Yuletide Yarns: Stories of Newfoundland and Labrador Christmases Gone By

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, and the author of The Salvation
Army and the Public.

“Any jannies in de night?” If you do not understand that sentence,
this collection of 24 Christmas novelties from
Newfoundland—descriptions of customs, fictional stories, Christmas
memories, and (oddly enough) Christmas tragedies—will enlighten you.
Many of the pieces are by the editors (e.g., Mike McCarthy’s “Going
Out in the Mummers or Jannies” and McCarthy and Lannon’s “The
Christmas Tree Tradition in Newfoundland”). Most, such as P.K.
Devine’s “A Glimpse of Christmas in the Olden Times” and
“Christmas at Hopedale, Labrador (1892),” are extracted from old,
forgotten publications. While the whole suffers from the absence of a
good introduction, and a superficiality of treatment with respect to the
customs, Yuletide Yarns is nevertheless a worthwhile introduction to the
Christmas customs of a distinctive society.