Every winter, on 17 December, the people of ancient Rome began a wild party that lasted seven days.
The festival, called Saturnalia, was in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture, from whose name
we get Saturday. There were processions through the streets, candles were lit to symbolize the rebirth
of the year, houses were decorated with greenery and presents were exchanged. Masters gave their
slaves gifts, men dressed as women or masqueraded in the hides of animals. A dried bean was hidden
in food and whoever found it was elected king of the revels. These traditions found their way to
all parts of the Empire, blending with customers that already existed and influencing the way in
which people celebrated the end of the year.
Xmas
X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ - Xristos - and for the early Christians, most
of whom spoke and wrote Greek, the word signified "Christ's Mass". As the centuries passed,
however, fewer and fewer people understood ancient Greek. They thought the "X" had some pagan
meaning and that the word "Xmas" showed disrespect.
Yule Log
The Celts believed that the sun stood still for 12 days during the winter solstice. Our twelve
days of Christmas may have started with this belief. In order for the power of light to conquer
the darkness, the Druids would bless a log, the yule log, and keep it burning for 12 days. If the
log went out, great misfortune might be brought about. Keeping a small piece to light the yule
log next winter would ensure that good luck was carried on from year to year.
Puritans
Seventeenth century Puritans believed that there was no room for frivolity and merrymaking, and
when they came to power in England they clamped down on all forms of Christmas festivities. In
1644, Parliament banned Christmas, and soldiers were sent to make that sure shops stayed open,
no decorations were used and no umble pie was eaten. In 1659 New England, Christmas was banned
with the law: "Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas...shall pay five
shillings as a fine." The ban lasted for 22 years in some parts of America. In Massachusetts,
Christmas was not made a legal holiday until 1856.
Food And Drink
Umble Pie
Umble pie was a popular medieval dish made from the "umbles" of deer, that is, the heart, liver,
tongue, feet, brains, and ears. The umbles were mixed with stewing beef, bacon, oysters, and
rabbit or hare. On top of the meats was a layer of dried fruit. The whole mixture was put into
a pastry case and baked. This pie, however, was not for the lords and ladies, who ate only the
best part of the deer, the flesh. The left-overs went to make the "umble" pie and were only
considered suitable for the huntsmen and the servants. That is why the phrase "to eat humble pie"
means that someone who has come down in life is forced to give way to those in higher positions,
and be made humble, or humilated.
Christmas Pudding
Has its origins in a dish enjoyed in the Middle Ages by both rich and poor; a spicy porridge
called frumenty. Boil wheat in water until it turns into a soft porridge or gruel, add milk,
currants and other dried fruit, then add egg yolks and spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon. Finally,
cook the frumenty mixture into a kind of stiff pudding. In some Scandinavian countries porridge
is still part of a traditional Christmas meal.
Plum Pudding
In the nineteenth century, instead of fresh plums it contained prunes which are dried plums.
Gradually the prunes gave way to other dried fruit, especially currants, sultanas and raisins.
According to a very old tradition, everyone in the family has to stir the Christmas pudding
mixture. This brings good health and luck to each member of the family in the coming year.
The day reserved for the stirring was "Stir-Up Sunday", the fifth Sunday before Christmas, the
reason being that in the prayer book for this Sunday of the year, it says, "Stir up, we beseech
Thee, O Lord, the will of they faithful people."
Little Jack Horner
Jack Horner was chief steward to the abbot of Glastonbury in the early sixteenth century. The
abbot, worried that Henry VIII was going to pull down the abbey, tried to bribe the king with
the gift of some lands. The abbot ordered a great pie to be baked and in it he put the deeds to
twelve of the manors of Glastonbury. Jack Horner was sent off to the king with the pie, but when
the king received his gift there were only eleven deeds inside. Jack Horner had indeed pulled
out a nice "plum."
The Charmed Pudding
Tradition says that silver charms and new coins are put into the Christmas pudding mixture, and
whoever finds the charm in their piece of pudding will have good luck in the year to come. This
tradition dates back to ancient Rome and the Saturnalia feast when it was the custom to place a
dried bean inside a cake. The tradition continued with the Twelfth Night cake, when whoever found
the bean was declared "King of the Bean" and was put in charge of the whole party.
Christmas Pie
A favourite Twelfth Night joke was a surprise pie. A very large amount of pastry was prepared
and baked as an empty pie case. Holes were cut in the bottom and live birds and frogs were put
inside the pie. Then, as the old nursery rhyme says, "When the pie was opened, the birds began
to sing."
Wassail
A strong drink consisting of ale, nutmeg, honey and ginger. The host would pick up the wassail
bowl and greet his companions with "waes hael", the Old English words for "be well." The guest
replied with "drinc hael," meaning "drink and be well." Then the bowl would be passed around the
table. On top of the punch, pieces of toasted bread were floated. The first person to be offered
the wassail bowl would take out the first piece of toast and wish everyone good health. From this
we get our expression, "to raise or make a toast." It was traditional on Twelfth Night for farmers
to "wassail" their orchards, pouring a little of the punch or cider onto the roots of their trees,
hoping for a good harvest in the coming year.
Turkey
The first European settlers in North America found plenty of wild turkeys. The turkey was introduced
to Europe in about 1520, causing a sensation. Because they were easy to raise and quickly put on
weight, the birds became very popular. Turkeys were initially raised only for their feathers. In
the nineteenth century, both in America and Britain, only the white breast meat was considered
good enough for guests. The dark meat of the legs would only have been eaten by the family on the
days after Christmas. Or it would have been given to the servants.
Mince Pies
These became popular in the Victorian age, but their history is a long one. In the twelfth century,
knights returning from the Crusades in the Holy Land introduced to Europe many Middle Eastern
ways of cooking, which mixed sweet tastes with savoury, and recipes of meat cooked with fruit
and sweet spices were popular. In Elizabethan times, mince pies were still a mixture of meat and
fruit and were called "shrid" pies because they contained shredded meat and suet. The meat and
suet were mixed with dried fruit such as raisins and currants, and it was traditional to add
three spices - cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg - which stood for the three gifts given to Jesus by
the Wise Men. The mixture was baked in an oblong pastry case to represent Jesus' crib. A little
pastry baby often decorated the lid. It was thought lucky to eat a mince pie on each of the twelve
days of Christmas. Each pie would be eaten in a different house in order to bring good luck to
the household and the eater for the next twelve months.
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night
Epiphany, 6th January, is the traditional end of the Christmas holiday and is the date on which
we take down the tree and decorations. To do so earlier is thought to bring bad luck for the rest
of the year. From the middle ages until the mid-nineteenth century, Twelfth Night was more popular
than Christmas day, and even today some countries celebrate Epiphany as the most important day
of the Christmas season.
Ephipany
Is a Greek word meaning "to show." It marked the "showing" of Jesus to the outside world when he
was visited by the Magi.
Christmas Decorations
Holly
From the Old English word, "holen," holly has been a favourite winter plant for thousands of years.
It was believed that good spirits lived in its branches and sprigs were taken into homes for luck
and prosperity and to keep away evil spirits. Legend says that holly berries were originally
white but were turned red by Christ's blood, when Christ was made to wear the Crown of Thorns
at his crucifixion.
Ivy
In ancient Rome, ivy was the badge of Bacchus, the god of feasting and drinking. Because of this
pagan association, the early Christian Church would not allow ivy to be used for decoration. In
the Middle Ages, people though ivy helped them to recognize witches, and it was said to be a
protection against the deadly plague.
Tinsel
In sixteenth century France there was a secret way of making tinsel which was called lame.
In those days it was not used on Christmas trees but as decoration on soldiers' uniforms. Despite
every attempt by the lame-makers to keep their secret, it soon leaked out to Germany, where it
was used as the Christmas tree decoration we know as tinsel.
Christmas Ornaments
Originally, decorations were home-made paper flowers, or apples, biscuits, and sweets. The earliest
decorations to be bought came from Nuremburg in Germany, a city famous for the manufacture of
toys. Lauscha in Germany is famous for its glass ornaments. In 1880, America discovered Lauscha
and F.W. Woolworth went there and bought a few glass Christmas tree ornaments. Within a day he
had sold out so next year he bought more and within a week they, too, had sold. The year after
that be bought 200,000 Lauscha ornaments. During the First World War supplies of ornaments from
Lauscha ceased, so American manufacturers began to make their own ornaments, developing new
techniques that allowed them to turn out as many ornaments in a minute as could be made in a
whole day at Lauscha.
Candles
Legend has it that Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Churh in Germany in the sixteenth
century, was the first person to put candles on a Christmas tree. Luther was walking home one
winter evening when he looked up and saw the stars twinkling through the branches of the first
trees. He was so inspired by the sight that when he arrived home he set up a tree and decorated
it with candles.
Christmas Lights
Three years after Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in 1879, Edward H. Johnson, who
worked for Edison's company, had Christmas tree bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed
his electric tree lights at his home on Fifth Avenue, New York City. They caused a sensation
although some years were to pass before mass-manufactured Christmas tree lights were widely
available. In 1903 the Ever-Ready Company of New York began to make strings of lights, but they
were expensive and if one light went out so did the whole lot. In 1927 the General Electric Company
of America introduced tiny bulbs that would not get too hot, and also if one bulb went out the others
stayed lit.
Christmas Music
Carols
The word comes from the ancient Greek choros, which means "dancing in a circle," and from
the Old French word carole, meaning "a song to accompany dancing." Originally the carol
was not associated with Christmas and was not even a religious song. In early medieval times the
Church did not encourage the singing of carols, believing that Christmas should be celebrated in
a solemn way and that carols were linked to pagan festivals. The Church eventually relaxed its
attitude, and the fifteenth century saw a great increase in the writing and singing of Christmas
carols. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is our earliest carol, from the twelfth century. It was not
until the nineteenth century that many of the older carols were rediscovered and set to music.
Victorian Christmas
Victorian Christmas
After the Puritan ban on celebrations, it took 200 years for Christmas to once again become an
important event. Many of the things we most love at Christmas started in the Victorian age, such
as sending cards, and the invention of the Christmas cracker. The picture of a fat, jolly Father
Christmas or Santa Claus, dates from Victorian times. The Christmas tree became popular, as did
gift shopping in big stores. In England, the Boxing Day holiday also started in the nineteenth
century.
Christmas Crackers
The first illustration of a Christmas cracker appeared in The Illustrated London News in
1847, but there is some argument as to who invented them. Two London sweet makers, Tom Smith,
and James Hovell, both claim to have invented the cracker. In 1840s Paris, sweets called
"bon-bons" were wrapped in twists of brightly coloured paper. Tom Smith (or James Hovell) brought
back the idea but added a litle slip of paper with a message on it, called "kiss mottoes." Later,
other attractions were added, such as little paper hats, tokens and small toys, plus the "crack."
It is said that Tom (or James) was sitting in front of his Christmas fire where the yule logs
were crackling, which gave him the idea of putting a cracker strip inside his bon-bons. The
crackers were also made to look like tiny yule logs, as they still do today.
Christmas Cards
Children in Victorian England had the task of writing greetings to their parents in their very
best handwriting. Sometimes adults wrote Christmas letters to each other, but this could take up
a great deal of time. The printed Christmas card solved the problem. The custom of sending printed
cards was started in England by Henry Cole, who did not have time to write letters to each of
his relatives. He asked an artist, John Calcott Horsley, to design a card for him. About 1,000
of these cards were printed, and those not used by Sir Henry were sold by the printer for one
shilling. This was not cheap, which may be why they did not sell very well. With the introduction
of the "penny post" in 1840, it became cheaper to send mail, and as a result of colour printing
and the invention of printing machines, cards could be printed faster and cheaper. The first
company to print and sell Christmas cards on a large scale was Charles Goodall & Sons of London
in 1862. The first charity card was produced in 1949 by UNICEF. Richard H. Pease, a printer from
Albany, New York, is credited with sending the first specially printed Christmas card in America,
in 1851. It managed to make the first mistake in Christmas card history. The card showed a building
on which was hung a banner proclaming "Pease's Great Varety Store."
Christmas Mail
In America in 1822, the postmaster of Washington, DC, complained that he had to add 16 mailmen
at Christmas to deal with cards alone. He wanted the number of cards a person could send limited
by law. "I don't know what we'll do if this keeps on," he wrote.
Letters to Santa
The following was printed in the New York Exchange in December 1893 - "Dear Mr. Santa
Claus, I only want a pare of skates for Christmas and if it aint cold a sled will do. My old ones
bust. If they aint no snow I would like anything you think of. My mamma says you are poor this
year..."
Charles Dickens
By the early part of the nineteenth century Christmas had almost died out. The Times
newspaper, for example, did not once mention Christmas between 1790 and 1835. Charles Dickens
with his story A Christmas Carol did more than anyone to change all that. His tale of
Scrooge, the Cratchits, and Tiny Tim was a smash hit from the start. He wrote the story in just
two months, beginning in October 1843 and finishing at the end of November. The book was published
on 17 December 1843 and immediately sold out.
Christmas Trees
Early Christmas Trees
Again an ancient tradition. The oak was sacred to the ancient Greek god Zeus, as well as to the
Druids. In ancient Rome evergreen trees were thought to have special powers and were used for
decoration. In pagan Scandinavia, fir and ash trees were hung with war tropies to bring good
luck. In the Middle Ages the Church decorated trees with apples on Christmas Eve, which was
known then as Adam and Eve's Day.
Christmas Trees
Our more modern Christmas tree seems to have started in Germany. In the sixteenth century, city
merchants carried a fir tree decorated with paper flowers through the streets on Christmas Eve.
A great feast was held in the market square followed by dancing around the tree, and finally the
tree was ceremonially burned. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, "Christbaumen"
appeared in different forms - sometimes only the tops of fir branches were used, often hung upside
down over doorways. Some people took fir branches, fixed them to wooden pyramids and decorated
them with paper roses, nuts and apples. The earliest record of a Christmas tree in England dates
from 1800 with a tree belonging to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. The member of the royal
family who really made the Christmas tree popular in England was the Prince Consort, Albert of
Saxe-Coburn, the German husband of Queen Victoria. In 1848 The Illustrated London News printed
a full page illustration of their tree and the fashion quickly spread. The earliest mention of
a Christmas tree in America is from a diary dated 20 December 1820 of Matthew Zahn, from Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania. Many of those who settled in Pennsylvania in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
were Protestants from Germany.
Christmas Entertainment
Pantomime
A very British tradition, nothing quite like it is found elsewhere in Europe or America. The
word is made up of two Greek words, "panto" means all kinds and "mimos" is a type of silent
acting which we still know today as mime. Originally it was an entertainment without words, in
which actors - including men dressed as women, and women dresed as men - took part. These silent
comedies were enjoyed particularly during the Roman Saturnalia festivities. The Roman tradition
of mime was brought to Britain during the Roman occupation. It was during the Victorian age that
pantomime as we know it became the most popular of all Christmas entertainment for children. Many
of today's pantomimes are from very old stories. Babes in the Wood first appeared in England
about 500 years ago. Puss in Boots and The Sleeping Beauty are over 450 years old.
In 1717 The Arabian Nights stories were translated into English and some became pantomimes,
including, Aladdin and His Magic Lantern, Sinbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba and the
Forty Thieves.Dick Whittington,Robinson Crusoe, and Robin Hood are all
Victorian creations.
Widow Twankey
This character, always played by a man, was originally Aladdin's mother and was called the Widow
Ching Mustapha. But by 1870 she adopted the name of Twankey, taken from a type of tea called
"twankei", which was first brought to England from China in the nineteenth century. The "principal
boy" in the pantomime is always played by a girl. He was first introduced into panto in the 1880s
by Augustus Harris, the manager of London's Drury Lane Theatre.
St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas, Chimneys and Stockings
Young Nicholas met a very poor man who did not have enough money for a marriage dowry for his
three daughters, and so the girls faced being sold into slavery. Nicholas had just inherited his
parent's fortune and wanted to help the unfortunate father, but he didn't want to draw attention
to himself. So, on three successive nights he climbed onto the poor man's roof and dropped a bag
of gold down the chimney. The girls had hung their freshly washed stockings on the fireplace to
dry, and into each stocking plopped a bag of gold - enough for a dowry.
St. Nicholas
A real person, St. Nicholas of Myra (in Turkey), was a thin, pale figure who dressed in bishop's
robes of red cassock and a mitre, the traditional hat of a bishop. He travelled by donkey and
delivered his gifts on 6 December. St. Nicholas was much loved in Europe, and when the Dutch went
to America in the seventeenth century they took him along. His name was spelled Sint Nikolaas,
which gradually changed into Sinterklaas and then gradually into Santa Claus.
Father Christmas
St. Nicholas has always been a much more popular figure in Europe than in Britain, where people
preferred Father Christmas, a jolly character first seen in the plays of the Middle Ages. When
Santa Claus became popular in the nineteenth century, he and Father Christmas gradually merged.
Santa Claus
In America, the familiar image of Santa Claus was made by three men: Dr. Clement Moore, Thomas
Nast and Haddon Sundblom. On 23 December 1822, Dr. Clement Moore, a university professor, wrote
a poem for his children. He called it "A Visit from St. Nicholas." The poem was never meant for
publication, for he feared he would be ridiculed for writing children's verse. A friend, however,
sent a copy to a newspaper and very soon the poem became famous across the United States. The
cartoonist, Thomas Nast, began to illustrate the poem for Harper's Weekly magazine in 1863.
At first, he drew him as a mischievous little elf, but gradually he became taller and fatter and
his beard grew bushier. Santa Claus as we know him today, with white beard, red tunic, hat and
trousers trimmed with white fur, was created by an American commercial artist, Haddon Sundblom
for a 1931 Coca-Cola advertisement.
Other Traditions
Boxing Day
Very much a British tradition, going back many centuries but only made an official holiday in
1871. Also known as St. Stephen's Day, it was customarily a time for giving to the poor. The name
comes partly from the boxes kept in churches to collect money for the needy. On the day after
Christmas Day these boxes were opened and the money shared among the poor people of the parish.
Workmen and young apprentices also had Christmas boxes made of pottery, which they would take to
their masters' customers and ask for money. On Boxing Day the pottery boxes were smashed and the
money was then spent by the workmen on food and drink.
Pretzels
Their distinctive shape goes far back to an ancient German custom. The pagan sign for the winter
solstice was a circle with a dot in the centre. The bread baked during the solstice festivities
was called bretzel. Originally the bretzel was a circle of dough with a cross of dough in
the middle. This shape was meant to show the year divided into four seasons. Today's pretzels
have exactly the same shape, but not many people realize they are eating a pagan symbol of the
winter solstice.
Hogmanay and First Footing
In Scotland, New Year is called Hogmanay. One superstition concerns the first person to step into
the house in the new year. This person cannot be anyone with a squint or whose eyebrows meet in
the middle. Preferably it should be a tall, dark-haired man, and he must carry a piece of mistletoe,
coal and a coin. As the clock strikes midnight the family wait in silence for the First Footer's
knock. The door is opened and the man walks in without a word. He places the coal in the fire,
puts the mistletoe on the mantelpiece, hands the coin to a member of the family and then wishes
everyone a happy New Year.
Rudolph
In 1939, Robert May, who worked in the advertising department of the Montgomery Ward department
store in Chicago, wrote a poem about one of Santa's deer with a bright red nose. He suggested
the name Rollo for the deer, but it was rejected. He next thought of Reginald, but that, too,
was turned down. Finally he came up with Rudolph. That year every child who visited the store's
Santa received a booklet of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." More than 2.4 million copies were
given away free. Then in 1949 Johnny Marks, a friend of Robert May, set the poem to music. Gene
Autry agreed to sing it, and the record zoomed to the top of the hit parade.
Saturnalia
