London's Winter Wonderland

As my regular Blogistas know I am a fan of German Christmas Markets as an entertaining distillation not just of the Xmas spirit but also the earlier instances of mid-winter feasts. These celebrations, be they Diwali, Hanukah, Samhain, Winter Solstice or Sancta Lucia mark the turn of the year of the year when at the moment of greatest darkness and infertility the tedium is relived with light, feasting and music and always the hope of regeneration to sustain life in the year ahead. Indeed the 25th December was originally the Roman Feast of Saturnalia and was celebrated by the Cult of Mithras as the birthday of the Persian hero and sun-god, Mithras.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/12/bona-saturnalia.html

As such the mid-winter feast is a shared cultural experience amongst many peoples. Much of the iconography of our Xmas comes from the German peoples and particular the cult of the woodsman seen in Bavaria and the Tyrol which also provides a rich seam of folk tales as seen in modern fairy tales such as Red Riding Hood and the Tales of the Brother Grimm.






The ECube Bar



So it is fitting in the centre of one of London’s largest parks that a Winter Wonderland Village appears at the end of November with all the trimmings. Winter fairs and outdoor ice skating are all the rage during the winter, and the London Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park is one of the biggest and best open from 10am to 10pm every day, seven days a week across 3200²m of historic parkland. The fair is organised by AEG who are the experienced operators of the O2 Dome venue in London so it is a very professional operation. There are plenty of toilets, cash pints and good access with all weather surfaces and good signage, access it either from the Hyde Park Corner of Marble Arch end of Hyde Park. Best of all there is no entrance charge which allows you to freely wander and browse through the attractions.


Ice Rink


The Talking Tree





It is full of all kinds of festive fun from ice skating to Santa's Grotto and includes London's largest open-air ice rink. Covering 1400m² and accommodating 400 skaters at any one time, the rink is created with 130,000 litres of frozen water, weighing 130 tonnes, and kept frozen by 13km of piping. Winter Wonderland features an outdoor ice rink, a traditional German Christmas Market, Zippo's Christmas Circus, and a 50m giant observation wheel offering views of Hyde Park.





So if you are not keen on slogging down Oxford Street battling the tourists to buy your Christmas presents or battling through our snowbound airports then head down to the German Christmas Market at the Winter Wonderland 2010 for some great ideas. Stuffed with all kinds of traditional Christmas fare, you can treat yourself to a few goodies before loading up for friends and relatives who will be delighted to receive some unusual gifts. Looking around the stalls they compete well with the crafts and Xmas gifts you find at the real thing in Germany and are a good place to find gifts which are special and often inexpensive.





Alongside the German Market, Winter Wonderland tickets also give you access to plenty of cafes where you can get hot drinks to warm you up after your session on the ice rink. A perfect sport for the romantic, there's nothing quite like a spot of ice skating before you sip a hot chocolate and watch the other skaters. We tried Bratwurst and Currywurst from a stall which had an authentic round brazier and very tasty they were too! Priced at £4.00 each, which is also the price of Gluhwein and a pint of beer at the many stalls and bars. I thought the pricing was reasonable given the quality of Winter Wonderland and the facilities provided without an admission charge. Certainly the crowds at the event seemed to agree and my friends thought it better than a similar event they went to in Dortmund the previous year.






AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!

There are many Christmassy attractions to grab your attention at the Winter Wonderland, but one of the highlights is the giant observation wheel that will give you some great views across the city. Look down on the ice rink, the market and across Hyde Park, and enjoy the spectacular views in the winter sunshine. Plenty of fun rides and many other attractions are also on the go meaning you can spend all day in the delightful surroundings of this Christmas themed park.



A new addition to this year's Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is Zippo’s Circus, who have put together a bespoke festive event inside a huge heated big top. However looking at other reviews many felt the daytime 45 minute show was poor value.




Zippos Circus



The fair is free to enter with tokens for all rides and attractions available for purchase on the day, however advance booking is available and is strongly recommended for the ice rink and giant wheel. The rides generally charge a different number of tokens dependent on how complex they are with most rides requiring two tokens and rides like the wheel and the Big Differ requiring six tokens. Many of the lesser rides such as the Hall of Mirrors and Ghost Train are nicely different from what we are used to in England and well worth visiting. I’m often very cynical about so called English fun fairs which seem to be run by a tribe of tattooed Gorillas from Southend called the “Showmen” so it was wonderful to see representatives from two of the better ambassadors of the English Fun Fair Tradition. Irvin’s had some of their wonderful traditional rides including their Carousel with some wonderful gilded horses which would not have looked out of place in “Mary Poppins.” Carter’s Steam Fair also has some of its wonderful steam powered Edwardian Rides so all in all, something here for kid young and old!



The name of the event is derived from the famous Christmas song Winter Wonderland which was first published in 1934. The composer was Felix Bernard (1897-1944) and the lyricist was Richard B. Smith (1901-1935). Probably the most popular versions of this classic Christmas song, Winter Wonderland, were recorded to high acclaim by the Andrews Sisters and Perry Como. The lyrics of Winter Wonderland have undoubtedly contributed to the magical vision of snow at Christmas together with the tradition of building snowmen and therefore turning fantasy into reality by creating a real Winter Wonderland.





The Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park owes its success to its size with over a hundred stalls, 10 bars and over 30 funfair attractions as well as the Ice Rink and Circus. With its variety it has wide appeal from couples on a night out, families enjoying all the fun of the fair, groups going out for a beer and a snack and indeed anybody who, in the long established tradition, wants to banish the winter blues and look forward to the New Year ahead! Winter Wonderland runs from 19th November to 4th January 2011.



See also;

Xmas in London

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/12/xmas-in-london.html

Lübeck and its Xmas Market

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/10/lubeck-and-its-xmas-market.html

Lübeck, Queen of the Hansa

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/lbeck-queen-of-hansa.html

And, here is the Winter Wonderland website;

http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

Halloween – Another great Irish Pagan Festival!

Hallowe’en seems to have grown around the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, marking the end of the light half of the year and the beginning of the dark half. All Hallows' Eve, has over the years moved from the Celtic Festival of Samhain to trick-or-treat. Samhain was the time of the final harvest of the beasts of the field, and the crops, in preparation of winter provisions, the eve of Winter's first day, and the beginning of the next Wheel of the Year.

Samhain was in part a sort of harvest festival, when the last crops were gathered in for the winter, and livestock killed and stored. But the pagan Celts also believed it was a time when the walls between our world and the next became thin and porous, allowing spirits to pass through. The practice of wearing spooky costumes may have its roots in that belief: dressing up as a ghost to scare off other ghosts seems to have been the idea.



To the Celts Samhain marked one of the two great doorways of the Pagan Year, the other being Beltane on May 1. They held a 'dumb' or 'silent' supper in remembrance of those who passed over, placing a setting of food and drink for them at the family dinner table, or just simple cakes and wine.


Celtic sites in Ireland

In medieval Ireland, Samhain became the principal festival, celebrated with a great assembly at the royal court in Tara, lasting for three days. After being ritually started on the Hill of Tlachtga, a bonfire was set alight on the Hill of Tara, which served as a beacon, signalling to people gathered atop hills all across Ireland to light their ritual bonfires. The custom has survived to some extent, and recent years have seen resurgence in participation in the festival.


Hill of Tara

The name Hallowe’en is a shortening of All Hallows’ Even, or All Hallows’ Evening. All Hallows is an old term for All Saints’ Day (Hallow, from the Old English “halig”, or holy, compared with Saint, from the Latin “Sanctus”, also meaning holy, or consecrated). In the original Old English, it was known as Eallra Hālgena aefen. This comes from a Christian move by Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV to end the pagan Samhain festivals, by moving the feast of All Saints from May to 1 November.

There is a long tradition of the Christian Church taking other’s iconography and calling it their own! They even took the History of the Jewish People and called it the Old Testament. They took over the Basilicas of the Cult of Mithras which, like Christianity, had at its centre redemption through blood sacrifice. When they took over the Roman Basilicas after Constantine the Great made it the state religion of the Roman Empire they replaced the statues of Jupiter with those of Christos (The anointed one – a title used by the Pharaohs of Egypt as in Ptolemy VI Eucharistos on the Rosetta Stone) and changed the inscription from “J.O.M.” (Jovis Omnia Maximus) to “D.O.M.” (Deo Omnia Maximus). They even kept the gold disc behind Jupiter which represented his position as the Sun God (Helios) and depicted their images with the “Halo” as a sign of sanctity. So the Nazarenes have some form in this area, indeed after celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in early summer for the first 400 years or so they then purloined the Roman Feast of Saturnalia on the 25th December near to the Winter solstice which was associated with feasting and merriment. Clement of Alexandria (d. 215 AD) recorded that some Christians of the time placed his birth date in April (see Stromata I:21). Hippolytus (d. 236 AD) may have believed that Jesus was born on April 2nd.


Halloween in Ireland

The celebration of Halloween survived most strongly in Ireland. It was an end of summer festival, and was often celebrated in each community with a bonfire to ward off the evil spirits. Children would go from door to door in disguise as creatures from the underworld to collect treats, mainly fruit, nuts and the like for the festivities. These were used for playing traditional games like eating an apple on a string or bobbing for apples and other gifts in a basin of water, without using your hands. Salt might be sprinkled on the visiting children to ward off evil spirits. Carving turnips as ghoulish faces to hold candles became a popular part of the festival, which has been adapted to carving pumpkins in America.



The classic Hallowe’en jack-o’-lantern, a carved grinning pumpkin, is both a new and an ancient practice. Originally, it seems to have come from an old Irish legend of a man called Stingy Jack, a miserly farmer who played a trick on the devil and as punishment was cursed to wander the earth, lighting his way with a candle inside a hollowed-out turnip. When the tradition moved to America pumpkins were used instead of turnips, as they were both more available and easier to carve.

So this Halloween, as we Trick and Treat, let us acknowledge the contribution of the Pagans of Ireland to popular culture not to mention 100s of terrible Halloween B Movies!! Watch out for the Ghosties and Ghoulies and ‘tings which go bump in the night!