It's That Time of Year: Christmas Tree History, Ant Hill Art and the Nutcracker

Photo by vasudha nagaraju on Unsplash

On Christmas Eve I stumbled upon the following video, Casting a Fire Ant Colony with Molten Aluminum. Because I'd taken a metal sculpture class in college, I was seduced into watching. (Among other things, I did a casting of my baby shoe.)

So I watched, in part because I've always been mildly fascinated by ant farms, ant colonies and the underground worlds they build and inhabit. The video is very short and I think you'll enjoy it. When you get to the end the finished casting seemed to resemble a Christmas tree to a certain degree, which is why I am sharing it here. I'm certain this will be the first time you've seen an ant colony converted into a tree.

Speaking of Christmas trees, when we think of Christmas how many of you think of Tschaikovski's Nutcracker Suite? It's from his ballet The Nutcracker, gaining wider exposure through Disney's Fantasia. Here is a fragment... the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, illustrated by DoodleChaos.

According to Wikipedia, major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker. The Minnesota Ballet performs it here in Duluth each year.

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The above was a rather circuitous route to reach this link to a brief history of the Christmas tree. Be sure to read it all because there will be a quiz afterwards.

For a glimpse of one facet of the Hannakuh, here's an article from our local paper that talks about some of the symbolism in Jewish holiday meals.

Whatever your traditions, may they be meaningful to you as you share them.