Fall Asleep To A Slow and Gentle Christmas Day Long Ago | Boring History

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Welcome in my tired, little 
sleep bunch to another Super 

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soothing and relaxing story here
with me tonight. 

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It's Christmas Eve. 
So let's snuggle up and go back 

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to a time where Christmas day 
arrived and not with a frenzy of

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torn wrapping paper and buzzing 
Electronics. 

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But with the patient unfurling 
of a winter morning that had 

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nowhere urgent to be was 
stepping back to a time when 

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everything moves slowly Let's 
settle in and remember what it 

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felt like, when everything even 
celebration itself, took its 

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time. 
But before we start, I'd love to

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know how you're doing down below
where in the world you're 

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listening in from, and what time
it is for you. 

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Now, while I do my brief little 
paws, make sure to turn on a fan

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of some kind for some 
comforting, white noise and 

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let's time travel to Christmas 
Day. 

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You wake on Christmas morning to
a darkness? 

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That feels less like nighttime 
and more like a held breath. 

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Outside your window. 
The world hasn't quite decided 

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to become itself yet. 
There's no alarm clock jangling 

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you into Consciousness. 
No phone screen glowing with no 

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notifications, just your own 
body. 

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Recognizing that something about
this particular, December Dawn 

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is different. 
The cold as worked its way 

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through the bedroom walls. 
Overnight patient is a Craftsman

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and you can see your breath, 
making small clouds in the air 

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of your quilt. 
You don't leap out of bed. 

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That would be ridiculous. 
Instead, you do what people did 

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before, central heating taught 
us to take want for granted you 

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lie there, a moment longer 
Gathering your courage. 

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And letting your mind, wake up 
before your body has to follow 

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through the frost window, you 
can just make out the blue gray 

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quality of pre-dawn Christmas 
light. 

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It's the color of pewter or of 
old silver that needs polishing.

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A light that seems to come from 
the snow itself rather than from

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any sun, The Silence has texture
to it. 

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You can hear the house settling 
those small. 

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Wooden grows that sound like an 
old person easing into a chair. 

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Somewhere down stairs. 
The stove is gone, cold waiting 

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for someone to resurrect it, the
room holds the accumulated cold 

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of the night and you can feel it
pressing against your face. 

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The only part of you exposed 
above the quilts Your nose as 

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gone numb, the tip of one ear 
aches with cold. 

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But under the heavy layers of 
fabric, the cotton sheet, the 

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wool blanket, the piece quilt 
that someone's grandmother made 

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before you were born, your body 
has created a warm cave and 

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leaving it requires. 
Genuine willpower, you finally 

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sit up and the floorboards 
protest under your weighting. 

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In that particular way old wood 
does when temperatures drop The 

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sound travels through the quiet 
house like a small announcement.

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Someone is awake, the person you
are now is moving into the 

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person you'll be today, your 
feet find the floor and even 

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through wool socks, the cold 
bites hard enough to make you 

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suck in a breath. 
Your clothes are where you left 

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them last night, draped, over 
the chair, back near the window 

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and they've absorbed the rooms. 
Chill, the fabric feels stiff, 

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almost brittle as you pull on 
your layers, long underwear 

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first. 
Then your regular clothes, then 

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a heavy sweater that smells 
faintly of mothballs and the 

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Cedar Chest where it's bent the 
summer. 

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Getting dressed is an 
archaeological process building 

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up. 
Layers of warmth one stratum at 

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a time. 
The window draws you before you 

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leave the room. 
You wipe a clear spot in the 

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frost with your palm and the 
world outside appears like a 

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revelation. 
The garden sleeps under its 

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white blanket, every post and 
Branch wearing elaborate icing. 

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The well pump stands, like a 
hunched figure beyond the fence,

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the fields, roll away toward the
tree line unmarked, except for 

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the wandering tracks of some 
night creature. 

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Fox perhaps or a rabbit seeking 
whatever rabbit seek in the 

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small hours of Christmas 
morning. 

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The skies beginning at slow 
brightening though, the sun 

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itself won't show for another 
hour. 

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At least the light increases by 
degrees, so subtly you can't 

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catch it happening. 
Only notice after several 

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minutes that, yes, you can see a
bit more. 

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Now can distinguish, the 
individual trees in the distant 

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Windbreak and can make out the 
shape of the neighbors. 

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Barnacle mile away down stairs, 
you move through the house in 

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semi-darkness not bothering with
a lamp yet. 

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Your feet know the way 12 steps 
down the staircase. 

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Turn left into the whole way 
straight ahead to the kitchen. 

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The air down here is even colder
than upstairs, if that's 

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possible. 
It smells like the ghost of last

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night's supper like old wood and
lamp oil and the peculiar center

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of a house that's been sleeping.
The stove squats in the corner 

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like a cast iron Buddha. 
Its surface cold enough that you

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could leave your hand on it 
indefinitely without discomfort 

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you Neil. 
Before it lifting the heavy lid 

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to reveal yesterday's, ashes, 
and begin the morning ritual 

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that millions of people are also
doing in millions of houses 

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across the countryside. 
Coaxing fire back into existence

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from its hiding place in cold 
metal and dry wood. 

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The kindling goes in first 
arranged in a careful. 

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Lattice you learned this as a 
child airflow matters. 

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The wood needs room to breathe 
and fire is a living thing with 

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requirements. 
Then the newspaper was twisted 

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into loose knots and tucked 
among the sticks. 

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The match scratches against its 
box, flares into brief 

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brightness and you touch it to 
the paper, watching the flame 

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catch and spread fire has its 
own schedule and its own 

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requirements. 
You can't rush it. 

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You can't demand it perform 
faster than its willing. 

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You blow gently on the Infant 
Flames feeding them slivers of 

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wood, watching them catch and 
sprayed with the patient's born 

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from knowing, there's no other 
way to do this. 

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The kindling catches. 
Small Flames. 

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Begin their dance. 
You add slightly larger pieces 

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than larger still building. 
The fire. 

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Like your building an argument. 
Each piece of evidence 

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supporting the next The stove 
begins to tick and ping as metal

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expands with heat. 
You can feel warmth starting to 

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radiate outward pushing back 
against the cold. 

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It will be another 20 minutes 
before the kitchen is properly. 

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Warm another hour before heat is
spread to the other rooms, but 

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the process has begun Christmas 
morning, has been pulled from 

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the grip of winter cold one 
degree at a time. 

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While the fire grows you, fill 
the kettle from the bucket near 

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the door. 
Someone hauled water from the 

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well last night. 
So it would be ready this 

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morning and set it on the 
stovetop metal bottom makes 

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contact with a small Sizzle. 
You pull your chair close to the

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warming stove and wait hands 
wrapped around yourself, 

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watching through the window as 
the world outside continues, its

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slow, brightening Crow lands on 
the fence, post a black, as a 

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coal Market against the snow. 
It sits there for a long moment.

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Head cocked considering the 
Silent Morning with whatever 

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thoughts crows have Then it 
lifts off Wings making soft 

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whooshing. 
Sounds in the cold air and 

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disappears toward the barn, the 
fence post remains still wearing

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its cap of snow looking somehow 
more lonely for having been 

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briefly occupied, The sky is 
gone from deep blue gray to a 

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lighter shade, almost Silva. 
Now, You can see the texture of 

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the clouds. 
Layered like sediment. 

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There's no wind the bare 
branches of the apple trees. 

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Stand perfectly. 
Still each one holding its 

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burden of snow without movement.
The world has the quality of a 

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photograph. 
Everything froze in place 

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waiting. 
The kettle begins to mutter to 

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itself. 
Not yet boiling, but thinking 

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about it. 
You get up to prepare. 

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Tea measuring leaves into the 
pot from the tin. 

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That lives on the Shelf. 
The one with the faded picture 

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of Chinese mountains, on its 
lid, the smell of the dry. 

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Tea is sharp and pleasant. 
Cutting through the wood smoke 

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smell. 
That's beginning to fill the 

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kitchen. 
When the kettle, finally boils, 

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you pull the water over the 
leaves, and watch them swirl and

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settle already beginning to 
release that color into the 

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water. 
He cover the pot with its 

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quilted cozy and let it steep. 
This is not instant anything. 

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This is tea made properly, give 
them the time. 

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It needs to become itself while 
you. 

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Wait you stand at the window cut
cradle in both hands. 

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Once the tears ready and watch 
Christmas morning, arrived in 

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full the sun, hasn't broken the 
horizon yet but the light has 

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strengthened enough that you can
see colors. 

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Now the blue Shadows on the 
snow, the brown of the fence 

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rails and the dark green of the 
pine trees Beyond The Barn. 

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The world is waking up, but 
doing it slowly without Fanfare 

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like someone easing out of sleep
rather than being jolted awake 

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by the time, the rest of the 
household begins to stir, you've

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gotten the kitchen properly, 
warm and started coffee 

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percolating on the stove for 
those who prefer it to tea. 

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There's something deeply 
satisfying about being the one 

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who wrestled heat back into the 
house, who proved that, warmth 

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could be summoned from cold 
metal and dry wood and who made 

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Christmas morning possible in 
the most basic way. 

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The first footsteps overhead, a 
slow and hesitant. 

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Someone else is awake. 
Moving through the same process 

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of convincing themselves to 
leave their warm bed. 

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You hear the floor Creak a door 
open and close and more 

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footsteps. 
Then the stairs complain as 

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someone descends and your mother
appears in the kitchen, doorway 

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wrapped in a heavy robe. 
Her hair still in the braids, 

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she wears for sleeping. 
She doesn't say Merry Christmas 

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right away. 
She just nods at you 

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acknowledging your presence and 
the warm kitchen, you've created

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and pause herself. 
Coffee from the pot She stands 

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near the stove. 
Both hands around the cup, 

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letting the warmth work, its way
into a Bone's outside the 

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window. 
The sun is finally showing 

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itself a pale disc pushing above
the tree line, turning the snow 

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briefly, pink and gold Knight, 
she says, eventually, which is 

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both an observation and a 
morning, greeting left in the 

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water bucket, you reply, which 
is your way of agreeing. 

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This is how conversation happens
in the early morning, especially

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on cold, winter days in 
fragments in single 

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observations, nothing, requiring
an elaborate response. 

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Silence between sentences isn't 
awkward, it's companionable the 

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way silence can be when people 
are comfortable existing in the 

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same space without constant 
chatter your father appears 

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next, then your siblings one by 
one each emerging from sleep at 

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their own pace, each gravitating
to the stove's warmth. 

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The kitchen fills gradually like
a cup under a slow flowing tap. 

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Someone adds more wood to the 
fire. 

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00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:45,000
Someone else starts setting out 
plate and cuts. 

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00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,500
The coffee gets replaced by a 
fresh pot. 

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More tea is made outside full 
daylight has arrived and with it

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a brightness that seems almost 
aggressive after the long. 

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Dim morning the snow, reflects 
the sunlight back upward, 

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creating a double dose of 
brilliant that makes you squint.

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But it's a cold light offering 
no warmth. 

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The windows are still third with
frost on the inside, elaborate 

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Ferns and Flowers of ice 
crystals spreading and cross the

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glass. 
Breakfast, preparation begins 

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without anyone declaring. 
It should your mother starts 

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pulling food from the cold. 
Pantry eggs, brought in 

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yesterday from the hen house 
kept from freezing by the 

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relative warmth of the pantry, 
but still cold to the touch a 

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ham. 
That's been waiting a side of 

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bacon and butter, that has to be
scraped rather than spread, 

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because the cold is made it 
nearly solid. 

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You're assigned to slice bread 
and you take the Loaf from its 

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box and set to work with the 
long serrated knife. 

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00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,300
The bread is from yesterday's 
baking dense and dark. 

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The kind that actually fills you
up rather than dissolving into 

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sweetness on your tongue. 
Each slice takes effort, you 

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have to soar through the firm 
crust. 

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Then the tender crumb trying to 
keep your Cuts even and 

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straight. 
You'll see your sister sets, the

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table laying out the everyday 
dishes, not the fancy ones. 

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Christmas breakfast is family. 
Only nothing formal just fuel 

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for the day ahead. 
She folds napkins into simple 

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00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,700
triangles and sets them beside 
each plate. 

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00:12:13,700 --> 00:12:18,200
The Cutlery is the regular set 
the one with handles one smooth 

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from Decades of use she works 
methodically placing each item 

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just so the way she has been 
taught since she was small 

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00:12:24,900 --> 00:12:26,700
enough to barely reach the 
tabletop. 

230
00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,800
The kitchen fills with cooking 
smells bacon frying in its own 

231
00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:34,100
fat. 
The edges, crisping up the whole

232
00:12:34,100 --> 00:12:38,300
strips curling into parentheses 
of salty, crunchiness, eggs are 

233
00:12:38,300 --> 00:12:41,700
cracked into a bowl whisked with
milk and butter, then poured 

234
00:12:41,700 --> 00:12:45,300
into a hot pan with a scramble 
slowly pushed around with a 

235
00:12:45,308 --> 00:12:47,900
wooden spoon until they form 
soft curds. 

236
00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:52,200
Slices of ham laid in another 
pan already cooked, but cold 

237
00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,000
needing, just enough heat to 
warm them through and brown 

238
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,700
their edges. 
You toast bread over the stove 

239
00:12:57,700 --> 00:12:59,700
holding each slice on a long 
Fork. 

240
00:12:59,700 --> 00:13:03,200
Turning it carefully to get both
sides golden without burning. 

241
00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,600
The bread, drips butter, when 
you spread it on hot, the button

242
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,000
melting immediately into a 
glossy Sheen. 

243
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,100
The smell combines with all the 
other smells pork fat fat and 

244
00:13:14,100 --> 00:13:16,700
would smoke and coffee and the 
underlying center of the house 

245
00:13:16,700 --> 00:13:21,400
itself that smell that every 
house has compounded from years 

246
00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,100
of cooking and living and 
existing. 

247
00:13:23,100 --> 00:13:26,200
When everything is ready, you 
all sit down together at the 

248
00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:30,700
kitchen table. 7 people squeezed
around a table meant for six but

249
00:13:30,700 --> 00:13:34,100
nobody minded the crowding. 
Your grandfather says a brief 

250
00:13:34,108 --> 00:13:35,400
Grace. 
Nothing. 

251
00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,300
Elaborate just to thank you for 
food and warmth and family and 

252
00:13:39,300 --> 00:13:41,000
then serving dishes starts 
circulating. 

253
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,000
You load your plate carefully 
Knowing Your Capacity, but also 

254
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,800
knowing its Christmas normal 
rules about portions don't quite

255
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,800
apply. 
Scrambled, eggs fluffy, and 

256
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:56,000
studded with bits of butter. 
Two, slices of bacon crispy 

257
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,200
enough to shatter when you bite 
them. 

258
00:13:57,900 --> 00:14:00,500
A thick piece of ham with a rim 
of sweet glaze. 

259
00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:02,300
Buttered toast that's already 
going. 

260
00:14:02,300 --> 00:14:06,100
Soft from the steam of the other
hot foods eating a serious 

261
00:14:06,100 --> 00:14:08,900
business at first. 
Everyone is too hungry to do 

262
00:14:08,900 --> 00:14:12,500
much talking to focused on the 
immediate pleasure of hot food, 

263
00:14:12,500 --> 00:14:15,500
filling, cold bellies. 
The only sounds are Cutlery on 

264
00:14:15,500 --> 00:14:17,600
plates. 
The occasional request to pass 

265
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,400
something and the scrape of a 
chair being adjusted outside the

266
00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,000
window, a chickadee lands on the
feeder pecks at the seeds. 

267
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,400
Someone remembered to refill 
yesterday and then darts off in 

268
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:29,800
that. 
Bounceing flight pattern. 

269
00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:33,800
Chickadees have like their 
riding invisible ways has 

270
00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,100
everyone's initial hunger gets 
satisfied, conversation begins. 

271
00:14:37,100 --> 00:14:40,900
Not about anything important. 
Just the Meandering, talk that 

272
00:14:40,900 --> 00:14:43,700
happens when people are 
comfortable and fed and have no 

273
00:14:43,700 --> 00:14:46,000
way, they need to be your 
brother mentioned. 

274
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,800
He heard Coyote's in the night, 
they're yipping carrying a 

275
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,300
cross. 
The Frozen Fields, your sister 

276
00:14:52,300 --> 00:14:55,600
wanders allowed, whether it will
snow again, later pointing at 

277
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,900
the clouds building in the West.
Your mother reminds everyone 

278
00:14:58,900 --> 00:15:01,900
that dinner will be at 3:00 not 
to fill up too much of breakfast

279
00:15:01,900 --> 00:15:04,300
though she knows. 
No one is listening to this 

280
00:15:04,300 --> 00:15:06,900
advice. 
Your father tells a story about 

281
00:15:06,900 --> 00:15:10,000
a Christmas when he was young, 
when the snow was so deep, they 

282
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,800
couldn't get out to the barn and
had to Tunnel a path to feed the

283
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,000
animals. 
You've heard this story before 

284
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,500
multiple times, but you listen 
anyway, because that's what you 

285
00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:20,900
do. 
Hear the familiar stories. 

286
00:15:20,900 --> 00:15:24,500
Again letting them settle into 
the family's Collective memory. 

287
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:29,700
Each telling slightly different 
details, shifting like sand but 

288
00:15:29,700 --> 00:15:32,800
the essential truth remaining. 
The breakfast stretches out 

289
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,300
longer than it needs to the food
is gone, but people linger 

290
00:15:36,300 --> 00:15:38,700
warming, their hands on their 
coffee cups. 

291
00:15:38,700 --> 00:15:42,200
Nibbling at one more piece of 
toast and delaying the moment 

292
00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,000
when they'll have to leave the 
warm kitchen and attend to the 

293
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,900
days other requirements, a cat 
appears from wherever cats go. 

294
00:15:48,900 --> 00:15:50,200
When they're not bothering 
humans. 

295
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,500
Winding between chair legs 
making plaintiff sounds that 

296
00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:56,400
suggests, she's on the verge of 
starvation. 

297
00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,800
Despite obviously being 
well-fed, eventually someone 

298
00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:03,600
stands starting the slow process
of clearing the table plate. 

299
00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:07,500
Gets stacked, Cutlery gathered 
and serving dishes, carry to the

300
00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:10,200
counter near the sink. 
Your mother fills the dish pan 

301
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:13,900
with water heated on the stove. 
Add soap, that makes a thin 

302
00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:18,000
layer of Bubbles and begins 
washing You grab a towel and 

303
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,700
take up your position beside her
ready to drive. 

304
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:23,600
This is the rhythm of household 
work in an era. 

305
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,100
Perform machines. 
Did it for you. 

306
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,100
People standing side by side 
hands and hot water performing. 

307
00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:33,700
The simple repetitive tasks, 
that maintain a home, your 

308
00:16:33,700 --> 00:16:35,200
mother washes each plate 
thoroughly. 

309
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,100
Even though they are already 
fairly clean white, nearly empty

310
00:16:39,100 --> 00:16:42,800
by hungry people, you draw each 
one feeling the warmth of the 

311
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,100
water, still in the ceramic and 
stack them in their proper 

312
00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:47,400
place. 
In the cupboard, the 

313
00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:49,900
conversation continues quieter 
now. 

314
00:16:49,900 --> 00:16:53,000
More desultory, the work doesn't
require much attention. 

315
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:57,200
Leaving your minds free to 
wander outside the day is 

316
00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,700
achieved its full brightness. 
That peculiar winter quality of 

317
00:17:00,708 --> 00:17:02,900
light where everything seems 
etched and clear. 

318
00:17:03,900 --> 00:17:07,800
Icicles, hang from the porch 
roof, catching sunlight and 

319
00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:11,099
throwing tiny rainbows. 
By the time, the dishes are 

320
00:17:11,099 --> 00:17:13,300
finished and put away. 
The kitchen is cool slightly 

321
00:17:13,300 --> 00:17:16,500
from its early a warmth. 
Someone adds more wood to the 

322
00:17:16,508 --> 00:17:18,900
stove. 
Someone else sweeps, the floor 

323
00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:22,700
Gathering crumbs and pushing 
them into the dustpan, the room,

324
00:17:22,700 --> 00:17:25,599
slowly returns to order. 
Ready for whatever comes next. 

325
00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:29,900
With breakfast finished and the 
kitchen restored, the day opens 

326
00:17:29,900 --> 00:17:33,300
up like a book whose middle 
pages are all blank waiting to 

327
00:17:33,300 --> 00:17:35,400
be filled. 
However, time decides to fill 

328
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:38,900
them, the main meal won't be 
until mid after noon, but 

329
00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:42,400
preparation for it have been 
underway for days weeks, even in

330
00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,300
some cases. 
You wander into the pantry that 

331
00:17:46,300 --> 00:17:50,700
cool dim room, where food lives 
between Harvest and consumption 

332
00:17:50,700 --> 00:17:54,900
jars lined the shelves, in 
ordered rows to tomatoes, put up

333
00:17:54,908 --> 00:17:59,500
in August from July and pickles 
made when cucumbers threatened 

334
00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:03,300
to overrun the garden, each jar 
represents hours of work in the 

335
00:18:03,308 --> 00:18:06,900
summer heat, but right now, in 
December, they seem like Small 

336
00:18:06,900 --> 00:18:09,100
Miracles. 
Some are captured and preserved 

337
00:18:09,100 --> 00:18:12,100
waiting. 
The Christmas pudding sits in 

338
00:18:12,108 --> 00:18:15,600
its Basin wrapped in cloth, 
hiding in the back corner where 

339
00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,400
it's been aging. 
Since October your mother made 

340
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,900
it on a rainy afternoon mixing 
dried fruits and sweet and flour

341
00:18:22,900 --> 00:18:26,100
and spices pouring. 
In brandy with a generous hand 

342
00:18:26,100 --> 00:18:29,700
and letting everyone in the 
family, take a turn stirring 

343
00:18:29,700 --> 00:18:33,500
while making a wish It's been 
sitting here ever since the 

344
00:18:33,500 --> 00:18:37,400
flavors, melding and deepening 
becoming something more complex 

345
00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,300
than the sum of its ingredients.
In the cold cellar reached by a 

346
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:44,300
steep flight of stairs, the ham 
hangs in its cloth wrapping 

347
00:18:44,300 --> 00:18:48,100
already soaked and ready for 
cooking potatoes and turnips and

348
00:18:48,100 --> 00:18:51,700
carrots, sleeping bins of sand 
the way route vegetables do when

349
00:18:51,700 --> 00:18:54,700
you need them to last through 
winter, Apple's from the fall 

350
00:18:54,700 --> 00:18:58,500
harvested in careful layers. 
Each one wrapped in newspaper to

351
00:18:58,500 --> 00:19:02,000
keep the from touching from 
bruising, and from rotting and 

352
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,300
taking their neighbor's with 
them. 

353
00:19:03,300 --> 00:19:05,400
The house has been decorated, 
though. 

354
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,000
That word seems to elaborate for
what's actually been done. 

355
00:19:08,900 --> 00:19:11,600
There are pine boughs arranged 
on the mantle in The Parlor. 

356
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:15,400
The needles already beginning to
drop leaving a green scatter on.

357
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,800
The floor below candles have 
been brought out the good ones. 

358
00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,500
Kept for special occasions 
taller and finer than the 

359
00:19:21,500 --> 00:19:23,100
everyday candles. 
You burn for light. 

360
00:19:23,100 --> 00:19:26,600
Someone has woven a wreath from 
grape Vines and winter berries 

361
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,500
and it hangs on the front door 
visible from inside. 

362
00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:32,200
When you pass through the 
hallway in The Parlor, where you

363
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,000
don't usually spend time during 
regular days, it's too cold too 

364
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,100
far from the kitchen's warmth. 
A fire has been laid in the 

365
00:19:39,108 --> 00:19:42,800
fireplace but not yet lit. 
You'll save that for later after

366
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,100
dinner when everyone will want 
to sit and let their food 

367
00:19:45,100 --> 00:19:47,100
settle. 
The good chairs have been 

368
00:19:47,100 --> 00:19:51,000
dusted, the rug has been beaten 
free of dust and lice smooth on 

369
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,300
the floor. 
The piano which gets played 

370
00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:56,700
maybe once a week during normal 
times has been opened up its lid

371
00:19:56,700 --> 00:19:59,700
raised and the keys revealed 
like a smile of white teeth. 

372
00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:03,900
The presence such as they are 
sit in a small pile on the side 

373
00:20:03,900 --> 00:20:05,600
table. 
They've been there since 

374
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:09,200
yesterday, a few packages 
wrapped in brown paper and tied 

375
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,600
with string, nothing, elaborate 
nothing that required hiding 

376
00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,600
until the last minute, everyone 
knows roughly what they are 

377
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,100
getting because most gifts were 
discussed beforehand, Do you 

378
00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:21,000
need new gloves? 
Would you like a book? 

379
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,600
Your boots are getting thin? 
Should we get the result or get 

380
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,000
new ones? 
There's something honest about 

381
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,200
this approach to gift, giving 
something that removed the 

382
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:32,800
element of desperate surprise 
seeking that will characterize 

383
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,100
later eras. 
You give people what they need 

384
00:20:36,100 --> 00:20:38,200
or what they've specifically 
wanted. 

385
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,400
The joy comes not from shock, 
but from the solid satisfaction 

386
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,900
of receiving something useful. 
Something chosen with care 

387
00:20:45,900 --> 00:20:49,300
something that will make the 
next months or years slightly 

388
00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:51,100
better than they would have been
without it. 

389
00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:54,600
You notice the light coming 
through the Parlour window, how 

390
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,300
it falls across the floor, in a 
bright rectangle, Illuminating 

391
00:20:58,300 --> 00:21:01,800
dust Motes, that drift slowly 
through the air like very small 

392
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,500
snow. 
The window glass is old and 

393
00:21:04,500 --> 00:21:08,900
slightly warped and it bends the
light in subtle ways making the 

394
00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:12,300
view outside seam slightly 
liquid and slightly uncertain. 

395
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:15,000
Your younger brother has 
sprawled near the fireplace with

396
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,900
a book though. 
You suspect. 

397
00:21:16,900 --> 00:21:19,200
He's more looking at the 
pictures than reading the text. 

398
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,000
He's at that age. 
Where sitting still is 

399
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,300
challenged for his body wants to
be running or climbing or doing 

400
00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:28,000
anything other than being said 
Century, but it's Christmas 

401
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,900
morning and even he seems to 
feel the obligation to be quiet 

402
00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:35,800
to let the day on fold slowly in
the Room, which sits between the

403
00:21:35,808 --> 00:21:38,900
kitchen and the Parlor. 
The table has been extended to 

404
00:21:38,900 --> 00:21:42,100
its full length. 
The extra leaves added and the 

405
00:21:42,108 --> 00:21:44,700
cracked down the middle where 
they join is barely visible. 

406
00:21:44,700 --> 00:21:47,700
The good table cloth has been 
laid out, the one that only 

407
00:21:47,700 --> 00:21:51,100
emerges a few times a year 
weddings, funerals Christmas and

408
00:21:51,100 --> 00:21:54,500
Easter, it's white linen or was 
white once. 

409
00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:58,000
Now, it's more of a cream color 
from years of washing and it has

410
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,700
careful darning in two places 
where someone wants to build 

411
00:22:00,708 --> 00:22:04,100
candle wax that had to be 
scraped off leaving small tears.

412
00:22:04,100 --> 00:22:07,300
The China has been brought down 
from its high shelf in the 

413
00:22:07,308 --> 00:22:09,700
kitchen. 
Each piece handled carefully 

414
00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:12,900
washed even though it was clean.
When it was put away last time, 

415
00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:17,400
dried and set in its proper 
place around the table, the 

416
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,800
plate have a pattern of blue 
flowers around the rim faded. 

417
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,700
Now from countless washing, but 
still visible still beautiful. 

418
00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:28,000
In their way they belonged to 
someone's grandmother maybe 

419
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000
someones great grandmother 
passed down through inheritance 

420
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,500
or brought from the old country.
In careful, packing silverware 

421
00:22:34,500 --> 00:22:36,600
that. 
Doesn't match a few pieces from 

422
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,500
one set, a few from another 
accumulated over years through 

423
00:22:40,500 --> 00:22:43,300
gift giving and second-hand 
purchases and occasional 

424
00:22:43,300 --> 00:22:44,900
Replacements, when something 
gets lost. 

425
00:22:45,700 --> 00:22:47,500
Has been polished until it 
shines. 

426
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:50,700
Your hands still smell. 
Slightly of the tarnish cream. 

427
00:22:50,700 --> 00:22:54,300
You used yesterday that peculiar
metallic odor that lingers, 

428
00:22:54,300 --> 00:22:58,200
despite washing the forks and 
knives and spoons, lie beside 

429
00:22:58,200 --> 00:22:59,800
each plate in their proper 
Arrangement. 

430
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,600
The one you learned Young, Forks
on the left knife and Spoon on 

431
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,400
the right blade. 
Facing inward glasses for water 

432
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,100
glasses. 
For wine, not matching either. 

433
00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:14,400
A collection of different sizes 
and shapes and patterns. 

434
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,400
But all clean, all catching the 
light from the window and 

435
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,500
throwing small prisms, onto the 
table cloth, assault sellers in 

436
00:23:22,500 --> 00:23:24,900
the center of the table. 
Next to the Peppermill that 

437
00:23:24,900 --> 00:23:28,000
requires serious effort to 
operate, Grinding the 

438
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,300
peppercorns between its 
mechanism with each. 

439
00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:33,400
Vigorous twist. 
The table is ready. 

440
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,000
The house is ready. 
Everything is prepared and 

441
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:40,500
waiting and now there's nothing 
to do but let time pass until 

442
00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:42,700
the hour arrives to start 
cooking and earnest. 

443
00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:47,700
This waiting this gap between 
preparation and execution, has 

444
00:23:47,700 --> 00:23:51,300
its own quality, your neither 
getting ready or celebrating 

445
00:23:51,300 --> 00:23:55,500
just existing in the space 
between letting the day breathe.

446
00:23:56,300 --> 00:23:59,100
You return to the kitchen, where
your mother is checking her 

447
00:23:59,100 --> 00:24:01,400
mental inventory of everything 
that needs to happen. 

448
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,200
Before dinner. 
She's not writing anything down.

449
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,000
She's done this enough times 
that the sequence lives in her 

450
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,600
head, First, the hand goes in, 
it needs three hours, then the 

451
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,500
vegetables time to be done when 
the ham comes out. 

452
00:24:15,300 --> 00:24:18,500
The pudding gets steamed, the 
roles get shaped and left to 

453
00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:20,400
rise, then baked at the last 
moment. 

454
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,600
Everything has its slot in the 
afternoon schedule. 

455
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,100
Everything into locks with 
everything else but that's still

456
00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:29,800
hours away right now. 
The kitchen is peaceful. 

457
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,500
The stove radiating. 
Gentle Heat and the coffee pot. 

458
00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:36,400
Keeping warm on the back burner.
For anyone who wants another 

459
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:38,600
cup. 
The clock on the wall ticks 

460
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,100
deadly, it's pendulum swinging 
back and forth in his glass, 

461
00:24:42,100 --> 00:24:45,700
fronted case measuring out 
second that feel longer than 

462
00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:49,300
seconds usually feel. 
As if time itself, has decided 

463
00:24:49,300 --> 00:24:53,800
to take its own advice and slow 
down for the holiday around 

464
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,100
noon, the kitchen transforms 
from a place of rest in to a 

465
00:24:57,100 --> 00:25:00,400
place of purposeful activity, 
your mother ties, an apron 

466
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,900
around, her waist and begins 
pulling out the heavy roasting 

467
00:25:02,900 --> 00:25:05,000
pan. 
The one that only gets used for 

468
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,500
occasions like this. 
It's bottom dark and from years 

469
00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:12,200
of exposure to oven, heat the 
hammer merges from the cold 

470
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,400
cellar, unwrapped from its cloth
and gets positioned in the pan. 

471
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,700
Like a ship in a dock. 
The glazing is a ritual in 

472
00:25:18,708 --> 00:25:21,400
itself. 
Brown sugar, dissolved in water,

473
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,200
with mustard and cloves painted 
onto the ham surface with a 

474
00:25:25,208 --> 00:25:29,600
brush dedicated to this purpose.
The glaze pools in the score 

475
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,700
marks that cross hatch, the fat 
turning the surface into a 

476
00:25:32,700 --> 00:25:36,700
geometric pattern of diamonds. 
Your mother works with a careful

477
00:25:36,700 --> 00:25:38,600
attention of. 
Someone decorating a cake, 

478
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,100
making sure every surface gets 
covered. 

479
00:25:41,100 --> 00:25:44,500
Making sure the cloves get 
positioned in the intersections 

480
00:25:44,500 --> 00:25:47,800
of the score marks, little dark 
points against the lighter. 

481
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:49,600
Meet. 
The ham goes into the oven, 

482
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:51,500
which has been heating for the 
past hour. 

483
00:25:51,500 --> 00:25:54,200
The Firebox Stoke until the 
temperature is right. 

484
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,400
There's no dial to set, no 
digital readout, your mother 

485
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,600
judges, the heat by holding her 
hand inside the oven for a few 

486
00:26:01,608 --> 00:26:05,500
seconds long experience knowing 
when it's hot enough when it 

487
00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:08,100
needs more wood. 
And when it's too hot and needs 

488
00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:11,100
to cool slightly, this is 
cooking by field. 

489
00:26:11,100 --> 00:26:14,500
By Instinct developed over 
Decades of feeding a family. 

490
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,700
While the ham begins its slow, 
roasting filling the kitchen 

491
00:26:18,700 --> 00:26:22,300
with smells of caramelizing. 
Sugar and pork fat attention 

492
00:26:22,300 --> 00:26:25,400
turns to the vegetables, 
potatoes are holed up from the 

493
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,300
cellar in a bucket. 
Each one inspected for soft 

494
00:26:28,300 --> 00:26:31,900
spots or sprouting eyes and the 
good one set aside for cooking. 

495
00:26:31,900 --> 00:26:36,100
There are earth covered still 
dirt clinging to their skins and

496
00:26:36,100 --> 00:26:38,800
they get scrubbed at the sink 
with a brush until they're clean

497
00:26:38,808 --> 00:26:41,500
enough to peel. 
You take up a pairing knife and 

498
00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:44,600
begin working through the pile. 
The peel coming off in Long 

499
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,400
spirals if you're careful in 
chunks, if you're not The naked 

500
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,200
potatoes, go into a pot of cold 
water to keep them from 

501
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,600
browning. 
This is mindless work. 

502
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,600
Soothing work the kind where 
your hands know what to do. 

503
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,300
And your mind can wander. 
Through the window. 

504
00:27:01,300 --> 00:27:05,200
You watch a squirrel run along 
the fence top tail streaming 

505
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,400
behind it like a flag carrots, 
get the same treatment scrubbed 

506
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:13,800
peeled and cut into chunks. 
Turnips too though their harder 

507
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,500
to peel their skin tougher, 
require more effort, your sister

508
00:27:17,500 --> 00:27:19,900
works beside you. 
Both of you standing at the 

509
00:27:19,900 --> 00:27:22,500
counter both peeling, neither 
talking much. 

510
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:27,200
Pile of vegetable scraps grows 
in the Bold between you destined

511
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,000
for the pig bucket. 
Nothing is wasted. 

512
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,700
The actual cooking timeline is a
carefully. 

513
00:27:32,700 --> 00:27:35,900
Orchestrated sequence that your 
mother manages with the ease of 

514
00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:38,000
someone conducting a familiar 
Symphony. 

515
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,500
She knows exactly when each 
element needs to start how long 

516
00:27:41,500 --> 00:27:44,900
each requires, and how to time 
everything, so it all finishes 

517
00:27:44,900 --> 00:27:47,700
simultaneously. 
This knowledge isn't written 

518
00:27:47,700 --> 00:27:50,700
down anywhere. 
It exists only in her head 

519
00:27:50,700 --> 00:27:54,000
acquired through years of 
practice passed down from her 

520
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,000
mother. 
Who learned it from her mother 

521
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,800
before that by two o'clock. 
The kitchen has become 

522
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,600
seriously, warm the oven 
radiating, heat every burner on 

523
00:28:02,608 --> 00:28:05,400
the stove, occupied with 
something bubbling or simmering 

524
00:28:06,300 --> 00:28:09,900
Steam rises from multiple pots, 
the windows of fogged, 

525
00:28:09,900 --> 00:28:14,400
completely the frost on the 
inside melted by the warmth and 

526
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,400
water is running down the glass 
in slow riblets. 

527
00:28:18,300 --> 00:28:22,200
The smell is complex. 
Now, layered meat and vegetables

528
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,600
and baking bread. 
All competing for attention. 

529
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,000
The table gets set, more 
elaborately. 

530
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,400
Now, not just with plates and 
silverware, but with serving 

531
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:35,200
dishes, brought out and a range,
strategically the gravy boat its

532
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,000
lips slightly chipped but still 
functional the vegetable dishes.

533
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,100
Each large enough to hold 
generous portions the Bread 

534
00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:44,800
Basket line with a cloth to keep
the rolls warm. 

535
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,300
Everything is positioned where 
it needs to be for easy serving 

536
00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:50,600
for passing dishes around the 
table without reaching 

537
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,300
awkwardly. 
Your father appears in the 

538
00:28:53,308 --> 00:28:56,300
doorway drawn by the smells and 
gets shoe down again. 

539
00:28:56,300 --> 00:29:00,800
Not ready yet, another half 
hour, go occupy yourself 

540
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:03,300
elsewhere. 
He Retreats grumbling 

541
00:29:03,300 --> 00:29:06,400
good-naturedly about being 
hungry about how a man, can't 

542
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,300
even enter his own kitchen. 
You hear him in the Parlor 

543
00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:11,400
lighting the fire. 
Finally, the scrape of the match

544
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,500
and the crackle is kindling 
catches. 

545
00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:16,500
The final half-hour is 
Controlled Chaos. 

546
00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:20,000
The ham comes out of the oven. 
It's surface, dark, and 

547
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,400
glistening and gets set aside to
rest. 

548
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,700
The oven temperature, gets 
adjusted for the roles, which 

549
00:29:25,700 --> 00:29:28,500
have risen to double their size 
and now go in for their final 

550
00:29:28,500 --> 00:29:31,200
baking. 
But potatoes, get drained and 

551
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,500
mashed with butter and milk 
beaten with a fork until their 

552
00:29:34,500 --> 00:29:38,000
smooth and fluffy carrots. 
Get drained and glazed with 

553
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,700
butter and a little brown sugar.
Turn its get matched with black 

554
00:29:41,700 --> 00:29:45,400
pepper and more butter. 
The ham gets carved, your father

555
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:46,800
wielding. 
The long knife with more 

556
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,000
confidence than skill. 
The slices coming off uneven, 

557
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,400
but adequate They get arranged 
on the serving, platter 

558
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,000
overlapping like roof tiles with
the bone left intact in the 

559
00:29:57,008 --> 00:29:59,600
center. 
Gravy gets made from the pan 

560
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,800
drippings flour whisked in milk,
added gradually, and the whole 

561
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,900
mixture stirred constantly until
it thickens to the right 

562
00:30:06,900 --> 00:30:11,400
consistency. 
And then somehow everything is 

563
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,900
ready at once the serving 
dishes, get carried to the table

564
00:30:14,900 --> 00:30:19,000
in a parade ham potatoes 
vegetables, gravy and rolls 

565
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,100
straight from the oven and so 
hot. 

566
00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:23,000
You have to juggle them from 
hand to hand. 

567
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,800
The family gathers without 
needing to be called drawn by 

568
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,200
the smells and by the knowledge 
that dinner is ready. 

569
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,800
You take your seat. 
The same one you've occupied at 

570
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,500
family meals since you grew tall
enough to sit on a regular chair

571
00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:36,800
without needing a cushion for 
height. 

572
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:41,200
The chair knows your shape. 
The table Edge sits at exactly. 

573
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,500
The right height. 
Everything feels familiar 

574
00:30:43,500 --> 00:30:48,500
comfortable and right? 
There's a moment of silence 

575
00:30:48,500 --> 00:30:52,200
before eating begins, not 
exactly a formal Grace. 

576
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,600
But a pause everyone looking at 
what's been assembled 

577
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,900
acknowledging. 
The work it took and the 

578
00:30:57,900 --> 00:31:01,600
tradition it represents your 
grandfather has the oldest 

579
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,300
person presence serves himself 
first taking modest portions 

580
00:31:05,300 --> 00:31:07,400
despite everyone knowing he'll 
have second. 

581
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,000
Then the dishes, begin 
circulating each person serving 

582
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,300
themselves, the food, making its
way around the table in a 

583
00:31:14,308 --> 00:31:18,900
clockwise rotation that nobody 
plans but everyone follows your 

584
00:31:18,900 --> 00:31:23,500
plate, fills gradually, slice of
ham, the outside caramelized and

585
00:31:23,500 --> 00:31:28,100
dark the inside pale pink and 
tender Amount of mashed potatoes

586
00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:30,800
with a depression made in the 
top to hold gravy. 

587
00:31:31,500 --> 00:31:36,100
Carrots glistening with butter, 
a spoonful of mashed turnip its 

588
00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:38,000
peppery bite. 
A Counterpoint to the sweeter 

589
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,900
elements, a role torn open, 
still steaming with more butter 

590
00:31:42,900 --> 00:31:44,600
melting into its fluffy 
interior. 

591
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,200
The first bite is always the 
best, your appetite, sharp, your

592
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,000
expectations High and the food 
meeting both admirably. 

593
00:31:54,500 --> 00:31:57,000
The ham is salty and sweet 
simultaneously. 

594
00:31:57,900 --> 00:31:59,500
The texture yielding, under your
teeth. 

595
00:32:00,300 --> 00:32:03,800
The potatoes are creamy and Rich
with dairy fat, the gravy, 

596
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:08,300
adding Savory debt. everything 
is hot, genuinely hot, not 

597
00:32:08,300 --> 00:32:13,300
lukewarm, but freshly cooked and
immediately served For the first

598
00:32:13,300 --> 00:32:16,500
few minutes eating takes 
precedence over torquing, 

599
00:32:16,500 --> 00:32:20,200
everyone focuses on their plate,
on the immediate sensory 

600
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:22,000
experience of flavors and 
textures. 

601
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,100
The only Sails are Cutlery on 
China, the occasional request to

602
00:32:26,100 --> 00:32:29,300
pass something. 
And the small satisfied noises 

603
00:32:29,300 --> 00:32:34,200
people make when eating food, 
they genuinely enjoy Then as the

604
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,600
initial hunger gets addressed 
conversation, begins to Bubble 

605
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,800
Up your uncle mentions, how this
is the best time your mother's 

606
00:32:40,808 --> 00:32:44,300
made in years and she deflects 
the compliment while obviously 

607
00:32:44,300 --> 00:32:47,200
being pleased by it. 
Someone asks to pass the roles 

608
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,000
and comments on how perfectly 
they turned out golden brown and

609
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,600
light as clouds, your sister 
reaches from more carrots and 

610
00:32:54,608 --> 00:32:58,500
nearly knocks over her water 
glass catches it just in time 

611
00:32:58,500 --> 00:33:02,600
and everyone laughs at her 
reflexes the stories begin as 

612
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,800
they always do at family meals 
small anecdotes memories 

613
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,700
triggered by the food or the 
occasion or just the fact of 

614
00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:12,200
being together. 
Your grandfather talks about 

615
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,000
Christmas dinners when he was 
young, when they couldn't afford

616
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,400
ham and made with chicken, your 
mother counters with the year, 

617
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,000
she burned the hand completely 
served it anyway and everyone 

618
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:23,900
pretended not to notice the 
charred edges. 

619
00:33:24,900 --> 00:33:28,300
These stories are new. 
You've heard most of them before

620
00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:33,000
some many times, but their part 
of the tradition, too, as much a

621
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,800
part of Christmas dinner. 
As the food itself, eating 

622
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,800
continues at a leisurely Pace, 
interrupted by conversation by 

623
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,000
laughter. 
And by someone getting up, to 

624
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,200
fetch something from the kitchen
that was forgotten the wine gets

625
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,300
poured. 
Homemade from last Summer's, 

626
00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:50,700
Great Harvest, a little rough, 
but drinkable warming, your 

627
00:33:50,700 --> 00:33:54,400
throat on the way down. 
The meal stretches out filling 

628
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,400
the afternoon. 
Nobody is in any rush to finish.

629
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,500
Second helpings, are encouraged 
expected. 

630
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:04,500
Even the serving dishes, make 
another Circuit of the table and

631
00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:06,200
plates. 
Get refilled with smaller 

632
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,400
portions. 
This time people pacing 

633
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:12,199
themselves, knowing they're 
still desert to come the ham 

634
00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:15,900
disappears slice by slice the 
potato bowl gets scraped, nearly

635
00:34:15,900 --> 00:34:19,800
clean the roles vanish except 
for one that nobody seems to 

636
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,500
want. 
And it sits lonely in the basket

637
00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:24,400
until your brother, finally 
claims it. 

638
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,500
By the time, everyone's finally,
full genuinely full too much 

639
00:34:28,507 --> 00:34:30,800
food. 
Full the light outside has 

640
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:33,000
begun, its subtle shift toward 
late off to noon. 

641
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,199
The sun which never climbed a 
very high to begin with his 

642
00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:40,300
starting. 
Its early dissent Shadows a 

643
00:34:40,300 --> 00:34:44,199
linking across the snowy yard. 
Inside the dining room was grown

644
00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:47,100
warm from the number of bodies 
from the heat of the food. 

645
00:34:47,100 --> 00:34:50,300
And from the candles that 
someone lit, even though the 

646
00:34:50,300 --> 00:34:52,500
afternoon is still bright 
enough, not to need them. 

647
00:34:52,500 --> 00:34:55,100
The table is a battlefield of 
used dishes. 

648
00:34:55,100 --> 00:34:58,200
Empty serving bowls, wine 
glasses with varying amounts, 

649
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:02,600
remaining and napkins, crumpled 
beside plates, but nobody moves 

650
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,100
to clear it yet. 
Instead there's a collective 

651
00:35:05,100 --> 00:35:09,700
pause, a sitting back and 
letting the food settle Your 

652
00:35:09,700 --> 00:35:12,600
father unbuttons is vest which 
has got an uncomfortably tight, 

653
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:16,700
your mother closes her eyes for 
a moment looking satisfied in 

654
00:35:16,700 --> 00:35:19,300
the way that comes from feeding 
people well and watching them 

655
00:35:19,300 --> 00:35:21,300
enjoy. 
It pie in a bit. 

656
00:35:21,300 --> 00:35:24,600
She says eventually and there's 
a collective groan of protest 

657
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,100
from people claiming they 
couldn't possibly eat another 

658
00:35:27,100 --> 00:35:29,700
bite though. 
Everyone knows that in half an 

659
00:35:29,700 --> 00:35:32,600
hour or so. 
P will sound like exactly the 

660
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,500
right thing after sitting so 
long. 

661
00:35:34,500 --> 00:35:38,800
After eating so much your body 
demands movement The house warm 

662
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,500
and full of people and heavy 
with cooking smells suddenly 

663
00:35:41,500 --> 00:35:45,300
feels to close too dense. 
You push back from the table, 

664
00:35:45,300 --> 00:35:48,800
excuse yourself and head for the
back door where your coat and 

665
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,500
boots weight. 
The cold outside hits. 

666
00:35:51,500 --> 00:35:54,800
You like you like a bucket of 
water shocking and clarifying 

667
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,000
your breath plumes out in thick 
clouds. 

668
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,000
Yeah. 
Feels sharp in your lungs almost

669
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,800
painful after the warmth of the 
house, but it's exactly what you

670
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:06,900
needed. 
The southern wake up of 

671
00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:10,300
temperature, change the clearing
of your head and the reset of 

672
00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:12,500
your sensei's. 
You pull on your gloves and 

673
00:36:12,508 --> 00:36:16,400
start walking not with any 
destination in mind just moving 

674
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:17,900
because movement feels 
necessary. 

675
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,800
Your boots crunch through the 
crusted snow breaking through 

676
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,600
the Frozen top layer into the 
softest snow beneath. 

677
00:36:26,500 --> 00:36:29,700
Step takes effort your legs 
working harder than they would 

678
00:36:29,700 --> 00:36:32,400
on clear ground, and you welcome
the exertion. 

679
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:36,000
The way it starts your blood 
moving faster warming, you from 

680
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,300
the inside, The art looks 
different in late afternoon. 

681
00:36:39,300 --> 00:36:43,100
Light the Shadows have grown 
long and blue stretching across 

682
00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:45,100
the white ground like reaching 
fingers. 

683
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,600
The sun low on the horizon. 
Now casts everything in shades 

684
00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,600
of gold and pink and lavender. 
Colors that seem too delicate 

685
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,300
for the brutal cold, the snow 
Sparkles, where the light hits 

686
00:36:57,300 --> 00:37:01,500
it directly individual crystals 
catching and throwing tiny 

687
00:37:01,500 --> 00:37:04,400
prisms. 
You walk toward the fence line 

688
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,900
that marks the boundary between 
your property and the neighbor's

689
00:37:06,900 --> 00:37:09,600
field. 
The fence post stand at regular 

690
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,100
intervals, each one wearing a 
cap of snow that tapers to a 

691
00:37:13,100 --> 00:37:16,400
point like a tiny peaked hat the
wire strung between them as 

692
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,600
collected Frost in elaborate 
patterns feathers and Ferns and 

693
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:25,100
Abstract lace all created by the
simple physics of water vapor 

694
00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:29,300
freezing and still are at the 
fence you stop and look back at 

695
00:37:29,300 --> 00:37:32,100
the house. 
Smoke rises from both chimneys. 

696
00:37:32,100 --> 00:37:35,100
Now, the kitchen stove and The 
Parlor fireplace are both going.

697
00:37:36,300 --> 00:37:38,700
Smoke climb straight up for 20 
feet or so. 

698
00:37:38,700 --> 00:37:41,400
Then bends were at meet some 
current of air. 

699
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,800
You can't feel from down here, 
the windows glow with warm 

700
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:48,400
light, yellow and inviting 
against the white landscape and 

701
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,800
the darkening sky. 
From this distance, the house 

702
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:55,300
looks like a painting of itself.
Like an illustration from a 

703
00:37:55,300 --> 00:37:59,300
children's book about winter, a 
murder of crows passes overhead,

704
00:37:59,300 --> 00:38:03,000
maybe a dozen of them heading 
somewhere with a parent purpose.

705
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,900
They call to each other in their
harsh voices. 

706
00:38:05,900 --> 00:38:08,200
Sounds that seem to scratch the 
quiet. 

707
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,500
Are you watch them until they 
disappear beyond the tree line? 

708
00:38:11,500 --> 00:38:16,500
And then the skies empty, again,
just clouds and fading light The

709
00:38:16,500 --> 00:38:19,600
quiet out here is extraordinary 
in the summer. 

710
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,600
This same field buzzes with 
insect life, chirps with birds 

711
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,600
and Russells with the movement 
of growing things. 

712
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,300
Now, there's almost nothing just
the occasional Creek of tree 

713
00:38:30,300 --> 00:38:33,800
branches, moving in a breeze. 
You still can't feel the distant

714
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,200
bark of a dog from the soft 
Whisper of your own breathing. 

715
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,500
You notice details, you wouldn't
see if you were moving faster. 

716
00:38:40,500 --> 00:38:44,700
If you had somewhere to be, The 
way wind has sculpted the snow 

717
00:38:44,700 --> 00:38:48,400
into subtle drifts creating 
patterns, like, sand dunes, but 

718
00:38:48,408 --> 00:38:52,600
frozen solid, the tracks of 
small animals, rabbits, 

719
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:56,500
probably, or maybe a fox 
crossing the open space in 

720
00:38:56,500 --> 00:39:00,800
Meandering paths, a single dried
weed, poking up through the 

721
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,400
snow. 
It seed, head still intact, 

722
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:07,400
rattling softly, when a breath 
of wind finally reaches this far

723
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,000
down, your fingers are starting 
to wake with cold. 

724
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,700
Inside your gloves, your nose 
has gone numb, your cheeks, feel

725
00:39:13,700 --> 00:39:16,800
tight, and tingling but you're 
not quite ready to go back 

726
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,000
inside. 
Yet, there's something about 

727
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,400
this cold Stillness. 
That feels important to 

728
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,900
experience to remember, This is 
what winter truly is stripped of

729
00:39:26,900 --> 00:39:30,000
human Comfort. 
Just raw temperature and frozen 

730
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,400
water and are so cold. 
It hurts. 

731
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,600
You walk along the fence line 
following, it toward the back 

732
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,400
corner of the property where the
old apple trees, stand bare 

733
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,900
branched and patient. 
The bark is dark against the 

734
00:39:41,900 --> 00:39:44,600
snow, almost black in the fading
light. 

735
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,200
They won't flower for another 
four months, at least and won't 

736
00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:51,300
bear fruit until long after this
snow is melted and been 

737
00:39:51,300 --> 00:39:53,600
forgotten but there's still 
alive in there. 

738
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,900
Still carrying the promise of 
spring in their dormant buds, 

739
00:39:56,900 --> 00:40:00,200
still waiting with the patients 
that trees have in abundance. 

740
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:04,100
Under one tree, you find 
evidence of deer hoof prints in 

741
00:40:04,108 --> 00:40:07,700
the snow dropping scattered 
nearby and the lower branches 

742
00:40:07,700 --> 00:40:10,200
stripped of bark. 
Where hungry animals browsed 

743
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,700
what they could reach. 
They were probably here last 

744
00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:16,200
night moving through while 
everyone slept, finding what 

745
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:17,600
food they could in the lean 
months. 

746
00:40:18,500 --> 00:40:21,900
The light is fading fast and now
the sun has nearly reached the 

747
00:40:21,900 --> 00:40:24,400
Horizon. 
Turning the Western sky into 

748
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:29,000
something spectacular, layers of
orange and pink and Deep Purple.

749
00:40:29,900 --> 00:40:33,900
Clouds lit from below the whole 
display reflected in the snow. 

750
00:40:33,900 --> 00:40:37,800
So that your standing in colored
light, it's the kind of sunset 

751
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:40,100
that makes you stop, whatever 
you're doing and just what 

752
00:40:40,100 --> 00:40:43,700
witnessing beauty that exists, 
whether you're there to see it 

753
00:40:43,700 --> 00:40:46,900
or not. 
As you watch the colors deeper 

754
00:40:46,900 --> 00:40:51,400
and shift, the orange 
intensified, then Fades, the 

755
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:56,300
pink sprayed and dilute the 
purple dark and blue toward the 

756
00:40:56,300 --> 00:40:59,400
color of coming night. 
The temperature which has been 

757
00:40:59,408 --> 00:41:03,100
cold all day begins to drop more
noticeably as the sun 

758
00:41:03,100 --> 00:41:05,300
disappears, you can feel it 
happening. 

759
00:41:05,300 --> 00:41:10,000
The heat of the day such as it 
was radiating back into space 

760
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:14,900
leaving nothing but cold behind.
You turn finally, and head back 

761
00:41:14,900 --> 00:41:19,200
toward the house, your body 
demanding warmth now, having 

762
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:22,700
reached its limit of cold 
tolerance, the walk back, seems 

763
00:41:22,700 --> 00:41:25,800
longer than the walk out. 
Each step requires conscious 

764
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:29,400
effort, your legs heavy and 
tired but the house Waits ahead 

765
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:33,000
Windows glowing brighter. 
Now as the outside world darkens

766
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:37,100
smoke still rising from the 
chimneys promising heat and 

767
00:41:37,100 --> 00:41:41,700
light and the company of people 
Back in side, the warmth feels 

768
00:41:41,700 --> 00:41:45,400
almost aggressive after the 
sustained cold, your fingers and

769
00:41:45,408 --> 00:41:47,200
toes. 
Begin that painful tingling, 

770
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,800
that comes from Frozen, 
extremities warming up. 

771
00:41:50,500 --> 00:41:53,600
You stamp your feet, blow on 
your hands, hang on your coat on

772
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,900
its Peg to dry and make your way
to the Parlor where the family 

773
00:41:56,900 --> 00:42:00,300
has migrated the fire in the 
fireplace is settled in to 

774
00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:01,800
mature. 
Coals radiating. 

775
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:04,600
Steady Heat. 
Your father has claimed the 

776
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:07,600
chair closest to it. 
A book, open in his lap, though.

777
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,400
His eyes are closed. 
Your mother sits in her usual 

778
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,000
spot near the window. 
Mending, something in the 

779
00:42:13,008 --> 00:42:16,600
failing light, her needle, 
moving with practice efficiency.

780
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,700
Your siblings are scattered 
around the room in various 

781
00:42:19,700 --> 00:42:24,100
states of repose one, reading, 
one attempting a puzzle and one 

782
00:42:24,100 --> 00:42:26,500
simply staring into the fire. 
With the glazed. 

783
00:42:26,500 --> 00:42:30,200
Expression of someone digesting 
a large meal, you find your own 

784
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,500
chair and sink into it. 
Feeling your body, relax into 

785
00:42:33,500 --> 00:42:36,900
the familiar Contours. 
The seat cushion has molded 

786
00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:40,500
itself to you over years of use,
the armrests are warn smooth 

787
00:42:40,500 --> 00:42:44,100
way, your hands naturally fall. 
This chair knows you and you 

788
00:42:44,100 --> 00:42:49,000
know it a comfortable Mutual 
understanding The clock on the 

789
00:42:49,008 --> 00:42:52,900
mantle takes steadily. 
It's brass pendulum swinging 

790
00:42:52,900 --> 00:42:56,800
behind the glass face measuring 
out time, that seems to have no 

791
00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:02,000
particular urgency. 
It's perhaps 4:30 maybe five the

792
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,000
day is winding down, but not 
finished existing in that 

793
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,300
peculiar space between after 
noon and evening. 

794
00:43:07,300 --> 00:43:10,300
When nothing much happened and 
that's entirely acceptable. 

795
00:43:10,300 --> 00:43:14,100
Someone has lick handles around 
the room, small Flames adding 

796
00:43:14,100 --> 00:43:17,200
their warm light to the 
firelight The combination 

797
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:21,300
creates a gentle illumination, 
that softens edges, and that 

798
00:43:21,300 --> 00:43:25,000
makes everything look slightly. 
Unreal slightly removed from 

799
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:29,100
ordinary existence. 
Shadows pool in Corners, the 

800
00:43:29,100 --> 00:43:32,600
ceiling disappears Into 
Darkness, the room has become a 

801
00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:34,600
cave of light in a world, going 
dark. 

802
00:43:35,500 --> 00:43:38,500
You pick up a book from the side
table, one of your Christmas 

803
00:43:38,500 --> 00:43:42,100
presents a novel, you've been 
wanting to read the cover is 

804
00:43:42,100 --> 00:43:45,800
stiff and new the pages. 
Chris still adhering to each 

805
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,100
other slightly. 
You open it carefully. 

806
00:43:48,100 --> 00:43:51,700
Cracking the spine, as little as
possible, and begin reading. 

807
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,700
Story pulls you in gradually not
with dramatic action. 

808
00:43:55,700 --> 00:44:00,000
But with the Quiet accumulation 
of detail and character, you 

809
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:03,500
read slowly savoring the 
language, occasionally 

810
00:44:03,500 --> 00:44:06,200
re-reading, a particularly 
well-crafted sentence. 

811
00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:09,900
There's no rush to finish. 
No, need to find out what 

812
00:44:09,900 --> 00:44:13,200
happens next immediately. 
Pleasure is in the reading 

813
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:17,100
itself in the way words. 
Create worlds, inside your head 

814
00:44:17,100 --> 00:44:22,400
around you, the room, pursues 
its own quiet, activities Pages,

815
00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:27,300
turn yours and others. 
The fire mutters and Pops, 

816
00:44:27,300 --> 00:44:31,200
someone gets up to adjust a 
candle that's guttering the cat.

817
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:33,900
Having finally emerged from 
whatever Hideaway she claimed 

818
00:44:33,900 --> 00:44:37,900
during dinner appears and begins
making the rounds visiting. 

819
00:44:37,900 --> 00:44:42,000
Each person demanding attention 
with small chirping sounds. 

820
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:45,300
She reaches you and jumps into 
your lap without invitation 

821
00:44:45,300 --> 00:44:48,500
circling twice before. 
Settling herself across your 

822
00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:51,600
legs, making reading harder. 
But not impossible. 

823
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:55,000
He shift the book to one hand 
and use the other to stroke her 

824
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,100
head. 
Feeling the rumble of her Perth 

825
00:44:57,100 --> 00:45:00,300
through her body. 
She's warm and heavy a living 

826
00:45:00,300 --> 00:45:03,600
weight, that pins you to your 
chair and you don't mind at all 

827
00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,900
time. 
Passes in that strange. 

828
00:45:05,900 --> 00:45:08,100
Elastic way. 
It has when you're absorbed in 

829
00:45:08,108 --> 00:45:10,700
something. 
You finish a chapter and look up

830
00:45:10,700 --> 00:45:13,900
surprised to find that the 
windows are now completely dark 

831
00:45:13,900 --> 00:45:18,000
showing nothing but reflections 
of the room back to itself, what

832
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:20,300
happened to the day? 
Where did the hours go? 

833
00:45:20,300 --> 00:45:23,700
You can't account for them. 
You can only note that they've 

834
00:45:23,700 --> 00:45:26,800
passed while you were busy doing
nothing in particular your 

835
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:30,800
mother sets aside her mending 
and stands stretching announcing

836
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:33,200
that she supposes people might 
want pi. 

837
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:37,200
Now if anyone has any room left 
There's a collective stirring 

838
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:42,100
body shifting and people rousing
from their various stupas yes, 

839
00:45:42,100 --> 00:45:44,600
Pi sounds, good P, sounds 
possible. 

840
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,100
Stomachs have settled enough 
that desert no longer seems like

841
00:45:48,100 --> 00:45:51,200
an impossibility. 
The migration to the kitchen 

842
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:54,600
happens, slowly with people 
moving at different speeds and 

843
00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:57,800
arriving at different times, the
table has been cleared and 

844
00:45:57,800 --> 00:45:59,500
cleaned. 
While you were outside the 

845
00:45:59,500 --> 00:46:02,000
evidence of dinner removed and 
everything reset. 

846
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:06,100
Your mother begins. 
Slicing pie apple and mints both

847
00:46:06,100 --> 00:46:07,900
made yesterday, both, still 
fresh. 

848
00:46:07,900 --> 00:46:11,600
She cuts generous wedges and 
slides them onto small plates. 

849
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:16,400
You eat your pie standing up 
leaning against the counter too 

850
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:17,900
comfortable to sit properly at 
the table. 

851
00:46:17,900 --> 00:46:22,300
Again, the apple pie is perfect.
The crust flaky and buttery the 

852
00:46:22,300 --> 00:46:25,100
Apple's soft. 
But not mushy and the cinnamon 

853
00:46:25,100 --> 00:46:28,300
and nutmeg in Balance. 
You eat it slowly, making it 

854
00:46:28,300 --> 00:46:31,800
last washing it down with fresh 
coffee, that someone just made 

855
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,500
the mint. 
Pies, darker richer and heavier 

856
00:46:35,500 --> 00:46:39,200
with dried fruits and spices, 
and that hint of Brandy, that 

857
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,400
makes it distinctly, adult and 
distinctly celebratory. 

858
00:46:43,500 --> 00:46:45,200
You take smaller bites of this 
one. 

859
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:47,800
It's intensity. 
Requiring more measured 

860
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:50,900
consumption. 
The flavors are complex, sweet 

861
00:46:50,900 --> 00:46:54,300
and tart, and spiced all at. 
Once each bites slightly 

862
00:46:54,300 --> 00:46:56,700
different as you hit different 
combinations of fruit and 

863
00:46:56,700 --> 00:46:58,500
filling. 
Conversation. 

864
00:46:58,500 --> 00:47:00,700
Picks up again, lazy and 
Meandering. 

865
00:47:00,700 --> 00:47:03,500
Someone mentions, they should 
probably check on the animals 

866
00:47:03,500 --> 00:47:05,600
soon to make sure they're 
settled for the night. 

867
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,700
Someone else, wanders, if it 
will snow again, those clouds, 

868
00:47:09,700 --> 00:47:12,900
early looked promising, the 
torque drifts from topic to 

869
00:47:12,900 --> 00:47:15,700
topic. 
Never staying anywhere long just

870
00:47:15,700 --> 00:47:20,500
words filling the comfortable 
Silence by 6:00 full darkness is

871
00:47:20,500 --> 00:47:23,900
settled in that complete winter 
darkness that comes early and 

872
00:47:23,900 --> 00:47:26,400
stays late. 
The world outside, the windows 

873
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:30,200
to exist as anything but 
Blackness pressed against glass.

874
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:35,000
Inside the house has become its 
own Universe self-contained, and

875
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:38,200
self-sufficient. 
The evening tasks begin, their 

876
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:41,500
familiar Rhythm your father. 
Pulls on his coat and boots to 

877
00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:44,700
go check the animals. 
The chickens need to be shut in 

878
00:47:44,700 --> 00:47:49,100
safe from foxes, the cow needs 
checking and the Pig needs. 

879
00:47:49,100 --> 00:47:52,300
One last feeding you volunteered
a go with him. 

880
00:47:52,300 --> 00:47:55,500
Wanting one more Taste of the 
cold before, settling in for the

881
00:47:55,500 --> 00:47:58,500
night. 
Outside, the darkness is almost 

882
00:47:58,500 --> 00:48:01,500
absolute. 
Your father carries a lantern, 

883
00:48:01,500 --> 00:48:05,400
it's small flame, creating a 
circle of light that moves with 

884
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:08,700
you pushing back the dark, just 
enough to see where your 

885
00:48:08,700 --> 00:48:14,100
stepping The snow crunches 
loudly in the silence, the cold 

886
00:48:14,100 --> 00:48:18,100
bites harder now, no sun is left
to provide even the illusion of 

887
00:48:18,108 --> 00:48:21,100
warmth. 
In the barn, the animals are 

888
00:48:21,100 --> 00:48:24,300
settling themselves for sleep. 
The chickens are already on 

889
00:48:24,300 --> 00:48:26,800
their roosts. 
Feathers fluffed against the 

890
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:31,300
cold making small sleepy. 
Sounds the cow stands in her 

891
00:48:31,308 --> 00:48:33,300
stall. 
Chewing cud with the patient 

892
00:48:33,300 --> 00:48:36,500
rhythmic grinding that cows. 
Do her breath steaming in the 

893
00:48:36,500 --> 00:48:39,000
lantern light. 
You throw down fresh. 

894
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:42,700
Hey, make sure her water hasn't 
Frozen and scratch behind her 

895
00:48:42,700 --> 00:48:45,300
ears the way she likes. 
Grunts. 

896
00:48:45,300 --> 00:48:48,500
Hopefully, when you appear 
always optimistic about food, 

897
00:48:48,500 --> 00:48:51,800
despite having been fed 
regularly all day, you dump 

898
00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:55,600
kitchen scraps, vegetable 
peelings plate, scraping 

899
00:48:55,600 --> 00:49:00,600
everything carefully saved into 
his trough and he sets to work 

900
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:03,900
with enthusiasm. 
His snuffling and chomping loud 

901
00:49:03,900 --> 00:49:07,300
in the quiet Barn, when 
everything is settled and secure

902
00:49:07,300 --> 00:49:10,400
you and your father walked back 
to the house, the lantern 

903
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:14,900
swinging between you casting 
wild Shadows that leap and dance

904
00:49:14,900 --> 00:49:18,200
across the snow. 
The house windows glow, like 

905
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:21,300
beacons. 
Guiding you home, the smoke from

906
00:49:21,300 --> 00:49:24,000
the chimneys is invisible 
against the black sky, but you 

907
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,200
can smell it. 
Wood smoke mixed with the clean.

908
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:32,000
Cold smell of winter are inside.
Again you shed your outdoor 

909
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:35,800
layers for what feels like the 
final time today the house has 

910
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,800
reached its evening temperature.
Not as warm as midday but 

911
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,000
comfortable all the fires Bank 
to their sustainable level 

912
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:45,500
radiating. 
Steady gentle heat the kitchen 

913
00:49:45,500 --> 00:49:48,500
has been cleaned up from the 
pie, eating everything washed 

914
00:49:48,500 --> 00:49:51,600
and put away and the counters 
wiped down ready for tomorrow. 

915
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:55,400
In The Parlor, someone has 
brought out a deck of cards and 

916
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:58,500
a game is organizing itself 
without much planning, just 

917
00:49:58,500 --> 00:50:01,700
people sitting down hands being 
dealt and the comfortable. 

918
00:50:01,700 --> 00:50:05,200
Rhythm of play that doesn't 
require much thought you join 

919
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,700
in. 
Picking up your cards, arranging

920
00:50:07,700 --> 00:50:10,400
them by suit and value and 
considering your strategy. 

921
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:14,000
The game proceeds, as its own 
pace, interrupted by 

922
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:17,700
conversation, by people getting 
up to 10, the fire or fetch 

923
00:50:17,700 --> 00:50:21,100
something to drink and by the 
cat deciding to walk across the 

924
00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:25,000
table and disrupting everything.
Nobody keeps careful, score 

925
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:28,600
winning matters, less than the 
simple Act of playing of having 

926
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:31,200
something to do with your hands 
while the evening passes. 

927
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:35,500
Around 8:00. 
People begin yawning, the day 

928
00:50:35,500 --> 00:50:39,800
despite its slowness as has been
tiring in that peculiar way 

929
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,200
holidays, attire. 
And All that eating all that 

930
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,900
warmth, all that family 
togetherness somehow exhausting 

931
00:50:46,900 --> 00:50:50,900
in a pleasant way, the card game
winds down naturally with no one

932
00:50:50,900 --> 00:50:53,900
declaring it finished just 
people setting down their cards 

933
00:50:53,900 --> 00:50:56,300
and not picking them up. 
Again your mother announces, 

934
00:50:56,300 --> 00:50:59,600
she's going to bed which is 
earlier than her usual time but 

935
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:01,700
not surprising given. 
How long she's been up and how 

936
00:51:01,700 --> 00:51:04,800
much work went into the day? 
Others follow her lead. 

937
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,800
Drifting off, one by one calling
out, good nights footsteps on 

938
00:51:08,808 --> 00:51:11,100
the stairs and doors opening and
closing. 

939
00:51:11,100 --> 00:51:15,300
You stay up a bit longer, not 
quite ready for sleep tending, 

940
00:51:15,300 --> 00:51:19,100
the pile of fire one last time, 
making sure it's properly banked

941
00:51:19,100 --> 00:51:21,600
for the night. 
The coals glow red and orange 

942
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,400
beautiful in their way hot 
enough to burn you but slow 

943
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,100
enough to last until morning if 
you spread them right and cover 

944
00:51:28,100 --> 00:51:30,700
them with Ash, the house, 
settles into its night. 

945
00:51:30,700 --> 00:51:35,100
Sounds old wood Contracting in 
the cold, the wind picking up 

946
00:51:35,100 --> 00:51:38,600
outside and testing the walls 
and the tick of cooling metal 

947
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,400
from the stoves, you blow out 
the last canned. 

948
00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:45,800
Watching the small spirals of 
Smoke Rise From the Wicks and 

949
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,800
climb the stairs and darkness 
your feet knowing the way 

950
00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:52,000
without need for light. 
In your room. 

951
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:54,600
The cold has reclaimed its 
territory. 

952
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:58,000
During your absence, your breath
clouds in the Darkness. 

953
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:02,000
The floorboards are ice under 
your feet, you undress quickly 

954
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:05,600
pulling on the heavy night shirt
that hangs on its Peg and dive 

955
00:52:05,600 --> 00:52:09,000
under the quilts curling into a 
tight ball, waiting for your 

956
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:12,400
body to warm, the small space 
around you through the window. 

957
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:16,400
You can see stars emerging 
between clouds, hard, bright 

958
00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:20,800
points in the infinite black. 
Thousands of them more than you 

959
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:23,700
could ever count, more than 
you'll ever have names for. 

960
00:52:23,700 --> 00:52:26,800
They're the same Stars people 
have been watching on Christmas 

961
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,900
night for centuries. 
The same ones, Shepherd saw the 

962
00:52:30,900 --> 00:52:34,400
same ones that guided wise men 
according to the story and the 

963
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:36,700
same ones that care. 
Nothing for human celebration 

964
00:52:36,700 --> 00:52:40,900
but shine anyway in different in
Eternal you lie, there thinking 

965
00:52:40,900 --> 00:52:44,500
about the day, letting it play 
through your memory, not 

966
00:52:44,500 --> 00:52:49,100
analyzing it, not judging it, 
just acknowledging it, the slow 

967
00:52:49,100 --> 00:52:53,400
morning, the big meal, the quiet
after noon, and the gently 

968
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:56,700
evening, all of it ordinary in 
its way unremarkable. 

969
00:52:56,700 --> 00:52:59,200
Nothing that would make a story 
worth telling. 

970
00:53:00,100 --> 00:53:03,700
But also perfect in its 
ordinariness satisfying in its 

971
00:53:03,700 --> 00:53:06,600
Simplicity and exactly what it 
needed to be. 

972
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:10,000
Your body. 
Relaxes gradually the warmth 

973
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,700
building under the covers sleep 
approaching like a tide coming 

974
00:53:13,700 --> 00:53:17,300
in You think about tomorrow 
which will be much the same 

975
00:53:17,300 --> 00:53:21,700
cold, and slow and quiet. 
Another winter day with nothing 

976
00:53:21,700 --> 00:53:24,900
urgent to accomplish. 
The thought is comforting, 

977
00:53:24,900 --> 00:53:28,200
rather than disappointing. 
There's pleasure in knowing that

978
00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:31,700
tomorrow doesn't demand anything
of you that you can move through

979
00:53:31,700 --> 00:53:34,700
it at whatever Pace, feels right
the morning after Christmas 

980
00:53:34,700 --> 00:53:38,000
arrives, without ceremony just 
another December day. 

981
00:53:38,700 --> 00:53:42,800
You wake to the same cold room, 
the same Frost flowered windows,

982
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:45,900
and the same reluctance to leave
the warm nest of your bed. 

983
00:53:45,900 --> 00:53:49,900
But eventually you do going 
through the family emotions 

984
00:53:49,900 --> 00:53:52,600
dressing in layers. 
Descending to the kitchen, 

985
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:57,000
resurrecting the fire from 
yesterday's ashes, The routine 

986
00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:00,800
is soothing in its repetition, 
you know exactly what needs 

987
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:03,500
doing. 
And in what order the kindling 

988
00:54:03,500 --> 00:54:06,700
catches the fire grows, and the 
kettle goes on fatigue. 

989
00:54:06,700 --> 00:54:10,800
The kitchen warms gradually 
pushing back the cold one degree

990
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:13,800
at a time. 
Another day has begun and you've

991
00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:17,400
helped it begin which gives you 
a small satisfaction that never 

992
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:20,800
quite gets old. 
The rest of the family emerges 

993
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:24,400
slowly, one by one. 
Following the same pattern as 

994
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:27,600
yesterday, but without the 
holidays special quality. 

995
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:31,700
This is just Thursday morning or
Friday or whatever day it 

996
00:54:31,700 --> 00:54:34,700
happens to be. 
The world has returned to its 

997
00:54:34,700 --> 00:54:38,200
normal rotation Christmas. 
Having been a small interruption

998
00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:41,000
in the usual Rhythm but not a 
permanent change. 

999
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:45,400
Breakfast is simpler today. 
Leftover ham sliced, cold, bread

1000
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:49,200
and butter tea and coffee, 
nobody's particularly hungry 

1001
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:52,600
after yesterday's excess. 
But you eat anyway, bodies, 

1002
00:54:52,600 --> 00:54:56,100
requiring fuel, regardless of 
appetite, the conversation is 

1003
00:54:56,100 --> 00:54:59,700
quieter and less animated people
are still half asleep or 

1004
00:54:59,700 --> 00:55:03,200
thinking, head to the days. 
Chores, after breakfast, the 

1005
00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:05,900
tasks, begin animals. 
Need tending. 

1006
00:55:05,900 --> 00:55:11,000
The same as every day would need
bringing in snow needs 

1007
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:12,600
shoveling. 
If it fell during the night. 

1008
00:55:13,500 --> 00:55:17,400
The house requires its constant 
maintenance fires, fed water, 

1009
00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:20,800
Halled food prepared, dishes 
washed and floors, swept. 

1010
00:55:21,600 --> 00:55:23,300
These jobs don't stop for 
holidays. 

1011
00:55:23,300 --> 00:55:27,300
Don't care that yesterday was 
special, They simply exist, 

1012
00:55:27,300 --> 00:55:31,800
demanding attention, providing 
the structure around which days 

1013
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:35,300
organized themselves, you pull 
on your coat and head outside to

1014
00:55:35,300 --> 00:55:38,500
split firewood. 
The cold is fierce this morning.

1015
00:55:38,500 --> 00:55:41,400
The kind that makes your eyes 
water and your lungs. 

1016
00:55:41,400 --> 00:55:44,000
Ache. 
The splitting Stomps stands in 

1017
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:45,700
his usual spot near the 
Woodshed. 

1018
00:55:45,700 --> 00:55:48,500
The mall leaning against it 
waiting. 

1019
00:55:49,300 --> 00:55:53,100
You set up a log, raise the mole
and bring it down with all your 

1020
00:55:53,100 --> 00:55:55,800
weight behind it. 
The wood splits with a 

1021
00:55:55,800 --> 00:56:00,500
satisfying crack. the two halves
falling away cleanly you set up 

1022
00:56:00,500 --> 00:56:04,200
another log split it then 
another the work warms you 

1023
00:56:04,208 --> 00:56:08,400
quickly despite the cold your 
muscles generating heat, your 

1024
00:56:08,400 --> 00:56:12,600
breath coming faster, there's a 
rhythm to it, a meditation in 

1025
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:17,200
the repetition position, the log
raise the tool swings split 

1026
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:20,000
repeat. 
Pile of split wood grow 

1027
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:23,300
steadily, each piece will feed a
fire and will become heat. 

1028
00:56:23,300 --> 00:56:26,600
That keeps the house liveable 
and that makes Winter survival. 

1029
00:56:26,600 --> 00:56:31,000
You're not just splitting wood. 
You'll splitting frozen water 

1030
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:34,800
that fell as trees absorbed it. 
Splitting sunlight, that those 

1031
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:38,400
trees captured through leaves 
and stored in cellulose and 

1032
00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:41,800
splitting last Summer's warmth 
and releasing it bit by bit 

1033
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:46,400
through the cold months. 
It's a Practical Magic turning 

1034
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,700
solid matter into heat and light
through the simple process of 

1035
00:56:49,700 --> 00:56:52,000
burning. 
You work until you've split 

1036
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:54,900
enough for the next few days. 
Then, carry the wood inside 

1037
00:56:54,900 --> 00:56:57,500
stacking, it near the stove 
where it will dry and be ready 

1038
00:56:57,500 --> 00:57:00,100
for use. 
Your arms, ache pleasantly. 

1039
00:57:00,100 --> 00:57:04,500
Your face feels raw from the 
cold, but you're satisfied with 

1040
00:57:04,500 --> 00:57:08,600
the work with the tangible 
evidence of effort, that pile of

1041
00:57:08,608 --> 00:57:10,400
wood that wasn't there an hour 
ago. 

1042
00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:15,300
The day proceeds at its own pace
one task leading to another 

1043
00:57:15,300 --> 00:57:18,100
without rush or pressure. 
You help your mother in the 

1044
00:57:18,100 --> 00:57:21,500
kitchen preparing a simple 
midday meal from yesterday's. 

1045
00:57:21,500 --> 00:57:25,700
Leftovers you spend time reading
the novel pulling, you deeper 

1046
00:57:25,700 --> 00:57:28,400
into its world. 
You sit by the fire and let your

1047
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:30,900
mind wander thinking about 
nothing in particular. 

1048
00:57:30,900 --> 00:57:35,400
Just existing in the warm quiet.
This is what life was like 

1049
00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:39,300
before the invention of busyness
before productivity, became a 

1050
00:57:39,300 --> 00:57:42,300
virtue before. 
Every moment needed to be filled

1051
00:57:42,300 --> 00:57:45,800
with purpose or accomplishment. 
You simply lived through your 

1052
00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:49,700
days doing what needed doing 
resting when you were tired 

1053
00:57:49,700 --> 00:57:53,900
eating when you were hungry and 
moving at a pace to dictated by 

1054
00:57:53,900 --> 00:57:57,600
the work itself rather than by 
some external schedule. 

1055
00:57:57,600 --> 00:58:00,500
There's a lesson in this 
slowness that you're beginning 

1056
00:58:00,508 --> 00:58:03,200
to understand. 
It's not that doing things 

1057
00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:06,000
slowly is inherently better than
doing them quickly. 

1058
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:09,700
It's that certain things can't 
be rushed, and won't be rushed 

1059
00:58:09,700 --> 00:58:12,600
and fighting against that 
reality only creates 

1060
00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:15,200
frustration. 
Fire takes the time. 

1061
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:18,500
It takes to grow bread, Rises at
its own pace. 

1062
00:58:18,500 --> 00:58:22,300
Winter lasts as many months as 
it lasts, and you can't hurry it

1063
00:58:22,300 --> 00:58:24,500
towards Spring no matter how 
tired, you get of the cold 

1064
00:58:24,500 --> 00:58:28,400
learning to move with time, 
rather than against it, to 

1065
00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:32,400
accept the pace that different 
tasks require to distinguish 

1066
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:36,000
between what can be hurried. 
And what cannot this is a kind 

1067
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:39,100
of wisdom that Modern Life Will 
largely forget. 

1068
00:58:39,100 --> 00:58:43,900
But here now on this cold 
December day following Christmas

1069
00:58:43,900 --> 00:58:48,500
it simply how things are You 
don't think about it as wisdom, 

1070
00:58:48,500 --> 00:58:52,100
you just do it because there's 
no alternative because the world

1071
00:58:52,100 --> 00:58:55,900
demands it afternoon, slides 
into evening, with the same. 

1072
00:58:55,900 --> 00:59:00,000
Gradual dimming of light as 
yesterday, the Sun have made, 

1073
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:03,200
its brief appearance. 
Gives up early and heads for the

1074
00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:07,400
Horizon Darkness gathers in the 
corners of rooms pools under 

1075
00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:10,300
furniture and to cross the floor
like water. 

1076
00:59:11,200 --> 00:59:16,200
Candles get lit fires, get up, 
the house becomes its own. 

1077
00:59:16,200 --> 00:59:20,400
Small world again separated from
the cold and dark outside. 

1078
00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:24,400
The evening meal is simple 
quickly prepared and quickly 

1079
00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:27,400
eaten Nobody's in the mood for 
another Feast. 

1080
00:59:27,400 --> 00:59:30,700
Instead, their soup made from 
yesterday's ham, bone 

1081
00:59:30,700 --> 00:59:33,900
vegetables, and beans. 
Simmered until everything is 

1082
00:59:33,900 --> 00:59:38,300
soft and the broth is Rich bread
to soak up the liquid more tea. 

1083
00:59:38,300 --> 00:59:42,100
The food is warming rather than 
exciting Comfort rather than 

1084
00:59:42,100 --> 00:59:46,100
celebration After dinner, you 
find yourself back in the 

1085
00:59:46,100 --> 00:59:49,900
Parlor, back in your chair, near
the fire book, in hand, cat on 

1086
00:59:49,900 --> 00:59:52,500
lap, the routine has reasserted 
itself. 

1087
00:59:52,500 --> 00:59:55,800
This is your spot. 
This is what you do with evening

1088
00:59:55,800 --> 01:00:00,800
hours, read or think, or simply 
sit letting the day wind down at

1089
01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:03,200
its own pace. 
There's comfort in this 

1090
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:06,900
predictability in knowing that 
tomorrow evening your likely be 

1091
01:00:06,900 --> 01:00:09,000
doing the same thing and the 
evening. 

1092
01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:12,100
After that your younger brother 
sits on the floor near the 

1093
01:00:12,100 --> 01:00:15,000
fireplace. 
Building something with blocks a

1094
01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:19,000
house, perhaps, or a barn. 
Something with walls and a roof.

1095
01:00:19,900 --> 01:00:23,400
He works with complete 
concentration tongue between his

1096
01:00:23,400 --> 01:00:25,600
teeth. 
Placing each piece carefully 

1097
01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:29,500
when the structure finally 
collapses a structures made by 

1098
01:00:29,508 --> 01:00:30,600
children. 
Usually do. 

1099
01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:35,200
He doesn't get upset. 
He just starts over rebuilding 

1100
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:38,300
from the scattered pieces. 
Trying a slightly different 

1101
01:00:38,300 --> 01:00:41,700
approach watching him. 
You think about how children 

1102
01:00:41,700 --> 01:00:45,700
understand slowness in ways, 
adults forget They don't rush 

1103
01:00:45,700 --> 01:00:49,300
through play, they don't worry 
about finishing quickly, they 

1104
01:00:49,300 --> 01:00:51,700
just immerse themselves 
completely in whatever they're 

1105
01:00:51,700 --> 01:00:54,800
doing whether it's building 
blocks or digging in dirt or 

1106
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:59,200
watching ants carry crumbs. they
know instinctively that the 

1107
01:00:59,200 --> 01:01:02,700
point isn't to be done, but to 
be doing somewhere along the way

1108
01:01:02,700 --> 01:01:06,900
to adulthood most people lose 
that understanding They start 

1109
01:01:06,900 --> 01:01:09,700
measuring activities by their 
outcomes rather than their 

1110
01:01:09,700 --> 01:01:12,300
experience. 
They start rushing through the 

1111
01:01:12,300 --> 01:01:14,900
present to get to some imagined 
better future. 

1112
01:01:14,900 --> 01:01:18,700
They forget that life happens in
the doing, not in the done. 

1113
01:01:19,500 --> 01:01:22,700
But here in this era before, 
technology accelerated, 

1114
01:01:22,700 --> 01:01:26,800
everything before speed became 
confused with efficiency and 

1115
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:29,900
efficiency with virtue, the 
lesson is easier. 

1116
01:01:29,900 --> 01:01:32,400
To remember, you can't rush the 
seasons. 

1117
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:34,900
You can't make bread rise Faster
by wanting it too. 

1118
01:01:34,900 --> 01:01:38,100
You can't convince the sun to 
stay up longer just because you 

1119
01:01:38,100 --> 01:01:41,900
have worked to finish the world 
moves at its own pace and you 

1120
01:01:41,900 --> 01:01:44,100
are the match it or exhaust 
yourself fighting it. 

1121
01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:50,000
The fire burns down to Khols. 
Candles Gutter and go out one by

1122
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:53,800
one, people yawn and stretch and
announce their heading to bed. 

1123
01:01:53,800 --> 01:01:57,000
The day is ending. 
Not because anyone decreed it 

1124
01:01:57,000 --> 01:02:00,300
should end at the particular 
time, but because body's attired

1125
01:02:00,300 --> 01:02:02,500
and tomorrow will come with your
ready for it or not. 

1126
01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:06,600
You climb the stairs. 
One Last Time, each step 

1127
01:02:06,600 --> 01:02:10,500
familiar under your feet. 
Your room Waits cold as always 

1128
01:02:10,500 --> 01:02:13,100
the bed calling with its promise
of warmth. 

1129
01:02:13,700 --> 01:02:17,500
You undress quickly slide under 
the quilts curl into your 

1130
01:02:17,500 --> 01:02:20,500
warming ball and let sleep 
Approach at its own pace. 

1131
01:02:20,500 --> 01:02:24,000
Outside the winter night 
continues, its own activities 

1132
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:28,600
Stars Wheeling overhead wind 
pushing clouds across the sky 

1133
01:02:28,600 --> 01:02:33,000
snow settling and compacting 
under its own weight and animals

1134
01:02:33,000 --> 01:02:35,400
moving through the darkness on 
their various errands. 

1135
01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:39,900
The world doesn't stop when 
humans sleep it just continues 

1136
01:02:39,900 --> 01:02:43,500
without them patient and 
indifferent following rhythms 

1137
01:02:43,500 --> 01:02:47,300
older than Consciousness. 
You drift towards sleep thinking

1138
01:02:47,300 --> 01:02:52,200
about slowness about Pace about 
the gift Christmas gave you not 

1139
01:02:52,200 --> 01:02:55,800
through presents, but through 
permission Permission to stop 

1140
01:02:55,800 --> 01:03:00,100
rushing to stop performing and 
to stop treating every moment. 

1141
01:03:00,100 --> 01:03:04,200
Like, it needs to be optimized 
for maximum productivity, for 

1142
01:03:04,200 --> 01:03:06,700
one day. 
Maybe two, you're allowed to 

1143
01:03:06,708 --> 01:03:09,900
Simply Be to move through time 
at a human pace. 

1144
01:03:09,900 --> 01:03:13,100
And to remember what it feels 
like when life isn't erased 

1145
01:03:13,100 --> 01:03:16,300
towards some distant Finish 
Line, This is what gets lost in 

1146
01:03:16,300 --> 01:03:17,400
the coming. 
Centuries. 

1147
01:03:17,400 --> 01:03:20,700
What industrialization and 
electricity and instant 

1148
01:03:20,700 --> 01:03:24,100
communication will gradually 
erode, not just the slowness 

1149
01:03:24,100 --> 01:03:28,000
itself, but the understanding 
that slowness has value that 

1150
01:03:28,000 --> 01:03:30,800
some things are better for 
taking time and that rushing 

1151
01:03:30,800 --> 01:03:33,600
through life means missing, most
of what makes life worth living.

1152
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,200
You don't think of it in those 
terms, you don't know what's 

1153
01:03:38,200 --> 01:03:41,800
coming, what the future will 
bring, or how different life 

1154
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:44,300
will become. 
You just know that today moved 

1155
01:03:44,300 --> 01:03:47,200
at the right pace that tomorrow 
probably will too. 

1156
01:03:47,200 --> 01:03:51,300
And that the rhythm of seasons 
and days and tasks provide all 

1157
01:03:51,300 --> 01:03:52,800
the structure. 
Anyone needs? 

1158
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:56,900
Sleep comes gently pulling you 
down into dreams that you won't 

1159
01:03:56,900 --> 01:04:00,800
remember, Come Morning the house
settles around, you would 

1160
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:04,700
Contracting in the cold fires 
burning low, everyone tucked 

1161
01:04:04,700 --> 01:04:07,600
into their beds, the whole 
structure resting like a 

1162
01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:09,100
personal after a Long Day's 
Work. 

1163
01:04:09,100 --> 01:04:11,300
And in the morning it will start
again. 

1164
01:04:11,300 --> 01:04:15,700
The slow waking the cold room, 
the fire to be built, the 

1165
01:04:15,700 --> 01:04:19,800
endless patient work of living 
through a winter day But that's 

1166
01:04:19,800 --> 01:04:23,500
tomorrow's concern tonight. 
There's just sleep and warmth 

1167
01:04:23,500 --> 01:04:26,400
and the knowledge that you move 
through Christmas at. 

1168
01:04:26,400 --> 01:04:29,300
Exactly the pace it required. 
And that was enough. 

1169
01:04:29,300 --> 01:04:39,500
That was everything. 
You stand at the edge of a 

1170
01:04:39,500 --> 01:04:43,000
northern European forest in the 
depths of December centuries 

1171
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:44,900
before anyone had heard the 
name, Nicholas. 

1172
01:04:45,700 --> 01:04:47,600
Yeah, bites your cheeks with a 
cold. 

1173
01:04:47,600 --> 01:04:51,100
So complete, it seems to 
crystallize your breath before. 

1174
01:04:51,100 --> 01:04:54,600
It can escape above, you bare, 
branches sketch, patterns, 

1175
01:04:54,600 --> 01:04:58,500
against the sky that dark and by
mid to noon, A snow beneath your

1176
01:04:58,508 --> 01:05:02,100
boots squeaks with each step 
that particular sound that only 

1177
01:05:02,100 --> 01:05:05,600
happens when temperatures plunge
well below freezing, your 

1178
01:05:05,600 --> 01:05:08,000
ancestors understood. 
Something profound about this 

1179
01:05:08,000 --> 01:05:10,600
season. 
Winter wasn't simply cold 

1180
01:05:10,600 --> 01:05:13,200
weather, to be endured it 
represented. 

1181
01:05:13,200 --> 01:05:15,700
A threshold between the living 
world and something else 

1182
01:05:15,700 --> 01:05:19,500
entirely when the sun weakened 
and Shadow stretched across the 

1183
01:05:19,500 --> 01:05:23,200
land for most of each day. 
The boundary between ordinary 

1184
01:05:23,200 --> 01:05:26,200
existence and the realm of 
spirits grew thin as parchment. 

1185
01:05:26,200 --> 01:05:30,100
You can feel it even now that 
peculiar quality of winter 

1186
01:05:30,100 --> 01:05:34,600
Twilight when familiar landmarks
take on unfamiliar shapes the 

1187
01:05:34,600 --> 01:05:39,000
Romans called this period satire
and their celebrations began on 

1188
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:43,000
the 17th of December for them, 
Winter's Darkness, demanded 

1189
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:47,000
light feasting and the temporary
suspension of ordinary rules. 

1190
01:05:48,100 --> 01:05:50,300
Master served meals to their 
slaves. 

1191
01:05:50,300 --> 01:05:54,400
People exchanged small gifts, 
usually candles or Clay 

1192
01:05:54,400 --> 01:05:58,200
figurines, everyone wore the 
pillars, a soft conical cap that

1193
01:05:58,208 --> 01:06:02,000
normally marked freed slaves, 
because during Saturn earlier 

1194
01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:06,400
all were equal, the rigid social
hierarchies that governed every 

1195
01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:09,600
other day of the year dissolved 
like frost in the morning sun, 

1196
01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:13,500
you would have loved the chaos 
of it. gambling normally 

1197
01:06:13,500 --> 01:06:17,800
forbidden became not just 
permitted, but encouraged Wine 

1198
01:06:17,800 --> 01:06:18,800
flowed. 
Freely. 

1199
01:06:18,800 --> 01:06:22,100
People sang in the streets at 
hours that would normally bring 

1200
01:06:22,100 --> 01:06:25,600
sharp reprimands from 
authorities, the whole of fair 

1201
01:06:25,600 --> 01:06:27,700
served a purpose deeper than 
mere revelry. 

1202
01:06:27,700 --> 01:06:30,800
It was a collective 
acknowledgment that darkness and

1203
01:06:30,800 --> 01:06:34,300
cold held power. 
In the only way to survive them 

1204
01:06:34,300 --> 01:06:38,500
was to gather with warmth and 
light and the bonds of community

1205
01:06:38,500 --> 01:06:41,900
further north Germanic people's 
observe, their own winter 

1206
01:06:41,900 --> 01:06:44,600
costumes, they brought 
Evergreen, boughs into their 

1207
01:06:44,600 --> 01:06:47,900
homes. 
Holly Ivy mistletoe and pine as 

1208
01:06:47,900 --> 01:06:50,100
reminders. 
That life, persisted, even when 

1209
01:06:50,100 --> 01:06:53,400
the world seemed dead. 
He ever greens were decorations 

1210
01:06:53,400 --> 01:06:56,900
in the modern sense, they were 
statements of defiance against 

1211
01:06:56,900 --> 01:07:00,400
Winter's grip. 
Symbols of resilience when snow 

1212
01:07:00,400 --> 01:07:03,300
piled shoulder high and wolves 
howled in the forests. 

1213
01:07:03,300 --> 01:07:07,500
Those green branches, whispered 
a promise Spring, will return. 

1214
01:07:08,900 --> 01:07:11,900
The Norse had you their own 
winter celebration that 

1215
01:07:11,900 --> 01:07:16,200
stretched across 12 nights. 
They burned enormous logs the 

1216
01:07:16,200 --> 01:07:19,400
bigger the better because the 
Yule logs Flames were thought to

1217
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:21,600
hold back. 
The darkest forces of winter 

1218
01:07:21,600 --> 01:07:24,900
families gathered around these 
fires and told stories that 

1219
01:07:24,900 --> 01:07:29,600
lasted hours Tales of gods and 
Giants and the endless struggle 

1220
01:07:29,600 --> 01:07:33,200
between Order and Chaos. 
Stories weren't entertainment. 

1221
01:07:33,200 --> 01:07:37,200
They were instruction manuals 
for living reminders of courage,

1222
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:40,200
and cunning, and the importance 
of loyalty to Kin. 

1223
01:07:41,100 --> 01:07:43,200
During these ancient winter 
celebrations. 

1224
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:45,300
Mysterious figures sometimes 
appeared. 

1225
01:07:45,300 --> 01:07:47,400
Not the Jolly returned 
character. 

1226
01:07:47,400 --> 01:07:49,500
You know, from shopping malls in
Ola cars. 

1227
01:07:50,300 --> 01:07:53,900
The Stranger more unsettling 
beings in some Germanic 

1228
01:07:53,900 --> 01:07:56,500
Traditions. 
Odin himself was said to lead a 

1229
01:07:56,500 --> 01:08:00,900
wild Hunt across the winter Sky.
A ghostly procession of spirits 

1230
01:08:00,900 --> 01:08:04,000
and lost souls children. 
Left offering for his eight 

1231
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:07,700
legged horse, slight near hey 
and carrots set out in hopes of 

1232
01:08:07,708 --> 01:08:11,300
receiving gifts and return. 
The practice carried an edge of 

1233
01:08:11,308 --> 01:08:15,200
fear alongside hope. 
These were beings to be trifled 

1234
01:08:15,200 --> 01:08:17,700
with elsewhere. 
There were Tales of an Old Woman

1235
01:08:17,700 --> 01:08:21,200
Who visited homes during winter 
checking, whether children had 

1236
01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:25,000
behaved themselves in some 
regions, people spoke of spirits

1237
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:28,500
that traveled with Winter Winds 
able to see into home through 

1238
01:08:28,500 --> 01:08:30,500
cracks in walls and gaps and 
shutters. 

1239
01:08:31,399 --> 01:08:34,899
The message was clear, Winter's,
Darkness allowed for judgments 

1240
01:08:34,899 --> 01:08:37,800
and reckonings, your actions 
throughout the year would be 

1241
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:40,600
weighed. 
You see how the pattern forms 

1242
01:08:40,600 --> 01:08:43,399
long before Christianity spread 
across Europe. 

1243
01:08:43,399 --> 01:08:46,899
Winter already belonged to 
gift-giving to mysterious 

1244
01:08:46,899 --> 01:08:50,300
visitors and to the idea that 
generosity and Community 

1245
01:08:50,300 --> 01:08:53,100
celebration could push back 
against the harshest season. 

1246
01:08:53,100 --> 01:08:56,899
The Customs ran deep braided 
into the very fiber of how 

1247
01:08:56,899 --> 01:09:00,100
people understood time and 
survival when you live close 

1248
01:09:00,100 --> 01:09:03,399
enough to Nature, that ailed 
Harvest means starvation when 

1249
01:09:03,399 --> 01:09:07,100
wolves are real threats and not 
metaphors winter becomes 

1250
01:09:07,100 --> 01:09:10,800
something more than a season 
marked on calendars, it becomes 

1251
01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:13,000
a test. 
Now imagine you're in a small 

1252
01:09:13,000 --> 01:09:16,000
village somewhere in what would 
become Germany around the year 

1253
01:09:16,000 --> 01:09:19,000
200? 
Your family's home is a single 

1254
01:09:19,000 --> 01:09:23,100
room structure with walls, of 
wattle, and daub woven sticks 

1255
01:09:23,100 --> 01:09:27,399
plus with mud and straw attached
roof keeps out most of the rain 

1256
01:09:27,399 --> 01:09:31,300
and snow, though, not all of it.
A central half provides the only

1257
01:09:31,300 --> 01:09:35,200
heat and light at night. 
Everyone sleeps near the fire on

1258
01:09:35,200 --> 01:09:37,500
platforms, covered with straw 
and Furs. 

1259
01:09:38,300 --> 01:09:40,500
Smoke from the half escapes 
through a hole in the roof. 

1260
01:09:40,500 --> 01:09:44,300
The much of it lingers, 
stinging, your eyes and coating 

1261
01:09:44,300 --> 01:09:46,800
everything. 
In a fine layer of soot during 

1262
01:09:46,800 --> 01:09:50,000
the darkest days of December. 
Your father brings in the Yule 

1263
01:09:50,000 --> 01:09:53,100
Log, a massive piece of Oak. 
He's been saving for this 

1264
01:09:53,100 --> 01:09:56,000
purpose. 
It takes three grown men to 

1265
01:09:56,000 --> 01:09:59,500
maneuver it into position. 
Once lit, the log will burn for 

1266
01:09:59,500 --> 01:10:03,200
the entire 12 Night Celebration.
Your mother has been preparing 

1267
01:10:03,200 --> 01:10:07,500
for weeks preserving foods and 
Brewing special Ale on the first

1268
01:10:07,500 --> 01:10:09,700
night of yule. 
She brings out bread shaped like

1269
01:10:09,700 --> 01:10:12,800
boars and horses. 
Sacred shapes though. 

1270
01:10:12,800 --> 01:10:16,000
You're too young to fully 
understand why the village Elder

1271
01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:17,900
comes to your home. 
As he does to every home 

1272
01:10:17,900 --> 01:10:21,200
carrying a carved staff older 
than anyone can remember. 

1273
01:10:21,200 --> 01:10:24,700
He speaks words in a language. 
That sounds almost like yours 

1274
01:10:24,700 --> 01:10:28,200
but not quite An older tongue. 
That people only use during the 

1275
01:10:28,200 --> 01:10:32,100
ceremonies, you don't understand
all of what he says, but you 

1276
01:10:32,108 --> 01:10:36,100
catch phrases about honoring the
ancestors about the sun's 

1277
01:10:36,100 --> 01:10:39,500
return, and about the debts and 
bonds that hold your community 

1278
01:10:39,500 --> 01:10:42,400
together later. 
After the Elder is left and the 

1279
01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:45,900
Yule Log crackles with Fierce 
heat, your father tells you 

1280
01:10:45,900 --> 01:10:49,500
about the gods, not in the 
sanitized way, the stories are 

1281
01:10:49,500 --> 01:10:53,100
sometimes presented today but in
their original form, bloody 

1282
01:10:53,100 --> 01:10:56,100
strange and full of Bargains and
Transformations. 

1283
01:10:56,100 --> 01:11:00,300
He tells you about Odin trading,
his eye for wisdom, about Thor, 

1284
01:11:00,300 --> 01:11:03,800
defending the gods realm from 
Giants and about Loki's tricks 

1285
01:11:03,800 --> 01:11:06,800
that sometimes helped and 
sometimes nearly destroyed 

1286
01:11:06,800 --> 01:11:09,700
everything, but the story that 
captures your imagination. 

1287
01:11:09,700 --> 01:11:14,100
Most is simpler, your father 
describes a figure, neither 

1288
01:11:14,100 --> 01:11:17,400
quite God, nor quite human, who 
travels during the darkest 

1289
01:11:17,400 --> 01:11:21,800
nights, observing households, 
this being notes on which family

1290
01:11:21,800 --> 01:11:25,200
share their food with Neighbors,
which ones taken Travelers 

1291
01:11:25,200 --> 01:11:29,100
despite having Little themselves
and which children show kindness

1292
01:11:29,100 --> 01:11:32,900
to animals and respect to elders
and on your morning, those who 

1293
01:11:32,900 --> 01:11:36,500
have shown generosity find small
gifts, carved, wooden toys, 

1294
01:11:36,500 --> 01:11:40,000
Honey, Cakes, and nuts, preserve
from Autumn's Harvest. 

1295
01:11:41,000 --> 01:11:43,300
Your father doesn't explain this
as a moral lesson. 

1296
01:11:43,300 --> 01:11:47,400
He simply describes it as fact. 
The way he described the 

1297
01:11:47,400 --> 01:11:49,900
changing of Seasons or the 
habits of deer in winter. 

1298
01:11:50,700 --> 01:11:54,600
Generosity attracts Good. 
Fortune selfishness invites 

1299
01:11:54,600 --> 01:11:57,400
hardship. 
The mysterious winter visitor. 

1300
01:11:57,400 --> 01:11:59,900
Merely makes these natural 
consequences visible. 

1301
01:12:00,700 --> 01:12:03,700
You fall asleep that night with 
the Yule logs warmth on your 

1302
01:12:03,700 --> 01:12:07,000
face and the smell of pine 
boughs in your nostrils. 

1303
01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:12,600
Outside wind howls across the 
Frozen Fields, but insights 

1304
01:12:12,600 --> 01:12:15,900
surrounded by family in the 
certainty of community winter, 

1305
01:12:15,900 --> 01:12:18,700
feels less like a threat and 
more like a challenge, you'll 

1306
01:12:18,700 --> 01:12:21,100
meet together. 
These were the beliefs, the 

1307
01:12:21,100 --> 01:12:24,400
customs, and the Deep rooted 
traditions in which Christianity

1308
01:12:24,400 --> 01:12:28,900
slowly spread, The new Faith, 
didn't erase the old ways, not 

1309
01:12:28,900 --> 01:12:33,300
entirely, not immediately. 
Instead something more 

1310
01:12:33,300 --> 01:12:36,700
interesting happened, the two 
streams of tradition merged 

1311
01:12:36,700 --> 01:12:39,400
creating something neither could
have produced alone. 

1312
01:12:40,300 --> 01:12:45,700
Now shift forward in time and 
geography, you're in patara a 

1313
01:12:45,700 --> 01:12:48,300
prosperous Port City, Inn 
Lithia, a region on the 

1314
01:12:48,300 --> 01:12:50,500
southwestern coast of what is 
now turkey. 

1315
01:12:50,500 --> 01:12:55,500
The year is approximately 270 
the air here, carries the salt 

1316
01:12:55,500 --> 01:12:59,200
sharp smell of the Mediterranean
and sunlight, bounces off 

1317
01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:02,200
whitewashed walls with an 
intensity that makes you squint 

1318
01:13:02,200 --> 01:13:05,000
even in winter. 
This is where Nicholas was born,

1319
01:13:05,000 --> 01:13:08,800
low precious few reliable facts 
about his early life of survived

1320
01:13:08,800 --> 01:13:13,000
history, offers fragments 
glimpses and stories that may or

1321
01:13:13,000 --> 01:13:16,800
may not be true, but that people
believed so fervently. 

1322
01:13:16,800 --> 01:13:19,900
They shape reality through sheer
force of repetition. 

1323
01:13:21,100 --> 01:13:24,000
What we do know is that Nicholas
came from wealth. 

1324
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:26,700
His parents were devout 
Christians at a time. 

1325
01:13:26,708 --> 01:13:29,400
When practicing this Faith, 
required genuine courage. 

1326
01:13:30,300 --> 01:13:33,200
The Roman Empire which 
controlled, this region viewed 

1327
01:13:33,200 --> 01:13:36,600
Christianity with suspicion that
frequently erupted into active 

1328
01:13:36,600 --> 01:13:40,300
persecution, Christians refused 
to honor the emperor's Divine. 

1329
01:13:40,300 --> 01:13:44,300
A refusal that Authority's 
interpreted as disloyalty even 

1330
01:13:44,300 --> 01:13:46,900
treason. 
Your neighbors might know your 

1331
01:13:46,900 --> 01:13:49,600
Christian and say nothing or 
they might report you to the 

1332
01:13:49,600 --> 01:13:52,700
magistrates. 
Either outcome remained possible

1333
01:13:52,700 --> 01:13:55,900
at any moment. 
Nicholas's parents died during 

1334
01:13:55,900 --> 01:13:58,900
an epidemic when he was young, 
probably in his teens. 

1335
01:13:58,900 --> 01:14:02,800
Ancient sources. 
Don't specify the disease for 

1336
01:14:02,800 --> 01:14:05,800
epidemic, swept through 
Mediterranean cities with grim 

1337
01:14:05,800 --> 01:14:10,100
regularity smallpox typhoid 
plague. 

1338
01:14:10,800 --> 01:14:12,700
Any of these might have been the
culprit. 

1339
01:14:13,500 --> 01:14:17,500
In a matter of weeks perhaps 
days, Nicholas found himself 

1340
01:14:17,500 --> 01:14:20,400
orphaned and in possession of a 
substantial Fortune. 

1341
01:14:21,200 --> 01:14:24,800
Picture yourself in his 
position, well beyond what most 

1342
01:14:24,800 --> 01:14:26,500
people in your city will ever 
experience. 

1343
01:14:26,500 --> 01:14:29,700
You could live comfortably for 
the rest of your life without 

1344
01:14:29,700 --> 01:14:32,500
working. 
You could indulge every desire, 

1345
01:14:32,500 --> 01:14:35,800
build a grand home commission 
art, and travel to distant 

1346
01:14:35,800 --> 01:14:38,600
lands. 
The entire Known World lies open

1347
01:14:38,600 --> 01:14:42,500
to you, limited only by 
imagination and the reach of 

1348
01:14:42,500 --> 01:14:46,400
Rome's roads. 
Nicholas chose a different path.

1349
01:14:47,100 --> 01:14:51,200
He became a priest, then 
eventually a bishop, the bishop 

1350
01:14:51,200 --> 01:14:55,400
of Myra. a city about 60 miles 
from his birthplace, being a 

1351
01:14:55,408 --> 01:14:58,000
bishop in the fourth Century 
Ball, little resemblance to the 

1352
01:14:58,000 --> 01:15:02,300
role as it would later develop 
Nicholas had no ornate Cathedral

1353
01:15:02,300 --> 01:15:06,200
know vast bureaucracy and no 
political power in the modern 

1354
01:15:06,200 --> 01:15:08,700
sense. 
He led a small community of 

1355
01:15:08,700 --> 01:15:12,300
believers who met in homes and 
when possible in modest 

1356
01:15:12,300 --> 01:15:14,900
buildings that could be quickly 
abandoned if persecution 

1357
01:15:14,900 --> 01:15:18,600
resumed. 
Myra itself was built into 

1358
01:15:18,600 --> 01:15:22,300
Coastal Hills, its buildings, 
rising in tears from the harbor 

1359
01:15:22,300 --> 01:15:26,100
ships arrived carrying grain 
from Egypt, Timber from the 

1360
01:15:26,100 --> 01:15:28,800
Black Sea forests and wine from 
Greek Islands. 

1361
01:15:29,600 --> 01:15:33,500
The cities theater could seat 
more than 10,000 Spectators of a

1362
01:15:33,500 --> 01:15:36,600
performance that would last 
entire days above the city, 

1363
01:15:36,600 --> 01:15:40,100
tombs carved into Cliff faces 
stared down like empty, eyes, 

1364
01:15:40,100 --> 01:15:44,200
monuments to listen. 
Noble's from centuries past long

1365
01:15:44,200 --> 01:15:48,000
before Roman Conquest. 
As Bishop Nicholas became 

1366
01:15:48,000 --> 01:15:50,800
responsible for his community's 
spiritual welfare and 

1367
01:15:50,800 --> 01:15:53,000
increasingly their physical 
welfare, too. 

1368
01:15:54,200 --> 01:15:56,600
Christianity, as it was 
practiced. 

1369
01:15:56,600 --> 01:16:00,500
In those early centuries placed 
enormous emphasis on caring for 

1370
01:16:00,500 --> 01:16:02,600
the poor. 
This wasn't optional or 

1371
01:16:02,600 --> 01:16:06,400
supplementary to the faith. 
It was Central definitional. 

1372
01:16:07,400 --> 01:16:10,700
If you had resources in your 
neighbor lacked food, shelter or

1373
01:16:10,700 --> 01:16:13,600
clothing in your resources were 
truly yours. 

1374
01:16:13,600 --> 01:16:15,900
They were held in trust for the 
community. 

1375
01:16:15,900 --> 01:16:19,200
You would have seen Nicholas 
walking through Myra streets in 

1376
01:16:19,200 --> 01:16:22,800
the early morning, when Shadows 
still stretched long and shopped

1377
01:16:22,800 --> 01:16:24,500
Keepers were just opening their 
stalls. 

1378
01:16:25,300 --> 01:16:29,000
He dressed simply no elaborate 
vestments or symbols of office. 

1379
01:16:29,000 --> 01:16:33,600
People recognized him, not by 
costume but by reputation he 

1380
01:16:33,600 --> 01:16:36,500
knew the poor by name. 
He knew which families were 

1381
01:16:36,500 --> 01:16:39,500
struggling with debt which 
widows had no one to support 

1382
01:16:39,500 --> 01:16:43,200
them and which children were 
going hungry, the stories that 

1383
01:16:43,200 --> 01:16:45,600
accumulated around Nicholas 
during his lifetime. 

1384
01:16:45,600 --> 01:16:49,000
And after his death chess 
certain themes, he gave 

1385
01:16:49,000 --> 01:16:52,200
secretly, he intervened to 
prevent Injustice. 

1386
01:16:52,200 --> 01:16:56,100
He showed particular concern for
children and for anyone 

1387
01:16:56,100 --> 01:16:59,500
powerless in the face of 
institutional Authority, some of

1388
01:16:59,500 --> 01:17:02,900
these stories may be embellished
or entirely legendary, but they 

1389
01:17:02,900 --> 01:17:06,600
point to a consistent character 
someone who understood well as 

1390
01:17:06,600 --> 01:17:08,700
responsibility rather than 
reward. 

1391
01:17:09,900 --> 01:17:13,200
The most famous story takes 
place in Myra and involves a 

1392
01:17:13,208 --> 01:17:17,400
desperate father, this man wants
prosperous had lost everything 

1393
01:17:17,400 --> 01:17:21,600
through some combination of bad 
fortune and unwise decision, he 

1394
01:17:21,600 --> 01:17:24,000
had three daughters of 
marriageable age but without 

1395
01:17:24,000 --> 01:17:26,900
dowries they couldn't marry in 
fourth Century. 

1396
01:17:26,900 --> 01:17:30,200
Lithia, an unmarried woman from 
a good family who lacked 

1397
01:17:30,200 --> 01:17:35,300
resources faced limited options.
Most of them Grimm Father, 

1398
01:17:35,300 --> 01:17:38,700
seeing no other choice prepare 
to sell his daughter's into 

1399
01:17:38,700 --> 01:17:42,200
prostitution. 
Nicholas learned of the 

1400
01:17:42,200 --> 01:17:45,400
situation rather than 
confronting the father directly,

1401
01:17:45,400 --> 01:17:48,400
which would have shamed the man 
publicly and accomplished 

1402
01:17:48,400 --> 01:17:51,100
nothing Nicholas waited until 
night. 

1403
01:17:51,900 --> 01:17:55,500
The family's house had windows 
that opened onto the street as 

1404
01:17:55,500 --> 01:17:58,100
most houses did for Leighton 
ventilation. 

1405
01:17:58,100 --> 01:18:01,500
Nicholas approached after dark 
when the household had settled 

1406
01:18:01,500 --> 01:18:04,400
for sleep. 
He carried a bag of gold coins. 

1407
01:18:04,400 --> 01:18:07,500
Probably a substantial portion 
of his inherited wealth. 

1408
01:18:08,400 --> 01:18:11,100
Through the open window. 
Nicholas tossed, the bag of gold

1409
01:18:11,100 --> 01:18:14,500
it, landed, according to Legend 
in a stocking or shoes that have

1410
01:18:14,500 --> 01:18:18,400
been left by the fire to dry. 
The gold was exactly enough for 

1411
01:18:18,400 --> 01:18:21,400
the oldest daughter's Dowry she 
could now marry honorably. 

1412
01:18:22,100 --> 01:18:24,500
You might picture the father's 
confusion the next morning, 

1413
01:18:24,500 --> 01:18:28,500
where had this gold come from? 
Who knew of their desperate 

1414
01:18:28,500 --> 01:18:31,500
situation. 
The daughter married her future 

1415
01:18:31,500 --> 01:18:35,700
secured. but the father still 
had two more daughters and no 

1416
01:18:35,700 --> 01:18:40,500
prospects for the Nicholas, 
waited some time, perhaps weeks,

1417
01:18:40,500 --> 01:18:43,800
perhaps months, then on another 
night. 

1418
01:18:44,500 --> 01:18:46,300
He returned and repeated the 
gift. 

1419
01:18:47,300 --> 01:18:50,300
Another bag of gold through the 
window and other daughter's 

1420
01:18:50,300 --> 01:18:54,600
future secured. 
By now the father was determined

1421
01:18:54,600 --> 01:18:57,300
to discover his mysterious 
benefactors identity. 

1422
01:18:57,300 --> 01:19:01,100
When the time came for the third
daughter's Dowry, he stayed 

1423
01:19:01,100 --> 01:19:03,800
awake watching the street from a
darkened room. 

1424
01:19:04,600 --> 01:19:08,100
And he saw Nicholas approach. 
Saw him heft the third bag of 

1425
01:19:08,108 --> 01:19:11,000
gold and saw him prepare to 
throw it through the window. 

1426
01:19:11,800 --> 01:19:15,400
The father rushed out and fell 
at Nicholas's feet, overwhelmed,

1427
01:19:15,400 --> 01:19:19,300
with gratitude and shame. 
Gratitude for the generosity and

1428
01:19:19,300 --> 01:19:23,700
shame that he'd been reduced to 
accepting charity, Nicholas's 

1429
01:19:23,700 --> 01:19:25,800
response, became Central to his 
Legend. 

1430
01:19:25,800 --> 01:19:27,500
He asked the father that to 
tell. 

1431
01:19:27,508 --> 01:19:29,500
No one about the gifts while 
Nicholas lived. 

1432
01:19:30,200 --> 01:19:33,500
The generosity was to remain 
anonymous known only to The 

1433
01:19:33,500 --> 01:19:37,900
Giver, the receiver and God. 
Why did this story resonate? 

1434
01:19:37,900 --> 01:19:41,400
So powerfully across centuries, 
partly because it demonstrated 

1435
01:19:41,400 --> 01:19:44,300
an alternative to the zero. 
Some thinking that governed, 

1436
01:19:44,300 --> 01:19:46,600
most economic relationships in 
the ancient world. 

1437
01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:51,300
The wealthy hoarded resources 
because wealth meant Securities,

1438
01:19:51,300 --> 01:19:54,100
power and status. 
The poor resented. 

1439
01:19:54,100 --> 01:19:56,300
The wealthy, sometimes 
violently. 

1440
01:19:57,200 --> 01:20:00,000
Nicholas is actions suggested a 
different possibility. 

1441
01:20:00,800 --> 01:20:03,600
That abundance could flow toward
need without diminishing. 

1442
01:20:03,600 --> 01:20:07,200
The Giver that generosity could 
be practiced without seeking 

1443
01:20:07,200 --> 01:20:11,000
credit or control. 
But the story is powerful from 

1444
01:20:11,000 --> 01:20:13,700
its specificity. 
Nicholas didn't distribute 

1445
01:20:13,700 --> 01:20:17,600
charity to Anonymous masses. 
He learned about one family's 

1446
01:20:17,600 --> 01:20:21,000
particular, crisis, and 
responded with exactly what they

1447
01:20:21,000 --> 01:20:23,000
needed. 
Delivered in a way that 

1448
01:20:23,000 --> 01:20:25,800
preserved their dignity, the 
gift, through the window 

1449
01:20:25,800 --> 01:20:28,900
allowed, the father to believe. 
If he chose that Providence 

1450
01:20:28,900 --> 01:20:32,500
itself had intervened rather 
than accept that he'd become a 

1451
01:20:32,500 --> 01:20:35,800
supplicant to his Bishop another
story places Nikolas at the 

1452
01:20:35,800 --> 01:20:40,100
Council of Nicea, in the year 
325, the Roman emperor 

1453
01:20:40,100 --> 01:20:43,200
Constantine had recently 
converted to Christianity and 

1454
01:20:43,200 --> 01:20:46,100
called together bishops from a 
cross, the Empire to settle 

1455
01:20:46,100 --> 01:20:48,900
theological disputes, that 
threatened to fragment the new 

1456
01:20:48,900 --> 01:20:52,400
Faith, the central question 
concerned, the nature of Christ.

1457
01:20:53,400 --> 01:20:57,600
Was, he fully Divine merely an 
exceptional human or something 

1458
01:20:57,600 --> 01:21:00,900
in between a priest named Arius 
argue that Christ. 

1459
01:21:00,900 --> 01:21:04,800
The exalted and perfect was 
created by God and therefore, 

1460
01:21:04,800 --> 01:21:09,300
subordinate to the father, this 
position called arianism struck 

1461
01:21:09,300 --> 01:21:13,400
many Bishops as heresy. 
fundamental misunderstanding 

1462
01:21:13,400 --> 01:21:18,200
that undermined Christianity's 
core claims Nicholas was among 

1463
01:21:18,200 --> 01:21:20,100
those who passionately opposed 
Arias. 

1464
01:21:20,100 --> 01:21:23,800
The legend says that during one 
heated debate, Nicholas became. 

1465
01:21:23,800 --> 01:21:27,300
So frustrated with ours is 
arguments that he struck him, 

1466
01:21:27,300 --> 01:21:30,400
actually struck him in the 
middle of the council, the 

1467
01:21:30,400 --> 01:21:34,000
accounts of vary on whether it 
was a slap or a punch But the 

1468
01:21:34,000 --> 01:21:37,400
Act was shocking, regardless. 
Bishops were supposed to be 

1469
01:21:37,400 --> 01:21:39,800
models of self-control and 
peaceful Behavior. 

1470
01:21:40,700 --> 01:21:43,300
Physical violence during a 
theological debate was 

1471
01:21:43,300 --> 01:21:47,500
completely unacceptable, 
Constantine himself, intervened.

1472
01:21:47,500 --> 01:21:50,800
Nicholas was temporarily 
stripped of his Bishops office 

1473
01:21:50,800 --> 01:21:54,200
and possibly imprisoned. 
But here the story takes an 

1474
01:21:54,200 --> 01:21:56,800
interesting. 
Turn other Bishops reported that

1475
01:21:56,800 --> 01:21:58,900
Nicholas received a vision 
during his imprisonment. 

1476
01:21:59,800 --> 01:22:03,000
Mary in Christ appeared to him 
returning, his vestments and 

1477
01:22:03,000 --> 01:22:05,100
gospel books, symbols of his 
authority. 

1478
01:22:06,000 --> 01:22:09,900
Interpreting this, as Divine 
approval, the council reinstated

1479
01:22:09,900 --> 01:22:13,100
him, whether this story is 
historically accurate matters. 

1480
01:22:13,100 --> 01:22:16,200
Less than what it reveals about,
how people understood Nicholas's

1481
01:22:16,200 --> 01:22:19,400
character. 
He combined profound generosity 

1482
01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:23,000
with fears conviction. 
He could give away everything he

1483
01:22:23,000 --> 01:22:26,300
owned to help the poor, but he 
couldn't tolerate what he viewed

1484
01:22:26,300 --> 01:22:29,600
as a tax on truth. 
The same passion that drove his 

1485
01:22:29,600 --> 01:22:31,800
charity drove his anger at the 
council. 

1486
01:22:31,800 --> 01:22:35,400
You see there a more complex 
figure than later Legends would 

1487
01:22:35,400 --> 01:22:39,400
suggest Nicholas wasn't simply 
kind in some generic harmless 

1488
01:22:39,400 --> 01:22:43,700
way his kindness had teeth, he 
fought Injustice directly 

1489
01:22:43,700 --> 01:22:48,200
whether the Injustice came from 
poverty, exploitation, or 

1490
01:22:48,200 --> 01:22:50,600
theological error, he made 
enemies. 

1491
01:22:50,600 --> 01:22:54,300
He took positions that brought 
consequences during the 

1492
01:22:54,300 --> 01:22:56,600
persecution of Christians under 
Emperor. 

1493
01:22:56,600 --> 01:22:59,900
Cliches, which began around the 
year 303. 

1494
01:22:59,900 --> 01:23:04,400
Nicholas was imprisoned. 
Diocletian's persecution was 

1495
01:23:04,400 --> 01:23:08,200
systematic and brutal that the 
most severe, the Christians had 

1496
01:23:08,200 --> 01:23:12,000
yet faced churches were 
destroyed, scriptures, burned 

1497
01:23:12,000 --> 01:23:14,300
and clergy imprisoned or 
executed. 

1498
01:23:14,300 --> 01:23:18,000
The goal was nothing less than 
Christianity's complete 

1499
01:23:18,000 --> 01:23:22,700
eradication from the empire. 
Nicholas survived, many others 

1500
01:23:22,700 --> 01:23:26,200
didn't the experience of 
imprisonment of seeing fellow 

1501
01:23:26,200 --> 01:23:29,300
Believers tortured and killed 
for their faith, shaped him 

1502
01:23:29,300 --> 01:23:31,600
profoundly. 
When Constantine later 

1503
01:23:31,600 --> 01:23:34,700
legalized, Christianity, and the
immediate threat passed, 

1504
01:23:34,700 --> 01:23:37,900
Nicholas, understood, that, 
freedom and safety were neither 

1505
01:23:37,900 --> 01:23:41,500
permanent nor guaranteed the 
gift of safety demanded. 

1506
01:23:41,500 --> 01:23:45,100
Gratitude expressed through 
action specifically through 

1507
01:23:45,100 --> 01:23:47,300
protecting the vulnerable, who 
couldn't protect themselves. 

1508
01:23:47,300 --> 01:23:52,000
The practice of secret giving so
Central, to Nicholas's life, 

1509
01:23:52,000 --> 01:23:54,800
carried particular resonance in 
the ancient world. 

1510
01:23:55,600 --> 01:23:59,400
Gift-giving in Greek and Roman 
society was rarely private or 

1511
01:23:59,408 --> 01:24:03,500
selfless, wealthy patrons. 
Gave publicly to gain honor to 

1512
01:24:03,500 --> 01:24:06,900
bind, recipients in webs of 
obligation and to demonstrate 

1513
01:24:06,900 --> 01:24:10,000
status. 
The gift created a depth that 

1514
01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:14,000
recipients were expected to 
repay through loyalty service or

1515
01:24:14,000 --> 01:24:17,700
public, praise Nicholas's. 
A synonymous gifts represented, 

1516
01:24:17,700 --> 01:24:21,900
something different form of 
generosity that expected nothing

1517
01:24:21,900 --> 01:24:26,200
in return because the giver's 
identity remained hidden, this 

1518
01:24:26,200 --> 01:24:29,600
must have seemed strange even 
suspicious to many of his 

1519
01:24:29,600 --> 01:24:32,300
contemporaries while giving you 
won't receive credit. 

1520
01:24:33,100 --> 01:24:34,700
What kind of power game was 
this? 

1521
01:24:35,600 --> 01:24:38,300
But for Nicholas anonymity was 
precisely the point. 

1522
01:24:38,300 --> 01:24:42,500
The moment a gift became public,
it changed character, it became 

1523
01:24:42,500 --> 01:24:45,600
leverage, it became control and 
became an investment in 

1524
01:24:45,600 --> 01:24:48,400
reputation. 
And Anonymous giving allowed the

1525
01:24:48,408 --> 01:24:50,500
recipients dignity to remain 
intact. 

1526
01:24:50,500 --> 01:24:53,400
They could receive help with 
that becoming subordinate 

1527
01:24:53,400 --> 01:24:57,000
without entering a patron client
relationship that would define 

1528
01:24:57,000 --> 01:24:58,700
their social position 
permanently. 

1529
01:24:58,700 --> 01:25:02,500
Imagine you're a struggling, 
merchants in Myra unable to pay 

1530
01:25:02,500 --> 01:25:04,900
your debts after a shipment was 
lost to Pirates. 

1531
01:25:05,700 --> 01:25:08,500
You've borrowed from multiple 
sources and the interest 

1532
01:25:08,500 --> 01:25:11,600
compounds daily. 
The family faces, losing 

1533
01:25:11,600 --> 01:25:15,200
everything home, business, and 
respectability. 

1534
01:25:16,000 --> 01:25:18,600
One morning you discover that 
someone has paid your largest 

1535
01:25:18,600 --> 01:25:22,300
debt. 
There's no note No Name and no 

1536
01:25:22,300 --> 01:25:26,600
demand for future. 
Loyalty, just the debt, erase 

1537
01:25:26,600 --> 01:25:30,800
you never learn who helped you. 
For the rest of your life, you 

1538
01:25:30,800 --> 01:25:34,400
wonder was it the wealthy Widow 
who lives near the harbor. 

1539
01:25:35,000 --> 01:25:37,900
The olive oil exporter who 
occasionally nods to you in the 

1540
01:25:37,900 --> 01:25:40,500
market or was it the bishop? 
The man who seems to know 

1541
01:25:40,500 --> 01:25:43,900
everyone's troubles. 
Not knowing changes everything. 

1542
01:25:43,900 --> 01:25:46,500
You can't repay the specific 
person. 

1543
01:25:46,500 --> 01:25:50,000
So in Stead, you find yourself 
looking for others who need 

1544
01:25:50,000 --> 01:25:52,900
help, when you see someone 
struggling, you remember your 

1545
01:25:52,900 --> 01:25:56,400
own rescue an act? 
The anonymous gift ripples 

1546
01:25:56,400 --> 01:26:00,200
outward, creating a culture of 
generosity rather than a single 

1547
01:26:00,200 --> 01:26:03,000
transaction. 
Nicholas understood this 

1548
01:26:03,000 --> 01:26:05,800
intuitively. 
His gifts weren't charity in the

1549
01:26:05,800 --> 01:26:09,100
modern sense, with its 
implications of distance between

1550
01:26:09,100 --> 01:26:12,200
giver and receiver. 
They were more like a justments,

1551
01:26:12,200 --> 01:26:15,200
to the Natural order 
redistribution that moved 

1552
01:26:15,200 --> 01:26:19,500
abundance toward need the way, 
water flows downhill, Stories 

1553
01:26:19,500 --> 01:26:23,500
accumulated, Nicholas saving 
Sailors, caught in storms by 

1554
01:26:23,500 --> 01:26:26,400
appearing to them in dreams, 
with navigation instructions. 

1555
01:26:26,400 --> 01:26:29,800
Nicholas rescued boys who had 
been kidnapped and sold into 

1556
01:26:29,800 --> 01:26:32,800
slavery somehow all always 
learning of these crimes and 

1557
01:26:32,800 --> 01:26:36,500
intervening before the situation
became irreversible Nicholas. 

1558
01:26:36,500 --> 01:26:40,000
Providing dowries for poor 
girls, not just once but 

1559
01:26:40,000 --> 01:26:42,700
repeatedly making this his 
particular mission. 

1560
01:26:44,100 --> 01:26:47,200
Some stories stretched 
credibility, they included 

1561
01:26:47,200 --> 01:26:50,600
miraculous elements that modern 
audiences might dismiss as 

1562
01:26:50,600 --> 01:26:53,800
impossible but focus on the 
pattern rather than the literal 

1563
01:26:53,800 --> 01:26:56,500
details. 
Every story emphasized 

1564
01:26:56,500 --> 01:26:58,500
intervention on behalf of the 
powerless. 

1565
01:26:58,500 --> 01:27:03,000
Every story featured, generosity
delivered with discretion every 

1566
01:27:03,000 --> 01:27:06,100
story, showed Nicholas 
responding to specific needs 

1567
01:27:06,100 --> 01:27:08,300
rather than Distributing generic
Aid. 

1568
01:27:09,100 --> 01:27:12,400
You're in Meijer Harbor on a 
winter morning watching workers 

1569
01:27:12,400 --> 01:27:14,800
load grain onto ships Bound for 
Constantinople. 

1570
01:27:15,800 --> 01:27:20,000
The work is hard and dangerous 
men balance on narrow gang 

1571
01:27:20,000 --> 01:27:23,200
planks carrying sacks that way. 
Nearly as much as they do. 

1572
01:27:23,200 --> 01:27:27,900
A misstep means a fall into cold
water or Worse. 

1573
01:27:27,900 --> 01:27:32,300
Being crushed between ship and 
dock as the tide shifts. 

1574
01:27:33,200 --> 01:27:37,000
The workers are mostly free men,
but desperately, poor, their 

1575
01:27:37,000 --> 01:27:39,100
paid by the load. 
And the work is a regular. 

1576
01:27:39,800 --> 01:27:42,800
Some days, there are ships to 
unload other days, there's 

1577
01:27:42,800 --> 01:27:45,000
nothing. 
There's no work means. 

1578
01:27:45,000 --> 01:27:47,300
No food. 
Their children, go hungry. 

1579
01:27:47,300 --> 01:27:50,200
More often than not. 
Nicholas appears regularly at 

1580
01:27:50,200 --> 01:27:52,200
the Docks. 
Not to preach, but simply to be 

1581
01:27:52,200 --> 01:27:56,000
present He knows the workers 
names and knows whose child is 

1582
01:27:56,000 --> 01:27:57,700
sick and whose mother recently 
died. 

1583
01:27:58,500 --> 01:28:03,300
Sometimes he brings food bread 
and dried fish nothing fancy. 

1584
01:28:03,300 --> 01:28:07,300
Sometimes he simply listens as 
men talk about their troubles, 

1585
01:28:07,300 --> 01:28:09,000
their fears, and their small 
hopes. 

1586
01:28:09,800 --> 01:28:13,700
One of the workers a man named 
Cyrus tells you about a morning 

1587
01:28:13,700 --> 01:28:16,200
when he woke to find a small, 
Leather Pouch outside. 

1588
01:28:16,200 --> 01:28:20,500
His door inside was silver coins
enough to buy medicine for his 

1589
01:28:20,500 --> 01:28:22,400
daughter. 
Who'd been burning with fever 

1590
01:28:22,400 --> 01:28:25,300
for three days. 
Cyrus never learned, who left 

1591
01:28:25,300 --> 01:28:27,600
the pouch, he suspects, 
Nicholas. 

1592
01:28:27,600 --> 01:28:30,400
But can't prove it. 
And when he tried to thank the 

1593
01:28:30,400 --> 01:28:32,000
bishop, Nicholas simply said 
that. 

1594
01:28:32,000 --> 01:28:35,600
God provides in mysterious ways 
and then change the subject. 

1595
01:28:36,700 --> 01:28:38,500
This is the pattern that would 
echo through. 

1596
01:28:38,500 --> 01:28:43,000
Centuries not grand gestures 
witnessed by crowds, but small 

1597
01:28:43,000 --> 01:28:45,800
specific acts of generality, 
delivered quietly. 

1598
01:28:45,800 --> 01:28:49,300
And without expectation of 
recognition, the approach seems 

1599
01:28:49,300 --> 01:28:52,900
almost calculated to prevent the
kind of institutional charity. 

1600
01:28:52,900 --> 01:28:56,800
That would later develop in 
Christianity, Charity as 

1601
01:28:56,800 --> 01:29:01,300
bureaucracy, the social control 
as distance between wealthy 

1602
01:29:01,300 --> 01:29:05,700
benefactors and Anonymous. 
Poor people who exist, mainly a 

1603
01:29:05,700 --> 01:29:08,300
statistics. 
Nicholas died on the 6th of 

1604
01:29:08,300 --> 01:29:11,300
December. 
Probably in the year 343, 

1605
01:29:11,300 --> 01:29:16,400
though, the exact date is on 
certain He was buried in Myra's 

1606
01:29:16,400 --> 01:29:19,400
Cathedral and his two 
immediately became a pilgrimage 

1607
01:29:19,400 --> 01:29:22,200
site. 
The faithful reported Miracles 

1608
01:29:22,200 --> 01:29:26,500
healings visions and answered 
prayers within a generation. 

1609
01:29:26,500 --> 01:29:30,600
Nicholas was recognized as a 
saint, but his association with 

1610
01:29:30,600 --> 01:29:34,700
children developed gradually 
emerging from specific stories 

1611
01:29:34,700 --> 01:29:37,200
that emphasized his protection 
of the young and vulnerable. 

1612
01:29:37,200 --> 01:29:40,800
The tale became darker and 
stranger as they spread across 

1613
01:29:40,800 --> 01:29:44,100
cultures absorbing local, 
Legends, and pre-christian 

1614
01:29:44,100 --> 01:29:47,200
folklore. 
The most disturbing story 

1615
01:29:47,200 --> 01:29:51,500
concerns three boys traveling to
study in Athens, they stopped at

1616
01:29:51,500 --> 01:29:53,400
an inn. 
For the night, The Innkeeper, 

1617
01:29:53,400 --> 01:29:55,500
and his wife facing poverty and 
seeing an opportunity. 

1618
01:29:55,500 --> 01:29:58,700
Murdered the three boys 
butchered their bodies and 

1619
01:29:58,708 --> 01:30:02,300
preserved the meeting brine 
planning to serve it to Future 

1620
01:30:02,300 --> 01:30:04,600
guests. 
Nicholas traveling. 

1621
01:30:04,600 --> 01:30:07,800
The same route stopped at the 
end immediately sensed something

1622
01:30:07,800 --> 01:30:10,600
wrong the account. 
Say he perceived the crime 

1623
01:30:10,600 --> 01:30:14,000
through divine revelation. 
He confronted The Innkeeper who 

1624
01:30:14,000 --> 01:30:17,400
confessed in Terror then 
Nicholas prayed over the barrels

1625
01:30:17,400 --> 01:30:20,400
of Brine and the three boys were
restored to life. 

1626
01:30:21,200 --> 01:30:23,500
Completely whole as if nothing 
had happened. 

1627
01:30:24,500 --> 01:30:27,400
Modern readers might recoil from
this story is grotesque 

1628
01:30:27,400 --> 01:30:30,400
elements, but in medieval 
Europe, where child mortality 

1629
01:30:30,400 --> 01:30:34,200
was staggeringly high and 
dangers, both natural and human 

1630
01:30:34,200 --> 01:30:38,700
constantly threatened the Young 
Tail carried, enormous power. 

1631
01:30:38,700 --> 01:30:40,700
Nicholas appeared as a 
protector. 

1632
01:30:40,700 --> 01:30:43,700
Who could reverse even death 
itself, when children were 

1633
01:30:43,700 --> 01:30:46,300
threatened? 
The story also connected, 

1634
01:30:46,300 --> 01:30:49,500
Nicholas to older pre-christian 
myths, about death and 

1635
01:30:49,500 --> 01:30:53,200
Resurrection about Journeys to 
underworld and returns to life. 

1636
01:30:53,200 --> 01:30:56,600
In Greek, mythology, Demeter 
searches for her daughter 

1637
01:30:56,600 --> 01:31:00,600
Persephone who has been dragged 
to the underworld in Norse 

1638
01:31:00,600 --> 01:31:02,900
myths. 
The god Boulder is killed and 

1639
01:31:02,900 --> 01:31:06,100
mourned by all creation. 
These ancient patterns. 

1640
01:31:06,100 --> 01:31:10,800
Lost searching miraculous 
return, echoed in the story of 

1641
01:31:10,800 --> 01:31:14,900
Nicholas and the three boys, As 
Nicholas is cult spread across 

1642
01:31:14,900 --> 01:31:18,800
Europe during the Middle Ages. 
Local communities, adopted him 

1643
01:31:18,800 --> 01:31:21,400
as the patron. 
Saint of children, parents 

1644
01:31:21,400 --> 01:31:24,500
prayed to him for their 
children's safety children, left

1645
01:31:24,500 --> 01:31:28,300
offerings, at shrines, dedicated
to him, and gradually the 

1646
01:31:28,300 --> 01:31:30,700
traditional developed that. 
Nicholas brought gifts to good 

1647
01:31:30,700 --> 01:31:33,500
children on his Feast Day. 
The 6th of December. 

1648
01:31:33,500 --> 01:31:37,500
You're in a German Town in the 
year 1300, this late Autumn 

1649
01:31:37,500 --> 01:31:40,900
you're a child of perhaps seven 
or eight your parents of told 

1650
01:31:40,900 --> 01:31:44,000
you about Saint Nicholas. 
The holy Bishop, who watches 

1651
01:31:44,000 --> 01:31:46,600
over children and brings gifts 
to those who've been good 

1652
01:31:46,600 --> 01:31:50,400
throughout the year. 
Watching over isn't entirely 

1653
01:31:50,400 --> 01:31:53,200
comforting according to, what 
you've heard from older 

1654
01:31:53,200 --> 01:31:54,600
children. 
Nicholas knows everything. 

1655
01:31:54,600 --> 01:31:57,900
You've done every lie, you've 
told every time you've been lazy

1656
01:31:57,900 --> 01:32:01,100
with your chores, every unkind 
word to your siblings. 

1657
01:32:01,100 --> 01:32:05,300
All of it has been observed and 
recorded on the night before 

1658
01:32:05,300 --> 01:32:08,200
Nicholas's feast day. 
He'll review this record and 

1659
01:32:08,200 --> 01:32:10,400
decide whether you deserve a 
gift or punishment. 

1660
01:32:11,400 --> 01:32:15,000
The fear is real. 
So is the anticipation. 

1661
01:32:15,000 --> 01:32:18,700
If you've tried your best to be 
good and you have tried mostly 

1662
01:32:18,700 --> 01:32:21,000
then Saint Nicholas might leave 
something for you. 

1663
01:32:21,008 --> 01:32:24,100
Maybe nuts or fruit preserve 
from the Harvest. 

1664
01:32:24,100 --> 01:32:27,600
Maybe a small carved toy, maybe 
sweet bread. 

1665
01:32:27,600 --> 01:32:30,700
Baked in special shapes. 
On the evening of the 5th of 

1666
01:32:30,700 --> 01:32:33,800
December, you help your mother 
set out your shoes by the half 

1667
01:32:33,800 --> 01:32:36,300
just as every child in town 
does. 

1668
01:32:37,400 --> 01:32:40,300
The shoes are meant to receive 
whatever Nicholas leaves, where 

1669
01:32:40,300 --> 01:32:43,300
the gift or punishment. 
You've heard stories of 

1670
01:32:43,300 --> 01:32:45,300
children, who received switches 
or cold. 

1671
01:32:45,300 --> 01:32:49,700
And instead of treats your 
churns with nervousness, you go 

1672
01:32:49,700 --> 01:32:54,300
to bed at sleep, come slowly. 
Every sound in the house, makes 

1673
01:32:54,300 --> 01:32:56,300
you wonder. 
Is that him? 

1674
01:32:57,200 --> 01:33:00,900
Has he come your younger brother
is snoring softly beside you? 

1675
01:33:00,908 --> 01:33:04,400
Apparently, unbothered by the 
momentous judgment occurring 

1676
01:33:04,400 --> 01:33:07,300
down stairs. 
Morning arrives. 

1677
01:33:07,300 --> 01:33:11,700
Eventually there's mornings do. 
You creep from bed, heart 

1678
01:33:11,700 --> 01:33:15,600
hammering and descend to the 
main room there in your shoes. 

1679
01:33:15,600 --> 01:33:18,100
You find an Apple, three 
walnuts, and a small wooden 

1680
01:33:18,100 --> 01:33:22,000
horse beautifully, carved with 
real horse hair for the main and

1681
01:33:22,000 --> 01:33:24,100
tail. 
Your brother has received 

1682
01:33:24,100 --> 01:33:26,300
similar gifts, your parents are 
smiling. 

1683
01:33:26,300 --> 01:33:29,900
The relief is overwhelming. 
You've been judged and found 

1684
01:33:29,900 --> 01:33:32,500
worthy. 
But beneath the relief is 

1685
01:33:32,500 --> 01:33:36,600
something else and aware that 
you're seen that your actions 

1686
01:33:36,600 --> 01:33:39,200
throughout the year matter and 
that someone is paying 

1687
01:33:39,200 --> 01:33:42,600
attention, it's not entirely 
comfortable this sense of being 

1688
01:33:42,600 --> 01:33:45,000
watched. 
But it's also not entirely 

1689
01:33:45,000 --> 01:33:47,800
unpleasant. 
Someone cares enough to watch 

1690
01:33:47,800 --> 01:33:51,700
someone cares enough to judge 
someone cares enough to give. 

1691
01:33:52,500 --> 01:33:56,100
A tradition sprayed with 
regional variations in some 

1692
01:33:56,100 --> 01:33:59,900
areas, Nicholas traveled with a 
dark companion, connect 

1693
01:33:59,900 --> 01:34:04,300
rupprecht, or black Peter, or 
Krampus depending on the region.

1694
01:34:05,300 --> 01:34:07,500
This figure punished, bad 
children while Nicholas 

1695
01:34:07,500 --> 01:34:11,100
rewarded, good ones, the 
companions appearance of varied,

1696
01:34:11,100 --> 01:34:14,400
but was always frightening. 
Sometimes devil, like, with 

1697
01:34:14,400 --> 01:34:18,300
horns and chains sometimes 
dressed in dark furs with a 

1698
01:34:18,300 --> 01:34:21,800
black and face and sometimes 
described as a captured devil or

1699
01:34:21,800 --> 01:34:24,600
demon, that Nicholas abound to 
his service. 

1700
01:34:24,600 --> 01:34:27,300
These dark companions 
represented, something important

1701
01:34:27,300 --> 01:34:30,500
that later, more sanitized 
versions of the traditional 

1702
01:34:30,500 --> 01:34:34,700
would lose their acknowledge 
that judgment had two sides that

1703
01:34:34,700 --> 01:34:37,600
rewards implied the possibility 
of punishment and that 

1704
01:34:37,608 --> 01:34:42,600
protection required enforcement.
Nicholas wasn't simply a gentle 

1705
01:34:42,600 --> 01:34:44,900
Gift Giver. 
He was a figure who maintained 

1706
01:34:44,900 --> 01:34:49,300
moral order who insisted that 
actions had consequences. but 

1707
01:34:49,308 --> 01:34:53,200
the traditional emphasized, 
Mercy stories frequently 

1708
01:34:53,200 --> 01:34:56,200
featured, Nicholas intervening 
on behalf of children, who had 

1709
01:34:56,200 --> 01:34:59,500
been labeled bad, but who had 
understandable reasons for their

1710
01:34:59,500 --> 01:35:03,600
misbehavior Child, who stole 
food because the family was 

1711
01:35:03,600 --> 01:35:05,400
starving might still receive a 
gift. 

1712
01:35:06,400 --> 01:35:09,400
Child who lied to protect a 
sibling, might be forgiven. 

1713
01:35:10,300 --> 01:35:13,300
Nicholas. 
According to these Tales saw 

1714
01:35:13,300 --> 01:35:16,400
pass surface actions to 
intention and circumstances. 

1715
01:35:17,300 --> 01:35:21,400
As Christianity spread deeper 
into northern Europe, Nicholas's

1716
01:35:21,400 --> 01:35:24,400
cult traveled with it, 
monasteries and churches were 

1717
01:35:24,400 --> 01:35:28,800
dedicated to him. 
His relics fragments of bone 

1718
01:35:28,800 --> 01:35:32,300
bits of cloth that had touched 
his tomb were distributed to 

1719
01:35:32,300 --> 01:35:37,000
church as a continent and became
focal points for local devotion 

1720
01:35:37,000 --> 01:35:39,200
in the year 1087. 
Something. 

1721
01:35:39,200 --> 01:35:43,000
Extraordinary happened. 
Italian, merchants and sailors 

1722
01:35:43,000 --> 01:35:47,500
from Bari a port city in 
southern Italy, traveled to Myra

1723
01:35:47,500 --> 01:35:52,600
with a specific goal to steal 
Nicholas's remains Maya had 

1724
01:35:52,600 --> 01:35:56,100
fallen under Muslim control, and
the Christian Merchants argued. 

1725
01:35:56,100 --> 01:35:58,700
They were rescuing. 
The Saints Bones from Infidel 

1726
01:35:58,700 --> 01:36:01,800
hands. 
They bribed guards, broken into 

1727
01:36:01,800 --> 01:36:04,800
the tomb and extracted the bones
though. 

1728
01:36:04,800 --> 01:36:08,000
According to some accounts, they
left some skeletal material 

1729
01:36:08,000 --> 01:36:11,500
behind in their haste. 
The ship the relics to Bari, 

1730
01:36:11,500 --> 01:36:14,200
where they were installed in a 
special Basilica. 

1731
01:36:14,200 --> 01:36:17,200
Mira was Furious. 
Barry was jubilant. 

1732
01:36:17,200 --> 01:36:20,200
The pope officially recognized 
Barry's claim. 

1733
01:36:20,200 --> 01:36:25,100
This theft matted enormously 
relics in medieval Christianity 

1734
01:36:25,100 --> 01:36:27,900
were powerful objects. 
They could heal the sick, 

1735
01:36:27,900 --> 01:36:31,300
protect cities from plague and 
Invasion and attract pilgrims 

1736
01:36:31,300 --> 01:36:35,400
who spending in Rich, local 
economies, By possessing 

1737
01:36:35,400 --> 01:36:39,000
Nicholas's relics, Barry 
instantly became a major 

1738
01:36:39,000 --> 01:36:43,000
pilgrimage destination, the 
city's wealth, and Prestige grew

1739
01:36:43,000 --> 01:36:45,900
accordingly. 
Theft also demonstrated 

1740
01:36:45,900 --> 01:36:50,500
Nicholas's pan-european reach. 
His cult wasn't confined to his 

1741
01:36:50,500 --> 01:36:54,100
original Homeland, he belonged 
to all of Christian Europe and 

1742
01:36:54,100 --> 01:36:56,500
multiple cities competed for 
connection to him. 

1743
01:36:57,200 --> 01:37:00,000
Churches across the continent 
claimed to possess secondary 

1744
01:37:00,000 --> 01:37:04,200
relics a finger bone, a tooth 
fragments of clothing. 

1745
01:37:04,200 --> 01:37:07,200
Whether these were genuine was 
almost beside the point. 

1746
01:37:07,200 --> 01:37:11,600
The claims themselves showed How
Deeply Nicholas had penetrated 

1747
01:37:11,600 --> 01:37:15,200
European consciousness. 
You're in Lorraine and what is 

1748
01:37:15,200 --> 01:37:17,600
now Eastern? 
France in the year 1200. 

1749
01:37:17,600 --> 01:37:21,200
Your village has a small church 
with wooden statue of Saint. 

1750
01:37:21,200 --> 01:37:24,800
Nicholas in a side Chapel, the 
statue shows him dressed as a 

1751
01:37:24,800 --> 01:37:28,700
bishop wearing a mighty and 
holding a staff at his feet. 

1752
01:37:28,700 --> 01:37:32,400
To three boys emerging from a 
barrel, the visual short-handed 

1753
01:37:32,400 --> 01:37:36,200
for the inkeeper's Statue isn't 
beautiful in any technical 

1754
01:37:36,200 --> 01:37:38,900
sense. 
The Carving is rough, and the 

1755
01:37:38,908 --> 01:37:41,900
paint has faded and chipped but 
it's yours. 

1756
01:37:41,900 --> 01:37:46,200
Your grandfather helped build. 
The chapel that houses, it your 

1757
01:37:46,200 --> 01:37:49,100
mother likes candles before it 
when children in the villagers 

1758
01:37:49,100 --> 01:37:51,300
are sick. 
And every year on the 6th of 

1759
01:37:51,300 --> 01:37:54,600
December the entire Village 
gathers here for a feast and 

1760
01:37:54,608 --> 01:37:57,500
celebration, the celebration 
isn't solemn. 

1761
01:37:57,500 --> 01:38:01,800
It's loud chaotic and joyful, 
someone dresses as Saint. 

1762
01:38:01,800 --> 01:38:04,700
Nicholas usually, the richest 
man in the village though. 

1763
01:38:04,700 --> 01:38:06,100
He pretends to be humble about 
it. 

1764
01:38:06,100 --> 01:38:09,700
He processes through the 
streets, followed by children 

1765
01:38:09,700 --> 01:38:13,700
singing, traditional songs about
Nicholas and his miracles, he 

1766
01:38:13,700 --> 01:38:16,600
stops at each home where 
children live and the children 

1767
01:38:16,600 --> 01:38:19,300
must answer questions about 
their behavior during the past 

1768
01:38:19,300 --> 01:38:21,900
year. 
Have you obeyed your parents? 

1769
01:38:22,800 --> 01:38:24,800
Have you been kind to your 
brothers and sisters? 

1770
01:38:25,700 --> 01:38:30,600
Have you said your prayers? 
Are sometimes truthfully 

1771
01:38:30,600 --> 01:38:34,200
sometimes. 
Hopefully Nicholas actually 

1772
01:38:34,200 --> 01:38:37,800
Martin the Miller in borrowed 
Rome's nods sagely and 

1773
01:38:37,800 --> 01:38:40,900
distributes small gifts. 
Even the poorest children, 

1774
01:38:40,900 --> 01:38:43,400
receive something the gifts 
aren't equal. 

1775
01:38:43,400 --> 01:38:47,500
Wealthier families, can afford 
to contribute more but everyone 

1776
01:38:47,500 --> 01:38:50,300
participates. 
No child is excluded. 

1777
01:38:51,600 --> 01:38:53,500
Later. 
After Nicholas has finished his 

1778
01:38:53,500 --> 01:38:57,500
rounds the adults Gather in the 
church were more formal service.

1779
01:38:58,300 --> 01:39:00,900
The priest speaks about the 
real, Nicholas about his 

1780
01:39:00,900 --> 01:39:03,900
generosity, and faith, and 
courage during persecution. 

1781
01:39:03,900 --> 01:39:07,700
But the sermon is brief because 
everyone's hungry and eager to 

1782
01:39:07,700 --> 01:39:10,500
get to the feast. 
Tables of being set up in the 

1783
01:39:10,508 --> 01:39:14,400
churches yard loaded with food. 
Each family has contributed, 

1784
01:39:14,400 --> 01:39:18,600
there's roasted meat, a rare 
luxury for most families as 

1785
01:39:18,600 --> 01:39:21,400
bread and cheese, stewed 
vegetables and pastries 

1786
01:39:21,400 --> 01:39:24,500
sweetened with honey. 
The village is modest, resources

1787
01:39:24,500 --> 01:39:27,700
have been pulled to create 
abundance, at least for this one

1788
01:39:27,700 --> 01:39:30,500
night. 
Children run between the tables 

1789
01:39:30,500 --> 01:39:34,200
wild with excitement and sugar 
old women. 

1790
01:39:34,200 --> 01:39:37,600
Gossip about whose children were
best behaved during Nicholas's 

1791
01:39:37,600 --> 01:39:41,900
Inquisition young men flirt with
young women, emboldened by The 

1792
01:39:41,900 --> 01:39:46,200
Feast Day atmosphere through it 
all there's a sense of community

1793
01:39:46,200 --> 01:39:50,000
of shared tradition of 
connection of cross-generation, 

1794
01:39:50,000 --> 01:39:53,300
your grandfather sitting beside 
the fire. 

1795
01:39:53,300 --> 01:39:56,400
With a wooden cup of wine. 
In his narrowed hands, tells you

1796
01:39:56,400 --> 01:39:59,800
about Saint Nicholas's day, when
he was young, just the same. 

1797
01:39:59,800 --> 01:40:03,000
He says, my grandfather told me 
it was the same when he was a 

1798
01:40:03,000 --> 01:40:05,200
boy, too. 
The saint Watches Over Us 

1799
01:40:05,200 --> 01:40:09,800
generation after generation. 
some things don't change, but of

1800
01:40:09,800 --> 01:40:13,800
course, things were changing 
trade, routes expanded, cities, 

1801
01:40:13,800 --> 01:40:18,200
grew, books, and ideas, 
circulated more freely, And 

1802
01:40:18,200 --> 01:40:21,700
Nicholas is tradition traveled 
with these changes adapting to 

1803
01:40:21,700 --> 01:40:25,000
new contacts while retaining 
core elements in the 

1804
01:40:25,000 --> 01:40:27,000
Netherlands. 
Nicholas became Santa Claus 

1805
01:40:27,000 --> 01:40:29,800
arriving each year by steamship 
from Spain. 

1806
01:40:29,800 --> 01:40:33,500
A detail that reflected Dutch 
Maritime trade and conflict with

1807
01:40:33,500 --> 01:40:35,600
Spanish rulers. 
Cinta class. 

1808
01:40:35,600 --> 01:40:39,200
Rode a white horse across roof 
tops and children left, carrots 

1809
01:40:39,200 --> 01:40:40,900
and hay. 
For the horse in their shoes. 

1810
01:40:40,900 --> 01:40:45,100
The traditional maintained 
Nicholas's Bishops attire and 

1811
01:40:45,100 --> 01:40:47,200
his focus on judging children's 
Behavior. 

1812
01:40:48,100 --> 01:40:50,900
But it added theatrical elements
that made the annual visit 

1813
01:40:50,900 --> 01:40:54,100
increasingly elaborate, the 
Dutch version of Nicholas. 

1814
01:40:54,100 --> 01:40:56,300
Traditions, would eventually 
prove crucial for the 

1815
01:40:56,308 --> 01:41:00,500
traditional transformation in 
America but first it flourished 

1816
01:41:00,500 --> 01:41:03,600
in the Netherlands as a cultural
phenomenon that bound together 

1817
01:41:03,600 --> 01:41:07,100
communities through shared 
rituals and expectations. 

1818
01:41:07,100 --> 01:41:10,900
You're an Amsterdam in the year.
1600, the Netherlands has 

1819
01:41:10,900 --> 01:41:14,600
recently won independence from 
Spain after a brutal War. 

1820
01:41:14,600 --> 01:41:17,200
The nation is experiencing a 
golden age. 

1821
01:41:17,200 --> 01:41:21,300
Well from trade artistic 
achievement and religious 

1822
01:41:21,300 --> 01:41:25,900
tolerance unusual for the era. 
And center classes, everywhere, 

1823
01:41:25,900 --> 01:41:30,200
he arrives in mid-november by 
steamship accompanied by his 

1824
01:41:30,200 --> 01:41:33,700
helpers. 
SWAT a ptin dressed in colorful 

1825
01:41:33,700 --> 01:41:37,000
Renaissance style, costumes. 
The arrival is a public 

1826
01:41:37,000 --> 01:41:40,800
spectacle, the entire city turns
out to watch the ship dock to 

1827
01:41:40,800 --> 01:41:43,100
see Santa Claus disembark on his
white horse. 

1828
01:41:43,900 --> 01:41:46,700
The mayor greets him officially 
children, sing traditional 

1829
01:41:46,700 --> 01:41:49,400
songs. 
The saint processes through the 

1830
01:41:49,400 --> 01:41:52,800
streets, waving to crowds before
taking up residence somewhere in

1831
01:41:52,800 --> 01:41:56,400
the city. 
The location kept secret part of

1832
01:41:56,400 --> 01:41:59,908
the mystery for the next three 
weeks until his feast day on the

1833
01:41:59,916 --> 01:42:03,000
6th of December. 
Cinta class maintains, his 

1834
01:42:03,000 --> 01:42:05,700
presence children. 
See him in the streets, 

1835
01:42:05,700 --> 01:42:08,400
occasionally parents warned, 
misbehaving children. 

1836
01:42:08,400 --> 01:42:11,700
That Santa Claus is watching and
they point to the helpers who 

1837
01:42:11,700 --> 01:42:15,000
seem to be everywhere, carrying 
large books, supposedly 

1838
01:42:15,000 --> 01:42:19,100
recording each child's Deeds. 
The book is Central to the 

1839
01:42:19,100 --> 01:42:22,300
traditionals Power Center class 
knows, everything, because it's 

1840
01:42:22,300 --> 01:42:24,900
all written in his book every 
act of kindness. 

1841
01:42:24,900 --> 01:42:28,500
Every moment of laziness. 
Every lie, and every truth 

1842
01:42:28,500 --> 01:42:33,300
recorded in permanent ink. 
The book will be consulted when 

1843
01:42:33,300 --> 01:42:36,900
gift giving decisions are made 
on the evening before his Feast 

1844
01:42:36,900 --> 01:42:39,100
Day Children, placed their shoes
by the fireplace. 

1845
01:42:40,100 --> 01:42:43,400
Some families have elaborate 
rituals particular songs. 

1846
01:42:43,400 --> 01:42:46,700
That must be sung specific 
treats for the sense horse, and 

1847
01:42:46,700 --> 01:42:49,300
handwritten notes with wishes or
confessions. 

1848
01:42:49,300 --> 01:42:51,800
The anticipation is almost 
unbearable. 

1849
01:42:51,800 --> 01:42:54,700
You've been mostly good this 
year, but there was that 

1850
01:42:54,700 --> 01:42:57,700
incident with your sister's toy 
that you broke and tried to 

1851
01:42:57,700 --> 01:42:59,900
hide. 
And you wonder if sinclairs 

1852
01:42:59,900 --> 01:43:03,700
knows about that. 
Sleep is impossible, you lie 

1853
01:43:03,700 --> 01:43:07,200
awake, listening for sounds from
the main room at some point. 

1854
01:43:07,208 --> 01:43:10,200
You're not sure when you finally
drift off. 

1855
01:43:11,100 --> 01:43:13,700
In the morning, you find your 
shoes filled with treats and 

1856
01:43:13,700 --> 01:43:16,400
small gifts. 
Your parents are already awake. 

1857
01:43:16,400 --> 01:43:20,300
Smiling mysteriously your 
sister's shoes are all so full 

1858
01:43:20,300 --> 01:43:23,000
even the family dog seems to 
have received treats. 

1859
01:43:23,900 --> 01:43:26,900
But there's something else in 
your shoe, a note written in 

1860
01:43:26,908 --> 01:43:29,600
elaborate script completely, 
unlike your parents' 

1861
01:43:29,600 --> 01:43:32,100
handwriting. 
It's addressed to you by name. 

1862
01:43:32,100 --> 01:43:35,800
It mentions specific incidents 
from the year, some you'd almost

1863
01:43:35,800 --> 01:43:38,300
forgot them. 
It Praises you for helping your 

1864
01:43:38,300 --> 01:43:41,400
grandmother without being asked.
Gently chives. 

1865
01:43:41,400 --> 01:43:44,500
You about the broken toy and 
suggest you apologized your 

1866
01:43:44,500 --> 01:43:46,900
sister. 
It ends with encouragement to 

1867
01:43:46,900 --> 01:43:51,200
continue growing in kindness and
responsibility the note staggers

1868
01:43:51,200 --> 01:43:54,600
you How did Santa Claus know 
these details? 

1869
01:43:55,500 --> 01:43:57,500
Your parents claim ignorance, 
though. 

1870
01:43:57,500 --> 01:44:01,300
They're not very convincing. 
But the effect is profound. 

1871
01:44:01,300 --> 01:44:04,700
Someone is paying attention to 
your life, in its specifics, 

1872
01:44:04,700 --> 01:44:09,300
your actions matter, your scene.
The Dutch tradition. 

1873
01:44:09,300 --> 01:44:13,300
Succeeded partly because it 
balanced judgment with mercy and

1874
01:44:13,300 --> 01:44:16,800
accountability with Grace 
sinter, Klass recorded 

1875
01:44:16,800 --> 01:44:20,300
everything, but almost always 
gave gifts anyway, Threat of 

1876
01:44:20,300 --> 01:44:23,900
punishment remained, mostly 
theoretical coal or switches 

1877
01:44:23,900 --> 01:44:26,700
could appear in shoes. 
But this happened rarely and 

1878
01:44:26,700 --> 01:44:30,600
usually only for truly serious. 
Misbehavior Traditions, genius 

1879
01:44:30,600 --> 01:44:33,800
was maintaining moral 
seriousness while ensuring that 

1880
01:44:33,800 --> 01:44:36,900
almost every child experience 
affirmation and joy. 

1881
01:44:37,900 --> 01:44:40,700
Dutch immigrants would carry 
this tradition to New Amsterdam 

1882
01:44:40,700 --> 01:44:43,400
later called New York in the 
17th century. 

1883
01:44:43,400 --> 01:44:47,200
But the tradition didn't 
transfer Unchained it 

1884
01:44:47,200 --> 01:44:50,400
encountered, different cultures,
different expectations and 

1885
01:44:50,400 --> 01:44:53,700
different economic, and social 
realities, and it began to 

1886
01:44:53,700 --> 01:44:57,800
transform the transformation of 
Saint Nicholas in to Santa Claus

1887
01:44:57,800 --> 01:45:01,100
happened. 
Gradually across decades through

1888
01:45:01,100 --> 01:45:05,700
the work of writers artists, 
marketers and families adapting 

1889
01:45:05,700 --> 01:45:09,000
old traditions to new 
circumstances, The figure who 

1890
01:45:09,000 --> 01:45:12,200
emerged bore resemblance to the 
original Nicholas but had become

1891
01:45:12,208 --> 01:45:16,100
something new, more secular, 
more commercial, and more 

1892
01:45:16,100 --> 01:45:19,000
focused on material abundance 
than on moral judgment. 

1893
01:45:19,900 --> 01:45:23,900
You're in New York City in the 
year 1810 America is Young. 

1894
01:45:23,900 --> 01:45:26,300
Still defining itself. 
Still figuring out which 

1895
01:45:26,300 --> 01:45:30,400
European Traditions to keep and 
which to discard Christmas 

1896
01:45:30,400 --> 01:45:33,900
itself isn't yet the major 
holiday, it will become many 

1897
01:45:33,900 --> 01:45:36,600
protests in Americans view, 
Christmas celebrations with 

1898
01:45:36,600 --> 01:45:41,300
suspicion, considering them to 
Catholic to Pagan and to prone 

1899
01:45:41,300 --> 01:45:44,500
to drunken revelry. 
But New York has a large Dutch 

1900
01:45:44,500 --> 01:45:46,800
population. 
Descendants of the original New 

1901
01:45:46,800 --> 01:45:49,900
Amsterdam settlers and they 
maintain their seem to Cluster 

1902
01:45:49,900 --> 01:45:52,500
Traditions. 
A writer named Washington Irving

1903
01:45:52,500 --> 01:45:56,800
fascinated, by Dutch culture and
history Publishers, a satirical 

1904
01:45:56,800 --> 01:45:59,400
history of New York. 
That includes descriptions of 

1905
01:45:59,400 --> 01:46:02,900
these Traditions Irving's 
writing emphasizes the quaint. 

1906
01:46:02,900 --> 01:46:04,700
Charming aspect of Dutch 
Customs. 

1907
01:46:04,700 --> 01:46:07,700
Making them seem appealingly 
exotic yet. 

1908
01:46:07,700 --> 01:46:10,600
Harmless Irving describes Saint 
Nicholas. 

1909
01:46:10,600 --> 01:46:14,100
He calls him. 
Both that and sankt Claus riding

1910
01:46:14,100 --> 01:46:17,300
over Treetops in a wagon and 
dropping presents down chimneys.

1911
01:46:18,000 --> 01:46:21,800
The details are deliberately 
fantastic part of Irving's 

1912
01:46:21,800 --> 01:46:25,900
comedic approach but the image 
captures imagination's other 

1913
01:46:25,900 --> 01:46:28,500
writers begin incorporating 
similar elements into their 

1914
01:46:28,500 --> 01:46:32,308
work. 
In 1823, a poem appears in a New

1915
01:46:32,316 --> 01:46:36,200
York newspaper. 
A visit from Saint Nicholas 

1916
01:46:36,200 --> 01:46:40,500
later known as to the Night 
Before Christmas Poem attributed

1917
01:46:40,500 --> 01:46:44,000
to Clement Clarke Moore though. 
Authorship remains disputed 

1918
01:46:44,000 --> 01:46:45,700
transformed the tradition 
completely. 

1919
01:46:46,600 --> 01:46:49,900
The poems Saint. 
Nicholas is explicitly magical. 

1920
01:46:49,900 --> 01:46:53,900
He drives a miniature sleigh 
pulled by eight flying reindeer.

1921
01:46:53,900 --> 01:46:58,500
Each named He's described as an 
elf, a little old driver, so 

1922
01:46:58,500 --> 01:47:02,400
Lively and quick with a round 
belly that shakes when he laughs

1923
01:47:02,400 --> 01:47:06,300
like a bowl of jelly, he enters 
Holmes through chimneys carrying

1924
01:47:06,300 --> 01:47:09,600
a sack of toys. 
He knows which children sleeping

1925
01:47:09,600 --> 01:47:13,300
and Witcher awake, he delivers 
presents and departs within 

1926
01:47:13,300 --> 01:47:15,900
minutes. 
The poem made no mention of 

1927
01:47:15,900 --> 01:47:19,600
judgment or moral instruction. 
This Saint Nicholas simply 

1928
01:47:19,600 --> 01:47:23,200
brought Joy He didn't carry a 
book of Deeds, he didn't 

1929
01:47:23,200 --> 01:47:26,200
discriminate between good and 
bad children or at least the 

1930
01:47:26,200 --> 01:47:27,600
poem didn't address that 
question. 

1931
01:47:27,600 --> 01:47:31,900
He was purely benevolent, 
magical and dedicated entirely 

1932
01:47:31,900 --> 01:47:35,000
to making children. 
Happy The image proved a 

1933
01:47:35,000 --> 01:47:37,200
resistible. 
The poem was reprinted in 

1934
01:47:37,200 --> 01:47:39,600
newspapers Across America a year
after year. 

1935
01:47:40,500 --> 01:47:42,500
Families began. 
Reading it aloud on Christmas 

1936
01:47:42,500 --> 01:47:44,800
Eve. 
The tradition shifted from the 

1937
01:47:44,800 --> 01:47:49,400
6th of December to the 25th. 
Sir Nicholas became an essential

1938
01:47:49,400 --> 01:47:52,700
part of Christmas celebrations, 
rather than a separate feast 

1939
01:47:52,700 --> 01:47:55,400
day. 
But the transformation wasn't 

1940
01:47:55,400 --> 01:47:58,500
complete the figures appearance 
remained unsettled. 

1941
01:47:59,300 --> 01:48:03,100
Some illustrations showed him in
Bishop's, robes others, depicted

1942
01:48:03,100 --> 01:48:06,500
him in various costumes, his 
size varied. 

1943
01:48:06,500 --> 01:48:11,200
Sometimes elf, like, sometimes 
normal human proportions, the 

1944
01:48:11,200 --> 01:48:14,100
reindeer was established but 
almost everything else remained 

1945
01:48:14,100 --> 01:48:18,200
flexible Thomas nasty, a 
political cartoonist working in 

1946
01:48:18,200 --> 01:48:21,500
the mid to late 1800s. 
Created a series of 

1947
01:48:21,500 --> 01:48:24,500
illustrations that gradually 
standardized Santa Clauses 

1948
01:48:24,500 --> 01:48:27,300
appearance. 
Nests Santa was returned and 

1949
01:48:27,308 --> 01:48:31,500
jolly trust in fur. 
Trimmed robes, usually read but 

1950
01:48:31,500 --> 01:48:35,100
sometimes tan or brown. 
He lived at the North Pole. 

1951
01:48:35,100 --> 01:48:38,800
Nests in Innovation where we 
maintained a workshop for toy 

1952
01:48:38,800 --> 01:48:41,400
production. 
He kept list of good and bad 

1953
01:48:41,400 --> 01:48:43,100
children. 
Naughty children. 

1954
01:48:43,100 --> 01:48:46,800
Still face consequences though. 
These were usually depicted as 

1955
01:48:46,800 --> 01:48:49,800
receiving fewer or less 
desirable gift rather than 

1956
01:48:49,800 --> 01:48:53,200
punishment. 
Nasty illustrations appeared in 

1957
01:48:53,200 --> 01:48:57,500
Harper's Weekly during and after
the Civil War in those drawings,

1958
01:48:57,500 --> 01:49:00,600
Santa Claus sometimes, appeared 
visiting Union Army Camps, 

1959
01:49:00,600 --> 01:49:03,900
bringing Comfort to soldiers. 
The figure became associated 

1960
01:49:03,900 --> 01:49:07,700
with American nationalism, with 
Union values and with hope 

1961
01:49:07,700 --> 01:49:10,300
during a brutal conflict that 
threatened the nations of 

1962
01:49:10,300 --> 01:49:13,700
survival after the war as 
American, industrialized, and 

1963
01:49:13,700 --> 01:49:16,600
consumer culture developed Santa
Claus evolved further, 

1964
01:49:17,500 --> 01:49:20,600
Department stores began 
featuring Santa displays where 

1965
01:49:20,600 --> 01:49:23,200
children could sit on Santa's 
lap and tell him their Christmas

1966
01:49:23,200 --> 01:49:25,700
wishes. 
This served obvious commercial 

1967
01:49:25,700 --> 01:49:28,200
purposes. 
Parents took note of what 

1968
01:49:28,200 --> 01:49:30,200
children requested and shot 
accordingly. 

1969
01:49:31,000 --> 01:49:34,100
But it also created a ritualized
encounter that millions of 

1970
01:49:34,100 --> 01:49:37,000
American children. 
Shared you're in a Manhattan 

1971
01:49:37,000 --> 01:49:41,100
department store in 1895 your 
six years old and your mother 

1972
01:49:41,100 --> 01:49:42,500
has brought you to meet Santa 
Claus. 

1973
01:49:43,400 --> 01:49:47,200
The stores display is elaborate 
fake snow evergreen trees. 

1974
01:49:47,200 --> 01:49:51,400
A throne like chair for Santa 
and elves busy wrapping 

1975
01:49:51,400 --> 01:49:54,400
presents. 
A line of children snakes 

1976
01:49:54,400 --> 01:49:58,000
through the display, each 
waiting, their turn, when your 

1977
01:49:58,000 --> 01:50:01,900
turn comes an assistant elf, 
really a store employee in 

1978
01:50:01,900 --> 01:50:04,400
costume, lift you onto Santa's 
lap. 

1979
01:50:05,200 --> 01:50:10,900
Santa is enormous warm and soft.
His beard is white and full 

1980
01:50:10,900 --> 01:50:12,800
though, you're pretty sure it's 
fake. 

1981
01:50:12,800 --> 01:50:16,600
His suit is deep red velvet with
white fur trim. 

1982
01:50:16,600 --> 01:50:19,300
He smells like peppermint and 
pipe tobacco. 

1983
01:50:20,000 --> 01:50:23,200
Have you been good this year? 
Santa's voice is deep and kind 

1984
01:50:23,200 --> 01:50:27,300
you nod suddenly shy. 
What would you like for 

1985
01:50:27,300 --> 01:50:30,600
Christmas you've rehearsed this?
You've thought about nothing 

1986
01:50:30,600 --> 01:50:35,100
else for days a toy train. 
You say the kind that goes in 

1987
01:50:35,100 --> 01:50:38,100
circles on a track. 
Santa nod seriously as if 

1988
01:50:38,100 --> 01:50:42,400
considering that's a fine gift. 
I'll see what I can do. 

1989
01:50:43,400 --> 01:50:45,900
He hands you a candy cane and 
helps you down from his lap. 

1990
01:50:45,900 --> 01:50:48,800
You leave the store convinced 
you've met the real Santa Claus.

1991
01:50:48,800 --> 01:50:52,100
Your mother doesn't contradict 
this belief though. 

1992
01:50:52,100 --> 01:50:54,900
She exchanges and knowing look 
with another pair and in line 

1993
01:50:54,900 --> 01:50:57,700
and on Christmas morning. 
There's a toy train under your 

1994
01:50:57,700 --> 01:51:00,400
family's tree. 
Not exactly like the ones you 

1995
01:51:00,400 --> 01:51:04,200
saw in the store but close 
enough to seem miraculous the 

1996
01:51:04,200 --> 01:51:06,400
modern Santa Claus. 
The one, you know, from 

1997
01:51:06,400 --> 01:51:09,400
countless movies, had 
advertisements, and shopping 

1998
01:51:09,400 --> 01:51:12,800
mall displays reached his final 
form through 20th. 

1999
01:51:12,800 --> 01:51:16,300
Century marketing, particularly 
through Coca-Cola, 

2000
01:51:16,300 --> 01:51:21,600
advertisements illustrated by 
Hadden sunblue starting in 1931.

2001
01:51:21,600 --> 01:51:26,800
Sung Santa was definitively 
human sized, not elf like His 

2002
01:51:26,800 --> 01:51:28,900
suit was always bright red with 
white fur. 

2003
01:51:28,900 --> 01:51:32,500
Trim, the red matching 
Coca-Cola's brand colors though.

2004
01:51:32,500 --> 01:51:34,700
Santa had worn red in earlier 
depictions too. 

2005
01:51:34,700 --> 01:51:38,800
He was grandfather Lee warm and 
absolutely benign. 

2006
01:51:39,600 --> 01:51:42,900
He appeared in various domestic 
scenes, reading letters from 

2007
01:51:42,900 --> 01:51:46,800
children, checking his list, 
taking a break, to enjoy a 

2008
01:51:46,800 --> 01:51:49,400
Coca-Cola and interacting with 
his reindeer. 

2009
01:51:49,400 --> 01:51:53,700
The illustrations were painted, 
realistically, making Santa seem

2010
01:51:53,700 --> 01:51:57,300
like someone who might actually 
exist somewhere These vertices 

2011
01:51:57,300 --> 01:52:01,000
ran for decades and was seen by 
hundreds of millions of people 

2012
01:52:01,000 --> 01:52:05,400
worldwide, they cemented a 
single consistent image of Santa

2013
01:52:05,400 --> 01:52:08,300
Claus, that transcended National
boundaries, and cultural 

2014
01:52:08,300 --> 01:52:10,700
differences. 
Santa might be called different 

2015
01:52:10,700 --> 01:52:13,500
names in different countries. 
Father, Christmas in England, 

2016
01:52:13,500 --> 01:52:17,400
Papa Noel in France, but his 
appearance became remarkably 

2017
01:52:17,400 --> 01:52:20,900
uniform The commercial 
appropriation of Santa Claus 

2018
01:52:20,900 --> 01:52:24,600
raises obvious questions. 
Had a figure originally based on

2019
01:52:24,600 --> 01:52:27,800
a saint dedicated to Anonymous, 
generosity become nothing more 

2020
01:52:27,800 --> 01:52:29,400
than a tool for selling 
products. 

2021
01:52:30,000 --> 01:52:35,000
At the meaning, be lost entirely
maybe heartly, but something 

2022
01:52:35,000 --> 01:52:36,800
more complicated was happening 
too. 

2023
01:52:36,800 --> 01:52:40,600
The Santa Claus tradition in its
American Forum, maintained 

2024
01:52:40,600 --> 01:52:43,700
elements of the original 
Nicholas's approach even while 

2025
01:52:43,700 --> 01:52:45,400
transforming almost beyond 
recognition. 

2026
01:52:46,600 --> 01:52:50,800
Santa's anonymity, persisted. 
Children believed gifts came 

2027
01:52:50,800 --> 01:52:54,400
from Santa, not from their 
parents, the generosity 

2028
01:52:54,400 --> 01:52:58,400
appeared, magical, unearned and 
disconnected from economic 

2029
01:52:58,400 --> 01:53:01,800
Exchange. 
Parents gave without expectation

2030
01:53:01,800 --> 01:53:03,900
of. 
Thanks, because in the child's 

2031
01:53:03,900 --> 01:53:08,600
mind, thanks belong to Santa. 
The tradition still connected 

2032
01:53:08,600 --> 01:53:12,200
generosity to moral Behavior. 
Children were told that Santa 

2033
01:53:12,200 --> 01:53:14,100
brought more or better gifts to 
good children. 

2034
01:53:14,100 --> 01:53:18,800
Whether parent actually enforce 
this varied enormously, but the 

2035
01:53:18,800 --> 01:53:22,900
idea persisted that actions had 
consequences that someone was 

2036
01:53:22,900 --> 01:53:25,700
paying attention, and that 
behavior throughout the year 

2037
01:53:25,700 --> 01:53:28,800
mattered, and the tradition 
remained focused on children, 

2038
01:53:28,800 --> 01:53:32,300
particularly on children's joy 
and wonder in a world 

2039
01:53:32,308 --> 01:53:34,700
increasingly complex and often 
harsh. 

2040
01:53:34,700 --> 01:53:38,300
The Santa Claus myth created a 
space where children could 

2041
01:53:38,300 --> 01:53:42,400
believe in pure benevolence, 
where magic seemed real and 

2042
01:53:42,400 --> 01:53:45,400
where kindness could arrive 
unexpectedly without strings 

2043
01:53:45,400 --> 01:53:50,600
attached your in Suburban 
America in 1975, you're a parent

2044
01:53:50,600 --> 01:53:55,000
now, with two children of your 
own Christmas Eve has arrived 

2045
01:53:55,000 --> 01:53:58,000
and after the kids are finally 
asleep you and your spouse, 

2046
01:53:58,000 --> 01:54:00,800
begin the elaborate ritual of 
becoming Santa Claus. 

2047
01:54:00,800 --> 01:54:03,800
You retrieve the carefully 
hidden gifts from various 

2048
01:54:03,800 --> 01:54:07,300
closets and storage spaces. 
You arrange them under the tree,

2049
01:54:07,300 --> 01:54:09,800
according to a mental 
calculation about which should 

2050
01:54:09,800 --> 01:54:13,700
be opened first, and which 
should be saved for last you eat

2051
01:54:13,708 --> 01:54:16,200
the cookies, the children left 
for Santa, and drink the milk 

2052
01:54:16,200 --> 01:54:18,400
though. 
You'd prefer coffee at this out.

2053
01:54:19,200 --> 01:54:21,900
You write a note from Santa 
thanking them for the snacks and

2054
01:54:21,900 --> 01:54:23,900
commenting on how good they've 
been this year. 

2055
01:54:24,500 --> 01:54:26,800
It's past midnight. 
Before you finish your 

2056
01:54:26,800 --> 01:54:29,000
exhausted. 
Tomorrow will be chaos. 

2057
01:54:29,000 --> 01:54:32,600
Wrapping paper everywhere 
children hyper with excitement 

2058
01:54:32,600 --> 01:54:36,700
and sugar relatives arriving and
a massive meal to prepare and 

2059
01:54:36,700 --> 01:54:39,200
clean up after. 
But right now, looking at the 

2060
01:54:39,200 --> 01:54:43,600
tree lit up in the dark room, 
the presence of underneath you 

2061
01:54:43,600 --> 01:54:46,500
feel something, unexpected. 
Contentment. 

2062
01:54:47,300 --> 01:54:50,200
Pride. 
A sense of continuity with your 

2063
01:54:50,200 --> 01:54:52,300
own parents. 
Who did this for you? 

2064
01:54:52,300 --> 01:54:56,000
Your perpetuating a lie. 
Technically, your children 

2065
01:54:56,000 --> 01:54:59,200
believe Santa Claus is real and 
you carefully maintained that 

2066
01:54:59,200 --> 01:55:01,100
belief through various acts of 
deception. 

2067
01:55:02,000 --> 01:55:04,900
But it doesn't feel like lying, 
it feels like giving them 

2068
01:55:04,900 --> 01:55:08,300
something precious. 
Few years of believing that 

2069
01:55:08,300 --> 01:55:12,400
magic exists that someone cares 
about the unconditionally and 

2070
01:55:12,400 --> 01:55:15,800
that the world contains 
benevolent forces dedicated to 

2071
01:55:15,800 --> 01:55:18,800
Children's happiness. 
Eventually they'll learn the 

2072
01:55:18,800 --> 01:55:21,100
truth eventually. 
You'll have awkward 

2073
01:55:21,100 --> 01:55:23,100
conversations about how Santa 
isn't real. 

2074
01:55:23,100 --> 01:55:26,300
But the spirit of giving is 
eventually they'll feel the 

2075
01:55:26,300 --> 01:55:28,500
complicated mix of 
disillusionment and 

2076
01:55:28,500 --> 01:55:30,300
understanding that comes with 
that knowledge. 

2077
01:55:31,300 --> 01:55:34,500
But not yet for now, Santa Claus
lives. 

2078
01:55:34,500 --> 01:55:37,600
And tomorrow morning when your 
children raced downstairs and 

2079
01:55:37,600 --> 01:55:39,300
see the presence, and the Eaton 
cookies. 

2080
01:55:39,300 --> 01:55:43,300
And the note, their Joy will be 
real even if it's proximate 

2081
01:55:43,300 --> 01:55:46,500
causes on a carefully. 
Constructed fiction, the 

2082
01:55:46,500 --> 01:55:49,800
historical Nicholas of Myra 
would probably not recognize the

2083
01:55:49,800 --> 01:55:53,400
Jolly figure in the red suit. 
Transformation has been too 

2084
01:55:53,400 --> 01:55:57,800
complete to Thoreau, the fourth 
Century Bishop who gave away his

2085
01:55:57,800 --> 01:56:00,200
well to prevent desperate 
fathers from selling. 

2086
01:56:00,200 --> 01:56:03,500
Their daughter's, has become a 
magical being, who lives at the 

2087
01:56:03,500 --> 01:56:07,100
North Pole and managers a toy 
factory staffed by elves. 

2088
01:56:08,000 --> 01:56:11,700
And yet something persists. 
Something Essentials survived 

2089
01:56:11,700 --> 01:56:15,300
the journey from Lucia to 
America from Saint to secular 

2090
01:56:15,300 --> 01:56:18,300
icon. 
The impulse toward generosity 

2091
01:56:18,300 --> 01:56:22,900
without expectation of return. 
That remains parents give to 

2092
01:56:22,900 --> 01:56:25,200
their children through Santa 
Claus without seeking 

2093
01:56:25,200 --> 01:56:29,000
recognition for themselves. 
The Joy comes from the giving 

2094
01:56:29,000 --> 01:56:33,600
itself from seeing children's 
delight and from maintaining a 

2095
01:56:33,600 --> 01:56:36,600
tradition that stretches back 
through generations, the 

2096
01:56:36,600 --> 01:56:40,700
protection of children and the 
powerless That Remains Santa 

2097
01:56:40,700 --> 01:56:43,100
Claus in virtually all his 
incarnations belongs to 

2098
01:56:43,108 --> 01:56:47,400
Children, he exists to bring 
them joy to Shield them from the

2099
01:56:47,400 --> 01:56:50,400
world's harshness for at least a
few magical moments. 

2100
01:56:50,400 --> 01:56:54,300
This Echoes, Nicholas's original
concern for children, in danger.

2101
01:56:55,000 --> 01:56:57,400
The idea that generosity 
observes and responds to 

2102
01:56:57,408 --> 01:57:02,100
individual needs that remains at
least in theory Santa Claus. 

2103
01:57:02,100 --> 01:57:05,800
Supposedly knows what each child
wants and brings gifts, tailored

2104
01:57:05,800 --> 01:57:09,500
to individual wishes rather than
identical generic presents. 

2105
01:57:10,400 --> 01:57:13,300
The practice often falls short 
of this ideal, but the 

2106
01:57:13,300 --> 01:57:16,500
aspiration persists. 
And the connection between moral

2107
01:57:16,500 --> 01:57:20,700
behavior and reward That Remains
the weakened and complicated. 

2108
01:57:22,000 --> 01:57:25,600
Parents still tell children that
Santa watches their behavior and

2109
01:57:25,600 --> 01:57:28,900
still sometimes use santa as an 
incentive for Good Conduct. 

2110
01:57:28,900 --> 01:57:33,400
The approach is problematic in 
various ways but it maintains a 

2111
01:57:33,400 --> 01:57:36,600
thread to Nicholas's. 
Original witness that how we 

2112
01:57:36,600 --> 01:57:40,600
treat others matters that our 
choices have consequences and 

2113
01:57:40,600 --> 01:57:44,600
that attention must be paid. 
The winter Customs that existed 

2114
01:57:44,600 --> 01:57:47,800
before Nicholas ancient 
celebrations that marked the 

2115
01:57:47,800 --> 01:57:51,100
darkest time of year with light 
and feasts and gifts. 

2116
01:57:51,800 --> 01:57:55,000
Those persists too or woven into
Christmas traditions, that 

2117
01:57:55,000 --> 01:57:58,700
combine Christian elements with 
Pagan survivals, with commercial

2118
01:57:58,700 --> 01:58:00,600
Innovations with family 
specific. 

2119
01:58:00,600 --> 01:58:03,300
Rituals that no one quite 
remember starting, but which 

2120
01:58:03,300 --> 01:58:06,400
feel essential anyway, you're in
your living room on a cold, 

2121
01:58:06,400 --> 01:58:09,600
December night. 
Snow falls outside visible. 

2122
01:58:09,600 --> 01:58:11,800
Through the window, where 
Evergreen branches, frame the 

2123
01:58:11,800 --> 01:58:14,200
glass. 
Tree lights, glow. 

2124
01:58:14,200 --> 01:58:17,000
Softly. 
Children are asleep upstairs 

2125
01:58:17,000 --> 01:58:20,100
somewhere in the House. 
Gifts, a hidden waiting for 

2126
01:58:20,100 --> 01:58:22,100
Christmas morning. 
You're tired. 

2127
01:58:22,108 --> 01:58:26,700
The season has been hectic. 
Shopping decorating, cooking and

2128
01:58:26,700 --> 01:58:29,900
attending various events. 
But you're also satisfied, 

2129
01:58:29,900 --> 01:58:33,500
you've maintained Traditions, 
your parents kept and added new 

2130
01:58:33,500 --> 01:58:35,100
ones, your family created 
together. 

2131
01:58:36,000 --> 01:58:38,300
You've gifted your children, the
experience of believing in 

2132
01:58:38,300 --> 01:58:41,600
something magical, even if that 
belief is temporary. 

2133
01:58:41,600 --> 01:58:45,100
And maybe you think about 
Nicholas the actual man who 

2134
01:58:45,100 --> 01:58:48,400
lives 17th centuries ago in a 
city on the Mediterranean Coast.

2135
01:58:48,400 --> 01:58:52,100
A man who inherited wealth and 
gave it away. 

2136
01:58:52,100 --> 01:58:57,600
A man who protected children and
14, just a man who believed that

2137
01:58:57,600 --> 01:59:01,000
how we treat the most vulnerable
members of our society defines 

2138
01:59:01,000 --> 01:59:02,800
us more surely than any other 
measure. 

2139
01:59:03,600 --> 01:59:07,700
The modern Santa Claus isn't 
that man, but he grew from seeds

2140
01:59:07,700 --> 01:59:11,800
that man planted the radical 
idea that generosity need, not 

2141
01:59:11,800 --> 01:59:15,700
to be transactional that gifts 
given in secret have particular 

2142
01:59:15,700 --> 01:59:19,600
power that children deserve 
protection and joy and that 

2143
01:59:19,600 --> 01:59:23,000
abundance should flow toward 
need on this winter night. 

2144
01:59:23,000 --> 01:59:26,800
With Darkness, pressing against 
your windows and cold wind 

2145
01:59:26,800 --> 01:59:29,700
rattling. 
The shutters your participating 

2146
01:59:29,700 --> 01:59:32,500
in a tradition that stretches 
back through centuries. 

2147
01:59:32,500 --> 01:59:35,700
And across continents, the 
particulars have changed almost 

2148
01:59:35,700 --> 01:59:39,900
beyond recognition. 
But the core impulse remains to 

2149
01:59:39,900 --> 01:59:43,900
create light in darkness to 
share abundance to protect 

2150
01:59:43,900 --> 01:59:46,500
Innocents. 
And to give without seeking 

2151
01:59:46,500 --> 01:59:49,400
return that Saint Nicholas is 
Legacy. 

2152
01:59:49,400 --> 01:59:52,700
Not the red suit or the flying 
reindeer or the North Pole 

2153
01:59:52,700 --> 01:59:54,800
Workshop. 
Those are decorations 

2154
01:59:54,800 --> 01:59:58,600
elaborations and the accumulated
Barnacles of cultural Evolution.

2155
01:59:58,600 --> 02:00:03,400
The legacy is the idea that 
generosity freely give him a 

2156
02:00:03,400 --> 02:00:04,900
specially to those who cannot 
repay it. 

2157
02:00:04,900 --> 02:00:09,100
Make us more fully human. 
That attention to individual 

2158
02:00:09,100 --> 02:00:11,200
need matters, more than grand 
gestures. 

2159
02:00:11,200 --> 02:00:15,900
That children deserve particular
care and protection that secret 

2160
02:00:15,900 --> 02:00:18,900
giving preserves dignity for 
both giver and receiver. 

2161
02:00:19,700 --> 02:00:22,700
These ideas aren't uniquely 
Christian or uniquely 

2162
02:00:22,700 --> 02:00:25,700
Nicholas's. 
They appear in various forms 

2163
02:00:25,700 --> 02:00:29,000
across cultures, and religions, 
but Nicholas embodied them in 

2164
02:00:29,008 --> 02:00:31,700
ways that resonated across 
centuries and transformed 

2165
02:00:31,700 --> 02:00:36,200
cultures, his particular witness
a wealthy man, who chose poverty

2166
02:00:36,200 --> 02:00:39,500
and service to others, a bishop 
who struck another Bishop for 

2167
02:00:39,500 --> 02:00:42,700
what he viewed, as heresy, and a
saint who somehow became 

2168
02:00:42,700 --> 02:00:47,000
associated with flying reindeer.
Proved durable enough to survive

2169
02:00:47,000 --> 02:00:49,800
Transformations. 
That would have destroyed most, 

2170
02:00:49,800 --> 02:00:51,700
historical figures, beyond 
recognition. 

2171
02:00:51,700 --> 02:00:54,600
So when you bite into a 
gingerbread cookie or sink 

2172
02:00:54,600 --> 02:00:57,900
carols, or place presents under 
a tree, your participating in 

2173
02:00:57,900 --> 02:01:02,000
something ancient and layered, 
Your honoring, Nicholas of Myra 

2174
02:01:02,000 --> 02:01:06,400
with no historian or not, you'll
maintaining winter custards that

2175
02:01:06,400 --> 02:01:08,300
predate Christianity by 
centuries. 

2176
02:01:08,300 --> 02:01:11,400
Your adapting Traditions to 
contemporary circumstances. 

2177
02:01:11,400 --> 02:01:14,800
You're giving your children 
experience as they will remember

2178
02:01:14,800 --> 02:01:18,400
for the rest of their lives and 
may be if your paying attention,

2179
02:01:18,400 --> 02:01:21,100
you can feel the thread that 
connects all of this. 

2180
02:01:21,900 --> 02:01:25,700
Threat of generality of care for
the vulnerable of light and 

2181
02:01:25,700 --> 02:01:27,800
darkness. 
That thread runs from 

2182
02:01:27,800 --> 02:01:31,200
prehistoric winter celebrations,
through Nicholas's lifetime 

2183
02:01:31,200 --> 02:01:34,400
through medieval feast days and 
through, Modern Christmas 

2184
02:01:34,400 --> 02:01:38,500
mornings, it's been bent and 
twisted and recolored until it 

2185
02:01:38,500 --> 02:01:42,000
barely resembles its Origins, 
but it's never broken. 

2186
02:01:42,000 --> 02:01:45,700
That's what remains that's what 
endures, not the specific 

2187
02:01:45,700 --> 02:01:49,700
Customs or the particular myths,
but the impulse they serve to 

2188
02:01:49,700 --> 02:01:53,900
create warmth and joy in the 
coldest darkest season to share.

2189
02:01:53,900 --> 02:01:57,400
What we have with those who need
it to protect those who cannot 

2190
02:01:57,400 --> 02:02:01,600
protect themselves and to give 
without demanding recognition or

2191
02:02:01,600 --> 02:02:04,600
returned this historical. 
Nicholas would understand that. 

2192
02:02:04,600 --> 02:02:08,200
Impulse, even if he wouldn't 
recognize the fat man in the red

2193
02:02:08,200 --> 02:02:11,500
suit because at its core, the 
Santa Claus tradition, still 

2194
02:02:11,500 --> 02:02:14,400
serves the same purpose that 
drove Nicholas to throw bags of 

2195
02:02:14,400 --> 02:02:16,000
gold through Windows later at 
night. 

2196
02:02:16,900 --> 02:02:19,500
To meet need with a bundts 
quietly. 

2197
02:02:19,500 --> 02:02:23,000
And without Fanfare trusting 
that the actors itself is 

2198
02:02:23,000 --> 02:02:26,700
rewarded enough. 
And on this December night, a 

2199
02:02:26,700 --> 02:02:29,200
snow continues falling in the 
house, settles in to sleep. 

2200
02:02:29,200 --> 02:02:34,600
That ancient purpose continues. 
The name's change the costumes 

2201
02:02:34,600 --> 02:02:38,800
of bold the stories grown more 
elaborate but the gift at the 

2202
02:02:38,800 --> 02:02:42,100
center, the gift of generality 
giving freely expecting nothing 

2203
02:02:42,100 --> 02:02:45,600
in return. 
That gift persists, precious and

2204
02:02:45,600 --> 02:02:49,100
unchanged from Nicholas's time 
to ours and onward to 

2205
02:02:49,100 --> 02:02:59,200
Generations yet Unborn You wake 
on a September morning to find 

2206
02:02:59,200 --> 02:03:02,700
the light has changed its Slants
through your window at a 

2207
02:03:02,700 --> 02:03:06,000
different angle now golden 
rather than white and carries 

2208
02:03:06,000 --> 02:03:08,100
with it. 
The faint promise of cooler. 

2209
02:03:08,100 --> 02:03:10,900
Days ahead, the quality of the 
air is shifted too. 

2210
02:03:10,900 --> 02:03:14,500
Still warm yes, but no longer 
holding that thick language 

2211
02:03:14,500 --> 02:03:17,900
heaviness of high summer. 
There's a crispness around the 

2212
02:03:17,900 --> 02:03:22,100
edges of things, a Clarity that 
wasn't there a week ago, for 

2213
02:03:22,100 --> 02:03:24,500
your grandmother and her 
grandmother before her. 

2214
02:03:24,500 --> 02:03:27,200
This shift in the light meant 
something specific. 

2215
02:03:28,200 --> 02:03:32,400
Christmas preparation had begun.
The notion seems absurd to you 

2216
02:03:32,400 --> 02:03:36,100
at first Christmas lies. 
Three months away separated, 

2217
02:03:36,100 --> 02:03:40,000
from this warming, by the entire
harvest season by Autumn slow 

2218
02:03:40,000 --> 02:03:44,500
decline into winter and by weeks
and weeks of ordinary time, but 

2219
02:03:44,500 --> 02:03:46,700
your grandmother moves through 
the kitchen with purpose. 

2220
02:03:46,700 --> 02:03:49,800
Her hands already, sorting 
through the previous years 

2221
02:03:49,800 --> 02:03:52,400
stores. 
She counts jars of preserved 

2222
02:03:52,400 --> 02:03:56,700
fruit examined, the seals on 
crops of salted butter and run 

2223
02:03:56,700 --> 02:03:58,900
her fingers. 
Along the hanging herbs to test,

2224
02:03:58,900 --> 02:04:03,300
their dryness her lips, move 
slightly as she calculates, not 

2225
02:04:03,300 --> 02:04:06,300
with anxiety. 
But with the calm Assurance of 

2226
02:04:06,300 --> 02:04:10,300
someone following a pattern laid
down by Generations, You learn 

2227
02:04:10,308 --> 02:04:12,700
that Christmas abundance doesn't
simply appear. 

2228
02:04:13,600 --> 02:04:17,800
It cumulates layer by layer 
task, by task beginning, when 

2229
02:04:17,800 --> 02:04:20,900
the garden still yields, its 
Bounty and the Orchards hang 

2230
02:04:20,900 --> 02:04:25,400
heavy with unpicked fruit. 
The work ahead isn't frantic or 

2231
02:04:25,400 --> 02:04:29,000
stressful, instead, it possesses
a meditative quality. 

2232
02:04:29,000 --> 02:04:32,600
Each action flowing naturally 
from the season that contains 

2233
02:04:32,600 --> 02:04:35,000
it. 
The first task, involves the 

2234
02:04:35,000 --> 02:04:37,900
pantry itself. 
Before you can fill it with 

2235
02:04:37,900 --> 02:04:41,200
Christmas Provisions, you must 
create space, your grandmother 

2236
02:04:41,200 --> 02:04:43,200
empty shells. 
That have not been Disturbed 

2237
02:04:43,200 --> 02:04:46,800
since spring, finding treasures,
and Oddities in equal measure. 

2238
02:04:46,800 --> 02:04:51,100
A jar of pickled walnuts from 
two Christmases past their 

2239
02:04:51,100 --> 02:04:54,100
brine, turned cloudy a tin of 
biscuits. 

2240
02:04:54,100 --> 02:04:57,700
Now, soft with humidity 
suitable, only for the chickens,

2241
02:04:57,700 --> 02:05:00,600
a cock of larger. 
That's taken on the musty smell 

2242
02:05:00,600 --> 02:05:03,500
of the shelf, beneath it half a 
bag of flour. 

2243
02:05:03,500 --> 02:05:07,200
Weevil infested and Beyond 
saving a bottle of vanilla 

2244
02:05:07,200 --> 02:05:09,500
extract mysteriously half-empty 
though. 

2245
02:05:09,500 --> 02:05:12,900
No one remembers using it. 
Together, you carry everything 

2246
02:05:12,900 --> 02:05:16,600
into the yard, the good items. 
Returned to the kitchen, the 

2247
02:05:16,600 --> 02:05:20,100
questionable ones, go to the 
pigs and the truly spoiled 

2248
02:05:20,100 --> 02:05:22,100
content. 
Get buried in the garden to 

2249
02:05:22,100 --> 02:05:25,700
enrich next year's soil. 
Nothing goes to waste. 

2250
02:05:25,700 --> 02:05:28,400
Not really. 
Even failure. 

2251
02:05:28,400 --> 02:05:31,800
Feeds something with the shelves
empty you scrub them with water.

2252
02:05:31,800 --> 02:05:35,600
So hot it turns your hands pink.
Your grandmother adds a splash 

2253
02:05:35,600 --> 02:05:38,800
of vinegar to cut through years 
of accumulated, grease, and dust

2254
02:05:38,800 --> 02:05:42,800
the sharp scent makes your nose 
wrinkle but she seems unbothered

2255
02:05:42,800 --> 02:05:46,200
humming tuneless. 
She works the scrubbing. 

2256
02:05:46,200 --> 02:05:49,500
Reveals wood grain you'd 
forgotten existed patterns and 

2257
02:05:49,500 --> 02:05:52,900
knots that had disappeared 
beneath layers of grime, once 

2258
02:05:52,900 --> 02:05:54,700
everything. 
Dries you line, the shells with 

2259
02:05:54,700 --> 02:05:58,400
fresh paper save throughout the 
year from packages and Parcels 

2260
02:05:58,400 --> 02:06:02,000
smooth flat and hoarded for 
precisely this purpose. 

2261
02:06:02,900 --> 02:06:06,000
Your grandmother has an eye for 
which paper goes, where the 

2262
02:06:06,000 --> 02:06:09,200
sturdier Brown, wrapping paper 
lines, the lower shelves, where 

2263
02:06:09,200 --> 02:06:13,000
heavy items will rest. 
The lighter tissue paper, save 

2264
02:06:13,000 --> 02:06:15,400
from the Draper shop covers. 
The upper shelves meant for 

2265
02:06:15,400 --> 02:06:18,200
delicate things. 
The clean Pantry smells of 

2266
02:06:18,200 --> 02:06:21,400
vinegar and possibility. 
Its bare shells won't remain 

2267
02:06:21,400 --> 02:06:24,900
empty for long. 
By mid September, the plum trees

2268
02:06:24,900 --> 02:06:27,900
in your neighbor's Garden group,
under the weight of fruit, that 

2269
02:06:27,900 --> 02:06:31,600
must be picked before. 
It drops and bruises, the 

2270
02:06:31,600 --> 02:06:33,900
branches hang so low. 
They nearly touched the ground 

2271
02:06:33,900 --> 02:06:37,800
and wasps Circle the righteous 
specimens with lazy persistence.

2272
02:06:38,800 --> 02:06:41,200
Your neighbor has more plums 
than any family, could 

2273
02:06:41,200 --> 02:06:44,900
reasonably eat fresh and you 
have strong arms and empty jars,

2274
02:06:44,900 --> 02:06:47,800
The Exchange requires no 
negotiation. 

2275
02:06:48,500 --> 02:06:51,700
You spend an afternoon balanced 
on a ladder dropping purple 

2276
02:06:51,700 --> 02:06:53,800
fruit into a basket hung from 
your belt. 

2277
02:06:53,800 --> 02:06:56,700
While your neighbor's youngest 
child gathers, the Wind Falls 

2278
02:06:56,700 --> 02:07:00,700
for immediate eating the child's
face and hands turn purple from 

2279
02:07:00,700 --> 02:07:04,100
the juice and she laughs with 
the unselfconscious joy of 

2280
02:07:04,100 --> 02:07:06,100
someone who's discovered a 
simple pleasure. 

2281
02:07:06,100 --> 02:07:09,900
You remember being that age, 
remember the Revelation that 

2282
02:07:09,900 --> 02:07:13,700
fruit could be eaten directly 
from the tree still warm from 

2283
02:07:13,700 --> 02:07:16,400
the Sun without any intervening 
preparation? 

2284
02:07:17,400 --> 02:07:20,500
The memory makes you smile even 
as you reach for another cluster

2285
02:07:20,500 --> 02:07:23,200
of plums. 
The plums come home in bushels 

2286
02:07:23,200 --> 02:07:26,200
and your grandmother transforms 
the kitchen in into something 

2287
02:07:26,200 --> 02:07:28,900
between a laboratory and a 
magical Workshop. 

2288
02:07:28,900 --> 02:07:33,600
She sorts the fruit by ripeness 
setting aside the famous ones 

2289
02:07:33,600 --> 02:07:37,000
for bottled. 
The slightly soft ones for jam 

2290
02:07:37,000 --> 02:07:39,600
and the truly. 
Right ones for a plum wine. 

2291
02:07:39,600 --> 02:07:42,300
That won't be ready until next 
September, but will be 

2292
02:07:42,300 --> 02:07:45,700
magnificent when it is, you 
watch her work with the Jam 

2293
02:07:45,700 --> 02:07:50,100
first. she doesn't measure with 
cups or spoons, but by hand and 

2294
02:07:50,100 --> 02:07:54,600
I A method that would horrify a 
modern cook but produces perfect

2295
02:07:54,600 --> 02:07:57,800
results. 
Every time, the plums go into a 

2296
02:07:57,800 --> 02:08:00,700
larger copper pot with sugar and
the juice of lemons carefully 

2297
02:08:00,700 --> 02:08:05,000
preserved in salt since last 
spring, The pot is so heavy that

2298
02:08:05,000 --> 02:08:09,000
it takes both of you to lift it 
onto the range and once their it

2299
02:08:09,000 --> 02:08:12,800
occupies to burners as the 
mixture heats, the kitchen fills

2300
02:08:12,800 --> 02:08:14,600
with a scent. 
So rich and sweet. 

2301
02:08:14,600 --> 02:08:17,300
It feels almost visible like 
colored Steam. 

2302
02:08:18,300 --> 02:08:21,900
Smell wraps around, you clings 
to your clothes and hair and 

2303
02:08:21,900 --> 02:08:26,300
seeps into the very walls days 
later, you'll catch faint traces

2304
02:08:26,300 --> 02:08:29,500
of it in unexpected. 
Places on the dish towel, 

2305
02:08:29,500 --> 02:08:32,300
hanging by the sink, in the 
curtains of the front room. 

2306
02:08:33,200 --> 02:08:36,400
Your job involves skimming the 
foam that rises to the surface. 

2307
02:08:36,400 --> 02:08:41,000
Use a broad Silver Spoon, one 
Thin at the edges from Decades 

2308
02:08:41,000 --> 02:08:44,500
of this same task and transfer 
the phone to a small bowl. 

2309
02:08:45,400 --> 02:08:48,700
The foam appears delicate full 
of tiny bubbles that catch the 

2310
02:08:48,700 --> 02:08:52,000
Light later. 
Once it cools this foam, will be

2311
02:08:52,000 --> 02:08:55,100
your reward, spread on bread, 
still warm from the oven. 

2312
02:08:55,100 --> 02:08:58,400
It tastes like the essence of 
Summer preserved in sweetness. 

2313
02:08:58,400 --> 02:09:03,000
The jam takes hours, you stir 
while your grandmother prepares 

2314
02:09:03,000 --> 02:09:06,400
the jars heating them in a pot 
of boiling water to sterilize 

2315
02:09:06,400 --> 02:09:09,300
them. 
Stirring requires attention, but

2316
02:09:09,300 --> 02:09:12,600
not constant thought and you 
find your mind, wandering, 

2317
02:09:12,600 --> 02:09:16,100
pleasantly through the window. 
You watch the afternoon light 

2318
02:09:16,100 --> 02:09:19,400
change, lengthening, Shadows 
announcing the approach of 

2319
02:09:19,400 --> 02:09:23,700
evening, Your grandmother test 
the jam, periodically, dropping 

2320
02:09:23,700 --> 02:09:27,400
a spoonful, onto a cold plate 
and watching how it behaves two 

2321
02:09:27,400 --> 02:09:31,400
liquid, and it needs more 
cooking, too stiff and it's gone

2322
02:09:31,400 --> 02:09:34,700
past perfection. 
She's looking for that precise 

2323
02:09:34,700 --> 02:09:37,000
moment when the jamming cool 
slightly when pushed with a 

2324
02:09:37,000 --> 02:09:39,300
finger, but still holds a glossy
Sheen. 

2325
02:09:39,300 --> 02:09:43,900
When the jam finally reaches the
right consistency, she ladles it

2326
02:09:43,900 --> 02:09:46,200
into the waiting jars with 
practice deficiency. 

2327
02:09:47,100 --> 02:09:49,300
The hot Jam steams as it hits 
the glass. 

2328
02:09:49,300 --> 02:09:53,200
And you can see fragments of 
Plum skin, suspended in the Deep

2329
02:09:53,200 --> 02:09:55,900
Purple Mass. 
Each jar gets sealed with a 

2330
02:09:55,908 --> 02:09:59,000
circle of waxed paper. 
Pressed directly onto the jam 

2331
02:09:59,000 --> 02:10:03,100
surface, then a larger Circle, 
tied over the mouth with string,

2332
02:10:03,100 --> 02:10:05,000
your grandmother writes the 
date. 

2333
02:10:05,000 --> 02:10:08,000
On each one, with a careful 
hand, not just the month and 

2334
02:10:08,000 --> 02:10:11,900
year, but the day two because 
she says it helps her track 

2335
02:10:11,900 --> 02:10:13,800
which batches are oldest and 
should be used. 

2336
02:10:13,800 --> 02:10:17,800
First, the jars, go into the 
pantry, while still warm and you

2337
02:10:17,800 --> 02:10:20,200
hear their Lids pop and seal 
throughout the evening. 

2338
02:10:20,200 --> 02:10:25,400
Each small sound a promise kept 
24 jars of plum jam line. 

2339
02:10:25,400 --> 02:10:28,800
The shelf by bed time, their 
content still faintly warm, 

2340
02:10:28,800 --> 02:10:31,300
their labels to clearing them 
ready for winter. 

2341
02:10:31,300 --> 02:10:35,300
The next day, you'll help with 
bottled The Firm plums whole 

2342
02:10:35,300 --> 02:10:39,100
these get packed into jaws with 
sugar syrup and processed in the

2343
02:10:39,100 --> 02:10:42,100
water bath and the fruit softens
slightly but doesn't collapse. 

2344
02:10:42,100 --> 02:10:46,400
The result is something between 
fresh fruit and jam plums that 

2345
02:10:46,400 --> 02:10:48,700
will take like Summer. 
Even in the depths of February 

2346
02:10:48,700 --> 02:10:53,100
that can be on their own, or 
baked into Tarts or served with 

2347
02:10:53,108 --> 02:10:55,300
cream. 
As a simple dessert, your 

2348
02:10:55,300 --> 02:10:58,100
grandmother bottles fruit with 
an artist for composition. 

2349
02:10:58,100 --> 02:11:01,900
She arranges the plums in each 
jar, so they fit snugly without 

2350
02:11:01,900 --> 02:11:04,300
crushing. 
Turning them to show their best 

2351
02:11:04,300 --> 02:11:06,700
sides, creating little still 
life. 

2352
02:11:06,700 --> 02:11:09,300
Compositions that look almost 
too, beautiful to eat. 

2353
02:11:10,300 --> 02:11:13,200
When you comment on this, she 
shrugs we'll eat them. 

2354
02:11:13,200 --> 02:11:15,608
Anyway, she says, but that 
doesn't mean they can't be 

2355
02:11:15,616 --> 02:11:16,900
pretty well. 
We're waiting. 

2356
02:11:18,500 --> 02:11:20,700
The plum wine goes into a large 
earthenware. 

2357
02:11:20,700 --> 02:11:25,000
Crock, the fruit crushed and 
mixed with sugar and water, and 

2358
02:11:25,000 --> 02:11:27,200
a handful of raisins to 
encourage fermentation. 

2359
02:11:27,200 --> 02:11:30,500
Your grandmother covers the 
crock with cheesecloth tied, 

2360
02:11:30,500 --> 02:11:33,300
down tightly, to keep out 
insects while allowing gases to 

2361
02:11:33,300 --> 02:11:36,100
escape. 
The mixture will bubble and work

2362
02:11:36,100 --> 02:11:39,400
for weeks before being strained 
and bottled next year's 

2363
02:11:39,400 --> 02:11:41,600
Christmas will include glasses 
of this wine. 

2364
02:11:41,600 --> 02:11:44,000
It's tastes complicated and 
interesting. 

2365
02:11:44,000 --> 02:11:47,400
Nothing like the simple 
sweetness of the fresh fruit. 

2366
02:11:48,600 --> 02:11:52,000
October arrives with morning 
Frost that melts by noon. 

2367
02:11:52,000 --> 02:11:55,400
The last of the garden to mottos
ripen on the windowsill their 

2368
02:11:55,400 --> 02:11:57,900
skins wrinkled but their flesh, 
still sweet. 

2369
02:11:57,900 --> 02:12:01,900
The chickens molt leaving 
feathers scattered across the 

2370
02:12:01,900 --> 02:12:04,700
yard like careless. 
Confetti each morning, you 

2371
02:12:04,700 --> 02:12:06,800
gather eggs and find fewer than 
you did in summer. 

2372
02:12:06,800 --> 02:12:10,400
The hens are concerning energy 
for winter survival, rather than

2373
02:12:10,400 --> 02:12:13,800
production in the village 
conversations turned to 

2374
02:12:13,800 --> 02:12:15,700
Christmas pudding with a 
seriousness. 

2375
02:12:15,700 --> 02:12:18,100
Usually reserved for matters of 
great importance. 

2376
02:12:18,100 --> 02:12:22,300
You hear discussion in the 
baker's shop at church after 

2377
02:12:22,300 --> 02:12:26,800
Sunday service and in chance 
encounters on the lane, Miss 

2378
02:12:26,800 --> 02:12:30,000
Henderson reveals that she's 
trying a new recipe this year. 

2379
02:12:30,000 --> 02:12:33,000
One that includes grated carrot 
for moisture. 

2380
02:12:33,800 --> 02:12:37,200
Young Mrs. Cooper, confesses 
anxiety about making her first 

2381
02:12:37,200 --> 02:12:39,200
putting as a married woman 
worried. 

2382
02:12:39,200 --> 02:12:40,400
It won't meet her new 
mother-in-law. 

2383
02:12:40,400 --> 02:12:44,100
Standards old Mrs. Barrett 
announces that she's made the 

2384
02:12:44,100 --> 02:12:48,400
same recipe for 63 years and 
sees no reason to change now. 

2385
02:12:49,200 --> 02:12:51,700
This seems comical until you 
understand what Christmas 

2386
02:12:51,700 --> 02:12:55,400
pudding represents it isn't 
merely desert, but a symbol of 

2387
02:12:55,400 --> 02:12:58,900
abundance, a demonstration of a 
household prosperity and 

2388
02:12:58,900 --> 02:13:01,100
preparation. 
A proper pudding contains 

2389
02:13:01,100 --> 02:13:03,100
ingredients that must be 
gathered over months. 

2390
02:13:03,100 --> 02:13:07,800
Tried fruits from Summer suit 
from Autumn butchering, spices, 

2391
02:13:07,800 --> 02:13:11,200
that traveled across Ocean's and
Brandy bought specially and 

2392
02:13:11,200 --> 02:13:14,900
hidden from casual consumption. 
The quality and quantity of a 

2393
02:13:14,900 --> 02:13:18,100
family's putting speak volumes 
about their circumstances and 

2394
02:13:18,100 --> 02:13:21,600
their housekeeping skills. 
Your grandmother keeps a list 

2395
02:13:21,600 --> 02:13:24,100
written in her. 
Careful script on the inside 

2396
02:13:24,100 --> 02:13:27,600
cover of her recipe book, each 
item gets checked off as its 

2397
02:13:27,600 --> 02:13:32,500
acquired. 
Raisins, tick, currents tick, 

2398
02:13:32,500 --> 02:13:36,000
candy Peele made from the 
oranges that appeared in your 

2399
02:13:36,000 --> 02:13:37,900
Christmas stocking. 
Last year and were carefully 

2400
02:13:37,900 --> 02:13:42,300
preserved for this. 
Exact purpose tick suit obtained

2401
02:13:42,300 --> 02:13:45,100
from The Butcher and chopped. 
So fine, it resembles coarse 

2402
02:13:45,100 --> 02:13:49,500
sand tick. 
Breadcrumbs collected all year, 

2403
02:13:49,500 --> 02:13:53,600
from heels of loaves, to dry to 
eat, but too good to waste tick.

2404
02:13:53,600 --> 02:13:56,200
The spices present more of a 
challenge. 

2405
02:13:56,200 --> 02:13:59,200
They're expensive. 
These fragments of distant 

2406
02:13:59,200 --> 02:14:03,000
places, and must be purchased 
with care, your grandmother 

2407
02:14:03,000 --> 02:14:06,600
visits, the grosser shop on a 
gray, October afternoon and you 

2408
02:14:06,600 --> 02:14:10,200
accompany her, she examines the 
small tins and packets with the 

2409
02:14:10,208 --> 02:14:14,300
attention, usually reserved for 
significant purchases, She opens

2410
02:14:14,300 --> 02:14:17,900
containers to smell their 
contents, checking for freshness

2411
02:14:17,900 --> 02:14:22,600
and strength, cinnamon nutmeg, 
mace and allspice. 

2412
02:14:22,600 --> 02:14:26,800
Each one gets the same care of 
evaluation before being added to

2413
02:14:26,800 --> 02:14:29,700
a basket. 
The Brandy requires a special 

2414
02:14:29,700 --> 02:14:31,800
trip to the wine merchant in the
next Village. 

2415
02:14:31,800 --> 02:14:35,700
Your grandfather handles. 
This purchase returning home 

2416
02:14:35,700 --> 02:14:39,100
with a bottle wrapped in brown 
paper and tied with string, the 

2417
02:14:39,100 --> 02:14:41,600
bottle goes into the cup in the 
front room, place behind the 

2418
02:14:41,600 --> 02:14:44,000
Good China, where it won't be 
accidentally discovered and 

2419
02:14:44,000 --> 02:14:46,600
consumed. 
Your grandmother checks on it. 

2420
02:14:46,600 --> 02:14:49,300
Periodically as though, it might
have evaporative left 

2421
02:14:49,300 --> 02:14:52,200
unattended, the mixing of the 
pudding, happens on a Sunday 

2422
02:14:52,200 --> 02:14:56,000
afternoon in late October a week
before its traditionally done, 

2423
02:14:56,000 --> 02:14:57,700
because your grandmother likes 
to give her pudding. 

2424
02:14:57,700 --> 02:15:01,000
Extra time to mature, the 
kitchen table gets cleared of 

2425
02:15:01,000 --> 02:15:03,600
everything, except the largest 
mixing bowl. 

2426
02:15:03,600 --> 02:15:06,500
You own cream. 
Colored pottery with a blue 

2427
02:15:06,500 --> 02:15:09,200
stripe chipped along one Edge 
from the time. 

2428
02:15:09,200 --> 02:15:13,500
Your uncle dropped it in 1923 
the bowl is so large that it 

2429
02:15:13,500 --> 02:15:17,000
barely fits on the table and you
wonder momentarily, how anything

2430
02:15:17,000 --> 02:15:20,500
could require such a vessel Your
grandmother erased. 

2431
02:15:20,500 --> 02:15:23,900
The ingredients around the bowl 
in a careful Arrangement flour 

2432
02:15:23,900 --> 02:15:25,800
and breadcrumbs occupy their own
bowls. 

2433
02:15:26,500 --> 02:15:30,400
Chopped suit sits in a covered 
dish protected from the warmth 

2434
02:15:30,400 --> 02:15:34,500
of the kitchen, the dried fruit 
so much of it pounds and pounds 

2435
02:15:34,500 --> 02:15:38,600
fills three separate containers,
dark sugar, that smells of 

2436
02:15:38,600 --> 02:15:42,200
molasses eggs, beaten until 
they're frothy and milk with a 

2437
02:15:42,208 --> 02:15:44,000
splash of cream added for 
richness. 

2438
02:15:44,800 --> 02:15:48,300
Into the great. 
Bold goes everything flour and 

2439
02:15:48,300 --> 02:15:51,300
breadcrumbs. 
First forming a pale base. 

2440
02:15:51,300 --> 02:15:55,200
The switch gets rubbed in your 
grandmother's fingers, working 

2441
02:15:55,200 --> 02:15:58,900
with swift efficiency. 
Breaking up any clumps and the 

2442
02:15:58,900 --> 02:16:03,400
mixture resembles coarse meal. 
Dark sugar follows, then the 

2443
02:16:03,400 --> 02:16:06,800
spices their scents rising up to
make you sneeze. 

2444
02:16:06,800 --> 02:16:09,900
When you lean too close the 
dried fruit goes in next. 

2445
02:16:09,900 --> 02:16:12,200
So much of it, that you wonder 
how the mixture will hold 

2446
02:16:12,200 --> 02:16:15,300
together. 
Raisins and currants chopped 

2447
02:16:15,300 --> 02:16:19,900
dates, and figs and candied peel
cut into small pieces or 

2448
02:16:19,900 --> 02:16:22,900
grandmother adds the peel of a 
fresh lemon grated. 

2449
02:16:22,900 --> 02:16:26,300
So finally, it's almost a powder
and the juice of that same 

2450
02:16:26,300 --> 02:16:29,600
lemon. 
The beaten eggs go in and milk. 

2451
02:16:29,600 --> 02:16:33,500
And then she reaches for the 
Brandy, she adds a splash, then 

2452
02:16:33,500 --> 02:16:35,900
another, then pauses and adds a 
third. 

2453
02:16:35,900 --> 02:16:39,200
Because as she says the pudding 
will keep better with a generous

2454
02:16:39,200 --> 02:16:42,400
hand. 
The Brandy smell Rises sharp and

2455
02:16:42,407 --> 02:16:45,200
potent from the bowl. 
Cutting through the sweetness of

2456
02:16:45,200 --> 02:16:48,299
the dried fruit. 
The mixing requires everyone in 

2457
02:16:48,299 --> 02:16:50,799
the household. 
This tradition carries 

2458
02:16:50,799 --> 02:16:53,600
Superstition with it. 
Each person must stir three 

2459
02:16:53,600 --> 02:16:56,799
times turning. 
The spoon from east to west in 

2460
02:16:56,799 --> 02:17:00,299
honor of three wise men, who 
traveled from the East find the 

2461
02:17:00,299 --> 02:17:02,200
Christ. 
Child, your grandfather goes 

2462
02:17:02,200 --> 02:17:06,100
first crossing the heavy wooden 
spoon and pulling it through the

2463
02:17:06,100 --> 02:17:09,000
mixer with visible effort. 
Your mother follows. 

2464
02:17:09,000 --> 02:17:12,700
Then your father then your 
younger siblings in order of age

2465
02:17:12,700 --> 02:17:16,600
you wait your turn watching the 
mixture of all his each person 

2466
02:17:16,600 --> 02:17:20,000
stirs. 
Seems impossibly dents more 

2467
02:17:20,000 --> 02:17:23,400
solid than liquid holding 
together in a mass that barely 

2468
02:17:23,400 --> 02:17:25,200
shifts. 
Even when the spoon moves 

2469
02:17:25,200 --> 02:17:28,799
through it, when your turn comes
you, grasp the heavy wooden 

2470
02:17:28,799 --> 02:17:31,799
spoon and pull it through the 
mixture, the resistance 

2471
02:17:31,799 --> 02:17:33,700
surprises. 
You, even though you watched 

2472
02:17:33,700 --> 02:17:36,700
others struggle, this isn't cake
batter, that flows smoothly. 

2473
02:17:36,700 --> 02:17:40,400
But a dense heavy mass that 
clings to the spoon and requires

2474
02:17:40,400 --> 02:17:44,400
real effort to move. 
As you stir, you make a wish. 

2475
02:17:45,000 --> 02:17:48,500
The tradition permits this and 
encourages it, even what you 

2476
02:17:48,500 --> 02:17:52,299
wish for remains your secret. 
Though your grandmother watches 

2477
02:17:52,299 --> 02:17:55,600
you with eyes that seemed to 
read thoughts and offers a small

2478
02:17:55,600 --> 02:17:58,900
knowing smile. 
He complete your three stirs and

2479
02:17:58,907 --> 02:18:00,600
pass the spoon to the next 
person. 

2480
02:18:00,600 --> 02:18:03,600
Your wish sealed into the 
pudding along with everyone 

2481
02:18:03,600 --> 02:18:06,900
else's hopes for the coming 
year, once everyone has stirred 

2482
02:18:06,900 --> 02:18:10,200
your grandmother adds the final 
secret ingredients. 

2483
02:18:10,200 --> 02:18:14,500
A silver Sixpence wrapped in 
paper to keep it clean and a 

2484
02:18:14,500 --> 02:18:18,299
small charm in the shape of a 
thimble whoever finds the six in

2485
02:18:18,299 --> 02:18:20,200
their portion will have wealth 
in the coming year. 

2486
02:18:21,100 --> 02:18:23,700
The thimble promises something 
different, depending on who you 

2487
02:18:23,700 --> 02:18:27,400
are asked either continued 
spinsterhood or a life of 

2488
02:18:27,400 --> 02:18:30,100
usefulness. 
You've never quite determined, 

2489
02:18:30,100 --> 02:18:33,000
which interpretation your 
grandmother favors and she 

2490
02:18:33,000 --> 02:18:35,500
maintains and enigmatic silence 
on the subject. 

2491
02:18:35,500 --> 02:18:39,000
The putting mixture gets divided
among several basins. 

2492
02:18:39,000 --> 02:18:43,000
Pottery bowls of various sizes, 
each one Grease with butter 

2493
02:18:43,000 --> 02:18:46,299
until it shines. 
Your grandmother has a system 

2494
02:18:46,299 --> 02:18:49,100
for this division. 
The largest base in holds the 

2495
02:18:49,100 --> 02:18:52,799
main putting for Christmas day. 
Medium-sized basins, contain 

2496
02:18:52,799 --> 02:18:55,299
puddings that will be given as 
gifts to family and close 

2497
02:18:55,308 --> 02:18:58,100
friends. 
A few small basins, hold 

2498
02:18:58,100 --> 02:19:01,299
individual puddings. 
Perfect for households of one or

2499
02:19:01,299 --> 02:19:04,299
two people. 
Each Basin gets filled within an

2500
02:19:04,299 --> 02:19:08,400
inch of the rim leaving space 
for the pudding to expand your 

2501
02:19:08,400 --> 02:19:11,400
grandmother covers each Basin 
with a circle of cloth, pleated 

2502
02:19:11,400 --> 02:19:13,100
carefully to allow for 
expansion. 

2503
02:19:13,100 --> 02:19:16,600
Then ties it down with strings. 
So tightly it would take 

2504
02:19:16,608 --> 02:19:19,900
determination to remove. 
She makes a handle of sorts by 

2505
02:19:19,900 --> 02:19:23,500
tying string across the top of 
each Basin creating a loop that 

2506
02:19:23,500 --> 02:19:25,900
can be used to lift the pudding 
from its water bath. 

2507
02:19:26,500 --> 02:19:30,600
The pudding stem for hours or 
grandmother sets them in a large

2508
02:19:30,600 --> 02:19:33,799
pot of simmering water on the 
back of the range where they'll 

2509
02:19:33,799 --> 02:19:36,700
cook gently until evening. 
The water level must be 

2510
02:19:36,700 --> 02:19:39,900
maintained two low. 
And the basins might crack from 

2511
02:19:39,900 --> 02:19:44,000
direct heat to high and water 
might seep under the cloth and 

2512
02:19:44,000 --> 02:19:47,000
ruin the pudding. 
You check the pot, every half 

2513
02:19:47,000 --> 02:19:50,000
hour, adding boiling water from 
the kettle as needed. 

2514
02:19:50,000 --> 02:19:54,300
The kitchen grows warm and humid
the windows fogging over until 

2515
02:19:54,300 --> 02:19:57,500
you can't see outside. 
The scent of the puddings. 

2516
02:19:57,500 --> 02:20:02,200
Permeate everything, your 
clothes, your hair, and the Very

2517
02:20:02,200 --> 02:20:04,900
walls. 
It smells of Christmas and 

2518
02:20:04,900 --> 02:20:08,000
promises and times. 
Suspended the spices. 

2519
02:20:08,000 --> 02:20:11,400
Predominated at first, their 
sharp sweetness, filling the 

2520
02:20:11,400 --> 02:20:14,500
air. 
As the hours passed deeper notes

2521
02:20:14,500 --> 02:20:18,800
emerge, the caramelizing sugar, 
the Brandy becoming more mellow 

2522
02:20:18,800 --> 02:20:22,800
and the dried fruits releasing 
their concentrated Essence, when

2523
02:20:22,800 --> 02:20:25,700
the puddings finally finish your
grandmother test them with a 

2524
02:20:25,700 --> 02:20:27,100
skewer which should come out 
clean. 

2525
02:20:27,100 --> 02:20:30,400
She lifts them from their water 
bath and sets them aside to 

2526
02:20:30,400 --> 02:20:32,400
cool. 
They sit on the kitchen table 

2527
02:20:32,400 --> 02:20:34,400
like a collection of mysterious 
offerings. 

2528
02:20:35,100 --> 02:20:38,600
Steam still rising from their 
cloth, coverings once cool, 

2529
02:20:38,600 --> 02:20:41,900
enough to handle the puddings, 
get unwrapped examined for any 

2530
02:20:41,900 --> 02:20:44,400
signs of problems, then 
rewrapped in fresh cloth, and 

2531
02:20:44,400 --> 02:20:46,900
tied up again. 
They'll hang in the pantry now, 

2532
02:20:46,900 --> 02:20:50,400
suspended from hooks in the 
ceiling beam where air can 

2533
02:20:50,400 --> 02:20:52,800
circulate around them and 
prevent any mold from forming. 

2534
02:20:52,800 --> 02:20:56,100
He'll grandmother will check 
them weekly looking for any 

2535
02:20:56,100 --> 02:21:00,300
signs of spoilage but mostly 
they'll simply hang there slowly

2536
02:21:00,300 --> 02:21:03,400
maturing developing flavors that
can't be rushed. 

2537
02:21:04,300 --> 02:21:07,500
The Traditions satisfies 
something deep and wordless 

2538
02:21:07,500 --> 02:21:10,800
within you, you've participated 
in a ritual that connects you to

2539
02:21:10,800 --> 02:21:13,600
every woman in your family line,
who has performed the same 

2540
02:21:13,600 --> 02:21:17,900
actions in kitchens that no 
longer exists with hands. 

2541
02:21:17,900 --> 02:21:21,500
Now long gone to dust your 
great-great-grandmother stood 

2542
02:21:21,500 --> 02:21:25,100
pudding in the same Bowl, great 
grandmother added Brandy. 

2543
02:21:25,100 --> 02:21:28,200
With the same generous hand, 
your grandmother learned these 

2544
02:21:28,200 --> 02:21:31,700
exact motions from her own 
grandmother and now she's 

2545
02:21:31,700 --> 02:21:34,400
teaching you the continuity 
feels important. 

2546
02:21:34,400 --> 02:21:37,800
Like your part of something 
larger than your individual life

2547
02:21:37,800 --> 02:21:41,600
connected backward through time 
and forward into a future, you 

2548
02:21:41,600 --> 02:21:44,900
can't yet see when you have 
children and grandchildren of 

2549
02:21:44,900 --> 02:21:47,100
your own. 
If you have them, you'll teach 

2550
02:21:47,100 --> 02:21:51,600
them the same Traditions passing
along, not just a recipe, but a 

2551
02:21:51,600 --> 02:21:53,400
connection to everyone who came 
before. 

2552
02:21:54,300 --> 02:21:58,000
November brings darker mornings 
and the first, real cold, you 

2553
02:21:58,000 --> 02:22:00,500
wake in darkness. 
Now, the Sun not Rising until 

2554
02:22:00,500 --> 02:22:03,700
you're already dressed and down 
stairs, The Gardener's finished 

2555
02:22:03,700 --> 02:22:06,500
except for the winter, 
vegetables, parsnips, that 

2556
02:22:06,500 --> 02:22:08,600
tastes better. 
After Frost has converted some 

2557
02:22:08,600 --> 02:22:12,200
of their starch to sugar. 
Brussel sprouts that cling 

2558
02:22:12,200 --> 02:22:15,200
stubbornly to their stalks like 
strange green flowers. 

2559
02:22:15,200 --> 02:22:19,500
And kale that seems immune to 
cold and continues producing 

2560
02:22:19,500 --> 02:22:21,600
leaves even as everything else 
dies back. 

2561
02:22:22,500 --> 02:22:25,700
Tree stand bear against gray, 
skies their branches. 

2562
02:22:25,700 --> 02:22:29,200
Creating delicate patterns that 
shift and changes you move 

2563
02:22:29,200 --> 02:22:32,300
without their leaves, the trees 
reveal structure, you don't 

2564
02:22:32,308 --> 02:22:36,400
usually see the way branches 
divide and subdivide the 

2565
02:22:36,400 --> 02:22:40,000
specific architecture each 
species favors, you can identify

2566
02:22:40,000 --> 02:22:44,400
trees by their Silhouettes. 
Now the spreading form of Oak, 

2567
02:22:44,400 --> 02:22:48,500
the upright thrust of Poplar, 
and the Weeping Grace of birch. 

2568
02:22:49,300 --> 02:22:52,100
This is the month of 
transformation when raw 

2569
02:22:52,100 --> 02:22:55,200
materials become gifts and 
decorations through patient 

2570
02:22:55,200 --> 02:22:57,200
work, your grandmother's 
friends. 

2571
02:22:57,200 --> 02:22:59,500
Gather weekly now, for what they
call, their Christmas 

2572
02:22:59,500 --> 02:23:03,700
afternoons, though the work 
continues long passed after noon

2573
02:23:03,700 --> 02:23:06,900
into evening, they arrived 
carrying baskets and bags 

2574
02:23:06,900 --> 02:23:10,000
settling into chairs around the 
kitchen table with sighs of 

2575
02:23:10,000 --> 02:23:12,000
relief. 
As though, they have each been 

2576
02:23:12,000 --> 02:23:15,300
waiting all week for this moment
of companionship and productive.

2577
02:23:15,300 --> 02:23:18,900
Rest, the women in age from 
barely older than you to 

2578
02:23:18,900 --> 02:23:22,800
properly ancient Mrs. Henderson 
from next door, whose hand shake

2579
02:23:22,800 --> 02:23:26,100
slightly until they grasped her 
crochet hook at which point. 

2580
02:23:26,100 --> 02:23:30,200
They steady, as though, the tool
itself provides medicine, Young 

2581
02:23:30,200 --> 02:23:34,300
misses Cooper, married only. 
This past spring is attempting 

2582
02:23:34,300 --> 02:23:35,900
her first Christmas as a 
housewife. 

2583
02:23:36,700 --> 02:23:40,200
Seeks advice on everything from 
Candy fruits, to dealing with 

2584
02:23:40,200 --> 02:23:44,500
difficult mothers-in-law old 
missus Barrett, who must be 

2585
02:23:44,500 --> 02:23:47,100
approaching 90 and whose 
eyesight is dimmed to the point 

2586
02:23:47,100 --> 02:23:49,100
that she works entirely by feel 
now. 

2587
02:23:49,900 --> 02:23:52,700
Fingers moving through familiar 
patterns without requiring 

2588
02:23:52,700 --> 02:23:56,500
visual confirmation. 
They settle into work without 

2589
02:23:56,500 --> 02:23:58,900
much discussion. 
Needles, Flash. 

2590
02:23:59,700 --> 02:24:03,900
Catching light and releasing it 
crochet hooks Dart and dance. 

2591
02:24:03,900 --> 02:24:06,100
Pulling thread into intricate 
patterns. 

2592
02:24:07,000 --> 02:24:10,100
Knitting needles, click in 
rhythms that vary from Woman to 

2593
02:24:10,100 --> 02:24:12,700
Woman. 
Mrs. Henderson Works quickly 

2594
02:24:12,700 --> 02:24:16,700
with short sharp clicks while 
Mrs. Cooper's slower Pace 

2595
02:24:16,700 --> 02:24:20,100
produces a more measured sound 
The collective noise creates a 

2596
02:24:20,108 --> 02:24:24,200
kind of music irregular but 
Pleasant the conversation, flows

2597
02:24:24,200 --> 02:24:27,900
around and through the work 
gossip, certainly but also 

2598
02:24:27,900 --> 02:24:30,500
recipes. 
Exchanged problem, solved 

2599
02:24:30,500 --> 02:24:33,200
sorrow, shared and Joyce 
celebrated. 

2600
02:24:33,200 --> 02:24:35,900
You learn that. 
Mrs. Peterson's, son. 

2601
02:24:35,908 --> 02:24:38,300
Has written from London with 
news of a promotion. 

2602
02:24:39,400 --> 02:24:42,800
Mrs. Cooper's mother in law 
continues to make pointed 

2603
02:24:42,800 --> 02:24:44,800
comments about the state of a 
linen, cupboard. 

2604
02:24:45,600 --> 02:24:48,400
Someone's cousin has becoming 
engaged to a man from the next 

2605
02:24:48,400 --> 02:24:52,300
County and opinion on the match 
is divided, the talk shifts, 

2606
02:24:52,300 --> 02:24:55,100
Anders touching on everything 
and nothing. 

2607
02:24:56,000 --> 02:24:58,300
Someone mentions a recipe for 
pickled cabbage. 

2608
02:24:58,300 --> 02:25:01,400
That sounds promising. 
Someone else describes a new 

2609
02:25:01,408 --> 02:25:06,200
pattern for tatting lace. 
Mrs. Barrett tells a story about

2610
02:25:06,200 --> 02:25:09,100
Christmas during her childhood 
when snow fell. 

2611
02:25:09,100 --> 02:25:12,800
So heavily, that the village was
cut off for three days and they 

2612
02:25:12,800 --> 02:25:15,100
had to make do with whatever 
Provisions were already in their

2613
02:25:15,100 --> 02:25:18,600
homes, you sit slightly apart, 
working on your own project. 

2614
02:25:19,600 --> 02:25:22,900
A set of handkerchiefs for your 
father, each one, requiring a 

2615
02:25:22,900 --> 02:25:25,000
rolled hem. 
So tiny, it's almost invisible. 

2616
02:25:25,800 --> 02:25:28,600
The work demands concentration 
that borders on meditation. 

2617
02:25:28,600 --> 02:25:31,900
You fold the edge of the fabric 
over itself, then over again 

2618
02:25:31,900 --> 02:25:36,000
creating a role as thin as a 
pencil lead and sew it down with

2619
02:25:36,000 --> 02:25:38,000
stitches. 
So small, they almost disappear 

2620
02:25:38,000 --> 02:25:40,500
into the cloth, your grandmother
taught you. 

2621
02:25:40,500 --> 02:25:43,700
This technique setting beside 
you for hours while you practice

2622
02:25:43,700 --> 02:25:46,100
on scraps until your fingers 
learned the motion. 

2623
02:25:46,100 --> 02:25:49,100
Now you can complete one 
handkerchief in an evening if 

2624
02:25:49,100 --> 02:25:52,500
you work steadily, though, the 
light must be good or the strain

2625
02:25:52,500 --> 02:25:56,200
on your eyes becomes too much. 
The conversation around. 

2626
02:25:56,200 --> 02:26:00,200
You provides Pleasant background
noise, rising and falling like 

2627
02:26:00,200 --> 02:26:02,800
waves. 
You find yourself smiling at 

2628
02:26:02,800 --> 02:26:06,800
particularly funny comments, 
making small noises of sympathy 

2629
02:26:06,800 --> 02:26:10,700
at sad ones, but mostly you 
simply listen, while your hands,

2630
02:26:10,700 --> 02:26:12,400
move through their practice 
motions. 

2631
02:26:12,400 --> 02:26:16,200
This is Henderson has found a 
pattern for crochet. 

2632
02:26:16,200 --> 02:26:19,900
Doilies shaped like snowflakes 
delicate and beautiful. 

2633
02:26:20,900 --> 02:26:23,800
She's making a set of six for 
her daughter's Christmas table. 

2634
02:26:23,800 --> 02:26:28,000
Each one slightly different from
the others she works without 

2635
02:26:28,000 --> 02:26:30,800
looking at the pattern. 
Now, the design committed to 

2636
02:26:30,808 --> 02:26:33,700
memory. 
Her hook moving with hypnotic 

2637
02:26:33,700 --> 02:26:34,900
speed. 
Young. 

2638
02:26:34,900 --> 02:26:38,100
Misses, Cooper is attempting to 
knit slippers for her new 

2639
02:26:38,100 --> 02:26:41,000
husband though. 
She's had to unravel and restart

2640
02:26:41,000 --> 02:26:43,500
three times already because the 
sizing proved wrong. 

2641
02:26:44,300 --> 02:26:48,000
She holds up her latest attempt,
and the assembled women examine 

2642
02:26:48,000 --> 02:26:50,700
it critically. 
The hill. 

2643
02:26:50,700 --> 02:26:53,300
Still not, right Mrs. Barrett 
says, running a fingers over the

2644
02:26:53,300 --> 02:26:55,200
work. 
See how it puckers here. 

2645
02:26:55,200 --> 02:26:57,200
You need to decrease more 
gradually. 

2646
02:26:58,400 --> 02:27:00,600
Mrs, Cooper size, but doesn't 
seem to discouraged. 

2647
02:27:00,600 --> 02:27:03,100
She begins. 
Unraveling the slipper again, 

2648
02:27:03,100 --> 02:27:05,000
winding the yarn back into a 
ball. 

2649
02:27:05,000 --> 02:27:07,900
I'll get it eventually. 
She says, with determined 

2650
02:27:07,900 --> 02:27:10,800
optimism, this prompts around of
encouragement from the other 

2651
02:27:10,800 --> 02:27:14,400
women along with very pizzas of 
advice about knitting slippers, 

2652
02:27:14,400 --> 02:27:17,800
the conversation, meanders from 
there, to the general difficulty

2653
02:27:17,800 --> 02:27:21,000
of making gifts for men, who 
somehow managed to be both 

2654
02:27:21,000 --> 02:27:24,800
particular about comfort and 
entirely unable to articulate 

2655
02:27:24,800 --> 02:27:31,200
what they actually want. 
Men's feet, Mrs. Cooper mutters 

2656
02:27:31,200 --> 02:27:34,100
are completely unreasonable in 
their proportions. 

2657
02:27:34,800 --> 02:27:38,500
This prompts General agreement 
and sympathetic laughter the 

2658
02:27:38,500 --> 02:27:40,500
conversation. 
Expands to Encompass, the 

2659
02:27:40,508 --> 02:27:44,100
general unreasonableness of men,
they're inability to locate 

2660
02:27:44,100 --> 02:27:47,200
items directly in front of the 
conviction. 

2661
02:27:47,200 --> 02:27:50,900
That any work done, sitting down
doesn't count as real work and 

2662
02:27:50,900 --> 02:27:54,200
their mysterious capacity to 
track mud through a house. 

2663
02:27:54,200 --> 02:27:56,900
That was just cleaned your 
grandmother defends your 

2664
02:27:56,908 --> 02:28:00,400
grandfather mildly noting that 
he's never once complained, 

2665
02:28:00,400 --> 02:28:02,200
about the weeks of Christmas 
preparation. 

2666
02:28:02,200 --> 02:28:06,200
That overtake, the household 
that he willingly relinquishes. 

2667
02:28:06,200 --> 02:28:08,900
His favorite chair, when it 
needs to hold cooling baked 

2668
02:28:08,900 --> 02:28:11,200
goods. 
And that he doesn't Grumble when

2669
02:28:11,200 --> 02:28:13,700
Dina comes late because she's 
been too absorbed in some 

2670
02:28:13,700 --> 02:28:18,500
project to notice the time Mrs. 
Barrett's snort, at this That's 

2671
02:28:18,500 --> 02:28:21,600
because he knows better. 
She says the smart man learns, 

2672
02:28:21,600 --> 02:28:24,100
early, that the weeks before 
Christmas aren't the time to 

2673
02:28:24,100 --> 02:28:27,500
voice opinions about domestic 
Arrangements, the wise ones, 

2674
02:28:27,500 --> 02:28:30,100
make themselves scarce and 
appreciate whatever eventually 

2675
02:28:30,100 --> 02:28:34,000
appears on the table. 
The afternoon progresses T 

2676
02:28:34,000 --> 02:28:37,300
appears at regular intervals, 
accompanied by whatever baking 

2677
02:28:37,300 --> 02:28:40,600
is currently being tested for 
the Christmas season today. 

2678
02:28:40,600 --> 02:28:44,200
It's Ginger biscuits. 
There is Chris and their centers

2679
02:28:44,200 --> 02:28:47,800
still slightly soft. 
The spice, warms your mouth and 

2680
02:28:47,800 --> 02:28:51,000
sits pleasantly on your tongue. 
You find yourself taking a 

2681
02:28:51,000 --> 02:28:54,300
second one, despite your 
intention to show restraint then

2682
02:28:54,300 --> 02:28:57,400
a third until your grandmother 
gives you a look that suggests 

2683
02:28:57,400 --> 02:29:00,900
you might want to leave some for
others, the light Fades early, 

2684
02:29:00,900 --> 02:29:05,700
these November afternoons, the 
sun setting by 4:00 Lamps, get 

2685
02:29:05,700 --> 02:29:10,300
lit, the glow, warm, and golden.
The kitchen takes on a cozy, 

2686
02:29:10,300 --> 02:29:13,100
quality. 
The darkness outside making the 

2687
02:29:13,100 --> 02:29:16,600
warmth inside feel, more 
pressure, the work continues. 

2688
02:29:16,600 --> 02:29:19,300
And you find yourself pulled 
into a comfortable Rhythm 

2689
02:29:19,300 --> 02:29:22,600
Stitch. 
Breathe, Stitch, breathe. 

2690
02:29:23,400 --> 02:29:27,000
Your handkerchiefs gross slowly 
one, microscopic hem at a time 

2691
02:29:27,000 --> 02:29:31,200
but they grow and that's enough.
You understand now why these 

2692
02:29:31,200 --> 02:29:33,400
gatherings matter? 
They're not just about 

2693
02:29:33,400 --> 02:29:36,400
accomplishing tasks though. 
Tasks certainly get 

2694
02:29:36,400 --> 02:29:39,400
accomplished, the women will 
leave tonight with bags. 

2695
02:29:39,400 --> 02:29:43,000
Full of completed work doilies 
and handkerchiefs mittens and 

2696
02:29:43,008 --> 02:29:46,500
scarves and all manner of small 
gifts and useful items. 

2697
02:29:46,500 --> 02:29:50,500
But the real value lies 
elsewhere in the companionship 

2698
02:29:50,500 --> 02:29:53,900
and conversation in the shared 
experience of working. 

2699
02:29:53,900 --> 02:29:57,100
Towards the same goal. 
These afternoons, create a 

2700
02:29:57,100 --> 02:30:00,100
pocket of time. 
Outside normal time, a space 

2701
02:30:00,100 --> 02:30:03,000
where women can be fully 
themselves without the constant 

2702
02:30:03,000 --> 02:30:05,500
demands of household management 
and Family Care. 

2703
02:30:05,500 --> 02:30:08,400
The work gives their hands 
something to do while their 

2704
02:30:08,400 --> 02:30:13,100
minds and hearts range free. 
Honestly, here, sharing 

2705
02:30:13,100 --> 02:30:15,800
frustrations and fears. 
That might seem Petty or 

2706
02:30:15,800 --> 02:30:19,000
inappropriate elsewhere. 
They can laugh without worrying 

2707
02:30:19,000 --> 02:30:22,100
about being too loud. 
They can be competent and 

2708
02:30:22,100 --> 02:30:24,200
skilled and recognized for that 
competence. 

2709
02:30:25,000 --> 02:30:28,200
As the afternoon stretches 
toward evening, someone suggests

2710
02:30:28,200 --> 02:30:31,600
that you all should sing. 
This becomes a Carol practice 

2711
02:30:31,600 --> 02:30:34,600
session of sorts with voices, 
joining and familiar harmonies. 

2712
02:30:34,600 --> 02:30:39,000
The singing is informal and 
imperfect some voices stronger 

2713
02:30:39,000 --> 02:30:42,200
than others. 
Some more tuneful, but it fills 

2714
02:30:42,200 --> 02:30:46,600
the kitchen with sound and joy. 
You sing along your voice 

2715
02:30:46,600 --> 02:30:50,100
joining the collective Harmony 
and feel connected to these 

2716
02:30:50,100 --> 02:30:51,700
women. 
In a way that transcends, the 

2717
02:30:51,700 --> 02:30:55,300
specific tasks your performing 
when the Gathering finally 

2718
02:30:55,300 --> 02:30:57,600
breaks up. 
Well, after dark, everyone 

2719
02:30:57,600 --> 02:30:59,900
leaves with full baskets and 
lighter hearts. 

2720
02:31:00,700 --> 02:31:03,800
You help your grandmother tidy. 
The kitchen, putting away scraps

2721
02:31:03,800 --> 02:31:07,300
of fabric and loose threads, 
washing the teacups and setting 

2722
02:31:07,300 --> 02:31:10,900
them to dry the kitchen. 
Feels empty and quiet off the 

2723
02:31:10,900 --> 02:31:13,900
afternoon bustle. 
But the silence is comfortable 

2724
02:31:13,900 --> 02:31:16,900
rather than lonely. 
The problem with a small house 

2725
02:31:16,900 --> 02:31:20,000
is that hiding, anything 
requires genuine creativity. 

2726
02:31:20,000 --> 02:31:24,000
He can't simply tuck a gift into
a closet or slide, it under a 

2727
02:31:24,000 --> 02:31:27,400
bed without risking Discovery. 
Every cupboard might be opened 

2728
02:31:27,400 --> 02:31:29,900
at any moment. 
Every draw might need something 

2729
02:31:29,900 --> 02:31:34,100
from its depths The house is too
small and too busy for easy 

2730
02:31:34,100 --> 02:31:36,700
concealment. 
And so the gifts you're creating

2731
02:31:36,700 --> 02:31:39,500
for your family must be hidden 
with the care of a spy 

2732
02:31:39,500 --> 02:31:43,700
concealing State Secrets, your 
father's handkerchiefs three 

2733
02:31:43,700 --> 02:31:45,100
completed. 
Now, with three more. 

2734
02:31:45,100 --> 02:31:47,100
Still to go live inside a clean 
flour. 

2735
02:31:47,100 --> 02:31:50,000
Sack tucked into the very back 
of the pantry. 

2736
02:31:50,000 --> 02:31:52,700
Behind jars of pickled onions. 
That won't be opened until 

2737
02:31:52,700 --> 02:31:55,800
spring the flour. 
Sack itself is unremarkable 

2738
02:31:55,800 --> 02:31:58,200
indistinguishable from others. 
Stored. 

2739
02:31:58,200 --> 02:32:01,400
In the same area, your father 
would have no reason to look 

2740
02:32:01,400 --> 02:32:04,900
inside it and even if he did the
handkerchiefs are wrapped in 

2741
02:32:04,908 --> 02:32:08,300
tissue paper at the bottom, 
concealed beneath a layer of 

2742
02:32:08,300 --> 02:32:12,200
actual flower, you added as 
camouflage, your mother's 

2743
02:32:12,200 --> 02:32:15,200
embroidered pillowcase a project
that's consumed. 

2744
02:32:15,200 --> 02:32:16,600
Your evening's for the past 
month. 

2745
02:32:17,300 --> 02:32:20,000
Hides in a hat box on top of the
Wardrobe in the guest room, 

2746
02:32:20,000 --> 02:32:22,700
wrapped in tissue paper and 
prayers. 

2747
02:32:22,700 --> 02:32:25,500
That no one decides to 
reorganize storage in the next 

2748
02:32:25,500 --> 02:32:28,900
few weeks. 
The pillowcase features a design

2749
02:32:28,900 --> 02:32:32,200
of roses and forget me. 
Nots worked in colors that match

2750
02:32:32,200 --> 02:32:35,100
your mother's bedroom. 
The embroidery is the finest 

2751
02:32:35,100 --> 02:32:36,000
work you've ever. 
Done. 

2752
02:32:36,000 --> 02:32:39,900
Each petal and leaf rendered 
with care and you're proud of 

2753
02:32:39,900 --> 02:32:41,000
it. 
In a way that makes you 

2754
02:32:41,000 --> 02:32:44,300
simultaneously. 
Eager to give it and reluctant 

2755
02:32:44,300 --> 02:32:48,000
to Let It Go. 
Other family members employs 

2756
02:32:48,000 --> 02:32:51,200
similar strategies, you notice 
your younger brothers suspicious

2757
02:32:51,200 --> 02:32:53,700
interest in the shed the way he 
lingers there. 

2758
02:32:53,700 --> 02:32:57,100
After completing his usual 
chores when you investigate 

2759
02:32:57,100 --> 02:33:00,300
casually as though you just 
happen to be passing. 

2760
02:33:01,100 --> 02:33:04,900
You find nothing obvious but the
smell of fresh wood shaving 

2761
02:33:04,900 --> 02:33:07,600
suggests. 
He's carving something For whom.

2762
02:33:07,600 --> 02:33:10,900
You can't determine but the 
evidence of his industry, 

2763
02:33:10,900 --> 02:33:13,600
pleases you, he's taking this 
seriously. 

2764
02:33:14,400 --> 02:33:16,700
Putting real effort into 
creating something meaningful. 

2765
02:33:16,700 --> 02:33:20,700
Your mother has commented the 
small bedroom that once belonged

2766
02:33:20,700 --> 02:33:22,800
to your eldest sister. 
Before she married and moved 

2767
02:33:22,800 --> 02:33:26,500
away the door, stays closed now 
and your mother emerges from it 

2768
02:33:26,500 --> 02:33:29,900
with a vague distracted are. 
As though, her mind remains 

2769
02:33:29,900 --> 02:33:32,700
behind that closed door even as 
her body moves through the 

2770
02:33:32,700 --> 02:33:34,500
house. 
She's sewing something. 

2771
02:33:34,500 --> 02:33:36,900
You're certain though, what 
remains a mystery. 

2772
02:33:37,700 --> 02:33:42,300
You've caught glimpses of fabric
something blue possibly wool but

2773
02:33:42,300 --> 02:33:45,800
nothing clear enough to identify
the final object even your 

2774
02:33:45,800 --> 02:33:49,000
grandmother who seems to know 
everything that happens in this 

2775
02:33:49,000 --> 02:33:52,300
house has secrets. 
You've caught her Consulting a 

2776
02:33:52,308 --> 02:33:55,600
small notebook, the disappears 
into her right from pocket 

2777
02:33:55,600 --> 02:33:59,200
whenever anyone enters the room.
Planning something. 

2778
02:33:59,200 --> 02:34:03,700
But what the notebook is small 
enough to conceal easily and she

2779
02:34:03,700 --> 02:34:07,400
guards it with such care that 
your intensely curious about its

2780
02:34:07,400 --> 02:34:10,400
contents. 
The subterfuge adds a layer of 

2781
02:34:10,400 --> 02:34:12,500
pleasant conspiracy to daily 
life. 

2782
02:34:13,200 --> 02:34:16,000
You pass each other in hallways,
and exchange knowing glances. 

2783
02:34:16,000 --> 02:34:19,200
That mean nothing and 
everything. you catch your 

2784
02:34:19,200 --> 02:34:22,200
brother sneaking into the shed 
at odd hours and pretend not to 

2785
02:34:22,200 --> 02:34:25,900
notice your mother emerges from 
the closed bedroom with pins in 

2786
02:34:25,900 --> 02:34:29,200
her mouth and thread in her hair
and you act as though this is 

2787
02:34:29,200 --> 02:34:33,200
perfectly normal The house fills
with secrets, that aren't really

2788
02:34:33,200 --> 02:34:37,500
Secrets Mysteries that will be 
solved in a few short weeks, the

2789
02:34:37,500 --> 02:34:41,800
anticipation builds slowly Like 
Water Rising behind a dam each 

2790
02:34:41,800 --> 02:34:44,200
hidden gift represents not just 
the thing itself. 

2791
02:34:44,200 --> 02:34:47,400
But the thought and Care 
invested in its creation. 

2792
02:34:47,400 --> 02:34:51,600
The hour spent in secret labor 
and the hope that the recipient 

2793
02:34:51,600 --> 02:34:54,700
will appreciate the effort 
shopping for the few items that 

2794
02:34:54,700 --> 02:34:57,700
must be purchased rather than 
made requires careful planning 

2795
02:34:57,700 --> 02:35:02,100
and even more careful, budgeting
The Village Shops and Christmas 

2796
02:35:02,100 --> 02:35:05,500
luxuries this time of year 
oranges that arrived in wooden 

2797
02:35:05,500 --> 02:35:10,300
crates their skins thick and 
dimples dates in Long boxes. 

2798
02:35:10,300 --> 02:35:15,700
Each fruit nestled against the 
next like dark Jewels figs raped

2799
02:35:15,700 --> 02:35:19,900
in paper nuts in their shells 
crackers that snap with hidden 

2800
02:35:19,900 --> 02:35:23,200
prizes inside. 
But these items cost real money.

2801
02:35:23,200 --> 02:35:25,800
And money must be carefully 
allocated across. 

2802
02:35:25,800 --> 02:35:29,200
Competing needs your grandmother
keeps the Christmas Fund in a 

2803
02:35:29,208 --> 02:35:31,000
brown teapot on the highest 
shelf in. 

2804
02:35:31,100 --> 02:35:34,400
The pantry throughout the year, 
small amounts of being added to 

2805
02:35:34,400 --> 02:35:36,400
it. 
Pennies from the egg money when 

2806
02:35:36,400 --> 02:35:39,700
the hens laid particularly well,
a Schilling from selling extra 

2807
02:35:39,700 --> 02:35:43,100
vegetables, to neighbors and the
odd coin found in a coat pocket 

2808
02:35:43,100 --> 02:35:46,700
and designated for the fund 
rather than General expenses. 

2809
02:35:46,700 --> 02:35:51,100
The additions have been modest 
but steady the result of small 

2810
02:35:51,100 --> 02:35:54,400
economies and careful management
In mid-november. 

2811
02:35:54,400 --> 02:35:58,000
She tips the teapots contents 
onto the kitchen table and 

2812
02:35:58,000 --> 02:36:00,300
counts. 
It carefully, the coins make 

2813
02:36:00,300 --> 02:36:03,100
small, clicking sounds as she 
sorts them into piles. 

2814
02:36:03,100 --> 02:36:07,200
Pennies here, sixpences there, 
the occasional Schilling 

2815
02:36:07,200 --> 02:36:09,400
standing apart, like a dignitary
among commoners. 

2816
02:36:09,400 --> 02:36:12,400
She counts twice. 
Then a third time to be certain 

2817
02:36:12,400 --> 02:36:16,800
her lips, moving silently, as 
she calculates, the total seems 

2818
02:36:16,800 --> 02:36:20,600
simultaneously more and less 
than you expected more because 

2819
02:36:20,600 --> 02:36:23,200
the pile of coins look 
substantial when spread across 

2820
02:36:23,200 --> 02:36:26,500
the table less because you know 
how quickly money disappears 

2821
02:36:26,500 --> 02:36:28,200
when confronted with actual 
prices. 

2822
02:36:29,100 --> 02:36:32,900
Enough for oranges, certainly 
impacts some dates enough for 

2823
02:36:32,900 --> 02:36:34,400
crackers. 
If they're the modest kind 

2824
02:36:34,400 --> 02:36:37,800
rather than the elaborate ones 
in the shop window enough, for 

2825
02:36:37,800 --> 02:36:41,200
the extra sugar and butter that 
Christmas baking demands, but 

2826
02:36:41,200 --> 02:36:43,000
not enough for waste or 
frivolity. 

2827
02:36:43,900 --> 02:36:46,000
Your grandmother divides. 
The money into careful. 

2828
02:36:46,000 --> 02:36:48,700
Piles. 
Each representing a category of 

2829
02:36:48,700 --> 02:36:52,900
expenditure this much for fruit.
This much for Christmas dinner, 

2830
02:36:52,900 --> 02:36:55,600
ingredients. 
The goose, the extra butter, and

2831
02:36:55,600 --> 02:36:58,900
the cream for the pudding. 
This much is for small gifts to 

2832
02:36:58,900 --> 02:37:02,200
give the postman the Coleman, 
and the other people who serve 

2833
02:37:02,200 --> 02:37:05,200
your household throughout the 
year, this much for unexpected 

2834
02:37:05,200 --> 02:37:08,400
Necessities, because there are 
always unexpected Necessities 

2835
02:37:08,400 --> 02:37:11,000
the calculations absorb her 
completely. 

2836
02:37:11,000 --> 02:37:14,500
You watch the concentration on 
her face as she moves coins from

2837
02:37:14,500 --> 02:37:18,400
pile to pile, balancing 
competing needs against finite 

2838
02:37:18,400 --> 02:37:21,400
resources. 
Occasionally she mutters to 

2839
02:37:21,400 --> 02:37:24,100
herself, working through some 
mathematical problem. 

2840
02:37:24,100 --> 02:37:27,900
Should she buy one more pound of
sugar and make do with fewer 

2841
02:37:27,900 --> 02:37:30,000
crackers? 
Would it be better to get less 

2842
02:37:30,000 --> 02:37:32,500
expensive fruit and use the 
savings for something else. 

2843
02:37:32,500 --> 02:37:36,400
The trip to the Village happens 
on a gray afternoon when rain 

2844
02:37:36,400 --> 02:37:41,200
threatens but hasn't yet begun. 
Sky, hangs low and heavy, the 

2845
02:37:41,200 --> 02:37:43,900
color of old pewter and the air 
carries that particular 

2846
02:37:43,900 --> 02:37:46,200
dampness. 
That suggests precipitation is 

2847
02:37:46,200 --> 02:37:49,200
imminent, your company, your 
grandmother carrying the 

2848
02:37:49,208 --> 02:37:51,400
shopping basket, and the list is
prepared. 

2849
02:37:52,300 --> 02:37:54,200
The list is written in her 
careful hand. 

2850
02:37:54,200 --> 02:37:57,300
Each item followed by a maximum 
price. 

2851
02:37:57,300 --> 02:37:59,900
She's willing to pay. 
The village shop is warm. 

2852
02:37:59,900 --> 02:38:03,100
After the chill outside heated. 
By a small stove in the corner, 

2853
02:38:03,100 --> 02:38:04,500
that makes the air Shimmer 
slightly. 

2854
02:38:05,400 --> 02:38:10,100
It smells of Everything at Once 
coffee, and soap, paraffin, and 

2855
02:38:10,100 --> 02:38:14,800
peppermint dried fish and fresh 
bread to backhoe, and molasses 

2856
02:38:14,800 --> 02:38:19,000
the sense layer over each other 
creating combinations that 

2857
02:38:19,000 --> 02:38:22,900
shouldn't work. 
But somehow do, Mr. Morrison 

2858
02:38:22,900 --> 02:38:25,700
behind the counter greet. 
Your grandmother by name and 

2859
02:38:25,700 --> 02:38:29,200
asks after your grandfather's 
rumors and he'll grandmother 

2860
02:38:29,200 --> 02:38:33,100
reports that its neither better 
nor worse which seems to satisfy

2861
02:38:33,100 --> 02:38:37,700
both of them. this exchange of 
pleasantries is obligatory, but 

2862
02:38:37,700 --> 02:38:41,500
genuine people in the village 
track, each other's health, and 

2863
02:38:41,500 --> 02:38:45,500
circumstances with real 
interest, the shopping proceeds 

2864
02:38:45,500 --> 02:38:48,900
methodically Your grandmother 
examines each orange 

2865
02:38:48,900 --> 02:38:52,100
individually. 
Checking for soft spots or signs

2866
02:38:52,100 --> 02:38:54,800
of age. 
She holds them up to the light 

2867
02:38:54,800 --> 02:38:59,100
looking for skin that's too thin
or too thick, she sniffs them 

2868
02:38:59,100 --> 02:39:02,600
checking for the bright Citrus 
scent that indicates freshness. 

2869
02:39:04,100 --> 02:39:07,000
Mr. Morrison watches this 
examination with patient and 

2870
02:39:07,000 --> 02:39:09,500
amusement. 
He knows better than to Russia 

2871
02:39:09,500 --> 02:39:12,400
or suggestions being too 
particular the dates gets 

2872
02:39:12,400 --> 02:39:15,200
similar scrutiny. 
She counts them into a paper 

2873
02:39:15,200 --> 02:39:18,600
bag, one by one testing their 
plumpness with gentle pressure. 

2874
02:39:19,500 --> 02:39:23,700
To dry and they won't be 
pleasant to eat too soft and 

2875
02:39:23,700 --> 02:39:25,200
they might have started to 
ferment. 

2876
02:39:25,200 --> 02:39:28,500
She is looking for dates that 
yields slightly under pressure 

2877
02:39:28,500 --> 02:39:32,500
but spring back that have a 
glossy skin but not a sticky 

2878
02:39:32,500 --> 02:39:35,300
one. 
The crackers require the longest

2879
02:39:35,300 --> 02:39:38,100
deliberation. 
She examined several different 

2880
02:39:38,100 --> 02:39:40,900
boxes, comparing their contents 
and prices. 

2881
02:39:40,900 --> 02:39:45,100
The expensive ones, promised 
better prizes inside, silver 

2882
02:39:45,100 --> 02:39:49,500
charms, tiny toys, clever 
riddles, the cheaper ones, offer

2883
02:39:49,500 --> 02:39:51,500
less exciting rewards but cost 
half as much. 

2884
02:39:51,500 --> 02:39:55,100
She debates this for a full five
minutes before selecting a box 

2885
02:39:55,100 --> 02:39:57,800
of moderate price. 
Neither the cheapest, nor the 

2886
02:39:57,800 --> 02:40:01,600
most expensive, a compromise, 
that satisfies her sense of both

2887
02:40:01,600 --> 02:40:05,000
economy and celebration, the 
other items on her list, get 

2888
02:40:05,000 --> 02:40:09,700
selected with similar care extra
sugar or by weight and poured 

2889
02:40:09,700 --> 02:40:12,400
into a paper bag. 
Butter in a wrapped block 

2890
02:40:12,400 --> 02:40:15,400
examined, to ensure. 
It hasn't begun to turn around, 

2891
02:40:15,400 --> 02:40:19,900
Sid cream in a small bottle. 
Its contents, rich and yellow. 

2892
02:40:20,900 --> 02:40:23,900
Currents and sultanas to 
supplement what she already has 

2893
02:40:23,900 --> 02:40:26,500
at home. 
A small package of candy, 

2894
02:40:26,500 --> 02:40:30,000
cherries a luxury. 
She allows herself once a year. 

2895
02:40:30,900 --> 02:40:34,000
Mr. Morrison wraps each purchase
with care. 

2896
02:40:34,000 --> 02:40:36,100
Creating neat, Parcels tied with
string. 

2897
02:40:36,100 --> 02:40:40,000
He makes a show of Consulting, 
his Ledger running his finger 

2898
02:40:40,000 --> 02:40:43,300
down Columns of numbers, though.
You suspect, he knows exactly 

2899
02:40:43,300 --> 02:40:46,600
what your family owes without 
needing to check your 

2900
02:40:46,600 --> 02:40:48,500
grandmother keeps her own 
accounting and the two of them 

2901
02:40:48,500 --> 02:40:50,500
compare notes. 
Finding their records in 

2902
02:40:50,500 --> 02:40:54,200
agreement, the total comes to 
slightly less than your 

2903
02:40:54,200 --> 02:40:56,900
grandmother. 
Budgeted a fact that pleases her

2904
02:40:56,900 --> 02:40:59,400
visibly. 
She tucks the remaining coins 

2905
02:40:59,400 --> 02:41:01,100
back into her. 
Purse with satisfaction 

2906
02:41:01,100 --> 02:41:05,300
unexpected savings that can be 
deployed elsewhere or simply 

2907
02:41:05,300 --> 02:41:10,800
saved against future need On the
walk home fat raindrops Begin to

2908
02:41:10,800 --> 02:41:13,500
Fall scattered at first and then
more steadily. 

2909
02:41:13,500 --> 02:41:16,800
You hurry the last few yards 
laughing as you burst through 

2910
02:41:16,800 --> 02:41:19,900
the door with your Parcels 
intact but your hair decorated 

2911
02:41:19,900 --> 02:41:24,800
with droplets the shopping gets 
unpacked and stored away each 

2912
02:41:24,800 --> 02:41:28,300
item in its designated place 
ready for the Christmas that 

2913
02:41:28,300 --> 02:41:32,300
draws steadily nearer. 
That evening, you add the dates 

2914
02:41:32,300 --> 02:41:34,600
to your mental. 
Catalog of Christmas markers. 

2915
02:41:34,600 --> 02:41:37,900
The oranges in the pantry 
wrapped individually in tissue 

2916
02:41:37,900 --> 02:41:40,300
paper, the crackers are on the 
high shelf. 

2917
02:41:40,300 --> 02:41:42,700
Their contents are mystery until
Christmas dinner. 

2918
02:41:42,700 --> 02:41:47,000
He's purchased luxuries joined 
the maid things, the jam and 

2919
02:41:47,000 --> 02:41:49,700
bottled fruit. 
The hanging puddings, the hidden

2920
02:41:49,700 --> 02:41:52,400
gifts in creating the 
accumulating evidence. 

2921
02:41:52,400 --> 02:41:55,600
That Christmas is coming the 
house itself must be prepared, 

2922
02:41:55,600 --> 02:41:57,700
though. 
Not in the Frantic last minute, 

2923
02:41:57,700 --> 02:42:02,200
way of later erased. 
Preparation happens in layers. 

2924
02:42:02,200 --> 02:42:04,900
Each task completed in its 
proper season. 

2925
02:42:04,900 --> 02:42:08,000
November brings the deep 
cleaning that will carry the 

2926
02:42:08,000 --> 02:42:09,800
household. 
Through Winter's darkest months 

2927
02:42:09,800 --> 02:42:12,200
and early. 
December sees the beginning of 

2928
02:42:12,200 --> 02:42:16,100
decoration, the house must be 
both spotlessly, clean and 

2929
02:42:16,100 --> 02:42:19,700
festively adorned a combination 
that requires planning and 

2930
02:42:19,700 --> 02:42:23,400
sustained effort. 
You start with the windows, this

2931
02:42:23,400 --> 02:42:27,000
seems counter intuitive why 
clean windows when winter rain 

2932
02:42:27,000 --> 02:42:28,500
and wind will only dirty them 
again. 

2933
02:42:28,500 --> 02:42:32,500
But your grandmother insists 
Christmas requires light, 

2934
02:42:32,500 --> 02:42:35,700
whatever, light can be coaxed 
from short, winter days and 

2935
02:42:35,700 --> 02:42:38,900
Long, Winter nights and dirty 
Windows, diminish. 

2936
02:42:38,900 --> 02:42:42,600
Even that meager offering clean 
glass allows every possible. 

2937
02:42:42,600 --> 02:42:45,800
Photon to enter brightening 
rooms that spend, most of 

2938
02:42:45,800 --> 02:42:49,200
December in Shadow. 
The work requires planning. 

2939
02:42:49,200 --> 02:42:52,700
You can't clean windows. 
When rain threatens, or when 

2940
02:42:52,700 --> 02:42:54,400
wind might blow dust into the 
wet. 

2941
02:42:54,400 --> 02:42:59,400
Glass you wait for a still dry 
day, increasingly rare as winter

2942
02:42:59,400 --> 02:43:03,800
deepens, and prepare your 
supplies vinegar and water mixed

2943
02:43:03,800 --> 02:43:06,500
in a bucket. 
Newspaper to squares for 

2944
02:43:06,500 --> 02:43:10,400
polishing Rags for the initial 
washing and shamwa leather for 

2945
02:43:10,400 --> 02:43:13,300
the final buff. 
The process is more elaborate 

2946
02:43:13,300 --> 02:43:16,400
than modern window cleaning. 
You start by washing the glass, 

2947
02:43:16,400 --> 02:43:20,100
with the vinegar solution, 
removing the accumulated Grime 

2948
02:43:20,100 --> 02:43:22,700
of months. 
The rag comes away, black 

2949
02:43:22,700 --> 02:43:25,400
revealing just how dirty the 
windows would become without 

2950
02:43:25,400 --> 02:43:28,800
your quite noticing. 
You wash each paint twice, then 

2951
02:43:28,800 --> 02:43:32,500
dry it with crumpled newspaper. 
The Printers Inc, leaving faint 

2952
02:43:32,500 --> 02:43:36,500
Grace, smudges on your hands. 
Final step involves the ShamWow 

2953
02:43:36,500 --> 02:43:39,800
leather, which polishes the 
glass to a Clarity that seems 

2954
02:43:39,800 --> 02:43:42,500
almost liquid. 
You were working circular 

2955
02:43:42,500 --> 02:43:45,800
motions buffing until the window
squeaks under your touch. 

2956
02:43:46,500 --> 02:43:49,600
Transformations is remarkable. 
What seemed? 

2957
02:43:49,600 --> 02:43:51,900
Merely Dirty Glass becomes 
transparent. 

2958
02:43:51,900 --> 02:43:56,400
Almost invisible, allowing light
to pour through unimpeded. 

2959
02:43:56,400 --> 02:44:00,300
You clean windows or morning. 
Moving from room to room, 

2960
02:44:00,300 --> 02:44:04,200
climbing stepladders, and 
leaning out of upper windows in 

2961
02:44:04,200 --> 02:44:07,000
ways that would horrify a modern
safety inspector. 

2962
02:44:07,000 --> 02:44:10,500
Your arms ache from the 
repetitive motion and your 

2963
02:44:10,500 --> 02:44:14,100
fingers grown numb from the cold
but the work produces visible 

2964
02:44:14,100 --> 02:44:16,500
results. 
They're satisfaction in that. 

2965
02:44:17,300 --> 02:44:19,800
The difference. 
Once you finish seems almost 

2966
02:44:19,800 --> 02:44:23,500
miraculous light pours into 
rooms that had grown dim without

2967
02:44:23,500 --> 02:44:26,800
your quite noticing. 
Corners emerge from Shadow 

2968
02:44:26,800 --> 02:44:31,100
revealing cobwebs, that must now
be dealt with colors, Brighton. 

2969
02:44:31,800 --> 02:44:35,300
The Faded roses on the wallpaper
are suddenly visible again and 

2970
02:44:35,300 --> 02:44:38,000
the blue and white of the 
kitchen Pottery is restored to 

2971
02:44:38,000 --> 02:44:41,000
its proper vibrancy. 
You understand why your 

2972
02:44:41,000 --> 02:44:44,000
grandmother insisted on this 
task, despite the effort it 

2973
02:44:44,000 --> 02:44:46,400
required? 
The curtains, come down next. 

2974
02:44:46,400 --> 02:44:51,100
All of them, room by room. 
Some get washed, the light 

2975
02:44:51,100 --> 02:44:53,500
cotton ones from the bedrooms 
that will survive the treatment.

2976
02:44:53,500 --> 02:44:55,900
You fill the copper in the yard 
with water. 

2977
02:44:55,900 --> 02:44:59,300
And heated over a fire at soap, 
flakes and carefully, submerged 

2978
02:44:59,300 --> 02:45:02,400
the curtains. 
They must be agitated gently to 

2979
02:45:02,400 --> 02:45:05,200
avoid damage. 
Rinse thoroughly to remove all 

2980
02:45:05,200 --> 02:45:08,300
soap, and hung to dry in a way 
that prevents wrinkles. 

2981
02:45:08,300 --> 02:45:11,200
The heavier curtains, received 
different treatment. 

2982
02:45:11,200 --> 02:45:14,700
The Velvet ones from the front 
room would be ruined by washing.

2983
02:45:14,700 --> 02:45:18,100
So instead you take them outside
and beat them with a carpet 

2984
02:45:18,100 --> 02:45:22,000
beater, releasing clouds of dust
that make you cough and sneeze. 

2985
02:45:22,000 --> 02:45:25,600
You work systematically folding 
the curtain over a line and 

2986
02:45:25,600 --> 02:45:28,200
beating each section until no 
more dust emerges. 

2987
02:45:29,000 --> 02:45:31,900
The physical effort leaves you 
breathless, but the curtains 

2988
02:45:31,900 --> 02:45:35,200
look significantly better. 
When you finish the wool 

2989
02:45:35,200 --> 02:45:37,600
curtains from the dining room, 
get brushed carefully with a 

2990
02:45:37,600 --> 02:45:40,900
soft brush working with a nap to
avoid damage. 

2991
02:45:41,700 --> 02:45:45,100
Your grandmother performs, this 
task herself, a movement's, 

2992
02:45:45,100 --> 02:45:46,100
patient. 
And methodical. 

2993
02:45:46,100 --> 02:45:49,000
Each curtain receives the same 
careful. 

2994
02:45:49,000 --> 02:45:51,900
Attention with brush Strokes 
following the Fabrics. 

2995
02:45:51,900 --> 02:45:55,100
Natural grain, collecting dust 
without a braiding. 

2996
02:45:55,100 --> 02:45:58,800
The material. 
Once cleaned the curtains must 

2997
02:45:58,800 --> 02:46:02,300
be aired before being re-hung, 
you draped them over lines in 

2998
02:46:02,308 --> 02:46:05,400
the yard where sun and wind 
work, their restorative magic. 

2999
02:46:05,400 --> 02:46:09,200
They hang like strange. 
Banners moving gently in the 

3000
02:46:09,208 --> 02:46:11,900
breeze. 
Gradually releasing the indoor 

3001
02:46:11,900 --> 02:46:15,100
smells they've absorbed and 
taking on the fresh scent of 

3002
02:46:15,108 --> 02:46:17,300
Outdoors. 
Receive attention. 

3003
02:46:17,300 --> 02:46:21,500
Next, the rugs go outside for 
beating a job that requires two 

3004
02:46:21,500 --> 02:46:23,500
people and considerable 
strength. 

3005
02:46:24,200 --> 02:46:27,900
You and your father carry each 
rug to the yard, drape it over a

3006
02:46:27,900 --> 02:46:31,300
sturdy line and take turns 
beating it with a carpet beater.

3007
02:46:31,300 --> 02:46:33,700
The dust that emerges seems 
impossible. 

3008
02:46:33,700 --> 02:46:36,600
How could one rug contain so 
much dirt? 

3009
02:46:37,500 --> 02:46:40,800
The beating continues until the 
dust clouds diminished to almost

3010
02:46:40,800 --> 02:46:45,100
nothing until your arms burn 
with exhaustion with the rugs 

3011
02:46:45,100 --> 02:46:47,700
removed. 
The floorboards Beneath the Sea 

3012
02:46:47,700 --> 02:46:49,700
light for the first time in 
months. 

3013
02:46:50,700 --> 02:46:53,900
The revealed wood looks pale and
neglected marked with 

3014
02:46:53,900 --> 02:46:57,600
indentations from furniture legs
and darkened in the paths people

3015
02:46:57,600 --> 02:47:01,600
walk most frequently you sweep, 
these boards thoroughly getting 

3016
02:47:01,600 --> 02:47:05,200
into corners and under Furniture
amazed at how much dust and 

3017
02:47:05,200 --> 02:47:09,300
debris a household can generate 
even in rooms that seem clean in

3018
02:47:09,300 --> 02:47:11,800
the front room. 
You even polish the floorboards 

3019
02:47:11,800 --> 02:47:14,400
with beeswax working on your 
hands and knees with soft 

3020
02:47:14,400 --> 02:47:16,900
cloths. 
The wax has to be applied 

3021
02:47:16,900 --> 02:47:20,800
sparingly and buffed vigorously 
to achieve the proper Sheen. 

3022
02:47:20,800 --> 02:47:23,000
Your grandmother shows you the 
technique. 

3023
02:47:23,000 --> 02:47:27,200
Small circular motions building 
up heat through friction the 

3024
02:47:27,200 --> 02:47:29,400
wax. 
Gradually achieving a deep glow.

3025
02:47:30,200 --> 02:47:33,400
The work is tedious and hard on 
the knees, but the results 

3026
02:47:33,400 --> 02:47:36,500
justify the effort. 
The floorboards gleam like 

3027
02:47:36,500 --> 02:47:40,300
honey, reflecting light in a way
that makes the entire room seem 

3028
02:47:40,300 --> 02:47:42,900
warmer. 
Your mother tackles the kitchen 

3029
02:47:42,900 --> 02:47:45,600
range, a job. 
She's been dreading for weeks, 

3030
02:47:45,600 --> 02:47:49,400
the range serves faithful all 
the year, heating water and 

3031
02:47:49,400 --> 02:47:51,000
cooking meals and warming the 
kitchen. 

3032
02:47:51,000 --> 02:47:55,300
But it rewards this service by 
accumulating Greece and soot in 

3033
02:47:55,300 --> 02:47:56,800
quantities. 
That seemed impossible. 

3034
02:47:56,800 --> 02:48:00,900
It's a beast of cast iron and 
firebrick with hot plates and 

3035
02:48:00,900 --> 02:48:03,300
others and water. 
Reservoir, and every surface 

3036
02:48:03,300 --> 02:48:06,700
requires attention. 
Starts by letting the fire. 

3037
02:48:06,700 --> 02:48:10,000
Go out completely waiting until 
the range is cool. 

3038
02:48:10,000 --> 02:48:12,900
Enough to touch, then she begins
disassembling. 

3039
02:48:12,900 --> 02:48:15,400
What can be disassembled hot 
plate? 

3040
02:48:15,400 --> 02:48:19,300
Covers oven doors and the 
various metal pieces that can be

3041
02:48:19,308 --> 02:48:23,300
removed for separate cleaning. 
Each piece gets soaked in a 

3042
02:48:23,300 --> 02:48:26,600
solution of washing soda. 
The caustic mixture cutting 

3043
02:48:26,600 --> 02:48:29,200
through Greece that is baked on 
over months of use. 

3044
02:48:29,900 --> 02:48:32,400
The scrubbing requires, 
determination and elbow. 

3045
02:48:32,400 --> 02:48:36,600
Grease, your mother works with 
wire brushes and steel wool, her

3046
02:48:36,600 --> 02:48:40,200
hands protected by thick gloves 
that are nevertheless inadequate

3047
02:48:40,200 --> 02:48:41,900
against the harsh cleaning 
solution. 

3048
02:48:41,900 --> 02:48:45,800
She scrubs until her arms, ache 
removing layers of accumulated 

3049
02:48:45,800 --> 02:48:50,100
carbon and grease revealing. 
The original metal beneath you 

3050
02:48:50,100 --> 02:48:53,300
help by running back and forth 
with buckets of clean water for 

3051
02:48:53,300 --> 02:48:55,500
rinsing and bowls for the dirty 
water. 

3052
02:48:55,500 --> 02:48:58,300
The dirty water is 
spectacularly. 

3053
02:48:58,300 --> 02:49:01,400
Filthy black with soot and 
clouded with grease. 

3054
02:49:01,400 --> 02:49:05,700
You empty bowl after bowling the
contents in to the drain in the 

3055
02:49:05,708 --> 02:49:08,200
yard watching it soak into the 
ground. 

3056
02:49:09,700 --> 02:49:12,400
The Rangers interior requires, 
special attention. 

3057
02:49:12,400 --> 02:49:17,400
The Firebox must be scraped 
clean of Ash and clinker the 

3058
02:49:17,400 --> 02:49:21,500
build-up that forms when cold 
Burns incompletely, Your mother 

3059
02:49:21,500 --> 02:49:24,800
uses a special tool for this 
working carefully to avoid 

3060
02:49:24,800 --> 02:49:26,400
damaging. 
The fire brick lining. 

3061
02:49:26,400 --> 02:49:30,900
The flu gets swept releasing a 
fall of soot that must be caught

3062
02:49:30,900 --> 02:49:34,500
and disposed of Every surface 
gets scrubbed and rinsed and 

3063
02:49:34,508 --> 02:49:36,900
dried. 
By the time the range is 

3064
02:49:36,900 --> 02:49:39,900
reassembled and Polished. 
Your mother's hands are raw and 

3065
02:49:39,900 --> 02:49:45,000
her face streaked with soot but 
the range gleams like new the 

3066
02:49:45,000 --> 02:49:49,100
black Iron shines, the Chrome 
fittings Sparkle and the oven 

3067
02:49:49,100 --> 02:49:51,200
doors closed with a satisfying 
click. 

3068
02:49:51,200 --> 02:49:54,200
It seems to draw better 
afterwards as though it 

3069
02:49:54,208 --> 02:49:57,100
appreciates the attention and 
wants to reward the effort with 

3070
02:49:57,100 --> 02:50:00,500
improved performance, the 
bedrooms receive fresh white 

3071
02:50:00,500 --> 02:50:03,500
wash when needed. 
The walls in house is of the era

3072
02:50:03,500 --> 02:50:06,800
were painted with the durable. 
Paints of late years, but 

3073
02:50:06,800 --> 02:50:09,900
whitewashed with a mixture of 
lime and water that absorbed 

3074
02:50:09,900 --> 02:50:13,200
dirt and had to be renewed. 
Periodically, your father 

3075
02:50:13,200 --> 02:50:15,900
tackles this job mixing, the 
whitewash to the proper 

3076
02:50:15,900 --> 02:50:20,100
consistency and applying it with
a wide brush in smooth even 

3077
02:50:20,100 --> 02:50:22,500
Strokes. 
The whitewash goes on wet. 

3078
02:50:22,500 --> 02:50:26,900
And translucent looking nothing 
like his final appearance as it 

3079
02:50:26,900 --> 02:50:29,400
dries. 
It transforms becoming opaque 

3080
02:50:29,400 --> 02:50:32,700
and Brilliant White. 
The transformation makes rooms 

3081
02:50:32,700 --> 02:50:35,300
feel larger and brighter 
reflecting whatever. 

3082
02:50:35,300 --> 02:50:39,000
Light managers to enter fresh. 
Whitewash also has a clean 

3083
02:50:39,000 --> 02:50:42,300
chalky and somehow optimistic 
smell that makes a room feel 

3084
02:50:42,300 --> 02:50:44,800
renewed. 
Minor repairs. 

3085
02:50:44,800 --> 02:50:47,400
Get completed in this General 
atmosphere of improvement. 

3086
02:50:47,400 --> 02:50:50,700
Your father spends a Sunday 
morning with his toolbox, moving

3087
02:50:50,700 --> 02:50:53,400
from room to room and addressing
the small maintenance issues 

3088
02:50:53,400 --> 02:50:55,600
that have accumulated loose 
door. 

3089
02:50:55,600 --> 02:50:58,300
Handles, get tightened squeaky 
hinges. 

3090
02:50:58,300 --> 02:51:01,700
Receive drops of oil, a loose 
floorboard in the hallway, gets 

3091
02:51:01,700 --> 02:51:04,500
nailed back. 
Down the banister that wobbled 

3092
02:51:04,500 --> 02:51:06,200
slightly is secured firmly to 
the wall. 

3093
02:51:06,200 --> 02:51:10,400
The small fixes, make the house 
feel more solid, more cared for 

3094
02:51:10,400 --> 02:51:13,200
the accumulation of minor 
problems. 

3095
02:51:13,200 --> 02:51:16,800
None serious individually. 
The created a general sense of 

3096
02:51:16,800 --> 02:51:19,900
happiness that you didn't fully 
recognize until it disappeared. 

3097
02:51:20,800 --> 02:51:23,200
Now, doors closed, smoothly, 
floors. 

3098
02:51:23,200 --> 02:51:26,600
Don't Creak unexpectedly and 
everything works as it should 

3099
02:51:26,600 --> 02:51:29,000
the house. 
Settles into battle order and 

3100
02:51:29,000 --> 02:51:32,200
seems to stand a bit straighter 
ready for the celebration to 

3101
02:51:32,200 --> 02:51:34,200
come. 
Walking through it. 

3102
02:51:34,200 --> 02:51:37,200
Now feels different. 
The increased light from clean 

3103
02:51:37,200 --> 02:51:39,700
windows, the fresh walls and the
gleaming floors. 

3104
02:51:39,700 --> 02:51:43,800
All of it combines to create an 
atmosphere of redness and 

3105
02:51:43,800 --> 02:51:47,200
welcomed in the eyes of adults, 
children exist somewhere between

3106
02:51:47,200 --> 02:51:49,900
helpers and obstacles during 
Christmas preparations. 

3107
02:51:50,800 --> 02:51:54,400
You're old enough now to be 
genuinely useful capable of 

3108
02:51:54,400 --> 02:51:57,800
completing tasks without 
constant supervision, but you 

3109
02:51:57,800 --> 02:52:00,200
remember, clearly, when you were
young enough to be merely 

3110
02:52:00,200 --> 02:52:04,000
decorative included in tasks, 
more for the traditional of it 

3111
02:52:04,008 --> 02:52:07,300
than for any real assistance, 
you could provide the youngest 

3112
02:52:07,300 --> 02:52:09,800
cousin visiting for the 
afternoon while her mother helps

3113
02:52:09,800 --> 02:52:12,600
your grandmother with some 
project demonstrates this 

3114
02:52:12,600 --> 02:52:16,600
perfectly. 
She's five years old gap, tooth 

3115
02:52:16,600 --> 02:52:20,300
and solemn and she's been set to
stringing popcorn for garlands. 

3116
02:52:20,300 --> 02:52:24,300
This is a traditional tasks for 
small children, one that keeps 

3117
02:52:24,300 --> 02:52:26,200
their hands busy and produces 
something. 

3118
02:52:26,200 --> 02:52:29,400
Genuinely useful. 
While minimizing the potential 

3119
02:52:29,400 --> 02:52:33,100
for disaster, she approaches the
work with intense concentration.

3120
02:52:33,100 --> 02:52:36,400
Her tongue poking slightly from 
the corner of her mouth as she 

3121
02:52:36,400 --> 02:52:38,400
threads, each kernel onto the 
string. 

3122
02:52:39,200 --> 02:52:41,400
The needle is blunt and the 
thread is thick. 

3123
02:52:41,400 --> 02:52:45,500
Reducing the likelihood of 
injury, a bowl of popcorn, sits 

3124
02:52:45,500 --> 02:52:49,600
beside her carefully prepared 
pop the day before so it's dry 

3125
02:52:49,600 --> 02:52:52,400
enough to thread without 
crumbling but not so old, it's 

3126
02:52:52,400 --> 02:52:55,000
gone stale. 
The problem you notice with 

3127
02:52:55,000 --> 02:52:58,600
Amusement is that she eats 
approximately three kernels for 

3128
02:52:58,600 --> 02:53:01,600
everyone she threats. 
The process goes like this. 

3129
02:53:01,600 --> 02:53:05,300
She selects a kernel from the 
bowl, examines it. 

3130
02:53:05,300 --> 02:53:08,700
Carefully and eats it selects 
another kernel threads, it onto 

3131
02:53:08,700 --> 02:53:12,500
a string and eats the next one. 
The resulting Garland grows with

3132
02:53:12,500 --> 02:53:15,900
glacial slowness, but she 
remains absorbed in the task 

3133
02:53:15,900 --> 02:53:19,200
humming tuneless. 
As she works your grandmother 

3134
02:53:19,200 --> 02:53:21,600
supervising while she works on 
something else. 

3135
02:53:21,600 --> 02:53:25,400
Pretend not to notice the ratio 
of eaten to threaded popcorn. 

3136
02:53:25,400 --> 02:53:29,800
The popcorn is cheap, the 
child's happiness, valuable, and

3137
02:53:29,800 --> 02:53:32,400
the mathematics of the 
situation, favor, letting her 

3138
02:53:32,400 --> 02:53:34,500
continued. 
Even if the garlands progress 

3139
02:53:34,500 --> 02:53:37,800
slowly eventually, there will be
enough Garland for decorative 

3140
02:53:37,800 --> 02:53:40,000
purposes. 
And in the meantime, the child 

3141
02:53:40,000 --> 02:53:43,600
is occupied and content. 
Older children get more 

3142
02:53:43,600 --> 02:53:47,700
substantial, responsibilities, 
your brother recently turned 13,

3143
02:53:47,700 --> 02:53:51,100
and newly aware of his own. 
Capabilities has been tasked 

3144
02:53:51,100 --> 02:53:53,000
with polishing, all the brass in
the house. 

3145
02:53:53,800 --> 02:53:57,900
This is a significant job, your 
family possesses a surprising 

3146
02:53:57,900 --> 02:54:01,800
amount of brass for people. 
Of modest means candlesticks are

3147
02:54:01,800 --> 02:54:05,900
varying sizes, door handles, and
knockers the coal scuttle and 

3148
02:54:05,900 --> 02:54:09,600
fire irons, draw, pulls and 
picture frames, and even the 

3149
02:54:09,608 --> 02:54:12,100
small brass ornaments, your 
grandmother displays on the 

3150
02:54:12,100 --> 02:54:14,400
mantle piece. 
He works methodically at the 

3151
02:54:14,408 --> 02:54:17,000
kitchen table which has been 
covered with layers of newspaper

3152
02:54:17,000 --> 02:54:20,500
to protect it from the Polish. 
His supplies are a raid with 

3153
02:54:20,500 --> 02:54:24,600
military Precision, a tin of 
metal polish, soft Rags for 

3154
02:54:24,600 --> 02:54:28,600
application, slightly, rougher 
ones for buffing a small brush 

3155
02:54:28,600 --> 02:54:31,800
for getting into crevasses, and 
a bowl of water for renting. 

3156
02:54:31,800 --> 02:54:35,400
His hands between items, the 
work transforms him over the 

3157
02:54:35,400 --> 02:54:38,500
course of an afternoon. 
He starts cheerful and 

3158
02:54:38,500 --> 02:54:41,100
energetic, making good progress.
On the first few items. 

3159
02:54:41,100 --> 02:54:45,300
The brass responds to his 
efforts dull, surfaces becoming 

3160
02:54:45,300 --> 02:54:48,600
bright tarnished dissolving 
under the polishes chemical 

3161
02:54:48,600 --> 02:54:51,400
action. 
But brass polishing is tedious 

3162
02:54:51,400 --> 02:54:53,700
work. 
Requiring sustained effort. 

3163
02:54:53,700 --> 02:54:58,200
And there's so much brass by the
third Candlestick, his movements

3164
02:54:58,200 --> 02:55:01,600
of slowed. 
By the 5th, he singing quietly 

3165
02:55:01,600 --> 02:55:06,000
to himself some made up song 
about brass and Christmas and 

3166
02:55:06,000 --> 02:55:08,600
the unfairness of having been 
born into a family with. 

3167
02:55:08,600 --> 02:55:12,700
So many metal objects, The song 
has a mournful quality but also 

3168
02:55:12,700 --> 02:55:17,200
humor, he's complaining, but not
seriously marking time in a way.

3169
02:55:17,208 --> 02:55:20,700
That makes the work pass faster.
You take pity on him and help 

3170
02:55:20,700 --> 02:55:23,900
with the fire ions, which are 
large and awkward and require 

3171
02:55:23,900 --> 02:55:26,900
real muscle to polish properly. 
Working together. 

3172
02:55:26,900 --> 02:55:31,300
You fall into a rhythm and the 
job moves faster, your brother's

3173
02:55:31,300 --> 02:55:35,000
Spirits lift and his song 
becomes slightly less mournful 

3174
02:55:35,000 --> 02:55:39,900
evolving into something, almost 
cheerful, the transformation of 

3175
02:55:39,908 --> 02:55:42,400
each piece of brass follows a 
predictable pattern. 

3176
02:55:42,400 --> 02:55:46,000
At first, the Polish seems to 
make things worse, creating a 

3177
02:55:46,008 --> 02:55:49,300
dark smudge that obscures what 
ever shine might have existed 

3178
02:55:49,300 --> 02:55:53,800
before then as you buff, the 
smudge begins to lift revealing 

3179
02:55:53,800 --> 02:55:57,800
brightness beneath The tarnished
transfers to your cloth leaving 

3180
02:55:57,800 --> 02:56:00,700
black marks that demonstrate, 
both the amount of cleaning 

3181
02:56:00,700 --> 02:56:03,000
needed and the effect of your 
work. 

3182
02:56:03,700 --> 02:56:06,500
The final stage requires 
vigorous buffing with a clean 

3183
02:56:06,500 --> 02:56:10,700
cloth, building up heat through 
friction the brass warming under

3184
02:56:10,700 --> 02:56:12,800
your hands, as achieved as its 
full Shine. 

3185
02:56:12,800 --> 02:56:16,700
The reward comes when you hold a
completed piece up to the light 

3186
02:56:16,700 --> 02:56:19,800
and see your distorted 
reflection in its gleaming 

3187
02:56:19,800 --> 02:56:22,700
surface. 
The smallest children contribute

3188
02:56:22,700 --> 02:56:25,700
in their own way mostly by 
staying out of the way. 

3189
02:56:25,700 --> 02:56:29,200
At crucial moments, they get 
sent on Ernest errands that keep

3190
02:56:29,200 --> 02:56:30,900
them occupied. 
While accomplishing little 

3191
02:56:30,900 --> 02:56:34,300
practical purpose. 
Go count how many jars of Jammer

3192
02:56:34,300 --> 02:56:37,800
in the pantry. see if you can 
find my green scarf in the chest

3193
02:56:37,800 --> 02:56:41,200
upstairs, check whether the hens
of laid, any eggs in the last 

3194
02:56:41,200 --> 02:56:44,700
hour, These missions, provide 
the children with a sense of 

3195
02:56:44,700 --> 02:56:47,600
participation while removing 
them from underfoot during 

3196
02:56:47,600 --> 02:56:50,800
delicate operations. 
Your youngest cousin returns 

3197
02:56:50,800 --> 02:56:53,100
from Counting jam jars with a 
reported total. 

3198
02:56:53,100 --> 02:56:56,700
That seems improbable either she
can't count accurately yet or 

3199
02:56:56,700 --> 02:57:00,000
she lost track partway through 
but she delivers her report with

3200
02:57:00,000 --> 02:57:04,100
pride and your grandmother. 
Thanks her Gravely as though the

3201
02:57:04,100 --> 02:57:07,300
information is crucial. 
He remember being that age, 

3202
02:57:07,300 --> 02:57:09,900
remember the importance of 
feeling useful. 

3203
02:57:09,900 --> 02:57:13,000
Even when you weren't and you 
treat the small ones with 

3204
02:57:13,000 --> 02:57:17,000
patients, when they interrupt 
important work to show you a 

3205
02:57:17,000 --> 02:57:20,300
particularly interesting Stone, 
they found or to ask whether 

3206
02:57:20,300 --> 02:57:24,600
Angels wear shoes, the children 
questions reveal the way their 

3207
02:57:24,600 --> 02:57:26,700
processing Christmas is 
approaching reality. 

3208
02:57:26,700 --> 02:57:29,300
Well, Father. 
Christmas know we moved to a new

3209
02:57:29,308 --> 02:57:31,500
house. 
How does he visit all the 

3210
02:57:31,500 --> 02:57:34,500
children in one night? 
What if the reindeer get tired? 

3211
02:57:35,300 --> 02:57:38,300
The answer is best. 
You can maintaining the magic 

3212
02:57:38,300 --> 02:57:41,000
while avoiding outright lies 
that might later cause trust 

3213
02:57:41,000 --> 02:57:44,000
issues as Christmas draws 
closer. 

3214
02:57:44,000 --> 02:57:47,200
The children's excitement 
becomes almost tangible. 

3215
02:57:47,200 --> 02:57:51,200
It shimmers around them like, 
heat Haze visible in the way 

3216
02:57:51,200 --> 02:57:54,800
they bounce, rather than walk, 
the way they whisper in Corners 

3217
02:57:54,800 --> 02:57:58,700
about suspected gifts and the 
way they wake early each morning

3218
02:57:58,700 --> 02:58:02,300
as though eager to hurry, time 
along it to stay awake on 

3219
02:58:02,300 --> 02:58:05,700
Christmas Eve to catch some 
glimpse of magic hiding at the 

3220
02:58:05,700 --> 02:58:08,100
top of the stairs. 
Peaking around door frames 

3221
02:58:08,100 --> 02:58:12,600
fighting sleep with increasing 
desperation, they never succeed,

3222
02:58:12,600 --> 02:58:15,400
sleep claims them, despite their
best efforts. 

3223
02:58:15,400 --> 02:58:18,200
And they wake Christmas morning 
with no memory of the 

3224
02:58:18,200 --> 02:58:21,500
transitioned disappointed and 
relieved in equal measure. 

3225
02:58:22,500 --> 02:58:26,300
Their Joy proves contagious even
when you're tired from work or 

3226
02:58:26,300 --> 02:58:28,800
frustrated with some tasks that 
won't come, right? 

3227
02:58:28,800 --> 02:58:32,000
They're genuine Delight in the 
season and restores your own 

3228
02:58:32,000 --> 02:58:34,800
anticipation. 
You remember why all these 

3229
02:58:34,800 --> 02:58:38,000
effort matters, why the 
Traditions continue and why 

3230
02:58:38,000 --> 02:58:41,400
Christmas remains worth the 
work, it requires watching your 

3231
02:58:41,400 --> 02:58:44,300
youngest cousins string, her 
slow, Garland eating more 

3232
02:58:44,300 --> 02:58:47,500
popcorn than she threads. 
You're a minded that Christmas 

3233
02:58:47,500 --> 02:58:49,800
isn't really about perfection or
efficiency. 

3234
02:58:49,800 --> 02:58:53,700
It's about participation about 
belonging to something larger 

3235
02:58:53,700 --> 02:58:57,100
than yourself and about sharing 
in Traditions, that can connect 

3236
02:58:57,100 --> 02:58:59,700
you backward through time and 
forward into the future. 

3237
02:59:00,700 --> 02:59:03,100
Child's imperfect. 
Garland matters more than a 

3238
02:59:03,100 --> 02:59:04,800
perfect one purchased from a 
shot. 

3239
02:59:05,500 --> 02:59:08,900
Precisely, because she made it 
herself because it represents 

3240
02:59:08,900 --> 02:59:11,400
her contribution to the family 
celebration. 

3241
02:59:12,300 --> 02:59:15,600
Christmas preparation isn't 
entirely a household Affair. 

3242
02:59:15,600 --> 02:59:19,900
The Village itself participates 
with various communal efforts, 

3243
02:59:19,900 --> 02:59:22,800
that distribute both work and 
celebration of multiple 

3244
02:59:22,800 --> 02:59:25,500
families. 
The church requires decorating, 

3245
02:59:25,500 --> 02:59:29,100
the Village Hall needs preparing
for the Christmas dance, and 

3246
02:59:29,100 --> 02:59:32,100
various small, kindnesses must 
be organized for those who need 

3247
02:59:32,100 --> 02:59:34,100
them. 
These Collective efforts create 

3248
02:59:34,100 --> 02:59:37,800
bonds that extend beyond 
individual households weaving 

3249
02:59:37,800 --> 02:59:40,400
the community together in 
preparation for a shared 

3250
02:59:40,400 --> 02:59:42,800
celebration. 
You volunteer to help with the 

3251
02:59:42,800 --> 02:59:47,100
church decoration partly from 
genuine devotion and partly 

3252
02:59:47,100 --> 02:59:49,400
because you enjoy the 
companionship of working 

3253
02:59:49,400 --> 02:59:53,100
alongside neighbors, you might 
not otherwise, see often the 

3254
02:59:53,100 --> 02:59:56,200
work happens on a bitterly cold 
after noon in early, December 

3255
02:59:56,200 --> 03:00:00,000
with frost still lingering in 
the shadows of gravestones and 

3256
03:00:00,000 --> 03:00:03,400
your breath visible in white 
clouds that dissipates slowly in

3257
03:00:03,400 --> 03:00:06,800
the still air. 
The churchyard shows signs of 

3258
03:00:06,808 --> 03:00:10,100
Winter's Advanced the grasses 
turned brown and brittle 

3259
03:00:10,100 --> 03:00:13,200
crunching under your feet. 
The trees stand bare. 

3260
03:00:13,200 --> 03:00:15,800
Their branches black against the
colorless Sky. 

3261
03:00:15,800 --> 03:00:19,500
A few late roses cling to bushes
near the church door, their 

3262
03:00:19,500 --> 03:00:23,400
petals browned and fragile. 
Lasting days past. 

3263
03:00:23,400 --> 03:00:26,300
What seems possible. 
Inside the church. 

3264
03:00:26,300 --> 03:00:29,100
It's not much warmer than 
outside but at least your 

3265
03:00:29,100 --> 03:00:31,400
sheltered from the wind. 
Stone walls. 

3266
03:00:31,400 --> 03:00:34,800
Seemed to radiate cold and you 
can see Frost patterns in the 

3267
03:00:34,800 --> 03:00:38,000
corners of windows. 
The Vicar's wife has organized 

3268
03:00:38,000 --> 03:00:39,500
the effort with military 
Precision. 

3269
03:00:39,500 --> 03:00:42,800
She stands at the front of the 
church with a clipboard and a 

3270
03:00:42,800 --> 03:00:46,500
list Consulting, it frequently 
and dispatching, volunteers to 

3271
03:00:46,500 --> 03:00:50,200
various tasks with clear. 
Sniffing instructions. 

3272
03:00:50,200 --> 03:00:54,600
Your assigned to Greenery 
collection, a job that sends you

3273
03:00:54,600 --> 03:00:58,300
back outside with clippers and 
baskets, searching hedgerows and

3274
03:00:58,300 --> 03:01:00,700
Woodland edges. 
For Holly Ivy, and anything 

3275
03:01:00,700 --> 03:01:04,200
else, suitably festive, several 
other volunteers, join you on 

3276
03:01:04,200 --> 03:01:07,000
the Expedition and you spread 
out across the surrounding 

3277
03:01:07,000 --> 03:01:09,800
Countryside. 
Each person taking a different 

3278
03:01:09,800 --> 03:01:13,300
direction to maximize coverage. 
The work requires more 

3279
03:01:13,300 --> 03:01:15,300
discernment than you initially 
expected. 

3280
03:01:15,300 --> 03:01:19,200
Not just any Hollywood will do. 
You need branches with good 

3281
03:01:19,200 --> 03:01:22,300
Berry production, the bright red
berries, that symbolize 

3282
03:01:22,300 --> 03:01:25,200
Christmas joy. 
And the leaves should be glossy 

3283
03:01:25,200 --> 03:01:28,800
and dark green rather than pale 
or damaged by Frost. 

3284
03:01:29,700 --> 03:01:33,300
The perfect Holly branch has 
clustered thickly along the stem

3285
03:01:33,300 --> 03:01:37,200
leaves that a hole and vibrant 
and a shape that will look good 

3286
03:01:37,200 --> 03:01:41,700
when arranged Finding such 
branches takes time, you walk 

3287
03:01:41,700 --> 03:01:44,400
along, hedgerows examining each 
hollybush. 

3288
03:01:44,400 --> 03:01:48,300
Critically many a few or No 
Berries, perhaps birds have 

3289
03:01:48,300 --> 03:01:51,500
already taken them or perhaps 
the summer weather, didn't favor

3290
03:01:51,500 --> 03:01:56,100
Berry production, Others have 
berries, but damaged leaves or 

3291
03:01:56,100 --> 03:01:59,300
leaves in good condition. 
But sparse berries, you're 

3292
03:01:59,300 --> 03:02:02,200
looking for that perfect 
combination and it's rarer than 

3293
03:02:02,200 --> 03:02:05,000
you'd hoped. 
The Ivy must be Supple enough to

3294
03:02:05,000 --> 03:02:08,700
drape gracefully rather than 
breaking when bent we test this 

3295
03:02:08,700 --> 03:02:11,800
by carefully bending strands 
seeing which ones Flex smoothly,

3296
03:02:11,800 --> 03:02:16,100
and which snap the best Ivy has 
a slight shine to its leaves and

3297
03:02:16,100 --> 03:02:19,300
trails in Long, elegant lengths,
that can be woven into garlands 

3298
03:02:19,300 --> 03:02:22,800
or draped over Stone. 
You also look for Pine or fur 

3299
03:02:22,800 --> 03:02:26,200
bows, not common in this area, 
but a neighbor has a few 

3300
03:02:26,200 --> 03:02:29,000
ornamental Evergreen in his 
garden and his permission for 

3301
03:02:29,000 --> 03:02:32,500
some cutting. 
The pine smells wonderful, sharp

3302
03:02:32,500 --> 03:02:35,400
and resinous. 
A scent that speaks of winter 

3303
03:02:35,400 --> 03:02:38,800
and festivals. 
The needles are soft when young,

3304
03:02:38,800 --> 03:02:42,200
but sharp when mature, when you 
learned to handle the branches 

3305
03:02:42,200 --> 03:02:45,900
carefully to avoid getting stuck
after an hour of searching, your

3306
03:02:45,900 --> 03:02:48,500
basket is full of carefully, 
selected Greenery. 

3307
03:02:49,200 --> 03:02:52,200
He returned to the church, to 
find it transformed into a hive 

3308
03:02:52,200 --> 03:02:54,900
of activity. 
The men of constructed, a 

3309
03:02:54,900 --> 03:02:58,600
framework for the nativity scene
measuring and soaring in the 

3310
03:02:58,600 --> 03:02:59,700
side. 
Aisle with good natured 

3311
03:02:59,700 --> 03:03:01,500
arguments about the proper way 
to join. 

3312
03:03:01,500 --> 03:03:04,700
Would someone's aren't arrangers
candles along the windowsills 

3313
03:03:04,700 --> 03:03:08,200
with mathematical Precision 
ensuring each one stands at 

3314
03:03:08,200 --> 03:03:11,200
exactly. 
The same height and spacing a 

3315
03:03:11,200 --> 03:03:13,800
group of children practices 
carols under the direction of 

3316
03:03:13,800 --> 03:03:17,500
the choir Master, their voices, 
sweet and uncertain in equal 

3317
03:03:17,500 --> 03:03:19,900
measure. 
The Greenery gets sorted and 

3318
03:03:19,900 --> 03:03:23,200
allocated to different projects.
Some will be woven into 

3319
03:03:23,200 --> 03:03:26,800
garlands, some arranged in great
sheaves and some used to 

3320
03:03:26,808 --> 03:03:30,400
decorate the window, Ledges and 
frame the nativity scene, the 

3321
03:03:30,400 --> 03:03:34,000
Vicar's wife oversees this 
distribution, her organizational

3322
03:03:34,000 --> 03:03:36,900
skills and showing that every 
area of the church receives 

3323
03:03:36,900 --> 03:03:40,200
appropriate attention. 
Your set to work on Garland 

3324
03:03:40,200 --> 03:03:43,500
making with Mrs. Henderson and 
two other women, the process 

3325
03:03:43,500 --> 03:03:47,100
involves taking Ivy as a base 
and weaving in Holly, creating a

3326
03:03:47,100 --> 03:03:50,100
rope of greenery that can be 
draped along pews or wrapped 

3327
03:03:50,100 --> 03:03:52,800
around pillars. 
The Ivy provides the structure. 

3328
03:03:52,800 --> 03:03:57,300
Its flexibility, allowing you to
twist and wind it while the Holy

3329
03:03:57,300 --> 03:04:01,100
adds color and visual interest. 
The work requires manual 

3330
03:04:01,100 --> 03:04:03,900
dexterity, and patience the 
holy. 

3331
03:04:03,900 --> 03:04:06,600
Prickles your fingers, even 
through gloves, and the ivies 

3332
03:04:06,600 --> 03:04:09,100
tendency to tangle must be 
managed carefully. 

3333
03:04:09,900 --> 03:04:14,500
You develop a rhythm win, the 
ivy, tuck in, Holly secure any 

3334
03:04:14,500 --> 03:04:17,700
Loose Ends. 
Move forward a few inches and 

3335
03:04:17,700 --> 03:04:21,900
repeat the Garland grows slowly 
but steadily becoming more 

3336
03:04:21,900 --> 03:04:25,500
impressive with each addition. 
The women Chatters, they work 

3337
03:04:25,500 --> 03:04:28,700
conversation flowing easily 
around and through the task at 

3338
03:04:28,700 --> 03:04:32,800
hand, misses Henderson shares 
news from her daughter who 

3339
03:04:32,800 --> 03:04:34,500
married and moved to the next 
County. 

3340
03:04:34,500 --> 03:04:37,400
Someone else asks about the 
Christmas dance, being planned 

3341
03:04:37,400 --> 03:04:40,500
for the village hall and a 
lively discussion ensues about 

3342
03:04:40,508 --> 03:04:43,400
music and refreshments. 
And whether the floor should be 

3343
03:04:43,400 --> 03:04:46,600
chalked for better dancing as 
the afternoon, progresses the 

3344
03:04:46,600 --> 03:04:50,100
church transforms, the garlands 
get hung their dark green 

3345
03:04:50,100 --> 03:04:53,700
punctuated by red berries, 
creating a festive atmosphere. 

3346
03:04:53,700 --> 03:04:58,100
The nativity scene takes shape, 
its wooden framework awaiting 

3347
03:04:58,100 --> 03:05:00,300
the figures that will populate 
it on Christmas Eve. 

3348
03:05:01,100 --> 03:05:05,200
Candles, multiply along every 
horizontal surface ready to be 

3349
03:05:05,200 --> 03:05:08,300
lit for Christmas services, and 
turn the church into a palace of

3350
03:05:08,300 --> 03:05:10,600
light. 
The Children's Choir improves 

3351
03:05:10,600 --> 03:05:13,700
with practice, their voices, 
gaining confidence, and blending

3352
03:05:13,700 --> 03:05:17,900
more harmoniously their learning
traditional carols while 

3353
03:05:17,900 --> 03:05:22,100
Shepherds watched First nowl and
Hark the Herald Angels. 

3354
03:05:22,100 --> 03:05:27,000
Sing the choir Master is patient
but demanding making them repeat

3355
03:05:27,000 --> 03:05:28,800
sections until they achieve the 
sound. 

3356
03:05:28,800 --> 03:05:33,200
He wants by late afternoon when 
the light fails completely and 

3357
03:05:33,200 --> 03:05:35,900
work masseuse. 
The church has become something 

3358
03:05:35,900 --> 03:05:40,800
other than it every day self. 
It glows with promise The 

3359
03:05:40,800 --> 03:05:43,700
Greenery and candles 
transforming, its austere. 

3360
03:05:43,700 --> 03:05:47,000
Stone into something warm and 
welcoming, you walk home in the 

3361
03:05:47,000 --> 03:05:51,200
dark tired, but satisfied part 
of something larger than your 

3362
03:05:51,200 --> 03:05:55,300
individual household, The 
Village organizes other communal

3363
03:05:55,300 --> 03:05:57,600
efforts as well. 
The women's group assembles 

3364
03:05:57,600 --> 03:06:00,800
baskets for elderly residents 
who live alone and for families 

3365
03:06:00,800 --> 03:06:02,600
facing particular hardship this 
year. 

3366
03:06:03,700 --> 03:06:06,000
These baskets aren't charity. 
Exactly. 

3367
03:06:06,000 --> 03:06:10,200
The giving happens to quietly to
tacked for that. 

3368
03:06:10,200 --> 03:06:14,100
Instead they represent 
thoughtful kindness the 

3369
03:06:14,100 --> 03:06:16,900
community caring for its own. 
Each basket. 

3370
03:06:16,900 --> 03:06:21,100
Contains a mixture of practical 
items and treats a jar of jam. 

3371
03:06:21,100 --> 03:06:25,600
Chosen from someone's birthday. 
A small fruitcake, raped 

3372
03:06:25,600 --> 03:06:29,900
carefully. 
Orange is a dates t or sugar or 

3373
03:06:29,900 --> 03:06:33,000
flour, basic necessities that 
are always welcome. 

3374
03:06:34,000 --> 03:06:37,000
The contents vary depending on 
what organizers know about. 

3375
03:06:37,000 --> 03:06:40,400
The recipient circumstances and 
preferences, your mother 

3376
03:06:40,400 --> 03:06:43,700
contributes to several baskets 
and you help her pack them. 

3377
03:06:43,700 --> 03:06:47,900
Each one gets assembled with 
care with items arranged to look

3378
03:06:47,900 --> 03:06:51,800
abundant rather than sparse. 
The jam goes in first as a 

3379
03:06:51,800 --> 03:06:54,500
foundation. 
The Fruitcake gets wrapped in a 

3380
03:06:54,500 --> 03:06:55,900
clean cloth and placed 
prominently. 

3381
03:06:55,900 --> 03:06:58,700
The fresh items. 
Get arranged on top where 

3382
03:06:58,700 --> 03:07:02,000
they'll be seen immediately. 
A handwritten note accompanies 

3383
03:07:02,000 --> 03:07:04,700
each basket. 
Nothing that highlights need or 

3384
03:07:04,700 --> 03:07:07,200
poverty. 
Just warm wishes for a happy 

3385
03:07:07,200 --> 03:07:10,800
Christmas from Neighbors. 
Delivering the baskets becomes 

3386
03:07:10,800 --> 03:07:14,400
an afternoon's, work a few days 
before Christmas, you accompany 

3387
03:07:14,400 --> 03:07:17,000
your mother on her rounds 
visiting Cottages. 

3388
03:07:17,000 --> 03:07:19,100
You've never entered before and 
homes. 

3389
03:07:19,100 --> 03:07:22,200
You pass regularly, but rarely 
visit the route. 

3390
03:07:22,200 --> 03:07:25,300
Takes you across the Village 
from one end of the other up, 

3391
03:07:25,300 --> 03:07:29,700
lanes, and down paths to house 
is tucked by Hedges and Cottages

3392
03:07:29,700 --> 03:07:31,400
sitting prominently on the main 
road. 

3393
03:07:32,400 --> 03:07:35,100
The recipients react with 
pleasure that seems genuine 

3394
03:07:35,100 --> 03:07:38,000
rather than polite. 
You share tea with an ancient 

3395
03:07:38,000 --> 03:07:40,900
Widow who lives surrounded by 
cats and tell stories about 

3396
03:07:40,900 --> 03:07:44,800
Christmases from her youth. 
When the village was smaller and

3397
03:07:44,800 --> 03:07:47,200
everyone knew everyone else's 
business in ways, both 

3398
03:07:47,200 --> 03:07:51,200
comforting and intrusive. 
She describes Christmas pudding.

3399
03:07:51,200 --> 03:07:55,900
Steamed in cloths and hung from 
ceiling beams to mature outdoor,

3400
03:07:55,900 --> 03:07:59,500
ice houses, that kept food, 
fresh and traveling musicians, 

3401
03:07:59,500 --> 03:08:01,400
who came through the village 
playing carols. 

3402
03:08:01,400 --> 03:08:04,300
You listen to a retired. 
Shepherd, explain his theory 

3403
03:08:04,300 --> 03:08:07,000
about why the sheep in the 
Christmas story was specifically

3404
03:08:07,000 --> 03:08:09,600
mentioned. 
According to him, Shepherds 

3405
03:08:09,600 --> 03:08:11,700
wouldn't have been out with 
their flocks in Winter and 

3406
03:08:11,700 --> 03:08:13,000
unless something unusual was 
happening. 

3407
03:08:13,800 --> 03:08:17,500
Perhaps a particularly warm year
or perhaps the Sheep were being 

3408
03:08:17,508 --> 03:08:19,300
prepared for some special 
purpose. 

3409
03:08:19,300 --> 03:08:23,200
His theory becomes quite 
elaborate involving theological 

3410
03:08:23,200 --> 03:08:26,300
interpretation and practical 
sheep husbandry in equal 

3411
03:08:26,300 --> 03:08:28,900
measure. 
You sit in a parlor crowded with

3412
03:08:28,900 --> 03:08:32,000
photographs and knickknacks. 
While their owner points out 

3413
03:08:32,008 --> 03:08:35,200
each items history. 
This clock was a grandmother's 

3414
03:08:35,900 --> 03:08:39,300
that vast came from her, uncle 
who worked on ships and traveled

3415
03:08:39,300 --> 03:08:42,200
to distant ports. 
These candlesticks were her 

3416
03:08:42,200 --> 03:08:44,600
wedding gift from someone whose 
name, she can no longer. 

3417
03:08:44,600 --> 03:08:47,900
Quite remember the accumulated 
possession of a long life 

3418
03:08:47,900 --> 03:08:50,500
surround. 
Her each one carrying memories 

3419
03:08:50,500 --> 03:08:54,100
and meaning The visits take 
hours but they don't feel like 

3420
03:08:54,100 --> 03:08:56,400
work. 
You're Connecting Threads in The

3421
03:08:56,408 --> 03:08:59,900
Villages, social fabric, 
maintaining relationships that 

3422
03:08:59,900 --> 03:09:04,300
matter even if they're not 
exercised daily, Your ensuring 

3423
03:09:04,300 --> 03:09:07,500
that Christmas reaches everyone,
even those who might otherwise 

3424
03:09:07,500 --> 03:09:10,500
spend it alone. 
Some people you visit are more 

3425
03:09:10,508 --> 03:09:14,400
reserved, accepting the basket 
with quiet dignity and few 

3426
03:09:14,400 --> 03:09:18,800
words, they're gratitude 
expresses itself differently and

3427
03:09:18,800 --> 03:09:19,900
careful. 
Attention to your mother's 

3428
03:09:19,900 --> 03:09:23,700
questions about Family Health in
offers of teed despite modest 

3429
03:09:23,700 --> 03:09:26,500
circumstances. 
And in promises to remember you 

3430
03:09:26,500 --> 03:09:29,800
all in their prayers walking 
between houses, you and your 

3431
03:09:29,800 --> 03:09:32,700
mother discuss the visits she 
points out details. 

3432
03:09:32,700 --> 03:09:36,400
You might have missed the warned
state of Mrs. Cooper's shoes. 

3433
03:09:36,400 --> 03:09:39,800
Suggesting she needs more than a
Christmas basket, but would be 

3434
03:09:39,800 --> 03:09:44,100
too proud to accept direct help.
The excellent condition of Mr. 

3435
03:09:44,100 --> 03:09:48,700
Barrett's Cottage, despite his 
age indicating his managing well

3436
03:09:48,700 --> 03:09:51,300
and takes pride. 
In his surroundings, the 

3437
03:09:51,300 --> 03:09:53,900
photographs of children and 
grandchildren the crowd, every 

3438
03:09:53,900 --> 03:09:58,400
surface in Mrs. Peter's parlor, 
evidence of a family Network 

3439
03:09:58,400 --> 03:10:01,000
that should be providing more 
support than they apparently 

3440
03:10:01,000 --> 03:10:03,600
are. 
These observations aren't gossip

3441
03:10:03,600 --> 03:10:07,300
but information part of the 
communities in formal welfare 

3442
03:10:07,300 --> 03:10:09,600
system. 
Your mother makes mental notes 

3443
03:10:09,600 --> 03:10:12,500
about who might need additional 
help, who should be checked on 

3444
03:10:12,500 --> 03:10:15,800
more frequently and whose 
circumstances require watching. 

3445
03:10:16,600 --> 03:10:19,900
By the time you return home, 
darkness is Fallen. 

3446
03:10:19,900 --> 03:10:21,800
Completely in your feet, ache 
from walking. 

3447
03:10:21,800 --> 03:10:25,000
But you carry with you a fuller 
understanding of The Villages 

3448
03:10:25,000 --> 03:10:28,300
interconnected lives. 
The ways people support and care

3449
03:10:28,300 --> 03:10:31,300
for each other, and the quiet 
kindnesses that happen out of 

3450
03:10:31,300 --> 03:10:34,900
public view, Christmas 
preparation, you realize extends

3451
03:10:34,900 --> 03:10:38,800
Beyond individual households to 
Encompass the entire community, 

3452
03:10:39,700 --> 03:10:43,000
Creating a network of mutual 
support and shared celebration. 

3453
03:10:43,000 --> 03:10:47,300
December brings real cold, the 
kind that freezes water in 

3454
03:10:47,300 --> 03:10:50,500
basements overnight. 
And creates Frost patterns on 

3455
03:10:50,508 --> 03:10:53,900
the inside of Windows. 
The house contracts in the cold 

3456
03:10:53,900 --> 03:10:58,200
floorboards, Creak differently, 
doors sticking their frames and 

3457
03:10:58,200 --> 03:11:01,300
the wind finds gaps. 
You never noticed in milder 

3458
03:11:01,300 --> 03:11:04,700
weather, the house requires more
coal for heating, more candles 

3459
03:11:04,700 --> 03:11:08,100
for light and more of everything
that combats Winter's darkness 

3460
03:11:08,100 --> 03:11:11,600
and chill. 
Managing these resources becomes

3461
03:11:11,600 --> 03:11:15,300
crucial balancing Comfort 
against economy and celebration 

3462
03:11:15,300 --> 03:11:18,300
against sustainability. 
Your grandfather takes 

3463
03:11:18,300 --> 03:11:22,000
responsibility for the coal. 
He approaches the coal cellar 

3464
03:11:22,000 --> 03:11:25,400
with a stewards mentality. 
Rationing the supply to last 

3465
03:11:25,400 --> 03:11:28,400
through winter, while allowing 
for some extra usage during 

3466
03:11:28,400 --> 03:11:32,400
Christmas week, the coal arrived
in Autumn delivered by cart and 

3467
03:11:32,400 --> 03:11:34,800
shoveled through a small window 
into the cellar. 

3468
03:11:34,800 --> 03:11:37,400
Beneath the house. 
Your grandfather keeps careful 

3469
03:11:37,400 --> 03:11:41,400
accounting of his usage. 
Calculating how much remains and

3470
03:11:41,400 --> 03:11:45,200
how much is needed per week to 
last until spring each morning? 

3471
03:11:45,200 --> 03:11:47,600
He descends to the cellar with 
the coal scuttle. 

3472
03:11:47,600 --> 03:11:50,900
A heavy brass bucket with a 
handle and fills it for the 

3473
03:11:50,900 --> 03:11:53,600
day's use. 
The calculation is precise. 

3474
03:11:53,600 --> 03:11:56,500
The front room gets a fire in 
the evening when the family 

3475
03:11:56,500 --> 03:12:00,100
gathers but not during the day 
when it sits empty, the kitchen 

3476
03:12:00,100 --> 03:12:04,300
range Burns continuously but its
intensity gets modulated 

3477
03:12:04,300 --> 03:12:07,400
throughout the day. 
Damped down to conserve cold 

3478
03:12:07,400 --> 03:12:10,300
during periods of lighter. 
Cooking opened up, when more 

3479
03:12:10,300 --> 03:12:14,300
heat is needed, bedrooms receive
no dedicated heat beyond what 

3480
03:12:14,300 --> 03:12:16,700
Rises From Below through 
ceilings and floorboards. 

3481
03:12:16,700 --> 03:12:20,300
You learned to layer clothing 
against the cold, adding, 

3482
03:12:20,300 --> 03:12:23,200
sweaters, and shawls, and you 
resemble a mobile, textile 

3483
03:12:23,200 --> 03:12:27,200
exhibition, Key is trapping air 
between layers are is an 

3484
03:12:27,200 --> 03:12:29,100
excellent. 
Insulator, your grandmother 

3485
03:12:29,100 --> 03:12:32,800
explains and multiple thin 
layers work, better than a 

3486
03:12:32,800 --> 03:12:35,700
single thick. 
One you wear a cotton chamise a 

3487
03:12:35,700 --> 03:12:40,700
flannel Petticoat, a wool dress 
a cardigan and sometimes a shawl

3488
03:12:40,700 --> 03:12:44,400
over everything, your feet, get 
wool stockings and sturdy shoes.

3489
03:12:44,400 --> 03:12:48,200
Nevertheless slippers, you might
wear in summer, you learn to 

3490
03:12:48,200 --> 03:12:52,100
appreciate the small warm spots 
in the house, the chair nearest,

3491
03:12:52,100 --> 03:12:55,500
the range in the kitchen, the 
spot on the Hearth rug in the 

3492
03:12:55,500 --> 03:12:58,700
front room where the dog lies, 
because it catches the fires 

3493
03:12:58,700 --> 03:13:02,500
full warmth, and the sunny 
corner of the Parlor during the 

3494
03:13:02,500 --> 03:13:05,100
brief winter. 
Afternoons, when sun manages to 

3495
03:13:05,100 --> 03:13:09,200
penetrate the windows, he's warm
spots become precious and you 

3496
03:13:09,208 --> 03:13:11,800
find yourself gravitating toward
them without thinking. 

3497
03:13:12,900 --> 03:13:15,000
The cold isn't uniform 
throughout the house. 

3498
03:13:15,000 --> 03:13:18,200
The kitchen stays warmest 
because of the range. 

3499
03:13:18,200 --> 03:13:21,100
The front room, achieves 
comfortable warmth on evening's 

3500
03:13:21,100 --> 03:13:23,900
when the fire is lit. 
The upstairs, bedrooms a 

3501
03:13:23,900 --> 03:13:27,500
bitterly cold with frost forming
on the inside of Windows and 

3502
03:13:27,500 --> 03:13:30,200
your breath visible. 
Even beneath the covers you 

3503
03:13:30,200 --> 03:13:33,400
learned to dress and undress 
quickly to appreciate the weight

3504
03:13:33,400 --> 03:13:36,800
of extra blankets and to tuck a 
hot water bottle wrapped in 

3505
03:13:36,808 --> 03:13:39,300
flannel, near your feet, before 
climbing into bed. 

3506
03:13:40,300 --> 03:13:43,800
Being genuinely cold makes 
eventual warmth, feel like a 

3507
03:13:43,800 --> 03:13:47,200
luxury coming in from outside 
your hands numb, and your nose 

3508
03:13:47,200 --> 03:13:49,800
running and standing near the 
kitchen range. 

3509
03:13:49,800 --> 03:13:53,400
While feeling returns to your 
fingers and toes that transition

3510
03:13:53,400 --> 03:13:56,500
from cold to warm becomes a 
small intense pleasure. 

3511
03:13:56,500 --> 03:14:00,000
You understand why people in 
early eras made such a point of 

3512
03:14:00,000 --> 03:14:02,800
hospitality while offering 
warmth and shelter. 

3513
03:14:02,800 --> 03:14:05,100
To Travelers was considered a 
moral imperative. 

3514
03:14:05,100 --> 03:14:09,300
Cold isn't just uncomfortable, 
it's threatening and warmth 

3515
03:14:09,300 --> 03:14:12,000
isn't just Pleasant, it's 
life-sustaining. 

3516
03:14:13,100 --> 03:14:15,700
Canals and lamp oil requires 
similar management. 

3517
03:14:15,700 --> 03:14:19,500
Your grandmother keeps strict 
accounting marking down. 

3518
03:14:19,500 --> 03:14:22,000
Each candle used in each 
refilling of the lamp. 

3519
03:14:22,800 --> 03:14:26,200
The household possesses several 
oil lamps of, varying sizes and 

3520
03:14:26,200 --> 03:14:28,800
quality. 
The best one with a glass 

3521
03:14:28,800 --> 03:14:30,000
chimney. 
That provides bright. 

3522
03:14:30,000 --> 03:14:33,400
Steady light is reserved for 
special occasions, or when 

3523
03:14:33,400 --> 03:14:35,300
particularly details work is 
being done. 

3524
03:14:36,100 --> 03:14:39,200
The everyday lamps are simpler. 
Providing adequate, but less 

3525
03:14:39,200 --> 03:14:41,900
brilliant illumination during 
Christmas week. 

3526
03:14:41,900 --> 03:14:43,700
Extra illumination will be 
permitted. 

3527
03:14:43,700 --> 03:14:46,700
Even encouraged the good lamp 
will burn every evening. 

3528
03:14:46,700 --> 03:14:49,400
The national candles will be 
placed around the house, 

3529
03:14:49,400 --> 03:14:52,800
creating a festive glow. 
But until then through Galaxy 

3530
03:14:52,800 --> 03:14:56,500
rules, you do have work near 
Windows during daylight hours, 

3531
03:14:56,500 --> 03:15:00,300
taking advantage of natural 
light to save candles and lamp 

3532
03:15:00,300 --> 03:15:03,400
oil. 
This requires planning certain 

3533
03:15:03,400 --> 03:15:07,300
tasks, can only be done in good 
light so you save them for 

3534
03:15:07,300 --> 03:15:08,900
afternoon when the sun is 
strongest. 

3535
03:15:08,900 --> 03:15:11,900
Other tasks, can be accomplished
in dimmer conditions. 

3536
03:15:11,900 --> 03:15:14,200
So you reserve them for morning 
and evening. 

3537
03:15:14,900 --> 03:15:18,000
The household gathers in one 
room, rather than dispersing to 

3538
03:15:18,000 --> 03:15:21,000
several Each of which would 
require its own light source. 

3539
03:15:21,000 --> 03:15:26,000
This enforced, togetherness has 
unexpected benefits evening has 

3540
03:15:26,000 --> 03:15:29,600
become social by necessity with 
family members collecting in the

3541
03:15:29,608 --> 03:15:31,500
kitchen. 
After dinner drawn, by the 

3542
03:15:31,500 --> 03:15:34,400
warmth of the range, and the 
single lamp burning on the table

3543
03:15:34,400 --> 03:15:37,800
conversation flows, more easily.
When you're all together with 

3544
03:15:37,800 --> 03:15:39,800
nothing particular to do except 
talk. 

3545
03:15:40,700 --> 03:15:44,200
Your father tells stories from 
his youth tales, that may be 

3546
03:15:44,200 --> 03:15:46,200
exaggerated but are always 
entertaining. 

3547
03:15:46,200 --> 03:15:50,600
He describes pranks played on 
unpopular teachers Misadventures

3548
03:15:50,600 --> 03:15:53,400
while learning his trade and the
courtship of your mother. 

3549
03:15:53,400 --> 03:15:56,600
Told from his perspective with 
details that make her blush and 

3550
03:15:56,600 --> 03:15:58,900
protest. 
Your mother works on her 

3551
03:15:58,900 --> 03:16:02,200
mysterious sewing project. 
Her hands moving in the 

3552
03:16:02,200 --> 03:16:04,100
Lamplight with practice 
deficiency. 

3553
03:16:05,200 --> 03:16:08,400
The Shadows, her hands cast on 
the wall, dance, and shift. 

3554
03:16:08,400 --> 03:16:12,400
As she works occasionally, she 
pauses to thread a new needle or

3555
03:16:12,400 --> 03:16:15,600
consult a pattern, holding the 
paper close to the lamp to see 

3556
03:16:15,600 --> 03:16:18,800
the details. 
Your grandmother knits 

3557
03:16:18,800 --> 03:16:22,100
endlessly, creating socks and 
mittens for everyone. 

3558
03:16:22,100 --> 03:16:26,100
Her hands move without her 
needing to watch the needles. 

3559
03:16:26,100 --> 03:16:29,000
Clicking in a rhythm that varies
depending on the complexity of 

3560
03:16:29,000 --> 03:16:33,400
the pattern, she can knit and 
Converse simultaneously, the 

3561
03:16:33,400 --> 03:16:36,300
hands maintaining their work, 
while her attention focuses on 

3562
03:16:36,300 --> 03:16:40,700
whoever is speaking, you read 
aloud, sometimes choosing books 

3563
03:16:40,700 --> 03:16:44,000
from the small collection, your 
family owns the books are well, 

3564
03:16:44,008 --> 03:16:47,800
worn and read multiple times, 
but familiarity doesn't diminish

3565
03:16:47,800 --> 03:16:50,900
enjoyment. 
If anything, knowing a story, 

3566
03:16:50,900 --> 03:16:53,500
makes the reading more 
comfortable like visiting, an 

3567
03:16:53,500 --> 03:16:57,700
old friend, you read in some 
times, particularly appropriate 

3568
03:16:57,700 --> 03:17:00,400
for the season. 
And the long sentence is an 

3569
03:17:00,400 --> 03:17:04,000
elaborate description suit, 
being read aloud, their Rhythm 

3570
03:17:04,000 --> 03:17:07,200
matching natural speech 
patterns, the stories, feel 

3571
03:17:07,200 --> 03:17:09,300
different. 
When shared this way, more 

3572
03:17:09,300 --> 03:17:13,400
immediate somehow When you reach
an exciting part, you feel the 

3573
03:17:13,400 --> 03:17:16,800
attention of your listeners and 
intensify pulling you deeper 

3574
03:17:16,800 --> 03:17:19,700
into the narrative. 
You modulate your voice for 

3575
03:17:19,700 --> 03:17:22,800
different characters, trying to 
capture their individual 

3576
03:17:22,800 --> 03:17:26,400
personality, through tone and 
inflection, Your family 

3577
03:17:26,400 --> 03:17:28,400
sometimes requests favorite 
passages. 

3578
03:17:28,400 --> 03:17:32,800
Asking you to reread sections. 
They particularly enjoyed the 

3579
03:17:32,800 --> 03:17:35,300
house. 
Smells different in Winter would

3580
03:17:35,300 --> 03:17:38,300
smoke and coal. 
Smoke permeate everything mixing

3581
03:17:38,300 --> 03:17:41,300
with the sense of cooking and 
the faint mustiness that comes 

3582
03:17:41,300 --> 03:17:43,700
from keeping windows closed 
against the cold. 

3583
03:17:43,700 --> 03:17:45,600
It's not unpleasant. 
Exactly. 

3584
03:17:45,600 --> 03:17:50,400
Just particular the smell of 
winter and family and making do 

3585
03:17:50,400 --> 03:17:53,400
with what you have. 
You become nose, blind to it. 

3586
03:17:53,400 --> 03:17:57,900
Not noticing until you return 
from being outside and the scent

3587
03:17:57,900 --> 03:17:58,900
hits. 
You a new. 

3588
03:17:58,900 --> 03:18:01,900
When you open the door bath 
night, becomes an elaborate 

3589
03:18:01,900 --> 03:18:06,000
production water, must be heated
on the Range bucket by bucket, 

3590
03:18:06,000 --> 03:18:08,900
then transferred to the tin tub,
that hangs on the wall outside 

3591
03:18:08,900 --> 03:18:12,000
the rest of the week, the tub is
small, by modern standards. 

3592
03:18:12,000 --> 03:18:14,800
Forcing, you to sit with your 
knees bent, but it's large 

3593
03:18:14,800 --> 03:18:18,300
enough for washing privacy, is 
achieved by setting up the tub 

3594
03:18:18,300 --> 03:18:21,500
in the kitchen and sending 
everyone else to other rooms. 

3595
03:18:21,500 --> 03:18:24,900
Oh, you can hear them moving 
about and talking in a Json 

3596
03:18:24,900 --> 03:18:27,800
spaces. 
You bathe, quickly aware that 

3597
03:18:27,800 --> 03:18:31,100
the water cools rapidly in the 
unheated air, and that others 

3598
03:18:31,100 --> 03:18:34,200
are waiting their turn. 
The bath follows a hierarchy. 

3599
03:18:35,200 --> 03:18:38,500
Youngest children first. 
While the water is cleanest then

3600
03:18:38,500 --> 03:18:42,800
older children then adults with 
more hot water added as needed. 

3601
03:18:43,800 --> 03:18:47,400
By the time the last person 
bathes the water is distinctly 

3602
03:18:47,400 --> 03:18:51,400
gray but everyone is clean. 
Drying yourself near the range 

3603
03:18:51,400 --> 03:18:55,500
provides wonderful warmth your 
skin tingling as blood flow 

3604
03:18:55,500 --> 03:18:59,700
increases You dress and clean 
night clothes, flannel in, 

3605
03:18:59,700 --> 03:19:03,400
Winter, soft, from many 
Washings, and feel renewed. 

3606
03:19:03,400 --> 03:19:07,300
Ready for the weaker head. 
These small austerities don't 

3607
03:19:07,300 --> 03:19:11,000
feel like hardship, exactly. 
They're simply how life Works in

3608
03:19:11,000 --> 03:19:14,900
Winter, how it's always worked. 
People in your grandmother's 

3609
03:19:14,900 --> 03:19:18,200
time, live this way and her 
grandmother before her, the 

3610
03:19:18,200 --> 03:19:20,900
contrast makes Christmases 
abundance more meaningful. 

3611
03:19:20,900 --> 03:19:24,100
The extra colon on the fire. 
The additional candles, the 

3612
03:19:24,100 --> 03:19:27,500
special Foods, all of it matters
more because it represents a 

3613
03:19:27,500 --> 03:19:31,300
temporary relaxation of normal 
constraints appeared of 

3614
03:19:31,300 --> 03:19:34,700
permitted extravagance within an
otherwise, careful economy. 

3615
03:19:34,700 --> 03:19:38,200
The week before Christmas 
accelerates somehow time, moving

3616
03:19:38,200 --> 03:19:41,100
fast, or even though the tasks 
and sells can't be rushed. 

3617
03:19:41,100 --> 03:19:44,800
They seemed shorter not just 
because of Winter's, limited 

3618
03:19:44,800 --> 03:19:46,900
daylight. 
But because there's so much to 

3619
03:19:46,900 --> 03:19:50,300
accomplish and the deadline 
approaches with alarming speed, 

3620
03:19:50,300 --> 03:19:53,300
your grandmother's kitchen, 
becomes, command Central. 

3621
03:19:53,300 --> 03:19:56,700
With various projects, preceding
simultaneously in different 

3622
03:19:56,700 --> 03:19:58,000
Corners. 
Yes. 

3623
03:19:58,000 --> 03:20:01,700
Thick with competing sense and 
the constant bustle of activity.

3624
03:20:02,700 --> 03:20:05,400
Final batch of mince pies waits 
for its turn in the oven. 

3625
03:20:05,400 --> 03:20:08,800
While someone else rolls out, 
pastry for sausage rolls the 

3626
03:20:08,800 --> 03:20:12,400
Christmas cake made months ago 
and fed regularly with Brandy 

3627
03:20:12,400 --> 03:20:16,900
gets its final decoration of 
marzipan and royal icing bread 

3628
03:20:16,900 --> 03:20:20,100
dough rises in a warm spot by 
the range while someone else 

3629
03:20:20,100 --> 03:20:24,000
chops nuts for stuffing. 
The kitchen table is disappeared

3630
03:20:24,000 --> 03:20:27,400
beneath an array of bowls, 
cutting boards and various 

3631
03:20:27,400 --> 03:20:29,900
preparations in different stages
of completion. 

3632
03:20:29,900 --> 03:20:33,000
You move from task to task 
helping where your needed 

3633
03:20:33,000 --> 03:20:35,500
learning skills through 
immersion rather than 

3634
03:20:35,500 --> 03:20:38,200
instruction. 
Your hands develop knowledge, 

3635
03:20:38,200 --> 03:20:42,100
your mind hasn't quite caught up
with The right consistency for 

3636
03:20:42,100 --> 03:20:44,600
pastry dough. 
It should hold together, but not

3637
03:20:44,600 --> 03:20:46,900
be sticky. 
The correct temperature for 

3638
03:20:46,900 --> 03:20:49,200
proving bread. 
Warm but not hot. 

3639
03:20:49,200 --> 03:20:53,600
The dough should rise slowly 
rather than rushing and the way 

3640
03:20:53,600 --> 03:20:57,400
properly whipped cream holds its
shape soft peaks, that curled 

3641
03:20:57,400 --> 03:21:01,000
gently rather than standing 
stiff and dry the mint pies are 

3642
03:21:01,000 --> 03:21:05,000
particularly important Your 
grandmother makes dozens of them

3643
03:21:05,000 --> 03:21:07,700
enough to serve visitors 
throughout the Christmas season 

3644
03:21:07,700 --> 03:21:11,500
and to give away to neighbors 
and Friends, The Filling was 

3645
03:21:11,500 --> 03:21:15,000
made weeks ago, a dark Rich mix 
of dried fruits. 

3646
03:21:15,000 --> 03:21:18,500
So its spices and Brandy that 
has been maturing and a crock. 

3647
03:21:18,500 --> 03:21:21,900
Now it needs to be portioned 
into pastry shells and baked 

3648
03:21:21,900 --> 03:21:24,500
into the pastry achieves, 
perfect, gold, and brown 

3649
03:21:24,500 --> 03:21:27,100
flakiness. 
You help with the assembly line,

3650
03:21:27,100 --> 03:21:30,000
your grandmother roles the pace 
tree cutting circles with a 

3651
03:21:30,000 --> 03:21:33,600
cutter You fill each pastry 
shell with a generous spoonful 

3652
03:21:33,600 --> 03:21:36,200
of mincemeat. 
Your mother tops Each pie with a

3653
03:21:36,208 --> 03:21:39,800
smaller circle of pastry, 
crimping the edges to seal them.

3654
03:21:39,800 --> 03:21:42,900
The completed pies, get arranged
on baking, sheets. 

3655
03:21:42,900 --> 03:21:47,200
Brushed with milk for shine and 
marked with small cuts on top, 

3656
03:21:47,200 --> 03:21:51,400
to allow steam to escape the 
baking happens in batches the 

3657
03:21:51,400 --> 03:21:54,100
kitchen growing increasingly 
warm as the oven Works 

3658
03:21:54,100 --> 03:21:57,500
continuously. 
Each batch emerges golden and 

3659
03:21:57,500 --> 03:22:02,000
fragrant the pastry crisp and 
Flaky The Filling bubbling 

3660
03:22:02,000 --> 03:22:04,000
slightly where it escaped 
through the steam. 

3661
03:22:04,000 --> 03:22:07,400
Vents a pies cool on racks that 
cover every surface. 

3662
03:22:07,400 --> 03:22:11,600
The kitchen table, the sideboard
even the top of the Cold Stone 

3663
03:22:11,600 --> 03:22:14,900
in the unused parlor. 
The house fills with baked goods

3664
03:22:14,900 --> 03:22:18,500
in various stages of completion.
Cooling racks cover every 

3665
03:22:18,500 --> 03:22:21,300
surface. 
Tin get packed with biscuits and

3666
03:22:21,300 --> 03:22:24,600
small cakes. 
Each layer separated by paper to

3667
03:22:24,600 --> 03:22:26,000
prevent them from sticking 
together. 

3668
03:22:26,800 --> 03:22:30,000
Your grandmother has a system 
for this storage with specific 

3669
03:22:30,000 --> 03:22:32,400
tin's designated for specific 
items. 

3670
03:22:32,400 --> 03:22:35,700
The ginger biscuits go in the 
red tin with the picture of the 

3671
03:22:35,700 --> 03:22:39,900
king, the shortbread occupies, 
the blue tin that once held T 

3672
03:22:39,900 --> 03:22:43,500
the various fancy biscuits made 
with extra butter and decorated 

3673
03:22:43,500 --> 03:22:46,100
with cherries or nuts. 
At the fancy tin. 

3674
03:22:46,100 --> 03:22:49,200
That's painted with flowers. 
The pantry shelves. 

3675
03:22:49,200 --> 03:22:53,100
So carefully emptied and cleaned
months ago now, grown under the 

3676
03:22:53,108 --> 03:22:56,900
weight of preparation jars, of 
preserves crowd next to bottles 

3677
03:22:56,900 --> 03:22:59,700
of cordial. 
Tins of biscuits are stacked. 

3678
03:22:59,700 --> 03:23:03,100
Three High, the Christmas cake 
sits on its special stand, 

3679
03:23:03,100 --> 03:23:06,500
waiting for Christmas Day. 
The puddings hang from their 

3680
03:23:06,500 --> 03:23:10,800
hooks dark and mysterious 
packages of butter, and extra 

3681
03:23:10,800 --> 03:23:13,100
sugar purchased from the village
shop. 

3682
03:23:13,100 --> 03:23:15,300
Find their places among the 
homemade stores. 

3683
03:23:16,200 --> 03:23:18,700
Your father brings home, the 
Christmas goose on the Saturday 

3684
03:23:18,700 --> 03:23:21,100
before Christmas. 
He arrives in the evening 

3685
03:23:21,100 --> 03:23:25,200
carrying it in paper, purchased 
from a local farmer who raises 

3686
03:23:25,200 --> 03:23:28,300
geese specifically for the 
Christmas trade, the goose is 

3687
03:23:28,308 --> 03:23:31,200
substantial easily 10 or 12 
pounds. 

3688
03:23:31,200 --> 03:23:34,600
Representing a significant 
portion of the Christmas budget.

3689
03:23:35,500 --> 03:23:38,500
Your mother examines, it 
critically lifting it from his 

3690
03:23:38,500 --> 03:23:40,300
rapping and assessing its 
qualities. 

3691
03:23:40,300 --> 03:23:44,600
The skin should be pale and free
of blemishes the best meets 

3692
03:23:44,600 --> 03:23:46,800
substantial and the overall 
condition. 

3693
03:23:46,800 --> 03:23:51,500
Indicating a well-fed bird, she 
declares a self-satisfied and 

3694
03:23:51,500 --> 03:23:54,200
the goose goes to hang in the 
cold Pantry, where the 

3695
03:23:54,200 --> 03:23:55,900
temperature stays just about 
freezing. 

3696
03:23:57,000 --> 03:23:59,700
Planning, the Goose's cooking 
becomes a project in itself. 

3697
03:23:59,700 --> 03:24:03,300
It must roast for hours at a 
moderate temperature and the 

3698
03:24:03,300 --> 03:24:05,200
timing must be precise to have 
it. 

3699
03:24:05,200 --> 03:24:08,500
Ready for Christmas dinner, your
mother calculates backward from 

3700
03:24:08,500 --> 03:24:11,800
the desired serving time, 
accounting for the resting 

3701
03:24:11,800 --> 03:24:15,100
period after cooking and 
determines when the goose was 

3702
03:24:15,100 --> 03:24:18,000
going to the oven, she writes 
this time on a piece of paper 

3703
03:24:18,000 --> 03:24:20,500
and text it to the kitchen wall,
where it won't be forgotten. 

3704
03:24:21,300 --> 03:24:25,200
The Greenery comes inside now or
at least begins to you've been 

3705
03:24:25,208 --> 03:24:28,800
cutting it for days and it's 
been stored outside in buckets 

3706
03:24:28,800 --> 03:24:31,900
of water to keep it fresh, Holly
branches, that scratch her 

3707
03:24:31,900 --> 03:24:36,100
hands, despite gloves Ivy that 
Tangles and must be teased free 

3708
03:24:36,100 --> 03:24:39,600
and pine boughs, that smell 
wonderful, but drop needles 

3709
03:24:39,600 --> 03:24:42,500
everywhere. 
The house gradually transforms 

3710
03:24:42,500 --> 03:24:44,800
as Greenery gets a range 
throughout his rooms. 

3711
03:24:44,800 --> 03:24:47,900
Holly goes along the mantle 
piece in the front room is 

3712
03:24:47,900 --> 03:24:52,200
bright against the dark wood. 
Ivy gets twisted around the 

3713
03:24:52,200 --> 03:24:54,900
banister. 
Creating a green spiral 

3714
03:24:54,900 --> 03:24:57,700
ascending the stairs. 
Pine boughs appear on 

3715
03:24:57,700 --> 03:25:00,800
windowsills filling rooms with 
their resin ascent. 

3716
03:25:01,700 --> 03:25:04,800
The Greenery brings the outdoors
inside, connecting the house to 

3717
03:25:04,800 --> 03:25:07,500
the natural world, even as 
winter makes that world seemed 

3718
03:25:07,500 --> 03:25:10,600
inhospitable. 
Make a kissing for the hallway. 

3719
03:25:10,600 --> 03:25:14,000
Elaborate construction of Holly,
Ivy and missile toe. 

3720
03:25:14,900 --> 03:25:16,900
Framework is made of bent 
Willow. 

3721
03:25:16,900 --> 03:25:20,700
Creating a sphere that gets 
decorated with Greenery until 

3722
03:25:20,700 --> 03:25:23,200
the structure disappears. 
Beneath the leaves and berries, 

3723
03:25:23,200 --> 03:25:26,500
you add ribbons. 
Red ones, save from previous 

3724
03:25:26,500 --> 03:25:29,200
years and hang it from a hook in
the ceiling beam. 

3725
03:25:30,400 --> 03:25:33,200
The kissing bow represents a 
tradition older than Christmas 

3726
03:25:33,200 --> 03:25:36,100
itself. 
Connected to ancient beliefs 

3727
03:25:36,100 --> 03:25:39,400
about mistletoes, magical 
properties, standing beneath it.

3728
03:25:39,400 --> 03:25:42,700
According to tradition 
obligates, those present to 

3729
03:25:42,700 --> 03:25:46,300
kiss, Thought makes you slightly
self-conscious. 

3730
03:25:47,100 --> 03:25:50,000
Who will stand beneath it? 
Who might you encounter there? 

3731
03:25:51,100 --> 03:25:53,000
The house is transformation 
happens gradually. 

3732
03:25:53,000 --> 03:25:57,500
Then suddenly one moment it's 
your ordinary home for every 

3733
03:25:57,500 --> 03:25:59,900
day. 
The next it's become something 

3734
03:25:59,900 --> 03:26:03,900
special decorated and fragrant 
and full of promise. 

3735
03:26:04,800 --> 03:26:07,300
The change seems to happen 
without your quite noticing, 

3736
03:26:07,300 --> 03:26:11,300
though, you've participated in 
every step, small gifts appear 

3737
03:26:11,300 --> 03:26:14,600
under the tree, a modest Affair 
set up in the front room. 

3738
03:26:14,600 --> 03:26:18,200
Nothing like the elaborate 
Productions of later eras but 

3739
03:26:18,200 --> 03:26:21,700
precious nonetheless. 
Your family doesn't have a 

3740
03:26:21,700 --> 03:26:25,000
tradition of enormous trees or 
extravagant declaration. 

3741
03:26:25,000 --> 03:26:27,700
The tree is small perhaps for 
feet tall. 

3742
03:26:27,700 --> 03:26:31,600
Cut from a pine Plantation with 
permission and set in a pot 

3743
03:26:31,600 --> 03:26:35,300
waited with stones. 
The tree gets decorated simply 

3744
03:26:35,300 --> 03:26:38,600
but carefully candles in 
holders, clamp onto branches. 

3745
03:26:38,600 --> 03:26:42,300
These will only be lit on 
Christmas Day itself and then 

3746
03:26:42,300 --> 03:26:46,100
only under careful supervision 
because the fire risk is real, a

3747
03:26:46,100 --> 03:26:48,400
few glass ornaments that have 
been in the family for years. 

3748
03:26:48,400 --> 03:26:51,000
Each one precious and handled 
with care. 

3749
03:26:51,900 --> 03:26:54,300
Strings of popcorn and 
cranberries made by children. 

3750
03:26:55,100 --> 03:26:58,400
Paper chains in bright colors, 
cut and paste it together. 

3751
03:26:58,400 --> 03:27:02,000
A staff for the top made of 
folded paper covered with glue 

3752
03:27:02,000 --> 03:27:04,300
and glitter. 
The wrapped package is 

3753
03:27:04,300 --> 03:27:06,100
accumulates slowly beneath the 
tree. 

3754
03:27:06,100 --> 03:27:09,100
Each one representing thought 
and effort and care. 

3755
03:27:09,100 --> 03:27:12,600
You add your own contributions 
nervous that they won't measure 

3756
03:27:12,600 --> 03:27:15,700
up that your hand work. 
Will seem crude compared to what

3757
03:27:15,700 --> 03:27:18,400
others have created. 
A packages are wrapped in 

3758
03:27:18,408 --> 03:27:20,700
whatever papers available brown 
paper. 

3759
03:27:20,700 --> 03:27:24,400
Save from Parcels newspaper or 
the occasional piece of actual 

3760
03:27:24,400 --> 03:27:28,400
gift, wrap purchased specially. 
Christmas Eve arrives with 

3761
03:27:28,400 --> 03:27:32,900
shocking sudden despite months 
of preparation, it's actual 

3762
03:27:32,900 --> 03:27:35,100
arrival. 
Catches you slightly unprepared 

3763
03:27:35,100 --> 03:27:38,800
there are still last minute 
tasks the goose to prepare for 

3764
03:27:38,800 --> 03:27:42,500
tomorrow's cooking the table to 
set with the Good China and the 

3765
03:27:42,500 --> 03:27:44,600
final batch of roles to bake for
breakfast. 

3766
03:27:44,600 --> 03:27:47,400
The goose gets its final 
preparation. 

3767
03:27:47,400 --> 03:27:51,000
Your mother removes it from the 
cold pantry and examines it one 

3768
03:27:51,000 --> 03:27:55,200
last time. 
Trims excess fat Seasons, the 

3769
03:27:55,200 --> 03:27:59,300
cavity with salt and herbs, and 
prepares it for roasting the 

3770
03:27:59,300 --> 03:28:01,300
prepared. 
Goose goes back into the cold 

3771
03:28:01,300 --> 03:28:03,700
until tomorrow morning when it 
will go into the oven. 

3772
03:28:04,600 --> 03:28:06,400
The table gets set in the dining
room. 

3773
03:28:06,400 --> 03:28:09,400
A space normally used only for 
special occasions. 

3774
03:28:09,400 --> 03:28:13,900
The good table cloth comes out, 
yellowed slightly with age but 

3775
03:28:13,900 --> 03:28:17,700
still beautiful its pattern of 
vines and flowers embroidered by

3776
03:28:17,700 --> 03:28:20,900
your grandmother's grandmother. 
The Good China gets arranged 

3777
03:28:20,900 --> 03:28:25,200
carefully plates for each person
serving dishes for the various 

3778
03:28:25,200 --> 03:28:28,500
parts of the meal, the gravy 
boat and the special dish meant 

3779
03:28:28,500 --> 03:28:31,900
specifically for the pudding. 
The Christmas candles get tested

3780
03:28:31,900 --> 03:28:33,600
to ensure their light properly 
tomorrow. 

3781
03:28:34,600 --> 03:28:37,400
Father examined, each one 
trimming, Wix to the proper 

3782
03:28:37,400 --> 03:28:40,400
length, making sure they're 
secure in their holders. 

3783
03:28:40,400 --> 03:28:43,100
Everything must be ready. 
Because tomorrow will move too 

3784
03:28:43,100 --> 03:28:44,500
quickly for last minute 
adjustments. 

3785
03:28:45,800 --> 03:28:47,700
The house feels different on 
Christmas Eve. 

3786
03:28:47,700 --> 03:28:51,600
The lights seemed soft softer. 
The Shadows gentler everyone 

3787
03:28:51,600 --> 03:28:55,200
moves with a kind of contained. 
Excitement performing, familiar 

3788
03:28:55,200 --> 03:28:59,700
tasks with extra attention. 
Your grandmother hums carols as 

3789
03:28:59,700 --> 03:29:02,200
she works. 
Moving through the kitchen with 

3790
03:29:02,200 --> 03:29:05,800
practice, to see your mother 
sets out, everyone's Christmas 

3791
03:29:05,800 --> 03:29:08,900
clothes, brushed and pressed, 
and ready for more morning. 

3792
03:29:09,500 --> 03:29:12,600
You attend church for the 
Christmas Eve service walking 

3793
03:29:12,600 --> 03:29:15,900
through the dark village with 
your family and neighbors the 

3794
03:29:15,900 --> 03:29:19,600
church blazes with candles more 
likely than it sees the rest of 

3795
03:29:19,600 --> 03:29:22,000
the year combined every 
available. 

3796
03:29:22,000 --> 03:29:24,700
Surface holds candles, they're 
Flames. 

3797
03:29:24,700 --> 03:29:27,300
Multiplying and reflecting in 
brass and glass. 

3798
03:29:27,300 --> 03:29:29,900
Until the church, seems to float
in a sea of light. 

3799
03:29:29,900 --> 03:29:33,400
The service follows familiar 
patterns, comfortable and 

3800
03:29:33,400 --> 03:29:35,800
meaningful precisely because of 
their familiarity. 

3801
03:29:36,700 --> 03:29:38,800
The Familiar carols sound 
different tonight. 

3802
03:29:38,800 --> 03:29:42,500
Weighted with meaning and joy 
using with everyone else. 

3803
03:29:42,500 --> 03:29:45,400
Your voice joining the 
collective sound, that rises 

3804
03:29:45,400 --> 03:29:49,100
toward the referred ceiling. 
The Vickers sermons, speaks of 

3805
03:29:49,100 --> 03:29:52,800
Hope and peace and the Eternal 
significance of this night. 

3806
03:29:52,800 --> 03:29:56,900
His words carrying weight in the
candle at space afterwards 

3807
03:29:56,900 --> 03:30:00,500
walking home through the cold 
night, you feel the satisfaction

3808
03:30:00,500 --> 03:30:04,100
of preparation completed 
everything that could be done 

3809
03:30:04,100 --> 03:30:08,000
has been done tomorrow brings 
celebration but tonight brings 

3810
03:30:08,000 --> 03:30:11,200
the quiet pleasure of 
anticipation fulfilled, The 

3811
03:30:11,200 --> 03:30:13,500
Villages dark, except for lights
in Windows. 

3812
03:30:13,500 --> 03:30:17,500
Each household settled in for 
the night Star shine bright in 

3813
03:30:17,500 --> 03:30:20,500
the cold air and frost crunches 
under your feet. 

3814
03:30:21,300 --> 03:30:24,600
At home, you go to bed with a 
sense of completion and 

3815
03:30:24,600 --> 03:30:28,300
anticipation combined tomorrow 
will bring the culmination of 

3816
03:30:28,300 --> 03:30:32,200
months of work, the reward for 
all the planning and preparing 

3817
03:30:32,200 --> 03:30:36,000
and creating. 
But tonight Christmas Eve holds 

3818
03:30:36,000 --> 03:30:38,900
its own Magic. 
The Magic of waiting of knowing 

3819
03:30:38,900 --> 03:30:42,100
that something wonderful is 
coming of existing in that 

3820
03:30:42,100 --> 03:30:44,500
perfect moment between effort 
and reward. 

3821
03:30:44,500 --> 03:30:48,500
Christmas morning, arrives, 
dark, and cold, but you wake to 

3822
03:30:48,500 --> 03:30:51,100
the smell of baking bread and 
the sound of your mother moving 

3823
03:30:51,100 --> 03:30:55,300
quietly in the kitchen below you
lie in bed for a moment, warm 

3824
03:30:55,300 --> 03:30:57,300
under layers of blankets, 
listening to the house come 

3825
03:30:57,300 --> 03:31:00,300
alive around you. 
Your brothers door opens, then 

3826
03:31:00,300 --> 03:31:03,200
your father's heavier. 
Tread on the stairs voices 

3827
03:31:03,200 --> 03:31:06,600
murmur in the kitchen, too quiet
to make out words, but the tone 

3828
03:31:06,600 --> 03:31:10,300
is cheerful and expected the 
cold air outside, your blankets 

3829
03:31:10,300 --> 03:31:12,900
feel sharp against your face and
you delay. 

3830
03:31:12,900 --> 03:31:16,700
The moment of emergence knowing 
that once you leave this warm 

3831
03:31:16,700 --> 03:31:19,900
cocoon, you'll be fully 
committed to the cold of the 

3832
03:31:19,900 --> 03:31:22,900
unheated bedroom. 
Finally you throw back the 

3833
03:31:22,900 --> 03:31:25,700
covers and dress quickly 
layering on the Christmas 

3834
03:31:25,700 --> 03:31:29,900
clothes, your mother set out 
your best dressing without holes

3835
03:31:29,900 --> 03:31:32,100
and the shawl. 
Your grandmother made for you 

3836
03:31:32,100 --> 03:31:35,600
last Christmas down stairs. 
The kitchen is wonderfully warm.

3837
03:31:35,600 --> 03:31:38,500
The range burning hot and the 
air filled with the center of 

3838
03:31:38,500 --> 03:31:43,000
bread and something sweeter. 
Cinnamon, perhaps or the spices 

3839
03:31:43,000 --> 03:31:45,900
from the minced meat, your 
mother has been up for hours 

3840
03:31:45,900 --> 03:31:48,900
already, the Christmas bread 
rising and baking, while the 

3841
03:31:48,900 --> 03:31:52,500
rest of the house still slept, 
the low sit cooling on racks, 

3842
03:31:52,500 --> 03:31:55,500
their crusts golden and their 
tops marked with the cross. 

3843
03:31:55,500 --> 03:31:57,200
You always scores into Christmas
bread. 

3844
03:31:58,000 --> 03:32:01,500
The day unfolds according to 
tradition and Rhythm each 

3845
03:32:01,500 --> 03:32:03,600
element falling into its proper 
place. 

3846
03:32:03,600 --> 03:32:08,000
Breakfast, first, fresh rolls 
with butter and jam, the good 

3847
03:32:08,000 --> 03:32:09,900
tea rather than the everyday 
kind. 

3848
03:32:09,900 --> 03:32:13,700
And this morning, a special 
treat preserved peaches from 

3849
03:32:13,700 --> 03:32:17,000
last summer, open specifically 
for Christmas breakfast and 

3850
03:32:17,000 --> 03:32:20,300
served with thick cream. 
The peaches are a revelation. 

3851
03:32:21,100 --> 03:32:24,300
You'd almost forgot their flavor
over the months since summer and

3852
03:32:24,300 --> 03:32:27,000
tasting them. 
Now is like tasting sunshine and

3853
03:32:27,000 --> 03:32:31,000
warmth made Solid, the cream, 
softens their sweetness and the 

3854
03:32:31,000 --> 03:32:33,400
combination is perhaps the most 
luxurious thing. 

3855
03:32:33,400 --> 03:32:35,500
You've eaten in months after 
breakfast. 

3856
03:32:35,500 --> 03:32:38,800
The family gathers in the front 
room for the opening of GIFs. 

3857
03:32:39,500 --> 03:32:42,000
Fire has been lit, specially 
making the room warm and 

3858
03:32:42,000 --> 03:32:44,600
welcoming. 
The tree stands in its Corner 

3859
03:32:44,600 --> 03:32:47,600
candles, not yet, lit. 
But the decorations catching the

3860
03:32:47,600 --> 03:32:50,600
morning, like the filters 
through clean windows, the small

3861
03:32:50,600 --> 03:32:55,600
pile of gifts, beneath seems 
modest, but pressure He opening 

3862
03:32:55,600 --> 03:33:00,300
proceeds, in order, youngest to 
oldest each person taking a 

3863
03:33:00,300 --> 03:33:03,000
turn. 
Your youngest cousin staying 

3864
03:33:03,000 --> 03:33:05,600
over Christmas with her parents 
goes first. 

3865
03:33:05,600 --> 03:33:09,800
She unwraps a rag doll. 
Handmade by someone's Aunt with 

3866
03:33:09,800 --> 03:33:12,800
a painted face and clothes that 
button and unbuttoned for 

3867
03:33:12,808 --> 03:33:16,300
practicing. 
Her Joy is uncomplicated and 

3868
03:33:16,300 --> 03:33:19,400
complete. 
Clutches the doll, immediately 

3869
03:33:19,400 --> 03:33:21,400
already naming it and assigning 
it. 

3870
03:33:21,400 --> 03:33:25,300
A personality, your brother 
receives a pen knife, a grown-up

3871
03:33:25,300 --> 03:33:27,600
tool. 
That recognizes his increasing 

3872
03:33:27,600 --> 03:33:30,700
maturity. 
Your father shows him how to use

3873
03:33:30,700 --> 03:33:34,600
it, safely demonstrating the 
proper way to open and close the

3874
03:33:34,600 --> 03:33:36,500
blade and warning about the 
sharpness. 

3875
03:33:36,500 --> 03:33:39,300
Your brother listens with 
serious attention, 

3876
03:33:39,300 --> 03:33:42,900
understanding, that this gift 
represents trust as well as 

3877
03:33:42,900 --> 03:33:47,500
utility your turn, comes. 
First package contains the 

3878
03:33:47,500 --> 03:33:50,300
pillowcase you made for your 
mother and watching her open. 

3879
03:33:50,300 --> 03:33:53,800
It provides a peculiar pleasure.
She unwraps it carefully 

3880
03:33:53,800 --> 03:33:55,600
preserving the paper for future 
use. 

3881
03:33:55,600 --> 03:33:58,700
When she sees, what's inside her
face off of him? 

3882
03:33:58,700 --> 03:34:02,700
She holds it up to the light, 
examining the embroidery, with 

3883
03:34:02,700 --> 03:34:05,600
real appreciation. 
Running her fingers over the 

3884
03:34:05,600 --> 03:34:08,600
tiny stitches. 
This is beautiful work, she 

3885
03:34:08,600 --> 03:34:10,400
says. 
And you know, she means it 

3886
03:34:10,400 --> 03:34:12,500
because she's particular about 
such things and doesn't offer 

3887
03:34:12,500 --> 03:34:17,200
false praise the roses are 
perfect must have spent hours on

3888
03:34:17,200 --> 03:34:19,900
this. 
He admit that you did and she 

3889
03:34:19,900 --> 03:34:21,500
thanks you with a kiss on the 
forehead. 

3890
03:34:21,500 --> 03:34:22,700
That makes you feel 
simultaneously. 

3891
03:34:22,700 --> 03:34:26,900
Proud and embarrassed, your 
father admires his handkerchiefs

3892
03:34:26,900 --> 03:34:30,100
with genuine appreciation, 
running his fingers, over the 

3893
03:34:30,100 --> 03:34:34,000
tiny rolled hems commenting on 
the finest of the work and the 

3894
03:34:34,000 --> 03:34:37,100
evenness of the stitching. 
He makes a show of tucking, one 

3895
03:34:37,100 --> 03:34:39,700
into his pocket immediately, 
declaring it too. 

3896
03:34:39,700 --> 03:34:42,900
Nice to actually use but perfect
for carrying the gifts you 

3897
03:34:42,900 --> 03:34:45,800
receive. 
Please, you deeply a new book, 

3898
03:34:45,800 --> 03:34:48,200
something you've wanted but 
wouldn't have bought for 

3899
03:34:48,200 --> 03:34:50,800
yourself. 
A scarf in a beautiful blue. 

3900
03:34:50,800 --> 03:34:54,200
That matches your winter coat, 
knitted by your grandmother, 

3901
03:34:54,200 --> 03:34:57,600
with her characteristic skill, a
small bottle of scent from your 

3902
03:34:57,600 --> 03:35:01,200
brother purchased with his own 
money from the village shop and 

3903
03:35:01,200 --> 03:35:03,000
raped. 
So enthusiastically that the 

3904
03:35:03,000 --> 03:35:04,700
paper is more tape than anything
else. 

3905
03:35:04,700 --> 03:35:09,700
Each gift represents thought and
Care chose nor made specifically

3906
03:35:09,700 --> 03:35:13,600
with you in mind, Even the 
modest ones carry weight because

3907
03:35:13,600 --> 03:35:16,400
they demonstrate that people, 
pay attention to your interests 

3908
03:35:16,400 --> 03:35:20,000
and preferences that you matter.
Enough for this attention after 

3909
03:35:20,000 --> 03:35:23,100
gifts, the serious business of 
Christmas dinner Begins. 

3910
03:35:23,100 --> 03:35:26,900
The goose has been in the oven 
since early morning, filling the

3911
03:35:26,900 --> 03:35:30,500
house with Rich scents, your 
mother base it religiously 

3912
03:35:30,500 --> 03:35:34,000
checking on it with the focused 
attention of a general managing 

3913
03:35:34,000 --> 03:35:37,100
a crucial campaign. 
Each time she opens the oven 

3914
03:35:37,100 --> 03:35:41,500
heat pauses out along with 
intensified smells and she pokes

3915
03:35:41,500 --> 03:35:43,700
the bird with a fork to test his
progress. 

3916
03:35:44,400 --> 03:35:45,800
Vegetables. 
Get prepared. 

3917
03:35:45,800 --> 03:35:48,400
According to a careful schedule.
Potatoes. 

3918
03:35:48,400 --> 03:35:51,700
Go into the goose fat to roast 
becoming crispy on the outside 

3919
03:35:51,700 --> 03:35:55,100
and fluffy Within. 
Brussels sprouts, get trimmed 

3920
03:35:55,100 --> 03:35:56,700
and set. 
Cooking salted water. 

3921
03:35:57,600 --> 03:36:01,400
Carrots, get glazed with butter 
and honey bread sauce gets made 

3922
03:36:01,400 --> 03:36:04,200
a mixture of milk bread crumbs 
and onions. 

3923
03:36:04,200 --> 03:36:08,000
That sounds strange but tastes 
wonderful with goose Table is 

3924
03:36:08,000 --> 03:36:10,600
extended with extra leaves to 
accommodate everyone. 

3925
03:36:10,600 --> 03:36:14,900
Grandparents your married sister
and her husband and various 

3926
03:36:14,900 --> 03:36:16,700
aunts and uncles who live 
nearby. 

3927
03:36:17,600 --> 03:36:20,200
The Good China gets a final 
check to ensure. 

3928
03:36:20,200 --> 03:36:22,900
Everything is clean and 
unchecked wine. 

3929
03:36:22,900 --> 03:36:25,900
Gets to counted have been 
purchased specially for this 

3930
03:36:25,900 --> 03:36:28,000
meal. 
Everything must be perfect. 

3931
03:36:28,800 --> 03:36:31,700
Dinner happened in the early 
afternoon when everyone has 

3932
03:36:31,700 --> 03:36:34,400
gathered in the Goose's 
achieved, perfect done this, 

3933
03:36:34,400 --> 03:36:38,100
your father carves it at the 
table, a ritual that requires 

3934
03:36:38,100 --> 03:36:40,100
skill and Showmanship in equal 
measure. 

3935
03:36:40,700 --> 03:36:43,900
He sharpens, the carving knife 
with long, dramatic Strokes. 

3936
03:36:43,900 --> 03:36:48,300
Then sets to work separating 
breast meat from bone, creating 

3937
03:36:48,300 --> 03:36:51,000
slices that fan out across the 
serving platter. 

3938
03:36:52,000 --> 03:36:57,000
Food taste impossibly good, the 
goose is Rich and flavorful the 

3939
03:36:57,000 --> 03:37:00,500
fat having basted, the meat as 
it cooked, creating layers of 

3940
03:37:00,500 --> 03:37:02,200
taste. 
That seemed to expand in your 

3941
03:37:02,200 --> 03:37:05,300
mouth. 
The roasted potatoes are crispy 

3942
03:37:05,300 --> 03:37:08,500
and golden absorbing goose fat 
and becoming something 

3943
03:37:08,500 --> 03:37:12,900
Transcendent the bread Source 
provides creamy contrast, the 

3944
03:37:12,900 --> 03:37:15,800
vegetables simply prepared taste
fully of themselves 

3945
03:37:15,800 --> 03:37:21,200
conversation, flows around the 
table stories and jokes family 

3946
03:37:21,200 --> 03:37:24,900
news and Village gossip. 
Your uncle tells a long rambling

3947
03:37:24,900 --> 03:37:27,200
story about a mishap with a 
Christmas goose from his 

3948
03:37:27,200 --> 03:37:31,100
childhood involving a dog and 
open window and a Chase through 

3949
03:37:31,100 --> 03:37:34,200
the village. 
The details may be exaggerated 

3950
03:37:34,200 --> 03:37:37,400
but the laughter is real. 
The Christmas pudding arrives, 

3951
03:37:37,400 --> 03:37:41,200
flaming your father, having 
doused it in brandy and set it 

3952
03:37:41,200 --> 03:37:42,700
to like just before carrying it 
in. 

3953
03:37:43,500 --> 03:37:47,100
The blue flames danced across 
its dark surface, and everyone 

3954
03:37:47,100 --> 03:37:50,200
watches with a appreciation for 
this dramatic presentation, 

3955
03:37:50,200 --> 03:37:55,000
putting get served with Brandy 
butter, a mixed of butter, sugar

3956
03:37:55,000 --> 03:37:58,300
and Brandy, beaten together 
until light and creamy, which 

3957
03:37:58,300 --> 03:38:01,300
melts into the hot pudding and 
creates pools of richness. 

3958
03:38:01,300 --> 03:38:04,900
Your cousin finds the Sixpence 
in her portion and shrieks with 

3959
03:38:04,900 --> 03:38:07,900
excitement. 
You find the thimble and try to 

3960
03:38:07,900 --> 03:38:10,100
look pleased about its 
implications for your future. 

3961
03:38:10,100 --> 03:38:14,900
The putting itself is dark and 
Rich the dried fruits plump from

3962
03:38:14,900 --> 03:38:18,700
their months of soaking in 
Grandy and the spices complex 

3963
03:38:18,700 --> 03:38:24,200
and warming Afterward, everyone 
sits drowsy and satisfied too 

3964
03:38:24,200 --> 03:38:27,400
full to move much. 
Someone suggests cards and a 

3965
03:38:27,400 --> 03:38:30,600
game gets organized, though, 
several people decline in favor 

3966
03:38:30,600 --> 03:38:34,400
of Simply sitting someone else 
proposes charades, which 

3967
03:38:34,400 --> 03:38:37,700
generates enthusiasm from the 
younger members and groans from 

3968
03:38:37,700 --> 03:38:41,100
the older ones, who claim to be 
too full for such exertion. 

3969
03:38:42,000 --> 03:38:45,200
Eventually people scattered to 
different corners of the house. 

3970
03:38:45,200 --> 03:38:48,700
Sumter nap. 
Some to read some to take a walk

3971
03:38:48,700 --> 03:38:50,300
in the pale. 
Winter off to noon to a 

3972
03:38:50,308 --> 03:38:52,800
digestion. 
You help your grandmother with 

3973
03:38:52,800 --> 03:38:56,200
the washing up and enormous task
given the number of dishes and 

3974
03:38:56,200 --> 03:38:59,800
pots used to create the meal. 
The work feels companionable 

3975
03:38:59,800 --> 03:39:03,100
rather than burdensome you wash,
while she dries. 

3976
03:39:03,100 --> 03:39:06,800
And you talk about the day about
the preparation that led to it 

3977
03:39:06,800 --> 03:39:10,100
and about how quickly it All 
Passes, despite the months of 

3978
03:39:10,100 --> 03:39:12,800
work it required. 
Was it worth it? 

3979
03:39:12,800 --> 03:39:16,100
You are thinking of all those 
hours of Labor, the plum jam 

3980
03:39:16,100 --> 03:39:18,900
made in September, the pudding 
stirred in October. 

3981
03:39:18,900 --> 03:39:22,400
The endless hand work through 
November and December, and the 

3982
03:39:22,400 --> 03:39:25,000
final frantic of cooking and 
preparing. 

3983
03:39:25,000 --> 03:39:29,100
She considers the question. 
Seriously, a hand still moving. 

3984
03:39:29,100 --> 03:39:32,200
Drying each plate with care 
before, stacking it in the 

3985
03:39:32,208 --> 03:39:35,000
cupboard. 
The day itself is lovely. 

3986
03:39:35,000 --> 03:39:39,500
She says, finally, but the real 
gift is the preparation, it's 

3987
03:39:39,500 --> 03:39:43,100
having something to work toward 
Something to look forward to. 

3988
03:39:43,100 --> 03:39:47,000
It's the Rhythm of the seasons 
and the Traditions, that connect

3989
03:39:47,000 --> 03:39:51,500
us to everyone who came before. 
Next September, when the light 

3990
03:39:51,500 --> 03:39:55,900
changes again, will start over 
and that continuity that cycle. 

3991
03:39:55,900 --> 03:39:59,400
That's what matters. 
Most You understand what she 

3992
03:39:59,400 --> 03:40:02,200
means? 
A preparation wasn't separate 

3993
03:40:02,200 --> 03:40:06,400
from the celebration but part of
it, perhaps the better part the 

3994
03:40:06,400 --> 03:40:09,200
making and planning and working 
together created something more 

3995
03:40:09,200 --> 03:40:11,300
valuable than the single day 
could ever contain. 

3996
03:40:12,200 --> 03:40:15,200
The afternoon's with your 
grandmother's friends, working 

3997
03:40:15,200 --> 03:40:18,700
on hand work and sharing 
conversation, the community 

3998
03:40:18,700 --> 03:40:20,200
effort to decorate. 
The church. 

3999
03:40:20,200 --> 03:40:24,500
The careful selection of oranges
in the village shop, even the 

4000
03:40:24,500 --> 03:40:27,400
tedious work of polishing. 
Brass and cleaning windows 

4001
03:40:27,400 --> 03:40:31,600
contributed to something larger.
The celebration concentrated all

4002
03:40:31,600 --> 03:40:33,500
those months of work into a 
single day. 

4003
03:40:33,500 --> 03:40:36,500
Yes. 
But the work itself had value 

4004
03:40:36,500 --> 03:40:39,700
independent of the result. 
It produced the work created 

4005
03:40:39,700 --> 03:40:43,500
connections between past and 
present between individual and 

4006
03:40:43,500 --> 03:40:46,500
community and between the 
Practical and the meaningful, 

4007
03:40:46,500 --> 03:40:50,500
each jar of jam represented, not
just preserved fruit, but a 

4008
03:40:50,500 --> 03:40:52,300
connection to the September 
after noon. 

4009
03:40:52,300 --> 03:40:55,400
When you picked plums to your 
grandmother's patient teaching 

4010
03:40:55,400 --> 03:40:58,400
and to all the women in your 
family line, who had performed 

4011
03:40:58,400 --> 03:41:03,700
the same tasks outside night as 
Fallen completely inside the 

4012
03:41:03,700 --> 03:41:05,600
house. 
Glows with the candles lit, 

4013
03:41:05,600 --> 03:41:08,800
specially for Christmas more 
light than any other day of the 

4014
03:41:08,800 --> 03:41:10,600
year. 
The house feels different 

4015
03:41:10,600 --> 03:41:12,700
tonight. 
Warmer somehow. 

4016
03:41:12,700 --> 03:41:16,300
Fuller, as though, the walls 
themselves of absorbed, some of 

4017
03:41:16,300 --> 03:41:20,300
the days, Joy, The family 
gradually reconvened in the 

4018
03:41:20,300 --> 03:41:23,000
front room, your father, the 
lights to the candles on the 

4019
03:41:23,000 --> 03:41:26,100
tree standing, ready with a bowl
of water in case, any should set

4020
03:41:26,100 --> 03:41:29,700
the pine needles, small, during 
the candles transform, the tree,

4021
03:41:29,700 --> 03:41:32,600
their Flames multiplying and 
reflecting creating points of 

4022
03:41:32,600 --> 03:41:34,800
light that seemed to float in 
the darkening room. 

4023
03:41:35,600 --> 03:41:39,600
Someone starts singing a Carol 
and other voices, join you sing 

4024
03:41:39,600 --> 03:41:43,800
together the harmonies 
imperfect, but heartfelt filling

4025
03:41:43,800 --> 03:41:47,400
the room with sound, the carols 
feel different sung. 

4026
03:41:47,400 --> 03:41:50,300
Here in the candlelight in the 
warm room with your family 

4027
03:41:50,300 --> 03:41:54,100
around you, then they did in the
church's formal setting here, 

4028
03:41:54,100 --> 03:41:57,200
their intimate and personal 
connecting you to this specific 

4029
03:41:57,200 --> 03:41:59,000
moment with these specific 
people. 

4030
03:42:00,000 --> 03:42:02,600
As the evening progresses and 
the candles burned down. 

4031
03:42:02,600 --> 03:42:06,700
You find yourself thinking about
the year ahead in a few weeks, 

4032
03:42:06,700 --> 03:42:08,600
the decorations will come down 
and be stored. 

4033
03:42:08,600 --> 03:42:11,700
For next year leftover food will
be consumed. 

4034
03:42:11,700 --> 03:42:15,400
The house will return to its 
normal State and daily life will

4035
03:42:15,400 --> 03:42:18,800
resume its ordinary rhythms, but
the cycle has been completed. 

4036
03:42:18,800 --> 03:42:23,000
Once more the Traditions 
maintained and passed along Next

4037
03:42:23,000 --> 03:42:25,200
September, when the light 
changes you'll begin. 

4038
03:42:25,200 --> 03:42:28,000
Again, you'll help make jam and 
bottle fruit. 

4039
03:42:28,000 --> 03:42:31,000
You'll stir the Christmas 
pudding, and make your wishes. 

4040
03:42:31,000 --> 03:42:34,200
You'll create gifs and secret 
and hide them. 

4041
03:42:34,200 --> 03:42:37,800
Carefully your participate in 
all the familiar rituals that 

4042
03:42:37,800 --> 03:42:40,500
connect you backwards through 
time and forward into the 

4043
03:42:40,500 --> 03:42:44,700
future, the continuity, 
satisfies something deep within 

4044
03:42:44,700 --> 03:42:46,600
you. 
Your part of a chain that 

4045
03:42:46,600 --> 03:42:50,100
extends beyond your individual 
life, connected to everyone, who

4046
03:42:50,100 --> 03:42:53,600
came before, and everyone who 
will come after, The Traditions,

4047
03:42:53,600 --> 03:42:56,700
you're maintaining aren't just 
quite Customs, but threads 

4048
03:42:56,700 --> 03:43:01,100
connecting paths to present, to 
Future creating a continuity 

4049
03:43:01,100 --> 03:43:04,700
that transcends individual. 
Existence, tomorrow will bring 

4050
03:43:04,700 --> 03:43:07,900
the work of cleaning up of 
taking down decorations and 

4051
03:43:07,900 --> 03:43:10,500
storing them carefully for next 
year of eating. 

4052
03:43:10,500 --> 03:43:13,300
Leftovers and settling back into
normal routines. 

4053
03:43:13,300 --> 03:43:18,000
But tonight you exist in the 
perfect moment between effort 

4054
03:43:18,000 --> 03:43:22,300
and rest between preparation and
celebration and between the year

4055
03:43:22,300 --> 03:43:24,100
ending and the year about to 
begin. 

4056
03:43:25,200 --> 03:43:28,700
The candles burn lower their 
light softening, and dimming 

4057
03:43:28,700 --> 03:43:31,900
your youngest cousin has fallen 
asleep in her mother's lap, 

4058
03:43:31,900 --> 03:43:35,500
clutching her new doll. 
Your grandfather doses in his 

4059
03:43:35,500 --> 03:43:39,300
chair by the fire. 
The conversation, quiets people 

4060
03:43:39,300 --> 03:43:42,900
falling into comfortable silence
simply being together in the 

4061
03:43:42,900 --> 03:43:46,500
warm candlelit room. 
You dry your hands and join your

4062
03:43:46,500 --> 03:43:48,800
family. 
Finding your spot in the 

4063
03:43:48,808 --> 03:43:51,000
familiar arrangement of chairs 
and people. 

4064
03:43:51,900 --> 03:43:56,300
Outside winter continues its 
cold Dominion but inside your 

4065
03:43:56,300 --> 03:43:58,500
warm and fed and surrounded by 
people. 

4066
03:43:58,500 --> 03:44:01,600
You love the season. 
You've worked for months as 

4067
03:44:01,600 --> 03:44:05,700
arrived has happened and now 
begins to pass into memory. 

4068
03:44:06,600 --> 03:44:09,500
But the memory will sustain you.
It will carry you. 

4069
03:44:09,500 --> 03:44:12,900
Through January's, darkness and 
February's cold. 

4070
03:44:12,900 --> 03:44:15,900
It will provide hope during the 
difficult parts of the Year 

4071
03:44:15,900 --> 03:44:20,200
evidence that joy and abundance 
are possible and That effort can

4072
03:44:20,200 --> 03:44:23,700
create meaning and connection 
and When September Comes again, 

4073
03:44:23,700 --> 03:44:27,400
and the light changes once more,
you'll begin again, adding 

4074
03:44:27,400 --> 03:44:30,400
another layer to the 
accumulating traditions of a 

4075
03:44:30,400 --> 03:44:34,100
life lived with attention. 
Care and love. 

4076
03:44:35,500 --> 03:44:38,800
The season of preparation, you 
realize never really ends. 

4077
03:44:38,800 --> 03:44:43,300
It simply cycles each year, 
building on the last each 

4078
03:44:43,300 --> 03:44:46,600
Christmas growing out of the 
work, that preceded it and 

4079
03:44:46,600 --> 03:44:48,500
planting seeds for the Christmas
to come. 

4080
03:44:48,500 --> 03:44:52,900
And that cycle, that eternal 
return to familiar patterns and 

4081
03:44:52,900 --> 03:44:55,600
beloved Traditions provides 
structure. 

4082
03:44:55,600 --> 03:44:59,600
And meaning, that transcend, any
individual moment, you settled 

4083
03:44:59,600 --> 03:45:03,000
deeper into your bed, watching 
the candles flicker and the Fire

4084
03:45:03,000 --> 03:45:05,000
Glow. 
Listening to your family, 

4085
03:45:05,000 --> 03:45:09,300
breathe and shift around you. 
You feel profoundly grateful for

4086
03:45:09,300 --> 03:45:14,000
this day for this family for the
Traditions that connect you all 

4087
03:45:14,000 --> 03:45:18,100
and for the opportunity to 
participate in something larger 

4088
03:45:18,100 --> 03:45:22,300
than yourself, the Christmas you
prepared for has arrived and it 

4089
03:45:22,308 --> 03:45:25,100
was worth every moment of the 
work that created it. 

4090
03:45:32,000 --> 03:45:34,300
Close your eyes for a moment. 
And Imagine This. 

4091
03:45:35,100 --> 03:45:38,500
Your living 5,000 years ago and 
the Sun is setting. 

4092
03:45:38,500 --> 03:45:42,600
But this isn't the sunset, you 
know, where you simply flip a 

4093
03:45:42,600 --> 03:45:44,800
light switch and continue your 
evening as though, nothing 

4094
03:45:44,800 --> 03:45:47,700
happened. 
This Sunset is changing 

4095
03:45:47,700 --> 03:45:50,500
everything. 
The world around, you is 

4096
03:45:50,500 --> 03:45:53,600
transforming from a place of 
activity and relative, safety 

4097
03:45:53,600 --> 03:45:58,300
into something else. 
Entirely A realm of Shadows, 

4098
03:45:58,300 --> 03:46:02,800
unknown sounds and Mysteries 
that your rationale modern mind 

4099
03:46:02,800 --> 03:46:05,200
can barely comprehend for 
ancient. 

4100
03:46:05,200 --> 03:46:08,200
People's night wasn't just the 
absence of day. 

4101
03:46:08,200 --> 03:46:11,200
It was a completely separate 
dimension of existence. 

4102
03:46:11,200 --> 03:46:15,700
There's different from daytime, 
as water is from are When 

4103
03:46:15,700 --> 03:46:18,200
darkness fell, you weren't just 
losing light. 

4104
03:46:18,200 --> 03:46:22,000
You were entering sacred 
territory where the rules of 

4105
03:46:22,000 --> 03:46:24,600
ordinary life. 
No longer fully applied, the 

4106
03:46:24,600 --> 03:46:27,800
ancient Egyptians believed that 
each Sunset marked the beginning

4107
03:46:27,800 --> 03:46:30,200
of Roz, perilous Journey Through
the underworld. 

4108
03:46:31,600 --> 03:46:34,600
Your evening wasn't just about 
getting sleepy and tucking in. 

4109
03:46:34,600 --> 03:46:38,500
It was about witnessing, a 
cosmic drama, where the sun, god

4110
03:46:38,500 --> 03:46:41,900
battled chaos itself to ensure 
morning would come again. 

4111
03:46:42,800 --> 03:46:45,900
Imagine trying to fall asleep 
while genuinely worried that 

4112
03:46:45,900 --> 03:46:49,800
Sunrise wasn't guaranteed, that 
night might actually win this 

4113
03:46:49,800 --> 03:46:55,500
time in ancient Greece night was
personified as NYX a goddess. 

4114
03:46:55,500 --> 03:46:58,400
So powerful, that even Zeus, 
King of the Gods was said to 

4115
03:46:58,400 --> 03:47:02,200
avoid angering her Knight wasn't
something you controlled with 

4116
03:47:02,200 --> 03:47:05,600
lamps and electronics. 
It was a force that controlled 

4117
03:47:05,600 --> 03:47:08,700
you and you needed to approach 
it with the kind of respect. 

4118
03:47:08,700 --> 03:47:10,200
You might reserve for a 
powerful. 

4119
03:47:10,200 --> 03:47:13,700
But unpredictable neighbor, this
relationship with Darkness 

4120
03:47:13,700 --> 03:47:16,500
shaped everything about how 
ancient people prepared for 

4121
03:47:16,500 --> 03:47:18,900
sleep. 
You didn't just brush your teeth

4122
03:47:18,900 --> 03:47:22,200
and set an alarm. 
You performed rituals said 

4123
03:47:22,200 --> 03:47:25,900
prayers arrange, protective 
symbols, and essentially 

4124
03:47:25,900 --> 03:47:27,700
prepared for a journey into the 
unknown. 

4125
03:47:28,700 --> 03:47:31,000
Because that's what sleep was a 
journey. 

4126
03:47:31,000 --> 03:47:33,600
Where your conscious self 
departed and something else took

4127
03:47:33,600 --> 03:47:35,500
over. 
The Romans had a saying. 

4128
03:47:36,400 --> 03:47:39,500
In okta koncilja, which means 
the night brings Council. 

4129
03:47:39,500 --> 03:47:42,200
They believed that Darkness had 
its own wisdom. 

4130
03:47:42,200 --> 03:47:46,200
That problems unsolvable in 
daylight could find Solutions in

4131
03:47:46,200 --> 03:47:48,000
the mysterious hours after 
sunset. 

4132
03:47:48,900 --> 03:47:51,900
Your evening wasn't wasted time 
before the real day began. 

4133
03:47:51,900 --> 03:47:54,900
It was a valuable period when 
different kinds of thinking 

4134
03:47:54,900 --> 03:47:57,800
became possible ancient people's
understood something. 

4135
03:47:57,800 --> 03:48:02,000
We've largely forgotten in our 
artificially lit world, Darkness

4136
03:48:02,000 --> 03:48:05,200
does something to human 
consciousness without electric 

4137
03:48:05,200 --> 03:48:09,000
lights, your eyes would begin 
producing melatonin much earlier

4138
03:48:09,000 --> 03:48:12,100
in the evening triggered by the 
gradual dimming of natural 

4139
03:48:12,100 --> 03:48:14,800
light. 
Your body would start its shut 

4140
03:48:14,800 --> 03:48:18,600
down sequence naturally, Guided 
by the same rhythms that had 

4141
03:48:18,600 --> 03:48:21,300
governed, human biology for 
hundreds of thousands of years, 

4142
03:48:21,300 --> 03:48:26,100
picture yourself in a Bronze Age
Village as Twilight deepens, the

4143
03:48:26,100 --> 03:48:28,900
temperature drops. 
Noticeably, you can feel it on 

4144
03:48:28,900 --> 03:48:31,800
your skin, like a gentle, exhale
from the Earth itself. 

4145
03:48:32,800 --> 03:48:37,000
Bird shift from daytime songs to
nighttime calls their evening 

4146
03:48:37,000 --> 03:48:40,700
chorus marking the transition. 
Cooking fires around the 

4147
03:48:40,700 --> 03:48:42,700
settlement glow. 
Brighter as the ambient light, 

4148
03:48:42,700 --> 03:48:46,000
Fades, creating islands of 
warmth and safety and the 

4149
03:48:46,000 --> 03:48:48,800
Gathering Darkness. 
The sound changed too. 

4150
03:48:49,700 --> 03:48:52,700
Daytime noise is people working 
animals, moving children 

4151
03:48:52,700 --> 03:48:56,200
playing, gradually give way to a
different acoustic landscape. 

4152
03:48:56,900 --> 03:49:00,300
Knight in sex, begin, their 
rhythmic chirping, creating a 

4153
03:49:00,300 --> 03:49:04,100
natural white noise that both 
comforting and slightly eerie. 

4154
03:49:05,600 --> 03:49:07,100
Somewhere in the distance, a 
dog. 

4155
03:49:07,108 --> 03:49:10,600
Barks, the sound carrying 
farther in the cooler. 

4156
03:49:10,600 --> 03:49:14,900
Air your sense of smell become 
more acute in the darkness. 

4157
03:49:14,900 --> 03:49:19,100
You notice the smoke from the 
fires more intensely mixed with 

4158
03:49:19,100 --> 03:49:21,600
the scent of whatever was cooked
for the evening meal. 

4159
03:49:22,500 --> 03:49:25,000
There's the earthy smell of the 
ground cooling. 

4160
03:49:25,000 --> 03:49:27,300
Releasing the days absorbed 
Heat. 

4161
03:49:28,300 --> 03:49:31,200
If you're near water, you might 
detect the mineral scent of 

4162
03:49:31,200 --> 03:49:35,500
moisture rising as Dew, begins 
to form ancient peoples created,

4163
03:49:35,500 --> 03:49:39,400
elaborate threshold rituals to 
mark this transition from day to

4164
03:49:39,400 --> 03:49:42,400
night. 
In many cultures you would never

4165
03:49:42,400 --> 03:49:45,100
go to sleep without some form of
protection ritual. 

4166
03:49:45,900 --> 03:49:47,800
This wasn't Superstition in the 
way. 

4167
03:49:47,800 --> 03:49:52,400
We might dismiss it today. 
It was practical psychology, a 

4168
03:49:52,400 --> 03:49:54,900
way of creating mental Security 
in a world that offered very 

4169
03:49:54,900 --> 03:49:58,600
little physical security. 
Once Darkness fell a Babylonian 

4170
03:49:58,600 --> 03:50:01,700
family might recite prayers to 
their household Gods before 

4171
03:50:01,700 --> 03:50:05,600
sleeping touching small Clay 
figurines that represented 

4172
03:50:05,600 --> 03:50:08,800
Divine protection. 
An ancient Celtic household 

4173
03:50:08,800 --> 03:50:12,300
would Bank, their fire carefully
believing that keeping a small 

4174
03:50:12,308 --> 03:50:15,000
flame alive through the night 
would ensure the family's 

4175
03:50:15,000 --> 03:50:18,000
continuity and protect against 
malevolent Spirits. 

4176
03:50:18,000 --> 03:50:20,800
In ancient China. 
The evening routine involves 

4177
03:50:20,800 --> 03:50:24,300
specific attention to the 
Direction's your sleeping 

4178
03:50:24,300 --> 03:50:26,800
position mattered, because 
different orientations are 

4179
03:50:26,800 --> 03:50:29,900
aligned you with different 
Cosmic forces, Sleeping with 

4180
03:50:29,900 --> 03:50:32,800
your head pointing North was 
generally avoided because that 

4181
03:50:32,800 --> 03:50:34,800
was the direction of associated 
with death. 

4182
03:50:35,500 --> 03:50:38,100
The dead were laid out that way 
and you didn't want to 

4183
03:50:38,100 --> 03:50:40,800
accidentally signal to the 
universe that you were ready to 

4184
03:50:40,808 --> 03:50:43,400
join them. 
Permanently, the sacredness of 

4185
03:50:43,400 --> 03:50:46,600
night, also meant that certain 
activities were forbidden after 

4186
03:50:46,600 --> 03:50:49,600
Dark. 
Many ancient cultures believed 

4187
03:50:49,600 --> 03:50:51,000
that cutting your nails at 
night. 

4188
03:50:51,000 --> 03:50:54,600
Would bring bad luck, that 
sweeping after Sunset would 

4189
03:50:54,600 --> 03:50:58,400
sweep away your Prosperity or 
that looking into mirrors. 

4190
03:50:58,400 --> 03:50:59,900
And darkness, might reveal 
things. 

4191
03:50:59,900 --> 03:51:03,100
You weren't meant to see. 
These weren't random 

4192
03:51:03,100 --> 03:51:06,800
superstitions, they were ways of
acknowledging that nighttime 

4193
03:51:06,800 --> 03:51:10,600
operated under different rules. 
For ancient people's, the act of

4194
03:51:10,608 --> 03:51:13,200
lying down to sleep was 
spiritually significant. 

4195
03:51:14,100 --> 03:51:17,600
You were voluntarily making 
yourself vulnerable surrendering

4196
03:51:17,600 --> 03:51:20,700
Consciousness and trusting that 
you'd wake up again in the 

4197
03:51:20,700 --> 03:51:23,000
morning. 
In a world without modern 

4198
03:51:23,000 --> 03:51:27,000
security without emergency 
services without the extensive. 

4199
03:51:27,000 --> 03:51:30,000
Safety nets. 
We take for granted, this was a 

4200
03:51:30,000 --> 03:51:33,300
genuine Act of Faith. 
The darkness itself was 

4201
03:51:33,300 --> 03:51:36,100
populated with entities, that 
modern people no longer 

4202
03:51:36,100 --> 03:51:40,200
acknowledge depending on your 
culture, the night might contain

4203
03:51:40,200 --> 03:51:44,600
helpful Spirits, harmful demons,
the wandering, Souls of the dead

4204
03:51:44,600 --> 03:51:48,700
or Divine Messengers, Your 
bedtime rituals weren't just 

4205
03:51:48,700 --> 03:51:52,400
about relaxation. 
They were about negotiating safe

4206
03:51:52,400 --> 03:51:54,800
Passage through a landscape. 
That was simultaneously, 

4207
03:51:54,800 --> 03:51:57,600
physical and Supernatural 
ancient peoples. 

4208
03:51:57,600 --> 03:52:00,900
Also understood that night was 
when healing happened when the 

4209
03:52:00,908 --> 03:52:04,600
body repair itself and when 
dreams brought messages from 

4210
03:52:04,600 --> 03:52:09,100
gods or the Deep unconscious, 
Sleep wasn't empty time. 

4211
03:52:09,100 --> 03:52:12,100
It was when important work 
occurred work. 

4212
03:52:12,100 --> 03:52:14,400
That couldn't happen during the 
busy daylight hours. 

4213
03:52:14,400 --> 03:52:16,100
When you're conscious mind was 
in control. 

4214
03:52:16,100 --> 03:52:19,400
Here's something that might blow
your mind as you lie, there in 

4215
03:52:19,400 --> 03:52:22,500
your comfortable bed, planning 
to sleep straight, through until

4216
03:52:22,500 --> 03:52:25,100
morning, Your ancestors didn't 
sleep. 

4217
03:52:25,100 --> 03:52:27,300
That way. 
For most of human history, 

4218
03:52:27,300 --> 03:52:31,200
sleeping through the night in 
one continuous stretch would 

4219
03:52:31,200 --> 03:52:34,000
have seemed as weird as eating 
one meal a day or speaking in 

4220
03:52:34,000 --> 03:52:37,500
rhyme all the time. 
Welcome to the world of by faces

4221
03:52:37,500 --> 03:52:42,100
sleep or as historians call it, 
firstly and second sleep. 

4222
03:52:43,100 --> 03:52:46,800
This pattern was so Universal 
across pre-industrial Society is

4223
03:52:46,800 --> 03:52:48,900
that. 
It's almost certainly how humans

4224
03:52:48,900 --> 03:52:52,800
naturally slept for thousands of
years before electric lighting 

4225
03:52:52,800 --> 03:52:55,500
fundamentally rewired, our 
relationship with Darkness. 

4226
03:52:55,500 --> 03:52:58,800
Imagine your typical winter 
night in medieval Europe. 

4227
03:52:58,800 --> 03:53:03,600
The similar patterns existed in 
ancient Rome, medieval China and

4228
03:53:03,600 --> 03:53:06,600
virtually everywhere humans 
lived before industrialization. 

4229
03:53:08,100 --> 03:53:11,700
Around eight or nine, in the 
evening when darkness had fully 

4230
03:53:11,700 --> 03:53:14,200
settled, and there was really 
nothing productive. 

4231
03:53:14,200 --> 03:53:17,300
You could do by the dim light of
candles, or oil lamps, you'd go 

4232
03:53:17,300 --> 03:53:20,200
to bed. 
But you wouldn't call it going 

4233
03:53:20,200 --> 03:53:23,200
to bed for the night. 
You'd be starting your first 

4234
03:53:23,200 --> 03:53:25,700
sleep. 
You'd sleep deeply for about 

4235
03:53:25,700 --> 03:53:29,000
four hours, which would take you
to around midnight or one in the

4236
03:53:29,000 --> 03:53:31,300
morning. 
Then something natural and 

4237
03:53:31,300 --> 03:53:33,400
expected would happen. 
You'd wake up. 

4238
03:53:34,700 --> 03:53:38,800
But here's the crucial part. 
This wasn't insomnia, this 

4239
03:53:38,800 --> 03:53:41,700
wasn't a sleep disorder. 
This wasn't you doing something 

4240
03:53:41,700 --> 03:53:44,700
wrong. 
This was normal and anticipated.

4241
03:53:44,700 --> 03:53:48,300
And even valued the hours 
between first, sleep, and second

4242
03:53:48,300 --> 03:53:50,300
sleep. 
Usually, lasting one to two 

4243
03:53:50,300 --> 03:53:54,400
hours were considered special. 
These midnight hours had a 

4244
03:53:54,400 --> 03:53:57,800
particular quality, a little 
feeling that made them different

4245
03:53:57,800 --> 03:54:01,900
from any other time of day. 
The world was at its quietest 

4246
03:54:01,900 --> 03:54:07,500
its darkest, its most intimate. 
ancient people's use this time 

4247
03:54:07,500 --> 03:54:10,900
in ways that might surprise you,
some people would like quietly 

4248
03:54:10,900 --> 03:54:15,300
in bed thinking and reflecting 
Historical records suggest. 

4249
03:54:15,300 --> 03:54:17,900
This was considered an excellent
time for contemplation. 

4250
03:54:19,000 --> 03:54:21,900
For processing, the days of 
Vents, and for working through 

4251
03:54:21,900 --> 03:54:24,700
problems. 
Your mind was wrested from the 

4252
03:54:24,700 --> 03:54:27,900
first sleep but hadn't yet been 
pulled into the busyness of 

4253
03:54:27,908 --> 03:54:32,300
daytime consciousness. 
Medieval prayer books, actually 

4254
03:54:32,300 --> 03:54:35,500
specified prayers meant to be 
said during these wakeful 

4255
03:54:35,500 --> 03:54:38,500
midnight hours. 
Others would engage in quiet 

4256
03:54:38,500 --> 03:54:41,100
activities. 
You might tend the fire check on

4257
03:54:41,100 --> 03:54:43,000
children. 
Have a small snack or visit the 

4258
03:54:43,008 --> 03:54:46,800
privy Some people would use this
time for intimate relations with

4259
03:54:46,800 --> 03:54:50,300
their Partners medical texts, 
from the medieval period 

4260
03:54:50,300 --> 03:54:53,300
suggests, this timing was 
considered particularly good for

4261
03:54:53,300 --> 03:54:55,700
conception as the body was 
rested. 

4262
03:54:55,700 --> 03:54:59,400
But, not yet depleted by a full 
night's sleep in communities. 

4263
03:54:59,400 --> 03:55:02,100
Where people lived in close 
quarters, that was most 

4264
03:55:02,100 --> 03:55:05,300
communities throughout history. 
These midnight hours might 

4265
03:55:05,300 --> 03:55:09,800
involve quiet conversations 
Staracle documents mentioned 

4266
03:55:09,800 --> 03:55:12,200
people, visiting neighbors, 
during these wakeful hours, 

4267
03:55:12,200 --> 03:55:15,300
knowing that others would also 
be awake between their two 

4268
03:55:15,300 --> 03:55:18,600
sleeps. 
It was like a secret society of 

4269
03:55:18,600 --> 03:55:22,400
night wakeful people. 
All observing a river that felt 

4270
03:55:22,400 --> 03:55:25,900
as natural as breathing. 
The ancient Romans had a term 

4271
03:55:25,900 --> 03:55:29,400
Concord beer, not day, which 
referred to the time when people

4272
03:55:29,400 --> 03:55:33,000
go to bed acknowledging, that 
this was an extended process 

4273
03:55:33,000 --> 03:55:37,000
rather than a single moment. 
They're sleeping arrangements 

4274
03:55:37,000 --> 03:55:40,600
and social patterns suggest they
too experienced. 

4275
03:55:40,600 --> 03:55:44,300
This divided sleep, though. 
They left fewer specific records

4276
03:55:44,300 --> 03:55:46,100
about it than medieval 
Europeans. 

4277
03:55:46,100 --> 03:55:48,700
Did what's fascinating? 
Is that when you look at 

4278
03:55:48,700 --> 03:55:51,500
descriptions of sleep, from 
ancient and medieval sources? 

4279
03:55:51,500 --> 03:55:54,800
They almost always talk about 
sleeps, plural. 

4280
03:55:55,800 --> 03:55:59,000
After the first sleep appears in
everything from Homer to 

4281
03:55:59,000 --> 03:56:02,600
Medieval court documents. 
It wasn't a figure of speech. 

4282
03:56:02,600 --> 03:56:06,100
It was simply describing how 
sleep actually worked. 

4283
03:56:06,100 --> 03:56:09,700
This pattern makes biological 
sense when you understand human 

4284
03:56:09,700 --> 03:56:13,100
sleep. 
Architecture in darkness without

4285
03:56:13,100 --> 03:56:16,600
artificial light suppressing, 
melatonin production of your 

4286
03:56:16,600 --> 03:56:19,300
body produces this sleep hormone
in two ways. 

4287
03:56:20,400 --> 03:56:23,800
First wave creates sleepiness in
the early evening, then there's 

4288
03:56:23,800 --> 03:56:25,600
a natural dip in the middle of 
the night. 

4289
03:56:25,600 --> 03:56:30,000
This is when ancient people's 
would wake between sleeps The 

4290
03:56:30,000 --> 03:56:33,000
second wave of melatonin would 
then carry you through your 

4291
03:56:33,000 --> 03:56:36,200
second sleep until natural 
morning lights suppress. 

4292
03:56:36,200 --> 03:56:39,700
Melatonin production and you'd 
wake for the day the end of bi 

4293
03:56:39,700 --> 03:56:43,100
phasic Sleek coincided with the 
introduction of Street lighting 

4294
03:56:43,100 --> 03:56:45,200
and later domestic electric 
lighting. 

4295
03:56:46,000 --> 03:56:49,400
When you could extend the useful
day Beyond Sunset, when you 

4296
03:56:49,400 --> 03:56:52,200
could read and work and 
socialize long after dark. 

4297
03:56:52,200 --> 03:56:55,400
The first sleep gradually 
shifted later and later 

4298
03:56:55,400 --> 03:56:59,500
eventually it merged with the 
second sleep into one continuous

4299
03:56:59,500 --> 03:57:02,400
block. 
Within just a few Generations 

4300
03:57:02,400 --> 03:57:05,900
humans, forgot that we'd ever 
slept any other way, but your 

4301
03:57:05,900 --> 03:57:09,900
body hasn't entirely forgotten. 
Ever wake up at two or three in 

4302
03:57:09,900 --> 03:57:13,100
the morning and live their 
feeling alert, not really tired,

4303
03:57:13,100 --> 03:57:16,500
just awake. 
You might be experiencing the 

4304
03:57:16,500 --> 03:57:20,400
echo of this ancient pattern, 
your biology expecting you to be

4305
03:57:20,400 --> 03:57:22,600
up for a while before returning 
to Second sleep. 

4306
03:57:23,400 --> 03:57:26,200
Instead of treating this as 
insomnia and getting frustrated 

4307
03:57:26,200 --> 03:57:29,100
ancient people's would have 
simply accepted it. 

4308
03:57:29,900 --> 03:57:32,800
Perhaps even welcomed it as 
quiet time for Thought or 

4309
03:57:32,800 --> 03:57:35,400
intimacy. 
The quality of sleep in this 

4310
03:57:35,400 --> 03:57:36,900
pattern was apparently quite 
good. 

4311
03:57:37,900 --> 03:57:40,300
When researchers have studied 
people sleeping without 

4312
03:57:40,300 --> 03:57:44,800
artificial lighting, their 
natural rhythms to emerge, they 

4313
03:57:44,800 --> 03:57:48,800
often spontaneously developed by
phasic sleep and Report feeling 

4314
03:57:48,800 --> 03:57:51,900
more rested, less groggy and 
more mentally. 

4315
03:57:51,900 --> 03:57:54,000
Clear that they do with 
continuous sleep. 

4316
03:57:54,000 --> 03:57:56,900
Ancient people also noticed 
something interesting about 

4317
03:57:56,900 --> 03:58:00,600
dreams in this pattern. 
The dreams during first sleep, 

4318
03:58:00,600 --> 03:58:03,300
often felt different from those 
during Second sleep. 

4319
03:58:04,000 --> 03:58:07,000
First sleep dreams might be more
about processing the days of 

4320
03:58:07,008 --> 03:58:10,500
events and working through 
immediate concerns. 

4321
03:58:11,300 --> 03:58:14,300
Second sleep dreams, coming 
after the wakeful interlude, 

4322
03:58:14,300 --> 03:58:18,400
often felt more Vivid, more 
symbolic and more like the kinds

4323
03:58:18,400 --> 03:58:22,200
of dreams that carried meaning, 
or messages in some cultures, 

4324
03:58:22,200 --> 03:58:25,600
the time between sleeps was 
specifically devoted to dream 

4325
03:58:25,600 --> 03:58:28,500
interpretation. 
You might wake from first sleep 

4326
03:58:28,500 --> 03:58:32,400
reflect on whatever you dreamed,
perhaps to discuss it quietly 

4327
03:58:32,400 --> 03:58:35,300
with your partner and then 
return to Second sleep with the 

4328
03:58:35,300 --> 03:58:36,900
dreams. 
Meaning as the last thing. 

4329
03:58:36,900 --> 03:58:39,900
In your conscious mind, before 
sleeping back under the 

4330
03:58:39,900 --> 03:58:41,800
Practical aspects of by facing 
sleep. 

4331
03:58:41,800 --> 03:58:46,200
Also suited pre-industrial life.
Fires needed, 10 through the 

4332
03:58:46,200 --> 03:58:48,600
night. 
They were your heat Source your 

4333
03:58:48,600 --> 03:58:52,100
protection against predators and
your breakfast cooking method. 

4334
03:58:52,900 --> 03:58:54,700
Waking naturally. 
In the middle of the night 

4335
03:58:54,700 --> 03:58:57,600
meant, someone could add fuel to
the fire without disrupting the 

4336
03:58:57,600 --> 03:59:00,800
group sleep with deliberate 
watches or shifts security. 

4337
03:59:00,800 --> 03:59:04,900
Concerns also made the wakeful 
period useful in a world without

4338
03:59:04,900 --> 03:59:08,400
alarm systems, or police forces.
Having a period, when most of 

4339
03:59:08,400 --> 03:59:10,900
adults, naturally woke up meant 
better, protect protection for 

4340
03:59:10,900 --> 03:59:14,400
sleeping communities. 
It's hard to sneak up on a 

4341
03:59:14,400 --> 03:59:16,500
village when half the population
is lying. 

4342
03:59:16,500 --> 03:59:19,200
Quietly, awaken the dark 
listening to the night sounds 

4343
03:59:19,200 --> 03:59:22,200
picture. 
This, you've spent your entire 

4344
03:59:22,200 --> 03:59:24,900
day Outdoors, because that's 
where everything happens. 

4345
03:59:24,900 --> 03:59:27,500
Work? 
Cooking socializing. 

4346
03:59:28,300 --> 03:59:30,400
As evening approaches when it's 
time to sleep. 

4347
03:59:30,400 --> 03:59:33,600
Would you really want to confine
yourself to a dark? 

4348
03:59:33,600 --> 03:59:37,000
Stuffy interior. 
For many ancient people's, the 

4349
03:59:37,000 --> 03:59:40,500
answer was a resounding. 
No, they slept outside under the

4350
03:59:40,500 --> 03:59:43,600
sky in ways that might make your
modern camping trip. 

4351
03:59:43,600 --> 03:59:47,300
Look overly complicated in 
ancient Mesopotamia during the 

4352
03:59:47,300 --> 03:59:49,800
brutal summer heat. 
When temperatures could easily 

4353
03:59:49,800 --> 03:59:54,800
exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit 
Wealthy City dwellers would 

4354
03:59:54,800 --> 03:59:58,200
carry their beds up to their 
flat roof tops as evening fell. 

4355
03:59:59,100 --> 04:00:02,100
This wasn't roughing it. 
This was practical climate 

4356
04:00:02,100 --> 04:00:04,500
control combined, with Cosmic 
entertainment. 

4357
04:00:05,400 --> 04:00:09,200
You'd lie there on your Reed mat
or wooden bed frame looking up 

4358
04:00:09,200 --> 04:00:12,300
at stars so bright and numerous 
they seemed close enough to 

4359
04:00:12,300 --> 04:00:15,800
touch while the days he'd 
gradually radiated from the 

4360
04:00:15,800 --> 04:00:19,200
roof, top beneath you and 
whatever Breeze existed could 

4361
04:00:19,200 --> 04:00:22,100
reach your cooling skin. 
The roof top bedroom was a 

4362
04:00:22,100 --> 04:00:25,700
feature of Urban Design across 
the ancient near East. houses 

4363
04:00:25,700 --> 04:00:28,600
were specifically built with 
flat roof strong enough to 

4364
04:00:28,600 --> 04:00:32,600
support sleeping families, These
weren't emergency measures for 

4365
04:00:32,600 --> 04:00:35,300
unusually hot nights. 
They were primary sleeping 

4366
04:00:35,300 --> 04:00:39,300
locations for months at a time. 
You'd carry up your bedding at 

4367
04:00:39,308 --> 04:00:41,700
Sunset. 
Sleep through the relatively 

4368
04:00:41,700 --> 04:00:44,800
cooler night hours, and bring 
everything back down at dawn. 

4369
04:00:44,800 --> 04:00:47,900
Before the sun turned your roof,
top into a skillet ancient 

4370
04:00:47,900 --> 04:00:50,500
Egyptians took outdoor sleeping 
even further. 

4371
04:00:51,300 --> 04:00:54,600
The wealthy might have sleeping 
porches or Pavilions designed to

4372
04:00:54,600 --> 04:00:56,400
catch the evening Breeze from 
the Nile. 

4373
04:00:56,400 --> 04:00:59,200
These structures were 
essentially architectural 

4374
04:00:59,200 --> 04:01:02,900
solutions to the climate. 
With open sides, allowing air 

4375
04:01:02,900 --> 04:01:06,000
circulation while protecting 
sleepers from the more intense 

4376
04:01:06,000 --> 04:01:09,400
Sun during daytime hours when 
someone might want to nap, but 

4377
04:01:09,400 --> 04:01:12,500
even ordinary Egyptians often 
slept Outdoors during warmer 

4378
04:01:12,500 --> 04:01:16,200
months, your typical farmer or 
laborer might simply spread a 

4379
04:01:16,200 --> 04:01:18,100
mat on the ground outside their 
small home. 

4380
04:01:18,100 --> 04:01:21,200
Using the house itself as a 
Windbreak, if needed. 

4381
04:01:22,100 --> 04:01:24,600
The Earth beneath you would 
still be warm from the day son. 

4382
04:01:24,600 --> 04:01:28,700
Creating a natural heated pad 
while the Open Sky allowed body 

4383
04:01:28,700 --> 04:01:32,400
heat to dissipate the sensory 
experience of sleeping outdoors 

4384
04:01:32,400 --> 04:01:35,600
in ancient times was entirely 
different from Modern camping. 

4385
04:01:36,300 --> 04:01:40,000
There was no distant hum of 
Highways, no airplane, contrails

4386
04:01:40,000 --> 04:01:43,200
overhead and no light, pollution
washing out the Stars. 

4387
04:01:44,000 --> 04:01:47,600
The darkness was profound, 
textured and Alive. 

4388
04:01:47,600 --> 04:01:52,600
Your ears would attune to night.
Sounds wind moving through crops

4389
04:01:52,600 --> 04:01:56,100
or palm fronds. 
The distant calls of nightbirds 

4390
04:01:56,100 --> 04:01:59,100
or jackals and the clothes 
rustling of small. 

4391
04:01:59,100 --> 04:02:01,300
Nocturnal creatures. 
Going about their business, 

4392
04:02:01,300 --> 04:02:04,600
ancient peoples developed 
sophisticated knowledge of how 

4393
04:02:04,600 --> 04:02:08,200
to sleep safely Outdoors 
location, mattered enormously. 

4394
04:02:08,200 --> 04:02:12,500
You'd avoid low spots where cold
air settled and mourning due 

4395
04:02:12,500 --> 04:02:13,200
would be heavy. 
Yes. 

4396
04:02:14,000 --> 04:02:17,400
You'd position yourself to catch
any Breeze but also avoid being 

4397
04:02:17,400 --> 04:02:20,100
too exposed to win. 
That might kill you before Dawn.

4398
04:02:20,900 --> 04:02:22,800
You'd sleep on slightly elevated
ground. 

4399
04:02:22,800 --> 04:02:26,300
Where water wouldn't pull. 
If unexpected rain came in 

4400
04:02:26,300 --> 04:02:29,700
ancient Greece and Rome summer 
sleeping Arrangements, often 

4401
04:02:29,700 --> 04:02:31,200
involved the Garden or 
Courtyard. 

4402
04:02:32,100 --> 04:02:34,900
Wealthy Romans would have slave 
set up couches in their 

4403
04:02:34,900 --> 04:02:38,400
peristyle gardeners. 
Those lovely, colonnaded spaces 

4404
04:02:38,400 --> 04:02:42,100
that were half indoors and half 
Outdoors You'd fall asleep to 

4405
04:02:42,100 --> 04:02:45,100
the sound of a fountain 
surrounded by night, blooming 

4406
04:02:45,100 --> 04:02:47,900
flowers and herbs who sense 
became more intense in the 

4407
04:02:47,900 --> 04:02:49,500
cooler. 
Evening are the Greek 

4408
04:02:49,500 --> 04:02:52,700
philosopher dialogue Genesis 
famously sled in a large ceramic

4409
04:02:52,700 --> 04:02:56,200
jar in the marketplace of Athens
taking, the outdoor sleeping 

4410
04:02:56,200 --> 04:02:59,600
concept to an extreme that 
probably seemed eccentric even 

4411
04:02:59,600 --> 04:03:03,000
there. 
But his choice reflected a 

4412
04:03:03,000 --> 04:03:06,000
widespread understanding that 
sleeping Outdoors wasn't a 

4413
04:03:06,000 --> 04:03:07,700
hardship. 
It was often more comfortable 

4414
04:03:07,700 --> 04:03:11,100
than being inside ancient 
Chinese culture developed the 

4415
04:03:11,100 --> 04:03:13,800
concept of sleeping, porches and
Pavilions. 

4416
04:03:13,800 --> 04:03:17,800
And Gardens particularly for 
summer months, these structures 

4417
04:03:17,800 --> 04:03:20,700
were carefully positioned to 
maximize evening breezes and 

4418
04:03:20,700 --> 04:03:24,300
Morning Light while, providing 
some protection from Sudden 

4419
04:03:24,300 --> 04:03:26,600
rain. 
The philosophy behind them 

4420
04:03:26,600 --> 04:03:30,000
wasn't just practical, it 
included ideas about connecting 

4421
04:03:30,000 --> 04:03:33,100
with natural energy, flows, 
during sleeps, vulnerable hours 

4422
04:03:33,100 --> 04:03:36,700
in Ancient India, sleeping 
Outdoors under mosquito Nets, 

4423
04:03:36,700 --> 04:03:40,300
was common practice. 
These nets were marvels of 

4424
04:03:40,300 --> 04:03:43,400
practical engineering, light 
enough to allow air circulation,

4425
04:03:43,400 --> 04:03:47,700
fine, enough to keep out insects
and often beautiful enough to 

4426
04:03:47,700 --> 04:03:51,000
serve as decorative elements. 
During the day, you'd sleep 

4427
04:03:51,000 --> 04:03:55,200
under a canopy of cotton or silk
the fabric moving gently with 

4428
04:03:55,200 --> 04:03:59,100
any Breeze, creating a private 
cocoon under the Open Sky. 

4429
04:03:59,100 --> 04:04:02,100
The Aboriginal people of 
Australia had perhaps the most 

4430
04:04:02,100 --> 04:04:06,700
sophisticated outdoor sleeping 
practices refined over 10s of 

4431
04:04:06,708 --> 04:04:10,200
thousands of years. 
He understood how to read the 

4432
04:04:10,200 --> 04:04:12,900
land for the best sleeping 
spots, how to position 

4433
04:04:12,900 --> 04:04:17,100
themselves relative to Fires for
warmth without smoking halation,

4434
04:04:17,100 --> 04:04:21,000
how to use windbreaks, 
effectively and how to stay 

4435
04:04:21,000 --> 04:04:23,800
comfortable in climate's ranging
from tropical to Desert 

4436
04:04:23,800 --> 04:04:26,400
Australian Aboriginal sleeping 
positions. 

4437
04:04:26,400 --> 04:04:28,600
Even had a temperature unit 
named after them. 

4438
04:04:28,600 --> 04:04:32,700
The Three Dog Night on cold 
nights, you'd sleep with dogs 

4439
04:04:32,700 --> 04:04:34,900
dingoes in their case for 
warmth. 

4440
04:04:35,700 --> 04:04:38,200
A one dog night was chilly, but 
manageable. 

4441
04:04:38,900 --> 04:04:42,200
Three Dog Night meant. 
It was seriously cold, requiring

4442
04:04:42,200 --> 04:04:44,300
three, dogs to maintain a 
comfortable, sleeping 

4443
04:04:44,300 --> 04:04:48,000
temperature. these were pets in 
the modern sense, they were 

4444
04:04:48,000 --> 04:04:51,600
living breathing sleeping bags, 
for nomadic people's across the 

4445
04:04:51,608 --> 04:04:55,500
ancient world sleeping under the
stars wasn't a choice but a way 

4446
04:04:55,500 --> 04:04:59,500
of life where to in tribes in 
the Arabian, Desert perfected, 

4447
04:04:59,500 --> 04:05:02,700
the art of sleeping outdoors in 
extremely challenging 

4448
04:05:02,700 --> 04:05:05,400
conditions. 
They understood how to find 

4449
04:05:05,400 --> 04:05:08,100
ground that would radiate, 
warmth through the cold desert 

4450
04:05:08,100 --> 04:05:10,800
night. 
How to position camps to avoid 

4451
04:05:10,800 --> 04:05:14,600
flash floods in Wade's and how 
to create efficient Shelter From

4452
04:05:14,600 --> 04:05:17,100
the intense son. 
While maintaining ventilation, 

4453
04:05:17,100 --> 04:05:20,500
the Bedouin that sleeping 
directly on Sand was usually 

4454
04:05:20,500 --> 04:05:25,000
uncomfortable, it provided no 
insulation and lost heat rapidly

4455
04:05:25,000 --> 04:05:29,000
after sunset. 
Instead, they'd use multiple 

4456
04:05:29,000 --> 04:05:32,900
layers of woven goat hair 
blankets, creating a system that

4457
04:05:32,900 --> 04:05:36,500
insulated From Below while 
providing warmth above. 

4458
04:05:37,000 --> 04:05:39,500
The goat hair naturally 
repelled, some moisture, and 

4459
04:05:39,500 --> 04:05:41,700
provided better. 
Insulation than plant fiber 

4460
04:05:41,700 --> 04:05:45,100
textiles ancient peoples, 
sleeping Outdoors developed 

4461
04:05:45,100 --> 04:05:48,100
intimate, knowledge of the night
sky, that served, both practical

4462
04:05:48,100 --> 04:05:51,900
and spiritual purposes, you'd 
Mark Time by constellations 

4463
04:05:51,900 --> 04:05:55,500
positions predict, whether by 
the appearance of the sky, and 

4464
04:05:55,500 --> 04:05:58,600
the behavior of animals and 
navigate by stars were 

4465
04:05:58,600 --> 04:06:02,700
necessary, the sky wasn't just 
scenery, it was your clock 

4466
04:06:02,700 --> 04:06:07,200
calendar and weather forecast 
combined, seasonal changes, 

4467
04:06:07,200 --> 04:06:09,500
determined sleeping. 
A rangements in most ancient 

4468
04:06:09,500 --> 04:06:12,900
cultures Some of its sleeping 
Outdoors or in the most 

4469
04:06:12,900 --> 04:06:16,000
ventilated spaces. 
Possible, winter meant 

4470
04:06:16,000 --> 04:06:19,000
retreating to whatever interior 
space is existed. 

4471
04:06:19,000 --> 04:06:22,500
Often shared with animals whose 
body heat contributed to 

4472
04:06:22,500 --> 04:06:25,100
warming. 
Small dwellings But even in 

4473
04:06:25,100 --> 04:06:28,200
Winter, many ancient peoples 
preferred sleeping near open, 

4474
04:06:28,200 --> 04:06:32,300
doorways or Windows. 
When weather permitted valuing 

4475
04:06:32,300 --> 04:06:36,100
fresh air over sealed warmth, 
the spiritual dimension of 

4476
04:06:36,100 --> 04:06:37,800
sleeping. 
Under the Open Sky was 

4477
04:06:37,800 --> 04:06:41,400
significant for many cultures. 
Some believe that sleeping 

4478
04:06:41,400 --> 04:06:44,300
Outdoors made you more 
accessible to Divine messages 

4479
04:06:44,300 --> 04:06:48,200
and dreams that the unobstructed
connection between your sleeping

4480
04:06:48,200 --> 04:06:51,500
mind and the cosmos allowed for 
clearer communication with 

4481
04:06:51,500 --> 04:06:55,200
whatever gods or Spirits. 
You recognized Native American 

4482
04:06:55,200 --> 04:06:58,100
tribes across North America, 
often preferred sleeping under 

4483
04:06:58,100 --> 04:07:00,400
the stars, even when other 
options existed. 

4484
04:07:01,200 --> 04:07:03,300
The practice wasn't just about 
Comfort. 

4485
04:07:03,300 --> 04:07:07,300
It reflected a philosophical 
position about Humanity's place 

4486
04:07:07,300 --> 04:07:11,300
in the natural world. being in 
closed in solid structures for 

4487
04:07:11,300 --> 04:07:14,800
sleeping seemed almost insulting
to the Earth and Sky. 

4488
04:07:14,800 --> 04:07:18,600
A rejection of the world that 
provided everything you needed. 

4489
04:07:18,600 --> 04:07:22,400
Get ready for this one. 
Privacy while sleeping is a 

4490
04:07:22,400 --> 04:07:24,400
modern luxury that your 
ancestors would have found 

4491
04:07:24,400 --> 04:07:26,200
bizarre and possibly even 
disturbing. 

4492
04:07:27,100 --> 04:07:29,500
For most of human history, 
sleeping alone wasn't just 

4493
04:07:29,500 --> 04:07:31,600
unusual. 
It was actually considered 

4494
04:07:31,600 --> 04:07:36,300
unhealthy potentially dangerous,
and maybe even a sign of social 

4495
04:07:36,300 --> 04:07:39,700
failure, picture a typical 
medieval English household 

4496
04:07:39,700 --> 04:07:41,400
though. 
Similar Arrangements. 

4497
04:07:41,400 --> 04:07:45,600
Existed in ancient. 
Rome Tang, Dynasty, China an 

4498
04:07:45,600 --> 04:07:50,000
indigenous cultures worldwide? 
The entire family, parents 

4499
04:07:50,000 --> 04:07:54,600
children, possibly grandparents 
maybe apprentices or servants 

4500
04:07:54,600 --> 04:07:58,400
would sleep in the same room. 
Not because they had no other 

4501
04:07:58,400 --> 04:08:01,600
choice but because sleeping 
together was the expected. 

4502
04:08:01,600 --> 04:08:06,000
Normal healthy way to do it. 
This communal sleeping wasn't 

4503
04:08:06,000 --> 04:08:09,400
just about body heat 
conservation though in drafty 

4504
04:08:09,400 --> 04:08:11,900
ancient buildings that were 
certainly a practical benefit. 

4505
04:08:12,700 --> 04:08:16,700
It was about security, social 
bonding, and a fundamental 

4506
04:08:16,700 --> 04:08:20,300
understanding of human nature 
that we've largely abandoned in 

4507
04:08:20,300 --> 04:08:22,800
modern Western culture in 
ancient Japan. 

4508
04:08:22,800 --> 04:08:26,000
The concept of separate bedrooms
didn't really exist in most 

4509
04:08:26,000 --> 04:08:30,000
households until remarkably 
recently, Families would spread 

4510
04:08:30,000 --> 04:08:33,400
futons across their main living 
space, each evening and sleep 

4511
04:08:33,400 --> 04:08:36,800
together in the same room. 
The act of laying out sleeping 

4512
04:08:36,800 --> 04:08:39,100
mats and tucking them away in 
the morning, was part of the 

4513
04:08:39,100 --> 04:08:42,400
daily Rhythm, a ritual that 
marked the transition between 

4514
04:08:42,400 --> 04:08:45,600
waking and sleeping life. 
Ancient, Romans, sleeping 

4515
04:08:45,600 --> 04:08:48,900
Arrangements of varied by class.
But shared this communal aspect.

4516
04:08:49,900 --> 04:08:52,100
A wealthy Roman household might 
have sleeping. 

4517
04:08:52,100 --> 04:08:56,000
Cubicles. 
Cubicle off the atrium but these

4518
04:08:56,000 --> 04:08:58,300
small rooms often contained 
multiple beds. 

4519
04:08:59,400 --> 04:09:02,200
Parents and young children, 
which share space while older 

4520
04:09:02,200 --> 04:09:04,700
children and household, servants
might sleep in other group 

4521
04:09:04,700 --> 04:09:07,800
derangements? 
Sleeping alone was so unusual 

4522
04:09:07,800 --> 04:09:11,300
that when it happened writers, 
mentioned it specifically as 

4523
04:09:11,300 --> 04:09:15,800
noteworthy, the ancient Greeks 
had a similar approach, their 

4524
04:09:15,800 --> 04:09:18,500
homes were designed around a 
central Courtyard with sleeping 

4525
04:09:18,500 --> 04:09:22,400
rooms, radiating off it but 
privacy, as we understand it 

4526
04:09:22,400 --> 04:09:26,700
individual rooms for individual 
sleepers wasn't the goal. 

4527
04:09:27,800 --> 04:09:31,000
The word alone in ancient Greek,
could carry connotations of 

4528
04:09:31,000 --> 04:09:34,500
Exile or punishment. 
Why would anyone voluntarily 

4529
04:09:34,500 --> 04:09:37,200
endure that condition for the 
vulnerable hours of sleep? 

4530
04:09:37,200 --> 04:09:40,000
In medieval Europe? 
The Great Hall of castles and 

4531
04:09:40,000 --> 04:09:43,100
manor houses often served as the
communal bedroom for most of the

4532
04:09:43,100 --> 04:09:45,700
household. 
The Lord and Lady might have a 

4533
04:09:45,700 --> 04:09:47,900
slightly more private space 
though. 

4534
04:09:47,900 --> 04:09:50,400
Private still often mention 
sharing with children and 

4535
04:09:50,400 --> 04:09:53,900
trusted servants but everyone 
else would bed down in the main 

4536
04:09:53,900 --> 04:09:56,500
hall. 
You'd fall asleep to the sounds 

4537
04:09:56,500 --> 04:10:00,000
of other people, breathing 
shifting, occasionally snoring, 

4538
04:10:00,000 --> 04:10:03,700
maybe talking in their sleep. 
This Arrangement had practical 

4539
04:10:03,700 --> 04:10:07,600
Security benefits, In a world 
before alarm systems, and police

4540
04:10:07,600 --> 04:10:09,700
forces. 
Having many people sleeping in 

4541
04:10:09,700 --> 04:10:12,200
the same space meant better 
protection against Intruders. 

4542
04:10:13,100 --> 04:10:15,900
If someone unusual entered 
during the night, multiple 

4543
04:10:15,900 --> 04:10:19,200
people would likely waken raise 
the alarm, but the communal 

4544
04:10:19,200 --> 04:10:21,800
sleeping went deeper than mere 
practicality. 

4545
04:10:21,800 --> 04:10:25,300
Ancient peoples understood 
something about human psychology

4546
04:10:25,300 --> 04:10:28,500
that we were only now. 
Rediscovering through research, 

4547
04:10:28,500 --> 04:10:32,300
humans, regulate their nervous 
systems through proximity to 

4548
04:10:32,300 --> 04:10:36,300
other humans, sleeping near 
people, you trust actually helps

4549
04:10:36,300 --> 04:10:40,000
you achieve deeper more restful 
sleep because your subconscious 

4550
04:10:40,000 --> 04:10:43,300
doesn't need to maintain. 
High alert levels, babies and 

4551
04:10:43,300 --> 04:10:44,600
young. 
Children slept with their 

4552
04:10:44,600 --> 04:10:47,500
parents, as a matter, of course,
and virtually all ancient 

4553
04:10:47,500 --> 04:10:50,400
cultures. 
The modern West and practice of 

4554
04:10:50,400 --> 04:10:53,600
putting infants and separate 
rooms would have struck ancient 

4555
04:10:53,600 --> 04:10:57,700
people's as negligent. 
Potentially cruel and dangerous.

4556
04:10:58,900 --> 04:11:01,800
How could you protect your child
respond to their needs? 

4557
04:11:01,800 --> 04:11:03,800
Or ensure? 
They survive the night. 

4558
04:11:03,800 --> 04:11:07,100
If they were in another room, 
ancient practice of communal 

4559
04:11:07,100 --> 04:11:10,200
sleeping included, elaborate 
social rules about positioning 

4560
04:11:10,200 --> 04:11:13,700
and higher Archie. 
In a Roman household where you 

4561
04:11:13,700 --> 04:11:16,100
slept relative to others, 
reflected your status. 

4562
04:11:17,000 --> 04:11:20,400
In a Japanese household, the 
specific location of each 

4563
04:11:20,400 --> 04:11:22,400
person's food on followed 
careful. 

4564
04:11:22,400 --> 04:11:25,200
Protocols, these were arbitrary 
rules. 

4565
04:11:25,200 --> 04:11:28,500
They were ways of maintaining 
social harmony even during the 

4566
04:11:28,500 --> 04:11:31,500
vulnerable hours of sleep, 
medieval ins took communal 

4567
04:11:31,500 --> 04:11:34,100
sleeping to levels that would 
horrify modern Travelers. 

4568
04:11:34,800 --> 04:11:36,600
You didn't rent a room. 
You rented. 

4569
04:11:36,600 --> 04:11:39,900
A space in a bed and that bed 
would likely contain several 

4570
04:11:39,900 --> 04:11:42,100
other Travelers. 
Complete strangers. 

4571
04:11:42,100 --> 04:11:43,500
Who had also paid for their 
spot. 

4572
04:11:44,900 --> 04:11:47,300
The large beds at Inns weren't 
romantic. 

4573
04:11:47,300 --> 04:11:51,400
They were an efficient use of 
space, allowing innkeepers to 

4574
04:11:51,400 --> 04:11:53,700
accommodate many Travelers in 
limited rooms. 

4575
04:11:53,700 --> 04:11:57,400
He shared in beds, have their 
own etiquette, you'd sleep in 

4576
04:11:57,400 --> 04:12:00,000
your day clothes though. 
Perhaps removing outer layers. 

4577
04:12:00,000 --> 04:12:02,900
You'd position yourself, 
carefully to minimize. 

4578
04:12:02,900 --> 04:12:06,400
Disturbing your bed Partners. 
You'd accept that someone else's

4579
04:12:06,400 --> 04:12:08,200
cold feet. 
Might touch your leg during the 

4580
04:12:08,200 --> 04:12:10,200
night and that was just part of 
traveling. 

4581
04:12:11,200 --> 04:12:13,900
Complaints about sharing beds 
with strangers, don't appear in 

4582
04:12:13,900 --> 04:12:17,400
historical records. 
It was simply how ins worked 

4583
04:12:17,400 --> 04:12:19,900
ancient people. 
Also understood that sleeping 

4584
04:12:19,900 --> 04:12:23,100
near others provided warmth in 
ways that made survival possible

4585
04:12:23,100 --> 04:12:25,000
in cold climates without Modern 
Heating. 

4586
04:12:26,000 --> 04:12:29,800
In Norse long houses, the entire
extended family Clan might sleep

4587
04:12:29,800 --> 04:12:33,900
in one, large, communal, space 
with the warmth from many bodies

4588
04:12:33,900 --> 04:12:37,000
and the central fire making the 
structure habitable through 

4589
04:12:37,000 --> 04:12:40,100
brutal Winters. 
The social bonding that occurred

4590
04:12:40,100 --> 04:12:42,000
through communal sleeping was 
significant. 

4591
04:12:42,800 --> 04:12:45,900
You developed deep familiarity 
with your household rhythms. 

4592
04:12:46,800 --> 04:12:51,300
Snored Who Rose for the privy 
multiple times, who talked in 

4593
04:12:51,300 --> 04:12:54,000
their sleep and whose babies 
woke for feeding. 

4594
04:12:54,800 --> 04:12:58,000
This intimate knowledge of each 
other's patterns created, social

4595
04:12:58,000 --> 04:13:00,700
cohesion. 
That's hard to replicate when 

4596
04:13:00,700 --> 04:13:05,100
everyone sleeps in isolation. 
In ancient China, the Kang a 

4597
04:13:05,100 --> 04:13:08,600
heated platform bed large enough
for entire families served as 

4598
04:13:08,600 --> 04:13:12,400
the center of household life 
during winter months, The family

4599
04:13:12,400 --> 04:13:15,600
would sleep together on this 
warm surface during waking 

4600
04:13:15,600 --> 04:13:17,900
hours. 
It might serve as a workspace or

4601
04:13:17,900 --> 04:13:20,900
dining surface. 
The king wasn't just Furniture, 

4602
04:13:20,900 --> 04:13:24,000
it was the heart of the 
household and sleeping on it. 

4603
04:13:24,000 --> 04:13:28,000
Together, reinforced family 
bonds, manic communities took 

4604
04:13:28,000 --> 04:13:30,200
communal sleeping to an 
Institutional level. 

4605
04:13:30,200 --> 04:13:34,800
Medieval monks would sleep in 
dormitories rows of simple beds 

4606
04:13:34,800 --> 04:13:36,800
or sleeping Platforms in one 
large room. 

4607
04:13:37,800 --> 04:13:40,000
This Arrangement served 
religious purposes. 

4608
04:13:40,000 --> 04:13:44,600
It promoted, humility 
discouraged, private Vice and 

4609
04:13:44,600 --> 04:13:47,300
created an atmosphere of 
communal spiritual discipline. 

4610
04:13:48,600 --> 04:13:51,900
But it also reflected the same 
deep human preference for 

4611
04:13:51,900 --> 04:13:54,900
sleeping in groups that existed 
in secular life. 

4612
04:13:54,900 --> 04:13:58,600
You might have a glass of water 
on your nightstand, maybe your 

4613
04:13:58,600 --> 04:14:03,300
phone charging, perhaps a book. 
Now, imagine if your bedside was

4614
04:14:03,300 --> 04:14:08,500
crowded with amulets talismans 
herbs, magical, symbols, and 

4615
04:14:08,500 --> 04:14:11,600
various objects designed to 
protect you from the very 

4616
04:14:11,600 --> 04:14:15,400
specific dangers, that looked in
the dark, welcome to bedtime 

4617
04:14:15,400 --> 04:14:19,300
rituals across ancient cultures,
we're going to sleep was as much

4618
04:14:19,308 --> 04:14:22,900
spiritual preparation, as 
physical settling ancient 

4619
04:14:22,900 --> 04:14:25,700
Egyptians took nighttime 
protection seriously. 

4620
04:14:26,600 --> 04:14:29,600
The typical household might have
small figurines of protective 

4621
04:14:29,600 --> 04:14:31,700
deities, positioned around 
sleeping areas. 

4622
04:14:33,000 --> 04:14:36,900
Best a dwarf god with the lines.
Maine and rather comical 

4623
04:14:36,900 --> 04:14:39,300
appearance. 
Was particularly popular for 

4624
04:14:39,300 --> 04:14:42,600
bedroom protection. 
He looked Fierce enough to scare

4625
04:14:42,600 --> 04:14:45,300
off, harmful spirits, but 
friendly enough that you 

4626
04:14:45,308 --> 04:14:47,300
wouldn't mind having him watch 
over you all night. 

4627
04:14:47,300 --> 04:14:50,100
These protective Figures were 
mere decoration. 

4628
04:14:51,000 --> 04:14:53,400
Families would address them 
directly during evening. 

4629
04:14:53,400 --> 04:14:57,000
Rituals, essentially asking for 
security through the vulnerable 

4630
04:14:57,000 --> 04:14:59,700
night hours. 
You might touch the amulet, 

4631
04:14:59,700 --> 04:15:03,200
while reciting a brief prayer or
formula creating a small 

4632
04:15:03,200 --> 04:15:06,300
ceremony that marked the 
transition from waking concern 

4633
04:15:06,300 --> 04:15:09,300
to sleeping. 
Trust the ancient Romans have 

4634
04:15:09,300 --> 04:15:12,100
their layers. 
Household, protective spirits 

4635
04:15:12,100 --> 04:15:13,600
that watched over the family's 
well-being. 

4636
04:15:14,600 --> 04:15:17,500
Before sleep, you might leave a 
small offering at the lararium, 

4637
04:15:17,500 --> 04:15:21,100
the household Shrine, perhaps a 
bit of food, or a pinch of 

4638
04:15:21,108 --> 04:15:23,600
incense, this wasn't 
Superstition. 

4639
04:15:23,600 --> 04:15:27,500
It was relationship maintenance 
with the supernatural forces 

4640
04:15:27,500 --> 04:15:30,500
that shared your home. 
Many ancient cultures, believed 

4641
04:15:30,500 --> 04:15:33,600
that specific plants had 
nighttime protective properties.

4642
04:15:33,600 --> 04:15:37,600
Medieval Europeans might stuff, 
pillows, or mattresses with 

4643
04:15:37,600 --> 04:15:40,900
herbs like mugwort believed to 
prevent nightmares. 

4644
04:15:40,900 --> 04:15:45,200
And promote prophetic dreams The
strong slightly, bitter scent 

4645
04:15:45,200 --> 04:15:48,000
would be the last thing he 
smelled before, sleep, and 

4646
04:15:48,000 --> 04:15:50,700
possibly, the first thing you 
notice, if you woke during the 

4647
04:15:50,700 --> 04:15:54,500
night, lavender chamomile, and 
Vervain found their way into 

4648
04:15:54,500 --> 04:15:57,500
sleeping spaces across ancient 
Mediterranean cultures. 

4649
04:15:58,400 --> 04:15:59,900
These weren't just Pleasant 
scents. 

4650
04:15:59,900 --> 04:16:02,200
They were considered spiritually
significant. 

4651
04:16:03,200 --> 04:16:07,500
Lavender was associated with 
Purity and protection of was 

4652
04:16:07,500 --> 04:16:11,100
connected to solar deities and 
thus provided a link to light 

4653
04:16:11,100 --> 04:16:14,500
even during Darkness. 
The vein was believed to prevent

4654
04:16:14,500 --> 04:16:17,900
evil spirits, from approaching 
sleepers, ancient Chinese 

4655
04:16:17,900 --> 04:16:20,700
sleeping rituals involved. 
Careful attention to placement 

4656
04:16:20,700 --> 04:16:23,600
and direction. 
You might hang specific 

4657
04:16:23,600 --> 04:16:27,700
talismans on the wall, facing 
your bed. images of protective 

4658
04:16:27,700 --> 04:16:32,300
deities coins arranged in 
auspicious patterns or written 

4659
04:16:32,300 --> 04:16:36,000
charms with prayers or formulas 
designed to ward off nightmare 

4660
04:16:36,000 --> 04:16:39,500
bringing spirits The bedroom 
became a carefully, curated 

4661
04:16:39,500 --> 04:16:42,400
space where every object had a 
protective purpose. 

4662
04:16:42,400 --> 04:16:45,500
The placement of mirrors was 
particularly important in many 

4663
04:16:45,500 --> 04:16:48,700
cultures, ancient peoples, 
generally avoided having 

4664
04:16:48,700 --> 04:16:51,600
mirrors, and sleeping areas. 
Or if mirrors were present 

4665
04:16:51,600 --> 04:16:54,600
they'd be covered at night. 
The reasoning. 

4666
04:16:54,600 --> 04:16:58,800
Varied, some believed mirrors, 
could trap Souls others thought 

4667
04:16:58,800 --> 04:17:01,600
they provided portway for 
spirits to enter the physical 

4668
04:17:01,600 --> 04:17:05,000
world and still others worried 
that catching your reflection 

4669
04:17:05,000 --> 04:17:08,400
while in the vulnerable state 
between sleeping and waking 

4670
04:17:08,400 --> 04:17:11,100
could bring bad luck in Ancient 
India. 

4671
04:17:11,100 --> 04:17:15,000
The practice of placing sacred 
items, near sleeping spaces was 

4672
04:17:15,000 --> 04:17:18,100
highly developed. 
You might have a small oil lamp 

4673
04:17:18,100 --> 04:17:21,700
burning through the night, not 
just for light, but as a 

4674
04:17:21,700 --> 04:17:25,400
symbolic presence of divine 
awareness, The flickering flame 

4675
04:17:25,400 --> 04:17:29,400
represented the Eternal 
unchanging reality beyond the 

4676
04:17:29,400 --> 04:17:32,100
illusions of both waking and 
sleeping Consciousness. 

4677
04:17:32,100 --> 04:17:36,300
Many ancient cultures prescribed
specific prayers or recitations 

4678
04:17:36,300 --> 04:17:38,600
to be performed while lying down
to sleep. 

4679
04:17:39,300 --> 04:17:42,400
These weren't quick mumbles, 
they were substantial verbal 

4680
04:17:42,400 --> 04:17:44,600
formulas. 
That served multiple purposes. 

4681
04:17:45,400 --> 04:17:49,100
They calm the Mind marked, the 
transition to sleep, invoked 

4682
04:17:49,100 --> 04:17:53,000
protection and sometimes asked 
for specific kinds of dreams or 

4683
04:17:53,000 --> 04:17:56,200
messages during the night. 
Ancient Mesopotamians, used 

4684
04:17:56,200 --> 04:18:00,100
clay, tablets inscribed with 
protective spells, positioned 

4685
04:18:00,100 --> 04:18:02,900
around sleeping areas to create 
a perimeter of safety. 

4686
04:18:04,300 --> 04:18:07,500
These tablets contained, 
elaborate formulas, addressing 

4687
04:18:07,500 --> 04:18:12,200
various nighttime dangers, 
Demons of disease, spirits of 

4688
04:18:12,200 --> 04:18:15,900
chaos, and the ghosts of those 
who died untimely deaths and 

4689
04:18:15,900 --> 04:18:20,400
might be angry about it. 
Reading these tablets today, you

4690
04:18:20,400 --> 04:18:24,000
realize how many specific 
threats ancient people's worried

4691
04:18:24,000 --> 04:18:25,700
about during sleeps 
vulnerability. 

4692
04:18:25,700 --> 04:18:29,200
The concept of The Nightmare has
much older Roots than you might 

4693
04:18:29,200 --> 04:18:31,800
imagine. 
And the word itself reflects 

4694
04:18:31,800 --> 04:18:35,700
ancient belief systems. 
The mayor part comes from a 

4695
04:18:35,700 --> 04:18:39,100
Proto Germanic word for a spirit
that sits on sleepers chests, 

4696
04:18:39,100 --> 04:18:42,100
causing bad dreams and breathing
difficulties. 

4697
04:18:43,000 --> 04:18:46,900
Various cultures had their own 
version, the incubus in medieval

4698
04:18:46,900 --> 04:18:51,400
European tradition, the Lydia in
Hungarian folklore and the 

4699
04:18:51,400 --> 04:18:54,800
shaytan Layla in Arabic 
tradition protection against 

4700
04:18:54,800 --> 04:18:57,500
these nightmare Spirits 
involved, physical talents 

4701
04:18:57,500 --> 04:19:01,100
warned during sleep. 
The ancient peoples might wear 

4702
04:19:01,100 --> 04:19:02,500
amulets. 
Strung on cords, around their 

4703
04:19:02,500 --> 04:19:05,000
necks. 
Sexual rings that featured 

4704
04:19:05,000 --> 04:19:09,300
protective symbols or small bags
of herbs and Stones tucked under

4705
04:19:09,300 --> 04:19:12,500
pillows or mattresses. 
These weren't just comforting 

4706
04:19:12,500 --> 04:19:15,700
superstitions, they were 
Technologies of Consciousness 

4707
04:19:15,700 --> 04:19:19,300
tools, that helped the sleeping 
mind feel secure enough to 

4708
04:19:19,300 --> 04:19:22,800
release into deep rest. 
The practice of placing iron 

4709
04:19:22,800 --> 04:19:25,900
near the bed, was common across,
many ancient cultures from 

4710
04:19:25,900 --> 04:19:30,300
Celtic Britain to ancient China.
Iron was believed to repel or 

4711
04:19:30,300 --> 04:19:35,300
confuse malevolence spirits. you
might find an iron Horsemen 

4712
04:19:35,300 --> 04:19:39,400
entrance iron, Nails driven into
the bed frame or small iron 

4713
04:19:39,400 --> 04:19:43,300
objects positioned at the 
corners of sleeping space is the

4714
04:19:43,300 --> 04:19:47,300
metal itself was considered 
magically potent, its strength 

4715
04:19:47,300 --> 04:19:50,600
and durability translating into 
spiritual protective power 

4716
04:19:50,600 --> 04:19:55,300
ancient people also used sound 
for nighttime protection, Bells 

4717
04:19:55,300 --> 04:19:57,200
were particularly popular, 
they're Clear. 

4718
04:19:57,200 --> 04:20:01,100
Tone was believed to disperse, 
harmful entities, you might have

4719
04:20:01,100 --> 04:20:05,000
small bells so into the hanging 
around your bed positioned. 

4720
04:20:05,000 --> 04:20:08,000
So that any movement of the 
fabric would create gentle 

4721
04:20:08,000 --> 04:20:12,900
chiming The sound wouldn't 
necessarily, wait, you but it 

4722
04:20:12,908 --> 04:20:15,300
would create an acoustic 
environment believed to be 

4723
04:20:15,300 --> 04:20:19,200
inhospitable to nightmare 
Spirits, salted frequently in 

4724
04:20:19,200 --> 04:20:23,200
ancient sleeping rituals a line 
of salt to cross the threshold 

4725
04:20:23,200 --> 04:20:26,900
of the sleeping Room. 
Salt scattered in the corners or

4726
04:20:26,900 --> 04:20:28,500
small bags of salt under the 
pillow. 

4727
04:20:29,100 --> 04:20:31,900
All these practices existed 
across diverse cultures. 

4728
04:20:33,000 --> 04:20:34,700
Salts. 
Preservative properties. 

4729
04:20:34,700 --> 04:20:37,700
Made it symbolically powerful 
against Decay and Corruption. 

4730
04:20:37,700 --> 04:20:41,400
And this power extended to 
spiritual protection during 

4731
04:20:41,400 --> 04:20:43,900
sleeps. 
Vulnerability dreams, themselves

4732
04:20:43,900 --> 04:20:46,100
were so important to ancient 
cultures. 

4733
04:20:46,100 --> 04:20:50,400
That inducing specific kinds of 
dreams became a major focus of 

4734
04:20:50,400 --> 04:20:53,900
bedtime rituals. 
If you wanted prophetic dreams, 

4735
04:20:53,900 --> 04:20:57,300
you might sleep with a piece of 
paper under your pillow on which

4736
04:20:57,300 --> 04:20:58,900
you'd written a question for the
Gods. 

4737
04:20:59,700 --> 04:21:02,400
In ancient Greece, sick people 
would sleep in temples, 

4738
04:21:02,400 --> 04:21:06,400
dedicated to a sleepiest. 
The god of healing hoping to 

4739
04:21:06,400 --> 04:21:09,800
receive cure instructions in 
their dreams, the practice of 

4740
04:21:09,800 --> 04:21:13,700
incubation, deliberately 
sleeping, and sacred spaces to 

4741
04:21:13,700 --> 04:21:17,200
receive Divine dreams was 
formalized, in many ancient 

4742
04:21:17,200 --> 04:21:19,300
cultures. 
You'd undergo purification 

4743
04:21:19,300 --> 04:21:24,400
rituals make offerings, recite 
specific prayers and then sleep 

4744
04:21:24,400 --> 04:21:28,000
in the temple precincts. 
The expectation, was that the 

4745
04:21:28,000 --> 04:21:30,900
deity associated with that 
space, would visit your dreams 

4746
04:21:30,900 --> 04:21:33,800
with Messengers healing or 
guidance. 

4747
04:21:33,800 --> 04:21:37,200
Imagine walking into a furniture
store where the bed options 

4748
04:21:37,200 --> 04:21:40,200
include a pile of leather straps
stretched across a wooden frame.

4749
04:21:40,200 --> 04:21:44,400
A woven Reed mat that gets 
rolled up each morning a sand 

4750
04:21:44,400 --> 04:21:48,000
filled pit line with animal 
hides or a raised platform. 

4751
04:21:48,000 --> 04:21:51,000
Designed primarily to keep your 
way from flawed dwelling 

4752
04:21:51,000 --> 04:21:54,000
scorpions. 
Welcome to ancient bedroom 

4753
04:21:54,000 --> 04:21:58,200
furniture where Comfort was 
defined very differently than it

4754
04:21:58,200 --> 04:22:01,500
is in your mattress store. 
Catalog, the ancient Egyptians 

4755
04:22:01,500 --> 04:22:04,500
actually had Fairly 
sophisticated beds, at least by 

4756
04:22:04,500 --> 04:22:07,900
pre-modern standards. 
If you are wealthy, you might 

4757
04:22:07,900 --> 04:22:11,200
own a wooden bed frame elevated 
on legs carved to look like 

4758
04:22:11,200 --> 04:22:14,400
animal paws. 
Usually lion or bull feet 

4759
04:22:14,400 --> 04:22:17,500
because nothing says restful 
sleep. 

4760
04:22:17,500 --> 04:22:22,000
Like thinking about powerful 
animals, these frames held a 

4761
04:22:22,000 --> 04:22:25,900
sleeping surface made of woven 
rope or leather straps creating 

4762
04:22:25,900 --> 04:22:28,700
a slightly yielding platform 
that distributed weight 

4763
04:22:28,700 --> 04:22:32,000
reasonably well but here's the 
part that might make you squirm.

4764
04:22:32,800 --> 04:22:36,400
Egyptian beds, Had A peculiar 
feature called a headrest, which

4765
04:22:36,400 --> 04:22:38,000
was nothing like your plump 
pillow. 

4766
04:22:38,000 --> 04:22:43,400
Instead it was a curved piece of
wood stone or ceramic position 

4767
04:22:43,400 --> 04:22:46,400
to support your neck while your 
head hung off the bed's Edge. 

4768
04:22:47,000 --> 04:22:50,500
your skull would be suspended in
air while your neck rested on 

4769
04:22:50,500 --> 04:22:54,300
this hard, curved surface 
Egyptians apparently found this 

4770
04:22:54,300 --> 04:22:56,500
comfortable. 
Or at least preferable to 

4771
04:22:56,500 --> 04:22:59,300
Alternatives. 
These headrests served multiple 

4772
04:22:59,300 --> 04:23:02,400
purposes Beyond next. 
Support the elevated. 

4773
04:23:02,400 --> 04:23:05,300
Your head away from crawling. 
Insects that might Traverse the 

4774
04:23:05,300 --> 04:23:08,800
sleeping surface during the 
night. the kept your elaborate 

4775
04:23:08,800 --> 04:23:12,200
hairstyles from getting crushed 
hair maintenance was serious 

4776
04:23:12,200 --> 04:23:15,300
business, in ancient Egypt, And 
they were believed to have 

4777
04:23:15,300 --> 04:23:18,600
protective properties. 
Some were decorated with images 

4778
04:23:18,600 --> 04:23:21,900
of gods or protective symbols 
positioned, right? 

4779
04:23:21,900 --> 04:23:24,300
At the vulnerable passage 
between the skull and body. 

4780
04:23:24,300 --> 04:23:28,400
The ancient Romans elevated bed 
designed to an art form at least

4781
04:23:28,400 --> 04:23:32,100
for the wealthy A well-off Roman
might sleep on a lectus, 

4782
04:23:32,100 --> 04:23:35,800
essentially, a couch that served
double duty for reclining during

4783
04:23:35,800 --> 04:23:39,800
meals, and sleeping at night. 
These featured wooden frames 

4784
04:23:39,800 --> 04:23:44,000
often beautifully decorated with
inlays and carving with the 

4785
04:23:44,000 --> 04:23:47,300
sleeping surface created by a 
lattice of rope or leather 

4786
04:23:47,300 --> 04:23:52,100
straps topped with cushions 
stuffed with wool straw or if 

4787
04:23:52,100 --> 04:23:56,400
you were truly wealthy down 
feathers, but most Romans, like,

4788
04:23:56,400 --> 04:23:59,600
most ancient people's slept on 
much simpler surfaces. 

4789
04:24:00,700 --> 04:24:02,200
Straw filled mattress on the 
floor. 

4790
04:24:02,200 --> 04:24:05,200
A simple wooden platform or even
just blanket. 

4791
04:24:05,200 --> 04:24:08,500
Spread directly on the ground. 
Were far more common than 

4792
04:24:08,500 --> 04:24:12,100
elaborate bed frames. 
Straw had the advantage of being

4793
04:24:12,100 --> 04:24:16,100
cheap and readily renewable and 
providing some insulation from 

4794
04:24:16,100 --> 04:24:19,800
cold floors. 
Its disadvantages included a 

4795
04:24:19,808 --> 04:24:23,500
tracking various insects and 
needing frequent replacement 

4796
04:24:23,500 --> 04:24:28,300
when it became compressed. 
And frankly unpleasant, ancient 

4797
04:24:28,300 --> 04:24:31,700
Greek beds, were similar to 
Roman ones featuring the same 

4798
04:24:31,700 --> 04:24:35,300
basic design of wooden frames 
with ropes, sleeping surfaces. 

4799
04:24:36,200 --> 04:24:38,500
But the Greeks added an 
interesting innovation. 

4800
04:24:39,400 --> 04:24:43,500
Klein, a type of couch bed that 
featured raised edges on three 

4801
04:24:43,500 --> 04:24:46,600
sides, creating a semi-enclosed 
sleeping space. 

4802
04:24:47,900 --> 04:24:50,200
These raised edges weren't just 
decorative. 

4803
04:24:50,200 --> 04:24:53,500
They helped to keep bedding and 
sleepers from Rolling off during

4804
04:24:53,500 --> 04:24:56,500
the night. 
Functioned as backrests during 

4805
04:24:56,500 --> 04:25:01,800
waking hours and created a cycle
of protected space in ancient 

4806
04:25:01,800 --> 04:25:04,200
China. 
The Kang that heated platform 

4807
04:25:04,200 --> 04:25:07,500
bed mentioned earlier 
represented sophisticated 

4808
04:25:07,500 --> 04:25:09,600
engineering, applied to sleeping
comfort. 

4809
04:25:10,600 --> 04:25:14,400
The Kang was essentially a brick
or clay platform built over a 

4810
04:25:14,400 --> 04:25:17,200
system of flus that carried warm
smoke from the kitchen or 

4811
04:25:17,200 --> 04:25:20,300
heating fire. 
The surface would be warm 

4812
04:25:20,300 --> 04:25:23,700
sometimes almost hot providing 
radiant heat from Below. 

4813
04:25:24,800 --> 04:25:27,500
Families would cover this 
platform with mats and cushions 

4814
04:25:27,500 --> 04:25:31,400
creating a sleeping surface that
remained comfortably warm. 

4815
04:25:31,400 --> 04:25:35,700
Even during bitter Winters, the 
thermal mass of the Kane meant, 

4816
04:25:35,700 --> 04:25:38,000
it would stay warm for hours 
after the fire went out, 

4817
04:25:38,000 --> 04:25:40,500
providing consistent warmth 
through the night. 

4818
04:25:41,300 --> 04:25:44,100
But it also meant you needed to 
be careful about the temperature

4819
04:25:44,100 --> 04:25:48,000
too hot and you'd be 
uncomfortable too cool. 

4820
04:25:48,000 --> 04:25:52,500
And you'd lose the main benefit.
Managing a can was something of 

4821
04:25:52,500 --> 04:25:56,500
an art form, requiring attention
to fire temperature, flew draft 

4822
04:25:56,500 --> 04:26:00,200
and seasonal adjustments. 
Japanese sleeping surfaces were 

4823
04:26:00,200 --> 04:26:04,300
elegant in their simplicity. 
Futon wasn't the thick folded 

4824
04:26:04,300 --> 04:26:06,800
mattress that Western has 
associated with that word. 

4825
04:26:07,700 --> 04:26:11,100
Traditional futons were 
relatively thin cotton batting 

4826
04:26:11,100 --> 04:26:13,600
mattresses, laid directly onto 
Tammy Maps. 

4827
04:26:13,600 --> 04:26:17,100
Those woven Rush grass Floor 
Covering that have slight 

4828
04:26:17,100 --> 04:26:20,600
cushioning and natural humidity.
Regulating properties. 

4829
04:26:21,500 --> 04:26:24,200
You'd sleep on a surface. 
That was barely an inch or two 

4830
04:26:24,200 --> 04:26:27,300
thick yet millions of people 
found this comfortable for 

4831
04:26:27,300 --> 04:26:30,000
centuries. 
The practice of laying out and 

4832
04:26:30,000 --> 04:26:32,700
putting away Foods. 
Daily had practical benefits 

4833
04:26:32,700 --> 04:26:36,000
beyond space saving. 
It meant your bedding aired out 

4834
04:26:36,000 --> 04:26:39,300
regularly, preventing the 
moisture accumulation that could

4835
04:26:39,300 --> 04:26:41,700
lead to mildew in Japan's, 
humid, climate. 

4836
04:26:42,400 --> 04:26:45,600
It meant examining your sleeping
surface regularly for any issues

4837
04:26:45,600 --> 04:26:48,600
and it meant that sleeping 
wasn't something that happened 

4838
04:26:48,600 --> 04:26:51,600
in a separate. 
Dedicated room, it was an 

4839
04:26:51,600 --> 04:26:54,300
activity that temporarily 
transformed your living space 

4840
04:26:54,300 --> 04:26:58,000
Viking sleeping Arrangements, 
combined practicality with 

4841
04:26:58,000 --> 04:27:01,600
communal living. 
In Norse longhouses platforms 

4842
04:27:01,600 --> 04:27:05,000
along the walls served as 
multi-purpose surfaces seating 

4843
04:27:05,000 --> 04:27:07,300
during the day and sleeping 
spots at night. 

4844
04:27:08,000 --> 04:27:11,100
These platforms were typically 
covered with Furs and woven 

4845
04:27:11,100 --> 04:27:14,200
blankets. 
You'd borrow into layers of wool

4846
04:27:14,200 --> 04:27:17,700
and animal hide creating an 
insulated cocoon against the 

4847
04:27:17,700 --> 04:27:20,600
cold while the central fire 
burned through the night. 

4848
04:27:20,600 --> 04:27:24,300
The quality of your sleeping 
Furs reflected your status in 

4849
04:27:24,300 --> 04:27:27,400
Viking Society. 
A wealthy Chieftain might have 

4850
04:27:27,400 --> 04:27:31,300
bare Furs or luxurious seal 
skins while ordinary Farmers 

4851
04:27:31,300 --> 04:27:35,100
made with sheep skin or cowhide.
But everyone understood the 

4852
04:27:35,100 --> 04:27:38,100
prince of principal layers of 
material that trapped air 

4853
04:27:38,100 --> 04:27:42,000
provided insulation and animals 
with their natural oils. 

4854
04:27:42,000 --> 04:27:45,300
Repelled some moisture while 
retaining warmth Hammocks 

4855
04:27:45,300 --> 04:27:48,500
developed by indigenous peoples 
in Central and South America 

4856
04:27:48,500 --> 04:27:52,400
represent, perhaps the most 
Innovative sleeping surface in 

4857
04:27:52,400 --> 04:27:55,900
the ancient world. 
Woven from plant fibers or 

4858
04:27:55,900 --> 04:27:58,600
cotton hammocks can form to your
body shape. 

4859
04:27:58,600 --> 04:28:03,000
Distributed weight evenly 
capture off the ground away from

4860
04:28:03,000 --> 04:28:06,800
snakes and insects and allowed 
air circulation that made them 

4861
04:28:06,800 --> 04:28:09,400
comfortable even in hot humid 
climates. 

4862
04:28:09,400 --> 04:28:11,900
The hammock wasn't just a 
portable bed. 

4863
04:28:11,900 --> 04:28:15,300
It was a sophisticated 
understanding of ergonomics and 

4864
04:28:15,300 --> 04:28:19,200
climate adaptation. when 
European explorers encountered 

4865
04:28:19,200 --> 04:28:22,500
hammocks, they were impressed 
enough to adopt them for use on 

4866
04:28:22,500 --> 04:28:26,100
ships where they proved ideal 
for cramped quarters, and moving

4867
04:28:26,100 --> 04:28:29,400
vessels, the gentle swaying 
motion, that might seem 

4868
04:28:29,400 --> 04:28:32,400
disorienting to Modern hammock 
novices was apparently something

4869
04:28:32,400 --> 04:28:37,100
ancient people's adapted to 
easily ancient Mesopotamian beds

4870
04:28:37,100 --> 04:28:41,400
based on archaeological evidence
and artistic depictions often 

4871
04:28:41,400 --> 04:28:44,900
featured very high frames that 
required steps or stools to 

4872
04:28:44,900 --> 04:28:49,700
climb into This wasn't just 
status display, it was practical

4873
04:28:49,700 --> 04:28:54,000
elevation of floor level drafts 
insects and the dust that 

4874
04:28:54,000 --> 04:28:57,600
settled during the night. 
You decently be sleeping on a 

4875
04:28:57,608 --> 04:28:59,600
platform, several feet off the 
ground. 

4876
04:28:59,600 --> 04:29:03,500
With the cycle benefit of being 
literally above whatever called 

4877
04:29:03,500 --> 04:29:07,000
across floors in the darkness, 
the mattresses, and bedding used

4878
04:29:07,000 --> 04:29:09,600
on these elevated frames varied 
by wealth. 

4879
04:29:09,600 --> 04:29:15,300
But followed similar principles 
layers of textiles wool, linen 

4880
04:29:15,300 --> 04:29:18,900
or cotton, depending on what was
locally available would be 

4881
04:29:18,900 --> 04:29:22,800
stacked to create cushioning. 
These layers could be adjusted 

4882
04:29:22,800 --> 04:29:25,100
seasonally more layers for 
winter. 

4883
04:29:25,100 --> 04:29:28,900
Warmth fewer for summer Comfort.
Ancient Indian beds. 

4884
04:29:28,900 --> 04:29:32,000
Mentioned in texts like the 
Kamasutra could be quite 

4885
04:29:32,000 --> 04:29:35,200
elaborate affairs. 
A proper pad, might have a 

4886
04:29:35,200 --> 04:29:38,900
wooden frame with Ivory inlays 
posts, supporting a canopy to 

4887
04:29:38,900 --> 04:29:42,100
keep insects away, and 
mattresses stuffed with various 

4888
04:29:42,100 --> 04:29:45,700
materials, depending on the 
season, cotton for summer wool 

4889
04:29:45,700 --> 04:29:48,000
for winter. 
The canopy wasn't just 

4890
04:29:48,000 --> 04:29:51,500
practical, it created an 
intimate space within the larger

4891
04:29:51,500 --> 04:29:53,600
room. 
A private realm where the 

4892
04:29:53,600 --> 04:29:57,200
outside world was temporarily 
suspended in ancient Persia the 

4893
04:29:57,200 --> 04:30:00,400
concept of sleeping in Comfort 
reached remarkable Heights among

4894
04:30:00,400 --> 04:30:02,900
the wealthy. 
Beds might feature silk, 

4895
04:30:02,900 --> 04:30:06,100
cushions, fine, linen sheets, 
and elaborate hangings. 

4896
04:30:06,900 --> 04:30:10,400
But even ordinary Persians. 
Understood the basics sleeping 

4897
04:30:10,400 --> 04:30:13,300
surfaces should be slightly 
yielding should provide 

4898
04:30:13,300 --> 04:30:16,500
insulation from ground, cold, 
and should be high enough to 

4899
04:30:16,500 --> 04:30:19,300
discourage, casual insect 
traffic bedding. 

4900
04:30:19,300 --> 04:30:21,800
Materials across ancient 
cultures, reflected 

4901
04:30:21,800 --> 04:30:24,600
sophisticated, understanding of 
textile properties. 

4902
04:30:25,800 --> 04:30:29,300
Linen was prized in hot climates
for its coolness and moisture 

4903
04:30:29,300 --> 04:30:32,600
wicking abilities. 
Wool was valued in colder 

4904
04:30:32,600 --> 04:30:34,500
regions for its insulating 
properties. 

4905
04:30:34,500 --> 04:30:38,600
Even, when damp Silk wear of 
available was treasured for its 

4906
04:30:38,608 --> 04:30:42,900
smooth texture and temperature 
regulating qualities of practice

4907
04:30:42,900 --> 04:30:45,600
of Staffing mattresses and 
cushions with various plant 

4908
04:30:45,600 --> 04:30:49,000
materials, demonstrates 
remarkable knowledge of Natural 

4909
04:30:49,000 --> 04:30:51,900
Resources. 
Beyond obvious choices like 

4910
04:30:51,900 --> 04:30:56,400
straw and wool, ancient peoples,
use materials, like dried grass 

4911
04:30:56,400 --> 04:31:01,300
Moss leaves, and even seaweed 
Each material had specific 

4912
04:31:01,300 --> 04:31:06,300
properties, some lasted longer, 
some smelled better, some were 

4913
04:31:06,300 --> 04:31:10,200
softer, and some repelled in sex
more, effectively flax, the 

4914
04:31:10,200 --> 04:31:13,500
plant used to make linen. 
Also produce seeds that could be

4915
04:31:13,508 --> 04:31:17,300
used as mattress stuffing. 
Flax seeds in a cloth, Sac 

4916
04:31:17,300 --> 04:31:20,800
created a rustling shifting 
surface that can form to body 

4917
04:31:20,800 --> 04:31:23,400
shape. 
Some ancient peoples believed 

4918
04:31:23,400 --> 04:31:27,100
sleeping on flaxseed promoted. 
Good health though, whether this

4919
04:31:27,100 --> 04:31:30,100
had any basis beyond the placebo
effect is unclear. 

4920
04:31:30,100 --> 04:31:33,400
Ancient people also understood 
the importance of bedding 

4921
04:31:33,400 --> 04:31:36,500
cleanliness, though, their 
standards and methods, differed 

4922
04:31:36,500 --> 04:31:39,200
from hours. 
Bedding would be aired regularly

4923
04:31:39,200 --> 04:31:43,000
in sunlight, which naturally 
killed some bacteria and 

4924
04:31:43,000 --> 04:31:46,200
parasites. 
Textile covering would be washed

4925
04:31:46,200 --> 04:31:49,000
when possible though launching 
large items. 

4926
04:31:49,000 --> 04:31:52,000
Like mattress covers was labor, 
intensive, and couldn't be done 

4927
04:31:52,000 --> 04:31:55,800
frequently, the presence of bed 
bugs, flees and other parasites 

4928
04:31:55,800 --> 04:31:57,700
was largely accepted as 
inevitable. 

4929
04:31:58,500 --> 04:32:01,600
Ancient people's developed 
various strategies to minimize 

4930
04:32:01,600 --> 04:32:05,000
these pests. 
Certain herbs scattered in 

4931
04:32:05,000 --> 04:32:06,900
Bedding. 
Supposedly repelled, insects 

4932
04:32:06,900 --> 04:32:10,500
regular replacement of organic 
stuffing, materials and 

4933
04:32:10,500 --> 04:32:13,100
occasionally more drastic 
measures like burning and 

4934
04:32:13,100 --> 04:32:17,000
replacing infested materials 
entirely bed frames themselves. 

4935
04:32:17,000 --> 04:32:20,400
Often Incorporated design 
features meant to deter pests. 

4936
04:32:21,200 --> 04:32:24,300
Smooth surfaces gave insects 
fewer places to hide. 

4937
04:32:24,300 --> 04:32:28,200
Some ancient peoples would place
the legs of beds in small dishes

4938
04:32:28,200 --> 04:32:31,900
of water or oil creating moats 
that crawling insects couldn't 

4939
04:32:31,900 --> 04:32:34,800
cross. 
Others used materials or 

4940
04:32:34,800 --> 04:32:38,400
finishes that insects supposedly
dislike though, the 

4941
04:32:38,400 --> 04:32:42,200
effectiveness of these methods 
was probably limited the concept

4942
04:32:42,200 --> 04:32:43,900
of separate beds for married 
couples. 

4943
04:32:43,900 --> 04:32:47,800
Now, common In some cultures 
would have seemed strange to 

4944
04:32:47,800 --> 04:32:51,100
most ancient people's married 
couples slept together. 

4945
04:32:51,100 --> 04:32:54,600
As a matter, of course, often 
embeds barely large enough for 

4946
04:32:54,600 --> 04:32:57,500
two. 
This wasnt just about intimacy. 

4947
04:32:57,500 --> 04:33:00,700
It was about the fundamental 
understanding that sleeping 

4948
04:33:00,700 --> 04:33:03,300
together was normal that sharing
warmth. 

4949
04:33:03,300 --> 04:33:05,800
And space was how humans 
naturally rested. 

4950
04:33:05,800 --> 04:33:08,400
Imagine a world without alarm 
clocks. 

4951
04:33:08,400 --> 04:33:10,599
Not just turning off your 
phone's alarm. 

4952
04:33:10,599 --> 04:33:14,300
Imagine a world where the very 
concept of an artificial wake up

4953
04:33:14,308 --> 04:33:18,500
signal doesn't exist. 
Your internal clock synchronized

4954
04:33:18,500 --> 04:33:20,700
with natural light cycles would 
be your alarm. 

4955
04:33:21,700 --> 04:33:25,700
The sun rising Birds. 
Beginning their morning chorus, 

4956
04:33:25,700 --> 04:33:29,000
the temperature shift is 
Darkness gave way today. 

4957
04:33:30,099 --> 04:33:33,599
These would be your wake-up call
and they'd be far more gradual 

4958
04:33:33,599 --> 04:33:35,900
and gentle than the jarring. 
Electronic beep. 

4959
04:33:35,900 --> 04:33:39,300
You probably experienced this 
morning ancient peoples woke 

4960
04:33:39,300 --> 04:33:42,200
with the dawn not because they 
were particularly virtuous, or 

4961
04:33:42,200 --> 04:33:45,900
ambitious but because that's 
when melatonin production shut 

4962
04:33:45,900 --> 04:33:49,700
off in response to increasing 
light and their body's naturally

4963
04:33:49,700 --> 04:33:52,000
transitioned from sleep to 
wakefulness. 

4964
04:33:54,000 --> 04:33:56,500
Without our artificial lighting 
to extend the evening. 

4965
04:33:56,500 --> 04:33:58,599
They go to sleep, much easier 
than you do. 

4966
04:33:58,608 --> 04:34:01,900
So waking up at dawn, meant 
getting adequate sleep, not 

4967
04:34:01,900 --> 04:34:05,000
shortening it. 
The process of waking was itself

4968
04:34:05,000 --> 04:34:08,200
quite different instead of an 
Abrupt transition from 

4969
04:34:08,200 --> 04:34:12,000
unconsciousness to alarm, 
induced Panic, ancient peoples 

4970
04:34:12,000 --> 04:34:14,800
would experience a gradual 
emergence in to consciousness. 

4971
04:34:15,800 --> 04:34:18,200
Pre-dawn light would start 
registering through closed 

4972
04:34:18,200 --> 04:34:20,900
eyelids. 
The temperature would shift as 

4973
04:34:20,900 --> 04:34:23,200
the sun's first Rays, began 
warming, the air. 

4974
04:34:24,000 --> 04:34:26,800
The sound environment would 
change as daytime animals and 

4975
04:34:26,800 --> 04:34:30,000
insects became active. 
This gradual Awakening meant 

4976
04:34:30,000 --> 04:34:33,200
that people often drifted in now
to Consciousness for a period 

4977
04:34:33,207 --> 04:34:37,099
before fully waking. you might 
become semi-aware of your 

4978
04:34:37,099 --> 04:34:41,599
surroundings shift position, 
perhaps register the presence of

4979
04:34:41,599 --> 04:34:45,300
other people, stirring nearby, 
then drift back into light 

4980
04:34:45,300 --> 04:34:48,000
sleep, before finally opening 
your eyes to the day. 

4981
04:34:48,000 --> 04:34:51,599
Ancient Romans had a specific 
term for the pre-dawn hours 

4982
04:34:51,599 --> 04:34:56,900
Deluxe meaning when they begins 
to light up, this wasn't clock 

4983
04:34:56,900 --> 04:34:59,800
time. 
It was experiential time the 

4984
04:34:59,800 --> 04:35:03,400
period when darkness hadn't 
fully lifted, but enough light 

4985
04:35:03,400 --> 04:35:05,500
existed to begin daily 
activities. 

4986
04:35:06,599 --> 04:35:10,099
For early Rises and most Romans 
were early risers by modern 

4987
04:35:10,099 --> 04:35:13,099
standards. 
This was when the day actually 

4988
04:35:13,099 --> 04:35:15,900
started the morning. 
Rituals that followed waking 

4989
04:35:15,900 --> 04:35:19,099
were as elaborate as the evening
once though with different 

4990
04:35:19,099 --> 04:35:22,099
purposes. 
Where evening rituals focused on

4991
04:35:22,099 --> 04:35:25,400
protection and preparation for 
vulnerability morning. 

4992
04:35:25,400 --> 04:35:28,700
Rituals empty for size 
purification gratitude and 

4993
04:35:28,700 --> 04:35:30,500
preparation for the days 
activities. 

4994
04:35:30,500 --> 04:35:33,800
Ancient Egyptians would 
immediately wash upon waking 

4995
04:35:33,800 --> 04:35:37,099
using water from clay vessels 
kept in their homes. 

4996
04:35:37,800 --> 04:35:41,000
This wasn't just hygiene. 
It was spiritual cleansing. 

4997
04:35:41,000 --> 04:35:45,200
Washing away the night in any 
harmful influences and counted 

4998
04:35:45,200 --> 04:35:49,099
during sleeps Journey. the water
for morning washing might have 

4999
04:35:49,099 --> 04:35:52,700
been centered with oils or herbs
turning a practical activity 

5000
04:35:52,700 --> 04:35:56,200
into a sensory ritual that 
marked the transition to waking 

5001
04:35:56,200 --> 04:35:59,700
consciousness morning prayers or
acknowledgments to household 

5002
04:35:59,700 --> 04:36:03,700
Gods came next in many cultures 
Having been protected through 

5003
04:36:03,700 --> 04:36:07,200
the night, you'd Express 
gratitude and perhaps request 

5004
04:36:07,200 --> 04:36:09,700
guidance or Good Fortune for the
day ahead. 

5005
04:36:10,700 --> 04:36:14,500
These weren't lengthy ceremonies
just brief recognitions that 

5006
04:36:14,508 --> 04:36:17,200
you'd survived another night and
were beginning another day, 

5007
04:36:17,200 --> 04:36:21,200
Yankees, and practice of dream 
interpretation often occur 

5008
04:36:21,200 --> 04:36:22,200
during these early morning 
hours. 

5009
04:36:22,200 --> 04:36:27,200
If you had a particularly Vivid 
or disturbing dream, you might 

5010
04:36:27,207 --> 04:36:30,099
discuss it with family members 
while the dream was still fresh.

5011
04:36:30,900 --> 04:36:33,599
Some cultures kept dream 
journals or consulted, dream, 

5012
04:36:33,599 --> 04:36:36,200
interpreters, who maintained 
elaborate systems for 

5013
04:36:36,200 --> 04:36:38,900
understanding dreams? 
Symbolism ancient Chinese 

5014
04:36:38,900 --> 04:36:42,500
culture, developed sophisticated
dream interpretation systems 

5015
04:36:42,500 --> 04:36:45,800
with different types of Dreams 
believed to carry different 

5016
04:36:45,800 --> 04:36:48,500
meanings. 
A dream during first sleep, 

5017
04:36:48,500 --> 04:36:50,900
might be treated differently 
than a dream during Second 

5018
04:36:50,900 --> 04:36:53,500
sleep. 
Dreams that occurred just before

5019
04:36:53,500 --> 04:36:57,000
waking were considered 
particularly significant as 

5020
04:36:57,000 --> 04:36:58,500
though. 
The message is being conveyed 

5021
04:36:58,500 --> 04:37:00,700
needed to be immediately 
available to waking 

5022
04:37:00,700 --> 04:37:04,099
consciousness breakfast. 
As we know it a substantial 

5023
04:37:04,099 --> 04:37:05,599
meal. 
Eaten shortly after waking 

5024
04:37:05,599 --> 04:37:08,200
didn't exist. 
In many ancient cultures. 

5025
04:37:08,200 --> 04:37:12,400
Romans, generally skipped, 
morning, food, or had only a 

5026
04:37:12,400 --> 04:37:16,000
small bite of bread. 
The main meal came in the 

5027
04:37:16,000 --> 04:37:18,800
afternoon. 
This pattern makes sense, when 

5028
04:37:18,800 --> 04:37:21,700
you consider the ancient peoples
might have had a light snack 

5029
04:37:21,700 --> 04:37:24,500
During the wakeful period 
between first and second sleep. 

5030
04:37:24,500 --> 04:37:27,900
Meaning, they weren't waking 
from as long, a fast as modern 

5031
04:37:27,900 --> 04:37:31,000
breakfast suggests. 
However, morning drinks were 

5032
04:37:31,000 --> 04:37:32,599
important to cross many 
cultures. 

5033
04:37:32,599 --> 04:37:36,000
Ancient peoples, would drink 
water sometimes flavored with 

5034
04:37:36,000 --> 04:37:39,800
herbs or diluted wine. 
These morning beverages served 

5035
04:37:39,800 --> 04:37:43,099
practical purposes rehydration 
after the night. 

5036
04:37:43,099 --> 04:37:47,400
But also ritual purposes, a 
first taste that marked the 

5037
04:37:47,400 --> 04:37:49,700
transition from sleeping to 
waking State. 

5038
04:37:49,700 --> 04:37:53,300
The social aspects of morning in
communal, living situations 

5039
04:37:53,300 --> 04:37:56,300
meant that waking up involved 
immediately re-engaging with 

5040
04:37:56,300 --> 04:37:59,099
your household. 
There was no private morning 

5041
04:37:59,099 --> 04:38:03,099
routine in a separate bedroom. 
No time to gradually caffeinate 

5042
04:38:03,099 --> 04:38:07,400
in isolation, you'd wake to find
others already stirring and 

5043
04:38:07,400 --> 04:38:09,599
you'd all navigate the 
transition from sleep to 

5044
04:38:09,599 --> 04:38:12,200
wakefulness. 
As a group, children waking in 

5045
04:38:12,200 --> 04:38:14,800
ancient households would be 
integrated into the morning 

5046
04:38:14,800 --> 04:38:17,900
routine immediately. 
There was no concept of letting 

5047
04:38:17,900 --> 04:38:21,000
children sleep in or shielding 
them from the early morning 

5048
04:38:21,000 --> 04:38:23,700
activities. 
From Young ages children 

5049
04:38:23,700 --> 04:38:27,500
participated in morning, chores 
and rituals learning The rhythms

5050
04:38:27,500 --> 04:38:29,800
of daily life through immersion 
ancient. 

5051
04:38:29,800 --> 04:38:33,500
People also had to deal with the
Practical consequences of sleep.

5052
04:38:34,300 --> 04:38:36,400
Bedding needed to be aired or 
put away. 

5053
04:38:36,400 --> 04:38:40,700
Sleeping spaces needed to be 
converted to daytime, use and 

5054
04:38:40,700 --> 04:38:42,900
night soil needed to be disposed
of. 

5055
04:38:43,900 --> 04:38:45,500
These morning, chores weren't 
optional. 

5056
04:38:45,500 --> 04:38:47,900
Extras. 
They were essential parts of 

5057
04:38:47,900 --> 04:38:50,300
daily life. 
That everyone participated in 

5058
04:38:50,300 --> 04:38:53,700
the Morning, Light itself had 
significance Beyond mere 

5059
04:38:53,700 --> 04:38:57,500
visibility Ancient cultures, 
generally believed that Morning,

5060
04:38:57,500 --> 04:38:59,000
Light carried, special 
properties. 

5061
04:38:59,000 --> 04:39:03,700
That the first of sun held power
that dissipated as the day 

5062
04:39:03,700 --> 04:39:07,599
progressed, some people made a 
point of exposing themselves to 

5063
04:39:07,599 --> 04:39:11,599
early morning, sunlight standing
in doorways, or Windows to let 

5064
04:39:11,599 --> 04:39:13,200
the door like fall on their 
skin. 

5065
04:39:13,200 --> 04:39:17,400
This practice had biological 
validity that ancient people's 

5066
04:39:17,400 --> 04:39:20,599
couldn't have understood in 
modern terms, Morning, light, 

5067
04:39:20,599 --> 04:39:22,599
exposure helps reset your 
circadian. 

5068
04:39:22,599 --> 04:39:26,800
Rhythm suppresses lingering, 
melatonin and triggers cortisol 

5069
04:39:26,800 --> 04:39:28,599
production. 
That helps you feel alert. 

5070
04:39:29,700 --> 04:39:32,099
Ancient people's new empirically
that greeting. 

5071
04:39:32,099 --> 04:39:35,500
The Dawn made, you feel better 
even if they attributed this to 

5072
04:39:35,500 --> 04:39:39,100
spiritual rather than 
biochemical mechanisms seasonal.

5073
04:39:39,100 --> 04:39:42,600
Variations in Sunrise, meant 
that morning occurred at quite 

5074
04:39:42,600 --> 04:39:44,200
different clock times throughout
the year. 

5075
04:39:45,100 --> 04:39:48,200
Ancient people's adjusted, their
schedules naturally with these 

5076
04:39:48,200 --> 04:39:51,300
changes. 
Some might mean waking very 

5077
04:39:51,300 --> 04:39:54,500
early by modern standards, 
winter, might mean sleeping. 

5078
04:39:54,500 --> 04:39:58,500
Later, this flexible 
relationship with time governed 

5079
04:39:58,500 --> 04:40:01,400
by natural light, rather than 
arbitrary clock conventions. 

5080
04:40:01,400 --> 04:40:04,900
Kept ancient peoples, more 
synchronized, with natural 

5081
04:40:04,900 --> 04:40:07,300
rhythms. 
The Morning Sounds of ancient 

5082
04:40:07,300 --> 04:40:10,000
communities would have been 
remarkably different from Modern

5083
04:40:10,000 --> 04:40:13,200
morning commutes instead of 
traffic and alarm clocks. 

5084
04:40:13,200 --> 04:40:16,500
You'd hear roosters crowing 
animals, being let out of 

5085
04:40:16,500 --> 04:40:20,200
nighttime enclosures, the first 
sounds of cooking fires being 

5086
04:40:20,200 --> 04:40:24,300
kindled, water, being drawn from
Wells, and people, greeting 

5087
04:40:24,300 --> 04:40:27,900
neighbors, as they emerged into 
the new day morning, was also 

5088
04:40:27,900 --> 04:40:29,500
when dreams would fade from 
memory. 

5089
04:40:29,500 --> 04:40:32,800
And most people though, 
particularly vivid dreams might 

5090
04:40:32,800 --> 04:40:36,700
linger ancient people who wanted
to remember their dreams would 

5091
04:40:36,700 --> 04:40:40,100
speak them aloud immediately 
upon waking telling them to 

5092
04:40:40,100 --> 04:40:42,100
Companions or repeating them to 
themselves. 

5093
04:40:43,400 --> 04:40:46,000
This practice of dream telling 
helped preserve the dream 

5094
04:40:46,000 --> 04:40:48,400
content, and also serves social 
functions. 

5095
04:40:49,200 --> 04:40:52,300
As dream sharing was often a way
of maintaining intimate bonds, 

5096
04:40:52,300 --> 04:40:56,200
the physical sensation of waking
in ancient sleeping Arrangements

5097
04:40:56,200 --> 04:41:00,400
on surfaces harder than modern 
mattresses in rooms without 

5098
04:41:00,400 --> 04:41:03,800
climate control, possibly, with 
morning due on your face, if 

5099
04:41:03,800 --> 04:41:06,900
you'd slept Outdoors. 
Would have been quite different 

5100
04:41:06,900 --> 04:41:10,000
from Modern waking. 
Your body would be stiff from 

5101
04:41:10,000 --> 04:41:12,600
the night's rest needing 
movement and stretching to 

5102
04:41:12,600 --> 04:41:15,900
limber up this morning. 
Stiffness would motivate people 

5103
04:41:15,900 --> 04:41:19,000
to begin physical activity 
fairly quickly after waking 

5104
04:41:19,000 --> 04:41:23,200
which probably contributed to 
overall Fitness levels ancient 

5105
04:41:23,200 --> 04:41:26,700
people's understood that how you
began the day, influenced, 

5106
04:41:26,700 --> 04:41:30,400
everything that followed Morning
wasn't just a time to 

5107
04:41:30,400 --> 04:41:34,000
mechanically prepare for work. 
It was when you set your mental 

5108
04:41:34,000 --> 04:41:36,200
and spiritual orientation for 
the hours ahead. 

5109
04:41:36,200 --> 04:41:41,100
The rituals prayers, greetings 
and small ceremonies that marked

5110
04:41:41,100 --> 04:41:44,800
the transition from sleep to 
wakefulness were investments in 

5111
04:41:44,800 --> 04:41:48,300
having a good day, creating 
positive momentum, that would 

5112
04:41:48,300 --> 04:41:50,900
carry through until evening when
the cycle began. 

5113
04:41:50,900 --> 04:41:54,200
Again, as you lie there tonight 
in your controlled environment 

5114
04:41:54,200 --> 04:41:57,300
with your white noise machine in
your sleep tracking app. 

5115
04:41:57,300 --> 04:42:02,300
Consider this Ancient people's 
understood something about sleep

5116
04:42:02,300 --> 04:42:06,300
that are modern obsession with 
optimization sometimes misses. 

5117
04:42:07,100 --> 04:42:09,600
They need that sleep. 
Wasn't something to be conquered

5118
04:42:09,600 --> 04:42:12,800
controlled or perfected. 
It was something to be 

5119
04:42:12,800 --> 04:42:14,800
surrendered to a natural 
process. 

5120
04:42:14,800 --> 04:42:17,200
That worked best when you 
stopped trying to manage it. 

5121
04:42:17,200 --> 04:42:20,400
The ancient relationship with 
sleep was fundamentally 

5122
04:42:20,400 --> 04:42:23,700
different from ours. 
Sleep wasn't a problem to solve 

5123
04:42:23,700 --> 04:42:26,700
or a resource to optimize. 
It was simply part of the 

5124
04:42:26,700 --> 04:42:30,800
natural cycle of life, as 
inevitable and necessary as 

5125
04:42:30,800 --> 04:42:33,800
breathing, You didn't worry 
about whether you were getting 

5126
04:42:33,800 --> 04:42:36,300
the right? 
Kind of sleep or achieving 

5127
04:42:36,300 --> 04:42:40,800
optimal REM percentages. 
You slept when darkness fell 

5128
04:42:40,800 --> 04:42:45,000
woke, when light returned and 
trusted that your body knew what

5129
04:42:45,008 --> 04:42:49,100
it needed, this trust in natural
processes extended to dealing 

5130
04:42:49,100 --> 04:42:52,000
with sleep difficulties. 
If you couldn't sleep, you 

5131
04:42:52,000 --> 04:42:55,900
didn't Panic about it, you'd 
like quietly thinking, perhaps, 

5132
04:42:55,900 --> 04:42:58,900
doing the contemplative work 
that the period between first 

5133
04:42:58,900 --> 04:43:02,800
and second sleep was meant for 
The understanding was that your 

5134
04:43:02,800 --> 04:43:06,000
body would have eventually sleep
when it truly needed to and 

5135
04:43:06,000 --> 04:43:08,600
forcing. 
It was counterproductive ancient

5136
04:43:08,600 --> 04:43:11,900
people also recognized that 
sleep needs buried by season. 

5137
04:43:12,800 --> 04:43:16,400
Winter sleep was longer and 
deeper matching the extended 

5138
04:43:16,400 --> 04:43:19,100
Darkness. 
Summer, sleep was lighter and 

5139
04:43:19,100 --> 04:43:21,700
shorter aligning with brief 
nights. 

5140
04:43:22,400 --> 04:43:25,400
This seasonal variation in sleep
patterns is something modern 

5141
04:43:25,400 --> 04:43:28,200
society. 
Largely ignores expecting 

5142
04:43:28,200 --> 04:43:32,600
consistently duration year round
despite living at latitudes 

5143
04:43:32,600 --> 04:43:36,600
where daling varies dramatically
The quality of Darkness also 

5144
04:43:36,600 --> 04:43:39,400
affected ancient sleep in ways 
we rarely experience. 

5145
04:43:40,300 --> 04:43:43,700
True Darkness, the kind that 
exists miles from any artificial

5146
04:43:43,700 --> 04:43:47,400
light source, produces a depth 
of visual Blackness that most 

5147
04:43:47,400 --> 04:43:52,400
modern people never encounter. 
In this profound Darkness, your 

5148
04:43:52,400 --> 04:43:56,300
eyes would fully adapt your 
pupils dilating to their 

5149
04:43:56,300 --> 04:44:00,400
maximum, and you'd perceive 
subtle variations in darkness, 

5150
04:44:00,400 --> 04:44:03,900
that would be invisible in light
polluted modern environments. 

5151
04:44:03,900 --> 04:44:06,800
This quality of Darkness did 
something to human 

5152
04:44:06,800 --> 04:44:10,100
consciousness. 
Without any light stimuli your 

5153
04:44:10,100 --> 04:44:12,100
brain would fully commit and 
nighttime. 

5154
04:44:12,100 --> 04:44:15,300
Neurochemistry. 
Melatonin production would be 

5155
04:44:15,308 --> 04:44:19,000
robust and sustained. 
The transition between waking 

5156
04:44:19,000 --> 04:44:22,100
and sleeping Consciousness would
be smooth, their best jarring. 

5157
04:44:22,900 --> 04:44:25,800
Sleep itself would be deeper in 
his deep phases and more 

5158
04:44:25,800 --> 04:44:29,100
complete in its Cycles. 
Ancient people's experience. 

5159
04:44:29,100 --> 04:44:33,700
Whether during sleep in ways, 
modern people don't rain on a 

5160
04:44:33,700 --> 04:44:36,600
thatched roof, wind moving 
through the sleeping space 

5161
04:44:36,600 --> 04:44:40,600
temperature drops during the 
night, all these would register 

5162
04:44:40,600 --> 04:44:44,400
and sleeping Consciousness. 
Creating a continuous thread of 

5163
04:44:44,400 --> 04:44:47,300
awareness, connecting sleeper to
environment. 

5164
04:44:48,800 --> 04:44:51,500
You will never completely 
isolated from the natural world 

5165
04:44:51,500 --> 04:44:54,000
even during sleeps deepest 
phases. 

5166
04:44:54,000 --> 04:44:57,500
This ongoing connection to the 
environment meant that ancient 

5167
04:44:57,500 --> 04:45:00,800
peoples, developed sophisticated
unconscious awareness of 

5168
04:45:00,800 --> 04:45:04,700
nighttime conditions. 
You'd wake, if wind shifted to a

5169
04:45:04,700 --> 04:45:06,900
direction that might bring rain 
into your sleeping space. 

5170
04:45:06,900 --> 04:45:09,800
You'd stir if the temperature 
dropped enough to require 

5171
04:45:09,800 --> 04:45:13,900
pulling up additional covering 
You'd register unusual sounds 

5172
04:45:13,900 --> 04:45:15,900
that might signal danger without
fully waking. 

5173
04:45:16,700 --> 04:45:19,700
This vigilance was the price of 
sleeping in less protected 

5174
04:45:19,700 --> 04:45:23,200
environments, but it also kept 
you integrated with natural 

5175
04:45:23,200 --> 04:45:25,800
rhythms the social dimension of 
sleep. 

5176
04:45:25,800 --> 04:45:29,600
Also created different patterns 
of consciousness Sleeping near 

5177
04:45:29,600 --> 04:45:31,500
other people. 
Met your sleeping mind was 

5178
04:45:31,500 --> 04:45:34,300
tracking their presence their 
breathing rhythms and their 

5179
04:45:34,300 --> 04:45:37,600
movements. 
This wasn't exactly awareness. 

5180
04:45:37,600 --> 04:45:41,900
You weren't conscious of it? 
But it created a baseline of 

5181
04:45:41,900 --> 04:45:44,400
social connection that continued
through sleep. 

5182
04:45:45,400 --> 04:45:49,000
Humans are social animals and 
having that social presence 

5183
04:45:49,000 --> 04:45:52,800
during vulnerability may have 
been deeply comforting at levels

5184
04:45:52,800 --> 04:45:55,800
below. 
Conscious recognition, people's 

5185
04:45:55,800 --> 04:45:59,300
had elaborate folklore about 
sleep and its liminal States. 

5186
04:46:00,100 --> 04:46:03,200
the hypnagogic period that 
transitional State between 

5187
04:46:03,200 --> 04:46:07,000
waking and sleeping was 
recognized as a special, kind of

5188
04:46:07,000 --> 04:46:11,000
Consciousness, where Visions 
might appear Where the boundary 

5189
04:46:11,000 --> 04:46:13,400
between inner and outer worlds 
became porous. 

5190
04:46:14,100 --> 04:46:17,000
Some cultures deliberately 
cultivated this state for 

5191
04:46:17,000 --> 04:46:19,300
divination or creative 
inspiration. 

5192
04:46:19,300 --> 04:46:21,700
Similarly, the hypnopompic. 
Period. 

5193
04:46:21,700 --> 04:46:24,900
The transition from sleep to 
waking was considered 

5194
04:46:24,900 --> 04:46:30,100
significant Messages received in
the state Visions seen or 

5195
04:46:30,100 --> 04:46:33,000
thoughts, arising might be 
treated as particularly 

5196
04:46:33,000 --> 04:46:36,600
important representing the last 
communications from the 

5197
04:46:36,600 --> 04:46:38,100
dreaming. 
Mind before waking 

5198
04:46:38,100 --> 04:46:42,300
consciousness, reasserted 
control sleep paralysis, that 

5199
04:46:42,300 --> 04:46:45,700
unsettling experience where you 
wake up, but can't move was 

5200
04:46:45,700 --> 04:46:48,400
universally recognized and 
explained through various 

5201
04:46:48,400 --> 04:46:52,400
cultural Frameworks. where the 
scene is visits from Spirits 

5202
04:46:52,400 --> 04:46:57,600
attacks by demons or natural 
physiological events, Ancient 

5203
04:46:57,600 --> 04:47:00,400
people had ways of understanding
and coping with these 

5204
04:47:00,400 --> 04:47:03,700
experiences. 
The cultural explanations might 

5205
04:47:03,700 --> 04:47:07,100
seem superstitious to Modern 
minds but they served important 

5206
04:47:07,100 --> 04:47:10,300
psychological functions. 
Giving people Frameworks for 

5207
04:47:10,308 --> 04:47:13,600
processing frightening 
experience's ancient 

5208
04:47:13,600 --> 04:47:16,900
understanding of sleep. 
Also, included recognition that 

5209
04:47:16,900 --> 04:47:20,300
some people naturally needed 
more sleep than others that 

5210
04:47:20,300 --> 04:47:23,900
sleep patterns varied across 
life stages that temporary 

5211
04:47:23,900 --> 04:47:26,600
sleep, disruption usually 
resolve the cells without 

5212
04:47:26,600 --> 04:47:30,400
intervention. 
This wisdom that sleep is 

5213
04:47:30,400 --> 04:47:33,700
inherently variable and 
self-regulating is something 

5214
04:47:33,700 --> 04:47:36,500
modern sleep science. 
As essentially rediscovered 

5215
04:47:36,500 --> 04:47:40,100
ancient peoples, also recognize 
the connection between physical 

5216
04:47:40,100 --> 04:47:44,400
activity and Sleep Quality, 
Their daily lives involved far 

5217
04:47:44,400 --> 04:47:47,100
more physical labor than most 
modern occupations require. 

5218
04:47:47,800 --> 04:47:49,900
This natural exhaustion 
produced, good. 

5219
04:47:49,900 --> 04:47:53,000
Sleep is a simple consequence of
bodies needing recovery. 

5220
04:47:54,100 --> 04:47:56,500
The modern epidemic of sleep 
problems correlates with 

5221
04:47:56,500 --> 04:48:00,200
sedentary lifestyles in ways 
that ancient peoples never 

5222
04:48:00,200 --> 04:48:03,800
experience because their lives 
demanded physical engagement. 

5223
04:48:03,800 --> 04:48:07,900
The absence of caffeine in most 
ancient cultures tea and coffee 

5224
04:48:07,900 --> 04:48:11,800
came later, meant that people's 
natural sleep wake rhythms 

5225
04:48:11,800 --> 04:48:15,700
weren't disrupted by stimulants.
You'd feel sleepy when your body

5226
04:48:15,700 --> 04:48:18,800
said it was time to sleep 
without artificial alertness 

5227
04:48:18,800 --> 04:48:21,200
from afternoon, coffee 
interfering with natural 

5228
04:48:21,200 --> 04:48:24,300
drowsiness. 
Your circadian rhythm would 

5229
04:48:24,300 --> 04:48:28,000
operate cleanly undisturbed by 
chemical interventions. 

5230
04:48:28,000 --> 04:48:31,400
Ancient people also benefited 
from the absence of blue light 

5231
04:48:31,400 --> 04:48:33,200
exposure in the hours before 
sleep. 

5232
04:48:33,900 --> 04:48:38,000
Every light source, they used 
fires oil, lamps candles 

5233
04:48:38,000 --> 04:48:41,200
emitted. 
Warm reddish light, that didn't 

5234
04:48:41,200 --> 04:48:44,700
suppress melatonin production 
the way modern screens do. 

5235
04:48:45,500 --> 04:48:48,200
The evening hours would see the 
natural ramping up of sleep, 

5236
04:48:48,200 --> 04:48:52,200
hormones uninterrupted by the 
biological alarm signals that 

5237
04:48:52,200 --> 04:48:55,400
blue light, sends to the brain, 
as you prepare to sleep tonight.

5238
04:48:55,400 --> 04:48:57,500
Surrounded by modern 
conveniences, that would have 

5239
04:48:57,508 --> 04:48:59,500
seen miraculous to ancient 
peoples. 

5240
04:48:59,500 --> 04:49:02,900
You might wonder which approach 
to sleep is actually better. 

5241
04:49:04,300 --> 04:49:05,800
The honest answer is 
complicated. 

5242
04:49:05,800 --> 04:49:11,000
Modern Life has brought enormous
benefits. climate control 

5243
04:49:11,000 --> 04:49:14,300
protection from predators and 
disease, vectors comfortable 

5244
04:49:14,300 --> 04:49:17,600
mattresses and the ability to 
sleep securely even when living 

5245
04:49:17,600 --> 04:49:21,700
alone These aren't trivial 
advantages, but ancient sleep 

5246
04:49:21,700 --> 04:49:25,700
patterns, also offered benefits.
We've lost the synchronization 

5247
04:49:25,700 --> 04:49:29,400
with natural light cycles, the 
social bonding of communal 

5248
04:49:29,400 --> 04:49:32,200
sleeping. 
The bi phasic sleep pattern that

5249
04:49:32,200 --> 04:49:35,900
included in contemplation time 
the integration with seasonal 

5250
04:49:35,900 --> 04:49:39,700
rhythms, all these represented, 
a kind of wisdom, we've traded 

5251
04:49:39,700 --> 04:49:41,500
away from Modern Sleek 
Arrangements. 

5252
04:49:41,500 --> 04:49:44,700
The real lesson isn't that 
ancient sleep was better or 

5253
04:49:44,700 --> 04:49:48,300
worse than modern sleep but that
sleep is deeply influenced by 

5254
04:49:48,300 --> 04:49:51,700
culture environment and 
expectations. 

5255
04:49:52,700 --> 04:49:54,900
Ancient people's didn't have 
worse sleep because their 

5256
04:49:54,900 --> 04:49:57,600
mattresses were lumpy and their 
rooms were cold. 

5257
04:49:57,600 --> 04:50:01,800
They had different sleep adapted
to different circumstances and 

5258
04:50:01,800 --> 04:50:05,100
serving different needs. 
Your ancestors would find your 

5259
04:50:05,100 --> 04:50:08,400
sleeping arrangements as 
strangers as you find theirs, a 

5260
04:50:08,400 --> 04:50:11,900
rumal to yourself a mattress. 
So soft it might swallow you 

5261
04:50:12,700 --> 04:50:16,100
Complete darkness achieved 
through room darkening shades. 

5262
04:50:16,800 --> 04:50:18,600
Temperature control to the 
degree. 

5263
04:50:19,500 --> 04:50:21,400
To them. 
This would seem like sleeping in

5264
04:50:21,400 --> 04:50:25,000
an isolation chamber, cut off 
from Human connection natural 

5265
04:50:25,000 --> 04:50:27,900
rhythms and the protective 
presence of family and 

5266
04:50:27,900 --> 04:50:31,000
household, but they probably 
also appreciate aspects of 

5267
04:50:31,000 --> 04:50:34,100
modern sleep, not having to 
worry about Predators or 

5268
04:50:34,100 --> 04:50:37,400
Intruders, would be a relief. 
Sleeping on a surface that 

5269
04:50:37,400 --> 04:50:39,100
doesn't hurt your back. 
Would be welcome. 

5270
04:50:39,100 --> 04:50:42,600
Having sufficient blankets to 
stay warm all night would be 

5271
04:50:42,600 --> 04:50:45,900
luxurious. 
Being able to sleep past Dawn, 

5272
04:50:45,900 --> 04:50:49,600
if you want to would seem like 
incredible Freedom, as you drift

5273
04:50:49,600 --> 04:50:53,100
off to night your participating 
in one of Humanity's, most 

5274
04:50:53,100 --> 04:50:57,300
ancient activities, one that has
connected every generation of 

5275
04:50:57,300 --> 04:51:00,800
humans who have ever lived your 
surrendering to the same 

5276
04:51:00,800 --> 04:51:03,300
vulnerability that your 
ancestors, surrendered to 

5277
04:51:03,300 --> 04:51:06,900
trusting that Consciousness will
return in the morning. 

5278
04:51:06,900 --> 04:51:10,400
Just as it has for countless 
Millennia, the rituals you 

5279
04:51:10,400 --> 04:51:14,700
perform before sleep. 
Checking locks setting, alarms, 

5280
04:51:14,700 --> 04:51:17,500
arranging pillows. 
Echo. 

5281
04:51:17,500 --> 04:51:21,500
The protective rituals, ancient 
people's performed even if the 

5282
04:51:21,500 --> 04:51:25,700
specific threats your guarding 
against of change, The desire 

5283
04:51:25,700 --> 04:51:28,500
for security during 
vulnerability is universal, 

5284
04:51:28,500 --> 04:51:31,600
whether you're addressing it 
with talismans and prayers or 

5285
04:51:31,600 --> 04:51:35,700
dead bolts and alarm systems. 
And as you sleep, your brain 

5286
04:51:35,700 --> 04:51:39,100
will do essentially what your 
ancestors brains did cycle 

5287
04:51:39,100 --> 04:51:43,100
through sleep stages. 
Consolidate memories process, 

5288
04:51:43,100 --> 04:51:47,600
emotions clean metabolic waste 
from neural tissue and prepare 

5289
04:51:47,600 --> 04:51:51,800
for tomorrow's waking hours. 
The fundamental neurobiology of 

5290
04:51:51,800 --> 04:51:55,200
sleep hasn't changed, even if 
nearly everything else, about 

5291
04:51:55,200 --> 04:51:57,900
how we sleep is transformed. 
So sleep. 

5292
04:51:57,900 --> 04:52:01,600
Well, tonight knowing your 
participating in ancient human 

5293
04:52:01,600 --> 04:52:05,700
tradition, whether your sleeping
alone or with a partner in a 

5294
04:52:05,700 --> 04:52:09,900
soft bed or a firm one, waking 
to an alarm or to Natural Light.

5295
04:52:09,900 --> 04:52:14,100
Your joining, billions of humans
across thousands of years who 

5296
04:52:14,100 --> 04:52:17,000
have closed their eyes each 
night and trusted that morning 

5297
04:52:17,000 --> 04:52:27,200
would come and it always has 
Now. 

5298
04:52:28,100 --> 04:52:30,800
Close your eyes for a moment to 
imagine stepping through a low 

5299
04:52:30,800 --> 04:52:34,100
doorway into another world. 
The year, doesn't matter much, 

5300
04:52:34,100 --> 04:52:39,200
it could be 1650 or 1850 because
some things about English pubs 

5301
04:52:39,200 --> 04:52:41,600
remained beautifully consistent 
to cross the centuries. 

5302
04:52:41,600 --> 04:52:44,600
The first thing that would 
strike you as the light or 

5303
04:52:44,600 --> 04:52:47,900
rather the particular quality of
dimness punctuated by warm spots

5304
04:52:47,900 --> 04:52:51,300
of Illumination. 
Before electricity transformed, 

5305
04:52:51,300 --> 04:52:54,400
our Knights into Perpetual Day 
pub lighting came from 

5306
04:52:54,400 --> 04:52:58,400
fireplaces candles and later oil
lamps. 

5307
04:52:58,400 --> 04:53:02,100
This wasn't the harsh Revealing 
Light Of Modern Life. 

5308
04:53:02,100 --> 04:53:06,000
That shows every imperfection 
This was light that softened 

5309
04:53:06,000 --> 04:53:10,800
edges created pools of Shadow 
and made faces glow Amber in the

5310
04:53:10,800 --> 04:53:13,500
firelight. 
The dancing Flames cast moving 

5311
04:53:13,500 --> 04:53:16,400
Shadows on walls, darkened by 
centuries of smoke. 

5312
04:53:17,200 --> 04:53:20,000
Creating an atmosphere that was 
less about seeing clearly and 

5313
04:53:20,000 --> 04:53:23,100
more about feeling safe. 
The ceiling would be lower than 

5314
04:53:23,100 --> 04:53:26,800
your accustomed to lower enough,
that tall visitors sometimes 

5315
04:53:26,800 --> 04:53:29,100
needed to duck. 
Beneath the heavy Oak beams. 

5316
04:53:29,100 --> 04:53:32,800
These beams blackened with age 
and smoke had often been 

5317
04:53:32,800 --> 04:53:36,100
salvaged from old ships or human
from ancient forests, running 

5318
04:53:36,100 --> 04:53:38,500
your hand along them. 
You'd feel the rough texture of 

5319
04:53:38,500 --> 04:53:41,500
wood that had witnessed 
generation of stories are 

5320
04:53:41,500 --> 04:53:43,800
arguments, celebrations, and 
quiet. 

5321
04:53:43,800 --> 04:53:47,000
Contemplation the air itself 
would tell you stories. 

5322
04:53:47,000 --> 04:53:50,100
If you paid attention, there was
always the foundational Center 

5323
04:53:50,100 --> 04:53:52,800
of Woodsmoke. 
Not the clean outdoorsy smell of

5324
04:53:52,800 --> 04:53:56,700
a campfire, but something richer
mixed with centuries of tobacco 

5325
04:53:56,700 --> 04:54:00,100
spilled, ale, damp wall. 
And the accumulated essence of 

5326
04:54:00,100 --> 04:54:03,600
human presence on cold days. 
You'd smell wet dog as well. 

5327
04:54:03,600 --> 04:54:07,000
Because dogs were welcome 
companions in most pubs flying 

5328
04:54:07,000 --> 04:54:09,700
contentedly by the fire while 
their owners conducted business 

5329
04:54:09,700 --> 04:54:13,600
or simply passed time. 
The furniture bore, the marks of

5330
04:54:13,600 --> 04:54:18,500
hard use and genuine age tables.
Were thick slabs of wood, their 

5331
04:54:18,500 --> 04:54:21,500
surfaces worn, Smooth by 
countless elbows and scarred 

5332
04:54:21,500 --> 04:54:24,800
with the initials of patrons, 
long dead benches, and settles 

5333
04:54:24,800 --> 04:54:27,300
lined the walls. 
Their backs high enough to block

5334
04:54:27,300 --> 04:54:30,600
drafts and create semi-private 
spaces where conversations could

5335
04:54:30,600 --> 04:54:33,800
unfold without the whole room. 
Listening the wealthiest 

5336
04:54:33,800 --> 04:54:36,500
establishments might have a few 
chairs but benches were 

5337
04:54:36,500 --> 04:54:38,800
Democratic. 
They accommodated however, many 

5338
04:54:38,800 --> 04:54:41,900
people, squeezed together, 
regardless of social standing 

5339
04:54:41,900 --> 04:54:44,400
sound would envelop, you 
differently than in modern 

5340
04:54:44,400 --> 04:54:48,100
spaces without the constant hum 
of refrigeration air 

5341
04:54:48,100 --> 04:54:49,900
conditioning or electronic 
devices. 

5342
04:54:49,900 --> 04:54:53,600
The acoustic texture of a pub 
was entirely human and organic. 

5343
04:54:53,600 --> 04:54:55,500
There was the crackle of the 
fire. 

5344
04:54:55,500 --> 04:54:59,300
The clink of pewter tankards, 
the scrap of benches on Warren 

5345
04:54:59,300 --> 04:55:02,700
floorboards and the murmur of 
conversation that Rose and fell 

5346
04:55:02,700 --> 04:55:05,800
like a tide. 
Laughter would burst forth 

5347
04:55:05,800 --> 04:55:09,900
suddenly then fade back into the
general whom someone might be 

5348
04:55:09,900 --> 04:55:12,600
singing in the corner. 
Not performing, but simply 

5349
04:55:12,600 --> 04:55:14,600
singing because that's what 
people did when they thought 

5350
04:55:14,600 --> 04:55:16,700
content and slightly warm from 
ale. 

5351
04:55:17,700 --> 04:55:21,300
The fireplace dominated most Pub
rooms and it was genuinely 

5352
04:55:21,300 --> 04:55:23,000
necessary rather than 
decorative. 

5353
04:55:23,000 --> 04:55:26,400
English weather has never been 
known for warmth and buildings 

5354
04:55:26,400 --> 04:55:29,200
before modern insulation, were 
only marginally better than 

5355
04:55:29,200 --> 04:55:32,100
being outside. 
The fire was where new arrivals 

5356
04:55:32,100 --> 04:55:34,900
gravitated. 
First holding cold hands toward 

5357
04:55:34,900 --> 04:55:37,800
the flames and stamping feeling 
back into feet that had walked 

5358
04:55:37,800 --> 04:55:40,500
muddy roads. 
The Hearth was also where food 

5359
04:55:40,500 --> 04:55:42,700
was cooked. 
Filling the room with smells 

5360
04:55:42,700 --> 04:55:44,900
that made your stomach. 
Remember how hungry you were? 

5361
04:55:45,600 --> 04:55:48,500
You'd notice that everyone 
seemed to know everyone else or 

5362
04:55:48,500 --> 04:55:50,500
at least everyone knew the 
Publican. 

5363
04:55:50,500 --> 04:55:53,300
The Keeper of the establishment,
wasn't just a bartender. 

5364
04:55:53,300 --> 04:55:56,300
In the modern sense they were a 
community Banker information 

5365
04:55:56,300 --> 04:56:00,400
Hub, amateur councilor and 
sometimes Peacekeeper, they knew

5366
04:56:00,400 --> 04:56:03,400
who could be trusted for a loan,
whose crops had failed which 

5367
04:56:03,400 --> 04:56:06,600
families were feuding, and were 
a traveler might find work or 

5368
04:56:06,600 --> 04:56:09,000
logging. 
The public existed in a 

5369
04:56:09,008 --> 04:56:11,700
particular relationship with 
time that we've largely lost. 

5370
04:56:11,700 --> 04:56:15,100
It wasn't a place you've visited
for exactly one hour for a 

5371
04:56:15,100 --> 04:56:17,100
scheduled meeting before rushing
to the next appointment. 

5372
04:56:18,200 --> 04:56:20,900
Time in a pub was elastic 
expandable. 

5373
04:56:20,900 --> 04:56:23,800
You might stop in for a quick Al
and find yourself there. 

5374
04:56:23,800 --> 04:56:26,300
Three hours later, not because 
anything particular happened. 

5375
04:56:26,300 --> 04:56:29,600
But, because the warmth and 
companionship made leaving Sea 

5376
04:56:29,600 --> 04:56:31,900
unnecessary, this wasn't wasted 
time. 

5377
04:56:31,900 --> 04:56:35,000
It was time spent maintaining 
the social bonds that held 

5378
04:56:35,000 --> 04:56:38,600
communities together. 
To understand the English pub. 

5379
04:56:38,600 --> 04:56:42,000
We need to go back to its roots 
which stretch deeper into 

5380
04:56:42,000 --> 04:56:45,100
history than you might imagine 
the tradition of public drinking

5381
04:56:45,100 --> 04:56:46,700
houses in England. 
Predates. 

5382
04:56:46,700 --> 04:56:50,000
Even the Norman Conquest 
reaching back to Anglo-Saxon 

5383
04:56:50,000 --> 04:56:53,900
times when ale was safer, to 
drink than water and every 

5384
04:56:53,900 --> 04:56:55,700
village needed someone who could
Brew it properly. 

5385
04:56:55,700 --> 04:56:59,900
The word Pub itself is simply a 
shortened form of Public House. 

5386
04:57:00,800 --> 04:57:04,200
This doesn't fully capture what 
these places meant in medieval 

5387
04:57:04,200 --> 04:57:06,300
England, there were actually 
three types of drinking 

5388
04:57:06,300 --> 04:57:10,100
establishments and the 
distinctions mattered Ale 

5389
04:57:10,100 --> 04:57:13,200
House's were basic often just 
someone's front room where they 

5390
04:57:13,200 --> 04:57:15,500
sold the allay. 
They'd brood taverns were 

5391
04:57:15,500 --> 04:57:18,800
slightly more upscale and served
wine, as well as ale ins with 

5392
04:57:18,800 --> 04:57:22,500
the most substantial, offering 
food, drink and accommodation 

5393
04:57:22,500 --> 04:57:25,500
for travelers. 
The early stale House's were 

5394
04:57:25,500 --> 04:57:27,900
marked by a simple but effective
advertising method. 

5395
04:57:27,900 --> 04:57:30,500
A polar Bush stuck out from the 
building. 

5396
04:57:30,500 --> 04:57:34,000
This ale Pole or ale State 
tradition, dates, back to Roman 

5397
04:57:34,000 --> 04:57:37,000
times, and it served, the 
Practical purpose of alerting 

5398
04:57:37,000 --> 04:57:40,300
people who couldn't read, which 
was most people, the Dale was 

5399
04:57:40,300 --> 04:57:42,900
available here. 
The saying good wine needs. 

5400
04:57:42,900 --> 04:57:44,500
No Bush. 
Comes from this tradition, 

5401
04:57:44,500 --> 04:57:47,600
suggesting that quality products
advertised themselves. 

5402
04:57:49,200 --> 04:57:52,300
In these earlier establishments,
the person brewing and selling 

5403
04:57:52,300 --> 04:57:54,700
ale was often a woman an 
Alewife. 

5404
04:57:55,400 --> 04:57:59,300
Brewing was considered domestic 
work, like baking bread and 

5405
04:57:59,300 --> 04:58:00,800
women. 
Dominated the trade for 

5406
04:58:00,808 --> 04:58:02,900
centuries. 
The image of a witch with a 

5407
04:58:02,908 --> 04:58:05,900
pointed hat and broomstick 
actually evolved partly from the

5408
04:58:05,900 --> 04:58:09,300
traditional costume of alewives 
who wore tall hats. 

5409
04:58:09,300 --> 04:58:12,500
So customers could spot them in 
crowds and use broomsticks to 

5410
04:58:12,508 --> 04:58:14,300
Signal when a new batch 
available was ready. 

5411
04:58:15,300 --> 04:58:17,900
The hell itself would be quite 
different from anything. 

5412
04:58:17,900 --> 04:58:20,600
You'd drink today. 
It was thick nutritious and 

5413
04:58:20,600 --> 04:58:23,600
relatively low in alcohol, more 
like liquid bread than modern 

5414
04:58:23,600 --> 04:58:25,800
beer. 
People drank it because the 

5415
04:58:25,800 --> 04:58:28,200
Brewing process killed the 
bacteria that made water 

5416
04:58:28,200 --> 04:58:30,400
dangerous. 
And it provided calories that 

5417
04:58:30,400 --> 04:58:34,500
supplemented often meager diets 
children drank it, pregnant 

5418
04:58:34,500 --> 04:58:38,600
women drank it and monks drank 
it with every meal, It wasn't 

5419
04:58:38,608 --> 04:58:41,200
about getting drunk. 
It was about staying alive. 

5420
04:58:43,100 --> 04:58:45,100
Medieval ale houses were 
governed by laws. 

5421
04:58:45,100 --> 04:58:48,900
That seemed charmingly specific 
to modernize the size of Ale 

5422
04:58:48,900 --> 04:58:52,800
established in 1267, regulated 
prices and quality within 

5423
04:58:52,800 --> 04:58:56,500
specters, called Aleister about 
the official duty of testing 

5424
04:58:56,500 --> 04:58:59,000
each batch. 
These were not wine snob types, 

5425
04:58:59,000 --> 04:59:01,500
swirling and sniffing. 
They were local officials. 

5426
04:59:01,500 --> 04:59:04,100
Who would literally sit in a 
puddle of Ale poured on a wooden

5427
04:59:04,108 --> 04:59:06,300
bench. 
If their leather, breeches stuck

5428
04:59:06,300 --> 04:59:09,200
to the bench when they tried to 
stand the allay contain too much

5429
04:59:09,208 --> 04:59:11,200
sugar and the Brewer would be 
fine. 

5430
04:59:12,300 --> 04:59:15,900
By the 14th and 15th centuries 
in the devolved into 

5431
04:59:15,900 --> 04:59:19,000
sophisticated operations that 
serve the emerging networks of 

5432
04:59:19,000 --> 04:59:22,000
Commerce and travel. 
These weren't romantic Highway 

5433
04:59:22,000 --> 04:59:24,800
stops with roaring fires and 
jovial innkeepers. 

5434
04:59:24,800 --> 04:59:28,600
Well, some were, but most were 
practical businesses. 

5435
04:59:28,600 --> 04:59:30,400
That filled a crucial economic 
function. 

5436
04:59:30,400 --> 04:59:34,300
An inn was where a merchant 
could Stable horses store Goods 

5437
04:59:34,300 --> 04:59:38,000
overnight conduct business over 
dinner and sleep without fear of

5438
04:59:38,000 --> 04:59:40,600
being robbed. 
The stims essentially functioned

5439
04:59:40,600 --> 04:59:42,900
as medieval hotels and 
restaurants combined. 

5440
04:59:43,700 --> 04:59:46,400
The food served in these early 
establishments reflected, both 

5441
04:59:46,400 --> 04:59:48,800
the limitations and the 
surprising sophistication of 

5442
04:59:48,808 --> 04:59:51,500
medieval Cuisine. 
Forget the image of peasants 

5443
04:59:51,500 --> 04:59:53,600
knowing on turkey legs at the 
Renaissance fair. 

5444
04:59:54,300 --> 04:59:57,200
Real medieval in food was often 
remarkably well prepared, 

5445
04:59:57,200 --> 05:00:01,300
because in new their reputation 
depended on it Travelers would 

5446
05:00:01,300 --> 05:00:04,200
specifically seek out ins known 
for good food and that 

5447
05:00:04,200 --> 05:00:06,000
reputation could make or break a
business. 

5448
05:00:07,000 --> 05:00:08,900
The typical meal at a decent 
medieval in. 

5449
05:00:08,900 --> 05:00:12,500
Might include pottage a thick 
stew that was the foundation of 

5450
05:00:12,500 --> 05:00:15,400
English Cuisine for centuries. 
This wasn't the watery 

5451
05:00:15,400 --> 05:00:17,500
flavorless gruel of popular 
imagination. 

5452
05:00:17,500 --> 05:00:21,600
Good pottage was complex made 
with whatever meets vegetables 

5453
05:00:21,600 --> 05:00:24,500
and Grains were available and 
simmered for hours until 

5454
05:00:24,500 --> 05:00:25,900
everything melted into 
something. 

5455
05:00:25,900 --> 05:00:29,900
That was simultaneously simple 
and sophisticated the pot was 

5456
05:00:29,900 --> 05:00:33,300
rare, empty, completely new 
ingredients were added each day 

5457
05:00:33,300 --> 05:00:36,000
creating a continuously evolving
dish. 

5458
05:00:36,000 --> 05:00:38,000
That might technically have been
cooking for months. 

5459
05:00:38,900 --> 05:00:42,000
Brett accompanied everything and
its quality indicated, the 

5460
05:00:42,000 --> 05:00:45,700
establishments standards the 
finest white bread made from 

5461
05:00:45,700 --> 05:00:49,600
wheat was for the wealthy. 
Most people ate darker breads 

5462
05:00:49,600 --> 05:00:51,700
made from Rye barley or mixed 
grains. 

5463
05:00:51,700 --> 05:00:54,600
The very poorest ate bread. 
So course it was barely 

5464
05:00:54,600 --> 05:00:57,800
palatable innkeepers learned to 
judge their customers quickly 

5465
05:00:57,800 --> 05:01:01,200
and serve accordingly, there was
no point in wasting expensive, 

5466
05:01:01,200 --> 05:01:03,800
white bread on someone who'd be 
satisfied with Rye. 

5467
05:01:03,800 --> 05:01:07,200
The serving vessels, tell their 
own story about these earlier 

5468
05:01:07,200 --> 05:01:10,900
establishments, before mass 
production, every cup plate, and

5469
05:01:10,900 --> 05:01:14,400
Bowl was individually made, and 
relatively valuable Wooden, 

5470
05:01:14,400 --> 05:01:18,000
trenches thick slices of stale 
bread that served as edible 

5471
05:01:18,000 --> 05:01:19,900
plates. 
Were common for ordinary 

5472
05:01:19,900 --> 05:01:21,900
customers. 
Better establishments. 

5473
05:01:21,900 --> 05:01:23,300
Used wooden. 
Oar pewter dishes. 

5474
05:01:23,300 --> 05:01:26,900
Only the finest ins could afford
Pottery or rarely glass. 

5475
05:01:27,900 --> 05:01:30,600
Let's step away from the Andale 
House's from a moment to 

5476
05:01:30,600 --> 05:01:31,800
understand what ordinary 
English. 

5477
05:01:31,800 --> 05:01:35,000
People were eating at home 
because this context makes pub 

5478
05:01:35,000 --> 05:01:37,800
food more meaningful. 
The diet of common folk was 

5479
05:01:37,808 --> 05:01:40,700
dictated by the seasons in ways 
we can barely comprehend in our 

5480
05:01:40,708 --> 05:01:43,700
era of year-round, strawberries 
and imported asparagus. 

5481
05:01:44,400 --> 05:01:48,800
Winter was the hardest time 
fresh food was scarce and people

5482
05:01:48,800 --> 05:01:52,600
relied on what could be stored 
preserved or kept alive until 

5483
05:01:52,600 --> 05:01:55,700
needed. 
Root vegetables, turnips 

5484
05:01:55,700 --> 05:01:57,900
parsnips and carrots kept 
relatively. 

5485
05:01:57,900 --> 05:02:01,600
Well in Cold Storage cabbage 
could be harvested late into the

5486
05:02:01,608 --> 05:02:05,800
season, onions and garlic hung 
in bundles from Rafters dried 

5487
05:02:05,800 --> 05:02:08,800
peas and beans provided protein.
When fresh meat was beyond reach

5488
05:02:08,800 --> 05:02:12,800
or forbidden by religious 
dietary laws, salted smoked, and

5489
05:02:12,800 --> 05:02:16,000
dried meat sustained families 
through cold months, when fresh 

5490
05:02:16,000 --> 05:02:18,700
Slaughter was impossible. 
The Autumn Pig killing was a 

5491
05:02:18,700 --> 05:02:22,100
crucial event in every rural 
household and every part of the 

5492
05:02:22,100 --> 05:02:24,900
animal was used with a 
practicality born of necessity. 

5493
05:02:25,800 --> 05:02:29,700
Hams and bacon were salted and 
smoked sausages were made from 

5494
05:02:29,700 --> 05:02:32,400
scraps and organs blood became 
black pudding. 

5495
05:02:33,100 --> 05:02:35,300
Even the bladder was useful as a
storage container. 

5496
05:02:36,200 --> 05:02:39,600
Spring brought what was called 
The Hungry Gap that period when 

5497
05:02:39,600 --> 05:02:41,900
winter storms were depleted. 
But new crops hadn't yet 

5498
05:02:41,900 --> 05:02:44,300
matured. 
This was when people relied most

5499
05:02:44,300 --> 05:02:48,500
heavily on wild Foods, Nettles 
dandelion, greens wild garlic 

5500
05:02:48,500 --> 05:02:51,700
and whatever could be foraged 
from hedgerows and Fields the 

5501
05:02:51,700 --> 05:02:53,900
arrival of the first fresh. 
Vegetables and herbs was 

5502
05:02:53,900 --> 05:02:57,700
celebrated with genuine relief. 
Summer and Autumn were times of 

5503
05:02:57,700 --> 05:03:01,200
relative, abundance, when fresh 
vegetables, fruits and berries, 

5504
05:03:01,200 --> 05:03:04,100
were available to supplement the
basic diet of bread and pottage 

5505
05:03:04,100 --> 05:03:08,200
people preserved everything, 
they could making Jam pickling 

5506
05:03:08,200 --> 05:03:11,300
vegetables, drying fruit because
they knew winter would come. 

5507
05:03:11,300 --> 05:03:14,500
Again with its limitations 
cheese was more important in the

5508
05:03:14,500 --> 05:03:16,100
English diet than we often 
realize. 

5509
05:03:16,100 --> 05:03:19,800
It was protein that could be 
stored for months improving with

5510
05:03:19,800 --> 05:03:23,600
age rather than spoiling Every 
region had its traditional 

5511
05:03:23,600 --> 05:03:26,000
cheese. 
And people took Fierce pride in 

5512
05:03:26,008 --> 05:03:29,500
local varieties, a piece of 
cheese, some bread and an onion 

5513
05:03:29,500 --> 05:03:32,500
constituted a meal that 
satisfied both stomach and soul.

5514
05:03:33,000 --> 05:03:35,300
Dairy products in general played
a crucial role. 

5515
05:03:35,300 --> 05:03:39,900
Butter cream milk and cheese 
weren't luxuries but Staples 

5516
05:03:39,900 --> 05:03:42,700
that made the difference between
adequate nutrition and hunger, 

5517
05:03:42,700 --> 05:03:46,200
the phrase bread and butter 
wasn't just an idiom, it 

5518
05:03:46,200 --> 05:03:48,300
literally described. 
What many people ate for 

5519
05:03:48,300 --> 05:03:52,200
breakfast, every single day? 
Meat consumption varied 

5520
05:03:52,200 --> 05:03:55,700
enormously by class and season. 
Wealthy people ate meat 

5521
05:03:55,700 --> 05:03:59,400
regularly sometimes multiple 
times a day, Poor Labor, as 

5522
05:03:59,408 --> 05:04:01,400
might taste fresh meat, only a 
few times a year. 

5523
05:04:01,408 --> 05:04:03,600
Usually at festivals or 
celebrations. 

5524
05:04:03,600 --> 05:04:08,100
Game Rabbits birds. 
And deer was theoretically 

5525
05:04:08,100 --> 05:04:11,100
reserved for landowners. 
But poaching was common enough 

5526
05:04:11,100 --> 05:04:14,500
that many families, supplemented
their diet with accidentally 

5527
05:04:14,500 --> 05:04:20,200
acquired protein The spice trade
had profound effects on English 

5528
05:04:20,200 --> 05:04:22,200
Cuisine though, not always in 
the ways. 

5529
05:04:22,200 --> 05:04:24,700
You might imagine contrary to 
popular beliefs. 

5530
05:04:24,700 --> 05:04:27,700
Spices weren't primarily used to
mask, the taste of rotten meat. 

5531
05:04:28,600 --> 05:04:30,900
Food preservation was too 
important for people to 

5532
05:04:30,900 --> 05:04:34,800
deliberately eat spoiled food 
instead, spices were status 

5533
05:04:34,800 --> 05:04:37,400
symbols and flavor enhancers 
that wealthy people used to 

5534
05:04:37,400 --> 05:04:39,400
demonstrate sophistication and 
worldliness. 

5535
05:04:40,600 --> 05:04:43,900
Common folk had their own 
flavoring Arsenal herbs from the

5536
05:04:43,900 --> 05:04:48,000
garden, or Hedgerow, Parsley, 
Sage Thyme, and rosemary weren't

5537
05:04:48,000 --> 05:04:50,400
just a pretty song. 
They were the foundation of 

5538
05:04:50,400 --> 05:04:53,100
English seasoning. 
These herbs grew readily in the 

5539
05:04:53,100 --> 05:04:55,900
English climate and transformed 
simple dishes into something 

5540
05:04:55,900 --> 05:04:58,700
more interesting. 
A pot of beans cooked with an 

5541
05:04:58,700 --> 05:05:01,600
onion and some time became a 
meal worth anticipating rather 

5542
05:05:01,600 --> 05:05:04,800
than just enduring. 
Cooking methods reflected both 

5543
05:05:04,800 --> 05:05:06,300
technology and fuel 
availability. 

5544
05:05:06,300 --> 05:05:10,200
Open Hearth, fires were standard
until remarkably recently. 

5545
05:05:10,200 --> 05:05:13,200
Even in the late 18th century, 
many homes, still cooked 

5546
05:05:13,200 --> 05:05:15,900
everything over an open flame, 
this required. 

5547
05:05:15,900 --> 05:05:18,900
Genuine skill, you couldn't just
turn a dial to adjust 

5548
05:05:18,900 --> 05:05:21,200
temperature. 
You learned to judge Heat by 

5549
05:05:21,200 --> 05:05:24,200
holding your hand above the 
fire, to arrange Kohl's for 

5550
05:05:24,200 --> 05:05:26,900
different cooking temperatures 
and to use the ambient heat of 

5551
05:05:26,900 --> 05:05:30,300
the hearth for slow cooking, 
while using direct Flames for 

5552
05:05:30,300 --> 05:05:33,300
faster work. 
Baking was often done communally

5553
05:05:33,300 --> 05:05:35,900
because few households have 
their own ovens Village. 

5554
05:05:35,900 --> 05:05:38,400
Bakery would bake bread for 
families who brought their own 

5555
05:05:38,400 --> 05:05:41,600
dough or families would bring 
prepared dishes to be cooked in 

5556
05:05:41,600 --> 05:05:43,700
the baker's oven. 
After the day's bread was done 

5557
05:05:43,700 --> 05:05:47,100
this created a community Rhythm,
where certain days were baking 

5558
05:05:47,100 --> 05:05:50,000
days and the smell of fresh 
bread, would fill the village. 

5559
05:05:51,200 --> 05:05:53,200
Fast forward to the 18th and 
19th. 

5560
05:05:53,200 --> 05:05:56,600
Centuries in English pubs had 
evolved into something, we'd 

5561
05:05:56,600 --> 05:05:59,400
recognize more readily today 
while still maintaining 

5562
05:05:59,400 --> 05:06:02,600
connections to their medieval 
Roots, the Georgian and 

5563
05:06:02,600 --> 05:06:05,100
Victorian era saw pubs become 
increasingly sophisticated 

5564
05:06:05,100 --> 05:06:09,100
differentiated and Central to 
social life across all classes. 

5565
05:06:10,200 --> 05:06:13,500
George and pubs those operating 
during the Reigns of the forking

5566
05:06:13,500 --> 05:06:17,700
George from 1714 to 1830 
developed distinct 

5567
05:06:17,700 --> 05:06:21,200
personalities, based on their 
clientele in London and other 

5568
05:06:21,200 --> 05:06:23,200
cities. 
You'd find pubs that catered 

5569
05:06:23,200 --> 05:06:27,100
specifically to Merchants others
to laborers and still others to 

5570
05:06:27,100 --> 05:06:30,000
the growing middle class. 
This wasn't enforced 

5571
05:06:30,000 --> 05:06:34,200
segregation, but organic, social
sorting people gravitated toward

5572
05:06:34,200 --> 05:06:36,700
establishments, where they felt 
comfortable, where their 

5573
05:06:36,700 --> 05:06:39,600
occupation and social standing 
aligned with other patreons. 

5574
05:06:40,600 --> 05:06:43,700
The food served in Georgian pubs
reflected England's, growing 

5575
05:06:43,700 --> 05:06:48,200
prosperity and expanding global 
trade coffee houses had emerged 

5576
05:06:48,200 --> 05:06:51,900
as competitors to traditional 
alehouses and pubs responded by 

5577
05:06:51,900 --> 05:06:55,600
improving their food offerings. 
Respectable Georgian Pub might 

5578
05:06:55,600 --> 05:06:57,700
serve meat pies. 
That were genuinely worth 

5579
05:06:57,700 --> 05:07:01,300
ordering not just fuel to soak 
up alcohol, roast beef was 

5580
05:07:01,300 --> 05:07:04,900
becoming the dish that defined 
English identity served in thick

5581
05:07:04,900 --> 05:07:07,000
slices with Yorkshire pudding 
and gravy. 

5582
05:07:07,600 --> 05:07:10,900
Victorian pubs took this 
Evolution further often becoming

5583
05:07:10,900 --> 05:07:15,100
quite Grand establishments with 
etched glass polished brass and 

5584
05:07:15,100 --> 05:07:17,300
multiple rooms serving different
purposes. 

5585
05:07:17,300 --> 05:07:19,800
The Snug was a small private 
room. 

5586
05:07:19,800 --> 05:07:23,100
Often used by women who are 
increasingly accepted as Pub. 

5587
05:07:23,100 --> 05:07:25,600
Patrons though, still somewhat 
segregated from the main 

5588
05:07:25,600 --> 05:07:28,200
drinking area. 
The Saloon bar was slightly more

5589
05:07:28,200 --> 05:07:31,800
upscale than the public Bar, 
charging a penny or two more per

5590
05:07:31,800 --> 05:07:34,300
drink in exchange for better, 
seating and more refined 

5591
05:07:34,300 --> 05:07:37,600
surroundings. 
Food in Victorian pubs range, 

5592
05:07:37,600 --> 05:07:40,800
from basic to surprisingly, 
sophisticated the humblest, 

5593
05:07:40,800 --> 05:07:42,300
offerings included, bread and 
cheese. 

5594
05:07:42,300 --> 05:07:44,200
Perhaps with pickled onions or 
chutney. 

5595
05:07:44,900 --> 05:07:48,800
Many pubs served, a simple 
ordinary a set meal at a fixed 

5596
05:07:48,800 --> 05:07:51,000
price. 
Usually featuring, whatever the 

5597
05:07:51,000 --> 05:07:55,500
kitchen had made that day. 
This might be stew, pie sausages

5598
05:07:55,500 --> 05:07:59,200
with mashed potatoes, all the 
Eternal favorite fish and chips.

5599
05:07:59,200 --> 05:08:03,300
Actually, let's pause on fish 
and chips for a moment because 

5600
05:08:03,300 --> 05:08:05,800
this dish tells us something 
important about the Victorian 

5601
05:08:05,800 --> 05:08:08,800
England and Pub culture. 
Fried fish had been sold by 

5602
05:08:08,800 --> 05:08:12,100
Street vendors for decades. 
While chips thick cut fried 

5603
05:08:12,100 --> 05:08:14,800
potatoes were a separate, 
traditional, The Genius of 

5604
05:08:14,800 --> 05:08:18,100
combining them emerged in the 
1860s, creating a meal that was 

5605
05:08:18,100 --> 05:08:21,000
hot filling, cheap and could be 
eaten with without utensils 

5606
05:08:21,000 --> 05:08:24,800
while wrapped in newspaper pubs 
quickly adopted this combination

5607
05:08:24,800 --> 05:08:28,200
and it became as fundamental to 
English identity as tea, or the 

5608
05:08:28,208 --> 05:08:31,300
monarchy. 
Quality of pub food, varied 

5609
05:08:31,300 --> 05:08:34,500
wildly and victorians developed 
codes for evaluating 

5610
05:08:34,500 --> 05:08:36,800
establishments a pub. 
With sawdust. 

5611
05:08:36,800 --> 05:08:38,800
On the floor was marking itself 
as basic. 

5612
05:08:38,800 --> 05:08:41,900
The sawdust soaked up spills and
was swept out daily. 

5613
05:08:43,000 --> 05:08:45,900
Bare floorboards, suggested 
slightly, higher, aspirations 

5614
05:08:45,900 --> 05:08:49,300
carpet, indicated, genuine 
pretensions to gentility. 

5615
05:08:49,300 --> 05:08:52,500
These were not arbitrary 
markers, but practical signals 

5616
05:08:52,500 --> 05:08:55,100
about what kind of experience 
and what kind of food quality 

5617
05:08:55,100 --> 05:08:58,600
you could expect. 
Pub kitchens in the Victorian 

5618
05:08:58,600 --> 05:09:01,900
era, were gradually modernizing 
though, they remained far from 

5619
05:09:01,900 --> 05:09:05,000
today's standards. 
Coal Fired ranges were replacing

5620
05:09:05,000 --> 05:09:07,100
open. 
Halves allowing more precise, 

5621
05:09:07,100 --> 05:09:09,200
temperature control, and 
multiple dishes to be cooked 

5622
05:09:09,200 --> 05:09:11,600
simultaneously. 
Refrigeration was still 

5623
05:09:11,600 --> 05:09:14,700
primitive or non-existent. 
So pubs relied on cool sellers 

5624
05:09:14,700 --> 05:09:18,300
daily deliveries of fresh 
ingredients and cooking methods,

5625
05:09:18,300 --> 05:09:20,500
that preserved food through heat
or preservation. 

5626
05:09:21,600 --> 05:09:23,800
The pub lunch became an 
institution in Victorian 

5627
05:09:23,800 --> 05:09:28,100
England, particularly in cities,
office workers, shop, assistants

5628
05:09:28,100 --> 05:09:31,400
and laborers would stream into 
pubs at midday for a quick meal 

5629
05:09:31,400 --> 05:09:33,800
and perhaps a pint before 
returning to work. 

5630
05:09:34,700 --> 05:09:37,200
This wasn't the leisurely public
experience of an evening. 

5631
05:09:37,200 --> 05:09:41,300
It was efficient practical, 
eating the Publican who could 

5632
05:09:41,300 --> 05:09:44,000
serve decent food, quickly 
earned steady daytime business. 

5633
05:09:44,000 --> 05:09:47,300
That supplemented evening, 
drinking trade, certain dishes 

5634
05:09:47,300 --> 05:09:50,300
became Pub Classics during this 
period and many remained. 

5635
05:09:50,300 --> 05:09:53,600
So today plowman's lunch though,
it wasn't called that until the 

5636
05:09:53,600 --> 05:09:56,900
20th century was essentially, 
the portable field of 

5637
05:09:56,900 --> 05:10:01,200
agricultural workers, brought 
indoors, bread cheese pickles, 

5638
05:10:01,200 --> 05:10:05,200
and perhaps cold meat Scotch 
eggs, which despite the name of 

5639
05:10:05,200 --> 05:10:08,800
properly, English in origin 
became Pub Staples, Pork Pies, 

5640
05:10:08,800 --> 05:10:12,500
sausage rolls and various Savory
pastries, filled the role that 

5641
05:10:12,500 --> 05:10:16,600
sandwiches filtered today The 
Victorian Pub also became the 

5642
05:10:16,600 --> 05:10:20,800
center of an emerging tradition.
Shop culture that paralleled Pub

5643
05:10:20,800 --> 05:10:24,100
dining, the specialized 
establishments served meat pies 

5644
05:10:24,100 --> 05:10:27,600
with mashed potatoes and a 
parsley sauce that locals called

5645
05:10:27,600 --> 05:10:30,500
liquor. 
While technically not pubs. 

5646
05:10:30,500 --> 05:10:33,700
They served similar functions 
and often shared customers with 

5647
05:10:33,700 --> 05:10:37,900
nearby public houses drinks had 
evolved Beyond Simple ale 

5648
05:10:37,900 --> 05:10:40,900
Porter, a dark beer that was 
easier to store and transport 

5649
05:10:40,900 --> 05:10:44,200
than traditional ale. 
Became hugely popular in the 

5650
05:10:44,200 --> 05:10:48,600
18th century and its stronger. 
Cousin Stout followed, Kennedy 

5651
05:10:48,600 --> 05:10:51,400
gone from cheap destructive 
mother's ruin to a more 

5652
05:10:51,400 --> 05:10:54,100
respectable Spirit often mixed 
with tonic water. 

5653
05:10:54,100 --> 05:10:57,400
Wine was available in better 
establishments though beer 

5654
05:10:57,400 --> 05:11:02,100
remained the Democratic drink of
choice across all classes, To 

5655
05:11:02,100 --> 05:11:05,000
truly understand Pub dining. 
We need to see it in context 

5656
05:11:05,000 --> 05:11:07,800
with how people ate at home 
because the pub was never 

5657
05:11:07,800 --> 05:11:11,000
separate from me domestic life. 
But rather an extension of it, 

5658
05:11:11,000 --> 05:11:14,200
the rhythm of daily, meals at 
home, created the framework that

5659
05:11:14,200 --> 05:11:17,200
made Pub culture meaningful for 
most of English History. 

5660
05:11:17,200 --> 05:11:19,700
The majority of people ate two 
main meals a day, rather than 

5661
05:11:19,700 --> 05:11:23,000
three breakfast was often, 
simple red with butter or 

5662
05:11:23,000 --> 05:11:25,700
dripping, perhaps some cheese 
washed down with small beer or 

5663
05:11:25,700 --> 05:11:28,100
milk. 
This was fuel for the day's work

5664
05:11:28,100 --> 05:11:31,100
consumed quickly before heading 
to Fields shops or factories. 

5665
05:11:31,900 --> 05:11:34,800
The main meal of the day was 
traditionally called dinner and 

5666
05:11:34,800 --> 05:11:36,600
eaten anywhere from noon to 
early afternoon. 

5667
05:11:36,600 --> 05:11:40,300
This was the substantial meal. 
The one where families gathered 

5668
05:11:40,300 --> 05:11:43,700
if work allowed for Rural 
laborers, dinner might be 

5669
05:11:43,708 --> 05:11:48,100
brought to the fields bread 
cheese, cold meat of available 

5670
05:11:48,100 --> 05:11:51,500
and a drink to wash it down for 
those who work near home. 

5671
05:11:51,500 --> 05:11:54,400
Diner meant returning to a hot 
meal prepared by whoever managed

5672
05:11:54,400 --> 05:11:57,200
the household. 
These home dinners centered 

5673
05:11:57,200 --> 05:11:59,800
around the same potages stews, 
and pies that we've mentioned 

5674
05:11:59,800 --> 05:12:02,300
because these dishes made 
economic sense. 

5675
05:12:02,300 --> 05:12:05,700
You could cook them in one pot, 
they improved with time. 

5676
05:12:05,700 --> 05:12:08,800
And they stretched expensive 
ingredients like meat by 

5677
05:12:08,800 --> 05:12:12,000
combining them with cheaper 
vegetables and Grains a skilled 

5678
05:12:12,000 --> 05:12:14,800
cook could make a small amount 
of meat flavor, an entire pot of

5679
05:12:14,808 --> 05:12:16,700
stew that would feed a family 
for days. 

5680
05:12:17,500 --> 05:12:20,100
Supper was lighter often, just 
bread and cheese. 

5681
05:12:20,100 --> 05:12:23,800
Perhaps with ale, or tea as tea 
became more affordable in the 

5682
05:12:23,800 --> 05:12:26,800
18th and 19th. 
Centuries it transformed English

5683
05:12:26,800 --> 05:12:30,300
eating habits. 
Tea time emerged as a distinct 

5684
05:12:30,300 --> 05:12:33,000
meal, particularly among the 
middle and upper classes. 

5685
05:12:33,000 --> 05:12:36,700
But for working people, he was 
often supper bread and butter 

5686
05:12:36,700 --> 05:12:39,400
with a cup of tea. 
Maybe with an egg of times were 

5687
05:12:39,400 --> 05:12:43,300
good, The kitchen half was the 
literal and metaphorical Center 

5688
05:12:43,300 --> 05:12:47,100
of home life even as cold stoves
became more common, many homes 

5689
05:12:47,100 --> 05:12:49,800
kept their open halves because 
they provided heat as well. 

5690
05:12:49,800 --> 05:12:52,800
As cooking capability. 
The fire was never allowed to go

5691
05:12:52,800 --> 05:12:55,700
completely out if it could be 
helped because restarting it 

5692
05:12:55,700 --> 05:12:59,400
from scratch was laborious. 
Instead it was banked at night, 

5693
05:12:59,400 --> 05:13:02,700
covered with Ash to preserve 
coals, that could be coaxed back

5694
05:13:02,700 --> 05:13:05,700
to flame in the morning. 
Cooking equipment was minimal by

5695
05:13:05,700 --> 05:13:11,600
modern standards a pot, a pan, a
griddle, some wooden spoon's and

5696
05:13:11,600 --> 05:13:13,900
a knife or two. 
Wealthy households might have 

5697
05:13:13,908 --> 05:13:17,000
specialized equipment for 
specific dishes but ordinary 

5698
05:13:17,000 --> 05:13:20,200
families made with Basics. 
This limitation actually 

5699
05:13:20,200 --> 05:13:23,300
produced creativity. 
Looks learned to make diverse 

5700
05:13:23,300 --> 05:13:26,900
dishes using the same simple 
tools bearing ingredients and 

5701
05:13:26,900 --> 05:13:29,300
techniques rather than relying 
on different equipment. 

5702
05:13:30,200 --> 05:13:33,400
Food storage was its own 
challenge without Refrigeration.

5703
05:13:33,400 --> 05:13:35,800
Fresh food needed to be used, 
quickly or preserved 

5704
05:13:35,800 --> 05:13:38,900
immediately. 
The Larder a cool room or 

5705
05:13:38,900 --> 05:13:42,500
cabinet often on a north-facing 
wall kept Dairy and meat from 

5706
05:13:42,500 --> 05:13:46,200
spoiling for a few days. 
Mesh safes protected food from 

5707
05:13:46,200 --> 05:13:50,300
flies and mice salting smoking, 
pickling and drying remained 

5708
05:13:50,300 --> 05:13:52,200
essential skills. 
Well into the 20th century. 

5709
05:13:53,400 --> 05:13:56,300
The weekly shopping Rhythm 
structured home cooking Market 

5710
05:13:56,300 --> 05:13:59,700
Days brought fresh produce Meat 
and Fish to towns and Villages 

5711
05:13:59,700 --> 05:14:03,500
Savvy Shoppers learn to time 
their purchases arrive to early 

5712
05:14:03,500 --> 05:14:06,700
and prices were high arrived, 
near closing, and selection was 

5713
05:14:06,700 --> 05:14:08,300
poor. 
But Bargains could be found 

5714
05:14:08,300 --> 05:14:10,300
whatever you bought on Market 
Day. 

5715
05:14:10,300 --> 05:14:12,200
Determined what you eat for the 
next week. 

5716
05:14:13,100 --> 05:14:15,700
Seasonal, eating wasn't a 
lifestyle choice, but an 

5717
05:14:15,700 --> 05:14:20,300
unavoidable reality spring lamb 
summer berries, or to Maples 

5718
05:14:20,300 --> 05:14:23,600
winter root vegetables. 
The year rotated through its 

5719
05:14:23,600 --> 05:14:25,600
ingredients with rigid 
predictability. 

5720
05:14:26,500 --> 05:14:30,000
This created anticipation that 
we've largely lost the first 

5721
05:14:30,000 --> 05:14:32,400
strawberries of Summer, 
genuinely meant something when 

5722
05:14:32,400 --> 05:14:35,300
you hadn't eaten, anything, 
fresh and sweet for months, the 

5723
05:14:35,300 --> 05:14:37,400
first automata Apple's were 
celebrated because they 

5724
05:14:37,400 --> 05:14:40,100
represented abundance after the 
hungry gap of late summer. 

5725
05:14:41,000 --> 05:14:44,000
Baking day was a weekly ritual 
in homes that had ovens. 

5726
05:14:44,000 --> 05:14:47,500
Bread was baked and quantity 
enough loaves to last a week 

5727
05:14:47,500 --> 05:14:51,200
growing increasingly stale. 
But remaining edible Pies both 

5728
05:14:51,200 --> 05:14:53,800
sweet and savory were baked for 
eating throughout the week. 

5729
05:14:53,800 --> 05:14:56,800
Cakes and biscuits were luxuries
for special occasions. 

5730
05:14:56,800 --> 05:15:00,100
But when they appeared they 
marked celebrations worth 

5731
05:15:00,100 --> 05:15:03,000
remembering. 
The communal nature of food 

5732
05:15:03,000 --> 05:15:06,100
extended Beyond individual 
households neighbors, shared, 

5733
05:15:06,100 --> 05:15:09,600
surpluses too many eggs, extra 
milk, a glut of garden 

5734
05:15:09,600 --> 05:15:12,000
vegetables. 
This wasn't charity but 

5735
05:15:12,000 --> 05:15:14,300
practical Mutual support you 
shared. 

5736
05:15:14,300 --> 05:15:16,900
When you had extra knowing 
others would share with you. 

5737
05:15:16,900 --> 05:15:20,200
When your circumstances reversed
these informal networks of 

5738
05:15:20,200 --> 05:15:23,200
food-sharing maintained 
Community bonds that were as 

5739
05:15:23,200 --> 05:15:27,000
important as the food itself. 
Understanding these home rhythms

5740
05:15:27,000 --> 05:15:30,600
helps explain why people went to
pubs, it wasn't primarily about 

5741
05:15:30,600 --> 05:15:32,400
the food. 
Most people could feed 

5742
05:15:32,400 --> 05:15:35,400
themselves more cheaply at home.
Hubs offered something else 

5743
05:15:35,400 --> 05:15:39,000
warmth without using your own 
fuel light with without burning 

5744
05:15:39,000 --> 05:15:42,400
your own candles companionship, 
beyond your immediate family 

5745
05:15:42,400 --> 05:15:46,500
news from The Wider World 
entertainment and a break from 

5746
05:15:46,500 --> 05:15:49,800
the domestic routine, that 
structured so much of life. 

5747
05:15:51,000 --> 05:15:54,400
The way people ate the Customs 
traditions and unspoken rules 

5748
05:15:54,400 --> 05:15:57,700
that governed meals, tells us as
much about English life as what 

5749
05:15:57,700 --> 05:16:01,800
they ate these traditions of old
over centuries mixing practical 

5750
05:16:01,800 --> 05:16:04,800
necessity with social meaning, 
to create eating customs that 

5751
05:16:04,800 --> 05:16:07,000
shape, how people understood 
their place in the world. 

5752
05:16:08,200 --> 05:16:10,400
Table manners in England 
developed gradually from 

5753
05:16:10,400 --> 05:16:13,600
medieval times onward. 
But they weren't the rigid 

5754
05:16:13,600 --> 05:16:16,400
anxious Affairs that Victorian 
etiquette books might suggest 

5755
05:16:16,400 --> 05:16:19,800
most people's table manners. 
Were simply habitual practices 

5756
05:16:19,800 --> 05:16:23,100
passed down through families, 
designed to make communal eating

5757
05:16:23,100 --> 05:16:26,000
work smoothly rather than to 
exclude anyone. 

5758
05:16:27,100 --> 05:16:31,100
The concept of courses separate 
dishes, served in sequence, was 

5759
05:16:31,100 --> 05:16:34,000
initially an upper-class 
practice that slowly filtered 

5760
05:16:34,000 --> 05:16:37,500
down through Society in ordinary
homes, everything appeared on 

5761
05:16:37,500 --> 05:16:40,400
the table at once. 
The stew or joint of meat the 

5762
05:16:40,400 --> 05:16:43,600
vegetables, the bread and the 
cheese, you helped yourself to 

5763
05:16:43,600 --> 05:16:46,500
whatever you want it in. 
Whatever order made sense, this 

5764
05:16:46,500 --> 05:16:48,900
wasn't chaos. 
But a different organizational 

5765
05:16:48,900 --> 05:16:52,500
principle abundance. 
Displayed simultaneously rather 

5766
05:16:52,500 --> 05:16:56,300
than rationed sequentially. 
Eating utensils of evolved more 

5767
05:16:56,300 --> 05:16:58,900
slowly than you might. 
Imagine Forks, didn't become 

5768
05:16:58,900 --> 05:17:01,000
common in England, until the 
17th century. 

5769
05:17:01,000 --> 05:17:04,100
And even then many people 
continued eating with a knife 

5770
05:17:04,100 --> 05:17:07,200
and spoon using bread to push 
food onto the spoon. 

5771
05:17:07,200 --> 05:17:11,000
The fork was initially seen as 
affected, even a feminine 

5772
05:17:11,000 --> 05:17:14,700
English, people didn't need 
fancy, Italian implements to eat

5773
05:17:14,700 --> 05:17:17,300
their dinner. 
But gradually Forks proved their

5774
05:17:17,300 --> 05:17:19,400
utility and by the Victorian 
era. 

5775
05:17:19,400 --> 05:17:22,700
Elaborate place setting with 
multiple specialized Forks, had 

5776
05:17:22,700 --> 05:17:25,700
become status symbols. 
The proper way to hold utensils 

5777
05:17:25,700 --> 05:17:28,900
varied by class. 
And period, Continental style. 

5778
05:17:28,900 --> 05:17:33,300
Forking left hand knife in, 
right tines down was considered 

5779
05:17:33,300 --> 05:17:35,600
more sophisticated than 
switching hands off after 

5780
05:17:35,608 --> 05:17:38,400
cutting. 
But in pubs and ordinary homes 

5781
05:17:38,400 --> 05:17:40,700
people ate, however, was 
comfortable and effective. 

5782
05:17:40,700 --> 05:17:44,300
The anxiety about correct 
utensil use was largely a 

5783
05:17:44,300 --> 05:17:47,000
middle-class preoccupation as 
the aspiring. 

5784
05:17:47,000 --> 05:17:50,000
Middle-class is used etiquette, 
as a way, to distinguish 

5785
05:17:50,000 --> 05:17:53,300
themselves, from working classes
below and demonstrate their 

5786
05:17:53,300 --> 05:17:55,200
Fitness for higher Social 
Status. 

5787
05:17:56,200 --> 05:17:59,400
Grace, before meals was 
standard, practice across most 

5788
05:17:59,400 --> 05:18:02,700
of English society though the 
elaborate has varied in 

5789
05:18:02,700 --> 05:18:05,100
religious households, Grace 
might be a formal prayer 

5790
05:18:05,100 --> 05:18:07,000
thanking God for providing 
sustenance. 

5791
05:18:07,700 --> 05:18:10,700
In less devout homes. 
It might be a quick mumbled 

5792
05:18:10,700 --> 05:18:14,300
formula, more habit than 
heartfelt devotion, but the 

5793
05:18:14,300 --> 05:18:17,200
pause before eating the 
acknowledgment that food was not

5794
05:18:17,200 --> 05:18:19,700
to be taken for granted remained
nearly Universal. 

5795
05:18:20,700 --> 05:18:23,400
Toasting traditions in pubs 
developed their own complex 

5796
05:18:23,400 --> 05:18:25,600
Customs. 
The simple Act of raising 

5797
05:18:25,600 --> 05:18:28,200
glasses before drinking became 
layered with meaning. 

5798
05:18:28,200 --> 05:18:31,800
And ritual you made eye contact 
while toasting to skip. 

5799
05:18:31,800 --> 05:18:34,200
This was considered bad luck or 
even an insult. 

5800
05:18:34,200 --> 05:18:37,800
You never toasted with nepti 
glass and you never toasted with

5801
05:18:37,800 --> 05:18:40,100
water. 
This Superstition came from the 

5802
05:18:40,100 --> 05:18:43,000
belief that toasting with water,
condemned the recipient to a 

5803
05:18:43,000 --> 05:18:46,508
watery death The round system 
where each person in a group, 

5804
05:18:46,516 --> 05:18:50,800
takes turns, buying drinks for 
everyone became fundamental to 

5805
05:18:50,800 --> 05:18:53,500
English pub culture. 
This wasn't just about fairly 

5806
05:18:53,500 --> 05:18:56,500
Distributing costs. 
It was a social bonding 

5807
05:18:56,500 --> 05:18:59,300
mechanism that kept groups 
together and created obligations

5808
05:18:59,300 --> 05:19:02,900
of reciprocity leaving before 
you'd bought your round was a 

5809
05:19:02,900 --> 05:19:05,400
serious breach of Pub, etiquette
that marked you as 

5810
05:19:05,400 --> 05:19:09,000
untrustworthy. 
Seasonal Foods came with their 

5811
05:19:09,000 --> 05:19:12,600
own traditions and meanings 
Goose at michaelmas, September 

5812
05:19:12,600 --> 05:19:15,600
29th, oysters in months with an 
R. 

5813
05:19:15,600 --> 05:19:19,200
Hot Cross Buns on. 
Good Friday, Pancakes on shrove 

5814
05:19:19,200 --> 05:19:21,400
Tuesday. 
These work just culinary 

5815
05:19:21,400 --> 05:19:24,300
customs, but ways of marking 
time, connecting to the 

5816
05:19:24,308 --> 05:19:27,800
agricultural, calendar and 
participating in communal 

5817
05:19:27,800 --> 05:19:30,400
rituals that transcended 
individual households. 

5818
05:19:31,100 --> 05:19:33,000
Christmas dinner. 
Traditions, evolved over 

5819
05:19:33,000 --> 05:19:34,500
centuries into the elaborate 
meal. 

5820
05:19:34,500 --> 05:19:37,700
We recognize today, the 
centerpiece shifted from peacock

5821
05:19:37,700 --> 05:19:40,600
to Swan to Goose. 
And finally, to Turkey as these 

5822
05:19:40,600 --> 05:19:43,500
birds became available and 
affordable but the principal 

5823
05:19:43,500 --> 05:19:47,200
remained constant Christmas was 
when you ate better than any 

5824
05:19:47,200 --> 05:19:50,500
other day of the year, when even
poor families, tried to provide 

5825
05:19:50,500 --> 05:19:53,200
something special. 
And when the usual scarcity was 

5826
05:19:53,200 --> 05:19:57,900
temporarily suspended in favor 
of deliberate, abundance, The 

5827
05:19:57,900 --> 05:20:01,000
tradition of cold collation for 
Sunday supper reflected 

5828
05:20:01,000 --> 05:20:03,500
religious prohibitions against 
working on the Sabbath. 

5829
05:20:03,500 --> 05:20:07,200
Since cooking counted as work, 
Saturdays, cooking provided cold

5830
05:20:07,200 --> 05:20:11,100
meats pies and other dishes that
could be eaten Sunday without 

5831
05:20:11,100 --> 05:20:14,300
further preparation, this 
practical religious, observance 

5832
05:20:14,300 --> 05:20:17,100
created its own distinct Cuisine
of cold dishes that were meant 

5833
05:20:17,100 --> 05:20:18,400
to be delicious at room 
temperature. 

5834
05:20:19,700 --> 05:20:22,500
Funeral Foods the meal served 
after bearing, the dead 

5835
05:20:22,500 --> 05:20:26,100
followed, their own traditions 
and was common and practical 

5836
05:20:26,100 --> 05:20:28,900
because it could be prepared 
ahead and served cold to any 

5837
05:20:28,900 --> 05:20:32,000
number of mourners the funeral 
meal wasn't about elaborate 

5838
05:20:32,000 --> 05:20:35,500
cooking but about Gathering 
Community sharing grief, and 

5839
05:20:35,500 --> 05:20:38,700
acknowledging that life 
continued, despite death food at

5840
05:20:38,700 --> 05:20:41,600
these occasions, served social 
purposes Beyond near nutrition. 

5841
05:20:42,600 --> 05:20:44,900
Harvest Traditions brought 
communities together around 

5842
05:20:44,900 --> 05:20:48,100
shared meals, that celebrated 
successful Gathering of crops 

5843
05:20:48,100 --> 05:20:51,100
Harvest suppers though declining
by the Victorian era. 

5844
05:20:51,100 --> 05:20:53,800
Had been Central to Rural Life 
for centuries. 

5845
05:20:54,900 --> 05:20:57,600
The farmer who employed Harvest 
workers was expected to provide 

5846
05:20:57,600 --> 05:21:00,400
a feast at Harvest end, not from
generosity. 

5847
05:21:00,400 --> 05:21:03,200
But from obligation, these 
meals, acknowledge the 

5848
05:21:03,200 --> 05:21:06,400
interdependence of farmer and 
laborer, land and community. 

5849
05:21:07,400 --> 05:21:10,400
The pub fit into all these 
Traditions as a space, where 

5850
05:21:10,400 --> 05:21:13,300
communal eating and drinking 
could occur outside the home. 

5851
05:21:13,300 --> 05:21:15,500
It was where Harvest suppers 
might be held. 

5852
05:21:15,500 --> 05:21:18,400
If the farmer's Barn was 
inadequate where workers could 

5853
05:21:18,400 --> 05:21:21,200
celebrate. 
Completion of a project where 

5854
05:21:21,200 --> 05:21:24,500
Community organizations met over
meals, and where Travelers could

5855
05:21:24,500 --> 05:21:28,300
participate in local food 
Customs, even though they were 

5856
05:21:28,300 --> 05:21:31,800
strangers, As you finish your 
tea and prepare to drift into 

5857
05:21:31,800 --> 05:21:34,100
sleep. 
Let's Trace how these old 

5858
05:21:34,100 --> 05:21:36,600
traditions Echo into our 
presenting. 

5859
05:21:36,600 --> 05:21:40,500
How we eat and drink in ways. 
We rarely recognized the pub and

5860
05:21:40,500 --> 05:21:42,600
its Associated food culture 
aren't just historical 

5861
05:21:42,600 --> 05:21:45,500
Curiosities, their Living 
Traditions, that continue 

5862
05:21:45,500 --> 05:21:48,400
evolving while maintaining 
connections to centuries passed.

5863
05:21:49,500 --> 05:21:53,200
The modern Pub me allows obvious
debts to its ancestors fish and 

5864
05:21:53,200 --> 05:21:56,300
chips, meet pies plowman's lunch
and Sunday roast. 

5865
05:21:56,300 --> 05:22:01,000
These dishes survived because 
they genuinely work a satisfying

5866
05:22:01,000 --> 05:22:03,900
relatively economical and 
compatible with the social 

5867
05:22:03,900 --> 05:22:07,200
atmosphere that defines Pub 
dining, they've also evolved 

5868
05:22:07,200 --> 05:22:10,700
modern pub food, often includes 
International influences, that 

5869
05:22:10,700 --> 05:22:14,800
would have bewildered 18th 
century publicans Curry pasta 

5870
05:22:14,800 --> 05:22:18,000
and burgers. 
These additions exist alongside 

5871
05:22:18,000 --> 05:22:21,300
traditional dishes, creating a 
menu that honors history while 

5872
05:22:21,300 --> 05:22:25,500
acknowledging contemporary 
tastes The Gastropub movement of

5873
05:22:25,500 --> 05:22:28,600
recent decades represents both 
change and continuity. 

5874
05:22:28,600 --> 05:22:31,900
These establishments Elevate, 
traditional, pub, food, using 

5875
05:22:31,900 --> 05:22:34,300
refined techniques and quality 
ingredients. 

5876
05:22:35,000 --> 05:22:38,400
But the underlying concept 
gathering in a public house to 

5877
05:22:38,400 --> 05:22:40,900
eat well prepared food while 
enjoying drinks and 

5878
05:22:40,900 --> 05:22:46,200
companionship remains unchanged 
from medieval ale houses, your 

5879
05:22:46,200 --> 05:22:49,200
great-great-grandparents would 
understand the appeal even if 

5880
05:22:49,200 --> 05:22:51,200
they'd be confused by the foam 
garnishes. 

5881
05:22:52,000 --> 05:22:55,700
Certain eating rhythms persist 
despite massive social changes. 

5882
05:22:55,700 --> 05:22:59,100
The Sunday roast though, 
threatened by modern Lifestyles 

5883
05:22:59,100 --> 05:23:03,000
remains an institution in many 
families and pubs it connects 

5884
05:23:03,000 --> 05:23:06,600
contemporary English people to 
centuries of tradition that same

5885
05:23:06,600 --> 05:23:08,700
desire for a substantial 
communal meal. 

5886
05:23:08,700 --> 05:23:11,200
That marks the week's transition
from work to rest. 

5887
05:23:11,200 --> 05:23:15,500
The specific dishes may vary but
the underlying pattern endures 

5888
05:23:16,300 --> 05:23:19,100
The round system in pubs 
continues though, younger 

5889
05:23:19,100 --> 05:23:21,400
Generations. 
Sometimes resist its obligations

5890
05:23:22,300 --> 05:23:24,600
This traditional survives 
because it serves social 

5891
05:23:24,600 --> 05:23:26,500
functions Beyond economic 
fairness. 

5892
05:23:26,500 --> 05:23:30,200
It creates structure for group 
drinking establishes, trust 

5893
05:23:30,200 --> 05:23:33,800
through reciprocity and turns 
casual Pub, visits into small, 

5894
05:23:33,800 --> 05:23:35,900
ceremonies of friendship, the 
anxiety. 

5895
05:23:35,900 --> 05:23:38,800
Some people feel about keeping 
up with the Realms, reflects the

5896
05:23:38,800 --> 05:23:41,200
serious social weight. 
This seemingly simple custom 

5897
05:23:41,200 --> 05:23:45,600
carriers, Seasonal eating, which
for our ancestors was, an 

5898
05:23:45,600 --> 05:23:48,500
unavoidable. 
Necessity has become a conscious

5899
05:23:48,500 --> 05:23:51,200
choice for some Modern heaters 
seeking connection to 

5900
05:23:51,200 --> 05:23:54,800
agricultural reality, farmers 
markets, seasonal menus and 

5901
05:23:54,800 --> 05:23:57,900
local food movements all 
represent attempts to recreate 

5902
05:23:57,900 --> 05:24:00,500
the seasonal Rhythm. 
That once governed all eating, 

5903
05:24:00,500 --> 05:24:02,600
we've chosen to recreate 
constraints. 

5904
05:24:02,600 --> 05:24:04,700
Our ancestors would have gladly 
escaped. 

5905
05:24:04,700 --> 05:24:07,600
Because we've learned that those
constraints created a 

5906
05:24:07,600 --> 05:24:10,500
relationship with food that felt
more meaningful than our current

5907
05:24:10,500 --> 05:24:14,800
abundance sometimes provides The
physical spaces of pubs 

5908
05:24:14,800 --> 05:24:16,300
continue. 
Evolving while maintaining 

5909
05:24:16,300 --> 05:24:19,600
recognizable connections to 
their past many old pubs 

5910
05:24:19,600 --> 05:24:23,100
genuinely are old buildings that
have served drinks for two three

5911
05:24:23,100 --> 05:24:26,400
or even five centuries their 
floorboards worn by countless 

5912
05:24:26,400 --> 05:24:28,400
feet. 
Their walls soaked with 

5913
05:24:28,400 --> 05:24:31,500
accumulated atmosphere others 
are modern constructions. 

5914
05:24:31,500 --> 05:24:34,900
Designed to evoke historical 
ambulance through exposed beams 

5915
05:24:34,900 --> 05:24:38,100
fireplaces and Architectural 
details that reference 

5916
05:24:38,100 --> 05:24:41,900
traditional Pub design. 
What's remarkable is, how people

5917
05:24:41,900 --> 05:24:45,400
still use these spaces for 
fundamentally similar purposes? 

5918
05:24:45,400 --> 05:24:49,600
You go to a pub to escape home, 
temporarily to see friends to 

5919
05:24:49,600 --> 05:24:53,000
Mark occasions, both significant
and trivial and to participate 

5920
05:24:53,000 --> 05:24:55,000
in community. 
Life beyond your immediate 

5921
05:24:55,000 --> 05:24:57,700
family, the medieval Alewife 
would recognize these 

5922
05:24:57,700 --> 05:25:01,400
motivations instantly even if 
the specific manifestations of 

5923
05:25:01,400 --> 05:25:05,000
changed the language of food, 
and drink preserves historical, 

5924
05:25:05,000 --> 05:25:08,600
Echoes pub-grub acknowledges 
that pub food isn't oat Cuisine 

5925
05:25:08,600 --> 05:25:11,800
but something more basic and 
satisfying last orders. 

5926
05:25:11,800 --> 05:25:14,800
References Licensing Laws that 
once strictly regulated Pub 

5927
05:25:14,800 --> 05:25:18,200
hours lock in refers to the 
technically illegal, but widely 

5928
05:25:18,200 --> 05:25:21,200
practiced custom of pubs 
continuing to serve drinks. 

5929
05:25:21,200 --> 05:25:24,000
After official closing time with
doors locked against outside 

5930
05:25:24,000 --> 05:25:26,500
observation. 
These linguistic fossils carry 

5931
05:25:26,500 --> 05:25:28,400
historical meaning into present 
usage. 

5932
05:25:29,200 --> 05:25:32,300
British Foods International 
reputation For Better or Worse, 

5933
05:25:32,300 --> 05:25:34,500
stems partly from this Pub and 
home. 

5934
05:25:34,500 --> 05:25:37,900
Traditional, we've explored the 
emphasis on heartiness over a 

5935
05:25:37,900 --> 05:25:41,300
fine moment on substance over 
presentation and on familiar 

5936
05:25:41,300 --> 05:25:43,100
Comfort. 
Over adventurous novelty, 

5937
05:25:43,100 --> 05:25:46,700
reflects centuries of English 
eating patterns, British food 

5938
05:25:46,700 --> 05:25:50,300
isn't bad, it's designed for 
different priorities than say 

5939
05:25:50,300 --> 05:25:53,600
French cuisine with its emphasis
on technical Perfection or 

5940
05:25:53,600 --> 05:25:56,600
Italian cuisine with its focus 
on Prime ingredients simply 

5941
05:25:56,600 --> 05:26:01,700
prepared. the working class food
traditions, we've discussed The 

5942
05:26:01,700 --> 05:26:05,400
meat pie is the fish and chips, 
the hearty stews have achieved a

5943
05:26:05,400 --> 05:26:08,700
cultural status that transcends 
class, boundaries, wealthy 

5944
05:26:08,700 --> 05:26:11,600
people, eat these dishes, not 
from necessity, but from Choice,

5945
05:26:11,600 --> 05:26:15,500
finding in them connections to 
broader English identity, this 

5946
05:26:15,500 --> 05:26:18,200
democratization of once. 
Slowly Foods mirrors larger, 

5947
05:26:18,200 --> 05:26:21,200
social changes while also 
honoring Traditions that 

5948
05:26:21,200 --> 05:26:24,500
sustained Generations, 
immigration and globalization 

5949
05:26:24,500 --> 05:26:27,600
have transformed English eating 
while often working through 

5950
05:26:27,600 --> 05:26:30,900
existing Pub structures. 
Indian and Chinese restaurants 

5951
05:26:30,900 --> 05:26:33,500
are now as fundamental to 
British food culture as pubs 

5952
05:26:33,500 --> 05:26:36,900
themselves but many pubs have 
Incorporated these influences 

5953
05:26:36,900 --> 05:26:39,300
into their menus. 
Curry Knight at the pub 

5954
05:26:39,300 --> 05:26:41,300
represents a fusion of 
traditional English. 

5955
05:26:41,300 --> 05:26:45,300
Social space with adopted 
culinary Traditions, creating 

5956
05:26:45,300 --> 05:26:47,600
something new while maintaining 
continuity. 

5957
05:26:48,400 --> 05:26:51,000
The decline of cooking skills, 
that characterized much of the 

5958
05:26:51,008 --> 05:26:54,800
20th century, when convenience 
Foods, replaced home, cooking, 

5959
05:26:54,800 --> 05:26:58,000
as partly, reversed as younger, 
generation's ReDiscover 

5960
05:26:58,000 --> 05:26:59,400
traditional traditions and 
techniques. 

5961
05:26:59,400 --> 05:27:03,200
This isn't simple Nostalgia, but
a recognition that the old ways 

5962
05:27:03,200 --> 05:27:06,100
of preparing food often produced
results that mass produced 

5963
05:27:06,100 --> 05:27:09,000
Alternatives can't match your 
grandmother's stew. 

5964
05:27:09,000 --> 05:27:11,300
Recipe passed down through 
generations. 

5965
05:27:11,300 --> 05:27:14,600
Connects you to centuries of 
English Cooks solving the same 

5966
05:27:14,600 --> 05:27:16,900
problems of making modest 
ingredients delicious. 

5967
05:27:17,800 --> 05:27:22,200
Even the aesthetic of pub food, 
persists that brown, hearty 

5968
05:27:22,200 --> 05:27:24,000
slightly monochrome appearance 
that critics. 

5969
05:27:24,000 --> 05:27:28,300
Sometimes mock actually reflects
authentic food, traditions Foods

5970
05:27:28,300 --> 05:27:32,300
designed to sustain work, 
provide warmth and satisfy 

5971
05:27:32,300 --> 05:27:35,100
hunger rather than photograph 
well for social media. 

5972
05:27:35,100 --> 05:27:38,000
There's honesty and a properly 
made steak and kidney pudding 

5973
05:27:38,000 --> 05:27:41,800
that transcends visual appeal. 
The communal aspects of Pub. 

5974
05:27:41,800 --> 05:27:45,000
Dining have become more precious
as Modern Life increasingly 

5975
05:27:45,000 --> 05:27:48,700
isolates as in private spaces. 
The pub remains one of the few 

5976
05:27:48,700 --> 05:27:51,600
truly public spaces in English 
life, where strangers can easily

5977
05:27:51,600 --> 05:27:54,600
interact where chance 
conversations happen naturally 

5978
05:27:54,600 --> 05:27:58,100
and where you're expected to 
share space and sometimes tables

5979
05:27:58,100 --> 05:28:01,500
with people, you don't know this
function creating Community 

5980
05:28:01,500 --> 05:28:04,600
across social boundaries 
matters, more as other such 

5981
05:28:04,600 --> 05:28:08,600
spaces, disappear. 
Looking forward pubs face 

5982
05:28:08,600 --> 05:28:11,300
challenges that would have been 
incomprehensible to earlier 

5983
05:28:11,300 --> 05:28:14,000
Generations. 
Smoking bans, drink driving 

5984
05:28:14,000 --> 05:28:16,700
laws, changing social habits, 
economic pressures, and 

5985
05:28:16,700 --> 05:28:19,400
competition from home 
entertainment, all threatened, 

5986
05:28:19,400 --> 05:28:21,200
the traditional Pub model. 
Yep. 

5987
05:28:21,200 --> 05:28:23,700
Pubs persist because they 
provide something that Holmes 

5988
05:28:23,700 --> 05:28:25,700
restaurants and bars, don't 
quite replicate. 

5989
05:28:26,600 --> 05:28:29,100
That particular combination of 
informality tradition, 

5990
05:28:29,100 --> 05:28:32,000
community, and comfort. 
That makes them distinctly and 

5991
05:28:32,000 --> 05:28:35,800
enduringly English. 
As you drift towards sleep 

5992
05:28:35,800 --> 05:28:39,600
tonight, perhaps your dream of 
stepping into that warm dim Pub.

5993
05:28:39,600 --> 05:28:42,800
We visited at the beginning. 
Finding yourself welcomed by 

5994
05:28:42,800 --> 05:28:46,100
firelight and the smell of 
something Savory cooking 

5995
05:28:46,100 --> 05:28:48,300
joining. 
The centuries of people who've 

5996
05:28:48,300 --> 05:28:52,700
sought the same simple Comforts 
of good food, decent, drink and 

5997
05:28:52,700 --> 05:28:56,100
companionship, that made the 
cold world, feel a little warmer

5998
05:28:56,100 --> 05:28:59,600
and a little more manageable. 
The old English pub and its food

5999
05:28:59,600 --> 05:29:01,700
traditions matter. 
Not because they're quaint 

6000
05:29:01,700 --> 05:29:05,300
historical Curiosities but 
because they represent an 

6001
05:29:05,300 --> 05:29:08,200
enduring human need for spaces 
that are neither purely private 

6002
05:29:08,200 --> 05:29:11,800
nor purely public for food that 
satisfies without pretension. 

6003
05:29:11,800 --> 05:29:14,700
And for traditions, that can 
connect us to the past while 

6004
05:29:14,700 --> 05:29:16,100
remaining relevant to the 
present. 

6005
05:29:17,100 --> 05:29:21,000
Your great-great-grandparents 
knew this and so do you even if 

6006
05:29:21,000 --> 05:29:22,600
you've never consciously thought
about it? 

6007
05:29:22,600 --> 05:29:26,400
When you seek out a cosy Pub On 
A Rainy afternoon, when you 

6008
05:29:26,400 --> 05:29:29,600
order fish and chips, because it
feels right when you linger over

6009
05:29:29,600 --> 05:29:32,400
a pint longer than you plan 
because the conversation is good

6010
05:29:32,400 --> 05:29:35,500
and the fire is warm, your 
participating in Traditions that

6011
05:29:35,500 --> 05:29:38,600
stretch back through the 
centuries, connecting you to 

6012
05:29:38,600 --> 05:29:42,300
generations of English people 
who found the same comfort in 

6013
05:29:42,300 --> 05:29:43,500
the same. 
Simple Pleasures. 

6014
05:29:45,100 --> 05:29:48,300
In our journey through English 
pub, history, and the meals that

6015
05:29:48,300 --> 05:29:52,200
Define daily life. 
We've traveled from medieval Al 

6016
05:29:52,200 --> 05:29:54,600
houses to Victorian 
establishments from Humble 

6017
05:29:54,600 --> 05:29:56,500
potages to elaborate Sunday 
roasts. 

6018
05:29:56,500 --> 05:30:00,700
We've seen how people adapted to
scarcity, celebrated, abundance 

6019
05:30:00,700 --> 05:30:03,900
and created Traditions, that 
gave meaning to the simple Act 

6020
05:30:03,900 --> 05:30:07,300
of eating together. 
The story of English pub food is

6021
05:30:07,300 --> 05:30:10,600
ultimately a story about 
community and resilience in a 

6022
05:30:10,600 --> 05:30:13,400
world where life was often 
harsh, where Winters were long 

6023
05:30:13,400 --> 05:30:16,500
and work was hard and where most
people had limited control over 

6024
05:30:16,500 --> 05:30:19,500
their circumstances. 
The pub offered a democratic 

6025
05:30:19,500 --> 05:30:23,100
space where everyone could find 
warmth sustenance and 

6026
05:30:23,100 --> 05:30:25,300
connection. 
The food served, there wasn't 

6027
05:30:25,300 --> 05:30:28,700
about coloring Innovation or 
gastronomic Excellence, it was 

6028
05:30:28,700 --> 05:30:31,300
about providing reliable comfort
in uncertain times. 

6029
05:30:33,000 --> 05:30:35,800
Think about the continuity 
represented by a pub that has 

6030
05:30:35,800 --> 05:30:38,800
been operating for 300 years. 
The building itself has 

6031
05:30:38,800 --> 05:30:41,700
sheltered countless thousands of
people each with their own 

6032
05:30:41,700 --> 05:30:44,500
worries celebrations and daily 
concerns. 

6033
05:30:44,500 --> 05:30:48,100
The same half has warmed 
multiple Generations. 

6034
05:30:48,100 --> 05:30:50,900
The same basic dishes refined 
and adapted. 

6035
05:30:50,900 --> 05:30:54,300
But recognizably continuous have
satisfied hunger across 

6036
05:30:54,300 --> 05:30:57,600
centuries, that kind of 
institutional memory embedded, 

6037
05:30:57,600 --> 05:31:00,900
in physical space, and culinary 
tradition creates a sense of 

6038
05:31:00,900 --> 05:31:03,300
permanence, that our modern 
world really provides. 

6039
05:31:04,300 --> 05:31:08,100
The meals we've discussed. 
Stews and pies the roasts and 

6040
05:31:08,100 --> 05:31:11,400
puddings, the bread and cheese 
and I'll weren't just fuel. 

6041
05:31:11,400 --> 05:31:14,800
They were expressions of 
Ingenuity making the most of 

6042
05:31:14,800 --> 05:31:17,400
limited ingredients through 
skill and patience. 

6043
05:31:17,400 --> 05:31:21,100
They were demonstrations of 
care, whether in the Alewife 

6044
05:31:21,100 --> 05:31:23,300
brewing, a wholesome batch of 
ale, or the pub. 

6045
05:31:23,300 --> 05:31:24,900
Cook preparing, a proper meat 
pie. 

6046
05:31:24,900 --> 05:31:28,000
They were vehicles for 
tradition, connecting people to 

6047
05:31:28,000 --> 05:31:31,100
their parents and grandparents. 
And the long chain of ordinary 

6048
05:31:31,100 --> 05:31:32,800
folk stretching back into 
history. 

6049
05:31:33,800 --> 05:31:36,900
What's beautiful about pub food,
traditions is their essential 

6050
05:31:36,900 --> 05:31:40,200
democracy, unlike Haute Cuisine,
which is always been the 

6051
05:31:40,200 --> 05:31:43,300
province of the wealthy pub food
was available to anyone who 

6052
05:31:43,300 --> 05:31:46,400
could afford a few pennies, the 
labourer and the merchants might

6053
05:31:46,400 --> 05:31:49,500
sit at different tables but they
were eating in the same room 

6054
05:31:49,500 --> 05:31:53,400
drinking from similar tankers 
and sharing the same basic 

6055
05:31:53,400 --> 05:31:56,800
experience food in the pub was a
leveling Force reminding. 

6056
05:31:56,800 --> 05:31:58,200
Everyone of their shared 
Humanity. 

6057
05:31:59,200 --> 05:32:01,800
The seasonal rhythms we've 
explored created a relationship 

6058
05:32:01,800 --> 05:32:03,900
with time. 
That Modern Life has largely 

6059
05:32:03,900 --> 05:32:06,300
erased. 
Our ancestors lived, intimate 

6060
05:32:06,300 --> 05:32:08,000
connection with the agricultural
year. 

6061
05:32:08,800 --> 05:32:12,000
Experiencing real hunger in late
winter and genuine relief. 

6062
05:32:12,000 --> 05:32:15,100
When spring vegetables appeared 
they understood in their bodies.

6063
05:32:15,100 --> 05:32:18,100
What we mostly know 
intellectually that food comes 

6064
05:32:18,100 --> 05:32:20,400
from the earth requires labor 
and time. 

6065
05:32:20,400 --> 05:32:23,800
And that abundance is never 
guaranteed this knowledge 

6066
05:32:23,800 --> 05:32:26,800
shaped, not just what they ate, 
but how they thought about life 

6067
05:32:26,800 --> 05:32:31,000
itself, The domestic cooking. 
We've discussed the careful 

6068
05:32:31,000 --> 05:32:34,800
management of limited resources.
The skill required to feed a 

6069
05:32:34,800 --> 05:32:36,400
family from a single pot over an
open. 

6070
05:32:36,400 --> 05:32:40,000
Fire the preservation techniques
that made summer abundance last 

6071
05:32:40,000 --> 05:32:43,200
through, winter, scarcity, 
represents a form of expertise 

6072
05:32:43,200 --> 05:32:46,200
that is rapidly disappearing. 
These weren't simple people, 

6073
05:32:46,200 --> 05:32:49,400
making simple food, they were 
highly skilled practitioners 

6074
05:32:49,400 --> 05:32:51,900
managing complex challenges with
limited tools. 

6075
05:32:51,900 --> 05:32:55,200
The dismissal of traditional 
English cooking as boring or 

6076
05:32:55,200 --> 05:32:58,200
unrefined often reflects 
ignorance about what those Cooks

6077
05:32:58,200 --> 05:33:00,000
were accomplishing under 
difficult circumstances. 

6078
05:33:01,500 --> 05:33:04,900
The customs and traditions 
surrounding meals, The Graces 

6079
05:33:04,900 --> 05:33:08,300
and toasts the seasonal dishes 
and communal feasts. 

6080
05:33:08,300 --> 05:33:11,600
The elaborate etiquettes and 
simple Curtis's created 

6081
05:33:11,600 --> 05:33:13,200
structure and meaning around 
eating. 

6082
05:33:13,200 --> 05:33:15,800
They transformed mere 
consumption into something 

6083
05:33:15,800 --> 05:33:20,700
richer, ritual celebration 
community, building and cultural

6084
05:33:20,700 --> 05:33:22,900
transmission. 
When you raise a glass in a 

6085
05:33:22,908 --> 05:33:25,800
toast or share a Sunday, roast 
with family, you're not just 

6086
05:33:25,800 --> 05:33:28,900
eating and drinking your 
participating in practices that 

6087
05:33:28,900 --> 05:33:30,900
can connect you to centuries of 
human culture. 

6088
05:33:32,000 --> 05:33:35,100
As you prepare for Sleep, 
consider what a privilege it is 

6089
05:33:35,108 --> 05:33:38,000
to have these stories to 
understand, even a little of how

6090
05:33:38,000 --> 05:33:41,200
your ancestors lived in eight, 
the medieval Alewife the 

6091
05:33:41,200 --> 05:33:44,900
Georgian Publican, the Victorian
cook and the countless Ordinary 

6092
05:33:44,900 --> 05:33:49,000
People Who brewed ale baked 
breaded fires and created meals 

6093
05:33:49,000 --> 05:33:51,800
under circumstances. 
We can barely imagine they 

6094
05:33:51,800 --> 05:33:55,200
weren't so different from us. 
They wanted warmth security, 

6095
05:33:55,200 --> 05:33:59,100
good food, companionship, and a 
sense that their lives mattered.

6096
05:33:59,100 --> 05:34:01,800
They found these things. 
In many of the same ways we do, 

6097
05:34:01,800 --> 05:34:05,600
like, gathering, together, 
sharing meals, maintaining 

6098
05:34:05,600 --> 05:34:08,900
traditions, and creating spaces 
where Community could flourish. 

6099
05:34:09,800 --> 05:34:13,400
The English pub with his worn 
floors and scarred tables, its 

6100
05:34:13,400 --> 05:34:17,200
traditional dishes and Timeless 
atmosphere represents continuity

6101
05:34:17,200 --> 05:34:20,300
in a changing world. 
It's a reminder that some human 

6102
05:34:20,300 --> 05:34:22,400
needs remain constant across 
centuries. 

6103
05:34:22,400 --> 05:34:26,400
The Need to Escape home 
occasionally to see friends, to 

6104
05:34:26,400 --> 05:34:29,200
Mark the passage of time with 
small ceremonies and to 

6105
05:34:29,208 --> 05:34:32,100
experience the particular 
comfort that comes from familiar

6106
05:34:32,100 --> 05:34:35,300
food, in a familiar place around
by people who share your 

6107
05:34:35,300 --> 05:34:36,800
understanding of how things 
should be. 

6108
05:34:37,700 --> 05:34:41,000
Modern threats to pubs economic 
pressures, changing habits 

6109
05:34:41,000 --> 05:34:44,500
generational, shifts matter 
because they threaten not just 

6110
05:34:44,500 --> 05:34:48,100
businesses, but living links to 
the past when an Old Pub 

6111
05:34:48,100 --> 05:34:50,600
closest, it's not just a 
commercial Failure, Its the 

6112
05:34:50,600 --> 05:34:52,800
severing of connections that 
have been maintained for 

6113
05:34:52,800 --> 05:34:55,300
Generations. 
The silencing of stories that 

6114
05:34:55,300 --> 05:34:58,200
those walls of held and the 
ending of traditions that have 

6115
05:34:58,200 --> 05:35:01,700
sustained communities through 
Wars plagues and countless, 

6116
05:35:01,700 --> 05:35:05,300
personal tragedies and triumphs,
but Pub survive adapting as they

6117
05:35:05,308 --> 05:35:08,800
always have the gastropubs the 
renovated, traditional pubs. 

6118
05:35:08,800 --> 05:35:11,000
And even the modern 
establishments, that reference 

6119
05:35:11,000 --> 05:35:14,700
pub, traditions, all represent 
the continuing evolution of an 

6120
05:35:14,700 --> 05:35:18,100
institution that has proven 
remarkably resilient as long as 

6121
05:35:18,100 --> 05:35:21,500
people want to gather in public 
spaces to share food and drink 

6122
05:35:21,500 --> 05:35:24,100
and to participate in 
Traditions, that connect them to

6123
05:35:24,100 --> 05:35:25,100
something larger than 
themselves. 

6124
05:35:25,100 --> 05:35:29,500
The pub in some form, will 
endure The legacy of Old English

6125
05:35:29,500 --> 05:35:33,100
eating extends Beyond specific 
dishes or establishments. 

6126
05:35:33,100 --> 05:35:36,000
It's embedded. 
In language, social Customs 

6127
05:35:36,000 --> 05:35:39,800
cultural identity and Collective
memory, It shapes how English 

6128
05:35:39,800 --> 05:35:43,500
people think about Hospitality 
community and the proper 

6129
05:35:43,500 --> 05:35:45,700
relationship between public and 
private life. 

6130
05:35:45,700 --> 05:35:49,300
It influences what feels like 
Comfort, what tastes like home 

6131
05:35:49,300 --> 05:35:51,700
and what seems like an 
appropriate way to Mark 

6132
05:35:51,700 --> 05:35:53,900
occasions both momentous and 
mundane. 

6133
05:35:56,000 --> 05:35:58,900
Understanding this history, 
enriches your own eating 

6134
05:35:58,900 --> 05:36:02,300
experiences that Pub meal you 
enjoyed last month connects to 

6135
05:36:02,308 --> 05:36:04,600
centuries of tradition this 
Sunday. 

6136
05:36:04,608 --> 05:36:07,200
Roast, you make for family 
participates in rituals that 

6137
05:36:07,200 --> 05:36:09,300
have defined English weekends 
for Generations. 

6138
05:36:09,300 --> 05:36:12,300
The cup of tea or perhaps 
holding right now links you to 

6139
05:36:12,300 --> 05:36:15,400
the transformation of English. 
Drinking habits that occurred in

6140
05:36:15,400 --> 05:36:18,600
the 18th and 19th. 
Centuries, nothing you, eat 

6141
05:36:18,600 --> 05:36:22,600
exists in isolation, every dish,
every meal, every food, 

6142
05:36:22,600 --> 05:36:26,400
tradition carries history within
it, As you sink deeper into your

6143
05:36:26,400 --> 05:36:28,700
pillow, let your mind drift 
through the scene. 

6144
05:36:28,700 --> 05:36:32,300
We visited the medieval Ale 
House with its Earth and floor, 

6145
05:36:32,300 --> 05:36:35,200
and simple ale. 
The Georgian inn with its 

6146
05:36:35,200 --> 05:36:39,000
roaring fire and savory pies, 
the Victorian Pub with its 

6147
05:36:39,000 --> 05:36:42,600
etched glass and elaborate 
dishes and the countless homes 

6148
05:36:42,600 --> 05:36:45,900
where Ordinary People performed 
daily miracles of transforming 

6149
05:36:45,900 --> 05:36:48,900
modest ingredients in to 
satisfying meals. 

6150
05:36:48,900 --> 05:36:50,800
Imagine the hands that needed 
bread. 

6151
05:36:50,800 --> 05:36:54,200
Stirred pottage poor Dale and 
tended fires, imagine the 

6152
05:36:54,200 --> 05:36:57,200
conversations, the laughter, the
tears, and the countless moments

6153
05:36:57,200 --> 05:37:00,300
of human connection, that 
occurred around food and drink. 

6154
05:37:00,300 --> 05:37:04,400
These people are your ancestors 
if not by Blood, then by 

6155
05:37:04,400 --> 05:37:07,400
culture, Their Ingenuity shaped 
the world. 

6156
05:37:07,400 --> 05:37:10,600
You inherited their Traditions, 
informed practices, you follow 

6157
05:37:10,600 --> 05:37:14,300
without thinking their struggles
and solutions created foodways 

6158
05:37:14,300 --> 05:37:17,600
that still sustain both body and
spirit in understanding their 

6159
05:37:17,600 --> 05:37:19,100
lives. 
You understand something 

6160
05:37:19,100 --> 05:37:22,900
essential about human resilience
creativity and the Eternal 

6161
05:37:22,900 --> 05:37:25,800
importance of gathering together
to share sustenance. 

6162
05:37:26,500 --> 05:37:28,900
Sleep. 
Well and may you dream of warm 

6163
05:37:28,900 --> 05:37:32,500
fires hearty meals and the 
comforting certainty that some 

6164
05:37:32,500 --> 05:37:36,100
things Hospitality Community the
simple pleasure of good food 

6165
05:37:36,100 --> 05:37:39,200
shared with others, remain 
constant even as everything else

6166
05:37:39,200 --> 05:37:42,400
changes tomorrow. 
When you eat breakfast, when you

6167
05:37:42,400 --> 05:37:45,100
prepare lunch, when you perhaps 
stopped at a pub for dinner, 

6168
05:37:45,100 --> 05:37:48,900
you'll carry these stories with 
you seeing in your own meals, 

6169
05:37:48,900 --> 05:37:53,200
Echoes of centuries of English 
eating The Warm Glow of the Old 

6170
05:37:53,200 --> 05:37:56,400
English pub where the you find 
it in an actual historical 

6171
05:37:56,400 --> 05:37:59,100
establishment or simply in the 
traditions and traditions that 

6172
05:37:59,100 --> 05:38:02,800
have survived in the present. 
Remains a beacon of human warmth

6173
05:38:02,800 --> 05:38:06,000
in a sometimes cold world. 
It reminds us that we're not 

6174
05:38:06,008 --> 05:38:08,900
alone that others have faced the
same challenges we face. 

6175
05:38:08,900 --> 05:38:12,200
And that the simple acts of 
eating drinking and Gathering 

6176
05:38:12,200 --> 05:38:15,100
Together, have sustained 
Humanity through, everything 

6177
05:38:15,100 --> 05:38:20,100
history has thrown at us. 
And so, we raise a final toast 

6178
05:38:20,100 --> 05:38:23,500
to the L wives in innkeepers, 
the cooks and publicans, the 

6179
05:38:23,500 --> 05:38:26,700
farmers and Bakers, and the 
countless ordinary people whose 

6180
05:38:26,700 --> 05:38:28,200
skill and Care gave us the 
traditions. 

6181
05:38:28,200 --> 05:38:31,900
We cherish to the pubs that have
sheltered us across centuries to

6182
05:38:31,900 --> 05:38:35,400
the meals that have sustained us
to the Customs that connect us 

6183
05:38:35,400 --> 05:38:38,300
to the past that lives on in 
every familiar dish. 

6184
05:38:38,300 --> 05:38:41,500
Every raised glass and every 
Gathering of friends and 

6185
05:38:41,500 --> 05:38:44,500
strangers in that peculiarly 
English space where everyone is 

6186
05:38:44,500 --> 05:38:46,800
welcome. 
Hey, those Traditions continue 

6187
05:38:46,800 --> 05:38:49,400
evolving but never entirely 
disappearing. 

6188
05:38:49,400 --> 05:38:52,500
Connecting future generations to
the wisdom and warmth of the 

6189
05:38:52,500 --> 05:38:56,500
passed and may, you find 
whenever you need it, a cosy pub

6190
05:38:56,500 --> 05:39:00,000
with a warm fire, good food and 
the kind of companionship that 

6191
05:39:00,000 --> 05:39:02,800
reminds you what really matters 
in this brief precious life. 

6192
05:39:03,800 --> 05:39:06,200
Rest. 
Well the fire is banked, the 

6193
05:39:06,200 --> 05:39:08,300
doors are locked and tomorrow is
another day. 

6194
05:39:08,300 --> 05:39:11,500
But tonight you've traveled 
through time and returned safely

6195
05:39:11,500 --> 05:39:14,500
home carrying with you, the 
stories of how your ancestors, 

6196
05:39:14,500 --> 05:39:18,500
lived, eight and found comfort 
in a world very different from 

6197
05:39:18,500 --> 05:39:23,000
ours, yet fundamentally the same
sweet dreams and may you always 

6198
05:39:23,008 --> 05:39:25,300
find a warm, welcome in any Pub 
in winter