How Christmas Began

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

How Christmas Began

fcHA CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS CO WHICH SURVIVE. CO

Tracing Back to Origins. Exclusive to The Dominion

B-,LD-EASHIONED in these $ days of modernism, yet lovI ed for its very antiquity, X the Christe Messe, or 4 Christ’s Mass of early Engf land, is one of the few festivals that have remained unaltered throughout the centuries. The same spirit of jollity exists as in the earliest days of Christianity when the anniversary of the nativity was celebrated. There is no historical record as to the exact date of the birth of Christ, and consequently, at first, the time of the festival varied in different countries. It seems possible that December 25th was established as the festival day because it marked the beginning of the great winter festival, when Britons, Germans and Gauls made merry in pagan fashion. At this period of the year it was customary to hold groat feasts in honour of the heathen gods, and until the early teachers of Christianity prohibited them as unsuited to the character of Christ, Christmas customs were one with these primitive festivities. Although most of the old festival became obsolete, some of its rites and symbols survived, and so we find in our ceremonies and junketings, some trace of

pagan elements. It is said that the first Christmasday celebrations'in Britain were held by King Arthur in the City of York, A.D. 521, and by the early Middle Ages Christmas had become the greatest of popular festivals. Then, Jack was as good as his master. All feasted and made merry together. From Shakespeare’s time, when festivities wore extremely elaborate, the pendulum swung to the keen distaste of ceremony. Christmas was declared a day of fast, and festivities were declared unlawful until after the Restoration, when it returned with its old gaiety and brightness. So it is now, the world over, though dates and customs differ. January Gth is the date observed in the Armenian Church. The Dutch watch for St. Nicholas on the eve of December G. The French again are different. Everywhere, Christmas : raises a glow in the veins of age; it i opens and warms the heart; it unites 1 families and friends; it moves the I Christian impulses of brotherly love. I And the poor probably enjoy it most i since it comes but once a year. It 1 seems somewhat lamentable that it i does come but once a yfear : —that such : cheerfulness and charity should be : crowded into one .small, inadequate t week, instead of being evenly dis- : tributed throughout the 365 days. f I We ring the bells and we raise the < strain, ] We hang up garlands everywhere, ■ < And bid the tapers twinkle fare, < And feast and frolic—and then we go < Back to the same old lives again. t Ancient Customs. i It is interesting to trace the origin : of the old customs that are repeated < year after year, and are responsible c for much of the jollity of the festive c season. Perhaps it-is largely because t of this jollity that its popularity has endured through the ages, for the cus- x

s toms and observances that we associate - with Christmas have long since ceased , to have a very definite significance. r The practice of exchanging gifts pos- - sibly originated in the desire to emu- - late the amazing unselfishness of 1 Christ and the merrymaking accom- > panying it inspired a genuine generosity. The Christmas box among the Romans began with what was called the Priest’s box, placed by the Priest on all outgoing ships, and into which contributions were put by the people at Christmas when the box was opened the contents were kept by the church or distributed among the poor. Sometimes such gifts were given as supplications to the saints. How many of our own gifts are sent in the way of olive branches? Superstition was also the cause of seeming generosity, particularly in the giving of alms to carolsingers. It is said that in Germany, from where gift-making spread to Europe and the colonies, a man with many relatives and friends sometimes took a trip abroad at this period. One wonders if this was the origin of Christmas holidays. Saint Nicholas and Symbols. The character, known and loved by all children, as Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, is regarded as the patron saint of Christmas. His strange choice of the chimney as a means of admittance may have its beginning in the belief that a clean chimney at the beginning of the New Year enabled good luck to enter the household. A good housewife, busy cleaning the chimney at Christmas (or perhaps encouraging the assistance of the children) would tell of St. Nicholas' expected visit. In Franco, children were taught to place their shoes upon the hearth to receive the gifts, and the hanging up of stockings developed from the shoe. There may be something in what a certain writer says—that shoes won’t stretch and stockings are so much more roomy. The origin of the Christmas tree varies in the numerous countries in which it is known, but its establishment as a regular Christmas feature seems to have taken place first in Germany, and was introduced into England at the time of Queen Victoria’s marriage. “Merry Christmas!” called to one’s friends and neighbours from the window, gradually developed into the Christmas card. At first it appeared ... in elaborately-decorated sheets of writing paper which were used a great deal bj®sehoolboys at the approach of holidays, for carefully written letters exploiting the progress they had made in composition and chirograpby. In 1846, a London artist produced the Christmas card proper, coloured by hand and' about the size of a lady’s card. Simple inscriptions developed after into elaborate decorations. Among the ancient Druids, the mistletoe was sacred. They cut it with a golden knife and hung it over their doors to exclude the bad spirits. According to myth only happiness could enter under the mistletoe. Hence our tradition of the kiss. The laurel, emblem of peace, joy and : victory, of the ancient Romans, was ;

e replaced in old England by the ivy and d holly. The holly wreath, according to old verse, appears to represent the I- crown of thorns which Christ wore on i- the cross, the little red berries symbolf ising the drops of blood. In our sunny land there is no need for the Yule log, but in England it e still holds its own in some rural dis--1 tricts, and Christmas is frequently ret ferred to as Yuletide. It seems identii cal with winter festivals, called Jul, 3 which were held by the ancient Goths 1 and Saxons. In Feudal times the i bringing in of the great log to the wide - hearth in the baronial hall, was a most - joyous ceremony. > Superstitions. J Feasting at Christmas is traditional . and indeed at most celebrations it took . a foremost part and does still, for that matter, which proves, crude as it may ( seem, that some people regard it as the . height of delights. There are many old superstitions that cling to the popular Christmas . foods. To refuse a piece of mince pie . at a Christmas dinner, for instance, means ill-luck for the year. It is also said that every mince pie eaten is a happy month. This is an obviotls explanation why, for some of us at any rate, there are some months which are not unclouded. To eat apples at midnight on' Christmas Eve is to enjoy great health during the year. If a loaf of broad is allowed to remain on the table after the Christmas Eve celebrain the house for the next twelve months. According to tradition, “by all means you must have a plum pudding —a plum pudding grown rich black and solid.” Otherwise, it seems you will lose a friend between this Christmas and the next! But whether you have an English Christmas, observing all the many customs, or whether your celebration is a simple one, whatever form the entertainment takes, it must be free from formality, brimming with good cheer and fun and pleasing in the thought that it is being kept by British people in snows and midsummer, all the world over.