Book of Days | from convivio bookworks

Nov 11 2022

Autumn, Book of Days Calendar, Martinmas

San Martino, or Your Convivio Book of Days for November

I told you at the start of November that this month’s Book of Days Calendar would be delayed, but I bet you didn’t think it would be this late! Anyway, here it is: a gift to you this St. Martin’s Night (or, should you see this on the 12th, a belated St. Martin’s Day gift). Cover star for this month’s calendar: Corn Shocks and Pumpkins, an 1864 oil painting by English artist William Trost Richards. We don’t see fields like this here in Lake Worth, but we do get those skies if we venture west at sunset to where the trees give way to endless sugar fields. The calendar is a printable PDF that is a nice companion to this blog, even if I don’t have as much time to write as I used to. Let the calendar be your reminder that you are never far from my heart. Here is a link to your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for November.

Here’s another gift to you, whether you receive it in time for Martinmas Night tonight or not: it is, I think, a fine gift no matter when you get it. It’s me reading a spooky story for St. Martin’s Night for the online story series Stay Awake: Bedtime Stories for Kids & Sleepy Adults. I’ve read an old Tirolean folktale called “Spooks A-Hunting” for the program. The story is collected and illustrated by Diane Goode and is from her 1994 Dutton Children’s Books edition of Diane Goode’s Book of Scary Stories & Songs. Worry not: The scare factor is minimal, and this story is suitable for all ages. Here is a link to the Stay Awake series at the website of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts. You’ll find my Martinmas tale there, as well as all the previous episodes of Stay Awake by me and other folks, too, like Kianga Jinaki reading the African folktale “The Greedy Hyena,” British artist Davy McGuire reading “That Pesky Rat,” and master storyteller Jonathan Kruk telling the tale of “The Misadventures of Ichabod Crane” (as well as a couple of other stories that I’ve read along the way for the project).

Martinmas brings the time of year when we taste the new wine (which is why the Beaujolais Nouveau wines are released about now) and it is the conclusion of our annual days of remembrance that began with Hallowe’en and the Days of the Dead: All Saints Day, All Souls Day. And now, Thanksgiving is on the horizon here in the States. The days prior to Thanksgiving will bring Stir-Up Sunday, the day traditionally reserved for the making of Christmas puddings and fruitcakes that need weeks to age to develop their flavors, and St. Cecilia’s Day, patron saint of musicians, and St. Clement’s Day, patron saint of blacksmiths and metal workers. After Thanksgiving, the First Sunday of Advent will arrive, and there we’ll be: on the road toward Christmas. Unbelievable as that may seem, so it is.

$10 OFF ONLINE
The current sale at our website: Use discount code JOYFUL for $10 off your purchase of $85 or more, plus free domestic shipping. Click here to shop! And if you think it would be difficult to spend $85 at our website, you’ve probably not visited in a long time. We’ve added lots of great new items, and we are adding even more new items weekly! Highlights right now: Advent calendars from Germany, Advent candles from Sweden and the UK, Christmas nutcrackers, pyramids, smokers, and ornaments from Germany, and candies and confections from Germany, too.

COME SEE US!
Quite a few Convivio Bookworks pop-up shops over the next few weeks; here’s a list of what’s planned. (There may very well be others; we’re still working out the details on a potential date or two in late November.)

SWEDISH JULMARKNAD & SANKTA LUCIA FESTIVAL in Boca Raton
Saturday November 19 from 11 AM to 3 PM. We love this event hosted each year by SWEA, the Swedish Women’s Educational Association, at First United Methodist Church, 625 NE Mizner Boulevard, Boca Raton 33432. Admission $5 (children under 12 free), payable at the door (no tickets required). Click here for full details (in Swedish… if you’d like some information in English, ask below in the comments).

CHRISTMAS MARKET in Miami
Saturday December 3 from 10 AM to 5 PM. It’s our first pop-up shop in Miami! We’ll be at this inaugural Christkindlmarkt at the German American Social Club, 11919 SW 56 Street, Miami 33175. Don’t let the “inaugural” fool you: The German American Social Club is home to Florida’s oldest Oktoberfest celebration, so they know what they’re doing! We’re looking forward to joining in the festivities. Admission is free, but you must register ahead of time to reserve your spot, as there are a limited number of tickets. Click here for the details.

KRAMPUSNACHT in Suburban Lake Worth
Friday December 9 from 7 to 11 PM. This spooky fun event at the American German Club on West Lantana Road kicks off the club’s annual Christkindlmarkt. We’ll be there with our largest pop-up shop ever. Tickets required, and they always sell out, so buy them early! Click here for full details.

CHRISTKINDLMARKT in Suburban Lake Worth
Saturday December 10 from 2 to 10 PM & Sunday December 11 from Noon to 8 PM. The two days following Krampusnacht at the American German Club on West Lantana Road brings their beautiful annual Christkindlmarkt and we will be there with our largest booth ever. Tickets are required, and this event always sells out, too, so buy your tickets early. Click here for full details.

That’s all for now. No wonder your November Book of Days Calendar is so late! If you’re local, I do hope we’ll see you at one of these fun events. And if you’re from away, get those Advent orders in now so you have your calendars and candles in time for the First of December, which is when our calendars and candles all begin. May you love the anticipation of Christmas as much as Christmas itself, and in so doing, may you enjoy these autumn days fully for what they are. All things in their time. There is plenty of time for Christmas once it arrives.

Image: “Corn Shocks and Pumpkins” by William Trost Richards. Oil on canvas, 1864 [Public domain via Wikimedia Commons].

Nov 01 2022

Day of the Dead, Halloween

Hallowtide

All Hallow’s Eve leads us into Hallowtide: All Saints Day on the First of November, All Souls Day on the Second, and all the days beyond to Martinmas on November 11. This is the time each year when we most remember our beloved dead.

I don’t know what my earliest recollection of Hallowe’en is, but I know that I have loved it since I was a child, and I have not outgrown that excitement. The understanding, too, that Hallowe’en ushers in a time of remembrance is also something I have long understood, thanks mainly to the observances that were part of this time of year for my family each late autumn. Always on the table at Hallowe’en and Ognissanti is a penitential dessert from Puglia, the region in Italy from which my grandparents hailed. The dish, called ciccecútte, is something we eat just at this time of year, which is probably why we understand, from early on, that it is special. It’s made from cooked wheat berries, pomegranate, roasted almonds, and chocolate, covered in vincotto, spiced with cinnamon and cloves. It is a most earthy taste, reminding us of things below, rather than above. It is a dessert that handily calls to mind Persephone’s journey below the earth each autumn and winter, a ritual dish one eats to be in communion with all that rests below the earth.

Besides the pumpkins and the cornstalks, the costumes and the masks, this is what I love about Hallowe’en. And so I beg your forgiveness for the fact that I’ve not even begun your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for November. I’ll get it out to you as soon as I can. But it’s not today, and it may not be for quite a few days. If the calendar was ready for you, here’s what it would say for these first few days of the month:

November 1: All Saints Day (All Hallows)
Hallowe’en ushers in this day honoring all saints. It’s also Samhain, the Celtic New Year, bringing us closer to winter.

November 2: All Souls Day; I Morti; Dia de Los Muertos
These old and sacred celebrations keep us connected to those who have left this world.

November 11: Martinmas
The traditional close of this annual time of remembrance.

COME SEE US!
Our next pop-up market is this Saturday, November 5, from 3 to 9 PM: It’s the Dia de Los Muertos celebration here in Lake Worth at Hatch 1121, which is at 1121 West Lucerne Avenue. You’ll find our ofrenda on display inside Hatch, and we’ll be outside showing most all of our handicrafts from Mexico. Next to us will be my mom showing her Millie’s Tea Towels: each one is embroidered by hand by Mom. Free entry, live music. This community Day of the Dead celebration is great fun. Sorry, we will not be showing at Florida Day of the Dead in Fort Lauderdale this year.

ADVENT CALENDARS
Now’s the time to order Advent calendars and candles! Our calendars are all from Germany; our candles are from Sweden and the UK. Click here to get to our online catalog!

The CONVIVIO DISPATCH for HALLOWE’EN
Folks subscribed to our sister publication, The Convivio Dispatch, which is a more story-focused publication delivered as an email in your inbox, received yesterday our annual Convivio Dispatch for Hallowe’en, which this year was a mystery called “Trembling the Web of Wyrd.” As my gift to you, click here to read the tale. If you like it, please consider subscribing. It’s free and my dispatches are few and far between, trust me… so there won’t be a lot of clutter in your inbox; just an occasional good story.

Image: Our Jack o’ Lanterns this Hallowe’en. Seth’s is the toothless one.

Oct 01 2022

Autumn, Book of Days Calendar, Feast of the Guardian Angels

Autumn Leaves, or Your October Book of Days

October: Such a beautiful month! And here is your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for the month, hopefully almost as beautiful. Cover star: autumn foliage, which is a scene we don’t see much of here in Lake Worth. The occasional Florida Almond tree will turn suddenly red, perhaps, but this is a few-and-far-between experience. On the heels of Hurricane Ian, the weather here is cool and dry. Ian, in his way, sucked summer away. A rather violent end, but that’s how this land is sometimes. We build seawalls and we pave over the green and we erect concrete structures, but Nature has a way of reminding us who is ultimately in charge. I imagine sometimes all that we build left unattended for a spell and wonder how long it would take for everything to be covered in vines, how long it would take for everything to be reclaimed. Ours is a strange green land that never rests; the vegetation just grows and grows, plants sprouting leaf and tendril without end, day in, day out. So much different than northern climes, where autumn brings winter, and pause and rest.

The apples and pumpkins are shipped to us, and we are grateful to you for this. We’d be lost without you, devoid of all things iconically autumn. We do have the Seminole Pumpkin here, and the Calabaza, but when I sent pictures of these varieties several years ago to a pumpkin-growing friend in Maine –– one who grows old autumnal standards with rich pedigrees like the deep red Rouge vif d’Etampes pumpkin and the blue green Jahhradale pumpkin –– well, she made it clear she was not impressed. The Seminole and the Calabaza are good eating, but they are not the prettiest pumpkins in the patch. We thank you, then, for all the beautiful pumpkins you send to our markets, and for all the crisp, tart apples.

This autumnal month begins in an angelic way with the Feast of the Guardian Angels on the Second of October. It is an old, old celebration, dating back the Fourth Century, when folks began setting up altars in their homes honoring their angelic protectors. It is one of the oldest feasts of the Church, and one of the most personal. It is said that each of us has an angelic protector, and that we rarely know all they do for us. Me, I do my best to remember that maybe that driver who pulls into the road in front of me and slows me down is perhaps saving me from some terrible accident that may have happened further up the road had I not been hindered. Maybe that driver is my guardian angel. Maybe his name is Pablo and maybe he didn’t really deserve all the expletives I was hurling his way. Maybe I need to appreciate moments like this more than I do. The Feast of the Guardian Angels is perhaps the logical conclusion to the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel that we celebrated on the 29th of September: an angelic time of year. Also this month: Yom Kippur and Sukkot in the Jewish calendar, and in the Hindu, Sikh, and Jain calendar, Diwali: the Festival of Lights. Hallowe’en, at the close of this month, welcomes us to the time each year when we remember our beloved dead, keeping them close at heart. This union is part of what makes October such a beautiful month.

COME SEE US!
Our pop-up market season begins next weekend! Our first big event is OKTOBERFEST at the American German Club, 5111 Lantana Road, Lake Worth FL 33463. Two consecutive weekends: Friday, Saturday, & Sunday October 7 through 9, then again the following Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, October 14 through 16. Convivio Bookworks will be there in our big new 10′ x 20′ tent, and right next door in a normal size tent, you’ll find my mom and sister, selling Mom’s hand-embroidered Millie’s Tea Towels. You need to purchase tickets in advance for Oktoberfest; it’s rare that tickets are still available at the gate. Click here for tickets and more information. It’s a wonderful event, and we plan to have our full line of handcrafted artisan goods from Germany there, for all the seasons of the year: not just fall, but spring and Christmas, too.

AUTUMN SALE
For the next week or so at our online store we’re offering $10 off your purchase of $85 or more, plus get free domestic shipping. Just use discount code AUTUMN22 at checkout. We’re adding new items this time of year almost daily! You’ll find new items from Germany for Hallowe’en and Christmas, plus new Advent calendars and candles are coming this week, and we’re getting ready for Dia de Los Muertos, too. Lots to see! CLICK HERE to shop!