Erika Hewitt

Here’s to redeeming or salvaging a frustrating day, hoping that my words of love reach their recipients and are well received. And this reminds me how fun it was, a few years ago, to send Galentine & Palentine cards to a buncha friends! 📮❤️

#lovemail
#spiritualpractice

(I used to write a *lot* of thank you notes as a church pastor, and one day a parishioner nervously confessed that she couldn’t read my handwriting! So now I take some extra time to print extra clearly. 😂)

and then setting it free in the world. But good Lord: it took me under 10 minutes to write a card that I’ve been holding onto since November! Maybe I was afraid I wouldn’t express myself profoundly enough.

Today was a stressful day: my routine was disrupted, and it feels too cold to enjoy my long daily walk. But I was determined to make something good of it. 📬 I just wrote 3 cards, one of which is months overdue. I don’t need or expect a response – this practice is about expressing #gratitude…

One of my spiritual practices is to send notes of gratitude to people who have touched my heart or taught me something important. The problem is that the blank card— addressed & stamped— often sits unwritten on my desk for a week, or three, or seven. 😱

I feel sick. I do not expect that feeling to change.

I don’t want to ever accept or acclimate to the grotesque parade of hatred & cruelty that was formalized today. As #MLK said, “There are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted.”

#ProudToBeMaladjusted

....or PREYING on your downfall. Because as humans, we're inexplicably primed to want the downfall of our neighbors instead of trusting that we're all in this together.

FOWH FTW 🙌🏼😉

YouTube video by Mariachi Sol De Mexico De Jose Hernandez - Topic Hallelujah Chorus

On that note (ha!) I offer you the #HallelujahChorus as performed by Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez.

Hallelujah, Happy Christmas, and thanks to everyone who joined my passionate journey through #CarolsAndSongs!

(7/fin)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUZA...

It took over a century after its debut for Messiah to migrate permanently to the Christmas end of the calendar, where today, for many people, it forms a cultural/seasonal cornerstone of reverence, wonder, and sheer musical brilliance.

(6/7)

to offset the criticism, Handel donated his proceeds from the debut to a hospital and a debtors’ prison in Dublin.

17 years after its debut, Handel attended a Messiah performance in London. He died a week later; his most acclaimed work may have been the last piece of music he heard.

(5/7)

Handel was 56 years old, long having made a permanent home in London, and intended his oratorio to be performed at Easter. He debuted it during Lent—on April, 13, 1742—in Dublin.

It was controversial that Handel and Jennens chose theaters—not churches—for Messiah performances;

(4/7)

In late summer, Handel composed Messiah in a feverish, 24-day generative streak. A friend who visited Handel during that period found him weeping with emotion. It was after finishing the Hallelujah Chorus that Handel claimed, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself."

“When he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt”—was badly in debt after a string of musical failures.

Two things changed musical history: Handel received funding from Dublin charities to write a new work, and received a libretto, from scholar Charles Jensen, focusing on the life of Jesus.

2/7

On a background of a blurred Christmas scene, the word Hallelujah! appears many times, along with #CarolsAndSongs and December 25

For over 282 years, every #Messiah performance has begun with the sung words “Comfort ye” and ended with a gloriously sustained “Hallelujah.”

In 1741, George Frederic Handel—whom Beethoven called the “greatest composer that ever lived” and of whom Mozart declared:

(1/7)

Which style do you prefer? And who else is entranced by the idea of your JOB being to roam around at night singing beneath people's windows?

Tomorrow: #CarolsAndSongs concludes!

(12/fin)

YouTube video by The Albion Christmas Band - Topic Past Three O'clock (Live)

...and here's a boisterous, playful version by the very aforementioned musician(s): The Albion Christmas Band.

(11/12)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Pg...

YouTube video by Ripon Cathedral Choir - Topic Past Three O'Clock (Arr. for Choir by Charles Wood)

Formal performances of this song—i.e., less boisterous ones—allow Wood’s harmonies to play with each other crisply. Here are two versions: one, a dignified a cappella version by the Choir of Ripon Cathedral...

(10/12)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AP5...

One English musician has opined that “the words are really rubbish” but Past Three O’Clock is “just good fun” because it's “really boisterous.” Personally, I love the words. As you can tell, this carol connects me in time to a tradition that stretches back hundreds of years.

(9/12)

BACK TO THE SONG!
Given its tune name, Past Three O’Clock seems to have been part of the London waites’ repertoire. The refrain was published as early as the 17th century—though the words were redrafted by G.R. Woodward, in the late 19th century to fit a rescoring by Charles Wood.

(8/12)

The waites served a practical function: besides church bells (and the sun), their singing was the only way for townspeople to know the time. After centuries of service, waites were abolished in 1835—but amateur singers & musicians took up the mantle during the holidays as Christmas waites.

(7/12)

I have listened with a hushed delight, and, connecting them with the sacred and joyous occasion, have almost fancied them into another celestial choir, announcing peace and good-will to mankind.”

(6/12)

And in the mid-1800s, (American) Washington Irving wrote about his visit to England:

“Even the sound of the Waits, rude as may be their minstrelsy, breaks upon the mid-watches of the winter night with the effect of perfect harmony. As I have been awakened by them in that still and solemn hour…

On 16 January 1660, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary: “I staid up till the bell-man came by with his bell just under my window as I was writing of this very line, and cried, ‘Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning.’”

(4/12)

As English towns grew and castles were less used, these waites shifted into civil minstrels—in other words, by around the 15th century, many towns in England had their own town bands. They’d play their instruments throughout the night and wake citizens by playing under windows.

(3/12)

In medieval times, the watchmen who kept post at castles were called waits, or waites (or waitts). They “piped watched” at certain given hours, and were also charged with playing gentle music to wake up the nobles.

(2/12)

"Cheese from the dairy bring they for Mary; and, not for money, butter and honey." and #CarolsAndSongs December 24 all written on a homey, cozy Christmas background.

The tune name for one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs, Past Three O’Clock, is LONDON WAITS: two little words that reveal a fascinating chapter of history. Warning: I'm going to nerd out on this. Follow along or skip to the bottom, whichever makes you holiday merrier.

(1/12!!)

YouTube video by MixCessation Miss Piggy - Christmas Is Coming

...and in this house, we uphold the integrity of the Muppet canon with fierce devotion.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeOA...

Tomorrow: one more obscure & rousing song antes de que #CarolsAndSongs se acabe con triunfo on Christmas Day.

(3/fin)

...of which my favorite movie version is the 1992 Muppet Christmas Carol. There’s only ONE recording, therefore, that merits consideration (and it's a round!)

Forgive the wonky visuals; this version was obviously mixed to reflect the original 1979 recording (John Denver & the #Muppets),

(2/3)

"If you haven't got a ha'penny, God bless you!" and #CarolsAndSongs December 23 in script against a muted indoor stockings-and-tree scene.

The goose is getting fat! So sings Christmas Is Coming, a merry little song of unknown roots. Its lyrics appeared in print near the end of the 19th century, reflecting traditions of the Victorian era.

We can’t invoke Victorian England without mentioning #Dickens and his magnificent novella,