• Christmas in the Early Middle Ages
• Christmas in Tudor England
• Feast of the Nativity
• the word “Christmas”
• December 25th
• Why December 25th?
• Feast of Epiphany
• Nativity Scene
• Christmas plays
• Christmas Feasting
• Gift Giving
• St. Nicholas’s Day
• Christmas lights

• Mistletoe, Holly, and Ivy
• Holly
• Christmas tree decorating
• The Twelve Days of Christmas
• Noel
• Advent Wreath
• Yule Log
• Wassail
• Boxing Day
• Bell Ringing
• Christmas Carols
• Santa Claus

Pre-Christian, northern societies used to enliven the dark days of the winter solstice with a celebration of fire, light and jollity, to create relief in the season of nature's dormancy and to hurry along the renewal of springtime. Christmas, as the celebration of the birth of Christ, was also a winter festival which gradually incorporated many pagan traditions, one of which was the burning of fires to ward away dark and evil spirits.

The tradition of decorating the home with native evergreens is a truly ancient one. Since pagan times evergreens have been valued for their ability to retain signs of life in the middle of winter - even in some instances producing berries and flowers.

Early Christians displayed evergreen plants in the home to symbolise everlasting life. Holly, ivy and evergreen herbs such as bay and rosemary were the most commonly used, all with symbolic meanings that were familiar to our ancestors. Rosemary, for remembrance, and bay, for valour, are still well known. Holly and ivy were a particularly popular combination, the holly traditionally thought to be masculine and ivy feminine, giving stability to the home.

A kissing-bough was often hung from the ceiling. This would consist of a round ball of twigs and greenery, decorated with seasonal fruit, such as apples. It was the precursor to the bunch of mistletoe, under which no lady could refuse a kiss. Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids and was once called 'All Heal'. It was thought to bring good luck and fertility, and to offer protection from witchcraft.

In the medieval period, the Yule log was ceremoniously carried into the house on Christmas Eve, and put in the fireplace of the main communal room. Often decorated with greenery and ribbon, it was lit with the saved end of the previous year's log and then burnt continuously for the Twelve Days of Christmas, providing much needed light and warmth.

 Christmas in Tudor England

The exhortation to 'eat, drink and be merry' epitomised Christmas in Elizabethan England. A highlight of the season was the Christmas feast, which, in those households that could afford it, culminated in a 'banqueting course' of sweet and colourful delicacies.

A banquet, or sweetmeat, course allowed the host to display his wealth and status. It also provided its creator, often the lady of the house, an opportunity to show her culinary and artistic skills. Sugar, very expensive at the time and considered to have medicinal properties, was the key ingredient of most of the elaborate dishes.

They were prepared and displayed to dazzle the quests with their beauty, delicacy and wit. The latter was provided by the creation of whimsical foods designed to deceive the eye. 'Collops of bacon', made from ground almonds and sugar, were a great favourite, as were walnuts, eggs and other items made from sugar-plate, a substance of egg, sugar and gelatine which could be moulded successfully into almost any form the cook might conceive. Another popular sweetmeat was 'leech', a milk-based sweet made with sugar and rosewater, which was cut into cubes and served plain or gilded, arranged as a chequerboard.

Spectacle was of great importance, with pride of place going to a marchpane - a round piece of almond paste which was iced and elaborately decorated, sometimes with figures made of sugar. Crystallised fruits added colour. Gold leaf was used to gild lemons and other fruits and also gingerbread, which added to the rich and splendid appearance of the banquet.

All of this would be accompanied by hot drinks, including 'lambswool'. This was made from hot cider, sherry or ale, spices and apples, which when hot exploded, to create a white 'woolly' top. Spiced wines and syllabubs were also popular. Guests were flattered and impressed by such extravagant expenditure.

“Christmas” celebrations are foreign to the pages of Scripture: Biblically, “Christmas” does not exist. There is no account of Christians gathering to celebrate the birth of Christ to be found anywhere in the New Testament. Even the wise men of Matthew’s account, who came in response to the appearance of His birth star in the sky, did not celebrate together about His birth (MAT 2:1-13); they traveled from their own country bearing gifts in order to worship the child (and the Scriptures indicate that this occurred long after Jesus was born—his family was living in a house, not a stable, and Jesus could have been as old as two years of age). Christians did not begin to celebrate the birth of Christ until the 2nd century AD. The Roman Catholic Church did not begin its “Feast of the Nativity” until AD 336.

Even the word “Christmas” itself is not Biblical: it comes from 4th century AD Roman Catholicism. The “mas” of Christmas comes from the Mass, or Eucharistic service of western Catholicism. That rite was concluded with the words, “Ite, Missa Est” (“Go, as it is ended”), with Missa (dismissal) eventually becoming the name of the rite itself. The Old English word, “Christmas” dates from 1050 AD; it was derived from the phrase, “Christes Maesse,” or “Mass of Christ.” “Xmas” is a 13th century form of shorthand representing the full word “Christmas” (“X” is the Greek abbreviation, chi, from Khristos, Christ). The word, “Christmas,” did not find full usage until the 9th century AD.

December 25th is not the true birth date of Christ. This day was apparently chosen to coincide with pagan mid-winter festivals in order to unify pagan and Christian worship celebrations within the Roman Empire . The Empire encompassed a vast territory encircling the Mediterranean Sea, stretching from Europe (England, Ireland, Spain, France, southern Germany, Italy, Sicily, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Greece), to Asia Minor (southern Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Crete), to the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Israel), and to Africa (northern Egypt and the Nile Valley, northern Libya, Tunisia, northern Algeria, Morocco). The mystery religions of the Near East, India and Egypt had been spread to Europe by the Roman legions, and the Norse, Teutonic, and Celtic beliefs had spread eastward by the same means, so that various religious festivals were observed throughout the Empire at the same time.

Though Christians themselves didn’t begin to celebrate the birth of Christ until between AD 127 and 139, by AD 320, after the last of the Christian persecutions, the Roman Catholic Church had made December 25th the date of its Nativity celebration. Why December 25th? Secular speculation postulates that because the deeply rooted Sol Invictus had not been eradicated by Christianity, the Catholic Church purposefully chose to turn December 25th, the Natilis Invictus (“the birth of the sun”), into “the birth day of the Son,” that is, of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Others would hold that this date was arrived at by a different line of reasoning: the Catholic Church, aware that March 25th, the Spring Equinox, a pagan feast-day, had long been regarded as the “birth of Spring” among pagan peoples, therefore appropriated that date to mark the “Day of Announcement,” the day that the Virgin Mary conceived the Lord Jesus; adding nine months to March 25th made December 25th the birthday of Christ. Either way, in one move, the Church assigned a specific date to the birth of Our Lord that introduced a Christian holiday into the pagan celebrations occurring in December that supplanted the Natilis Invictus.

The Feast of Epiphany or Appearance (“to show forth upon”), held on January 6th, was established by the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th century AD to separate the celebration of Christ’s birth from the commemoration of his “appearing.” January 6th had earlier been used by the heretical sect, the Basilideans, as a festival of Jesus’ incarnation, His “appearing,” at His baptism (thus denying the incarnation at Jesus’ birth); the Church, therefore, ordained that Christ’s “appearing” was that of His epiphany to the Gentile world, as represented by the Wisemen at Bethlehem . It also declared that the interval between Christmas and Epiphany was a sacred holiday season. (This led to a perpetuation of all the practices and excesses of the Saturnalia.) In medieval times, usually on the Eve of Epiphany, January 5th, masked or costumed cross-dressing merrymakers, “mummers,” visited friends and neighbors to test them as to their identities by singing short songs or dances; in return they would receive small cakes and wine or spiked eggnog. On Twelfth Night itself (Jan. 5th) a special “King’s Cake,” in honor of the Magi, was baked with a secret bean inside; whoever received the piece containing the bean became “Bean King” who could order his “attendants” to serve him.

According to A Book of Christmas, by William Samsom, all Catholic countries build manger scenes to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, from Europe to Africa to North and South America . This practice may stem from the AD 1223 nativity celebration of St. Francis of Assisi , who staged the first “Nativity Scene,” a living nativity with live people and animals.

Christmas plays are an offshoot of the static nativity; these seem to date to the 12th century at the cathedral at Rouen . There, an image of the Virgin and Child was placed behind an altar in a stable, a boy played the part of the herald angel and others the heavenly host, a choir portrayed the shepherds, and two priests (representing women) took the roles of prompts and narrators to explain the significance of the advent. (Curiously, on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th, apart from the Church, medieval minstrels always performed the “Paradise Play,” a drama which reenacted the fall of man.)

Christmas Feasting is that time of warm fellowship and enjoyment afforded by Christmas cooking and especially, the Christmas table. What do we think of when we envision the groaning abundance of appetizing and delicious foods? Well, George Washington once hosted a Christmas dinner at Mount Vernon that featured onion soup, shellfish, broiled fish, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, mutton chops, roast suckling pig, roast turkey, beef and ham, lima beans and squash, candied sweet potatoes and cranberries, mincemeat pie, various savory pies and puddings, cakes, ice cream, fruits, nuts, raisins, and wines. However, Christmas feasting is older than colonial America —it’s a more ancient practice, carried out by many cultures. The origins Christmas feasts may be traced directly to the practices of paganism.

Most of the foods we think of as the traditional European Christmas feast—the boar’s head, “baron of beef,” haunch of venison, fish, fowl (including chicken, turkey, goose, peacock), plum pottage or plum broth (which became mincemeat pie), plum pudding, special breads, and free-flowing wines, can be traced to pagan repasts. In the medieval period many forbidden “pagan” dishes made their way to the table “sanctified” for holy celebrating. For example, Henry VIII reintroduced previously “pagan” roast boar to the Christmas feast by dressing it in a rosemary and laurel wreath for “remembrance” and “glory,” with a lemon in its mouth as a symbol of plenty. Mincemeat, with its savory mixture of nuts and fruits, once regarded as a pagan dish, became, in medieval times, became a symbol of the variety of gifts given to Jesus by the wise men. Christmas breads, an integral part of heathen expressions of worship toward the gods of harvest, were transformed into the “bread of life,” complete with a letter “J” on top.

Gift Giving is a tradition that finds its origin in ancient customs as well. The Romans gave gifts of small candles, lamps, fruit, cakes, incense and clay figures at Saturnalia; at Kalends, the day of the new moon and the first day of the month and the New Year, everyone gave each other sweet gifts (fruits, honey and cakes) as well as evergreen branches (called strenae), clay doll-figures (called sigillaria, these replaced human sacrifices), small lamps, and among the wealthy, possibly gold coins. Meg Crager, author of The Whole Christmas Catalog, wrote of this period, “Everyone gave gifts: children gave to their teachers, slaves gave to their masters, and the people gave to their Emperor.”

Early Christians did not practice gift giving because they did not want their religion to be associated with pagan festivals or practices. The Middle Ages mark the point at which gift-giving became a part of Christian Christmas celebrations: kings demanded gifts from their subjects and common people exchanged gifts with one another. St. Nicholas’s Day (Dec. 6th) became gift-giving time for children.

Christmas lights may be traced to the ancient practice of lighting Christmas candles and fires. Ancient Norse kept bonfires blazing during the Yule season; Romans fastened candles to trees during the Saturnalia as symbols of the sun’s return to the earth. Throughout that celebration they also kept lamps burning in their homes to ward off evil spirits, and candles burning in their windows to call back the sun. At Kalends they lit candles to symbolize enlightenment for the new year. The Jews also employed candles in their December celebration of Hanukkah, “The Feast of Lights.” As early as AD 492, a day for candles, “Candlemas Day” (40 days after Christmas), was established as a memorial to the time when Jesus was presented in the Temple as “a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles…” (LUK 2:32). In the Middle Ages, both in churches and homes, it was the custom to set up and light one large candle on Christmas Eve in remembrance of the Star of Bethlehem, which announced the coming of the true light (John 1:9). Some allowed the flame only to burn until sunrise, when it was to be extinguished by the father or oldest member of the household; others let the flame burn through Twelfth Night (Jan. 6th), encompassing the entire Christmas season. Martin Luther is credited with inaugurating the tradition of lights on Christmas trees when he placed lit candles in the branches of his tree. Since that time candles, and their electric counterparts, have adorned trees, windowsills, mantles and eaves as a testimony to Him who is “a light to the Gentiles” (LUK 2:32) and the “light of the world” (JOH 8:12).

Christmas Greens like mistletoe, holly, and ivy decorate homes and public places at Christmas. These are also ancient customs stemming from folk traditions and mythology. Winter was a fearful time for the ancient pagans. The nights were dark and cold and evil spirits were thought to be especially active at Christmas time. The evergreens of mistletoe and holly, thought to be magical, were used to combat these forces of evil. Mistletoe, a Celtic word meaning “all-heal,” was the sacred plant of the Druids, the priests of the Celts, because it grew on sacred oak trees. It was used in their sacrifices to their gods and was also believed to cure diseases and infertility, to render poisons harmless, to protect homes from evil spirits and to bring good luck. The ancient Greeks regarded mistletoe as a charm against evil; Virgil called it the “Golden Bough” whose branches enabled Aeneas to descend into hell and return without harm. The practice of kissing beneath a sprig of mistletoe comes from a Norse myth: Frigga, one of the gods, gave her son, Balder, a charm of mistletoe to protect him from the elements; another god used an arrow made of mistletoe to kill Balder. Frigga then cried tears of white berries to bring her son back to life, and vowed to kiss anyone who rested beneath the plant. Druid priests, who worshiped Baldar, cut the mistletoe from its tree with a golden sickle and distributed it to their people with the words, “All heal.” The people would then hang it over a doorway or in a room to offer the blessing of Frigga to others. Vikings hung it outside their homes as a sign of peace and as a symbol of welcome to visitors. Kissing under a branch of mistletoe was seen as a pledge of friendship. Victorians, ever the romantics and enamored with the concept of a “magical” kiss, expanded the Frigga/Baldar legend to allow unmarried males to steal kisses from unattached females found beneath the mistletoe. Some modern Europeans, though, still practice the custom of kissing beneath the branches of mistletoe to receive from Frigga the blessings of life, fertility, peace and freedom from disease that she promised.

Holly was also believed to have magical powers and to drive demons away. The Romans used it in their processions at the Saturnalia. Primitive tribes believed that holly was attractive to friendly spirits, so they hung it inside their homes and over their doorways, especially at Yuletide. To ward off witches and to ensure protection against severe weather, thunder and lightning, they planted it near their homes. In Olde England unmarried women were told to tie a sprig of holly to their beds to guard them from evil spirits and witches, especially on Christmas Eve. Celtic women put sprigs of holly in their hair when they went out to watch their priests, the Druids, cut the sacred mistletoe from sacred oak trees. Germans considered holly to be a good luck charm against nature. Because of its sharp thorns and blood-red berries most Christians thought it symbolized the crown of thorns. Ivy was the ancient symbol of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry; it was used in pagan festivals. Once it was banned from the interiors of Christian homes (where the decorations told of Christ’s Advent) and was only used to decorate exteriors. There its feeble appearance reminded some of man’s feebleness and need to “cling” to God’s strength; thus as a symbol of mortality it became an acceptable part of Christian celebrations.

Christmas tree decorating is symbolic of the Christmas season to people in North America, Germany and parts of Europe . The modern practice stems from Germany ; the first historical mention of this practice comes from Strasburg , Germany , in 1605. Germans decorated their trees with dolls, sweets, apples and wafers, gold foil, and paper roses.

The custom of Christmas trees may find its origins in paganism. Pagans used evergreens and tree decoration during the winter. The Vikings of northern Europe saw evergreens as the symbol of hope that Spring would return after the cold, dark winter; Druids ( England , France) decorated oak trees with fruit and candles to honor their gods of harvest and light. Romans decorated trees with trinkets and candles during Saturnalia, the midwinter harvest festival and revelry of Mithras, the Persian god of light and truth.

Legends surround the Christmas-tree custom. One legend says that St. Boniface, an English monk who organized Germany’s and France’s Churches, stopped a pagan human sacrifice by slamming his fist into the sacrificial sacred oak tree and felling it with that blow; in its place grew a tiny fir, which he said was the Tree of Life representing eternal life in Christ. Another says that Martin Luther, founder of the Reformation, was walking through the woods one clear and cold Christmas Eve when the starlight glimmering through the trees awed him so much that he wanted to recreate the sight for his family: so he cut down a small tree, took it home and put candles in its branches to imitate the forest. A third, more fanciful tale concerns a poor woodsman who encountered a lost and hungry child in the woods one Christmas Eve. He gave the child food and shelter for the night; in the morning he found a beautiful glittering tree outside his door as a reward from the disguised Christ Child for his kindness.

Christmas trees may also be dated to the Medieval Ages when decorated trees were used in plays with Biblical themes that were performed all over Europe . In the “Paradise Play,” performed on December 24th, an apple tree was a necessary prop in the fall of man, but winter apple trees were bare so evergreen trees were hung with apples instead.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, or “Christmastide,” is an ancient European, but mostly English, tradition of Christmas celebration. The ancient festival began Dec. 17th and ended as late as Jan. 17th. After the Council of Tours (AD 567) declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany (Jan. 6th) to be sacred, a more modern festival took place, ending with “Twelfthnight,” the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th. It was celebrated with great enthusiasm with a mixture of pagan and holy practices. The celebration of feasting, merrymaking and gift exchanging mirrored the Roman festivals of Saturnalia-Kalendae. There was a Festival of Fools, led by a Lord of Misrule, where masters served servants, sexes exchanged dress, all wore disguises, and even boy bishops presided in churches (until the Reformation.) There were pagan horn-dances and bull dances (to honor fairies and Celtic horned gods); the decorating of houses with mistletoe, holly, rosemary, and evergreens; the lighting of tapers and fires to celebrate the sun; clay dolls given as gifts and boughs cut to honor the goddess Strenia; wassailing of apple trees; feasting on fresh goose, turkey, hog, wine, mincemeat, plumb porridge, apples and wassail; and times of gorging and relaxation.

Though Christian commemorations were interspersed within the Christmas season—Mass was held on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day feasting commemorated the birth of Christ, the feast of St. Stephen’s Day on Dec. 26th honored the poor, and the Feast of Epiphany on Jan. 6th –the original style of Christmastide celebrations remained basically untouched for 400 years, until a calendar change in 1752 moved the festival to a date eleven days earlier.

Noel (“Nowel,” OFr.) is a term dating from the Middle Ages, associated with the New Year festival, meaning “new birth.” Webster’s Dictionary traces the word to the French noel, from the Latin natalis, “pertaining to birth, a birthday.” The term carried pagan expectations of a new year’s birth when Chaucer wrote of Christmastide,

Janus sits by the fire with a double beard

And drinketh of his bugle horn the wine:

Before him stands the brawn of tusked swine,

And ‘Nowel’ cryeth every lusty man.

The origin of the Advent Wreath seems to be with the German Lutherans, perhaps inspired by the Swedish Crown of Lights, a crown of evergreen boughs and four candles worn by young Swedish girls on December 13th, St. Lucia ’s Day. St. Lucia was reputedly a young Christian woman who gave her entire dowry to feed the poor; she arrived with a shipload of food to feed the hungry and poor in Sweden . She suffered martyrdom for her beliefs and the crown of lights symbolizes her halo. In Sweden , on December 13th, the oldest Swedish daughter, wearing a white dress and crown of candles, brings a breakfast of saffron buns and coffee to her parent’s room to commemorate St. Lucia .

The Yule Log is a custom brought to America from England . It is a large stump, root, or part of a tree used as the foundation for a ceremonial Christmas-Eve fire. The word “yule” most likely comes from jul, an old Norse word associated with a twelve day feast at the end of December. Some scholars believe it stems from the old Germanic word Iol (Iul, Giul, etc.), meaning a turning wheel; this then would refer to the rising of the sun-wheel after the winter solstice. Another guess is that it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word geol (feast), which would then refer to the pre-Christian month long feast of geola (feast-month) held to celebrate the December solstice. Yuletide is the season of the Yule. The ancient Yule season lasted for weeks, sometimes until the frozen ground thawed. Among ancient Teutons and Norse Yule was celebrated the night before the winter solstice with a feast of roast boar. The tradition of burning the Yule log originated among the Germanic tribes as a pagan celebration of Thor, the god of the Yule (who chased away frosts and commanded gentle winds and spring rains to come to bless mankind). For this celebration each family chose the largest tree in the forest they could find to be burned as a symbol of the victory of light over the darkness of winter and over evil spirits. The wood was carried into the house with great ceremony; the master of the home placed it on the hearth and sprinkled it with libations of oil, salt and mulled wine, while prayers were said over it. Its fire was not to go out lest some evil should befall the home. It was believed that the burning log magically made the sun burn brighter. This superstition extended to ancient Christians who chose a stump, root or entire tree for their Yule log, preferably of ash, and ignited it on Christmas Eve by a faggot from the previous year’s log; they kept it burning for a minimum of twelve hours to insure good luck. Some modern Europeans still light the Yule log on Christmas Eve and keep it burning until Epiphany, Jan. 6th, then select a new log on Candlemas (40 days after Christmas) to be burned the following winter. Some follow the custom of retaining bits of the burned log or ashes from its remains to rekindle the next year’s fire, thus ensuring good luck (according to ancient lore it would charm against lightning [Thor’s weapon] and against chilblains during that winter.) Modern descendants of the Vikings in the Shetland Islands burn a thirty-foot long Viking ship at the Up-Helly-Aa (“end of the holiday”) celebration towards the end of January.

“Wassail” refers to a drink of warm ale or spiced cider, which contained sugar eggs, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, and roasted apples. The concoction was also called “lamb’s wool” and “old man’s beard” because of its smoothness and softness. It was the beverage imbibed on the Twelfth Night of Christmas. “Wassailing” was to drink to the health of someone. Custom called for a bowl of wassail to be kept steaming throughout the Christmas season; someone would offer a toast of the drink saying, “Wassail” (be whole) and another would reply, “Drinkhail” (your health). In some parts of England “wassailing” came to refer to a party at which carols were sung and wassail was drunk, or to the practice of traveling from house to house with a bowl of wassail decorated with ribbons, garlands (and sometimes a golden apple), caroling, giving blessings and a drink of wassail in exchange for some small gift of money or food. The following is an except from a famous carol…

Here we come a’wassailing among the leaves of green

Here we come a wand’ring so fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too.

And God bless you and send you a happy New Year

And God send you a happy New Year…

In ancient usage, “wassail” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon wes hal, “be whole;” at old Twelfth Night Eve (Jan 17th) the ancient practice called for cider and cider-soaked toast to be thrown on the branches of apple trees while invocations to the gods of trees and fruit were sung to insure “good health” and a good crop for the coming year. The oldest ritual was conducted on Old Christmas morning with a procession of carolers or mummers traveling from orchard to orchard and to the major trees in each orchard; incantations were said; great noises were made by the blowing of a bullhorn, the firing of a gun or shouting; libations on the trunk, roots and branches of the trees were poured out; and dancing around the trees was done to ensure future blessings.

Bell ringing: traditionally, late on Christmas Eve church bells are rung to announce the call to Christmas Mass, a practice which is fading. However, the custom can be traced to antiquity when loud noises were habitually used to frighten away evil spirits. Interestingly, in medieval Ireland, Scotland and England, during the hour prior to midnight on Christmas Eve a continuous mournful tolling of bells marked “the devil’s funeral,” (for it was thought that he died when Christ was born); at midnight the bells rang a joyous clamor to mark the birth of the One who broke the power of Satan and death, Jesus Christ.

“Boxing Day,” the day after Christmas, December 26th (also known as the Feast of Stephen), comes from medieval times when priests were supposed to empty their alms boxes and distribute gifts among the poor; also the left-over feasts of the wealthy were “boxed” and given to their servants. In Victorian England, Boxing Day was very popular, and in England , Australia and Canada Boxing Day is still the date on which gifts are given to tradesmen, servants and friends.

Christmas “carols” come from the Greek word choraulein (choros, the dance and aulein, to play the flute); in France and England it meant a ring dance accompanied by singing. Gradually the meaning of the word “carol” came to be of a simple, joyful or playful song, though dancing to the accompaniment of singing was popular through the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe and in England through the Reformation (in Spain even longer). From AD 400-1200 Latin hymns were composed that dwelt on the supernatural aspects of Christmas, but the first true joyful carol, as we know it, is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century (though it too was only written in Latin). The first Franciscan friars, following St. Francis’ lead, composed joyful carols in Italian and these spread to Spain and France and then to the rest of Europe. Here is one a translation of one of those 13th century carols,

In Bethlehem is born the Holy Child,

On hay and straw in the winter wild;

O, my heart is full of mirth

At Jesus’ birth.

By the 14th and 15th centuries carols were exceptionally popular in Europe , when minstrels traveled from castle to castle with both secular and sacred carols; by the 16th century carols were associated with songs of joy sung at Christmas. Their popularity waned, however, in the first part of the 19th century but revived through the publication of old and new carols and caroling festivals at Truro, Cornwall, in 1880 and at King’s College, Cambridge in 1918. Those who caroled from house to house were called “waits.” (Originally “waits” were minstrels of the king’s court who were responsible for calling out the hours as they kept watch.)

Santa Claus is, in our modern world, a major focus of the holiday season. His roots can be traced back to a man named Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who lived in the end of the 3rd century and the early part of the 4th century AD in Patara, Lycinia (modern Turkey ). Though he was a historic figure, he is shrouded in myth. The factual information we have about him is that Nicholas was born in AD 271 to a wealthy Christian couple whose names were Epiphaneos and Nona. When Nicholas was a young teenager, an epidemic struck Patara and both Epiphaneos and Nona were killed; Nicholas went to live with his uncle, Nicholas, who was Father Superior of a monastery in Xanthos, a town seven miles upriver from Patara. Disposing of his worldly goods, he joined the monastery. He studied for the priesthood and, after his uncle’s departure for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem , became the priest of Patara. Sometime after his own pilgrimage to Jerusalem he became the Archbishop of Myra, the capital of Lycia . According to Greek Orthodox tradition, he was a defender of orthodoxy, imprisoned during the persecution of Diocletian and freed under Constantine ’s general amnesty. In AD 325 he was one of the church leaders to attend the Council of Nicea. He died of natural causes in his old age on December 6th, AD 342 or 343, and was buried in his cathedral in Myra . In 1087, his bones were transferred to Bari , Italy , after Myra fell to the Moslems.

By the time of Justinian, in the sixth century, he was considered a “Saint” and his feast day was celebrated in Myra; his image appeared on Byzantine seals and artists painted him as a miraculous benefactor; by the 8th century invading Normans had spread tales of his gift giving and “miracles” throughout Scandinavia as they encountered the Roman Empire; by the 9th century he was canonized by the Catholic Church. His feast day, December the 6th, St. Nicholas’s Day, was celebrated all over Europe by the 12th century. During the Middle Ages four hundred churches were dedicated to him just in England . The Russians adopted St. Nicholas as their patron saint; the Greeks thought of him as the patron saint of sailors; the French thought of him as the patron saint of lawyers; Belgians thought of him as the helper of children and travelers.

© Copyright Kathryn Capoccia 2002.  This file may be freely copied, printed out, and distributed as long as copyright and source statements remain intact, and that it is not sold.