World History
Bell Ringle is an elf who delivers on New Years Day the presents that Santa Clause forgot. Or so I have been told.
My wife (like me) is from NW Ohio. Her family has a tradition of Bell Ringle delivering gifts on January 1st. This tradition goes back at least several generations. My wife thinks it goes back four or five generations.
In the old days, the farm families of Ohio would order Christmas gifts via mail catalogs. Delivery dates were always uncertain and many orders intended as Christmas gifts arrived late. As a result, at least in one family, the elf Bell Ringle would deliver late gifts on the first day of the New Year.
While quaint, this tradition has been impacting me through eleven years of marriage. Every year, my wife prepares Bell Ringle gifts for her family and they give her (and me!) Bell Ringle gift as well. In addition, as I take my wife and two sons on the road for Christmas, we give our kids their gifts from us on New Years Day. And of course Bell Ringle is the delivery man.
The family lore is that Bell Ringle is an old German tradition. However, my attempts to research Bell Ringle find nothing. So far, searches for Bell Ringle on the Web bring up zip as do variant searches on the name. Even New Years Elf brings up nothing that is related!
So, is Bell Ringle a new oral history tradition created by my wife's great grandparents? Or, is there some actual history here that I am missing? If anyone finds this post now or years in the future and has information on this, please leave a comment. I would appreciate more details.
Until then, Bell Ringle lives in my family. And I will be seeking out some more details on his origins.
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World History
Searching for Bell Ringle
Bell Ringle is an elf who delivers on New Years Day the presents that Santa Clause forgot. Or so I have been told.
My wife (like me) is from NW Ohio. Her family has a tradition of Bell Ringle delivering gifts on January 1st. This tradition goes back at least several generations. My wife thinks it goes back four or five generations.
In the old days, the farm families of Ohio would order Christmas gifts via mail catalogs. Delivery dates were always uncertain and many orders intended as Christmas gifts arrived late. As a result, at least in one family, the elf Bell Ringle would deliver late gifts on the first day of the New Year.
While quaint, this tradition has been impacting me through eleven years of marriage. Every year, my wife prepares Bell Ringle gifts for her family and they give her (and me!) Bell Ringle gift as well. In addition, as I take my wife and two sons on the road for Christmas, we give our kids their gifts from us on New Years Day. And of course Bell Ringle is the delivery man.
The family lore is that Bell Ringle is an old German tradition. However, my attempts to research Bell Ringle find nothing. So far, searches for Bell Ringle on the Web bring up zip as do variant searches on the name. Even New Years Elf brings up nothing that is related!
So, is Bell Ringle a new oral history tradition created by my wife's great grandparents? Or, is there some actual history here that I am missing? If anyone finds this post now or years in the future and has information on this, please leave a comment. I would appreciate more details.
Until then, Bell Ringle lives in my family. And I will be seeking out some more details on his origins.
- Wassailing - Caroling For Beer
Do you like Christmas Caroling? I will admit I do like it when carolers come by my house and sing. However, I am not big about going house to house and caroling myself. In part, this is because I am a lousy singer. However, I may well have been a caroler...
- Evolution Of Santa
Evolution of Santa. The History Channel provides this history of Santa Claus. It begins, "The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara,...
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Vasco da Gama. Explores da Gama's role as the knight commander of the military Order of Christ. Includes other biographical information and sketches. From the site: Dom Vasco da Gama was born circa 1469 at Sines and died on Christmas eve in Cochin,...
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A Crimean Diary - Details of the memorial and diary of sergreant William Jowett of Beeston, Nottinghamshire, who died as a result of wounds sustained in the Crimean conflict. From the site: William Jowett was born in 1830 in Breaston, Derbyshire, the...
- Mastery Learning
One of my students came back the other day lamenting that colleges do not offer second chance tests! Another teacher said, "As it should be!" But I was reminded that the doctor who helped bring my son Grant into the world had only delivered ten kids prior...