There have been festivals of every sort around the winter solstice going back to the Romans. But it was the Emperor Aurelian who fixed the actual date. He called December 25th ‘The Birthday of the Unconquered Sub,’ and put it right in the middle of the feast of Saturnalia in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture. This was always a time of great merry making. There were big dinners, halls bedecked with laurels and green trees, people carrying lighted candles through the streets and the giving of gifts was common practice. In fact, you might say that the Christmas spirit is really the spirit of Saturnalia passed on over time.
Centuries ago in Great Britain, wood priests called Druids used evergreens during mysterious winter solstice rituals. The druids used holly and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life, and place evergreen branches over doors to keep away evil spirits.
Late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their door to show their hope in the forthcoming spring. Our modern Christmas tree evolved from these early traditions.
Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. One crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through snow covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share the story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honour of Christ’s birth.
The tradition of the mistletoe is derived from the pagan worship of the sun god, Balder. He was supposed to be immune to all forms of destruction because of spells cast by the other gods. The only thing they lacked was the immunity to mistletoe. And so Loki, the evil god contrived to have Balder killed in an arrow made of mistletoe. After the other gods brought Balder back to life, the mistletoe promised never to hurt anyone again. It became the symbol of love. Perhaps of this legend or perhaps for other reasons it was worshipped by the Druids. Their belief was that if a man held it over a woman’s head, she would be powerless to resist him. From this comes our custom of hanging it over doorways and the tradition that if a girl is caught under the spring of mistletoe she may be kissed and may not resist.
The tradition of hanging the stockings comes from an English legend: Father Christmas once dropped some gold coins while coming down the chimney. The coins would have fallen through the ash crate and been lost if they had not landed in a stocking that had been hung by the chimney to dry. Since that time children have continued to hang stocking in hopes of finding them filled with gifts.
Of course, no one can forget Saint Nicolas or more commonly knows as Santa Claus. St. Nicholas is regarded as the patron saint of Russia. The accounts of his life are confused historically unconfirmed. According to tradition, he was a native Patara, formerly a city in the ancient district of Lycia, Asia Minor (in what is now Turkey).
Nicholas is said to be the patron saint of children, scholars, virgins, sailors and merchants and in the Middle Ages thieves regarded him as their patron saint as well. He was sainted supposedly because he brought 2 children back to life that had been viciously murdered. Santa Claus, the designation for the jolly, bearded figure of folklore who is credited with bringing gifts to children on Christmas Eve, is an American corruption of the Dutch San Nicholas. The Dutch did bring him to American colonies as ‘Sante Niklaas’ – shortened and run together forming Sante Klos or Santa Claus as we say it today.
The belief that Santa Claus enters the house through the chimney developed from an old Norse legend. The Norse believed that the pagan goddess Hertha appeared in the fireplace and brought good luck to the home.
It was not until relatively recent times that our present day Santa Claus developed as we know him. In 1822 an American minister named Clement C. Moore first described Santa (complete with fur trimmed suit and his reindeer powered sleigh) for his children in a poem called ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas.’ In 1823, at the bidding of friends, Moore published his poem calling it ‘The Night before Christmas,’ in the New York Sentinel. This well loved poem is the foundation of our present day Santa Claus.
We must keep one thing in mind. All of the folk legend and practices have sufficiently taken Christ out of Christmas.
Christmas is a time of celebration which is why we partake so many traditions that help create the wonderful atmosphere, but we should not forget the true purpose of Christmas. On December 25th the entire Christian world comes together putting aside petty quarrels and minor differences to commemorate the birth of Jesus. It is a joyous occasion when families and friends are gathered together exchanging presents and love.
Be it with family or be it with friends, let us all have a truly MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Edison John
