Boilo: A Pennsylvanian/Lithuanian Yule Beverage

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

BOILO:

A PENNSYLVANIAN/LITHUANIAN YULE BEVERAGE

 New Word: Boilo
Pronounciation: BOY-low
Definition: alcoholic yule-tide cocktail; coal country cocktail, …1
(Not just any coal country. Pennsylvania coal country.)
…a name unique to a handful of Pennsylvania counties.
And not just any Pennsylvania coal county.

My sources speak of counties that, more than one hundred years ago, were populated with Lithuanian immigrants who mined anthracite coal. This includes the Schuylkill County community of Minersville, town where my the family of my maternal grandfather—Adam Borinsky, a. k. a. Albert Charles Briskay—emigrated from Europe to America in 1894 when my grandfather was two years old.
Thus it can be concluded that boilo is a part of my heritage, probably consumed, and perhaps made by, my ancestors, who lived in boilo’s epicenter: Brewing up a batch of wassail-like boilo is a time-honored traditional event, with roots in the early mining communities and cultures of northeast Pennsylvania, especially in the Schuylkill county area.2
The invention of

Christmas Lights Brighten Our Home

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS BRIGHTEN OUR HOME

Photo taken by Monte

I returned home from running errands to discover my husband, Monte, had installed our Christmas lights. Along with a lit garland were two large old-fashioned candles.
That evening, when I spoke with my daughter Sandy, who lives “through the woods” from us, commented about the bright candle light.
“I can see them from my kitchen window,” she said. “When you no longer need them, I’d like them.” (This isn’t an off the cuff “I want” statement—I’d told my children that they should let me know what they wanted when we no longer needed the items.)
Later Monte noticed how bright they shone from her kitchen window.
Perhaps few people will see our lights due to our living on a dead end street. But our daughter, our neighbors and we can all enjoy their brilliance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

ADDITIONAL READING:
Rack, the Green-Nosed Reindeer

Rack, the Green-Nosed Reindeer

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

RACK THE GREEN-NOSED REINDEER

Co-Writers:

Carolyn Cornell Holland, Rafael Burkardt and Marcus Holland*

~~~~~~~~~~~~

One day Jack Jellyfish visited Santa’s reindeer, Rack…

and Taran Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“Why do you have a green nose?! Why is it green instead of red?” Jack asked Rack.
“Because I want to stop Christmas,” said the Rack, a distant relative of Rudolph who often flew with Santa and Rudolph on Christmas Eve. After all, Rudolph sometimes needed relief during his long night’s work. Usually Rack dimmed his nose so as not to compete with Rudolph.
“So he asked me to stomp on his nose so it wouldn’t work,” said Taran. “His nose turned blue and yellow when I stomped it. Then the blue and yellow blended…”

“… and my nose became green,” continued Rack Reindeer.
“Why would anyone want to stop Christmas?” asked Jack.
“Because he’s upset. He’s angry,” said Taran.
“Why?” asked Jack again.
“Because he delivers gifts to everyone but he never gets a gift.”
“You bet. I’ve pulled Santa’s heavy sleigh filled with gifts through blizzards, icy cold weather, the Equator sun…and who gets all the recognition? Who gets all the cookies and hot chocolate? Santa! But does anyone ever

‘tis the 2012 season to be merry!

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

“’TIS THE 2012 SEASON TO BE MERRY!”

Monte and Carolyn Holland

Today is Christmas Day, 2012. The joyous celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Eve is behind us. We need this annual reminder that God is ultimately in charge (who else can preside over a virgin birth?).
Families gathered today and exchanged gifts (and probably lots of them will be exchanged again beginning tomorrow or regifted at a later time).

We had some wonderful days leading up to Christmas. While Carolyn gathers sisters, those of you who know me know that Santa and I recently became at least brothers, although he is a little chunkier. And I have had holiday adventures as a result.
Heritage United Methodist Church in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, scheduled bell-ringing for the Salvation Army in front of the local Giant Eagle supermarket. On Tuesday, December 11, I signed up for the 1:00-2:00 p. m. slot. I arrived all decked out in my Santa suit.
What a fun time! I offered a lot of Merry Christmases, even to a number of folks who seemed to be too caught up in the season to see the merriness of it. Surprisingly many of those same folks came out with a smile and an offering for the kettle. There were a few women with children who approached me. The children weren’t quite certain how close to get to me.
“Do you want to pull my beard to see if it is real?” I asked.
Nobody took me up on that offer.
Lots of people seemed unable to pass Santa without making an offering. One man even said, “I can’t go by Santa without making a donation.”Another man said my suit must be old because it was somewhat faded.
“It’s because my wife made it for me in the 1970’s when our children were small,” I said.
By the time I left my post the kettle was considerably fuller, and I’d had a great time greeting folks, strangers and friends alike.

Santa enjoys a bear…

A week ago Carolyn and I had to go to Slippery Rock to prepare an apartment and show it to potential renters. On the way up we stopped at Creekside Restaurant just outside Apollo. It is a great little hometown-style diner. We sat down in a booth and awaited service.
A little further down the aisle a man and woman were finishing up their meals. She exclaimed THERE’S SANTA! (I did have a red shirt on, BUT NOT MY Santa hat.)
She proceeded up to our booth, telling me what she wanted for Christmas— that

2012 Christmas Letter from Monte & Carolyn Holland

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
2012 CHRISTMAS LETTER FROM MONTE & CAROLYN HOLLAND

MERRY 2012 CHRISTMAS & A JOYFUL NEW YEAR 2013
FROM LAUREL MOUNTAIN BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Santa reflects on the meaning of Christmas…

OUR 2012 ORNAMENT: Forty years. Yes, this is the fortieth year our Christmas card has been a handcrafted ornament.
To celebrate I tried to prepare a special ornament, but discovered it cost just under $2.00 to mail, so I will hand distribute as many of them as possible during 2013, leaving, hopefully, only a few to main. Instead, this year, we’re sending those of you who joined our list after the beginning years one of the earlier ornaments, among them a peach and an angel .

I made the peach in 1984 when we lived in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Monte was in his second year of seminary study at Candler Theology School (Emory University). As you know, Georgia is all about peach (and dogwood). The peach symbolizes God’s bounty provided for us.
The angel is designed as a paper doll. Angels play a significant role in the Christian story—for example, an angel appeared to Joseph, telling him to stay with Mary.

MONTE: This year I helped my brother Elwin, 91, maintain around-the-clock personal care workers. On February 25th he fell and broke his hip. Since I held his medical power of attorney Carolyn and I rushed to his hospital bedside in Syracuse. When Elwin died March 4th we went to Northern New York for two weeks, where we dealt with his affairs. As executor of his estate we returned in May for four weeks for Elwin’s committal service, an auction, the sale of his house and a family reunion. It was good to get together with many of the family.
In April I finished a thirty-square roofing job on our Slippery Rock apartment building. In June we spent a week with Nolan’s family at Lakeside, Ohio. In late September I took a trip with a friend to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Churchill Downs, and a Secretariat festival in Paris, Kentucky. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit these well-known places. At Indy I met Donald Davidson, long-time radio broadcaster with the Indy 500. I got his autograph, which is special. In September I placed third in a pie contest with an apple-rhubarb pie topped with meringue.
October came. I finished putting the new roof on our Laurel Mountain Borough home. Sandy and I went to the Northwestern-Penn State game at State College, and at the pre-game tailgate feast Sandy took my picture with the President of Northwestern University, my alma mater.
A post-Thanksgiving Friday highlight was attending Ligonier’s light-up night. Jordan, a twirler, marched with the band, while Sandy, Michael, Nolan, Tammy, Vince, Marcus, and I watched (Carolyn, not feeling well, didn’t go with us). When Vince and Marcus joined two caroler statues in the park, thus forming a quartet, a newspaper photographer caught their image and it was published that week. It was a much better quality photograph than the one taken by us.

        

As a member of the Borough Council I’ve worked hard on road maintenance. I’ve preached about once a month at an assisted-living facility and filled in occasionally at Bethlen Home in Ligonier.

A white Christmas scene at our house

CAROLYN: For me, the year began with a three-month to-do list: learn to use E-bay; WRITE my novel, empty boxes we had stored in Sandy’s attic when we moved here in 2003 (which filled my living room in mid-January).
It was a doable plateful for the snowed/cold-in months. I stayed on schedule until…life happened.

 IT’S A GIRL!
Last year’s news, you say? Yes…and this year’s news too, I answer.

At the end of January I noticed an excessive number of hits on several of my writing blog posts—posts about my mother that wouldn’t usually be visited. I told Monte something was going on. He replied that someone might be doing a research project. On my Mother’ memorial service? I responded. Unlikely.
On February 5th I was contacted, via a blog comment, by a second sister my mother released for adoption. Now I can safely say that all my mother’s nine children are accounted for. In one year I’ve gained two sisters, two brother’s-in-law, four nephews, and one niece.
While Darlene (who contacted me the same way in January 2011) was born on December 2, 1953, P.’s birthday is December 30, 1948. She lives a distance south of us, but when she visited her northern mother-in-law in August she and her husband stopped by for an evening visit. (I won’t elaborate—further information is on CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS in the ADOPTION category, )
In May we moved into Elwin Holland’s home in Heuvelton, New York, where we worked hard preparing the house for market and its contents for auction. The local

Sancta Lucia: Swedish Christmas Tradition with Italian Roots

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
SANCTA LUCIA:
SWEDISH CHRISTMAS TRADITION WITH ITALIAN ROOTS

In 2004 my husband Monte, a Swedish friend Roy, and visited the Church of the Savior in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to attend a Sancta Lucia celebration. My heritage is one-fourth Swedish—my paternal grandmother, Ida Victoria Berg Cornell, was a Swedish immigrant.

Before reading about Sancta Lucia try to answer the following questions about the December 13th Swedish celebration:

• The Sancta Lucia celebration is rooted in what country?
• Lucia was born into a poor peasant family in Sweden. T F
• Lucia married into a Pagan family. T F
• The Sancta Lucia celebration isn’t a major Christian event in Sweden. T F
• Found guilty of treason, Lucia was sentenced to a life of servitude and _______________.
• Lucia remained a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha. T F
• At _____ a. m. On December 13th the (youngest – oldest) daughter in a household, places a wreath containing lit candles on her head, awakens her family members, and serves them Lucia buns.

December 13 is Sancta Lucia Day in Sweden. Its roots—both sacred and secular—can be traced through Swedish history and medieval custom to the 4th century martyrdom of a Sicilian virgin named Lucia.
For the ceremony, the eldest daughter of a household rises in the wee morning hours and dons a white dress (for purity) with a red tie (for martyred blood). In the kitchen she fills trays with Lucia buns (saffron cookies), ginger cookies and glogg (all representing deliverance from hunger). At two a. m. she places a wreath made from

Two Christmas Traditions: A Christmas Pickle and the Belsnickle

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

TWO CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS:

A CHRISTMAS PICKLE AND THE BELSNICKLE

The longer I live the more I learn about different holiday traditions. Two I recently learned about are the Christmas Pickle and the Belsnickle.

THE CHRISTMAS PICKLE

Many, many years ago, when my son Nolan was recently returned from a post-doctoral position in Munich, Germany, he and his wife Tammy presented my husband Monte and I with a German Christmas ornament, a pickle in a jar. I’ve had it out each holiday season since.

According to German tradition, the pickle brings

Winning Approach to Black Friday Shopping 11/22/2012

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

WINNING APPROACH TO BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING

November 22, 2012

I unashameably stole the title of this post from a newspaper headline.¹

As I scanned the article I thought this is too much like work.

So what is the winning approach to Black Friday?

AVOID IT! Avoid Black Friday, Black Friday Week (a new phenomenon in 2012—businesses pushing the shopping season earlier and earlier to gain a competitive edge.

Avoid anything to do with the marketing rush involved in the Black days shopping events.

How? you ask.

My younger sister Sally, who works at a major department store, once commented that people can do better by

A Record for the Most Santa Hats on Two Continents Simultaneously

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

RECORD FOR THE MOST SANTA HATS ON TWO CONTINENTS SIMULTANEOUSLY

BROCTON, MA. & MULLINGAR, IRELAND

QUESTION:

What have Brockton, Massachusetts and Mullingar, Ireland had in common?

ANSWER:

A competition to see which community can gather the most people together wearing Santa hats.

THE COMPETITION STARTS IN 2009

In 2008 Brocktonians gathered together to set a world record for the most people wearing Santa hats. Over 500 persons participated.

The following year the Irish Echo reported that Mullingar had joined in on the fun and broken Brockton’s record with a gathering of 780 persons.

The competition was on. In 2010 Brocton reclaimed its record with 982 participants, and maintained the record in 2011 with 1780 participants. This year the two communities are collaborating rather than competing. They aim to set a world record for the most simultaneous Santa hat wearers on two continents. Readers can view a live simulcast with a CLICK HERE FOR LIVE SIMULCAST at 1:00 p. m. today, November 18, 2012.

NOTE: If you live in Ireland click on the site at 6:00 p. m.¹

PERSONAL NOTE

I must confess that even though the competition turned into a collaboration intrigues me, I have an ulterior interest in Brocton. My father, Robert William Cornell, was born and raised on Cross Street in that city.

My husband Monte and I visit the community when we travel through New England.

In 2003 Monte and I raced a storm and reached Brocton a half hour before the mid-February blizzard. We were there for the funeral of my aunt, Nyllis Gardner.

On another note:

QUESTION:

What do Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and Brocton, Massachusetts have in common?

ANSWER:

Mary Rugh Cubbage Cornell, the granddaughter of Michael Rugh, one of the original pioneer settlers in Westmoreland County (my home county), married Broctonian Irving Cornell and lived out her post-marriage life in Brocton.

Let me explain. Michael and Elizabeth Rugh’s daughter Elizabeth migrated to Iowa and Illinois in the mid-1800s. She wed William Cubbage. Mary, one of their daughters, when grown, took a vacation to San Francisco, California. While there she shopped for a pair of shoes. At the shoe store she met a shoe distributor from Massachusetts, Irving Cornell. It must have been love at first sight, because they married and moved to his hometown, Brocton. Mary is buried in Coweeset Cemetery.

One of Mary and Irving Cornell’s three children, William Cornell, wed Ida Victoria Berg. One of their children, Robert William Cornell, is my father. That makes Mary my great-grandmother.

When my husband and I retired we decided to move into the Westmoreland County (PA) community where my daughter lived, the very same county where Mary’s grandfather Michael was born and raised.

So I’ve brought the circle to a close by returning to the ancestral roots Mary Rugh brought to the Brocton Cornell family.

BACK TO SANTA HATS

The Santa hat event was inspired by the story of the first department store Santa, Brockton native

Glimmers of Hope in This 2011 Christmas Season

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

GLIMMERS OF HOPE IN THIS 2011 CHRISTMAS SEASON

     Media screams of deadly international wars, bloody national uprisings, and brutal family incidents. Bombs explode, missing babies are found dead, mates mutilated. Talk shows receive plenty of fodder on the harm our leaders perpetrate on children, and don’t hesitate to feed this fodder to their viewers.

     Murder, mayhem, manipulation, misjustice, and mistrust.

     They’ve always existed.

     Will these behaviors ever cease?

     In the midst of the troubles perpetrated on one person by another, perpetrated by organizations on their clients, or perpetrated on citizens under the rule of powerful  governments glimmers of light shine through. Three of these glimmerings uplift this year’s Christmas season.

SECRET SANTAS, ANGELS, OR GOD’S HANDS…???

     The local newspaper blared headlines of drama and trauma throughout the first section of the newspaper one recent December day. Another story, a story of a different type, was tucked on the back page

     Compassion was perpetrated at a K-Mart store in Michigan by a woman who paid about $500 toward three layaway accounts of people she didn’t know. As word of her good deed made its way into the news other K-Mart shoppers