Morning Medieval Miscellany

A lot of people have done link round-ups over the last few days. It seems weird to be linking to other people linking to me linking ... it's an infinite regression of linkage! So, in order to prevent this from being entirely superfluous, I'll have a few non-medieval comments at the end.

• Start off here: Highly Eccentric is hosting Carnivalesque, with all sorts of linky goodness.
• Scribal Terror has a post about dog-headed St. Christopher.
• Jeff Sypeck has a review of Simon Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which he sums up by writing, "Having focused on diction while skimping on form, Armitage failed to engage me."
• Mary Kate Hurley discusses her upcoming article on blogging and Old English.
• If you are able to make it to Louisville between January 22nd and April 20th, the Speed Art Museum is hosting medieval treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum. h/t Medieval Material Culture Blog.
• Heavenfield has a belated Folklore Friday, this installment being St. Aldhelm's Loathly Lady.

And now, for my promised non-medieval anecdote: A friend who works with international students told me that they wanted to know where all the parties were this weekend. She was puzzled, and asked what parties they were talking about. They wanted to know where all the Martin Luther King, Jr. parties would be, and what exactly Americans did to celebrate that day.

Therefore, I propose the following MLK day traditions: Little boys all dress up like MLK (little girls like Rosa Parks) and go door-to-door. When people open the door, the children cry out, "I have a dream!" and the adults have to fill their bags with goodies. Then, that night, when all the kids are asleep, Rosa Parks will drive a bus full of gifts into the neighborhood, and MLK will slide down the chimney and leave gifts under the MLK Day shrubbery (purchased from Roger's Shrubbery on Highway 8). Instead of sending cards, we'll send each other letters postmarked from Birmingham jail.

Of course, there will also be local variations. For example, the Chicago River will be dyed rainbow colors, McDonalds will have seasonal shakes, and in New Orleans all the boys will dress up like Rosa Parks and all the girls like MLK.

So, now, if any foreigners ask you how we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, you'll have a ready answer. Perhaps when Labor Day rolls around I'll have some suggestions for that one too.