Christmas and A Sprig of Parsley
Joseph Sébastine from Manningtree Archive, shared a remarkable story in his recent blog post entitled, “Christmas of Long Ago”. I had never heard that parsley could embody the spirit of Christmas. My gratitude to Jo, for giving me this profound and joyful story of Christmas.
I invite you to connect with Jo at Manningtree Archive. You are only an internet click away from exploring the legacies and artistry that have shaped the world of entertainment and literature – from the legendary Marlene Dietrich to Andrea Checchi; Maria Callas to Lynn Fontanne; Giacomo Puccini to Ennio Morricone; Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra to Maxwell Anderson.
A Christmas that happened many years ago…
In the early 1930s, The Adelaide Chronicle featured a series titled ‘Real Life Stories of South Australia,’ which engaged readers with personal narratives from the community. Among these stories, ‘A Sprig of Parsley penned under the pseudonym ‘Bert the Carpenter’ in 1934, stands out for its poignant recounting of a cherished memory.
Bert shared a touching story relayed to him by an elderly woman, who revealed her prized possession: delicate, dried leaves preserved between the pages of an old book. These leaves, she explained, were remnants from her childhood, when she and her family emigrated from Saxony to Australia in late 1853 aboard the Eisebrock (most likely the Iserbrook) a ship that carried around 70 German immigrants, including nearly 20 children.
The journey was arduous, extending into December, and the families faced the challenges of a prolonged voyage with strict rationing. However, amidst the hardships, a moment of joy emerged on Christmas Eve, when the families were invited into the saloon to behold a beautifully adorned Christmas tree, a small yet significant miracle that brought warmth and hope during their difficult journey.
Image created with Bing Co-Pilot using the prompt “a single sprig of parsley on a calm background.”
The lady, now almost ninety, recalled
“a real little pine tree standing on the table, with bright and fresh green leaves. Behind it stood the ship’s carpenter, an old man with a long white beard, looking like Santa Claus himself, and we learned that we owed the tree to him.
When leaving port he had put a little pine tree on board for just such a purpose…but when he went to look at it a few weeks before Christmas, he found that the rats had eaten all the needles off, leaving nothing but bare sticks. He was very disappointed, and, after trying to make artificial foliage, he had an inspiration.
From the ballast in the hold he took some earthy sand and washed all the salt out of it with some of his allowance of drinking water. Then he put it in a little basket, sowed parsley seed in it, and hung it at the head of the main-mast, where it would be out of reach of the salt spray. Twice a day he climbed that mast to water the parsley with fresh water from his drinking allowance, swearing the sailors to secrecy…On Christmas Eve he took the basket down again, got out the dead pine tree, and on each twig end he tied a fresh green parsley leaf.
We had been months at sea without seeing a flower or a blade of green grass; quite a lot of the older people had tears in their eyes when they saw what the old carpenter had done. We children could scarcely believe our eyes at first when we saw that the leaves were real.” State Library South Australia
From my house to yours, I wish you the joy of family, the warmth of friends and the gifts of laughter, peace and love.
Rebecca
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