Christmas is now a time which commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, but its origins descend from holidays far more ancient. In many ways, modern seasonal celebrations retain strong elements of the pagan festivals which were incorporated into the Christian religion as it spread across Europe and the rest of the world.
The first season of the Christian ecclesiastical year, known as Advent, is comprised of the four Sundays immediately preceding Christmas, represented traditionally by the four candles found on Christmas wreaths. This season was once observed very strictly. Fasting was ordained, church organs remained silent for the first two Sundays, and marriages were prohibited from taking place during the entire period. On the other hand, folk customs did not always match the severity of Church. In Rome, for example, the last days of Advent were celebrated by Calabrian "pifferari," bagpipers who swarmed through the city playing at shrines erected in honor of the Virgin Mary. This music was symbolic of that played by the shepherds who, according to tradition, offered such a melodic tribute to the baby Jesus.
In Normandy, during the time of Advent, farmers would send their children, armed with flaming torches, to drive away pests. Only children younger than twelve years old were considered innocent enough to perform this service, which involved setting fire to bundles of hay, lighting piles of straw placed under trees, and engaging in chants intended to banish mice, caterpillars, moles and other destructive animals. In some areas, Advent was the time when a maiden could determine the name of her future husband. Taking a number of onions, she would carve each one with the name of a fancied spouse and then place the onions near the fire. The name engraved on whichever onion sprouted first was the young man she would marry. In certain parts of England, poor women would carry a pair of dolls during the last week of Advent...one dressed as Jesus and one dressed as the Virgin Mary. Everyone to whom they showed the dolls was expected to contribute a halfpenny, or risk a very nasty dose of bad luck.
Prior to the Fourth Century, December 25th was celebrated in Rome as the date of the Mithraic Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The Cult of Mithras was the chief competitor to Christianity in Rome and the sect identified their god with the sun and his birthday with the Winter Solstice. Later, the early Church converted this god's birthday into one that would be more suitable for Christians to revere. Dies Natalis Invicti Solis was a purely religious holiday and held much more importance to the priests than to the general masses.
The festivities of an ancient Roman celebration called Saturnalia, along with other folk traditions and pagan rites, almost certainly became incorporated into the concept of Christmas as Christianity expanded. Holly and ivy, for example, sacred to the old gods Saturn and Dionysus, were believed to possess magic power against evil.
Saturnalia, named for Saturn, the Roman god of sowing, was observed in Ancient Rome from December 17th until December 25th. Ritualistic in nature, its purpose was to see out the old year and safeguard the health of the crops sown in Winter. For the populace, however, it was also a time of feasting and gift-giving. The citizens exchanged "strenae," boughs of laurel and evergreen which brought good luck, and the children received "sigillaria," small clay dolls which were purchased at a special fair held during the week of Saturnalia. Because Saturnalia took place at the Solstice, it was also known as the Festival of Lights. Many of the presents were gifts of candles which the people would burn throughout the Winter nights to summon the sun back to life. These Roman traditions of feasting and gift-giving were, according to some sources, also later absorbed into the Christian Christmas celebrations.
During the Fourth Century, the Church ordained that Christmas would be observed on December 25th in order to replace the rituals of the pagan Winter festivals. In Northern Europe, the Winter festivities were considered to be a Feast of the Dead, complete with ceremonies full of spirits, devils, and the haunting presence of the Norse god, Odin, and his night riders. One particularly durable Solstice festival was "Jol" (Yule), a feast celebrated throughout Northern Europe in honor of Jolnir, another name for Odin. Since Odin was the god of intoxicating drink and ecstasy, as well as the god of death, Yule customs varied greatly from region to region. Odin's sacrificial beer became the specially blessed Christmas ale mentioned in medieval lore, and fresh food and drink were left on tables after Christmas feasts to feed the roaming Yuletide ghosts. Even the bonfires of former ancient times survived in the tradition of the Yule Log, perhaps the most universal of all Christmas symbols.
The origins of the Yule Log can be traced back to the midwinter festivals in which the Norsemen indulged...nights filled with feasting, "drinking Yule" and watching the fire leap around the log burning in the home hearth. The ceremonies and beliefs associated with the Yule Log's sacred origins are closely linked to representations of health, fruitfulness and productivity. In England, the Yule was cut and dragged home by oxen or horses as the people walked alongside and sang merry songs. It was often decorated with evergreens and sometimes sprinkled with grain or cider before it was finally set alight.
In Yugoslavia, the Yule Log was cut just before dawn on Christmas Eve and carried into the house at twilight. The wood itself was decorated with flowers, colored silks and gold, and then doused with wine and an offering of grain. In an area of France known as Provencal, families would go together to cut the Yule Log, singing as they went along. These songs asked for blessings to be bestowed upon their crops and their flocks. The people of Provencal called their Yule Log the "trefoire" and, with great ceremony, they carried the log around the house three times and christened it with wine before it was set afire.
To all European races, the Yule Log was believed to bring beneficial magic and was kept burning for at least twelve hours and sometimes as long as twelve days, warming both the house and those who resided within. When the fire of the Yule Log was finally quenched, a small fragment of the wood would be saved and used to light the next year's log. It was also believed that as long as the Yule Log burned, the house would be protected from witchcraft. The ashes that remained from the sacred Yule Log were scattered over fields to bring fertility, or cast into wells to purify and sweeten the water. Sometimes, the ashes were used in the creation of various charms...to free cattle from vermin, for example, or to ward off hailstorms. In Germany, it was thought that the remnants of the Yule Log would protect the house from lightning.
The tradition of the Christmas tree, which only came into common use in Nineteenth Century Germany, is believed to possibly have its origins in the Roman celebration of Saturnalia when the houses would be decorated with fir branches (fir trees being considered the very spirit of fertility since they were constantly green and undying). According to some sources, however, the Christmas tree is a throwback to Yggdrasil, the Great Tree of Life mentioned in Norse mythology.
Since time immemorial, the people of Austria have cut cherry, pear or hawthorn branches and brought them into the warmth of their houses. By keeping these boughs in water or wet sand, the Austrian people force them to bloom for the Nativity. Although it is from these customs that today's Christmas tree almost certainly descended, there is no record of how it was transformed into a object of glittering lights, hung with fruit and small gifts. In Christian legend, it was a fir tree that grew as the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, and when Eve plucked its fruit, the foliage and flowers shrank to nothing but needles. Only on the night of the Nativity would the fir tree bloom again...a moment mirrored perhaps by the Christmas tree of the Christians.
In other cultures, the origin of the Christmas tree is attributed to Wilfred of Crediton, an Eighth Century missionary who worked to save souls in pagan Germany. It is said that he felled an oak which was sacred to Odin and used for human sacrifice. A small fir tree sprang from the ground nearby and this pure plant was declared by Wilfred to be the emblem of the New Faith. Yet another explanation is that the reformer, Martin Luther, was so captivated with the brilliance of the stars one Christmas Eve that he adorned a fir tree with candles to imitate their radiance and presented it to his children.
The first written record of a Christmas tree was by an anonymous Frenchman fifty years after the death of Martin Luther and described a fir tree he had seen in a Strasbourg home upon which had been hung "roses cut out of many-colored paper, apples, wafers, gold foil and sweets." In the centuries which followed, the custom spread across Europe until almost every house had a fir tree at Christmas time decorated with fruit, gifts, ornaments and sparkling lights.
The tradition of Christmas gift-giving is also shrouded in something of a mystery, although many believe the ritual to be descended from the "strenae" and "sigillaria" of the Roman Saturnalia. Unlikely gift-givers were believed to come out of hiding during Christmas...trolls, elves and goblins who were, at other times of the year, dangerous creatures from the "other world," but who could in their whimsical way be kind.
In Scandinavia, the "julnissen" and "jultomten" (elder hearth spirits of elfin origin who lived in dark corners, in attics or stables, or under the stairs) would emerge on Christmas Eve while the inhabitants of the house were sleeping, to feast on the porridge that the children had left out for them and to hide Christmas packages in unexpected places. In Italy, the Crone of Befana (an old woman who rode a broomstick through the air) would leave trinkets for good children and coals for naughty ones. Befana's name was derived from the word "Epiphany" and it was on Epiphany Eve that Befana (like her ancestor, Berchta the Hearth Goddess) would be abroad distributing her presents.
In Germany, it was believed than an angel who was a herald from heaven would visit homes every Christmas Eve riding a tiny deer laden with sweets and toys. Almost always portrayed as a pretty little creature, the Germans called their gift-giver "Christkindl," or the Christ Child. The bringer of presents in Russia was Kolyada, a white-robed elfin maiden who travelled by sleigh from house to house. Every Christmas Eve, children in the Russian villages would sing carols to honor Kolyada and she would reward them with treats.
The best-known and best-loved of all Christmas gift-givers, however, is Saint Nicholas whose horse's hooves could be heard on Dutch rooftops on the eve of December 6th. He slid down chimneys to bring his gifts to the children, placing them in the little ones' shoes. Saint Nicholas, also known as Father Christmas or Santa Claus, is the patron saint of children and most cultures believe him to be a benevolent, fat and jolly character, often elvish in origin.
The identity of Father Christmas is probably more entangled in a variety of different legends than any other Christmas spirit. The genial side of his personality is usually credited to the Norse god, Odin, who flew the skies of Winter and was able to cure diseases and predict the future. Some of the magic associated with Father Christmas came from Melchior, the oldest of the Three Kings who followed the star to Bethlehem, and the pious and supremely generous side of Santa Claus's nature is based upon the Christian Saint, Nicholas, who once bestowed upon three penniless sisters a dowry so that each of them could be married. It is generally accepted that the name "Santa Claus" was derived and abbreviated from his original Dutch title of "Sinterklaas."
Yule Logs, Christmas Trees and Gift-Givers...all symbols that represented a time for feasting and merriment, and embodied what Christmas came to be to the common folk. It was the triumphant conquest of light over dark...the promise of good things to come during a season when the ground could produce little in the way of a harvest. The people took great pleasure in such a celebration and thought of it as a human victory over the cold and cruel giant known as Winter.
A section has been added to Penumbra entitled "Rainbow Bridge," dedicated to the memory of our beloved animal companions. It features various pieces of work, whose words, it is hoped, will bring solace and comfort to those who have lost a dear little furry (or feathered or scaled...etc.) one.
It contains an area known as "BlueBird Bower" where a memorial may be placed by anyone upon request in the name of their departed pet (no species refused).
Just click on "RainBow Bridge" on the home page to access the area described.
