ANIME FANS TOLD ME THEIR GHOST STORIES, HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

Marc Traveller

       I’m not the most online person. I’ve stuck to local friends for most of my life, and haven’t been able to keep contact with anyone who moves away for long. However, recently, I somehow stumbled my way into a Discord server (by way of a good dear friend pal) centered around a friendly fandub for the anime Jujutsu Kaisen. One, I am not a voice actor. Two, I’ve never watched the show. I assumed I would mesh too awkwardly, fade into the background, and then quietly exit stage left. But instead, I met some incredibly interesting people who had a surprising amount of insight about ghosts and ghost stories. So, I interviewed a few! 

        For some context, user Randomslushy and user Kira had text-based conversations, User Cokeycola had an on-call conversation. Randomslushy is a local student who goes to Harbor City, the other two are not. 

       The first question was regarding their beliefs in ghosts. Kira, who voiced Megumi, and Randomslushy, who will voice Shoko, both had similar responses— they fully believe in them, and ghosts linger here because of something stopping them from continuing. Cokey, who voiced Gojo, was more on the fence about it since, unlike Kira and Slushy, his experience was a one-off. 

      “I’ve had many experiences,” Wrote Kira, “But my most profound was with the spirit which is attached to my room in my father’s house. While most say not to talk to spirits (which you should never do), I did anyway.” The entity, a man around thirty, appeared in his dreams, and during the conversation that took place, confessed that he was afraid to move on. “I told him that as long as he is respectful and can get along with me he can stay.” 

       Slushy never had prominent run-ins, but also has a spirit that dwells within their family’s house. “I currently have a spirit who likes to try and communicate with my family members,” They write, “although it is more… freaky connotation. I won’t go into detail, but it's something else.” The spirit’s tamer behaviors involve simple actions of slamming doors or changing the brightness of lamps, the common phenomenons  you’d think of ghosts. “We have tried to sage the house on multiple occasions in the past, but it was no use.” Slushy hopes that eventually, they’ll get the chance to communicate with them.

      Cokey had only ever had one experience with a haunted place, and it had a lasting impact. In his words, “The experience I had was… traumatizing, I guess? but that’s for a lack of a better word. It’s just– stapled into my mind, So I guess that’s the definition.” He was around five moving from Montana to Washington State, and spent one night in the house that his parents were meant to sign for to move in, two miles into the woods. 

      It was little things. A candle got pushed off of a surface without any wind to explain it away. He got vivid dreams of involuntarily slicing his fingers off with a pizza cutter, something that couldn’t have been explained away by the influence of scary movies –“And horrific for a five-year-old! I had not seen anything like that in anything beforehand.” His two-year-old sister slept walk, which was the first and last time she’d ever done that. His father heard prominent footsteps of running outside, but no animal tracks or signs of people showed. 

      The family declined to sign the papers, and the guy selling it– uncharacteristic to the sellers who usually push for houses to get bought– completely understood. As the man explained only after they had all those weird incidents, the house had a murder-suicide of a family, with the father one night going room-to-room with a shotgun. Their parents’ room was meant for the original parents, Cokey’s sister's room was where three girls of the family used to sleep, and his room was where the teenage son resided. The pieces clicked together in an unsettling way. They left, and did not go back.

Finally, I asked the group if they were afraid of ghosts, or if they found ghosts to be malicious. Kira does think spirits can be evil, but it’s not the majority. He explains, “There are much less evil spirits than good, kind souls who are just as scared as we would be should we pass to the next world too early.” Slushy isn’t afraid of them and is chill with their presence as long as they aren’t too violent or too needy. Cokey says if he were to say he believed in ghosts, he wouldn’t say they were malicious – “In any situation, even in life–daily life or people– it’s the bad actions that speak louder than the good ones.” 

STAFF INTERVIEW: MS. MONSON

(What is your favorite or most memorable video game?) 

“My most memorable video game is probably Ark, currently my favorite video game is CoD.”

(Is it hard to be a teacher?) 

“Everything has its challenges. Teaching is no different. But it is fun and rewarding and those aspects vastly outweigh the difficulties related to teaching.”

(How long have you been teaching?) 

“4 years, this is my 2nd year at HCIS.”

(What is your favorite pastime or activity?) 

“Gaming, or making art.”

(What do you like most about being a teacher?)

“I really enjoy art, talking about art and getting the chance to show students how to express themselves through visual art or support them as they develop their artistic skills.” 

CRYPTID OF THE MONTH:

Ivy Laumeyer

History of the anti-Santa and other Christmas themed cryptids

When thinking of Christmas children often think of Santa Claus. A nice, jolly, old man who lives in the North Pole with Mrs.Claus and his elves. Each year he flys out with his sleigh pulled by flying reindeer to deliver presents to all the good children and coal to the bad. But what happens when that doesn’t work? What lengths will parents go to to keep their children in line during the holiday season? Read on to find out. 

Krampus:

Originating in Germany and predating the legend of St.Nick/Santa the legend of Krampus serves as a frightening reminder not to get on the bad side of your parents.  He appears as an anthropomorphic half goat half demon monster with prominent horns and a lizard-like tongue.  Serving as a type of “bad cop” counterpart to the jolly old soul he pays visits to the naughty children most often with switch of branches to use on the children and occasionally a basket for kidnapping the worst of the bunch. Since the original legend began the figure has appeared in stories from other Central European countries including Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Frau Perchta

She was first recorded being mentioned in the 10th century in Old High German writings within Alpine Paganism in the regions of Austria and Slovenia and is sometimes called Mother Krampus. Her origins lie in Germanic goddess Holda and is her southern cousin both bearing the title of “Guardian of Beasts” and typically appears during the Twelve Days of Christmas. She is described one of two ways either as a beautiful woman in a white dress surrounded by snow or an old demonic looking hag wearing a dark and tattered cloak. She also is said to have one foot larger than the other that looks either like a swan or goose which might allude to her being able to shapeshift. When she wandered the countryside she would enter homes and would know whether or not the children living there were good or bad and deal with the accordinglycentury. She is generally represented as a hideous and greedy ogress who walks through villages demanding charity usually in the form of naughty children and if often accompanied by her 13 unruly Yule Lads. She is also said to have a giant black cat with a lion-like roar looking into the windows of bedrooms for children to make sure if they have been good and layed out their new clothes for Christmas day. If you don’t then hope your old clothes meet the standard. 

Pere Fouettard 

Originating in France in 1252 Pere Fouettard which translates to “whipping father” is the assistant to St.Nicholas and accompanies him on December 6th to punish the naughty children. He is often portrayed as a tall man in a dark robe with a sinister face and unkempt scraggly beard who either has a bundle of sticks on his back, a roll of switches, or a wicker basket. There are a few stories on how the character came to be with some saying he was created as early as 1252 and some as late as 1552. The first story tells of how Pere and his wife kidnapped three rich boys to rob them and St.Nicholas ended up finding out and forcing Pere to become his helper. Others say that during the Siege of Metz an effigy of Charles V was burned and dragged through the streets while simultaneously a group of tanners created a figure armed with a whip and bound in chains to keep the children in line and eventually the two merged into one and created the legend of Pere Fouettard.

TO SKIM AWAY THE SOUL

Lucian Pianfetti

         Something that I absolutely detest is the utter travesty masquerading as a beverage known as skim milk. Skim milk tastes as though its very soul has been ripped out, and all that is left is but an empty shell of what was once a glass of milk. I’ve heard it described as white-colored flavored water, but I feel that does not do its profound feeling of disgusting emptiness justice; it is the utter absence of what makes milk good that makes skim milk bad. Particularly as I myself enjoy whole milk to such a degree that it is my absolute favorite drink beyond question, and considering that whole milk and skim are at the opposite ends of the spectrum of fat content it makes sense that I’d detest the variant of milk with the least amount of the part I like. Milk fat, in my opinion, completes the flavor with a nice, almost savory kick, and without it skim milk tastes sickeningly sweet with nothing to level it out. To me, skim and to an extent 1% are but a hollow imitation of what milk should be, and to skim the fat off of a gallon of milk is to deny its finest qualities.

LAWRENCE CONCERT

Miirah O’Neil

      Mr. Scott was given the opportunity to help pilot a new board game that is being created by a nonprofit organization called Clean Fresh. This organization also had help with the board game from a band named Lawrence. Harbor City was given a copy of this board game to play with his AP environmental class and send back feedback about how to improve the game. This board game is called Ecotour and it’s similar to monopoly without the capitalization factors. It shows the process bands go through while on tour and how to be the most sustainable. Each person gets a character and you go from city to city figuring out what advertisement you want to pay for, how much everything will cost along the way, and how to plan your tour so you can be the most sustainable Ecotour Helps show all the struggle musicians go through when on tour.

Part of helping this organization with this game was getting VIP tickets to one of the Lawrences concerts. On 10-23-2024 the AP environmental science class took a bus down to the cities and saw them in concert. The VIP tickets included sound checks with the opener, Stephan Day, and Lawrance. After the sound check we met with two of the band members, one of the saxophone players named Sumner and Clarence, one of the lead singers and pianist. We got to ask them questions about the game and how they tour sustainably. 

When we were at the concert we learned about how unfair ticketmaster is to all musicians in the music industry and the venues they play at. Over 70% of ticket sales go to ticketmaster. Ticketmaster also takes a percentage of all the other money venues make from food, drinks, and parking. Typically about 10% of all merch sales go to ticketmaster but fortunately Lawrence found a way around that and everything we bought went straight to them. All in all it was a great learning experience and I very much appreciate everyone who helped our class get to have it.

BEATRIZ FLAMINI: LIVING ALONE IN A CAVE FOR 500 DAYS, AS PREPARATION…

Enby Baerg

       On November 21st, 2021, a woman named Beatriz Flamini would descend 230 feet into a cave just north of Motril, Spain, where she would remain for 509 days. Flamini was known for her daring adventures and for pushing the envelope on what a human is capable of. In 2019, she set her sights on an expedition across Mongolia on foot. During her preparation, she realized she was properly equipped and ready, except for her mind. She decided that she wasn’t prepared for the prolonged isolation that the journey would cause her. So naturally, she decided to attempt the world record of living in a cave. Milutin Veljković had the current record of 463 days, and she intended to beat this record by 37 more, a complete 500. But unlike Veljković, who kept in contact with people and the world through radio and telephone, Flamini wanted to do it “proper” with no way to keep time or outside contact, spare for food drops. On November 21st, 2021, she initiated her journey. She kept herself busy with knitting, exercising, reading, and drawing. She did have a specialized machine that allowed her to send messages and videos out to the team taking care of her, but nothing else, not even a clock. She was determined to respect the silence of the cave, not even talking to herself, unless she was recording with the 2 GoPro’s she had. Going in, she had every intention of spending 500 uninterrupted days underground with no human contact but, unfortunately, around day 300, she experienced intense discomfort from the “inaudible sonic waves” produced by her emergency communication equipment, and so, had to leave the cave for eight days. She spent these eight days in a tent, just outside the mouth of the cave, making contact with only one person, someone to check that the equipment was functioning properly. She then proceeded to finish her 500 day stint, adding eight days more to make up for the ones spent outside, but this respite rendered her ineligible for the world record. Resurfacing on April 14th, 2023, she said that she thought it had only been around 160 days, and that she could have spent another 500. She described the experience as “excellent, unbeatable” and that she didn’t even want to come out.

TRIVIAL TRIVIA

Enby Baerg

Q1: What is the only mammal that can free-fly?

Q2: What was the name of the chicken that lived for 18 months without its head? 

Q3: How many minutes does it take for light from the Sun to reach Earth?

Q4: What is the first clue shown in the movie “National Treasure”? 

Q5: What is the biggest and quickest lift bridge in the world? 

Q6: What state has over 922,000 registered recreational boating vessels? 

Q7: How long is the shortest commercial flight in the world? (Bonus points if you know where)

Q8: What percent of the population is left handed? 

Q9: Who is attributed with the theory of relativity? 

Q10: What color pill does Neo take in The Matrix? 

Q11: Who directed the Lord Of The Rings movies?

Q12: What is the name of the rat from Ratatouille? (Hint: it’s not Ratatouille)

Q13: In which book does a hunting cap symbolize our main character's isolation from society? 

Q14: What country does the band AC/DC come from? 

Q15: What catapulted World War 1?

Q16: What artist is known for painting water lilies?

Q17: What food means “little donkey” when translated into English?

Q18: What is the “king of cheese”?

Q19: What is the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit?

A WALK TO THE CEMETERY

Anonymous Harbor Citizen

The cold November wind hit me like a gentle slap in the face to get my stuff together. I looked up from the grave I was inspecting. Above the naked trees I saw a spectacular orange and pink paint the sky. As I think about how the world feels like it’s ending in ways I have no control over, I suddenly have the most complex feeling of loneliness yet wanting to be alone. I returned to what I was doing: writing down birthdates and death dates for some odd assignment for some odd class. A tinge of gratitude pokes me because if not for this assignment I would not have gone outside, and if I had not gone outside I would still be inside feeling hopeless and sorry for myself. 

People always make cemeteries out to be these scary haunted places but the truth is they are one of the most peaceful places on earth. We only make them out to be scary because we’re afraid of death; we’re afraid of what we do not know and what we cannot control. But the truth is a walk in the cemetery was the most at peace and safe I had felt all week. As I continued on with my assignment and reading all the names I thought that this would be a good place to go to find baby names. I uncovered all the forgotten gravestones with a blanket of leaves over ones in the ground. When I keep walking along the trail, the big headstones seem to scream out, “hey look at me, I was rich and my life was important!” Our society is so engraved in their ways we can’t even have equality in graveyards.

BIRD FACT: Eurasian Blackbirds are sexually dimorphic. While the males are all-black as the name suggests, females look quite different. They’re a darker brown and depending on the bird have more or less prominent tan speckling on their chest and copper speckling around their face. It is common for sexually dimorphic bird species to be named after the physical characteristics of the males, not the females.

NOT CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS MOVIES

(Edit: This article was published originally without a key or description. We have included it here.)

When you think of Christmas movies you'll probably think of snow, gifts, warm fires, and many many holiday lights. While you wouldn't be wrong there has been for awhile now and as early as 2015 when IMDb the online movie information website has been compiling a list of movies which fit under the category of “Non-Christmas Christmas Movies”. One of the most famous of these would undoubtedly be Die Hard, an 1988 action thriller that happens to be set on Christmas Eve. The list features 153 different movies that try to fit into this category however this article will only be exploring a few of the more agreed upon movies that find their way into this genre of movie. But first what constitutes a Christmas movie? While some say that a movie must simply  be set during the holiday season the movie blog That Old Picture Show says that the movie plot has to be “completely dependent on the holiday season” so if the scene could be re-written without that aspect that makes a movie not a holiday movie. That quickly removes a significant percentage of the movies featured in the IMDb list. 

In a survey sent out to the entire school you were all asked if four movies were Christmas or not. The first being Die Hard. 54.8 of participants say that it is in fact a Christmas movie and 45.2 said no it is not. 

 The research say that John McTiernans Die Hard starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, and Alan Rickman is an action thriller from 1988. It takes place on Christmas with Willis’ character visiting Los Angeles to see his family for the holiday season. Immediately after arriving he travels to his wifes works holiday party. Without these details the movie would be completely different which does in fact make it a Christmas movie. However trying to argue that Die Hard 2 is a Christmas movie is a bit more difficult and does not end up working out because the fact that the events of the movie take place on Christmas Eve is now purely circumstantial. 

The answers on the survey say that Gremlins is also a Cristmas movie with 57.1 agreeing and 42.9 disagreeing.

 The 1984 movie starring Zack Galligan and Phoebe Cates is a comedy thriller. The stroy starts around the Christmas season with a father looking for the perfect present for his son finally stumbling on a mysterious “mogwai” in a shop in Chinatown. The father is warned to not expose the creature to bright light, water, or to feed it after midnight. Of course all these things happened and the creature reeks havoc in the home as people are home celebrating the holidays. Because of all these factors this too is by definition a Christmas movie because it relies on all of these factors.

Participants gave the next movie a resounding no with 59.5 people saying no and 40.5 saying yes to Batman Returns. 

The 1992 superhero action movie featuring Micheal Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Danny Devito. Of course this movie takes place on CHristmas. Due to the recurring Christmas themes and several scenes specifically centered around Christmas as well as the fact that the Penguin plans to kidnap the Ice Prince during the annual Christmas parade to lure Batman out this is also a Christmas movie. 

The last of the movies is Frozen from 2013 starring Kristen Mendel, Idina Menzel, and Josh Gad among others in this family musical movie. Given snow is often seen as and has been commandeered as a Christmas accessory this movie takes a pause to think about. However, this movie has nothing to do with Christmas in actuality although it has been considered a holiday movie.

⋆｡˚❆ Holiday Ribbon Jello ❆˚ ｡⋆

• 6 ounces cherry jello (2 standard size boxes)

• 6 ounces lime jello (2 standard size boxes)

• 6 packets of Knox unflavored gelatin

• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

• 6 cups boiling water

• ¼ cup cold water

• cooking spray

• 9x13 baking dish

• 5 small bowls

• measuring cups

• whisk or utensil

1. Spray your 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and blot excess oil

2. Set up your 5 small bowls

3. In your first and second bowl individually, mix 1 box cherry jello, one packet unflavored gelatin, and one cup boiling water. Stir until dissolved and set aside to cool.

4. Spray your 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and blot excess oil

5. Set up your 5 small bowls

6. In your first and second bowl individually, mix 1 box cherry jello, one packet unflavored gelatin, and one cup boiling water. Stir until dissolved and set aside to cool.

7. In your third and fourth bowl individually, mix 1 box lime jello, one packet unflavored gelatin, and one cup boiling water. Stir until dissolved and set aside to cool.

8. In your fifth bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk and one cup boiling water

9. Mix 2 packets of unflavored gelatin into ¼ cup cold water, then pour into the milk mixture

10. Wait until the jello has cooled slightly

11. Pour one bowl of lime jello into the baking dish. Place in the freezer for about 5 minutes, or until set

12. Slowly (and carefully!) pour a thin layer of the milk mixture over the first layer and return to the freezer (may take slightly longer to set than plain jello)

13. Pour one bowl of the cherry jello over the milk layer and return to the freezer

14. Repeat this pattern, using white between each color

15. When all layers have set, you can gently remove the jello from the dish by flipping upside down or serve in the pan. 

16. Cut them into small squares or other shapes if you please!

WAAWAASHKESHI

The midwestern nothingness shone from the city roads on the quiet drive. The air smelled like winter just beyond the snow-weighed trees where an island rested, more foreign to any place than its home country. It will always be jarring to the city-goers, where all is loud and all is available, to enter the little plot of land declared for the Indians many years ago. It is desolate, it breathes with only the necessities and maybe a casino with free coffee and sugar packets. Beside it the lake stands proud, and contaminated in the pipes that wire every home. Its land smells of iron-stained porcelain and homely cigarettes, returning always leaves a bitter smell on my clothes. 

My brother got there before me — he found the house that hid behind dead end signs, shoveled the snow, and made it clear that the lane was called Ogaa and not Dead End. From the driveway, I saw the simple light from the curtains, his silhouette combing the hair of our final auntie. The house was dull and picked over, all but the biggest things like the furniture and the TV set. It had been stripped of all personality, but it smelled like the home I once knew, like wood-burn art, moccasin leather, and beads. Lonely beads that had now long gone cold. In the right place you could pick up the scent of bug-spray, or on the porch, the dogs that came by. I went to the living room, where my bachelor brother sat on the tattered old couch, “How are you?” I asked.

“Fine,” he said, after a long pause. “Who will keep the graves clean? She was the only one who kept them clean.” Neither of us lived close, but I knew that I wanted to be farther.

“I would suppose you would, you’re older.”

“I’m older,” he repeated through a single breath, almost mockingly. 

The wake was approaching hour by hour and tick by tick. I was supposed to wrap her belongings in birch and bulrush, prepare them for the journey. Even as his tired eyes pleaded for me to do it, I refused, not with a rosary hanging from my rearview mirror, I told him — God’s good grace, I thought. I have since gained a sense for what should and should not be said in grief, when my job is to hold the hands of the guests with sympathy and believe all things they tell me. All things of better places and how she would be so proud, when no one would ever tell about the uglies of grief, the reticent nature to it.  

When I was younger, I misheard my aunt when she said that she was going to a wake. I heard that she was going to the lake, and I begged her to go with. She said that it wouldn’t be fun and told me to stay home. It was only later that I asked what a wake was and understood. Now, I can’t help but think about how much more fun I’d have at the lake. An even longer time ago, my brother and I were told about the evil spirits around every left corner. More recently I was told a similar thing from a girl back in my sorority that fancied herself more Indian than I because she hangs dream catchers above her bed and I don’t. In all honesty, I never believed in evil spirits, but to my brother it was very serious. 

I wished that I could wear my black dress and string of pearls, but I had to wear my jingle dress from so many years ago because apparently evil spirits have a knack for taking the young ones, and are afraid of bright colors. I left my jacket in the house, as the winter cool trembled under my skin. I didn’t want to ruin the jingles. I thought they would fall off at the slightest movement. They had been rotting away in my closet for years now; it was a miracle the dress even fit. I wasn’t so lucky with the moccasins. 

 It was quiet, there were many people under the white lights. Some were talking, others silent, some were children taking the strawberry wrapped candy by the casket, then falling asleep on their mama’s lap. I was one of the quiet ones. The room spun with its sickly haze and I felt anger eat at my lips, the condolences sat in the back of my throat and the anger let up. I left and keeled over in the bushes, it was strange how anger purged itself only in a few coughs; though the selfish grief of the last string to a long passed childhood remained caught in the phlegm of it. 

 I got in the car and drove; I intended to go all the way home. The trees flew by with great ferocity, snow gilded off the hood of my car like skinny spirits and the little flakes hit the windshield like bugs. The wind spoke all around me, little words begging for me to stay. I turned up the radio and with the harsh movement the rosary fell from my mirror.  

It was only for a moment that I looked away to grab it, but it came quickly and a deer ran out in front of the car. Glass flew from the blow, pelting so quickly it seemed that I saw stars. Its fur caught along the windshield wipers and as I gained control of the vehicle, I saw where it had gone, a little red trail leading to its mangled body. It was a doe. She twitched in a twisted manner, she was going to die. Her eyes were kind, that of a four-year-old, I last heard; she stared back. Her legs were moving as if they were running, but after one last kick, she let go and all the same, it was my fault.   

I got into the car, twisted the keys and I returned to the house down Ogaa lane. The lights were still on, though I could go up to the door and knock, I stayed in the beat up aftermath. I called my brother, listening to the simple ring as I hoped he would pick up. He did and I told him about her. He told me to come inside but before he hung up, he said my old Indian name that I had since replaced with the confirmation of Catherine.

“Ma’inganikwe,” it rang in my ears, rhythmic like the accent I had heard from the elders.

THE BIRDS OF TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Marc Traveller

        “Twelve Days of Christmas” is a cumulative Christmas carol first written down in the 1780s in a book titled “Mirth Without Mischief”. The original writer(s) is unknown, though the book was from England. Out of its twelve days, half of them are directly dedicated to gifting birds, with some (or all of them) being debated to also mean birds. This is to say, there are a lot of birds. This article is meant to highlight the birds of the song, give some new understanding of their potential significance, and answer the question everyone is asking – “hey, what are the exact bird species this song is singing about?”

DAY ONE: A Partridge In a Pear Tree

         The Partridge in a Pear Tree is very interesting lyrically if you consider before the song there was no historical correlation between Christmas, partridges, pear trees, nor partridges in pear trees for Christmas. And further peculiar because partridges, being a type of ground pheasant, do not reside in trees, at least none in the area the song was written in. Nonetheless, the true love obtains twelve of them throughout the carol. 

          Two main bird species suggested by people are the Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) and the Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix). The Red-legged Partridge is a species that has the most art surrounding the song depicting them (by way of being a prettier bird), however it's far more likely that the bird would be the Grey Partridge, being the only partridge originally native to England.

BIRD FACT: Female Grey Partridges produce some of the most amount of eggs per clutch for any bird species, laying at most 22 eggs. For reference, domestic hens are known to lay at highest 13 eggs per clutch, 9 eggs less than the Grey Partridge.

DAY TWO: Two Turtle Doves

      Doves have been associated with peace and love for a long time, and turtle doves are no exception. They were popular symbols of faithfulness and trust in the Italian Renaissance and Elizabethan Era poetry. The birds mate for life, and it’s not a coincidence that the carol has the gift of a pair of turtle doves to the singer’s true love. They are still seen today in songs of love, like in Frank Sinatra’s song Can I Steal a Little Love (“Coo me, woo me, Turtle Dove / Can I steal a little love?”) or in Buddy Holly’s song That’ll Be The Day (“Well, you give me all your lovin’ and your Turtle Dovin’”)\

     There is also only one species that the carol could be referring to, which is the European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur) as there are only four species in the dove and pigeon family whose common names are turtle dove, and only one mainly resides in Europe. 

BIRD FACT: European Turtle Dove populations are declining rapidly in the UK, having gone down 95% since 1995, and are considered vulnerable to extinction. This is mostly due to their seasonal breeding habitats getting destroyed or being inhabitable for them. 

DAY THREE: Three French Hens

        Poultry and chicken-keeping have been an important part of humans and our food sources for a long time, with chickens being domesticated around ten thousand years ago. Poultry and bird meat are also commonly associated with winter festivals– think Turkey at Thanksgiving, or Goose at Christmas. Aside from food, chickens are also fascinating birds, with a variety of funny-looking breeds and a well-developed social hierarchy that any backyard chicken owner could back up. 

      There are a handful of breeds of French hens, like the Faverolles, Fleches, or Marans, but most of those breeds were invented after the song was written. There are also suggestions that the song used “French” to mean “Foreign”. But to stick to domestic chickens (Gallus domesticus), we’ll go with Crevecoeurs, which are one of the oldest French breeds (since the twelfth century) and have a distinct silhouette, with sleek black feathers and a puffy pompadour.

BIRD FACT: it has been scientifically proven that chickens blush when excited or scared. The skin on their faces beneath the feathers was monitored to redden for a little bit after either being handled by humans (scary) or being given a little treat (exciting). 

DAY FOUR: Four Calling Birds

        The bird selection for the fourth day is fairly open-ended. “Calling Birds” isn’t the name of any specific type of bird, and could go as any songbird. And in the oldest version written down in 1780, the lyric was originally “colly birds”, not calling, with colly referring to black-colored birds. Calling was the result of the lyrics corrupting as the song was passed on. This makes most believe the song is referring to the Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula), which is an extremely common all-black thrush in England.BIRD FACT: Eurasian Blackbirds are sexually dimorphic. While the males are all-black as the name suggests, females look quite different. They’re a darker brown and depending on the bird have more or less prominent tan speckling on their chest and copper speckling around their face. It is common for sexually dimorphic bird species to be named after the physical characteristics of the males, not the females.

(DEBATED) DAY FIVE: Five Golden Rings

         Within the common interpretation of the song, day five is taken literally as quintessential rings made of gold. Some have made the argument that this day also refers to birds, and usually props up the Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchius) as the species being referred to, being both gold-colored and an incredibly wealthy-looking bird. 

     These people are wrong. The song isn’t talking about birds. They are crazy and also pulling at straws. But if you want to interpret it as a bird, then I guess yeah, Ring-necked Pheasant is the answer.

BIRD FACT: Ring-necked Pheasants love to harass Greater Prairie Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido). They frequently attempt to thwart the chicken’s mating rituals by chasing the males away from courting the females, and female Ring-necked Pheasants will sometimes lay their own eggs within the ground nests of the other species. 

DAY SIX: Six Geese a Laying

     Geese have a reputation for maliciousness or trickery (see the massive popularity of Untitled Goose Game released in 2019) but historically they were actually seen as positive symbols. They have symbolic ties to the medicinal Sumerian goddess Gula and the Greek love god Aphrodite, though, with the latter, geese are usually overshadowed by the more favorable swan. They are also seen as a culinary delicacy and their eggs can be used in cooking just as good as chicken eggs.

     Since the song doesn’t specify the type of goose, I picked one that was more generically known in Europe –  the Greylag Goose. Greylag Geese or, by their scientific name, Anser anser (which directly translates to “Goose goose”) are a common goose of Europe and the species from which domestic geese were descended. They are grayish-brown with dark brown primaries and secondaries, an orange bill, and pink legs.

BIRD FACT: Within the Greylag Goose’s nesting season, mates will form isolated pairs, but outside of nesting season the species will flock together in large groups for protection. Should a predator appear, the adults from any family will circle the young as other geese work to attack the threat.

DAY SEVEN: Seven Swans a Swimming

       Swans are commonly seen in stories and folklore of the Western world, like the ballet “Lake of the Swans” (Swan Lake) written by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in 1875 or “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christen Anderson in 1843. Graceful, elegant, historic symbols of love, hence why they are featured as a gift in the song. 

      The most commonly depicted swan in media has consistently been the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), an all-white feathered bird with a black strip between the eyes down to an orange bill. Mute Swans (or swans in general) have also been notorious for being extremely hostile or aggressive towards humans, being a territorial species.

BIRD FACT: Mute Swans don’t have very many clear differences between the sexes, aside from their breeding period, where the black knob on a male swan’s beak grows visibly larger than their female counterparts. 

(DEBATED) DAY ELEVEN: Eleven Pipers Piping

     This day, like day five, is also questioned by people to reference a bird species given the title of piper is both the title for bagpipe players as well as the name of a bird— and, like day five, those people are wrong. This isn’t a bird. The “Piper” is in reference to the historic profession of playing the bagpipes. But, for the sake of joy and whimsy, if it was a bird, it’d be a Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), a species that happens to migrate through England around Autumn. 

BIRD FACT: Common Pipers perform a motion common to pipers in general, which is bobbing up and down, called “teetering”. It’s unknown what the purpose of this bobbing action is for. 

THE TALLY:   The total number of birds accumulated through the twelve days not including days five and eleven is 184; 12 partridges, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens, 36 Colley birds, 42 geese, and 42 swans. Which is, as some may say, a lot of birds. Talk about holiday leftovers. 

THE UGLY SWEATER AND THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF CHRISTMAS

Ivy Laumeyer

When you think of Christmas traditions you think of food, eggnog, trees, and wreaths, stockings, and presents, or Secret Santa. However in recent years a new tradition has taken hold in the form of a colorfully cluttered Christmas themed sweater. First referred to as the “Jingle Bells Sweater” they weren’t as ornate or decorated as today's sweaters and often found little popularity at first among the masses. Until celebrities of the times started to wear them on TV performances during the 1950s some of the earliest include singers Val Doonican and Andy Williams. It didn’t catch on to the public until late into the 1980s with a shift caused by pop culture and movies. “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” featured Chevy Chase as Clark Griswald who wore a Christmas themed sweater throughout the movie. Even though they were considered uncool the sweaters were soon encouraged at office and work parties for some festive cheer. During the next decade however they slowly faded from popularity and were seen as an unfashionable eyebrow raiser that only older relatives would ever think of wearing to a party let alone public. The 2000s however the sweaters were seen as a more humorous item and spurred on by the book “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On” Christmas gatherings sometimes specifically for showing off who had the ugliest sweater started to catch on. The first of these being held in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2002 by one of the authors of the previously mentioned book Brian Miller. From there it snowballed into the loved (or hated) Christmas tradition it is today. But what does this have to do with the commercialization of Christmas and how did that start? Different cultures have celebrated the winter solstice on December 21 for a very long time. The origin of Christmas originated in ancient Rome derived from the holiday Saturnalia. Then in the fourth century there was a push to weaken or get rid of non-Christian traditions and Saturnalia evolved slowly into the Christmas we know today. The actual commercialization of Christmas started in the 1840s when people realized the holiday was the perfect time to increase sales of goods. During the holiday season businesses featured ads that incorporated Santa and other Christmas images to draw in customers and things only grew from there. In the 1900s companies took their advertising campaigns to the radio waves and filled their storefronts with holiday music and colorful decorations. In 1924 Macys had their first Thanksgiving Parade and started the holiday spending season a month early which led to the infamous displays of Christmas decorations all the way back in October. Since then the amount of money Americans are willing to spend on the gifts, food, decorations, and celebrations has grown exponentially with a combined $886.7 billion dollars in 2021. Whether you are for or against this commercialization is up to you but there's no doubt that the amount of money spent will continue to grow. 

RANDOM ANIMAL FACT OF THE MONTH

Kaylin Roushar

The snowy owl, one of my personal favorite birds, is a fascinating species.

Snowy owls have bristles on their beaks that help them sense nearby objects, similar but also very different to cats' whiskers. 

Since they need insulation from the cold, “snowy owls” have feathers everywhere, even on their feet, like cozy slippers.

There are less than 100,000 of them in the current global population. It may seem like a lot, but it isn’t when compared to the 400 million pigeons that exist globally!

I’ve seen one in person, my mom and I went searching for one with some photographers; they’re very difficult to see in the winter because they camouflage very well, but when you get a glimpse they are so so cute!

Next time you play the booklet, choose the owl!