【推荐1】Icelanders have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading. This custom is so deeply rooted in the culture that it is the reason for Christmas Book Flood, when the majority of books in Iceland are sold between September and December in preparation for Christmas giving.

“Books get attention here.” Says Baldur Bjarnason, a researcher who has written about the Icelandic book industry.

The small Nordic island, with a population of only 329,000 people, is extraordinarily literary (文学的). They love to read and write. According to a BBC article, “The country has more writers, more books published and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world… One in 10 Icelanders will publish a book.”

It seems there is more value placed on physical, paper books than in North America, where e-books have grown in popularity. One bookstore manager said, “The book in Iceland is such an enormous gift-you give a physical book. You don’t give e-books here.” The book industry is driven by the majority of people buying several books each year, rather than the North American pattern of a few people buying lots of books.

It sounds like a wonderful tradition, perfect for a winter evening. It is something that I would love to incorporate (吸收) into my own family’s celebration of Christmas.

【推荐3】Dragon Head Raising Day: time for a haircut

China is a country with many colorful days and festivals. The Dragon Head Raising Day (Longtaitou) is one of them.

This special day is on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar (阴历). It stands for (代表) the start of spring and farming. This year, the day fell on March 10.

The dragon is important in Chinese culture. We Chinese people call ourselves the “descendants (传人) of the dragon”. Therefore, people celebrate theDragon Head Raising Day with many customs about dragons.

On the day in ancient times, people put ashes (灰) in the kitchen. This was to “lead the dragon into the house”. People believed that with the help of the dragon, they could have a good harvest (收成) in autumn.

Also, people eat special foods on that day. The foods are usually named after dragons. For example, people eat “dragon whisker (细须)” noodles and dumplings called “dragon teeth”.

Today, many customs have faded away (消退). But one that has remained is the cutting of hair. It was said that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to the mother’s brothers. So many people have their hair cut on the Dragon Head Raising Day.

【推荐2】Sam is a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School, but poetry is still a big part of his life, now with a new teacher, Rafael Campo, who believes poetry can benefit every doctor's education and work. Rafael is a physician, professor and a highly respected poet.

“Poetry is in every encounter with my patients. I think healing is really in a very great way about poetry. And if we do anything when we're with our patients, we're really immersing ourselves in their stories, really hearing their voices. And, certainly, that's what a poem does,” he said.

Rafael worries that something important has been lost in medicine and medical education today: humanity, which he finds in poetry. To end that, he leads a weekly reading and writing workshop for medical students and residents.

He thinks medical training focuses too much on distancing the doctor from his or her patients, and poems can help close that gap.

Third-year resident Andrea Schwartz was one of the workshop regulars. She said, “I think there's no other profession other than medicine that produces as many poets as it does. And I think that is because there's just so much power in doctors and patients interacting when patients are at their saddest.” Not everyone believes that's what doctors should do, though.

Rafael said, “I was afraid of how people might judge me, actually. In the medical profession, as many people know, we must always put the emergency first. But, you know, that kind of treatment, if it's happening in the hospital, very regrettably, sadly, results in a bad outcome. The family is sitting by the bedside. The patient hasn't survived the cancer. Don't we still have a role as healers there?”

In a poem titled “Health”, Rafael writes of the wish to live forever in a world made painless by our incurable joy. He says he will continue teaching students, helping patients and writing poems, his own brand of medicine.