Aine Minogue Celebrates Hope In Celtic Holiday Traditions, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker Celebrate Hope in the Traditions of Slaves, Stories of Hope from Noa Baum and more.

Irish harpist Aine Minogue shares stories of mid-winter traditions like visiting friends, decorating with evergreens, and summoning longer days. She also plays traditional tunes of the season and sings about a creature from the Land Beneath the Sea. Slaves in the American South sang and shared stories to keep their sense of hope alive. Husband and wife duo Sparky and Rhonda Rucker share stories of what slaves could expect at the holiday season, and a hog tale of the trickster High John the Conqueror, along with old-time spirituals. Israeli-American storyteller Noa Baum shares a couple of stories that she believes keep hope alive: a traditional, Eastern European tale about the importance of stories, and the true recollection of a Pakistani who discovers that his family tree includes people from all over the world and of all faiths. -- The Living on Earth newsletter now features new in-depth analysis and commentary! Sign up at loe.org/newsletter.