The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories & 100 Essential Recipes for Midwinter

by Nigel Slater

It is said to contain the remains of the Three Kings. If it doesn’t, I have just made a journey for nothing. The bones are interred here due to being presented to the Archbishop of Cologne by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1164. A gift that resulted in the building of the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe – a feat that took 632 years to complete. Which sounds rather like the building of London’s Crossrail. The sarcophagus, gilded

LOL, spoken like a true Londoner.

There are also green ones, which are really quite hideous. Nuts

another lol

The night the spirits roam 24 December is, for so much of the world, the night of the supernatural. Much more so even than Hallowe’en. Traditionally, this is the night some Scandinavians stay at home, for fear of bumping into witches and trolls. The night the dead return and are made welcome. The night not to be caught out when the cock crows. Ghosts are much easier to imagine in winter. The dark, of course, but it is the half light, the dusk that hovers between late afternoon and early evening, that is so much more suited to seeing spirits. The bare trees, with their stripped, witchy branches, and the shadows that linger at this time of year, only add to the prospect. This may well be why the lane outside the house is so quiet tonight,

Oooooo