Minisode: The Jingle Bells Story (Christmas 2025)

December 21, 2025December 21, 2025 / Joe / Leave a comment

Audio: Jingle Bells (Christmas 2025)

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’re exploring the story behind the writer of the most well-known secular Christmas song: Jingle Bells, and some of its surprising backstory. We also reflect on whether AI will replace Luke, Mark or Joe first, and take on the now-traditional festive quiz where Luke tests how much trivia from our back-catalogue we can recall. From all of us, have a very merry festive season, and we’ll see you in 2026.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Vancouver, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

The coversheet of One Horse Open Sleigh, by James Lord Pierpont, the original title of Jingle Bells (photo from Wikimedia Commons – Public Domain)

Minisode: Christmas Quizzes 2024

December 23, 2024December 23, 2024 / Joe / Leave a comment

Audio: Christmas Quizzes 2024

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’re exploring (in the format of festive trivia and quizzes) winter celebrations from around the world, and diving into our back-catalogue to test our memories of explorations past. Grab a cup of cocoa or egg nogg and enjoy! From all of us, have a very merry festive season, and we’ll see you in 2023.

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

See you in 2025 for the conclusion of Season 6!

A large ghee lamp is lit atop the Arunachala hill in Tiruvannamalai during Karthika_Deepam. (photo by Prajnaana – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85769601)

Minisode: Christmas Markets and Treats

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 / lukejkelly / Leave a comment

Audio: Minisode – Christmas Markets & Treats

Ho ho ho! In this Christmas minisode, we’ll be talking about Christmas Markets and a few delicious festive treats, as well as where these things come from and how they’ve changed to the modern day.

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our usual co-host Mark Boyle @markboyle86 was missing for this one, but he’ll return very soon. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets (who knew?) as mentioned by Joe can be found here on Google Books.
More on Lebkuchen, albeit in German, can be found here or here.
A short piece on Lebkuchen can also be found on KRCU here.
Les Grappes has a breakdown of the history of mulled wine here.
The Smithsonian has an extensive history of Christmas Markets on its website here.
More on Evian’s driftwood market, as well as other markets, can be found here.

Joe & Luke visiting a Christmas Market in Dublin earlier this month

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

Minisode: Christmas & The North Pole

December 20, 2022December 21, 2022 / lukejkelly / Leave a comment

Audio: Christmas & The North Pole

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’re (sort of) exploring the history of the North Pole, and in particular, it’s significance to the Christmas season. We also conduct our now-traditional Christmas quiz, and give a brief update on Season 6. From all of us, have a very merry festive season, and we’ll see you in 2023.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Galway, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

See you in Season 6!

Minisode: Christmas Traditions Around the World

December 21, 2021December 21, 2021 / lukejkelly / Leave a comment

Audio: Christmas Traditions Around the World

In this festive episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be taking a look at some Christmas traditions from around the world that we’ve discovered. We’re also joined by a special guest or two, as you’ll hear early on in the podcast. Hopefully this episode provides some distraction from the world at large, and brings a bit of festive cheer. Merry Christmas from all of us at 80 Days.

We’ve also just launched a merch store in associated with TeePublic. You can find our store by clicking here, with exclusive discounts at the time of publishing.

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You can see more of the Gavle Goat here at the official website. Update – it’s been destroyed since we recorded this a couple of days ago.
To learn more about Wren Day, see Old Moore’s Almanac
For more on the festival of St Nicholas in Fribourg, see here.
And for roller skating folks on their way to Christmas Mass, Metro UK has you covered.

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast