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Colonial Christmas villancicos preserved at the cathedral of Santiago, Chile, employ a series of musical conventions to signify the nativity scene and the characters that interact on it to adore the Christ Child. The way in which the Chilean villancicos deploy those conventions confirms a link between musical resources rooted in theatrical practices, the didactic function of the vernacular pieces, and scriptural and literary sources. Insofar as these villancicos functionally operate as sonifications of an imagined staging, they provide a coherent context for the appearance of elements alien with respect to the biblical narrative. Furthermore, the villancicos betray patterns of trans-continental colonial cultural mobility related to the dissemination of the Galant style and Hispanic dances from the teatro breve tradition that are localized and resignified in Santiago.

The article is written with, by, and for (m)others whose children have been labelled as having "special educational needs" (SEN). The term (m)others is used to pay attention to the continued impact of the gendered nature of care for (disabled) children at the level of the individual, but also to recognize gender as a social construct, and the many ways of being a (m)other (Anderson). The broad aim is to explore the ways in which special education systems across the global North construct (m)others of disabled children as "mad." This discussion is timely given the high levels of conflict between parents/carers and global North special education systems in contemporary times. The article explores "madness" as a mechanism of social control produced in special education systems by paying close attention to "intimate encounters" between (m)others and practitioners that occur day-to-day in (special) education settings. The developing analysis is shaped by the concept of "gaslighting," which offers a useful framework both for understanding deeply affecting and effecting "intimate encounters" between (m)others and practitioners, and for exposing the operations of power in special education systems. The conclusion reflects on what new understandings of (m)others' madness have been revealed and how they have the potential to (re)shape practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The importance of holidays, traditions, and family celebrations to human culture and occupational engagement has been neglected. The aim of this study was to explore how older adults experienced holidays and celebrations with social and physical distancing during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: A secondary analysis was made on data from the At‐Risk Study. Seventeen community‐living adults (11 women and 6 men) aged 71–87 years, from Sweden participated. They were interviewed remotely four times during the first year of the pandemic. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. No consumer/community involvement occurred. Findings: Three categories on how the participants hoped for, planned, decided, adapted, avoided, and experienced holidays and celebrations with social and physical distancing included expectations and preparations in unpredictable times; the constant need for re‐evaluation; and almost everything turned out differently. Conclusions: The desire to celebrate despite pandemic restrictions shows the importance and meaning holidays hold for older adults. Celebrations can be disrupted for many reasons, not only as extreme as the ongoing pandemic. For wellbeing in later life health care, social care, and society need to understand the inherent components and acknowledge ways of supporting participation in occasional events such as holidays, traditions, and family celebrations. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Research on the importance of engaging in holidays, traditions, and family celebrations has been limited. Clinical occupational therapists and occupational science researchers tend to focus more on activities of daily living than on activities of life. This study investigated how older adults experienced holidays and celebrations with social and physical distancing during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We revisited data from a previous study called the At‐Risk Study. Seventeen community‐living older adults living in Sweden, ranging from 71 to 87 years old, took part. They were interviewed remotely four times during the first year of the pandemic. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. We identified three main themes on how the participants hoped for, planned, decided, adapted, avoided, and experienced holidays and celebrations with social and physical distancing. They were expectations and preparations in unpredictable times; the constant need for re‐evaluation; and almost everything turned out differently. This study shows the broad variety in reasoning and acting in relation to holidays, traditions, and family celebrations under social and physical distancing. However, the desire to celebrate despite pandemic restrictions shows the importance and meaning holidays hold for older adults. Celebrations can be disrupted for many reasons (including health issues) and not all barriers will be as extreme as an ongoing pandemic. To promote wellbeing in later life society, health care, and occupational therapists need to recognise the inherent components and acknowledge ways of supporting participation also in occasional events such as holidays, traditions, and family celebrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this catalogue, 54 Annelida OTUs collected by the IN2021_V04 and IN2022_V08 expeditions to the Australian Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands Territories are diagnosed and illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) represents a significant cause of morbidity for children worldwide, especially for newborns. As RSV vaccines are not routinely used for children yet, non‐pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) represent the main strategy for prevention. The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between school holidays and RSV transmission. Methods: Data were collected from the weekly reports on RSV incidence for the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons in Sweden. The 7‐day cumulative incidence of RSV was compared before and after the designated school holidays (Fall, Christmas, and Winter holidays). Results: Our findings reveal an immediate (−1.7%, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−3.1%, −0.4%]) and gradual (−1.4%/week, p < 0.001, 95%CI [−1.8, −1.0]) reduction in RSV incidence following the Fall holiday in 2021, especially among children under 1 year of age, both immediately (−107.6%, p < 0.05, 95% CI [−203.7, −11.5]) and gradually afterwards (−58.5%/week, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−72.7, −44.3]). Mixed results were obtained for the Fall in 2022/2023 and for the Winter and holidays in both the studied years. Conclusions: While the Fall holiday in 2021/2022 was associated with a decrease in RSV incidence in Sweden, our results do not support a universal effect of school holidays on reducing RSV transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the category of “paschality”, introduced into Russian literature studies by Ivan Esaulov, in Anton Chekhov’s tale “In the Ravine”. In Russia, Easter is celebrated more solemnly than Christmas. According to I. Esaulov, this makes people give greater importance to life in Heaven and makes them ready to suffer and die in order to receive it. We recognize that the category of “paschality” can be fruitful for literature studies and, in particular, for the interpretation of Chekhov’s tale. Yet, we propose to amend it. We disagree with I. Esaulov’s opinion that giving a key importance to Easter distinguishes Russian Orthodoxy from the Christian West. But, first and foremost, we think that the paschal spirituality of the New Testament should not be juxtaposed neither to the Pascha (Passover, Exodus) of the Hebrew Bible, nor to the crucial role the New Testament gives to the Christmas mystery of the Incarnation. Instead, the paschal mystery should rather be seen as the continuation and fulfillment of both. This kind of “paschality” complements the social criticism of the tale “In the Ravine” and gives it a deeper sense. The horror described in “In the Ravine”, which reaches its culmination in the little child’s murder, is both exacerbated and softened by allusions to Christ’s birth and to Our Lady. Besides, due to references to the salvation of little Moses and the newborn Jesus, even ex negativo the tale alludes to Lipa’s and her fellow workers’ future salvation and liberation.

Nowadays, Christmas is one of the festivals celebrated in many countries around the world. Various rituals, linguistic practices and text types as well as other formats are associated with it. The customs and traditions sur- rounding Christmas are passed on and cherished from generation to generation. The possibilities of the digital world have significantly enriched the diversity of Christmas formats. The anthology “Christmas Linguistics”, edited by Konstanze Marx, brings together studies related to broadly understood Christmas. The studies are divided into six thematic chapters according to the sequence of Christmas rituals. Christmas wishes, songs, letters, stories, jokes, tear-off calendars and Christmas-related lexis, including interjections, are thematized and analysed. The authors present different linguistic approaches to the topic at the center of the volume, as well as various approaches and questions. Many of the analyses have a methodological model character. The volume and the collected studies can therefore serve as a model for other publications and analyses.

Psychological type theory differentiates between two contrasting psychological functions relevant for evaluating experience, styled thinking and feeling. The present study encouraged visitors to the pre-Christmas son et lumiere at Liverpool Cathedral, The light before Christmas: The angels are coming, to evaluate their experience through these two lenses. Drawing on data from 978 participants, analysis of qualitative responses to the feeling prompt, 'What most touched your heart?' identified nine themes, including valuing being moved by visual images of the nativity, and valuing the opportunity to light a candle. Analysis of qualitative responses to the thinking prompt, 'What big issues were raised in your mind?' identified eight themes, including reflecting on the importance and meaning of Christmas, and reflecting on the world. These two prompts generated quite different responses, suggesting a complementary and richer evaluation of the total experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper, rooted in the field of cathedral studies, proposes a framework that analyses the qualitative results from a survey administered in Liverpool Cathedral at two Christmas Eve carol services on the afternoon of 24 December in 2019. The argument is introduced by a review of both quantitative and qualitative literature in the field of cathedral studies, as well the former and current mission priorities of Liverpool Cathedral. Attention is also paid to the liturgical celebration in which survey participants took part. The qualitative results from the Christmas Eve questionnaire are organised into six main themes: cathedral as place, cathedral liturgy, choir and music, general positive affirmation, cathedral local engagement, and cathedral welcome. Conclusions are drawn concerning the significance of the data to the field of cathedral studies, as well as praxis, and trajectories for further research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have drawn attention to the variety of events, installations, and activities within Anglican cathedrals that hold the capacity to attract wider publics into these iconic buildings where common ground and sacred space collide. In order to assess the engagement of participants at a pre-Christmas installation in Liverpool Cathedral, this project designed seven measures of engagement (styled as Christmas engagement, Cathedral engagement, Spiritual/religious engagement, Personal engagement, Imaginative engagement, Positive engagement, and Negative engagement). Data provided by 562 participants explored the effect of personal, educational, psychological, and religious factors on predicting levels of engagement across these seven measures. Two core findings were that the Luxmuralis installation, The light before Christmas: The angels are coming exerted its greatest impact on younger people and on those who did not attend church services. In this way, not only was the Cathedral extending its reach, but delivering an experience that enticed them to want to return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the economic and cultural significance of Christmas in many nations, there has been relatively little geographical research on how it shapes people's socialities, spatialities, and subjectivities. In this paper, practice theory was used to reflect on the materials, meanings, and competencies associated with older people who host the celebration at home, and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 20 individuals aged 65+ explored participants' experiences of doing so. Findings reveal that homes' material forms affect older people's ability to host, while the 'stuff' of Christmas such as decorations, special foods, or gifts shape those homes as festive and welcoming places. Food sourcing and preparation were critical competencies for female participants, and shifting capacities to be a host influenced participants' sense of autonomy and identity. Regardless of the extent to which participants celebrated Christmas, the meanings of hosting centred on social connection, contribution, and shoring up family. Choosing not to host or being unable to contribute in expected ways at Christmas could signify failure, exclusion, or incapability as an older person, parent, or citizen. Examining these issues in the case study, based in Aotearoa/New Zealand, reveals the existence and effects of the social expectations, norms, and obligations that typify Christmas. More broadly, the study highlights the need for geographers to attend to the ways in which celebrations shape and are shaped by diverse practices, places, and peoples and are assembled, reproduced, and resisted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between volcanic activity and flank instability during the Christmas Eve eruption at Mount Etna in 2018 is explored, using a mechanically consistent inverse model fitting high spatial resolution SAR data. Inversions search for fractures that may be curved and can accommodate co‐eval pressure and shear stress changes. Displacements associated with the eruption result from the interaction between two intrusion sources: a buried dyke and a curved sheared intrusion that fed the eruption. Moreover, we identify that the sheared magmatic intrusion induced the observed eastward slip on the Pernicana fault, while the Fiandaca fault was undergoing stress accumulation, which was suddenly released during a M5.0 seismic event. The Fiandaca fault is determined to be listric, rooting beneath the mobile eastern flank of the volcano. This study highlights the role of curved fractures, acting as sheared intrusions or as faults, in volcanoes exhibiting flank instabilities. Plain Language Summary: In this study, we thoroughly examine how volcanic activity and flank dynamics interacted during the 2018 eruption of Mount Etna. We use high‐resolution satellite SAR data and a model considering complex mechanical aspects of the volcano's behavior. Formal inversions reveal that the eruption is triggered by the interplay between two intrusion sources: a buried dyke and a curved sheared intrusion, consistent with the earthquake pattern. This study emphasizes the significant role of curved sheared intrusions and faults at volcanoes prone to flank instabilities. Furthermore, we quantify how summit magmatic intrusions promote fault slip in the eastern flank of Etna. These findings differ from previous research that used simpler approaches. In summary, our study provides a new insight into how volcanoes like Etna can erupt and trigger flank slip, shedding light on the complex interactions between magma and tectonics. Key Points: Modeling shows that the magma intrusion feeding the 2018 eruption accommodated coeval opening and shear displacementsBoth the summit intrusions and the Fiandaca fault are curved, probably connected to the detachment at the base of the mobile eastern sectorThe Fiandaca fault was previously locked. It released accumulated stress, while the Pernicana fault passively responded to the intrusion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Commonly heard statements such as "Christmas comes around more quickly each year" suggest that the passage of time between annual events can become distorted, leading to the sensation of time passing more quickly than normal. At present however, it is unclear how prevalent such beliefs are and, what factors are predictive of it. Aim: To explore the prevalence of beliefs that annual events such as Christmas (Study 1 UK sample) and Ramadan (Study 2 Iraqi sample) feel like they come around more quickly each year. To establish the association between distortions to the passage of time between annual events and emotional wellbeing, event specific enjoyment, memory function and self-reported attention to time. Methods: Participants completed an online questionnaire exploring their subjective experience of time in relation to Christmas and Ramadan. In addition, measures of attention to time, memory function, quality of life and event specific emotion were also taken. Findings: There was widespread agreement that Christmas and Ramadan appeared to come around more quickly each year. In both countries, this belief was associated with greater prospective memory errors, greater attention to time and greater enjoyment of the event. Furthermore, in the UK greater belief that Christmas comes around more quickly was associated with lower social quality of life and in Iraq, greater belief that Ramadan comes around more quickly each year was associated with lower age and female gender. Conclusions: Distortions to the passage of time for annual events are widespread, occur across multiple cultures and are consistently predicted by prospective function, event enjoyment and attention to time. The absence of an association between older age (above 55 years) and a faster passage of time suggests that caution should be taken when concluding that time passes more quickly with increasing age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the work is to reveal the poetic-intonational spiritual-symbolic aspects of the organ symphony "Noël" by P. de Malengro in the direction of stylistic and spiritual-philosophical searches of the Franco-Belgian culture of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Research methodology. An interdisciplinary, genre-stylistic, historical-cultural approach was essential for this work, allowing to explore the factors contributing to the discovery of the spiritual-semantic specificity of the concept of "symphony" in all its variety of meanings. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the introduction into musicological use of materials from the organ symphony "Noël" by P. de Malengro, the poetics of which was formed at the intersection of the artistic, spiritual and musical traditions of the Northern Renaissance and French modernism. Conclusions. An overview of the use of the term "symphony" in the cultural-historical and spiritual practice of different eras testifies not only to the breadth of its semantic and applied meanings, but also to the presence of general semantic indicators, in accordance with which a symphony ultimately implies a certain integrity in which merge, different numerous components are combined. A symphony as a musical work is an equally complex and comprehensive concept that represents the most diverse "models" of this genre. The organ symphony "Noël" by P. de Malengro represents the typology of the "spiritual symphony". Its expressiveness, related to the biblical mystery of Christmas, is strengthened by the composer's appeal also to the masterpieces of the Northern Renaissance (Rogir van der Weyden and the van Eyck brothers). Symphony "Noël" is a free composition (4 parts) of the suite-variation type, a "symphony-mystery", the thematic basis of which is Gregorian chants, as well as the corresponding principles of their texture and mode-intonation development (monody, heterophony, various forms of polyphonic development, reproduction of the spiritual and vocal practice of discanting of the Notre Dame School). The poetics of such a "symphony-mystery" is significantly supplemented by an appeal to the timbre qualities of the so-called "symphonic organ", the universalism of performance, dynamic and timbre-intonation capabilities of which turned out to be literally correlated with the universalism of the symphony genre as such. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the liturgical tradition of celebrating Christmas on 25 December travelled from the Latin West to the Greek East at the behest of Theodosius I upon his arrival in Constantinople in AD 380. From there it made its way to Cappadocia, Pontus and Syrian Antioch by means of travelling clerics who belonged to a pro-Nicene network. The essay also makes the larger methodological point that in late antiquity liturgical traditions did not travel of their own accord; rather, they were often carried by networks of travelling bishops and 'radiated out' from major sees to minor ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'BRS Sarau' is a highly productive peach cultivar widely adapted to the Southern and Southeast region of Brazil. It produces fruits of excellent flavor and shape, with attractive skin and flesh color, and its harvest starts near the Christmas holidays, when the demand for peaches is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how men of the rural 'middling sort' in late medieval England used movable goods to perform their status and gender by applying relational approaches from material culture studies to bequests in their wills and testaments. It is based on analysis of 403 wills produced by husbandmen, yeomen and gentlemen from Norfolk and Suffolk, c. 1425–1538. Ranking between the gentry and peasantry, these men were major landholders, administrators and consumers in the English countryside, but their mentalities and wills have received little attention. Wills provide evidence for how rural men interpreted their belongings in life and how they imagined objects could help them prolong their patriarchal authority after death. By focusing on three moments when wills intervened in the lifecycles of things – commodity exchange, gift-giving and animation – this analysis models the relational interpretation of medieval material culture and reveals how objects helped create male, middling-status identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A minimal constraint on normative reasons seems to be that if some fact is a reason for an agent to φ (act, believe, or feel), the agent could come to know that fact. This constraint is threatened by a well-known type of counterexamples. Self-effacing reasons are facts that intuitively constitute reasons for an agent to φ, but that if they were to become known, they would cease to be reasons for that agent. The challenge posed by self-effacing reasons bears important structural similarities with a range of epistemic paradoxes, most notably the Knowability Paradox. In this article, we investigate the similarities and differences between the two arguments. Moreover, we assess whether some of the approaches to the Knowability Paradox could help solve the challenge posed by self-effacing reasons. We argue that at least two popular approaches to the paradox can be turned into promising strategies for addressing the self-effacing reasons problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perhaps in 383, Gregory of Nyssa wrote a eulogy for the Day of Lights, which fell on 6 January and replaced the previously celebrated Epiphany. The introduction of Christmas in Cappadocia on 25 December prompted the bishop to link the January feast with the baptismal theme. In the middle part of the speech, Gregory successively cites and interprets ten different events from the Old Testament that illustrate the mystery of baptism. The combination and interpretation of these testimonies in the key of baptismal typology prompts the article’s author to look at the sources of inspiration for Gregory’s exegesis and the extent of its influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]