Good King Wenceslas

As it is Saint Stephen's Day today (also called Migraine Day, and another name I refuse to type here), I am sharing Good King Wenceslas. I hope you enjoy.

Good King Wenceslas

Because it is Saint Stephen's Day today, I am sharing Good King Wencesla. It's a blog's tradition.

Because it's the Feast of Stephen

It is Saint Stephen's Day today, the first Christian martyr, although I don't care about it, because I'm an atheist. No, for me the Feast of Stephen means the day after Christmas and definitely not Boxing Day. It also and especially means I am listening to Good King Wencesla. I always loved this carol. Anyway, here it is for you to enjoy.

Good King Wenceslas

No, no, this is not Boxing Day. It is Saint Stephen's Day and that means I am listening to and sharing the carol Good King Wencesla. So yeah, enjoy.

Good King Wenceslas

Well, it is Saint Stephen's Day and that means... I listen to Good King Wenceslas and share it with my readers on the blog.

Because it is the Feast of Stephen...

...I am sharing again, as it is a tradition on this blog, Good King Wenceslas, sung (again) by Loreena McKennitt in one of the best take of the carol (in my opinion of course). For others, today is/was Boxing Day, for me it is/was the last bit of true Christmastime, when the Christmas season is not quite over yet. And you?

The obligatory song on this 26th of December

Happy Saint Stephen's Day everyone! As people knowing old Christmas carols, this is the day featured in Good King Wenceslas, which I share every year on this blog, in one version or another. It is a favourite of mine. This year, I will use a slightly different approach, as I will share the carol as featured in The Big bang Theory. For two reasons: 1)while I do not follow the show anymore, I find this particular moment hilarious, and 2)it happens in a Dungeons&Dragons session. As you know, my brothers and I now play D&Dr exclusively during Christmastime, so it kind of resonates with me. Our games are far different than this one. But more to that in another post, probably tomorrow if I can find the time to blog. Here is the complete clip:

Good King Wenceslas looked out...

Because we are the Feast of Stephen and that I strongly dislike the Boxing Day everybody is mad about today, I am uploading again Good King Wenceslas. It is also a Christmas tradition on Vraie Fiction and you know how much I love to keep my blogging traditions. To accompany the song, I have uploaded a picture that my brother PJ took in Prague. It is a portrait statue of the real King Wenceslas, the historical figure that inspired the fictitious character of the carol. I have not much to add, apart that I find ironic that today is for too many people about getting a good deal and consuming, while the legend of King Wenceslas is about generosity and compassion.

Good King Wenceslas

We are the Boxing Day today... and also the Feast of Stephen, day made famous with this great Christmas carol. I love Good King Wenceslas, it is a story about compassion on a day that is now all about consumerism. I had to go and buy some bare necessities of life today, I did it as late as I could, I was happy to see that many shops were still closed for the day. Anyway, since it is still Christmastime and since it is a tradition on this blog, I am sharing the carol today. It was sung in York Minster. Not the greatest take on it, but I visited the place during my holidays in the city, so I thought it would be fitting enough.

Good King Wenceslas looked out...

As it is a tradition on Vraie Fiction to avoid this consumerist day that is Boxing Day, I am uploading Good King Wenceslas again. We are, after all, on the Feast of Stephen. One of my favorite Christmas carols, a tale in a song, as efficient as it is atmospheric. I also discovered last year another take on the story I really enjoyed, in a poem form by Carol Ann Duffy. You can read it here. Ladt year I bought the poem for myself, beautifully illustrated by Stuart Kolakovic. I could not find a version of the song I really loved, but this one will do.

Good Kind Wenceslas

This has become a Christmas tradition on Vraie Fiction: I am uploading Good King Wenceslas. as I avoid the Boxing Day, I consider the 26th of December, the Feast of Stephen, or more precisely Good King Wenceslas's Day, because of course of his namesake carol. This is sang by Loreena McKennitt, taken I think from her album A Midwinter Night's Dream. I love this song not so much about its moral message, although I do like that this is about generosity and kindness rather than devotion, but because of its atmosphere: cold winters and heavy snow just peak to me. So here it is anyway.

The Feast of Stephen

We are the day after Christmas, which means we are... St Stepen's Day, of course. You can read a lot about it here. For me, it has a simple but essential meaning: it is the day to avoid Boxing Day.Other people remember it from the lyrics of Good King Wenceslas, a carol which I have decided to upload on this post. It is the third year in a row that I upload the carol on this blog. It is becoming a tradition on Vraie Fiction. So enjoy the day and the music, I hope the frost is not cruel but that it is snowy where you are.

Two Christmas carols with an Irish twist

You can see at your left the Christmas tree of my family in Chicoutimi. Believe me: it is much more impressive in real, and you have the lovely smell which I miss terribly. because we are still during the Christmas holidays, because we are on Boxing Day, which I hate and I want to exorcise it as much as I can (even though it is practically over now), I thought I would upload two Christmas carols tonight, not just one, as I could not decide between the two. The first one, Good King Wenceslas, I already uploaded last year. It is also St-Stephen's Day, the Feast of Stephen as the song says, so I had to reuse it. The second is Christmas in Killarney, which I discovered a long time ago as sang by Bing Crosby. But is is not nearly as good as done the Irish way. So I decided to put both carols interpreted by the Irish Rovers, who are ironically enough Canadian. I love this song as it is a nostalgic one and it appeals to the expat I am, even though I am not Irish. And I have this love for Irish culture, so I thought I would celebrate it on another day than St-Patrick's Day. The picture of a Christmas tree is a bonus.

The Feast of Stephen (to avoid Boxing Day)

Today is Boxing Day, a day I always hated. But since it is Sunday it will be probably be worse tomorrow, like a nightmare that you live again two nights in a row. Did I mention that I hate Boxing Day? I usually spend the day locked in, reading, watching movies, whatever I can find to avoid going out and meeting civilisation. Although seeing as how people behave like a herd on Boxing Day, "civilisation" might be a generous word.

The 26th of December is supposed to be St Stephen's Day, a saint I know nothing about but his martyrdom and the mention of this day in Good King Wenceslas. Always loved that song, which is also a nice little story. But I love it for its winter atmosphere. Its mentions of cruel frost and rude wind means something to someone who grew up in such winters. When I was a child, I could barely understand English, but the music was enough to make me enjoy Good King Wenceslas. It is also one of those Christmas carols that I associate with Dungeons & Dragons, both because of the setting of its subject and in its music, which dates back to the XIIIth century. Characters walking in the snow on a cold winter night (or day) is a campaign cliché I always loved (and so did my brother who is also our DM). So since I won't play the game any time soon and since I did not put many Christmas carols here, I thought I would put this one. It is, after all, the Feast of Stephen and the frost outside is cruel: