Shell's Wonderful World Of Music

Shell's Wonderful World Of Music by The Longines Symphonette Society LWSH 6. I am not able to find a year or artist listing for this album but if I do I will update the post. I wasn't able to scan the inner sleeve so I took a picture with my digital camera but it isn't that great. After the track listings, I will type what is on the inner sleeve as it is very interesting.

Track Listing
Record One
Side One
01 I'll Be Home For Christmas
02 The Christmas Song
03 Babes In Toyland
04 The Little Drummer Boy
05 White Christmas
Side Two
01 The First Noel
02 The Twelve Days Of Christmas
03 O Holy Night
04 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
05 God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Record Two
Side One
01 Joy To The World
02 Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies
03 Good King Wenceslas
04 Away In A Manger
05 Medley: We Wish You A Merry Christmas - I Saw Three Ships - Christmas Is Coming
Side Two
01 Silent Night
02 Medley: Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly - Jingle Bells
03 Ave Maria
04 We Three Kings Of Orient Are
05 Oh! Come All Ye Faithful
Christmas at Home in America
Draws on the Whole World for its Happy, Joyous Traditions!
Christmas in America far transcends the secular... for more than 50,000,000 families will come together to celebrate a happy family holiday. Christmas is for children, and through the youngsters we gain a spiritual gift for ourselves far more lasting than the mere exchange of presents! Christmas has deep religious significance for Christians... but all faiths share the one-time-of-the-year where "Peace on Earth and Good Will to all Mankind" provides a brotherhood of unity.

We have many customs that reflect the warmth and good-fellowship of the holiday season. These traditions have com from all over the world. Things like Christmas Trees and Christmas Lights, Yule Logs and Mistletoe, Christmas Seals and gift giving... we have gathered together for you the interesting histories of many of these customs to both inform and entertain you! As you enjoy these fine Christmas songs, read about Christmas... and enjoy this holiday season with out best wishes!

WHERE DID THE USE OF CHRISTMAS SEALS ORIGINATE?
In 1904 a postal clerk in Denmark, named Einar Holboell, devised a plan for selling special stamps at Christmas to indicate to others that users had given charitably to some worthy cause. It seems to be a modern equivalent of ancient Christian giving to the needy, when none were turned away at the door during the Christmas Season.

GIFT GIVING AT CHRISTMAS TIME
Exchanging gifts at Christmas follows the example of the Wise Men who brought gifts to the Christ child-gold, frankincense and myrrh. They received gifts in return. In Spain, children put out their shoes filled with straw. The Wise Men ride by during the night. The straw for their horses is gone and gifts are in its place.

THE BEGINNING OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS

Christmas plays in cathedrals during the holidays were set to music. This beautiful practice soon spread outside the church to give rise to the Christmas carols. The word carol, means "to dance in a ring" and with dancing always comes singing... and during the joyous Christmas celebration the merry-makers became know as caroliers.

HERE WE GO "A-WASSAILING"

The Saxons, during the wars in England, fought with great vigor by day and drank with fervor by night, from a bowl brimming with mead and passed from hand to hand with the cry "Wass Hael", which means "Your Health". This was the beginning and afterwards the name of the bowl that became the Wassail bowl. The contents were carefully compounded of a mixture of hot ale, sugar and nutmeg. On Christmas Eve, apples were roasted on a string until they dropped off into this great bowl of spice ale. Then they would take the bowl into the streets and "go-a-wassailing" and serenade all the neighboring homes with Christmas Carols.

WHO IS SANTA CLAUS?

Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas. He was Nicholas, the bishop of a church on the southern coast of Asia Minor about 1,600 years ago. He was a kindly man and did much to help people. After his death many people spoke of the miracles he had worked and the church had made Nicholas a saint. The Dutch, or low German people called him San Nikolaas; the high German people called him Nikolaus which name is shortened to Klaus or Claus. Santa Claus is the American and English way of saying Saint Nicholas.

In Europe, St. Nicholas became a figure on a white horse who wore the robes of a bishop and sometimes carried a bunch of twigs in one hand to punish naughty children and a bag of presents in the other for good children. The evolution of this gift giving Santa Claus includes aspects of Father Christmas, a folk figure long known in Northern Europe. He wore a red robe trimmed in white fur, was jovial, enjoyed merrymaking and encouraged kissing under the mistletoe.

Washington Irving, the American author, described the St. Nicholas to the Dutch settlers in 1809 and made him a popular figure in America. The description of Santa Claus and his reindeer in Clement C. Moore's poem, "The Night Before Christmas," imprinted and images on the American public in 1823 of Santa as a jovial, hearty gift giver riding through the sky in his sleigh.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Living plants exemplifying the essence of beauty helped to dispel the gloom of Winter and the evergreens particularly symbolized eternal life. Holly and Ivy, fragrant herbs, mistletoe and other favorites were used lavishly in decking halls and churches on these long Yuletide holidays.

Holly, both the tree itself and its brightly berried branches holds special significance for use at Christmas. The very name is believed to be derived from the word holy-thus holly tree from holy tree. Other people considered the holly sacred and used it in healing the sick. It would repel evil spirits and protect a house from lightning. Branches hung around the house and stable were a good omen. It was believed that cattle would thrive if holly were placed where it could be seen on Christmas Day. In parts of England and Germany hollies are referred to as "he' and "she"... those with heavily spined leaves are known as the "he" Hollies while the smooth leafed kinds are associated with the gentler sex. The type brought in for Christmas would determine, according to another custom, who was to be head of the household for the coming year.

The Scotch-Irish who settled Pennsylvania cherished this custom for many years and added to the belief the if the holly were brought indoors in fair weather, the wife would rule the household whereas if it were cut and brought in during a storm the man would be master for the coming year.

WHY DO CHILDREN HANG A STOCKING ON CHRISTMAS EVE?

The story is that the bishop (the first St. Nicholas) heard of a poor man who was about to sell his three daughters into slavery because he could not provide a dowry for then. Saint Nicholas saved the daughters, one by one, with gifts of gold. Each time, because he wished to remain anonymous, he threw the gift into the house rather than present it. One version of the legend is that he tossed the gold down the chimney where it fell into a stocking that was hung there to dry. And so it is that children still hang up their stocking and often find-in the toe-a tangerine, to represent a lump of gold.

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS

If one walks into the winter-corn on Holy Christmas Eve, he will hear all that will happen in the village that year. On Christmas Eve thrash the garden with flail with only your shirt on and the grass will grow well next year. Tie wet strawbands around the orchard trees on Christmas Eve and it will make them fruitful. Put a stone on every tree and it will bear the more. If the fire burns brightly on Christmas morning it betokens prosperity during the year; if it smoulders, adversity.

WHY DO WE BURN A YULE LOG?

At the end of every year (based on the year's shortest day) it was thought that the sun stood still for twelve days. An enormous log was cut, large enough to burn throughout this period and burn away the evil of the past year. In France it was know as La Tonche, the tree trunk, and was lighted for a few minutes on Christmas Eve. The the fire was put out and the log covered with a cloth. The children who came to observe were urged to beat the cloth with sticks to see if they could bring the log to life again, but as always the effort was hopeless. They were then told to go aside and beg pardon for their faults which had prevented the log from coming back to life. While the children were asking pardon the parents assembled the presents that were to be given to them, and hid them under the cloth. Then the children returned, again beat the cloth, and found the presents. Half burned on Christmas Eve after the gift ceremony, it was then stored as a protection against lightning. The ashes of the log were buried at the base of fruit trees to insure greater productivity in the coming year. Today, however, the Yule Log is just used as a foundation for the Christmas Eve fire.

CANDLES

A Thirteenth century French legend tells of a gigantic tree lit with candles in the forest. Some of the candles were straight and some were upside down. The tree represented humanity-the candles were people good and bad.

ELECTRIC CANDLES

Many years ago, a child upset a candle on the Christmas tree of Ralph E. Morris, a telephone man in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fortunately, Morris was able to smother the flame and save the child from injury. Shaken by this incident, however, he vowed that candles would never again be used on a tree in his home. During the next year, he worked on an idea. Evening after evening, he soldered tiny switchboard lamps to a pair of wires. The result: the first electric lights for a Christmas tree-an idea that made holidays safer for everyone.

HOW DID KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE ORIGINATE?

A Scandinavian myth that eventually became accepted during the joyous Christmas season. Starting with Baldur, the beautiful god of light and spring, was troubled by dreams that his life was in danger. His mother, Frigga, goddess of love, traveled over the world asking earth, air, fire and water to promise not to hurt her son. However, she did not ask the mistletoe, a parasitic plant which attaches itself to trees and therefore does not grow from any of the four elements. Loki, god of fire was jealous of Baldur and finally had him slain with a dart of mistletoe. The tears of Baldur's mother became the white berries of the plant, and she decreed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would place a kiss on anyone who passed under it.

Kissing under the mistletoe grew out of another ancient practice. White robed priests cut mistletoe with a golden sickle in oak groves. The plant was regarded as a symbol of future hope and peace. Whenever enemies met under the mistletoe they would drop their arms, forget their enemies and embrace.

WHY ARE MINCE PIE AND PLUM PUDDING TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS DESSERTS?

Mince pie has been a symbolic food of the Christmas season for a long time. Because it is full of spices and fruits, it represents the choice and exotic treasuries of the East, the home of the Wise Men. Plum pudding is the other standard dessert for Christmas and it has a history almost exactly the opposite of mince pie, which seems deliberately to have been concocted to stand for splendor and luxury. It is told that in the early days of England a king and his men were lost in the forest on Christmas Eve. Since they had intended to be at their destination for the celebration of the night they had only meager provisions. The cook for the party decided to combine everything he had so that there would be one dish for all.

WHERE DID "XMAS" COME FROM?

XMAS, an abbreviated form of Christmas, represents the Greek letter X, usually translates into English and pronounced as "CH", has come into common use in this era of short cuts. NOEL from the French means birthday or it may be derived from a word meaning news. In either case, the reference is to the birthday of Christ or to news of that momentous event.

WHERE DID THE CHRISTMAS TREE COME FROM?

One tale describes Martin Luther as attempting to explain to his wife and children the beauty of a snow-covered forest under the glittering star besprinkled sky. Suddenly an idea suggested itself. He went into the garden, cut off a little fir tree, dragged it on the nursery, put candles on its branches and lighted them.

Although today, we celebrate the Holiday Season with one big Christmas tree for the entire family, it was not always this way. When the custom first originated, the tree was small and each child in the family was given their own Christmas tree together with their individual Christmas presents.

Still another story dates back to very early times when the passion plays were presented in the Church. In order to dramatize the story of Adam and Eve, more clearly, a flat wooden pyramid was constructed. On it were hung branches of evergreens and apples. Many people thought this tree so lovely that they built a similar one in their own homes... adding shelves for presents and trinkets