History of some Christmas traditions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The month of December holds one of the most celebrated holidays in the world, Christmas. Nevertheless, many people celebrate this holiday without noting its pagan roots such as, dates, customs, and traditions.

Contents 1 Jesus' birth 1.1 Why do people celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25? 2 Traditions 2.1 Kissing under mistletoe 2.2 The Christmas tree 3 Bibliography

[edit] Jesus' birth

The early Christian Church did not celebrate the birth of Jesus. In some places, such as Egypt, the date of the birth of Jesus had evolved from pre-Christian, pagan customs favouring the 6th of January. However, there was no early consensus. Clement of Alexandria, writing in the second century, suggested that Jesus was born in November; others, in Egypt, favoured the 25th of Pachons (May) or the 24th (or 25th) of Pharmuthi (April). Another chronologist, in about 243 AD, favoured March 28th. Pope Julius I (337-352) finally settled the matter in 350 AD. About 200 years later, in 525 AD, the astrologer-priest Dionysus Exiguous calculated Jesus’ birth and designated that year as “1 AD”. The use of AD (Ann Domin -- in the year of the Lord’s birth) soon replaced AUC (Ann Urbis Condetae -- in the year of the building of the city of Rome) in the Roman calendar.

Towards the end of the fourth century, the Church moved the birthday of Jesus from the commemoration of the baptism on the 6th of January, to the 25th of December. The reason why the Christian fathers made the change was because it was the custom of the pagans to celebrate the birth of the sun on December 25th. From time immemorial the birthday of the sun had been celebrated on this day, with great rejoicing in many lands. In 274 AD the Roman emperor, Aurelian, who was anxious to replace Roman polytheism with sun worship, declared the 25th of December to be the Sun’s official birthday. Christians often took part in these candlelit processions and ceremonies. The fathers of the church noted this inclination, and resolved that the true nativity should be solemnised on that day; and the festival of the Epiphany would remain on January 6th.

The great Roman festival of the Saturnalia lasted from December 17th to the 25th, and it included a special feast for children called the Juvenilia; Virgil as a feature of this revel, mentions the ancient pagan practice of hanging toys upon a tree. Saturnalia was named after the early Roman god, Saturnus, whose name means ‘plenty’ or ‘bounty’. It was a time of great revelry, when all manner of licence was permitted, i.e. masters took on the role of slaves. Residues of this practice are still with us; it is a tradition in the British army for officers to serve the men first on Christmas day, and elements of cross-dressing are to be found in various Christmas pantomime scripts.The holiday concluded on December 25th with the Brumalia, which included a great feast called Dies Natalis Solis Invicta -- Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. During Saturnalia and Kalends (1st January), both of which inaugurated the New Year, buildings were brightly lit and decorated with evergreens and processions crowded the streets; presents were exchanged. The sun, now three days past the lowest point of its annual course through the heavens, began to rise higher in the sky -- an indication of winter's end.

The first known reference to December 25th, as the birthday of Jesus, occurs in a Latin work about the year 354 AD. The Emperor Honorius, who reigned in the west from 395-423 AD, mentions this date as being kept in Rome as a new festival. An imperial rescript of about 400 AD includes it as one of the three great festivals of the Church, the other two being Epiphany and Easter. The churches of Syria and Armenia did not approve of the date as they objected to its pagan connections. However, the eastern churches were, in the end, forced to acquiesce, and December 25th became established as Christmas Day throughout Christendom. At the time the English were converted to Christianity (during the sixth and seventh centuries) the pagan Festival of the 25th of December, had long been established at Rome as a solemn festival. However, in England it became mingled with the equally pagan, Yule festivities. In this manner our present Christmas celebration has evolved. The word for ‘Christmas’, ‘Cristes Maesse’ (Old English -- the Mass of Christ) goes back to at least 1038; by 1131 ‘Cristes-messe’ was in use.

The evergreens, particularly the mistletoe, are used all over the Christian world and betray a heathen origin. The pagans held mistletoe in considerable awe. Its name ‘all heal’ reflected its supposedly miraculous powers. As a plant considered heathen, mistletoe was not allowed inside Christian churches. However, an exception was once made at York. There, mistletoe was ceremoniously carried into the cathedral on Christmas Eve and laid on the high altar, after which a universal pardon was proclaimed throughout the city. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was a plant of peace under which enemies were reconciled (the mistletoe kiss), and the survival of the pagan usage in Britain may be traced to the fact that York, in the tenth century AD, was the capital of the Scandinavian kingdom founded by Halfdan. The use of holly and other evergreens in Christmas decorations came from their use in houses and temples at the pagan midwinter festival. Evergreens were, and still are, symbolic of immortality. Hence, we find many yew trees in old burial grounds.

The Christmas wreath is another pagan symbol adopted by Christianity. The Wheel of the Year is often symbolised by the wreath. Its circle has no beginning and no end, illustrating that everything in its time comes back to its point of origin, to repeat the cycle over and over. Scandinavians began the tradition of hanging the wreath at Yule, the beginning of their new year, to commemorate new beginnings in the cycle of life. Egypt, Babylon and Rome all made use of the tree in their winter solstice festivals. In Egypt it was the palm; in Rome it was the fir. (See: Jeremiah 10:2-4). The species of tree most commonly used was Pinus sylvestris, which is found in the many sacred groves attached to pagan temples and, in particular, those associated with goddess worship. The tree is native to the northern forests of Europe and Asia, and it is a popular Christmas tree to this day.

The singing of carols also has pagan origins. The derivation of the word ‘carol’ has been the subject of much speculation. It probably goes back through the old French ‘caroler’ and the Latin ‘choraula’ to the Greek ‘choros’, a circling dance often accompanied by singing and associated with dramatic performances, religious festivities and fertility rites. The carol of classical times was a major element in popular celebrations to mark the passing of the winter solstice and the promise of spring. It was among the many pagan customs taken over by the medieval church, which used them equally in the celebration of Easter (vernal equinox) and Christmas (winter solstice). The church had long anguished over the performance of such popular song-dances and the ‘caraula’ was explicitly banned in the 7th Century at the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône. The carols, themselves, were later banned in 1209 at the Council of Avignon and condemnation occurred as late as 1435 at the Council of Basle. The earliest known reference to the carol in English literature goes back to about 1300 and simply refers to a round dance with no religious connotations.The period from about 1400 to1550 was the heyday of the English carol. Born of late, medieval Humanism, carols were suppressed in England by Puritan zealots after the sixteenth century Reformation, but were partly reinstated at the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 when Charles II (1660-1685) ascended the throne. They were rediscovered and reinvented by Victorian antiquarians and the literary influence of the popular fiction writer, Charles Dickens, particularly in his ‘A Christmas Carol’ (1843).

Mince pies, popular in the 16th century, were made of mutton and spiced raisins. The latter ingredient is the origin of our modern mincemeat. The church, and in particular the Puritans, looked on mince pies with disfavour as having derived from the consecrated cakes of the pagans. Under an Act of Parliament, the Puritans succeeded in killing off the festival of Christmas in Scotland. In England, however, Charles II repealed the Act.

The custom of giving gifts at Christmas goes back to two Roman festivals, Saturnalia and Kalends, which were sacred to Saturn and Janus respectively. The very first gifts were simple items such as twigs from a sacred grove (as good luck emblems), figs, honey, and pastry. Soon that escalated to small items of jewellery, candles, and statues of various gods. The early Christian Church saw gift giving at the winter solstice as a residue of paganism and, therefore, severely frowned upon it. The people, however, would not part with the tradition, so the church exercised its old strategy of absorbing the practice. The Council of Tours, in 567 AD, declared that the twelve days between the Nativity and the Epiphany formed one, festal cycle. The Roman custom of giving presents at the solstice season was retained across much of Europe.

Throughout the English medieval and early modern period, the traditional day for the exchange of gifts was January 1st -- known as New Year’s Day even though March 25th was, at that time, the formal beginning of the year. In 1155, during the reign of Henry II, the English New Year was moved from January 1st to March 25th, the ancient day of celebration. The New Year reverted permanently to January 1st during the calendar reform of September 1752.

The giving of ‘boxes’ at the solstice season is first recorded in the 17th Century, when it had become the custom to give cash gifts -- euphemistically known as ‘boxes’ -- to tradesmen whose services a customer valued during the year. This practice eventually became fixed as ‘Boxing Day’, the 26th of December or St. Stephen’s Day, during the reign of Queen Victoria.

The Christmas Pantomime can be traced to the Pantomimus of Classical Greece and Rome. In England the tradition took the form of the Christmas mumming play, still performed in a few places. Modern pantomime began in the early eighteenth century, inspired by the pantomimus of old, and partly by the Italian Commedia dell’arte. Consisting of ballets on mythological themes, together with the Harlequinade, it has been gradually modified into the familiar Christmas entertainment of today. Its fairy-tale basis still perpetuates the ancient solar lore. Nearly all the fables presented (fairy stories, tales of heroes and giants) come down to us from our pagan forebears. All have the same theme -- the relationship between sun and earth, night and day, and summer and winter. For instance, the gold, sparkling Harlequin symbolises the sun.

The origins of Santa Claus are relevant here. When the Dutch came to America and established the colony of New Amsterdam, their children enjoyed the traditional ‘visit of Saint Nicholas’ on December 5th, for the Dutch had kept this Catholic custom even after the Reformation. St. Nicholas was said to have lived in Myra (Turkey) in about 300 CE. Born an only child of a wealthy family, he was orphaned at an early age when both parents died of the plague. He grew up in a monastery, and at the age of seventeen became one of the youngest priests ever. Many stories are told of his generosity as he gave his wealth away in the form of gifts to those in need, especially children. Legends tell of him dropping bags of gold down chimneys or throwing them through the windows where they landed in the stockings hung from the fireplace to dry. Later, when England took over the colony, which then became New York, this kindly figure of Sinter Klaas soon aroused among the English children the desire of having such a heavenly visitor come to their homes too. The British settlers were soon caught up in this custom. However, the figure of a Catholic saint and bishop was not acceptable in their eyes, especially since many of them were Presbyterians, to whom a bishop was repugnant. In addition, they did not celebrate the feasts of saints according to the ancient Catholic calendar. Transferring the visit from December 5th to the winter solstice (Christmas) and reinventing ‘Santa Claus’ solved the dilemma. Thus, the catholic saint was completely replaced by an entirely different character. Each Protestant country or region developed its own gift-giver. In France, he was known as Pare Noel. In England he was Father Christmas (always depicted with sprigs of holly, ivy, or mistletoe). Germany knew him as Weihnachtsmann (Christmas man) -- this later mutated into Christkindlein and ‘Kriss Kringle’. As noted above, when the Northern Europeans converted to Christianity they adapted many aspects of the ancient pagan, solar festival of Yule. In 1804 the New York Historical Society was founded with Nicholas as its patron saint, and its members revived the Dutch tradition of St. Nicholas as a gift-giver. In 1809, Washington Irving published his satirical ‘A History of New York’, by ‘Diedrich Knickerbocker’, a work that poked fun at New York's Dutch past -- St. Nicholas included. In 1821, a New York printer named William Gilley issued a poem about a ‘Santeclaus’, who dressed up in fur and drove a sleigh pulled by one reindeer. The man-sized version of Santa became the dominant image around 1841, when a Philadelphia merchant named J.W. Parkinson hired a man to dress in ‘Criscringle’ clothing and climb the chimney outside his shop. In 1863, a cartoonist for ‘Harper's Weekly’ named Thomas Nast began developing his own image of Santa. Nast gave his figure a flowing set of whiskers and dressed him in fur from his head to his booted feet. Nast's 1866 montage entitled ‘Santa Claus and His Works’ established Santa as a maker of toys; an 1869 a book of the same name collected new Nast drawings with a poem by George P. Webster that identified the North Pole as Santa's home. Finally, a Boston printer named Louis Prang introduced the English custom of Christmas cards to America, and in 1885 he issued a card featuring a red-suited Santa. Santa Claus in his red suit had become a standard image by the 1920s. The jolly, red-and-white garbed Santa Claus figure was established years before artist Haddon H. Sundblom drew his first Santa portrait for Coca-Cola in 1931. Sundblom, a commercial illustrator, began to work for Coca-Cola in 1924, and from 1931 on he created at least one painting of Santa Claus every year for use in advertisements by The Coca-Cola Company. Sundblom’s creation helped popularised an existing image. T hus, our Father Christmas figure is just another pagan aspect of the festival of the annual rebirth of the sun, and has become as potent a symbol in Catholic countries as in Protestant nations. NOTES

1. Durant, Caesar and Christ, p.647

2. Robertson, Christianity and Mythology, p.369

3. Herodotus, The Histories, p.144

4. Cassian, Collat, 10.2

5. Cumont, Textes et Mons, p.325

6. Cyprian, De orat dom, p.35

7. Ambrose, Serm’ 8-13

8. Augustine, Serm’ 90-1

9. Bede, De temp. rat’ 13

10. From the Chaldean ‘hazir’ or hog

11. Muir’s Historical Atlas: Ancient Medieval and Modern

12. Higgins, Anacalypsis, Vol.1, p.257

13. End-note entry: Bede, ECC, Hist. 30.

The Bible gives no certain answer to the date of Jesus' birth, but it does give clues. Luke 2:8-14 speaks of shepherds living outdoor and tending to a flock of sheep. The text reads, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." Scholars of the Bible have concluded that this would be highly unlikely in the month of December, for the weather conditions would be too cold to live outside or tend to a flock of sheep, however it would be the beginning of the "lambing season". In addition, it is also unlikely that Augustus would force Jews to trek to their home cities under the cold and rainy seasons.

[edit] Why do people celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25?

It is uncertain why December 25th was chosen. One theory is that it was influenced by pagan ( ancient polytheistic religions) holidays. Before the Romans converted to Christianity, they celebrated the popular holiday Saturnalia, a festival of feasting and revelry held in December in celebration of Saturn, the god of agriculture, and the winter solstice.

Kelly Wittmann wrote, "In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ's birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is wide acceptance of the belief that Pope Julius I was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans, who remained a majority at that time, to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them." Moreover, in ancient Babylon, December 25th was the feast of the Son of Isis, Goddess of Nature, was celebrated with, "Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

From Roman History: Republic to Empire class at the University of Rhode Island, it had been professed that December 25th was declared Jesus' birthday during the time of Roman Emperor Constantine's rule of the Roman Empire; conviently converting Winter Solstice, December 25th, to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Reasoning why is that no one knew for certain when Jesus was born, and thus-so what happened, happened.

[edit] Traditions

[edit] Kissing under mistletoe

Another aspect of Christmas that receives much criticism is its traditions. Traditions such as kissing under mistletoe are very popular, but have no Biblical reference at all. Once more, this tradition has its roots entwined in pagan beliefs. Bill McLain wrote in his book, “There are many legends about mistletoe. One Scandinavian legend states that Loki, the god of mischief, killed Baldur, the god of peace, by shooting him with an arrow made from mistletoe. Other gods and goddesses were saddened by Baldur’s death and asked that his life be restored, which it was. In appreciation, his mother Frigga hung up the mistletoe and promised to kiss all who passed under it. Because of this, mistletoe became the symbol of both forgiveness and love.” There are also a few other beliefs about mistletoe from around the world. During the Middle Ages, people would hang mistletoe over doors and on their ceilings to scare off evil spirits and prevent witches from entering. In addition, there is an old superstition that if you place a twig of mistletoe under your pillow you will not have any nightmares and it is sometimes believed that it was once used as a way to announce your love interest, if two kissed under a mistletoe it was a way of publicly stating that he wished to wed the lady.

[edit] The Christmas tree

It is safe to say that the Christmas tree is one of the most recognized symbols of Christmas, yet the origins of the Christmas tree are not clear. There is a legend that Saint Boniface started the custom of the Christmas tree in Germany around the eighth century. It is said that Saint Boniface found a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree and became angry; consequently, he proceeded to cut down the Oak tree. Immediately a small fir tree is said to have sprouted from the middle of the oak stump and reached to the sky. Thus Saint Boniface told the onlookers that this would be their holy tree because it was evergreen, a symbol of everlasting life,because pagans believe in reincarnation. Although many versions of this story exist, many authorities believe that the true origins come from ancient Egypt. Bill McLain writes, “On December 21, the shortest day of the year, ancient Egyptians decorated their homes with green palm branches to symbolize life’s triumph over death.” Before Christianity, plants and trees that remained green through out the year were believed to have special meaning for people in winter. Bill McLain continues explaining, “Romans used evergreens to decorate their homes during the winter festival of Saturnalia, which honored Saturn, the god of farming.” In addition, Ancient Druids, a member of an order of priests in ancient Gaul and Britain who appear in Welsh and Irish legend as prophets and sorcerers, were known to place evergreen branches over doors to frighten away evil spirits.

The origin of the Christmas tree is started in Germany where it was worshiped by German pagans believing in Thor, the Norwegian god of thunder. In order to convert these pagans a Christian missionary told them that his God is more powerful than theirs. To prove this fact he said that he can cut Thors' tree down without being punished by the gods. Henceforth after that the Christmas tree was the evergreen.

[edit] Bibliography

• McLain, Bill. Do Fish Drink Water?. Quill, 1999.
• Brain, Marshall. "Is December 25 really the day Jesus was born?" in "How Christmas Works" [1]. October 10, 2003.
• Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario. [ctfo@christmastrees.on.ca]. The History of Christmas Trees, Part One in Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario Virtual Christmas Tree Farm [2]. October 10, 2003