A Creepy Christmas with Jeff Belanger

On Tuesday, Laurie and I ventured to the Middleboro Library for a talk/ lecture by author Jeff Belanger. Jeff is into the paranormal. We has written multiple books on ghosts. He has a podcast where he talks about New England Legends. He breaks down the legends and tries to get to the bottom of how they started in the first place.

Tuesday's presentation titled "Creepy Christmas" details how many of our holiday traditions got started. Jeff talks about why we put wreaths on doors. He talks about the Yule Log and what garland represents (Yuck!!!). He discusses why Christmas and Christmas Eve are on December 24th and 25th. More than anything the first half of the talk is a history lesson about Christmas. I found it fascinating.

The second half is about scary Christmas characters.  He discusses the most famous of these, Krampus. He goes into other Christmas monsters from around the world as well. A quote from him "Those Germans knew how to discipline children". They had multiple scary creatures to keep kids in line.

Also Jeff talks about "Jingle Bells". Jingle Bells was written in Medford, MA. It is NOT a Christmas song. Christmas is not mentioned once. What it is, is a "hook up"song. It is literally about getting the girl to, um, do the deed. Jeff explains the lyrics and their true meaning.

The presentation takes a little more than an hour it is well worth the drive. It is extremely educational. It is also funny and entertaining. Lastly, it is FREE!. He is doing another lecture Wednesday December 12th at the Bancroft Library in Hopedale, MA. It is also free, but I think you have to register in advance. Link below

https://www.jeffbelanger.com/blog/event/a-creepy-christmas-with-jeff-belanger-at-bancroft-memorial-library/

A slide of Krampus getting rid of the naughty children