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- What’s New for the 15th of May: Cirque du Soleil, Steeleye Span live, A history of anime, peanut butter chocolate cups, mystery, vampires, and medieval feasts; Alison Bechdel and other queer comix; R. Crumb and old time music on film; Ojibwe Pow Wow singing, Albion Band, Springsteen, Teddy Thompson and more music
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Strawberry Ice Cream
- What’s New for the 1st of May: A Folkmanis Piglet puppet, Chocolate to nibble on, Classic SF on Mars; Music from Big Foot County, Finnish music, classical music, Ian Anderson and other music; Led Zep and Hawaiian cowboys on film; YA fantasy horror
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Cranachan
- What’s New for the 17th of April: Gods, goddesses and ghosts, Gaiman, Crumb and Sacco, June Millington, Celtic Harp, Catalan Jazz, Georgiann Choral Music, Slovenian post-rock, chocolate, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: The Sleeper Under The Hill (A Letter to Ceinwen)
- What’s New for the 3rd of April: Music-related fantasy literature, speculative fiction manga series, all things Natalie MacMaster, some jazz-dub-world music, transcultural jazz and Spanish accordion music, dragon puppets, and of course chocolate
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Breakfast for the Neverending Seesion players
- What’s New for the 20th of March: Lots of Brian McNeill music, more UK TV, roots music from the US and Spain, some European jazz, Kim Stanley Robinson on the moon, Roger Zelazny, China Miéville, rowdy Americana, some boozy things, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate Tale: A Restless Queen
- What’s New for the 6th of March: lots of Ian McDonald, Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, new Norwegian and Belgian music, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, and of course chocolate
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Porridge
- What’s New for 20th of February: Bill Willingham’s Fables, world music guides, blues, jazz, British and Eurasian music, Joni Mitchell reading Yeats, radio plays, and of course chocolate
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Central European creature comforts
- What’s New for the 6th of February: Spices, Gypsies and Judith Tarr; Groundhog Day and Midsomer Murders; giants and old Jewish comedians; white moons, sad daddies, violet light and Yggdrasil music; Rodents of an Unusual Size, and of course chocolate
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Troll under The Bridge: The Design Process (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 23rd of January: Candlemas Will Be Upon Us Soon
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Chicken Pot Pie
- What’s New for 9th of January: All things Batman; Ritter bars and other wonderful things
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Hidden Library
- What’s New for the 26th of December: It’s Boxing Day!
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Butlers (A Letter to Svetlana)
- What’s new for 12th of December: Mari Boine Persen live, Spidery things, Gwyneth on chestnuts and other late Autumn Matters
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Apple Brandy
- What’s New for the 28th of November: Books about books, murder, witches, games and more; Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library; chocolate good and meh; indie rock, Americana, jazz, Latvian, and more music including a world bagpipe omnibus
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Irish Coffee
- What’s New for the 14th of November: Mystery novels, mystery films, music of an autumnal nature, Chinese folk music, Buffy graphic novels, and lots of licorice
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Guy Fawkes Day (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 31st of October: All Hallows’ Eve Edition
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Preparing for All Hallow’s Eve
Josepha Sherman’s Winter Queen Speech
What is Winter? A time to fear? A time for darkness and death? No. Winter is merely part of the endless cycle of sleep and awakening, dying and rebirth. The trees know it: they don’t die each year. They merely sleep through the coldness and put out new leaves in the spring. The birds know it: they come and go by the seasons. The snow is merely a blanket that protects the earth, insulating it against the cold and providing it with moisture in the spring. The darkness doesn’t last throughout. It ends in the middle of the winter, with the solstice in December, and the light returns even in the deepest cold of winter. No, Winter is nothing to fear.
Are there folktales of Winter that see it as just another part of the natural cycle? Yes, too many to list here.
A Russian folktale tells of a girl abused by her stepmother, who has her left out in the winter forest to die. Morosko, Old Man Winter, appears, approves of the girl’s politeness to him, and rewards her with wealth. Another Russian tale personifies Winter’s melting into Spring in the story of Snegourichka, the Snow Maiden who comes to live with an old couple one Winter, but melts away in Spring. This story so intrigued the nineteenth century Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov that he wrote an opera about her.
There are small folk beliefs: in British and American folklore, there is the harmless spirit, Jack Frost (possibly from the Norse Jokul Frosti), who paints the leaves and windows with rime frost.
And it can hardly be considered coincidental that so many religions down through the century have held celebrations about the winter solstice, from the current Christmas and Channukah (which have nothing in common save for being holidays of light) back to ancient customs such as the Norse Yule and the Roman Saturnalia.
Listen to the Winter. Hear the wind’s shouting die and the soft whispering of the snow begin. Remember that the cycle continues, and enjoy what was, what is, what is to come.
Josepha Sherman
Diverse Voices
Diverse Voices is our catch-all for writers and other staffers who did but a few reviews or other writings for us. They are credited at the beginning of the actual writing if we know who they are which we don't always. It also includes material by writers that first appeared in the Sleeping Hedgehog, our in-house newsletter for staff and readers here. Some material is drawn from Folk Tales, Mostly Folk and Roots & Branches, three other publications we've done.
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