China Bayles' Book of Days (69 page)

You’ll need:
plastic candy molds or small containers suitable for use as
molds
unscented cooking spray or petroleum jelly
2 four-ounce bars of castile (olive-oil) soap
2 tablespoons water
12 drops rose essential oil
2 tablespoons red or pink rose petals, chopped

How to do it:

Spray molds with cooking spray or grease with petroleum jelly. Grate castile soap into an enamel saucepan. For rose soap, add water and rose oil and heat slowly, stirring. When the soap has melted and the mixture looks like whipped cream, add rose petals. Quickly fill each mold, then rap the mold sharply on a hard surface to eliminate air bubbles. Allow to harden overnight in the molds. Turn out onto a wire rack and air-dry for a few days before wrapping. If the soap seems rough-edged, wet your hands and smooth it; dry thoroughly.

• Other fragrant floral possibilities: violet oil and violets; lilac oil and lilac florets; orange oil and calendula petals; lemon oil and dried lemongrass with lemon zest; mint oil and chopped mint leaves; lavender oil and lavender buds with chopped rosemary leaves. Be creative!

• To make a gentle scrubbing soap, add 1 tablespoon chopped dried luffa, or ½ cup cornmeal or oatmeal (not flakes). Increase liquid slightly, if necessary.

Herbal soaps are fun to make:

The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps,
by Susan Miller Cavitch

DECEMBER 3

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
’Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

The Hallowed Holly

In ancient cultures, holly was a holy tree, a powerful and protective guardian. The Druids advised people to take it into their dwellings as the dark descended over the land, as a refuge for the spirits of the forest. However, it had to be removed from the house by Imbolc Eve (January 31), for any leaf that was left behind could bring misfortune. It was grown around the home to protect from evil influence, for its evergreen color, its sturdiness, and its slow growth must have made it seem invulnerable. For many, the plant was a symbol of immortality.

Medicinally, holly has been used to reduce fevers and ease coughs and pleurisy. Native Americans burned the leaves and brewed a tea of the ashes for whooping cough. The leaves and bark were used as a poultice to treat sprains. The berries are potentially dangerous—don’t eat them!

Holly makes a lovely wreath—easy, too, if you start with a straw form. Cut six-inch holly sprigs and rinse them off. When they’re dry, construct small bundles, securing the stems with wire twists or floral wire. Pin the bundles to the straw form with florist pins, covering the stems of one bunch with the leaves of another. Add pine cones, holiday ornaments, and a ribbon. Cut extra holly to decorate your mantel or tuck behind mirrors and picture frames. Festive! As you work, remember that holly has created Yuletide magic for eons of human history, and that this favorite herbal tree has always been related to the mysteries of rebirth and rejuvenation.

SOME HOLLY TALES:

• In Wales, bringing holly into the house before Christmas Eve will cause a family quarrel.

• In England, each leaf of holly that is left in the house past Twelfth Night will cause one misfortune.

• In Ireland, if holly is picked on Christmas Day, it will serve as protection against witches and evil spirits.

• In Germany, it is unlucky to step on the berries.

• In France, a severe winter will occur if holly berries are plentiful.

Read more about holly’s magical history:

Tree Wisdom,
by Jacqueline Memory Paterson

Christmastide
Comes in like a bride,
With Holly and Ivy clad.
—TRADITIONAL

DECEMBER 4

Today is National Cookie Day, which seems like a good idea, since lots of us are busy baking holiday cookies.

“Deck the halls,” I said in a celebratory tone, and passed Amy the plate of cookies. “Take two.”

Amy complied. “Mmm,” she said, munching appreciatively. “What kind of cookie is this? It’s not like anything I’ve ever tasted.”

“It’s a Norwegian pepper cookie,” I said. “Made with black pepper and cardamom. Designed to wake up your taste buds.”

—A DILLY OF A DEATH: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY

Pepper Cookies

Pepper cookies, which are baked for the holiday in almost every home in Scandinavia.

NORWEGIAN PEPPER COOKIES

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ginger

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together the shortening and the sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Sift the flour and spices into the butter mixture. Mix well. (You can use a mixer for this.) Roll into ½-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork in a cross-hatch pattern. Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes, until edges are lightly brown. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 48.

Chocolate Pepper Cookies: substitute 1 cup cocoa powder for 1 cup of flour.

Cinnamon Pepper Cookies: substitute 1½ teaspoons cinnamon for the cardamom, and sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon before they go into the oven.

Orange Pepper Cookies: substitute orange flavoring extract for the vanilla and add 2 teaspoons grated orange zest.

For more adventures in cookie baking:

The Ultimate Cookie Cookbook,
by Barbara Grunes and Virginia Van Vynckt

I never think that the prospect of the garden in December is much better by making all the flowerbeds too tidy. I feel sure that the dead flower stems . . . must be some protection to the plants; and, when the hoar-frosts come, these dead stems, especially where the dead flower-heads remain, put on a wonderful beauty.

—HENRY ELLACOMBE, IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN, 1895

DECEMBER 5

Yesterday was the feast day of St. Barbara, who is traditionally invoked for protection against lightning.

The reason lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place is that the same place isn’t there the second time.

—WILLIE TYLOR

Lightning Protectors

Since Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod, most of us feel pretty safe. But before then, people had a few different ideas for protection against lightning. Please notice that some of the holiday greens that you use for decorations also do double-duty as lightning protectors—how very handy.

•
Mistletoe
(
Viscum album
) was thought to have been planted in trees by bolts of lightning; hence, mistletoe hung over the doors and windows of a house would protect against lightning.

•
Holly
(
Ilex sp.
) and
hazel
(
Corylus avellana
) In Norse mythology, holly and hazel also belonged to Thor the Thunderer, and were thought to protect people from his thunderbolts. Holly trees were planted a little distance from homes to attract lightning strikes away from the house. In Christian times, holly taken into the church for Christmas celebration (or hazel for Easter) was carried home and hung up to ward off lightning the rest of the year.

•
Hawthorn
(
Crataegus oxyacantha
) was said to have been used for Christ’s crown of thorns. In Normandy, it was believed that lightning (the work of the devil) could not strike the plant that touched Christ’s brow, so people used it to protect their homes. Hawthorn was sometimes employed in house construction specifically as a lightning protector.

•
Houseleeks
(
Sempervivum tectorum
). In Roman mythology, houseleeks (we call this plant hen and chicks) were sacred to Jupiter, and in Norse mythology, to Thor. Both gods were associated with lightning so people reasoned that houseleeks planted on the roof protected the structure against lightning and fire. Charlemagne decreed that these plants should be grown on the roofs of all the structures of his empire. To this day, you’ll see houseleeks growing on roofs in England and Europe.

A natural meanes to preserve your house in safety from thunder and lightening: If the herb housleek or syngreen do grow on the house top, the same house is never stricken with lightening or thunder.

—DIDYMUS MOUNTAIN, 1572

Round and green, hen and chick
Sting of burns allay
Rosy leaves will stick and prick
But keep lightning away.
—TRADITIONAL

DECEMBER 6

Today is St. Nicholas Day.

Nose, nose, jolly red nose,
And who gave thee this jolly red nose?
Nutmeg and ginger, cinnamon and cloves,
And they gave me this jolly red nose.
—FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER

Gingerbread Tree Decorations

Christmas is still a few weeks away, which makes this a good time to think about baking some gingerbread decorations for the tree—not as much pressure to get things done, and maybe a little more time to enjoy a project that the kids will love. You’ll have to lay down some ground rules about eating their creations, of course, but that’s all part of the fun. Since St. Nicholas Day celebrates the person whose legendary generosity inspired our holiday gift-giving, make several batches of these cookie decorations, so the children can share them with their friends.

GINGERBREAD TREE DECORATIONS

1¼ cup margarine, room temperature
1¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
1¼ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
3 teaspoons nutmeg

Combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Cream well until smooth. Sift together dry ingredients. Stir into butter mixture until smooth, adding more flour if necessary to form a firm, slightly sticky dough. Wrap in plastic and chill until cold. Roll out
-inch thick and cut into shapes. With a chopstick, make a hole through each shape for hanging. Bake at 350° until brown underneath and slightly pale on top. Makes enough for 7-8 large gingerbread figures. If you want to make more, it’s easier to make separate batches than to double the recipe. Freeze extra dough. Decorate with frosting and colored candies. (You can also use this recipe to make gingerbread houses. Just roll it out a little thicker.)

The term
gingerbread
originally had nothing to do with bread or cake. The word is an Anglicization of the Old French
gingebras
, which is derived from the Latin name of the spice,
Zingebar
.

More Reading:

Gingerbread: 24 Inspirational Houses and Decorative Gifts to Make
, Joanna Farrow

DECEMBER 7