From the other side: Christmas in China

Photography & original artwork

Cleanse your mind:Alternative Christmasfilms

Craft & the garden in winter

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The team:

Editor – Katie ErringtonWebsite design – Edward CaineLayout & graphic design – Alex Terry

Cover image:

Alex Terry, 'Lilies' used with kind permission

Contributors:

James Errington, Niraj Davé, Alex Terry, B.J. Spyker, Becca Schaffner, Owain Paciuszko, Ashley Tallyn, Rachel Backa and Kats Bilous

Cassiopeia Magazine aims to promote original writers and artists. We will consider all contributions although we are unable to pay for them. Reproduction of the magazine,in part or in full, without the permission of Cassiopeia Magazine is strictly prohibited.

Cassiopeia “she whose words excel”

December 2011

HELLO and welcome to the first ever issueof Cassiopeia Magazine, home of creativearts and reviews. Our first offering isbrought to you as an antidote to Christmascheer. We have a review of alternative Christmas films, a glimpse into Christmas from the other side of the world and some unexpected Christmas ornamentsto make. And for the traditionalists we have some delicious Christmas recipes & tips for the garden in winter. Thanks to our generous and talented contributors we also have a wonderful range of original writing and visual art for you to enjoy.

Cassiopeia is a new magazine founded on the principle of showcasing new talent, so if you would like to take part or contribute to the next

issue please email us at submit@cassiopeiamagazine.co.ukA merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. - Katie Errington, Editor

FEATURESFrom the other side – Christmas in China by James Errington 2Poetry – A selection of poems from N. Dave 4Visual arts – Photography by Alex Terry 5Poetry – Sonnets by B.J. Spyker 6Visual arts – Original artwork by Becca Schaffner, 7

REVIEWSHanif Kureshi – Niraj Davé reviews 'Intimacy' 8Newton's Cradle - Owain Paciuszko reviews an alternative choice of Christmas film 9

CREATIVE INSPIRATIONRecipes – Meringue and Mincemeatby Rachel Backa and Kats Bilous 10 -11Craft tutorial – Pac-man Christmas ornaments by Ashley Tallyn 12-14Braving the cold – The garden in winter by Katie Errington 15

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Christmas in China – James Errington

"What are your plans for Christmas?"Cut to a group of nervous-looking college students, dressed in the latest fashions, standing outside an upmarket shopping centre."I'm going shopping and having a meal with friends""Nothing""I'll go shopping"That's Christmas in China. A foreign novelty that doesn't mean much to anyone, and, well, why should it? Thinkof what Chinese New Year means to you - probably even less. The difference is that even the smallest of hairdressers here in Beijing feels the need to decorate their windows with tinsel or stick up the same mass-produced picture of the "Christmas Old Man", whereas British shops don't feel a similar need to decorate themselves with lanterns and dragons every Spring Festival.

“even the smallest of hairdressers here in Beijing feels the need to decorate their windows with tinsel”

In spite of this imbalance in cultural trade, there is little prospect of the Chinese celebrating Christmas in any way we would recognise. As a religious holiday it lacks any sort of base, as a cultural one it exists as a series of images, and nothing else - green, red and sparkly with a picture of Father Christmas is as close as anyone's going to get. There are Christmas sales, but this is just an advertising ploy – and since when was shopping on Christmas day a tradition? Even the concept of giving gifts doesn't translate. The Chinese tend to give money in red envelopes to children, and health food or cigarettes to old people. If these gifts are wrapped, the custom is to open them later, on your own, so as not to seem too greedy. The concept of keeping a box and waiting to open it in front of the giver is, apparently, laughable.

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As an integratively-minded foreigner it may seem that Christmas is an easy thing for me to skip, but it's really not that easy. My mental map of the year has a highway running through it, leading to December 25th. If it's not there, it seems the road fizzles out and leads nowhere. Chinese New Year is nice enough, but I'm never really going to have a personal connection with it. Christmas is always going to be the official end of the year to me, however far away I am, and whoever I'm with.

Next week I'll spend my fifth Christmas in China. Each one has been different, and all have been nice enough novelties, but with an underlying grumbling feeling of missing something. The first I spent in a small town with a group of other foreigners, mostly Americans, and brought home how much the holiday I know is a British one with little in common with the rest of the Western world. We had a party with real eggnog (which, it seems, isn't advocaat), yankee present swap (like in the US version of 'The Office') and shared Christmas stories (which was just strange and uncomfortable for the group of suddenly-very-English people present). We had Chinese food for our Christmas meal; there really wasn't any other option.

The second Christmas was spent in a cold flat in Beijing with my burly, wisecracking American flatmate Aaron. We ordered Christmas lunch from the Italian restaurant that seemed to supply almost everything he ate, then tried to watch 'If....' - at which point the DVD player broke, and we had a festive trip to the electronics market to buy a new one. It was, pretty much, just another day.

The third Christmas found me living with my soon-to-be-wife in another shared flat in Beijing. I wrapped a few gifts in the most colourful paper I could find (white, plain), and we had stir-fried chicken and potatoes with gravy made from Bisto powder I'd bought in England, served with packet-mix mulled wine. It wasn't perfect, but actually it was pretty close.

The fourth Christmas was spent in the house I still share with my (then heavily pregnant) wife and her family. This time a minor effort was made to make it as realistic as possible - a tree, some lights, and a roast dinner. That last item took more than a minor effort as it involved buying an oven - Chinese food, as vast and varied as it is, doesn't involve roasting, baking, grilling or toasting outside of a restaurant setting. Having lugged the thing home I realised how small it was (no bigger than a large microwave) and had to change my plans a little. A very small chicken was bought, and vegetables were piled on either side up to the top. After a few hours' cooking, and a few complaints about the usage of electricity, dinner was served and politely tried by everyone. We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which went down well, and “Scrooged,” which didn’t.

As I write this there is a week to go before Christmas. There are no lights up in the house, nobody is remotely excited, and there's no talk about the number of sleeps left or last minute Christmas shopping. Even after five years, that just seems wrong. The good news is that our son (currently unaware of the pile of presents he has to tear open next week) will have two sets of holidays to celebrate each year. Hopefully his excitement will give my wife a feeling for Christmas and me a feeling for Chinese New Year. Otherwise, well, there’s always emigration.

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A selection of poems – N.J. Davé

NOT KNOWING MOMENTSomedays, it is Have you heard the rain when it falls?The hardest thing. When it falls, it calls out loudWe cannot speak That it is raining, before it hits the ground.And my eyes pulse It is a flood all around, it is a veilTrying to emit Of purity which runs down, it is the rainUnderstanding. And there is nothing here, love, except love, love,

Stuttering through Nothing but the rain which reigns when it falls.‘This’, we are gettingThere, ‘Is something good’.To the hardest thing. Slowly.

LEECHLeech woke me up suddenly in the middle of the night. ‘God!’ I cried. ‘You might have said, you gave me such a fright’.‘There’s something deep inside,’ he replied, ‘which burns out of control.I’ve been long in your company – now I have to find my soul’.

He started off at quite a pace – I called out, from afar,‘You won’t find another place that’s as safe as in my jar’.‘That cell?’ he retorted. ‘I need some space! Something vast and huge and strange’.‘Trash’, thought I. ‘He’ll come back home just as soon as the weather changes’.

But he didn’t. I lay there in bed until one day a postcard arrived.‘All enjoyments here, for free! After all the years you’ve strived!You’re a fool to remain!’ Something tugged within, strained my very soulBut I haven’t gone. I guess he’s happier now, ever since he found his hole.

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'Lilies' - Alex Terry

This image was created using a long exposure and variable lighting from an iPad. See more of Alex's work at www.alexterry.co.uk

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Sonnets of Light and Darkness – B.J. Spyker

Darkness

A twisted cord of silence danced a song;A line of subtle joy and mirth. The strandsOf gold were wrought, all holding tales of landsNow ancient and forgotten. Shining dawnWould break, the string has told, and life was drawnFrom wells of liquid breath. The rolling sandsOnce flooded brilliantly, then held by handsSo skilled, to coloured glass was formed, then shone.Then darkness came. It slipped in quietlyAt first. It stared at endless lines of gold,All turned upon themselves to form the signOf power, light, and peace. A living sea.“An Alexandrian solution holdsThe key,” then struck, then broke the golden line.

Light

A reeling cry and day was split. A whine,Then shriek, of twisted thrill unbounded. ColdBegan to spread o’er dying silence. OldAnd aching, silence ended, breaking time.A blast then struck the glass, so crystallineAnd shining, raining coloured shards. Untoldlay pieces crushed and beat to dust. The boldAnd blackened prince stood tall amidst the fineGlass, coloured pins, which held, unknown, a dreamThat held to darkness. Soon began to danceA silver line of light. It reached alongTo grasp the scattered seas of glass, formed seamsAcross the darkness. Threads of silence glancedThrough crystal light, the pattern of the song.

B. J. Spyker wishes to have lived in a time when being an unemployed literary dandy was a perfectly valid career path.

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'Bird' - Becca Schaffner 7

Book review

Intimacy- Hanif Kureishi (1998) ‘I have had a surplus of emotional experience with men, women, colleagues, parents, acquaintances. I have read, thought and talked for years. Tonight, how will any of it guide me?’ Raw, passionate, pleading for understanding, we see a crisis of faith in a faithless world experienced by Jay the narrator of Kureishi’s ‘best book so far’ according to The Times. Kureishi’s novel speaks directly to and for the narrator’s middle-aged generation; brought up on the excitement of the ‘60s, broken by the ‘70s and ‘80s, and reaching a point of national and international crisis at the turn of the new millennium. Jay wants to leave, depart, exit from his relationship, his attachment to his wife and kids, but throughout continually questions exactly what this means – what is a departure? What can you/do you leave behind when you go? Touching, beautifully conjured images, and raw, very raw, throughout, what makes ‘Intimacy’ stand out from other novels of our time is its unrelenting focus on the question at hand. There are no bypasses, no diversions – this is a brutal, straight-forward attempt to answer for a “crime”, a “wrongdoing” which is effectively inexplicable. A very strong claim to be the last great novel of the previous century.

Niraj Davé

Niraj Dave lives and works in Manchester. He read English at the University of Leicester, and studied for an MA Medieval English Literatures at the University of York. One of his poems was a runner-up in the University of Leicester's GS Frazer Poetry Prize 2007.

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An Alternative Christmas Film – Owain Paciuszko

Ah, the festive spirit, sitting around the tree, the electric heater roaring in the corner, a freshly microwaved mug of value mulled wine in your mitts and the smell of burning livestock coming in waves from the kitchen. After a busy morning tearing a forest worth of paper from an assortment of things you forgot you said you wanted (for good reason), it's time to slump into the sofa and stare fixedly at the television hoping to ignore the fact that you have a family and you're supposed to be spending time with them.

There are plenty of tried and tested Christmas films to slap a smile on your full fat post-lunch face, such classics as It's A Wonderful Life and its heart-warming tale of a suicidal small-town businessman, or A Christmas Carol in which a hard-working grumpy bastard is tormented by the undead until he buys his employee some toys, or Home Alone in which a family's plan to have their son murdered by two burglars goes horribly awry when he manages to fend them off with micro machines.

Of course, there are some great films set at Christmas that can be snuck into an evening's vegetating, films such as Die Hard, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gremlins and LA Confidential. But does a Christmas film need to be setat Christmas to feel Christmassy? For me, as someone who generally associates snow with the festive season, any wintry white movie can become a holiday treat, snuggle up next to the ones you love (be that your family or your polygamous partners) and enjoy kidnapping and betrayal in Fargo or a shape-shifting alien taking over some men with beards in The Thing.

Additionally, I associate The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear with Christmas because I distinctly remember getting it on VHS one year, and I can still feel the contours of that garish pink case in my mind's, er, hands.

For me though, if there's one film that sums up the Christmas spirit it has to be Terry Gilliam's Brazil, which isset at Christmastime to boot. The highly relatable story of a bored office worker who finds happiness only in his fantasies. He is pushed around, manipulated and betrayed by the system he works for whilst at the same time going, rather mad, in pursuit of the 'girl of his dreams' who he suspects might actually be a terrorist (we've all been there). The film ends with a series of the best middle-finger twist endings in cinema and some of the creepiest most harrowing fantasy imagery ever committed to screen. One of its main thrusts, and one very appropriate for the festive season, is in examining and satirising a material society, opening with a television commercial for 'unsightly ducts' and having old ladies worryingly obsessed with ultimately disfiguring plastic surgery!

It resonated even more so with me last Christmas when I received my Secret Santa present at the work dinner, it was a Newton's Cradle and the first thing that popped into my head as I saw it when cautiously removing the wrapping was:

"Something for an executive."

A line repeated throughout Brazil as Jonathan Pryce's Sam receives asuccession of exactly the same office trinket as a gift. Suddenly a chill ran down my spine, I had become Sam Lowry, only free in my dreams, hopefully Robert DeNiro will turn up to my flat soon and do my plumbing, either that or I'll just get lobotomised by Michael Palin...

Merry Christmas everyone.

Owain Paciuszko writes waffle for a bunch of websites, he makes short films and music videos for his own amusement and plays keyboards/'sings' in a band. He grew up in Cornwall, studied in Wales and currently lives in London. When he grows up he wants to be a space captain. http://quackspout.blogspot.com/

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Recipe for Mincemeat – Kats Bilous

I’m now into my eighth year of being a student, and while I love what I do, it isn’t especially lucrative. Therefore, for the past few years I have been making a lot of Christmas presents myself, of the edible variety.I have learned a lot while doing this. There are some recipes you can play around with (biscuits) and some you absolutely can’t (jam). Relying on the postal service to get things to other countries before they disintegrate into crumb-atoms or melt into a sugary ooze is sometimes a mistake. Fudge is best stirred with an extremely long-handled wooden spoon to avoid horrific burns. And peppermint creams are surprisingly difficult to detach from one another if left to their own devices for a few hours (my kitchen is still recovering from the Great Windowsill Incident of 2010). However, all of these pitfalls aside, making home made Christmas presents is fun, economical, personal, and, if you’re lucky, gives you some interesting scars to talk about at parties.This year, amongst other things, I made mincemeat. The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a domestic goddess and, as a bonus, does not contain suet, making it perfect for festive vegetarians everywhere.

250g soft dark sugar250ml medium-dry cider1kg cooking apples, peeled, halved and quartered½ teaspoon mixed spice½ teaspoon ground cinnamon250g currants250g raisins75g natural-coloured glacé cherries, chopped75g blanched almonds, choppedrind and juice of ½ lemon90ml (6 tablespoons) brandy or rum4 x 500g preserving (or old jam) jars and lids

1) Dissolve the sugar in the cider over a gentle heat in a large saucepan.2) Roughly chop the apples, and add them to the pan.3) Add all the other ingredients except the brandy or rum and simmer for 30 minutes, or until everything looks pulpy.4) While this is happening, sterilise the jars. First, wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water. Then boil the kettle and fill each jar to the brim with boiling water. Put the lids into a bowl filled with boiling water. Leave them for at least ten minutes, then tip out the water when the mincemeat is ready to go into the jars.5) When the mincemeat is ready, take it off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Stir in the brandy or rum6) Spoon into sterilised jars. Make sure to screw the lids on tightly!

Kats Bilous is studying for a PhD at the Centre for Medieval Studies in York. In her spare time, she enjoys

crafting, baking and writing.

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Recipe for Meringues – Rachel Backa

They're delicious. They seem fancy. They're deceptively easy to make, and if something goes terribly wrong,they're still delicious. Gluten-free too. Meringues are something I've only started making recently, frightened off by the misguided notion that 'if it doesn't involve flour it must be difficult. I'm sure other people have this thought, which means that you'll seem all the more impressive when you make these! The only downside is you really need an electric mixer(hand-held is fine, upright is better), since trying to get egg whites to stiffen with a whisk isn't a task for the faint of heart or wrist. Not saying it couldn't be done, just that I wouldn't recommend it.

Four Egg Whites1/2 tsp Salt1/4 tsp vinegar (or 1/8 tsp cream of tartar. I just tend to have the aforementioned liquids on hand regularly.)2 tsp vanilla1 cup white granulated sugar. (If you want, vanilla sugar would be amazing in these, I think.)

Lightly beat the egg whites until they're just a little foamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and whip until stiff peaks form. This could take upwards of ten to fifteen minutes to happen. Don't get over-zealous and overwhip them, because if you do the egg foam will start to separate, and instead of lovely light fluffy sugared egg whites, you'll get with sweet clumps of eggy mess. It's harder to do than I make it sound, and you will have some wiggle room, but just make sure you don't walk off leaving the project unsupervised.

Now, if you want to leave these babies plain, they'll be delicious. If you want to add anything to them be it chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or crushed candy canes, gently fold in about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of your preferred addition.

Place spoonfuls on trays lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet. Trust me, you need something between your meringues and your metal baking tray, otherwise you will never be able to remove them in a single piece. You'll have a lovely ingredient for pavlova, but you meringue endeavours will be thwarted.

Now, depending on whether you like your meringues crunchy or fluffy, bake in two separate manners.

For delightfully crunchy meringues:Place in 325 degree/gas mark 3 oven for about twenty to twenty five minutes. If you like them really crunchy and don't mind if they're slightly golden in colour, leave them in for a half hour.

For deliciously fluffy meringues:Place in 200 degree/gas mark 1/4, or the lowest your oven will go for one and a half to two hours. You'll end up with a lovely almost marshmallowy texture this way.

Light and sweet, these go wonderfully with a glass of hot chocolate.

Rachel is a (currently) out-of-work medievalist and recent York graduate who resides in Canada. She has anodd fascination with hedgehogs and a newly-found love of vintage radio dramas. She thinks baking is the perfect form of both stress-relief and procrastination, and looks for any excuse to try something new.

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Pac-man Christmas Ornaments – Ashley Tallyn

You will need:

Brightly coloured feltWaddingNeedle and threadGlueAn ornament hook or short loop of ribbon

Step 1:Cut out the paper pattern on page 14 and use this as a guide to cut out two pieces of felt for each colour. The standard colours for the ghosts are red, pink, orange, light blue and dark blue, if you want to have the dazed ghosts. Pac-man is yellow.

Step 2: Cut some padding out to cover the middle of each felt character. You want the padding to be roughly 2-3mm away from the edges. Pin the padding in between two pieces of felt.

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Step 3:Using black (or another dark colour) thread, stitch along the edge of the two pieces of felt. Try to keep your stitches as even as possible as they are as much a decorative feature as a way of holding your character together.

Step 4 (for the four primary ghosts – for Pac-man and the dark blue ghosts, see below):Cut out two white circles of felt for the eyes, approximately 1.5cm in diameter, and glue them down on the upper third of the ghost. There should be some space above them, but they should not be in the exact centreof the ghost. Then cut out two smaller, dark blue circles and glue them onto the white eyes. They should be off to one side of the eyes, so that the ghost appears to be looking in one direction rather than straight ahead.

You do not need eyes for the Pac-man.

For the dark blue ghosts, instead of the white and dark blue eyes, cut two squares from the lighter blue felt. These squares should be about the same size as the dark blue pupils on the other ghosts. Glue them into thesame general area of the eyes on the regular ghosts. They should be looking straight ahead, however, not off to one side. Cut a rectangle about 1x4cm, also out of the light blue felt. Cut this down to a zigzag and glue onto the lower third of the ghost. Make sure the mouth is turned down rather than up.

Step 5:Thread an ornament hook through one of the stitches at the top of each character. If you have stitched tight enough, the thread shouldn’t stretch too much, felt and a bit of padding shouldn’t be heavy enough to stretch it.

Alternatively, you can glue a hoop of ribbon on the inside to use as a hook. If you are going to do this, be sure to glue it before you stitch around the outside.

Ashley Tallyn is an American living in North Yorkshire studying for a PhD in bioarchaeology. She says “I enjoy doing crafts partially because I find it a great way to relax, unwind and get my research out of my head on an evening. “

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Patterns – Ghost and Pac-man

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Braving the cold, winter in the garden – Katie Errington

Winter is not traditionally the time when most people think about gardening. Recent years have seen snowfall that obliterated plants and gardens. Even during warm winters frosts tend to harden the ground and plants die back as night-time temperatures fall. But just because we’re spending the darker nights inside in the warm doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for the spring, or even get a little creative with our gardens.

One of the most important things you can do for your garden in the winter is to start a new compost bin. As temperatures fall your compost bin stops breaking down the material I put inside. Scraps are essentially refrigerated during the frosts or frozen when it snows. The result of thisis that the compost bin becomes full very quickly, but rather than throw away the peelings from your roasties on Christmas day why not start an overflow compost to pick up the extra scraps?

Having two compost bins will also come in useful come spring time because you can transfer un-rotted material from one bin to another to aid aeration and to make it easier to harvest the good-quality hummus at the bottom of the bins. Enter your postcode at www.getcomposting.com to find out if you can get a compost bin at a price subsidised by your local council. In many areas of the UK large compost bins are available for as little as £10.

Winter in the garden also provides a golden opportunity to repair anything that has broken or become dilapidated. When the throngs of foliage die back they often reveal areas in need of repair. This year, for example, I’ve been using a hanging basket with a card liner that’s become torn, so this winter I'll be replacing it.

If you have lots of plants in pots that you’d like to protect from the worst of the winter then now is also the timeto wrap them up and consider moving them to a warmer spot until spring. Doing so can prevent damaged roots and cracked pots too. The perfect insulation material is readily available this time of year too – bubble wrap. Sothe next Amazon parcel that arrives might turn out to be a gift for your garden after all.

If you’re on the lookout for new planters then Christmas time can be a great opportunity to get your hands on recycled pots. Look out for sweets that come in large tins, plastic pots or buckets. Almost anything can be transformed into pot as long as you remember to drill a few small holes in the bottom to allow for drainage. If you’re not too keen on planting roses in a tin labelled ‘Quality Street’ then you can always paint over the design using outdoor emulsion. If you’re feeling creative you could even stencil on your own motif or plant name onto the pot. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for plastic trays that can be used as planting modules. Boxes of biscuits are often packed in plastic trays that make great planters for seedlings. Just wash the trays out thoroughly before filling them with compost and remember to make a few holes in the bottom of each module with a pin to allow excess water to drain out. Finally winter is a great opportunity to plan what to do with your garden in the new year, to stock up on the seeds that you want to plant in spring and to clean your gardening tools ready for the mad rush of spring.

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