Why Prince William And Catherine Had A Red Carpet At Their Wedding Read More: https://www.nickiswift.com/1116261/why-prince-william-and-catherine-had-a-red-carpet-at-their-wedding

Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding was unlike any other. The two met in college in 2001, and although their relationship didn't start romantically, it didn't take long for them to connect (via People). Their relationship faced media scrutiny that at one point caused the couple to break up, but it didn't last long. By 2010 the two announced that they were engaged, and it was the following year the couple had a grand royal wedding.

The wedding marked a pivotal event in British history because Prince William will one day ascend to the throne. Having a royal wedding requires a lot of work as there are a lot of traditions the couple must follow (via Apartment Therapy). One fairly obvious tradition is asking the king or queen permission to be married; this is because of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772. In Prince William and Kate's case, they had to ask the late Queen Elizabeth II, which she granted (via ABC News). Another royal tradition is for some couples to marry at Westminster Abbey and while not all royals get married at that specific location, it is one of the many cathedrals that are rooted in the tradition.

It can be hard to keep up with all the traditions at a royal wedding because there are so many. What royalists may not know is how far into the details the royal family goes on the couple's special day. Even down to the carpet they walk on.

The preparation that goes into a royal wedding is intense and detailed. Even when it comes down to details like what carpet the couple walks on to tie the knot. Only certain royals get to walk down a red carpet. The reason is that the color red signifies an heir to the throne, as Hello! notes. As many may know, Prince William was the firstborn child of King Charles and the late Princess Diana (via Britannica). Because he was the firstborn, he automatically became heir to the throne. As heir to the throne, there are certain things bestowed to you — including a red carpet.

According to Hello!, William's father also walked down a red carpet when he married Princess Diana. And even further back, the late Queen Elizabeth II also walked down a red carpet. The tradition of only heirs walking down a red carpet continued in 2011 when Prince William married Kate Middleton. While only heirs can walk down a red carpet, there are other options for other royals to walk down on.

Blue carpets signify fidelity and loyalty (via Hello!). In 2018, Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank walking on a blue carpet. Princess Eugenie wasn't the only royal to choose blue, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne both chose the navy color. As for Prince William's brother, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle opted out of using a carpet and instead showed the lovely floors of St. George's Chapel.

Just like the red carpet, the reason Prince William didn't watch the bride walk down was rooted in tradition. The large church had a four-minute walk to get to the altar, and as Kate made that walk, Prince William never turned around (via Marie Claire). This was because it is customary in British culture for the groom to be the last person to see the bride. So, Prince William kept his back to the bride as she walked down the red carpet aisle.

It wasn't until Kate was by his side that the groom got a look at the bride's beautiful dress. Per Marie Claire, when Kate finally reached William's side, he made a comment about how "beautiful" she looked. The prince even made a joke to Kate's father, Michael. He shared (via Hello!), "We're supposed to have just a small family affair," poking fun at the hundreds of guests in attendance and the millions watching. Still, traditions continue to hold strong, especially when it comes to a royal wedding.

Source :Meghan Morris 

Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles III has been diagnosed with a form of cancer.

Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles III has been diagnosed with a form of cancer.

The King, who underwent surgical treatment for an enlarged prostate at the end of January, has today started cancer treatments, and will continue along with State business and official paperwork while stepping back from public duties for the time being.

Buckingham Palace announced that the King “has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”

King Charles, the Palace said, “is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure. He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”

Source :Royal central ,BBC

The Royal Caldelian Silver Jubilee Birthday emblem

 

The Monarch deer in the Royal Caldelian  holds symbolic significance across various cultural and religious contexts. In Christianity, the deer's antlers, resembling a crown, signify spiritual superiority and connection with the divine. The shedding and regrowth of antlers represent regeneration, mirroring themes of renewal and rebirth.

The Monarch of the Glen is one of the most famous British pictures of the 19th century; for many people it encapsulates the grandeur and majesty of Scotland’s highlands and wildlife. Here Landseer depicts a monumental and precisely defined ‘royal’ or twelve point stag – a reference to the number of points on its antlers

In Celtic tradition, the deer embodies both feminine and masculine elements, symbolizing femininity, grace, independence, and protection of the forest. The legend of Saint Eustace further reinforces the Christian symbolism of the deer, portraying it as a messenger of God and a symbol of piety and devotion.

For Native American tribes, the deer serves as a messenger, power animal, and fertility symbol. According to that tradition, deers are by nature timid and serene animals and their presence in a place represents the purity of a kingdom bereft of fear. There are also Tibetan legends in which deer help men to solve problems.

For the Silver Jubilee celebrations, an integration of the Green monarch butterfly is adding  another layer of symbolism. In Christianity, butterflies are associated with transformation and resurrection, reflecting spiritual growth and renewal. The butterfly's presence forms a central element of newness , symbolizing harmony and the pursuit of extraordinary realities. Green is often associated with life, growth, and prosperity in the Bible (Psalm 52:8). Consequently, a green butterfly can be seen as a symbol of spiritual growth or the prosperous journey a believer takes in developing a deeper relationship with God.

Green Monarch Butterfly 

Blue is associated with various meanings in the Bible, including heavenly or divine nature, royalty, and the commandments of God. In the Hebrew Bible, blue was a prominent color in the construction of the Tabernacle and priestly garments, symbolizing the connection with God. In the New Testament, the color blue is associated with heavenly visions and divine revelation. The blue color , reminiscent of heavenly or divine connections, complements the spiritual themes, while the crown atop the letter M reinforces regality and authority. 

The First Caldelian Emblem

The Blue Peony Flower, in dreams, symbolizes honest and truthful communication. The Blue Peony appears in dreams as an emblem of ambitious aspirations and a yearning for extraordinary realities. It inspires audacious pursuits and a quest for unique beauty beyond convention. Its presence encourages bold self-expression and the exploration of authentic truths. 

Blue peonies flowers 

The wreath of peonies , symbolizing glory and accomplishment, further enhances the logo's regal and calm narrative, encapsulating 25 years of triumph and honor. Together, these symbols emerge  to create an emblem  telling a story of regeneration, protection, and the pursuit of divine truths over a quarter-century journey.

History of Carols of the Bells

Although “Carol of the Bells” has become a popular tune during the holidays, the original lyrics had nothing to do with Christmas.

The song with a haunting four-note melody was originally a Ukranian folk song written as a “winter well-wishing song,” said Anthony Potoczniak, a Rice University anthropology graduate student who is studying the song’s history.

Written in 1916 by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovich and titled “Shchedryk,” the song tells the tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful year that the family will have. The song’s title is derived from the Ukrainian word “shchedryj,” which means “bountiful.”

“The swallow is a herald of spring coming,” Potoczniak said, referring to its possible pre-Christian origins. The original lyrics describe the swallow calling out to the master of the home and telling him about all the wealth that he will possess — healthy livestock, money and a beautiful wife.

For a Christmas concert, a choir director by the name of Oleksander Koshyts commissioned Leontovich to write a song based on Ukrainian folk melodies. Using the four notes and original folk lyrics of a well-wishing song he found in an anthology of Ukrainian folk melodies, Leontovich created a completely new work for choir – “Shchedryk.”

“Very few people realize that the composition ‘Shchedryk’ was composed and performed during a time when there was intense political struggle and social upheaval in Ukraine,” Potoczniak said. The same choir director who commissioned the song formed the Ukrainian National Chorus, mandated by a fledgling Ukrainian government, in 1919 to promote Ukranian music in major cultural centers in the West. Touring across Europe and North and South America, the chorus performed over 1,000 concerts. 

Meanwhile, back in Ukraine, the original folk melody that Leontovich used to compose his work was one of many well-wishing tunes sung in many Ukrainian villages on Jan. 13 — New Year’s Eve on the Julian calendar — usually by adolescent girls going house to house in celebration of the new year. As the girls sang the tune predicting good fortune, they were rewarded with baked goods or other treats.

A program for the Ukrainian National Chorus’s concert tour of American cities and universities in the fall and winter of 1922.Credit...Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv

The Ukrainian National Chorus did not limit its performances of “Shchedryk” to the Julian New Year, and the song became popular in other parts of the world as the choir introduced it to other nationalities, including the United States, where they first performed the song to a sold-out audience in Carnegie Hall Oct. 5, 1921.

When American choir director and arranger Peter Wilhousky heard Leontovich’s choral work, it reminded him of bells; so he wrote new lyrics to convey that imagery for his choir. He copyrighted the new lyrics in 1936 and also published the song, despite the fact that the work was published almost two decades earlier in Soviet Ukraine. In the late 1930s, several choirs that Wilhousky directed began performing his Anglicized arrangement during the Christmas holiday season.

Now called “Carol of the Bells,” the song has become associated with Christmas because of its new lyrics, which include references to silver bells, caroling and the line “merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas.”

American recordings of the song in English began to surface in the 1940s by such notable groups as Fred Warring and his Pennsylvanians, the Roger Wagner Chorale and Phil Spitalny’s “Hour of Charm All-Girl Orchestra.”

Since then the song has become a popular Christmas tune, particularly among choirs for whom the soprano-alto-tenor-bass arrangement of the song seems custom-made. The song’s opening lines, “Hark! How the bells, sweet silver bells,” coupled with the “ding, dong, ding, dong” countermelody, have been recorded in a variety of formats and styles – from standard choir arrangements to improvisational jazz to sultry soul. Last year at least 35 recordings of the song were available, Potoczniak said.

Despite the song’s ubiquitous presence during the holidays in the West, “Shchedryk” remains less popular in its country of origin, where songs like it are still performed on the eve of the Julian New Year.

Carols of the bells :

Source : Almond, B. J. (2004). ‘Carol of the Bells’ wasn’t originally a Christmas song. Rice University

Favorite Christmas Carol: What Sweeter Music can we bring

 

What Sweeter Music Than a Carol?

It seems to me there is no sweeter music than Christmas carols, especially the older ones—and by older ones I mean the really older ones, Medieval and Renaissance carols.  In the words of the 1964 edition of the Oxford Book of Carols they are, “songs with a religious impulse that are simple, hilarious, popular and modern…spontaneous and direct in expression;” true folk-poetry, popular, spontaneous and modern because they sprang from the lives that common folk were living right then, hilarious because of their roots in the dance.

But sometimes a really modern Christmas song, meaning twentieth- or twenty-first-century, moves easily beside the older carols.  One such number is John Rutter’s s What Sweeter Music, a setting of Robert Herrick’s 17^th-century poem A Christmas Caroll, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall (sung to King Charles I).

Rutter shortens the poem a bit, modernizes the spelling, dresses it in contemporary musical language, and turns out a carol that sounds ancient and fresh, all at the same time.

Rutter made some judicial choices in his setting of the text, and it’s fascinating to compare the lines he plucked out of Herrick’s poem with the original (Rutter’s selections are in red below):

Chor. What sweeter musick can we bring,
          Then a Caroll, for to sing

          The Birth of this our heavenly King?
          Awake the Voice! Awake the String!
          Heart, Eare, and Eye, and every thing
          Awake! the while the active Finger

From the Flourish they came to the Song.

I.        Dark and dull night, flie hence away,

          And give the honour to this Day,

          That sees December turn’d to May.

2.        If we may ask the reason, say;

           The why, and wherefore all things here

           Seem like the Spring-time of the yeere?

3 .       Why do’s the chilling Winters morne

           Smile, like the field beset with corne?

           Or smell, like to a Meade new-shorne,

           Thus, on the sudden? 4. Come and see

           The cause, why things thus fragrant be:

          ‘Tis He is borne, whose quickening Birth

           Gives life and luster, publike mirth,

           To Heaven, and the under-Earth.

Chor. We see Him come, and know him ours,

          Who, with His Sun-shine, and His showers,

          Turnes all the patient ground to flowers.

I.         The Darling of the world is come,

           And fit is, we finde a roome

           To welcome Him. 2. The nobler part

           Of all the house here, is the heart,

Chor. Which we will give Him; and bequeath

          This Hollie, and this Ivie Wreath,

          To do Him honour, who’s our King,

          And Lord of all this Revelling.

And here is Rutter’s carol:

Rutter sets the first four lines of the “chorus” in the signature carol melody (A), sung in unison by the women, and the three lines of the first stanza, in a new melody (B), sung in two-part harmony by the men, to create his own opening stanza.

He takes the first five lines of stanza 3—set to melody A but with variations—to create the first half of his next section.  And then he continues the rest of Herrick’s stanza 3 with a loose expansion of melody B.  But notice that the men open the section this time, mostly in unison, followed by the women in beautiful three-part harmony, a vocal mirror of his first stanza.

It is only at Rutter’s third section, which encompasses the remainder of Herrick’s poem, that the entire chorus finally sings in four-part harmony, perhaps a reflection of the words “We” and “ours.”  Even though he lumps these final lines together, he follows Herrick’s structure through various vocal combinations: melody A in four-part SATB for “We see Him come;” expanded melody B in four-part SSAT for “The Darling of the world is come;” and then building to the climactic words “honour” and “Revelling” with quickened vocal trading and free variations on both melodies.

Finally a gentle unison repeat by the entire choir of melody A, the most recognizable of the two melodies, with a four-part coda to bring it all to a quiet ending.

What sweeter music?  Old and new, it is all sweet.

Dr. Linda Gingrich

Artistic director and conductor

Master Chorus Eastside

Those who leave us to weather the storms can never gift us the sunshine we crave

In the world of artistry, there exists a profound connection between the artist and their canvas. Whenever I find myself seated behind that sacred surface, my hand instinctively strays from the path of replication and embarks on a journey of self-expression. Emotions surge within me, urging me to create a work that intertwines my unique style with the depths of my soul.

A painting by the writer ( Deviates from
the reference to creates a beautiful version of artiste imagination)

For me, the allure of paintings extends far beyond mere aesthetics. It is the stories that emanate from each brushstroke, the emotions meticulously portrayed, that truly captivate my heart. I appreciate the beauty of the scenes, certainly, but it is the underlying narrative that truly enchants me.

Every morning, as everyone begins a new day, my social media status transform into a gallery of paintings and sculptures that express the core of my emotions. In doing so, I intend to convey the kaleidoscope of thoughts  that make up the fabric of my personality , as well as provide a glimpse into the tapestry of my inner self.

The writer and his art work 

Yet, hidden amidst the vibrant colors and evocative imagery lies a tale of yearning—the longing for a comforting presence during life's storms. There are times when you feel the weight of the tempest pressing down on you, urgently seeking a sheltered harbour, only to discover that people you thought would bring solace have abandoned you. Even the strongest of hearts can be shattered in such a situation. 

In the midst of these consideration, I am drawn to Pierre-Auguste Cot's masterwork, "The Storm."

The Storm (1880).By

Pierre-Auguste Cot

(French, 1837-1883). Oil

on canvas

Painted with remarkable skill, it serves as a poignant reminder of how a helping hand finds us amidst the turmoil. In a world that often showcases happy faces and renewed hope, it is easy to overlook the hidden figures who provide comfort, love, assurance, and shoulder the responsibility for the smiles we witness.

When Cot unveiled this painting at the Salon of 1880, the subject that inspired him became a topic of speculation among his contemporaries. Some proposed the French novel "Paul and Virginie" by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, where teenage protagonists seek refuge under an overskirt during a rainstorm, fashioning an impromptu umbrella. Others looked to the ancient Greek romance "Daphnis and Chloe" by Longus, finding resonance with the couple running from the rain, sheltered by billowing drapery.

The Writer at an Art Gallery in Accra 

One day, while descending from the mountaintop, I saw Virginie running from one end of the garden toward the house, her head covered by her overskirt, which she had lifted from behind her in order to gain shelter from a rain shower. From a distance I had thought she was alone, but upon coming closer to help her walk I saw that by the arm she held Paul who was almost entirely covered by the same blanket. Both were laughing together in the shelter of this umbrella of their own invention.

As I delve into the stories behind these inspirations, one narrative emerges from the depths of my own experiences. I recall a time when I, too, sought sanctuary in the face of a storm, yearning for a guiding hand to shield me from the downpour. It was during this tumultuous period that I encountered my own Paul a soul who enveloped me in the warmth of a protective skirt, assuring me that everything would be well.

Today, I find myself laughing and gleaming uncontrollably, because I had the good fortune with one that extended their care to me in a moment of distress. The sight of them fills my heart with gratitude, reminding me of the enormous might we have to impact the lives of people around us.  It is a challenge for solidarity, propelling us to be the lighthouse for those traversing their own tumultuous waters.

The writer loves painting  

As I pen these words, their cadence dances upon the page, creating a symphony of resilience, compassion, and the profound connections that shape our existence. I implore each soul to embody these virtues, to be the shelter and the steadfast hand that offers unwavering support. In our simple acts of kindness, in heartfelt conversations and words of encouragement, we become the unwritten chapter in the stories of those around us.

1899 cartoon Version of the “The storm” showing peace fleeing from War

While some disappointments may arise when those we expect to be our anchors falter, I caution against dwelling on such heartbreak. Those who leave us to weather the storms can never gift us the sunshine we crave. Instead, let us focus on the rays of light that warm our spirits, on the individuals who go beyond expectations to bring us the radiance of their love and support.

As I conclude this tale, the beauty of its words lingers in the air, like a gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of a blooming garden. May we heed the lessons of resilience and compassion.  In embracing our role as the unseen figures that bring comfort and assurance to others, we create a world where storms may rage but are never strong enough to extinguish the light of kindness, empathy, and love.

By Mark Ofosu Asirifi ( The Royal Caldelian Mark )