December 21st - the Winter Solstice, aka Midwinter, the shortest day and longest night of the year. A time for Festival, to welcome back the return of the Sun and the slow but sure climb back to Spring and warmth.
That's how it's SUPPOSED to go. But there are festivals and there are Festivals ... and if you live in New England as I do and were brought up on a heady diet of H.P. Lovecraft's tales, all set in the very area where you live, they take on a whole new meaning. Case in point: The Festival, written by Lovecraft in October, 1923 and published in the January, 1925 edition of Weird Tales. Inspired by his first visit to the seaside town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, it is a Yuletide tale like no other. The residents and the celebration are lacking only one thing ... YOU!
They await your pleasure at the link below:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/f.asp
Usually I save my K.A.C. ghost story for our final entry on the 24th, but I'm running it early this year (with a BIG thank you to Gi Marie for reminding me of this tale) as I already have my entry for that date written - it is my favorite piece out of all this season's entries, another historical piece from my past with an audio component I was delighted to find completely intact after so many years. All will be revealed in just a few days. In the meantime, we will be back tomorrow to wrap up two more days of last-minute holiday madness with the final stragglers who want their moment of glory in our pages before we close down for the year. Back tomorrow with more!
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