The Time Between the Years
Hello to all my friends in Chelmsford, many of whom I had the great pleasure to see last month. Whether we chatted at the Cathedral Christmas Market or shook hands at the Civic Society talk, it was a delight meeting you! And since we are friends now, I can be honest: writing this January column has been truly rough as it has required diligence during Twelfthide, one of Germany’s most unproductive seasons. Even for disciplined Swabians, the “time between the years” as it is known in German, is a blissful time of socially sanctioned idleness and domestic retreat. After the hubbub of advent, life comes to a halt on December 25 th and, with the exception of those hitting the slopes, stays shut down until Epiphany. If we look closer, this winter cocooning is not some modern Tik-Tok trend but rather an ancient practice delivered up from pre-Christian times. It is enmeshed with the suspicions surrounding the solstice which held that evil spirits were underway in...
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