Christmas, 7 January 2013

In the houses where the old form is kept, a sheaf of wheat stands in the corner of the room through the holiday, and hay goes under the tablecloth.

Nobody explains it because nobody needs to. It is simply what the corner is for at this time of year, and the explanation, if one were asked for, would arrive well after the practice.

I like these customs precisely because they are unargued. A thing carried without justification for three hundred years has already made its case.

Christ is born. To all who keep this day, a peaceful evening and a full table.