At first sight I was surprised by the pineapple stamp, and it is nice to read that you ate pineapple at Christmas. Oranges and mandarins (my favorite are clementines) are sold here in NL as soon as the ‘r’ is in the month’s name, so not specifically for December and Christmas only. I have seen oranges once at a Yalda meeting, the Persian celebration of the winter solstice, 21 December. I’ve read that also x-mas’ date is more or less based on the solstice, that is, the fact that people, anywhere in the northern hemisphere including my region, in pre-Christian times used to celebrate the longest night and the return of light: days become longer. Concerning Yalda, also the pomegranate and watermelon are important (see for instance http://persianfoodtours.com/yalda-night-winter-solstice/ ) , although here in NL watermelon is hard to obtain in winter so at that meeting I remember only the pomegranate and oranges :-)
There are a lot of festivals around both solstices.
We don't have watermelon in the winter. Well, maybe now ou can get it... But not a good one. Watermelon belongs to the summer. In fact, watermelon means summer!
Now I'm eating an indecent amount of oranges, like every winter.
Merry Christmas, Eva! I love the pineapple stamp.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, we only eat pineapple in Christmas. So I guess it's an excellent choice.
DeleteMerry Christmas to you, too :)
The Guyanese stamps are especially interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt's the clementine oranges that appear at Christmas for us that is special.
Merry Christmas to you
I also associate oranges to Christmas. Or, at least, with this time of the year. But not oranges on those stamps!
DeleteSuch a nice variety of stamps!
ReplyDeleteAt first sight I was surprised by the pineapple stamp, and it is nice to read that you ate pineapple at Christmas.
Oranges and mandarins (my favorite are clementines) are sold here in NL as soon as the ‘r’ is in the month’s name, so not specifically for December and Christmas only.
I have seen oranges once at a Yalda meeting, the Persian celebration of the winter solstice, 21 December. I’ve read that also x-mas’ date is more or less based on the solstice, that is, the fact that people, anywhere in the northern hemisphere including my region, in pre-Christian times used to celebrate the longest night and the return of light: days become longer.
Concerning Yalda, also the pomegranate and watermelon are important (see for instance http://persianfoodtours.com/yalda-night-winter-solstice/ ) , although here in NL watermelon is hard to obtain in winter so at that meeting I remember only the pomegranate and oranges :-)
There are a lot of festivals around both solstices.
DeleteWe don't have watermelon in the winter. Well, maybe now ou can get it... But not a good one. Watermelon belongs to the summer. In fact, watermelon means summer!
Now I'm eating an indecent amount of oranges, like every winter.