Previously, on Apocrypals part 5: The Fifth One

As we begin our sixth (!) calendar year of Apocrypals, here is a list of the texts we have covered so far on the show in case you want to read along or catch up. They’re arranged in a way that appeases my systematic nature.  

Tanakh/Old Testament:

Deuterocanon/capital-A Apocrypha:

New Testament:

Pseudepigrapha (Jewish apocrypha):

New Testament apocrypha:

The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine:

Other:

You can find links to all these episodes with show notes and more on the Apocrypals wiki

I finally finished the first podcast of the season. Just in time for the end of the season!

Krampus plush, complete with crying child (for accuracy)

@benito-cereno

Very nice

The Alphabet of Christmas, by Benito Cereno and Chuck Knigge, day 3: C is Christkindl, rewarding the nice

The Christkindl, or Christkindel or Christkindlein, is one of the world’s most popular gift-bringers, one of what I think of as the “big five.” This little angel can be found delivering gifts Europe, including  the southern and western parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, parts of Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, parts of France and Poland, and even parts of South America and Louisiana.

Besides the German variations of her name, she might be known as Gesù Bambino (Italian), Menino Jesus (Portuguese), Jézuska (Hungarian), Ježiško (Slovak), Ježíšek (Czech), Niño Dios or Niño Jesús (Spanish), or Isusić or Isusek (Croatian), among others. However, all of these names mean some variation of “the Christ Child” or “Child Jesus” or “little Jesus,” which makes it hard to determine which of these figures are meant to be a little blonde angel, and which are meant to by the actual infant Jesus himself delivering gifts, which, as we will see, is a thing.

Another element complicating this distinction is the fact that children are generally not supposed to see the Christkindl. Children know that the Christkindl has been by when they hear a tinkling of bells from the other room. When they run in, all the Christmas business is all set up. One place you might actually see the Christkindl, though, is at one of the numerous Christkindl markets popular across Germany and Austria (as well as elsewhere in Europe).

Christkindl became popular during the Protestant Reformation, intended as a more Christ-centric alternative to the very Catholic Saint Nicholas. Ironically, these days Christkindl is more popular in Catholic areas. Additionally, in America, German immigrants talking about a gift-bringing Christkindl ended up merely providing a new name for Saint Nicholas: Kris Kringle.

C is also for:

Previous letters here. 

Wait, some people regard him as a little angel?

It was always baby Jesus, as in, a baby, who was Jesus. It´s technically his birthday after all. He might look like an angel, he can fly, right? But still.

🤷‍♀️

Gävlebocken Gogoat

that is all

@benito-cereno

Second, and MUCH more important, if you get hooked on the whole forgotten background of Christmas legends and lore and weirdness and darkness, you MUST follow @benito-cereno. I'm a snarky dabbler, but Benito is THE MAN for Christmas history.

In fact, he did a full lecture course on Christmas history for youtube during lockdown. He's also working on a comprehensive legendarium that will bring everything Christmas-related into one fascinating grimoire. But here are the videos you MUST watch:

He keeps a ton of his writings on another tumblr, too:

But his main blog is chock full of goodies if you go back through it:

❤️

I don’t come down to the temple where you work and slap the Ba’als out of your mouth

I admit I do not care for it when edgelords burn down a joyful symbol of the season for children because…lols?