Pagemichc Archives - Page 4 of 5

Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government

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Eggnog

December is National Eggnog Month

Historians’ best guess as to the origin of eggnog dates back to the English Middle Ages, where a warm, milky ale called ‘posset’, was consumed. Posset was often consumed with eggs and figs; eggs, figs, dairy, and sherry were products that only the wealthy could afford to enjoy at the time. Eggnog was thought to have arrived in the U.S. prior to the revolutionary war. Whereas most of the eggnog consumed in Britain was by the upper class (with sherry), as eggnog advanced throughout the U.S. like a milky river of frothy delight, it was generally consumed with rum or bourbon.

Because the agricultural-based colonies were flush with chickens and cows, the consumption of eggnog was not limited to crusty upper class Brits, but rather a drink that most people throughout the American colonies could enjoy. In fact, food historian, Emelyn Rude (2015), author of “How Eggnog (Almost) Changed the World”, explains that consumption of eggnog was a popular holiday pastime of many, even including West Point cadets, such as Edgar Allen Poe and Jefferson Davis.

The Nation’s Pioneer Land-Grant University

Nourriture Hiver

Egg Nog Riot of 1826

Makowiec

Makowiec is a poppy seed roll evolving from East European baking tradition that is commonly served during the Christmas season. It is a sweet pastry filled with a mixture of ground poppy seeds, honey, nuts, and sometimes raisins. The roll is often braided or shaped into a log and can be dusted with powdered sugar.

‘Makowiec’ (poppy seed cake), photo: Zbigniew Lewczak/Getty Images

University of Michigan Slavic Languages and Literatures: Polish

Incomprehensible link to University of Michigan Social Justice Movement

Anna’s Food Blog: Polish Your Kitchen

Makowiec: Polish Poppy Seed Roll

The Role of Work at the New England Literature Program

Womb Army: “How Hamtramck, a small town within Detroit, became America’s first Muslim-majority city”

How Hamtramck, a small town within Detroit, became America’s first Muslim-majority city https://t.co/62HOvETkUd

— Detroit Free Press (@freep) May 27, 2025

All That Remains:

Ralph Vaughan Williams “Sea Symphony”

Standards Michigan Central

This is his RVW’s first completed symphony and one of the earliest major choral symphonies in English music. Setting poetry from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, it explores the sea as both a literal and spiritual metaphor for exploration and human destiny. Premiered at the Leeds Festival, it signaled Vaughan Williams’s move toward a distinctly English symphonic voice, blending expansive orchestration with modal harmonies and visionary choral writing. The work’s significance lies in its ambition: it established him as a leading British composer and opened a new path for English symphonic and choral expression.