Archive : December 2011

A test of your Christmas knowledge

  As the annual festivities get into full swing, here’s another little Christmas trivia quiz to test your knowledge of this very special season (answers follow): 1. The first commercial Christmas card g...

View Article

Jolly old Saint Nicholas

  St. Nicholas of Myra (Lycia), who died in the fourth century, is irrevocably associated with Christmas. Scholars trace this to a story involving Nicholas and three penniless maidens who, lacking dowries, were destined for a ...

View Article

A Christmas story

  Of all the Christmas stories I have read about while doing historical research, one of the most endearing I have found involves “newsboys,” or “newsies.” As the electronic media gains more inroads int...

View Article

Wonderful world of whimsy

Christmas riddles for the kids: • Why does Santa have three gardens? So he can hoe, hoe, hoe. • What kind of cereal do snowmen eat? Frosty Flakes. • How do shee...

View Article

Few Caribbean words in English

Barbecue isn’t our sole Caribbean loanword, although it almost is. Fewer than 20 English words have been borrowed from native Caribbean tongues. Words from the Caribbean having an African origin are more plentiful. This i...

View Article

Independence anniversary

The passage of a statute 80 years ago in December is an extremely signifcant event in Canadian history. On December 11, 1931, the Statute of Westminster was passed by the British Parliament, removing the last vestiges of colonialism and cre...

View Article