don’t have children so I don’t have to keep up appearances like my parents had to, but I can identify as I look around me to all the people trying to fill the roles set up from generations past. I can only imagine what is going through their minds. God Bless them all.
And God Bless you for your insight, not just tonight but ever since you started. I am late to your podcast, and your work, but your message is priceless what little I’ve been privileged to hear so far.
I will be joining your brigade but it is still going to be a while before that happens. In the mean time I look forward to your podcasts, some days I listen to three in a row and some days I miss. But they are always informative and just what I need to know.
Thank you.
Before I hear your podcast, I got the link on your first go-around and it worked for me, so nothing to apologize for. I didn’t know this woman existed before your Christmas Special.
She is awesome, and knowing a little about the music biz, she is a Pro.
Acapella version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKlOYWwgRo8
I won’t post this until I hear episode 1491…which I assume will be inspiring because Jack, you have the Gift. I found you at episode 275 and loved the Jetta episodes.
Standby while I hear 1491…
Thank you.
Jack, I already knew the history and don’t have access to family and am sleeping alone.
Nonetheless, I am a spiritual man and this is a beautiful duet which all should hear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiFqr–Fsgo
Thanks Jack for your inspiration.
We’re all in this together and there are more of us than most people realize.
We have to help each other and I am thankful for yours. Doing my part on this end.
Suggested reading for history…
“1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus”
by Charles C. Mann, and it’s sequel:
“1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created”
The writing of these two books began with the author’s interest in so-called “heirloom seeds” and tomatoes from Ukraine (Black from Tula is the name of the tomato) and a book by a professor at the University of Texas (Alfred W. Crosby) who suggested that the biological world we see today is entirely different from the world before Columbus. His arrival changed the Americas as much as it changed the rest of the world.
Charles Mann found that the “Ukrainian” tomatoes had come from somewhere in South America that had moved to Mexico. That investigation led to an unknown pre-Columbian Indian farmer who cultivated a barely edible plant into the tomato as we know it today. It was cultivated by the Europeans into the varieties that we call tomatoes with various sizes, shapes and tastes. (Thus the idea of “heir loom” as somehow a truer version of a plant begins to look like a fairy tale.)
The book “1491” is a description of what we know and mostly DON’T know of the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Many historians depict a pristine world in natural balance filled with abundance and a few native Americans having a minimal impact on the environment.
Mann shows that most of this is a load of hooey.
What is the truth? Certainly the arrival of Columbus wiped the slate clean, so to speak. Many people were killed by disease (including Columbus himself). With limited immune systems the native tribes were more than decimated. (“Decimated” means “every tenth killed” or 10%.) But if the natives died before you had a chance to count them, how can you know the number that were here originally? The guesses vary wildly. I’d assume over 40% wiped out. (I’m low-balling it.)
Since the Europeans did not know how disease was caused, it is clear they were not willfully responsible. They saw disease as “God will,” so when they saw Indians dying in job lots, is it any wonder that they began to see their arrival as “God’s will” to take over the place?
During this break I’ve read “1491”. I’m in the midst of reading “1493” which seems to be focusing on the biological changes of the world. In a sense, world globalization and the modern world begins at this time.
Check out TSPWiki.com and the year 1491 “America’s Pristine Past: Fact or Fiction?”
Happy New Year.
Alex Shrugged