Chimneys play a central role in folktales and folk superstitions.   The most obvious:

Santa comes down chimneys.  Even if there is a fire in the fireplace.

Even if a house or apartment has no chimney.

The folk superstition – a way to explain reproduction of the species without a mention of sex – has a stork bringing the baby to the chimney.

And the chimney plays a role in several famous fairy tales or children’s stories.

And the fairy tale within a fairy tale, the election of a new pope.

The reality of chimney sweeps was brutal.

Wrong.  Not cheerful.  Not happy.

It was brutal. Dirty. Dangerous.  Exploitative.  In Mukacheve, Ukraine, there is a statue honoring a local chimney sweep, Bertolon Tovt.

And statues elsewhere, honoring generic/stereotyped chimney sweeps.

MacPherson, Kansas, was briefly famous when it was reported that Terry Nichols bought large amounts of fertilizer used in the Oklahoma City bombings in MacPherson.  I have never been to MacPherson.  I have a very good friend/mentor who lives in MacPherson.  It is approaching criminal that I have never visited.  I couldn’t very well go now wanting to see the giant chimney sweep, could I?

There exist at least two museums honoring chimney sweeps, in Vienna and in Italy.

My friend sent a draft of this posting to Gabby.  Gabby was okay with it.  He asked if I wanted photos of his collection of cute chimney sweep postcards.  At this point in time, no thanks.  He asked if I wanted photos of a collection of chimney sweep figurines that a friend of his had in London.  At this point in time, no thanks.

But – he did have one further chimney idea.  And, no surprise, Gabby has a decent collection of bird trading cards and so could send these:

Sweet!  The chimney swift.

I asked my friend what he thought of the posting on chimney lore and chimney reality.  He expressed some interest in the postcards and figurines that I passed on, but when pressed on what I did put together he was clear: