Jim Regan - Site Reviews
'Silent Night Museum' and 'Ancient Origins of the Holidays'
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The Silent Night Museum was created to dispel a few myths, and present the "true story" behind the creation of Silent Night (as well as introduce visitors to the song's creators, Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber). The visual impact of the front page is a bit mixed -- a simple layout and deep background colors make for an attractive impression ... except for the way this understated design is countered by an intrusive banner ad at the top of each page (a much more noticeable intrusion than when such ads appear on visually 'busier' websites). A series of award and webring logos at the bottom of the home page also conflict with the quiet design, but they're easily avoided by visitors who wish to confine their attentions to the site's content.
After a brief welcome and a few introductory facts, the visitor will find an image of the museum's virtual doors, which lead to the Directory, and the choice between a thematic or direct exploration of the web site. Those preferring the latter will find a site index below the content area of each page -- though the overlap isn't complete, so it's probably best to survey both routes.
The thematic exploration begins with the life of Fr. Joseph Mohr, (son of a soldier and grandson of an executioner) who wrote the words to Silent Night in 1816. Next is Franz Gruber, the deputy organist who later took the poem and composed, "a suitable melody for two solo voices with choir and the accompaniment of one guitar." Attention is also given to an organ builder, and two families of travelling singers, who were largely responsible for spreading the song beyond the church where it was first performed. The last main offering of the Directory is War and Remembrance, which recounts the song's impact on service people in Vietnam, and the extraordinary Christmas Truce of 1914 -- where Silent Night/Stille Nacht was familiar to soldiers from both sides of No Man's Land.
At this point, the site index at the bottom of each page moves beyond the Directory offerings, including information about chapels and churches relevant to the story, Gruber's Music, which contains a RealAudio file replicating an 1818 arrangement of the song, News, with truly frightening possibilities for a 'Silent Night' movie, (past fictional treatments have included such elements as railroad barons and white slavery) and a recommended sites list.
The second site, Candlegrove's Ancient Origins of the Holidays, is a brief, but engaging look into how Pagan and Christian traditions have been folded together into Christmas celebrations. The first impression to strike the visitor (especially one who has come directly from the Silent Night Museum) is the brightness of the site -- pages are expanses of white, with more room dedicated to 'negative space' than to text and images. Like Silent Night, Ancient Origins uses basic visual design -- in fact, apart from a judicious sprinkling of images, the only other visual elements apparent are the larger typeface 'sub heads' that introduce new topics.
Organization is also basic, with four main sections to the site;
Solstice - looks at how this astronomical event has been marked, not only through history but around the world.
Sacaea/Saturnalia - introduces Egyptian, Persian and Roman celebrations of the season, and suggests a link between the Egyptian god Horus and the 12 Days of Christmas.
Yule - looks at Northern European winter traditions.
And Today - changing every day until Epiphany, lists 'date-related' Saints, legends and astronomical events.
While both destinations are attractive and interesting, neither is likely to take up a great deal of time -- but who has a great deal of spare time, this time of year? If, however, you've got a few minutes to stock up on some holiday trivia, the Silent Night Museum can be found at http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/museum/59/index.html, and Ancient Origins of the Holidays at http://www.candlegrove.com/home.html.
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.