Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist 

in Savannah, Georgia is a work of art 

and a symbol of persistence in the face of adversity. 

According to the church's web site,

http://www.savannahcathedral.org/about/history,

the first St. John the Baptist church 

was a small structure built in the late 1700s by French and Haitian settlers.

It was rebuilt and expanded following hurricane damage in the 1850s.

However, a French Gothic style cathedral was built at its present site in 1876;

spires and stucco were added in 1895, only to have the cathedral burn in 1898.

After years of reconstruction, the present cathedral was dedicated in 1920.

I was able to tour the cathedral Christmas Eve morning,

along with dozens of other tourists.

The Cathedral's architecture and appointments are amazing.

The ceiling soars 66 feet above the marble floor of the altar and the support columns:

A view of one side of the altar:

The nativity scene was beautiful. It even had a waterfall.

Many angels were suspended in the "sky" over the manger:

 Real evergreens and beautiful figures:

The purple ribbons are on the most elaborate Advent candles I've seen.

The lectern is hand-carved, showing profiles of the four gospel writers:

A view of the main altar and its ceiling:

A beautiful poinsettia tree.

I couldn't help wonder how they watered it.

The altar rail is Italian marble:

One of my favorites, a fixture in Catholic churches, the red prayer votives:

This is a view towards the rear of the cathedral,

showing the pipe organ and the Celtic rose window,

which incredibly is 20 feet wide:

Christmas Eve night, I kept myself awake long enough to attend

midnight mass. I got there at 11:00 p.m. 

and there was already a huge crowd.

I was a little surprised at the number of people taking photos 

of the church and nativity scene before the Mass started, 

but people are awed by the spectacle.

The cathedral is itself a beautiful gift for all of its members and visitors,

in many ways, more precious than gold.

<>

The Land of Counterpane

I fell in love with the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson

when I was still in elementary school.

My aunt had given my brother A Child's Garden of Verses,

a collection of Stevenson's poetry first published in 1885,

and I read it cover to cover.

His poems seemed to easily capture childhood exuberance.

In "The Swing":

How do you like to go up in a swing

Up in the air so blue

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do.

In another rhyme, he wrote:

The world is so full of a number of things

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

But today, with my husband and I both down with the flu,

Stevenson's poem "Land of Counterpane" has come to mind:

When I was sick and lay a-bed

I had two pillows at my head

And all my toys beside me lay

to keep me happy all the day ... .

I was the giant great and still

that sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

Starting out the new year sick in bed isn't what I had in mind.

But when at the lowest, 

up is the only direction left.

<>

Happy New Year 2013

I once read of a New Year's Day tradition 

that involved lighting six black candles and six white ones

to symbolize the negative and positive aspects of the coming year.

I think it would be more optimistic 

to light nine white candles and three black candles.

Here in Virginia's Tidewater region, many people fix a big pot full of

black-eyed peas and ham on New Year's Day for good luck.

That's not a tradition I've ever taken part in, 

but I know some Virginians never miss starting their new year that way.

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

To ensure good luck in 2013, 

try some of these luck-bringing ideas from

 the Denham Tracts, folklore collected by Michael Denham

 in England in  the early to mid-19th century:

Never allow a visitor to remove a lantern light from one's home on New Year's.

It is bad luck if a woman is the first visitor on the first day of the year.

Never throw anything away on New Year's:

not ashes, not sweepings, nor dirty water.

For this reason, doing laundry on New Year's is bad luck.

Other ways from the Denham Tracts to bring luck:

find a horseshoe and hang it over the front door 

with the heel pointing up. This will keep witches away.

Another is to wear a "lucky" bone around one's neck as an amulet

to protect oneself from the mischief of elves, fairies, and witches.

This bone must be t-shaped and come from the head of a sheep.

The t-shape was valued by early Christians as a symbol of the cross

and by ancient Druids as a mark of importance.

If one lacks the amulet, burn juniper before cattle 

as Scottish Highlanders once did.

If all the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's celebrations

haven't satiated one's need for good times,

try celebrating "Handsel Monday,"

the first Monday of the New Year

once celebrated in northern England and Scotland.

The handsel is a token or omen for good luck,

also a small gift given on the date

 for granting a wish for good luck to others.

It's January 7th in 2013.

Happy New Year!

<>