HEY, FLUFFY!!!!

We were supposed to be here two weeks ago.

SHUT UP!!! Erm... I mean

Wes gonna sing for you!!!?

Hope ya like carolers!!!

(turns in instrumental on phone)

We hope you liked it!

Merry Christmas, Fluffy!!!!

OOO CAROLERS!! AWWWW MY FAVORITE BROS OFC I LOVE CAROLERS >W<

"Merry Yule Carollers"

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Digital collage inspired by European folklore.

The Winter Solstice Sabbath was visited by four of my favorite holiday creatures. Do you recognize them? 🐐💀🐮🐈‍

🐐 The goat is Joulupukki - literally "Yule/Christmas Goat" in Finnish. It brings gifts in Scandinavia. In the period after the holidays, people dressed as goats went from house to house, singing songs and asking for leftovers. They often scared children too.

💀 The horse skull is Mari Lwyd - "Grey Mare" from Wales. The skull in the sheet with glass eyes. Together with a group of people, at Christmas time, she knocked on houses and sang a song in which she asked to be let in. The residents of the house sang why Mari Lwyd could not enter. The dialogue between the two sides (known as pwnco) continued until the residents of the house ran out of excuses or rhymes. Then Mari could Lwyd enter and was given beer and food.

🐮 The bull is Turoń - in Polish "tur" is "aurochs", an extinct type of wild cow from Europe, but Turoń often resembles more the child of a crocodile and a goat than a cow… Turoń was horned, usually black and snapped its mouth from which the tongue often hung out. Together with a group of people and strange creatures, he went from house to house around the holidays. They scared people, sang songs, made jokes and ate leftovers.

🐈‍ The cat is Jólaköttur - called the Yule Cat, also called the Bloodthirsty and Christmas Cat, originally from Iceland. He lurks during the holidays and eats people who are not wearing something new.

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The Mechanicsburg Solstice Festival, that is!

(The first page of “A Mechanicsburg Solstice Story” was posted on Monday, November 30, 2020.)

This extremely festive and fun page was posted to the Girl Genius website as bonus art, on December 23, 2024. It is titled "Scenes of Mechanicsburg: The Monster Guild Carolers". It served as a substitute for a page of the comic, to give the Foglios time to relax a bit during last year's (real world) holiday season. This year, Phil has managed to build up a buffer of pages, so it isn't known whether or not there will be any break in the story before the end of 2025.

Obviously, I had forgotten the title of this page when I made my post for the ninth day of Solstice (Scenes of Mechanicsburg #1: Following the Snowplow Brothers), in which I said that I was unaware of any other scenes of Mechanicsburg drawn by Phil.

Greetings!!!

Hope ya aren't mean to carolers!!!

Dude! No, that's not what you say!!

Then what do I say?

Wed like to sing a song for you!

Oh.

(turns on instrumental on phone)

We hope you liked it!

The LORD bless you, Wisdom!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Oooh, that was…mm….that was amazing! Thank you so much for this!!💙💙