The Meaning and Traditions of Christmas
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ". This was shortened to Christ-Mass and in the 1500 to "Xmas". "Xmas" is taken from the Greek Alphabet, where Christ’s name is Xristos.
Christ was not born on the 25th December, this date was chosen to coincide with the pagan Roman celebrations which honored Saturnus, who was the God of the Harvest and Mithras, who was the God of light. The pagans celebrated these days just after the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, to celebrate that winter is not forever, life goes on and is reborn.
The very early church did not actually celebrate the birth of Christ. There is no mention of Christmas in the Bible. So as not to be persecuted during the Pagan Festivals early Christians decked their homes with Saturnalia holly during the festival of Saturnus. Eventually the Pagan customs started to take on Christian meanings. In 125AD Telesphorus, Second Bishop of Rome, declared that Church services should be held to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord". At this stage though no one could remember what month Jesus was born and the Nativity was often held in September. In 325AD, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, declared Christmas an immovable Feast, held on the 25th December. Constantine also introduced Sunday as a holy day and Easter as a movable Feast.
Christmas however, failed to take on any real recognition among Christians until quite recently. In certain Protestant areas the celebration of Christmas was actually banned. Oliver Cromwell in England, banned Christmas Festivities between 1649 and 1660 believing that Christmas should be a solemn day. It is only in the last century that Christmas actually became a legal holiday. In 1820 Washington Irving published a book called "The Keeping of Christmas". In 1834 Queen Victoria’s German husband, Albert introduced a Christmas Tree to Windsor Castle. In the same year Charles Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol was published. This book was so popular that neither the Church nor the Government could ignore the importance of Christmas. In 1836 Alabama became the first American State to declare Christmas a holiday. In 1860 an American Artist Thomas Nash created Father Christmas borrowing from stories about St Nicholas. Year by year countries all over the world began to recognize Christmas as the day for celebrating the Birth of Christ.
It is said that St. Boniface, a monk in Devonshire, England, established Christian Churches all over Europe in the 7th Century. One day he came upon a group of Pagans gathered around a big oak tree about to sacrifice a child to the god Thor. Boniface knocked the tree with one blow of his fist and saved the life of the child. In the place of the large oak tree grew a little fir tree and Boniface told the Pagans that this was the Tree of Life and it stood for the eternal life of Christ.
The first reference to a Christmas tree is at Riga in Lativia in 1510. In 1521 Princess Helene introduced the tree to Paris. German settlers introduced it into the United States. Britain was introduced to the Christmas tree in 1841. At this time trees were decorated with apples and cakes and candles. Martin Luther was the first to use candles on trees in the late 16th Century. It is said he put candles on his tree to show his children the beauty of the stars at night.
In 1850 a German Company called Lauscha started to manufacture glass ornaments for Christmas Trees. They also produced what was called the Tingled Angel, an Angel dressed in gilded tin. Glass ornaments reached Britain by 1870 and North America by 1880. In 1882 Edward Johnson who was a colleague of Thomas Edison used the first Christmas tree lights. By 1890 Christmas tree lights were being mass produced and by 1900 shops were large illuminated trees to attract customers.
The Christmas Holly and Mistletoe
The Norse, the Celtic Druids and the North American Indians held mistletoe sacred. Druid priests cut the Mistletoe with golden sickles. The branches were caught before they hit the ground and then they were given to the people to hang over their doors as protection against thunder, lightening and evil spirits. It was forbidden to fight in the presence of Mistletoe and hence the tradition carried through to the Christmas slogan of Peace and Goodwill to all men. In the celtic language the word Mistletoe means "all-heal".
Holly was the sacred plant of Saturn and was used at the Roman Saturnalia festival to honour him. The Romans gave one another Holly wreaths and the holly was used for folk medicines. The druids wore sprigs of Holly in their hair.
To avoid persecution during the Roman Pagan festivals Christians decked their homes with Holly. As the Christian numbers increased the custom prevailed and Holly and Mistletoe lost their pagan associations and became symbols of Christmas.
The figure of Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas who was a Bishop of Myra in Lycia, which is now Turkey. He is honored as the Patron Saint of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sicily and Switzerland. He is the patron saint of children and sailors. He came from a very wealthy family. There are many legends and miracles attributed to him but the ones that give him his gift-giving role involves his love of children. His father left him a fortune, which he used to help needy children. He brought back to life several children who had been killed. He halted a storm at sea to save three drowning sailors. One of the most famous legends involves a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters. If he could not get them married, he would have to sell them into slavery. Hearing this Nicholas took a sock and filled it with gold and tossed it down the family’s chimney. From this was born the legend of Santa bringing gifts down the chimney. The feast day of Nicholas, when presents were received was traditionally observed on December 6. After the Reformation, German Protestants encouraged veneration of the Christ child as a gift giver on his own feast day, December 25. When the Nicholas tradition prevailed, it became attached to Christmas itself.
Our version of Santa Claus
originally came from the Dutch version called Sint Klass. The Dutch
built New York and the settlers brought this fun and lively tradition to
America and from there it spread throughout the world bringing with it
the traditions we know today. A merry old man in a typical Dutch costume
of red and white with knee breeches and a broad brimmed hat, who has
Eight flying reindeer, later joined by Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. A
home at the North Pole and a habit of entering houses through the
chimney and filling socks or stockings with present son the night of
December 24th. The most important single source for our
modern day Santa Claus comes from the Christmas Poem, A Visit from St
Nicholas, written by Clement C. Moore for his children in 1823. In
1931 Haddon Sundblom presented Santa as a plump human rather than an
elf, with a jovial face and big white beard in a Coca-Cola advertisement
and it is this Santa that slips down our Chimneys today. Santa Claus
incorporates many traditions, Christian and Pagan, and somehow Santa
brings us all together. Kids all over the world know who Santa is and
while he maybe commercialized, for a short time of each year the world
is united. It is the idea of peace and unity and giving that is
Christmas and that is the real message to be taken from it all.
Santa is of course a magical person. Calculated on the amount of children in the world whose parents are Christian Santa must deliver to 667 million children with a total number of destinations of 160 million.
He cannot arrive until the children are asleep so he would have to start in each time zone at around 10pm local time. On average children sleep around 7 hours so this give him 31 hours. This gives him 1860 minutes to do all his deliveries which would average out at Santa visiting 1500 homes per second. His sleigh would carry about 156,000 tons of toys which is about twice the weight of the Queen Mary.
The cruising speed of the sleigh would need to be in the region of 2000 miles per second. Without the magic dust that Santa shakes on his Reindeer before he starts this speed would render them to charcoal.
So although not omnipotent he has wonderful powers. He is all good and all just. He can manufacture gifts for millions of children and deliver them in one night each to the right child. He is eternal. He must be a very close friend of Gods.
Candy Cane
Our hooked candy canes are symbols of the Bishops Crosier as carried by St Nicholas. They of course also represent the Shepherds crook. Legend has it that the candy cane was invented in 1670 by a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral who handed out the bent sugar sticks among children to keep them quiet during a Nativity Play.
Saint Francis of Assisi helped to make popular the devotion to the Christmas Crib in an Italian town called Greccio in 1223.
Francis was returning from a visit to Rome when he spent some time with his brotherhood in the town of Greccio. While he was there he asked a local landowner to help him to put a crib together for Christmas so that they could in some way relieve the birth of the Christ Child. A table was placed over the Manger to celebrated mass. Beneath the improvised alter lay the figure of the infant Jesus, surrounded by the ox and the donkey. At midnight Mass was celebrated and Francis bent with tears in his eyes to lift the figure of the Christ Child. To the amazement of the onlookers the infant seemed to come to life, smile at Francis and caressed his cheeks. Through his words and the power of his love, St Francis seemed to have brought the Christ Child to life so that all present could share his love.
The Saint sighed deeply and seemed to be brimming over with wonderful joy.
The Settling of Debts.
Traditionally the bills were paid in December. Each animal sold, every deal made through the year, any money collected from extra work, all was painstakingly saved and minded through the year. In December the black box came out from under the bed and the notes were counted lovingly and the bills were taken care of for another year. Surplus money ( a rare thing ) made its appearance on the Christmas table or the Santa Stocking depending on the ages of the household.
Whitewashing and Cleaning
Traditionally the house had to be cleaned from top to bottom and the outside, including outhouses and barns all had to get a fresh coating of whitewash for Christmas. This custom dates back to even before the Celts when it was vital to have everything clean for the pagan Gods and to ward off the evil spirits of winter.
The Chimney
Santa comes down the chimney bearing gifts so it is only natural that one of the main areas in any house to be cleaned would be the chimney. In the older chimneys it was vital that the children were able to stand in underneath, look up the chimney and see the sky. The chimney sweep usually was a travelling man who came into the area especially for the Christmas chimney clean.
The Christmas Candle
The Christmas Candle is a time old tradition whereby a light is left burning in the window all of Christmas Eve into Christmas morning, to signify a welcome for our Lord or for that matter for anyone who is traveling on the Eve of Christmas. In times gone by before the advent of window lights, an old turnip was scooped out and filled with a 2lb candle, lit and left burning into Christmas morning.
The Wren
The 26th December is St Stephen's Day to honour the first Christian martyr, stoned to death shortly after the Crucifixion. The Day is a national holiday in Ireland but the celebrations have little to do with the saying. In Ireland St. St Stephen's Day is the day for 'Going on the Wren'. Originally, groups of small boys would hunt for a wren, chase the bird until they either caught it or it died from exhaustion. The dead bird was tied to the top of a holly bush, and decorated with ribbons or coloured paper. Early on Stephen's morning, the wren was carried from house to house by the boys, dressed in straw masks or blackened faces and old clothes. At each house the boys would sing
'The wren, the wren is king of the birds
St. Stephens Day he's caught in the furze
Although he is little, his family is great
We pray you good people to give us a treat.'
The money collected by the wren boys was used to hold a dance for the whole village.
One of the main legends behind the custom is that St. Stephen hiding in the bushes from his enemy was betrayed by a chattering wren. The pursuit and capture of the wren is also related to the pagan custom of sacrificing a sacred symbol at year's end. The custom fell into disfavor around the turn of the century and died out but has been revived again throughout the country. Wrens are no longer used. The 'Wren boys' now include girls and children. Folk costumes and traditional music and dancing are part of going on the wren.
