One of my favourite songs at Xmas 'The Boar's Head' sung in this instance by Steeleye Span with Maddy Prior. Though I must admit 'The King's Choir' Cambridge is probably better. It is an early medieval carol, and is often described as macabre, probably for the image of the severed head of the boar.
Today my daughter, two grandchildren and Teddy the whippet come for a couple of days. Lucy will have fun terrorizing Teddy, she is very sneaky, and just growls very quietly her lip raised. Teddy will head straight for the bedroom upstairs, terrified by her and there he will stay and Lucy will reign supreme. Wretch that she is.
When I was a child, bought up by my grandfather, he once cooked a pig's head. Basically you do this to remove the meat, it can look pretty in aspic jelly, with a few other things, I remember sliced eggs and tomatoes. But doubt if I ever ate it. Nowadays we have 'clean' butchered meat but in the 50s food was still scarce, and every bit of the pig was eaten. Trotters and green pea soup another.
Today the candles and fire will be lit, the girls will sprawl with their phones and the television will catch all those Xmas programmes! On the 25th, I shall be quiet and alone but with Paul. I shall spin, or maybe even set up a warp on the long dining table, something I have been wanting to do for ages. A friend will call in as well and there are invitations from people in the village, but i want to be quiet.
In many ways I write for Paul, he always read it each day in the past, I can hear the robin outside demanding attention......
I love the sound and harmony and did not listen too closely to the words. Growing up on a farm many decades ago, we also ate all parts of the animal. Nothing wasted when you have 5 growing kids to feed. Your quiet and gentle Christmas sounds perfect after company.
ReplyDeleteThe Boar's Head carol is very robust and has changed a lot with the language. We now have wild boar in England, they got free in the Forest of Dean and have proliferated. People do occasionally moan about them but they seem to keep clear of humans. I almost wish for snow for Xmas, but the weather is too mild at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMy dad worked in a meat packing plant; so I have eaten a lot of parts that others never do. Now they are hard to even buy here... if I wanted to and not sure I do lol
ReplyDeleteWe have javelina here on the desert. They are little pigs (used to say they were rodents but then decided they are what they look like), who visit us regularly for birdseed that might've been knocked out of the feeders.
I suspect because there are antibiotics in parts of the animal, like kidneys and liver, I hated liver, yuk. I have shall have to look javelina up never come across them before.
DeleteOdd how one memory so often triggers a flood of them, throwing one back in time. Your mention of The Boar's Head Carol did that for me. I was in my mid teens when my grandfather purchased a neighbor's old upright piano and had it transported to the chilly parlor of the farmhouse, so that I could play every evening [my parents' home was a few hundred yards away, but the piano there was in competition with my Dad's TV] My uncle brought out a book of carols which had many unfamiliar to me at the time. Thumping out the rousing chorus of the Boar's Head, savoring the Latin phrases was a joy. [No, I don't want to eat any part of a pig--wild or otherwise!]
ReplyDeleteThat brought up a memory Sharon, I didn't realise the Boars Head carol had made it to America. Pianos were nearly in every household, I wonder if television finally removed them from their place in the sitting room.
DeleteI spend Christmas Day with three friends and we share the cost. Their neighbour, also a friend, has Tess for the day (there is a cat where we have lunch). Boxing Day I shall be spending alone but - as you say - our loved one is never far away.
ReplyDeleteOne of my problems Pat is that I like to be working at something, but I shall enjoy my day and hope your Christmas will be a memorable day.
DeleteDid you ever read "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt? There's a pig's head in that. It is a most wonderful, tender and semi-autobiographical novel set in Limerick, Ireland. The pig's head was for Christmas dinner.
ReplyDeleteNo, but quickly checked it and the book looks good. What we had was called 'brawn' so I don't know how they ate it in Ireland but I always remember the yukky look of the pig trotters bathing in the green soup!
ReplyDeleteI have been playing Maddy Prior's Christmas Carols this week, including that one. I once cooked up a pig's head, but everyone was horrified by the result and so the cats benefitted from it!!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your quiet Christmas Day and I am sure the spinning - or warping up - will be therapeutic. As you say, Paul will be with you.
Perhaps I should not have brought up the subject of a pig's head. Happy Christmas.
ReplyDelete