'E.ncy)cloj)edia of
CHRISTMAS
& New Yea/s Celebrations
2.nd edition
iffustratei hy) Mar-^ Ann Stavros-Lanning
Bncyciopedia of
CHRISTMAS
and New Year's
Celebrations
ind Bdition
li:-.".".* L
Bncyciopedia of
CHRISTMAS
and New Yea/ s
Celebrations
indBdkion
Over 240 Alphabetically Arranged Entries Covering
Christmas, New Year's, and Related Days of
Observance, Including Folk and Religious Customs,
History, Legends, and Symbols from Around the World.
Supplemented by a Bibliography and Lists of Christmas
Web Sites and Associations, as well as an Index
Tanya Gulevich
Illustrated by Mary Ann Stavros-Lanning
Qmniarapfjics
615 Griswold • Detroit, Michigan 48226 • 313-961-1340
2003
Helene Henderson, Copy Editor
Bariy Puckett, Research Associate
Allison A. Beckett and Linda Strand, Research Assistants
Omnigraphics, Inc.
if ;f if
Matthew P. Barbour, Senior Vice President
Kay Gill, Vice President — Directories
Kevin Hayes, Operations Manager
Leif Gruenberg, Development Manager
David P. Bianco, Marketing Consultant
if H- H-
Peter E. Ruffner, Publisher
Frederick G. Ruffner, Jr., Chairman
Copyright © 2003 Omnigraphics, Inc.
ISBN 0-7808-0625-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Giilevich, Tanya.
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's celebrations : over 240 alphabetically
arranged entries covering Christmas, New Year's, and related days of observance,
including folk and religious customs, history, legends, and symbols from around the
world /Tanya Gulevich ; illustrated by Mary Ann Stavros-Lanning.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Encyclopedia of Christmas. 2000.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7808-0625-5
1 . Christmas — Encyclopedias. 2. New Year — Encyclopedias. I. Gulevich, Tanya.
Encyclopedia of Christmas. II. Title.
GT4985.G79 2003
394.261— dc21
2003040580
You may copy the designs and illustrations for classroom and library use free of charge and
without special permissions. Electronic or mechanical reproduction, including photography,
recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system for the purpose of resale is
strictly prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher.
The information in this publication was compiled from the sources cited and from other
sources considered reliable. While every possible effort has been made to ensure reliability, the
publisher wUl not assume liability for damages caused by inaccuracies in the data, and makes
no warranty, express or implied, on the accuracy of the information contained herein.
This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the ANSI Z39.48 Standard. The infinity symbol
that appears above indicates that the paper in this book meets that standard.
Printed in the United States
Contents
Introduction xv
Adam and Eve Day 1
Advent 3
Advent Calendar 7
Advent Candle 8
Advent Wreath 10
America, Christmas in Colonial 13
America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century 19
Amish Christmas 28
Angels 30
Annunciation 33
Armenia, Christmas in 35
'Auld Lang Syne" 37
Australia, Christmas in 40
Baboushka 45
Baby 47
Barring Out the Schoolmaster 47
Befana 50
Bells 52
Berchta 56
Bethlehem 59
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in 64
Birth of the Invincible Sun 69
Black Peter 72
Boar's Head 74
Boxing Day 79
Boy Bishop 82
Brazil, Christmas in 89
Bulgaria, Christmas in 91
Candlemas 95
Ceremony of Lessons and Carols 100
Cert 101
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" 102
Cherry Tree 106
Children's Letters 108
Chrismon Tree 112
Christingle 113
Christkindel 114
Christmas Ale 115
Christmas Bonus 118
Christmas Cakes 120
Christmas Candles 124
Christmas Card 126
A Christmas Carol 132
Christmas Carol 139
Christmas Club 148
Christmas Crackers 149
Christmas Lads 151
Christmas Markets 153
Christmas Rose 156
Christmas Seals 159
Christmas Season 161
Christmas Sheaf 163
Christmas Symbols 164
Christmas Tree 167
Christmas Village 174
Commercialism 176
December 25 185
Denmark, Christmas in 190
Depression 195
Devil's Knell 198
VI
Ecuador, Christmas in 201
Eggnog 203
Egypt, Christmas in 205
Elves 206
Emancipation Day 210
England, Christmas in 213
Epiphany 217
Estonia, Christmas in 224
Ethiopia, Christmas in 228
Europe, Christmas in Medieval 230
Farolitos 237
Father Christmas 239
Father Time 242
Feast of Fools 244
Feast of the Ass 247
Feast of the Circumcision 248
Firstfooting 252
First Night 254
Flight into Egypt 255
Football Bowl Games 258
France, Christmas in 261
Frankincense 265
Frau Gaude 267
Gabriel 269
Games 272
Gaudete Sunday 275
Germany, Christmas in 276
Ghana, Christmas in 284
Ghosts 286
Gifts 289
Gingerbread 295
Glastonbury Thorn 298
Gold 302
Gospel Accounts of Christmas 303
Gospel According to Luke 305
Gospel According to Matthew 308
Vll
Grandfather Frost 310
Greece, Christmas in 312
Greenery 315
Guatemala, Christmas in 320
Hanukkah 323
Herod, King 326
Hogmanay 328
Holly 335
Holy Innocents' Day 339
Hopping John 343
How the Grinch Stole Christmas 345
Iceland, Christmas in 349
India, Christmas in 354
Iran, Christmas in 356
Iraq, Christmas in 358
Ireland, Christmas in 359
Italy, Christmas in 363
It's a Wonderful Life 366
Ivy 371
Jesse Tree 375
Jesus 377
Jesus, Year of Birth 381
Jonkonnu 387
Joseph 390
Julklapp 392
Jultomten 393
Kalends 397
Kallikantzari 401
King of the Bean 404
Kissing Bough 407
Knecht Ruprecht 409
Knocking Nights 414
Kwanzaa 416
vm
Lamb's Wool 419
Latvia, Christmas in 421
Laurel 423
Lebanon, Christmas in 424
Lithuania, Christmas in 427
Lord of Misrule 434
Lovefeast 438
Luminarias 440
Maq^'s Thanksgiving Day Parade 443
Madagascar, Christmas in 449
Magi 451
Marshall Islands, Christmas in the Republic of the 459
Martinmas 463
Mary, Blessed Virgin 470
Masque 476
Merry 479
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 480
Messiah 482
Mexico, Christmas in 487
Midnight Mass 491
Mincemeat Pie 493
Miracle on 34th Street 498
Misa de Gallo 501
Mistletoe 503
Mummers Parade 509
Mumming 516
Myrrh 523
National Christmas Tree 527
Nation's Christmas Tree 532
Nativity Legends 534
Nativity Play 538
Nativity Scene 542
New Year's Day 549
New York City, Christmas in 556
Nigeria, Christmas in 561
Noel 563
IX
North Pole 565
Norway, Christmas in 567
The Nutcracker 573
Old Christmas Day 579
Ornaments 583
Pantomime 591
Paradise Tree 596
Pastores, Los 598
Peace of Christmas 602
Philippines, Christmas in the 603
Plough Monday 610
Plum Pudding 613
Plygain 617
Poinsettia 618
Poland, Christmas in 620
Posadas, Las 624
Puritans 627
Putz 632
Pyramid 635
Reindeer 639
Resolutions 642
Reveillon 644
Robin 646
Rosemary 649
Russia, Christmas in 651
St. Barbara's Day 657
St. Basil's Day 660
St. Distaff's Day 663
St. John's Day 665
St. Knut's Day 667
St. Lucy's Day 668
St. Nicholas 674
St. Nicholas's Day 680
St. Stephen's Day 686
St. Sylvester's Day 690
St. Thomas's Day 692
Salvation Army Kettles 697
Santa Claus 699
Saturnalia 711
Shepherds 714
Shoes 716
Shooting in Christmas 717
Slaves' Christmas 719
Snow Maiden 726
South Africa, Christmas in 728
Spain, Christmas in 731
Star Boys 735
Star of Bethlehem 736
Stir-Up Sunday 741
Stockings 742
Store Window Displays 744
Sudan, Christmas in 747
Sugarplums 748
Syria, Christmas in 751
Times Square, New Year's Eve in 755
Timkat 758
Twelfth Night 760
Twelve Days of Christmas 767
Up Helly Aa 776
Urban Legends Ill
Victorian England, Christmas in 783
Virginia O'Hanlon 789
Waits 793
Wales, Christmas in 795
Wassail 797
Wassailing the Fruit Trees 801
Watch Night 803
Weihnachtsmann 807
XI
Wenceslas, King 808
"White Christmas" 810
White House, Christmas in the 814
Wild Hunt 820
Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial 822
Winter Solstice 828
Wrapping Paper 833
Wreath 835
Wren Hunt 836
Yule 843
Yule Goat 848
Yule Log 850
Yule Straw 855
Zagmuk 859
Appendix 1: Bibliography 863
Appendix 2: Web Sites 887
Appendix 3: Associations 901
Index 907
xu
To my Yiayia, Evdokia, with love and admiration
Introduction
ike a river winding its way to the sea fed by countless
tributaries, the festival we call Christmas has rolled
down to us over the course of two millennia. It has
taken many twists and turns on its journey across the
rugged landscape of the ages, thereby gaining and losing a range of
meanings, legends, customs, and symbols. It has been fed along the
way by such sources as the Bible, pre-Christian calendar customs.
Christian lore and tradition, and a wide range of folk practices, be-
liefs, and symbols. The interventions and innovations of many indi-
viduals — be they saints, kings, queens, musicians, writers, business
men and women, manufacturers, scholars, clergy, or politicians —
have also swelled the flow. Today, standing at the mouth of the river,
the yearly phenomena we call Christmas roars past us each Decem-
ber, a joyous tumult composed of all these influences.
In western cultures the celebrations surrounding Christmas and New
Year's have unified into a single holiday season. Hence, the second
edition of the Encyclopedia of Christmas has expanded its coverage of
New Year's Eve and Day. For this reason, the second edition has been
retitled Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations.
The Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations addresses
this sprawling holiday, tracing its history back to ancient times and
describing its observance in countries spanning six continents. The
encyclopedia format allows the user to locate sought-for informa-
tion quickly, or to browse. The diverse range of material presented
offers the reader the opportunity to gain a new appreciation of the
breadth and depth of this ancient, international festival.
XV
Audience
The Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations is intended
for general audiences, including students and teachers, as well as
interested adults. Those researching various aspects of the history
and celebration of Christmas will find pertinent information, and
general readers will find engaging historical narratives, descriptions,
tales, and facts.
Scope and Organization
The Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations contains 247
entries on all facets of Christmas arranged in alphabetical order. Topics
covered include folk customs and beliefs, religious practices, symbols,
legends, mythological and historical figures, foods, beverages, and
major artistic and popular works associated with the celebration of
Christmas and New Year's Eve and Day. Entries also provide infor-
mation on related days and celebrations, such as the Annunciation,
Candlemas, and Epiphany. Because many of the entries include ma-
terial on a range of subjects, the reader is strongly urged to consult
the index in order to locate all available information on any given
topic.
The Encyclopedia traces the history of Christmas and New Year's Day
from antiquity to the twentieth century. It contains a number of
essays on ancient celebrations which bequeathed some of their cus-
toms to this holiday season, such as the Roman festivals Kalends
and Saturnalia. It also traces the origins and development of Christ-
mas as a Christian holiday. To this end it includes essays exploring
the controversy over the date of Jesus' birth, explaining the selection
of December 25 as the date of the new festival, and describing the
development of the many Christian holidays and celebrations relat-
ed to the Nativity.
Many essays touch on the blossoming of Christmas customs, leg-
ends, symbols, and foods in medieval and Renaissance Europe, as
well as the expansion of the Christmas season that took place during
that era. Further essays outline the decline of Christmas following
the Protestant Reformation, as well as examine its resurgence in the
Victorian era. The Encyclopedia also covers the continuing evolution
XVI
of the holiday in the twentieth century, noting the development of
new symbols and customs, such as those represented by the Christ-
mas seal and the Christmas club, as well as the growing popularity
of Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, the Christmas gift, and other
modern Christmas customs.
The book is international in scope, offering 39 entries dealing wholly
or mostly with the Christmas season in other countries. These essays
cover Christmas celebrations in European, Asian, Middle Eastern,
African, and Latin American countries. Additional information about
foreign Christmas customs appears throughout the volume. For ex-
ample, there is no entry on Jamaica or the Bahamas, but the "Jonkon-
nu" entry describes an important Jamaican and Bahamian Christmas
custom. Therefore, readers are encouraged to use the index to locate
all pertinent information on a geographic location, ethnic group, or
any other subject.
New to the Second Edition
The second edition adds 60 new entries to the Encyclopedia. These
entries greatly expand coverage of New Year's Eve and Day, Christmas
in the United States, and Christmas celebrations in foreign countries.
The Encyclopedia now offers 21 entries treating New Year's customs,
observances, and symbols. Additional information can be found in
Christmas-centered entries throughout the Encyclopedia and is easily
located with the aid of the index. The expanded coverage of New
Year's Eve and Day celebrations focuses on the western New Year's
Day, falling seven days after Christmas on January 1. Other New Year's
holidays — such as Chinese New Year — that are unrelated culturally,
religiously, or calendrically to Christmas have not been covered.
Readers interested in American Christmas and New Year's celebra-
tions may now consult 49 entries dealing wholly or in good part
with the customs, history, and symbols of these holidays as they are
celebrated in the United States. For a complete listing, see United
States of America, Christmas and New Year's Celebrations in
the. These entries expand the historical coverage of the holiday and
detail, for example, how American slaves celebrated Christmas as
well as discuss the history of Christmas in the White House. They
also survey pop culture contributions to the American holiday sea-
xvii
son, such as football bowl games, Christmas villages, and a number
of the nation's favorite Christmas movies and television specials.
New entries also discuss Christmas observances in several distinc-
tive American towns and cities such as Williamsburg, Virginia, Beth-
lehem, Pennsylvania, and New York City.
Seventeen new entries increase the book's coverage of Christmas in
foreign countries. Four describe Christmas in Middle Eastern coun-
tries, and five cover Christmas in African countries. New entries on
Christmas in India, Australia, and the Marshall Islands shed further
light on Asian, Pacific, and Pacific Islands Christmas celebrations.
Several other new entries enhance the book's coverage of eastern
European Christmas celebrations.
Entries and References
Entries range in length from about 100 words to well over 2,500
words. Suggestions for further reading follow each essay. The En-
cydopedia of Christmas and Neiu Year's Celebrations is thoroughly cross-
referenced. Within each article words in boldfaced type and see-also
references guide the reader to further entries containing information
on the same or related subjects.
Each entry is followed by one or more sources for further reading. In
some instances, sources consulted in writing the entry were not list-
ed after the text of the entry, especially if the work contained little
pertinent information, was especially scholarly, difficult to obtain, or
out of print. A full bibliography of all sources consulted appears at
the end of the book. Though not included in the further reading
lists. Colliers Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, Webster's New Uni-
versal Unabridged Dictionary, Microsoft Encarta 2001 Standard En-
cyclopedia, and the Oxford English Dictionary were freely consulted in
the writing of a number of entries.
Appendices
Three appendices supplement the Encyclopedia:
Appendix 1: Bibliography — Contains a complete listing of books
and articles consulted.
xvui
Appendix 2: Web Sites — Furnishes addresses for more than seventy
web sites offering information on a wide variety of Christmas-relat-
ed topics. Countless Christmas sites populate the World Wide Web.
Those appearing in the Encyclopedia, either in further reading lists or
this appendix, were chosen for inclusion because they were deemed
to offer substantial information presented by reliable sources.
Appendix 3: Associations — Lists groups whose missions relate to
Christmas in some way. A brief summary of the group's purpose,
available publications, and full contact information accompanies
each listing.
Index
The index provides the reader with an important tool for getting the
most out of this book. It covers customs, symbols, legends, historical
and mythological characters, ethnic groups, musical and literary
works, foods, beverages, religious groups and denominations, geo-
graphical locations, keywords, alternate names, and other subjects
mentioned in the entries.
Acknowledgments
Several people aided me in the long process of researching and writ-
ing this manuscript. First and foremost I would like to thank my edi-
tor, Helene Henderson, for bringing her excellent editorial skills to
bear on all aspects of this book. Her faith in this project has been
much appreciated. I am also grateful to Joseph A. Lane, Katherine
Lehman, Jane McDougle, and Judith Reuss for their feedback on
various aspects of the manuscript. I would also like to acknowledge
George and Elizabeth Gulevich for their unfailing enthusiasm for
this enterprise and the editorial staff of Omnigraphics for their con-
fidence in my work.
The illustrations appearing in the Encyclopedia of Christmas and New
Year's Celebrations were created using images from the following
sources: Corel Draw; Image Club Graphics' Art Gear Visions of Christ-
mas and Festive Occasions; and Dynamic Graphics' Artworks Series.
You may copy the designs and illustrations for classroom and library
use free of charge and without special permissions. Electronic or
XIX
mechanical reproduction, including photography, recording, or any
other information storage and retrieval system for the purpose of
resale is strictly prohibited without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Advisors
This project was reviewed by an Advisory Board comprised of librari-
ans to assist editorial staff in assessing its usefulness and accessibili-
ty. They evaluated the title as it developed, and their suggestions
have proved invaluable. Any errors, however, should be attributed to
the author and editors. The Omnigraphics editorial staff would like
to list the Advisory Board members and thank them for their efforts.
Gail Beaver
Ann Arbor Huron High School Library and the
University of Michigan School of Information and Library Studies
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Linda Carpino
Detroit Public Library
Detroit, Michigan
Helen Gregory
Grosse Pointe Public Library
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Rosemary Orlando
St. Clair Shores Public Library
St. Clair Shores, Michigan
XX
WKwmmwm
Adam and'Eve Bay
According to the Bible's Book of Genesis, God created the first man
and woman and invited them to live in a heavenly place called the
Garden of Eden. This couple, known as Adam and Eve, lived there in
bliss until they took the advice of a serpent and disobeyed God's
command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. As punishment for their disobedience, God expelled them from
the Garden, thus compelling them to work for their living, suffer
pain, and eventually die. Medieval Christians honored Adam and
Eve as the father and mother of all people and commemorated their
story on December 24, the day before Christmas.
Eastern Christians, that is, those Christians whose traditions of belief
and worship developed in the Middle East, eastern Europe, and
north Africa, were the first to honor Adam and Eve as saints. Their
cult spread from eastern lands to western Europe during the Middle
Ages, becoming quite popular in Europe by the year 1000. Although
the Roman Catholic Church never formally adopted the pair as
saints, it did not oppose their veneration.
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Commemorating the lives of Adam and Eve on December 24 pro-
moted comparison of Adam and Eve with Jesus and the Virgin
Mary. Medieval theologians were fond of making such compar-
isons, the point of which was to reveal how Jesus and Mary, through
their obedience to God's will, rescued humanity from the conse-
quences of Adam and Eve's disobedience. Indeed, the Bible itself
refers to Jesus as the "second Adam" (Romans 5:14). Whereas hu-
manity inherited biological life from the first Adam, it would imbibe
spiritual life from Jesus, the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15: 22, 45,
49). Some theologians took this to mean that Jesus' coming could
restore humankind to a state of grace lost when Adam and Eve were
exiled from Eden. In like manner, Mary would undo the effects of
Eve's disobedience. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary and deliv-
ered the message that she would bear a divine son, Mary replied,
"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to
your word" (Luke 1:38; see also Annunciation). Medieval commen-
tators relished the fact that in Latin, Eve's name, Eva, read back-
wards spelled Ave, meaning "hail." Ave Maria, or "Hail Mary" were
the first words that the angel Gabriel spoke to the Virgin Mary. The
spelling of these two short words seemed to them to symbolize
God's plan to reverse the consequences of Eve's deed by bring a sav-
ior into the world through the Virgin Mary.
Medieval Christians celebrated Adam and Eve's feast day with a kind
of mystery play referred to as the paradise play (for more on the paradise
play, see Paradise Tree). This little folk drama retold the story of Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It ended with the promise of the com-
ing of a savior who would reconcile humanity with God. The paradise
play was often staged around a single prop called a paradise tree.
Actors adorned an evergreen tree with apples and sometimes also
with communion wafers. Decked out in this way it served to represent
the two mystical trees in the Garden of Eden: the tree of knowledge of
good and evil and the tree of life. Although the church officially
banned the performance of mystery plays in the fifteenth century, the
people of France and Germany's Rhine river region kept on decorat-
ing paradise trees for Christmas. Some writers believe that the par-
adise tree evolved into what we now know as the Christmas tree.
Indeed, as late as the nineteenth century people in some parts of
Germany customarily placed figurines representing Adam, Eve, and
Advent
the serpent under their Christmas trees. In some sections of Bavaria,
people still hang apples upon their evergreens at Christmas time and
refer to the decorated trees as paradise trees.
As the Middle Ages receded into history, so too did the western
European feast of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve have retained a bit
more of their ancient importance among certain Eastern Christians.
The Greek Orthodox Church still honors Adam and Eve on the
Sunday before Christmas.
Further Reading
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. "Adam" and "Eve." In their The
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Ryken, Leland, lames C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman, III, eds. "Adam."
In their Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity
Press, 1998.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952..
Advent
Christmas Lent, Little Lent,
St. Philip's Fast, Winter Lent
The word 'Advent" comes from the Latin word adventus, which
means "coming" or "arrival." The Advent season serves as a period
of spiritual preparation for the coming of Christmas. Advent calls
Christians to reflect on both the birth of Jesus and on the Second
Coming of Christ {see also Jesus, Year of Birth). In Western Christi-
anity Advent begins on the Sunday closest to November 30, St. An-
drew's Day, and lasts till December 24, thereby extending over a
period of 22 to 28 days. In the Orthodox Church Advent begins on
November 15. The Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lu-
theran traditions view Advent as the beginning of the Church year.
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The liturgical color for Advent is purple, reflecting the repentant
mood characteristic of early Church Advent observances. By con-
trast, many popular customs associated with this period joyfully
anticipate the coming of Christmas.
History
In 490 A.D. Bishop Perpetuus of Tours, France, established a period of
penance and preparation for Christmas in his diocese. He advocated
fasting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a forty-day period
preceding Christmas. This fast period began on the day after Mar-
tinmas, November 11, thereby acquiring the name "St. Martin's
Lent" or "The Forty Days' Fast of St. Martin." The observation of a
period of penance in preparation for Christmas gradually spread
throughout France, and on to Spain and Germany, though it may
have been largely restricted to monastic communities. In Spain
groups of Christians were already fasting in preparation for Epipha-
ny. In the early years there was little agreement regarding the dates
and length of this pre-Christmas fast period. In some areas the fast
began on November 11. In others, September 24, November 1, or
December 1 might be the starting date. In 581 a.d. the Council of
Macon ordered the laity throughout France to observe the forty-day
period of fasting. Two hundred years later the Advent fast was
adopted in England as well.
Advent was not observed in Rome until the sixth century. Pope
Gregory I (590-604 a.d.) developed much of the Roman Advent
liturgy and shortened the period of observance from six to four
weeks. The joyous, festive spirit with which the Romans celebrated
Advent clashed with the somber, penitential mood established in
Gallic observances. For a number of centuries Advent celebrations
throughout western Europe varied in tone, length, and manner of
observance. Sometime after 1000 a.d. Rome accepted the practice of
fasting during Advent, which in those times meant abstaining from
amusements, travel for purposes of recreation, and marital relations,
as well as certain foods. In addition, no weddings were permitted
during fast periods.
By the thirteenth century the observance of Advent in western Eu-
rope had stabilized. It combined the Roman tradition of a four-week
Advent
observance, the Gallic custom of fasting, and a liturgy that mingled
the themes of penance and joy. In recent centuries the Roman Cath-
olic Church reduced, and eventually eliminated. Advent fasting.
The Orthodox Church
The Orthodox churches of eastern Europe developed different tradi-
tions. Since the eighth century Orthodox believers have fasted in
preparation for Christmas. Orthodox believers fast by eliminating
meat, fish, dairy products, wine, and olive oil from their diets for a
set period of time. A common Orthodox term for Advent is "Little
Lent." In the Greek tradition. Advent is often called "Christmas
Lent," a period that lasts from November 15 until the eve of Decem-
ber 24 and is observed with fasting, prayer, and almsgiving {see also
Greece, Christmas in). The Orthodox period of preparation before
Christmas may also be called "St. Philip's Fast" because it begins the
day after St. Philip's Day. Armenian Orthodox believers fast for three
weeks out of a seven-week Advent period, which runs from Novem-
ber 15 till January 6. Orthodoxy does not maintain a special liturgy
for this period {see also Armenia, Christmas in).
Folk Customs
The folk customs of Advent reflect the anticipation and joy that
characterize the weeks preceding Christmas in many countries. In
many lands Nativity scenes are constructed and displayed. Advent
may also be a favorite time of year to attend special Christmas con-
certs and performances. Many customs connected with the season
feature the lighting of Advent candles. Indeed, the candle has
become a symbol of the season. Some Christians fashion and dis-
play Jesse trees and Chrismon trees in observance of Advent.
Others attend special church services, such as the Anglican Cere-
mony of Lessons and Carols. The Advent wreath keeps adults
focused on the spiritual message of Advent. The Advent calendar
offers children a toy to help them count the days until Christmas.
Other children's customs include writing letters to the child Jesus or
Santa Claus {see also Children's Letters) and participating in the
Hispanic folk play called Las Posadas, in which children and adults
recreate the Holy Family's search for a place to spend the night in
Bethlehem.
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Frauentragen, or "woman carrying," is a German Advent custom
which closely resembles Las Posadas. Children carry a picture or fig-
urine representing the Virgin Mary to a neighborhood home. Once
there, they sing or enact a brief scene from the Nativity story, say a
prayer, and place the picture or figurine near the family crucifix. The
children return for the image the following evening and carry it to a
new home. In this way they act out Mary and Joseph's search for
lodging in Bethlehem. On Christmas Eve the children carry Mary
back to the church, where she takes her place in the Nativity scene.
Musical folk plays were once a popular Advent custom in Germany.
Known as Herbergsuchen, or "search for the inn," this folk drama also
reenacted Mary and Joseph's search for shelter in Bethlehem. The
play ended happily with the birth of the baby Jesus in a stable.
In Latin America and central Europe the nine days before Christmas
take on a special character. In Latin America many people partici-
pate in a popular novena in honor of the Christ child. A novena is a
series of special religious services or private devotions held on nine
consecutive days. In Europe the nine days before Christmas were
sometimes called the "Golden Nights," as many of the religious
observances and popular celebrations that characterized the period
occurred after dark.
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Metford, J. C. J. The Christian Year. London, England: Thames and Hudson,
1991.
O'Shea, W. J. "Advent." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 1. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Slim, Hugo. A Feast of Festivals. London, England: Marshall Pickering, 1996.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1952.
Advent Calendar
Web Site
The German Embassy in Washington, D.C., offers a page describing Advent
customs in Germany: http://www.germany-info.org/xmas/ch_16.html
^%!M
Advent Calendar
Advent calendars help children count the days between the begin-
ning of Advent and Christmas. By furnishing a treat for each day of
Advent, these one-page calendars help curb the impatience of coun-
tless children in many countries who long for the arrival of Christ-
mas Day. The history of the Advent calendar is uncertain, although
some writers believe that it was invented in Germany around the
turn of the twentieth century.
Advent calendars may take many forms, but each offers a playful
method for checking off the days between December first and twen-
ty-fifth. In the United States one often finds the calendars printed
onto double layers of paperboard (for a list of entries treating American
history and customs, see United States of America, Christmas in). A
Christmas scene with the numbers one through twenty-five incor-
porated into the design decorates the surface of the calendar. Per-
forations around the numbers allow children to fold back or remove
a number each day, revealing the tiny images printed on the bottom
layer below. These images generally depict a Christmas or Advent
theme.
Some calendars attach chocolates or other sweets behind the fold-
back dates on the calendar. In Germany cardboard houses may serve
as the basis for homemade Advent calendars. Behind doors and
windows children find edible goodies. Creative German crafters may
even use matchboxes or walnut shells as devices for marking off the
days of Advent and delivering tiny treats to children. The less inven-
tive may press regular wall calendars into service by gluing candy,
pictures, or verses to each of the December days before Christmas.
Finally, in recent years one can find a variety of interactive Advent
calendars posted on the World Wide Web (see Appendix 2).
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Advent Candle
A number of different Advent customs require the lighting of can-
dles. Some writers believe that the use of candles during Advent may
have been adopted from the fires and lights that illuminated pre-
Christian midwinter festivals. Before the widespread use of electric
lighting, the twinkling candles not only served to dispel the gloom of
the long winter nights, but also represented the hope of light and life
to come. In Christian terms, the flame of the Advent candle repre-
sents the coming of Jesus, "the light of the world" Qohn 8:12).
Placing a lighted candle in the windowsill is perhaps the simplest
Advent candle custom. In Europe during centuries past, a flickering
candle in the window symbolized the offer of hospitality to night-
time wayfarers. Some believed the glowing light might even attract
the Christ child. The Irish brought with them the tradition of placing
a lighted candle in the windowsill at Christmas time when they emi-
grated to the United States {see also Ireland, Christmas in). In the
late nineteenth century groups of carolers popularized the custom in
Boston. From there the practice spread to other American cities. The
citizens of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, keep candles in their win-
dows at Christmas time, though they trace their tradition back to the
town's Moravian founders (for more on Moravian Christmas customs,
see Christingle; Lovefeast; Watch Night). Christmas time candles
also twinkle in the windows of historic Williamsburg, Virginia. The
custom there developed as a means of decorating historic district
Advent Candle
homes in a manner consistent with the town's colonial architecture
and decor.
In the American Southwest people decorate the exteriors of their
homes with luminarias, candles placed in brown paper bags filled
with sand. This custom originated in Mexico.
Many churches hold special candle-lighting services sometime during
Advent. Often, each person attending is given a candle {see also
Christingle) . The lighting of these candles then becomes part of the
service.
Advent wreaths may be found in both home and church Advent
observances. These wreaths contain four candles, one for each of the
four Sundays of Advent. One is lit on the first Sunday of Advent.
One more candle is lit on each of the following Sundays until on the
fourth Sunday of Advent all four candles burn in unison. These four
Advent candles may also be used without a wreath. {See also
Christmas Candles.)
Further Reading
Augustine, Peg, comp. Cotne to Christmas. Nastiville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1993.
Ttiompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Har-
court. Brace and World, 1952.
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
AdventWreatf}
Many Christians enhance their observance of Advent with an Ad-
vent wreath. Although Germany's Lutheran community is credited
with popularizing this custom sometime in the nineteenth century,
its ultimate origins may lie in the pre-Christian practice of fashion-
ing winter festival decorations from evergreen boughs. Whatever its
origins, the symbols and customs connected with today's Advent
wreath represent the spiritual significance of the Christian Advent
season. Advent wreaths are used in both home and church obser-
vances.
Advent wreaths are usually fashioned out of greenery and are
meant to lie on a flat surface or to hang horizontally from the ceiling.
Four candles are incorporated into the wreath. They symbolize eter-
nal life, as does the circular design of the wreath {see also Christmas
Candles). Purple candles are often found in wreaths designed for
church use, since purple is the liturgical color of the Advent season.
Finally, a larger white candle, known as the Christ or Christmas can-
dle, is placed in the center of the wreath or off to one side. The white
color of this candle coincides with the liturgical colors for Christmas
Day, white or gold. Some churches do not follow the liturgical color
scheme, however.
Wreaths made for home observances employ candles of various
shades. For example, red and white candles are often found in
European Advent wreaths.
10
Advent Wreath
On the first Sunday of Advent, the first of the four candles in the
wreath is Ht. On the second Sunday, the second candle joins the
first. By the fourth Sunday in Advent all four candles glow in unison.
Finally, on Christmas or Christmas Eve, the Christ candle flickers
alongside the others. The ever increasing amount of light given off
by the candles represents the spiritual illumination hoped for in the
Advent season. The Christ candle, bigger and brighter than the rest,
symbolizes the arrival of Jesus, "the light of the world" Qohn 8:12),
and Christmas, the culmination of the Advent season. This lighting
of candles at the darkest time of year may also stand for commit-
ment to one's faith in times of darkness. In some home observances,
family and friends pray, sing, or read spiritual texts by the light of the
Advent wreath. An old German custom suggests adding one paper
star to the wreath for each day in Advent. The star carries an Old
Testament verse on one side and a New Testament verse on the
other. Children might then be expected to memorize these verses.
Many assign special significance to each of the four wreath candles.
Some say they represent the four gifts of the Holy Spirit: hope, joy,
peace, and love. Others use them to represent the themes of the
Advent season. Thus they may signify hope, preparation, joy, love, or
light. Still others tell the story of Jesus' birth with the candles, allow-
ing each to stand for some of the important figures associated with
the Nativity, such as the prophets, angels, shepherds, and the Magi.
Further Reading
Augustine, Peg, comp. Cotne to Christmas. Nastiville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1993.
Slim, Hugo. A Feast of Festivals. London, England: Marshall Pickering, 1996.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on the
meaning and use of the Advent wreath in the Lutheran tradition of worship:
http://www.elca.org/dcm/worship/worship_planning/church_year/christ
mas_cycle.html
11
America, Christmas in Colonial
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'*q^'^Qe,.^£]^q!?,.^£]^c^
America^ cfiristmas in Colonial
The religious upheaval known as the Reformation divided sixteenth-
and seventeenth-century Europeans on many religious issues, in-
cluding the celebration of Christian feast days. The European immi-
grants who settled in the thirteen American colonies brought these
controversies with them. Among colonial Americans, attitudes to-
wards Christmas depended largely on religious affiliation. In general,
Puritans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Quakers
refused to celebrate the holiday. In areas of the country settled pri-
marily by people of these religious affiliations, Christmas withered.
By contrast, those who belonged to the Anglican (or Episcopalian),
Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic traditions general-
ly approved of the holiday. Communities composed primarily of
people from these denominations planted the seeds of Christmas in
this country.
The First American Christmas
The first Christmas celebration in what was later to become the con-
tinental United States took place in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565
(for a list of entries treating American history and customs, see United
States of America, Christmas in). Old documents inform us that
Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales presided over a Christ-
mas service held at the Nombre de Dios Mission in that year. The
Shrine of Nuestra Sefiora de la Leche now marks this location. The
town of St. Augustine boasts of being the oldest settlement founded
by Europeans in what is now the United States. Still, residents of
Tallahassee, Florida, suspect that an even earlier Christmas celebra-
tion may have been held near the site of their town. In 1539 a party
of Spanish colonists, led by explorer Hernando de Soto (c. 1500-
1542), camped near the place where Tallahassee now stands. Since
the Spaniards stayed from October 1539 to March of the following
year, some Floridians speculate that they must have celebrated
Christmas there.
13
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The First Christmas in the English Colonies
In Jamestown, Virginia, a ragged band of Englishmen huddled to-
gether on Christmas morning in the year 1607. Although one hun-
dred hopeful settlers had left England in order to found this, the first
American colony, less than forty were still alive to celebrate their first
Christmas in the New World. Their leader. Captain John Smith, was
gone. He had left them to barter for food with the local Indians, and,
according to legend, returned alive thanks only to the intervention
of a young Indian woman named Pocahontas. Although the settlers
had little food with which to rejoice, they still observed Christmas
Day with an Anglican worship service.
Virginia and the South
In Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas the majority of early settlers
were Anglicans of English descent. In the second half of the seven-
teenth century, as their way of life grew more secure, they began to
reproduce the festive Christmas they had known in their homeland
{see also Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial). They cel-
ebrated with feasting, drinking, dancing, card playing, horse racing,
cock fighting, and other games. Although Anglican churches offered
Christmas worship services, these apparently did not play a large
role in colonial Christmas celebrations. Wealthy plantation owners
who lived in large houses aspired to fill the Christmas season with
lavish entertainments of all sorts. For many, this festive period lasted
until Twelfth Night. By the eighteenth century these wealthy south-
erners studded their holiday season with balls, fox hunts, bountiful
feasts, and openhanded hospitality. One year guests at a Christmas
banquet hosted by a wealthy Virginia planter named George Wash-
ington, who later became the first president, dined sumptuously on
the following dishes: turtle soup, oysters, crab, codfish, roast beef,
Yorkshire pudding, venison, boiled mutton, suckling pig, smoked
ham, roast turkey, several dishes of vegetables, biscuits, cornbread,
various relishes, cakes, puddings, fruits, and pies. Wines, cordials,
and a special holiday drink known as eggnog usually rounded out the
plantation Christmas feast. Although wealthy parents might give a
few presents to their children on Christmas or New Year's Day, this
practice was not widespread. More common was the practice of
making small gifts to the poor, to one's servants, or to one's slaves.
14
America, Christmas in Colonial
The less well-off could not reproduce the splendor of a plantation
Christmas, but they could still celebrate with good food and good
cheer. In addition, southerners of all classes saluted Christmas morn-
ing by shooting off their guns and making all sorts of noise. Those
who did not own muskets banged on pots and pans or lit fireworks.
Slaves were usually given a small tip or gift and some leisure time at
Christmas. Since they had to prepare the parties and feasts for every-
one else, however, their workload increased in certain ways at this
time of year.
Southern colonists transported a number of old English Christmas
customs to the New World including Christmas carols. Yule logs,
kissing under the mistletoe, and decking homes with greenery.
Southern schoolboys of this era sometimes resorted to the Old World
custom of barring out the schoolmaster in order to gain a few days
off at this festive time of year.
New England
The first bands of settlers to colonize New England were mostly
made up of Puritans, members of a minority religious sect in Eng-
land. They advocated a simplified style of worship and the elimina-
tion of many religious holidays, including Christmas. Although they
came to America in search of religious freedom, once here, the Puri-
tan settlers established rules and laws favoring their religion above
all others, as was the custom in Europe at the time. In Plymouth
colony, the first European settlement in New England, Puritan lead-
ers frowned upon Christmas from the very beginning. In 1621, one
year after their arrival from England, Governor William Bradford dis-
covered young men playing ball games in the streets on Christmas
Day. He sent them back to their work, remarking in his diary that
while he may have permitted devout home observances, he had no
intention of allowing open revelry in the streets. In 1659 Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony made Christmas illegal. Any person found
observing Christmas by feasting, refraining from work, or any other
activity was to be fined five shillings. In 1681, however, pressure
from English political authorities forced colonists to repeal this law.
The anti- Christmas sentiment continued, though, and most people
went on treating Christmas like any other workday. Many Puritan
15
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
colonists resented the presence of the few Anglicans in their midst,
especially if they were British officials. On Christmas Day in 1706 a
Puritan gang menaced worshipers at the King's Chapel in Boston,
breaking windows in protest against the Anglican worship service
taking place inside.
The very fact that Puritan leaders passed a law against the holiday
suggests that some New Englanders were tempted to make merry
on that day. Historic documents record a few instances of seven-
teenth-century Christmas revelers and mummers being cold-shoul-
dered by their more severe neighbors. The late seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries witnessed a slight thawing in Puritan attitudes
towards Christmas, as the New England colonies began to fill with
people from a wider variety of religious backgrounds. Many still crit-
icized drinking, gaming, flirting, feasting, and mumming as unholy
acts of abandon that dishonored the Nativity of Christ, but some
now accepted the idea of marking the day of Jesus' birth with religious
devotions. Nevertheless, noted Puritan minister Cotton Mather (1663-
1728) clearly warned his congregation against secular celebrations of
the holiday in his Christmas Day sermon of 1712:
Can you in your conscience think that our Holy Saviour is
honored by Mad Mirth, by long eating, by hard Drinking, by
lewd Gaming, by rude Revelling? ... If you will yet go on
and do Such Things, I forewarn you That the Burning Wrath
of God will break forth among you [Christmas in Colonial and
Early America, 1996, 12].
In eighteenth-century New England, Christmas services could be
found in Anglican, Dutch Reformed, Universalist, and other church-
es representing pro-Christmas denominations.
New York and Pennsylvania
New York and Pennsylvania hosted significant numbers of Dutch
and German immigrants. Denominational differences divided many
of these immigrants on the subject of Christmas. In general, the
Mennonites, Brethren, and Amish rejected Christmas. The Luthe-
rans, Reformed, and Moravians cherished the holiday and honored
it with church services as well as folk celebrations {see also Lovefeast
16
America, Christmas in Colonial
and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in). Like their English
counterparts in the South, the pro-Christmas communities in New
York and Pennsylvania ate and drank their way through the Christ-
mas holiday. In addition, both the Dutch and the Germans brought
a rich tradition of Christmas baking to this country, including the
making of special Christmas cookies, such as gingerbread. In fact,
the American English word "cookie" comes from the Dutch word
koek, meaning "cake." This in turn gave rise to the term koekje, mean-
ing "cookie" or "little cake."
German immigrants brought other Christmas customs with them as
well. As early as the mid-eighteenth century Moravian communities
in Pennsylvania were celebrating the day with Christmas pyramids.
Other early German communities imported the beliefs and customs
surrounding the German folk figures Christkindel and Knecht Ru-
precht, whose gift-giving activities delighted children at Christmas
time. Although the Germans probably also introduced the Christ-
mas tree, no records of this custom can be found until the nine-
teenth century.
In addition to its large German population, Pennsylvania became
home to many Scotch Irish and Quakers. Both the Scotch Irish, most
of whom were Presbyterians, and the Quakers disapproved of Christ-
mas celebrations in general. The Quakers adamantly opposed all
raucous street revels, including those of German belsnickelers, mum-
mers, and masqueraders of all kinds. In the nineteenth century, when
Quakers dominated Philadelphia and Pennsylvania state govern-
ment, they passed laws to prevent noisy merrymaking in the streets
at Christmas time (see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-
Century).
The German Christmas blended lively folk customs with devout reli-
gious observances. This combination eventually became typical of
American Christmas celebrations. At least one researcher has con-
cluded that increased immigration from the German-speaking coun-
tries in the second half of the eighteenth century profoundly influ-
enced the American Christmas. The increasing number of Germans
permitted their balanced approach to Christmas to spread among
the wider population and so encouraged the festival to flourish in
the United States.
17
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Conclusion
The colonial American Christmas differed significantly from con-
temporary American Christmas celebrations. Many religious people
completely ignored the day. Even after the founding of the United
States no state recognized Christmas as a legal holiday. Those peo-
ple who celebrated it anyway did so without Santa Claus, Christ-
mas cards, Christmas trees, and elaborate Christmas morning gift
exchanges. Instead, the most common ways to observe the holiday
featured feasting, drinking, dancing, playing games, and engaging in
various forms of public revelry. Although the colonies attracted peo-
ple from many different countries, English, German, and Dutch set-
tlers exercised the strongest influence on early American Christmas
celebrations.
Further Reading
Barnett, James. The American Christmas. New York: Macmillan, 1954.
Christmas in Colonial and Early America. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Kane, Harnett. The Southern Christmas Book. 1958. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1998.
Lizon, Karen Helene. Colonial American Holidays and Entertainments. New
York: Franklin Watts, 1993.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1996.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
Snyder, Phillip. December 25th. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1985.
Young, Joanne B. Christmas in Williamsburg. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1970.
irjiM'
18
America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century
America^ cfiristmas in
Nmeteent^}-Centur^()
At the beginning of the nineteenth century American Christmas cel-
ebrations varied considerably from region to region. These variations
reflected religious and ethnic differences in the population. In Puri-
tan New England, for example, many people ignored the holiday
{see America, Christmas in Colonial). In Pennsylvania German-
American communities reproduced a number of German Christmas
traditions. Prosperous Southerners, especially those of Anglican
English or French descent, hosted lavish Christmas meals and par-
ties. All across the country many of those who celebrated Christmas
in nineteenth-century America did so with noisy, public, and some-
times drunken, reveling. By contrast, non-observers tried to ignore
the noise and the festivities. They treated the day as any other work-
day, since it was not a legal holiday in most of the century.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, however, more and
more people began celebrating Christmas. Regional and religious dif-
ferences faded as new American Christmas customs emerged. These
customs helped to transform the American Christmas into the tran-
quil, domestic festival we know today. As the century rolled on, larg-
er numbers of people incorporated customs and myths surrounding
the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, and family gift exchanges into
their Christmas celebrations. The Civil War (1861-65) served as a
watershed in American Christmas observances, after which time the
commercial trappings of the holiday — especially Christmas cards,
store-bought gifts, store window displays, and wrapping paper —
took on greater importance.
New York and Pennsylvania
In the early nineteenth century some New Yorkers and Pennsyl-
vanians celebrated Christmas with mumming and other forms of
noisy, public merrymaking. Young men of German extraction carried
out their own variation of mumming known as "belsnickeling" (see
19
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Knecht Ruprecht). In Pennsylvania Dutch country, students some-
times celebrated Christmas by barring out the schoolmaster. In
New York brazen parties of drunk men sang, played instruments,
and shouted in the streets on Christmas Eve, disturbing the sleep of
more serious-minded citizens. On New Year's Day custom dictated
that ladies stay at home to exchange New Year's greetings with a
string of gentlemen callers, all of whom were entertained with food
and drink. For gentlemen with a wide range of female acquain-
tances, this custom presented yet another opportunity to consume
large quantities of alcohol. Christmas mumming occurred in both
New York and Pennsylvania, to the dismay of those who favored a
more solemn observance of the season.
In addition to those customs it shared with New York, Pennsylvania
boasted its own highly developed noisemaking traditions during
this era. In Philadelphia young men wandered the streets during the
Christmas season, drinking, shooting off firecrackers, shouting, and
sometimes fighting with one another. Some even strutted about in
costume and were referred to as "fantasticals." Many of these cele-
brants wandered about the downtown blowing horns on Christmas
Eve. Those who could not lay their hands on horns added to the
pandemonium with tin whistles, sailors' hornpipes, tin pans, hand-
held bells, sleigh bells, or homemade instruments. In the year 1861
these mock minstrels raised such a racket that they reduced the cen-
ter of the city to chaos.
The city government, dominated by those who did not celebrate
Christmas, made two attempts to outlaw parading, masquerading,
and horn playing on Christmas Eve, once in 1868 and again in 1881.
The practice proved too deeply rooted to stamp out, however Even-
tually, the city instituted the New Year's Day Mummers Parade,
which modified these activities and channeled them into a con-
trolled format. This popular parade continues today. {For other nine-
teenth-century Pennsylvania customs, see Amish Christmas.)
The South
Southerners also celebrated Christmas by making noise. Men shot
off guns both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Firecrackers and
gunpowder explosions added to the din. Children without access to
20
America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century
either of these items sometimes celebrated by popping inflated hog
bladders, the nineteenth-century farm equivalent of a balloon. South-
ern Christmas celebrations featured so many bangs and explosions
that some witnesses said they rivaled Independence Day celebra-
tions. In 1902 an article printed in a New York newspaper claimed
that New York manufacturers had sold $1 million worth of fireworks
to Southern buyers during the Christmas season.
In addition to noisemaking, residents of many Southern cities also
enjoyed dressing in costume on Christmas Eve. In some places they
were referred to as "fantasticals," like their fellow celebrants in Penn-
sylvania. Baltimore, Savannah, Mobile, and St. Augustine hosted ver-
sions of this Christmas Eve masquerade. Arrayed in costumes rang-
ing from funny to frightening, residents sallied forth to promenade
up and down the main streets of the town. Something similar sur-
vives today in New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebrations. Lastly, many
residents of the former French territories, which became the states of
Louisiana and Missouri, celebrated Christmas with French customs.
These customs included assembling Nativity scenes, attending Mid-
night Mass, cooking up sumptuous reveillon suppers, and hosting
parties in honor of New Year's Eve and Twelfth Night.
The Slaves
The slaves developed Christmas customs of their own. In North
Carolina some celebrated Jonkonnu. Some slaves observed an all-
night vigil on Christmas Eve during which they sang, danced, and
prayed. Throughout the South slaves greeted white folk on Christ-
mas morning with the cry of "Christmas gif!" According to custom,
the white person responded by giving them a present, either a coin
or a gift. In addition, slaveowners often distributed presents of cloth-
ing, shoes, blankets and other necessities to their slaves at Christmas
time. Some slaveowners provided their slaves with extra rations of
food at Christmas, including meat, which was something the slaves
rarely ate during the rest of the year. Slaveowners frequently provid-
ed ample portions of liquor as well. At many plantations slaves cele-
brated Christmas by dressing in their best clothes, feasting, and
dancing. At other plantations slaves worked through the Christmas
holidays. Sometimes slaveowners withheld the privilege of celebrat-
21
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ing Christmas from those slaves who had displeased them during
the year. Others gave presents only to women who had borne babies
or to the most productive workers. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass
(1817-1895) later looked back on the customs of the plantation
Christmas as mechanisms for controlling the slaves. He argued that
days of drunken carousing subtly convinced some slaves that they
were incapable of productive behavior if left to their own devices.
After Slavery
In the late nineteenth century African-American Christmas celebra-
tions varied quite a bit. Some African Americans celebrated a mod-
est Christmas, exchanging gifts of homemade food and clothing and
attending church. Visitors to the Indiana State Museum's Freetown
Village, a permanent, living-history exhibit, can watch a play that
reenacts an 1870s African-American Christmas of this type. Others
reproduced some of the old customs of the plantation Christmas. The
children greeted any adult they could find with the cry of "Christmas
gift!" and the adults danced, drank to excess, and refrained from work.
African-American educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) ob-
served these conditions in Tuskegee, Alabama, in the 1880s. As head
of the town's newly founded school for African Americans (now
Tuskegee University), he made it a point to teach his students to cel-
ebrate a sober Christmas, dedicated at least in part to religious ob-
servance and to aiding the less fortunate.
The West
Out on the Western frontier men celebrated Christmas by shooting
off their guns and banging on tin pans in noisy and often drunken
processions. In Minnesota settlers of Swedish descent attended
Julotta services on Christmas morning {see also Christmas Carol).
Texans celebrated with Christmas Eve balls. Throughout the South-
west many of Hispanic descent staged Las Posadas and Los Pas-
tores, traditional Christmas folk plays.
Christmas Becomes a Legal Holiday
After the Revolution the newly established American government
revoked all British holidays. This act left the United States without
22
America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century
any national festivals. In 1838 Louisiana was the first state to recog-
nize Christmas as a legal holiday. One by one, the other states fol-
lowed suit. Finally, on June 26, 1870, in recognition of the large num-
ber of people who already observed the day. Congress declared
Christmas to be a national holiday.
Protestants Embrace Christmas
Just as the states of the nation began to declare Christmas a legal
holiday, many Protestant denominations that had previously reject-
ed Christmas began to accept the festival. Between the years 1830
and 1870 Christmas slowly crept into Sunday school curriculums.
The middle of the century also witnessed the publication of new
American Christmas hymns. A number of these, such as "O Little
Town of Bethlehem," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," and "We
Three Kings" — all composed by clergymen — have become Christ-
mas standards. By the end of the century Presbyterian, Baptist,
Methodist, and Congregationalist churches were offering Christmas
services on the Sunday nearest Christmas. Perhaps this change sig-
nified that the passage of time had finally severed the connections
made by many Protestants between Christmas, Roman Catholicism,
and the religious oppression of past eras.
AFestival of Home and Family
The Christmas celebrations that the Protestant denominations were
now embracing were not quite the same ones their ancestors had
rejected. Several researchers of nineteenth-century American Christ-
mas customs point out that as the century progressed many of the
more boisterous elements of the festival diminished. These elements
included mumming, belsnickeling, public drinking, and noisemak-
ing. Americans increasingly viewed these activities as unworthy of
the season. Instead, they began to create a tranquil celebration that
focused on home and family ties. These changes probably encour-
aged former non- celebrants, including many previously hostile
Protestant denominations, to adopt the new version of the holiday.
Several new Christmas customs helped to facilitate this transition
to a more peaceful, domestic festival, including the Christmas tree,
Christmas cards, the family gift exchange, and the new American
gift bringer, Santa Claus.
23
America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century
Christmas Trees and Gift Giving
Most colonial Americans who observed the day did not give Christ-
mas gifts to their children. Eighteenth- century Americans were
more likely to give gifts to servants or to those who performed ser-
vices for them during the year {see Boxing Day). Likewise, many
nineteenth-century Americans resisted the idea of exchanging Christ-
mas gifts with friends and family because they viewed Christmas
gifts as something one gave to social inferiors. At the turn of the
nineteenth century those who did give presents to family members
and neighbors frequently gave simple, homemade gifts, such as
handsewn or knitted articles of clothing, wooden toys, or home-
made preserves. Family gift giving appears to have been somewhat
more frequent in German-American and Dutch-American commu-
nities. In these areas children might receive fruits, nuts, and sweets
from Christkindel or the local belsnickelers. Some adults in these
communities also exchanged small gifts, such as handkerchiefs,
scarves, or hats. Of those adult Americans who exchanged gifts dur-
ing the winter holiday season, many did so on New Year's Day rather
than on Christmas.
Christmas gifts started to become more common about mid- centu-
ry. Several factors contributed to this rise in popularity. First, people
began to adopt the German custom of installing a Christmas tree in
their parlors as a holiday decoration. The Germans covered their
trees with good things to eat and small gifts. Hence, the tree focused
everyone's attention on giving and receiving. In addition, because it
stood at the center of the household, the tree showcased the family
gift exchange. Whereas, in the past, some parents may have stuffed a
few sweets into their children's stockings, they now could hang lit-
tle gifts from a tree branch. Liberated from the tight quarters of the
Christmas stocking, the gifts parents gave to children grew in size
and substance. Before 1880 people usually hung their unwrapped
gifts from the tree with thread or string. After that time, wrapping
paper and fancy decorated boxes slowly became fashionable. As
Christmas presents grew too large or heavy to hang on the tree,
people began to place them beneath the tree.
Although charity had been an element of Christmas celebrations for
centuries {see also Europe, Christmas in Medieval), it became a
25
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
more prominent theme of the festival during the nineteenth century.
Some writers credit the Christmas stories of English author Charles
Dickens (1812-1870), especially A Christmas Carol, with significantly
increasing public interest in Christmas charity. In addition, many
ministers preached to their congregations about giving to those less
fortunate. The Salvation Army took this message to heart in the
1890s, mounting a successful campaign to raise funds to provide the
poor with bountiful Christmas dinners in large public halls.
Santa Claus and Children's Gifts
Santa Claus played an important role in the popularization of
Christmas gift giving. This American folk figure became widely known
in the second half of the nineteenth century, consolidating and
replacing the lesser-known, ethnic gift bringers Christkindel (also
known as Kriss Kringle), Belsnickel, and St. Nicholas. This bit of
American folklore did not spring up from the masses of the Ameri-
can folk, however. Literary and artistic figures, such as Clement C.
Moore (1779-1863), the author of 'A Visit from St. Nicholas," and
illustrator Thomas Nast (1840-1902), developed the myth and image
of Santa Claus that became popular through their works. Never-
theless, the American people quickly adopted him as their own.
Santa delivered gifts to youngsters by visiting their homes on
Christmas Eve. The increasing popularity of Santa Claus boosted the
importance of gifts, especially gifts for children, in American Christ-
mas celebrations.
Commerce and Cards
The decade following the Civil War witnessed a sudden rise in store-
bought gift giving. Researchers have traced this upsurge to two com-
plementary factors: consumer demand and commercial promotion.
Although some people objected to the impersonality of store-bought
gifts, others desired the new, manufactured goods. Moreover, retail-
ers set about enticing the public into spending money on Christmas
with such innovations as lavish store window displays, wrapping
paper, and special advertising campaigns {see Commercialism). Stores
began to schedule special holiday season hours to accommodate the
seasonal increase in customers. In New York City shop doors re-
26
America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century
mained open until midnight during the Christmas season, generat-
ing concern in some quarters for the pHght of overworked shop
assistants.
Christmas cards achieved widespread popularity by the 1880s, about
the time when Americans began celebrating Christmas by exchang-
ing store-bought gifts. According to one researcher, nineteenth-cen-
tury cards replaced more personal yet more time-consuming ways of
sending seasonal greetings, such as writing letters and visiting {see
also Children's Letters). The cards anchored themselves more firm-
ly among America's Christmas customs after the turn of the twenti-
eth century, when people began to use cards to replace cheap gifts
for more distant friends and relatives.
Conclusion
During the nineteenth century American Christmas celebrations be-
gan to coalesce around customs that promoted symbolic exchanges
of love and good will both between family members and in the
wider community. These customs — the night visit of Santa Claus,
Christmas trees, family gift exchanges, Christmas cards, and Christ-
mas charity — still stand at the center of today's festivities. Through-
out the nineteenth century regional differences in the celebration of
Christmas diminished, although they never quite disappeared. The
twentieth century would witness the further erosion of these region-
al customs.
Further Reading
Barnett, James. The American Christmas. New York: Macmillan, 1954.
Bigham, Shauna, and Robert E. May. "The Time O'AU Times? Masters,
Slaves, and Christmas in the Old South." Journal of the Early Republic 18, 2
(summer 1998): 263-88.
Dipeiro, Diane. "Together at Christmas (Christmas Traditions of African-
American Slaves)." Colonial Homes 20 (December 1, 1994): 28(2).
Kane, Harnett. The Southern Christmas Book. 1958. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1998.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Afred A. Knopf,
1996.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
27
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
. "Christmas in Nineteenth-Century America." History Today 45
(December 1995): 13-19.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
Snyder, Phillip. December 25th. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company,
1985.
Web Site
Freetown Village, a living-history museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana,
offers a brief description of the reenactment of an 1870s Christmas in a set-
tlement of newly freed African Americans on its web site at: http://www.
freetown.org/ (click on "special events")
Amisf} cfiristmas
The Amish observe Christmas but do not share many mainstream,
American Christmas customs. For example, they don't set up Christ-
mas trees in their homes, tell their children about Santa Claus, and
buy lots of expensive presents {see also Commercialism). Few deco-
rate their homes in any way for the holiday, and those that send
Christmas cards generally send them to their non-Amish friends.
Instead, the Amish Christmas revolves around a few simple, home-
spun pleasures.
The Amish
The Amish are Protestant Christians who maintain a lifestyle many
Americans associate with centuries past. They reject most modern
industrial and technological developments. Amish families continue
to work their own farms without the aid of tractors or other motor-
ized farm equipment, ride in horse-drawn buggies, and wear clothes
popular two hundred or more years ago. The Amish came to this
country in the eighteenth century to escape religious persecution in
Europe. Here they found the freedom to worship as they wished and
live in the manner they chose. Today's Amish speak English but also
28
Amish Christmas
preserve the German dialect of their ancestors. Many Amish live in
the state of Pennsylvania, but they can also be found in Ohio and
other Midwestern states, as well as Canada.
The Amish faith emerged from the Protestant Reformation, a six-
teenth-century religious reform movement that gave birth to Prot-
estant Christianity. Like the English and American Puritans, the
Amish initially rejected the celebration of Christmas as a non-bibli-
cal, frivolous, and sometimes even decadent holiday. A touch of this
attitude remains today in their restrained observance of Christmas.
Amish Christmas Customs
Most Amish schools prepare Christmas pageants. Since Amish chil-
dren attend school right up till Christmas Day, the pageant is gener-
ally set for the afternoon of December 24. Parents and other relatives
attend and watch with pride as their young people recite poems and
take part in skits — many of which contain moral teachings about
Christmas charity, faith, and love — and sing Christmas carols.
Earlier that day the children may have taken part in a gift exchange
in which each child, having drawn a slip of paper with another
child's name on it, brings a present for that boy or girl.
For most Amish, Christmas morning begins with farm chores. After-
wards the family gathers for breakfast and Christmas gifts in the
kitchen. In nineteenth-century Amish families, parents set out plates
on the kitchen table and piled their children's presents on top. They
usually gave their children things like nuts, raisins, cookies, candy,
and rag dolls and other homemade toys. Other Pennsylvania Dutch
families also set out Christmas plates in past times. The custom of
setting out Christmas presents on the kitchen table seems to have
died out among other groups, however. Today Amish families ex-
change a few useful gifts on Christmas morning. Typical gifts include
simple toys such as skates and sleds, books, homemade candies and
cookies, kitchenware, and household items. A large Christmas din-
ner completes the day's activities.
On December 26 the Amish celebrate "second Christmas." This cus-
tom, once common in Pennsylvania Dutch country, came into being
so that those who devoted much of December 25 to religious ob-
29
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
servance did not miss out on all the Christmas iim. It's a popular day
for family outings, visits, games, and other leisure activities. {For
more on Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas customs, see America, Christ-
mas in Nineteenth-Century; Barring Out the Schoolmaster; Beth-
lehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in; Knecht Ruprecht.)
Further Reading
Ammon, Richard. An Amish Christmas. New York: Atheneum Books, 1996.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pemisylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
Web Site
'An Amish Christmas," by Brad Igou, posted on the web site of Amish
Country News, a monthly visitors guide to Lancaster, Pennsylvania's Amish
Country: http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/amishChristmas.htm
Angef;
s
Images of angels adorn Nativity scenes, Christmas cards, Christ-
mas trees, and many other Christmas displays. These popular
Christmas symbols boast an ancient pedigree. They play a promi-
nent role in the New Testament accounts of Jesus' birth {see also
Gospel Accounts of Christmas; Gospel According to Luke; and
Gospel According to Matthew). Angels also appear in many Old
Testament stories.
Biblical Angels
The Hebrew scriptures (the Christian Old Testament) often use the
term malakh, meaning "messenger," to refer to the beings we call
angels. Writing in Greek, the authors of Christian scripture called
these beings angelos, a Greek term meaning "messenger" or "her-
ald." This word eventually passed into the English language as
"angel." Although the word "angelos" denoted an ordinary, human
30
Angels
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3Sj*'*qf^qP>q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^^^
messenger, biblical authors selected it over another available Greek
term, daimon, which referred to a guardian spirit. Perhaps they dis-
carded this term because Greek lore taught that the daimon exer-
cised both good and evil influences over people. Eventually, the
Greek word "daimon" passed into the English language as "demon."
The angels of biblical tradition frequently acted as messengers. In
fact, angels served this function in both scriptural accounts of Jesus'
birth. In Matthew's account of the Nativity an angel appeared to
Joseph on three separate occasions. The first time the angel came to
explain the nature of Mary's pregnancy. Later, an angel warned
Joseph of Herod's evil intentions concerning Jesus and advised him
to flee into Egypt {see also Flight into Egypt; Holy Innocents' Day).
An angel returned one final time to inform Joseph of Herod's death
and to command his return to Israel. In Luke's account of the
Nativity, the angel Gabriel visited Mary to inform her that she
would bear a child by the Holy Spirit. On the night of Jesus'birth an
angel appeared to shepherds in a nearby field to announce the glo-
rious event. Then a "multitude" of angels suddenly materialized be-
hind the first angel, singing praises to God.
What Angels Look Like
With so many angels involved in orchestrating the events surround-
ing Jesus' birth, it is no wonder that they became a symbol of the
Christmas holiday. Today's Christmas angels frequently appear as
winged human beings in flowing white robes with somewhat femi-
31
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
nine faces and haloes. This image evolved over the course of two
millennia.
The very first Christian depictions of angels date back to the time of
the Roman Empire. Early Christian paintings of angels rendered
them as ordinary men rather than as winged, spiritual beings. Some
artists, however, garbed their angels in white robes, resembling a
Roman senator's toga, in order to symbolize their power and dignity.
The first winged angels appeared in the fourth century. Some schol-
ars believe that early Christian artists patterned the image of winged
angels after the Greek goddess Nike, the winged, female spirit of
victory. Others trace this image back even further to winged spirits
associated with the religion of ancient Babylon. By the fifth century
Christian artists from the Byzantine Empire began to depict angels
with a disk of light, called a nimbus, behind their heads. This nim-
bus, or halo, signifies holiness, purity, and spiritual power.
In medieval times most western European artists portrayed angels as
masculine in face and form. This trend reversed itself from the four-
teenth to the sixteenth centuries. After that time, western European
angels acquired softer, more feminine, or androgynous, looks. Some-
times they appeared as chubby children or toddlers. Artists often
depicted angels with harps or other musical instruments. These
emblems signify what some consider to be the primary occupation
of angels — praising God.
Further Reading
Cross, R L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1983.
Efird, James M. "Angels." In Paul J. Achtemeier, ed. Tlte HarperCollins Bible
Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco,
1996.
The Glory and Pageantry of Christmas. Maplewood, N.I.: Time-Life Books,
1963.
Lang, ludith. The Angels of God. London, England: New City Press, 1997.
Lewis, James R., and Evelyn Dorothy Oliver. Angels A to Z. Detroit, Mich.:
Visible Ink Press, 1996.
Ward, Theodora. Men and Angels. New York: Viking, 1969.
32
Annunciation
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP''^'^q^
1%.
Annuncmtwn
Annunciation means "announcement." When spelled with a capital
"A," the word refers to the announcement made by Gabriel, God's
messenger angel, to the Virgin Mary, telling her that she would bear
a son by the Holy Spirit whom she should call Jesus (Luke 1:26-28).
By the early Middle Ages the Church had established a feast day to
commemorate this angelic announcement.
In the middle of the fourth century. Church officials in Rome created
a new festival to honor the birth of Jesus. They scheduled this festi-
val, which we now call Christmas, on December 25. Eventually
December 25 gained widespread acceptance as the actual date on
which Jesus had been born, implying that Mary must have become
pregnant nine months earlier, on March 25. According to the astro-
nomical calculations used by the ancient Romans, the spring equi-
nox also fell on that day {see also Winter Solstice). By the eighth
century the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
celebrated on March 25, was firmly established in western Europe.
As Mary's pregnancy marked the beginning of a new era for
Christians, many medieval kingdoms also chose March 25 as the day
on which they began their new year {see also Kalends; New Year's
Day). In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII called for calendar reforms which
included switching New Year's Day to January 1 {see also Old Christ-
mas Day). Nevertheless, several centuries passed before most Euro-
pean countries had adopted the reformed, Gregorian calendar.
Many Christians still recognize March 25 as a religious holiday, al-
though they have slightly different names for the observance. Ro-
man Catholics currently refer to the feast as the "Annunciation of
the Lord," the Orthodox know it as the "Annunciation of the Mother
of God," and many Anglicans call it the "Annunciation of Our Lord
to the Blessed Virgin Mary." The English also call the festival "Lady
Day." The Feast of the Annunciation often occurs during Lent. Those
Christians who fast during Lent, for example, Roman Catholics and
Orthodox, are allowed to modify the fast on this day.
33
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Over the centuries the Annunciation became a favorite scene for
western European painters interested in depicting the life of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. The scene also appears frequently in stained glass
windows and other church decorations. Many famous artists have
bequeathed us their versions of the Annunciation, including Robert
Campin (c. 1378-1444), Fra Angelico (c. 1400-1455), Sandro Botticelli
(1445-1510), El Greco (1451-1614), Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519),
and Adolphe -William Bouguereau (1825-1905). In these paintings
Mary often appears to be reading or spinning when the angel arrives,
activities which represent her piety. A container of water may sit
beside her, or the angel may offer her lilies, both of which symbolize
her purity. The Holy Spirit commonly takes shape as a descending
dove or as a ray of light streaming through the window.
Further Reading
Auld, William Muir. Christmas Tidings. 1933. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1984.
The Glory and Pageantry of Christmas. Maplewood, N.J.: Time-Life Books,
1963.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Metford, J. C. J. The Christian Year. London, England: Thames and Hudson,
1991.
. Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend. London, England: Thames
and Hudson, 1983.
Rouvelas, Marilyn. A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America.
Bethesda, Md.: Nea Attiki Press, 1993.
Stuhlmueller, C. "Annunciation." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 1.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
34
Armenia, Christmas in
Armenia^ cljristmas in
Most Armenians celebrate Soorp Dznoont — Christmas — on January
6. The reasons for this unusual date emerge quite literally from the
pages of ancient history. In the fourth century Roman Catholic
Church officials established the date of Christmas as December 25.
Before that time the Armenians and some other Christians celebrat-
ed the Nativity of Jesus and his baptism on the same day, January 6
{see also Epiphany). Eventually other Christian communities accept-
ed the Roman date for the Nativity. The Armenians, however, never
accepted the new date for Christmas and continued to celebrate it
on January 6.
When Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar in 1582,
some Armenians rejected the reforms and stuck instead to the old,
Julian calendar {see Old Christmas Day). Today Armenians living in
the Holy Land still use the Julian calendar to determine their feast
days. The Julian calendar is now a full thirteen days ahead of the
Gregorian calendar. So, when these Armenians celebrate Christmas
on January 6 according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calen-
dar counts the day as January 19. In Bethlehem special services for
Armenian Christians take place at the Church of the Nativity on
January 19.
New Year's Day and Christmas in Armenia
In Armenia children receive gifts on New Year's Day. This custom
began during the Soviet era (1917-91), when government officials
discouraged the celebration of religious holidays such as Christmas.
They promoted instead the celebration of New Year's, a secular holi-
day, and tried to transfer some Christmas customs to this date. For
example, they disapproved of Christmas gift bringers such as Ba-
boushka, whose story includes biblical themes. Communist officials
attempted to replace her with another popular folk figure. Grand-
father Frost, the spirit of winter, who brings gifts to children on
New Year's Day. Armenians still give children sweets and toys on
35
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
New Year's, but since the fall of the Communist government some
people have begun to recognize the gift bringer as Father Christ-
mas rather than Grandfather Frost. Adults also exchange gifts on
this day. Popular presents include flowers, alcoholic beverages, and
items made from silver.
Armenian families prepare for Christmas by giving their homes a
thorough cleaning. Housewives find ways to display their fancy
needlework and spend hours in the kitchen cooking and baking.
"Princely trout," or ishkhanatsoog, is a popular Christmas Eve dish.
Christmas church services begin at midnight on Christmas Eve. Ac-
cording to tradition, heralds announce the services, striding through
the streets with stout staves, chanting, "Today is a great day of the
feast of the birth of Jesus, Good News! O ye good Christians, come
to the holy church."
Church services are also held on Christmas Day, January 6. These
services feature a ceremony known as the Blessing of the Waters,
which commemorates Jesus' baptism. The priest uses a wand made
from basil leaves to sprinkle water on the congregation. After church
Armenians pay visits to friends and neighbors. A large family meal
follows, at which close relatives, distant relatives, friends, and even
strangers are welcome. Gifts of money and clothing are distributed
after dinner. Then children grab handkerchiefs and band together in
small groups that scurry up to the rooftops to sing:
Rejoice and be glad
Open your bag
And fill our handkerchiefs
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
People who hear their cries offer them coins, nuts, and fruit.
Further Reading
Kasbarian, Lucine. Armenia. New York: Dillon Press, 1998.
Terjimanian, Hagop. Feasts and Holidays of the Armenian People. Santa Moni-
ca, Calif.: Abril Bookstore, 1996.
36
"Auld Lang Syne'
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
^^AuldLang Syne^
At many New Year's Eve parties, the song "Auld Lang Syne" is
played or sung at midnight, as a means of saying farewell to the old
year and greeting the new. The phrase "auld lang syne" is Scottish
dialect for "old long ago." The song itself is attributed to Robert
Burns (1759-1796), Scotland's most famous poet.
Robert Bums's Restoration
Burns scholars recognize that the poet did not write the entire song.
They point to a letter that Burns wrote to a friend in which Burns
admits as much. Rather, he found a fragment of an old folk ditty,
restored it, and added new verses. In the letter. Burns paid high trib-
ute to the anonymous writer of the brief text that he elaborated on:
Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet
who composed this glorious fragment! There is more of the
fire of native genius in it that in half a dozen of modern
English Bacchanalians [Robert Bums Encyclopedia web page].
No one knows exactly how much of the song was written by Burns,
but scholars believe that the poet definitely wrote what are now the
song's third and fourth verses.
Though Burns paired his lyrics with an already existing Scottish folk
tune, his editor decided to publish them with a different old Scottish
folk melody, the one we still use today. In Scotland the popularity of
"Auld Lang Syne" grew over the years, until it displaced "Good
Night and Joy Be Wi'You A'" as the song traditionally sung at the
break up of a festive gathering.
Words to the Song
Subsequent generations of singers have made slight changes to
Burns's original poetry. The verses to the entire song, as penned by
Burns, follow:
37
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Should auld acquaintance be
forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be
forgot
And days o auld lang syne?
(Standard English Translation)
Should old acquaintances be
forgotten.
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintances be
forgotten.
And days of old long ago?
Chorus (repeated after each verse)
And for auld lang syne, my jo And for old long past, my joy.
For auld lang syne. For old long ago.
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet. We will take a cup of kindness yet.
For auld lang syne. For old long ago.
And surely ye'll be your
pint-stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness
yet.
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the
braes
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a
weary foot
Sin auld lang syne
We twa hae paidl'd i'the
burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae
roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.
And there's a hand, my trusty
fiere!
And gie's a hand o thine!
And surely you'll pay for your
pint-vessel!
And surely I'll pay for mine!
And we'll take a cup of kindness
yet.
For old long ago.
We two have run about the
hillsides
And pulled the wild daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a
weary foot
Since old long ago.
We two have paddled in the
stream.
From morning sun till noon;
But seas between us broad
have roared
Since old long ago.
And there is a hand, my trusty
friend!
And give me a hand of yours!
38
"Auld Lang Syne"
And we'll tak a right guid And we will take a right
willie waught, good-will drink.
For auld lang syne. For old long ago.
"Auld Lang Syne" Becomes an American New Year's Song
So how did this old Scottish tune become so well known in Ameri-
ca? The answer lies in the power of television to publicize and pro-
mote, hi 1943, the New Year's Eve festivities taking place in New
York City's Times Square were televised for the first time. As view-
ers waited for midnight to arrive, they were treated to coverage of
Guy Lombardo's dance band, playing live at the Grill Room of the
Roosevelt Hotel (in later years the venue changed to the Waldorf-
Astoria Hotel). Guy Lombardo decided to close out his New Year's
Eve performances with the tune "Auld Lang Syne." Having grown
up in western Ontario, a region of Canada with a significant popula-
tion of Scottish descent, he was familiar with the tune. In fact, when
playing locally he frequently ended his performances with the song.
Although he doubted that many Americans were familiar with "Auld
Lang Syne," he played it anyway as a way of musically tipping his
hat to the broadcast's corporate sponsor, Robert Burns's Fanatella
cigars. Guy Lombardo and his dance band became a fixture on these
New Year's Eve broadcasts, and so did the song "Auld Lang Syne."
This yearly television exposure encouraged Americans to adopt as
their own the custom of singing "Auld Lang Syne" to bid farewell to
the old year.
Further Reading
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Web Sites
"Burns Country," a web site devoted to the promotion and enjoyment of
the works of Robert Burns, includes the "Auld Lang Syne" entry from the
Robert Burns Encyclopedia: http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/Auld
LangSyne .5 .shtml
The World Burns Club furnishes a history of the song "Auld Lang Syne" on
its web site: http://www.worldburnsclub.com/newsletterauld_lang_syne_
what about.htm
39
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Australia^ cfiristmas in
Christmas comes to Australia during that continent's summer season.
Therefore, Australians celebrate the festival with barbecues, beach
parties, parades and other outdoor events. In fact, many Australians
take their summer vacations during the Christmas holiday season.
The English brought Christmas to Australia in the late eighteenth
century when they established the country as a colony of Great
Britain. Australians have preserved much of their country's British
Christmas heritage, especially carol singing, gift exchanges, Christ-
mas trees, and the hearty, oven-roasted English Christmas dinner,
though this last custom loses some of its appeal in the sweltering
summer heat. Australia has adopted Santa Claus as its Christmas
gift bringer, and many heavily sweating Santas, garbed in some vari-
ation of the traditional red velvet suit, cap, boots and beard, can be
found at Christmas-related events throughout the holiday season.
Christmas Decorations
The traditional pine Christmas tree, decorated with tinsel, orna-
ments, and lights, is an important seasonal decoration in Australia.
In addition to the tree, Australians have incorporated two local
plants, the Christmas bell and the Christmas bush, into their holiday
decorations. The Christmas bell produces green, glossy leaves and
yellow or red bell-shaped flowers. Several different varieties of the
Christmas bush put forth various kinds of flowers in the spring and
summer, including one that sports white star-shaped flowers in the
spring which drop to reveal brilliant red calyces at Christmas time.
Some families decorate these plants with tinsel in honor of the holi-
day. Finally, homes, schools, shops and other places of business cele-
brate the season with displays of colored lights.
Christmas Eve and Day
On Christmas Eve many Australians attend carol-singing events
known as "Carols by Candlelight." Norman Banks, a radio announc-
40
Australia, Christmas in
er from the city of Melbourne, started this tradition in 1938. It is said
that while walking the streets on Christmas Eve of the previous year,
he caught a glimpse of an old woman through a lighted window.
She was sitting all alone next to her radio, holding a lighted candle
and singing along with the Christmas carols that were being
broadcast on the radio. The sight warmed his heart and also stirred
him to create an event for those who found themselves alone on
Christmas Eve. The following year he organized and broadcast
"Carols by Candlelight," a sing-along caroling session in which par-
ticipants held lit candles. The observance became more and more
popular and eventually spread from Melbourne to other cities. Each
year thousands of Australians attend these events, usually held in
outdoor amphitheaters so that people can enjoy the balmy summer
evening air as they listen to musical performances and sing the
songs of the season amidst a sea of glowing candles. In addition to
the traditional European tunes, a number of original Australian
Christmas carols may be sung, such as "The Melbourne Carol," "Six
White Boomers," and "The Three Drovers."
Australian children have their own version of the Christmas stock-
ing, which often makes its first appearance on Christmas Eve. Before
going to bed Australian children hang pillowcases from the ends of
their beds. Santa leaves small gifts in the pillowcase; he deposits
larger gifts under the Christmas tree.
Many Australian families open their presents over breakfast on
Christmas morning. Religious people will also attend church. Later
that afternoon many people enjoy listening to the Queen of England
give her annual Christmas speech on the radio {see also England,
Christmas in).
Christmas Dinner
Over the years Australians have come up with a number of Christ-
mas dishes all their own. Some of these reflect the country's rugged
colonial history. For example, a dish called "colonial goose" substi-
tutes a stuffed leg of lamb for the more traditional English roast
goose. "Billy can pudding" offers a simplified version of plum pud-
ding made in a kind of tin tub used to carry water. Other colonial
recipes include "Christmas damper," a quick Christmas bread, and
41
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
"drover's plum pudding," a kind of rice pudding made with raisins
and nuts. "Father Christmas salad," a red, white, and green mixture
of cherries, pistachio nuts, and lychees, represents another original
Australian Christmas recipe.
Many Australians eat their Christmas dinner out of doors, in order to
enjoy the summer sunshine. Some barbecue or take picnics to the
beach or other outdoor beauty spots. Others eat a cold meal at
home, often combining salads with cold meat dishes. Still others, in
spite of the heat, prefer an English Christmas dinner, complete with
roasted meat, potatoes and gravy. Many families, no matter what
they have for dinner, choose to end the meal with a hot Christmas
pudding {see also Plum Pudding).
Boxing Day
December 26, Boxing Day, is a holiday in Australia. People enjoy
sporting matches on this day (for more on the day's traditional sports,
see St. Stephen's Day). It serves as the occasion for a number of im-
portant events, including the Sydney-to-Hobart Yacht Race and open-
ing day test match held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Other December Holidays
Australia is a diverse society that hosts many different ethnic and
religious groups. Its Jewish citizens often begin their Hanukkah cel-
ebrations in December, and in some years the Muslim holiday of
Ramadan falls in December. Many former citizens of Hong Kong
have immigrated to Australia. They and their descendants often cel-
ebrate a Taoist festival called Ta Chiu on December 27, in which they
thank their ancestors and the deities for their protection and ask
these spirits to bless and renew their lives. Australia's original inhab-
itants, the Aborigines, do not observe a festival of their own at this
time of year. In the north of the country, however, many indigenous
Australians mark the end of their six-season year in late December.
Christmas in July
Some Australians tire of reinventing Christmas as a hot weather
holiday. In recent years many have attended Christmas in July cele-
42
Australia, Christmas in
brations, where a traditional English Christmas celebration takes
place in July. These celebrations fulfill the desires of those who long
to celebrate Christmas by snuggling next to an open fire and partak-
ing of a hearty English Christmas dinner on a wintry evening.
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1999.
Hubert, Maria, comp. Christmas Around the World. Stroud, Gloucestershire,
England: Sutton, 1998.
McGregor, Malcolm, ed. Christmas in Australia. Milsons Point, Australia:
Hutchinson Australia, 1990.
Tucker, Cathy C. Christmas Worldwide. Philadelphia, Pa.: Xlibris, 2000.
Web Sites
The following web site, sponsored by the Australian government's Depart-
ment of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, offers in-
formation on Christmas celebrations in Australia: http://www.acn.gov.au/
articles/1998/ll/xmas.htm
The Australian National Botanic Gardens sponsors a page on native plants
associated with Christmas. Gives photos as well as text from Australian
Native Plants by John Wrigley and Murray Fagg (1996): http://www.anbg.gov.
au/christmas/christmas.html
^^^
43
Babousfikci
Before the Revolution of 1917, Russian children received Christmas
gifts from Baboushka, an old woman whose story is told in a Russian
legend. Baboushka means "grandmother" in Russian. After the Revo-
lution the government discouraged tales about folk characters like
Baboushka, whose story refers to religious beliefs. Instead they pro-
moted tales about completely secular characters such as Grand-
father Frost, who currently serves as Russia's gift bringer. With the
fall of Russia's Communist regime in 1991, many old beliefs and
practices have been returning, and Baboushka may, too. Baboushka
closely resembles the traditional Italian gift bringer. La Befana.
The Legend of Baboushka
A long time ago an old woman lived alone in a house by the road.
She had lived alone so long that her days and her thoughts were
filled only with sweeping, dusting, cooking, spinning, and scrubbing.
One evening she heard the sound of trumpets and men approach-
45
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ing on horseback. She paused for a moment, wondering who they
could be. Suddenly she heard a knock on her door. Upon opening it
she discovered three noble men standing before her {see Magi). "We
are journeying to Bethlehem to find the child who has been born a
King," they told her. They invited Baboushka to join them. "I haven't
finished my work," she replied "and the nights are so cold here.
Perhaps it would be better if you came in by the fire." But the
strangers would not delay their journey and departed into the night.
Sitting by the fire, Baboushka began to wonder about the child and
regret her decision to stay home. Finally she gathered a few trinkets
from among her poor possessions and set off into the night. She
walked and walked, inquiring everywhere for the lordly men and the
newborn King, but she never found them. Each year on Epiphany
Eve (or Twelfth Night) Baboushka searches Russia for the Christ
child. She visits every house, and even if she doesn't find him, she
still leaves trinkets for well-behaved children.
Variations
In one version of the tale, the wise men ask Baboushka the way to
Bethlehem and she intentionally deceives them. In another, the wise
men ask for lodgings for the night and Baboushka refuses them. In
yet a third the Holy Family passes by her door on their journey from
Bethlehem to Egypt {see Flight into Egypt; Holy Innocents' Day).
They beg hospitality from her, but she turns them away with noth-
ing. In spite of their differences, each story concludes in the same
way. Baboushka regrets her lack of concern, seeks out the people she
has rejected, and eventually becomes a magical figure who travels
the world at Christmas time bringing gifts to children.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Henderson, Yorke, et al. Parents' Magazine Christmas Holiday Book. New
York: Parents' Magazine Press, 1972.
Philip, Neil, ed. Christmas Fairy Tales. New York: Viking, 1996.
Robbins, Ruth. Baboushka and the Three Kings. Berkeley, Calif.: Parnassus
Press, 1960.
46
Barring Out the Schoolmaster
cS>q^>^qiS)q^>^qiS)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^tBejQeji^>^t3Sj*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
The figure of a baby is a symbol of the new year in general and New-
Year's Day in particular. The New Year's baby often wears a sash
draped across one shoulder. The sash bears the number of the new
year (for example, "2003"). The New Year's baby shares its seasonal
billing with another baby associated with the midwinter holidays,
that is, the baby Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.
Americans adopted the New Year's baby from German immigrants.
In Germany, the history of the baby as a New Year's symbol can be
traced back to a fourteenth-century folk song. At least one scholar
has identified an even earlier use of the baby as a holiday symbol.
Theodor Gaster claims that the ancient Greeks used the baby as a
symbol of the wine and vegetation god Dionysus during Lenaia, a
January festival honoring his rebirth that was widely celebrated in
Athens. {For a similar symbol, see also Russia, Christmas in.)
Further Reading
Gaster, Ttieodor. New Year, Its History, Customs and Superstitions. New York:
Abelard-Schuman, 1955.
James, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
^Si!M
Barring Out tfie Scfioolmaster
American youngsters take their two-week vacation at Christmas
time for granted. In past centuries, however, teachers expected pu-
pils to study right through the Christmas season. If the students
dared, they resorted to an old custom called "barring out the school-
master" in order to gain a week's leisure. Arriving early at school.
47
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
students barricaded themselves in the classroom. This act began a
kind of siege that could last for days. It ended when the teacher suc-
ceeded in breaking into the classroom, or when he or she gave in to
the students' demands. If the students managed to keep the teacher
out for a total of three days, they were automatically considered to
have won the standoff.
In England, Scotland, and Ireland students staged barring-outs
most frequently around Christmas, but they also occurred around
Easter, Shrove Tuesday (the day before Lent begins), and harvest
time. Students often chose St. Nicholas's Day or St. Thomas's Day
to begin their wintertime takeovers. In order to mount a successful
barring-out, students stockpiled food, drink, and sometimes even
weapons. Indeed, violence often erupted during the battle for control
of the classroom. If the schoolmaster succeeded in breaking in to the
classroom, the students were severely beaten. Therefore, the students
defended their territory with such weapons as swords, clubs, and
even pistols. Records indicate that shots from excited boys sometimes
injured or killed schoolmasters and town officials. Teachers could
restore peace and order immediately by giving in to the students'
demands. These demands were spelled out in a treaty signed by the
students and the teacher. The treaty always included a guarantee that
no one taking part in the uprising would be punished.
History
In Britain the custom of barring out the schoolmaster arose some-
time in the sixteenth century. The number of schools and students
increased greatly during that century. Due to the lack of generally
accepted educational standards, schoolmasters ruled their class-
rooms with complete authority. They flogged their pupils frequently,
a practice that was considered an appropriate educational tool and
disciplinary measure in that era. The primary goal of most barring-
outs was a reduction in the rate and severity of whippings as well as
the granting of a few days' vacation. The frequency of these student
take-overs declined throughout the eighteenth century as school
charters began to limit the authority of teachers and guarantee vaca-
tion days. By the nineteenth century, barring-outs had nearly van-
ished in Britain.
48
Barring Out the Schoolmaster
At some point the custom appears to have migrated to the United
States, where it survived a bit longer in a somewhat less violent form
(see America, Christmas in Colonial; America, Christmas in Nine-
teenth-Century). Barring-outs were a common Christmas time oc-
currence in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania. These mock battles
crowned the school year, as far as the gleeful students were con-
cerned. Thomas Mellon (1813-1908), the wealthy financier who later
founded the Mellon Bank, fondly remembered taking part in Christ-
mas barring-outs in his youth. Whichever side lost furnished the
school with several bushels of apples and gallons of cider, which
were consumed by all on the first day of vacation. Like their British
counterparts, American students resorted to barring-outs as a way of
securing vacation days. The custom faded in the mid-nineteenth
century as public schooling, with its standard schedule of vacation
days, spread throughout the country. {For more on Christmas in Penn-
sylvania, see America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century; Amish
Christmas; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in; Knecht Ru-
precht.)
Further Reading
Catticart, Rex. "Festive Capers? Barring-Out ttie Schoolmaster." History To-
day 38, 12 (December 1988): 49-53.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsylva-
nia Folklore Society, 1959.
Baj;. See Laurel
49
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Befana
La Strega, La Vecchia
On Epiphany Eve children in Italy go to bed expecting La Befana to
visit the house during the night. She leaves gifts for children who
have been good during the past year and warns those who have
misbehaved. The name "Befana" comes from the Italian word for
Epiphany, Epiphania. La Befana may also be referred to as La Strega,
meaning "the witch," or La Vecchia, meaning "the old woman."
Although not much is known about the history of this figure from
Italian legend, some authorities believe that La Befana may be relat-
ed to Berchta, another witch-like figure who visits homes in central
and northern Europe during the Twelve Days of Christmas and,
especially, on Twelfth Night. La Befana also appears to be related to
Baboushka, a Russian folk figure about whom a nearly identical tale
is told.
The Legend of La Befana
There once was an old woman who lived alone by the side of the
road. Her husband and child had died years ago. To forget her lone-
liness, she busied herself with many household tasks. One day three
richly dressed men stopped at her house and asked her the way to
Bethlehem. They invited the old woman to accompany them on
their journey to worship the Christ child who had just been born
there. The old woman grumbled, "I'm much too busy with my daily
chores to go with you, and besides I've never even heard of Beth-
lehem." After the Three Kings, or Magi, had left, the old woman
began to regret her decision. She gathered a few trinkets from
among her simple belongings to present to the child as gifts. The she
grabbed her broom and hurried after her visitors. The old woman
walked and walked, but never caught up with the Three Kings and
never found the Christ child. She didn't give up, however. Each year
on Epiphany Eve she flies over the world on her broom searching for
the Christ child. She checks each house where children live, diving
50
Befana
down the chimney. Even when she doesn't find Him she bestows
sweets and gifts on well-behaved children. Naughty children may
receive ashes, coal, or a birch rod.
Customs
Prior to Epiphany, children write letters to La Befana asking her for
the gifts they would like to receive (see also Children's Letters). In
some places, rag dolls representing La Befana are hung in windows
as seasonal decorations. On Epiphany Eve children hang a stocking
or a suit of clothes near the fireplace. During the night La Befana fills
the stockings or the pockets of their clothes with sweets and gifts. In
some cities it was customary for groups of young people to gather
on Epiphany Eve and make a great deal of noise with drums and
musical instruments to welcome La Befana. In many parts of Italy
today, Santa Claus, or Babbo Natale, has displaced La Befana as the
Christmas season gift bringer (see also Italy, Christmas in).
Further Reading
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Italy. Chicago: World Book-ChUdcraft Inter-
national, 1979.
M
51
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
,M^^^^
In the United States we tend to associate bells both with emergen-
cies and with such joyous occasions as weddings and Christmas cel-
ebrations. This association between bells and Christmas can be
traced back to the Middle Ages, when Church officials began to use
bells for worship and celebration. Medieval European bell customs,
in turn, developed out of a wide array of beliefs and practices associ-
ated with bells in ancient times.
Bells in the Ancient World
People rang bells for many reasons in the ancient Mediterranean
world, especially religious purposes. Jewish high priests hung tiny
golden bells from the hems of their robes. The jingling bells repelled
any evil spirits who might be lurking about the threshold of the tem-
ple. Some evidence suggests that the ancient Greeks also used bells
in a number of religious rituals. The ancient Romans sounded bells
on many occasions. They rang during civic ceremonies, chimed
alongside other musical instruments during festivals and feasts,
announced the beginning of religious rituals, publicized the opening
of markets and public baths, and warned the people of fires and
other emergencies. Evidence suggests that the Romans associated
bells with the dead and believed bells could protect them against
evil spirits.
52
Bells
Church Bells
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, Christian leaders slowly
began to adapt bell-ringing traditions to Christian worship. Like the
Romans, they used bells as a means of making public announce-
ments. Since they wanted these announcements to carry over longer
distances, they began casting large bells in addition to the smaller
hand-held bells known since ancient times. They mounted these
larger bells in high places and sounded them by the pulling of ropes
or other devices. In early medieval times monasteries began ringing
beUs to announce the start of religious services. By the tenth century
churches throughout Europe, from cathedrals to tiny rural chapels,
were equipped with bells for the same purpose.
Bell Lore
Like their predecessors in the ancient world, these church bells were
credited with mysterious powers. For example, folklore hinted that
bells possessed something akin to a life force, a personality, and a
soul. Many legends throughout Europe told of bells ringing of their
own accord to warn the public of some upcoming disaster. Other
legends related stories of bells that refused to sound or that ex-
pressed their unhappiness with human actions in other ways. Nu-
merous legends spread word of talking bells. According to folk be-
lief, some bells sounded in tones that seemed to repeat a certain
phrase, often praising their makers or lamenting an unjust act. Other
bells refused to be silenced, continuing to ring on Christmas Eve
even though buried underground or sunk in deep waters. People
also commonly believed that church bells had the power to protect
them from harm. Church bells were rung to ward off thunderstorms,
frighten away witches, and halt outbreaks of disease. Folk belief sug-
gested that the dead ascended to heaven on the sound of ringing
church bells.
Bell Customs
In addition to these folk beliefs and legends, Roman Catholic cus-
tom called for the consecration of bells used for church services. This
mark of respect reflected the fact that bells served quite literally as
53
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the voice of the church building in which they were installed. Bells
were prepared for this ceremony, commonly known as baptizing a
bell, by draping them in white cloth and festooning them with flow-
ers. During these services the bells were anointed, incensed, and
officially named in the presence of their godparents, usually the
donors. Some old legends tell of bells that refused to sound until
baptized. People equated the sound of ringing bells with the voice of
a person in prayer. Therefore, they frequently inscribed brief prayers
on the bells so that the bell might offer the prayer to heaven. Other
popular bell inscriptions state the bell's purpose or powers, for ex-
ample, "I call the living, I bewail the dead, I break up storms."
Church bells were most commonly used for worship and celebra-
tion. The big bells adopted by churches during the Middle Ages rang
to call parishioners to religious services. They also chimed at certain
points during the service so that those standing outside or those at
home and at work could join in the prayers. In addition, churches
tolled their bells to announce local deaths {see Devil's Knell). Many
churches had four or five bells. The more important the occasion, the
more bells rang to honor it. A high mass warranted three bells, for
example. On the principal feast days, such as Easter and Christmas,
four or five bells pealed together to celebrate the joyous occasion. In
medieval England Christmas bell ringing began in Advent, with a
loud clang coming on the first Sunday in Advent to alert parish-
ioners that they had entered the Advent season. Many of these prac-
tices were discontinued by Protestant churches after the Reforma-
tion, however.
Bells and Christmas
Today fewer churches carry out the old Christmas tradition of bell
ringing, and the folklore surrounding bells has been largely forgot-
ten. Nevertheless, the public imagination still links bells with Christ-
mas. A number of well-known Christmas poems and Christmas
carols depict pealing or jingling bells as joyful emblems of the holi-
day. In addition, bells appear as symbols of the holiday on many
Christmas decorations. Finally, representatives of charitable causes
seeking donations at Christmas time often announce their presence
on street corners by ringing hand-held bells. {See also Salvation
Army Kettles.)
54
Encyclopedia of Christmas Bells
Further Reading
Auld, William Muir. Christmas Traditions. 1931. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1992.
Bigelow, A. L. "Bells." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 2. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Metford, J. C. J. Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend. London, England:
Thames and Hudson, 1983.
Price, Percival. Bells and Man. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1983.
BefsnfCRef. SeeKnechtRuprecht
55
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Bercfita
Bertha, Frau Gaude, Hertha, Holda, Holde, Holle, Perchta
Several very similar female spirits once visited the peoples of north-
ern Europe during the long midwinter nights. Many authors believe
these figures to be the remnants of pagan Germanic goddesses.
Associated with the home and hearth, spinning, children, and gift
giving, these pagan goddesses may have been very early ancestors of
Santa Claus. The coming of Christianity transformed these god-
desses into minor magical figures and concentrated the season of
their appearances during the Twelve Days of Christmas and, espe-
cially. Twelfth Night. Throughout this transformation, the German
goddess Berchta retained the strongest associations with the Christ-
mas season.
The Winter Goddess of Northern Europe
The winter goddesses of northern Europe, known as Berchta (or
Perchta) and Holde (or Holda, Holle), shared many characteristics
and are sometimes spoken of as variants of the same winter god-
dess. This sky goddess sailed the winds dressed in a mantle of snow.
To the people of Alsace-Lorraine she sometimes appeared wearing a
crown of fire, a trait that would later provide a tenuous connection
to St. Lucy. In attending to the affairs of home and hearth, she acted
as the patroness of those who spun thread, rewarding the industri-
ous and punishing the lazy and sloppy. She also spun: not thread,
but the fates of human beings. Motherhood and the fertility of the
earth also concerned the goddess, who was known as a guardian of
children and a protector of fields. Folklore often pictured the god-
dess flying through the night accompanied by the ghosts of children
and other supernatural creatures, often phantom dogs, goats, or
horses. She appeared most often during the Twelve Days of Christ-
mas. Some believed that she led the Wild Hunt, a riotous proces-
sion of ghosts who rode across the night skies during Yule.
56
Berchta
Folklore Associated with Berchta
As Christianity established itself as the dominant religion in Europe,
the image of this goddess shrank and changed, although elements
of her old concerns and powers remained. In Christian times, people
in many German-speaking lands expected the ambivalent figure of
Berchta to visit during the winter holidays. Although Berchta herself
appeared as ugly and disheveled, she inspected barns and homes for
cleanliness. She rewarded the neat and industrious and punished
the lazy.
Since Berchta was the patroness of spinners, one custom demanded
that women cease their spinning work during the Twelve Days of
Christmas out of respect for her {see also St. Distaff's Day). Another
custom advised that each house consume a special food on Twelfth
Night and leave the remains for Berchta. If a household did not offer
food, Berchta would cut open the stomachs of the inhabitants and
remove the contents. Although she would punish lazy or naughty
children, Berchta rewarded well-behaved children with gifts or good
luck, and enjoyed rocking babies' cradles when no one was looking.
Mothers would sometimes threaten their children that if they didn't
behave, Berchta would come for them. Her nighttime processions
frightened those who witnessed them, but in passing she and her
followers bestowed fertility on the fields below. The spirits and souls
that followed in her train were called Perchten, and, in some Ger-
man-speaking areas, the night when she was most likely to appear.
Twelfth Night, was called Perchtennacht. Although it is difficult to
trace the relationship of one mythological figure to another, Berchta
may also be related to the Italian Befana and to another German
spirit, Frau Gaude.
Folklore Associated with Holde
Most of the beliefs and practices associated with Berchta are also
connected to Holde. Some differ, however. The people of northern
Germany spoke more often of Holde than of Berchta. They often
imagined Holde, whose name means "the kindly one," as a beautiful
woman. When Holde shook out her feather bed in the sky, heavy
snowfalls showered the lands below. In Christian times Holde
acquired associations with witchcraft, and those thought to be
witches were said to "ride with Holde."
57
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Another Winter Goddess, Hertha
In pagan times, some Norse and Germanic-speaking peoples called
their winter goddess Hertha or Bertha. This goddess shares many
characteristics with Berchta and Holde, and may be related to them.
Hertha was the patroness of home and hearth who visited her peo-
ple around the time of the winter solstice. Householders decorated
their dwellings with evergreens in order to entice her to visit {see
Greenery). They also made flat stone altars for her and set fire to fir
branches on top of them. It was believed that Hertha entered the
home through the rising smoke, conferring upon the wise the ability
to foretell the futures of those around the flames. At least one author
suspects that Santa Claus's descent through the chimney at Christ-
mas time echoes the descent of Hertha through the chimney smoke.
Further Reading
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Motz, Lotte. "The Winter Goddess: Perchta, Holda, and Related Figures."
Folklore 95,2 (1984): 151-61.
58
Bethlehem
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Bet^fe^
em
Both Gospel accounts of Christmas state that Jesus was born in
the town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is located in the Palestinian
Authority, within the modern nation of Israel. The city of Jerusalem
lies just five miles to the north. The town's name means "house of
bread" in Hebrew, reflecting its location in a fertile zone of the
Judean desert.
The Birthplace of Jesus
One of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament, King David, was
born in Bethlehem. Both gospel accounts of Christmas assert that
Jesus was a descendant of David. In fact, in the Gospel according to
Luke this ancestry indirectly caused Jesus to be born in Bethlehem.
In Luke's account, the Romans wanted to conduct a census and
ordered everyone to return to their ancestral home in order to be
counted. This decree forced Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary to
travel to Bethlehem. Shortly after they arrived, Jesus was born. The
Gospel according to Matthew does not mention the census and
implies instead that Jesus' parents lived in Bethlehem. Matthew's
and Luke's claims that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem were
especially significant to those who knew Jewish scripture, since the
Jewish prophet Micah had declared that the Messiah would be born
in that town (Micah 5:2).
The Church of the Nativity
According to early Christian tradition, Jesus had been born in one of
the caves that local people used to shelter animals. As early as the
second century a.d., pilgrims began to visit the cave where Jesus was
said to have been born. The Roman emperor Hadrian (76-138 a.d.)
constructed a shrine to the pagan god Adonis over this site. In ap-
proximately 325 A.D., after the conversion of the Roman Empire to
Christianity, the empress Helena (c. 248-c. 328 a.d.) had the temple
59
Bethlehem
to Adonis destroyed and built the Church of the Nativity over the
presumed site of Jesus' birth. Almost nothing of this original church
remains. It was severely damaged in a war that took place several
centuries after its construction. According to legend, Persian in-
vaders were about to destroy the church completely, when they
noticed a mural depicting the Three Kings, or Magi, wearing Persian
dress. Recognizing that the church in some way honored Persian
sages of the past, the invaders spared it from total destruction. The
great Byzantine emperor Justinian (483-565 a.d.) rebuilt the Church
of the Nativity in the sixth century a.d. It has been repaired many
times since then, but its basic design remains the same. The main
door to the church, called the Door of Humility, was built so low that
people have to bow down to enter. The original purpose of the
design was to prevent Muslims from riding into the church on their
horses. Because entering through this door requires one to bow
one's head, which also serves as a gesture of reverence for this
Christian holy site, Jews have traditionally objected to using the
Door of Humility.
Today the Church of the Nativity is an Eastern Orthodox shrine. The
cave in which Jesus was born lies underneath the church. Known as
the "Grotto of the Nativity," this underground chamber is a site of
intense religious devotion for Christians of many different denomi-
nations. In the nineteenth century friction arose over which denomi-
nation would exercise the most control over the Grotto. In the midst
of this conflict, the star marking the spot where Jesus' manger had
lain mysteriously disappeared. Each faction accused the others of the
theft. Some writers claim that tensions caused by the star's disap-
pearance helped to provoke the Crimean War. The Sultan of Turkey
eventually assisted in resolving this dispute by placing a new four-
teen-pointed star in the Grotto. Pilgrims to Bethlehem today can
still see this large silver star covering the spot on the floor where,
according to legend, Mary gave birth to Jesus. The star bears an
inscription in Latin, Hie De Virgine Maria, Jesus Christus Natus Est,
which means, "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary."
Eastern Orthodox officials share the Grotto of the Nativity with
Roman Catholic and Armenian Orthodox clergy. At Christmas time
Roman Catholic clergy oversee the Nativity scene, while Orthodox
clergy control the altar.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
In the spring of 2002, Israeli military forces invaded the West Bank
town of Bethlehem as part of Israel's campaign to eliminate
Palestinian terrorism. Dozens of people sought refuge in the Church
of the Nativity, hoping that such a holy site would not be attacked.
Among them were ordinary townspeople, Palestinian gunmen, and
clergy members. The Israeli soldiers surrounded the church and pre-
vented people, food, and medical supplies from entering. After a
dramatic five-week standoff, the gunmen agreed to go into perma-
nent exile, and the Israelis called off their soldiers. A few windows
were damaged during the siege, but no permanent harm was done
to the church.
Christmas in Bethlehem
Bethlehem attracts many Christian pilgrims, especially during the
Christmas season. The biggest crowds gather on December 24 and
25, when most Western Christians celebrate the Nativity. On Decem-
ber 24 Roman Catholic priests celebrate Midnight Mass in St. Cath-
erine's Roman Catholic Church, which lies inside the grounds of the
Church of the Nativity. The event begins with a motorcade proces-
sion from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, led by the Latin Patriarch of Jeru-
salem, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in Israel. Those
practicing Roman Catholics who have obtained advance tickets for
the Midnight Mass crowd into St. Catherine's church. This service
includes a procession to the Grotto of the Nativity, where the figurine
representing the baby Jesus is placed in the Nativity scene. The throng
that remains outside can watch a televised broadcast of the service on
a screen set up in Manger Square.
Other opportunities for Christmas Eve worship include an Anglican
service held at the Greek Orthodox monastery attached to the
Church of the Nativity and a Protestant carol service, which takes
place at a field just outside Bethlehem. The crowd that assembles in
the field sings Christmas carols, commemorating the evening two
thousand years ago when a small band of shepherds received a
miraculous announcement of Jesus' birth and witnessed a host of
angels singing praises to God {see also Gospel According to Luke).
No one knows the exact location of the field mentioned in the Bible.
At least three different groups have laid claim to their own shep-
herds' field. The Christmas Eve carol service takes place at the
62
Bethlehem
Y.M.C.A.'s field. The Orthodox Church, however, maintains its own
shepherds' field, as does the Roman Catholic Church.
Bethlehem hosts somewhat smaller celebrations on January 7, when
many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas, and again on Jan-
uary 19, when Armenian Orthodox Christians observe the holiday
{see also Armenia, Christmas in).
Rachel's Tomb
Jewish and Muslim pilgrims come to Bethlehem to visit another holy
site: the Tomb of Rachel. Rachel's death and burial are mentioned in
the Bible (Genesis 35:20). Folk tradition declares that Rachel was
laid to rest in Bethlehem, although biblical scholars deny that this is
the correct site.
Further Reading
Baly, Denis. "Bethlehem." In Paul J. Achtemeier, ed. The HarperCollins Bible
Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco,
1996.
Brockman, Norbert C. Encyclopedia of Sacred Places. New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1998.
Christmas in the Holy Land. Chicago: World Book, 1987.
Clynes,Tom. Wild Planet! Detroit, Mich.: Visible Ink Press, 1995.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Norris, Frederick W. "Bethlehem." In Everett Ferguson, ed. Encyclopedia of
Early Christianity. Volume 1. New York: Garland, 1997.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
63
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Betf}lef}em^ Vennsylvania^
cl^ristmas in
The town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, promotes itself as America's
"Christmas City." The city's most notable Christmas customs reflect
the religious heritage of its founders, who were Moravian Christians
from central Europe.
The Moravians
The Moravians are mainstream Protestant Christians whose denomi-
nation was established in 1457 in what is now the Czech Republic.
Many died during religious persecutions that took place in the seven-
teenth century. In the eighteenth century a German nobleman. Count
Zinzendorf, undertook the protection of the remaining Moravians and
allowed them to settle on his land. Seeking religious freedom and the
opportunity to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ to American
natives, settlers, and slaves, bands of Moravians began to emigrate
from Germany to the American colonies in the eighteenth century.
History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
In the mid- eighteenth century Moravians founded two towns along
the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania. The first they named Nazareth,
after the town where Jesus grew up. The second they called Bethle-
hem, after the town in which Jesus was born.
In 1741 Count Zinzendorf visited the settlement of Bethlehem and
spent Christmas there. His approval of the colonists' proposal to name
the town Bethlehem finalized their decision. On Christmas Eve he led
the community in singing a German hymn which, in his eyes, helped
to explain why the colonists had made a wise choice in naming the
new town. The first verse of the hymn reminds listeners that:
Not Jerusalem
Lowly Bethlehem
'Twas that gave us Christ to save us.
Not Jerusalem.
64
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in
Bethlehem's Moravian congregations still sing this hymn every Christ-
mas Eve.
In the early days, Bethlehem was a closed community, meaning that
only Moravians could live there. This policy changed in 1845. In the
late nineteenth century iron mines and foundries emerged as impor-
tant businesses in the Lehigh Valley. In 1899, Bethlehem Steel, a
giant of America's steel industry, was founded in the town of Beth-
lehem. Bethlehem Steel flourished throughout most of the twentieth
century, drawing many immigrants from various ethnic groups to
the area. Competition from cheaply produced foreign steel began to
affect the steel industry in the 1970s. This challenge finally resulted
in Bethlehem Steel closing its doors in 1995.
Christmas Candles and Lights
In 1937 the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce began to promote the
town's Christmas celebrations as a tourist attraction, billing Beth-
lehem as "Christmas City U.S.A." The city's residents quickly adopted
the campaigii, organizing a city-wide display of Christmas lights.
Bethlehem's most distinctive lighting custom consists of placing a sin-
gle lit candle in the windows of homes, stores, and other businesses.
Though it can only be traced back to the late 1920s, some researchers
claim that early Moravian immigrants brought this custom with them
from a Moravian community in Germany. There the flame from a sin-
gle candle left burning in the window during Advent was understood
to sigiial a welcome for the Christ child. By 1940 this custom had
spread far beyond Bethlehem's Moravian community to become a
city-wide practice. For reasons of safety many today have replaced real
candles with electric lights shaped like candles. Many people in
Bethlehem light the candles in their windows on the first Sunday in
Advent and keep them lit until Epiphany.
The city also hosts an impressive outdoor lighting display. Popular
nighttime bus tours led by guides in traditional Moravian dress fill up
quickly during the holiday season. On nearby South Mountain a
giant, electrically lit star beckons visitors to the Christmas city. First
erected in 1935, the "Star of Bethlehem" has been rebuilt several
times. This traditional, five-pointed Christmas star with extending
rays of light measures 81 feet in height and 53 feet in width. Two
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
hundred forty-six light bulbs keep the display glowing through the
night. In past times the city of Bethlehem only lit the star during the
Christmas season. Since the mid-1990s, the city has kept it illumi-
nated year-round. Indeed, the five-pointed star can be found on the
city's official seal. There the five points stand for religion, education,
music, industry, and recreation, five important components of the
city's identity.
Moravian Stars
The Moravian star constitutes another Moravian -style Christmas dec-
oration that can now be found throughout the town. These three-
dimensional stars, made of paper, leaded glass, or plastic, may be illu-
minated from within by an electric bulb. Although Moravian star-
makers shape these ornaments with varying numbers of points, the
most common kind of Moravian star has 26 points. Moravian stars are
displayed in Bethlehem's homes, shops, and Moravian churches.
Community Putzes
Bethlehem's Moravians have also contributed the Christmas putz to
the town's repertoire of Christmas customs. A putz is a miniature
Nativity scene, depicting not only Jesus' birth in a manger, but also
scenes of life in the surrounding countryside {see also Christmas
Village). In past times members of the Moravian community vied
with one another to see who could build the most imaginative and
elaborate putz. Between Christmas and Epiphany they visited one
another's homes to compare and enjoy the putzes. The custom of
putz visiting also caught on with non-Moravians. Things started to
get out of hand in the 1930s, when one particularly successful putz-
building family, that of Edward Neisser, received just under 1,000
Christmas season visitors.
Neisser suggested that the town build a community putz for the
public to enjoy. The Chamber of Commerce took him up on that
suggestion in 1937. The first community putz, set up in the office of
the Chamber of Commerce, drew 14,000 visitors and so interrupted
the Chamber's duties that they found another location for it the fol-
lowing year. In 1939 the community putz was built in the lobby of
Hotel Bethlehem. Two hundred volunteers helped manage the putz
66
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in
by reading the narration for the display and working the lights. The
attraction drew 30,000 visitors, overwhelming the hotel. Several
more changes of venue followed until three community putzes were
established in local Moravian churches.
Since the beginning, members of Bethlehem's Moravian churches
have built and managed the community putzes. These days the
members of Bethlehem's Central Moravian Church appoint a com-
mittee to manage this task. The process begins with an expedition to
the Pocono Mountains in November to gather moss. It takes volun-
teers about a week to construct the putz. Viewing begins at the start
of Advent. Several times a day visitors can enter the darkened audi-
torium to view the putz, while a guide reads a narrative describing
the scene. The lights in each section of the putz rise as the guide tells
the story of those figures.
Religious Services
Bethlehem's Moravian churches hold a special kind of religious ser-
vice, called a lovefeast, around Christmas time. In addition, Moravi-
ans, like many other Christians, also hold special services on Christ-
mas Eve. The Moravian Christmas Eve vigil resounds with instru-
mental music and hymns. The hymn, "Jesus, Call Thou Me," led by
Count Zinzendorf in 1741, is always sung, as is another favorite
Moravian Christmas hymn called "Morning Star." Each year a spe-
cially selected child soloist wins the honor of leading this hymn. As
the last verse of this hymn begins, praising the Lord whose splendor
shines in the darkness, the servers enter the darkened church carry-
ing trays of lit beeswax candles, trimmed at the bottom with red
paper and ribbon (see also Christingle). They are distributed to the
congregation, and, holding glowing candles, worshipers continue to
sing songs about God's light shining in the darkness.
Concerts
Visitors to Bethlehem also have the opportunity to hear many Christ-
mas concerts, some featuring Moravian music. Moravians have long
encouraged music making within their communities. The early Mora-
vians composed thousands of musical pieces, safeguarded the biggest
collection of music in the American colonies, and harbored amongst
them many instrument makers. One unusual feature of the distin-
67
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
guished Moravian musical heritage is the trombone choir, an ensem-
ble made up entirely of tenor, bass, alto, and soprano trombones.
Moravians brought the first trombones to this country in the mid-
eighteenth century, where they continued to be a novelty outside
Moravian communities until well into the nineteenth century.
Historic District
Although today people of many different ethnic and religious groups
live in Bethlehem, the town's historic ties with the Moravians give it
its most distinctive Christmas customs. In addition to these customs,
the town maintains a fine collection of colonial and early American
buildings, including the Sun Inn, an establishment that dates back to
colonial times and once hosted George and Martha Washington, as
well as other famous patriots of the American Revolution. {For more on
Christmas in Pennsylvania, see America, Christmas in Nineteenth-
Century; Amish Christmas; Barring Out the Schoolmaster;
Knecht Ruprecht.)
Further Reading
Bethlehem's Early History. Bethlehem, Pa.: Historic Bethlehem Partnership
Educational Services, 1999.
Butterfield, Lee. "Christmas in the Community of the First Moravian Church,
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.A." In Maria Hubert, comp. Christmas
Around the World. Stroud, Gloucestershire, England: Sutton, 1998.
Kainen, Ruth Cole. America's Christmas Heritage. New York: Funk and Wag-
nails, 1969.
Sawyer, Edwin A. All About the Moravians. Bethlehem, Pa.: The Moravian
Church in America, 2000.
Sweitzer, Vangie Roby. Christmas in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Pa.: Central Mo-
ravian Church, 2000.
Web Sites
"The Putz," a page from the Moravian Church in America's web site at:
http://www.moravian.org/faq/putz.html
An explanation of the Moravian Christmas putz offered by the East Hills Mo-
ravian Church, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: http://easthillsmc.org/
putz.html
An official site of the Moravian Church in America that offers a variety of
information about Moravian beliefs and practices: http://www.moravian.org
68
Birth of the Invincible Sun
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'fSj'^q^
Bfrtl^ of tl^e Invincible Sun
Birth of the Unconquered Sun
In the first centuries after the death of Jesus, a new religious cult
swept across the Roman Empire. Traditional Roman religion includ-
ed festivals and ceremonies associated with a wide variety of gods.
Followers of the new religion focused their devotions on one god.
They called this god "Mithras" or "Sol" and observed his birthday on
December 25 with a festival known as the Natalis Sol Invicti, or the
Birth of the Invincible Sun.
Origins of Mithraism
The god Mithras originated in Persia. Ancient Hindu and Zoroastrian
texts mention a minor god, Mithra or Mitra, who was associated with
the sun, the light that falls between heaven and earth, mediation, and
contracts. Most scholars believe that Roman soldiers encountered this
god when stationed in the eastern part of the Empire. As their military
assignments moved them from one region to another, they spread the
cult of Mithras throughout the Roman world. The image of the god
changed as the cult of Mithras developed and grew. To his Roman fol-
lowers Mithras became the god who created the world, the god who
would never age or die, the one who was the first and last cause of all
things, who upheld standards of justice and truth, and who would
bring about a just, new age that would last forever.
Roman Sun God Worship
Mithraism began to spread throughout the Roman Empire in the late
first century. The religion reached the height of its popularity in the
second through fourth centuries. The Roman Mithras still retained
his association with the sun, an association that grew stronger rather
than weaker over time, perhaps due to the rising popularity of the
Roman sun god, Sol. Although Sol was only one of the group of
gods recognized by traditional Roman religion, the Romans viewed
69
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Sol and Mithras as more or less the same deity. During the second
century Sol became increasingly associated with the supremacy of
the emperor and of the Roman Empire. One of Sol's new titles,
invictus, or "the invincible one," may well have been borrowed from
those titles customarily applied to the emperor.
In 274 the Roman emperor Aurelian (c. 215-275) endorsed Sol's ris-
ing popularity by naming the sun god the sole protector of the
Empire. He also instituted a festival celebrating the birthday of the
god, called "the Birth of the Invincible Sun" (also translated as "Birth
of the Unconquered Sun"). Most scholars believe that people cele-
brated this festival on December 25. Mithraism and the cult of Sol
Invictus began to die out in the late fourth century and early fifth
century as Christianity became the official religion of the Empire and
began to gather large numbers of adherents.
Ceremonies and Celebrations
Very little is known about Roman Mithraism since it demanded that
its followers keep Mithraic beliefs and practices secret from out-
siders. Archeological investigations have revealed the basic outlines
of the religion, however. These include some striking parallels with
the emerging Christian faith. Members gathered together periodi-
cally to share a common meal. New members of the religion were
brought into the faith through a baptismal ceremony. During this
ceremony the officiants "sealed" the new members as devotees of
Mithras by branding them on their foreheads. The initiate was ex-
pected to progress through seven levels of knowledge, each marked
by its own sacrament. Finally, a blissful immortality awaited believ-
ers after death.
Mithraism also differed from Christianity in important ways. Only
men could join the new cult. In fact, Roman soldiers comprised a large
percentage of the membership. The sacrifice of a bull appears to have
been a central ritual or mythic image in the worship of the god.
Remains of Mithraic churches, built to resemble caves, feature wall
paintings depicting the god Mithras slaying a bull. Sacred fires seem
to have burned on the altars of these churches. Furthermore, astrology
appears to have played an important part in Mithraic beliefs.
70
Birth of the Invincible Sun
Ancient records attest to the fact that horse races were held in the
Roman Circus in honor of the sun god's birthday, but little else is
known about how the devotees of Mithras celebrated the festival of
his birth. According to the ancient Roman calendar, winter solstice,
the shortest day of the year, fell on December 25. Scholars suggest
that worshipers viewed this natural event as symbolic of the birth of
the sun god and therefore celebrated the festival on that day.
Mithraism and Early Christianity
Mithraism had enough adherents in the first centuries after Jesus'
death to provide some degree of competition for the fledgling Chris-
tian faith. Its popularity prompted some early Christian leaders to
preach against it. They denounced Mithraic ceremonies as mislead-
ing parodies of Christian rituals. In spite of their opposition to the
cult, in the middle of the fourth century Christian authorities select-
ed December 25 as the day on which to celebrate the Nativity of
Jesus Christ. Scholars believe that they did so largely in order to
divert people away from competing, pagan celebrations held on or
around that date, such as the Birth of the Invincible Sun, Saturnalia,
and Kalends.
Further Reading
Fears, J. Rufus. "Sol Invictus." In Mircea Eliade, ed. The Encyclopedia of
Religion. Volume 13. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Gnoli, Gherardo. "Mithraism." In Mircea Eliade, ed. Tlie Encyclopedia of
Religion. Volume 9. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Heinberg, Richard. Celebrate the Solstice. Wheaton, 111.: Quest Books, 1993.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
lames, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
Salzman, Michele Renee. On Roman Time. Berkeley, Calif: University of
California Press, 1990.
Smith, C. "Christmas and Its Cycle." In Neiu Catholic Encyclopedia. Volum.e
3. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Bfacfe Peter
Zwarte Piet
Children in the Netherlands receive presents on St. Nicholas's Day,
December 6. According to old Dutch folk beliefs, each year St. Nich-
olas and his helper, Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter, sail from Spain to
Holland in a ship loaded with presents for good children. Nowa-
days, Black Peter not only carries St. Nicholas's sack of presents, but
also brandishes a birch rod which he uses to discipline undeserving
children. Truly troublesome youngsters face sterner punishment.
Black Peter tosses them into his sack and carries them back to Spain
with him (see also Cert; Knecht Ruprecht).
History
During the Middle Ages "Black Peter" was a common nickname for
the Devil. One tale of those times proclaimed that each year on his
birthday, St. Nicholas kidnapped the Devil and made the evildoer
assist him in his good works. On St. Nicholas's Eve the good saint
and his reluctant helper flew from house to house dropping presents
down the chimney. Somehow these gifts landed in the shoes that
the children placed by the fire before going to bed.
Black Peter traditionally appears as a dark-skinned man dressed in
the costume of a sixteenth-century Spaniard. Perhaps this image of
Black Peter developed during the sixteenth century, when the Dutch
suffered under Spanish rule. The Dutch may have associated Spain
with dark-skinned people since a north African ethnic group known
as the Moors ruled parts of Spain from the eighth to the fifteenth
centuries. An alternative explanation for Peter's darkened skin links
it to his duties as St. Nicholas's assistant. Some speculate that Black
Peter may have acquired a permanent coating of ashes and soot
from scrambling down so many chimneys. Still, the most likely
explanation for Peter's dark skin comes from old folk beliefs.
Medieval Europeans often imagined the devil as black-skinned.
72
Black Peter
Contemporary Customs
Each year the arrival of St. Nicholas and Black Peter is reenacted in
Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. A great crowd gathers to
witness the arrival of the ship bearing the saint and his helper. A
white horse, St. Nicholas's traditional mode of transport, stands
ready to serve the saint. The music of a brass band adds to the festive
atmosphere. As the gift bringers descend from the ship, the crowd
easily identifies Nicholas by his red bishop's robe and hat and the
white beard that flows from his face to his chest. In addition to his
embroidered jacket, puffed, knee-length pants, and feathered cap.
Black Peter carries a bulging sack of presents, some birch rods, and a
large red book in which he has recorded the good and bad deeds of
Holland's children. After greetings have been exchanged with the
mayor, the saint and his helper lead a parade to Amsterdam's central
plaza. There the royal family officially welcomes Holland's Christ-
mas season gift bringers.
On St. Nicholas's Eve children may receive home visits from St.
Nicholas and Black Peter, usually played by family members or
friends. The pair's detailed knowledge of the children's good and
bad deeds during the past year often astonishes the younger chil-
dren. In recent years the increasing popularity of exchanging pre-
sents on Christmas Day has somewhat reduced the importance of
St. Nicholas and Black Peter in Holland's Christmas celebrations.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
]oy Tlvough the World. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1985.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 1984.
Sansom, WiUiam. A Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. Festivals of Western Europe. 1958. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1994.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Boa/s Head
Wild boars are large, fierce, pig-like animals with curled tusks. In the
Middle Ages the heads of these fearsome male animals, relatives of
the domestic pig, composed the central dish of the Christmas ban-
quet in some parts of Europe. Queen's College at England's Oxford
University still maintains this traditional feast. The custom has long
since died out in most places, however. Some believe that the boar
began its association with Christmas in pagan Scandinavia. In Scandi-
navia today pork dishes continue as Christmas favorites, and Christ-
mas cookies often take the shape of a pig. In Sweden the head of a
pig, garnished with pastry, flags, and an apple between its jaws, may
still be placed at the center of the Christmas buffet table.
74
Boar's Head
Origins
Some researchers locate the origins of the Christmas boar's head
feast as far back as pagan times. They note that both the pagan
Scandinavians and Celts not only relished the boar's meat, but also
gave the animal a respected place in their mythology. Among the
Germanic peoples the boar was associated with the dead. The
Scandinavians and Celts cast fearsome images of the boar onto their
war helmets. The Scandinavians imagined that the souls of fallen
warriors lived on in a heaven where they feasted on wild boar every
day. The meat was provided by a magical animal that was slaugh-
tered, eaten, and appeared anew and alive daily. Among the ancient
Scandinavians, the boar also served as the companion animal to the
god Frey. Frey represented many things, among them sunlight,
peace, prosperity, and fertility. The pagan Scandinavians sometimes
described the course of the sun across the sky as Frey riding the
heavens on his shining, golden boar.
An ancient Scandinavian saga, or poem, describes the sacrifice of a
wild boar as an important component of the ancient Yule festival.
The worshipers dedicated this sacrifice to Frey. So holy was the sac-
rificial boar that warriors swore oaths over its body. Since Frey was
the patron of fertility, some interpret this as a rite designed to in-
crease crop yields and herds in the coming spring.
While some writers believe that a seasonal taste for the pork can be
traced back to these pagan practices, others point out that Novem-
ber and December served as the traditional months for the slaughter
of pigs in pre-industrial times. At this point in the year pigs were
consuming the last of the forest's free pig feed: acorns and beech-
nuts. Small farmers either had to find more feed, let the pigs go hun-
gry, or slaughter them. According to these authors, this seasonal
cycle may provide the true explanation for the boar's place at the
Christmas feast.
History
In medieval England, the boar's head graced the tables of the pros-
perous at Christmas time as well as on other feast days. Preparing
and serving this robust dish required the combined efforts of many
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
people. The beleaguered cook might spend more than a week skin-
ning, soaking, salting, preserving, and finally cooking this awkward
piece of meat. In the final stages the cook garnished the boar's head
with rosemary and inserted an apple, orange, or lemon in its mouth.
In rich and noble houses much ceremony surrounded the presenta-
tion of this dish. The steward brought the boar's head into the hall
on a special platter, accompanied by minstrels. Other servants, and
sometimes even the huntsmen who killed the beast, participated in
the procession into the hall, adding to the spectacle. Wild boar were
known as formidable prey, which may have bestowed additional
glamour on this dish. Sometime in the twelfth century, however,
the wild boar became extinct in England. Its demise left the domes-
ticated pig to take over this Christmas duty. While the traditional
boar's head feast entertained the wealthy at Christmas time, ordi-
nary folks often made do with beef, goose, or Christmas pies.
In the mid-seventeenth century a new religious sect called the Puri-
tans rose to power in England. The Puritans disapproved of many
aspects of traditional English Christmas celebrations, including the
lusty feasting and drinking. During their reign they succeeded in
curtailing and, in some cases, even outlawing many of these prac-
tices. After the Puritan campaign against Christmas subsided, the
boar's head never again regained its widespread popularity among
the wealthy as the main dish for the Christmas feast.
Queen's College
In spite of the disappearance of the boar's head among the general
population, this traditional feast was maintained at Oxford Univer-
sity's Queen's College. Each year at Christmas time the boar's head
dinner takes place in the college's dining hall. This tradition began in
the fourteenth century, shortly after the founding of the college. The
process begins in the kitchen, where the chef garnishes the boar's
head with bay {see Laurel) and rosemary, tucks an orange into its
mouth, and places it on a silver platter. Four men carry this dish into
the dining hall, preceded by a solo singer and followed by the col-
lege choir. The soloist and choir sing the "Boar's Head Carol" as they
process into the hall, pausing for the soloist to sing each verse.
Finally the boar's head is set upon the high table. The provost then
76
Boar's Head
removes the orange and offers it to the lead singer, and distributes
the rosemary and bay among the choir and guests.
The tune and words to the "Boar's Head Carol" have changed over
time. A version popular in the early seventeenth century describes
the killing of the boar as a beneficial act that not only prevents him
from ruining crops, but also provides tasty meat for the assembled
company. The more recent version of the carol, with its Latin refrain,
focuses on the feast at hand and gives thanks to God:
Solo: The boar's head in hand bear I
Bedecked with bays and rosemary
I pray you, my masters, be merry
Quot estis in convivio (So many as are in the feast)
Chorus: Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes domino
(The boar's head I bring, giving praises to God)
Solo: The boar's head as I understand.
Is the rarest dish in all this land.
Which thus bedecked with a gay garland
Let us servire cantico (serve with a song)
Chorus: Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes domino
Solo: Our steward hath provided this
hi honor of the King of bliss
Which, on this day to be served is
In reginensi atrio (the Queen's hall)
Chorus: Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes domino
[Duncan, 1992, 186-87]
The denizens of Queen's College invented an amusing story by way
of offering an explanation for their traditional Christmas dinner. On
a winter's day hundreds of years ago a student named Copcot went
walkirig in the nearby Shotover woods. He carried with him a vol-
ume of Aristotle, which he had been striving in vain to comprehend.
Suddenly a boar sprang out of the underbrush and charged toward
him. Copcot thrust the book down the boar's throat, crying out in
Latin, "Graecum est!" (approximately, "it's Greek to me!"). The boar
choked to death on this undigestible work. Since Copcot could ill
77
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
afford to lose a book, he chopped off the boar's head, retrieved his
Aristotle, and carried both back to the college. The college feasted on
Copcot's trophy, and a tradition was born.
Further Reading
Crippen, Tfiomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Micli.: Omnigrapfiics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Duncan, Edmondstoune. The Story of the Carol. 1911. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Gelling, Peter, and Hilda ElUs Davidson. The Chariot of the Sun and Other
Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age. New York: Frederick A.
Praeger, 1969.
Guerber, H. A. Myths of Northern Lands. 1895. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Sing-
ing Tree Press, 1970.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, 1961.
Henderson, Yorke, et al. Parent's Magazine's Christmas Holiday Book. New
York: Parents' Magazine Press, 1972.
Hole, Christina. Christmas and Its Customs. New York: M. Barrows and
Company, 1958.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
VI
78
Boxing Day
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'*q^'^Qe,.^£]^q!?,.^£]^q^
f<mm^mm
BoxingBay
The boxing which takes place on Boxing Day has nothing to do with
the prize-fighting ring. Christmas boxing originated in England,
where the word "boxing" refers to the distribution of small gifts of
money. Boxing Day, which falls on December 26, is a holiday in Eng-
land, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas {see Jonkonnu),
and other nations with past or present ties to the United Kingdom.
Origins and Development
Some writers believe that boxing can be traced back to the Middle
Ages. They note that parish priests of that era customarily opened
up the church alms-box on December 26, St. Stephen's Day. Then
the priests distributed the coins it contained to the needy. Perhaps
this custom attached itself to St. Stephen's Day because the saint's
role in the Christian community of which he was a member was to
ensure the fair distribution of goods. In any case, this practice gave
rise to the use of the term "box" to denote a small gift of money or a
gratuity. In Scotland these tips were called "handsels" and were
given on Handsel Monday, that is, the first Monday of the new year.
By the early seventeenth century, the Church's St. Stephen's Day tra-
dition had inspired working people to adopt the custom of saving
whatever tips they had been given throughout the year in clay boxes
which they broke open on December 26. By the late seventeenth
century they began to solicit tips from all those who had enjoyed
their services during the year. They collected the last of these
"boxes" on December 26, after which they broke open these con-
79
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
tainers and used the money to buy Christmas treats. In the nine-
teenth century many bought tickets to pantomime shows, which in
those days usually opened on December 26. By the nineteenth cen-
tury the custom of boxing had so colored the character of the day
that many people began refer to December 26 as Boxing Day rather
than St. Stephen's Day. Parliament declared Boxing Day a public
holiday in 1871.
Resistance
By the eighteenth century middle- and upper-middle-class people
were complaining about the increasing numbers of tradesmen who
petitioned them for Christmas boxes. By mid-century some families
were paying up to thirty pounds in these annual tips. Naturally,
one's employees and domestic servants received some extra finan-
cial consideration at Christmas time. In addition to one's own work-
ers, however, a small horde of neighborhood service providers might
turn up at one's door on the twenty-sixth of December asking for a
Christmas box. These included dustmen, lamplighters, postmen,
errand-runners, watchmen, bell ringers, chimneysweeps, sextons
(church custodians), turncocks (men who maintained the water
pipes), and others. What's more, shop assistants, tradesmen, and
their apprentices often expected a Christmas box from their cus-
tomers. In 1710, English author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) wrote,
"By the Lord Harry, I shall be undone here with Christmas boxes.
The rogues of the coffee-house have raised their tax, every one giv-
ing a crown, and I gave mine for shame, besides a great many half-
crowns to great men's porters" (Hutton, 1996, 23).
Stephening
At one point, the citizens of Buckinghamshire, England, raised the
practice of boxing to new heights. Residents of some villages in the
region claimed the right to a free meal at the local rectory on St.
Stephen's Day. Since the rectors had to pay for the meal out of their
own pockets, they naturally began to resist this custom, know as
"Stephening." It is told that one year a rector from the village of
Drayton Beauchamp locked himself in the rectory on December 26
and refused to let the housekeeper answer the many knocks at the
80
Boxing Day
door. In this manner he thought to escape doling out the free meal
of bread, cheese, and ale demanded by the town's residents. When
the townspeople realized what was going on, however, they broke
into the building and helped themselves to a meal that completely
emptied his larders. In 1834 the Charity Commission, finding no
legal or traditional entitlement to this yearly looting, put an end to
the custom.
Decline
By the late nineteenth century Christmas boxing began to diminish.
This decline continued into the twentieth century, and, slowly, the
Christmas box disappeared from the ranks of English seasonal cus-
toms. The English still give a few tips at Christmas time, but they are
no longer specifically associated with Boxing Day. In fact, some peo-
ple now think of Boxing Day as the day to throw out the boxes their
Christmas gifts came in.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 26 — Christmas-Boxes." In his TJie Book of
Dfli/s. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Hadfield, Miles, and lohn Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapHnger, 1977.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
81
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Boy Bf sl^op
Bairn Bishop, St. Nicholas Bishop
In the Middle Ages the Christmas season offered a special delight
to a few lucky boys. On December 28, Holy Innocents' Day, reli-
gious communities, cathedrals, colleges, schools, and parish church-
es throughout Europe permitted an ordinary choirboy to take over
the role of the local bishop. Known as the boy bishop, these kings-
for-a-day were enormously popular with the people, in spite of the
reservations of some Church authorities. They wore episcopal robes
and rings especially made for boys, led processions, officiated at ser-
vices, preached sermons, made visitations, and received gifts. What's
more, the administrators of local cathedrals were sometimes expect-
ed to entertain the boy bishop and his entourage in a manner befit-
ting their assumed rank. These festivities came to an end around the
sixteenth century, when Church and state officials finally prohibited
boy bishops. In some areas, however, the custom lingered on. One
French diocese supported a boy bishop until 1721. In recent years
some English cathedrals have revived the medieval custom of spon-
soring a boy bishop at Christmas time.
Beginnings
During medieval times custom permitted the low-ranking church
staff, such as deacons, sub-deacons, and choirboys, to engage in a
number of boisterous celebrations and mock religious services dur-
ing the days that followed Christmas. They included the reign of the
boy bishop on Innocents' Day. These frolics were sometimes referred
to collectively as the Feast of Fools. Some experts believe that these
customs may have evolved out of the topsy-turvy festivities that
characterized the Roman winter feast of Saturnalia. During Satur-
nalia, things were not always as they seemed. Men masqueraded as
women or animals, and mock kings were selected to preside over
feasts. Some authors believe that the habit of celebrating midwinter
with playful role reversals may have persisted into medieval times.
82
Boy Bishop
inspiring the creation of the boy bishop. The chosen boy was also
known as the "bairn bishop/' bairn being an archaic word for child.
Historians are still trying to piece together the origins of this custom.
Some believe that the boy bishop was originally associated with St.
Nicholas's Day, December 6. They suspect that the boy bishop's
reign shifted to Holy Innocents' Day over time. These writers point
out that St. Nicholas was a bishop in his lifetime and became the
patron saint of children after his death. Therefore, they reason, it
makes sense for the custom of the boy bishop to have developed
around the celebrations held in St. Nicholas's honor. Indeed, in
some areas of England the boy bishop ruled on St. Nicholas's Day
and was known as the "St. Nicholas Bishop." Furthermore, even
though most cathedrals held the ceremonies associated with the boy
bishop on Innocents' Day, many held elections for the boy bishop on
St. Nicholas's Day. Some researchers have concluded that the boy
bishop held office from St. Nicholas's Day to Holy Innocents' Day.
During this time he enjoyed many of the privileges of a real bishop
and attended to many of the responsibilities. Other writers point out
that Innocents' Day also provided an appropriate occasion on which
to elevate a boy to the role of bishop, since it commemorated the
martyrdom of Bethlehem's male children.
The earliest known historical record of a boy bishop comes from
what is now Switzerland. It tells us that in 911 a.d. King Conrad I
and the bishop of Constance visited the monastery of St. Gall and
attended a service presided over by the boy bishop and his choirboy
attendants. The king entertained himself during the service by roll-
ing apples into the aisles in an attempt to distract the children from
their solemn duties. Apparently, the children demonstrated more
dignity than did the king, since none stooped to pick up these
tempting sweets.
Costumes
Various customs surrounding the boy bishop reveal that this role
reversal not only enjoyed popular support, but also received some
degree of support from the Church. The institutions that sponsored
boy bishops kept vestments specially made for them. These vest-
ments were as luxurious and expensive as those made for real bish-
83
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ops. One old document describes a boy bishop's miter as being
made of white silk, covered with ilowers embroidered in silver and
gold threads and ornamented with precious stones.
Ceremonies
The reign of the boy bishop began on the eve of Holy Innocents' Day
in most places. At England's Salisbury Cathedral the choirboys,
dressed in the silk robes of archdeacons and canons (clerical staff)
and led by the regally clad boy bishop, began their procession
towards the altar near the end of vespers, the evening prayer service,
on December 27. The boy bishop censed the altar, after which the
canons rose from their chairs and went to the places vacated by the
choir. The choirboys then assumed the seats normally occupied by
the clergy. This seating arrangement persisted until vespers on the
following day. Moreover, during that time the canons took over the
choirboys' duties at services, such as carrying the book, candles, and
incense. The boy bishop presided over all services until vespers on
Holy Innocents' Day. Most researchers believe he was not permitted
to say mass, although at York and Winchester cathedrals it appears
that he may have done so. On Innocents' Day the boy bishop led a
procession through the streets, blessing the people as he went. The
procession, along with his Innocents' Day sermon, formed the high-
lights of his brief career. Only a few of these sermons have survived
to the present time, and all show clear signs of having been written
by adults. In their tone and choice of topic, they range from humor-
ous to tedious. In one sermon the boy bishop, referring to the choir-
boys and other children present, quipped, "It is not so long since I
was one of them myself" (Miles, 1990, 307).
Customs
In addition to his clerical duties, the boy bishop was expected to pay
visits to churches, monasteries, and dignitaries throughout his dio-
cese. The boy bishop and his entourage carried out this duty with
zest, riding out in full regalia to receive the kind of respect, courte-
sies, gifts, feasts, and entertainments that would normally be offered
to a real bishop. Many boys found that it took several days to execute
this responsibility properly. Indeed, in 1396 the boy bishop of Eng-
84
Boy Bishop
land's York Cathedral finally concluded his round of visitations on
Candlemas. He collected more than eight pounds over the course
of these visits. Of course, he did pay out a large portion of that sum
in meeting the expenses of his entourage, which included a preach-
er, a steward, two singers, two attendants, and all their horses.
In general, people seem to have been amused by the boy bishop and
welcomed his visits. In wealthy households the Lord of Misrule
arranged food, drink, and gifts for the boy bishop and his entourage.
It appears that, in return, the boys often entertained the household
with songs or speeches. England's Queen Mary (1516-1558) is said to
have received the boy bishop of St. Paul's Cathedral, who entertained
her with a song. Since many churches, schools, and religious com-
munities sponsored boy bishops, however, any one diocese might
contain a small but highly active squad of miniature Christmas bish-
ops, whose trails were sure to overlap. Thus, especially wealthy and
high-ranking households and institutions sometimes received visits
by more than one boy bishop during the Christmas season.
Controversy
In spite of the costs and potential inconvenience this custom pre-
sented to ordinary people, most did not complain. Church authori-
ties, though, led periodic campaigns to curtail the activities of the
boy bishop and his court of choristers. These sporadic crusades ap-
pear to have been triggered either by the boys' unruly behavior or by
disruptions caused by onlookers. In England the dean of St. Paul's
Cathedral limited the rights of the boy bishop to demand either ser-
vice by or entertainment from the canons in 1263. Similar limitations
were enacted at Salisbury in 1319. In addition, however, Salisbury
officials warned that anyone who shoved the boys or blocked their
rightful activities risked excommunication. In 1443 authorities from
Salisbury Cathedral penned a decree restricting the choristers from
disrespectful behavior.
Tradition gave the choirboys the right to elect the boy bishop with-
out interference from adults. Perhaps fearing that things could get
out of hand, authorities at various English cathedrals slowly chipped
away at this tradition. In 1263 officials at St. Paul's Cathedral elimi-
nated this privilege entirely, claiming it for themselves. Authorities at
85
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
York Cathedral proceeded more slowly, announcing qualifications
for the post of boy bishop in 1367. They stipulated that the choir must
choose a boy from among those with the longest and most exem-
plary records of service to the Cathedral. The boy also must possess
both good looks and an acceptable singing voice. At Salisbury Ca-
thedral the takeover attempt backfired. The choirboys revolted when
the precentor (choral minister) attempted to curtail their free election
of the boy bishop in 1449. The dean quickly convened a meeting of
the canons, who upheld the choristers' right to choose the boy bish-
op without outside interference.
Decline
After its introduction in the tenth century, the custom of sponsoring
boy bishops at Christmas time spread throughout Europe, becoming
a common practice by the thirteenth century. Although known in
many lands, boy bishops were especially popular in England, France,
and Germany. The custom fell out of favor in the fifteenth century,
an era of religious turmoil in which many old practices were ques-
tioned or eliminated {see also Puritans). In England King Henry VIII
issued a proclamation forbidding the boy bishop in 1541. His
lengthy edict demonstrates the changing attitudes of the time:
Whereas heretofore dyvers and many superstitions and
chyldysh observances have been used, and yet to this day are
observed and kept, and in many and sundry parts of this
realm, as upon Saint Nicholas, Saint Catherine, Saint Cle-
ment, the Holy Innocents, and such like, children be stranglie
decked and apparayled to counterfeit priestes, bishoppes,
and women, and so be ledde with songes and daunces from
house to house, blessing the people and gatheryng of money;
and boyes do singe masse and preache in the pulpitt, with
suche other unfittinge and inconvenient usages, rather to the
deryson than any true glory of God, or honor of his sayntes:
The Kynges Maiestie therefore, myndinge nothinge so moche
as to advance the true glory of God without vaine supersti-
tion, wylleth and commanded that from henceforth all such
superstitious observations be left and clerely extinguished
throwout his realmes and dominions, for asmuch as the
86
Boy Bishop
same doth resemble rather the unlawfull superstition of gen-
tilitie, than the pure and sincere reHgion of Christe [Mac-
kenzie, 1987, 15].
Revival
In recent years the boy bishop has sprung back to life in England. A
few churches, among them Hereford Cathedral, have reinstituted
some of the ceremonies and customs surrounding the boy bishop.
On December sixth the boy bishop presides over an elaborate ser-
vice at Hereford Cathedral. Dressed as a real bishop, the chosen boy
walks at the head of a formal procession, gives the sermon, and
leads the prayers and blessings. At one point in the service the real
bishop of Hereford rises and offers the boy bishop his seat. Con-
temporary boy bishop ceremonies are observed on St. Nicholas's
Day. In this way, they neither conflict with nor find themselves over-
shadowed by the celebrations and ceremonies already clustered
around Christmas Day.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 6 — The Boy Bishop: Eton Montem." In his
The Book of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Howard, Alexander. Endless Cavalcade. London, England: Arthur Baker,
1964.
Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press, 1994.
. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Mackenzie, Neil. "Boy into Bishop." History Today 37, 12 (December 1987):
10-16.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Pimlott, ]. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.].: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
87
Brazil, Christmas in
cS>q^>^qiS)q^>^qiS)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^tBejQeji^>^t3Sj*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
Brazil^ cfiristmas in
Due to Brazil's location in the Southern Hemisphere, its people cele-
brate a summertime, rather than a wintertime, Christmas {see also
Winter Solstice). The Brazilian Christmas season lasts from mid-
December to January 6. Contemporary Brazilian Christmas customs
reflect the influence of European and North American Christmas
traditions.
Papai Noel, the Three Kings, and Gifts
Brazilians inherited the Latin Christmas tradition of distributing pre-
sents to children on Three Kings Day, or Epiphany. During the sec-
ond half of the twentieth century, however, Santa Claus became
increasingly popular in Brazil. Nowadays, children may receive pre-
sents from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, as well as additional treats
from the Three Kings, or Magi, on Epiphany. Children from poor
families may receive clothes and shoes as Christmas presents, where-
as children from richer families may receive toys and other less
essential items. Adult family members and friends also exchange
Christmas gifts. On the eve of Epiphany children leave their shoes
beside the window or outside the front door. In the morning they
find them filled with candy.
In spite of the summer heat Santa Claus, or Papai Noel as he called in
Brazilian Portuguese, visits Brazil in his red and white fur-trimmed
suit and hat, black boots, and long, white beard. The Brazilians have
improvised somewhat on the Santa Claus myth. For example, Santa
enters and leaves homes by the front door rather than the chimney.
This makes sense to Brazilians since few homes in that tropical coun-
try have fireplaces and chimneys. Moreover, Papai Noel travels to
Brazil in a helicopter rather than a sled drawn by flying reindeer. His
official arrival in Brazil takes place in mid-December when he touch-
es down in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium amidst a roaring
crowd. These "Santa Claus arrival" events may be staged in other
89
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
large cities as well. Brazilian children, like their American counter-
parts, hope to spot Papai Noel at one of their town's busy shopping
centers in the days before Christmas.
Visits and Christmas Dinner
Christmas dinner provides a very special occasion for families and
friends to visit. Brazilians eat Christmas dinner late in the evening
on Christmas Eve. The meal often features roast turkey with farofa
stuffing, which is made out of toasted manioc flour, onions, garlic,
turkey livers and gizzards, olives, hard-boiled eggs, and bacon.
Other popular Christmas dishes include dried cod, an assortment of
fruit, and a dessert called rabanada, which resembles French toast.
Champagne, wine, and fruit punch often accompany the meal. Most
families dine around 10 or 11 p.m. Afterwards many attend the
Missa do Galo, or Midnight Mass {see also Misa de Gallo). These
services may be held in Roman Catholic churches or on outdoor
stages set up for the occasion. In recent years some people have
begun to stay home to watch the television broadcast of the pope's
celebration of Midnight Mass in Rome.
Christmas Trees and Nativity Scenes
Many Brazilians decorate their homes with a Christmas tree. In
southern Brazil parents often take on the job of decorating the tree
themselves. On Christmas Eve they lock themselves in the parlor
until the tree has been studded with glowing candles and garlanded
with ornaments, such as metallic balls, figurines, and poinsettia
blossoms. The magical sight of the decorated tree delights the chil-
dren when they are finally allowed to enter the room. In spite of the
popularity of the Christmas tree, the Nativity scene remains the
focus of home decoration and celebration in most of Brazil. Nativity
scenes, or presepios, also appear in churches and town squares.
Children usually participate in setting up the Nativity scene, adding
toys, fruit, or foliage to the family's collection of figurines. In the
south families may wait until the day before Christmas to set up the
Nativity scene. In other areas they may begin constructing the
presepio in mid-December.
90
Bulgaria, Christmas in
Cards, Charity, Plays
Brazilians have adopted the custom of sending Christmas greetings
in the form of Christmas cards. Until recently, many of these cards
reproduced the winter scenes commonly found on European and
North American Christmas cards. Now Brazilians may opt for cards
depicting the sunny scenes more typical of December weather in
Brazil. In Brazil Christmas is also a time for charitable giving.
Churches hold many fund-raising events during the Christmas
season. They usually donate the proceeds to poor families who need
financial assistance in order to celebrate Christmas. Another Bra-
zilian custom calls for the presentation of Nativity plays during the
season. Most of these plays treat religious themes. Folk plays treat-
ing rural life and lore may also be presented during this time. These
folk plays often include songs and dances. The most popular of
these is called Bumba-meu-Boi, or "Beating My Ox." The story re-
volves around a bull that is killed and then brought back to life.
Further Reading
Brazil. Danbury, Conn.: Grolier Educational, 1997.
Christmas in Brazil. Chicago: World Book, 1991.
Milne, Jean. Fiesta Time in Latin America. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press,
1965.
Wakefield, Charito Calvachi. Navidad Latino americana, Latin American
Christmas. Lancaster, Pa.: Latin American Creations Publishing, 1997.
Bulgaria^ cfiristmas in
Christianity is the predominant faith in the eastern European nation
of Bulgaria, though the country also hosts a sizeable Muslim minori-
ty (13 percent). Most Bulgarians who profess the Christian faith are
Orthodox. Like other Orthodox Christians around the world, they
fast during Advent, the period of spiritual preparation that precedes
the Christmas festival. For the strictly observant, this means avoiding
91
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
wine, meat, and dairy products for the duration of the fast, which
ends on December 25.
Christmas Season
Bulgarians consider that the Christmas season begins on Decem-
ber 20, a day they call Ignazhden. A Bulgarian folk belief teaches that
Mary, Jesus' mother, experienced her first contractions on this day.
Christmas Day festivities begin on December 24 and extend through
December 26. These festivities include special religious observances
and frolics that resemble those of Carnival. In addition, bands of
boys or young men, known as koledari, wander through the streets,
stopping at homes to sing Christmas carols, dance, and offer bless-
ings. People give them fruit, bread, and other treats as a means of
thanking them for their efforts. Traditional koledari wear colorful
folk costumes and carry beautifully carved oaken staves.
Christmas Dinner
Many Bulgarian Christmas customs pertain to the Christmas dinner.
This should be a sumptuous meal, so as to attract abundance in the
new year. The woman of the house bakes a special loaf of bread,
which the head of the household breaks into pieces, giving one to
each family member and saving some for the family's animals. In
some areas people observe the tradition of burning incense over the
dinner table and over the farm animals. One Bulgarian Christmas
tradition requires whoever serves the Christmas pie to set aside the
first piece for "Grandpa Vassil." This fictional character stands for any
wayfarer, while the custom itself reminds diners that this night above
all others is one on which to welcome strangers to share their feast.
New Year's Eve and Day
Bulgarian folk tradition assigns the burning of the Yule log to New
Year's Eve. An old folk custom dictated that the hearth first be
cleaned with a broom made from juniper. At sunset on New Year's
Eve the oldest male in the household lights the Yule log. If it burns
through the night, the family can hope for wealth and fertility in the
year to come.
92
Bulgaria, Christmas in
Bands of male carolers roam the streets on New Year's Eve as well as
at Christmas time. These carolers, called sourvakari, carry wands made
of dogwood branches. They lightly slap people on the back with
these wands, wishing them long life, good health, and abundance.
Groups of boys may repeat this custom on New Year's Day. In
exchange for this blessing people offer the boys coins, fruit, or candy.
New Year's Day is celebrated with a large meal, which acts as a
charm to ensure a prosperous new year. The bread traditionally served
with this meal is decorated with emblems representing vines and
bee hives. Banitza, a kind of cheese pastry, is a popular New Year's
dish. On this occasion bakers place cornel (dogwood) buds inside
the pastry. These buds symbolize good luck and good health for
family members and livestock.
Grandfather Frost, the Russian gift bringer, visits Bulgaria on New
Year's Day. This custom may have been imported during the recent
period in which Bulgaria was ruled by the Russian-led Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.)
Further Reading
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1999.
Resnick, Abraham. Bulgaria. Enchantment of the World. Chicago: Children's
Press, 1995.
Stavreva, Kirilka. Bulgaria. Cultures of the World. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall
Cavendish, 1997.
Web Site
"Wonderland Bulgaria," a web site maintained by Iliana Rakilovska, Irina
Simeonova, Maria Nankova, and Kamen Minchev, furnishes information
on the history, population, folklore, and geography of Bulgaria. For infor-
mation on Bulgarian folk festivals, see: http://www.omda.bg/engl/ethno
graphy/festivals.html
M
93
least of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple,
Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin,
The Meeting of the Lord
The Gospel according to Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary
brought the baby Jesus to the temple six weeks after his birth (Luke
2:22-24). Once there they observed the Jewish ceremony by which
firstborn sons were presented to God. Furthermore, Mary fulfilled
the purification rites, which Jewish law required women to undergo
forty days after the birth of a son. Another very sigiiificant event
occurred while the Holy Family was at the temple. Simeon and
Anna, a holy man and a prophetess, recognized the infant as the
Messiah. Simeon declared that the child would be "a light that will
bring revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32). The Christian feast of
Candlemas commemorates all these events. It is celebrated on Feb-
ruary 2, forty days after Christmas. Candlemas gets its name from a
number of candle-related customs connected with the feast. By the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Middle Ages the blessing of candles, the distribution of blessed can-
dles among parishioners, and candlelit processions had all established
themselves as common elements in western European Candlemas
services.
History
The earliest known description of the feast comes from late fourth-
century Jerusalem. This early celebration consisted of a solemn pro-
cession followed by a sermon and mass. The description named the
feast simply "the fortieth day after Epiphany." Since at that time
Jerusalem Christians were celebrating both Epiphany and the Na-
tivity on January 6, the festival fell on the fourteenth of February {see
also December 25). From Jerusalem the new festival spread through-
out the East. The Greeks called it Hypapante Kyriou, or "The Meeting
of the Lord," a name that reflected their emphasis on the meeting
between Simeon, Anna, and the infant Jesus. The feast began to
appear in the West in the seventh and eighth centuries. Westerners
celebrated it on February 2, since by that time Rome had assigned
the celebration of the Nativity to December 25. Roman officials
called the feast the "Purification of Mary," reflecting their emphasis
on Mary's fulfillment of Jewish law.
Several centuries passed before western European Candlemas ob-
servances consolidated around a distinctive set of traditions. Candles
were used in the services as early as the mid-fifth century in Jeru-
salem. Nevertheless, Pope Sergius I (687-701 a.d.) is generally cred-
ited with ordering the first candlelit processions to accompany
church services in Rome. In what is now France, the blessing of can-
dles developed during the Carolingian Empire, near the close of the
eighth century. By the eleventh century the blessing of candles, the
distribution of blessed candles, and candlelit processions had be-
come widespread elements in the western European observance of
Candlemas. The feast got its English name. Candlemas, meaning
quite literally "candle mass," from these customs. Since the eigh-
teenth century the representatives of various religious communities
have offered the pope large, decorated candles on Candlemas.
Contemporary Candlemas services generally emphasize Christ as
the Light of the World. In addition, the officiant often blesses and
96
Candlemas
distributes beeswax candles. In some traditions parishioners bring
candles from home to be blessed during the service. In past times
Candlemas processions filed out into the churchyard and past the
graves of the departed. Contemporary Candlemas processions, how-
ever, usually remain within the church.
Some researchers suggest that Christians simply adopted Candle-
mas and its customs from pagan celebrations held at the same time
of year. On February 1 the pagan Celts celebrated Imbolc, a festival
associated with the return of the spring goddess Bride (later, St.
Bridget). In some areas sacred fires and candles burned through the
night in honor of Bride's return. In ancient Rome people observed
purification rites throughout the month of February, which included
a procession through the city with lit candles. In addition, they cele-
brated the return of their spring goddess, Ceres, on February first.
Pagans in other Mediterranean cultures also welcomed the return of
a spring deity. Many of these observances featured fire rituals and
torchlit processions.
While some writers believe that these pagan practices gave rise to
the observance of Candlemas and its customs, most contemporary
scholars doubt that these pagan rituals exerted strong influence on
medieval Christians. The doubters point out that these pagan fire
ceremonies had died out by the time candles became part of the
Christian festival. They also claim a specifically Christian symbolism
for the Candlemas tapers. The candles recall the words of Simeon
who proclaimed that Jesus would become "a light" unto the
Gentiles.
Christmas Customs
Jesus' presentation in the temple and Mary's fulfillment of the rites
of purification mark the end of the series of events associated with
Jesus' birth in the Gospels. In a similar vein, many old European
Christmas customs were practiced until Candlemas. For example, in
some areas Nativity scenes were taken apart and put away on
Candlemas. In other areas Christmas greenery — such as rose-
mary, laurel, mistletoe, holly, and ivy — and other seasonal deco-
rations were finally removed on Candlemas. The English poet
Robert Herrick (1591-1674) summarized Devonshire folk customs
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
and beliefs concerning the removal of such decorations in the fol-
lowing poem:
Candlemas Eve Carol
Down with rosemary, and so
Down with bays and mistletoe;
Down with the holly, ivy, all
Wherewith ye dressed the Christmas hall.
That so the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind;
For look, how many leaves there be
Neglected there, maids, trust to me.
So many goblins you shall see [Urlin, 1992, 30].
In another verse Herrick informs us that the Yule log was kindled
one last time on Candlemas and then stored till the following year.
Herrick implies that Candlemas concludes the Christmas season
with the following lines:
End now the White Loafe and the Pye
And let all sports with Christmas dye [Miles, 1990, 353].
Herrick's sentiments echo the lyrics of a fifteenth-century English
Christmas carol, which exclaims, "Syng we Yole tyl Candlemas"
(Sing we Yule till Candlemas).
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "February 2 — Candlemass." In his The Book of Days.
Volume 1. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Cowie, L. W., and lohn Selwyn Gummer. The Christian Calendar. Spring-
field, Mass.: C. and G. Merriam Company, 1974.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Hutton, Ronald. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles. Oxford,
England: Basil Black we 11, 1991.
lames, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
98
Candlemas
Metford, J. C.J. The Christian Year. London, England: Than\es and Hudson,
1991.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Slin\, Hugo. A Feast of Festivals. London, England: Marshall Pickering, 1996.
Smith, C. "Candlemas." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 3. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Toon, Peter. "Candle; Candlemas." In J. D. Douglas, ed. TJie Neiu Inter-
national Dictionary of the Christian Church. Revised edition. Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978.
Urlin, Ethel. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. The Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
Candies
For candle customs associated with the celebration of Christmas, see
Advent Candle; Advent Wreath; Candlemas; Christingle; Christ-
mas Candles; Christmas Symbols; Denmark, Christmas in; Faro-
litos; Ireland, Christmas in; Plygain; Pyramid; St. Lucy's Day;
Saturnalia
Candy Cane, see urban Legends
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Ceremony of Lessons and Carols
On the afternoon of December 24 a special Christmas service takes
place at Cambridge University's King's College Chapel. Known as
the "Ceremony of Lessons and Carols," this service features nine
Bible readings accompanied by nine Christmas carols or other ap-
propriate musical works. The King's College service, first broadcast
in 1928, helped to popularize this special Christmas observance. To-
day many churches in England, the United States, and around the
world hold their own versions of this ceremony.
An Anglican bishop, Edward W. Benson, who later was archbishop
of Canterbury, devised the first Ceremony of Nine Lessons and
Carols. Benson is said to have modeled the new carol service on
medieval vigil services. Benson presented the first Ceremony of Les-
sons and Carols on Christmas Eve in 1880. The service took place in
the wooden shed that served as the cathedral in Truro, England. The
Bible lessons were read by a wide spectrum of church officers, be-
ginning with a chorister and ending with the bishop.
The service quickly began to spread to other congregations. Eric
Milner- White, dean of King's College Chapel, introduced the service
there in 1918. The Order of Service was revised in 1919, and the
song "Once in Royal David's City" established as the opening hymn.
The King's College service is still broadcast every year on the radio
(except in the year 1930), and in recent years it has also been aired
on television.
The Ceremony of Lessons and Carols has spread far beyond its
native land. Churches all over the world now offer their version of
the service during Advent. The standard format calls for a series of
alternating Bible readings and carols, bracketed by opening and
closing prayers. Although the choice of lessons and carols may vary,
the heart of the service remains the same. The series of readings
describes the unfolding of God's love for humanity from a biblical
perspective. The carols enhance the beauty of the service by treating
the same subject in music.
100
Cert
Further Reading
Howard, Alexander. Endless Cavalcade. London, England: Arthur Baker, 1964.
Web Site
A site sponsored by Cambridge University's King College Chapel offers in-
formation on their famous Ceremony of Lessons and Carols service:
http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/ninelessons/
Cert
Folk beliefs assign St. Nicholas the role of Christmas gift bringer in
Czechoslovakia. According to Czechoslovakian folklore, two oddly
matched companions aid the good saint in his labors. On December
sixth, St. Nicholas's Day, Nicholas descends from heaven on a
golden rope accompanied by an angel dressed in white and a demon
known as a cert. The cert wears black clothing and carries a whip
and chain. He frightens naughty children, reminding them of the
punishment in store for them if they don't mend their ways. {See also
Black Peter.)
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas the Worid Over. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books,
1963.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
^^A CJ^arfie Brown cfiristmas^^
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" charmed millions of Americans when
it made its debut in 1965. This animated television special weaves a
story around the Christmas-time antics of the characters from Charles
Schulz's (1922-2000) popular cartoon-strip "Peanuts." While the
other kids look forward to Christmas and enjoy winter- time activi-
ties, like skating, Charlie Brown alone feels anxious and depressed
{see Depression). He consults Lucy, who fancies herself an amateur
psychiatrist. She advises him to "get involved" with something and
makes him the director of the school Christmas play. His involve-
ment ends when the other kids laugh at the straggly Christmas tree
he brings back to adorn the stage. Then Linus, quoting from the
Bible, reminds the kids what Christmas is all about {see Gospel Ac-
counts of Christmas). Afterwards Charlie Brown takes his Christ-
mas tree home. The other kids change their minds about the tree
and help Charlie Brown decorate it.
Charles Schulz's "Peanuts"
Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" was one of the most successful comic
strips of all time. More than 300 million people worldwide followed
the strip, which was translated into 20 different languages. Schulz's
pint-sized characters approach life with a unique combination of
wisdom, innocence, anxiety, and hip self-assurance that attracts both
adult and juvenile readers. People who knew Charles Schulz find
many similarities between the cartoonist and his main character, the
worried and hapless Charlie Brown. Yet Schulz was able to translate
his nervousness into an appealing art form, which in turn brought
him millions of fans and millions of dollars. Among the many hon-
ors given to the cartoonist include his mention in the 1984 Guinness
Book of World Records when the 2,000th newspaper subscribed to his
strip, and his induction into the Cartoonist Hall of Fame in 1986. In
1990 the French government named him a "Commander of Arts and
Letters."
102
"K Charlie Brown Christmas"
On December 14, 1999, Schulz, who was battling cancer, reluctantly
announced his retirement to the world. One of the last honors re-
ceived by this long-time resident of Santa Rosa, California, was
given to him by the California state legislature, which declared Fe-
bruary 13, 2000 "Charles Schulz Day." On this day the last "Peanuts"
strip was scheduled to run in newspapers across the country and
around the world. Schulz died in his sleep on February 12, just hours
before a saddened public enjoyed his final strip. In May of 2000 the
Congress of the United States posthumously awarded him the Medal
of Honor.
The Making of "A Charlie Brown Christmas"
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" began life as a twinkle in the eye of
producer Lee Mendelson. He, Schulz, and animator Bill Melendez
had worked together a couple of years earlier on a documentary of
Schulz and his cartoon characters. When Mendelson discovered that
Coca Cola was looking for a Christmas special and was interested in
the Peanuts characters, he assured them of both his and Schulz's
interest in the project. Then Mendelson rushed to Schulz's house to
inform him of the idea and convince him that it was a good one.
Luckily, Schulz readily agreed to work on the project, and together
the two of them came up with an outline for the show. The outline
specified that the story would contain a school play, winter-time fun
and games, a reading from the Bible, and a combination of jazz and
traditional Christmas music. Coca Cola liked the outline, and pro-
duction immediately began on the show.
Mendelson right away invited Bill Melendez to take charge of the
animation. The three men met to develop the story. Mendelson con-
tributed the idea of structuring some of the action around a Christ-
mas tree, an inspiration he took from Hans Christian Andersen's
short story "The Fir Tree." Schulz qualified the concept, by insisting
that the tree be a "Charlie Brown" type of tree. The work progressed
with Schulz masterminding the dialogue and situations, while Me-
lendez translated them into an animated cartoon.
The three men were eager to hire jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, whom
they had worked with before on the Schulz documentary. They
wanted to reuse the "Linus and Lucy" theme developed by Guaraldi
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
several years ago as well as give him an opportunity to create new
music. Guaraldi signed on and production went into iiill swing. The
animators produced 10,000 drawings for the half-hour show. Pass-
ing them by the camera at the rate of 12 per second made the car-
toon characters appear to move.
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" broke new ground in several ways. By
having one of the characters recite the biblical narrative of Jesus'
birth, it introduced a moment of serious religious contemplation into
a cartoon aimed at children. Although Mendelson was doubtful,
Schulz, a quietly religious man, insisted that his Christmas show
contain a religious theme. In addition, the three men decided to hire
child actors to dub in the cartoon characters' voices. Up till that time,
adult actors had typically filled in all the voices in animated car-
toons, even those of child characters. Finally, the jazz piano music
provided by Vince Guaraldi delighted both adults and children, who
previously had been accustomed to cartoons accompanied by simple
jingles rather than serious music.
Reactions to "A Charlie Brown Christmas"
The crew finished work on the show one week before it was sched-
uled to air on television. Top CBS executives screened the special
shortly before it was televised. Disappointed by what they consid-
ered its slow pace, they assured Mendelson that although they
would air the program, they wouldn't be interested in any further
Charlie Brown shows.
This assessment crushed Mendelson, Schulz, and Melendez. Hope
revived when the special received a good pre-broadcast review in
Time magazine. On December 9, 1965, the show was broadcast na-
tionwide. Ratings proved it to be a hit with the American public, and
ranked it as the second-most popular show on television during its
time-slot. Several months later the three men received an Emmy
Award for Best Network Animated Special. "A Charlie Brown Christ-
mas" also received a Peabody Award for excellence in family pro-
gramming. Rerun in the years that followed, the show continued to
receive high ratings.
104
"K Charlie Brown Christmas"
Charles Schulz went on to create 45 animated television specials
based on his famous cartoon- strip characters. "A Charlie Brown
Christmas," his first, remained his favorite. Vince Guaraldi's album
of music from the show, entitled "A Charlie Brown Christmas," went
platinum (sold over 1,000,000 copies). Later released as a CD, it con-
tinues to be a best-selling Christmas album.
Further Reading
Johnson, Rheta Grimsley. Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz. Kansas
City, Mo.: Andrews and McMeel, 1995.
Mendelson, Lee. A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition. New
York: HarperCollins, 2000.
Web Site
The Charles M. Schulz Museum, located in Santa Rosa, California, offers a
web site with information on Schulz and his achievements:
http://www.charlesmschulzmuseum.org
y^
ta
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cf}err\) Tree
Legend, song, and custom link the cherry tree to the Christmas
season. In all three the cherry tree performs unusual feats in re-
sponse to the power of God or the magic of the season.
Legends
An old Christian legend, first recorded in the apocryphal Gospel of
Pseudo-Matthew, makes the cherry tree the subject of one of the
infant Jesus' first miracles. The original Latin text containing the tale
dates back to the eighth or ninth century. This version of the story
tells of an event that occurred shortly after Jesus' birth. Joseph, Mary,
and the infant Jesus were traveling in the desert. The couple spied a
palm tree and went to rest under its shadow. Joseph worried about
how they were going to find water. Mary expressed a wish for the
dates she saw hanging high above them. Joseph scolded his wife for
asking for something so far out of his reach. Then the baby Jesus
spoke to the tree, ordering it to bend down so his mother could gath-
er the fruit. The tree obeyed. Jesus also commanded an underground
spring to surface so they could drink and fill their water bags.
As the tale passed from one teller to another, many variations oc-
curred. In later versions of the story the incident takes place before
Jesus is born. Moreover, as the tale became popular in Europe, the
tree which Jesus commands to bow down changes to species more
familiar to Europeans. In Britain, the newer versions of the story fea-
tured a cherry tree. In these later interpretations of the tale, Joseph
and his pregnant wife are walking by some cherry trees laden with
ripe fruit. Mary asks Joseph to pick some cherries for her. He refuses
in a rude manner, with the implication that he still questions the ori-
gins of her mysterious pregnancy. Jesus, from inside the womb, then
commands the cherry tree to bow down so his mother can pick fruit.
Joseph stands by sheepishly and observes this miracle. The earliest
recorded version of this story in the English language appeared in a
fifteenth-century miracle play. Eventually this popular tale was set to
106
Cherry Tree
music in the Christmas song known as "The Cherry Tree Carol" {see
also Christmas Carol).
Customs
In medieval Europe a miracle play concerning the expulsion of Adam
and Eve from the Garden of Eden was often performed around
Christmas time. The play featured one central prop, the paradise
tree. Apples hung from its branches as a symbol of Eve's act of dis-
obedience, but some also added cherries as a symbol of Mary.
According to an old custom, Germans, Czechs, Austrians, Poles, and
other central and eastern Europeans begin Barbara branches on
December 4, St. Barbara's Day. A branch is broken off a cherry tree
and kept in a pot of water near the stove. This premature warmth
encourages the branch to blossom. Old folklore suggests that if the
buds blossom on Christmas Eve, the girl who tended the branch will
find a good husband within the year. Others interpret the Christmas
flowers as signs that good fortune will visit the household in the
coming year. This old custom has regained some popularity among
Western Christians. Instead of cherry branches, some people use
apple, plum, almond, forsythia, jasmine, or horse chestnut branches.
Further Reading
Coffin, Tristram P. Tlie Book of Christmas Folklore. New York: Seabury Press,
1973.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
c{)\[drens Letters
The urge to send greetings at Christmas time seizes people of all
ages. Businesses prepare hundreds of thank -you notes for their cus-
tomers. Adults salute family and friends with Christmas cards.
Even children get in on the act by sending letters to the child Jesus
and to Santa Claus.
Letters to the Child Jesus
An old Austrian custom encouraged children to write letters to the
child Jesus on the night before St. Nicholas's Day. These letters
contained lists of things the children wanted for Christmas. The
youngsters placed the letters on the windowsill before going to bed.
When the children discovered that the letters had disappeared
108
Children's Letters
overnight, their parents assured them that St. Nicholas had taken
the letters back to heaven to deliver to the child Jesus. In that way
the Christ child knew what to bring the children on Christmas Eve
(see also Christkindel). In some South American countries old cus-
toms suggested that children leave their letters for the child Jesus in
front of the crib contained in the family Nativity scene. They did so
between December 16 and 24, the days on which the Hispanic folk
play called Las Posadas was being enacted. Older family members
explained the disappearance of the letters by hinting that angels
delivered them to heaven.
Letters to Santa Claus
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries children in many lands
adopted Santa Claus as the Christmas gift bringer. In the 1880s
American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) gave Santa Claus an
address, the North Pole. Soon afterwards American children began
writing letters to Santa Claus, hoping to guide him in his choice of
gifts for them. Since 1929 the United States Postal Service has been
trying to answer these letters. Each year postal employees and com-
munity volunteers read and respond to the letters. Some volunteers,
touched by the earnest requests of underprivileged tots, find ways of
sending the children some of the requested gifts.
In 1997 postal workers all over the country reported the first decline
ever in the numbers of letters sent to Santa Claus at Christmas time.
Some postal divisions noticed a steep seventy-percent drop in these
letters. No one knows why so many kids all at once lost interest in
writing letters to Santa. Perhaps they suddenly discovered e-mail. In
any case, the Postal Service hired actress Maureen O'Hara, who
starred in the 1947 Hollywood Christmas film. Miracle on 34th
Street, to head a campaign publicizing the volunteer program dedi-
cated to answering these letters and encouraging children to contin-
ue sending letters to Santa.
While American children believe that Santa dwells at the North
Pole, Finnish children know that he lives in Korvatunturi, in the far
north of Finland. Korvatunturi means "Ear Mountain," so it is the
perfect abode for a man whose primary job is listening to and fulfill-
ing children's wishes. Since the 1950s the post office in the small
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
northern town of Rovaniemi has been handling Santa's mail. Ap-
parently, the Finnish belief that Santa resides at Korvatunturi has
spread. These days Rovaniemi receives about 500,000 letters to Santa
each year from children in 160 countries. The Finns also make an
attempt to answer these letters. To reach Santa Claus via the Finnish
postal service, write him at Santa Claus' Main Post Office, 96930
Arctic Circle, Finland. In 1997 even children who didn't initiate con-
tact with Santa could receive an unsolicited letter from him. To make
this happen, an adult needs to send the child's name and address in
block letters, along with four international reply coupons (available
at your local post office) to the address above. Please note that the
Finnish Santa is fluent in twelve languages and needs to know
which of these to respond in.
Some Icelanders wish to popularize the idea that Santa Claus lives
in Iceland. At one point the government-run Iceland Board of
Tourism answered the thousands of children's letters to Santa that
arrived in Iceland. After funding cuts decimated this program a pri-
vate foundation stepped in to answer these letters. For a fee of $4.95
(U.S. dollars), an organization called North Pole, Inc. — whose mail-
ing address is P.O. Box 358-121, Reykjavik, Iceland — will send your
child a return letter from Santa, along with a little story, photos of
Santa Claus at home, and a diploma with the child's name on it.
Other far northern nations, such as Sweden, Greenland, and Cana-
da also claim to be the home of Santa Claus. Sweden receives tens
of thousands of children's letters to Santa Claus each year. The Swe-
dish post office makes every effort to answer these letters.
Letters to Other Gift Bringers
In England children send letters to Father Christmas listing the
gifts they would like to receive for Christmas. English children
developed a clever way of delivering these letters. They toss the let-
ters into the fireplace, relying on the flames to transform them into a
kind of magical smoke that wafts up the chimney and across Eng-
land to Father Christmas. In Italy children write letters to La Befana
requesting that she bring them certain toys and treats when she vis-
its their home on Epiphany eve. Spanish children write similar let-
ters to the Wise Men, or Magi, in the weeks before Epiphany. French
110
Children's Letters
children send letters to Pere Noel, hoping to influence the gifts he
brings them on Christmas Eve.
Seals and Stamps
At the turn of the twentieth century a number of charitable organi-
zations hit on a way to use the flood of Christmas mail to raise some
badly needed revenue. They began to sell Christmas seals which
could be used to decorate envelopes and packages. In the 1960s the
U.S. Postal Service chimed in by producing special Christmas stamps
during the holiday season. Unlike the seals, the stamps function as
valid postage. They add a further decorative note to holiday season
mail.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Schmelz, Abigail. "Xmas Dreams Dashed as Santa Letters Go Unopened."
Reuters (December 19, 1996).
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Web Site
For more information on North Pole, Inc., the Icelandic organization that
sends out return letters to children who write to Santa Glaus in Iceland,
visit their web site at: http://www.santa.is
^.
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cfirismon Tree
The Chrismon tree adapts the traditional Christmas tree to more
strictly Christian uses. It consists of an evergreen tree decorated with
traditional Christian symbols of Jesus. In fact, the word "Chrismon"
resulted from the combination of two words, "Christ" and "mono-
gram." Originally, only monograms of Christ decorated the tree. As
churches and families adopted the custom, however, they began to
create new symbols of Christ to adorn their trees. Only the colors
white and gold appear on these ornaments. These are the liturgical
colors for Christmas Day. White represents Jesus' purity and perfec-
tion, while gold stands for his majesty and glory. White lights may
further embellish the tree, reminding viewers that Jesus is "the light
of the world" Qohn 8:12).
Further Reading
Augustine, Peg, comp. Come to Christmas. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1993.
112
Christingle
cS>q^>^qiS)q^t]^qiS)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^tBejQeji^>^t3Sj*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
CI^FTStmgfe
Christingle is the name of a special Protestant Christmas Eve service
popular in England. The word also refers to the decorated candles
distributed to children at this service. Christingle candles can be
traced back to the Moravians, a group of Protestant Christians whose
denomination was founded in the fifteenth century in what is now
the Czech Republic (for more on the Moravians, see Bethlehem, Penn-
sylvania, Christmas in; Lovefeast).
Moravians have long distributed beeswax candles, trimmed with red
paper or ribbon, to worshipers at their Christmas Eve services. As the
congregation sings hymns they hold up their flickering candles,
symbolizing the Christ child or the Christ light. Moravians brought
this custom with them to England, where the German Christkindel
(Christ child) became "Christingle."
As the years went by, the design of the candle changed and acquired
new symbolism. Children attending today's Christingle services re-
ceive an orange into which a candle, festooned with red and white
ribbons and paper, has been inserted. Raisins, nuts, candies, and other
sweets, skewered onto toothpicks, surround the candle. While the
candle still stands for Christ, the orange is said to represent the
world. The sweets may symbolize the sweetness that comes from
following Christ or the bounty of the earth, and the red and white
paper represents the blood of Christ and its power to purify. {For a
similar custom, see Wales, Christmas in.)
Christingle services and candles can also be found in Labrador,
Canada, and other places where English Moravians sent missionar-
ies. Instead of an orange, the people of Labrador insert their Christ-
ingle candles into an apple. In England the Christingle service and
candles have spread beyond Moravian churches, becoming popular
with other Protestants as well.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Web Sites
The Moravian Church in America offers a page on the Christingle at:
http://www.moravian.org/faq/christingle.html
The Royal School of Church Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to
promoting all styles of church music in all denominations, offers informa-
tion on Christingle services at: http://www.rscm.com/sundaybysunday/
christingle_services.htm
cfiristkmdel
Christ Child, Christkind, Kriss Kringle
In parts of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria the Christkindel or
Christkind brings children their Christmas gifts. Christkindel means
"Christ child" in German. Some people understand the Christ Child
to be the child Jesus; others view the Christ Child as an angel, who
appears as a young girl with golden wings, long blond hair, and flow-
ing robes.
In past times a rather threatening spirit known as Hans Trapp accom-
panied the Christ Child in some German-speaking regions. Hans
Trapp dressed in furs and carried a rod, making it his duty to punish
children who had behaved badly {see also Knecht Ruprecht). The
Christ Child generally intervened on the naughty child's behalf, how-
ever.
The Christ Child became a German gift bringer around the seven-
teenth century. During the Reformation, Protestant reformers wanted
to teach children that all blessings come directly from God. Rather
than let children continue to believe that St. Nicholas brought their
gifts, they introduced the concept of the Christkindel. Nuremberg,
Germany's famous Christmas market, which displays hundreds of
gift items each year, adopted the name "Christ Child Market" in the
seventeenth century.
German immigrants brought the notion of the Christkindel with
them to the United States. Over time the customs and lore connect-
114
Christmas Ale
ed with Christkindel faded and the word itself changed to "Kriss
Kringle." The growing popularity of Santa Claus in the United
States eventually eclipsed any remaining notion of the Christ Child,
and Kriss Kringle became simply another name for Santa.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. Tlie Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
cfiristmas Ale
Christmas Beer, Yule Ale
In recent years a growing number of small American breweries have
marketed special Christmas ales during the holiday season. These
companies have revived the ancient northern European tradition of
celebrating the midwinter holidays with specially brewed beers.
Yule Ale
A number of experts believe that the pagan Scandinavians celebrated
their midwinter Yule festival by brewing and drinking special beers.
Norse mythology taught that the god Odin instructed humans in the
brewing of alcoholic beverages. The people drank to Odin during
Yule. They may have been invoking him either as the patron of ale or
as the lord of the dead, since they honored the spirits of the deceased
during Yule. Some researchers believe that the ancient Scandinavians
also raised their glasses to other gods during the festival, including
Frey, the fertility god.
The connection between the Yule season and drinking remained
strong as Scandinavia adopted Christianity in the Middle Ages.
"Drinking Yule" became a standard phrase referring to the celebra-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
tion of the holiday {see also Wassail). In Norway medieval law mod-
ified the ancient practice of toasting the gods when drinking Yule
ale. It stipulated that Christmas beer should be blessed in the name
of Christ and Mary for peace and a good harvest. What's more,
medieval law required every household to bless and drink Yule beer.
Norwegians usually drank their Christmas ale out of special cups,
sometimes reserving ancient drinking horns for this purpose.
Seasonal Ales
In Norway the tradition of brewing and blessing special beers for
Christmas flourished until the nineteenth century. Tradition dictated
that all Christmas baking, slaughtering, and brewing be finished by
St. Thomas's Day, December 21. For this reason Norwegian folk
tradition dubbed him "St. Thomas the Brewer." In past times Nor-
wegians visited each other on St. Thomas's Day in order to sample
one another's Christmas ale.
In Germany beer-makers developed and maintained a tradition of
brewing special seasonal ales. Perhaps the most well known were
those served for the fall harvest festivals. German beer drinkers still
anticipate the arrival of these slightly stronger and darker beers,
named Oktoberfest or Marzenbiers, each autumn. German brewers
also craft distinctive beers for the Christmas season, as well as for
spring and summer.
Church Ales
In the Middle Ages northern Europeans drank quite a lot of beer.
Beer's popularity may have sprung in part from the fact that, due to
poor sanitary conditions, fermented alcoholic beverages were less
likely than water to transmit diseases. The climate in much of north-
ern Europe will not support wine grapes very well, so the people of
the north specialized in beer-making.
In medieval times most monasteries brewed their own beer. In fact,
monastic brews were considered among the best in medieval Eu-
rope. In the late Middle Ages parish churches in England began to
ferment beers to be sold to the public on feast days. These events,
called church ales, raised money for church supplies, repairs, and
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Christmas Ale
improvements. The most important church ale of the year occurred
at Whitsuntide (Pentecost and the week that follows). Other impor-
tant church ales took place at Easter, May Day, Christmas, and vari-
ous patron saints' days. These party-like events featured the con-
sumption of ample quantities of food and drink, along with dancing,
game playing, and other forms of revelry. They died out in most
places by the eighteenth century, succumbing to long-standing op-
position by those who objected to the boisterous behavior that oc-
curred at these church events.
Christmas Ale
The northern European preference for celebrating the Christmas sea-
son with specially brewed ales emerged from all of the above tradi-
tions. Midwinter brews tended to be darker, spicier, and slightly more
alcoholic than other beers, which made them a special treat. With the
rise of industrial breweries, however, handcrafted seasonal beers all
but vanished. In the United States seasonal beers disappeared after
World War II. In 1975 a tiny San Francisco firm, the Anchor Brewing
Company, reintroduced American beer drinkers to Christmas ale.
Their success inspired many other small breweries to follow suit.
Further Reading
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Nonuay. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press, 1994.
Rhodes, Christine, ed. Encyclopedia of Beer. New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 1995.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
^•0
cfiristmas Bonus
As Christmas approaches, many American workers look forward to
receiving a Christmas bonus, usually a lump sum of money added to
their December paycheck. This Christmas gift from employer to
employee may have been inspired by English Boxing Day customs.
Although the Christmas bonus began as a voluntary gift, it evolved
into an expected increase in one's December salary.
By the late nineteenth century many American employers had adopt-
ed the custom of distributing Christmas bonuses among their work-
ers. These personalized exchanges often took place at office Christ-
mas parties, another new, late nineteenth-century custom. The boss
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Christmas Bonus
himself usually presented each worker with their presents or money.
Often the employer tied the gift to the employee's performance dur-
ing the year.
Christmas bonuses became increasingly common throughout the
last decades of the nineteenth century, but between 1900 and 1920,
these kinds of personalized exchanges all but disappeared. Labor
unions, which grew in numbers and in influence during this period,
began to bring the issue of the Christmas bonus to the bargaining
table. Unionists argued that workers depended on these bonuses
and needed to know in advance approximately how much they
would receive. They objected to the nineteenth- century practice
whereby the bonuses were distributed according to the whims of
managers and bosses. As the twentieth century rolled on, their argu-
ments prevailed. Christmas bonuses were increasingly calculated
according to agreed-upon formulas. These formulas often took into
account such things as salary level and years of service.
In recent years the number of companies giving Christmas bonuses
has declined. Some firms have switched to year-round incentive
programs that reward effective employees. Others provide employ-
ees with a lavish Christmas party or a day off in lieu of a bonus.
According to the Bureau of National Affairs in Washington, D.C.,
about nine percent of companies with 1,000 or more workers dis-
tributed Christmas bonuses in 1999. Workers in small companies
were luckier, with about 25 percent of their employers offering mod-
est cash bonuses at Christmas time.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. Tlie Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ostrowski, Jeff. "Companies Moving Away From Christmas Bonuses, Study
Finds." The Palm Beach Post (December 24, 1999): ID.
Waits, William. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York Uni-
versity Press, 1993.
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cfiristmas Cakes
Christmas Breads, Yule Bread, Yule Cakes
Bread is a staple food in European cuisine. Since medieval times Eu-
ropean cooks have enriched this everyday food for the Christmas
table. These early cooks began a tradition that continues to this day.
People from many different nations still celebrate Christmas with a
variety of rich breads and cakes.
European Christmas Breads and Cakes
The cuisine of medieval Europe did not feature a strong distinction
between breads and cakes. For festive occasions bakers produced
special breads we might consider akin to cake. As medieval cooks
sharpened their understanding of various leavening agents, a dis-
tinction between bread and cake slowly began to emerge. Early
Christmas cakes reflect this blurring of culinary categories. One early
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Christmas Cakes
recipe for ginger cake mixed dry bread crumbs with spices and
honey. The pasty dough resulting from this process was molded into
various decorative shapes. Cakes featuring spices and honey were
among the earliest European Christmas baked goods. Their descen-
dants, often having evolved into cookies, populate contemporary
Christmas celebrations. They include our own familiar gingerbread,
northern Europe's peppernuts (Pfeffemusse), Germany's Lebkuchen
and Springerle, and Holland's speculaas. Cooks of past eras also en-
riched breads and cakes by adding extra fats, dried and candied
fruits, and nuts. The traditional holiday fare of many European na-
tions still include breads of this sort. Examples include Italian panet-
tone, German Stollen, Swedish saffransbrod, Norwegian /w/e/ca/ce, and
Greek Christopsomo.
Yule Doughs
In the Middle Ages people celebrated Christmas with Yule doius, or
"Yule doughs." These pastries, shaped like animals or people, fre-
quently the baby Jesus, constituted a special holiday treat. Nine-
teenth-century English and American bakers revived this old cus-
tom, calling their creations "Yule dollies." They often shaped them
like young girls or dolls, and decorated them with icing, colored
illustrations (glued onto the cookies with eggwhite), feathers, or
other adornments. Typically, these decorated cookies served as orna-
ments for the newly popular Christmas tree. Today's Christmas
bakers still shape and decorate gingerbread "men" in similar ways.
Scandinavian Cakes and Customs
A number of European Christmas customs grew up around the spe-
cial cakes and breads of the season. A Swedish document dating
from the middle of the sixteenth century notes that at Christmas time
bakers concocted a special Christmas loaf about the length, width,
and height of a five-year-old child. The writer continues by noting
that people gave this kind of bread away to friends and even to
strangers as an act of Christmas charity. The Scandinavians rolled
other Christmas loaves, of smaller dimensions, into symbolic shapes
such as a cross, a boar, or a goat {see also Boar's Head; Yule Goat; St.
Lucy's Day). Certain superstitions attached themselves to these spe-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cial Christmas loaves. According to one belief, a family should not
finish their Christmas cake until Epiphany. Another decreed that the
family guard the cake untouched until Candlemas. One Norwegian
custom suggested that the Christmas loaves be prepared from grain
gleaned from the straw left over in the fields after harvest.
Twelfth Night and Christmas Cakes
For many centuries the English, French, Dutch, and German peoples
celebrated Twelfth Night by eating cakes. In France the custom can
be traced as far back as the thirteenth century. The cakes provided
more than a fitting end for a holiday meal, however. A bean, pea, or
tiny china doll was baked inside the cake. The diner whose slice of
cake contained the object was hailed as King of the Bean. This
"king" ruled over the remainder of the feast. Sometimes the baker
also dropped a pea inside the cake batter. The woman who found
the pea in her slice of cake reigned as queen alongside the king. A
French custom suggested that the hosts of the Twelfth Night feast
reserve the first piece of the cake for God and the second for the
Virgin Mary. These slices were offered to the first poor person who
came to the house.
By the eighteenth century English bakers had elevated Twelfth Night
cakes into virtual pieces of art. They molded these enormous cakes
into a variety of elaborate shapes and covered them with fanciful
decorations made out of icing. For example, a baker might construct
a cake that resembled a fortress, complete with flying flags and post-
ed sentinels. Some were so heavy, they required two men to carry
them. Bakeries displayed these examples of the confectioner's art in
shop windows.
The celebration of Twelfth Night declined in the mid-nineteenth
century. As a result of fading interest in the holiday, the Twelfth
Night cake was drawn into the orbit of the more powerful midwin-
ter holiday, Christmas. During this transition the cake shrank in size.
Oddly enough, the custom of secreting charms within the Twelfth
Night cake transferred itself to another Christmas dessert, plum
pudding. Thereafter, the Christmas cake functioned solely as a
homemade dessert.
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Christmas Cakes
Greek New Year Bread
In Greece the custom of inserting a special charm into holiday
bread or cake attached itself to New Year's Eve celebrations instead
of to Christmas or Epiphany. In Greece a special cake or bread known
as vasilopita, or St. Basil's bread, appears on the table on New Year's
Eve. The bread and cake are named after St. Basil the Great (c. 329-
379), whose feast day Orthodox Christians observe on January 1.
Housewives bake a coin into the vasilopita. Whoever finds the coin
in their serving will attract good luck in the coming year. Some fami-
lies observe a special ceremony when cutting and distributing the
holiday bread. The head of the family blesses the bread and makes
the sign of the cross over it. The bread is sliced and the first piece
offered to Christ, the second to the Virgin Mary, the third to St. Basil,
and the fourth to the poor. The next piece goes to the head of the
family. The rest of the family receive their pieces according to age,
the eldest first.
Further Reading
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Nonuay. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Poole, Shona Crawford. The Christmas Cookbook. New York: Atheneum,
1979.
Rouvelas, Marilyn. A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America. Be-
thesda, Md.: Attica Press, 1993.
Weaver, William Woys. The Christmas Cook. New York: HarperPerennial,
1990.
%«
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
g^4
cl^ristmas Candles
Yule Candle
In past centuries families throughout the British Isles, Ireland,
France, Denmark, and Scandinavia observed Christmas by lighting
especially large candles. Home Christmas celebrations took place in
the glow of these enormous tapers. Some families lit the candles on
Christmas Eve, in which case custom called for the candle to burn
until morning. Others lit their candles on Christmas morning and
kept them burning throughout the day. Large candles of this sort
were also used in Christmas church services {see also Christingle).
People interpreted the meaning of these Christmas candles in sever-
al different ways. Many believed the large candle served as a natural
symbol for the coming of Jesus Christ, "the light of the world."
Others said it represented the Star of Bethlehem. Many folk beliefs
suggest that people commonly viewed the home Christmas candle
as representing the family's future in some way. In some parts of
England people varied this custom by using many regular-sized
candles instead of one extra-large one. In nineteenth-century England
many grocers and chandlers (candlemakers) presented their regular
customers with the gift of a large candle at Christmas. In parts of
124
Christmas Candles
Denmark people lit two candles, one representing the male head of
the household, the other the female household head. Whichever
burned out first was said to foretell which of them would die first.
Scottish folklore claimed that if the Christmas candle burned out
before midnight the family would soon experience some kind of
calamity. Scandinavian tradition agreed that bad luck would surely
visit any family whose Yule candle burned out during the holy night,
possibly the death of a family member. While the flame burned,
however, many Scandinavians believed that the light of the Yule
candle conferred a blessing on all it touched. Families brought good
things to eat and drink, money, clothing, and other desirable goods
within the circle of candlelight in the hopes that they would be
blessed with more of these things in the coming year.
Some peoples believed that the remains of the candle retained their
power to bless and protect even after Christmas had passed. In
Sweden people rubbed the stub of their Yule candle against their
plows or used it to make the sign of the cross over their animals. In
other parts of Scandinavia people fed the candle stub to their barn-
yard fowl or saved it as a charm against thunder and lightning. {See
also Advent Candle.)
In Estonia, Germany, and Lithuania people light candles at family
gravesites on Christmas Eve. This practice may be linked to old folk
beliefs concerning the return of the dead at Christmas time {see also
Ghosts; /or another Christmas Eve candle custom, see Australia, Christ-
mas in).
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Norway. Oslo, Norway: lohan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapUnger, 1977.
Pimlott, ]. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cfiristmas Card
Historians credit the English with the invention and popularization of
the Christmas card during the early years of the Victorian era {see also
Victorian England, Christmas in). By the 1860s an entire industry
had grown up around the design and production of Christmas cards
in England. This industry soon spread to other countries. Throughout
the twentieth century ever-increasing numbers of people embraced
the Christmas card, making the practice of sending greeting cards one
of the Christmas season's most popular customs.
Possible Origins
Researchers speculate that a number of pre-existing customs in-
spired the creation of the first Christmas card. New Year's cards, for
example, date back to the early years of European printing. The old-
est surviving New Year's card was printed in 1466. Apparently, these
cards never became very popular. Many surviving examples depict
the boy Jesus in the company of flowers and birds. These cards be-
gan to disappear in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, per-
haps due to religious ideas popularized during the Reformation {see
also Puritans). In the late eighteenth century the development of a
new printing process called lithography corresponded with an
increase in the production of New Year's cards.
Valentine cards probably exercised more influence on the look of the
new Christmas cards than did New Year's cards. Valentine cards
were already popular in the early nineteenth century when the very
first Christmas cards were printed. Some early producers of Christ-
126
Christmas Card
mas cards used desigiis very similar to those they printed on Valen-
tine cards. Nowadays, these romantic Christmas card desigiis, brim-
ming with leaves, flowers, and lace, seem unsuited to the Christmas
season.
Even before the advent of the Christmas card, some people sent
Christmas or New Year's letters {see also Children's Letters). As
early as the 1730s English writer Alexander Pope (1688-1744) re-
marked upon the frequency with which the English sent seasonal
greetings and good wishes to friends around Christmas time. Even-
tually the Christmas card replaced the Christmas or New Year's let-
ter. This change dismayed those who preferred a more substantial
greeting than could be conveyed in the brief sentiment printed on
the cards.
The First Christmas Card
The first Christmas card was designed by Englishman J. C. Horsley
(1817-1903) in 1843. Three separate images adorn the front of the
card. A large center drawing depicts a family gathered around a
table, wine glasses in hand. One woman gives a small child a sip of
wine, a detail which caused temperance advocates to object. A
smaller side panel depicts a well-dressed woman draping a cloak
around a poor woman and child. The other side panel depicts the
distribution of food among the poor. The producer of this card print-
ed about 1,000 copies and sold them for one shilling each.
Early English Christmas Cards
The new custom did not catch on right away. It took two decades for
the Christmas card to establish itself as an annual institution in
England. The advent of the penny post, begun in 1840, provided an
inexpensive means of posting the cards, which undoubtedly permit-
ted the custom of sending Christmas cards to spread. Before that
time, not only had postal rates been higher, but also the post office
charged the postage to the addressee rather than to the sender. The
public responded enthusiastically to the new postal system. Between
1840 and 1845 the number of letters sent in Great Britain nearly
doubled.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The first Christmas cards were modeled after Victorian visiting cards
and so did not fold in any way. These small rectangles of pasteboard,
about the size of an index card, were printed on one side only. The
decorated side bore a lithographed or etched drawing, a greeting, and
blank space for the names of both the sender and the addressee. By
the 1870s manufacturers had started producing larger cards and fold-
ed cards. Some of the early folded cards were designed to open out
like cupboard doors; others fell into accordion folds.
Trick cards also originated in the 1870s. Their clever designs delight-
ed Victorians. Pulling a paper lever on the face of a card, for example,
might add to or subtract something from the design or change it
completely. Pop-up cards also tickled Victorian fancies. Some clever-
ly designed cards contained hidden images that appeared only if
viewed from a certain angle or in a certain light.
Victorian Christmas Cards in Their Heyday
By the 1880s Victorian Christmas cards reflected the ornate taste of
the age. Designers embellished the images printed on the cards with
a variety of materials, including paper lace, real lace, shells, seaweed,
dried grass, flowers, silk, velvet, chenille, tinsel, celluloid, crewel work,
metal plates, and small sachets of scented powders. They frosted sur-
faces with powdered glass or aluminum. For a finishing touch they
embossed or scalloped the edges of their cards, or even finished them
with lace, cords, ribbons, or silk.
Some of the most common images found on Victorian Christmas
cards are still familiar symbols of the holiday to us today. These
include holly, ivy, mistletoe, and, to a lesser extent, robins, wrens,
winter landscapes, and Christmas feasts and parties. Other images
that adorned their cards seem less central to the festival. For example,
flowers, shrubs, and trees, often in great profusion, served as perhaps
the most popular subjects portrayed on the Victorian Christmas card.
Due to the abundance of flowers and leaves, these cards often appear
to depict a summer, rather than a winter, scene. Many other cards
carried images of children, often at play. Some of these children seem
to be unnaturally angelic lads and lasses, others clearly pranksters.
Animals, often portrayed carrying out human activities and some-
times wearing human clothing as well, provided another popular
subject for the Victorian Christmas card.
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Christmas Card
Victorians also enjoyed Christmas cards that featured new inven-
tions, such as the bicycle, the steamship, and the motorcar. Other
Victorian Christmas card subjects strike modern viewers as some-
what inappropriate images with which to represent Christmas. For
example, portraits of beautiful girls and women appeared frequently
on Victorian Christmas cards. Some of these women and girls ap-
pear partially nude or clad only in gauzy robes, startling modern
sensibilities conditioned to approach the Christmas card as some-
thing devoid of sensuality.
The dead robin constitutes another curious Victorian preference in
Christmas card decoration. During the 1880s many of the cards fea-
turing robins depicted a dead bird lying in the snow. Perhaps the
Victorian fondness for images and stories that evoked pity and other
tender emotions can explain this rather bizarre motif.
Early American Christmas Cards
Although the first American Christmas card dates back to the 1850s,
the American Christmas card industry did not take off until the
1870s. Historians credit a German immigrant named Louis Prang
with bringing this industry to full flower. In 1875 his print shop intro-
duced a line of visiting cards that included a Christmas greeting. An
appreciative public snapped up his entire stock. Prang expanded his
line of Christmas cards in the years that followed. At first his designs
resembled those of the early Victorian cards from England. Embel-
lished with flowers, leaves, butterflies and birds, the printed images
evoked springtime rather than illustrating the Christmas sentiments
that accompanied them. Soon, however. Prang's workshop began to
turn out cards decorated with recognizable Christmas symbols,
such as holly, ivy, and poinsettias. As these designs became more
complex, the cards grew in size, eventually measuring about seven
by ten inches. The American public loved Prang's novelties. Many
foreign buyers also admired and collected Prang's cards.
Several factors contributed to Prang's extraordinary success. A print-
er by trade. Prang combined expert printing skills, innovative lithog-
raphy techniques, and clever marketing ploys to catch the public's
attention. But Prang was more than a savvy salesman. He passion-
ately believed that mass-produced images could introduce fine art to
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those who would never otherwise be exposed to it. Prang's studio
developed a reputation for high artistic standards.
In 1880 he instituted a yearly competition for the best Christmas
card design. Prang put his money where his mouth was. He award-
ed $1,000 to the first-place winner and $500 to the second-place
winner. He also gave $300 and $200 prizes. Prang called on well-
known figures in the American art world to serve as judges, includ-
ing stained-glass artist Louis C. Tiffany (1848-1933), painter Samuel
Colman (1832-1920), and architect Richard M. Hunt (1827-1895).
Prang also let the public vote on which designs they preferred, and
winners of the "Public Prizes" received the same hefty cash awards
as those contestants whose work was selected by the panel of artists.
Although Prang's competition lasted only a few years, during its day
it was considered one of the highlights of the New York art season.
Prang's dissatisfaction with the quality of the works presented at his
competitions caused him to switch tactics after a few years and com-
mission well-known artists to submit designs.
Unlike his competitors in Victorian England, Prang rejected trick
cards and scorned fancy embellishments of lace and other materials
as vulgar. During the 1870s and 1880s Christmas cards printed in
continental Europe began to infiltrate British and American markets.
Prang left the Christmas card business in the 1890s, when his sales
figures began to falter.
Increasing Popularity
In spite of his enthusiasm for popularizing refined art. Prang's ex-
pensive Christmas cards circulated primarily among the well-to-do.
During the 1890s and 1900s the majority of American Christmas gift
givers exchanged flimsy knickknacks with their friends. By the sec-
ond decade of the twentieth century, though, Americans turned
towards cards as a tasteful and inexpensive alternative for the useless
trinkets everyone gave and, apparently, no one wanted. The new,
inexpensive Christmas cards quickly grew in popularity, especially
during World War I.
Today, American greeting card manufacturers sell more cards for
Christmas than any other holiday. In 2001 the nation's Greeting Card
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Christmas Card
Association projected sales of 2 billion Christmas cards. These cards
account for just over 60 percent of the industry's total sales. Indeed, it
has been estimated that over 75 percent of all Americans send greet-
ing cards at Christmas time.
Further Reading
Buday, George. The History of the Christmas Card. 1954. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Comfort, David. jMSt Say Noel! New York: Fireside Books, 1995.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
The Time-Life Book of Christmas. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987.
Waits, William. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York Uni-
versity Press, 1993.
Web Sites
A site sponsored by the Greeting Card Association:
http://www.greetingcard.org
A site sponsored byVictoriana.com contains pages that offer images and text
descriptions ofVictorian Christmas cards:
http://www.victoriana.com/christmas/default.htm
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A cfiristmas Carol
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), is perhaps the
best-known and best-loved Christmas story of all time. Some writ-
ers even credit the tale with changing the way nineteenth-century
Britons and Americans celebrated Christmas. A Christmas Carol tells
the story of a greedy, rich, Christmas-hating old man named Ebe-
nezer Scrooge. One Christmas Eve Scrooge receives a visit from
three spirits. These spirits — the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost
of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come —
show him scenes from his past, present, and future. This supernatur-
al experience transforms him into a joyous, generous soul who cher-
ishes Christmas above all other times of year.
Life and Times of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, just outside Ports-
mouth, England. The second of seven children, Charles was brought
up in a lower-middle-class household plagued by his father's ten-
dency to fall into debt. In 1821 the Dickens family moved to London
where the young Charles witnessed firsthand the poverty and de-
spair of the city's slums. In 1824, Charles's father was sent to Mar-
shalsea Prison for failure to pay off a debt. The entire family moved
into the prison, except Charles who, at the age of twelve, went to
work in a blacking (shoe polish) factory. Although he was not treat-
ed cruelly, the young Charles worked twelve hours a day and felt
deeply shamed by his family's situation. Several months later
Charles's father inherited a small sum of money, which permitted
him to pay the debt and leave prison. Although Charles's mother
wanted her son to continue working at the blacking factory, Charles's
father insisted that he receive some kind of education. Even after he
became a successful novelist, Dickens's resented his mother for her
willingness to send him back to a life of drudgery.
In 1827 Charles began his adult career as a solicitor's clerk. Shortly
thereafter, he mastered shorthand and became a reporter. In 1833 he
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A Christmas Carol
began to submit sketches and stories to newspapers and magazines
under his pen name, "Boz." In a few years he acquired a wide read-
ership. By 1837 Sketches by Boz and The Pickwick Papers, both pub-
lished serially, had brought him fame and financial security. He went
on to become one of Victorian England's most prolific and best-
loved authors. Dickens never forgot his early brushes with poverty,
however, and throughout his life he wielded both his voice and his
pen against his society's harsh treatment of the poor. His works of
fiction offered middle-class readers disturbing glimpses inside nine-
teenth-century workhouses (prison-like institutions meting out hard
labor to the destitute), painted moving portraits of those confined to
debtors' prisons, and sketched the often-desperate plight of the
working poor.
The Writing of A Christmas Carol
In an indirect way Dickens's concern for the poor brought him the
inspiration needed to write A Christmas Carol. In September of 1843,
at the invitation of Miss Angela Burdett Coutts, a wealthy philan-
thropist and a friend of Dickens, he toured one of London's Ragged
Schools. Funded by private charity, these schools sought to educate
some of the city's poorest children. The visit moved him deeply.
Several weeks later he traveled to Manchester to speak at a fund-
raising event for the Athenaeum, an organization dedicated to edu-
cating workers, where he addressed the link between poverty and
ignorance. While in Manchester, the idea of transforming his im-
pressions of the Ragged School into a work of fiction planted itself in
his imagination. In October he plunged into a new story called A
Christmas Carol. To be sure, financial as well as social concerns moti-
vated Dickens to undertake this new project. Sales of his latest
novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, were floundering. Dickens felt sure that a
story like the Carol would appeal to readers at Christmas time and
thus generate needed cash.
Dickens blazed through the writing of the Carol, completing the
manuscript in only six weeks. The project seized hold of him, inspir-
ing him to work from morning until late at night. He passed some of
these nights striding as many as fifteen or twenty miles through the
shadowy, still London streets, meditating on the story. In a letter to a
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friend he confessed that the work so charged his emotions, he found
himself alternately laughing and weeping.
Dickens financed the publication of the slim little book himself,
insisting on illustrations and a quality binding. It arrived in book-
stores on December 19, 1843. Dickens complained that booksellers
seemed uninterested in promoting the story. Nevertheless, the entire
first printing, 6,000 copies, sold out in five days. After subtracting
what it had cost him to produce the book, though, Dickens earned
very little from its first printing. Still, Dickens celebrated Christmas
merrily that year, exclaiming in a letter to a friend that he had rarely
experienced a Christmas season so full of dining, dancing, theater-
going, party games, and good cheer. He even attended a children's
party where he entertained the assembled company with magic
tricks, to all appearances dumping the raw ingredients of a plum
pudding into a friend's hat and pulling out the finished product.
Public Readings
By March of 1844, three months after its first printing, A Christmas
Carol was in its sixth edition. Enthusiastic letters poured in from an
appreciative public. Some readers told Dickens that they kept the
book on a little shelf all by itself, others that they read it aloud to
their families. In 1853 Dickens himself began a series of public read-
ings of the work that would last the rest of his life.
As the public readings became more frequent, Dickens developed
them into polished performances. It took him three hours to read
through A Christmas Carol as printed, so he began to edit his own
little copy of the book, eliminating dialogue and description that he
felt could be cut without damaging the tale. He reduced the story to
two hours, added some stage directions, and memorized the entire
text. The public readings thus became recitations. Just in case his
memory failed him, he kept a copy of the book with him on stage.
Dickens performed his first public reading of the Carol in December
of 1853 as a benefit for the Birmingham and Midland Institute. More
than two thousand people attended. Charities soon besieged the
author with requests that he perform a reading on their behalf.
Dickens complied with some of these requests, but also began a
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A Christmas Carol
series of public readings for which he sold tickets. These readings
generated a tidy second income for the author. Dickens incorporated
parts of his other works in these public readings as well. A Christmas
Carol, however, remained one of the most popular and most often
requested works in his repertoire.
In 1865 Dickens performed a series of public readings in the United
States. He opened in Boston with a reading of A Christmas Carol.
The ticket line stretched half a mile in length on the night before the
box office opened. Although the tickets sold for $2 apiece, scalpers
priced tickets to the sold-out performance as high as $26 each. Many
prominent American literary figures attended this reading. Dickens
continued on to Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington,
D.C. In New York five thousand people stood in line on a bitterly
cold night waiting for the chance to buy a ticket in the morning. In
Washington Dickens received an invitation to meet President
Andrew Johnson.
In the spring of 1870 Dickens struggled to complete a series of
scheduled readings. During intermissions he staggered backstage to
lie on a sofa while concerned doctors checked his vital signs. After
completing the March 15 reading of A Christmas Carol, he returned to
the stage for a final round of applause and announced, with tears on
his face, that the audience had just witnessed his last public perfor-
mance. He died three months later, on June 9, 1870, and was buried
in Westminster Abbey alongside the composer George Frideric Han-
del, another great contributor to the artistic legacy of Christmas (see
also Messiah) .
The Carol as a Ghost Story
Contemporary readers tend to approach A Christmas Carol as a tale
about the holiday, thus overlooking the fact that it is also a ghost
story. In Dickens's day, English tradition called for the telling of
ghost stories at Christmas time. Dickens conceived A Christmas
Carol as an exemplary addition to this genre. He draws our attention
to the ghostly aspect of the tale in its full title, which reads A
Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. The preface
continues the ghost theme in a humorous vein: "I have endeavoured
in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall
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not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other,
with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly,
and no one wish to lay it." Dickens urged his readers to approach
the tale as a classic English ghost story. In fact, he advised the public
to read the Carol out loud, in a cold room by candlelight.
The Carol as Personal History
Dickens's Carol is more than a simple ghost story, however. It con-
tains a clear moral message about the perils of selfishness, both for
the individual and for society. Readers familiar with Dickens's con-
sistent admiration of humility, simplicity, and familial warmth, as
expressed in his many works of fiction, may be surprised to learn
that in a letter to a friend Dickens admitted that he based the char-
acter of Scrooge on the worst aspects of his own personality. Perhaps
because of his own childhood hardships, Dickens sometimes ob-
sessed about the benefits of wealth and the need to make money. In
addition, unlike Scrooge's clerk, the poor but noble Bob Cratchit,
Dickens was neither affectionate nor attentive as a husband and
father.
Dickens plucked several other elements of the Carol story out of his
own life experience. The Cratchit home resembled the house that
Dickens lived in when his family first moved to London. Like
Scrooge, Dickens had an elder sister named Frances, whom he
called Fanny. Dickens's own younger brother, known to the family
as "Tiny Fred," and his nephew, a sickly, disabled boy, inspired the
creation of Tiny Tim. Dickens's experience at the Ragged Schools
and the Manchester Athenaeum materialized as Ignorance and
Want, the two starving children who cling to the legs of the Ghost of
Christmas Present. The Spirit cautions Scrooge, and by extension his
Victorian audience, to "Beware them both, and all of their degree,
but most of all beware this boy [Ignorance], for on his brow I see
that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."
The Carol as Christmas Philosophy
In A Christmas Carol Dickens insists that the Christmas holiday offers
a solution to the problems of selfishness and greed. As the story clos-
es, the narrator assures us that Scrooge became a kind, humble, and
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A Christmas Carol
generous person as a result of his experience with the Spirits. A
Christmas Carol suggests that Christmas has the potential to awaken
all our hearts and thus to transform society. Scrooge's young
nephew understands the power of Christmas to renew and trans-
form, and early in the story explains that Christmas time is
a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only
I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and
women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely,
and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-
passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound
on other journeys. And therefore, . . . though it has never put a
scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that is has done me
good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!
Dickens himself was not an overtly religious man. Nevertheless, the
Christmas philosophy outlined in A Christmas Carol promotes a sec-
ular observance of the festival in keeping with the religious spirit of
the holiday. Given Dickens's indifference towards religion, it is
somewhat ironic that this approach to the holiday helped to heal the
centuries-old breach between those religious sects that celebrated
Christmas and those that condemned it {see America, Christmas in
Colonial; Puritans). In its day, however, some critics condemned
the Carol for purporting to discuss the subject of Christmas with few
references to the birth of Jesus. This omission may well reflect
Dickens's dislike of the Church, which he found sadly out of touch
with the social problems of his day.
Other Christmas Works
Although A Christmas Carol became Dickens's best-known treatise
on the subject of Christmas, the holiday figures prominently in other
writings as well. He wrote a number of short stories concerning
Christmas, including "The Chimes," "The Cricket on the Hearth,"
"The Battle of Life," "The Haunted Man," "The Holly Tree," "The
Seven Poor Travellers," "The Poor Relation's Story," and "The
Haunted House." In addition. The Pickwick Papers contains a delight-
ful depiction of Christmas festivities at a large house in the country.
American author Washington Irving's (1783-1859) earlier depiction
of Christmas celebrations in an English manor house may well have
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
inspired this passage. Indeed, regarding his love of Irving's books,
Dickens once confessed, "I don't go upstairs two nights out of seven
without taking Washington Irving under my arm." The Pickwick
Papers also contains the story of a grumpy, old sexton (church custo-
dian) visited by ghosts on Christmas Eve. Dickens expanded and
improved upon this plot idea in A Christmas Carol.
Dickens's portrayal of Christmas as a season of good cheer among
family and friends and good will towards the less fortunate came to
represent the ideal version of the holiday for many nineteenth-cen-
tury Britons and Americans {see also America, Christmas in Nine-
teenth-Century; Victorian England, Christmas in). These ideals
still color contemporary Christmas celebrations, perhaps explaining
the Carol's enduring popularity. Indeed, public readings, stage adap-
tations, and screen versions of this classic Christmas tale continue to
delight audiences each year at Christmas time.
Further Reading
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens, A to Z. New York: Facts on File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. The Christmas Books. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1960.
Hallinan, Tim. A Christmas Carol Christmas Book. New York: International
Business Machines Corporation, 1984.
MacKenzie, Norman, and leanne MacKenzie. Dickens, A Life. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press, 1979.
Pimlott, ]. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.I.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Priestly, ]. B. Charles Dickens and His World. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1961.
Sammon, Paul. The Christmas Carol Trivia Book. New York: Citadel Press,
1994.
Stapleton, Michael, comp. The Cambridge Guide to English Literature. Cam-
bridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Dickens Project at the University of California con-
tains information about A Christmas Carol: http://humwww.ucsc.edu/ dick-
ens/dea/ACC/ACC. index.html
138
Christmas Carol
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cfiristmas Carol
Noel, Villancico
Over the centuries Christmas has inspired countless songs. Which of
the many pieces of vocal music written for Christmas qualify as true
Christmas carols? Most writers assume Christmas carols to be those
songs about Christmas whose tune and lyrics are widely known and
whose popularity is maintained primarily through folk traditions
rather than commercial promotions. By this definition, the fine
Christmas works written by classical composers are not true Christ-
mas carols, since they are musically quite complex and known to rel-
atively small numbers of people. The fact that people sing carols for
enjoyment and entertainment also figures in their definition. This
criterion might exclude a number of lesser-known church hymns,
since people usually sing them only during church services. In addi-
tion, most carols take as their subject matter the legends, customs, or
religious celebration of Christmas. Therefore, some people would
not include popular songs such as "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa
Claus," or even the hit song "White Christmas" in a collection of
carols, since these songs achieved popularity through commercial
mechanisms and do not address traditional Christmas themes or
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
religious celebration. Others might quarrel with these criteria, argu-
ing that the subject matter of these songs and the manner in which
they achieved popularity simply reflect the commercial interests and
cultural outlook of the twentieth century.
Why are these traditional Christmas songs called "carols," anyway?
Some scholars trace the English word "carol" all the way back to the
ancient Greek word coros. In ancient Greek drama the coros, or
"chorus," appeared from time to time during the play singing com-
mentaries on the plot and often dancing as well. By the late Middle
Ages, the word "carol" had come to mean singing and dancing in a
circle, as children do when singing "Ring Around the Rosy." In the
Middle Ages people caroled on many different occasions. By the six-
teenth century, however, this musical genre had acquired a special
association with the Christmas season, while its earlier association
with dance was fading away. Already a large number of Christmas
carols circulated throughout Europe. A number of these, such as the
English "I Saw Three Ships" and the German "Lo, How a Rose E'er
Blooming," are still sung today.
Earliest Christmas Songs
The earliest recorded Christmas carol was the one that the angels
sang to the shepherds when announcing Jesus' birth {see Gospel
According to Luke):
Glory to God in the highest.
And on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!
(Luke 2:14).
Latin hymn writers provided the first Christmas songs sung by the
early Christians. "Veni, redemptor gentium" (Redeemer of the Na-
tions Come), written by St. Ambrose, archbishop of Milan (339-397),
is the earliest surviving example of these works. Others include "A
Solis Ortus Cardine" (From East to West, From Shore to Shore) by
Sedulius (fifth century) and works by the Spanish poet Frudentius
(348-after 405). These early Christmas hymns were written by monks
or other religious scholars for use in worship. They tend to approach
Christmas from a theological perspective and emphasize the role of
the Nativity in humankind's salvation.
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Christmas Carol
Medieval Christmas Carols
In the late Middle Ages a new spirit slowly infused the poetry and
songs written about Christmas. Artists began to describe the people
and events of the Nativity and react to them in emotional terms.
Some credit St. Francis of Assisi (1181 or 1182-1226) with instilling a
new spirit of simplicity and joy in worship, thereby indirectly bring-
ing about these changes {see also Nativity Scene). Some even be-
lieve that he wrote Christmas carols. If he did, none have survived.
The work of one of his followers, the Franciscan mystic Jacapone da
Todi (1228-1306), exemplifies the impact of these new attitudes
towards the Nativity. His songs depict the Christmas miracle in
homely images, such as that of the Virgin cradling and nursing her
child. Whereas earlier church hymns had been written in Latin, a
language known only by scholars, da Todi composed joyful songs in
Italian so that ordinary people could sing them. These innovations
gave birth to the Christmas carol as we know it.
The Golden Age
The creativity unleashed in the late Middle Ages revealed itself in an
outpouring of Christmas songs over the next several centuries. By the
fourteenth century Christmas carols in vernacular languages were
sprouting up all over Europe. In Germany carol writers blossomed
under the liberating influence of mystics like Meister Eckehart (1260?-
1327). Fourteenth- and fifteenth-century German carol writers be-
queathed us such treasures as "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," "In
Dulci JubHo" (Good Christian Men Rejoice), and "Joseph, Lieber
Joseph Mein."
In late medieval England the mystery or miracle plays performed
around Christmas time inspired the composition of a number of car-
ols {see also Nativity Play). "The Coventry Carol," for example, ac-
companied the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, a Christmas
play produced annually by that guild. In the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries Christmas carols and verses flowed from the pens of
English writers. This epoch gave birth to such well-loved songs as
"The First Nowell" {see also Noel) and "God Rest You Merry, Gen-
tlemen." In fact, the earliest surviving collection of English Christmas
carols dates from this period and bears the following inscription:
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
I pray you, sirrus, boothe moore and lase.
Sing these caroles in Cristemas [Miles, 1992, 27].
These English carols played a central role in another English Christ-
mas custom, wassailing {see Wassail). Indeed, a number of traditional
English and Welsh carols treat secular Christmas customs, such as
feasting, drinking, and seasonal decorations. Examples include "The
Boar's Head Carol," first printed in 1521, and others more difficult to
assign dates to, such as "The Holly and the Ivy," "Deck the Halls," and
various wassailing songs {see also Boar's Head). In medieval and
Renaissance England people viewed merrymaking as an integral part
of the celebration of the Nativity. As one English carol writer put it:
Make we myrth
For Christes byrth [Pimlott, 1978, 16].
Further south in France, carol writing blossomed in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. Although a number of French Christmas
carols, or noels, appeared in the fifteenth century, the real surge in
the composition and spread of these songs occurred in the following
century. Many songwriters of this era placed the singer in the posi-
tion of one of the original pilgrims to Bethlehem. The songs de-
scribe the singer's journey and the people met along the way, who
typically turn out to be from neighboring villages. The singer identi-
fies the other pilgrims by their behavior and appearance, which usu-
ally exemplifies the negative reputation that their town has acquired
in the eyes of its neighbors. By contrast, the seventeenth-century
Frovengal carol, "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella," sweetly urges
villagers to pay reverence to the sleeping Christ child. Perhaps its
gentler tone contributes to the song's continuing appeal.
In Spain carol writing flourished in the sixteenth and early seven-
teenth centuries. Unlike the satirical carols popular in France, these
Spanish carols, or villancicos, convey both tenderness and reverence.
The following verses from an old Spanish carol exemplify these sen-
timents:
In a porch, full of cobwebs
Between the mule and the ox
The Savior of souls is born. . . .
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Christmas Carol
In the porch at Bethlehem
Are star, sun, and moon
The Virgin and St. Joseph
And the Child who lies in the cradle.
In Bethlehem they touch fire
From the porch the flame issues
It is a star of heaven
Which has fallen into the straw. . . .
To the new-born child all bring a gift
I am little and have nothing
I bring him my heart [Miles, 1992, 66-67].
The Reformation and Beyond
The change in religious beliefs and attitudes associated with the
Reformation checked the creation of carols in many areas of north-
ern Europe, especially Britain. In England the Puritans' rise to power
in the mid-seventeenth century corresponded with a drop-off in the
writing of carols. Nevertheless, the common people continued to
sing the old carols and so kept many of them alive. Sterner religious
authorities gained control in Scotland. In the late sixteenth century
these authorities forbade many old Christmas pastimes altogether,
including carol singing. In Germany the Reformation also inhibited
carol writers, although at the same time it inspired the creation of
some fine Christmas hymns. In France the Reformation had little
effect on Christmas music. Instead, the change of attitudes that ac-
companied the revolution of 1789 hushed the singing of noels and
discouraged their composition.
The spirit of the Reformation infused many of the Christmas songs
written in the centuries that followed with the flavor of church
hymns. Indeed, many of the seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nine-
teenth-century carols familiar to us today were written expressly for
church use or by members of the clergy. Examples include "Joy to the
World," written by the famous English hymn writer Isaac Watts in
1692, and "O Come All Ye Faithful" penned by another religious
Englishman, John Francis Wade, in 1742. An anonymous French
composer gave us "Angels We Have Heard on High" in the mid-
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eighteenth century. Fellow Frenchman Adolphe Charles Adam of-
fered "O Holy Night" in the following century. English hymn writer
James Montgomery wrote the words to "Angels from the Realms of
Glory" in 1816, which were later paired with a tune composed by
Henry Smart.
In the early 1800s an Austrian priest and his organist composed
"Silent Night." Its enduring popularity notwithstanding, "Silent
Night" came into the world as the slap-dash creation of a single
evening: Christmas Eve, 1818. Finding himself without a functioning
organ for the Christmas Eve service. Father Josef Mohr scribbled
down some verse and asked his organist Franz Gruber to quickly
score it for voices so that the choir could sing it for that evening's
Midnight Mass. The song circulated for many years among Austrian
folk singers and eventually acquired international popularity before
its authorship was traced back to Mohr and Gruber.
The Nineteenth-Century Revival
The Christmas carol appeared to be dying out in early nineteenth-
century England. Observers of English folk customs lamented that
only a scattered handful of old people knew and sang the traditional
songs. By mid-century the institution of the waits (bands of night-
time carolers) was collapsing. English folklorists predicted the immi-
nent demise of the Christmas carol. These alarm bells inspired the
collection and publication of several volumes of English Christmas
carols in the early to mid-nineteenth century. The publication of
these collections coincided with the budding Victorian interest in the
celebration of Christmas {see Victorian England, Christmas in).
Soon the flagging tradition of the Christmas carol gained new mo-
mentum among the middle classes. By the 1870s churches began to
incorporate these almost forgotten Christmas songs into their holi-
day services. In 1880 an Anglican bishop first devised the Ceremony
of Nine Lessons and Carols, a special Christmas service blending
Bible readings with carol singing.
The nineteenth century not only hosted a revival of the Christmas
carol in Europe, but also witnessed a burst of new interest in the
genre in the United States. Americans were just beginning to accept
Christmas as a public and religious holiday in the mid-nineteenth
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century after centuries of opposition by Puritans and other religious
denominations {see America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century).
As if making up for lost time, a number of American clergymen
made significant contributions to our Christmas carol heritage in
this era. A Unitarian minister named Edmund Sears composed "It
Came Upon a Midnight Clear" in 1849. Two Episcopalian clergymen
soon added their contributions to the American repertoire. The Re-
verend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., authored "We Three Kings of Orient
Are" in 1857, and the Reverend Phillips Brooks presented "O Little
Town of Bethlehem" in 1865.
Carol Services and Ceremonies
A number of carol services and ceremonies predate the nineteenth-
century English Ceremony of Lessons and Carols. Historical evi-
dence suggests that the Welsh attended yearly Plygain services at
least as far back as the seventeenth century. Las Posadas, an His-
panic folk play commemorating Mary and Joseph's search for shel-
ter in Bethlehem, also dates back hundreds of years. Other Christ-
mas carol ceremonies include the Scandinavian Julotta service and
the contemporary American Christmas pageant. Julotta, a church
service consisting mostly of carol singing, takes place early on
Christmas morning in churches glowing with the light of hundreds
of candles. The Australian "Carols by Candlelight" represents a
twentieth-century addition to the world's carol ceremonies. Radio
announcer Norman Banks organized and broadcast the first com-
munity carol-sing in Melbourne in the late 1930s. An appreciative
public turned the event into a yearly tradition. Decades later the
event flourishes, drawing tens of thousands of people together to
sing the traditional songs of the season by candlelight {see also Aus-
tralia, Christmas in).
Twentieth-Century America
Throughout the month of December contemporary Americans ab-
sorb Christmas carols in a variety of formats, from Christmas con-
certs to church services to radio and television specials to mall
Muzak. The diversity of songs included in these programs reflects
our rich historical and ethnic heritage. In addition to a variety of old
146
Christmas Carol
European carols and the nineteenth-century Anglo-American addi-
tions mentioned above, the American carol repertoire includes a
number of African-American folk songs. These include the beloved
nineteenth-century spirituals "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Mary
Had a Baby," and "Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow."
Twentieth-century composers have unleashed legions of new Christ-
mas songs. Unlike their nineteenth-century counterparts, however,
relatively few of these new songs are religious in subject matter.
Exceptions include the haunting ballad "I Wonder as I Wander" and
the simple, reverent "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Many of the more
familiar tunes, however, adopt a more secular approach to the cele-
bration of Christmas. Some of these songs include "Rudolf the Red-
Nosed Reindeer," "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow," "Frosty the
Snowman," "Silver Bells," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "Winter
Wonderland," and "White Christmas." These songs reflect twentieth-
century Americans' renewed interest in the secular joys of the season
and the delights it brings to children.
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Dearmer, Percy, R. Vaughan Williams, and Martin Shaw. The Oxford Book of
Carols. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Duncan, Edmondstoune. The Story of the Carol. 1911. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Emurian, Ernest K. Stories of Christmas Carols. Revised edition. Boston,
Mass.: W. A. Wilde Company, 1967.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Palmer, Geoffrey, and Noel Lloyd. A Year of Festivals. London, England:
Frederick Warne, 1972.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Studwell, William E. The Christmas Carol Reader. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth
Press, 1995.
. Christmas Carols: A Reference Guide. New York: Garland Publishing,
1985.
cl)Yhtmas ciuh
In the United States many banks and credit unions offer their cus-
tomers the opportunity to save money for Christmas by opening a
special "Christmas club" savings account. Account holders make
small but regular deposits throughout the year. In early November
the bank sends the customer a check for the total amount saved.
These savings then finance the purchase of Christmas gifts and
other seasonal expenditures.
A shoe factory owner from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, devised the first
Christmas club for his workers in the year 1905. In 1910 a salesman
named Herbert F. RawU got wind of the idea and began to promote
the clubs to banks. The opportunity for personal profit fired RawU's
enthusiasm for the project. As a ledger salesman, RawU not only
sold banks on the idea of sponsoring Christmas club accounts, but
also provided them with the special forms needed to keep track of
the transactions. Both banks and bank customers eagerly embraced
the new accounts. In two years the dynamic Rawll had convinced
more than 800 banks to offer the special accounts. By the mid-
1920s, about 8,000 banks offered Christmas club accounts to their
patrons.
The new Christmas clubs flourished because they fulfilled the needs
of financial institutions and consumers. In the early twentieth centu-
ry manufactured items all but replaced the homemade gifts that had
characterized American Christmas giving in the nineteenth century
{see also Commercialism). The clubs provided consumers a mecha-
nism through which they could accumulate enough money to buy
and to give ready-made Christmas gifts. In the meantime banks
148
Christmas Crackers
were searching for ways to attract new customers, especially lower-
and middle-income people who had previously avoided putting
their money in banks. The new accounts succeeded in bringing in
these new customers. Moreover, they helped overcome the popular-
ly held image of banks as snobby, coldhearted institutions that
served only the well-to-do.
Today many Americans still rely on Christmas clubs to fund their
Christmas purchases. The conditions placed on these accounts vary
from bank to bank. Consumers interested in opening a Christmas
club account should compare interest rates, penalties for early with-
drawal, minimum payments, fees, and balance requirements.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Waits, William B. Tlte Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York
University Press, 1993.
Cl^rfstmas Crackers
In Great Britain Christmas crackers are a common holiday party
favor. Wrapped in colored paper, these cardboard tubes contain a
fortune (or motto) and a small toy. When pulled from both ends,
they burst open with a popping noise.
Christmas crackers present us with one of the few Christmas cus-
toms whose origins are definitely known. They were invented in the
mid-nineteenth century by an English confectioner named Thomas
Smith. Smith visited Paris in 1844. He brought home with him the
idea of marketing a bonbon wrapped in a bit of tissue paper, similar
to those he had seen in Paris shop windows. Sales were slow, espe-
cially after Christmas, so Smith came up with the idea of adding a
motto. This helped, but more was needed. Soon he hit upon a way
of getting the crackers to open with a small bang. Smith marketed
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
his novelty as a Christmas amusement in 1846, hoping to cash in on
the growing Christmas market {see a/so Victorian England, Christ-
mas in). Smith's Christmas cracker caught on with the public, even-
tually giving rise to a new British Christmas tradition.
The name as well as the contents of Smith's invention have changed
over time. In the early days Smith called his novelty a "cosaque"
rather than a cracker. This name probably refers to the Cossacks, a
people from southern Russia who were feared soldiers and famed
horseback riders. According to nineteenth-century advertisements.
Smith's crackers contained such things as paper hats, night-caps,
masks, puzzles, games, toys, hair dye, flowers, perfume, Japanese
trinkets, tiny harps, and toys of a scientific bent. Today's crackers typ-
ically hold paper hats, whistles, and a variety of inexpensive plastic
toys. Nineteenth-century cracker mottoes hoped to amuse or inspire
the recipient with a few lines of light verse. Since those times mot-
toes have shifted towards jokes, riddles, and puns.
Tom Smith's cracker company has survived till this day, although it
now faces competition from several other firms. In spite of this com-
petition. Smith's company turns out about 38 million crackers each
year. The firm sells most of these in the United Kingdom, but ships
about fifteen percent abroad. In an effort to boost off-season sales,
the company has introduced new designs suitable for other holi-
days, including Halloween and the Fourth of July, and such special
occasions as weddings and children's birthday parties.
Further Reading
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Sansom, William. A Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
Street, Ed. "Tom Smith's Novelty — The English Christmas Cracker." The
World and 111, 12 (December 1, 1996): 190-95.
150
Christmas Lads
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cfiristmas Drama
For Christmas customs that include an element of playacting, see
Black Peter; "A Charlie Brown Christmas"; Christmas Carol, A;
Feast of the Ass; Hoia the Grinch Stole Christmas; Jonkonnu;
Knecht Ruprecht; Masque; Miracle on 34th Street; Mumming;
Nativity Play; Nativity Scene; The Nutcracker; Pantomime; Para-
dise Tree; Pastores; Plough Monday; Poland, Christmas in; Posa-
das; Star Boys; "White Christmas"; Yule Goat
cfiristmas Lads
Christmas Boys, Jola-Sveinar, Yuletide Lads
In Iceland thirteen leprechaun-like creatures known as the Jola-
Sveinar, or Christmas Lads, visit homes during the Christmas sea-
son. An old Icelandic legend tells us that they are the sons of a giant
female troll named Gryla. The first lad arrives on the thirteenth day
before Christmas. Another comes on the following day. This contin-
ues until the household hosts all thirteen boys on Christmas Eve.
One boy departs on Christmas day and another on the following
day, until the last withdraws on the twelfth day after Christmas, or
Epiphany. In some older versions of this folklore, there are only
nine Christmas Lads.
The early tales of the Christmas Lads painted them as fearsome
creatures. Their mother, Gryla, was reputed to eat misbehaving chil-
dren; her offspring inherited the same appetite for troublemakers.
Adults used to remind children that the Christmas Lads waited for
them in the winter time darkness in order to frighten the youngsters
into good behavior. This custom inspired so much trauma that in
1746 the government denounced it.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Both the character and the appearance of the Christmas Lads
changed over the years. The first record of the Lads dates back to the
seventeenth century, when a man named Stephan Olafsson wrote a
poem about the ogre Gryla, her husband Leppaludi, and her sons,
the malicious Yule Boys. At this time Icelanders pictured the Lads as
gigantic, lumbering trolls. By the nineteenth century, however, they
looked more like peasant farmers. Instead of eating children, these
oafish Lads vexed householders during their visits. They stole sau-
sages, candles, and the family's best grain. One might leave a room
neat and clean only to find it askew upon returning. After Christmas
they attempted to steal away with the household's naughty children.
In the twentieth century they shrank even further in size and began
to resemble miniature Santas. Like Santa Glaus, they now leave
gifts of candy for good children, who leave their shoes on the win-
dowsills in the days before Christmas to receive this reward.
The names and numbers of Christmas Lads varied over the years.
Earlier records account for only nine Lads. In 1864, however, a writer
named Jon Arnason named and described thirteen Christmas Lads.
He called them Candle-Beggar (or Candle-Scrounger), Gully-Gawk,
Hem-Blower, Shorty (also known as Stump), Meat Hook, Spoon-
Licker (or Ladle-Licker), Sheep-Cot Clod (also known as Fence-
post), Skyr-Gobbler (Skyr is a kind of Icelandic yogurt), Pot-Scraper
(or Pot-Licker), Sausage-Swiper, Bowl-Licker, Window-Peeper, and
Door-Sniffer (or Keyhole Sniffer). The fact that there were thirteen
of them meant that the first would arrive on the eve of St. Lucy's
Day, December 13, and last would come on Christmas Eve. It also
meant that the house would host these elf-like creatures throughout
the Twelve Days of Christmas, since the last Lad would depart on
Epiphany. The names given these creatures by Arnason describe
their favorite activities and gives an idea of the kind of mischief that
nineteenth-century Icelanders attributed to them. Arnason's flight of
imagination took root with the Icelandic people, who today general-
ly recognize the same thirteen Christmas Lads.
Further Reading
Lehane, Brendan. The Book of Christmas. Chicago: Time-Life Books, 1986.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
152
Christmas Markets
Osmond, Stephen. "Long Night of Dreams: Midwinter Celebrations in
Iceland." The World and 1 11, 1 0anuary 1996): 206 (12).
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
Simpson, Jacqueline. Icelandic Folktales and Legends. Berkeley, Calif.: Univer-
sity of California Press, 1972.
CJ^ristmas Markets
In such European countries as Germany, Belgium, Austria, Holland,
Spain, Sweden, and Italy, special outdoor Christmas markets flour-
ish during the Christmas season. Local merchants construct stalls
in an open square or plaza and decorate them with Christmas sym-
bols and themes. Goods for sale typically include handmade Christ-
mas crafts and specialty foods. Christmas music, dramas, and other
entertainments add to the holiday atmosphere. Christmas markets
allow shoppers to buy unique gifts while enjoying this special sea-
sonal environment.
Christmas Markets in Germany
Germany's markets are especially famous. While strolling through
the market German shoppers may sample a wide range of food-
stuffs, such as smoked sausages, roasted chestnuts, roast chicken,
candy, waffles, Viennese almonds, toffee apples and chocolate-dip-
ped fruit, as well as various regional specialties. Many shoppers sip
hot mulled wine as they saunter from booth to booth. Christmas
music, holiday plays, and visits from St. Nicholas offer additional
distractions from the cold. Gifts and decorations typically available at
German markets include Christmas trees, straw stars, gold foil
ornaments, wooden figurines, nutcrackers, gingerbread houses, a
variety of simple toys, candles, candleholders, nuts, cookies, post-
cards, chocolates, and StoUen, a special Christmas bread enriched
with dried fruit {see also Christmas Cake).
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Major Christmas markets entertain the public each year in Berlin,
Cologne, Dresden, Frankiiirt, Hamburg, Hanover, Magdeburg, Mun-
ich, and Nuremberg. Some of these markets began as specialty mar-
kets and have since expanded into general fairs. The Munich market
originally sold only Nativity scenes, while in its early days the
Dresden market specialized in Stollen. Germany's markets run
throughout the Advent season.
Germany's two oldest markets are held in Munich and Nuremberg.
Nuremberg's "Christ Child Market" started in the seventeenth centu-
ry in order to fill the new demand for Christmas presents. In the six-
teenth century Germany's Protestant reformer Martin Luther began
the custom of giving gifts to children at Christmas, attributing them
to the Christ child {see also Christkindel). Not only did the Nurem-
berg market adopt "Christ Child" as its name, but it also selected a
youngster to dress as the Christ child and distribute gifts to children
attending the market. This custom continues today. Each year the
market opens on the Friday closest to St. Barbara's Day, December
4, and runs until Christmas Eve. Regional specialties from the
Nuremberg market include gold foil angels, wooden toys, honey
cakes (Lebkuchen), and prune people {Zwetschgenmdnnla) , figurines
made out of dried prunes.
Christmas Markets in Sweden
In December visitors to Stockholm, Sweden, will find a Christmas
market located in Gamla Stan, or Old Town. Another market, set up
in Skansen Park, specializes in traditional Swedish handicrafts and
food products. People interested in art and design often stop off at
Konstfack, where the Art School of Stockholm hosts a Christmas
market featuring the work of its students.
Liseburg Park, in the city of Gothenburg, holds a fabulous Christmas
market each year. Decorated Christmas trees and millions of twin-
kling Christmas lights ornament the park for the holiday season.
Singing choirs, booths selling traditional Swedish Christmas foods,
and an ice skating rink provide additional holiday atmosphere. The
park also serves as the site of the crowning of Gothenburg's Lucia
{see also St. Lucy's Day).
154
Christmas Markets
Christmas Markets in Italy
In Italy Christmas markets bring a carnival atmosphere to many
main plazas during the weeks before Christmas. Italian markets fea-
ture Nativity scene figurines, ornaments, decorations, toys, clothing,
gift items, flowers, candy, balloons, fresh fish, snacks, specialty foods,
and musical entertainment. The cities of Milan, Venice, Florence,
Palermo, and Rome hold yearly Christmas markets, as do many
smaller towns and cities throughout Italy.
Christmas Markets in Belgium
Christmas markets also enrich the holiday season in towns and
cities throughout Belgium. Many Belgians favor the "European Christ-
mas Market," held for several days around December 8 in Brussels.
The stalls at this market display goods from every member state of
the European Union, and from many others besides. The Christmas
market at Liege lasts longer, however: it continues until New Year's
Eve.
Further Reading
Christmas in Germany. Lincoln wood, 111.: Passport Books, 1995.
Christmas in Italy. Chicago: World Book-Childcraft International, 1979.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Russ, lennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Web Sites
A site sponsored by the German Information Center in New York and the
German Embassy in Washington, D.C., contains a page on the Christ Child
Market: http://Germany-info.org/ (Search "Christmas market")
The November/December 2001 Newsletter of the Scandinavia Tourism
Board of North America offers information on holiday celebrations in Den-
mark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden at: http://www.goscandinavia.
com/frnewsletter.html
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cfiristmas Rose
Black Hellebore, Snow Rose, Winter Rose
This five-petalled rose blooms around Christmas time and so acquired
the popular names "Christmas rose," "winter rose," and "snow rose."
Although at first glance the flowers appear to be white, the petals
also carry a faint hint of pink. Botanists have identified the plant as a
member of the buttercup family and have named it Helleborus niger.
This Latin designation translates to "Black Hellebore," a name which
refers to the plant's distinctive black roots. In the nineteenth century
the Christmas rose was widely cultivated in England for sale during
the Christmas season. This practice faded in the twentieth century.
The French, however, still enjoy decorating their holiday tables with
bouquets of Christmas roses. In Germany the rose continues to serve
as a Christmas symbol.
The Legend ofMadelon
The following folktale explains not only the origins of the Christmas
rose, but also its association with the season. On a winter's night
long ago a poor shepherd girl named Madelon beheld a strange
procession approaching the field where she kept watch over her
sheep. It was the Magi on their way to Bethlehem. Madelon gazed
in awe at the rich gifts the Wise Men brought with them for the
Christ child and began to cry with shame. "I cannot give even a sin-
gle flower," she thought, "since the fields are covered with snow."
Suddenly an angel appeared and asked the girl the reason for her
tears. When Madelon explained, the angel gestured towards the
road to Bethlehem. Beautiful white roses spilled across the path.
Madelon gathered an armful of the gleaming flowers and joyfully
followed the Magi. When she arrived at the manger Mary kindly
bade her enter and offer her gift. As the fingers of the infant Jesus
brushed against the petals, they took on the pink glow we still see
today in the Christmas rose.
156
Christmas Rose
A Swedish Tale
A Swedish legend explains the origins of the Christmas rose in a dif-
ferent way. Once upon a time a beautiful garden flourished in the
middle of the Goinge forest each Christmas Eve. Flowers sprang up
from the ground, trees bore leaves and fruit, birds sang, and butter-
flies rippled through the air. One year a kindly abbot and a suspicious
monk who had heard rumors about the Christmas paradise set out to
find the place. After roaming through the cold, dark, barren forest
they finally stumbled across the garden. Even after seeing it with his
own eyes, the doubting monk still refused to believe in the miracle.
Instead, he decided that it was an illusion created by the Devil. At
that moment the magic garden vanished and never came back. Only
the Christmas rose remained, to remind us of the miracle garden.
In another version of the story a poor family forced to live out in the
middle of the woods discovered the Christmas garden. They enjoyed
the miracle for many years before telling the abbot of its existence.
When they led the abbot and his monk to the place, the monk's dis-
belief caused the garden to disappear forever. As it faded away the
abbot clutched the flowers at his feet and managed to save a single
bulb. The plant which grew from the bulb produced beautiful white
flowers the following year at Christmas time. They called this re-
minder of the miracle garden the Christmas rose.
A French Legend
The French offer yet another tale explaining the origin of the
Christmas rose. A long time ago a slow-witted young man named
Nicaise lived in a village near the French town of Rouen. The parish
priest, his guardian, assigned him the task of ringing the church
bells. One Christmas Eve, after receiving a scolding from the priest
for his foolishness, Nicaise climbed the bell tower to ring the bells
for Midnight Mass. After completing his task, he fell asleep there.
In his dream one of the gargoyles that decorated the rainspouts of
the old stone church came to life. The gargoyle boasted that he was
the Devil in disguise and began to flatter the lonely and rejected boy.
The gargoyle told Nicaise that he liked him very much and offered to
grant him three wishes. Nicaise happily accepted the Devil's offer,
wishing for intelligence, wealth, and a beautiful wife. As an after-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
thought, he also asked for some flowers to decorate the church for
Christmas, but the Devil angrily refused this last request. Then the
Devil informed Nicaise that he must pay a price for the granting of
the three wishes. "Exactly one year from now," the gargoyle leered,
"I will return and take away your soul as payment. Your only hope of
escaping this fate is to make flowers bloom in the winter snow."
In the year that followed Nicaise enjoyed being wealthy, smart, and
married to a beautiful woman. But as Christmas drew near, he began
to fear the return of the Devil. On Christmas Eve he confessed his
fears to the priest, who was horrified at what Nicaise had done. The
two knelt before the altar, fervently praying for divine help. As mid-
night approached, Nicaise prepared himself to climb the bell tower
and ring the Midnight Mass bells one more time before being car-
ried off by the gargoyle devil. At that moment a group of children
burst through the church doors excited by what they had found out-
side — flowers growing in the snow. The Christ child had answered
their prayers by sending the Christmas rose. {See also France, Christ-
mas in.)
Further Reading
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Lagerlof, Selma. The Legend of the Christmas Rose. New York: Holiday
House, 1990.
Ross, Corinne Madden. Christmas in France. Chicago: World Book, 1988.
158
Christmas Seals
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cf^ristmas Seals
Many people embellish the Christmas cards, letters, and packages
they send during the holiday season with special, decorative stamps
called Christmas seals. Although the seals have no value as postage,
the money collected in return for them supports various charitable
causes. A Danish postmaster came up with the idea for Christmas
seals around the turn of the twentieth century. Since then, they have
spread to dozens of countries around the world, including the
United States.
Danish postmaster Einar HolboU designed the first mass-produced
Christmas seals in 1904. The post office sold four million of the dec-
orative stamps that year, giving birth to a new Danish Christmas tra-
dition. Jacob Riis, an emigrant to the United States, publicized the
success of Denmark's Christmas seals in an American magazine
article. In 1907 Emily Bissel, a Red Cross worker, adopted the idea of
selling Christmas seals as a way of raising money for the Red Cross
in Wilmington, Delaware. Her success led other organizations to
issue Christmas seals the following year, and soon the idea spread
across the country. In 1919 the National Tuberculosis Association,
which later became the American Lung Association, cornered the
market on Christmas seals, becoming the sole issuer of the decora-
tive Christmas stamps in the United States. Today the seals earn mil-
lions of dollars a year for the American Lung Association.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas hi Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
159
Christmas Season
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cfiristmas Season
How long is the Christmas season? The answer varies from place to
place and from age to age. In the United States today, the Christmas
season is often equated with the shopping and gift-return season. In
other times and places, calendar customs or related observances
opened and closed the Christmas season.
In past eras Europeans began their Christmas season on a variety of
dates on which Christmas-related events and observances took
place. In medieval and Renaissance times the English sometimes
selected a local Lord of Misrule, a kind of clown who presided over
Christmas festivities, as early as Halloween or All Saints' Day (No-
vember 1). The first day of Advent, which occurs on the Sunday clos-
est to November 30, also served as an important date with regard to
the European Christmas season. In some parts of Europe the
Christmas season began on December 6, St. Nicholas's Day. In Swe-
den the season stiU begins with St. Lucy's Day on December 13.
For many centuries the Twelve Days of Christmas stood at the
heart of the European Christmas season. The Twelve Days begin on
December 25 and last until Twelfth Night. This period includes a
number of other observances such as St. Stephen's Day, St. John's
Day, Holy Innocents' Day, the Feast of the Circumcision, and
New Year's Day.
Virtually no one ended their seasonal celebration on December 26,
the day after Christmas. Even today, Americans extend the Christmas
season through New Year's Day. In the past, however, many Eu-
ropeans assumed that Christmas ended on Epiphany, January 6. An
old English folk custom sent farm laborers back to work on Plough
Monday, the Monday after the Twelfth Day of Christmas. Women
resumed their labors on St. Distaff's Day, January 7. Scandinavian
folk beliefs taught that the Christmas season ended on January 12,
the twentieth day of Christmas, which the Swedes and Norwegians
celebrate as St. Knut's Day. In Scotland's Shetland Islands, however.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas lasted until Old Twenty-Fourth night, which was marked
by a festival called Up Helly Aa {see also Old Christmas Day). In
past centuries some English Christmas customs, such as decorating
homes with greenery, extended as late as Candlemas, February 2.
In other areas of Europe people finally dismantled their Nativity
scenes on Candlemas.
In Latin America, eastern Europe, and the Middle East different
dates and observances may mark the beginning and the end of the
Christmas season. In Syria the Christmas season opens with St.
Barbara's Day on December 4. In a few Latin American countries
the Christmas season begins on December 8 with the Feast of the
Immaculate Conception. In the Philippines and some parts of Latin
America, the holiday season begins on December 16 with a Christ-
mas novena (a series of special religious services or private devotions
offered on nine consecutive days; see also Misa de Gallo; Posadas,
Las). In Russia Orthodox Christians still schedule their feast days
according to the old, Julian calendar {see Old Christmas Day). There-
fore, they celebrate Christmas on January 7, as do Orthodox Ethiopi-
ans {see also Ethiopia, Christmas in). Orthodox Armenians living in
the Holy Land who follow the Julian calendar celebrate Epiphany
and Christmas together on January 19 {see also Armenia, Christmas
in).
In recent years commercial interests have defined the Christmas
season for many Americans. In the early twentieth century retailers
promoted the idea that the Christmas shopping season begins on
the day after Thanksgiving. These days, however, retailers may bom-
bard consumers with Christmas merchandise and promotions as
early as October.
Further Reading
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
162
Christmas Sheaf
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"^-^
Cl^rfstmas Sl^eaf
One old Scandinavian Christmas custom is for the birds . . . Hterally.
Many Nordic famihes offer food to the birds at Christmas time. The
traditional offering consists of a sheaf of grain placed on a pole,
fence, or rooftop. Those who do not have access to cereal stalks may
substitute a plate of grain, bread, or seeds. Scandinavians call the
bundle of grain stalks a "Christmas sheaf." They place it outside on
Christmas Eve or Christmas morning in order to include the birds in
the feasting that is taking place inside the home.
Several other Scandinavian customs encourage the kind treatment
of animals at Christmas time. Tradition dictates that farmers give
horses and cows extra helpings of food. In Norway hunters with-
draw snares and traps during the Christmas season. Some believe
that these customs, including the feeding of birds at Christmas time,
arose as a way of spreading the spirit of kindness and plenty that
infuses human celebrations of Christmas throughout the animal
kingdom. Others argue that the Christmas sheaf originally worked
as a kind of magic rite. They believe the sheaf may have served as a
sacrifice to pre-Christian fertility spirits or as a charm to keep the
birds from harming the coming year's crops. In any case, contempo-
rary Scandinavians delight in the eager pecking and joyous chatter
of the birds who find the sheaf on Christmas morning.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Foley, Daniel J. The Christmas Tree. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company,
1960.
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Noiway. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cf^ristmas Symbols
Over the centuries many Christmas symbols have emerged from the
lore, legends, and customs surrounding Christmas. The more famil-
iar of these symbols include Christmas trees, stars {see Star of
Bethlehem), Nativity scenes. Advent calendars, candy canes {see
Urban Legends), angels, bells, cherry trees, Christmas cards,
farolitos, holly, ivy, gifts, mistletoe, poinsettias, plum pudding,
reindeer, robins, and wreaths. Folk figures such as Santa Claus,
La Befana, Father Christmas, Grandfather Frost, the Jultomten,
the Snow Maiden, the Weihnachtsmann, and the Yule goat also
serve as symbols of the holiday.
Lost and Lesser-Known Christmas Symbols
In addition to the well-known Christmas symbols listed above, a
number of archaic and lesser-known images have also emerged out
of Christmas folklore. An ox and an ass, often pictured standing
alongside the infant Jesus, also appear occasionally as symbols of
164
Christmas Symbols
the hoHday. Although neither of the Gospel accounts of Christmas
mentions these animals, Christmas folklore assigned them a place at
Jesus'birth as early as the Middle Ages {see Nativity Legends). Their
connection to the Nativity can be traced back to a verse from the
Book of Isaiah, which states, "An ox knows its owner and a donkey
its master's stall" (Isaiah 1:3). Many Christians took this verse as a
reference to the birth of Jesus in a stable {see Gospel According to
Luke). Hence, they imagined that an ox and an ass witnessed and
recognized the holy birth.
Before the advent of gas and electric lighting, candles and fires of all
sorts illuminated the long, dark nights of the Christmas season and
gave rise to many Christmas customs {see Advent Candle; Advent
Wreath; Christmas Candles; Luminarias; Martinmas; St. Lucy's
Day; Up Helly Aa; and Yule Log). The Yule log and the Christmas
candle may at one time have served as familiar Christmas symbols,
although these customs have since declined. Today we still associate
the Christmas season with fires and lights, usually Christmas tree
lights, holiday display lights, and the small blazes that warm our
home fireplaces {see also Ornaments).
The Christmas ship represents an archaic Christmas symbol which
has fallen out of general usage and understanding. Several medieval
Christmas carols describe Christmas as a ship bearing spiritual aid
to us from afar. One sixteenth- century carol describes the Christmas
ship in the following fashion:
There came a ship far sailing then,
St. Michael was the steersman
St. John sat in the horn;
Our Lord harped, our Lady sang.
And all the bells of heaven rang
On Christmas in the morn [Crippen, 1990, 156].
The words of another song depict Jesus on a ship sailing towards
earth to be born into human flesh. Thus "anchored" into our exis-
tence, he sacrifices himself for our salvation. Another old song, "I
Saw Three Ships," still circulates among carol singers today. This fif-
teenth-century song also depicts Christ and Mary on board the
Christmas ship as it sails into Bethlehem on Christmas morning.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Some scholars think that another early version of this carol placed
the Three Kings, or Magi, on board the ships that sail towards
Bethlehem. Although the inland town of Bethlehem does not have a
harbor, this detail did not seem to bother the lyricists of the medieval
era.
An old carol of German origin still sung today, "Lo, How a Rose E'er
Blooming," presents the rose as a symbol of the birth of Jesus. The
lyrics of the song refer back to the Old Testament prophecy that
declares, "there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
branch shall grow out of his roots" (Isaiah 11:1). Many Christians
take this phrase as a reference to the coming of Jesus. The song
extends this horticultural imagery by declaring of Jesus' birth, "Lo,
how a rose e'er blooming from Jesse's lineage hath sprung." During
the Middle Ages the rose also represented the Virgin Mary, an image
to which the song also makes reference. Although it is not a familiar
holiday image to many Americans, the Germans still use the rose as
a Christmas symbol {see also Christmas Rose).
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanaclc. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Studwell, William E. The Christmas Carol Reader. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth
Press, 1995.
166
Christmas Tree
cS>q^>^qiS)q^>^qiS)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^tBejQeji^>^t3Sj*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
cfiristmas Tree
The Christmas tree originally hails from Germany. Today, it is a rec-
ognized symbol of the holiday in many parts of the globe. The earli-
est historical reference to decorated Christmas trees in German
homes dates back to the sixteenth century {see also Christmas
Village; Ornaments). Several theories concerning the beginning of
the Christmas tree custom, however, suggest that its origins lie
much further in the past.
Legends
A number of legends offer fanciful explanations for the origins of the
Christmas tree. According to one, St. Boniface (c. 675-754) began the
custom in the eighth century. One Christmas Eve this English mis-
sionary to the German-speaking peoples came across some pagans
preparing a human sacrifice before an oak tree. He struck the oak
tree a single blow with his axe, which felled the tree. Duly impressed
by this miraculous feat, the people abandoned their old ways and
embraced Christianity. The saint pointed to a small fir tree laying
among the ruins of the oak and told them to take that as the symbol
of their new faith and of the birth of the Christ child.
Legends dating back to tenth-century Europe tell of trees that mys-
teriously burst into bloom on Christmas Eve {see also Glastonbury
Thorn). Some writers suggest that this myth inspired people to
bring decorated trees into their homes at Christmas time. A German
legend elaborates on this theme. According to this tale, a humble
woodcutter heard a knock on his door one freezing winter night.
Upon opening it he discovered a shivering, poor child. The wood-
cutter and his wife offered the child hospitality for the night, feeding
him and offering him their own warm bed close to the fire. The next
morning the grateful child appeared before them, radiant and beau-
tiful. Awareness dawned in them that their guest was in fact the
Christ child {see also Christkindel). Before departing the Christ child
gave them a twig from a fir tree, declaring that it would blossom for
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
them year after year. Unable to imagine how this could occur, they
tossed the twig away. Nevertheless, it grew into a beautiiiil fir tree,
which suddenly blossomed with golden apples and silver nuts. The
miraculous blooms appeared each year at Christmas time.
Another Christian legend attributes the Christmas tree to Martin
Luther (1483-1546). One Christmas Eve the great religious reformer
found himself walking through the woods. The beauty of the stars
shining through the branches of the fir trees deeply moved him. He
cut down a small tree, brought it home with him, and covered it with
lit candles, explaining to his family that its light and beauty repre-
sented Christ, the light of the world. Although this legend helped to
increase the popularity of the Christmas tree it should be pointed
out that the earliest known document describing a Christmas tree lit
with candles was written about a century after Luther's death.
Origins
No one can confirm the exact origin of the Christmas tree. Some
writers base their explanation of the Christmas tree on the theory
that in ancient times the pagan peoples of northern Europe revered
trees. They propose that the venerable pagan symbol of the tree sur-
vived the transition to Christianity by attaching itself to the Christian
midwinter holiday, Christmas. Little solid historical evidence exists
to support this viewpoint, however. Others believe that the ancient
Roman custom of decorating homes and temples with greenery
during Kalends survived for centuries, eventually inspiring the peo-
ple of the north to decorate their homes with small evergreen trees
at that time of year. Still others view the Christmas pyramid as the
ancestor of the Christmas tree.
Finally, a number of researchers disagree with all of these argu-
ments. They point out that the earliest historical records of decorated
trees being used to celebrate Christmas come from the Middle Ages.
Fir trees decorated with apples served as the central prop for the
paradise play, a kind of folk religious drama often performed on
December 24 {see also Nativity Play). These props were called par-
adise trees, and some researchers believe they were the forerunners
of the Christmas tree. The plays eventually fell out of favor with
Church officials and the populace. Nevertheless, some writers be-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
lieve that people from parts of France and Germany retained the
custom of celebrating Christmas with a decorated tree, which even-
tually became known as a Christmas tree.
Early History
The earliest historical reference to Christmas trees as such dates back
to sixteenth-century Germany. In 1561 an ordinance posted in Alsace
declared that each burgher was allowed only one Christmas tree and
that his tree could be no more than "eight shoes" in height. Ap-
parently the custom of bringing a living tree into the home at Christ-
mas time was so popular that deforestation was already become
something of a problem. In 1605 a traveler to the city of Strasbourg
described the German custom of bringing a fir tree into the drawing
room at Christmas time and decorating it with apples, wafers, paper
roses, gilt, and sugar ornaments. Documents from the same century
also record objections to the Christmas tree custom on the part of
religious reformers, who argued that it detracted from the spiritual
significance of the holiday. On the whole, however, the Christmas-
tree-loving Germans appear to have ignored these objections.
The Christmas pyramid found favor with many German families dur-
ing the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some German families
preferred to decorate a pyramid rather than a Christmas tree. Other
families had both in their parlors. Still other families preferred to cen-
ter home celebrations around a Nativity scene. For the most part,
the Nativity scene held sway in southern Germany, where Catholics
were more numerous. The tree dominated in northern Germany,
where more Protestants lived. By the nineteenth century the increas-
ing appeal of the Christmas tree contributed to the decline of the
Christmas pyramid.
During the nineteenth century the Christmas tree became increas-
ingly popular in all parts of Germany, but also spread to other coun-
tries. Around 1840 the English monarch Queen Victoria and her
German-born consort Prince Albert celebrated Christmas with a
decorated tree. Although the Christmas tree was known in England
before that time, this stamp of royal approval transformed the tree
into a fashionable, new addition to the English Christmas. In like
manner, the German-born Princess Helene of Mecklenberg started
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Christmas Tree
a Christmas tree trend in France in 1837 by celebrating her first
Christmas in that country with a decorated tree. Many Scandina-
vians adopted the Christmas tree in the mid-nineteenth century, as
did many Americans, Russians, and other northern Europeans.
Southern Europeans, for the most part, stuck with their traditional
Nativity scenes. Indeed, the Nativity scene remains the focus of
home Christmas celebrations in much of southern Europe.
The Christmas Tree Comes to America
Some writers claim that Hessian soldiers who fought on behalf of
the British in the American Revolution erected the first Christmas
trees on American soil. No solid historical evidence exists to back up
this claim, however. Several contemporary folklorists instead claim
that German immigrants, such as those of the Pennsylvania Dutch
country, brought the custom with them to the United States. Oc-
casional references to the novelty of a decorated Christmas tree are
scattered throughout newspapers on the East Coast from the early
1800s. In fact, the trees were considered so exotic that some organi-
zations set them up and then charged people money in order to
view them.
By the 1840s the Christmas tree was widely known in the United
States. Publication of Kriss Kringle's Christmas Tree in 1845, a chil-
dren's book about the custom, helped to popularize the holiday tree.
The first American Christmas trees were only a few feet tall and
were displayed on tables, following the German fashion. As the size
of the tree grew to accommodate an ever-increasing load of orna-
ments, Americans moved the tree to a stand on the floor. Many of
these early American ornaments were in fact Christmas gifts and
treats. These might include gingerbread and other cookies, pretzels,
apples, lemons, oranges, raisins, nuts, figs, sugarplums, strings of
cranberries or popcorn, candy, dolls, books, thimbles, scissors, mit-
tens, stockings, shoes, paper roses, glass balls, and ornaments made
of egg shells or cotton.
Families gradually began to exchange heavier, more substantial gifts.
Before 1880 people usually hung their unwrapped gifts from the tree
with thread or string. After that time, wrapping paper and fancy
decorated boxes started to become fashionable. As Christmas pre-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
sents grew too large or heavy to hang on the tree, people began to
place them beneath the tree.
The Christmas Tree Becomes an American Institution
During the second half of the nineteenth century the Christmas tree
cast its roots deep into American Christmas celebrations. Its presence
undermined the role of the Christmas stocking as a receptacle for
gifts in many homes. Christmas trees began to sprout up in school
holiday celebrations. They even worked their way into churches, in
spite of some initial opposition to what was perceived as a suspi-
ciously heathen custom. Mark Carr, a logger from New York's Cat-
skill Mountains, created the first Christmas tree lot in 1851. For the
price of one dollar he rented a sidewalk in New York City and sold
cut trees to city dwellers. His business appeared to be so profitable
that the owner of the sidewalk increased his rent to $100 the follow-
ing year. In 1856 Franklin Fierce became the first American presi-
dent to celebrate Christmas in the White House with a decorated
tree. As the tree became a familiar and cherished part of American
Christmas celebrations, people began to make fancy ribbon and lace
ornaments as well as to collect store-bought ornaments for their
trees. Unlike the gifts and treats which had covered their trees in
past years, these ornaments could be saved and reused the following
year.
One writer estimates that by the turn of the twentieth century, about
one in five American homes displayed a decorated tree at Christmas
time. Many of those who could not afford to set up a tree in their
homes still enjoyed community or church trees. Fresident Theodore
Roosevelt expressed early ecological concerns about the national
consumption of evergreen trees at Christmas time. Around the year
1900 he discontinued the use of Christmas trees in the White House.
His sons, however, unable to resist the lure of a decorated Christmas
tree, smuggled an evergreen into one of their bedrooms. Roosevelt
eventually changed his position on Christmas trees after one of his
advisors assured him that America's forests could survive the yearly
harvest.
In the following decades Christmas trees appeared in more and
more American homes. In the year 2000, 79 percent of U.S. homes
172
Christmas Tree
displayed a Christmas tree during the hoHday season. About 31 per-
cent of American homeowners bought real Christmas trees, while 49
percent of homeowners relied instead upon artificial trees (and two
percent of homes contained both a real and an artificial tree). Christ-
mas tree growers harvest and seU about 33 million real trees annually.
Symbolic Trees
The Christmas tree has become a potent sjnnbol of peace and good-
will. This symbolism underlies the ceremonies surrounding many
public Christmas trees. President Woodrow Wilson presided over the
first National Christmas Tree ceremony on Christmas Eve in 1913.
Although Wilson established the ceremony near the Capitol Building,
President Calvin Coolidge moved the national Christmas tree to the
vicinity of the White House. In 1923 he led the first ceremonial light-
ing of the national Christmas tree. This yearly ceremony has contin-
ued ever since, with the exception of the years between 1942 and
1945, when wartime blackouts prohibited the festive, outdoor lights.
After the Korean War, a Christmas "pageant of peace" was attached
to the lighting of the national Christmas tree, which entailed re-
scheduling the lighting ceremony to a date before Christmas Eve {see
also Nation's Christmas Tree).
The English, too, have a kind of national tree. Each year since 1947
the citizens of Norway have donated an immense evergreen tree to
the people of the United Kingdom in gratitude for British aid during
World War II. This tree towers over London's Trafalgar Square during
the Christmas season.
Further Reading
Comfort, David. jMSf Say Noel! New York: Fireside Books, 1995.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. Tlie Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Foley, Daniel ]. The Christmas Tree. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books, 1960.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Russ, Jennifer. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Snyder, Phillip V. The Christmas Tree Book. New York: Viking Press, 1976.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
Web Sites
A site sponsored by the National Park Service on the National Christmas
Tree: http://www.nps.gov/ncro/PublicAffairs/NationalChristmasTree.htm
The National Christmas Tree Association, a group that represents growers,
offers facts and figures concerning real Christmas trees at their web site:
http://www.realchristmastrees.org
cfiristmas Village
Christmas garden, Christmas yard
For many centuries people have delighted in constructing miniature
landscapes for Christmas. The Nativity scene, a life-sized or minia-
ture depiction of the scene of Jesus' birth, dates back to the thirteenth
century. In the eighteenth century some central Europeans enjoyed
creating miniature village scenes — called Christmas gardens — which
they set up under their Christmas trees. The Moravians brought
this tradition with them to America, and from it developed their own
custom of Christmas putz building. The putz included a Nativity
scene within a complicated town and country landscape. The idea of
creating a miniature world underneath the Christmas tree soon
spread beyond the German-American communities that imported it
to this country. It survives to this day, though nowadays most people
buy the figurines and buildings from gift shops rather than make
them at home.
Christmas Gardens and Yards
In the nineteenth century many Americans placed a miniature fence
around their Christmas trees {see also America, Christmas in Nine-
teenth-Century). This fence enclosed an area sometimes referred to
174
Christmas Village
as a Christmas garden or Christmas yard. Inside the fenced area fam-
ilies arranged small figurines of people or animals, along with vari-
ous toys. Magazine articles taught children how to make miniature
houses out of cardboard to complement these scenes. Adults also
worked on the little settlements. Home crafters created a wide vari-
ety of scenes, including vignettes of circus life, Indian villages, clus-
ters of young people skating on frozen lakes, charming gardens,
prosperous farms, and snug log cabins.
By the 1890s manufacturers supplied the public with a steady stream
of ready-made miniature cardboard buildings and figures, as well as
fences to mark off the magical territory of the Christmas garden. In
the 1920s Germany exported large numbers of Christmas village sets
to the U.S. and Canada. In the 1930s Japan added to the supply.
During the 1920s and 1930s the buildings came with cellophane
windows, designed to permit the consumer to illuminate them from
within with an electric light bulb. While some people placed the little
homes and shops below their tree, others hung them from the tree
as Christmas ornaments, or filled them with candy. In the 1940s
and 1950s, toy train sets became extremely popular Christmas gifts
for boys. The train sets, too — with all their accessories — furthered
the tradition of setting up a world in miniature beneath the tree.
In 1976 a company called Department 56 introduced a series of
miniature ceramic figures and buildings that formed a set called
"Snow Village." Snow Village depicts a small Midwestern town dur-
ing the Christmas season. These products became very popular in
just a few years. Soon the company began to branch out, offering
buyers a Dickens Village (modeled on Charles Dickens's classic tale
A Christmas Carol), Christmas in the City (based on New York City
Christmas scenes), a New England Village, an Alpine Village, a Beth-
lehem Village, and a North Pole Village featuring Santa Claus. By
1996 Department 56 was earning $126 million a year in profits.
Naturally, other companies tried to cash in on the lucrative trade in
Christmas villages. Target Stores developed a Christmas Village
based on the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. Kmart came up with its
own Christmas town and Mervyns of California starting selling
replicas of the California missions — historic California church com-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
pounds dating back to the time when California was part of Spain
and Mexico. Collecting and displaying miniature villages of this
kind at Christmas time has become a popular American Christmas
custom in recent decades.
Further Reading
Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 2000.
Web Sites
Department 56's web site offers a brief history of the company and its prod-
ucts: http://www.dept56.com/history.asp
"Christmas Villages," a page from the Christmas Traditions in France and
Canada exhibit sponsored by the Virtual Museum of Canada: http://www.
virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Noel/angl/village.htm
•nit ,
Commercialism
Over the past century Americans have turned Christmas into a very
expensive holiday. Richard Feinberg, professor of consumer sciences
and retailing at Purdue University, estimated that Christmas-related
expenses would cost Americans $800 billion in the year 2002. In fact,
these Christmas purchases account for just under twenty percent of
all retail goods sold in the United States each year and up to fifty
percent of retailers'yearly profits.
Americans spend time as well as money on maintaining their Christ-
mas shopping habits. According to one survey, 97 percent of Ameri-
cans buy Christmas presents. Nevertheless, only 28 percent of those
who bought presents said that they enjoyed Christmas shopping
very much. In spite of widespread ambivalence about the task, the
average American household buys and wraps thirty Christmas gifts
each year. About 62 percent of all American women begin this time-
consuming enterprise before Thanksgiving. Men outnumber women
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Commercialism
in the ranks of those who dislike Christmas shopping, so it is not
surprising that they are much more likely to dawdle over this task.
Although retailers may relish this yearly orgy of consumption, other
groups denounce it. Some women complain that the pressure of
shopping for and wrapping a heap of Christmas gifts exhausts them,
especially when added to the extra cooking, entertaining, and deco-
rating that takes place around Christmas time (see also Depression).
Others protest that the yearly tidal wave of spending has all but
drowned the religious or spiritual meaning of the holiday. Still oth-
ers worry about the waste of environmental resources. They point
out that our current Christmas consumption habits produce five
million extra tons of garbage between Thanksgiving, the kick-off of
the Christmas shopping season, and Christmas Day. Indeed, in 1994
the American Greetings Company sold 1.7 billion linear feet of
Christmas wrapping paper, enough to circle the globe 12 times.
Finally, many Americans may simply be spending more they can
afford to on maintaining their material Christmas celebrations. For
example, one survey has shown that it takes the average American
four months to pay off all their holiday purchases. How did Ameri-
cans come to celebrate Christmas with such a greedy grab for world-
ly goods?
Christmas in Nineteenth-Century America
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Christmas was not a
very important holiday in this country. In fact, in many states it was
not even a legal holiday (see also Colonial America, Christmas in).
In the early part of the nineteenth century Americans who celebrat-
ed Christmas sometimes gave gifts to the poor and to servants, fol-
lowing old European Christmas customs (see Boxing Day; Twelve
Days of Christmas). Christmas gifts were not all that common, and
most Christmas expenditures went instead towards food and drink.
Presents to friends and family, often distributed on New Year's Day
instead of Christmas, usually consisted of inexpensive, homemade
items, such as wooden toys, handmade articles of clothing, or home-
made foods. The well-to-do might buy fancier New Year gifts for
friends and family members, such as jewelry, watches, pens, pin
cushions, gloves, and snuff boxes.
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Commercialism
American Christmas celebrations changed significantly during the
second half of the nineteenth century, however. The holiday became
more popular as Puritan objections to Christmas faded, and the cus-
toms of Christmas-celebrating emigrant groups, such as the Germans
and Irish, blended with those of more liberal Anglo-Americans.
Americans adopted the Christmas tree, and Santa Claus emerged
as a uniquely American Christmas gift bringer. Christmas gifts became
increasingly common, although many still preferred to give home-
made rather than store-bought items (see also Ornaments).
Commercial Influence on Christmas
In the decade following the Civil War, American retailers began to
cash in on the increasing popularity of Christmas. After 1870, news-
paper advertisements promoting products as potential Christmas
gifts appeared in New York and Philadelphia papers with increasing
frequency. In 1874 Macy's department store in New York promoted
the purchase of Christmas gifts to passersby with a magnificent store
window display featuring $10,000 worth of imported dolls. Other
department stores soon followed suit with lavish Christmas displays.
Some Americans still felt that store-bought goods seemed too im-
personal and too commercial to give as Christmas gifts. Retailers,
manufacturers, and advertisers employed several devices to break
down this resistance to manufactured goods. Retailers began to
package Christmas purchases in special Christmas wrapping paper
as a way of increasing the festivity of store-bought items. The special
wrapping paper lifted the item out the realm of ordinary purchases
and identified it specifically as a Christmas gift. Manufacturers chimed
in by shipping all sorts of ordinary goods in special Christmas pack-
aging. Advertisers ran campaigns suggesting that mass-produced
items, such as handkerchiefs, umbrellas, and socks made "ideal"
Christmas presents.
In the early twentieth century retailers and advertisers sent Santa
Claus to work for them. He appeared in many an advertisement,
endorsing all manner of ordinary household items as perfect Christ-
mas gifts. Moreover, around 1900 he began to appear at department
stores and on street corners in business districts throughout the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
country. These hired Santas attracted customers to stores and col-
lected donations for charitable causes.
As Christmas sales increased, retailers began to rely upon them for a
high percentage of their yearly revenues. In order to lengthen this
very profitable time of year, some stores began to promote the idea
that the Christmas shopping season began on the day after Thanks-
giving. In 1920 Gimbel's department store of Philadelphia spon-
sored the first Thanksgiving parade. The parade alerted Philadel-
phians to the start of the Christmas shopping season and quite nat-
urally featured the American Christmas gift bringer, Santa Claus.
Hudson's department store in Detroit and Macy's in New York soon
adopted this festive advertising gimmick, planning their first Thanks-
giving parades in 1924. So profitable was the Christmas shopping
season that retailers lobbied President Franklin Roosevelt to prolong
it from three weeks to four weeks. In 1939, after a decade of slow
sales caused by the Depression, the head of Ohio's Federated
Department Stores caught Roosevelt's ear with the argument that a
longer Christmas shopping season would boost Christmas sales.
Roosevelt acted on this advice, shifting the date of Thanksgiving
from November 30 to November 23. In 1941 Congress changed the
date of Thanksgiving again, decreeing that it fall on the fourth Thurs-
day in November. A four- week Christmas shopping season was thus
firmly established.
Changing Consumer Preferences
Shifts in the American economy also aided retailers in the quest for
Christmas customers. As America shifted from an agricultural to an
industrial economy in the late nineteenth century, many people lost
both the leisure and the necessary raw materials to make home-
made gifts. They turned instead to the marketplace for their Christ-
mas presents. Furthermore, most Americans seemed to find the new
industrially manufactured items highly desirable, and many now
had the cash to buy them. The great shift from homemade to manu-
factured Christmas gifts took place between 1880 and 1920. After
1920 Americans relied almost exclusively on store-bought Christmas
gifts.
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Commercialism
Before 1910 people who purchased Christmas gifts often gave cheap,
decorative items, such as ceramic knickknacks, to friends and family.
These frivolous novelty gifts fell out of favor in the early twentieth
century. People began to send Christmas cards to their friends, dis-
tant relatives, and business associates in lieu of these gimmick gifts.
Family members and close friends received gifts that were more use-
ful, though more expensive, than the old gimcracks had been. These
included such items as tools and household appliances.
By the late 1920s buyers' preferences began to shift again, this time
towards luxury items such as jewelry and fine clothing. The home-
made Christmas gifts of the mid-nineteenth century had satisfied
people's basic needs. Now, consumers were expected to familiarize
themselves with the tastes, and discover the secret desires, of each
person for whom they bought gifts. In order to aid shoppers in this
stressful mental exercise, retailers came up with a new idea: gift cer-
tificates.
Financing Christmas
The increasing commercialization of Christmas affected American
saving and spending habits. By the early twentieth century many
employers offered their workers a special Christmas bonus. This
token addition to their regular wages helped workers to participate
in the new, materialist Christmas. As this participation still strained
the budgets of many working people, Christmas clubs sprang up to
help them save money throughout the year in order to finance a
December spending spree.
Conclusion
America's Christmas spending habits were established during the
early twentieth century. As the United States became an affluent
nation, Americans began to celebrate Christmas by spending large
sums of money. Some point out, however, that America's Christmas
consumption habits merely reflect her year-round consumption
habits, which are extravagant by world standards. The average citi-
zen of Vietnam earned $360 in 2000. Compare that with the $1,161
the average American family planned to spend on Christmas gifts
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alone in the same year. Other affluent nations also celebrate materi-
ally extravagant Christmases. For most Japanese, Christmas is nei-
ther a traditional folk holiday nor a religious holiday, yet they spent
$7.5 billion for Christmas presents in 1993.
Many people have grown dissatisfied with the materialistic customs
that characterize contemporary Christmas celebrations. In a 2002
survey, over seventy percent of Americans questioned said that they
would like to reduce their Christmas spending and gift giving. Re-
ligious organizations, consumer advocates, and groups within the
voluntary simplicity movement are supporting their followers in this
endeavor.
Further Reading
Barnett, James H. The American Christmas. New York: Macmillan, 1954.
Belk, Russell. "Materialism and the Making of the Modern American
Christmas." In Daniel Miller, ed. Unwrapping Christmas. Oxford, England:
Clarendon Press, 1993.
Comfort, David. Just Say Noel! New York: Fireside Books, 1995.
Evergreen Alliance. The First Green Christmas. San Francisco, Calif.: Halo
Books, 1990.
McKibben, Bill. Hundred Dollar Holiday. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1998.
Robinson, lo, and lean Coppock Staeheli. Unplug the Christmas Machine.
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1982.
St. lames, Elaine. Simplify Your Christmas. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews
McMeel Publishing, 1998.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American
Holidays. Princeton, N.I.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Tyson, Ann Scott. "Christmas Without Shopping." Christian Science Monitor
(Thursday, December 11, 1997): 1.
Waits, William. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York Uni-
versity Press, 1993.
Web Sites
A site sponsored by Alternatives, a Christian non-profit group advocating
simpler living and less wasteful holiday celebrations: http://www.simple
living.org
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Commercialism
A site sponsored by the Center for a New American Dream, a non-proiit
organization in Takoma Park, Md., dedicated to reducing consumption,
entiancing quality of Ufe, and protecting the environment, contains the
pamphlet "Simplify the IHiolidays": http://www.newdream.org/publications
183
December 2.5
The earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, the first
Christian calendar listing December 25 as the Feast of the Nativity
was compiled in 336 a.d. Since neither of the two biblical accounts of
the Nativity — found in the Gospel according to Luke and the
Gospel according to Matthew — gives the date of Jesus' birth, how
did December 25 come to be the date on which Christians celebrate
Christmas? {See also Gospel Accounts of Christmas; Jesus, Year of
Birth.)
Birthdays in the Ancient World
In the ancient world various pagan peoples celebrated the birthdays
of gods and important individuals. In fact, many pagan myths
explained the miraculous births of the gods. This association with
paganism caused some early Christian thinkers to oppose the cele-
bration of birthdays on principle. For example, in his commentary
on the Gospel of Matthew, the Christian teacher and writer Origen
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(c. 185-c. 254) argued that Christians should not observe birthdays
since scripture depicts only wrongdoers like the pharaohs and Herod
celebrating their birthdays.
Selection of December 25
By the fourth century, however. Christian leaders had overcome
their reluctance to honor the birthday of Jesus Christ. Now they had
to decide upon a date for the new feast. The first mention of Christ-
mas observances taking place on December 25 occurs in the Philo-
calian calendar, a Church document written in 336 a.d. Some schol-
ars believe that Christian authorities scheduled the Feast of the Na-
tivity for December 25 in order to draw people away from the pagan
festivals celebrated on or around that date. The madcap revels asso-
ciated with the Roman holiday of Saturnalia ended on December
23, just two days earlier. On January first the Romans observed
Kalends, their new year festival. Finally, on December 25 devotees
of Mithras and Sol celebrated the Birth of the Invincible Sun.
According to the calendar used by the ancient Romans, the winter
solstice fell on December 25, making it a perfect day on which to
commemorate the rebirth of the sun. The cult of the sun god was
especially popular with the Romans between the second and the
fourth centuries, a time when Christianity was struggling to estab-
lish itself as a legitimate faith. By selecting December 25 as the date
for the new Feast of the Nativity, Christian leaders probably hoped
to convince sun god worshipers to celebrate the birth of Jesus rather
than the birth of the sun.
Some early Christian thinkers offered other, more convoluted expla-
nations for the choice of December 25. They based these explana-
tions not only on their interpretations of scripture, but also on
Christian lore and then-popular beliefs concerning the significance
of round numbers. According to one scholar. Church leaders tried to
figure out the date of Jesus' birth from the date traditionally given for
his death, March 25. Since they wanted to come up with a round
number for Jesus' age at death, they assumed he was also conceived
on March 25. Therefore, he must have been born nine months later
on December 25.
186
December 25
Other Christian thinkers drew parallels between Christ and the sun
based on Bible passages that describe the Messiah as "the sun of
righteousness" (Malachi 4:2) and "the light of the world" Qohn
8:12). According to this line of thought, Jesus' incarnation represent-
ed a new creation, as when God created the world. According to the
Book of Genesis, God's first act was to create light, an act that sepa-
rated light from darkness. Therefore, they reasoned, God must have
created the world at the time of the spring equinox, when the world
is separated into two equal halves of light and darkness. Since Jesus
himself stood for the new creation, Jesus must also have been con-
ceived at the time of the spring equinox (see also Annunciation).
According to the Julian calendar then in use, spring equinox fell on
March 25. Allowing for a nine-month gestation period, Jesus would
then have been born on December 25.
The solar symbolism attached to Jesus in this explanation concluded
with his birth on the winter solstice, the date when the sun "re-
turns" and the days begin to lengthen. By equating Jesus with the
sun. Christian leaders adopted and yet subtly undermined the logic
of sun god worshipers. For example, one early Christian writer thun-
dered, "They [the pagans] call December twenty-fifth the Birthday of
the Unconquered: Who is indeed so unconquered as our Lord? ... or,
if they say that it is the birthday of the sun: He is the Sun of Justice."
Division of Christmas and Epiphany
The introduction of Christmas as a separate feast clashed with the
way in which many churches had been celebrating Epiphany. The
first Epiphany celebrations occurred in second-century Egypt. The
feast spread to other Christian communities during the next two
hundred years, although considerable variation existed between
these scattered celebrations. This holiday might commemorate any
of the four, recognized occasions on which Jesus' divinity revealed
itself to those around him: his birth, the adoration of the Magi, his
baptism, and the miracle at the wedding in Cana. After creating a
separate holiday to honor Jesus' birth, the Roman Church shifted the
focus of its Epiphany celebrations to the adoration of the Magi.
When the Eastern Churches finally accepted Christmas, they used
the holiday to honor both Jesus' birth and the adoration of the Magi.
Afterwards, their Epiphany celebrations focused on Jesus' baptism.
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Spread of the New Feast
Sometime around the year 350 Pope Julius (d. 352) or Pope Liberius
(d. 366) officially adopted December 25 as the Feast of the Nativity.
After Church leaders established the holiday in Rome, they attempt-
ed to convince the churches in the eastern part of the empire to
accept this feast. St. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 330-c. 398) introduced
the festival in Constantinople in 379. In 386 St. John Chrysostom
preached to Christians in Antioch, advising them to accept the festi-
val on this date, in spite of the fact that some still preferred to cele-
brate the Nativity on January 6. Most of the Eastern Churches accept-
ed the new feast in the years between 380 and 430 a.d. Jerusalem
Christians did not accept the new festival until the middle of the
sixth century. The Armenians never accepted the new festival. Today,
the Armenian Orthodox Church still celebrates the Nativity of Christ
on January 6, Epiphany. Those Armenian Orthodox congregations in
the Holy Land that still use the Julian calendar celebrate the festival
on January 19 {see Armenia, Christmas in; Old Christmas Day).
Origins of the Word "Christmas"
Since Latin was the official language of the Roman Church, its leaders
called the new festival commemorating Jesus' birth Dies Natalis
Domini, or the "Birthday of the Lord." The more formal name for the
holiday was Festum Nativitatis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, or the "Feast
of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ." Our English word for the
festival, "Christmas," didn't evolve until centuries later. The term ap-
pears in documents from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, written
in Old English as Christes maesse, which means "Christ's Mass." Eng-
lish speakers soon formed a contraction out of the two words. The
name of the festival passed through many forms in the centuries that
followed, including kryst-masse, cristmasse, crystmasse, Chrysmas, and
Cristmas. The term "Christmas" came into the English language
sometime between the late sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries.
In casual writing, the word Christmas sometimes appears as
"Xmas." Some people dislike the informality of this abbreviation and
the fact that it removes the word "Christ" from the word Christmas.
Others find it less objectionable. They point out that the "x" may be
said to stand for the Greek letter "X" (chi), which is the first letter in
the Greek word for Christ.
188
December 25
Further Reading
Baldovin, John R "Christmas." In Mircea Eliade, ed. TJie Encyclopedia of
Religion. Volume 3. New York: Macn\illan, 1987.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1983.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
James, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
Metford, J. C. J. The ChristianYear. London, England: Thames and Hudson,
1991.
Smith, C. "Christmas and Its Cycle." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume
3. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Stander, Hendrik F. "Christmas." In Everett Ferguson, ed. Encyclopedia of
Early Christianity. Volumie 1. New York: Garland, 1997.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
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Denmark^ cf^ristmas in
The people of Denmark enjoy a Christmas season full of good food
and good cheer. At least one Danish Christmas custom, Christmas
seals, has become popular in the United States and other countries.
Christmas Countdown
Danes use Advent calendars and calendar candles to help them
count the days until Christmas. Danish calendar candles display a
series of numbers down one side. These numbers represent the dates
between the beginning of Advent and Christmas Day. The candle is
lit each day until the number representing that day melts away.
Advent wreaths are also popular in Denmark.
Christmas Symbols and Decorations
As Christmas draws near, Danish people adorn both their homes and
the city streets with a variety of Christmas symbols and decora-
190
Denmark, Christmas in
tions. The most popular Christmas symbol in Denmark is the red
heart. It represents the love that infuses Danish Christmas celebra-
tions. The Danish flag is another popular Christmas image. The flag
displays a white cross on a red background. Red and white serve as
Denmark's Christmas colors. One often sees the popular Christmas
heart woven out of strips of red and white paper. Moreover, many
Danes light up the dark December afternoons and evenings with
flickering red and white Christmas candles. Danes also fashion
many Christmas decorations from greenery, especially mistletoe
and holly, which is called Kristdom, or "Christ thorn."
The nisse or Julnisse is another popular Christmas image (see also
Christmas Lads; Jultomten). According to Danish folklore, the
nisser are small, elf-like creatures who live in dark, quiet corners of
homes and barns. They possess certain magical powers, which they
can use to create annoying household mishaps. Around Christmas
time the Julnisser, or "Christmas" nisser, become active. House-
holders must appease them with a bowl of porridge on Christmas
Eve or they will pull pranks on family members.
Preparations
In the weeks before Christmas Danish families give their homes a
thorough cleaning. The cleaning prepares them to receive the many
visitors who are likely to be entertained during the Christmas sea-
son. Christmas baking also begins early. Not only must there be
enough holiday treats to satisfy family members, but also guests
must be entertained with the special holiday dainties. Favorite
Danish Christmas cookies include spicy, brown sugar, almond cook-
ies called brune kager, deep-fried butter cookies called kleiner, and
hard spice cookies called pebbernedder. Julekage, Christmas coffee
cake, is another popular treat, along with vanillekranse, vanilla butter
cookies shaped like wreaths.
In past times well-to-do Danish families often gifted their servants
with a plate of Christmas cookies. The servants not only enjoyed the
cookies but treasured the plates, which were nicer than their own. In
the nineteenth century Danish plate makers began to issue special
blue-and-white plates painted with holiday designs and numbered
by year. Today people collect these plates. Another Danish Christmas
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
custom achieved worldwide popularity. Around the turn of the
twentieth century a Danish postmaster invented the Christmas seal
as a way of raising money for charity. Today people in many coun-
tries decorate their Christmas cards, packages, and letters with
Christmas seals.
The Danish people adopted the German custom of decorating their
homes with a Christmas tree in the nineteenth century. Many
Danish families sit down together and make their own Christmas
ornaments out of colored paper and paste. Typical designs include
garlands of Danish flags, hearts, nisser, stars, drums, bells, and
cones, which are filled with sweets and nuts. Christmas crackers
may also be hung on the tree.
Christmas Parties
Many companies, unions, and other organizations give Christmas
parties during the month of December. Office parties often take the
form of sumptuous Friday lunches that last all afternoon. Family
members also attend these events. Some researchers believe these
parties are the modern-day equivalent of community Christmas par-
ties, called Jultraefests, or "Christmas tree parties," that used to take
place in Danish villages and towns.
Christmas Eve
The Danes enjoy Juleaften, or "Christmas Eve," so much that they
begin preparing for it the day before, on lille Juleaften, or "Little
Christmas Eve." On Little Christmas Eve they take care of last-
minute chores and errands and begin cooking Christmas dinner,
which is served on Christmas Eve. On December 24 many Danes
leave a Christmas sheaf outside so that the birds may also enjoy a
special Christmas meal. All over Denmark church bells chime at 4:00
p.m. on Christmas Eve. Shops and offices close, and people scurry
home.
For many families, Christmas Eve festivities begin with candlelight
church services. Afterwards people return home to an elaborate
Christmas dinner. Before sitting down to eat, many families set a
flickering candle in the window. The candle signals an offer of hos-
192
Denmark, Christmas in
pitality to any lonely or hungry person who passes by {see also
Advent Candle). Popular main dishes include roast goose and roast
pork. Roasted potatoes, cabbage, and cucumber salad often appear
as side dishes. In the old days, many housewives presented a kind of
rice pudding as a first course. Nowadays, the rice pudding serves as
a dessert. The cook hides an almond in each batch of pudding.
Whoever finds the almond in their serving gets a special little gift,
usually some chocolate or marzipan.
After dinner the family gathers around the Christmas tree. Ac-
cording to one old tradition, the parents shut themselves in the par-
lor alone on Christmas Eve to decorate the tree and light the candles
that cover it. Thus, the youngsters got their first view of the lit and
decorated tree on Christmas Eve. While fewer families observe this
old tradition today, many Danes still light their trees with candles
rather than electric lights. Usually an older family member slips into
the parlor alone to light the candles. When everything is ready, the
rest of the family enters. They join hands around the tree and sing
Christmas carols. Afterwards the family opens their gifts. In fami-
lies with small children, the father may leave the room briefly and
the Danish gift bringer, Julemand, may put in a brief appearance.
Julemand is supposed to look and act much like Santa Claus,
although few children miss his resemblance to their father during
these home visits. Danish families open their presents one by one
and everyone admires each gift. They also save the Christmas cards
they receive in the days before Christmas and open them after the
gifts on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day and Second Christmas Day
On Christmas Day people visit with friends and family members.
Around midday most households serve a kolde bord, or "cold table."
Everyone makes open-face sandwiches from this buffet of cold
meats, bread, spreads, cheese, and appetizers. Hosts and guest toast
one another with small glasses of aquavit, a Scandinavian liquor.
December 26 is also a holiday in Denmark. The Danes call it "Se-
cond Christmas Day" and often spend it visiting relatives whom
they missed on Christmas Day. Theatergoing is another popular
activity, and many theaters begin showing a new play on this date.
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New Year's Eve and Epiphany
Holiday merrymaking continues on New Year's Eve. Many Danes
go to parties on New Year's Eve or entertain guests at home. In the
early part of the evening the Queen makes her annual New Year's
speech to the nation. Many Danes tune in for this annual event. The
Danes play practical jokes on one another for New Year's Eve. Wise
people pull their belongings into the house. If not, the next morning
they might find their bicycle on someone's rooftop or their garden
tools gone missing. Noisemaking is another old New Year's Eve cus-
tom. In the old days farmers shot off guns to usher in the new year
{see also Shooting in Christmas).
Nowadays, most Danes have found safer ways to raise a din on the
last evening of the year. In Copenhagen, people gather together at
the town square on New Year's Eve to sing and to listen to the city
hall clock ring in the new year. Danes also celebrate the new year
with fireworks.
The Christmas season ends on Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve.
Remaining Christmas trees are taken down on this day and orna-
ments stored for the next year. Some families light three candles on
Epiphany Eve, which stand for the three Wise Men, or Magi, who
visited the baby Jesus.
Further Reading
Fertig, Terry. Christmas in Denmark. Chicago: World Book, 1986.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
194
Depression
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Depression
For many people the Christmas blues lurk right below the festive
reds and greens of the holiday season. According to one national
poll, about twenty-five percent of all Americans confessed to feeling
sad around Christmas time.
Unrealistic Expectations
Our culture bombards us with the message that the Christmas sea-
son is the happiest time of year, a time for festive parties, loving
family get-togethers, lavish gift giving, and constant good cheer.
These high emotional, social, and material expectations set us up to
be disappointed. Many people find it difficult to fulfill the cultural
ideal of non-stop Christmas conviviality. This ideal may easily defeat
people with difficult family situations, those who lost a loved one
during a previous holiday season, the socially isolated, and those
estranged or far away from their families. This failure to meet cultur-
al expectations, along with the belief that "everyone else is having a
good time," can result in depression.
High material expectations for the holiday may pose similar prob-
lems, especially for those on limited budgets {see also Commer-
cialism). So great are the pressures to buy that some people bring
financial hardship on themselves by spending more then they can
really afford on holiday preparations and gifts. The resulting stress
may open the door to depression.
Even those who can afford to participate fully in the gift giving, dec-
orating, cooking, eating, drinking, and partygoing may sink into hol-
iday season sadness, however. Stress and exhaustion brought on by
an endless whirl of activities as well as overindulgence in food and
drink also contribute to feelings of depression. Women may be par-
ticularly prone to this syndrome, as our culture assigns them the pri-
mary responsibility for shopping, cooking, decorating, and creating
"special" family celebrations.
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Advice
Therapists advise those with a tendency to suffer from this form of
Christmas season sadness to discard their unrealistic expectations of
the holidays. Often these spring from childhood nostalgia and
romantic images promoted in the media rather than from a realistic
assessment of one's own wishes, needs, limitations, and personal
circumstances. In spite of our dreams of instant holiday happiness,
these limitations and circumstances seldom vanish underneath the
tinsel and colored lights of the Christmas season. Moreover, the
stress of holiday preparations, travel, and family visits may aggravate
whatever tensions exist in any of these areas. To avoid resentments
bred by overwork, psychologists suggest that those saddled with
organizing and hosting holiday celebrations delegate responsibilities
to others.
Psychologists point out that family tensions that simmer below the
surface during the rest of the year very often boil over when the
family gathers together for the holidays. Although many people feel
that family fights "ruin" holiday get-togethers, it may be more realis-
tic to assume that if family members quarrel during the rest of the
year, they will quarrel on Christmas.
Psychologists also recommend giving oneself, others, and the occa-
sion permission to be less than perfect. They remind us that al-
though the dynamic of family get-togethers often encourages every-
one to assume old family roles, we may choose otherwise. Although
we may make these choices for ourselves, psychologists counsel us
to avoid using Christmas celebrations as a forum for changing family
relationships. They point out, for example, that challenging Auntie
May about her drinking is likely to lead to a confrontation, and that
attempting to squeeze a year's worth of "quality time" with family
members into a single holiday is doomed to failure.
Those who have experienced the loss of a loved one in the past year
need to accept their current mental, emotional, and physical limits
and openly acknowledge that this year's celebrations will be differ-
ent. Counselors also recommend that those who grieve take time to
evaluate which social obligations, family traditions, and religious ob-
servances will comfort and strengthen them, and which could over-
196
Depression
whelm them. They also suggest that mourners seek the company of
comforting people and make occasions to talk about their loved one.
It may be best to plan provisionally and be prepared to alter arrange-
ments as necessary to suit one's needs.
Christmas Suicides
It is widely believed that the rate of suicides increases during the
holiday period. Although many Americans admit to feeling sad dur-
ing the holiday season, studies reveal that the suicide rate does not
increase around Christmas time.
Winter Weather
The winter weather itself plunges some people into depression.
S.A.D., seasonal affective disorder, causes its sufferers to become
depressed during the dark days of winter that coincide with the holi-
day season in the Northern Hemisphere. Christmas, New Year's Day,
Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, and Kwanzaa all cluster around the time
of the winter solstice. At this time of year, the days are short, the sun-
light weak, the skies often overcast, and the nights long. People suffer-
ing from S.A.D. react strongly to the lack of light, falling into states of
lethargy and depression that last for months. Other symptoms may
include increased appetite, an excessive desire for sleep, irritability,
anxiety, decreasing self-esteem, and difficulty concentrating.
Experts estimate that about six percent of all Americans exhibit
symptoms of full-blown S.A.D. About fourteen percent suffer from a
milder version of these symptoms known informally as the "winter
blues." Some psychologists claim that among S.A.D. patients, women
outnumber men by a four-to-one ratio. Others point out, however,
that these figures may be somewhat skewed since men have more
difficulty than do women in admitting to mood-related problems.
In the Northern Hemisphere the incidence of S.A.D. increases as
one travels northward because the northern latitudes enjoy fewer
winter daylight hours. Researchers have discovered that about 28
percent of the population of Fairbanks, Alaska, suffers to some
degree from S.A.D. The city of Tromso, Norway, lies 200 miles south
of the Arctic Circle. There the sun sets in November and inhabitants
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
endure midwinter darkness until day breaks again in late January.
The people of Tromso refer to this period as the m0rketiden, or
"murky time." Each year the morketiden ushers in an increase in the
incidence of physical and mental illness, domestic violence, alco-
holism and other forms of drug abuse, arrests, suicides, and poor
school performance. Like the inhabitants of many other towns in
northern Norway, the people of Tromso observe a joyous yearly fes-
tival, "Sun Day," on the day the sun returns.
If you suspect you may be suffering from S.A.D., seek professional
diagnosis and treatment. Many people affected by S.A.D. have found
relief in light therapy treatments, medication, changes in diet, or
other lifestyle alterations.
Further Reading
Marano, Hara Estroff. "Surviving Holiday Hell." Psychology Today 31, 6
(November-December 1998): 32-36.
Peters, Celeste A. Don't Be SAD. Calgary, Canada: Script Publishing, 1994.
Robinson, Jo, and Jean Coppock Staeheli. Unplug the Christmas Machine.
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1982.
Rosenthal, Norman E. Winter Blues. New York: Guilford Press, 1993.
Smith, Harold Ivan. A Decembered Grief: Living with Loss While Others Are
Celebrating. Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1999.
Whybrow, Peter, and Robert Bahr. The Hibernation Response. New York:
Arbor House, William Morrow, 1988.
Dei/iPs Knell
Devil's Funeral, Old Lad's Passing Bell
According to an old European custom, local deaths were announced
by the ringing of church bells. In England this sound was known as
a "death knell." Since old English and Irish folk beliefs asserted that
the Devil died when Jesus was born, some towns developed a tradi-
tion of ringing the church bells near midnight on Christmas Eve to
198
Devil's Knell
announce the Devil's demise. In England the custom was called
tolling or ringing "the Devil's knell" or "the Old Lad's Passing Bell."
In Ireland the Christmas Eve bell ringing became known as the
"Devil's Funeral."
Although religious officials forbade this custom after the Refor-
mation, the practice survived in the English town of Dewsbury in
Yorkshire. The Dewsbury tradition dates back to the mid-thirteenth
century. It was briefly discontinued in the early 1800s and then rein-
stated. Local officials interrupted the practice again in 1940, since
during World War II bell ringing was forbidden except as an an-
nouncement of invasion. The inhabitants of Dewsbury revived their
bell-ringing tradition in 1948. According to custom, a team of local
residents rings a certain bell in the Dewsbury parish church once for
every year that has passed since Christ's birth. The bell ringing begins
at eleven p.m. on Christmas Eve and is timed to end at midnight. The
custom prevents the Devil from infiltrating the parish during the
coming year, according to folk beliefs.
An old legend explains the history of the Devil's knell bell and hints
at another origin for the Christmas Eve bell-ringing custom. Long
ago a local man of means, named Thomas de Soothill, murdered a
young man in his service. As penance for his crime he donated a
large bell to the Dewsbury church. He requested that the bell toll
every year on Christmas Eve as a reminder of his sin. Until recently,
the Dewsbury bell was called "Black Tom of Soothill" in reference to
this legend.
Further Reading
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas the World Over. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books,
1963.
Hole, Christina. British Calendar Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Howard, Alexander. Endless Cavalcade. London, England: Arthur Baker,
1964.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. Yearbook of English Festivals. 1954. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1993.
199
'Ecuador^ cfiristmas in
In Ecuador Christmas begins with Advent, a season rich in customs
and celebrations. As Christmas draws near, town officials close off
certain streets in order to make space for street vendors selling
Christmas sweets and trinkets. Many people begin collecting toys,
used clothes, and candy to give to poorer families so that their chil-
dren will also have Christmas presents to open.
Parties
Employees eagerly await the customary Christmas party, as well as
the Christmas bonus, or agninaldo, which employers are legally
required to give to workers. Parades of people dressed as Mary,
Joseph, the shepherds, and the Three Kings {see also Magi) file
through workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. People without
costumes follow, carrying candles and singing Christmas carols.
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Religious Observances
A nine-day Christmas novena (a series of special prayer services
offered on nine consecutive days) begins on December 16 and lasts
until December 24. These sessions of prayer and song offer occasions
for family and friends to spend the evening at one another's homes.
In addition. Nativity scenes appear in churches, homes, schools, and
workplaces at this time. Some of these locations sponsor competi-
tions for the best Nativity scene. Many families also add a Christ-
mas tree to their home decorations.
Christmas Eve
Churches hold Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, but many people
prefer to spend the evening at home with loved ones. Ecuadorian
folklore asserts that Jesus was born at the stroke of midnight, and
many people choose to spend this special hour at home with family
{see also Misa de Gallo). Those assembled at home count down the
last moments before midnight, and, on the stroke of twelve, ex-
change hugs with all present. In the past families sat down to a large
meal just after midnight {see also Reveillon). Nowadays, however,
many dine some time before midnight. A traditional Christmas din-
ner might offer roast chicken, stuffed turkey, or roast pork. Pristinos,
or molasses pastries, usually complete the meal. Many also serve
canelazo, a sweet hot beverage made by heating water, sugar, cinna-
mon, cloves, and liquor together. Traditionally, Ecuadorians open
their Christmas gifts after dinner on Christmas Eve.
Ecuador's most spectacular parade, the Pase del Nino Viajero, takes
place in the city of Cuenca on the morning of December 24. Partici-
pants ride in cars, trucks, or on donkeys, each decorated with em-
blems of abundance. These emblems range from paper money to
bunches of fruit to bottles of liquor and roasted meats. Bands of folk
musicians as well as biblically costumed children round out the pro-
cession.
Holy Innocents' Day and Epiphany
The festivities continue on December 28, Holy Innocents' Day.
People celebrate with costume parties and practical jokes. These jokes.
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Eggnog
called inocentadas, usually revolve around prank phone calls or fake
candies. Costumed pranksters may parade openly down the main
streets of towns and cities. The Christmas season ends with Epiph-
any on January 6.
Further Reading
Clynes,Tom. Wild Planet! Detroit, Micli.: Visible Ink Press, 1995.
Wakefield, Charito Calvachi. Navidad Latinoamericana, Latin American
Christmas. Lancaster, Pa.: Latin American Creations Publishing, 1997.
EggMOg
Many Americans celebrate the Christmas season by imbibing a
curious mixture of beaten eggs, spirits, and spices known as eggnog.
This drink dates back to the colonial era. In those days, people some-
times called rum "grog." This fact leads some to believe that eggnog's
original name was "egg and grog," which was later shortened into
"eggnog." In spite of its American credentials, eggnog resembles a
number of traditional northern European Christmas specialties, in-
cluding the English lamb's wool and syllabub, the Dutch advocaat,
and the Norwegian eggedosis. All of these recipes blend beaten eggs
with wine, ale, or spirits. Lamb's wool may also contain cream or
milk. American eggiiog recipes usually call for some combination of
beaten eggs, brandy, cream, sugar, and nutmeg.
Eggnog has been enlivening American Christmas festivities for several
centuries. George Washington's Christmas guests might well have
staggered home after one cup too many of his favorite eggnog prepa-
ration. His recipe requires one quart of cream, one quart of milk, one
dozen eggs, one pint of brandy, one-half pint of rye, one-quarter pint
of rum, and one-quarter pint of sherry {see also America, Christmas
in Colonial). First Lady Dolley Madison entertained her guests with
cinnamon eggnog, one of her Christmas specialties (for more on
American presidents, see White House, Christmas in).
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
In 1826 cadets at the prestigious West Point Military Academy risked
their careers for a taste of the traditional midwinter cheer. They staged
a secretive eggnog party in direct disobedience of Superintendent
Thayer's order that the academy observe a dry Christmas season.
Designated cadets snuck the contraband ingredients past the sentries.
On Christmas Eve they blackened the windows in their barracks,
posted guards to warn of the approach of officers, and began the fes-
tivities. Officials somehow stumbled upon the scene at 4:30 a.m. The
encounter between the drunken students and the outraged officers
resulted in a bloody melee that left one cadet charged with attempted
murder. The so-called "Eggnog Riot" eventually led to the voluntary
resignation of six cadets and the court martial of nineteen of their fel-
lows. Eleven of these were dismissed from the academy. Since seventy
young men took part in the escapade, one might conclude that most
got off easy. Many of these cadets hailed from prominent American
families. Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederate States of
America, was one of them. As punishment for his participation in the
eggnog conspiracy, school authorities arrested him and confined him
to his quarters until February of the following year {see also America,
Christmas in Nineteenth-Century).
In the late twentieth century fewer and fewer Americans seem will-
ing to abandon themselves to the full-fledged eggnog experience.
New low-fat and non-alcoholic versions of the old Christmas fa-
vorite sprout up every year, reflecting contemporary health concerns.
The following old-fashioned eggnog recipe offers us a glimpse of the
uninhibited pleasures of past eras:
Whisk together six eggs and two cups of sugar until flufiy and
light. Continue stirring while slowly adding one quart of bour-
bon whiskey and one cup of rum. Slowly add four cups of milk,
four cups half-and-half, and one cup heavy cream stirring all
the while. Add grated nutmeg as desired. Chill and serve.
Further Reading
Sansom, William. The Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
Snyder, Phillip. December 25th. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1985.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
204
Egypt, Christmas in
^SSPh C^n'stwifls in
Members of the ancient Coptic Orthodox branch of the Christian
faith make up about seven percent of Egypt's population. They cele-
brate Christmas on January 7 {see also Old Christmas Day). The
Coptic Orthodox Church encourages believers to fast for some or all
of Advent as a means of preparing themselves for the celebration of
the Nativity. In Egypt Coptic Christians fast by refraining from eat-
ing during the daylight hours and by abstaining from meat, eggs,
and dairy products during the fasting period. On Christmas Eve the
faithful attend midnight services held in Coptic churches. The most
famous of these services takes place in St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo
and is presided over by the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The families return home afterwards to break their fast and distrib-
ute gifts and new clothes to their children. Egypt's Coptic Christians
also bake a special cookie, called kahk, in the shape of a cross as a
Christmas treat. Egyptian Muslims use the same recipe for the cook-
ies they bake for Id-al-Fitr, an important Muslim feast that breaks
the month-long fast of Ramadan.
In January of 2003, Christmas Qanuary 7) was observed as a national
holiday in Egypt. This was the first time in the history of modern
Egypt that a Christian holy day was formally recognized by the gov-
ernment. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak issued a presidential
decree authorizing the observance, making it the nation's eighteenth
legal holiday.
Further Reading
Abbas, JaUan. Festivals of Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: Hoopoe Books, 1995.
Associated Press. "Egypt Makes Christmas a National Holiday." Neiu York
Times Qanuary 6, 2003).
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Et
ves
Contemporary Christmas lore suggests that Santa Glaus lives at the
North Pole, accompanied by a band of elves. These elves staff
Santa's workshop, manufacturing the millions of toys Santa brings
to children at Christmas time. What exactly are elves and how did
they become associated with Santa Claus and the celebration of
Christmas?
Elves and Fairies
Folk descriptions of a magical and mostly invisible race of beings can
be found in the lore of peoples from all parts of the globe. This belief
was particularly common among the peoples of Europe and Asia. In
Europe these beings were known by many names. Folklorists often
refer to them as "fairies," a common English term for these crea-
tures. Some trace belief in fairies back to the ancient Romans and
their legends about the deities known as the "Three Fates." Indeed,
some folklorists locate the origins of the English word "fairy" in the
Latin word for "fate," /atom. Eventually, the Three Fates evolved into
spirits known as fata in Italian and fada in Spanish. These beings
hovered about babies at the time of their births, bestowing upon
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Elves
them strengths, weaknesses, and destinies. In French-speaking
areas, however, these magical creatures were called fee, a word some
experts link to the Old French verb for "enchant," /eer. The English
adopted the French term for these creatures, translating it as "fay,"
or later, "fairy."
Ireland and the British Isles were particularly rich in fairy folklore. A
multitude of names arose for these magical beings. The Irish knew
them as the Side, or "people of the hills"; the Welsh called them
Tylwyth Teg, the "fair family"; and the Scottish talked of two distinct
groups — the Seelie (blessed) Court and the Unseelie (unblessed)
Court. Other names for them included the Little People, the Good
Folk, the Gentry, Puck, Robin Goodfellow, pixies, and brownies.
English speakers might also have referred to these beings as elves.
The word "elf" came into English from the Nordic and Teutonic lan-
guages, apparently arriving in England when Scandinavian peoples
invaded in the Middle Ages. The beings known to the English as
fairies were called alfar in Scandinavia, a word that evokes moun-
tains and water. The English incorporated this word into their own
language as "elf."
Fairy folklore taught that, although these magical creatures inhabit-
ed the natural world all around us, they often chose to remain invisi-
ble. When visible, they frequently appeared in human form. They
could, however, take the shape of a flower, a flame, a bird, a jewel, a
woodland animal, or any other element of the natural world. Folk
beliefs advised people to tread warily if they sensed that these magi-
cal and unpredictable creatures were about. On the one hand, elves
and fairies often used their powers to aid humans, for example, by
providing gifts of food or toys for children, or by breaking evil en-
chantments. On the other hand, if provoked they could just as easily
harm humans. They sometimes stole human children, ruined crops,
and caused household accidents.
European Christmas Elves
The folklore of many European countries warned that spirits of all
kinds were particularly active during the Twelve Days of Christ-
mas. British folklore cautioned that fairies and the Will O'the Wisp
haunted these long, dark nights. The famous English playwright Wi-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
lliam Shakespeare (1564-1616) disagreed, however. The following
lines from the play Hamlet voice his dissenting opinion:
Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated.
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike.
Nor fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm;
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
The Scandinavians did not share Shakespeare's sentiments. Their
lore reminded them that the arrival of the Christmas season awak-
ened the Jultomten (also known as the Julnissen, Julenissen, or
Joulutonttuja). Every homestead hosted at least one of these elf-like
creatures. They slept and hid in dark corners for most of the year, but
became bold and merry around Christmas time. In fact, they
expected householders to provide them with good cheer on
Christmas Eve. If the family neglected to leave out an offering of
food before going to bed, the Jultomten might curdle the milk or
cause other household mishaps. In Sweden, Norway, and Finland
these elves eventually evolved into Christmas gift bringers, a role
they still carry out today. In Iceland prankster elves known as the
Christmas Lads vex householders at Christmas time.
American Christmas Elves
These European traditions may have influenced the creation of the
American Santa Claus, his workshop, and his elven helpers. This
vision of Santa's world was constructed in large part by two men
over a century ago: classics professor Clement C. Moore (1779-1863)
and illustrator Thomas Nast (1840-1902). In the early nineteenth
century Moore, a professor at General Theological Seminary, scrib-
bled down a little Christmas poem for children. Titled "A Visit From
St. Nicholas," it described the nocturnal activities of the Christmas
gift bringer who would later be known as Santa Claus. This descrip-
tion depicted Santa Claus as a "jolly old elf" who arrives in a "minia-
ture sleigh." Moore's vision of Santa Claus, which had already begun
to shape the American public's image of Santa Claus, was further
refined by those who followed. Although Thomas Nast was not the
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Elves
first writer or illustrator to place Santa in the company of a band of
elves, he was the most influential. In the late nineteenth century
Nast published a series of cartoons that elaborated on the image of
Santa Claus established by Moore. Nast enlarged Santa to human
size and gave him a home, the North Pole. He retained the connec-
tion between Santa Claus and elves, however, by depicting them as
Santa's labor force.
Whereas the elves of traditional European folklore whiled away the
hours dancing in moonlit meadows and sleeping under the stairs,
Santa's elves busied themselves in his workshop all year round.
Clearly Nast's elves emerged from the imagination of an industrial
age, unlike their older, European counterparts. Nevertheless, the fact
that both Nast and Moore included references to elves in their cre-
ations may well reflect the influence of northern European folklore
associating Christmas time with the activities of elves. The American
people may have embraced yet another element of European elf lore
in their Christmas celebrations. The American custom of leaving a
snack of cookies and milk for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve closely
resembles the Scandinavian practice of placating the Jultomten. In
any case, Nast's vision of Santa and his North Pole workshop gained
widespread acceptance in the United States. As Santa Claus became
an international folk figure, so, too, did Santa's helpers and year-
long companions, the North Pole elves.
Further Reading
Briggs, Katharine. An Encyclopedia of Fairies. New York: Pantheon Books,
1976.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
• •
'Emanapatwn Bay
Christmas was a mixed blessing for many African Americans during
slavery times. On the one hand, many plantation slaves received gifts,
time off, extra food rations, and visiting privileges {see Slaves'
Christmas). On the other hand, they dreaded the coming of the new
year, when the holidays ended and some slave masters announced
which slaves would be sold off or sent to work on neighboring planta-
tions that year, thereby breaking up families and friends.
First Celebrations
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) signed
the Emancipation Proclamation into law, turning the day from one
of sorrow into one of great joy. The proclamation granted immediate
freedom to most slaves in the American South. Lincoln, occupied
with the New Year's Day reception (or levee) that nineteenth-cen-
tury presidents hosted on January 1, did not sign the document until
that afternoon {see also White House, Christmas in). African Ameri-
cans in Washington, D.C., snatched up copies of the evening news-
papers containing the full text of the proclamation as soon as they
were printed. Shouts of joy went up as the proclamation was read
aloud to the congregation gathered at Washington, D.C.'s Israel Bethel
Church. Spontaneous celebrations soon broke out all over the city
and lasted until the small hours of the morning, punctuated for some
time by the booming of the Navy Yard cannons.
In Boston, a city known for its abolitionist sympathies, a program of
celebration had been prepared some time in advance (Lincoln hav-
ing announced his intention to sign the Emancipation Proclamation
100 days earlier). The city's music hall hosted a gala event that after-
noon, at which the orchestra played Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In
addition, well-known poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) recit-
ed his "Boston Hymn," written specially for this event. Other noted
literary and political figures also attended the celebration, including
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), Oliver Wendell Holmes
210
Emancipation Day
(1841-1935), John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), Edward Everett
Hale (1822-1909), Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908), Harriet Beecher
Stowe (1811-1896), and Josiah Quincy (1772-1864). Another gather-
ing took place that evening at Tremont Temple. The crowd cheered
wildly when it was announced that the text of the Emancipation
Proclamation was coming in over the telegraph wires. African-Ameri-
can author William Wells Brown (1815-1880) and orator Frederick
Douglass (1817-1895) were in attendance there.
Annual Celebrations
Not everyone received the news of emancipation on January 1.
African Americans in Texas had to wait till June 19, 1865, when
United States General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston. There
he issued General Order number three, announcing the news of the
Emancipation Proclamation and freeing the slaves in accordance
with the now two-and-a-half-year-old law.
African Americans in east Texas, western Louisiana, southwestern
Arkansas, and southern Oklahoma memorialized June 19, the joyous
day of their liberation, by turning it into an annual holiday called
Juneteenth. African Americans in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Virginia, New York City, and Boston continued to cel-
ebrate the anniversary of their independence on January 1, Eman-
cipation Day.
Early observances of Emancipation Day were modeled after Watch
Night celebrations. Some African-American communities continue
to commemorate January 1 as Emancipation Day. Typical proceed-
ings revolve around church services that include a reading of the
Emancipation Proclamation, sermons, prayers, and the singing of
spirituals as well the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing," known infor-
mally as the African-American national anthem.
Further Reading
Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation. Garden City, N.Y.:
Doubleday, 1963.
Taylor, Charles A. Juneteenth. Madison, Wis.: Praxis, 1995.
Wiggins, Williams H. Freedom! African-American Emancipation Celebra-
tions. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1987.
211
England, Christmas in
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
'England^ cfiristmas in
The EngHsh Christmas has gone through a number of striking trans-
formations in its nearly two-thousand-year history {see also Europe,
Christmas in Medieval; Myrrh; Puritans; Twelve Days of Christ-
mas; Victorian England, Christmas in). Current English Christmas
celebrations bear some resemblance to American celebrations. This
resemblance is partly due to the fact that English settlers brought
many of their Christmas customs to America during colonial times
{see also America, Christmas in Colonial). The fact that the British
and American peoples have adopted similar Christmas customs since
that time may be even more significant in explaining the resemblance.
Like many Americans, the English celebrate the holiday with a
Christmas tree, gifts, and Christmas carols. Over the centuries the
English developed a large stock of Christmas carols. Many of these
songs, such as "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Joy to the World," and
"God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen," have also established themselves
in the American carol repertoire. Caroling, a popular Christmas cus-
tom in England, keeps these songs in circulation. Another popular
custom in both countries, sending Christmas cards, began in Eng-
land in the nineteenth century. The English decorate their homes
with greenery for the Christmas season. Old traditions promote
holly, ivy, and mistletoe as the most appropriate plants for this
purpose, but other green branches may also be used. After nightfall
brilliant light displays illuminate the main avenues of many towns
and cities {see also Ornaments).
Father Christmas
In England children expect Father Christmas to bring them their
gifts. Children write letters to Father Christmas explaining what kind
of Christmas gifts they would like to receive {see also Children's
Letters). Instead of mailing them, they burn them in the fireplace,
relying on magic to float their words up the chimney and across
England to the ears of Father Christmas.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas Eve
Christmas carols ring out all across England on December 24. For
those who prefer to stay at home, British television and radio stations
broadcast many musical performances. At King's College Chapel in
Cambridge, lines form early for seats at the famous Ceremony of
Lessons and Carols service.
Christmas Day
Children dash to the fireplace on Christmas morning to retrieve
their now-full Christmas stockings. Many homes also keep a Christ-
mas tree, underneath which family members will find another heap
of gifts. Unwrapping these gifts is one of the highlights of Christmas
Day. Other highlights include sitting down to a large, festive meal
and listening to the Queen's speech. Each year British television
broadcasts the Queen's Christmas greeting to her subjects. King
George V began this Christmas tradition in 1932. Other popular
Christmas Day activities include attending Christmas morning church
services and playing parlor games. Indeed, Christmas game playing
is a very old tradition in England.
Christmas dinner in England may feature roast goose, roast turkey,
or roast beef. Potatoes, gravy, and vegetables usually accompany the
main dish. Plum pudding, the traditional Christmas dessert, crowns
the meal in many English households. Since the pudding contains a
coin, and perhaps other good-luck tokens as well, diners must bite
gently in order to avoid breaking their teeth. A kind of party favor
known as a Christmas cracker adds a playful note to the holiday
meal. Wassail, a traditional holiday punch, may follow the repast.
Boxing Day
The day after Christmas is also a holiday in England. It is called
Boxing Day, although in the past it was known as St. Stephen's
Day. Many families go to the theater to see a pantomime on this
day. Fox hunting is another traditional Boxing Day activity. The Eng-
lish also enjoy other sporting events, such as soccer matches and car
races, on this day. The wren hunt, a custom once practiced in England
on St. Stephen's Day, still survives in Ireland.
214
England, Christmas in
Regional Customs
In past times people in some regions of England saluted their fruit
trees with song and ale in honor of Christmas. This custom, known
as wassailing the apple trees, still continues in a few places {see
Wassailing the Fruit Trees). In the medieval era the well-to-do
feasted on wild boar for Christmas. Today, an elaborate boar's head
dinner survives at Oxford's Queen's College. An old Christmas Eve
custom called ringing the Devil's knell, persists in the town of
Dewsbury in Yorkshire. This practice sprang up around the folk
belief that the Devil dies each year at the moment when Christ is
born. The church bells still toll on Christmas Eve in Dewsbury,
announcing the Devil's demise. On New Year's Eve many people in
northern England welcome firstfooters. A firstfooter, the first per-
son to cross one's threshold after the start of the new year, sets the
household's luck for the coming year.
Lesser-Known Days and Customs
In pre-industrial England, numerous minor days of observance stud-
ded the Christmas season calendar. These included Stir-Up Sun-
day, St. Thomas's Day, St. Stephen's Day, Holy Innocents' Day, St.
Distaff's Day, Twelfth Night, and Plough Monday. More impor-
tant holidays, like Epiphany and Candlemas, were also celebrated.
What's more, after 1752, when England adopted the Gregorian cal-
endar reform, some people continued to honor the previous date for
Christmas, giving rise to the observance of Old Christmas Day.
Most of these minor holy days and holidays faded away during the
nineteenth century, as the English calendar was reorganized around
the industrial work week.
Though many of the customs associated with these days have faded
as well, some weathered the transition. For instance, the town of
Glastonbury still awaits the blooming of the Glastonbury thorn on
or near Old Christmas Day.
Extinct Customs
Throughout their long history the English have adopted and invent-
ed many distinctive Christmas customs. They have also discarded a
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
number of customs over the years. One such discarded custom,
electing a Lord of Misrule to preside over Christmas festivities, fell
out of favor in the seventeenth century. While the Lord of Misrule
ruled over towns, schools, courts, and noble households, the boy
bishop supervised the revelry taking place in church circles. The boy
bishop did not outlast the Middle Ages, although this custom has
been revived in a few churches. The boys who lived in the centuries
that followed found another Christmas time sport: barring out the
schoolmaster. If successful in keeping their teacher from entering
the classroom in the days before Christmas, they won themselves a
couple days of vacation from school.
Another old English Christmas custom, mumming, gave ordinary
people license to disguise themselves in old clothes, mask their faces
with burnt cork, and roam about the town engaging in horseplay.
Around the time of the Renaissance, the wealthy developed their
own version of this custom. They began to celebrate the Christmas
season with masques, elaborate costumed balls that included danc-
ing and perhaps a bit of playacting as well.
Although masques themselves began to die out as a form of Christ-
mas entertainment in the late seventeenth century, the English con-
tinued to celebrate Twelfth Night with costume balls and playacting
until the nineteenth century. During the nineteenth century many
English families decorated their homes with a kissing bough for the
Christmas season. Anyone passing beneath this spherical bunch of
greenery could be claimed for a kiss. The kissing bough did not sur-
vive the transition to the twentieth century. Neither did the waits.
These semi-official bands of musicians used to wander the streets
during the Christmas season, singing for food, drink, and tips. They
disbanded during the nineteenth century, when people began to
view their activities less as a seasonal entertainment and more as an
annoyance. {For more on extinct Christmas season entertainments, see
Games; Ghosts.)
Further Reading
Crippen, Tfiomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
216
Epiphany
Mclnnes, Celia. An English Christmas. New York: Henry Holt and Company,
1986.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Patterson, Lillie. Christinas in Britain and Scandinavia. Champaign, lU.: Gar-
rard Publishing Company, 1970.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Britain. Chicago: World Book, 1978.
'Epipf^any
Blessing of the Waters Day,
Dia de los Tres Reyes (Three Kings Day),
Feast of Baptism, Feast of Jordan, Feast of Lights,
Feast of the Three Kings, Fete des Rois,
Le Jour de Rois (Kings' Day), Night of Destiny,
Old Christmas Day, Perchtennacht, Theophania,
Timkat, Twelfth Day, Twelfth Night
Epiphany is a Christian feast day celebrated on January 6. The holiday
commemorates the revelation of Jesus' divinity to those around him.
In Western Christianity, the observance of Epiphany focuses on the
adoration of the Magi. In Eastern Christianity the holiday empha-
sizes Jesus' baptism. Over the centuries European folklore has as-
signed numerous legends and customs to Epiphany, some of which
bear little direct relationship to the life of Jesus. In many countries
Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season.
The Meaning of Epiphany
The word "epiphany" comes from the Greek term epiphaneia, mean-
ing "manifestation," "appearance," or "showing forth." In the ancient
world, the term designated occasions on which visiting kings or em-
perors appeared before the people. The writers of the Gospels used
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
this term to describe occasions on which Jesus' divinity revealed itself
to those around him. Ancient writers applied another Greek word,
theophaneia, or "theophany," to the appearance of a god before
human beings. Early Christians also used the word theophany in ref-
erence to their Epiphany celebrations. This usage continued in the
Greek world, where today the Greek Orthodox Church refers to
Epiphany as Theophania. Moreover, Eastern Orthodox Christians
sometimes call Epiphany the "Feast of Lights." This name reflects
their belief that baptism confers spiritual illumination.
The History of Epiphany
Early Christians were celebrating Epiphany before they began to
observe Christmas. The first celebrations of Epiphany occurred in
second-century Egypt. Like Christmas, the date chosen for Epipha-
ny has no firm historical or scriptural grounding. Some scholars
believe that January 6 was selected by the earliest celebrants in order
to upstage a winter solstice festival held in honor of an Egyptian
sun god on that date. Indeed, according to one ancient Egyptian cal-
endar, winter solstice fell on January 6. Some ancient Egyptians rec-
ognized that day as the birthday of the Egyptian god Osiris. Other
sacred events held on that day include a festival commemorating the
birth of the god Aeon from his virgin mother, Kore.
From the second century onward, scattered celebrations of Epiphany
occurred among various groups of Christians, although no consen-
sus emerged as to what events the holiday commemorated. Chris-
tian liturgy identifies four instances in which Jesus' divine nature
manifested itself on earth: at his birth, at the adoration of the Magi,
at his baptism, and when he changed water into wine at the wed-
ding in Cana. Early Epiphany celebrations honored any one or more
of these events. By the third century most Eastern Christians were cel-
ebrating Epiphany. By the late fourth century most Western Christians
had also adopted the feast. Eastern and Western celebrations evolved
around different themes, however. When the Western Church desig-
nated December 25 as the Feast of the Nativity in the mid-fourth
century. Western Epiphany celebrations consolidated around the
revelation of Jesus' divinity to the Magi. When the Eastern Church
embraced Christmas, between 380 and 430 A.D., Christmas absorbed
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the celebration of both the Nativity and the adoration of the Magi.
Thus, Eastern Epiphany observances remained dedicated to the
commemoration of Jesus' baptism.
In the Middle Ages, popular western European Epiphany celebra-
tions focused on the Magi's journey. People began to refer to the
Magi as kings and saints and to Epiphany as the "Feast of the Three
Kings." Festivities of the day included Nativity plays, many of
which featured the story of the Three Kings. Another boisterous
medieval ceremony, the Feast of Fools, was also sometimes per-
formed in churches on Epiphany.
In 1336 the city of Milan, Italy, hosted a splendid procession and play
to commemorate the Feast of the Three Kings. Three men, sumptu-
ously dressed as kings and surrounded by an entire retinue of cos-
tumed pages, body guards, and attendants, paraded through the city
streets following a gold star which hung before them {see also Star of
Bethlehem). At one juncture, they encountered King tiered and his
scribes. The Wise Men asked where Jesus was to be born, and King
Herod, after consulting the scribes, answered "Bethlehem." The kings
and their followers continued on to St. Eustorgius Church, bearing
their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh ceremoniously before
them. The crowd spilled into the church, preceded by trumpeters,
horn players, donkeys, apes, and other animals. To one side of the
high altar awaited Mary and the Christ child, in a manger complete
with ox and ass. Although we might consider this noisy and colorful
Epiphany celebration unseemly, medieval Europeans enjoyed this
mixture of ceremony, carnival, and religion.
In Spanish-speaking countries today, Epiphany retains this strong
association with the Magi and is called Dia de los Tres Reyes, or Three
Kings Day. The French call the holiday Lejour de Rois or Fete des Rois:
Kings' Day or the Feast of the Kings {see also France, Christmas in).
The British sometimes refer to the holiday as Twelfth Day, and the
evening before as Twelfth Night, since it occurs twelve days after
Christmas. Twelfth Day marks the end of the Christmas season, also
known as Twelfthtide or the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since late
medieval times the British had enjoyed feasts and masquerades on
Twelfth Night, but these celebrations have declined since the nine-
teenth century.
220
Epiphany
Folklore and Customs
In Italy and Spanish-speaking countries, children receive gifts on
Epiphany rather than on Christmas. Eurthermore, in Spanish-speak-
ing countries, the Three Kings, Los Reyes Magos, deliver the presents
rather than Santa Claus. On Epiphany Eve children leave a shoe on
their doorstep or balcony, along with some straw for the Magi's
camels. In the morning they find that the grateful Wise Men have
filled their shoes with treats. In Italy La Befana, an old woman from
an Italian legend, distributes presents on Epiphany. La Befana was too
busy to aid the Magi on their journey to worship the newborn Jesus.
As a punishment for her lack of piety, she now wanders the world
during the Christmas season bringing gifts to children. In Russian
folklore, a woman named Baboushka plays a similar role. Berchta (or
Perchta), a more fearsome female figure, appears on Epiphany Eve in
Germany and Austria. She punishes wrongdoers and rewards well-
behaved children. In these countries Epiphany is also known as
Perchtennacht. In Syria and Lebanon Epiphany may be called "The
Night of Destiny" {Lailat al-Qadr), a name it shares with a Muslim
holiday. In these lands the Christmas gift bringer is a mule or a camel.
In Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, groups of
costumed children known as the star boys parade through the
streets of town singing songs or performing plays about the Three
Kings on Epiphany Eve.
An old German tradition encourages people to bring salt, water,
chalk and incense to church on Epiphany Eve to be blessed. Upon
returning home, they sprinkle the blessed water over their fields,
animals, and homes, and cook with the salt. They burn the incense
and waft the smoke throughout their homes as a defense against
evil spirits. In both Germany and Austria, the initials CMB — which
stand for the names attributed to the Three Kings in legend, Caspar,
Melchior, and Balthasar — may be written over doorways with
blessed chalk in order to protect the house.
In many European countries, such as France, Austria, Germany, and
England, festive meals were once planned for Epiphany featuring a
special cake. A coin, pea, bean, or tiny china doll was baked inside
the cake, and the person who found the object in their slice was
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
considered "king" or "queen" of the feast {see also King of the Bean;
Twelfth Night). In England, tradition reserves the unwelcome chore
of removing and storing Christmas decorations for Twelfth Day.
Religious Customs
In both Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, water is blessed on
Epiphany and distributed to the faithful for use in home religious
observances. Among Orthodox Christians, Epiphany is also known
as Blessing of the Waters Day. In past centuries priests blessed
Egypt's Nile River. Both Christians and Muslims would then immerse
themselves in the now holy waters, often driving their animals into
the river as well to share in the blessing. In Palestine, the River Jordan
was blessed. Thousands of worshipers then submerged themselves
up to three times in the holy currents. Many Orthodox parishes ob-
serve similar Epiphany rites today. For example, the congregation
may walk to a nearby river or other body of water which the priest
then blesses. In some parts of the world, congregants joyfully im-
merse themselves in the blessed water. Another popular Orthodox
observance involves tossing a crucifix into the water. The first to
retrieve the cross is often thought to acquire good luck for the com-
ing year.
The blessing of homes is a Roman Catholic ritual connected with
Epiphany. The pastor blesses each room of the house using holy
water and incense, and recites special prayers. Then he writes the
year and the initials CMB inside the door with blessed chalk. In the
year 1999, for example, he would write 19 CMB 99. Orthodox priests
also bless homes on Epiphany.
Epiphany is not only a Christian feast day, but may also be consid-
ered a season of the Christian year encompassing the period be-
tween January 6 and the beginning of Lent. The length of this period
varies in accordance with the day on which Easter falls each year.
Further Reading
Bassett, Paul M. "Epiphany." In Everett Ferguson, ed. Encyclopedia of Early
Christianity. Volume 1. New York: Garland, 1997.
Bellenir, Karen, ed. Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopedic Hand-
book. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
222
Epiphany
Chambers, Robert. "January 6 — Twelfth-Day." In his The Book of Days.
Volume 1. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Gwynne, Walker. The Christian Year: Its Purpose and History. 1917. Reprint.
Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
James, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
McArthur, A. Allan. The Evolution of the Christian Year. Greenwich, Conn.:
Seabury Press, 1953.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Rouvelas, Marilyn. A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America. Be-
thesda, Md.: Nea Attiki Press, 1993.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. 46 Days of Christmas. New York: Coward-McCann,
1960.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Urlin, Ethel L. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, contains
an article by the Rev. Thomas Fitzgerald: http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/
articles/article 71 1 3 .asp
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
'Estonia^ cfiristmas in
Estonians trace some of their Christmas customs back to a pre-Chris-
tian midwinter festival called Yule. The Estonian word for Christ-
mas, /ou/ud, comes from the Scandinavian word Jul, which in turn is
related to the English word Yule. Estonian folklorists believe that
before Christianity came to Estonia, people celebrated this midwin-
ter festival at the time of the winter solstice. Early Christmas cele-
brations lasted about seventeen days, from St. Thomas's Day, De-
cember 21, to Epiphany, January 6. In coastal areas people ended
their celebrations on January 7, which they observed as St. Knut's
Day. During this festive period people feasted on special foods and
refrained from certain kinds of work. Today most ethnic Estonians
are Protestant Christians (Lutherans), but the country also hosts a
sizeable minority of Orthodox and other Christians.
Preparations
Like their counterparts in Germany and the Nordic countries, most
Estonians observe Advent — a four- week period of spiritual prepara-
tion that precedes Christmas — with Advent calendars and Advent
candles. The weeks before Christmas may also be filled with house-
cleaning, cooking, decorating, and shopping.
Christmas straw is an important seasonal decoration in Estonia {see
also Yule Straw). In past times families strewed their floors with
straw, which became a playground for the children. The straw re-
minded family members of Jesus' birth in a stable. In some places
people twisted the straw into crowns. Folklorists believe that this
custom came to Estonia from Finland. The custom of fashioning
Christmas crowns from straw nearly died out in the twentieth cen-
tury, but was revived in the 1970s.
The Christmas tree is another prominent Christmas decoration in
Estonia. Estonians prefer fir trees, but when fir is not available they
will also use pine. Christmas trees became popular in the nineteenth
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Estonia, Christmas in
century, when Estonians adopted the custom from Germans Hving
in the Baltic Sea area. Some writers claim, however, that Estonian
Christmas trees can be traced back to the year 1441, when one stood
in front of the town hall in Tallinn, Estonia's capital.
St. Thomas's Day
St. Thomas's Day, December 21, is considered the real start of the
Christmas season. Old traditions dictate that householders com-
plete the brewing of their Christmas ale on this day. The men of the
household usually took charge of this chore. Folklore recommended
that they attend to the brewing in the dead of night, in order to
avoid the possible ruin that a neighbor's evil eye could wreak on the
brew. People drank so much beer at Christmas time that Estonians
nicknamed the season "the beer holidays." Householders readied
large quantities of beer by St. Thomas's Day, because tradition re-
quired that no further beer be brewed until Epiphany. Certain forms
of work were prohibited from St. Thomas's Day until the end of
Christmas season. Some say that noisy forms of work, such as dri-
ving horses, spinning, and grinding, disturbed the spirits, who were
particularly active during this time {see also Ghosts).
Christmas Eve
The president of Estonia maintains a centuries-old ceremony by
declaring the Peace of Christmas each year on the afternoon of
December 24. In the seventeenth century Queen Kristina of Sweden
introduced this custom to Estonia.
Christmas Eve is the high point of the Christmas season. Estonians
begin their celebrations by taking a sauna. Then they attend a Christ-
mas Eve service. Sometimes parents give children new shoes and
clothing to wear to this service as a kind of early Christmas gift. The
traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of a large number of dishes,
anywhere between seven and twelve. Sausage, brawn (boiled pork
leg), pig's head, or some other form of pork is usually served {see also
Boar's Head). Other popular dishes include sauerkraut, pate, potato
and beet salad, a special bread called "Christmas Barrow," ginger-
bread, and beer.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Folk tradition insisted that many poweriiil supernatural forces are
active on this evening, which made it a potent time for fortune-
telling, a traditional Christmas Eve activity. An abundance of food on
Christmas Eve signified that the house would enjoy plenty of food in
the year to come. Another superstition advised that, having eaten
seven different dishes on Christmas Eve, the men of the household
would gain the strength of seven men. The dead were thought to
return to their old homes on Christmas Eve {see also Ghosts).
Estonians left the remains of the Christmas Eve dinner on the table
all night, in case the spirits wanted to refresh themselves. Estonian
folklore also recommended that the fire be kept going all night.
From Christmas Day to New Year's Eve
Estonian tradition calls for families to spend a quiet Christmas Day
at home. In past times people spent the day enjoying the company
of family members, singing religious music, and reading the Bible.
Parties and visits were left until the following day. The first visitor to
the house, both at Christmas and on New Year's Eve, determined
the household's luck {see also Firstfooting). If the first visitor was a
woman, the household could expect a run of bad luck. Estonians tra-
ditionally celebrated Christmas through December 27, St. John's
Day. The remaining days in the year were viewed as "half-holidays,"
in which people did some work, but also spent time celebrating with
friends and neighbors.
Christmas under Soviet Rule
The Russian-led U.S.S.R. (United Soviet Socialist Republics) occu-
pied and ruled Estonia from 1940 to 1991. The Soviet government
forbade religious holidays and tried to persuade the Estonian people
to transfer their Christmas festivities to New Year's Day, a secular
holiday. Although most people had to go to work on Christmas Day,
many continued to attend Christmas Eve religious services. As a
means of protesting the government's political ideology and its re-
pressive stance towards religion, people also began to observe the
day by visiting their relatives' graves and leaving lit candles there
after the Christmas Eve service.
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Estonia, Christmas in
Christmas since Independence
After the fall of the Soviet government, the newly independent
Estonian people reinstated Christmas as a national holiday. In recent
years Estonian Christmas celebrations have been influenced by those
of the Scandinavian countries. The most popular of the recently
imported customs seems to be that of the office party, often called
"little Christmas" or "pre-Christmas" in Estonia. These festive gath-
erings take place in the first part of December, and usually feature
mulled wine, along with a tasty array of food and drinks. Some
young people now leave their shoes out on a windowsill in the
weeks before Christmas and wait for the elves to come fill them
with treats, a task usually undertaken instead by their parents.
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Web Site
"Christmas Customs in Estonia," an article posted on the web by Estonia's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs at: http://www.mfa.ee/estonia/kat_174/1191.html
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Etl^fopfa^ cfiristmas in
Ganna, Genna, Leddat
In spite of Ethiopia's ancient Christian heritage, Christmas, or Led-
dat, is not a very important holiday there. In fact, most people call
the holiday Ganna or Genna after a ball game by the same name
which by custom is played only once a year, on Christmas afternoon.
About forty percent of Ethiopians are Christians, forty-five percent
are Muslim, and the remaining fifteen percent are split among sev-
eral different religions. Most Ethiopian Christians belong to the Ethi-
opian Orthodox Church, which adheres to a different church calen-
dar than that commonly found in the West {see also Old Christmas
Day). Therefore, Ethiopians celebrate Genna Day on January 7.
More elaborate celebrations take place twelve days later, on Timkat,
or Epiphany.
Ethiopia embraced Christianity in the early fourth century, long
before Christianity had taken root throughout Europe. During the
thirteenth century King Lalibela ordered the construction of magnifi-
cent churches carved out of solid rock in a town that now bears his
name. Contemporary Ethiopian Christmas observances include pil-
grimages to these churches. Thousands make the journey to Lali-
bela each year, though it may mean walking for days, weeks, or
even months. Those gathered there on Christmas morning share a
meal. Then, church services are held at Beta Mariam, one of the
underground churches, whose name means "House of Mary" {see
also Mary). During the lengthy service a cross is passed through the
crowd for worshipers to kiss.
Ethiopian Christmas celebrations also include processions in which
revered icons (religious images used in prayer and worship) are
removed from churches and carried through the streets. In addition,
many participate in an all-night vigil on Christmas Eve. A meal of
beans and bread sustains worshipers through a night of singing,
dancing, and praying. Christmas Day services include religious
228
Ethiopia, Christmas in
dances. Percussionists playing drums, prayer sticks, and an instru-
ment known as the tsenatsel, or sistrum, create a rhythm for the
dancers.
As a rule, Ethiopians do not exchange gifts at Christmas. Young chil-
dren may receive simple presents from their parents, however. Boys
and young men look forward to Christmas because of the opportuni-
ty to participate in the yearly genna match. These popular events
crown many peoples' Christmas celebrations. Genna, played with
bent wooden bats and wooden or leather balls, resembles hockey.
The opposing teams compete fiercely, and serious injuries sometimes
result. In spite of the verbal and physical aggression that takes place,
the players enjoy the game enough to continue playing until dusk.
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Levine, Donald N. Wax and Gold. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1965.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Naythons, Matthew. Christmas Around the World. San Francisco, Calif.:
Collins San Francisco, 1996.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Ethiopia Tourism Commission:
http://www.visitethiopia.org/cultatt.htm
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
'Europe^ cfiristmas in Medieval
Medieval Europeans celebrated Christmas without Santa Claus,
Christmas trees, and Christmas morning gift exchanges. Not only
would we fail to spot these familiar elements of contemporary Christ-
mas celebrations if transported back in time to medieval Europe, but
we would also witness a number of extinct Christmas customs now
strange to us. Nevertheless, the Christmas season and a few of its
enduring customs first took shape during this era.
Christmas Season
In the fourth century Church authorities chose December 25 as the
date on which Christians would celebrate the Nativity. They placed
Christmas near two important Roman feasts. Saturnalia (December
17 to 23) and Kalends Qanuary 1 to 5). Moreover, they scheduled it
on the same day as the Birth of the Invincible Sun, a festival dedi-
cated to the sun god. This meant that the major Christian feasts of
Christmas and Epiphany Qanuary 6) opened and closed a thirteen-
day period during which many recent converts were already accus-
tomed to celebrate.
Eventually, the Church decided to accept this inclination to celebrate
a midwinter festival rather than fight it. In 567 the Council of Tours
declared the days that fall between Christmas and Epiphany to be a
festal tide. This decision expanded Christmas into a Church season
stretching from December 25 to January 5. This Church season be-
came known as "Christmastide," but ordinary folk called it the Twelve
Days of Christmas.
As Christianity became more firmly rooted in Europe, political lead-
ers declared the Twelve Days to be legal holidays. Near the end of
the ninth century King Alfred the Great of England (849-899) man-
dated that his subjects observe the Twelve Days of Christmas, out-
lawing all legal proceedings, work, and fighting during that time.
The Norwegian King Haakon the Good (d. c. 961) established the
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Europe, Christmas in Medieval
Christian observance of the festival in Norway in the middle of the
tenth century.
Entertainments
Medieval Europeans celebrated throughout the Twelve Days of Christ-
mas. They might attend religious services or watch mystery plays that
retold biblical stories pertinent to the season {see Feast of the Ass;
Nativity Plays). In addition, the well-to-do made music, played
games, danced, told stories, hunted, jousted, and feasted. In late
medieval times the elite of some European countries began to cele-
brate the season with roving, costumed events known as masques.
In a more homemade version of this custom, ordinary folk dressed as
mummers or received a band of mummers into their home or tav-
ern. In England peasants who worked on large estates rested from
their customary chores during the Twelve Days. Moreover, they par-
took of a communal feast provided to them by the lord of the estate,
offering him in return a gift of farm produce. In England Christmas
festivities ended on Plough Monday, when farm laborers went back
to work.
Christmas Feasts in Medieval Europe
In the late Middle Ages, the typical English Christmas dinner proba-
bly included roast meat, chicken, or wild fowl, white bread (a
medieval luxury), and ale or cider. The rich, of course, fared some-
what better. When the Bishop of Hereford hosted a Christmas feast
for his household and 41 guests in the year 1289, his kitchens sizzled
with a wide variety of roasted meats. The bishop's hard-working
chefs butchered and cooked two oxen, four pigs, four deer, two
calves, sixty fowls, eight partridges, and two geese. In addition, they
brewed beer, baked bread, and prepared cheese for all. The assem-
bled company washed down their meal with forty gallons of red
wine and four gallons of white wine, as well as an "unscored"
amount of beer.
A wide variety of what we might consider unusual fowl could ap-
pear on a medieval Christmas menu, such as swans and peacocks.
The chefs of the well-to-do strove to present these beautiful birds in
artful ways. For example, they might decorate the roasted carcass.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
often enclosed in pastry, with the bird's plucked feathers and place a
lighted wick in the bird's beak. In addition to peacock and swan,
medieval diners also relished heron, crane, bittern, plover, snipe, and
woodcock. Chefs searching for a make-ahead dish that would resist
spoilage often created large fruit, meat, and butter pies for the
Christmas table. These pies later evolved into the dish we know as
mincemeat pie.
The wealthy and noble often served wild boar for Christmas, com-
manding their pages to bring the roasted boar's head to the table
with great ceremony. Indeed, boar's flesh (known as "brawn"), as
well as pork were favorite Christmas meats. The English often ac-
companied these roasted meats with Christmas ale and wassail.
Lastly, like their counterparts in the rest of Europe, medieval Britons
celebrated throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas. The largest
and most festive meal was often served on Twelfth Night, or on
Epiphany.
The French also celebrated the Christmas season with lavish feasts
and openhanded hospitality. Castle doors were thrown open and
wayfarers welcomed to feast at the lord and lady's table. When poor
folk appeared at the door they were given food and, sometimes,
clothing as well. Like their English counterparts, cooks in French
castles served swan, peacock, and, occasionally, even stork to their
guests. These guests might number into the hundreds. After they
had sated their appetites, the guests could relax and enjoy entertain-
ments provided by storytellers, jugglers, dancers, magicians, or trav-
eling musicians. {See also France, Christmas in.)
Famous English Christmas Feasts
In the Middle Ages English monarchs sometimes threw Christmas
feasts of legendary proportions. Often these feasts doubled as affairs
of state, with the king hosting foreign dignitaries, local nobility, visit-
ing knights, and other important guests. The assembled company
might easily number well into the hundreds; some records declare
the thousands. Moreover, this legion of hungry guests might stay for
some or all of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Knowing the scale of these dinner parties helps to put some of the
232
Europe, Christmas in Medieval
royal menus in perspective. For example, in 1213 King John of En-
gland (1167-1216) provided his guests with one of the largest and
most sumptuous Christmas banquets on record. The shopping list
for this gargantuan feast included 200 pigs, 1,000 hens, 15,000 her-
rings, 10,000 salt eels, scores of pheasants, partridges and other
birds, 27 hogsheads of wine, 100 pounds of almonds, 50 pounds of
pepper, and 2 pounds of saffron, as well as other spices. At some
point in the preparations the cooks feared they were running short
and sent for an additional 2,000 hens and 200 head of pork. King
Henry III (1207-1272) is reported to have entertained 1,000 noble-
men and knights at York one Christmas. His cooks slaughtered 600
oxen for the feasts, and accompanied the resulting roast beef with
salmon pie, roast peacock, and wine.
Needless to say, with such long guest lists, royal cooks could prepare
quite a wide variety of dishes for the Christmas feast. Although most
of the surviving menus seem to focus on roast meat and fowl. King
Henry V (1387-1422) treated his court one year to a diverse Christ-
mas banquet featuring a wide variety of seafood in addition to the
traditional brawn and mustard. The assembled company sampled
herbed pike, powdered lamprey, jelly colored with flowers, salmon,
bream, roach, conger, halibut, crayfish, sturgeon, lobster, whelks,
porpoise, carp, tench, perch, turbot, and more. Altogether the king's
cooks prepared over forty species of freshwater fish. Afterwards the
royal chefs presented the king's guests with a dessert of marchpane
(a forerunner of marzipan).
Adapting Pagan Customs
Many researchers believe that medieval Christmas celebrations
absorbed a number of pre-existing pagan customs. Church policy
itself may have had something to do with this. In the early Middle
Ages missionaries found many recent converts unwilling to give up
elements of their former celebrations. In the year 601 Pope Gregory
the Great wrote a letter to St. Augustine, missionary to Britain,
advising him on how to deal with this problem. The letter reveals
that missionaries were often encouraged to suggest a Christian sig-
nificance to old pagan customs, rather than try to abolish them. Pope
Gregory reasoned that:
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
. . . because they [the Anglo-Saxons] are wont to slay many
oxen in sacrifices to demons, some solemnity should be put
in the place of this, so that on the day of the dedication of
the churches, or the nativities of the holy martyrs whose
relics are placed there, they may make for themselves taber-
nacles of branches of trees around those churches which
have been changed from heathen temples, and may cele-
brate the solemnity with religious feasting. Nor let them
now sacrifice animals to the Devil, but to the praise of God
kill animals for their own eating, and render thanks to the
Giver of all for their abundance; so that while some outward
joys are retained for them, they may more readily respond to
inward joys. For from obdurate minds it is undoubtedly
impossible to cut off everything at once, because he who
strives to ascend to the highest place rises by degrees or
steps and not by leaps [Miles, 1990, 179].
Indeed, the ancient custom of decking homes with greenery may
have infiltrated medieval Christmas celebrations in just this manner.
According to some writers, the roots of this custom lie in the Roman
practice of celebrating their midwinter festivals by decorating homes
and temples with greenery. Moreover, the Romans celebrated Satur-
nalia by electing a mock king to preside over the customary feasts.
Many mock kings sprouted up during the medieval Christmas sea-
son, perhaps as echoes of this ancient custom. They included the
Bishop of Fools, who presided over the Feast of Fools, the King of
the Bean, the Lord of Misrule, and the boy bishop. The old pagan
beliefs of the north may also have contributed a few items to medi-
eval Christmas lore. Some writers suspect that Berchta, the female
spirit that haunted the Twelve Days of Christmas in German-speak-
ing lands, may have evolved from an old Germanic goddess. They
attribute the same origin to the band of spirits known as the Wild
tiunt. Finally, medieval Germans honored Christmas by burning a
Yule log, another custom that may date back to ancient times.
Creating Christian Customs
On the other hand, a good number of medieval Christmas customs
grew out of Church practices or Christian folklore and legends. For
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Europe, Christmas in Medieval
example, the customs and festivities associated with the many saints'
days scattered throughout the Christmas season blossomed during
the Middle Ages. So did the observance of Advent, Epiphany, the
Feast of the Circumcision, and Midnight Mass. Nativity plays, the
Nativity scene, and Christmas carols also became popular during
this era. The paradise tree, a possible forerunner of the Christmas
tree, accompanied one of these medieval Nativity plays.
Surviving Medieval Customs
Many of these medieval customs and observances have now faded
away. Nevertheless, we still celebrate Christmas by feasting, resting,
decking our homes and churches with greenery, and partaking in
popular forms of entertainment. Christmas carols remain with us, as
do Nativity plays, although we know them today as Christmas
pageants or as the IHhspanic folk dramas of Las Posadas and Los
Pastores.
Further Reading
Chambers, E. K. The Medieval Stage. Volumes 1 and 2. Oxford, England:
Clarendon Press, 1903.
Tlie Glory and Pageantry of Christmas. Maplewood, N.J.: Time-Life Books,
1963.
Hutton, Ronald. TJie Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapHnger, 1977.
Murray, Alexander "Medieval Christmas." History Today 36, 12 (December
1986): 31-39.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
M
235
Farofitos
In the American Southwest glowing paper sacks decorate the outlines
of buildings, patios, walkways, and plazas at night during the Christ-
mas season. These ornamental lights are called farolitos (pronounced
fah-roh-LEE-tohs), meaning "little lanterns" in Spanish.
Farolitos are made with brown paper lunch bags, votive candles, and
sand. To make one for yourself, turn over the rim of a brown paper
bag to form a cuff. This helps to keep the bag open. Next pour several
inches of sand into the bag. The sand weighs the bag down and
anchors the candle. Place the bag outdoors at night, push a votive
candle into the sand, and light the wick. The candlelight shining
through the brown paper gives off a mellow, golden glow in the
darkness.
Although farolitos came to the Southwest from Mexico, their histori-
cal roots can be traced all the way back to China. Spanish merchants
made this link possible. From the early sixteenth to the early nine-
237
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
teenth centuries Spain held both Mexico and the Philippines as
colonies. Trade relations linked the Philippines with China. These
links gave Spanish merchants access to Chinese goods, which they
began to export to other places. Chinese paper lanterns, imported
from the Philippines to Mexico by Spanish traders, proved popular
in the New World. The Mexicans used them for many kinds of cele-
brations, including Christmas.
By the early nineteenth century the lanterns had spread north to ter-
ritories now considered part of the United States. Unfortunately, the
delicate paper that surrounded the lantern frame quickly perished in
the rough conditions to which they were exposed. Frontier settlers
soon hit upon a cheaper and sturdier alternative. They began to
make lanterns with plain brown wrapping paper made available to
them by recently increased trade along the Santa Fe Trail. The new
farolitos not only proved hardier but also cast an amber glow that
favored the warm colors characteristic of southwestern architecture
and landscapes. Today these beautiful lights constitute an important
Christmas symbol in the American Southwest.
In some areas of the Southwest farolitos are known as Luminarias.
In other areas the two customs remain distinct. In northern New
Mexico, for example, the word "luminarias" refers to small Christ-
mas season bonfires while the decorative brown paper lanterns are
known as farolitos.
Further Reading
Christmas in the American Southwest. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Ribera Ortega, Pedro. Christmas in Old Santa Fe. Second edition. Santa Fe,
N.M.: Sunstone Press, 1973.
238
Father Christmas
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Fatl^er cfiristmas
Christmas, King Christmas, Sir Christmas
Father Christmas is an EngHsh folk figure who personified the Christ-
mas season for centuries. Unlike Santa Claus, Father Christmas
originally did not distribute gifts. Instead, he represented the mirth,
generosity, and abundance associated with the celebration of Christ-
mas. Father Christmas has also been called King Christmas, Sir
Christmas, or simply "Christmas."
Early History
Some English folklorists trace Father Christmas back to the late
Middle Ages; others believe he originated at a later date. Renaissance
masquers (maskers) sometimes enjoyed impersonating this symbol
of the season. The famous English writer Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
chose Father Christmas as the main character in his masque, Christ-
mas His Masque (1616). Moreover, Father Christmas often served as
the narrator in English mummers' plays. He typically entered with a
speech like the following:
In comes I, Father Christmas
Welcome or welcome not.
I hope old Father Christmas
Will never be forgot.
Appearance
Father Christmas always took on the form of an adult male. Some
portrayed him as hale and hearty, while others depicted him as gray
and wizened. These contrasting images may reflect the influence
that other important folk figures, namely. Father Time and the
Roman god Saturn, had upon the invention of Father Christmas.
According to the ancient Romans, abundance, equality, and convivi-
ality marked the lives of Saturn's subjects while the god reigned on
239
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
earth. The Romans revived these ideals during Saturnalia, the mid-
winter festival held in his honor. In later times these qualities became
synonymous with the Christmas season. Eventually they took shape
in the image of a large, robust man nicknamed Father Christmas.
Popular images of Father Christmas usually showed him wearing a
red or green robe with fur trimming and a crown of holly, ivy, or
mistletoe.
In his famous story A Christmas Carol, the English writer Charles
Dickens (1812-1870) presented his readers with a spirit who calls
himself "the Ghost of Christmas Present." This ghost, however,
strongly resembles Father Christmas. Dickens made the association
more obvious by surrounding the ghost with emblems of Christmas
plenty:
The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it
looked a perfect grove, from every part of which, bright
gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistle-
toe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mir-
rors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went
roaring up the chimney. . . . Heaped up upon the floor, to
form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry,
brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of
sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters,
red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, lus-
cious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of
punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious
steam. In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant,
glorious to see; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not un-
like Plenty's horn. ... It was clothed in one simple deep
green robe or mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment
hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was
bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any arti-
fice. Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the gar-
ment, were also bare; and on its head it wore no other cover-
ing than a holly wreath set here and there with shining ici-
cles. Its dark brown curls were long and free: free as its
genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice,
its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air.
240
Father Christmas
While Dickens favored the robust version of Father Christmas, oth-
ers preferred to imagine him as a venerable old man. The elderly
Father Christmas peered out at the world from behind a thick grey
or white beard. Except for the fact that he did not carry a scythe, this
robed and hooded figure closely resembled conventional images of
Father Time. This association between Father Christmas and Father
Time may well have sprung up because of Christmas' place on the
calendar. Scheduled just before the close of the old year and the
beginning of the new, the arrival of the holiday tends to call atten-
tion to the passing of time.
Recent History
During the nineteenth century the imported American Santa Claus
began to appear in England. Unlike Father Christmas, Santa Claus
brought gifts to children rather than personifying the Christmas sea-
son. Moreover, he was vaguely related to the old, European St. Nicho-
las {see also St. Nicholas's Day). As Santa Claus became popular in
England, his identity began to merge with that of Father Christmas.
Eventually, Santa Claus all but erased the identity of Father Christ-
mas as a separate and distinct folk figure. Father Christmas retained
only his name, while his image and activities all but mirrored those
of Santa Claus.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hutton, Ronald. Tlie Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland
and Company, 1997.
241
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
i
Vatfier Time
Two old men with white beards have come to symbolize the holiday
season. The first, Santa Claus, visits homes on Christmas Eve {see
also Father Christmas; Weihnachtsmann). The second. Father Time,
appears on New Year's Eve. Father Time, a folk figure that personi-
fies time, represents the passing of the old year. He is usually depict-
ed as an old man with a long white beard. Frequently he carries an
hourglass, representing the passage of time, and a scythe (an old
farm tool used to cut down ripe wheat), reminding us that all living
creatures must die and all things come to an end. On occasion he
will be depicted with wings, which stand for the idea that time pass-
es very quickly. As the saying goes, "time flies."
Folklorists believe that Father Time may have evolved from an anci-
ent Greek god called Kronos (also spelled Cronos or Chronos). In-
242
Father Time
deed, chronos is the Greek word for "time." The association between
Kronos and time, however, does not seem to have existed in the
ancient world but rather seems to have sprung up in later ages, due
to the similarity between the god's name and the word for time.
Kronos was sometimes depicted in Greek art with a curved imple-
ment in his hand, resembling a sickle.
At one time the god Kronos ruled the heavens and earth. He gained
this position by displacing his father, Uranus, whom he castrated
with an instrument similar to a sickle. After defeating his father Kro-
nos married his sister, Rhea, and began to have children by her. He
learned, however, that in the future one of his own children would
displace him. In an attempt to avoid this fate he swallowed his chil-
dren as soon as they were born. His wife managed to hide the last of
her children, Zeus, from her husband and thus Zeus lived to adult-
hood. As predicted, Zeus eventually challenged his father's rule and
overcame his father in battle. Zeus forced Kronos to cough up the
children he had swallowed and so Zeus regained his brothers and
sisters: Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Hera, and Poseidon.
When the Romans heard these tales they decided that Zeus was the
god they knew as Jupiter, while Kronos was another name for their
deity Saturn. According to Roman legend, when Jupiter defeated
Saturn in battle, Saturn left Rome and retreated to Italy. There he
brought about an era of peace, plenty and equality that lived on in
legend long after it had ended on earth. The Romans celebrated the
joys of this golden age in the midwinter festival called Saturnalia.
Further Reading
Barnett, Mary. Gods and Myths of Ancient Greece. New York: Smithmark,
1996.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston, Mass.: Little Brown and Company, 1942.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mytholo-
gy, and Legend. San Francisco, Calif.: Harper and Row, 1984.
1^'
243
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Feast of Foofs
In the Middle Ages lower clerics in France, Germany, Bohemia, and
England celebrated the Christmas season by holding mock reli-
gious ceremonies that made fun of their usual solemn duties. These
lower clerics held low-ranking positions at local churches that in-
volved assisting the priest in his duties or playing a minor role in
religious services. Their burlesque rites were known as "The Feast of
Fools" and were observed on a variety of days throughout the sea-
son. The deacons led the revelry on December 26, St. Stephen's
Day, the sub-priests (or vicars) on December 27, St. John's Day, the
choirboys on December 28, Holy Innocents' Day, and the sub-dea-
cons on January 1, the Feast of the Circumcision. The name "Feast
of Fools" was most often given to the rites led by the sub-deacons
on January 1. Indeed, these were accounted by some to be the most
riotous of all these mock ceremonies.
History
Some scholars trace the roots of the Feast of Fools back to Kalends,
the Roman new year celebration that lived on for centuries after the
fall of the Empire. Other writers point to similarities between the
Feast of Fools and some of the customs surrounding Saturnalia. By
the twelfth century the Feast of Fools had emerged in full force. It first
established itself as an observance of the sub-deacons, but soon
expanded to encompass other lower clerics. It appears to have been
more popular in France than in any other European country. By the
end of the twelfth century Parisians were treated to the spectacle sev-
eral times over during the Christmas season, as the deacons (St.
Stephen's Day) sub-priests (St. John's Day), choirboys (Holy Inno-
cents' Day), and sub-deacons (Feast of the Circumcision, Epiphany, or
the Octave of Epiphany) all had a go at leading the mock rites.
Historical documents record several centuries of complaints regis-
tered by priests, bishops, and other high-ranking Church officials
who, in spite of their authority, seemed unable to stop the raucous
244
Feast of Fools
revelry. Not only did lower clerics relish their festival, but townsfolk
also enjoyed the outrageous spectacle. In 1435 the Council of Basle
forbade the Feast of Fools. Nevertheless, the lower clergy clung to
their yearly spree for another 150 years. Clerics from the cathedral of
Amiens, France, continued to celebrate the Feast of Fools until 1721.
Customs
Participants in the Feast of Fools reversed all customary rules of
proper church behavior. Instead of presiding over religious services
with dignity, seriousness, and reverence, they brought the coarse,
lusty, irreverent behavior of the carnival to church. After their wild
mass, they often roamed the streets in an equally wild, mock reli-
gious procession. In some places merrymakers chose a bishop or
archbishop of fools to preside over the celebration. As insignia of his
newfound rank he wore a bishop's miter and carried a bishop's staff.
Clerical participants in the follies often dressed in street clothing,
including women's clothing, masks, garlands of greenery, or even in
fools' costumes.
Our knowledge of these mock ceremonies comes mostly from the
writings of higher clergy who disapproved of the revels. According to
one irate cleric who observed the proceedings in mid-fifteenth-centu-
ry France:
Priests and clerks may be seen wearing masks and mon-
strous visages at the hours of the office. They dance in the
choir dressed as women, panders or minstrels. They sing
wanton songs. They eat black puddings at the horn of the
altar while the celebrant is saying Mass. They play at dice
there. They cense with stinking smoke from the soles of old
shoes. They run and leap through the church, without a
blush at their own shame. Finally they drive about the town
and its theatres in shabby traps and carts, and rouse the
laughter of their fellows and the bystanders in infamous per-
formances, with indecent gesture and verses scurrilous and
unchaste [Miles, 1990, 304].
In a similar observance called the Feast of the Ass, a donkey carrying
a young woman was led into church and made to stand near the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
altar. This act may have been meant to represent the flight of Mary,
Joseph, and the baby Jesus into Egypt shortly after Jesus' birth {see
also Flight into Egypt). Nevertheless, the revelers took the opportu-
nity to sing the praises of the ass in Latin and to require the officiant
to end the mass by braying three times like a donkey. The congrega-
tion responded in kind.
In enacting these rites, those of lesser status in the Church tem-
porarily usurped the roles of higher-ups, performing unflattering
impersonations of priests, bishops, and archbishops. In this respect
the Feast of Fools resembled other Christmas season rites that
authorized similar, temporary inversions of power and status. These
include the festivities surrounding the boy bishop, the Lord of Mis-
rule, barring out the schoolmaster. Holy Innocents' Day, Satur-
nalia, and Twelfth Night.
Further Reading
Chambers, E. K. The Mediaeval Stage. Volume 1. Oxford England: Clarendon
Press, 1903.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
246
Feast of the Ass
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Feast of tl^e Ass
In the Middle Ages, people in some parts of France commemorated
the Bioly Family's Flight into Egypt with a celebration called the
Feast of the Ass. Not only did Christian legends place an ass in the
stable where Jesus was born, but also medieval people imagined
Mary and the baby Jesus riding on an ass led by Joseph as they
plodded towards their Egyptian exile. Later, a donkey would carry
the adult Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on the week before his
death, an event celebrated on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before
Easter (John 12:14-15). The ceremonies associated with the Feast of
the Ass honored all the donkeys who played roles in these and other
well-known Christian stories. They took place on January 14.
The festivities featured a procession in which a young girl with a
baby rode through the city streets on an ass while people sang a silly
song honoring the creature:
Orientis partibus
Adventavit asinus,
Fucher et fortissimos,
Sarcinis aptissimus.
Hez, Sir asne, hez!
From Oriental country came
A lordly ass of highest fame.
So beautiful, so strong and trim.
No burden was too great for him.
Hail, Sir Donkey, hail (Weiser, 1952, 127).
The ass was then led into a church where religious services took
place. Like the Feast of Fools, these ceremonies tended to get out of
hand. The topsy-turvy ambience of medieval Christmas celebrations
encouraged high-spirited excesses that gradually turned the event
into a burlesque {see also Europe, Christmas in Medieval). Particu-
larly raucous celebrations took place in the town of Beauvais. After
the procession, the ass entered the church, where it was lavished
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
with food and drink. At the same time, the clergy conducted a kind
of parody of the evening prayer service, which ended with everyone
braying like an ass as they danced around the befuddled creature.
Afterwards actors presented humorous folk plays outside the church
doors. The last event of the day was a Midnight Mass, which the
priest brought to a close by braying three times.
These hijinks caused the Roman Catholic Church to officially suppress
the Feast of the Ass in the fifteenth century. It lingered for many years
after that in some places, however.
Further Reading
Goldwasser, Maria Julia. "Carnival." In Mircea Eliade, ed. Encyclopedia of
Religion.Yolume 3. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. San Francisco, CaHf.: Harper and Row, 1984.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
Feast of tl^e Circumcision
Circumcision of Jesus, Feast of the Circumcision and the
Name of Jesus, Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord,
Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Octave of the Birth of Our Lord, Solemnity of Mary
The Gospel according to Luke (2:21) reports that eight days after
Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary named him and had him circum-
cised. In doing so, they conformed to an old Jewish custom whereby
all male infants are circumcised as a sign of the eternal covenant
between God and the Jewish people. The Feast of the Circumcision,
observed on January 1, commemorates the Holy Family's compli-
ance with this custom. It also celebrates the naming of Jesus and, in
the Roman Catholic Church, Mary's role as the Mother of God.
248
Feast of the Circumcision
History
The Feast of the Circumcision received official recognition rather
late. Luke's account clearly states that Jesus was circumcised eight
days after his birth. After Church authorities established the celebra-
tion of Christmas on December 25, the obvious date for the re-
membrance of the Circumcision would be January 1, which falls
eight days after the celebration of the Nativity.
In the first few centuries after Christ's birth, however, the vast pagan
population of the Roman world was still celebrating Kalends, their
new year festival, on that date. Numerous early Christian leaders dis-
approved of the riotous pagan new year celebrations and urged their
Christian followers to observe the day with thoughtfulness, fasting,
and sobriety instead. In the fourth century a.d., one such leader, a
monk named Almacius (or Telemachus) stormed into a crowded
Roman stadium on January 1 crying, "Cease from the superstition of
idols and polluted sacrifices. Today is the octave of the Lord!" Some
report that the enraged crowd stoned the earnest monk to death;
others state that the assembled gladiators dispatched him.
This attitude of vehement opposition to the celebrations already tak-
ing place on January 1 may explain the reluctance of Church officials
to establish a Christian celebration on that day. In an effort to coun-
teract the still-popular festivities surrounding Kalends, the second
provincial Council of Tours (567 a.d.) ordered Christians to fast and
do penance during the first few days of the new year.
Nevertheless, over the course of the next several centuries, January 1
became a feast day throughout the Christian world. Around the sev-
enth century the Roman Catholic Church introduced a new obser-
vance called the "Octave of the Birth of Our Lord" on January 1. In
the language of the Church, an "octave" is an eight-day period that
includes any great Church festival and the seven days that follow it.
Thus, this name signaled that the new observance was to serve as a
completion of the Christmas feast. Before that time, however.
Christians from Gaul had observed the day as the "Circumcision of
Jesus," a name reflecting their emphasis on Jesus' compliance with
the Jewish tradition of circumcision. This idea spread from Gaul to
Spain, and, eventually, to Rome.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The Eastern Churches began to observe January 1 as a commemora-
tion of the circumcision in the eighth century. In the ninth century
the Roman Church began to blend its original emphasis on the
completion of the octave of Christmas with a commemoration of the
Circumcision. Before long the Roman Church incorporated yet an-
other theme into its celebrations. Many observed the feast primarily
by expressing gratitude and devotion to Mary, the mother of God.
Indeed, some historians recognize the festival as the earliest Catho-
lic feast dedicated to Mary. Eventually, it became the most important
Marian feast in the Roman Church.
The Feast of the Circumcision falls in the middle of the Twelve Days
of Christmas. During the Middle Ages bursts of revelry punctuated
this twelve-day period. In spite of the efforts of the early Church to
diminish the customary carousing associated with the Roman new
year, a new form of riotous display developed around Church cele-
brations on January 1. From the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries,
lower clergy in many parts of Europe took part in the Feast of Fools
on that date. Scandalized authorities managed to eradicate this
observance in most areas by the sixteenth century, although it lin-
gered in France until the eighteenth century.
Contemporary Observance
The various Christian denominations that observe the feast empha-
size different aspects of the events surrounding Jesus' circumcision.
In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church changed the name of the obser-
vance to the "Solemnity of Mary," a name that reflects their empha-
sis on Mary's role as mother of the Savior. Orthodox Christians con-
tinue to observe the day as the "Feast of the Circumcision of Our
Lord." Episcopalians call the festival the "Feast of the Holy Name of
Our Lord Jesus Christ." They emphasize the significance of Jesus'
name, given to Mary by Gabriel — the angel of the Annunciation
— which means literally "God saves" or "God helps." Lutherans
compromise by calling the festival the "Feast of the Circumcision
and the Name of Jesus." {See also New Year's Day).
Further Reading
Bellenir, Karen, ed. Religious Holidays and Calendars. Second edition. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
250
Feast of the Circumcision
Cross, R L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1983.
Foley, R. L. "Circumcision of Our Lord." In New Catholic Encyclopedia.
Volume 3. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Harper, Howard. Days and Customs of All Faiths. 1957. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Holy Days in the United States. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic
Conference, 1984.
Metford, J. C.J. The Christian Year. London, England: Thames and Hudson,
1991.
Urlin, Ethel. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
Fires
For Christmas customs involving the use of fire and bonfires, see
Estonia, Christmas in; Guatemala, Christmas in; Hogmanay;
Iceland, Christmas in; Luminarias; Martinmas; Up Helly Aa;
Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial; Yule; Yule Log;
Zagmuk
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
FiVstfootfng
In many parts of Europe old superstitions held that the first person
to cross one's threshold after the start of the new year determined
the household's luck for the coming year {see also Estonia, Christ-
mas in; Germany, Christmas in; Greece, Christmas in; Ireland,
Christmas in; Italy, Christmas in; New Year's Day). That person
was called the "firstfooter." People with certain physical characteris-
tics were deemed lucky firstfooters. In most places people welcomed
dark-haired men as desirable firstfooters whose visit would confer
luck on the entire household. By contrast, women and fair-haired or
red-headed men were often deemed unlucky firstfooters whose visit
hastened the coming of unfortunate events.
Scotland and England
The folklore of Scotland and England contains many references to
firstfooters. The earliest historical records of firstfooting in Britain
date back to the eighteenth century. Although found in many places
throughout Britain, the custom appears to have been most strongly
upheld in lowlands Scotland and northern England. There people
awaited firstfooters in the early morning hours of January first. In
many places custom dictated that firstfooters offer householders
small gifts of food, spirits, fuel, and money as symbols of prosperity
in the coming year. In some places the firstfooter delivered a sprig of
greenery; in others salt was included in the lucky offerings. Usually
the firstfooter exchanged warm greetings with family members
upon entering the house, but in some locales he or she said nothing
until stirring the fire or adding more fuel to it. Householders in
return treated the firstfooter to food and drink and sometimes
money, too. Some found this hospitality quite tempting. In Edin-
burgh, youth with the required physical characteristics sometimes
fought one another for the opportunity to go firstfooting in the
wealthier neighborhoods, where the rewards given to desirable first-
footers were greatest.
252
Firstfooting
Although many communities favored dark-haired men as firstfoot-
ers, other communities preferred women, children, fair-headed men,
or even red-headed men. If the required characteristics occurred in-
frequently within the community, some locales actually searched out
and hired a firstfooter to make these midnight calls. In addition to
gender and hair color, several other physical characteristics disposed
people favorably or unfavorably to a firstfooter. In many places peo-
ple preferred a young, healthy, and good-looking firstfooter. Ac-
cording to popular beliefs, the flat-footed, lame, sickly, or cross-eyed
brought bad luck with them. In some places, people whose eye-
brows met were considered unlucky. If one's household happened to
be jinxed by the untimely arrival of an unlucky firstfooter, folklore
provided a number of remedies. In areas where people placed a lot
of store in firstfooting, however, women and other people who
would be unwelcome as firstfooters were careful to delay any new
year visits until after their neighbors had all received a firstfooter.
Similar superstitions applied to first encounters on the road after the
start of the new year. Some deemed it lucky if the first person one
met was a child, or if one's first encounter was with an oxcart.
Meeting a beggar, sexton (church custodian), or gravedigger fore-
shadowed unpleasantness to come. Many thought it especially lucky
to meet someone whose arms were full, and unlucky to come across
someone who wasn't carrying anything.
Further Reading
Gaster, Theodor. New Year, Its History, Customs, and Superstitions. New York:
Abelard-Schuman, 1955.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
^.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
First Nfgl^t
First Night is the name of an alternative New Year's Eve celebration
begun in Boston in the year 1976. The organizers of this event pro-
moted the festivities as an alcohol-free, family-oriented New Year's
celebration. Its success prompted an organization called "First Night
International" to trademark the phrase "First Night," so that all cities
that wish to organize a festival by that name must first join the orga-
nization and pay a fee. The First Night idea has caught on, and now
over 150 American cities host these festivities on December 31. First
Night celebrations have also spread to a number of locations in
Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
First Night festivals feature a variety of acts, events, and demonstra-
tions showcasing the visual and performing arts. Festival organizers
draw primarily on local artists and entertainers. Cities generally stage
First Night festivals in a central location and the atmosphere may
resemble that of a street fair. Although some open-air entertainment
is available to everyone, people who wish to attend events scheduled
for indoor venues generally have to buy a pass (usually in the form of
a button they wear on their clothing) which entitles them to attend all
the events.
One of the stated goals of First Night International is to wean peo-
ple away from more boisterous, alcohol-laden New Year's Eve cele-
brations. Their efforts may be viewed as the latest twist on a cam-
paign to reform the midwinter holidays that dates back to the time
of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation {see Puritans). Over
the centuries various Protestant religious groups have criticized the
rowdy and often drunken celebrations that characterize many tradi-
tional New Year's Eve celebrations. They tried instead to promote the
idea that New Year's Eve is an occasion for serious reflection on
one's past, prayer for the future, renewal of one's commitment to
serve God, and the setting of personal goals for the coming year {see
Resolutions; Watch Night). The objectives of First Night Interna-
tional are somewhat less lofty. Beyond decreasing alcohol consump-
254
Flight into Egypt
tion on New Year's Eve, they aim to promote a sense of community,
provide family- oriented entertainment, deepen public appreciation
for the arts, and bring new life to downtown areas.
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionai-y. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Web Site
First Night^^ International posts a web site at the following address:
http://www.firstnight.com
•?%
Fffgl^t into Egypt
The Gospel according to Matthew tells that soon after Jesus was
born. King Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the town's
male infants (see Holy Innocents' Day). An angel warned Joseph of
Herod's evil plot and told him to escape with his family to Egypt.
The Holy Family obeyed the angel's command and departed. This
event, called the Flight into Egypt, has been depicted by many artists
over the centuries, including Giotto (c. 1267-1337), Titian (1488 or
1490-1576), Albrecht Diirer (1471-1528), and Nicolas Foussin (1594-
1665). It is commemorated in Orthodox churches on December 26
— or January 8 in churches that still use the Julian calendar — in a
service referred to as the Synaxis of the Theotokos {for more on the
Julian calendar, see Old Christmas Day). Synaxis means "meeting"
and Theotokos, a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, means "God
bearer." In the Middle Ages, some western Europeans, particularly
the French, remembered the Flight into Egypt with a festival called
the Feast of the Ass.
When King Herod died, the angel returned again, notifying Joseph
that it was safe for him to return with his family to Judea. When
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Joseph learned that Herod's brutal son, Archelaus, had inherited his
father's throne, he decided not to return to Bethlehem, and instead
moved his family to Nazareth.
Legends
What happened to the Holy Family on this perilous journey into
Egypt? The Bible doesn't say. Perhaps because of this omission, leg-
ends and lore soon sprouted up around the event. According to one
tale, Herod's soldiers knew the Holy Family had escaped and so
pursued them. As Mary, Joseph, and Jesus passed some peasants
sowing wheat, Mary said to them, "If anyone should ask if we have
been here, tell them that we indeed passed by while you were sow-
ing this field of wheat." Miraculously, the wheat sprouted and grew
tall overnight. When Herod's soldiers inquired of the peasants and
learned that their prey had passed through the region at the time the
wheat was planted, they figured that the Holy Family was many
days ahead of them and so lost heart and returned to Judea.
An ancient document known as the Arabic Infancy Gospel records
another near escape. In this story, the Holy Family is held up by ban-
dits on their way to Egypt. One of the highwaymen, however, feels a
special sympathy for the fugitives and refuses to rob them. In fact, he
tries to convince the other robber to let them go. The other refuses
until the first robber agrees to pay him a girdle and forty coins. The
kind-hearted thief does so and the other reluctantly allows the pris-
oners to depart. The baby Jesus predicts that he and the bandits will
die on the same day in the same place. Sure enough, according to
the Arabic Infancy Gospel, these men turn out to be the two thieves,
the one remorseful and the other not, who were crucified alongside
Jesus about thirty years later (Luke 23:93-43).
Another tale, this one from a document called the Apocryphal Gos-
pel of Pseudo-Matthew, finds Joseph losing faith as the family
trudges through the desert. They stop underneath a date palm tree
where Joseph frets about how to find water. Mary asks her husband
to pick her some dates. Joseph scolds her for requesting something
so far out of his reach. The infant Jesus, however, speaks to the tree,
commanding it to bow down so Mary can gather fruit. The tree re-
sponds. Then Jesus orders an underground spring to break through
256
Flight into Egypt
to the surface so that they can drink and fill their water bags. As this
tale spread through Europe, people changed the date tree to a cher-
ry tree and changed the timing of the event so that it takes place
before Jesus was born.
Aiiother legend concerning trees reports that the Holy Family passed
through a forest on their long journey to Egypt. Every tree except the
aspen bowed in reverence as they passed. Irritated by this lack of
respect the baby Jesus then cursed the tree, which is why its leaves
tremble in the wind till this day.
Another plant that paid respect to the Holy Family on the Flight into
Egypt is the Rose of Jericho. It sprang up wherever they passed. It is
sometimes called Mary's Rose.
One final tale popular in the Middle Ages proclaims that the Holy
Family encountered a gypsy woman on the road to Egypt. She ex-
tended her well-wishes to the Holy Family and, noticing Mary's
fatigue especially, she took them to a place where they could rest
and offered straw for their donkey. She then proceeded to recount
Mary's past history. Afterwards she read Jesus' palm and accurately
foretold the major events of his life, including the crucifixion. Then
she begged for alms, but not in the usual manner. Knowing the true
identity of the child, the gypsy woman asked for the gift of genuine
repentance and life everlasting.
Further Reading
Gulevich, Tanya. Encyclopedia of Easter, Carnival, and Lent. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 2002.
Hackwood, Frederick W. Christ Lore. 1902. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Gale
Research, 1969.
Jameson, Anna. Legends of the Madonna. 1890. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. San Francisco, Calif.: Harper and Row, 1984.
^.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
VootballBowl Games
Many Americans enjoy watching college football games on New
Year's Day. This tradition dates back to the early years of the twenti-
eth century, when the first of these "bowl" games, the Rose Bowl,
got its start.
The Rose Bowl Game and the Tournament of Roses
The Rose Bowl, which takes place in Pasadena, California, began as
one component of a yearly festival called the Tournament of Roses.
Members of the local Valley Hunt Club started this festival in 1890 as
a means of celebrating and publicizing Pasadena's wonderful winter
climate and its abundance of winter- time fruit and flowers. The day's
entertainments included a parade of flower-bedecked carriages, tug-
of-war contests, foot races, and polo matches. The festival quickly
became a hit — so much so that in 1895 the Valley Hunt Club turned
the event's organization and management over to a new, volunteer
group, the Tournament of Roses Association.
In 1902 Tournament officials decided that a collegiate sporting event
might attract even more people to their festival. Festival organizers
set up an "east versus west" football match, pitting the University of
Michigan against California's Stanford University. The game took
place in Tournament Park, which sat about 1,000 people. To the
amazement of festival organizers, 8,500 spectators came and jostled
one another for those seats. The fans expressed more enthusiasm for
the game than did the players. By the third quarter Michigan led 49
to 0. R. S. Fisher, captain of the thoroughly pummeled Stanford play-
ers, approached Hugh White, the captain of the Michigan team, and
tendered Stanford's surrender, reportedly saying, "If you are willing,
we are ready to quit." Michigan accepted this admission of defeat
and the game ended.
After this poor showing, festival organizers agreed to cancel the
football game as part of the Tournament of Roses. Chariot races
258
Football Bowl Games
instead amused the sports-loving public. Eventually these were
deemed too dangerous, and football returned to the Tournament of
Roses in 1916. Once again, huge crowds overwhelmed the venue. In
1920 festival organizers decided to build a new football stadium in
order to better accommodate fans. Modeled after Yale University's
then state-of-the-art football stadium, the Yale Bowl, Pasadena's
new stadium was dubbed the "Rose Bowl." The first game in the
new Rose Bowl Stadium took place on January 1, 1923.
The popularity of this contest grew with each passing decade. In
1927, the Rose Bowl Game became the first sports match to be
broadcast on transcontinental radio. In 1952 NBC covered the Rose
Bowl, making it the first college football game ever to be shown on
national television. In addition, since 1947 sell-out crowds have
jammed the Rose Bowl's bleachers to watch the game. In that year
Tournament organizers signed an agreement with the Big Ten and
Pacific Coast football conferences (the latter would eventually be-
come the Pacific Ten Conference). The Rose Bowl henceforth pitted
the top team in each of these conferences against each other.
The Tournament of Roses parade has also grown over the years.
Today it includes marching bands, equestrians, motorized floats, a
celebrity grand marshal, and a local beauty queen dubbed the Rose
Queen, who presides over the parade and game. Each year the
Tournament of Roses Association selects a theme for the parade.
Flower- covered floats express this theme. Parade rules dictate that
the entire surface of the float's exterior be covered with flowers or
other plant parts, such as leaves, seeds, or bark. Work begins on the
construction of the floats shortly after the previous year's festival
comes to a close.
Other New Year's Day Bowl Games
The success of the Rose Bowl Game prompted the creation of addi-
tional bowl games in other parts of the country. In 1933 two promi-
nent Miami citizens organized a New Year's Day football game as
one element of a new civic event called the Palm Festival. In 1935
this game became the Orange Bowl and was played in the newly
constructed Orange Bowl Stadium. In 1996 the contest shifted to the
Pro Player Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
In 1990 the Orange Bowl's official name changed to the FedEx
Orange Bowl, thus providing additional advertising for its major cor-
porate sponsor. Federal Express. In recent years, as the importance of
corporate funding has grown, many bowl games have added the
names of their primary corporate sponsors in their official titles {see
also Commercialism).
Other New Year's Day Bowl Games include the Southwest Bell
Cotton Bowl, played in Dallas, Texas. Flayed in Cotton Bowl Sta-
dium, the match currently pits a team from the Big 12 against a team
from the Southeastern Conference.
The Nokia Sugar Bowl makes its home in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Begun in 1935, the game took place in Tulane University's football
stadium. In 1975, the Sugar Bowl moved to the Superdome.
A relative late-comer, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl started in 1971. Played
in Sun Devil Stadium on the grounds of Arizona State University,
the Fiesta Bowl was originally scheduled for late December, but
moved to January 1, or sometimes a neighboring date, in 1981.
Bowl Championship Series
In 1998 the Bowl Championship Series was established to determine
the top-ranking team in college football by pitting the number one
and number two ranked teams in the nation against each other. This
event does not have a permanent home but rather rotates between
the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl.
Further Reading
Crump, WilUam D. The Christmas Encyclopedia. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland,
2001.
Michaelson, Herb, and Dave Newhouse. Rose Bowl Football Since 1902. New
York: Stein and Day, 1977.
Whittingham, Richard. Rites of Autumn. New York: Free Press, 2001.
Web Site
The Tournament of Roses Association maintains its own web site with
detailed information on the parade and football game:
http://www.tournamentofroses.com
260
France, Christmas in
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Vrance^ cfiristmas in
The story of the Christ child's birth, as represented in Nativity
scenes, retold in folk plays, and commemorated in religious services
plays a large role in French Christmas celebrations. As one might
expect, so, too, does fine food.
St. Nicholas's Day
French children eagerly await St. Nicholas's Day, December 6. In
honor of the generous saint, adults often give children gifts of candy
and other treats. Since St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Lorraine,
the people of that province celebrate his feast day with processions.
These processions include men dressed as the saint in long robes,
bishop's hats, and crosses. Pere Fouttard, or "Father Whipper," usually
follows behind Nicholas. The children recognize Fere Fouttard by his
dirty, dark robe, greasy, grey beard, and whip. While St. Nicholas
rewards children who have been good, Pere Fouttard punishes chil-
dren who have misbehaved {see also Black Peter; Knecht Ruprecht).
Pere Noel
In France children receive their Christmas gifts from Pere Noel, or
"Father Christmas." French folklore depicts Pere Noel as a solemn
old man with a white beard. He wears a long, hooded, red robe
trimmed with white fur. He resembles England's Father Christmas
and Germany's Weihnachtsmann. In the weeks before Christmas
many French children write letters to Pere Noel describing the gifts
they would like to receive {see also Children's Letters). They mail
these letters to the North Pole.
Preparations
As Christmas day draws near, many people give their homes a thor-
ough cleaning. Silver may be polished and fine china brought out of
storage for the sumptuous Christmas Eve feast called reveillon. Fam-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ilies shop for Christmas trees and flowers to decorate the table. The
French put all kinds of flowers to this purpose, including poinsettias,
but a special favorite is the Christmas rose. The French also enjoy
decorating their homes with mistletoe. Another shopping trip may
be made to pick up a new figurine for their Nativity scene, which the
French call a creche, meaning "crib." Shops and markets throughout
France display a wide variety of these engaging, lifelike figures in the
weeks preceding Christmas. As a special Christmas treat the family
may go to see a Nativity play. All over France local theatrical groups
present these plays, which retell French Nativity legends. The French
call these pastoral tales pastorales {see also Pastores, Los).
Most French families decorate their Christmas trees a few days be-
fore Christmas. French Christmas ornaments come in a wide vari-
ety of shapes and sizes. The fish, once a new year's symbol signifying
long life, has become a popular shape for tree ornaments. Although
Christmas trees have become popular, the Nativity scene remains the
most important Christmas decoration in France. Churches through-
out France display Nativity scenes in the weeks before Christmas.
French families begin to assemble their Nativity scenes a few days
before Christmas. Children especially enjoy this task and may bring
home twigs, moss, and rocks to make the setting look more lifelike.
Each day the figurines representing the Three Kings move closer to
the stable where the Holy Family has taken shelter {see Magi). In
past times Yule logs were popular throughout France. Nowadays
the Yule log survives in the form of a popular Christmas dessert
called a biiche de Noel, or "Christmas log." Bakers mold this creme-
filled cake into the shape of log.
Christmas Eve
Many French families serve a light snack at dinner time on Christ-
mas Eve. This tides the family over until the more formal meal,
which they call reveillon, meaning "awakening." This meal will not
take place until the middle of the night. Family members pass the
evening together singing Christmas carols and telling Christmas
stories. In addition, the women of the household may spend many
hours in the kitchen preparing the Christmas Eve feast. Children
place their shoes near the fireplace, underneath the Christmas tree.
262
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
or near the Nativity scene. In the middle of the night the magical
Pere Noel will come and fill them with sweets and toys. Late in the
evening someone, often the youngest child, completes the Nativity
scene by placing the baby Jesus figurine into the manger. As mid-
night approaches small children are tucked into bed and the rest of
the family prepares to go to Midnight Mass.
After returning from church French families finally sit down to their
Christmas Eve banquet. This meal may consist of up to fifteen cours-
es. After passing several hours dining together the family settles
down to watch the children open Christmas presents. Families with
small children may wait until Christmas morning to open presents,
however. As a rule, only children receive presents on Christmas.
Adults exchange gifts with one another on New Year's Day.
Regional Customs
Located in southern France, the region of Provence boasts a number
of distinctive Christmas customs. The region is well known for its
santons, Nativity scene figurines. In Provence santon makers have
sold their wares at Christmas fairs since the early nineteenth centu-
ry. For generations these artisans have trained their children in the
traditional techniques for making the clay figurines. A number of
Provengal villages sponsor living Nativity scenes and costumed pro-
cessions of shepherds, angels, kings, and pilgrims on Christmas
Eve. These candlelight processions begin about an hour before mid-
night and wend their way to the local church, where participants pay
their respects to the Holy Family and attend Midnight Mass.
Christmas cuisine also varies across France. Families in Provence
often serve lobster as a first course for reveillon. Roast pheasant or
roast lamb often follow. Bread, cheese, green salad, pate, and wine
round out the meal. Provengal custom suggests that hostesses serve
thirteen desserts for reveillon, one for Jesus and each of the twelve
apostles. Some combination of fresh, glazed, and dried fruit, marzi-
pan, candies, and cakes are usually served. In the snowy French Alps
a simpler reveillon meal may be offered, featuring such sturdy dishes
as hot broth with noodles and boiled beef. In Brittany, on France's
northern coast, buckwheat crepes are served with heavy cream.
264
Frankincense
New Year and Epiphany
Adults exchange gifts on New Year's Day. The French word for new
year's gift, etrenne, comes from the Latin word strenae, which also
means "new year's gift." The ancient Romans offered these gifts to
one another at their new year festival. Kalends. The Christmas sea-
son in France closes on January 6 with Fete des Rois, Three King's
Day, or Epiphany.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in France. Chicago: World Book, 1988.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and Canadian Heritage:
http://www.culture.fr:80/culture/noel/angl/noel.htm
Vrankr
mcense
The sap of the frankincense tree {Boswellia carteri or Boswellia thu-
rifera) dries into hard, yellowish brown lumps of gum resin known
as frankincense. In biblical times frankincense was prized as the very
best kind of incense. It was one of the gifts that the Magi presented
to the baby Jesus.
The English word "frankincense" comes from the Old French words
franc encens, meaning pure or high-quality incense. Although it was
most commonly used as incense in ancient times, frankincense was
also prescribed as a medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments.
Many ancient peoples, such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Per-
sians, Jews, and Babylonians, burned incense in home and temple
worship. The rising fumes from burning incense may have offered
worshipers a visual image of prayers ascending to heaven. Scholars
speculate that this imagery explains the widespread use of incense
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
in worship. Frankincense is mentioned numerous times in the Old
Testament and was one of the four components of the sacred
incense burned by the Jewish priests in the Sanctuary. Because of its
close relationship with worship, the Magi's gift of frankincense has
traditionally been interpreted as a recognition of Jesus' divinity.
Another interpretation suggests that it predicts Jesus' future role as a
high priest.
In ancient times, Arabia supplied the Mediterranean and Asia with
most of their myrrh and frankincense. These products were so high-
ly valued and so difficult to obtain outside of Arabia that they be-
came a luxury affordable only by the rich. Thus, the Magi's valuable
gift of frankincense may also have signified their recognition of
Jesus' great worth.
Until the mid-1 700s tradition dictated that the British monarch offer
a gift of frankincense, gold, and myrrh at the Chapel Royal on
Epiphany. Heralds and knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath
accompanied the King on this reenactment of the Magi's pilgrimage.
Under the unstable King George III (1760-1820) the procession was
abandoned, although the monarch's gift of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh is still sent to the Chapel Royal by proxy. A similar royal offer-
ing was at one time customary in Spain.
Today frankincense trees can be found in Arabia, Ethiopia, Somalia,
and India. Frankincense is still primarily used as incense. Frankin-
cense is a component of the incense burned in Roman Catholic and
Orthodox church services. It may also be found in other scented
products, such as soap.
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
De Hoghton, Charles. "Incense." In Richard Cavendish, ed. Man, Myth and
Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural. Volume 8. New York:
Marshall Cavendish, 1970.
Groom, Nigel. Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade.
London, England: Longman, 1981.
Peattie, Donald Culross. "Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh." Saturday Evening
Post 264, 6 (November 1992): 56.
266
Frau Gaude
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Vrau Gaude
Gaue, Gode, Wode
According to old folk beliefs, Frau Gaude, followed by her pack of
phantom dogs, once haunted the streets of German-speaking Eu-
rope during the Twelve Days of Christmas. If she found a house
with an open door, she would send in one of her dogs, which the
householders would find impossible to drive away. If they killed the
dog, it would turn into a stone. Regardless of where the family left
the stone, it would always return to their house at night as a whim-
pering dog, bringing them bad luck throughout the year.
In some regions, Frau Gaude led the Wild Hunt, a riotous proces-
sion of ghosts and spirits who rode across the stormy night skies
during Yule. Frau Gaude may be a variant of Berchta, a pagan win-
ter goddess who faded into a kind of minor bogey in later times.
Other names for Frau Gaude include Gaue, Gode, and Wode.
Further Reading
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
267
Gabriel
The Bible names only one of the angels who appear in connection
with Jesus' birth. The Gospel according to Luke states that the
angel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary to tell her that
she would bear a son whom she should name Jesus (Luke 1:26-35).
Christians call this event the Annunciation.
Gabriel in the Bible
Who is Gabriel and why was he sent to bear such important news?
Religious scholars often begin a discussion of the angel by analyzing
the meaning of his name. Some say it means "God is my warrior";
others translate it as "man of God." Still others believe it should be
translated as "power of God" or "hero of God." Gabriel is one of
only two angels mentioned by name in the Hebrew scriptures, or
Old Testament (the other is Michael). In the Book of Daniel, Gabriel
helps Daniel interpret his visions and informs him of God's plan for
the end of time (Daniel 8-12). Gabriel returns again in the New
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Testament, or Christian scriptures. In the Gospel according to Luke
he appears to Zechariah to tell him that he and his wife will con-
ceive a child, John, who will serve as the forerunner to Jesus Christ
(Luke 1:11-20). Shortly afterwards Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary to
announce her forthcoming pregnancy (Luke 1:26-38). Thus the Bible
tends to cast Gabriel as God's herald. Because he frequently brings
news of God's doings to human beings, he is sometimes referred to
as the Angel of Revelation.
Gabriel in Christian Art
In the Gospel according to Luke Gabriel identifies himself as some-
one who "stand[s] in the presence of God" (Luke 1:19). This has led
many Christians to conclude that he is one of the few high-ranking
angels known as archangels. Over the centuries Christian artists
have portrayed Gabriel as a solemn, male figure wearing beautiful
robes. In earlier works of art Gabriel often carries a scepter. In more
recent works he holds a lily, a symbol of the purity and goodness of
the Virgin Mary.
Jewish and Muslim Beliefs
Jewish lore assigns Gabriel many different jobs. The Book of Enoch
portrays him as an overseer of the Garden of Eden {see also Adam
and Eve Day). Other apocryphal texts and legends have shown him
as one of the four angels who stand round the throne of God, a par-
ticipant in the destruction of Sodom and the army of Sennacherib,
and one of those who prayed for the world at the time of the Great
Flood. Muslims, too, honor the angel Gabriel, whom they know as
Jibril. They believe him to be the angel who dictated the Qur'an —
the holy book of Islam — to the prophet Muhammad.
Christian Lore
Christian lore not only places Gabriel at the scene of Jesus' birth but
also at the scene leading up to Jesus' death. Perhaps because of his
biblical role as a herald. Christian legends have suggested that Ga-
briel was the unnamed angel that brought the good news of Jesus'
birth to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-12). Another folk belief places
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Gabriel
Gabriel in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus prayed and waited
for the men who would come to arrest him and condemn him to
death. Both of these tales emphasize Gabriel's role as the angel of
mercy. Michael, by contrast, functions as the angel of judgment. (In
Jewish lore these roles are reversed, with Michael serving as the
angel of mercy while Gabriel acts as the angel of judgment.)
Patronage
In 1951 Pope Pius XII gave Gabriel a new role to play, modernizing his
ancient task as a transmitter of messages. He declared Gabriel to be
the patron saint of all those who work in the field of telecommunica-
tions. Gabriel also serves as the traditional patron of messengers,
diplomats, clergy members, postal workers, and stamp collectors.
Further Reading
Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels. New York: Free Press, 1967.
Fallon, T. L. "Gabriel, Archangel." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vohime 6.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Godwin, Malcom. Angels: An Endangered Species. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1990.
Pope, Hugh. "St. Gabriel the Archangel." In Charles B. Hervermann, ed.
Catholic Encyclopedia. Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson, 1913. Available on the
Worldwide Web at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06330a.htm
Strauss, Mark L. "Gabriel." In David Noel Freedman, ed. Eerdmans Dic-
tionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WUiam B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2000.
Web Site
"Gabriel the Archangel," a page available through Catholic Forum, a web
site affiliated with Liturgical Publications of St. Louis, at: http://www.catho
Iic-forum.com/saints/saintg03.htm
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Games
In the days before radio, television, video machines, and computers,
people entertained one another during the long winter evenings of
the Christmas season. They told stories, danced, sang songs, or
played games. In the twentieth century, as people began to rely on
ready-made forms of entertainment provided by the mass media,
many of these games died out or became children's pastimes.
Late Medieval and Renaissance England
In late medieval and Renaissance England people played a wide
variety of games at Christmas time. Outdoor amusements included
group games and athletic matches in such sports as archery and tilt-
ing. One group game. Prisoner's Base, proved so popular in the time
of King Edward III (1312-1377) that players clogged the street lead-
ing to Westminster Palace. This congestion caused the king to pro-
hibit the playing of Prisoner's Base near the palace.
During this era the English also enjoyed a variety of parlor games at
Christmas time, including Blind Man's Bluff, Leap Frog, Loggats
(similar to Nine Pins) and Hot Cockles. In Hot Cockles each player
in turn is blindfolded. The blindfolded player puts his hands behind
his back, palms up. One of the other players hits the hands of the
blindfolded player. The blindfolded player must guess which of the
other players has hit him. If he does so correctly, he may penalize the
player whom he "caught." Those who preferred a greater mental test
might retire to a game of chess, while the physically agile might
challenge each other to tennis or skittles.
The English also enjoyed playing cards and gambling at Christmas
time, especially with dice. During the reign of the Tudor kings, work-
ing people may have found greater pleasure in these games than the
well-to-do, since they were prohibited by law from playing games
except at Christmas time. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
the Puritans condemned those who celebrated Christmas by play-
ing games and gambling.
272
Uames
Victorian England
Parlor games remained popular Christmas entertainments through-
out the nineteenth century. Victorians favored such games as Snap-
dragon, Forfeits, Hoop and Hide (Hide and Seek), Charades, Blind
Man's Bluff, Queen of Sheba (a variation on Blind Man's Bluff), and
Hunt the Slipper (see also Victorian England, Christmas in).
In Snapdragon players gathered around a bowl of currants (a raisin-
like dried fruit) covered with spirits. A lighted match was dropped
into the bowl, setting fire to the alcohol. Players challenged one an-
other to grab a flaming currant out of the bowl and pop it into their
mouths, thus extinguishing the flames. A bit of light verse describes
the fearful delights of this game:
Here he comes with flaming bowl.
Don't he mean to take his toll.
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Take care you don't take too much.
Be not greedy in your clutch.
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung.
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums.
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
But Old Christmas makes him come.
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold —
Out he goes, his flames are cold.
Snip! Snap! Dragon! [Chambers, 1990, 2: 738]
Players heightened the effect of the glowing, blue flames by extin-
guishing all other lights in the room except that cast by the burning
bowl.
In Hunt the Slipper players formed a circle around one person. They
held their hands behind their backs and passed a slipper around the
outside of the circle. The person in the center of the circle had to
guess who was in possession of the slipper at any given moment.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
A number of other English Christmas games have now disappeared
so completely that only their picturesque names remain behind.
Folklorists cannot now say how they were played. These forgotten
games include Shoeing the Wild Mare, Steal the White Loaf, Post
and Pair, Feed the Dove, Puss-in-the-Corner, and The Parson Has
Lost His Cloak. Before a Christmas party broke up for the evening,
the sleepy guests might play one last, quaintly named game called
Yawning for a Cheshire Cheese. The players sat in a circle and
yawned at one another. Whoever produced the longest, most open-
mouthed, and loudest yawn won a Cheshire cheese.
Other Countries
Some traditional Christmas games are for children. In many nations
Advent calendars amuse children with a kind of counting game in
the weeks before Christmas. Children in Mexico often play games
with pifiatas at holiday season parties. In Iran youngsters play egg-
tapping games at Christmas time.
Most Christmas games, however, involve adults and younger peo-
ple. In a number of different countries sporting matches, games of
chance, or fortune -telling games are associated with one or more
days of the Christmas season. In past times Swedes used to play
games with Christmas gifts, which they call Julklapp, on December
24. On St. Stephen's Day both Swedes and Norwegians used to race
horses {see Norway, Christmas in). Ethiopians celebrate Christmas
Day by playing ganna, a sport that resembles hockey {see Ethiopia,
Christmas in). In the United States, many people enjoy watching
football bowl games on New Year's Day. In Lithuania people
entertain themselves on Christmas Eve with fortune-telling games.
People in many countries celebrate New Year's Eve by playing games
of chance, especially card games. Colonial Americans and Euro-
peans of past centuries enjoyed card games and a kind of charade
involving the King of the Bean on Twelfth Night.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 24 — Christmas Games: Snapdragon." In his
The Book of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
274
Gaudete Sunday
Miall, Antony, and Peter Miall. The Victorian Christmas Book. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1978.
Muir, Frank. Christinas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Pimlott, J. A. R. 77:e Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Heights, N.J.: Humani-
ties Press, 1978.
Gaudete Sunday
In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion the
third Sunday in Advent is sometimes called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete
means "rejoice" in Latin. This name comes from the first line of the
iritroit (opening prayer) for the third Sunday in Advent, which encour-
ages parishioners to "rejoice in the Lord always." Although Advent
ushers in a period of penance and spiritual preparation, Gaudete
Sunday introduces the theme of joy. The lighter mood is reflected in
the change in liturgical colors, from the purple of the Advent season to
the rose color adopted for Gaudete Sunday. In addition, on Gaudete
Sunday parishioners may decorate the church with flowers, and the
organ, usually silent during Advent, may be played.
Further Reading
Metford, ]. C]. The Christian Year. London, England: Thames and Hudson,
1991.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Germany^ cf^ristmas in
German Christmas celebrations braid together a rich heritage of folk,
food, and religious customs. Many of these customs have spread to
other parts of the globe. Indeed, the Christmas tree, which emerged
in Germany several centuries ago, has become a nearly universal
symbol of the holiday. German Christmas customs and traditions
have probably exerted more influence on mainstream American
Christmas celebrations than those of any other ethnic group.
Advent
In Germany Advent is called Lichtwochen, which means "light weeks."
The Germans observe Advent with Advent wreaths and Advent
calendars. These two customs, German in origin, have spread far be-
yond Germany. Carol singing is another popular Advent and Christ-
mas custom. One of the world's most popular Christmas carols,
"Silent Night," was originally composed in German by an Austrian
priest and his organist. Other internationally known carols of Ger-
man origin include "In Dulci Jubilo" (also known as "Good Christian
Men Rejoice"), "Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming," and "O Christmas
Tree, O Christmas Tree." Germany's famous Christmas markets
offer another way to prepare for Christmas. Traditional German
Christmas foods, crafts, and gifts can be found at their many, busy
stalls. The famous Nuremberg market opens on the Friday closest to
St. Barbara's Day, December 4, although most Christmas markets
are open throughout Advent.
Frauentragen, or "woman carrying," an old German Advent custom
still practiced in some areas, closely resembles the Hispanic folk play
Las Posadas. Children carry a picture or figurine representing the
Virgin Mary to a neighborhood home. Once there they sing or enact
a brief scene from the Nativity story, say a prayer, and place the pic-
ture or figurine near the family crucifix. The children return for the
image the following evening and carry it to a new home. In this way
they act out Mary and Joseph's search for lodging in Bethlehem.
276
Germany, Christmas in
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WSBm ' m n i
On Christmas Eve the children carry Mary back to the church, where
she takes her place in the Nativity scene.
Special Days Within Advent
In past eras various customs and superstitions attached themselves
to the saints' days and other special days that fell during Advent. St.
Andrew's night, November 30, presented young girls with the op-
portunity to use folk magic to foresee their marital futures. One old
superstition advised girls to wait up until midnight and throw a slip-
per at the door. If the slipper landed with the toe pointing out the
door, they would be leaving their parents' home for their husband's
home in the next year. St. Thomas's Day, December 21, provided
another opportunity for young women to exercise various fortune-
telling charms. In past years St. Thomas's night was also known as
spinning night. Young women stayed up late into the night spinning
thread that might be sold to help pay for Christmas expenses.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
On St. Barbara's Day, an old folk tradition recommended cutting
branches from cherry trees and placing them in vases of water near
the fire. If timed correctly these branches, known as "Barbara branch-
es," would bloom on Christmas or Christmas Eve.
St. Nicholas's Day, December 6, offers children a preview of Christ-
mas pleasures to come. On St. Nicholas's Eve youngsters leave a
shoe or a boot by the fireplace, window, or bedroom door. The next
morning they find it filled with sweet treats. Although St. Nicholas
usually disburses presents, German folklore warns that he will some-
times leave poorly behaved children a stick as a warning of punish-
ment to come. St. Nicholas's assistant, Knecht Ruprecht, usually
performs the unpleasant task of disciplining naughty children.
The Knocking Nights — the last three Thursday nights in Advent —
constitute a different sort of Christmas season observance. In some
regions of Germany folk tradition encourages people to take to the
streets making loud noises and wearing frightening masks on these
nights. Folk rites designed to ward away evil spirits and influences
were also practiced on these days.
Christmas Decorations
Besides Advent calendars and wreaths, home decorations in Ger-
many include red candles, pine twigs, and candlesticks. One region-
al folk custom encourages families to display candlesticks shaped
like miners and angels in their windows at Christmas time. Families
display one miner for each boy child in the house and one angel for
each girl child. The Christmas pyramid is another traditional Ger-
man Christmas decoration. Some researchers believe that this pyra-
midal arrangement of shelves served as the forerunner to the Christ-
mas tree. Many German families display a Nativity scene in their
homes. This is especially popular in Roman Catholic areas. Bavarian
craftsman have a reputation for producing marvelous Nativity scenes
out of carved wood. Many fine Christmas cribs are produced by Ger-
man artisans and sold at Christmas markets. The most famous Ger-
man Christmas decoration, however, is the Christmas tree. In the last
several hundred years the Christmas tree has spread throughout the
world, and today is recognized as a nearly universal symbol of the
holiday.
278
Germany, Christmas in
Christmas Baking
The Germans are famous for their Christmas baking, and, indeed, a
German Christmas is filled with many delectable treats. Christstollen,
also called Chrisbrot, Stutenbrot, or Striezl, constitutes Germany's most
famous Christmas cake or bread. To make it bakers enhance a sweet
yeast dough with dried fruits, various fruit peels, almonds, and spices.
After baking they apply a coating of sugar icing. Baumkuchen, or "tree
cake," serves as another special Christmas or Advent treat. The log-
shaped cake is prepared in such a way that each slice is imprinted
with concentric circles resembling tree rings. Gingerbread is anoth-
er German Christmas favorite. The Germans not only shape it into
cookies, but also into gingerbread houses. Other well-known German
Christmas cookies include Lebkuchen, Pfejfemusse, and Springerle. The
German baker may also produce other Christmas treats from Ger-
many's storehouse of cookie recipes, including vanilla rings, cinna-
mon stars, various kinds of nut cookies, spice cookies, macaroons,
marzipan, and more.
Gift Bringers
In addition to St. Nicholas, a number of other Christmas gift bringers
visit Germany each year. The Christkindel, or "Christ Child" usually
brings gifts to children in southern Germany. In the north the Weih-
nachtsmann, or "Christmas man" typically delivers the gifts.
Christmas Eve and Day
In Germany Christmas Eve is known as Heilige Abend, or "holy
night." Throughout Germany many offices and stores close by noon
and people scurry home to make last-minute preparations. Luth-
erans often attend church services on the afternoon of the twenty-
fourth, while German Roman Catholics wait until Midnight Mass.
Many people visit family gravesites on Christmas Eve. In some areas
they leave lighted candles on the graves. In rural areas farmers pay
their respects to the family farm animals by making sure they are fed
before the Christmas tree is lit. This custom honors the folk belief
that farm animals were among the first to welcome the baby Jesus
into the world, since he was born in a stable.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Some German families decorate their Christmas trees on the after-
noon of December 24. Mother and father may do so behind closed
doors, allowing the children their first view of the illuminated tree
after sunset. Some German families still light their trees with can-
dles, although others now prefer electric lights as a safer option. In
addition to store-bought ornaments German families festoon their
Christmas trees with cookies and candies. Families often read the
Christmas story aloud by the light of the Christmas tree candles and
sing their favorite carols before settling down to open gifts. In some
families parents give children sparklers to hold while they stand
around the tree and sing.
Today Germans display their Christmas presents under the tree or
near the Nativity scene. In the past, however, some gifts were tossed
through an open window or door and were known as Julklapp, or
"Christmas knocks." Gift givers wrapped these boxes in many dif-
ferent layers, with a different name attached to each layer. Part of the
fun lay in finding out who the gift was really for.
Many different dishes appear on Christmas Eve menus in Germany.
In past times, carp was standard fare on Christmas Eve, in keeping
with the Roman Catholic tradition of fasting on December 24. In
Roman Catholic areas of Germany people may still prepare a meat-
less meal for Christmas Eve. Sweetened rice pudding, a dish which
still finds favor with some Scandinavians, once served as another
traditional Christmas dish in Germany {see also Denmark, Christ-
mas in; Norway, Christmas in).
In Germany Christmas Day is sometimes referred as the "First Day
of Christmas," der erste Weihnachtstag. Germans typically spend the
day at home with their families or visit relatives. The main meal of
the day usually features roast goose.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The rest of the Twelve Days of Christmas fall between Christmas
and Epiphany. In past times many superstitions attached them-
selves to this time of year. Many people believed that the Wild
Hunt, a band of fierce spirits, rode abroad on these nights. Berchta,
a witch-like figure, was also said to wander through German-speak-
280
Germany, Christmas in
ing lands at this time of year. Many of the old folk customs associat-
ed with the Twelve Days offered protection from these roaming
phantoms. For example, Germans often burned incense as a means
of frightening off evil spirits. The Twelve Days were sometimes called
the "Smoke Nights" in reference to this custom. Loud noises were
believed to ward off evil creatures as well, and many noisemaking
customs attached themselves to this season. According to folk tradi-
tion, wearing frightening masks and costumes also put evil influ-
ences to flight, and in some areas people went from house to house
in such garb. In Bavaria women refrained from spinning, baking,
washing, and cleaning during the Twelve Days of Christmas, believ-
ing it unlucky. For this reason the period became known as the
"Twelve Quiet Days."
The magic of the Twelve Days also extended to fortune-telling. One
folk belief cautioned that events that occurred during these twelve
days set the pattern for the twelve months to come. For example,
rain on the second day of Christmas meant that much rain would
fall during February, the second month of the year. Folklore advised
young girls to harness the magical properties of the twelve days to
see their own futures. They could choose from a number of spells
and charms designed to foretell whether or not they would marry in
the coming year, and to reveal the identity of their future husbands.
For example, the sparks of a fire lit on New Year's Eve might spell
out their future husband's name, or the entire peel from an apple,
tossed over one shoulder might fall in such a pattern as to give a
clue to the boy's identity. These charms were especially popular on
New Year's Eve.
St. Stephen's Day
Germans celebrate St. Stephen's Day, December 26, in much the
same way they celebrate Christmas, with family visits. In the evening
many Germans enjoy dining out and attending the theater. Since St.
Stephen is the patron saint of horses, many old St. Stephen's Day
customs involve these animals. In rural areas, farmers still ride their
horses in processions to be blessed. Moreover, horse trainers and
breeders often sponsor equestrian processions on this day.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is also known as Silvester Abend, or Sylvester's Eve, in
recognition of the fact that December 31 is St. Sylvester's Day.
Germans celebrate New Year's Eve with parties, fortune-telling, and
practical jokes. Traditional party foods include carp, herring salad,
hot wine punch, and champagne. Bleigiessen, or molten lead pour-
ing, is a traditional method of fortune-telling on New Year's Eve. A
partygoer drops a spoonful of molten lead into water and lets it
harden. The shape it takes will foretell something about what that
person will be doing in the coming year. Many luck charms and
superstitions have also attached themselves to New Year's Eve. One
folk belief warns that spilling salt on New Year's Eve brings bad luck.
By contrast, coming into contact with a pig, chimney soot, or a chim-
neysweep on New Year's Eve brings good luck. Sometimes a
thoughtful party host will bring both a live pig and a chimneysweep
to his New Year's party as a way of offering good luck to his guests.
Another superstition advises that the sight of a young, dark-haired
man soon after the start of the new year brings good luck {see also
Firstfooting).
In the days following Christmas many shops sell joke goods. These
include things like sugar cubes that have a spider inside them, or
chocolates filled with mustard instead of candy. The Germans cele-
brate the new year by playing these kinds of jokes on one another.
Noisemaking is another important New Year's custom. Fireworks
explode at midnight, and in some villages, horn players "blow in"
the new year from the local church tower. In other regions people
shoot off guns or even small cannons in honor of the new year {see
Shooting in Christmas).
Epiphany
Epiphany, January 6, is called Dreikonigstag, or "Three Kings' Day" in
Germany. In past times many people celebrated Twelfth Night, or
Epiphany Eve, as the end of the Christmas season. Some Germans
still follow this old custom, electing a King of the Bean and Queen
of the Bean to preside over Twelfth Night or Epiphany parties.
Another old Epiphany custom, the caroling of the star boys, or star
singers, also survives in contemporary Germany. Nowadays these
282
Germany, Christmas in
costumed lads, dressed as the Three Kings, or Magi, may collect
coins for charitable causes rather than treats for themselves.
The blessing of homes with incense, holy water, and the initials of
the Three Kings is a religious custom connected with Epiphany. The
Germans use the initials CMB to represent the Three Kings, which
come from the names most associated with the Magi in folklore:
Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These initials are printed over the
front door in chalk, surrounded by the numbers representing the
year. Thus, in 1999 the inscription would read 19 CMB 99.
Two final Christmas customs take place in German homes on
Epiphany. Many German families add the figures representing the
Three Kings to their Nativity scenes on this day. In addition, Christ-
mas trees are taken down, and children are permitted to eat the
treats that have been used as decorations.
Further Reading
Christmas in Germany. Second edition. Lincolnwood, 111.: Passport Books,
1996.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Russ, lennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Web Sites
The German Embassy in Washington, D.C., maintains a number of pages
describing German Christmas foods and customs on its web site. Go to the
site listed below, click on "search," and enter the word "Christmas":
http://www.germany-info.org
A site sponsored by German instructor Robert ]. Shea, Missouri:
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/customs.htm
%
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Gl)ana^ cl)r\stmas m
In Ghana traditional Christmas observances revolve around large
family gatherings, feasts, singing, and church services. About forty
percent of Ghanaians are Christians. The rest are followers of tradi-
tional African religions or Muslims. In recent years Christmas com-
mercialism has crept into west African countries such as Ghana. In
richer, urban areas people have begun to celebrate the holiday with
decorated Christmas trees, electric Christmas lights, Santa Claus,
Christmas cards, and gift exchanges. Even some non-Christians
take part in this commercial Christmas. Yet most Ghanaian Christi-
ans, especially outside the cities, still celebrate the holiday in the tra-
ditional fashion.
Before Christmas
Many churches blossom with flowers and palm branches during
Advent. As Christmas approaches, some congregations decorate a
tree on the church grounds in honor of the coming holiday. In the
last few days before Christmas jam-packed buses, trucks, cars, and
boats criss-cross the country, ferrying people back to their ancestral
towns and villages. Christmas carols blare from radios, loudspeak-
ers, and televisions all over Ghana during this season.
Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve families gather for a special dinner, often consisting
of chicken stew or dishes made from rice and goat meat. Then they
head off to church services that usually include a Nativity play or
Christmas pageant performed by the congregation's youth. After
church, people greet one another and exchange good wishes for the
holiday. Processions form and ramble joyfully through the streets, led
by bands of musicians. Children dash about shouting, "Egbona hee,
egogo vol", "Christ is coming, he is near!" Fireworks may also take
place on Christmas Eve.
284
Ghana, Christmas in
Christmas Day
On Christmas Day festivities begin quite early, sometime before
dawn, as groups of carolers go door to door singing songs. House-
holders typically offer small presents to the singers, who stand for the
band of angels that brought the good news of Jesus' birth to the
shepherds. Caroling of the same sort may also take place on Christ-
mas Eve. Christmas Day church services are scheduled for mid-morn-
ing. They feature the retelling of the Nativity story and the singing of
many hymns and carols in local languages. After the service is over,
children collect candies and other sweet treats said to have come from
Father Christmas. Some also receive a book, new clothes, or shoes as
Christmas presents. People greet each other, saying "Afishapa," which
means "Merry Christmas and Happy NewYear."
Christmas celebrations continue through the day as families, friends,
and neighbors gather for feasts and dances. Typical foods eaten at
Christmas time include peanut soup, fufu (a paste made from mashed
yams), okra soup, and some kind of meat, such as chicken, goat,
sheep, beef, or pork. Brightly colored paper ornaments pinned up
throughout the house set a cheery mood for the festivities. Many
Ghanaian families also festoon a tree growing in their courtyard with
paper ornaments. Often mango, guava, or cashew trees serve this
purpose. Other families will bring a single tree branch into the house
and decorate it with lights and ornaments.
In Ghana many people observe the libation ceremony, a traditional
folk ritual, at Christmas time. In this ritual people drink from a cup
and then pour some of its contents on the ground as a symbolic
offering to their ancestors.
After Christmas
Ghanaian Christmas celebrations traditionally last for eight days.
Caroling children visit homes during this time, hoping that house-
holders will reward their musical efforts with small gifts. The chil-
dren often sing original songs or play homemade instruments.
Further Reading
Gonza, Sam. "Reclaiming the True Meaning of Christmas." All Africa News
Service, Nairobi, Kenya (December 21, 1998).
285
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1999.
Sullivan, Tim. "The Modern, Material Christmas Makes Headway in West
Africa." Associated Press Online (December 21, 1998).
Tucker, Cathy C. Christmas Worldwide. Philadelphia, Pa.: XUbris, 2000.
Web Sites
The following page, posted by the Rev. Peter E. Adotey Addo, a writer and
United Methodist minister born in Ghana, describes Christmas celebra-
tions in his native country: http://www.addo.ws/afishapa.htm
For a short story by the Rev. Peter Addo describing a boy's Christmas in
Ghana, see: http://www.southerncrossreview.Org/3/fireedit.html
Gl^osts
Spirits of many kinds haunt the Christmas folklore of northern
Europe. Some folklorists believe that in ancient times the Germanic
and Scandinavian peoples associated the midwinter Yule festival
with the return of the dead. Old tales tell of a band of ghosts called
the Wild Hunt that charged through the nighttime sky during the
Twelve Days of Christmas. In Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Lith-
uania old folk beliefs concerning the Christmas time visits of the
dead linger on. In the German region of Bavaria, some people be-
lieve that restless spirits walk abroad during the Knocking Nights,
the Thursday nights in Advent. In Estonia, Germany, and Lithuania
some people visit family graves on Christmas Eve, leaving behind lit
candles {see also Christmas Candles).
In the German-speaking lands Berchta, too, wandered through the
long, dark evenings. Elves peeked out from behind trees and be-
neath footstools in many countries. In others, trolls lumbered and
witches flitted through the darkness. In Scandinavia the Jultomten
appeared each year at Christmas time. In Iceland the closely related
Christmas Lads played pranks on householders. Far to the south
the kallikantzari vexed Greek families.
286
Ghosts
In England as well, certain folk beliefs warned that ghosts and other
supernatural creatures lurked in the long shadows of the Twelve
Days.
England
One old English tradition called for the telling of ghost stories at
Christmas time. Perhaps this custom developed out of ancient be-
liefs concerning the return of the dead during the Yule festival. In-
deed, in the eighth century St. Bede (c. 672-735), a scholarly English
monk, wrote that the Anglo-Saxon people left food on their tables
overnight during the Christmas season so that visiting spirits could
partake of the feast. In spite of these yearly visits, it took the English
Christmas ghost another millennia to achieve notoriety. One man,
English author Charles Dickens, brought this to pass. His Christmas
ghost story, A Christmas Carol, became perhaps the most well known
and best-loved Christmas tale of the nineteenth and twentieth cen-
turies.
Contemporary readers tend to experience A Christmas Carol as a
story about the meaning of Christmas. Nevertheless, Dickens also
intended his readers to approach A Christmas Carol as a ghost story.
He draws our attention to the ghostly aspect of the tale in its full
title, which reads A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of
Christmas. The preface continues the ghost theme in a humorous
vein: "I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book to raise the
Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humour with
themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it
haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it." Finally,
Dickens urged his audience to read the Carol out loud, in a cold
room by candlelight. Dickens so enjoyed ghost stories that he wrote
a number of them over the years, including several more Christmas
ghost stories, such as "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sex-
ton," "The Haunted Man," "The Haunted House," and "A Christmas
Tree."
Further Reading
Cramer, Kathryn, and David G. Hartwell. Christmas Ghosts. New York:
Arbor House, 1987.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Dickens, Charles. The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens. Peter Rain-
ing, ed. New York: Franklin Watts, 1983.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Gift Brmgers
For descriptions of Christmas gift bringers from around the world,
see Baboushka; Befana; Berchta; Black Peter; Camel {see Lebanon,
Christmas in; Syria, Christmas in); Cert; Christkindel; Christ-
mas Lads; Father Christmas; Grandfather Frost; Julemand {see
Denmark, Christmas in); Jultomten; Knecht Ruprecht; Magi;
Fere Noel {see France, Christmas in); St. Basil's Day; St. Nicholas;
Santa Claus; Snow Maiden; Star Man {see Poland, Christmas in);
Weihnachtsmann;Yule Goat
288
Gifts
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Europeans have exchanged midwinter gifts with one another since
ancient times. Until relatively recently, however, most of these gifts
traded hands around New Year's Day rather than on Christmas
Day. As Christmas became an increasingly important holiday, people
began to exchange gifts on Christmas rather than on New Year's Day
{see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century; Victorian
England, Christmas in).
Roman Gifts
Historians trace midwinter gift giving back to the ancient Romans.
The Romans bestowed gifts and good wishes on friends and family
during Kalends, their new year festival. The oldest and, thus, per-
haps the most "traditional" of these gifts were small twigs from the
groves of the goddess Strenia. Later, the Romans added cakes and
honey (symbolizing a "sweet" new year), and coins (symbolizing
wealth) to the roster of traditional new year gifts. The Romans called
these gifts strenae after Strenia. The modern French word for new
year's gift, etrenne, echoes this old Latin name. In addition to ex-
changing gifts with friends and family, many Romans offered gifts
and vota, wishes for prosperity, to the emperor. The Romans also
gave one another gifts for Saturnalia, a winter festival occurring
about a week before Kalends. Traditional Saturnalia gifts included
wax candles called cerei, wax fruit, and clay dolls called sigiiillaria.
These gifts, too, expressed the good will of the sender.
Medieval Gifts
The Roman custom of exchanging midwinter gifts appears to have
spread throughout Europe and to have survived well into the Mid-
dle Ages. In medieval England, however, people gave these New
Year's gifts to those immediately above and below them in the social
hierarchy. For example, peasants who worked on landed estates
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brought gifts of farm produce to the local lord during the Twelve
Days of Christmas. Custom dictated that the lord respond by invit-
ing them to a Christmas feast. The nobility brought gifts to the king
or queen. The monarch in turn gave gifts to the members of his or
her court. These gifts did not necessarily express affection but rather
acknowledged one's place in a system of social rank. Perhaps more
personal kinds of gift exchanges also took place. If so, historical
records fail to mention them.
In England the New Year's gift flourished during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. Some abuses did occur, however. In 1419 the
City of London restricted its law officers from demanding New
Year's gifts from the public. Apparently, sergeants and other officers
had been promising cooks, brewers, and bakers that they would
overlook past or future offenses in exchange for a gift of their wares.
Royal Gifts
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) relished her New Year's gifts. Court
records indicate that the queen received silk and satin garments
(once, a sea-green silk petticoat), jewelry and personal items made
from precious metals (for example, a jeweled toothpick), perfume,
cakes, pies, and preserved fruits. Her gentlewomen offered her
embroidered cushions, handkerchiefs, pillows, and articles of cloth-
ing. In return Elizabeth bestowed gifts of silver and gold on her
courtiers. The custom of presenting gifts to the monarch faded away
in the eighteenth century.
Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Gifts
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the English began
to give New Year's gifts to family and friends. Popular gifts included
oranges, gingerbread, rosemary, wine, marzipan, gloves, stockings,
and other articles of clothing, jewelry, and objects made of metals,
such as snuff boxes, tea urns, pens, and watches. Children sometimes
received little bound books, often texts of religious instruction. By the
early nineteenth century, for reasons which remain unclear, the New
Year's gift finally appeared to be dying out. Instead of disappearing
completely, however, the expanding Christmas holiday revived and
absorbed the ancient custom of midwinter gift giving.
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Gifts
Saint Nicholas's Day Gifts
In addition to New Year's Day, some medieval Europeans also gave
gifts on St. Nicholas's Day. The St. Nicholas's Day gift differed
slightly from the New Year's gift. On the saint's day adults gave gifts
to youngsters as a way of honoring the patron saint of children {see
also St. Nicholas). Some researchers think that the custom of giving
gifts to children on St. Nicholas's Day started as early as the twelfth
century. At that time nuns from central France started to leave gifts
on the doorsteps of poor families with children on St. Nicholas's
Eve. These packages contained nuts and oranges and other good
things to eat. Some researchers believe that ordinary people adopted
the custom, spreading it from France to other parts of northern
Europe. Other writers suppose that the folklore surrounding St.
Martin may have inspired the traditions that turned St. Nicholas into
a gift giver. In past centuries St. Martin, another bishop saint, was
said to ride through the countryside delivering treats to children on
the eve of his feast day (see also Martinmas).
Boxing Day Gifts
Boxing Day, or St. Stephen's Day, provided another occasion for
midwinter gift giving in England. Many writers believe that the
English custom called "boxing" can be traced back to the Middle
Ages. In that era parish priests customarily opened up the church
alms-box on December 26, St. Stephen's Day. Then they distributed
the coins it contained to the needy. This practice gave rise to the use
of the term "box" to denote a small gift of money or a gratuity.
By the early seventeenth century the Church's St. Stephen's Day tra-
dition had inspired working people to adopt the custom of saving
whatever tips they had been given throughout the year in clay boxes
which they broke open on December 26. By the late seventeenth
century they began to solicit tips from all those who had enjoyed
their services during the year. They collected the last of these
"boxes" on December 26, after which they broke open these con-
tainers and used the money to buy Christmas treats. By the nine-
teenth century the custom of boxing had so colored the character of
the day that many people began to refer to December 26 as Boxing
Day rather than St. Stephen's Day. Like medieval New Year's gifts.
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Christmas boxes took place in the context of unequal social relation-
ships. Rather than express personal affection, Christmas boxes per-
mitted the well-to-do to express appreciation for services rendered
to them. The custom also presented working people with an oppor-
tunity to collect a little extra cash around the holidays.
German Christmas Gifts
The earliest historical records of Christmas gift giving come from
Germany. As early as the sixteenth century some German children
received "Christ-bundles" at Christmas time. These bundles con-
tained an assortment of small gifts, such as coins, sugarplums, nuts,
apples, dolls, clothing, lesson books, religious books, or writing ma-
terials. Some scholars suggest that the traditional Christmas bundle
contained at least five things: a coin, an article of clothing, a toy,
something tasty to eat, and a pencil box or other scholastic item.
Parents also included a small stick in these bundles, which some
writers have interpreted as a reminder that chastisement still awaited
those who misbehaved. Parents told their children that the Haus-
Christ had brought them their gifts {see also Christkindel). Two other
German customs encouraged the preparation of simple gifts for the
family. The Christmas tree and the Christmas pyramid, decorated
with edible treats, such as nuts, apples, cookies, and candy, provided
everyone with holiday sweets.
The Christ Child, also brought Christmas gifts to children in six-
teenth-century Norway. Children left a plate or a bowl in an obvi-
ous place so that the visiting Christ Child could leave them a pre-
sent. Moreover, in Norway, Christmas gift exchanges among friends
and adult family members began as early as the sixteenth century.
Julklapp
Another old tradition of Christmas gift giving comes from Sweden.
The Swedes called these gifts Julklapp, which means "Christmas
knock." This name comes from an old Swedish custom whereby
Christmas gift givers would knock on doors, toss in their gift, and run
away. Recipients then tried to guess who had delivered the gifts. In
addition, Julklapp usually arrived in some form of trick packaging.
These surprise gifts added a dash of humor to the Christmas season.
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Gifts
Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, and Gifts
The custom of exchanging Christmas gifts among friends and family
became widespread during the nineteenth century. In this same era
Europeans and Americans began to adopt the German Christmas
tree. At the same time Santa Claus became a popular mythological
figure associated with Christmas in the United States. Both of these
innovations encouraged the growth of Christmas gift giving — the
tree by providing a beautiful location to display the gifts, and Santa
Claus by serving as a new Christmas gift bringer. Unlike the medie-
val New Year's gift, or the English Christmas box, the nineteenth-
century Christmas gift circulated between family and friends and
expressed the affection of the sender.
Although charity had for centuries been a theme of Christmas cele-
brations, it became increasingly important in the nineteenth century.
Charitable gifts linked Christmas gift giving with the spiritual cele-
bration of the holiday. Finally, in the twentieth century many Ameri-
can companies adopted the custom of distributing Christmas bo-
nuses to their workers at Christmas time. Reminiscent of the Eng-
lish Christmas box, these gifts of cash rewarded employees for their
hard work in the past year.
Conclusion
The midwinter gift has passed through many transformations in its
two-thousand-year history. These gifts served different purposes in
different times and places. They might symbolize good wishes for
the coming year, affirm one's social rank, generate fun and excite-
ment, redistribute wealth from richer to poorer, demonstrate affec-
tion, or serve as a means of honoring the spiritual significance of the
holiday. The gifts themselves have changed along with their signifi-
cance. The sweaters, neckties, and toys of today's American Christ-
mas seem far removed from the twigs that the Romans exchanged
with one another in honor of Kalends. Finally, several midwinter
holidays developed gift-giving traditions over the centuries, the
most recent being Christmas. In spite of its relatively short history
the Christmas gift has become a central element of contemporary
Christmas celebrations {see also Commercialism).
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Further Reading
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Norway. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press, 1994.
. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American
Holidays. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Waits, William B. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York
University Press, 1993.
294
Gingerbread
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Gingerbread
The term "gingerbread" encompasses a variety of sweet, spicy cook-
ies, cakes, and breads. These foods originated in medieval Europe at
a time when ginger was an especially popular spice. Europeans have
celebrated special occasions with gingerbread for centuries. From an
earlier association with medieval fairs, gingerbread evolved into a
favorite Christmas treat.
Uses and Recipes
The ancient Romans greatly esteemed ginger for both its culinary
uses and curative powers. They used it to flavor sauces as well as to
treat upset stomachs and to induce bowel movements. Roman
traders bartered with Asian merchants to acquire this useful root.
After the fall of the Roman Empire the trade routes established and
maintained by the Romans dissolved, making ginger hard to get in
Europe. In medieval times spice merchants charged high prices for
ginger. Well-to-do medieval Europeans paid these prices, because
they prized the relatively rare root.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Medieval cooks had discovered that ginger lent a preservative effect
to pastries and breads. Some of the early recipes for these sweet,
spice breads seem a bit crude by modern standards. One simply rec-
ommended mixing dry bread crumbs with spices and honey. Another
combined bread crumbs with cinnamon, aniseseed, ginger, licorice,
and red wine. Cooks molded the pasty dough resulting from these
recipes into various decorative shapes {see also Christmas Cake). This
kind of gingerbread survived until the seventeenth century, when a
more cake-like gingerbread, composed of flour, sugar, butter, eggs,
molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and chopped fruits, began to replace it.
"White gingerbread," which mixed ginger with marzipan, also be-
came popular around this time. Bakers often pressed this kind of
gingerbread into molds and then covered it in gilt.
Fairs and Bakers
At the close of the eleventh century gingerbread flourished through-
out northern Europe. Gingerbread vendors sold their goods at fairs
across England, Germany, France, and Holland. These fairs served
as traveling, medieval shopping malls providing people with oppor-
tunities for commerce as well as entertainment. In England ginger-
bread was such a popular fairground treat that people began to refer
to gingerbread cookies or pastries as "fairings." In addition, ginger-
bread became such a common item at many fairs that people began
to call these commercial gatherings "gingerbread fairs." Several
English gingerbread fairs survived into the twentieth century.
Many gingerbread vendors cut their cookies into fanciful shapes,
some associated with the time of year, others purely decorative. For
example, gingerbread sold at spring fairs might be cut into the shape
of a flower. Other popular shapes included windmills, kings, queens,
and various animals. Gingerbread sellers delighted in decorating
their creations both by cutting them into exquisitely detailed shapes
and by adding fancy embellishments. By the eighteenth century gin-
gerbread makers had developed their art to such an extent that
English speakers adopted the term "gingerbread work" to refer to
fancy, carved, wooden trim on colonial seaport houses or to the gild-
ed, carved prows of ships.
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Gingerbread
German Traditions
In German-speaking lands shaped and decorated gingerbreads
appeared at autumn fairs and Christmas markets. In fact, the gin-
gerbread of contemporary American Christmas celebrations proba-
bly came down to us from old German traditions. German cooks
often cut their gingerbread dough into the shape of gingerbread
men and houses which they baked, cooled, and decorated. The tra-
ditional German gingerbread house plays a prominent role in the
famous German fairy tale, "Hansel and Gretel." The witch featured
in this story built and lived in a house made out of gingerbread dec-
orated with candy and icing. This tasty exterior tempted children,
such as Hansel and Gretel, to venture inside. The Scandinavians also
create miniature houses from gingerbread at Christmas time. In the
United States gingerbread men are the more common Christmas
treat. Sometimes these cookies briefly serve as ornaments for the
Christmas tree before they are eaten.
Further Reading
Stellingwerf, Steven. The Gingerbread Book. New York: Rizzoli International
Publications, 1991.
Wilson, C. Anne. Food and Drink in Britain. Chicago: Academy Chicago
Publishers, 1991.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Glastonbury Tj^orn
The tale of the Glastonbury Thorn has woven itself around some of
the most romantic legends ever to have emerged from the British
Isles. The thorn takes its name from Glastonbury, England, a location
that has hosted many legendary characters and mystical events over
the centuries. In the Middle Ages monks from Glastonbury Abbey
claimed to have discovered King Arthur's remains buried in their
cemetery. Indeed, Celtic mythology identifies Glastonbury as "Ava-
lon," the enchanted island from which came Arthur's famous sword,
Excalibur, and to which the fatally wounded king was carried by fairy
queens. Moreover, Christian legends proclaim that Joseph of Arima-
thea came to Glastonbury in the first century a.d. According to these
tales, Joseph brought with him the Holy Grail, a sacred relic sought by
many of King Arthur's knights centuries later. Subsequent stories add
that Joseph established the Glastonbury Thorn, a mysterious bush
that blooms when most others are barren — at Christmas time.
Life and Legends of Joseph ofArimathea
The Gospels identify Joseph of Arimathea as a "good and upright
man," a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish high court) who dis-
agreed with their decision to turn Jesus over to the Roman authori-
ties (Luke 23:50-52). After Jesus' death, Joseph asked Pilate for per-
mission to remove the body for burial. With Pilate's consent, Joseph
took Jesus' body from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and sealed it in
the tomb.
Later legends added to this sparse biblical account of Joseph's deeds.
By the Middle Ages Joseph had become both an important saint and
an acclaimed hero. Legends declared that Joseph ofArimathea was
the first keeper of the Holy Grail, the vessel Jesus used in the Last
Supper. The tales added that Joseph used the chalice to collect the
blood that dripped from Christ's wounds.
Years after Jesus' death Joseph journeyed to Britain as a Christian
missionary, bringing the Grail with him (many legends give 63 a.d.
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Glastonbury Thorn
as the year of his arrival). A few tales also state that Joseph carried a
staff made of hawthorn wood from the Holy Land. Some say it was
Christmas Eve when Joseph's ship finally pulled in to the harbor at
Glastonbury. Joseph and his companions disembarked and began
the climb up steep Wearyall Hill. Finally, cold and tired, the old man
thrust his staff into the ground in despair. To his amazement it not
only rooted itself, but burst into leaf and bloom. Joseph perceived
this miracle as divine confirmation of his faith and his mission of
evangelization. Thereafter, the hawthorn bush bloomed every year at
Christmas, distinguishing itself from native English hawthorns. Jo-
seph's miraculous tree became known as the Glastonbury Thorn.
Although no solid historical evidence exists to support this tale of
Joseph's journey to England, a winter-blooming hawthorn tree did
flourish in Glastonbury for many years. Descendants of this plant
have been identified as Crataegus mongyna biflora, a species of haw-
thorn native to the Middle East.
The History of the Glastonbury Thorn
The earliest appearance of the Glastonbury Thorn in written records
dates back to an account of the life of Joseph of Arimathea written in
the early 1500s. By the early 1600s firsthand descriptions of Glaston-
bury's hawthorn noted that the plant was suffering from the many
carvings made in its trunk and the many cuttings taken from its
branches. One Sir William Brereton, after carving his initials in the
tree and collecting several branches for his own keeping, thought fit
to criticize the people of Glastonbury for neglecting to care for the
tree! The Glastonbury thorn reached its yearly peak of popularity
around Christmas time, when crowds assembled to witness the
tree's miraculous blooming.
Many believed that the buds and flowers had healing powers. These
beliefs and customs eventually aroused the ire of the increasingly
vocal Puritans, who scorned what they saw as evidence of popular
belief in magic and superstition. It is said that during the reign of
Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the tree met its fate at the hands of an irate
Puritan who assaulted it with an axe. After he had destroyed half of
the enormous tree, a splinter flew into his eye, blinding him in some
versions of the tale and killing him in others. Having avenged itself,
the tree lingered another thirty years before finally succumbing to
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
this fatal attack. Other accounts of the tree's demise differ. One sim-
ply states that the tree was demolished in 1653 during England's Civil
War.
Nevertheless, by this time a number of cuttings from the original
plant flourished in Glastonbury and other locations. They continued
to bloom on or around Christmas until the calendar reform of 1752,
when Britain finally adopted the Gregorian calendar {see also Old
Christmas Day). As a consequence the nation leaped forward elev-
en days overnight. Many ordinary people resisted this change. In
fact, some explained their allegiance to the old calendar by pointing
to the unchanged blooming habits of the Glastonbury Thorn. Two
clippings from a 1753 issue of The Gentleman's Magazine illustrate
this sentiment:
Quainton in Buckinghamshire, December 24, 1752. Above 2,000
people came here last night, with lanthorns and candles, to
view a black thorn which grows in the neighbourhood, and
which was remembered (this year only) to be a slip from the
famous Glastonbury Thorne, that it always budded on the
24th, was full blown the next day, and went all off at night;
but the people, finding no appearance of a bud, 'twas agreed
by all, that 25 December, N.S. [new style], could not be the
right Christmas Day, and accordingly, refused to go to
Church and treating their friends on that day, as usual; at
length the affair became so serious that the ministers of the
neighbouring villages, in order to appease the people, thought
it prudent to give notice that the old Christmas Day should
be kept in as holy as before [Muir, 1977, 102-3].
Glastonbury. A vast concourse of people attended the noted
thorns on Christmas Eve, New Stile; but, to their great disap-
pointment, there was no appearance of its blowing, which
made them watch it narrowly on the 5th of Jan., the Christ-
mas Day, Old Style, which it blow'd as usual [Coffin, 1973, 58].
The Glastonbury Thorn in the United States
At the turn of the twentieth century, the once-renowned abbey at
Glastonbury lay in ruins {see also Mincemeat Pie). Stanley Austin, son
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Glastonbury Thorn
of England's reigning poet laureate, owned the abbey property. (The
abbey has since passed into the hands of the Church of England.) In
1901, when Austin heard of the plans to build the National Cathedral
in Washington, D.C., he sent a clipping of the Glastonbury Thorn to
the bishop of Washington, the Right Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee. He
also sent a sufficient quantity of stones from the ruined abbey to buUd
a bishop's chair in the new American cathedral. Bishop Satterlee saw
the English plant established on the Cathedral grounds, where it does
occasionally bloom on Christmas Day.
Christmas at Glastonbury
A descendent of the old tree lives on in Glastonbury today. Each
year on Old Christmas Eve, January 5, the keepers of Holy Thorn
clip a branch of the tree and send it to the reigning monarch. The
sprig serves both as a symbol of respect and as a public affirmation
of the town's Christian heritage. This custom dates back about four
hundred years.
Further Reading
Coffin, Tristram P. The Book of Christmas Folklore. New York: Seabury Press,
1973.
Foley, Daniel J. The Christmas Tree. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company,
1960.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Howard, Alexander Endless Cavalcade. London, England: Arthur Baker,
1964.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Metford, J. C. J. Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend. London, England:
Thames and Hudson, 1983.
Muir, Frank. Christinas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapHnger, 1977.
Web Site
A site sponsored by Britannia Internet Magazine, contains an article by his-
torian Geoffrey Ashe, "Magical Glastonbury": http://www.britannia.com/
history/ glastonl .html
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Gold
No other metal is named as frequently in the Bible as gold. The Bible
most often refers to gold as a form of worldly wealth, but gold also
serves as a symbol of spiritual wealth. In biblical times, gold was
rarer than today. For the most part, only kings or the very wealthy
possessed it. Gold was one of the three gifts that the Magi offered to
the baby Jesus. Therefore, the Magi's gift of gold is most often inter-
preted as recognition of Jesus' kingship or his spiritual authority.
Until the mid-1 700s tradition dictated that the British monarch offer
gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh at the Chapel Royal on
Epiphany. Heralds and knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath
accompanied the king on his royal pilgrimage. Under the unstable
King George III (1760-1820) the procession was abandoned, al-
though the monarch's gift of gold, frankincense, and myrrh is still
sent to the Chapel Royal by proxy. A similar royal offering was at one
time customary in Spain.
Gold has been considered rare, valuable, and beautiful throughout
history. In addition to its beauty and brightness, gold has some
unusual properties. It is nearly indestructible, and yet it is also the
most malleable of metals. A single ounce of gold can be beaten into
a sheet of gold leaf that measures approximately 200 feet on each
side. Gold does not tarnish or corrode, and is extremely resistant to
wear. Finally, it is often found in a nearly pure state. These qualities
enhance its value, versatility, and mystery.
Further Reading
Coughenour, Robert A. "Gold." In Paul J. Achtemeier, ed. HarperCollins
Bible Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFran-
cisco, 1996.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Peattie, Donald Culross. "Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh." Saturday Eve-
ning Post 264, 6 (November 1992): 56.
302
Gospel Accounts of Christmas
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Gospel Accounts of CJ^ristmas
The Christian Bible provides two accounts of the birth of Jesus. One
account appears in the first two chapters of the Gospel according
to Matthew, and the other in the first two chapters of the Gospel
according to Luke {see also Jesus, Year of Birth). A quick review of
these accounts reveals a number of broad similarities as well as
some striking differences.
Similarities
Jesus' parents, Joseph and Mary, figure in both accounts. Both Mat-
thew and Luke assert that Joseph was a descendant of the Old
Testament hero, David. They also agree that Mary was a virgin when
she became pregnant with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. An
angel appears in order to explain the nature of Mary's pregnancy,
according to both writers. Both accounts affirm that Jesus was born
in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great. Finally, Mat-
thew and Luke both tell of strangers called by God to witness and
worship the birth of the Savior.
Differences
If probed more closely, a few of these similarities turn out to be only
partial, however. Both Matthew and Luke state that Joseph is a
descendant of David, but Matthew takes Joseph's lineage back to
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Abraham, while Luke takes it all the way back to Adam. Moreover,
Matthew includes five women in Jesus' genealogy, while Luke men-
tions no women at all. In Luke the angel Gabriel, who explains the
nature of Mary's pregnancy, appears to Mary herself, while in Mat-
thew the angel appears to Joseph. Although both writers agree that
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Matthew implies that Jesus' family
lived in Bethlehem, while Luke states that Jesus' parents lived in
Nazareth and came to Bethlehem only to comply with a Roman cen-
sus. While Luke's account describes the events that took place on
the night of Jesus' birth, Matthew's account leaves vague the issue of
whether Jesus was a newborn infant or already a toddler on the
night when the Magi arrived to worship him.
Some elements of Matthew's story have no parallel whatever in
Luke's account. Matthew tells of learned men called the Magi who
bring Jesus expensive gifts fit for a king. They find him by following
a star which suddenly appeared in the heavens to signal his birth
{see Star of Bethlehem). Moreover, in Matthew's account the Magi
inadvertently alert Herod to the existence of the newborn king. As a
result, Herod sends soldiers to kill all of Bethlehem's male infants
{see Holy Innocents' Day). Finally, an angel visits Joseph warning
him of Herod's intentions and telling him to escape with his family
into Egypt {see Flight into Egypt). After Herod's death the family
returns from Egypt, but decides to settle in Galilee, far from Herod's
brutal successor.
Turning now to Luke's account of Jesus' birth, we can identify a
number of elements that don't appear in Matthew's Gospel. Ac-
cording to Luke, humble shepherds, rather than noble Magi, wit-
ness Jesus' birth. Moreover, the shepherds learn of the Savior's birth
from an angel instead of by studying the stars. In Luke's story Mary
and Joseph must search for lodging because they don't live in
Bethlehem. The innkeepers cannot accommodate them, so they end
up spending the night in a stable, where Mary gives birth to Jesus.
Folklore
Scholars have attributed much significance to both the similarities
and the differences contained in these accounts. Although these dif-
ferences may perplex researchers, they do not appear to have inhib-
304
Gospel According to Luke
ited the representation of Jesus' birth in folklore. Around Christmas
time Nativity scenes, store window displays, and Christmas pag-
eants present us with colorful images of Jesus' birth {see also Nativity
Play). Often these scenes mix together shepherds, wise men, stars,
angels, animals, and other figures. These happy scenes suggest that
Matthew's and Luke's accounts of Jesus' birth have merged together
to form a single story in the popular imagination.
Further Reading
Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. New updated edition. New
York: Doubleday, 1993.
Horsley, Rictiard A. The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy Narratives in
Social Context. New York: Crossroads, 1989.
Porter, J. R. The Illustrated Guide to the Bible. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1995.
Gospel Accordingto Luke
The third book of the Christian Bible, the Gospel according to Luke,
offers an account of the events surrounding Jesus' birth. This ac-
count, which appears in chapter two, verses one through twenty, has
been reprinted below. It begins with the Roman emperor's call for an
enrollment, which today we would call a census. Another, slightly
different version of the events surrounding Jesus' birth may be found
in the Gospel according to Matthew {see also Angels; Bethlehem;
Gabriel; Gospel Accounts of Christmas; Jesus, Year of Birth;
Joseph; Mary; Shepherds).
The Birth of Jesus According to Luke:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that
all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enroll-
ment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to
be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up
305
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Gospel According to Luke
from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city
of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the
house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his
betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there,
the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to
her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths,
and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for
them in the inn.
And in that region there were shepherds out in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the
Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel
said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good
news of great joy which will come to all the people; for to
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find
the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a
manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multi-
tude of the heavenly host praising God and saying.
Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace among men with whom he is
pleased!
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the
shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem
and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has
made known to us." And they went with haste, and found
Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when
they saw it they made known the saying which had been
told them concerning this child; and all who heard it won-
dered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all
these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shep-
herds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had
heard and seen, as it had been told them. [Taken from The
Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version. New York: Thomas
Nelson and Sons, 1953.]
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Gospel Accordingto Mattl)ew
The first book of the Christian bible, the Gospel according to
Matthew, offers an account of the events surrounding Jesus' birth.
This account, which appears in chapter two, verses one through eigh-
teen, has been reprinted below. Another, slightly different version of
these events may be found in the Gospel according to Luke {see also
Bethlehem; Flight into Egypt; Gospel Accounts of Christmas;
Herod; Jesus, Year of Birth; Joseph; Magi; Mary; Star of Beth-
lehem).
The Birth of Jesus According to Matthew:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days
of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to
Jerusalem, saying "where is he who has been born king of
the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have
come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he
was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all
the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of
them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In
Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:
And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah
are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will govern my people Israel."
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascer-
tained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent
them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the
child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I
too may come and worship him." When they had heard the
king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had
seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over
the place where the child was. When they saw the star they
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Gospel According to Matthew
rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down
and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they
offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And
being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they
departed to their own country by another way.
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "I^se, take the child
and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there till I
tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy
him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by
night, and departed to Egypt and remained there until the
death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken
by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the
wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the
male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were
two years old or under, according to the time which he had
ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was
spoken by the prophet in Jeremiah:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled,
because they were no more.
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared
in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child
and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who
sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the
child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But
when he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of
his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned
in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he
went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spo-
ken by the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a
Nazarene." [Taken from The Holy Bible, Revised Standard
Version. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1953.]
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Grandfat()er Frost
Dyed Moroz
During the era of Communist rule (1917-91), Grandfather Frost be-
came Russia's official winter season gift bringer. Known in Russian
as Dyed Moroz, Grandfather Frost symbolizes the piercing cold of
Russia's winters. Accompanied by his grandchild, the Snow Maid-
en, he travels across Russia bringing gifts to children on New Year's
Eve.
History
Grandfather Frost existed long before the Communists came to
power. In those days, however, he brought his gifts on Christmas
Eve rather than on New Year's Eve. Grandfather Frost probably
evolved from rural folk beliefs about a spirit known as "the Frost."
Country folk did not have an image of what the Frost looked like,
but they well knew his rigid and aloof personality. In the nineteenth
century, rural people did not dress up like the Frost and did not
believe that he brought Christmas gifts. Instead they left gifts of food
for the Frost, hoping to satisfy his hunger so that his icy touch would
not whither their crops.
By the nineteenth century, a very different image of the Frost had
developed in the cities. There, the winter spirit acquired a kindly
name, "Grandfather Frost," as well as a kindly reputation. Urban
folktales cast Grandfather Frost as a bringer of gifts to well-behaved
children at Christmas time. Unlike some of his harsher counterparts
in western Europe, Grandfather Frost ignored rather than threat-
ened poorly behaved children {see also Befana; Berchta; Black
Peter; Cert; Jultomten; Knecht Ruprecht; St. Nicholas's Day).
City dwellers pictured Grandfather Frost as an old man with a long
white beard who wore a red hat and long, red robe edged with white
fur. Their tales told that he lived deep in the forest and rode about
on his sleigh.
310
Grandfather Frost
Before the Communists came to power, Russian children might
receive gifts from Grandfather Frost at Christmas or from Baboushka
on Epiphany Eve. A Russian folktale tells how Baboushka rejected
the Magi's invitation to accompany them on their journey to worship
the newborn Jesus. She has wandered the world ever since, bringing
gifts to children on Epiphany Eve. The religious content of Baboush-
ka's story made Communist leaders uneasy, since they opposed reli-
gion and the celebration of religious holidays on principle. To counter-
act this story the government promoted the idea that Grandfather
Frost alone brought children their presents. Moreover, they changed
the date of his arrival from Christmas Eve, a religious holiday, to New
Year's Eve, a secular holiday. Grandfather Frost survived the transition
to a democratic, capitalist form of government in the 1990s, but now
he faces competition from a new. Western import: Santa Glaus.
Customs
Some say that Grandfather Frost makes his home in Veliki Ustyug, a
town about 500 miles northeast of Moscow. Nevertheless, during the
holiday season he makes many public appearances in other towns
and cities. He usually wears a full white beard, dresses in a long red,
white, or blue robe, and supports himself with a staff. In this eye-
catching garb he may be glimpsed at department stores or at public
events. For a fee, parents can hire Grandfather Frost and the Snow
Maiden to come to their homes as a special treat for the children.
More than a thousand Grandfather Frosts crisscross Moscow on New
Year's Eve, performing this service for children and parents.
Further Reading
Christmas in Russia. Chicago: World Book, 1992.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Naythons, Matthew. Christmas Around the World. San Francisco, Calif.:
Collins San Francisco, 1996.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Greece^ Cl^rf stmas in
The Greek Christmas season contains three distinct hoHdays:
Christmas, St. Basil's Day (or New Year's Day), and Epiphany. In
spite of the festivities that surround it, Christmas is a much less
important holiday than is Easter for the Greeks.
Advent
In Greece devout Orthodox Christians prepare for Christmas with
"Christmas Lent," a fast lasting from November 15 to December 24
{see also Advent). During this period those who observe the fast eat
no meat, eggs, dairy products, fish, olive oil, or wine. The less obser-
vant may participate in a shortened fast period, beginning a week
before Christmas.
Carols
On December 24 young people go door to door in small groups
singing Christmas carols. Called Kalanda, these songs tell the story
of the birth of Christ. The singers accompany the carols with music
made from folk instruments such as harmonicas, drums, and trian-
gles. Many also carry a small, hollow ship made from cardboard,
wood, or metal {see also Christmas Symbols). Householders toss
sweets or coins inside the ship in return for the carolers' serenade. In
Greece the ship is said to represent St. Basil, who sails to Greece to
bring presents to children on St. Basil's Day.
Christmas Dinner
In Greece some families eat Christmas dinner after church services
on Christmas Eve. Other families wait until Christmas Day. The
meal begins with the head of the family blessing the Christmas loaf
and making the sign of the cross over it. This bread is called Christ-
opsomo, or "Christ's bread." Christopsomo consists of rich, sweet-
ened bread dough studded with nuts and, perhaps, also dried fruit.
312
Greece, Christmas in
The dough is shaped into a large, round loaf, sprinkled with sesame
seeds and decorated with a dough cross. Each person at the table
receives a piece of the blessed bread and the meal begins. Greek
families often serve roast pork for Christmas dinner.
Name-Day Celebrations
Greeks celebrate name-days with greater festivity than they do birth-
days. One's name-day occurs on the feast day of the saint or holy fig-
ure after whom one was named. According to this custom, Greeks
not only celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day, but
also may honor people who share related names. The English vari-
ants of some of these names include Christopher, Christine, Em-
manuel, and Emmanuela.
Superstitions
Although the Greeks celebrate Christmas with joy, old superstitions
warn that trouble may not be far behind. According to Greek folk-
lore, pesky demons known as the kallikantzari roam the earth dur-
ing the Twelve Days of Christmas. These imps pull mischievous
pranks, often while keeping out of sight. Luckily for the Greeks, the
holy rites performed by the priests on Epiphany chase them back
into their underground dens for another year.
St. Basil's Day
The Greeks open their holiday gifts on January 1 rather than on
Christmas. Since January 1 is observed as St. Basil's Day in Greece,
children view St. Basil as the Christmas gift bringer. Other St. Basil's
Day customs include sharing a special loaf of bread called vasilopita,
or "St. Basil's Bread." Often this takes place at midnight on New
Year's Eve, but it may also take place on the following day. Some
families observe a special ceremony when cutting and distributing
the holiday bread. The head of the family blesses the bread and
makes the sign of the cross over it. The bread is sliced, and the first
piece is offered to Christ, the second to the Virgin Mary, the third to
St. Basil, and the fourth to the poor. The next piece goes to the head
of the family. The rest of the family receive their pieces according to
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
age, the eldest first. The bread contains a small token, such as a coin.
Whoever finds the token in their slice of bread will have good luck in
the coming year {see also Christmas Cake; King of the Bean).
Greek folklore teaches that the first person to enter the house in the
new year symbolizes the fortunes of the household {see also First-
footing). Some Greeks prefer a healthy, strong person to enter first,
others prefer an icon (a religious image) to enter first, held in some-
one's outstretched arms. Householders often welcome the first per-
son to cross their threshold in the new year with sweets and coins.
Epiphany
Epiphany closes the Christmas season in Greece. Church services
include the blessing of water. These services may take place out-
doors, alongside natural bodies of water. They may also take place
inside churches into which a large vessel of water has been brought.
Parishioners receive small bottles of holy water to take home with
them.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Rouvelas, Marilyn. A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America. Be-
thesda, Md.: Nea Attiki Press, 1993.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
314
Greenery
cS>q^>^qiS)q^>^qiS)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^tBejQeji^>^t3Sj*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
Greener\)
Christmas trees, wreaths, and other seasonal decorations made out
of greenery ornament our homes, streets, and churches at Christmas
time. Ancient peoples also celebrated winter festivals with decora-
tions of greenery. Over the centuries Christmas appears to have
absorbed some of these ancient customs.
Ancient Beliefs and Customs
Evergreen plants, such as holly, ivy, mistletoe, laurel (or bay), yew,
fir, spruce, and pine stay green all year round (see also Rosemary).
For many ancient peoples, this special property converted these
plants into seasonal symbols of the promise of new life or eternal
life. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe may have been especially revered, since
they not only stay green in winter, but also bear fruit during this
harsh season. The pagan peoples of northern Europe garlanded
their homes with greenery during their winter festival. Yule. Perhaps
they wished to honor and imitate the triumph of these living greens
over the cold and darkness of winter. Further south, the Romans
also decorated their homes with greenery during their winter festi-
vals. Saturnalia and Kalends. In addition, friends exchanged sprigs
of holly as tokens of good will and good wishes for the upcoming
new year (see also New Year's Day).
Christianity and Winter Greenery
For hundreds of years. Christian officials waged a campaign against
the old pagan European practices. Tertullian, a third-century Chris-
tian writer, admonished those followers of the new religion, Chris-
tianity, who practiced these old customs. He thundered: "Let those
who have no Light burn their (pagan) lamps daily. Let those who
face the fire of hell affix laurels to their door-posts. . . . You are a light
of the world, a tree ever green; if you have renounced the pagan
temple, make not your home such a temple!" A sixth- century
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Church council (the Second Council of Braga) forbade Christians the
use of green boughs in home decoration. This edict implies that
many Christians were still adorning their homes with greenery at
that time.
In southern Europe such criticism extinguished this practice, but fur-
ther north — especially in Germany and England — it continued.
In medieval and Renaissance times, many English songs still depict-
ed holly and ivy as special plants associated with the winter season.
These songs may indicate that earlier beliefs about winter greenery
dimmed but never completely died out, in spite of Church opposi-
tion.
Unable to completely destroy this custom, the Church eventually set
about reinterpreting these seasonal symbols. Christian legends
developed over time, explaining the connection between these ever-
greens and the Christmas season {see also Nativity Legends).
Laurel, for example, represented the triumph of Jesus Christ. Holly
became a symbol of the Virgin Mary's love for God. Its spiky leaves
and blood-red berries also served to remind Christians that Jesus
would end his days wearing a crown of thorns.
Not only did the use of greenery persist in seasonal home decora-
tions but the practice also crept into church decorations. One six-
teenth-century observer of English customs commented that parish-
ioners bedecked both home and church with ivy, holly, bay and
other greenery at Christmas time. Some authorities claim that
mistletoe was seldom adopted for English church decorations, how-
ever, due to its strong associations with the pagan past. One notable
exception to this trend occurred at York Cathedral during medieval
times. A branch of mistletoe was placed on the high altar on
Christmas Eve, signaling a general pardon for all wrongdoers for as
long as it remained there.
The Green Branch as a Symbol
For many centuries green branches symbolized hospitality or the rec-
onciliation of differences. During the Middle Ages messengers, nego-
tiators, and heralds carried them in times of battle to signify their
peaceful intentions. Taverns and inns hung green boughs, especially
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ivy, above their doors in lieu of printed signs. Even after literacy spread
and lettered signs came into common use, many pubs retained related
names, such as The Ivy Bush or The Greenwood Tree.
Christmas Greenery
Many English folk beliefs suggested that the evergreens most closely
connected with Christmas possessed subtle powers. Holly offered
protection against witches, and rosemary against evil spirits. Ivy
granted good luck to women, while holly bestowed good luck on
men. Special customs developed in order to harness the beneficial
powers of these plants and deflect the harmful ones. For instance,
some believed that winter greenery should not be brought into the
house before Christmas Eve or Christmas Day lest it carry ill luck
with it. From Christmas to Epiphany, however, garlands of greenery
inside the home might bring good luck. According to others, a mis-
chievous wood sprite hid behind each sprig of greenery carried into
the house for decoration. During the Twelve Days of Christmas
these sprites kept their peace, but afterwards they might begin to vex
the occupants of the household with their pranks {see also Elves).
In some parts of England, people dismantled their decorative green-
ery on Twelfth Day. In other parts of the country, the ornaments
were left until Candlemas. The seventeenth-century English poet
Robert Herrick reminded others of the importance of removing win-
ter greenery by Candlemas with these lines, "For look how many
leaves there be / Neglected there maids trust to me / So many gob-
lins you shall see." In many cases, folk beliefs cautioned that the
withered greens should not simply be tossed away when taken
down, but disposed of ceremoniously. Some believed that they
should be burned. Others thought that burning them drew bad luck
and that feeding them to cattle might preserve their good luck. Still
others felt that they should simply be left to decay on their own.
Sometimes a sprig of holly or mistletoe was saved for the following
year. These sprigs might be used to light the fire under the next
year's Christmas pudding {see Plum Pudding).
Although seasonal decorations of greenery have festooned centuries
of Christmas celebrations, the style and components of these deco-
rations have changed over time. In Britain, the custom of hanging up
318
Greenery
a bit of mistletoe, often in the form of a kissing bough, reached the
height of its popularity in the eighteenth century and began to fall
from favor in the nineteenth. The nineteenth century saw other
changes in British Christmas decorations as well. Before that time
the English trimmed their homes with laurel, rosemary, ivy, holly,
box, and yew. In the nineteenth century holly rose from the ranks to
become the favorite plant of English Christmas decorations, replac-
ing, to some extent, the wider variety of winter greenery used.
Finally, the British and the Americans adopted the German custom
of bringing a Christmas tree into their homes in the nineteenth
century. Today the Christmas tree reigns supreme over all other
forms of Christmas greenery and has become a widely recognized
symbol of the holiday.
Further Reading
Auld, William Muir. Christmas Traditions. 1931. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1992.
Baker, Margaret. Christmas Customs and Folklore. Aylesbury, Bucks, England:
Shire Publications, 1968.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Drury, Susan. "Customs and Beliefs Associated with Christmas Evergreens."
fo/Wore 98, 2 (1987): 194-99.
Hole, Christina. Christmas and Its Customs. New York: M. Barrows and
Company, 1958.
Segall, Barbara. The Holly and the Toy. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1991.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Guatemala^ cfiristmas in
Guatemalan Christmas celebrations combine Spanish and German
customs. Native American iniluences may also be seen in Guate-
malan Christmas foods and decorations.
Fires and Housecleaning
In Guatemala the Devil runs wild during the first week or so of
Advent. In highland villages and towns local men in devil costumes
appear on the streets and pursue children, who flee from the strange
figures. The Devil's reign ends on December 7 with a folk ritual
known as La Quema del Diablo, or "The Burning of the Devil." People
rummage through their homes for things that they no longer want
or deem useless. They pile these objects together in front of their
houses, scatter some firecrackers on top of the heap, and set fire to it.
This act not only chases away the Devil, but also symbolizes the
housecleaning of the heart done in preparation for the coming of the
infant Jesus. Other Christmas season preparations also touch on
the theme of housecleaning. For example, many repair and paint
their homes at this time of year.
Decorations
Due to the influence of Guatemala's large German community,
many people have adopted the Christmas tree as one of their sea-
sonal decorations. Since it is illegal to cut down trees in Guatemala,
however, many people create Christmas trees out of tree branches.
As Christmas nears, vendors line the streets and plazas offering
these trees and many other colorful Christmas trinkets for sale.
Posadas
On December 16 Las Posadas begins. In this nine-day ritual, people
reenact Mary and Joseph's search for shelter in Bethlehem. Las
Posadas concludes on Christmas Eve with a large party for all who
have participated in the event.
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Guatemala, Christmas in
Christmas Eve and Day
Many Guatemalans choose to spend December 24 at home with
their families. Others participate in public festivities. In the city of
Antigua the clanging of church bells at midday kicks off the Christ-
mas Eve celebrations. As the afternoon wears on, the air begins to
ring with the sound of firecrackers and other explosives. Men wear-
ing the traditional costumes and oversized pasteboard heads of the
gigantes and cabezudos ("giants" and "big-heads") march through the
main streets accompanied by folk musicians. In the evening perform-
ers dressed as bulls with fireworks strapped to their backs entertain
the crowds. When the fuses are lit these men, called toritos ("little
bulls"), charge through the streets like their namesakes. A formal fire-
works display follows. At night a procession wends its way towards
the cathedral for the celebration of Midnight Mass.
Traditionally, Guatemalans waited until after Midnight Mass to
enjoy their Christmas dinner, although nowadays some people dine
earlier. Children open their presents on Christmas Eve after dinner.
Parents and other adults generally wait until New Year's Day to ex-
change gifts. A traditional Christmas dinner includes tamales, bundles
of corn dough wrapped around a filling of meat and sauce, and
ponche, or "punch," a sweet made from plums, raisins, dates, brown
sugar, and liquor. According to folk beliefs, Jesus was born at the
stroke of twelve on Christmas Eve {see also Misa de Gallo). There-
fore, fireworks explode at midnight, commemorating the moment of
the holy birth. On Christmas Day fireworks and celebrations begin
again at noon.
Further Reading
Clynes,Tom. Wild Planet! Detroit, Mich.: Visible Ink Press, 1995.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Wakefield, Charito Calvachi. Navidad Latinoamericana, Latin American Christ-
mas. Lancaster, Pa.: Latin American Creations Publishing, 1997.
321
■^^sr
Hanukkaf}
Feast of Dedication, Feast of Lights
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that is unrelated to Christmas. Be-
cause it often falls in the month of December, however, some people
have mistakenly assumed that Hanukkah is the "Jewish Christmas."
In spite of the difference between the two holidays, many American
Jewish families have adapted certain Christmas customs, such as
cards and gifts for children, for Hanukkah celebrations.
What Is Hanukkah?
The Hebrew word Hanukkah means "dedication." The holiday is also
known as the Feast of Dedication or the Feast of Lights. Hanukkah
commemorates an historical event, the Jewish victory in 162 B.C. over
the Syrians in the Maccabean War. At this time Judea was part of the
Syrian empire, in which Greek culture predominated. Some Jews
began to adopt Greek ways of life and thought. A small group of
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Jews, led by the Maccabee family, resisted this process of assimila-
tion by taking up arms against the Syrian political authorities. After
their victory, they cleansed and rededicated the Jewish temple in
Jerusalem, which their opponents had occupied and used to offer
sacrifices to pagan gods. One record states that those present at the
dedication witnessed a miracle. A small amount of oil, enough to
keep the temple lamp lit for one day, lasted a full eight days.
Today's Hanukkah celebrations often downplay the military history
behind the festival. Instead, they emphasize the rededication of the
temple in Jerusalem, the victory over religious persecution, and the
survival of Judaism. The celebrations last for eight days. They feature
a special candleholder, known as a menorah, with room for nine can-
dles. The middle candle, the shamash, or "server," is used to light the
324
Hanukkah
other eight. On the first evening of Hanukkah one candle is Ht and
special prayers are said. On the second evening two candles are lit,
and so on. The rest of the evening is spent singing songs, playing
games, telling Hanukkah stories, and enjoying special holiday foods.
Hanukkah and Christmas
Because the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar rather than the
solar year, the date of Hanukkah moves about on our calendar. The
first day of Hanukkah falls on the twenty-fifth day of the Jewish
month of Kislev, which means that it can fall anywhere between
November 25 and December 26. In the United States this proximity
to Christmas has affected the way in which Hanukkah is celebrated.
Originally a minor holiday, Hanukkah has assumed greater impor-
tance in the Jewish calendar in order to counter the pervasive pres-
ence of Christmas themes and images in the general culture. The old
custom of distributing Hanukkah gelt (coins) to children has been
expanded to include gifts as well. Many Jewish parents give their
children one present for each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. In
addition, some people now exchange Hanukkah cards with Jewish
friends and family members.
In recent years American presidents have added Hanukkah-related
activities to their round of holiday duties. In 1979 Jimmy Carter
became the first president to participate in a menorah-lighting cere-
mony {see also White House, Christmas in the).
Further Reading
Edidin, Ben M.Jewish Holidays and Festivals. 1940. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Strassfeld, Michael. The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary. New
York: HarperCollins, 1993.
^
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Herod^ King
According to the Bible Jesus was born in the land of Judea. The
Gospel according to Matthew tells us that King Herod ruled Judea
at the time of Jesus' birth. Historians cannot confirm the treacherous
deeds attributed to Herod in Matthew's Nativity story. Nevertheless,
these barbarities resemble the kinds of brutal acts historians know
him to have committed.
Herod in the Gospel of Matthew
In chapter two of Matthew we learn that Magi from the east have
arrived in Jerusalem. They inquire about the birthplace of the new-
born king of the Jews whose Nativity has been foretold by the rising
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Herod, King
of a miraculous star {see also Jesus, Year of Birth; Star of Bethle-
hem). Herod is disturbed by their questions, seeing in the coming of
a great Jewish leader only a potential rival for power. Herod assem-
bles the Jewish priests and scribes, and finds out that prophecy dic-
tates that the Messiah will be born in the town of Bethlehem. He
passes this news on to the Magi, requesting that they first go to
Bethlehem and find the child, and then report back to Jerusalem.
The Magi journey on to Bethlehem, identify Jesus as the newborn
king, and pay him homage. A dream warns them that Herod intends
to kill the child they identify as the king of the Jews so they return to
their own countries without going back to Jerusalem. Herod is furi-
ous with their failure to return and orders soldiers to kill all the male
children in the town of Bethlehem under the age of two. In the
meantime, however, an angel warns Joseph, Jesus' father, of Herod's
bloody plan. The angel instructs Joseph and his family to flee into
Egypt {see Flight into Egypt). Herod's massacre of Bethlehem's male
children is commemorated on Holy Innocents' Day, December 28.
The Historical Herod
Herod was the family name of a line of kings who ruled Judea at the
time of Jesus' birth. Although they were kings in Judea, they were not
themselves of Jewish descent. They were Idumeans, a people from
outside the land of Judea, many of whom had been forced to convert
to Judaism. Some commentators note that Matthew's account of his
meeting with the Magi demonstrates Herod's unfamUiarity with Jew-
ish teachings; in order to answer the Magi's questions, he had to con-
sult those who knew Jewish scripture. The Herod who ruled at the
time of Jesus' birth was known as Herod the Great (73 B.C. to 4 B.C.).
Herod the Great became King of Judea in 40 B.C. He rose to power
by collaborating with the Roman conquerors of Judea. King Herod
was hated and feared by his Jewish subjects. He ruthlessly crushed
all political opposition, going so far as to execute a wife and several
sons whom he suspected might be plotting against him. He impov-
erished the people with oppressive taxes in order to fund numerous
building projects and other lavish expenditures. Finally, he ordered
that a number of well-known Jews be executed on the day of his
death in order to ensure that the people would actually mourn on
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that day. Although no historical evidence exists for the massacre of
Bethlehem's children reported by Matthew, the act is not inconsis-
tent with the record of Herod's known deeds.
Herod's Sons
After the death of Herod the Great, the Romans divided his former
kingdom among his remaining sons. Herod Archelaus became ruler
of Judea, and Herod Antipas ruler of Galilee. The Gospel of Matthew
states that after Herod the Great's death, an angel told Joseph that it
was safe to return to Israel. When Joseph discovered that the brutal
Archelaus had become king of Judea he was too afraid to return
there, so he moved his family to Galilee. Thus, the King Herod that
interviewed Jesus shortly before his crucifixion (Luke 23) was Herod
Antipas, ruler of Galilee.
Further Reading
Garcia-Treto, Francisco O. "Herod." In Paul J. Achtemeier, ed. The Harper
Collins Bible Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, CaUf.: HarperSan-
Francisco, 1996.
Henderson, Yorke, et al. Parents' Magazine Christmas Holiday Book. New
York: Parents' Magazine Press, 1972.
Horsley, Richard A. The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy Narratives in
Social Context. New York: Crossroad, 1989.
Hogmanay
The people of Scotland refer to their New Year's Eve celebrations as
Hogmanay. For centuries New Year's Eve was the most important
midwinter holiday in Scotland, far outstripping Christmas in its
importance. Even though Christmas gained a good deal of populari-
ty in the late twentieth century, the Scots still celebrate a festive new
year that attracts many visitors to their country.
328
Hogmanay
History
In the sixteenth century a religious reform movement, the Protestant
Reformation, blossomed in northern Europe. In Scotland John Knox
(1513-1572), leader of the Scottish Reformation and founder of the
Presbyterian Church, opposed all church festivals, as did many of the
new Protestant religious leaders. In England and Scotland, a certain
group of Protestants known as the Puritans came into political pow-
er during the seventeenth century. In their attempt to reform British
society they tried to abolish its Christmas celebrations, which they
viewed as a disgrace to the Christian religion. After the Puritans fell
from power the English returned to many of their old Christmas
customs. The people of Scotland, however, took many of the Puritan
criticisms of Christmas to heart and never really revived their old
Christmas celebrations. Instead, New Year's Day became the main
midwinter holiday. In fact, Christmas didn't become a legal holiday
again until the second half of the twentieth century.
Daft Days
In Scotland the days surrounding Christmas and New Year's were
once called the "daft days" {see also Twelve Days of Christmas). In-
deed, the University of Glasgow holds an annual all-night ball on
the last Friday of the Christmas term, which is called the "Daft Ball."
Some reserve the "Daft Days" as a name for the last day of the old
year and the first day of the new year, in reference to the lively cus-
toms and sometimes zany behavior that characterize Scottish New
Year celebrations.
Origins of the Word "Hogmanay"
The most popular name for the New Year's festival in Scotland,
however, is Hogmanay. No one can explain for certain the origins of
this word. Linguists suspect that it evolved from the old French
term, aguillaneuf, which means New Year's gift, the last day of the
year, or the celebration at which New Year's gifts are exchanged. A
related Spanish word, aguilnaldo, means Christmas tip. New Year's
gift, or, in Latin America, "Christmas carol" {see also Boxing Day).
Many more colorful, but less plausible, origins have been advanced
over the years. One early explanation suggested that the word came
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from the Greek phrase, hagia mana, meaning "holy month." Since it
is a bit difficult to explain how the Scots, in the far north of Europe,
came to be so influenced by a Greek phrase, another scholar pro-
posed that Hogmanay comes from an old Saxon phrase, halig-mo-
nath, meaning "holy month." The difficulty with this theory is that
according to the Anglo-Saxon scholar, St. Bede (6737-735), the Saxon
holy month fell in September.
Yet another far-fetched theory attributes both Hogmanay and the
nonsense word "trololay," which often follows it in song and verse,
to a French couplet:
Homme est ne
Trois rois allois.
It means, "A man is born, three kings are come." Little evidence
exists to support the idea that the Scots used or were influenced by
this phrase, however.
While some strive to find a Christian meaning for the word, others
search for pagan roots. One writer bases his explanation for the
phrase on the contention that the ancient Scots worshipped the Scan-
dinavian sun god Thor at the Yule festival that took place around this
time of year. He continues by suggesting that they named all sorts of
feasts "oels" (or "ales") and that they called the cup of remembrance
drunk at the Yule festival "minne." Thus Hogmanay Trololay could
have come from an old Scots phrase like.
minne!
Thor oel, oell
which he translates as, "Remember your sacrifices; The feast of Thor,
the Feast!" The problem, again, seems to be finding evidence to sup-
port such a claim. Along these same lines, some have suggested that
the French word aguillaneuf comes from the phrase au gui Van neuf,
"to the mistletoe the new year," again linking Hogmanay to pagan
celebrations. Nevertheless, most scholars reject this explanation of
the word.
Visits and Treats
Gift giving, as well as good-luck charms, figured prominently in tra-
ditional Scottish New Year celebrations. In past eras children used to
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Hogmanay
go door to door asking neighbors to give them their Hogmanay,
which in this context meant gifts of cheese and oat cakes. They
chanted old folk rhymes, such as:
Get up good wife and shake your feathers
And dinna think that we are beggars.
For we are guisers come out to play
Get up and gie's our hogmanay.
This rhyme usually accompanied the recitation of a bit of a mum-
mer's play (see also Mumming). Another rhyme works on the listen-
er's sympathy as a means of soliciting a treat:
Ma feet's cauld
Ma shoon's thin,
Gies ma cakes
An' let me rin.
In some places groups of boys called the Gillean Callaig, or Hog-
manay Lads, went from door to door carrying sticks, a sack, and an
old hide. They recited an old Gaelic folk verse at each house they
visited while they used their switches and sticks to beat the animal
hide. Then they circled the dwelling place, taking care to move in the
same direction as the sun. Householders were then expected to
invite the boys in for a treat. Some people added another twist to the
custom by bringing the boys inside, singeing a bit of the hide, and
wafting the smoke over each family member. All who inhaled the
pungent fumes of this purification ritual were supposed to enjoy
good health in the coming year, while the boys received a bit of ban-
nock (a coarse oatmeal cake) to take away in their sack. This custom
died out in the early twentieth century.
Firstfooters
Scottish folklore teaches that the firstfooter, the first person to set
foot over the threshold after midnight, determines the household's
luck in the new year. Lucky firstfooters possess certain physical qual-
ities. In most regions, a dark-haired, healthy, adult male is consid-
ered the luckiest firstfooter. In some places local lore even specifies
that he not be flat-footed. Rather than leave the luck of the house-
hold to fate, some families arrange for a person with the lucky char-
acteristics to visit them just after midnight.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Firstfooters often bring gifts of food, drink, fuel, or money to the
homes they visit. These are considered lucky gifts that help to attract
the same goods to the household throughout the year. Some people
follow a tradition whereby family members remain silent until the
firstfooter enters, places his gifts of food and drink on the table, stirs
up the fire, and wishes the household and all its members well.
Other Superstitions
Traditional folk beliefs warned that the conditions prevailing in the
home on New Year's Eve would be likely to persist throughout the
coming year. Therefore, people prepared for New Year's Eve by pay-
ing off their debts, returning borrowed items, tuning musical instru-
ments, washing and mending clothes, sheets and blankets, polishing
silver and metal goods, winding clocks, cleaning their fireplaces, and
emptying out the ashes. Since superstitions warned that stray dogs
were portents of evil to come, people often chased away any strays
lingering about their homestead.
Other beliefs advised people to collect the "cream of the well," or
the "flower of the well." This water, contained in the first bucket to
be drawn from the well after midnight on New Year's Eve, was said
to be especially sweet and pure. In some places people competed to
be the first person to draw it from the well and to gain the luck it
was said to impart. People not only drank this water for their health,
but also saved some with which to bless their homes and barns.
Many Scots also enacted purification rituals — known as saining —
on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. These rituals involved censing
house, barn, family members, and animals with smoke, often juniper
smoke. Another common good-luck ritual consisted of opening the
door at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve to let the old year
out and the new one in. Many people accompanied this action by
ringing bells and banging on pots and pans. The noise chased away
any evil spirits or influences lurking about the house.
On the island of Orkney, local lore boasts that Stane O'Quoybune, a
4,000-year-old, 12-foot-tall standing stone, walks down to Board-
house Loch in the early hours of New Year's morning to drink its icy
water. Few stay up past midnight to watch for the event, however.
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Hogmanay
since local lore also insists that those who see the stone move will
die in the year to come.
Foods
The Scots also celebrate the new year by indulging in special foods.
One traditional drink, called a het pint, resembles wassail. It is made
by mixing ale, spirits, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, and
other spices. Aiiother New Year's Eve concoction, athole brose, is made
from oatmeal, cream, honey, and whiskey. Scotch whiskey or tea may
also be served. Somen — oat and bran gruel sweetened with honey or
molasses and spiked with whiskey — constitutes a special dish con-
nected with the holiday. Other New Year's foods include oatcakes,
cheese, shortbread, black bun (a cake made with dried fruit, almonds,
spices, and spirits), and ankersocks (gingerbread made with rye.)
Parties
Today many Scots celebrate Hogmanay with parties. These may take
place in people's homes, in pubs, or on the streets. In 1993 the city of
Edinburgh began its open-air Hogmanay Festival. It has become the
largest New Year's Eve party in Europe and it attracts many foreign
visitors. This festival has become so popular that the city had to issue
passes limiting the number of those who can attend the events to
about 180,000. The celebration takes place over the course of three
days and includes pop, rock, and folk concerts, dances, street parties,
and a torchlight procession ending in a bonfire.
Noise and Song
At midnight on New Year's Eve Scots link arms with the people sur-
rounding them and sing "Auld Lang Syne." This song, whose title
means, "Days of Long Ago," is credited to Scotland's most famous
poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). Much noisemaking also takes place
at midnight, especially the firing of guns.
Torches, Dancing, and Sports
People all over Scotland celebrate the new year with torchlit proces-
sions {see also Up Helly Aa). These usually take place on December
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
30. People often observe New Year's Eve by attending ceilidhs (pro-
nounced kay-lees), dance parties featuring Scottish bagpiping and
other kinds of Celtic music. New Year's Day is frequently marked by a
variety of sporting events, including traditional Highland activities
such as wrestling, tossing the caber (throwing a long pole) and put-
ting the stone (throwing a heavy disk). Other popular sports include
shinty, a game similar to hockey, and curling, a game which involves
moving a puck over ice. Group walks are another common New Year's
Day activity.
Further Reading
Edwards, Gillian. Hogmanay and Tiffany, The Names of Feasts and Fasts.
London, England: Geoffrey Bles, 1970.
Gaster, Theodor. New Year, Its History, Customs, and Superstitions. New York:
Abelard-Schuman, 1955.
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin. Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of
World Holidays.Volume 4. Detroit, Mich.: UXL, 2000.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Livingstone, Sheila. Scottish Festivals. Edinburgh, Scotland: BirUnn, Ltd.,
1997.
Mackie, Albert. Scottish Pageantry. London, England: Hutchinson, 1967.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Tober, Bruce. "Hogmanay." British Heritage 20, 1 (December 1998-January
1999): 46-50.
Web Site
The city of Edinburgh, Scotland, has posted a web site on its Hogmanay
Festival at: http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org
334
Holly
'^q^i^'^q^i^'^i^c^'^ii^c^i^<^c^i^'--^q^i^'--^c^q^'--^^^q^i^^^q^i^'^q^^
Holly springs up all around us at Christmas time. It ornaments to-
day's Christmas cards, wreaths, wrapping paper, and other Christ-
mas decorations. Although holly serves as a very contemporary
symbol of the season, folklorists trace holly's association with Christ-
mas back to ancient times.
Ancient Beliefs and Customs
Evergreen plants, such as holly, ivy, and pine, stay green all year
round. For many ancient peoples, this special property converted
these plants into seasonal reminders of the promise of rebirth or
eternal life. Many writers believe that the pagan peoples of northern
Europe decorated their homes with greenery during their winter
festival. Yule. Perhaps they wished to honor and imitate holly's tri-
umph over the dark and the cold, for the plant not only remains
green during the winter but also bears bright red fruit during this
harsh season. Further south, the Romans also decorated their homes
with greenery during their winter festival. Saturnalia. In addition,
friends exchanged sprigs of holly and other evergreens as tokens of
friendship and good wishes for the upcoming new year.
Christianity and the Significance of Holly
Some folklorists think that holly and ivy represented the male and
female principles in nature to the pagan peoples of northern Europe.
These old beliefs may have lingered on in song and folklore long
after Christianity conquered the northern lands. A good number of
English songs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance depict a rival-
ry between holly and ivy in which holly represents masculinity and
ivy, femininity. In early Christian times, the Church resisted the pa-
gan European custom of making seasonal decorations out of winter
greenery. The sixth-century second Council of Braga forbade Chris-
tians the use of green boughs in home decoration.
335
Holly
As time went on, however, Christianity adopted the holly and ivy of
pagan winter celebrations, molding their significance to fit Christian
beliefs. One authority states that early northern European Christians
interpreted holly as a symbol of the Virgin Mary's love for God. Its
spiky leaves and blood-red berries also served to remind Christians
that Jesus would end his days wearing a crown of thorns. The words
to the Christmas carol titled "The Holly and the Ivy" illustrate simi-
lar Christian reinterpretations of these seasonal symbols. After the
older beliefs about the plant had faded, some Christian authorities
suspected that the word "holly" must be related to the word "holy,"
a belief that would support their interpretations of its connection
with the Christmas season. They were mistaken. The modern En-
glish word "holly" comes from the older terms for the plant — hollin,
holin, and holme — and before that, from the Anglo-Saxon word for
holly, holegn.
Folklore and Customs
Old British folklore attributed a variety of special powers to holly. In
medieval times, practitioners of folk medicine used holly to treat
many conditions, including fever, rheumatism, gout, and asthma.
(Holly berries are poisonous, however.) Picking holly on Christmas
Day could enhance its medicinal properties. In addition, holly ward-
ed off evil spirits. A medieval traveler who had lost his way might
shelter under a holly tree for protection against unseen dangers.
Placed on doors and around windowsills, hoUy's spiny leaves would
snag any evil spirit that tried to enter the house. One custom advised
unmarried women to place a sprig of holly beside their beds on
Christmas Eve as protection against witches or goblins. A sprig of
holly inside the house might also shield the householders from fire
and storms. Holly that had been used in church decorations was
believed to be especially powerful. It could confer luck, peace, or hap-
piness, according to English folk beliefs, and protect against lightning,
according to German folk beliefs.
Traces of the old association with masculinity and the battle of the
sexes lingered on in holly lore. English folklore deemed prickly holly
"male" and non-prickly holly "female." (Holly plants are indeed
sexed, but the sex difference does not manifest itself in this way). If
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
male holly was brought into the house first, the husband would rule
during the upcoming year, and if female holly entered first, the wife
would rule. Several hundred years ago, English folk custom still con-
nected competing figures known as the "holly boy" and the "ivy
girl" with a number of wintertime observances. During this same
period, the Welsh observed "Holming Day" on December 26 with
another customary battle of the sexes in which men hit women's
bare arms with holly branches {see also St. Stephen's Day). Accord-
ing to folk belief, holly dealt good luck to men, while ivy granted
good luck to women.
Careless dealings with holly could turn good luck into bad, however.
Some believed that cutting holly at any other time than Christmas
brought bad luck. Bringing holly into the house for Christmas deco-
rations also required special care. Some thought it unlucky to bring it
in before Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The withered greens must
also be disposed of respectfully. Some believed that they should be
burned. Others thought that burning them drew bad luck and that
feeding them to cattle might preserve good luck. Still others felt they
should simply be left to decay on their own. Sometimes a sprig of
holly was saved for the following year, when it was used to light the
fire under the next year's Christmas pudding {see also Plum Pud-
ding).
Holly, often alongside its mate, ivy, served as an important Christmas
symbol during the nineteenth century. The Victorians wove it into
kissing boughs, greenery swags, and other seasonal home adorn-
ments, and embellished many a Christmas card with its image. Today,
some Americans still hang a wreath of holly on their front doors at
Christmas. In Britain many people place similar wreaths on the graves
of the family dead at this time of year. In addition, holly continues to
trim contemporary holiday decorations, symbolizing for many the
mirth of the season. The old yet still popular Christmas carol, "Deck
the Halls," expresses this connection between holly and revelry.
Further Reading
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Segall, Barbara. The Holly and the Ivy. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1991.
338
Holy Innocents' Day
'^q^i^'^q^i^'^i^c^'^ii^c^i^<^c^i^'--^q^i^'--^c^q^'--^^^q^i^^^q^i^'^q^i^
Holy Innocents^ Bay
Childermas, Feast of the Holy Innocents, Innocents' Day
In chapter two of the Gospel according to Matthew, the birth of
Jesus is followed by a massacre from which the Holy Family narrow-
ly escapes. An angel warns Jesus' father Joseph that King Herod in-
tends to kill the child, whom the Magi have identified as the new-
born king of the Jews. The angel instructs Joseph to flee with his fam-
ily into Egypt {see Flight into Egypt). Herod's soldiers arrive in Beth-
lehem after the Holy Family has departed. They slaughter all the
male children in the town and surrounding region who are under
two years of age. This event is known as "the slaughter of the
Innocents." Holy Innocents' Day, observed on December 28, mourns
this act of cruelty.
Church History
Three Christian festivals follow in close succession upon Christmas.
St. Stephen's Day occurs on December 26, St. John's Day on De-
cember 27, and Holy Innocent's Day on December 28. These com-
memorative days were established in western Europe by the late
fifth century. The individuals they honor share two things in com-
mon. Stephen, John, and the Innocents all lived during the time of
Jesus and were martyred for him. In addition, Stephen, John, and the
Innocents represent all possible combinations of the distinction
between martyrs of will and martyrs of deed. The children slaugh-
tered at King Herod's orders in Bethlehem did not choose their fate,
but suffered it nonetheless, and so were considered martyrs in deed.
St. John willingly risked death in his defense of the Christian faith,
but did not suffer death, and so was considered a martyr of will. St.
Stephen risked and suffered death for his faith, and thus became a
martyr of will and of deed.
Around the year 1000, Holy Innocent's Day acquired a new name.
The English began to refer to the observance as "Childermas," a
contraction of childem (an archaic form of the word "children") and
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
"mass." In the past, if Innocents' Day fell on a Sunday, the liturgical
color was red, signifying martyrdom. If the feast fell on any other day
of the week, the liturgical color was purple, signifying penitence.
This difference reflected the doubt of some early theologians con-
cerning the fate of the children's souls. Although they had died in
Christ's place and so might be considered martyrs, they had not
been baptized. In 1960 the Roman Catholic Church eliminated this
variation in liturgical colors, assigning the red of martyrdom to all
observances of the feast.
Folk Customs
Many of the customs associated with Holy Innocents' Day assign a
special role to children. Moreover, a number of Innocents' Day cus-
toms encourage activities that reverse power and authority between
the older and younger generations. Centuries ago in England, boy
bishops held sway in some churches on Childermas {see also Feast
of Fools). On December 28 the boy bishop was expected to deliver a
public sermon before stepping down from office. In medieval times
boy bishops could also be found in Germany and France. Another
old English custom encouraged older family members to swat younger
ones with switches on Childermas. Although one writer suggests that
the practice served to remind young people of the sufferings of Beth-
lehem's Innocents, most folklorists view this practice as a remnant of
an old, pre-Christian custom intended to drive out evil spirits, ill
health, or other harmful forces.
Innocents' Day whipping customs were also popular at one time in
central Europe. In some areas groups of children marched from house
to house whipping girls and women with twigs and branches. A folk
verse which accompanied this practice reveals that it was viewed as a
means of imparting health, fertility, abundance, and good luck:
Many years of healthy life,
Happy girl, happy wife:
Many children, hale and strong.
Nothing harmful, nothing wrong.
Much to drink and more to eat;
Now we beg a kindly treat [Weiser, 1952, 133].
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Holy Innocents' Day
Childermas customs in some regions of Germany permitted children
to strike anyone they passed with their whips of twigs and branches.
The children demanded coins in exchange for this service, which was
known as "whipping with fresh greens." In Hungary boys and men
whipped women and girls with switches in order to endow them
with health and beauty. In Yugoslavia mothers switched children,
hoping to promote their health and strength. Afterwards the chil-
dren circulated through the neighborhood, smacking adults with
switches and receiving treats and coins in exchange.
In Belgium children seized control of the house on December 28.
Early in the morning the children would collect all the keys in the
house. Later, when any adult ventured into a room or closet for
which they had the key, the child would lock him or her in. In order
to gain their release the adults promised the child a treat, such as
money, candy, fruit, or a toy. The children referred to these ransomed
adults as their "sugar uncle" or "sugar aunt." In Austria old folk tra-
ditions also allowed children to play tricks on their parents on Holy
Innocents' Day and to usurp their parents' authority by sitting in
their chairs.
This playful, topsy-turvy spirit also runs through Innocent's Day cus-
toms in Mexico, Ecuador, and other Latin countries {see also Spain,
Christmas in). Mexicans celebrate the day in much the same way
we celebrate April Fools' Day — by playing practical jokes on one
another. The one who gets fooled is referred to as an "innocent."
Folklore
Another, more ominous theme also runs through the lore and cus-
toms associated with Innocents' Day, however. Because the feast
commemorates such a despicable deed, it came to be viewed as an
extremely unlucky day, according to old European folk beliefs. Any
undertaking begun on Childermas was bound to fail, according to
these superstitions. The Irish called December 28 "the cross day of
the year" for that reason. Those who married on that day ran espe-
cially high risks of future misery. According to some sources. King
Louis XI of France (ruled 1461-83) absolutely refused to conduct or
discuss affairs of state on Holy Innocents' Day. It is also believed that
the English monarch Edward IV (ruled 1461-70, 1471-83) postponed
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
his own coronation ceremony, originally scheduled for December
28, for fear of tagging his reign with bad luck.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 28 — Innocents' Day." In his The Book of
Dfli/s. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Cowie, L. W., and John Selwyn Gummer The Christian Calendar. Spring-
field, Mass.: G. and C. Merriam Company, 1974.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Joyce, E. J. "Innocents, Holy." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 7. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
Urlin, Ethel. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
■?%-
342
Hopping John
'^q^i^'^q^i^'^i^c^'^ii^c^i^<^c^i^'--^q^i^'--^c^q^'--^^^q^i^^^q^i^'^q^^
Hopping] ot)n
Hopping John is a traditional New Year's Day food in the American
South. The dish consists of black-eyed peas and rice, seasoned with
onions, a bit of pork, and some salt and pepper. It developed among
rice plantation slaves in South Carolina and eventually spread to the
surrounding black and white communities. Recipes for hopping John
appear in cookbooks written by white Southerners as early as the
latter half of the nineteenth century {see also Slaves' Christmas;
America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century).
Cookbook author Karen Hess speculates that in making hopping
John slaves were recreating the familiar dishes of their African up-
bringing. This kind of dish, a rice and bean pilaf, can be found
throughout the rice-growing regions of Asia and Africa. Hess believes
the name "hopping John" in fact derives from the Malay word kach-
ang, referring to a certain type of bean, and the Hindi word bhat,
which means cooked rice.
Food writer John Thorne suggests another origin for hopping John.
He suspects that Caribbean slaves first invented the dish and brought
it with them to the United States. He proposes that the name "hop-
ping John" comes from the French word used by these Caribbean
slaves to describe the beans that make up the mainstay of the dish:
pais a pigeon, or pigeon peas. When English speakers were told that
the dish consisted of pois a pigeon, pronounced in the Creole dialect
as "pwaah-peeJON," they might easily have dubbed the dish "hop-
ping John." African slaves brought pigeon peas with them to the
Caribbean, where they thrived. Pigeon peas never really took root in
the United States, where other types of beans and peas have
replaced them in dishes like hopping John.
Over the years ordinary people have come up with a variety of
imaginative explanations for the dish's unusual name. One such
explanation suggested that the name of the dish went along with a
peculiar custom requiring children to hop around the dining room
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
table before it was served. Another wraps a bit of a folktale around
the name, proposing that there once was a man named John who
loved the dish so much that he always came "a-hopping" when his
wife set it on the table.
No one knows exactly how hopping John — originally the humble
fare of slaves and poor folk — became attached to New Year's Day, or
why consuming it on this date brings good luck. Folk wisdom sug-
gests that by "eating poor" on New Year's Day, one becomes a mag-
net for rich foods during the rest of the year. An old, southern folk
rhyme confirms this theory:
Those black-eyed peas are lucky
When et on New Year's Day;
You'll always have sweet 'taters.
And possum come your way [Kane, 1998, 155].
Other superstitions have also attached themselves to the dish. For
example, some say that on New Year's Day hopping John should
always be served with a side dish of greens so as to attract green-
backs, that is, paper money. Still others believe that the luck-bring-
ing effects of the dish can be enhanced by adding side dishes of
sweet potatoes and cornbread.
Further Reading
Hess, Karen. The Carolina Rice Kitchen. Columbia, S.C.: University of South
Carolina Press, 1992.
Kane, Harnett T. The Southern Christmas Book. 1958. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1998.
Selbert, Pamela. "A Good Start?: Southerners Ring In a Lucky New Year
with Hopping John." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (December 16, 1994): 1.
Thorne, John. Serious Pig. New York: North Point Press, 1996.
Web Site
"The Story of Hopping John," posted by noted food writer John Thorne on
his web site at: http://www.outlawcook.com/Page0102.html
344
Holo the Grinch Stole Christmas
How tl)e Grmcl) Stole cfiristmas
Acclaimed children's writer Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Geisel, published
How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 1957. This story tells how the
grumpy Grinch tries to prevent the sweet-tempered citizens of Who-
ville from celebrating Christmas. He steals the trappings of Christ-
mas — the Christmas trees, decorations, gifts, and special foods —
but discovers that he cannot steal the spirit of Christmas. This realiza-
tion transforms the Grinch, who then returns the stolen loot.
Book, Cartoon, and Movie
In Dr. Seuss's Christmas story, the spirit of Christmas converts a
Scrooge-like main character into a joyful soul. Viewed in this light.
Dr. Seuss's story might be seen as a children's cartoon version of
Dickens's classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. Its immense appeal
to children led to its being transformed into an animated television
special in 1966. Geisel adapted the script from his book, while direc-
tor and animator Chuck Jones turned Dr. Seuss's drawings into
moving cartoon characters. Actor Boris Karloff, famous for his roles
in horror films, dubbed in the voice of the Grinch. The show proved
an immediate hit, and was rerun year after year. In 1971 Geisel
received a Peabody Award for his work on the animated version of
How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In the years to come, further Grinch
television specials brought him two Emmy Awards — Halloween Is
Grinch Night (1977) and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982).
How the Grinch Stole Christmas — both the book and the cartoon —
imprinted itself in the minds of millions of American youth. So
much so that in the year 2000 Universal Studios, hoping to cash in
on the phenomenon, released a live-action movie version of the
story entitled Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Directed by
Ron Howard, the film featured Jim Carrey in the title role. Realizing
that the story told in the short book would have to be expanded if it
were to become a full-length movie, Howard began adding scenes
that developed the characters.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The designers labored to take Dr. Seuss's two-dimensional drawings
and recreate a three-dimensional Seussian world for the movie set.
Rather than duplicate the exact look of Dr. Seuss's Grinch book, they
decided that the sets would reproduce a blend of environments
depicted in the books. Dr. Seuss's fantastical settings, buildings, and
furniture, often drawn without right angles or much regard for the
laws of physics, proved a great challenge to the design team. Make-
up artist Rick Baker faced an equally difficult challenge, that of turn-
ing Jim Carrey into the Grinch and scores of other actors into the
Whos of Whoville. Each morning before filming began, Carrey en-
dured a three-and-a-half-hour makeup session, which included ap-
plying makeup over three foam rubber facial pieces as well as insert-
ing false teeth and yellow contact lenses.
In the end the effort proved worth the trouble. Dr. Seuss's How the
Grinch Stole Christmas won an Academy Award for Best Makeup and
was nominated for two additional awards — Best Art Direction-Set
Decoration and Best Costume Design.
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss was the pen name of Theodor Geisel (1904-1991). His love
for doodling and drawing expressed itself at an early age. It contin-
ued throughout his formal education at Dartmouth College and
Oxford University. Never a particularly dedicated student, he lost
patience with the obscurity of advanced academic study while at-
tending Oxford and returned to the United States, where he began
to make his living as a cartoonist. As the years went by, Geisel be-
came increasingly fascinated with language and rhyme, and began
to work on wedding his rhymes to drawings. Some years later he
prepared his first manuscript for a children's book, eventually titled
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Twenty- seven different
publishers rejected it. As Geisel walked the streets of New York,
looking for the 28th publisher, he ran into an old college friend,
Marshall McClintock, who had just become the children's book edi-
tor for Vanguard Press. McClintock gave him the break he needed.
Vanguard Press published Geisel's book in 1937.
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, written in verse, was a
success. Though Dr. Seuss's next books were written in prose, he
346
Holo the Grinch Stole Christmas
eventually returned to the rhyme schemes for which he became
famous.
Over 200 million copies of Dr. Seuss's books have been published in
20 different languages. The enormous popularity of these stories pro-
pelled Dr. Seuss and his books into the role of cultural icons. He liked
to think of himself as the man who had single-handedly rid Ameri-
can classrooms of the boring "see Dick run" style of early reader. In
1985 the senior class of Princeton University paid a humorous tribute
to his role in forming generations of young readers, when they stood
in unison and recited the entire text of Green Eggs and Ham as Seuss
mounted the stage to receive an honorary doctorate.
Further Reading
Fensch, Thomas. The Man Who Was Dr. Seuss. The Woodlands, Tex.: New
Century Books, 2000.
Lipschultz, Andy. How the Grinch Stole Hollywood. New York: Random
House, 2000.
Seuss, Theodor Geisel. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. New York: Random
House, 1957.
Web Site
The web site for the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, locat-
ed in the author's hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, offers a brief
biography of Geisel, images of previously unpublished art work, and a list-
ing of local Seuss-related events: http://www.catinthehat.org/index.html
347
Iceland^ cfiristmas in
The first Europeans settled in Iceland in the ninth century. They
were from Scandinavia and the Celtic lands, and some researchers
believe that they brought with them a midwinter festival called Yule.
They also imported a rich collection of stories, beliefs, and folklore
concerning elves, fairies, trolls and other unseen, magical peoples.
In the year 1000, Iceland adopted Christianity. This religion called for
a new, midwinter holiday called Christmas. Over the years the be-
liefs and practices associated with Christmas began to eclipse those
associated with the earlier pagan feast. Nevertheless, old folk beliefs
continued to link this time of year with supernatural creatures and
various kinds of heightened paranormal activity {see also Ghosts).
Past Preparations
In past times, Icelanders busied themselves in the week before
Christmas preparing for the holiday. Women made candles, baked.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cooked, washed clothes, and knit stockings and mittens. The folk-
lore of Iceland abounds in tales of hard-hearted bosses who worked
their domestic servants so far into the night during this week that
they had to place sticks between their eyelids to keep them propped
open. For this reason, Icelanders dubbed the week preceding Christ-
mas "Stick Week." Snacks eaten during this week were named "stick
bites." Those who did their share of the work received at least one
article of woolen clothing as a Christmas present.
According to Icelandic folklore, the Christmas cat would pursue those
who had nothing new to wear on Christmas. This fearsome creature
was the pet of Gryla, the ogress who spawned the Christmas Lads.
Presumably, fear of falling prey to this hungry, magical cat motivated
people to work hard in preparing for the Christmas festival.
St. Thorlak's Day
Icelanders observe December 23 as St. Thorlak's Day. St. Thorlak —
an Icelandic monk, as well as the bishop of Skaholt — won fame for
his efforts to reform the church, but was murdered in 1193. Accord-
ing to tradition, intensive preparations for the coming Christmas
festival took place on this day. People washed clothes, prepared the
Christmas feast, and cleaned their homes. Stores stayed open late
and people did their Christmas shopping. Today many people mark
the day by consuming a simple meal in the evening, often skate
hash, a dish similar to the Norwegian lutefisk {see also Norway, Christ-
mas in). In addition, many people wait until St. Thorlak's Day to de-
corate their Christmas tree.
Christmas Eve and Day
Icelanders begin their Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve. Many
people attend Christmas church services on this day. A large festive
meal is prepared for 6 p.m., when Icelanders consider Christmas to
begin. Traditional Christmas dishes include hangikjot (smoked meat),
halibut, dried fish, sausages, an Icelandic bird called rock ptarmigan,
laufabraud (leaf-bread, a type of cookie) and a kind of rice pudding.
The rice pudding contains a single almond. Whoever finds the al-
mond in their serving of pudding gets an extra gift. Nowadays many
imported foods are available in addition to the traditional Icelandic
350
Iceland, Christmas in
Christmas fare. In past times custom frowned on the consumption of
alcohol at Christmas time, though nowadays people may lubricate
their festivities with Christmas ale or other alcoholic beverages.
Families open their presents after dinner on Christmas Eve. When
this has been completed some families join hands around the Christ-
mas tree and sing Christmas carols. Icelandic television stations
shut down between 5 and 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, affirming the
high value that Icelanders place on having this time together with
their families.
On Christmas Day people stay at home with their families, go visit-
ing, attend parties, and continue to enjoy special Christmas foods.
Gift Bringers
The people of Iceland invented their own unique Christmas gift
bringers called the Christmas Lads. In past centuries Icelanders imag-
ined this band of thirteen brothers as fearsome trolls. Over the years
they shrank in stature and their appetite for troublemaking dimin-
ished. Nowadays images of the Christmas Lads often depict them as
elf-like beings, dressed in a manner that resembles Santa Claus. The
first Lad arrives thirteen days before Christmas. Another comes on the
following day and so on, until the household hosts all thirteen elves
on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day the first elf leaves. One leaves
each day thereafter, until the last Lad departs on Epiphany.
Some Icelanders wish to popularize the idea that Santa Claus lives
in Iceland. At one point the government-run Iceland Board of Tour-
ism answered the thousands of children's letters to Santa that ar-
rived in Iceland. After funding cuts decimated this program a private
foundation stepped in to answer these letters.
Gifts
In past centuries, each member of an Icelandic household received
an article of woolen clothing as a Christmas gift. In the twentieth
century Icelanders began to give each other more and different gifts.
For example, candles, books, and packs of playing cards became
popular gifts. In the second half of the twentieth century a new cus-
tom evolved. Children place a shoe on the windowsill in the weeks
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
that precede Christmas. If they have been good, the Christmas Lads
will fill the shoe with candy. If not, they might leave a potato there
instead. Researchers believe that this custom was imported from
Germany some time around the 1920s.
Decorations
Burning candles have long served as important Christmas decora-
tions in Iceland. This makes sense in a land that sees only about four
hours of daylight around Christmas time {see also Winter Solstice).
Many Icelanders also decorate their homes with Advent wreaths, a
custom most likely adopted from Denmark. Trees are relatively
scarce in Iceland and most people would never dream of cutting one
down merely to use it for a week or two as a Christmas decoration.
As a result, the Christmas tree didn't become popular until the sec-
ond half of the twentieth century, when imported spruce trees be-
came available. Before that time, however, some people constructed
homemade artificial trees out of colorful sacks and poles.
New Year's Eve
Icelanders celebrate New Year's Eve with fireworks, bonfires, and "elf
dances." The bonfires can be traced back to the eighteenth century,
when they began as a means of getting rid of holiday trash. Icelanders
continue to enjoy dressing up as elves, trolls, or imps on New Year's
Eve. This custom reflects a long-standing belief that magical creatures
are out in force on this evening.
According to Icelandic folklore, all manner of supernatural events may
occur on New Year's Eve. The dead may rise from their graves, animals
may speak, and seals may transform themselves briefly into human
beings. What's more, elves are believed to be especially active on
Christmas and New Year's Eve. Until recently many people left at least
one light burning on these nights as a way of welcoming the elves.
According to Icelandic folklore, elves move their homes on New
Year's Eve. This same lore taught that those who catch the elves in
the middle of their move might gain an elvish blessing for good luck
and wealth. To this end, it recommended that those who dared risk an
encounter with these magical beings sit at a crossroads on New Year's
352
Iceland, Christmas in
Eve. If an elf traveling on either road wanted to get by, he or she
would try to lure the human to move with promises of money, trea-
sure, food, and other tempting things. Those who stood their ground
and spoke no word until morning would gain all the promised trea-
sures. On the other hand, if their mood turned sour, the elves could
wish ill fortune on the humans who had interrupted their journey.
In past times many people offered the elves hospitality on New Year's
Eve by performing special house cleanings and leaving food and lights
burning in an out-of-the-way nook or corner. Some walked about
their house three times and announced a welcome to the elves,
promising them safe usage of the premises for the evening.
Another bit of old lore claimed that frost that drifted into the house
through an open pantry window on this night was especially sweet
and that it brought with it the promise of abundance. The only diffi-
culty was that in order to collect this "pantry drift," a housewife had
to stay awake all night in a dark pantry with the window open to the
stern cold of an Icelandic winter night, while the drift slowly collect-
ed in a pot on the floor. Once this task was completed, a design
made up of crosses was traced over the pot, which prevented the
prosperity from escaping. No statistics exist to tell us how many
women took up this icy challenge.
Twelfth Night and Epiphany
The last of the Christmas Lads departs on Epiphany. People hold par-
ties on this day to mark the end of the Christmas season, and some
people costume themselves as one of the Christmas Lads or their troll
parents. In addition, Icelanders often mark the day with bonfires into
which they throw the trash that has accumulated over the holidays.
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. Tlie World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1999.
Osmond, Stephen. "Long Night of Dreams: Midwinter Celebrations in Ice-
land." The World and 1 11, 1 (lanuaiy 1996): 206(12).
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
India^ cfiristmas in
Christians make up just over two percent of the population in India.
Nevertheless, Christmas is a national holiday and many Indians who
are not Christian still observe some of its folk customs. These in-
clude the lighting of many oil lamps along the perimeter of one's
courtyard or the edge of one's roof. Indian Christians borrowed
these lamp-lighting customs from a Hindu holiday known as De-
wali. The task of filling and lighting the lamps often falls to children.
Some families also paint Christmas symbols and images on the
walls of their whitewashed homes with powdered dyes. These pic-
tures may include the Star of Bethlehem, the Magi, or shepherds.
The cooking and sharing of special foods is another widespread
Christmas custom, although the dishes may vary from place to
place. Gift giving and carol singing also take place in many Indian
communities at Christmas time {see also Christmas Carol).
Bengal
Christians in Bengal focus their anticipation on Christmas Day church
services. Boys and men gather regularly to practice the music for the
Christmas program. Women clean the home. This cleaning includes
giving the walls a fresh coat of whitewash or clay, and decorating the
house with marigolds, leaves, and brightly colored paper. Girls make
decorations for the church, such as paper chains and chains of mari-
golds.
On Christmas Eve boys and young men gather at the church, fes-
tooning it with palm branches, wreaths, garlands of marigolds, and
paper chains. Then they set up a Christmas tree just outside the
building. Afterwards they go caroling.
On Christmas Day Bengali Christians enjoy special foods, such as
fruitcake, dates, oranges, raisins, coconut-filled rice cakes, fried rice,
and meat with curry sauce. Children often deliver plates of these
special Christmas foods to their friends.
354
India, Christmas in
Worshipers, decked out in new clothes if possible, pack Christmas
Day church services. Services generally include a sermon and choral
music. After the conclusion of the service the congregation crowds
around the Christmas tree for the distribution of gifts. Poorer mem-
bers of the congregation can expect gifts of new clothes, and chil-
dren receive trinkets from the Sunday school.
Many Santals live in the state of Bengal. These tribal people cele-
brate Christmas for five days. Girls dance up and down the streets
and sing songs. Boys also take to the streets, entertaining the public
by playing instruments. Onlookers often treat the boys and girls to
fried rice and tea after their performances.
Kerala
In the southwestern state of Kerala many Christians belong to East-
ern churches, like the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Egyptian Coptic
Church, the Armenian Orthodox Church, and the Abyssinian Church.
Others are Roman Catholic. The Eastern churches observe some-
what different rites than those observed by Western Christians, that
is, Roman Catholics and Protestants. For example, those belonging
to the Syriac Orthodox Church observe Advent by fasting. For the
four weeks preceding Christmas they abstain from eating meat, fish,
and milk products.
In the last week before Christmas, many Christian children in Kerala
spend an evening singing Christmas carols from door to door. They
carry with them candle-lit lanterns hanging from the ends of poles
(for a similar custom, see Star Boys). These beacons, raised aloft, cast
a warm glow on the band of roving musicians who visit the homes
of those who work at the church schools. Many decorate the out-
sides of their homes with oil lamps during this week.
People gather at churches on Christmas Eve, where celebrations be-
gin, accompanied by ringing bells, exploding firecrackers, and pipe
and drum music. They go home after the services, but gather again
at around three in the morning for religious processions honoring
the birth of Jesus. Worshipers carry crosses, torches, flags, lit candles,
and richly decorated ceremonial umbrellas. Priests in formal robes
also march in the procession. They chant religious verses in the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Syriac language, covered by canopies held aloft on poles by devout
believers. The processions end at the church. Then everyone files
inside for a Christmas morning service that concludes at dawn.
On Christmas Day people leave off fasting and celebrate with rich
and delicious foods, including meat curry and bread made with rice
flour and coconut paste. Visits to the homes of relatives also take
place.
Further Reading
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1999.
Tucker, Cathy C. Christmas Worldwide. Philadelphia, Pa.: Xlibris, 2000.
Wernecke, Herbert H. Celebrating Christmas Around the World. 1962. Re-
print. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1999.
Web Site
Kerala Journal has posted "A Boy's Easter, and Christmas too," an essay by
Thomas Palakeel, a professor of English literature at Bradley University. It
describes a boy's Christmas in Kerala, India: http://www.shelterbelt.com/
KJ/eastchrist.html
Iran^ cf^ristmas in
Ninety-nine percent of the citizens of Iran, or Persia, are Muslims.
Christians, members of the Bahai faith, Jews, and others make up the
remaining one percent. The very small number of Christians means
that Christmas celebrations in Iran generally revolve around quiet
church and home observances. Nevertheless, in the capital city of
Tehran, shops located in the Armenian quarter of the city display
Nativity scenes in their windows as the holiday draws near and
Christian families shop for the upcoming festival {see also Armenia,
Christmas in). Many Iranian Christians are of Armenian and Assyri-
an descent. Most are members of some branch of the Eastern Church,
356
Iran, Christmas in
which is composed of Christians whose traditions of worship devel-
oped in the Middle East, eastern Europe and north Africa. Eastern
Christians fast during Advent. Iranian Christians call this period of
spiritual preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas time the
"Little Fast." This name distinguishes it from the Easter festival's
Lenten fast, which they call the "Great Fast."
On Christmas Eve Iranian churches hold special services, which
usually include a Nativity play that retells the story of Jesus' birth.
Iranians end their Christmas fast with the bread and wine taken dur-
ing the rite of Holy Communion (Eucharist) at this service. Church
services also take place on Christmas Day.
Iranian Christians have incorporated two western Christmas tradi-
tions into their celebrations: the Christmas tree and the gift giver
Baba Noel, a Middle Eastern version of Father Christmas or Santa
Claus. On Christmas Day children delight in opening the presents
they discover under the tree. In past times most children received
one modest, homemade gift — often new clothing — slipped gently
under their pillow. Delighted with this practical gift, they paraded
about in their new clothes all week long. Now they scamper to the
tree on Christmas morning to find a number of gifts waiting for them.
Adult family members also give one another presents. In addition,
friends and family visit one another on Christmas Day. Visiting chil-
dren are offered packets of sweets. Iranian children sometimes cele-
brate Christmas with egg-tapping games similar to those played by
children around the world at Easter time.
Iranian Christians traditionally enjoy a kind of chicken stew, called
harisa, for their Christmas dinner, as well as a pastry dessert called
kada. Iranian Christians sometimes refer to the festival as the "Little
Feast." This name distinguishes it as a holiday of less importance
than Easter, which is known as the "Great Feast."
Though today their numbers are few. Christians of Assyrian, Arme-
nian, and Chaldean descent have lived in Iran since the fourth and
fifth centuries. The country's association with Christmas dates back
even further, however. Some writers believe that the Magi, the wise
men who brought the infant Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh, came from this ancient land.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1999.
Wernecke, Herbert H. Celebrating Christmas Around the World. 1962. Re-
print. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1999.
Iraq^ cfiristmas in
The vast majority of Iraqis are Muslims. Christians make up less than
five percent of the population of this Middle Eastern nation. The ma-
jority of them embrace some form of Eastern Christianity, that is, tra-
ditions of Christian worship and belief that developed in the Middle
East, north Africa, and eastern Europe. Some come from minority eth-
nic groups, such as the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and represent rem-
nants of ancient Christian communities. Iraqi Christians belong to
many different denominations, including the Syrian, Greek, and Ar-
menian Orthodox and Catholic churches, the Coptic Church, the As-
syrian (or Nestorian) Church, and the Chaldean Church. A few West-
ern Christians, that is, Roman Catholics and Protestants, live in Iraq as
well.
Christmas observances among the many Christian denominations
vary. Yet everyone goes to religious services on Christmas Eve or Day.
Iraqi Christians also celebrate the holiday by sharing a sumptuous
dinner with family members and friends. Moreover, they exchange
gifts said to come from the Iraqi gift bringer, Baba Noel — an adapta-
tion of Father Christmas or Santa Claus. Offering holiday hospitali-
ty to friends and neighbors is an Iraqi Christmas tradition. In the capi-
tal city of Baghdad, people visit one another's homes in the week
between Christmas and New Year's Day, giving and receiving lavish
welcomes. In the countryside village residents may sit down together
to a communal Christmas meal, often featuring roast lamb.
358
Ireland, Christmas in
Many Iraqis celebrate Christmas by putting up a Christmas tree in
their home. This custom is not limited to Christians, however. Many
Muslims, too, have embraced this tradition as a means of enjoying a
bit of holiday fun and as a way of decorating their home for the new
year.
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Kaplow, Larry. "Holidays Are Muted in Iraq: But Muslims, Christians Share
Their Celebrations, and Baba Noel Will Visit Many Homes Despite Bleak
Economy and Recent U.S. Air Strikes." The Atlanta Journal and Constitu-
tion (December 24, 1998): A08.
Wernecke, Herbert H. Celebrating Christmas Around the World. 1962. Re-
print. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1999.
Ireland^ CJ^ristmas m
In Ireland families prepare for Christmas by baking cakes and buy-
ing candles. The roads and bus stations are crowded on Christmas
Eve as people journey home to spend Christmas with their families.
Christmas Preparations
Women bake the Christmas cake as early as October or November.
This rich caramel cake, studded with dried fruits and nuts and fortified
with brandy, mellows and improves as it ages. Most people living in
Ireland are Roman Catholics, and many observe special devotions
during Advent, a four-week period of spiritual preparation before
Christmas. In addition, many people give their homes a thorough
cleaning and write their Christmas cards in the weeks before Christ-
mas. As Christmas Day draws near, people begin shopping for food
and gifts. Nowadays this may include buying a Christmas tree, an
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imported Christmas custom which became popular in recent years.
The Irish also preserve the more traditional Nativity scene. Many
families set up their Nativity scene a few days before Christmas.
Christmas Candles
On Christmas Eve most Irish families place a lighted candle in the
front window. The largest front window gets the largest candle, a
white, red, green, or blue candle as much as two feet tall. Many fami-
lies illuminate all the windows in their homes with Christmas can-
dles. In past eras most families fashioned holders for these candles
out of turnips. Today many people buy candleholders for this purpose.
One old tradition suggests that the youngest child in the house
named Mary light the candles. Many families walk about their neigh-
borhood on Christmas Eve, admiring the sight of so many illuminat-
ed windows. Legend has it that this custom began hundreds of years
ago, at a time when Ireland's stern, English Protestant rulers forbade
priests to celebrate the Catholic mass. People placed lighted candles
in windows as a signal to Catholic clergy that priests would be wel-
come to say mass in their home.
Another legend attributes the practice to an old folk belief. Accord-
ing to this belief, each year on Christmas Eve Mary and Joseph
once again roam the earth, reenacting their search for shelter in
Bethlehem. A lighted candle acts as a beacon, drawing the Holy
Family to homes where they will be warmly welcomed. Irish immi-
grants brought the tradition of placing a lighted candle in the win-
dow at Christmas time to other countries, including the United
States.
Christmas Eve in Times Past
In past eras the Irish observed December 24 as a fast day, eating no
food except a meatless meal in the evening. They spent Christmas
Eve at home, telling stories and singing songs. Many believed spirits
walked abroad on Christmas Eve and deemed it wiser not to venture
outdoors after dark. At about an hour before midnight, church bells
all over Ireland began to ring. This tolling, known as the "Devil's
funeral" or the Devil's knell, announced the death of the Devil, who
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Ireland, Christmas in
was believed to expire annually on Christmas Eve with the birth of
Jesus Christ. On Christmas morning many people attended a very
early church service, known as "First Light" mass.
Christmas Eve Today
Today many people still sit down to a meatless meal on Christmas
Eve, often some combination offish, potatoes, and vegetables. Some
people also observe an old custom whereby the man of house pre-
pares the potato soup for the family in a ceremonial way. Irish chil-
dren customarily hang up their Christmas stockings on Christmas
Eve. In recent years it has become popular to attend Midnight Mass
later that evening. Before going to bed some families put more wood
on the fire, place some food on the table, and make sure the candles
in the windowsills are still lit. Some may also leave a door unlocked,
another symbolic gesture welcoming the Holy Family to enter and
refresh themselves.
Christmas Day
The Irish like to spend Christmas Day with their immediate family.
The day's events revolve around Christmas dinner, the most festive
meal of the year. Before sitting down to their own dinner, many fam-
ilies send hot meals or foodstuffs to less fortunate people living
nearby. The Irish view these acts of charity as central to the celebra-
tion of Christmas. In past times a traditional Irish Christmas dinner
usually featured spiced, boiled beef. Nowadays many families prefer
roast turkey or goose. The meal closes with the long-awaited Christ-
mas cake and, often, plum pudding as well.
St. Stephen's Day
December 26, St. Stephen's Day, is a national holiday in Ireland.
The wren hunt and forms of mumming, such as mummers' plays,
entertain many people on that day. The wren hunters often con-
tribute part of their earnings to fund the St. Stephen's Day dances
popular throughout Ireland on the evening of December 26. Other
traditional St. Stephen's Day pastimes include sporting events, espe-
cially steeplechasing and fox hunting.
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New Year's Day
In past times New Year's Day wasn't much celebrated in Ireland.
On New Year's Eve, however, many people employed folk charms to
ward off hunger in the coming year. Some recommended eating a
big meal on New Year's Eve to set a pattern of consumption for the
new year. Others suggested knocking a loaf of bread or a cake
against house or barn doors, and reciting a bit of verse that wel-
comed happiness and plenty and rejected hunger and want. First-
footing, another old New Year's custom, is still practiced in Ireland.
In recent years the government made New Year's Day a holiday.
Now, more and more people celebrate New Year's Eve by staying up
late, drinking, and going to parties.
Epiphany
Epiphany, which falls on January 6, is the last day of the Christmas
season in Ireland. Epiphany is also called Twelfth Night, "Little
Christmas," or even "Women's Christmas." This last name reflects
the old custom of serving a light dinner on Epiphany, featuring sher-
ry and dainties, foods thought to be particularly appealing to wo-
men. Many people put three candles in their windows on Epiphany,
one for each of the Three Kings, or Magi. The figurines representing
the Three Kings finally arrive in Irish Nativity scenes on this day. The
next day Christmas decorations are removed and stored until the
following Christmas season.
Further Reading
Moran, Rena. Christmas in Ireland. Chicago: World Book, 1995.
362
Italy, Christmas in
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Italians favor the Nativity scene above all other Christmas decora-
tions. As Christmas approaches, they appear in churches, homes,
shops, and public places of all kinds. These images of the Holy
Family illustrate two important themes in Italian Christmas celebra-
tions: religious observance and family togetherness.
Christmas Markets
As the Christmas season draws near, families began to frequent the
Christmas markets that spring up in cities and towns across Italy.
Here they find all manner of Christmas merchandise, including
sweets and other foods, flowers, Christmas decorations, clothes, toys,
and more. Balloon sellers, musicians, and other entertainers amuse
shoppers as they wander through the stalls.
Pre-Christmas Celebrations and Observances
Along Italy's Adriatic coast many people celebrate St. Nicholas's
Day on December 6. Religious processions are held and adults give
sweets to children. The remains of this fourth-century saint now rest
in the cathedral in Bari, Italy {see also St. Nicholas).
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Sicilians celebrate St. Lucy's Day on December 13. Children leave
their shoes outdoors hoping that the saint will fill them with treats
during the night.
In some Italian cities, such as Rome, the unlikely sound of bagpipes
announces that Christmas is near. Following an old custom, shep-
herds from the surrounding mountainous areas visit the cities with
their bagpipes around mid-December. Called zampognari, they make
music in the markets, in front of churches, and alongside Nativity
scenes. In the past they would sometimes go door to door, playing in
front of the family's Nativity scene in exchange for tips.
Between December 16 and December 24 many Italians participate in
Christmas novenas, special prayer services held on nine consecutive
days. The novenas end with Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Nativity Scenes and Ceppos
Many writers believe that St. Francis (c. 1181-1226), born in Assisi,
Italy, created the first Nativity scene. According to legend, he staged
a living Nativity scene in 1224 in a cave near the Italian village of
Greccio. Francis hoped that the scene would impress viewers with
the wonder of Christ's birth. The custom quickly caught on. Today,
Italians still cherish their Nativity scenes. Churches and homes
throughout Italy display these scenes in the weeks before Christmas.
In some Italian villages, people create living Nativity scenes on
Christmas Eve. Costumed villagers and visitors make a pilgrimage to
the life-sized stable, where a living Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus
await them. Nativity scenes are so popular in Italy that they may
even be found in gas stations, city squares, airports, post offices, rail-
way stations, and shop windows. Italians place the baby Jesus fig-
urine in his crib on Christmas Eve. The Three Kings, or Magi, often
do not reach the manger until Epiphany.
Although the Nativity scene is the focus of home Christmas decora-
tions in Italy, many families also construct a ceppo, or Christmas
pyramid. Ceppo means "log" in Italian, and some researchers be-
lieve that it acquired that name because it replaced the once-popular
Yule log. This pyramidal arrangement of shelves may be used to dis-
play Christmas symbols, sweets, cards, candles, and small gifts.
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Italy, Christmas in
Christmas Eve
Many Italians begin Christmas Eve with a sumptuous meal. The meal
is all the more satisfying for those who follow the Roman Catholic
custom of fasting on Christmas Eve. Traditionally, the Christmas Eve
meal is meatless, although many delicious seafood, grain, and veg-
etable courses may be served. Eel is a favorite main course for this
meal. As midnight draws near, many Italians leaves their homes to
attend Midnight Mass. One lucky group will be able to attend mass
at St. Peter's Church in the Vatican, where the pope himself conducts
the service. Television stations all over the world broadcast this ser-
vice live from the Vatican.
Christmas Day
Italians usually spend Christmas Day enjoying the company of their
families. The Italians eat Christmas dinner at midday on December
25. In Italy the menu varies from region to region. Both roast turkey
and ham are popular main courses, and a bowl of lentils with sau-
sage is often served as a side dish. In addition, many Italians serve
panettone, a sweet Christmas bread originally from Milan, as a Christ-
mas dessert {see also Christmas Cake). Amaretti, almond cookies,
cannoli, tubes of pastry filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and can-
died fruit, and strufoli, fried dough balls, often appear on the dessert
table. Sometimes children write letters to their parents, which they
place next to their father's plate. The letters usually offer an apology
for past misbehavior and a promise of better behavior to come. The
letters also provide the children an opportunity to show off their
handwriting.
New Year
Italian folklore teaches that the first person one encounters after
midnight on New Year's Eve determines one's luck for the year to
come {see also Firstfooting). The luckiest person to encounter is a
young, healthy man. Meeting a priest means you will attend a funer-
al, perhaps your own, whereas meeting a child means you may die
young. If the first person you encounter is a woman, you will have
bad luck in the coming year.
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Epiphany
La Befana, the traditional Italian gift bringer, arrives on January 6,
Epiphany. Many children write letters to La Befana in the weeks pre-
ceding Epiphany, describing the kind of gifts they would like to receive
{see also Children's Letters). On Epiphany Eve they leave their stock-
ings by the fire, and the next morning they find them filled with pre-
sents. Many young people celebrate Epiphany by gathering in the
streets and welcoming Epiphany and La Befana with horn blasts and
other forms of noisemaking. In some parts of Italy Santa Claus now
competes with La Befana for the affections of Italian children.
In some Italian cities people give gifts to traffic policemen on Epiph-
any. As the day wears on, mounds of presents, such as fruit baskets,
wine, and food, pile up around the stands from which they direct
traffic. This practical custom probably offers those who practice it the
hope that small traffic infractions will be ignored in the coming year.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Italy. Chicago: World Book-Childcraft Inter-
national, 1979.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
Its a WoH^erfuf Life
Many Americans view the 1946 movie It's a Wonderful Life, directed by
Frank Capra, as the definitive American Christmas story. Some even
call it the American version of Charles Dickens's classic Christmas
tale, A Christmas Carol. The movie tells the story of a responsible but
ambitious young man, George Bailey, who never realizes his dream of
leaving his hometown for adventure and a big career. Aware of how
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It's a Wonderful Life
his departure will hurt the fortunes of others, he decides instead to
stay home in order to serve his family and his community. The story
begins on a Christmas Eve after World War II, when a crisis enters
George's life and causes him to reconsider the value of all he's done.
The final, happy ending celebrates the worth of George's achieve-
ments and the importance of friendship.
The Greatest Gift
Frank Capra based his movie on a short story called "The Greatest
Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern. The main character, George Pratt,
despairs over the boredom and triviality of his life. On Christmas Eve
he decides to commit suicide by throwing himself over the edge of a
bridge. Suddenly a man whom he didn't realize was there begins to
talk to him. George tells this stranger that he wishes he had never
been born. The stranger, an angel, grants this wish. George returns to
town and visits his family and place of business, finding things and
people changed for the worse. He comes back to the bridge and begs
the angel for the opportunity to live again. The angel restores every-
thing as it was, and George returns home, realizing that any life, no
matter how seemingly unimportant, is a great gift.
Stern penned the brief story in 1938. Unable to find a publisher, he
printed up 200 copies of the story as a 24-page pamphlet and sent
them to his friends at Christmas time in 1943. His agent Shirley
Collier thought the story would make a good film. She convinced
Stern to let her try to sell the story to a Hollywood studio. In 1944
RKO Pictures bought the film rights to "The Greatest Gift." In that
same year Good Housekeeping magazine published the short story
under the title "The Man Who Never Was." RKO thought the story
would provide a suitable lead role for Cary Grant, but was not satis-
fied with the ideas their screenwriters came up with for turning the
short story into a movie script.
The Story Becomes a Script
In 1945 director Frank Capra, just back from his World War II stint in
the armed services, bought the screen rights to Stern's story from
RKO. His first concern was to flesh out the brief and thinly devel-
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oped original story. Capra worked on developing the material him-
self, but also hired screenwriters Albert Hackett and Frances Good-
rich to come up with a script. In the end, the film lists Hackett,
Goodrich, and Capra as the authors of the screenplay, and notes that
additional scenes were added by Jo Swerling.
Capra loved the new, expanded story. He thought the plot's explo-
ration of the dark themes of despair and contemplated suicide as
well as the uplifting themes of love and service to others would be
perfect for his first postwar movie.
The Script Becomes a Film
As Hackett and Goodrich worked on the script, Capra sought the
needed actors. He wanted, and got, Jimmy Stewart to play the lead
role of George Bailey. Jean Arthur, his first choice to play the role of
Mary Bailey, turned him down, however. He considered several more
actresses for the part, including Olivia De Havilland, before offering
the role to Donna Reed, who accepted. Capra, a meticulous planner,
thought as deeply about the casting of the film's small roles as he
did its starring roles. When he had finally assembled the perfect cast,
he was ready to begin making the movie.
The film's original budget totaled $1,700,000, but the final cost came
in at over $3,000,000. A good portion of this money went to building
sets and creating special effects. Set designers recreated several sec-
tions of Bedford Falls, the town in which the action takes place, at
RKO's Encino Ranch. Covering four acres of land, this was among
the longest sets that had yet been created for a movie filmed in the
United States. The Main Street set stretched three blocks in length
and included 75 buildings and shops. The center of the street was
lined with 20 real oak trees, uprooted elsewhere and replanted on
the set. The special effects crew labored for three weeks in order to
produce the snowstorm that takes place on the night that George
Bailey decides to commit suicide. In the process they devised a new
way of generating artificial snow, for which they were given a
Certificate of Honorable Mention at the 1947 Academy Awards.
Although the beautifully filmed wintertime scenes convinced movie
viewers, the thermometer on the set registered temperatures in the
80s and 90s on the day they were shot.
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It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
The film was released on December 20, 1946. It was not a box office
hit, nor did it inspire an unbroken string of rave reviews. Some com-
mentators think that the film's unusual blend of romance, comedy,
and dark emotional drama may have confused viewers, thereby con-
tributing to a less than stunning box office return. Moreover, some of
America's most prestigious periodicals panned the movie as cloying-
ly sentimental and unrealistic. Nevertheless, the film charmed scores
of other reviewers, and perhaps more importantly, thousands of
fans. In addition, it won five Academy Award nominations: Best
Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.
Though It's a Wonderful Life did not receive any Academy Awards,
Capra did take home a "Golden Globe" award for best director of
the year from the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association.
It's a Wonderful Life was the first movie Capra made with Liberty
Films, an independent studio formed by Frank Capra, George Ste-
vens, William Wyler, and Sam Briskin after World War II. Financial
difficulties soon downed the fledgling company, however. Capra and
his partners sold it to Paramount Pictures in 1947, and along with it,
the right to any future profits garnered by It's a Wonderful Life. The
film languished under Paramount's care, and when its original copy-
right ran out in 1974, no one bothered to renew it. At this point tele-
vision stations all over the country began to show It's a Wonderful
Life at Christmas time, because they didn't have to pay for it. These
showings revived the interest of older fans and introduced new
audiences to the film. This once-forgotten film has now become a
beloved Hollywood classic.
Looking Back
Many movie viewers can imagine no one else but Jimmy Stewart in
the role of George Bailey. Although Stewart made over 75 films. It's a
Wonderful Life remained his favorite. Moreover, he received more fan
mail about that movie than any other he ever made.
Donna Reed recalled working harder for Capra than she had for any
other director. Still, she later described her days on the set as fun and
inspired.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Most of the cast and crew fondly remember their participation in It's
a Wonderful Life. The same cannot be said of music director Dimitri
Tiomkin. Tiomkin had chosen "Ode to Joy" as the song for the last
scene in the movie. Capra overruled him and substituted "Auld
Lang Syne" instead. He also cut some of the tunes Tiomkin had
written specially for the film and replaced them with music written
by other composers. Furious, Tiomkin never worked with Capra
again. Screenwriters Hackett and Goodrich, too, grew to dislike Cap-
ra, who they felt did not respect their contribution to the film.
Though he made scores of movies over his lifetime, Capra loved It's
a Wonderful Life best of all his creations. He explained his preference
in the following way:
It's a Wonderful Life sums up my philosophy of filmmaking.
First, to exalt the worth of the individual. Second, to champi-
on man — plead his causes, protest any degradation of his
dignity, spirit, or divinity. And third, to dramatize the viability
of the individual — as in the theme of the film itself.
I wanted It's a Wonderful Life to say what Walt Whitman said
to every man, woman, and babe in the world: "The sum of
all known reverences I add up in you, whoever you are. ..." I
wanted it to reflect the compelling words of Fra Giovanni of
nearly five centuries ago: "The gloom of the world is but a
shadow. Behind it, yet within reach, is joy. There is a radiance
and glory in the darkness, could we but see, and to see we
have only to look. I beseech you to look." . . . For myself, I can
only say ... it was my kind of film for my kind of people
[Basinger, 1986, ix].
Further Reading
Basinger, Jeanine. The It's a Wonderful Life Book. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1986.
Cahill, Marie. It's A Wonderful Life: A Hollywood Classic. New York: Smith-
mark, 1993.
Hawkins, Jimmy. It's a Wonderful Life: The Fiftieth Anniversary Scrapbook.
Philadelphia, Penn.: Courage Books, 1996.
McBride, Joseph. Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1992.
370
Ivy
Munby, Jonathan. "A Hollywood Carol's Wonderful Life." In Mark Connelly
ed. Christmas at the Movies. New York: I. B. Tauris and Company 2000.
Scherele, Victor, and William Turner Levy. The Films of Frank Capra. Secau-
cus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1977.
Stern, Philip Van Doren. The Greatest Gift. New York: Penguin Studio, 1996.
Ivy
From the Christmas tree to the kissing bough, decorations made
of greenery have adorned our Christmas celebrations for centuries.
Of all the evergreens used to represent the season, ivy's connection
to Christmas is perhaps the most obscure. Known to botanists as
Hedera helix, ivy has enjoyed a long association with the Christmas
season and, before that, with various pagan myths and celebrations.
Ancient Beliefs and Customs
Evergreen plants, such as ivy, holly, and pine, stay green all year
round. For many ancient peoples, this special property converted
these plants into reminders of the promise of rebirth and eternal life.
The pagan peoples of northern Europe decorated their homes with
evergreens such as ivy for their winter festival. Yule. Perhaps they
wished to honor and imitate ivy's triumph over the cold and dark-
ness, for the plant not only remains green during winter but also
bears fruit during this harsh season. The ancient Egyptians associat-
ed ivy with Osiris, a god who died and was resurrected. To the
Greeks ivy symbolized Dionysus, the god of wine. The Greeks told a
legend that explained this connection. A nymph had once danced
herself to death at the feet of Dionysus in a frenzy of adoration. In
recognition of her devotion the god changed her body into the ivy
plant, which casts an adoring embrace around all it encounters.
Further to the south, the ancient Romans also decorated their homes
with greenery during their winter festival. Saturnalia. In addition,
they exchanged branches of ivy, holly, and other evergreen plants as
symbols of their good wishes for the upcoming new year. Ivy also
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
became the symbol of the Roman god of wine, Bacchus. Wine sellers
in ancient Rome sometimes used ivy as a symbol of their trade. A
bush or bunch of evergreens, usually ivy or box, tied to the end of a
pole was a generally recognized symbol of a wineshop. Pliny the
Elder, a famous scholar of ancient Rome, believed that consuming
ivy berries before drinking wine or ivy leaves with one's wine could
prevent drunkenness. Modern researchers, however, have discov-
ered ivy to be toxic when ingested in large enough quantities.
Medieval Beliefs and Customs
As literacy was uncommon in the Middle Ages, people continued to
use ivy and images of ivy or other greenery to signify a tavern or
wineshop. In Britain the decorated pole used by the Romans became
known as an alepole or an alestake. Long after lettered signs re-
placed these old icons, many British taverns retained related names,
such as The Ivy Bush or The Greenwood Tree. Ivy not only repre-
sented wine, but also was believed to cure drunkenness. Likewise,
imbibing from a bowl of ivy wood was thought to cancel out the
effects of alcohol.
Some folklorists believe that holly and ivy represented the male and
female principles in nature to pagan peoples of northern Europe,
and that these early beliefs lingered on in the songs and folklore of
later eras. Many medieval and Renaissance songs and Christmas
carols tell of a rivalry between holly and ivy, in which holly repre-
sents masculinity, and ivy femininity.
In early Christian times, the Church resisted the pagan custom of
making seasonal decorations out of greenery. The sixth-century sec-
ond Council of Braga forbade Christians the use of green boughs in
home decoration. As time went on, however, Christianity adopted
the holly and ivy of pagan winter celebrations, bending their signifi-
cance to Christian ends. The clinging ivy plant became a reminder of
the soul's dependence on God. The words to the Christmas carol
"The Holly and the Ivy" depict another Christian reinterpretation of
these seasonal symbols. Due to its continuing association with
drunkenness, however, some Christians thought it disrespectful to
incorporate ivy into Christmas decorations.
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Ivy
Later Beliefs and Customs
Many diverse, and sometimes conflicting, beliefs and customs con-
cerning ivy have been recorded during the last two centuries.
Because it often grew in cemeteries, ivy acquired an association with
death. Some people believed it was therefore unlucky to bring ivy
plants indoors. Its persistent association with drunkenness also
fueled this belief, especially in continental Europe. Nevertheless, be-
cause of its decorative potential, ivy became a favorite houseplant in
the Victorian age {see also Victorian England, Christmas in).
In the "language of flowers" (a set of meanings attributed to flowers
and plants which became popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries), the encircling vines of the ivy plant represented fidelity
and undying love. Many attributed magical properties to the plant,
especially the ability to reveal the identity of future mates. In
England an ivy leaf dropped into a dish of water on New Year's Eve,
covered and left until Twelfth Night, could reveal one's own fortune
for the upcoming year. If the leaf remained green, one would enjoy
good health, but if the leaf spotted, illness threatened. Overall dete-
rioration of the leaf signaled death.
Traces of the old association with femininity and the battle of the
sexes echo through the folklore associated with ivy. According to
some, holly dealt good luck to men, while ivy bestowed good luck to
women. As late as several hundred years ago, English folk customs
still connected competing figures known as the "holly boy" and the
"ivy girl" with a number of wintertime observances. Ivy, often along-
side holly, continued as a symbol of Christmas festivities during the
nineteenth century. The Victorians wove it into kissing boughs,
greenery swags, and other seasonal adornments, and embellished
many a Christmas card with its image.
Although less popular than in Victorian times, ivy has gently en-
twined itself around the edges of contemporary Christmas celebra-
tions. Images of this ancient seasonal favorite still trim our Christ-
mas cards, wrapping paper, and other holiday decorations.
Further Reading
Segall, Barbara. The Holly and the Ivy. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1991.
373
1^^^=<i^ ^ ^
Jesse Tree
The Jesse tree gets its name from a prediction made by the Old Testa-
ment prophet Isaiah describing the rise of a great, new Jewish leader
as "a branch" growing "from the stock of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1). In refer-
ence to this prophecy, medieval artists frequently painted portraits of
Jesus and his ancestors on the limbs of a tree, with Jesus at its crown
and Jesse at its root. This image was called a "Jesse tree." The identity
of Jesus' ancestors played an important role in establishing his identi-
ty as the Messiah. In recognition of this fact, both Gospel Nativity
stories included an account of Jesus' genealogy. Chapter one of the
Gospel according to Matthew, which directly precedes Matthew's
account of Christ's birth, begins by listing Jesus' ancestors. The Gos-
pel according to Luke (3:23-38) offers a slightly different account of
Jesus' ancestry {see also Gospel Accounts of Christmas).
The Jesse tree has long served as a symbol of Jesus' ancestry in
Christian art. In recent times, however, people have begun to use the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
image of the Jesse tree to adapt the modern Christmas tree to
specifically Christian ends. Ornaments representing events in the
lives of Jesus' ancestors are hung on an evergreen tree or tree branch.
Some people add symbols for other biblical figures and events as
well. For example, Moses may be represented by stone tablets, David
by a six-pointed star, Jonah by a whale, and Judith by a sword.
Decorated this way, the evergreen becomes a living Jesse tree.
Further Reading
Augustine, Peg, comp. Come to Christmas. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1993.
Metcalfe, Edna. The Trees of Christmas. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1969.
376
Jesus
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Jesus
Christians view Jesus of Nazareth as the founder of their faith. He
spent his adult life as a spiritual teacher and healer who moved from
place to place, teaching people about God. In one Bible passage
Jesus describes himself as "anointed" by God to "preach good news
to the poor . . . proclaim release to the captives and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed," and "to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19). Christian
scripture also describes Jesus as the Son of God whose sacrificial
death renewed humanity's relationship with God and conferred the
forgiveness of sins.
The Easter festival commemorates the life, death, and resurrection of
the adult Jesus. The Christmas festival, by contrast, celebrates his
coming into the world. Theologians call this event the Incarnation, a
word that literally means "to be made flesh."
The Incarnation
"Incarnation" refers to the idea that Jesus was both human and
divine, and that in him God came to earth in human form. The joy
and hope inspired by this event has found a multitude of expres-
sions in the world's Christmas celebrations.
In the Gospel according to Matthew and the Gospel according to
Luke, the accounts given of Jesus' birth state that his mother, Mary,
conceived Jesus by the power of God's Holy Spirit while still a virgin.
Thus Jesus was both human and divine, an idea also expressed in
two of his biblical titles, "Son of God" and "Son of Man."
Commentators have remarked that the stories of Jesus' birth reveal
something of the nature of the Christian God. The stories show that
God is not distant and unmoved by human suffering, but rather
cares about particular people in particular places and so enters into
the world to effect good. Indeed, Mary is directed by the angel
Gabriel to name her son Jesus, which means "God saves" or "God
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
heals." Christian scripture expresses Jesus' care for his followers by
describing him as a shepherd.
In recent years, some theologians have begun to question traditional
views of the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth. They point out that
"son of God" was a title that the ancient Hebrews gave to people
who played a special role in bringing God's help to humanity. The
title did not imply divine identity, but rather service rendered to God.
These thinkers suggest that the Christian notion of a divine Son of
God came about after Jesus' death, as people struggled to understand
the nature of Jesus' spiritual authority and to define his identity. The
Virgin Birth has similarly been questioned. Some theologians today
accord it greater symbolic than literal significance, suggesting that the
story of the Virgin Birth was invented to symbolize Jesus' divine ori-
gins to a first-century audience. Others interpret Mar/s virginity as a
symbolic representation of her spiritual wholeness.
Jesus the Christ
Jesus' followers also gave him the title "Christ," which comes from
the Greek word for "anointed." Among the ancient Jews high reli-
gious leaders underwent a ceremony in which they were anointed
with oil. Jesus' followers viewed him as the one chosen and anointed
by heaven to reconcile humanity with God and so came to call him
Jesus Christ.
Jesus' Birth According to John
Although most people refer to the accounts of Jesus' birth given in
Matthew and Luke as the Bible's two Infancy Narratives, the Gospel
according to John offers another, more philosophical account of
Jesus' coming into the world. It, too, emphasizes Jesus' divine nature
and explains that God came into the world through Jesus that
humans might come to know God. In this poetical passage Jesus'
divine essence is referred to as "the Word" and as "light":
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God;
all things were made through him, and without him was not
anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life
378
Jesus
was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and
the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He
came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all
might believe through him. He was not the light, but came
to bear witness to the light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into
the world. He was in the world, and the world was made
through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his
own home, and his own people received him not. But to all
who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power
to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor
of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of
grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the
only Son from the Father [John 1:1-14].
Creeds and Councils
John's passage concerning Jesus' birth raises theological issues not
addressed in the other two Gospel accounts. Several hundred years
after the birth of Jesus, theologians were still debating the exact
nature of Jesus' identity and the mechanics of how he came into
being and into the world. Christian leaders decided that they needed
to settle these debates once and for all. So they held councils in
which they hammered out a general consensus on these matters,
creating in the process various creeds and doctrines of the church.
Especially important were the Nicene Creed, formulated at the Coun-
cil of Nicea in 325, and the doctrines that came out of the Council of
Chalcedon in 451.
The Festival of Jesus' Birth
The holiday devoted to the celebration of Jesus' birth, which we call
Christmas, dates back to the year 336. It was set for December 25,
an already important date in the ancient world. Centuries later.
Christians would become concerned with establishing the year of
Jesus' birth, which had not been recorded in scripture or other early
Christian writings (see Jesus, Year of Birth).
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The debate over when Jesus was born continues to this day, as does
discussion concerning the appropriate way in which to celebrate
Jesus' birth. Five hundred years ago, the Puritans objected to cele-
brations that revolved around eating, drinking, masquerading, and
game playing. More recently some Americans have begun to ques-
tion the degree of commercialism that has invaded the festival.
Some feel, like the Puritans of old, that contemporary American
Christmas celebrations have become so divorced from the story of
Jesus' birth that the holiday is more a secular than a religious one.
Many are searching for ways to link the spiritual teachings contained
in the story of Jesus' birth to their own Christmas celebrations.
Indeed many devotional books advise Christians of various denomi-
nations on how to prepare their own heart and spirit to receive the
Christ Child {see also Advent). Some who do not identify them-
selves as Christians are looking for ways to celebrate the holiday's
secular themes and its universal spiritual themes, while disregarding
specific Christian doctrines. These themes include generosity and
gift giving, the celebration of birth and new life, the joys of winter,
and the return of the sun {see also Winter Solstice).
Further Reading
Brown, Raymond E. An Adult Christ at Christmas. CoUegeville, Minn.: Litur-
gical Press, 1988.
. The Birth of the Messiah. Updated edition. New York: Doubleday,
1993.
Burns, Charlene P. E. Divine Becoming. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press,
2002.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. "Incarnation, the." In their The Ox-
ford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Gregg, D. Larry. "Incarnation." In David Noel Freedman, ed. Eerdmans Bible
Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Com-
pany, 2000.
Hick, John. The Metaphor of God Incarnate. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John
Knox Press, 1993.
Horsley, Richard A. The Liberation of Christmas: The Infancy Narratives in So-
cial Context. New York: Crossroad, 1989.
Maier, Paul L. In the Fullness of Time. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 1991.
380
Jesus, Year of Birth
Matera, Frank J. "Incarnation." In Paul J. Aclitemeier, ed. The HarperCollins
Bible Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancis-
co, 1996.
Raya, Joseph. Abundance of Love. West Newton, Mass.: Educational Service
Department, Melkite Greek Catholic Diocese of Newton, 1989.
Weis, E. A. "Incarnation." In New Catholic Encyclopedia.Volume 7. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1967.
JesHS^ Year of BiVtl^
Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25. A quick look
at the bibHcal accounts of the Nativity, however, reveals the fact that
neither story mentions the year or the date of Jesus' birth {see also
Gospel According to Matthew; Gospel According to Luke; and
Gospel Accounts of Christmas). Over the centuries many scholars
have tried to match details given in the two Gospel accounts of the
Nativity with known historical events in order to establish the year
and date of Jesus' birth. Although debate continues, most scholars
now believe that Jesus was born sometime between 7 and 4 B.C.
The Date
The biblical accounts of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem provide only one
clue as to the date of this event. Luke's Nativity story mentions
shepherds who were spending the night with their flocks in the
fields. In those days shepherds might well have spent the night with
their flocks during the spring lambing season in order to aid the
newborn lambs and their mothers. Historians believe that it is much
less likely that shepherds would be sleeping in the fields with their
flocks during the winter. This detail from Luke's account would
seem to suggest that Jesus was born sometime in the spring. Never-
theless, the first celebrations of the Nativity took place in January.
During the second and third centuries, a number of Christian com-
munities began to commemorate Jesus' birth on January 6 as part of
their Epiphany celebrations. In the middle of the fourth century.
381
1»MM!Mga^li P ^.tM!ga[i3J.
Jesus, Year of Birth
Church officials in Rome established a separate festival to honor the
Nativity. They chose to celebrate this festival on December 25, and
successfully promoted it throughout the Christian world.
The Year
The scriptural accounts of the Nativity offer more, but somewhat
conflicting, clues to those searching for the year of Jesus' birth. They
agree in one regard, though. Both Luke's and Matthew's Nativity
stories assert that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the
Great, king of Judea (73 B.C.-4 B.C.). The Gospel of Matthew offers an
additional clue, implying that Herod died not long after Jesus' birth.
Most historians agree that Herod died in the year 4 B.C., since arche-
ological evidence points to the fact that his successors began their
reigns in that year. Taken together these indications suggest that
Jesus was born sometime between 7 and 4 B.C. Luke also mentions
that Jesus was born during the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar
Augustus (63 B.C. -14 a.d.). Augustus ruled the Roman Empire from
around 42 B.C. to 14 a.d., so this information fits with the assump-
tion that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, possi-
bly near the time of Herod's death.
A closer look at Luke's account of the Nativity complicates matters,
however. Luke declares that Jesus' birth coincided with a Roman
census called for by Emperor Augustus and administered locally by
Quirinius, the governor of Syria. Historians know that Quirinius
became governor of Syria in 6 a.d. Furthermore, they confirm that
he conducted a census of Judea around 6-7 a.d. This information fits
with the claim that Jesus was born in the days of Caesar Augustus,
but contradicts the claim that he was born during the reign of Herod
the Great, who presumably died in 4 B.C.
Although scholars have put forward a number of ingenious proposals
to reconcile the date of Quirinius's census with the date of Herod's
death, most researchers agree that Luke must have erred when he
wrote that Jesus was born during the time of the census. Some
scholars suggest that Luke may have included the story of the cen-
sus as a way of locating the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, since Jewish
scripture claimed that the Messiah would be born there. Historians
who find Luke's description of the Roman census somewhat uncon-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
vincing tend to support this view. They argue that a Roman census
would not require people to return to their ancestral homeplaces,
since the Romans were interested in where people lived, not where
their ancestors came from.
The Gospel of Luke provides another clue to the year of Jesus' birth
in a later passage describing the beginning of Jesus' ministry. In
chapter three Luke informs us that Jesus was about thirty years old
in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius (42
B.C. -37 A.D.; Luke 3:1, 23). The fifteenth year of Tiberius's reign
occurred between the years 27 to 28 a.d. This data fits well with the
proposal that Jesus was born sometime between 7 and 4 B.C., but
conflicts with a birth date of 6 to 7 a.d.
The Star
The Gospel of Matthew offers one final bit of information some
scholars have used to determine the year of Jesus' birth. According to
Matthew, the rising of an unusual star heralded the birth of Jesus.
Many ancient peoples studied the night skies and recorded any
unusual occurrences. A number of scholars have studied these an-
cient records in an attempt to identify possible candidates for the
Christmas star and so determine the year of Christ's birth {see also
Star of Bethlehem).
Most of these scholars identify the triple conjunction of 7 B.C. as the
most likely candidate for the Christmas star, but recently some writ-
ers have switched their allegiance to the triple conjunction of 3-2 B.C.
In order to reconcile a Christmas star that appeared in 3-2 B.C. with
the claim that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great,
they reject the idea that Herod died in 4 B.C. They argue instead that
Herod died in 1 B.C. They point to the writings of the ancient Jewish
historian Josephus to back up their claim. According to Josephus, in
the year Herod died a lunar eclipse preceded Passover. Josephus also
recorded a number of events that took place between the eclipse
and Herod's death. In the year 4 B.C. ancient astronomers indeed
recorded the occurrence of a partial lunar eclipse one month before
the Jewish holiday of Passover. In the year 1 B.C., however, a full
lunar eclipse occurred three months before Passover. Some scholars
384
Jesus, Year of Birth
argue that Josephus was referring to this ecHpse, reasoning that the
full eclipse was the more dramatic event and therefore more likely to
have impressed historians. Furthermore, because the 1 B.C. eclipse
occurred approximately three months before Passover, there was
time for all the events that Josephus claimed happened between the
eclipse and Herod's demise to play out. This line of reasoning leads
to the conclusion that Jesus was born in the years 3 to 2 B.C.
Continuing Controversy
To date scholars have not been able to reconcile every detail in
Matthew's and Luke's Nativity stories with known historical events
in a way that everyone can agree on. Debates over the correct date
and year of Jesus' birth are nothing new. They can be traced as far
back as the third century. In addition, some modern scholars now
believe that Matthew and Luke intended their Nativity stories to
serve as spiritually, rather than historically, accurate accounts of
Jesus' birth. If so, the attempt to correlate the details reported in
these stories with historically documented events is somewhat un-
likely to provide us with the correct year and date of Jesus' birth.
B.C. and A.D.
Although scholars cannot agree on the year of Jesus' birth, our cal-
endar system assumes that Jesus was born in the year 1 B.C. It
divides recorded history into two eras, labeled "b.c." and "a.d." b.c.
stands for "before Christ" and a.d. stands for Anno Domini, a Latin
phrase that means "in the year of the Lord." This method of reckon-
ing was devised in the early sixth century by a monk named Dion-
ysus Exiguus (c. 500-c. 560). At that time people still relied upon the
old Roman system for numbering years. This system reckoned the
year in which Diocletian (c. 245-c. 313) was proclaimed emperor of
Rome, 284 a.d., as year one. This methodology distressed Dionysus,
who declared that Christians should no longer perpetuate a calen-
dar system associated with Diocletian since he was a noted persecu-
tor of Christians. Instead, he proposed that the birth of Jesus serve as
the landmark event from which to date the dawn of a new era.
Dionysus accepted the then- established date of Christmas, Decem-
ber 25, and the Roman date for the beginning of the new year.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
January 1. He calculated the year of Jesus' birth to the best of his abili-
ties and declared that year to be 1 B.C. Dionysus then proclaimed that
the new. Christian era began seven days later on January 1, 1 a.d.
St. Bede (c. 672-735), a scholarly Anglo-Saxon monk, began the
practice of dating historical events from the birth of Christ, and other
writers followed his lead. This system of reckoning time gained near
universal acceptance over the centuries. In recent years, however,
people who object to the Christian bias implicit in this system have
replaced the initials B.C. with "b.c.e.," which stands for "before com-
mon era." Accordingly, the initials a.d. are replaced with "c.E.,"
which stands for "common era."
Further Reading
Achtemeier, Paul J., ed. The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Revised edition.
San Francisco, Calif: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.
Begley, Sharon. "The Christmas Star — Or Was it Planets?" Newsweek 118,
27 (December 30, 1991): 54.
Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. New updated edition. New
York: Doubleday, 1993.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1983.
Keck, Leander, ed. New Interpreter's Bible: Luke, John. Volume IX. Nashville,
Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996.
Krupp, E. C. Beyond the Blue Horizon. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Mosley, lohn. The Christmas Star. Los Angeles, Calif.: Griffith Observatory,
1987.
Porter, ]. R. The Illustrated Guide to the Bible. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1995.
386
Jonkonnu
'^q^i^'^q^i^'^i^c^'^ii^c^i^<^c^i^'--^q^i^'--^c^q^'--^^^q^i^^^q^i^'^q^^
]onk(
[onnu
John Canoe, John Kooner, Junkanoo
At the beginning of the eighteenth century a new Christmas custom
arose in the British West Indies. Called Jonkonnu, this Caribbean
Christmas celebration blended African and English masquerade and
mumming traditions. At one time Jonkonnu celebrations spread as
far as the southern United States. The festival survives today in
Jamaica, the Bahamas, Belize, St. Kitts-Nevis, Guyana, and Bermuda.
Jonkonnu in Jamaica
The origins of Jonkonnu reflect Jamaica's colonial history. The British
seized control of Jamaica from the Spanish in 1660 and established a
colonial outpost there. Although some African slaves already lived
on the island, in the late seventeenth century the English colonists
began to import slaves from west Africa in great numbers to work
on their sugar plantations. The English colonists brought many cul-
tural traditions with them to Jamaica, including the celebration of
Christmas with music, dancing, masquerades, and mumming. The
African slaves retained their own music, dance, and masquerade tra-
ditions, for which they, too, sought an outlet. These two cultural
streams flowed together in Jamaican Christmas celebrations, giving
rise to Jonkonnu.
Jamaican Jonkonnu celebrations take place on December 26 {see also
St. Stephen's Day). Most of the Jonkonnu performers are male.
Bands of dancers prepare homemade costumes that identify them as
specific characters associated with the festival masquerade. Some of
these characters, such as "cowhead," clearly reflect African imagery.
Others, like "the king" and "the queen," show remnants of British
influence. Small bands of musicians accompany these dancers as
they briefly parade to some public location. The bands are composed
of both African instruments, like the gumbay drum, and European
instruments, such as the fife. The dancing that takes place when the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
group arrives at the chosen site also illustrates this Afro-European
cultural blend. The participants combine African dance movements
with old European dance steps, such those from the quadrille.
African cultural influences appear to dominate Jonkonnu dancing,
probably because Jamaicans of African descent developed and kept
the custom alive over the centuries.
No one knows for sure where the name "Jonkonnu" comes from.
Some say it refers to an early eighteenth-century west African king,
John Canoe. Others believe it represents a sloppy English pronuncia-
tion of a French phrase, gens inconnu, meaning "unknown people."
They suggest that early observers gave that name to the ritual
because they could not recognize the masked and costumed dancers.
Jonkonnu in the Caribbean
As Jonkonnu spread throughout the Caribbean, the people of differ-
ent islands varied the costumes, parades, dances, festival name, and
festival date. Belize dancers call their tradition "John Canoe" and
perform it on Christmas and December 26, Boxing Day. In the
Bahamas the festival is called "Junkanoo" and is celebrated between
December 26 and January 1, New Year's Day. Bahamians use strips
of colored paper to create dazzling costumes for Junkanoo. Today,
with government sponsorship of the parade and costume competi-
tion, the elaborate costumes worn by top competitors resemble
those of Trinidad's fabulous Carnival celebrations.
Jonkonnu in the United States
During slavery times American blacks in North Carolina also carried
out the Jonkonnu ritual at Christmas time. They called the custom
"John Kooner" and spoke of going "John Canoeing" or "John Kun-
ering" on Christmas morning. Like their Caribbean counterparts,
most participants in American Jonkonnu celebrations were men.
They prepared homemade costumes embellished with strips of col-
orful cloth and also wore masks, some of which sported horns. Thus
garbed, and armed with simple musical instruments such as drums,
triangles, violins, and Jew's harps, they made their way across town.
The masqueraders stopped at the houses of the well-to-do, sang
and danced for the occupants, and asked for money in return. They
388
Jonkonnu
also entertained the people they met on their way. Some reports
depict plantation slaves celebrating Jonkonnu on the grounds of the
estate. The plantation owners enjoyed the music, dancing, and mas-
querading, and often rewarded the participants with small gifts,
such as coins or scarves. Some slaveowners convinced themselves
that the happiness the slaves enjoyed during this yearly festival justi-
fied the institution of slavery.
The nineteenth- century American version of Jonkonnu strongly
resembles the Christmas mumming practices common in England
at the time. Nevertheless, the custom probably arrived in the United
States via Jamaica and the Bahamas. In past centuries, much trade
from these areas entered the United States through the port town of
Wilmington, North Carolina. Caribbean slaves familiar with Jonkon-
nu probably passed the custom on to American blacks via this trade
route. After the Civil War African Americans began to abandon Jon-
konnu. Oddly enough, as the tradition declined among African
Americans, white youths began to adopt it. They called the seasonal
masquerade "coonering" and kept it going from the 1890s until it
finally died out in the early 1900s. {See also America, Christmas in
Nineteenth-Century.)
Further Reading
Cohen, Hennig, and Tristram Potter Coffin, eds. The Folklore of American
Holidays. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1987.
Kane, Harnett T. The Southern Christmas Book. 1958. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1998.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1996.
Nunly, John W., and Judith Bettleheim, eds. Caribbean Festival Arts. Seattle,
Wash.: University of Washington Press, 1988.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
Web Site
The Bahamas Tourism Office provides information on Jonkonnu at:
http://www.bahamas.com/culture/junkanoo/index.htm
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
]osepf}
Jesus' earthly father was a man named Joseph. The Bible implies
that he made his living as a carpenter (Matthew 13:55). In the Gos-
pel accounts of Christmas Joseph emerges as a righteous man of
faith who dutifully observes the rituals of his religion.
Joseph plays a relatively large role in the story of Jesus' birth recorded
in the Gospel according to Matthew (chapters 1 and 2). When he
finds out that his betrothed wife, Mary, is pregnant, he decides that
he will follow Jewish law by breaking his engagement to her. Instead
of doing so publicly, however, he looks for some way to call it off qui-
etly. Many commentators have read his desire not to inflict unneces-
sary shame upon Mary as a sign of Joseph's righteousness. Then an
angel visits Joseph, informing him that Mary is pregnant by God's
Holy Spirit and asking that he take her as his wife. Joseph demon-
strates his faith and trust in God by continuing his engagement to
Mary and eventually marrying her. In Matthew's account the angel
appears once more to Joseph after Jesus' birth. The angel warns him to
leave Bethlehem immediately, as Herod is planning to kill all the
town's male babies in an effort to rid himself of the "newborn King of
the Jews" {see Holy Innocents' Day). Once again, Joseph places his
trust in the angel's message and hurries his family away to Egypt.
Joseph plays a much smaller role in the story of Jesus' birth reported
in the Gospel according to Luke. In this account, the angel appears
to Mary with the message of Jesus' divine father. Yet in this version,
too, Joseph trusts the divine message and continues his engagement
with Mary. Luke says nothing of the Flight into Egypt. Instead, he
mentions Jesus' circumcision and naming ceremony, which took
place eight days after Jesus' birth, according to Jewish law {see Feast
of the Circumcision). Once again, Joseph is portrayed as a pious
man who carefully observes the teachings of his religion.
Joseph does not appear in the gospel accounts of Jesus' adult life.
This has led many commentators to assume that Joseph died before
390
Joseph
Jesus became an adult. Many Christian artists have portrayed Joseph
as an old man in accordance with this interpretation.
As the centuries rolled by. Christians became more and more inter-
ested in Joseph. Perhaps because the Bible has so little to say about
him, an apocryphal, or legendary, literature sprang up, adding iiir-
ther detail to his life and personality. In Roman Catholicism, he be-
came the patron saint of workers, fathers, and happy deaths, as well
as the patron saint of Canada, Mexico, Russia, Peru, Korea, Bel-
gium, Vietnam, Austria, and Bohemia.
Feast Days
Western Christians began to observe March 19 as St. Joseph's Day in
the Middle Ages. Researchers have yet to unearth the reason for the
selection of that particular date. Orthodox and other Eastern Christi-
ans honor St. Joseph on the first Sunday after Christmas. In 1955
Pope Pius XII declared May 1 to be St. Joseph the Worker's Day, in
an effort to add religious overtones to workers' celebrations that took
place in various communist countries on that date.
Christmas Customs
Joseph, along with his wife Mary and the baby Jesus, are the central
characters in most Nativity scenes. Nativity plays, including the
Hispanic folk play called Las Posadas, accord him an important role.
He is also mentioned in a number of Christmas carols, such as
"Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine" and the "Cherry Tree Carol."
Further Reading
Coats, George W., and Paul J. Achtemeier. "Joseph." In Paul J. Achtemeier,
ed. The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco,
CaUf.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. "St. Joseph." In their The Oxford Dic-
tionary of the Christian Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press, 1983.
Filas, F. L. "Joseph, St." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 7. New York:
McGraw-HiU, 1967.
. "loseph St., Devotion to." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 7.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
391
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
McBrien, Richard P. Lives of the Saints. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
Yang, Seung Ai. "Joseph." In David Noel Freedman, ed. Eerdmans Bible Dic-
tionary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
2000.
]ulklcipp
Julklapp is the Swedish term for a Christmas gift. The term "Julk-
lapp" literally means "Christmas knock." This name comes from an
old Swedish custom whereby Christmas gift givers would knock on
doors, toss in their gift, and run away. These mysterious packages
might also be delivered by the Yule goat.
In previous eras, Scandinavians exchanged important gifts on New
Year's Day. They treated Christmas Eve as an occasion only for small
or token gifts. In Sweden these small gifts, or Julklapp, became vehi-
cles for seasonal fun and games. The gift giver tried to keep his or her
identity a secret by hurrying away. Nevertheless, givers often wrote a
dedication on the wrapping paper, which could offer clues to their
identity. These dedications teased recipients in a few lines of rhyming
verse. Sometimes gift givers hid the real gift inside something of lesser
value. For example, they might insert a gold ring inside a small cake.
392
Jultomten
At other times they confounded recipients with trick packaging. A
series of boxes might be wrapped one inside the next. The final box
might contain directions to the location of the actual present. The
more time people spent on figuring out the puzzles presented by the
Julklapp, the more successful the gift was considered to be.
The Swedes still refer to Christmas presents as Julklapp. Even though
most of the old customs surrounding the gifts have disappeared, they
still enjoy sending rhymed verse along with their Christmas gifts. The
rhymes usually needle the recipient about some past action or char-
acter flaw. Sometimes they take the form of a riddle about the gift
itself. The good humor generated by these rhymes is an integral part
of the Christmas gift. {See also St. Nicholas's Day.)
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
^f§S
]uk(
.omten
Joulutonttuja, Julenissen, Julnissen
In Sweden, Christmas gifts are brought by the Jultomten. The word
Jultomten combines the Swedish word for Christmas, Jul, with the
word tomten, which means household fairy or elf. The Jultomten is
often depicted as a portly gnome with a white beard and a pointed
red cap. During most of the year this creature hides under the stair-
case, in the attic, or in any other dark corner of the house. The
Jultomten emerges on Christmas Eve, tucking small gifts into un-
likely locations about the house. Capricious by nature, the Jultomten
may reward or punish householders depending on his mood. Old
customs suggest that the family leave small offerings of porridge and
mUk, or even liquor and tobacco, about the house to appease him.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
1)^ 'i^-
Each family or neighborhood may elect a member to dress up as the
Jultomten. After assuming a disguise that will hopefully hide his or
her identity from the children, the Jultomten knocks on the door with
a sack of presents. When the door opens the Jultomten asks, "Are
there any good children here?" and distributes presents accordingly.
Denmark, Norway, and Finland
In Denmark these Christmas elves are known as Julnissen, and in
Norway as Julenissen. Although similar to the Jultomten in appear-
ance, the Danish Julnissen does not distribute gifts. Instead, he lurks
about the dark corners of the house, perhaps assuring himself that
the family cares properly for the homestead. The Norwegian Jule-
nissen takes after his Swedish cousin and does bring gifts. These
Danish and Norwegian sprites become more active during the dark
midwinter season. Like the Jultomten, they, too, must be placated
with porridge on Christmas Eve if the householders wish to escape
their pranks. Finland also has its version of the Christmas gnomes,
called the Joulutonttuja. Unlike the other Scandinavian Christmas
gnomes, the Joulutonttuja are cheerful, helpful creatures. They watch
children to find out what they'd like as presents and help Santa
make these gifts in his workshop.
394
Jultomten
History
In ancient times Scandinavian householders thought that the spirits
of the land's past inhabitants lingered on, jealously watching over
their old domain. During Yule, when the dead were believed to
return, the thoughtful, and perhaps fearful, made offerings of food
and drink to these ghosts. Folk belief gradually transformed these
spirits into the Scandinavian household fairies known as nissen or
tomten. These peevish elves guarded household and barn. When
unsatisfied with the family's behavior, they punished them with
small pranks, like making the milk go sour.
The figure of the Jultomten developed in the late 1800s. Before that
time the Yule goat brought Swedish families their Christmas pre-
sents. The traditional Swedish tomten, or household sprite, is not
associated with any particular season. By contrast, the Jultomten not
only appears around Christmas time, but also delivers presents. The
importation of German Christmas decorations in the late nineteenth
century, featuring the gift- giving St. Nicholas, may have suggested
the assignment of this function to the Jultomten. The English gift
giver Father Christmas may also have influenced this shift. Some
writers suggest that the Scandinavian Jultomten, Julnissen, and Joulu-
tonttuja, in turn, inspired the invention of the helpful elves who
became Santa Claus's assistants in the frozen North Pole.
Further Reading
Cagner, Ewert, comp. Swedish Christmas. New York: Henry Holt and Com-
pany, 1959.
Christmas in Denmark. Chicago: World Book, 1986.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
http://odin.dep.no/ (CUck on "Language," "English," "History, culture,
geography, recreation," then scroU down to "Christmas in Norway.")
395
Kalends
Calends
Kalends, the Roman new year festival, began on January 1 and last-
ed until January 5. The Romans celebrated Kalends in much the
same way they did Saturnalia. Early Christian writers condemned
the carousing crowds. Nevertheless, some of the customs associated
with Kalends were eventually absorbed into the celebration of
Christmas.
In 45 B.C. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar introduced a new calen-
dar (called the Julian calendar) which shifted the date of the Roman
new year from March 25 to January 1. The Romans called the festival
that began on this day "kalends" (or "calends"). They also used this
word to refer to the first day of each month. On this day Roman offi-
cials posted the calendar for each month. The English word "calen-
dar" comes from the old Latin term "kalends."
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Customs
The Romans celebrated Kalends by decorating their homes and
temples with lights and greenery. They exchanged gifts with one
another as well. A sprig of greenery taken from the groves dedicated
to the goddess Strenia was considered a very traditional gift. Later
the Romans added cakes and honey (symbolizing a "sweet" new
year), and coins (symbolizing wealth) to the roster of traditional new
year gifts. The Romans called these gifts strenae, after Strenia. This
Latin word finds echo in the modern French word for new year's
gift, etrenne. In addition to exchanging gifts with friends and family,
many Romans offered gifts and vota, wishes for prosperity, to the
emperor. The mad emperor Caligula (12 A.D.-41 a.d.) went so far as
to require these gifts and good wishes, and stood outside the palace
to collect them in person.
Other Kalends customs included fortune -telling and informal mas-
querades in which men cavorted through the streets dressed as ani-
mals or as women. Their bold and sometimes rude antics entertained
some onlookers and outraged others. Some researchers trace the ori-
gins of mumming back to this Kalends custom. During the Kalends
festival slaves enjoyed time off and even sat down with their masters
to play dice. Feasting, drinking, and merrymaking rounded out the
festival. Certain superstitions also attached themselves to the holiday.
The Romans believed bad luck would follow any who lent fire or iron
to a neighbor at this time.
Kalend's Eve celebrations resembled our own New Year's Eve festiv-
ities. A fourth-century Greek scholar named Libanius (314-393 a.d.)
wrote that almost everyone stayed up on Kalend's Eve to usher in
the new year with drinking, singing, and revelry. Instead of spending
the evening at home, crowds of people roamed through the streets,
returning to their houses near daybreak to sleep off the night's over-
indulgence. Coins were distributed among the people on the first
day of the new year. Indeed, all Kalends gift giving took place on the
first of January. On January second most people stayed at home and
played dice. Races entertained the populace on the third of January.
Kalends festivities wound down on the fourth of January and finally
came to a close on the fifth.
398
Kalends
Similarity to Christmas
Libanius left future generations a lengthy description of the attitudes
and activities that characterized the celebration of the Roman new
year. This description reveals many striking similarities between Kal-
ends and contemporary Christmas celebrations:
The festival of Kalends ... is celebrated everywhere as far as
the limits of the Roman Empire extend. . . . Everywhere may
be seen carousals and well-laden tables; luxurious abun-
dance is found in the houses of the rich, but also in the
houses of the poor better food than usual is put upon the
table. The impulse to spend seizes everyone. He who the
whole year through has taken pleasure in saving and piling
up his pence, becomes suddenly extravagant. He who erst-
while was accustomed and preferred to live poorly, now at
this feast enjoys himself as much as his means will allow. . . .
People are not only generous towards themselves, but also
towards their fellow-men. A stream of presents pours itself
out on all sides. . . . The highroads and footpaths are covered
with whole processions of laden men and beasts. ... As the
thousand flowers which burst forth everywhere are the
adornment of Spring, so are the thousand presents poured
out on all sides, the decoration of the Kalends feast. It may
justly be said that it is the fairest time of the year. . . . The
Kalends festival banishes all that is connected with toil, and
allows men to give themselves up to undisturbed enjoy-
ment. From the minds of young people it removes two kinds
of dread: the dread of the schoolmaster and the dread of the
stern pedagogue. The slave also it allows, so far as possible,
to breath the air of freedom. . . . Another great quality of the
festival is that it teaches men not to hold too fast to their
money, but to part with it and let it pass into other hands
[Miles, 1990, 168-69].
Christian Opposition
Many of the customs and attitudes associated with Kalends and
Saturnalia gradually attached themselves to the celebration of Christ-
mas. Ironically, this transfer took place in spite of the overwhelming
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
rejection of these holidays and their customs by Christian officials.
For centuries Christian authorities condemned the drunkenness,
disorder, fortune-telling, gambling, and masquerading associated
with the celebration of Kalends. Nevertheless, these customs proved
remarkably difficult to stamp out, even after Christianity became the
dominant religion and Christmas an important winter holiday. One
researcher has counted at least forty separate Church documents
containing official denunciations of the kinds of midwinter mas-
querades associated with Kalends. These documents range from the
fourth to the eleventh centuries and come from authorities in many
European lands as well as north Africa and the Near East.
Church officials urged their followers to abandon riotous pagan
practices and instead to observe the day with thoughtfulness and
sobriety. In 567 the second provincial Council of Tours tried to coun-
teract the still popular festivities surrounding Kalends by ordering
Christians to fast and do penance during the first few days of the
new year. In the seventh century Church officials made a new effort
to reclaim the day from pagan celebrations. They introduced a new
Christian holy day, the Feast of the Circumcision, to be celebrated
on January 1. By the time Kalends finally withered away, however,
the peoples of Europe had already transferred many of its customs
to the Christmas season.
Further Reading
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
400
Kallikantzari
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Kallikcmtzari
Callicantzari, KaUikantzaroi
According to traditional Greek folklore, the kallikantzari rampaged
across Greece during the Twelve Days of Christmas. These di-
minutive demons spent the rest of the year deep inside the earth
gnawing at the tree that supports the world. The tree renewed itself
each year during the season of Christ's birth. Thus thwarted, the
enraged kallikantzari swarmed up to the surface of the earth to be-
devil humanity. The holy ceremonies occurring on Epiphany drove
them back underground. Belief in the kallikantzari was especially
strong in the region of Mt. Parnassos.
Appearance
Reports concerning the appearance of these demons varied. Accord-
ing to some, the kallikantzari appeared half human and half animal.
Many claimed to have caught a glimpse of long, curved talons, red
eyes, hairy bodies, or donkey's ears. Others told frightening tales of
tiny imps who rode astride lame or deformed chickens.
Activities
According to Greek folklore, the kallikantzari knew many ways of
vexing human beings. Some reports said that they entered homes by
the door or the chimney, relieved themselves in any open containers
of food and drink, upset furniture, and extinguished the fire. Others
credited them with direct attacks on human beings. For example,
they hopped on peoples' backs and drove them to dance until they
collapsed. The presence of the kallikantzari during the Twelve Days
of Christmas posed special problems for expectant mothers. Chil-
dren born at this time of year ran the risk of becoming kallikantzari
themselves. From sunset to dawn the demons roamed the country-
side looking for opportunities to harass humanity. They tended to
retreat into hiding places at daybreak, however.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Remedies
Just as traditional beliefs warned of the dangers presented by the
kallikantzari, they also offered methods for warding off these at-
tacks. Keeping a fire burning in the hearth during the Twelve Days of
Christmas prevented the demons from entering the home through
the chimney. In addition, the kallikantzari found the smell of burn-
ing shoes, salt, wild asparagus, or other substances that produced a
foul smoke especially repugnant. Of course, so did human beings.
Greek folklore apparently did not address the subject of whether
this method of repelling the kallikantzari also repelled family, friends,
and neighbors. Traditional lore also recommended hanging a pig's
jaw bone by the door as a method of preventing the kallikantzari
from crossing the threshold. To protect babies born during the Twelve
Days of Christmas from becoming kallikantzari, mothers wrapped
their infants in garlic or straw, or scorched their toes in the fire.
The religious ceremonies associated with Epiphany offered the most
effective method of driving off the malicious pranksters. According
to Greek custom, priests visited homes on Epiphany, filling them with
the scent of burning incense and sprinkling them with holy water.
Greek folklore insisted that the kallikantzari fled before this on-
slaught of holiness, retreating to their underground lair until the fol-
lowing Christmas.
Parallels
According to various European folk traditions, demons, spirits, and
magical creatures of all kinds roamed the earth during the Twelve
Days of Christmas. Some of these demons served as the unlikely
companions of St. Nicholas {see also St. Nicholas's Day). The good
saint somehow tamed the Czechoslovakian cert, the Dutch Black
Peter, and the German Knecht Ruprecht. Yet many other supernat-
ural creatures still wandered freely through the dark nights. In some
parts of northern Europe traditional lore asserted that werewolves,
bears, or trolls prowled for victims during the Twelve Days of Christ-
mas. Legends from some countries warned that the fearsome spirits
known as the Wild Hunt raced across the night skies at this time of
year. German lore cautioned that the supernatural figure known as
Berchta toured the countryside with her entourage during these
402
Kallikantzari
cold, dark days. Often, Frau Gaude, too, appeared to German vil-
lagers at this time of year. Other folklore told of frolicking elves and
fairies, such as the Swedish Jultomten and the Icelandic Christmas
Lads.
Further Reading
Arrowsmitfi, Nancy, and George Moorse. A Field Guide to the Little People.
New York: Pocket Books, 1977.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday 1979.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
403
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
King of tf^e Bean
Bean King, Epiphany King
A long succession of mock kings have ruled over winter holiday
merrymaking in Europe. In ancient times they presided over feasts
held in honor of the Roman festival of Saturnalia {see also Zag-
muk). In the Middle Ages the boy bishop and the Lord of Misrule
directed certain Christmas festivities {see also Feast of Fools). Twelfth
Night celebrations, however, came under the special supervision of
another mock ruler: the King of the Bean.
In past centuries the English, French, Spanish, German, and Dutch
celebrated Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, with a feast. The Twelfth
Night cake not only provided dessert, but also helped to facilitate an
old custom {see also Christmas Cake). While preparing the cake the
cook dropped a bean, coin or other small object into the batter. The
man who found this object in his slice of cake was declared "King of
the Bean." If a woman received the bean, she became queen and
appointed a man as king.
The king presided over the rest of the evening's activities. In some
areas the king chose his own queen. In others, a pea was also added
to the cake batter and the woman who found the pea in her serving
of cake enacted the role of "queen." Everyone else became a mem-
ber of the royal court. At some parties the courtiers carried out their
role by announcing the mock ruler's every action. Cries of "the king
drinks" or "the king coughs" cued others to follow suit. The mock
rulers might also give silly commands that the court was expected to
carry out. The French saying, il a trouve la feve au gateau, which
means "he found the bean in the cake," comes from this Twelfth
Night custom and means "he's had some good luck."
History
Christmas season mock kings sprouted up regularly in the courts
of medieval Europe. Records indicate that in late medieval France
404
King of the Bean
these kings were selected by a kind of edible lottery. All candidates
received a piece of a special cake into which a bean had been baked.
Whoever found the bean in their slice of cake became the king of
the feast. The title conferred upon these mock monarchs, "Bean
King" or "King of the Bean/' referred back to this custom. It may
also have alluded to their lack of real power. In the sixteenth century,
ordinary Dutch and German households celebrated Twelfth Night
by baking a coin into a cake and acknowledging whoever received
the coin in their slice of cake as king of the feast. In the next century,
this Twelfth Night custom spread to England, France, and Spain.
The following poem by English poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
describes a seventeenth-century English Twelfth Night feast. These
lines capture the merriment surrounding the selection of the bean
king and bean queen:
Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
here bean's the king of sport here;
Beside we must know.
The pea also
Must reveal as queen in the court here.
Begin then to choose
This night as ye use.
Who shall for the present delight here
Be a king by the lot.
And who shall not
Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.
Which known, let us make
Joy- sops with the cake;
And let not a man then be seen here.
Who unurg'd will not drink.
To the base from the brink,
A health to the king and the queen here [MUes, 1990, 338].
The English added an innovation of their own to the Twelfth Night
feast. In 1669 English diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) described
his enjoyment of a new custom whereby Twelfth Night merrymakers
drew slips of paper from a hat on which were written the names of
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
characters found at the bean king's court. They were expected to
impersonate this character for the rest of the evening. In this way
everyone present at the celebration, not just the king and queen, got
into the act.
The King of the Bean continued to preside over English Twelfth
Night celebrations until the nineteenth century. In this era people
began to substitute metallic objects for the bean and pea embedded
in earlier Twelfth Night cakes. These objects stood for future fortunes
rather than for characters. For example, a ring might foretell mar-
riage, and a thimble spinsterhood. The importance of Twelfth Night
declined throughout the nineteenth century. Rather than fade into
oblivion, however, this fortune-telling custom transferred itself to
Christmas. The tokens found a new home inside the plum pudding
so popular at English Christmas dinners. By the end of the nine-
teenth century the English had all but abandoned the Twelfth Night
king. The custom of baking a bean into the Twelfth Night cake sur-
vived into the twentieth century in the southern French region of
Provence. In Germany the bean king and his cake still appear at
Epiphany celebrations.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "lanuary 6 — Twelfth-Day." In his The Book of Days.
Volume 1. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Hadfield, Miles, and lohn Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
'gj^^*
406
Kissing Bough
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KissmgBougf}
Kissing Ball, Kissing Bunch, Kissing Ring
During the nineteenth century a kissing bough hung from the door-
way, ceiHng, or chandeHer of many EngHsh homes at Christmas
time. FamiHes fashioned this homemade decoration by winding
Christmas greenery around a circular wire frame. Sometimes a
spherical frame was formed by placing one hoop inside another.
Householders often embellished this basic design with ribbons,
apples, oranges, colored paper, candles, and other ornaments.
The most important element in the kissing bough was mistletoe.
Mistletoe might cover the frame or, if only a small quantity was
available, a bunch of mistletoe might hang from the center of the
frame. By the time the kissing bough became popular in the late
eighteenth century, the English had already adopted the custom of
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
stealing kisses from those who passed by, or stood beneath, a sprig
of mistletoe. Placed where guests and family members were certain
to walk under it, the kissing bough provided an opportunity to exer-
cise this custom. In the nineteenth century the English began to dec-
orate their homes with Christmas trees. As the tree became the
focal point of English Christmas decorations, the kissing bough de-
clined in popularity.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Harrowven, Jean. Origin of Festivals and Feasts. London, England: Kaye and
Ward, 1980.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
408
Knecht Ruprecht
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Knecf}tRuprecf}t
Aschenklas, Belsnickel, BuUerklas, Butz, Hans Muff,
Hans Trapp, Klaubauf, Krampus, Pelz Nicholas,
Pulterklas, Ru-Klas, Schimmelreiter
According to old European folklore, a variety of frightening figures
lurk in the long, dark nights of the Christmas season. They range
from the ghostly personnel of the Wild Hunt to mysterious wan-
derers such as Berchta and Frau Gaude. Many folklorists interpret
these figures as remnants of old pagan spirits that blended into the
emerging Christian folklore of the Christmas season. The folklore
associated with St. Nicholas's Day offers a clear example of this
dynamic. St. Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop from Asia Minor,
became the Christmas time gift bringer in much of northern and
central Europe. According to folklore, however, this clearly Christian
figure travels about with a variety of somewhat sinister companions.
In Czechoslovakia, a demon called a cert accompanies the good
Nicholas. In Holland the devilish Black Peter aids Nicholas in his
virtuous work. And in the German-speaking lands scruffy Knecht
Ruprecht trails behind St. Nicholas, meting out punishment to
naughty children. Some folklorists trace Knecht Ruprecht's roots
back to ancient times.
Ruprecht's Many Names
St. Nicholas's German helper goes by many different names. In
Austria and some areas of Germany, many children know him as
Knecht Ruprecht, which means "Knight" Ruprecht or "Servant" Ru-
precht. Some Austrian tales name him as Krampus or Bartel, while
German folklore also records the names Hans Muff, Butz, Hans Trapp,
Krampus, Klaubauf, BuUerklas, Pulterklas, and Schimmelreiter. Some of
the names assigned to this bogeyman reveal that somewhere along
the line his identity merged with that of St. Nicholas. Some know
him as Ru-Klas, or "Rough Nicholas," while others identify him as
Pelz Nicholas, or "Fur Nicholas." Still others call him Aschenklas, or
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
"Ash Nicholas." In some areas a figure known as Pelzmartin, or "Fur
Martin," blended the identity of St. Martin with the Christmas sea-
son bogey {see also Martinmas). The Pennsylvania Dutch brought
Pelz Nicholas with them to America when they began to settle in
Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century. There the name "Pelz Nich-
olas" eventually slurred into Belsnickel (sometimes written as "Bell-
snickle," "Bellschniggle," or "Pelznichol"; see also America, Christ-
mas in Colonial).
Folklore
The appearance and activities of these folk figures vary in a number
of details, but a rough composite image does emerge. Knecht Ru-
precht startles onlookers with his menacing demeanor and unkempt
appearance. He wears clothing made of rags, straw, or furs, and
often adds a soot-blackened face, beard, or a frightening mask. In
past times he sometimes sported devil's horns. In addition, he car-
ries one or more of the tools of his trade: a whip, stick, bell, or sack.
The bell warns of his approach. He cows all children into good be-
havior and punishes badly behaved children with his whip or stick.
The sack contains treats for well-behaved children and items that
serve as symbolic warnings to wrongdoers that their misbehavior
has not gone unnoticed.
According to folklore St. Nicholas and his companion visit homes on
St. Nicholas's Eve, often entering through the chimney. They leave
treats, such as nuts, fruit, and cookies for good children, and ashes,
birch rods, or other warnings for naughty ones. In some areas the pair
make their rounds on Christmas Eve instead of St. Nicholas's Eve.
For the most part, Knecht Ruprecht and his various aliases tag along
behind St. Nicholas, serving as an ever-present reminder of the fate
awaiting the poorly behaved. Although most often found serving St.
Nicholas, in the past Knecht Ruprecht has also accompanied other
saintly figures, such as St. Peter and St. Martin {see also Martinmas).
In some areas of Germany he followed the Christkindel, or "Christ
Child," on his gift-bringing journey. In other areas, however, this
Christmas bogey appears to have struck out on his own. Belsnickel
seems to have emigrated to America's Pennsylvania Dutch country
without a companion saint.
410
Knecht Ruprecht
Origins
Few historical records mention Knecht Ruprecht or his counterparts.
A seventeenth-century document notes the appearance of Knecht
Ruprecht in a Christmas procession in Nuremberg, Germany. In
addition, nineteenth- and early twentieth- century folklorists ob-
served that people dressed as Ruprecht, St. Nicholas, and St. Martin
visited homes during the Christmas season in Germany. Still, the
lack of historical records has not prevented folklorists from guessing
about Ruprecht's origins. Many believe that Ruprecht in all his guis-
es represents some remnant of a pagan spirit or deity. One writer
suspects that Ruprecht evolved from the Teutonic god Odin. An-
other proposes that Ruprecht represents a relatively modern inter-
pretation of the "wild man," an ancient, archetypal figure represent-
ing the forces of nature. She suggests that as Christianity spread
throughout Europe, Christian authorities campaigned against folk
representations of the wild man, likening him to the Devil. After
many centuries his role in folk celebrations dwindled to that of the
scruffy servant who follows behind the Christmas season saints.
European Customs
Until the early part of the twentieth century, men dressed as Knecht
Ruprecht and St. Nicholas visited homes on St. Nicholas's Eve in
German-speaking lands. St. Nicholas quizzed the children on their
behavior, their prayers, and their lessons, while Ruprecht posed
threateningly in the background. In some areas the Christmas bogey
worked alone and arrived on other dates during the Christmas sea-
son, such as Christmas Eve. Although Knecht Ruprecht's looks and
manners often intimidated, his brash and erratic behavior enter-
tained. Children still prepare for his visit by leaving their shoes by
the fireplace, on the doorstep, or in some other place where the gift
bringer was sure to notice them. In the morning well-behaved chil-
dren find their shoes filled with treats, while those whose behavior
needs improvement find birch rods, ashes, or other warnings.
Belsnickeling in the United States
In the early years of the United States people from different coun-
tries adopted elements of each other's lore and traditions, giving rise
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
to new customs. By the nineteenth century the English custom of
mumming had grafted itself onto the Pennsylvania Dutch figure of
the Belsnickel to create the custom of belsnickeling.
Groups of young men or single individuals dressed themselves in
rags, overcoats, or furs, and hid their faces behind beards, hats, or
masks, or covered them with soot. They carried whips, bells, and sacks
as they marched from house to house. After gaining entrance to a
neighbor's home they entertained the householders with their comic
antics and horseplay while family members tried to guess their iden-
tities. In return for their visit the belsnickelers expected to receive
hospitality in the form of food and drink. The belsnickelers took nuts
and sweets out of their pockets and tossed them onto the floor,
cracking their whips over the heads of any children bold enough to
retrieve them. Sometimes they also pulled pranks on their neighbors
under the cover of their disguise.
Although Belsnickel was originally associated with St. Nicholas's
Day, Pennsylvania belsnickelers shifted the dates of their activities
closer to Christmas, visiting their neighbors in masquerade on the
dark nights between Christmas and New Year's Day. Belsnickelers
also plied their trade in Canada's Nova Scotia province.
Opposition
Christmas season masquerading met with some resistance by the
more subdued groups who made up Pennsylvania's population. In
the eighteenth century, Quakers in Philadelphia vigorously opposed
this custom. Court records indicate that some masqueraders were
brought before juries for their unruly behavior. In the early nine-
teenth century the Pennsylvania House of Representatives formally
outlawed Christmas season masquerading. Those who dared to
flaunt this edict faced fines of between $50 and $1,000, and prison
sentences of up to three months. A Philadelphia ordinance forbade
Christmas Eve masquerading and noisemaking in 1881. Never-
theless, belsnickelers continued their seasonal activities in rural
areas settled by people of Germanic descent who were friendly to
the custom.
412
Knecht Ruprecht
Decline
Belsnickeling died out in the early twentieth century, about the time
when authorities ceased to oppose it. In 1901 Philadelphia issued its
first permit for a New Year's Day mummers' parade. This parade
developed out of the mumming and noisemaking traditions of a
variety of Philadelphia's immigrant groups, among them the Ger-
man-American tradition of belsnickeling. Philadelphia's New Year's
Day Mummers Parade continues to this day. Today's parade, howev-
er, revolves around a competition between highly organized groups
wearing elaborate and expensive costumes. {For more on Christmas
in Pennsylvania, see America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century;
Amish Christmas; Barring Out the Schoolmaster; Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, Christmas in).
Further Reading
Barrick, Mac E. German-American Folklore. Little Rock, Ark.: August House,
1987.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigrapfdcs, 1990.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Sansom, William. A Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland
and Company, 1997.
Thonger, Richard. A Calendar of German Customs. London, England: Os-
wald Wolff, 1966.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Philadelphia Recreation Department on the Mum-
mers'Parade: http://www.phila.gov/recreation/mummers/index.html
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
KnockmgNigfits
Anklopfniichte, Klopfelnachte, Klopfelnachte,
Klopfleinsnachte
In past times, German folk beliefs alleged that evil spirits and witch-
es accomplished many acts of mischief on Thursday nights during
Advent. This belief may have faded, but the German Knocking
Nights remain. Klopfelnachte, or "Knocking Nights," takes place on
one or all of the last three Thursday nights during Advent. In parts of
Upper and Lower Bavaria and rural zones of south Germany,
groups of costumed children parade through the streets of town on
these nights, ringing cowbells, cracking whips, rattling tin cans, and
tossing pebbles against windows {see also Mumming). They march
from house to house knocking on doors, reciting rhymes, and asking
for gifts in return. Sometimes this request takes the form of shoving
a pitchfork through the open doorway and singing a song that prais-
es the householders. Family members then place a gift, such as an
item of food, on one of the tines of the pitchfork.
In other cases, the knockers toss a small present in through the open
door and dash away, leaving the occupants to guess the sender's
identity. These anonymous gifts, called Klopfelscheit, resemble the
Julklapp tossed through open doors and windows in Scandinavia.
The noisemaking element of this traditional celebration finds echo
in numerous other European Christmas customs.
Further Reading
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Sansom, William. A Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
Thonger, Richard. A Calendar of German Customs. London, England: Os-
wald Wolff, 1966.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday that is unrelated to Christ-
mas. Nevertheless, its founder. Dr. Maulana Karenga, a University of
California at Los Angeles professor from Nigeria, placed the seven-
day holiday between Christmas and New Year's Day. He did so in
order to provide an African-American alternative to Christmas, which
he viewed as a European holiday. He also wanted to make Kwanzaa
easy to celebrate by placing it during a week when many people were
already celebrating and had time off from work or school. Kwanzaa
begins on December 26 and lasts until January 1.
Dr. Karenga hoped that the new holiday, based on principles and
symbols associated with African harvest festivals, would provide an
ethnic celebration all African Americans could observe, regardless of
religious affiliation. He also sought to create a holiday that empha-
sized communal and spiritual values, rather than the materialism he
found rampant in American Christmas celebrations {see also Com-
mercialism).
Karenga created the word "Kwanzaa" from the Swahili phrase
matunda ya kzvanza, which means "first fruits." Many African first
fruits celebrations, or harvest festivals, last between seven and nine
days. Accordingly, Karenga decided to have the new American festi-
val continue for seven days. He added the extra "a" to the Swahili
word kzvanza so that the name of the new holiday, Kwanzaa, would
contain seven letters.
Karenga selected seven principles from among the values most
commonly held in high esteem by the peoples of Africa and honored
in their harvest celebrations. One of the seven principles of Kwanzaa
is celebrated on each of the seven days of the festival. The seven
principles include umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination),
ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative eco-
nomics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity), and imani (faith). Kwan-
zaa celebrations also feature a seven-branched candleholder called a
416
Kwanzaa
kinara. The kinara holds red, green, and black candles — colors sym-
bolic of African identity. One candle is lit on each of the seven
nights. On December 31 celebrants participate in a communal feast.
On January 1, the last day of the festival, modest gifts are ex-
changed.
Since its founding in 1966 Kwanzaa has steadily grown in populari-
ty. One researcher has estimated that over 18 million Americans
observe Kwanzaa each year. Millions more are thought to celebrate
the festival in Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe.
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Om-
nigraphics, 1997.
Karenga, Maulana. The African-American Holiday of Kwanzaa. Los Angles,
Calif.: University of Sankore Press, 1988.
Santino, Jack. All Around the Year. Urbana, 111.: University of Illinois Press,
1994.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
417
M
Lamb^sWool
Wassail
If you ever attend a traditional English Christmas feast you might
find lamb's wool on the menu. This oddly named English Christmas
beverage combines sugar, spice, wine or ale, and a number of other
ingredients. Over the years English cooks have varied the recipe in
many ways. Most recipes include roasted, chopped apples. The soft,
whitish chunks of apple float to the top and give the surface the
appearance of lamb's wool, hence the name of the drink. Some vari-
ations substitute crumbled toast for roasted apple chunks. Other
recipes include cream, milk, or beaten eggs. These give the beverage
a creamy, whitish appearance suggestive of lamb's wool. {See also
Eggnog.)
Lamb's wool dates back to the Middle Ages. Since lamb's wool tra-
ditionally filled the wassail bowl at Christmas time, some people
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
also refer to the beverage as "wassail." The English poet Robert Her-
rick (1591-1674) describes the preparation of the wassail bowl for a
seventeenth-century Christmas party:
Crown the bowl full
With gentle lamb's wool —
Add nutmeg, sugar, and ginger.
With store of ale too;
And this ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger [Crippen, 1990, 100].
Recipes
The following recipes, used in England's royal kitchen in the early
seventeenth century, offer somewhat more specific instructions for
concocting the mixture:
Set ale on the fire to warm, boil a quart of cream with two or
three whole cloves, add the beaten yolks of three or four eggs,
stir all together, and pour into the ale: add sops or sippets of
fine Manchet or French bread; put them in a basin, and pour
on the warm mixture, with some sugar and thick cream on
that; stick it well with blanched almonds, and cast on cinna-
mon, ginger, and sugar, or wafers and comfits [Crippen, 1990,
101].
Boil three pints of ale; beat six eggs, the whites and yolks
together; set both to the fire in a pewter pot; add roasted
apples, sugar, beaten nutmegs, cloves, and ginger; and, being
well brewed, drink it while hot [Crippen, 1990, 101].
A contemporary recipe adapts the beverage for today's tastes by
omitting the eggs and cream and adding wine:
In a large pot combine one bottle of sweet white wine with
six and one half cups of brown ale. Add one teaspoon each
of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Place over medium low
heat. Peel and chop two roasted apples. When wine and
spice mixture is warm, add the chopped apples and brown
sugar to taste. Serve warm.
420
Latvia, Christmas in
Further Reading
Cosman, Madeleine Pelner. Medieval Holidays and Feasts. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1981.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Latvia^ cfiristmas in
The vast majority of Latvians are Christians. Most are Lutherans but
sizeable Roman Cathohc and Orthodox minorities exist. In past times
Latvians often gathered together during the long evenings that sur-
round the winter solstice to do needlework and other crafts, as well
as to tell stories, guess riddles, dance, and sing. Though today Latvians
honor Christmas as the birthday of Jesus Christ, their ancestors cele-
brated the winter solstice as the birthday of the sun maiden.
Preparations
Latvians anticipate Christmas with Advent wreaths and Advent
calendars. They also prepare for the coming of the Christmas holi-
day by baking, cleaning, and decorating. Many people construct
three-dimensional ornaments out of bent straws, which are used to
dress up rooms. Decorations are also made from greenery, colored
cloth, and other natural substances. Christmas trees constitute an-
other important decoration, whose use in Latvia can be traced back
several hundred years.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the highlight of the Christmas season. Latvians
enjoy an elaborate dinner on this day, usually featuring roast pork,
sausage, bacon, or even pig's head {see also Boar's Head). Another
prominent dish, a barley mash called koca, kukis, or kikas, gave rise to
a Latvian nickname for Christmas Eve, which may be referred to as
"Kukis Evening." Other typical Christmas Eve dishes include beans,
peas, sauerkraut, beer, gingerbread, cookies, and fruit. Some say
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
that the beans and peas became midwinter favorites because their
round shape symbolized the longed-for sun. After dinner Latvians
exchange their Christmas presents. In some homes Father Christ-
mas arrives in time to distribute gifts and ask the children how well
they have behaved during the year.
Latvian Christmas Traditions
The Yule log once played an important role in traditional Latvian
Christmas celebrations. Villagers felled an oak tree from which they
obtained their logs. They pulled these logs round their properties and
then set fire to them. Several families might share a single log, which
was burned after it had been dragged round the last homestead.
Latvian lore offers two different explanations for this custom. One
interprets the log as a kind of sponge that absorbs all the ill luck that
clings to the household. Burning it permits the family to begin the
new year with a clean slate. Another suggests that the logs signify life
and burning them entices the sun to spend more time in the sky.
Mumming was another traditional practice associated with the mid-
winter holidays. Called kekatas, kujenieki, budeli, cigani, preili or kalad-
nieki, these masked and costumed wanderers might appear anytime
from Martinmas to Carnival (the festival that precedes the start of
Lent). They were most active at Christmas time, however. Popular
mummers' disguises included those of wolves, horses, bears, cranes,
goats, short men, tall women, haystacks. Death, dead people, and
fortune-tellers. Under the direction of a "father," they traveled from
house to house singing songs and telling fortunes. One frequently
used fortune-telling method involved ladling molten lead or wax into
a pail of icy water and reading the twisted shapes as signs of future
events. Their visits were thought to scare off harmful spirits, to pro-
mote fertility, and to bless {see also Ghosts). In exchange for all these
favors, householders offered the mummers food and drink.
Repression and Revival
Between the years 1940 and 1991 the Russian-led U.S.S.R. (Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics) occupied Latvia. This government for-
bade the celebration of religious holidays. Latvians restored these
holidays as soon as the occupation ended.
422
Laurel
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Web Site
"Latvian Seasonal Holidays," an article written by Mera Mellon of the Uni-
versity of Latvia's Center for Ethnic Studies and posted to the web by the
Latvian Institute, located in Riga, Latvia:
http://www.latinst.lv/seasonal_holidays.htm
Laurel
Bay
Seasonal decorations of greenery have embellished European Christ-
mas celebrations for centuries. Laurel's association with the season
can be traced back even further, however. The Romans celebrated
their new year festival. Kalends, by adorning their homes and tem-
ples with evergreen branches. Both the Greeks and the Romans
crowned the victors of their athletic and other contests with wreaths
of laurel, since the laurel branch served as a symbol of victory. In later
times northern Europeans gathered laurel, or bay, for their Christmas
garlands. In the seventeenth century the English poet Robert Herrick
(1591-1674) noted that, according to local custom, "Rosemary and
bales [bays] that are most faire were stuck about the houses and the
churches as Christmas decorations." Christian authorities explained
this use of laurel with reference to its ancient association with victory,
declaring that when used in Christmas trimmings the fragrant leaves
represented the triumph of Jesus Christ.
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christinas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Lebanon^ cf^ristmas in
Lebanese Christians celebrate Christmas with Christmas trees, out-
door light displays, Christmas carols, special church services, holiday
foods, and gift exchanges.
Although no recent, accurate census has been taken, most experts
believe that Muslims constitute more than fifty percent of the popu-
lation of this Middle Eastern nation. The vast majority of those re-
maining are Christians. Most of these people belong to the Maronite
Church or various Orthodox churches. A very small percentage of
people adhere to other religions. Strife between Muslims and Chris-
tians fueled a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. In spite of this
recent conflict, in the past several years, when Christmas fell during
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, some Muslims honored the
eve of Jesus'birth with special gatherings and gift exchanges. Others
hung shooting star decorations on the tents where they assembled
to celebrate their own festival {see also Star of Bethlehem).
Preparations
Many Eastern Christians, such as the Maronites and the Orthodox,
fast for some or all of Advent, a period of spiritual preparation for
the coming of Christ at Christmas time. Eastern Christians fast by
avoiding meat, dairy products, fish, and eggs.
As the holiday draws near, numerous Lebanese families buy and
decorate Christmas trees. Many Lebanese Christians also construct
Nativity scenes to place next to the tree. Housewives prepare for a
sumptuous Christmas dinner, some buying a live turkey as early as
November in order to ensure a plump, juicy, fresh bird for the Christ-
mas table. Christmas preparations also include shopping trips to buy
gifts for family members and friends. Shopping areas take on a fes-
tive appearance in many Lebanese towns at Christmas time. Christ-
mas trees glitter with ornaments and strings of electric lights twin-
kle in the dark but mild winter nights. Images of Papa Noel, or Fa-
424
Lebanon, Christmas in
ther Christmas, remind shoppers of their mission. For many people
this Lebanese Santa Claus has replaced the camel as Lebanon's tradi-
tional Christmas gift bringer. Gifts may also be purchased at church
bazaars, which usually feature homemade foods and crafts.
Christmas Eve and Day
People celebrate Christmas Eve by lighting firecrackers, ringing church
bells, and shooting guns off into the air ijor similar customs, see Shoot-
ing in Christmas). Many attend special religious services, such as
Midnight Mass. Some churches also hold special concerts featuring
Christmas carols on this evening.
Children enjoy a special privilege on Christmas Day. Custom per-
mits them to approach any adult with the cry, "Editi 'aleik," meaning,
"You have a gift for me!" In this way they hope to add to the pre-
sents they have already received on Christmas morning. Neverthe-
less, a Lebanese Christmas emphasizes family togetherness over gift
giving. Lebanese Christians often go visiting on Christmas Day, pay-
ing their respects first to older relatives and then visiting with other
family members and friends. Guests are usually offered holiday
treats, such as sugared almonds. Dried, sugared fruit is another
favorite holiday sweet. Dishes of nuts, seeds, and fresh fruit provide
additional snacks. Christmas dinner often features turkey or chicken,
but people also enjoy many special pastries at Christmas time. In ad-
dition to baklava, a pastry made from phyllo dough, nuts, spices and
sugar syrup, many Lebanese prepare knafi, a baked dessert made
from cheese, shredded wheat, and sugar syrup.
New Year's Eve and Day
Both Muslim and Christian Lebanese celebrate New Year's Eve on
December 31. Some people go out to elegant restaurants and night
clubs. Among the more traditionally minded, families visit each
other on New Year's Eve, sitting up late to sing, dance, tell jokes and
stories, and to play games, especially cards and other games of
chance. Superstition hints that these games may reveal one's fortune
for the coming year. Fathers sometimes distribute a small sum of
money to their children on New Year's Eve. These gifts express their
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
hope to provide well for them in the coming year. Some Lebanese
children receive presents on New Year's Day rather than on Christ-
mas.
Epiphany
Lebanese Christians celebrate Epiphany on January 6, a holiday
which, for these Eastern Christians, honors the occasion of Jesus'
baptism. According to Lebanese folklore, the trees still bow down at
midnight on Epiphany eve in honor of this great event. In past
times, children who lived in the cold, mountainous regions of Leb-
anon would venture forth the next morning looking for brush marks
in the snow. These disturbances revealed where the crowns of trees
had grazed the ground.
Further Reading
Marston, Elsa. Lebanon: New Light in an Ancient Land. New York: Dillon Press,
1994.
Sheehan, Sean. Lebanon. Cultures of the World. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall
Cavendish, 1997.
Walker, Richard Kennedy. Lebanon: A Portrait of the Country Through Its
Festivals and Traditions. Danbury, Conn.: Grolier Education, 1999.
Web Site
An article titled "Lahhoud Attends Christmas Mass at Bkirki," published in
Beirut, Lebanon, on December 26, 1998, posted on news@Lebanon.com:
http://www.lebanon.com/news/local/1998/12/26.htm
426
Lithuania, Christmas in
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Lkfiuanm^ cfiristmas in
Lithuanian folk tradition treats the Christmas season as a time of
religious mystery and folk magic. In past times Lithuanians associat-
ed many old superstitions and folk charms with the season. Though
no longer taken seriously, these magical formulas may still be prac-
ticed as a form of entertainment. In this predominantly Roman
Catholic country, people once observed Advent with fasting. This
tradition has left its mark on the customary Lithuanian Christmas
Eve dinner, which is meatless. Today Lithuanians observe Christmas
Eve with a ceremonial evening meal, fortune-telling games, and at-
tendance at Midnight Mass, which is referred to as the Shepherd's
Mass (see also Shepherds).
In the twentieth century Lithuanians adopted certain Christmas
customs more familiar to Americans and western Europeans. These
include the exchange of Christmas gifts, the decorated Christmas
tree, and the nighttime visit of Santa Claus who sometimes makes
a personal appearance in Lithuanian homes on Christmas Eve to
distribute gifts. Many Lithuanian families like to gather around the
tree after leaving the Christmas Eve dinner table and sing Christ-
mas carols. In some families children are expected to recite a poem,
sing a song, or offer some other kind of performance before receiv-
ing their gifts.
The Christmas season closes on January 6, with Epiphany, or Three
Kings Day. On this day people write the letters KMB over their
doorway in chalk as a reminder of the kings who came to visit the
baby Jesus (see also Magi). The letters stand for the names assigned
to the kings in folklore: Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.
Christmas Eve Preparations and Ceremonies
Lithuanians make every effort to return home for Christmas Eve,
even if it means traveling long distances. People prepare for the
evening's festivities by bathing, putting on their best clothes, and
giving their homes a thorough cleaning. They also cook both the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas Eve meal and the Christmas Day meal, since according to
custom, no work should be done on December 25. The family strews
the dining table with straw over which is placed a white tablecloth.
The hay reminds everyone that Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable
{see also Yule Straw). Plates are often set for family members who
could not attend. Plates with a candle in the center are also set for
those who have recently died. Some people observe the tradition of
waiting until the first evening star appears in the sky to begin the
meal {see also Star of Bethlehem).
In Lithuania both Christmas Eve and the Christmas Eve meal share
the same name: Kudos. Before eating the meal Lithuanians say a
prayer and observe a ceremonial blessing involving the use of wa-
fers. The father begins by offering his wafer to his wife and wishing
her a joyful Christmas. She breaks off a piece and says "God grant
that we are all together again next year." Then she extends her wafer
to her husband and they repeat the words and actions. Afterwards
everyone at the table exchanges wafers and greetings with every
other person present. This ceremony also gives people a chance to
play a game of luck. In breaking the wafer, whoever is left with a
bigger piece in their hand will have better fortune in the coming
year. Naturally, people try to manipulate this exchange so that they
will be left with the larger piece of wafer.
Adam and Eve Day
Lithuanians observe December 24 as the feast day of Adam and Eve.
In some parts of the country people set apples on the table in their
honor. Some people observe another short ceremony with the apples.
The lady of the house cuts an apple into pieces. Then she offers the
man of the house the first slice and passes them around until every-
one receives his or her piece. These apple slices remind diners of
Adam and Eve's act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Mary's
obedience to God's will, and the resulting birth of the Savior celebrat-
ed on Christmas Day, provides an instructive contrast to this story.
Christmas Eve Foods
In past times many families thought it unlucky if an odd number of
people sat down to dinner on Christmas Eve. If faced with an odd
428
Lithuania, Christmas in
number of family members the head of the house invited a soHtary
neighbor or even a beggar to join the family's Christmas Eve supper.
Today many people still observe a folk custom that requires everyone
at the table to eat at least a little bit of every dish. An old folk belief
claimed that those who neglected to do so would die before the next
Christmas Eve. Custom dictates that the family serve twelve dishes
said to represent either Jesus' twelve disciples or the twelve months
of the coming year. Traditional Christmas Eve dishes omit meat,
eggs, and dairy products. Many Lithuanian families still observe
these customary restrictions. Foods often found on the Christmas
Eve table today include herring and other kinds of fish, kisielius (a
kind of cranberry pudding), fruit soup or compote, slizikai or kuciukai
(a kind of biscuit), poppy seed milk, oat pudding, beet soup, mush-
rooms, salad or dried vegetables, sauerkraut, potatoes, and bread.
Fortune-Telling
Fortune-telling is a popular Christmas Eve activity. Events that occur
on this day are generally thought to predict trends in the coming
year. For example, those who quarrel on Christmas Eve will most
likely quarrel all year long. Therefore people do their best to pay
their debts, avoid gossip and idleness, prepare a bountiful feast, and,
in general, to behave in an exemplary fashion. The weather on Christ-
mas Eve foretells the weather for the coming year. If the night is
clear and starry, the weather will be good.
Hundreds of little Christmas Eve formulas and charms offer Lithu-
anians ways in which to use the events of this evening to predict the
future. For example, if someone rises to leave the Christmas Eve din-
ner table before everyone has finished eating, then that person will
be the first in the family to die. The shadows cast on the wall give
further indications of one's health and fate. If one's shadow is clear,
definite, and shows both the head and body, one can expect a pleas-
ant year. If the shadow quivers, is small or lacks definition, trouble is
brewing. If one's head appears not to cast a shadow, terrible misfor-
tune lies ahead.
One fortune -telling charm requires everyone seated at the table to
reach under the tablecloth and pull out a straw. For an unmarried
person, a short, fat straw predicts a short, fat boyfriend, girlfriend, or
spouse. A long, thin straw assures one of attracting a tall, thin part-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ner. Married people interpret the same signs in a different fashion.
The long, thin straw means a year of hardship while a fat straw indi-
cates abundance. Girls would also try to predict their marital future
by picking up a large number of fence posts, sticks of firewood,
matches, candy, or other items. Then they would count them. If they
picked up an even number it meant that they would marry within the
year. An odd number indicated another year as a maiden. If these
techniques did not appeal, Lithuanian girls could avail themselves of
dozens of other methods of learning about their future mates.
Return of the Dead
When the family leaves the dinner table on Christmas Eve, they make
no effort to clear the food. They leave it out all night long in accor-
dance with an old folk belief that the spirits of the family's dead
return to earth on Christmas Eve {see also Ghosts). In this way the
dead may refresh themselves before returning to heaven.
Increasing Crop Yields and Protecting Animals
Lithuanian folklore presents farmers with many Christmas Eve charms
to foretell or improve the health of farm animals and crops. In some
parts of Lithuania people placed little piles of wheat, rye, barley, and
oats on the floor and then brought in a hen. The hen's choice of grain
indicated which crop would flourish in the coming year. Other charms
taught householders how to enhance their crops. For example, wrap-
ping one's fruit trees in straw was thought to increase their produc-
tion. Scattering cooked peas in the orchard would achieve the same
effect. Sprinkling a mixture of peas and wheat in the barn, on the
other hand, would ensure the well-being of one's animals. Washing
the doorknobs and windows of one's house and then giving the wash
water to the animals protected them from evil eyes. Beekeepers ob-
served a number of superstitions on this day, including placing a com-
munion wafer in the beehive to bless the bees.
Miracles
Lithuanian folklore asserts that on Christmas Eve many miracles
may occur. It was once widely believed that animals gain the power
of speech on this magical evening. Creeping into the barn to listen
430
Lithuania, Christmas in
to them was perilous, however. Their favorite topic of conversation
was the death of their masters and they seemed to have foreknowl-
edge of when these deaths would come. At the exact stroke of mid-
night the animals knelt and prayed out loud using human speech.
Another folk teaching proclaimed that at midnight on Christmas
Eve, all water turns briefly into wine.
Christmas Day
In past times people honored Christmas Day — Kaledos in Lithuani-
an — by scrupulously avoiding all forms of work. This meant that
Christmas dinner had to be prepared the day before. In times past
many householders slaughtered their pigs at Christmas time, and
pig's head was a customary dish for Christmas dinner {see also Boar's
Head). Upon waking, family members would take the straw that had
lain on the table during the Christmas Eve feast and give it to their
cows, sheep, and oxen — all animals that might have been present in
the stable where Jesus was born. Before they distributed the hay they
examined it. If it had shed most of its grain, then that meant the fami-
ly could expect a bountiful harvest in the year to come.
The weather on Christmas Day was thought to predict the weather
on Easter Day. If snow covered the ground on Christmas Day, Easter
Day was sure to be green. On the other hand, if snow hadn't yet fall-
en by Christmas, then Easter Day was bound to be snowy.
In the nineteenth century groups of men went door to door on
Christmas Day, singing hymns and dragging a Yule log behind
them. Householders rewarded the men with Christmas treats. The
carolers later set fire to the log outside the village.
In past times Christmas festivities involving parties and dancing
began on the second day of Christmas, that is, St. Stephen's Day
{see also Twelve Days of Christmas). Many people thought Christ-
mas Day too holy for these kinds of activities and waited until the
day after Christmas to gather together with their neighbors. People
also took their oats to church to be blessed on this day.
In more recent times Christmas festivities began on Christmas Day.
The celebrations lasted for several days, during which time custom
forbade most types of work. Sometimes bands of revelers in costume
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went door to door during the Christmas season wishing householders
abundant crops in the coming year {see also Mumming). This group
included Kaledu Senis, the Lithuanian Father Christmas. People
thanked these well-wishers with Christmas treats. Kaledu Senis
gave nuts to children and blessed homes by sprinkling grain in a
special corner of the family's dining area.
Today many Lithuanian families decorate their Christmas trees with
geometrically shaped ornaments made from bent straws. These
ornaments, once used by Lithuanian peasants to beautify their
homes for weddings and feast days, were adapted to the Christmas
tree by Lithuanians living in the United States. In past times Li-
thuanians decorated their trees with glass ornaments, candies, cook-
ies, apples, and little toy figurines. When Christmas was over chil-
dren consumed the edible ornaments.
Christmas under Soviet Rule
Between the years 1940 and 1991 the Russian-dominated U.S.S.R
(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) occupied Lithuania. Religious
holidays were forbidden during these years and some Christmas
customs transferred to New Year's Day, a secular holiday. For exam-
ple, the government renamed Christmas trees "New Year's trees"
and promoted a New Year's gift bringer. Grandfather Frost {see also
Russia, Christmas in).
New Year's Eve and Day
Lithuanians nicknamed New Year's Eve "Little Christmas Eve." The
holidays are celebrated in comparable ways. Lithuanians prepare sim-
ilar dishes on the two days, although meat dishes are allowed on New
Year's Eve. After eating dinner Lithuanians sit up to welcome the start
of the new year. Like Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve furnishes Li-
thuanians with an important opportunity for fortune -telling.
Many New Year's Eve superstitions offered young men and women
yet another batch of charms that could reveal something of their
future mates. One such method required a girl to write twelve differ-
ent male names on twelve pieces of paper and put them under her
pillow on New Year's Eve along with a blank slip of paper. When she
awoke she reached her hand under the pillow and pulled out the
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Lithuania, Christmas in
first slip of paper her hand touched. The name she saw there was
the name of her future husband. If she received the blank slip it
meant that she would not find a boyfriend that year. Boys worked
the same fortune-telling trick by sleeping with twelve female names
under their pillow. Another fortune-telling charm called for a group
of boys and girls to gather in a dark room on New Year's Eve. They lit
a candle with a match, and waited for the match to burn all the way
out. Then someone asked aloud, "Who loves me?" and blew out the
candle. The direction in which the candle smoke drifted answered
the question. If the candle smoke went straight up, then no one pre-
sent cared for the questioner; if it went straight down, then someone
there disliked him or her.
People watched the weather on New Year's Day carefully, as it was
seen to predict the weather for the coming year. Snow on New Year's
Day indicated a year of bad weather. If it snowed in the morning it
meant that lots of young people would die in the year to come. Snow
in the evening signified that many older people would die. A clear day,
on the other hand, signaled a bountiful harvest. Cold weather on New
Year's Day foretold a warm Easter.
Human activities were also viewed as indicators of future events.
People tried to smUe and be kind to one another, as this meant that
they could expect much of the same throughout the year. People
hoped to hear good news when they rose on New Year's Day. The
first piece of news they heard, whether good or bad, revealed the
kind of news they would receive in the year to come.
Further Reading
Brazyte Bindokiene, Danute. Lithuanian Customs and Traditions. Third edi-
tion. Chicago: Lithuanian World Community, 1998.
Web Sites
The Lithuanian Folk Culture Center, located in Vilnius, Lithuania, offers ex-
cerpts from two books on Lithuanian folk customs, Lithuanian Roots, edited
by Rytis Ambrazevicius, at: http://www.lfcc.lt/publ/roots/nodel.html and
Tlie Lithuanians: An Ethnic Portrait, by Juozas Kurdirka, at:
http://www.lfcc.lt/publ/thelt/nodel.html
The Anthology of Lithuanian Ethnoculture contains an article entitled "Lithuani-
an Customs and Traditions" at: http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/customs/christmas.html
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Lord of Misrule
Abbot of Unreason, Christmas Lord,
Master of Merry Disports
In late medieval and Renaissance England, towns, colleges, noble
houses, and the royal court often chose a mock king to preside over
their Christmas festivities. Temporarily elevated from his ordinary,
humble rank to that of "king," he was known by a variety of names,
including the Lord of Misrule, the Abbot of Unreason, the Christmas
Lord, and the Master of Merry Disports. These colorful titles reflect
the kind of madcap revelry associated with these parties.
Activities
The Christmas festivities over which the Lord of Misrule presided
might include feasts, dances, mumming, musical entertainments,
plays, and masques, as well as good deal of general merriment.
According to an irate Puritan of the sixteenth century, Christmas
Lords sometimes led their retinue of giddy followers through the
streets of the town and into churches while services were being
held. Perhaps in imitation of the Feast of Fools, the motley band
careened down the aisle, dancing, singing, jingling bells, and bran-
dishing their hobbyhorses. Many worshipers laughed at the specta-
cle and stood on their pews to get a better view. Apparently, the
Puritans did not find the interruption at all amusing.
Of course, the noble and wealthy enjoyed the most elaborate Christ-
mas celebrations, and also left the best records of the Lord of
Misrule and his activities. One of the earliest records of an English
Christmas celebration presided over by a mock king dates back to
the time of King Edward III (1312-1377). In 1347 Edward enjoyed a
number of extravagant Christmas masques and dances prepared for
him by his "Master of Merry Disports." King Henry VIII (1491-1547)
found the Lord of Misrule and his diversions vastly entertaining. His
enthusiasm for the custom was such that in a few cases he ordered
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others to follow suit. For example, when he founded Cambridge
University's Trinity College he mandated that a Lord of Misrule pre-
side at its Christmas festivities.
Term of Office and Duties
The duties of the Lord of Misrule varied from place to place, as did
the type of entertainment offered and the duration of the Christmas
holiday. The Lord of Misrule's most fundamental duty, however, was
to attend the Christmas festivities in the character of a mock king.
His temporary elevation of status permitted him to command all
present, but he was primarily expected to foster a merry atmos-
phere. One wealthy estate owner has left us a written record of the
authority granted to his chosen Lord of Misrule. It states:
I give free leave to Owen Flood, my trumpeter, gentleman, to
be Lord of Misrule of all good orders during the twelve days.
And also, I give free leave to the said Owen Flood to com-
mand all and every person or persons whatsoever, as well as
servants as others, to be at his command whensoever he shall
sound his trumpet or music, and to do him good service, as
though I were present myself, at their perils. ... I give full
power and authority to his lordship to break up all locks,
bolts, bars, doors, and latches, and to fling up all doors out of
hinges, to come at those who presume to disobey his lord-
ship's commands. God save the king! [Chambers, 1990, 2:
741-42].
In some cases the Lord of Misrule also helped to plan the various
Christmas season entertainments. At this time Christmas celebra-
tions in wealthy households usually lasted throughout the Twelve
Days of Christmas. In some places, though, Christmas festivities
began as early as All Hallow's Eve (Halloween), October 31, with the
selection of the Lord of Misrule. Indeed, the period between Hal-
loween and Twelfth Night coincided with the theater season in
London, a period of parties and entertainments of all sorts for the
well-to-do. The Lord of Misrule's tenure might or might not end
with Epiphany on January 6, however. In 1607 the Christmas Lord
serving St. John's College at Oxford University began offering Christ-
mas entertainments on November 30, St. Andrew's Day {see also
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Lord of Misrule
Advent). Followers enjoyed his program of festivities so much that
they extended his term of office until Candlemas, February 2, and,
after that, prolonged it until Lent.
Rise and Decline
The Lord of Misrule was known in England as early as the fourteenth
century. The custom reached the height of its popularity in the fif-
teenth and sixteenth centuries and declined in the seventeenth cen-
tury. Some writers believe he evolved out of the mock bishops associ-
ated with the Feast of Fools. Others guess that the King of the Bean,
already popular in parts of continental Europe, may have inspired the
creation of this custom. Whatever his origins, the Lord of Misrule did
resemble these and other temporary kings of the Christmas season,
including the boy bishop and the mock kings associated with Sa-
turnalia.
Further Reading
Chambers, E. K. The Mediaeval Stage. Volumes 1 and 2. Oxford, England:
Clarendon Press, 1903.
Chambers, Robert. "December 24 — The Lord of Misrule." In his TJie Book
of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapHnger, 1977.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
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Lovefeast
The lovefeast is a special kind of Moravian church service. The Mo-
ravians are Protestant Christians whose denomination was estab-
lished in 1457 in what is now the Czech Republic. Heavily persecut-
ed in the early years of their existence, they moved from Bohemia to
Germany, and from there sent members to establish Moravian com-
munities in the American colonies. The denomination's official name
is the Unity of the Brethren, or Unitas Fratrum in Latin. Moravians
hold lovefeasts on holidays and other special days, such as Christmas
Eve, Good Friday, church anniversaries, or mission occasions.
Moravian lovefeasts revolve around a small communal meal. The
meal, usually composed of a sweet roll and coffee, should not be
confused with the Christian sacrament of Holy Communion. Rather,
the sharing of food and drink is intended to foster the growth of love
and connectedness among members of the congregation. Moravian
church officials trace the origins of the lovefeast back to the year
1727, when a group of Moravians attending a communion service in
Germany felt an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Grudges melted away
and arguments over religious doctrine gently resolved themselves,
leaving participants with renewed feelings of love and appreciation
for one another. Afterwards people celebrated with communal meals
in one another's homes. These historical events inspired the Morav-
ian lovefeast. Some writers also note that these incidents recalled
the fellowship displayed by the first Christians who shared their
meals in common after experiencing the marvelous power of the
Holy Spirit (Acts 2:46).
The Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, cele-
brates two lovefeasts at Christmas time. The first occurs on the first
Sunday in Advent. The service begins with a hymn sung by the entire
congregation and a prayer. Then several women pass through the
church, distributing buns to the congregation. Dressed in old-fash-
ioned lace caps called haubes, they are referred to as deiners, the Ger-
man word for "servers." The women are followed by male servers.
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Lovefeast
who distribute mugs of coffee to the worshipers. When all have been
served, the choir sings anthems and the congregation eats. More
hymn singing follows the meal of bread and coffee.
The second lovefeast takes place on the afternoon of December 24.
The Church gears this service towards children and their families.
Sugar cookies and chocolate milk replace the buns and coffee at this
service. The congregation and the choir alternate in singing Christ-
mas carols and hymns. The singing of an old Moravian hymn titled
"Morning Star" constitutes the highlight of the musical program.
Each year a child is chosen to sing portions of this hymn as a solo. To
be entrusted with this role is considered a great honor. The congre-
gation also chimes in on portions of this hymn. Then the servers dis-
tribute a lighted beeswax candle to every member of the congrega-
tion and everyone sings the closing hymn, "How Bright Appears the
Morning Star" {see also Christingle).
Further Reading
Sawyer, Edwin. A. All About the Moravians. Bethlefiem, Pa.: Tfie Moravian
Churcfi in America, 2000.
Sweitzer, Vangie Roby. Christmas in Bethlehem. Bethlefiem, Pa.: Central
Moravian Church, 2000.
Web Site
The New Philadelphia Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, North Caro-
lina, maintains a page on the Moravian lovefeast at: http://www.everyday
counselor.com/np/lovefea. htm
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Lummarms
Luminarias (pronounced "loo-mee-NAR-ee-yahs") means "lights"
or "illuminations" in Spanish. The word also refers to the small
bonfires that illuminate the dark nights of the Christmas season
throughout the American Southwest {see also Farolitos). These bon-
fires are made from pifion pine logs that have been stacked in log-
cabin fashion to form a box about three feet in height. Although one
may spot luminarias throughout the Christmas season, they are
most common on Christmas Eve. On that evening the little bonfires
blaze in front of churches, homes, and in public plazas guiding wor-
shipers to mass, enlivening public and family celebrations, and wel-
coming the coming of the Christ child.
Some believe that the custom of celebrating Christmas Eve with lu-
minarias can be traced all the way back to the fires that warmed the
shepherds to whom the birth of Jesus was announced in the Gos-
pel according to Luke. Others say the custom came from Native
American traditions, which Spanish missionaries later incorporated
440
Luminarias
into the celebration of Christmas. Still others think that Spanish mis-
sionaries brought the custom with them to Mexico. They note that
the Spanish custom evolved out of various pagan European practices
(see also Advent Candle; Christmas Candles; Martinmas; Yule).
Whatever its origins, the earliest historical record of the practice in the
New World dates back to the sixteenth century. Spanish missionaries,
sent to evangelize the native peoples of Mexico, wrote that on Christ-
mas Eve the people celebrated by singing, drumming, and lighting
bonfires on church patios and on the roofs of their flat-topped houses.
Today, the custom of lighting luminarias on Christmas Eve continues
in New Mexico. Although city conditions sometimes make the light-
ing of outdoor fires difficult, many people and organizations strive to
continue this old custom. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, organized
tours guide interested viewers through the neighborhoods that tend
to offer the best displays.
Further Reading
Christmas in the American Southwest. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Ribera Ortega, Pedro. Christmas in Old Santa Fe. Second edition. Santa Fe,
N.M.: Sunstone Press, 1973.
441
"t '-'*i *i
Macys Tl)anksgivmgT>ay Varade
For many Americans Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which takes
place in New York City, symbolizes the start of the holiday season
(see also Christmas Season). It also announces the beginning of the
Christmas shopping season. Macy's, a department store chain that
began in New York City, launched the yearly parades in 1924 as a
means of advertising its stores at the start of the year's busiest shop-
ping season. In 2001 the parade celebrated its seventy-fifth anniver-
sary. It featured 30 giant balloons, 28 floats and falloons (float and
balloon combinations), 12 marching bands, 14 music and dance en-
sembles, over 20 groups of clowns, and performances from four
Broadway shows. The Radio City Rockettes, a group of New York
City dancers, also appeared in the parade, in addition to a number of
celebrities. Four thousand Macy's employees helped to stage the
two-and-one-half-mile parade, which takes place between 9:00 a.m.
and noon on Thanksgiving Day. Although similar Thanksgiving Day
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
parades — also sponsored by department stores — take place in De-
troit and Chicago, national television coverage has helped to make
the New York parade an American institution.
Store-sponsored Thanksgiving Day parades developed in the 1920s as
a means of attracting Christmas season shoppers. In the nineteenth-
century many cities instead hosted military parades on Thanksgiving
Day. In addition to the military parade, the citizens of New York City
celebrated Thanksgiving Day with a few unique customs that may
have helped to inspire the format of Mac/s parade.
Thanksgiving Day in Nineteenth-Century New York
In the late nineteenth century many New Yorkers celebrated Thanks-
giving Day with public masquerades. Bands of working-class men
dressed in costume and paraded around the streets. Known as "fan-
tastical," they often lubricated their costumed hijinks with liberal
amounts of alcohol. Their parades began early in the morning and
were accompanied by blaring horns, much to the annoyance of
those who preferred to sleep in. They usually ended their march
about town with a meal in one of the city's parks and in the evening
often attended costumed balls.
Children who participated in Thanksgiving Day masquerades were
called ragamuffins. They did not march with the adults but rather
begged for coins or treats under the cover of costume, much in the
way children do today at Halloween. Frequently, boys dressed as
girls and girls dressed as boys. White children blackened their faces
with soot while black children whitened their faces with powdered
talc. The sight of children dressed up in old clothes and make-up
was so common that some New Yorkers called Thanksgiving "Raga-
muffin Day."
The Target Companies provided another Thanksgiving Day public
spectacle for nineteenth-century New Yorkers. These bands of young
men, most of whom belonged to a slightly higher social class than
did the fantasticals, enjoyed being soldiers for a day. They gave their
"company" a name, dressed in boots and military costumes, and
marched to a city park to practice target shooting. Since most prac-
ticed only once a year, there were not many good shots among
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Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
them. Proper mihtary parades also took place in New York and other
U.S. cities on Thanksgiving Day.
Some commentators believe that the November antics of the raga-
muffins and fantasticals began as celebrations of the final withdraw-
al of British troops from the city, which took place on November 25,
1783. Others view them as Carnival customs that somehow migrat-
ed from early spring to autumn. Researcher Diana Karter Appel-
baum suggests that they might instead have grown out of early Guy
Fawkes Day celebrations — commemorated by the British on No-
vember 5 — which moved to Thanksgiving Day as the city's inhabi-
tants began to think of themselves less as British and more as Ameri-
cans. As the twentieth century dawned and rolled on, fewer and
fewer people celebrated Thanksgiving Day as fantasticals or raga-
muffins, however. These customs died out around the time of World
War II.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Begins
Thus, when Macy's launched its first parade in 1924 the sight of peo-
ple marching through the streets of New York in costume on Thanks-
giving Day was nothing new. Though the organizers of Macy's pa-
rade may have found inspiration in New York's old parade and mas-
querade customs, the most immediate influence was likely to have
been the parades sponsored by Gimbel's department store in Phila-
delphia in 1921 and Hudson's department store in Detroit in 1923.
These stores had used the parades to convince the public that the
Christmas shopping season began as early as Thanksgiving and to
draw shoppers into their store. Macy's thought the gimmick a good
one and followed suit.
The first parade featured Macy's employees dressed in costumes,
animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo, and Santa Claus, who
unveiled Macy's store window display as the finale of the parade.
The parade was a hit with New Yorkers and a great boost for the
store. In fact, Macy's estimated that the parade contributed to bringing
5,000 children per day to visit the Santa who held court at the store. A
few years after the parade's installation, however, devout citizens be-
gan to complain that the popular event drew people away from morn-
ing church services held in honor of the day. The complaint led Macy's
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
to change the parade from the morning to the afternoon hours.
Several years later, however, Macy's reinstated the morning parade.
Parade administrators didn't want their event to conflict with the
increasingly popular afternoon football games that were beginning to
draw even bigger audiences than the church services.
Balloons
The first few parades did not include the gigantic balloons that char-
acterized the event in later years. These first appeared in 1927 and
were the invention of Tony Sarg, an expert puppeteer and designer
that Macy's hired to help jazz up their show. Sarg got rid of the wild
zoo animals, because they frightened away the little children, and
replaced them with papier mache creatures. Finding inspiration in
the dirigible and zeppelin — the helium-inflated flying devices of his
day — and drawing on his experience as a puppeteer, he designed a
number of huge airborne balloons shaped like a dragon, a toy sol-
dier, an elephant, and a cartoon character named Felix the Cat. Sarg
viewed his creations as enormous, upside-down marionettes, ma-
nipulated by ropes from below, rather than by strings by above. He
called them "balloonatics."
Making the balloonatics required the help of expert manufacturers.
Sarg sent his designs to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in
Akron, Ohio. Goodyear executed the designs in rubber and fabric
and sealed them with airship cement.
In the early years, the public not only loved the sight of the tethered
giants careening down broad city streets, but also thrilled to the
sport of hunting them down afterwards. At the end of the parade
the balloon wranglers simply let the big behemoths go, knowing
that they would eventually deflate and sink to earth. Macy's gave a
cash reward to anyone who found and returned the deflated bal-
loons. In 1931 world-class pilot Clarence Chamberlin caught sight of
the unleashed Jerry the Fig balloon bobbing over Brooklyn's Pros-
pect Park on Thanksgiving Day. He roped the balloon and towed it
back to the ground, winning not only Macy's cash reward but also a
good deal of publicity. Nevertheless, the policy of releasing the bal-
loons with cash rewards for their return caused unexpected prob-
lems. Some people shot the balloons down, damaging them for
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Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
future use. The most alarming incident occurred in 1932, however,
when a student pilot and her instructor nearly collided with a giant
cat balloon that had ascended to 5,000 feet. After that, Macy's quietly
deflated the balloons at the end of the parade route.
The big balloons have continued to cause problems over the years. A
Santa Claus balloon exploded during inflation in 1941. High winds
took out all but one balloon during the 1956 parade. A helium short-
age in 1958 meant that the balloons had to be filled with air and
then suspended from cranes for the duration of the parade. In 1971
strong winds led to the cancellation of the parade balloons.
Nevertheless, the big balloons are the most noted feature of the
parade. One of the biggest balloons in the 2001 parade, representing
Thommy, Chuckie, and Spike from the Rugrats cartoon series, mea-
sured 48 feet high, 60 feet long, and 28 feet wide. Sixteen thousand
seven hundred eighty cubic feet of helium filled out the balloon
while 46 handling lines assured wranglers of some control over the
enormous cartoon characters. Since the big balloons are capable of
lifting over 600 pounds, wranglers must work the giant, inflatable
puppets in groups at all times. Each wrangler must weigh at least
125 pounds.
World War II
The Thanksgiving Parade was cancelled in 1942, 1943, and 1944, due
to World War II. In 1942, Macy's surrendered its balloons to wartime
officials in response to the government's call for citizens to donate
rubber to the military. Making a spectacle out of the event, parade
officials inflated one of the balloons — a giant, green dragon — and
escorted it to city hall. When they arrived. Mayor Fiorello La Guar-
dia, also head of the Office of Civilian Defense, took a long knife and
"slew" the beast. By handing over its balloons, Macy's contributed
650 pounds of rubber to the war effort.
National Popularity
The parade resumed in 1945, drawing a crowd of two million as well
as attracting its first television coverage. In 1948 television coverage
went nationwide, expanding the parade's potential viewing audi-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ence from coast to coast. The 1947 Christmas film Miracle on 34th
Street generated further publicity for the event by setting the open-
ing scenes of the story at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. By
the 1950s the opportunity to ride in the parade drew well-known
celebrities. In 1957, the first high school marching band participated.
The marching bands, as well as other groups of young entertainers,
would become a regular feature of the parade, with hopeful candi-
dates auditioning yearly before Macy's judges. The 1970s saw the
first falloons — part float, part balloon — enter the parade.
Commercial Effects and Influences
From its modest beginnings, the parade has grown to become big
business for the Big Apple. In the late 1990s the mayor's office esti-
mated that the parade generated just over $24 million of economic
activity annually in New York City. But the economic effects of the
parade are also felt far away from New York. About 60 million people
watch the parade each year, either in person or on television. This
enormous audience, glued to television sets right at the start of the
Christmas shopping season, creates plenty of opportunity for what
some have termed holiday commercialism. For example, many
companies pay Macy's for putting a balloon in the parade that will
promote one of their products. Quite a number of the characters
represented by the Macy's parade balloons are licensed images. In
the late 1990s companies were paying about $350,000 to have their
character represented as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving
parade.
In the year 2001 some of the "commercial" balloons included Jimmy
Neutron (sponsored by Nickelodeon), Snoopy (sponsored by United
Feature Syndicate), Arthur (sponsored by the Learning Company),
Cheesasaurus Rex (sponsored by Kraft Macaroni and Cheese), Pi-
kachu (sponsored by the Pokemon Company), Ronald McDonald
(sponsored by McDonald's Corporation), Barney the purple dinosaur
(sponsored by HIT Entertainment), Big Bird (sponsored by Sesame
Workshop), Jeeves (sponsored by Ask Jeeves, Inc.) and the Honey-Nut
Cheerios Bee (sponsored by Honey-Nut Cheerios). Non-commercial
balloons in 2001, billed as novelty balloons, included an elf, a flying
448
Madagascar, Christmas in
fish, Chloe the Holiday Clown, IHiarold the Fireman, a hippopotamus,
an ice cream cone, and a toy soldier.
Where and When
The parade begins at 9:00 a.m. at the intersection of 77th Street and
Central Park West. It ends around noon at the Macy's store in IHIerald
Square. Located at 34th Street and Sixth Avenue, this, Macy's flag-
ship branch, bills itself as the largest department store in the world.
Just as he did in the early days, Santa Claus still brings up the rear of
the parade. Promoters bill his arrival at Herald Square as the official
start of the holiday season in New York.
Further Reading
Appelbaum, Diana Karter. Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American
History. New York: Facts on File, 1984.
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Web Site
The New York Historical Society maintains a web exhibit on the parade at:
http://www.nyhistory.org/macyday/index.html
Madagascar^ cfiristmas m
The people of Madagascar, a large island nation off the coast of south-
erri Africa, enjoy a summertime Christmas {see also Winter Solstice).
Just over forty percent of the Malagasy people are Christians, about
seven percent are Muslims, and the rest practice traditional religions.
Christians iri Madagascar celebrate Christmas with church services
and gift giving. In spite of the summer heat, their Christmas gift
bringer wears a red suit edged with white fur, much like Santa
Claus. In Malagasy his riame is Dadabenoely. In Frerich he is called le
Bonhomme Noel, which may be translated as Father Christmas.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
New Year's Celebrations
The traditional Malagasy New Year's Day falls months after Christ-
mas. This lunar festival takes place in March, at the time of the first
new moon of the Malagasy year. Both New Year's Eve and Day are
important occasions in Madagascar. In the capital city of Antanana-
rivo people celebrate both days. On the first day people put on their
brightly colored holiday clothes and assemble at Ambohimanga, the
holy hill on top of which the queen once had her palace. Once there
they listen to energetic music and take part in rituals designed to
honor and communicate with their ancestors. People attend these
ceremonies in bare feet as a sign of humility. Some attendees fall into
trances during which time they can convey messages and prayers to
those who have died. Once these ceremonies have concluded people
head for home where families gather together for special meals. On
this occasion many people eat romaza, a dish made from meat, rice,
herbs and leaves. A kind of wine, distilled from sugar cane and rice,
may also be served. People begin New Year's Day with a Christian
hymn. In this country most people are perfectly comfortable mixing
together Christian and indigenous customs and rituals. Later, two
zebu, a humpback kind of African cattle, are sacrificed and people are
anointed with the blood, which is thought to enhance the power of
prayers.
Further Reading
Ellis, Royton, and lohn R. lones. Festivals of the World: Madagascar. Milwau-
kee, Wis.: Gareth Stevens, 1999.
Heale, lay. Cultures of the World: Madagascar. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall
Cavendish, 1998.
450
Magi
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Magi
Three Kings, Three Kings of Cologne,
Wise Men of the East
Christian lore and tradition assigns several different titles to the Magi,
sages from the East who traveled to Bethlehem to pay tribute to the
baby Jesus. They are referred to as the Wise Men of the East, the Three
Wise Men, the Three Kings, the Three Kings of Cologne, or by the
names most commonly associated with them in legend — Melchior,
Caspar (or Caspar), and Balthasar. Their association with Christmas
begins in Christian scripture. Of the two Gospel accounts of Christ-
mas recorded in the Bible, the Gospel according to Matthew is the
only one to mention the Magi and their pilgrimage. However, this
brief account of their actions neither reveals their identities nor elab-
orates on the source of their prophetic knowledge. Over time, tan-
gled vines of legend have grown up around the slender trunk of
Matthew's account, creating a rich heritage of story, custom, and cel-
ebration around these mysterious witnesses of the first Christmas.
The Magi in Matthew's Gospel
In chapter two of the Gospel according to Matthew, Magi from the
East, led by a star, journey to Jerusalem. They arrive at the court of
King Herod asking for the whereabouts of the newborn king of the
Jews. Herod, secretly troubled by news of a potential rival, consults
Jewish priests and scribes. He discovers that prophecy dictates that
the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Herod relays this informa-
tion to the Magi, asking them to return with news of the child's
identity. The Magi then continue on their journey, again guided by
the star. They find Jesus in Bethlehem, worship him, and offer him
costly gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A dream warns the
Magi not to return to Herod, who is planning to kill the child they
identify as the king of the Jews, and they set off for their own coun-
try by another route.
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The Magi in History
Although the Gospels give no further information about these
prophets from the East, scholars of ancient history can tell us some-
thing about the people known in biblical times as magi. The word
"magi" comes from the ancient Greek term laayoi {magoi, plural of
magos) and from the Old Persian word magu. Both terms referred spe-
cifically to a class of scholar-priests originally from the ancient land of
Media (Medes), now part of Iran. In biblical times, magi could be
found throughout Persia and in many other Near Eastern countries.
The magi were famed for their knowledge of astronomy, astrology,
dream interpretation, philosophy, and religious ritual, hence the
translation often given for the term magi is "wise men." They often
served as councillors to kings and as tutors to princes. Their teach-
ings were studied and recorded by some of the most renowned
thinkers of ancient Greece, including Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras,
and Herodotus. The magi were also associated with what we today
would call magical or occult practices, such as divination. Indeed, the
English word "magic" comes to us from the ancient word "magi."
Because of the magi's strong association with magic, the term magi
was sometimes used more loosely and negatively by ancient Greek
and biblical writers to refer to anyone who claimed occult knowl-
edge from Eastern lands.
When Media was conquered by Persia in the sixth century B.C., the
magi adopted many of the ideas of Persian Zoroastrianism, an an-
cient religion. They became important proponents and developers of
Zoroastrian ideas, spreading their influence beyond Persia. One of
these beliefs corresponds well with their role in the Christmas story.
Like the ancient Jews, Zoroastrians believed in the coming of a sav-
ior, a saoshyant. Zoroaster had been the first saoshyant. The last of
the three saoshyants, who would be born to a virgin mother, was to
be the greatest. He would have the power to defeat the forces of evil,
resurrect the dead, banish old age and decay from the world, and
would usher in a new age for humanity.
Early Christian Interpretations
This historical background helps to explain the presence of magi in
Matthew's account of Jesus' birth. As believers in the coming of a
452
Magi
saoshyant, they would be expecting the birth of a savior. Since they
were skilled in divination practices, they might be keenly interested
in predicting this event. As astrologers, they might expect that the
prophet's birth would correspond with a heavenly event, such as the
rising of an unusual star. As astronomers, they would know and
watch the night sky and notice immediately any such event. As
scholars and religious experts, they might be interested in making
the journey to Judea to discover the identity of the child and to wor-
ship him. Finally, as experts in the study of dreams, they would
understand the dream imagery warning them of Herod's evil intent.
Because of the intellectual and occult prestige of the magi in the
ancient world, readers of Matthew's account would be likely to
interpret their recognition of Jesus' birth as confirmation of his iden-
tity as the Messiah.
Although we do know something of the activities and beliefs of
magi in ancient times, we know literally nothing about the individu-
als who appear in Matthew's account. He states that the Magi jour-
neyed to Bethlehem from the East, but he does not mention their
names, their nationalities, or their exact number. They could have
been from any number of countries, such as Arabia, Persia (or Iran),
Mesopotamia, or even India. The lack of detail given in the scrip-
tures led to speculation about the Magi by religious figures, as well
as much embellishment of the story in folk tradition. Early Christian
artwork depicts two, three, four, or more Magi. Eastern Christians be-
lieved that there were twelve Magi. By the sixth century A.D., the idea
that there had been three Magi became firmly established among
Western Christians. This belief was probably based on the three gifts
mentioned in the scriptures, which became associated in folk tradi-
tion with three individuals.
By the end of the second century a.d.. Christians began to celebrate
a special holiday, called Epiphany, in honor of the Magi's pilgrim-
age. The word "epiphany" means "manifestation," "appearance," or
"showing forth." The feast of Epiphany thus celebrates the first
manifestation of Jesus' divinity, as witnessed by the Magi. Epiphany
predates Christmas by well over a century, illustrating its importance
to early Christians.
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Folk Beliefs and Legends
By the early Middle Ages, folk and Church tradition had converted
the enigmatic wise men of Matthew's Gospel into three kings. Some
scholars attribute this transformation to the influence of prophetic
writings in the Old Testament (Psalms 72; Isaiah 60:3-6) linking the
future conversion of the gentiles with the homage of foreign kings
and gifts of gold and frankincense.
The most widespread Western legend about the Magi assigns them
the following identities: Melchior, king of Arabia; Caspar (or Gas-
par), king of Tarsus (located in southern Turkey); and Balthasar, king
of Ethiopia or king of Saba (in modern-day Yemen). Not only did
legend assign them names and nationalities, but they were also as-
signed various characteristics. Melchior is most often described as an
elderly, light-complexioned man with white hair and beard who
bears the gift of gold. Caspar, a young and beardless man of "ruddy"
complexion, offers frankincense. Balthasar, a middle-aged African
man, brings the infant Jesus a gift of myrrh. (Sometimes the ages of
Balthasar and Caspar are switched).
Once these identities became firmly established in the folk imagina-
tion, they, too, began to excite speculation. St. Bede (c. 672-735) sus-
pected that the diverse kings represented the continents of Europe,
Africa, and Asia. Others believed that the ethnic and racial diversity
of the three kings represented the belief that Jesus' teachings were to
spread to all nations. The gifts of the Magi also acquired symbolic
meanings. The gold was said to represent Jesus'kingship, the frankin-
cense his divinity, and the myrrh his early death or his ability to heal.
In addition to providing answers about the names, ages and fates of
the Magi, folk tales also speculated about their ancestry and origins.
One legend affirms that they were descendants of Balaam, a Meso-
potamian seer from the Old Testament, who some also called a
magus. Balaam predicted that "a star out of Jacob" (Numbers 24:17)
would foretell the birth of a great Jewish leader. The legend suggests
that Balaam kept watch for the appearance of the star, passing the
search to his sons, who in turn passed it on to their descendants.
Another account, again credited to St. Bede, speculates that the
Magi were descended from Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
454
Magi
Yet another tale declares that the kings of Persia and Chaldea sent
the twelve wisest men of their courts to follow the star.
Magi Tales from the East
In the late thirteenth century, Venetian explorer Marco Polo (1254-
1324) returned to Italy from his years of travel in central and east
Asia. He brought with him many exciting, foreign tales, including
some Eastern stories concerning the Magi. In one, Melchior, the
eldest, first entered the shelter where Jesus lay. There he encountered
an old man who spoke with the wisdom of many years. The middle-
aged king went next, and found Jesus to be a learned man of his own
age. When the youngest stepped over the threshold he discovered a
young man full of passion and inspiration. After comparing and mar-
veling over their varied experiences, the kings entered the shelter
together bearing their gifts and found Jesus to be an infant.
Another tale of Eastern origins suggests that the Magi's gifts were
meant to test the baby Jesus. If he chose the gold, he was a king; if
he chose the incense he was a priest; and if he chose myrrh he was a
healer. The child took them all, and the Magi concluded that Jesus
was all three things at once.
One more story states that the Magi received a small gift in return
for their pilgrimage, some say from Mary, others say from the infant
Jesus. When the Wise Men opened the box, they found only a stone
inside. The stone was meant as a sign that their faith should be as
firm as a rock. The Magi did not understand this, however, and,
thinking the stone worthless, they tossed it down a well. As they did
so, fire streamed down from heaven towards the well (or, some say,
ascended from the well towards heaven). The amazed Wise Men
transported the fire back to their own countries where it was wor-
shiped. This tale presents us with an interesting lirik back to Zoro-
astrianism. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire represents the divine. In
Zoroastrian fire temples, flames are kept burning perpetually and
are used in religious ceremonies and worship.
The Fate of the Magi
Many legends suggest that, after returning to their own lands, the
Magi devoted the rest of their lives to good works and to spreading
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the news of Christ's birth. One tale declares that they were baptized
by St. Thomas the Apostle and later became Christian priests and
bishops. Another suggests that the Star of Bethlehem appeared to
them once more, shortly before their deaths. Some believed that
they died in the city of Sewa, now in Iran. Marco Polo, who visited
that city during his thirteenth-century travels, declared that the in-
habitants showed him the tombs of the three ancient kings, called
Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, who in their lifetimes had made a
great journey to worship a newborn prophet.
Relics
In the tenth century the citizens of Milan, Italy, turned to the well-
known legends concerning the Three Kings to interpret an unusual
discovery. The embalmed bodies of three men, one young, one mid-
dle-aged, and one old, had been found in the church of St. Eustor-
gius. These remains were quickly assumed to be those of the Three
Kings. The emperor Frederick Barbarossa had the relics transferred
to Cologne, Germany, in 1164, where a special shrine was built to
house them in the city's cathedral. In this way, the Magi acquired yet
a new name: the Three Kings of Cologne.
But how did the three Middle Eastern kings end up buried in Italy?
It was believed that the Empress Helena (St. Helena, c. 248-c. 328)
had originally retrieved the bodies from the East during her travels
to the Holy Land. Legend had it that she brought the remains to
Constantinople, and that later they were moved to the city of Milan.
The bodies appeared not to have aged since the Magi's momentous
meeting with Jesus, but it was not difficult for people to believe that,
in death, the bodies of the kings had been preserved as they had
been during that holy encounter. The long tale of the Magi's bones
took a final turn in 1903, when the Cardinal of Cologne approved
the return of some of the relics to Milan.
Enduring Popularity
The story of the Magi's quest has kindled the imaginations of
Christians for centuries. The Magi's journey was one of the most pop-
ular images depicted by early Christians in the Roman catacombs. The
Magi often appear as characters in medieval Nativity plays. A multi-
456
Magi
tude of artists, including the famous painters Diego Velazquez (1599-
1660), Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-
1519), have created memorable images of the adoration of the Magi.
Gian Carlo Menotti's twentieth-century opera, Amahl and the Night
Visitors, revolves around a small boy's encounter with the Magi. Both
the Italian La Befana and the Russian Baboushka were believed to
have met the Three Kings on their journey towards Bethlehem. The
Magi are the central figures in such familiar Christmas carols as "We
Three Kings of Orient Are." The initials of each of the three kings,
CMB, are still inscribed over the doors of houses during the Christ-
mas season in Germany, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, and Czecho-
slovakia in order to protect the house. Roman Catholic priests some-
times bless the homes of their parishioners at Epiphany by writing the
initials CMB inside the door with blessed chalk, surrounded by the
numbers representing that calendar year. In the year 1999, for exam-
ple, the priest would write 19 CMB 99. Finally, the Magi are often rep-
resented in the Nativity scenes that Christians all over the world
assemble during the Christmas season.
Significance
For close to two millennia, folk tales and legends have embroidered
additional details around Matthew's spare outline of the Magi's pil-
grimage to Bethlehem. For some, however, Matthew's original text is
rich in spiritual significance. The Magi's journey may be said to rep-
resent the universal search for God. Some Christians see the Magi's
story as a demonstration of an active faith; the Magi act on the inspi-
ration and understanding that they have while others, who presum-
ably also see the star, do nothing. The story's assertion that the non-
Jewish Magi are the first people inspired to worship Jesus is also
believed to be significant by many Christian commentators. It sym-
bolizes that seekers of all ethnic and religious backgrounds will be
drawn to Jesus, that his message is to be offered to all peoples, and
that his teachings will spread throughout the entire world.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 25 — The Three Magi." In his The Book of
Dfli/s. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
457
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Gnoli, Gherardo. "Magi." In Mircea Eliade, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion.
Volume 9. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
. "Saoshyant." In Mircea Eliade, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol-
ume 13. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Grigson, Geoffrey. "The Three Kings of Cologne." History Today 41, 12 (De-
cember 1991): 28-34. Reprint of 1954 article.
Hackwood, Frederick W. Christ Lore. 1902. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Re-
search, 1969.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Keck Leander, ed. The New Interpreter's Bii^/e. Volume VIII. Nashville, Tenn.:
Abingdon Press, 1995.
Lehane, Brendan. The Book of Christmas. Chicago: Time-Life Books, 1986.
Manger Scene, see Nativity Scem
458
Marshall Islands, Christmas in the Republic of the
Marsfialllslands^ cfiristmas
in tl)e RepH&ffc o\tl)e
The Marshall Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, about 3,000
miles southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. The Marshallese adopted
Christianity with the coming of European colonists and Christian
missionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The people of this 34-island nation have created a celebration of
Christmas that is all their own, by blending Christian beliefs with
their own cultural traditions and values. On Christmas Day huge
baskets of food are exchanged and the entire day is spent watching
various local groups, called jeptas, perform original songs, dances,
and skits. Preparations for the great day begin months in advance. In
fact, the Marshallese enjoy a holiday season that stretches from Sep-
tember through December. The activities of this long season of prep-
aration, as well as those of the Christmas festivities that crown it,
illustrate Marshallese concepts of well-being, abundance, love, gen-
erosity, prestige, beauty, and play. The following description of the
Christmas season in the Marshall Islands summarizes the celebra-
tions that take place on Ujeland and Enewetak atolls.
The Christmas Season
People begin to think about Christmas shortly after Easter, and start to
set aside food and other resources during the summer. What's more,
composers and choreographers begin dreaming up new Christmas
ditties and dances during the summer months, basing them on bits
and pieces of the tunes and dance movements used in past holiday
performances. Western church hymns, and Pacific Islands songs and
dances. The real work begins in the fall, however. Indeed, Kuriimoj,
the word for Christmas, is used to refer not only to December 25,
but also to the several months that precede it, when preparation for
Christmas becomes a part of one's daily occupation.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Jeptas
When Christmas is still a few months away, the islanders divide them-
selves into jeptas, which may be thought of as teams. These teams
begin practicing the new songs and dances that will be performed
from memory on Christmas Day. Each group may perform as many as
fifteen to twenty songs. Before Christmas Day, the jeptas visit one
another, engaging in competitive songfests in order to show off their
skills and assess the competition. In these "surprise attacks" one jepta
drops in on another bearing gifts of food and other small items, such
as bars of soap and books of matches. The generosity, musical polish,
and skill of each group's chosen orators will be judged and the pres-
tige of each jepta will rise or fall accordingly.
The women also take part in another form of playful competition
between the jeptas, known as karate. The preparations made by the
jeptas include stockpiling gifts of food that will be distributed to
other islanders on Christmas Day. When the women of one jepta spy
some men from a rival jepta coming back from a food-collecting mis-
sion, the women surround them and steal their food. Nevertheless,
the women always leave the men with a meal of some kind. These
encounters have become an occasion for much good-natured banter
between the sexes and islanders find them extremely amusing.
During Advent, the jeptas perform their songs in front of the church.
Each jepta also builds a pifiata-like construction, called a wojke,
which serves as a kind of Christmas tree. It may take on many
shapes, including that of a ship, plane, or bomb. It contains numer-
ous little presents "for God," such as bars of soap, matches, and
money. The teams explode the pifiatas at the end of their Christmas
Day performances. The gifts are usually collected by the local pastor.
Last-Minute Preparations
During the last few days before Christmas, the islanders prepare by
giving their homes, streets, and church a thorough cleaning. They
also prepare gifts for the performers who will sing and dance on
Christmas Day, including bottles of coconut oil, bags of copra (co-
conut), and various handmade items. Men slaughter pigs, prepare
460
Marshall Islands, Christmas in the Republic of the
fish, and gather coconuts. Women make rice, doughnuts, bread, and
put the final touches on their breadfruit paste and other foods. In
addition, they sew costumes for the jeptas and weave mats and food
baskets. Young boys take special responsibility for cleaning pathways
and disposing of trash. Young girls help the older women with their
cooking and weaving and provide childcare. At last, after months of
preparation, the Christmas foods are packed into baskets which will
be given away — to members of another family, cookhouse, or jepta
— on Christmas Day.
In the last few days before Christmas the jeptas make special visits
to the minister's home. They sing for him and his family and give
them food and presents. The minister often responds with a polite
speech and gifts of coffee or tea.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day celebrations begin with an early morning church ser-
vice. Then the baskets of food are exchanged. These hefty gifts,
which weigh 25-40 pounds, elicit hearty thanks. People eat some of
the choicest foods on the spot and take the rest home for later. At
around 10:00 a.m. the people return to the church to watch the per-
formances of the jeptas, which last the rest of the day. When a par-
ticular song, dance, or speech especially pleases members of the
audience, they may run up to the stage area and grab the per-
former's headdress, flower necklace, watch, or clothing. The per-
former lets them take everything but necessary pieces of clothing;
modesty dictates that these be delivered later that evening. Rushing
the stage to douse the performers with sweet- smelling substances
such as baby powder, cologne, or pomade is another spontaneous
tribute paid to thrilling acts. The performances end with a short skit
at the conclusion of which the wojke explodes, scattering money
and other party favors among the crowd. The festivities end with
prayers and the singing of a hyinn.
The day's performances are talked about for months. The singing,
dancing, speeches, costumes, skits, and gift giving will be exhaus-
tively analyzed, and the members of the jepta that made the best
display will gain status in the community.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Some United Church of Christ Christmas services include a tree-
lighting ceremony that links the Christmas tree with the traditional
Christian symbol of the cross. A Christmas tree is concealed inside a
large, hollow cross. While the congregation sings Christmas carols,
the tree rises out of the cross. The congregation greets this sight with
exploding firecrackers. Then the tree descends back into the cross,
while the singers hush their voices. After the singing, the cross splits
open down the middle, revealing the tree standing inside.
New Year Celebrations
Feasting and gift giving also take place on New Year's Eve, but to a
much lesser degree. Children stay up late on New Year's Eve. At
midnight they go door to door, singing songs and receiving in ex-
change treats and trinkets. Islanders make every attempt to attend
early morning church services on New Year's Day, as good behavior
on the first of the year is thought to honor the new year and to steer
it in a good direction. Hotly contested softball matches take place
later on New Year's Day.
Further Reading
Carucci, Laurence Marshall. Nuclear Nativity: Rituals of Renewal and Em-
powerment in the Marshall Islands. Dekalb, 111.: Northern Illinois University
Press, 1997.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
462
Martinmas
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Martmmas
Funkentag, Martinalia, Martinsfest, Martinstag,
St. Martin's Day
Martinmas, or St. Martin's Day, falls on November 11. This Christian
feast day honors St. Martin of Tours (c. 316-397 a.d.), but many of
the popular customs that have been associated with it over the cen-
turies resemble those connected to a much earlier pagan autumn
festival. In medieval Europe, the arrival of Martinmas signaled the
beginning of winter. In early medieval times, the festival marked the
beginning of Advent in some parts of Europe.
Life and Legends of St. Martin
Born into a pagan family in Hungary in the late fourth century a.d.,
St. Martin became interested in Christianity and a monastic life at an
early age. His military father forced him to become a soldier, howev-
er. Many tales about the saint's life illustrate his generosity. In the
most famous of these, Martin, while stationed in Amiens, France, as
a soldier, encountered a beggar shivering miserably in the cold.
Martin quickly removed his cloak, cut it in half with his sword, and
covered the beggar with the cloth. That night Jesus appeared to
Martin in a vision declaring, "Martin the catechumen hath clothed
me in this garment." Shortly afterwards Martin was baptized. At the
age of forty he left the army and began a life of religious devotion.
He was elected bishop of Tours in 371 a.d.
One legend tells that when the retiring saint heard the news of his
election, he was so flustered that he ran away and hid in a barn, but
the squawking of a goose soon announced his presence. The goose
thereafter became a symbol of the saint. As bishop of Tours, Martin
gained a reputation for religious fervor by converting his entire dio-
cese to the new religion of Christianity and replacing the pagan
temples with Christian churches. St. Martin eventually became one
of the most popular saints of the medieval era.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Precedents
In pre-Christian times the Germanic peoples of north-central Eu-
rope celebrated a great autumn festival. As pastures thinned with
the coming of cold weather, they slaughtered the animals that could
not be kept alive and preserved most of their meat for the winter. At
this time the people gathered together, feasted on fresh meat, and
drank. They may also have honored the dead and lit ceremonial
bonfires at these celebrations. This festival probably marked the end
of the old year and the beginning of the new year in pre-Christian
times. According to several scholars, some of the customs associated
with medieval Yule celebrations were actually transferred to that
season from earlier celebrations of this great autumn festival. At
least one researcher has identified the date of this ancient Germanic
new year festival as November 11 or 12.
History
The Christian festival of Martinmas developed in the several hun-
dred years that followed the saint's death in the late fourth century.
In 490 A.D. Bishop Perpetuus of Tours called for a forty-day period of
partial fasting in preparation for Christmas. This period began on
November 11, a day already associated with the veneration of St.
Martin, and was known as the "Forty Days' Fast of St. Martin," or
"St. Martin's Lent." In later times these weeks of spiritual prepara-
tion for Christmas came to be called Advent. Pope Martin I (d. 655)
established Martinmas as a great Church festival. He may have been
attempting to provide a Christian rationale for the celebrations that
pagan northern Europeans still held around this time of the year. In
the Middle Ages some referred to Martinmas by the Latin name
Martinalia.
The customs associated with medieval celebrations of Martinmas
closely resemble those connected with earlier pagan celebrations. In
the Middle Ages the feast of Martinmas marked the beginning of
winter. Customs in some regions suggest that it may have been
treated as a kind of new year as well. In areas of England, France,
and Germany, leases ended at Martinmas, rents were due, and ser-
vants left households in search of new employment. In his eighth-
century chronicles, St. Bede (c. 672-735) noted that the Anglo-Saxon
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Martinmas
term for November was Blot Monath, or "Blood Month/' in reference
to the customary slaughtering of animals that took place during that
month. Not only did this old custom attach itself firmly to Mar-
tinmas, but so also did the feasting and drinking of earlier Novem-
ber celebrations. In medieval times Martinmas may have served as a
kind of thanksgiving festival during which the people rejoiced at the
close of the harvest and their full barns and larders. In Germany St.
Martin became the patron saint of the harvest, as well as the cham-
pion of the poor.
The sixteenth- century Protestant Reformation created a new ratio-
nale for this traditional November festival. Rather than forbid the
celebration of the day because it venerated a Roman Catholic saint,
Protestant authorities dedicated the celebrations to Martin Luther,
the German founder of the Protestant movement who was born on
November 10, 1483. In some areas of Germany the celebrations were
shifted to November 10; in others the people continued to celebrate
on November 11 in the belief that the Protestant reformer was bap-
tized on that day. In Germany the holiday acquired the name Mar-
tinsfest or Martinstag, meaning "Martin's Festival" or "Martin's Day."
Martinmas Fires
In Germany and the Netherlands, great bonfires roared on Martin-
mas or Martinmas Eve in past times. In the fifteenth century, the fes-
tival acquired the nickname Funkentag (Spark Day) in Germany, due
to the many fires that blazed in honor of the occasion. In the cen-
turies that followed, people in Austria, Germany, Denmark, and
Belgium, also participated in lantern parades on Martinmas Eve,
marching through the darkened streets of town with lanterns or
jack-o'-lanterns fashioned out of turnips or pumpkins.
Martinmas Feasts
The central and enduring customs of Martinmas feature the prepa-
ration and consumption of meat and drink. The date at which the
holiday falls in the agricultural cycle anchored these customs to it. In
Britain the customary slaughter of cattle on Martinmas produced
465
Martinmas
"Martlemas Beef," the salted and dried meat that sustained people
throughout the lean winter months. In Germany, Denmark, Ireland,
and Scandinavia goose became the traditional Martinmas feast, per-
haps in reference to the Christian legend connecting the saint with a
goose. Another possible explanation for this association between
Martinmas and geese arises from an old German agricultural cus-
tom; in past centuries people fattened geese for the fall season,
when they could be used to pay the taxes due on Martinmas. Not
every European country favored roast goose for their Martinmas
feast, however. In Portugal the traditional St. Martin's Day feast fea-
tured roast pig.
According to old German and Italian traditions, the year's new
wines were sampled for the first time on Martinmas. People who got
drunk on Martinmas were often called "Martinmen," as were people
given to spending their money on short-lived good times. Indeed, so
important was this association between Martinmas and wine that
St. Martin became the patron saint of tavernkeepers, wine makers,
and drunkards. Indulging in large quantities of meat and drink per-
sists as a perennial feature of the holiday. In France the upset stom-
ach that often follows the consumption of too much food and drink
is known as mal de Saint Martin, or "Saint Martin's sickness." St.
Martin's Day is still observed in Europe with traditional festive
meals, most commonly of roast goose.
Martinmas Folklore
Long after pagan European religions disappeared, early November
retained its association with the commemoration of the dead. Old
Scottish and Irish folk beliefs declared that the ghosts of the dead
returned to their old homes on Martinmas. In the twentieth century,
the festivals of early November still link the season to the remem-
brance of the dead. On November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, the British
commemorate the capture and execution of a group of men who
tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In Britain and North
America many celebrate October 31 as Halloween, a folk festival
associated with spirits of the dead. Christians in many countries
observe All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on
November 2. Even the secular calendar retains November 11 as a
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
date sacred to the memory of the dead. After World War I, November
11 was established as Armistice Day and dedicated to the memory of
the soldiers who died in that war. (In Britain and Canada the day is
known as Remembrance Day). In 1954 Armistice Day became Veter-
ans Day in the United States, and its purpose broadened to include
the recognition of all those who have served in the United States
armed forces.
In some European countries St. Martin became a gift-bearing folk
figure, much like St. Nicholas. He was often depicted as a bishop
garbed in red robes riding a white horse. In Belgium and other Euro-
pean countries he distributes sweets to well-behaved children on
St. Martin's Eve, but badly behaved youngsters may receive a rod
instead.
A variety of folk beliefs and sayings link Martinmas with the weath-
er. In Europe the temperate days that often surround Martinmas
may be referred to as "St. Martin's Summer." Legend has it that God
first sent mild weather at this time of year to shield St. Martin from
the cold, since he had just given half of his cloak to a beggar. An
English folk belief suggests that if Martinmas is mild, the coming
winter will be severe, whereas if frost occurs before Martinmas, the
winter will be gentle.
Martinmas in Contemporary Germany
In the twentieth century Martinmas Eve fires still blazed along the
banks of the Rhine and Moselle rivers in Germany. Although fire
safety has become an issue in recent decades, the fires burn on in
some parts of Germany. Excited children collect cardboard, tree
branches, and other tinder for weeks in anticipation of the event.
Lantern parades continue to be celebrated in Germany, although
they have become primarily a children's custom. Children fashion
elaborate lanterns from paper or recreate the traditional turnip
lanterns. The finished lanterns dangle from a wooden pole. In some
areas the lantern processions end with a reenactment of St. Martin's
most famous deed, sharing his cloak with a beggar. Afterwards the
children disperse, singing songs (Martinslieder) and reciting rhymes
for neighbors and shopkeepers. In return, they are given small gifts
(Martinswecken) , such as nuts, candies, apples, cookies, and coins.
468
Martinmas
Further Reading
Christmas in Germany. Second edition. Lincolnwood, 111.: Passport Books,
1995.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Con\pany, 1976.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. Festivals of Western Europe. 1958. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1994.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Tille, Alexander. Yule and Christmas: Their Place in the Germanic Year. Lon-
don, England: David Nutt, 1899.
Urlin, Ethel L. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
469
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Mar\)^ Bfesse^Vfrgin
Jesus was born to a human father named Joseph and a human
mother named Mary. The Bible tells that Mary conceived the child
by the power of God's Holy Spirit before the couple was married,
however. For this reason she is known as the Virgin Mary, or the
Blessed Virgin Mary. Although she is present at various events re-
corded in Christian scripture, Mary figures most prominently in the
biblical passages describing the events surrounding Jesus' birth. In
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Mary is the most re-
vered of all the saints, honored both as the mother of the Lord and
for her own spiritual attributes: purity, faith, humility, love, steadfast-
ness, and introspection. Artists have often pictured Mary in blue
robes, as the color blue symbolizes truth, love, fidelity, and constancy
in Christian art.
470
Mary, Blessed Virgin
The Annunciation
The Gospel according to Luke gives the most detailed portrait of
Mary's miraculous pregnancy. In an event that later became known
as the Annunciation, she receives a visit from Gabriel, an angel
who greets her with the phrase "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is
with you" (Luke 1:28). He then tells her that she is to bear a son,
conceived by the Holy Spirit, whom she will name Jesus and who
shall be acclaimed as "the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1:32). Gen-
erations of Christians have interpreted the angel's greeting, along
with heaven's selection of Mary to be Jesus' mother, as signs of her
great purity and virtue. She demonstrates her steadfast faith in God
and her humility by assenting to the decree delivered by the angel,
saying, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me
according to your word" (Luke 1:27).
The Visitation
After receiving the angel's visit Mary hurries to see her kinswoman
Elizabeth, who is also pregnant with a son who will become the
prophet called John the Baptist. During the meeting between the
two women, often referred to as the Visitation, Elizabeth honors Mary
as the mother of the Lord. Mary exults in the fulfillment of God's
promise to bring both mercy and justice to those on earth in a long
speech known as the Song of Mary, or the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-
56). The title Magnificat, which means "it magnifies," comes from
the first word of the Latin version of the hymn:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
For he who is mighty has done great things for me.
And holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones.
And exalted those of low degree;
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
He has filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel,
In remembrance of his mercy.
As he spoke to our fathers.
To Abraham and to his posterity for ever [Luke 1:47-55].
Various branches of the Christian church have incorporated this
beautiful hymn of praise into the liturgy of daily religious services. In
addition, numerous composers have set it to music. Mary's hymn
not only underscores her faith and humility, but also reveals her love
of God, her gratitude for the gift God has made to her, and her joy at
the prospect of seeing God come to the rescue of the needy and
downtrodden.
Jesus' Birth
In both the Gospel according to Luke and the Gospel according to
Matthew, Mary and Joseph receive visitors around the time of Jesus'
birth. Matthew's account implies that the Holy Family lived in Beth-
lehem. He tells of a mysterious star that guided a number of learned
men from Eastern lands, the Magi, to the site of Jesus' birth in order
to pay him homage.
By contrast, Luke's story has the couple journeying to Bethlehem in
order to comply with a Roman census. Since the Bethlehem inn was
full the couple spent the night in a stable, where Mary gave birth to
Jesus. Shepherds received notice of the holy birth from angels and
came to Bethlehem to worship the newborn Son of God. The shep-
herds explain to Mary and Joseph how they came to know of the
child's birth, and Mary "kept all these things, pondering them in her
heart" (Luke 2:19). Thus Luke's account also shows Mary to be a
seeker of spiritual wisdom. Because of her faith and her heart's incli-
nation to "ponder" God's ways, many Christians view Mary as a
model of contemplation and the contemplative life.
The Flight into Egypt and the Circumcision
The Gospel according to Luke and the Gospel according to Matthew
also differ in their accounts of the events following Jesus' birth.
472
Mary, Blessed Virgin
Matthew fails to mention Mary's role in these events. Nevertheless,
Luke's account gives us one more clue as to Mary's character. Mat-
thew reports that King Herod ordered soldiers to kill all the male
infants in Bethlehem so that he might rid himself of the child the
Magi identified as the King of the Jews (see Holy Innocents' Day).
The Holy Family escapes the slaughter because an angel warned
Joseph about what was soon to occur. Following the angel's man-
date the family journeys to Egypt. This event, called the Flight into
Egypt, is not reported in Luke's gospel. Luke instead says that eight
days after his birth, Jesus' parents had him circumcised and gave him
the name Jesus. These events illustrate Mary's obedience to Jewish
law and her continuing cooperation with the divine plan announced
to her by the angel Gabriel.
Early Christian Ideas
Early Christian writers and teachers, such as Justin Martyr (c. 100-c.
165), Irenaeus (c. 120-140 to c. 200), and Tertullian (c. 155-160 to
after 220) compared Mary to Eve, the first woman, whose story is
told in the Bible's Book of Genesis. Eve heard God's command and
disobeyed, but Mary listened to the angel Gabriel and gave her
assent to God's plan. Thus Mary was cast as a "second Eve," the
woman who would bring a savior into the world to undo the dam-
age done by Adam and Eve's disobedience. This comparison was
heightened by the medieval calendar of Christian holy days, in
which Adam and Eve were commemorated on December 24, and
Jesus'birth on December 25.
Early Christian leaders sometimes disagreed on the nature of the
role Mary played in the birth of the Savior and the degree of venera-
tion that should be accorded to her. They resolved some of these
issues in the year 431 at the Council of Ephesus. The Council de-
clared that Mary was the Theotokos, or "God bearer," paving the way
for greater devotion to be dedicated to her.
Feast Days
Over the centuries many festivals evolved to pay tribute to the im-
portant events in Mary's life. The first festival scheduled in honor of
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Mary was called the Commemoration of St. Mary and dates back to
the fifth century. Some researchers report that it was scheduled for
the Sunday before Christmas, others believe that it was held on
December 26 or even on January 1. It celebrated Mary's death, which
was viewed as her birth into heaven. This observance eventually
evolved into the Feast of the Assumption, and the date was changed
to August 15.
Other Marian festivals still celebrated today commemorate events
related to the Nativity. The Feast of the Circumcision Qanuary 1),
for example, honors the fact that Mary and Joseph complied with
Jewish law by taking their son to be circumcised on the eighth day
after his birth. In the Roman Catholic Church the day celebrates
Mary's role as the mother of God. Candlemas (February 2) com-
memorates Mary's purification in the temple 40 days after Jesus'
birth. The Annunciation (March 25) recalls the angel Gabriel's visit
to the Virgin Mary and her acceptance of the mission with which
God entrusted her.
Other important Marian festivals include the Birthday of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (September 8) and a Roman Catholic observance called
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). In addition,
many people celebrate Marian festivals particular to their communi-
ty. Mexicans, for example, honor the Virgin of Guadalupe on De-
cember 12. All told, the major feasts dedicated to Mary, plus those
feasts celebrated only in certain places or observed by certain mo-
nastic communities, numbered about 1,000 by the early twentieth
century. This number reflects the love and respect accorded to the
Blessed Virgin Mary by generations of Christians.
New Views
In recent decades feminist theologians have begun to question some
of the traditional doctrines concerning Mary. Some of these views
are critical, suggesting, for example, that in upholding Mary as both
virgin and mother, religious authorities have encouraged both women
and men to view female sexuality as dirty and shameful. Others object
to the emphasis placed on Mary's humility in her role as exemplary
woman, noting that church officials have used this image of Mary to
support the subordination of women in society. Nevertheless, for
474
Mary, Blessed Virgin
many people Mary models a deeply faithful Christian spirituality to
be adopted by all those who follow the teachings of Jesus, both men
and women.
Further Reading
Ceroke, C. P. "Mary, Tfie Blessed Virgin, I (in the Bible)." In New Catholic
Encyclopedia. Volume 9. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Clement, Clara Erskine. A Handbook of Christian Symbols. 1886. Reprint.
Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1971.
Cross, R L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. "Mary, The Blessed Virgin." In their
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Second edition, revised.
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Cuneen, Sally. In Search of Mary. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
Hulme, F. Edward. The History, Principles and Practice of Symbolism in Chris-
tian Art. 1891. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1969.
McManus, Jim. All Generations Will Call Me Blessed. New York: Crossroad,
1999.
Maier, Paul L. In the Fullness of Time. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 1991.
Metford, J. C.J. The Christian Year. London, England: Thames and Hudson,
1991.
Munro, Winsome. "Mary, the Virgin." In Paul J. Achtemeier, ed. The Harper
Collins Bible Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSan-
Francisco, 1996.
Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.
Web Site
The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute of the Uni-
versity of Dayton, a Roman Catholic university with a Marian focus, has set
up a page of questions and answers about Mary:
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/ (Click on "Questions")
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Masque
Disguising
Around the time of the Renaissance, England's elite celebrated the
Christmas season with roving, costumed entertainments known as
masques. The English borrowed the French word masque, meaning
"mask," to describe these events because the costumes were often
designed around elaborate and sometimes bizarre masks.
Early Masques
Early English masques, sometimes called "disguisings," probably
evolved out of such popular Christmas folk customs as mumming
and Nativity plays. Early masques resembled mumming in that
bands of costumed revelers dropped in on friends and family and
startled them with their unexpected entrances and entertaining
antics. Unlike the mummers, however, masquers wore elaborate
costumes, often traveled about with musicians, and amused the
assembled company with flowery speeches and courtly dances. For
example, in 1347 some of the masquers who appeared at King
Edward Ill's Christmas celebrations wore masks resembling angels'
faces surrounded with haloes. Other more unusual masks looked
like mountaintops or a collection of legs swinging wildly though the
air. Yet another group of masquers came dressed as dragons, pea-
cocks, and swans.
Although the noble and well-to-do might enjoy a masque at any
season of the year, they were often performed during the Christmas
season and were particularly popular on Twelfth Night. The young
King Henry VIII once surprised his wife, Katherine of Aragon, by
presenting her with a Twelfth Day masque. He burst unannounced
into her apartments dressed as Robin Hood. His companions fol-
lowed, dressed as Robin's merry men.
The fact that masked and costumed bands of men were a fairly com-
mon sight during the Christmas season eventually gave a few indi-
476
Masque
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viduals the idea of adopting the mummer's or masquer's disguise in
order to commit crimes. In the early 1400s London officials passed a
law against nighttime plays, mummings, and disguisings, excepting
those that took place at private homes. The city of Bristol also adopt-
ed ordinances that curbed one's rights to ride through the street in
mask and costume during the Christmas season.
Although these decrees may have decreased public mummings and
disguisings to some extent, courtly masques continued to flourish.
King Henry VIII introduced an Italian custom whereby masquers
interacted with bystanders, selecting dance partners from the audi-
ence. The presentation and narration of short dramatic scenes also
became an important part of the masque. On the whole, however,
masques remained short, simple, and frivolous works designed to
stimulate the senses by providing an amusing, colorful spectacle.
Height of Popularity
The English masque reached its artistic height in the early seven-
teenth century. During this era the famous writer Ben Jonson (1572-
1637) wrote several masques. He created one of these specifically as a
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas entertainment. Titled Christmas His Masque (1616), it fea-
tured Father Christmas as a main character. The characters present-
ed in Jonson's masque embodied popular Christmas foods, symbols,
and customs. They included Misrule, CaroU, Minc'd Pie, Gamboll,
Post-and-Paire, New-Year's-Gift, Mumming, Wassal, Offering, and
Baby Cake {see also Lord of Misrule; Mincemeat Pie; Wassail). The
innovative scenery contributed by designer and architect Inigo Jones
(1573-1652) also enriched the masques of this era. Masques began to
fall out of favor in the second half of the seventeenth century, eventu-
ally disappearing altogether as a Christmas entertainment.
Further Reading
Banham, Martin, ed. The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters. London, England: Prospect
Books, 1984.
"Masque." In Phyllis HartnoU, ed. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre.
Fourth edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Masquerades
For Christmas customs involving the use of masks and costumes, see
America, Christmas in Nineteenth Century; Berchta; Black Pe-
ter; Boy Bishop; Ecuador, Christmas in; Feast of Fools; Guate-
mala, Christmas in; Jonkonnu; Kalends; King of the Bean;
Knecht Ruprecht; Knocking Nights; Lord of Misrule; Masque;
Mummers Parade; Mumming; Nativity Play; Nigeria, Christmas
in; Pantomime; Paradise Tree; Pastores; Plough Monday; Po-
sadas; St Barbara's Day; St. Lucy's Day; St. Nicholas's Day;
Saturnalia; Star Boys; Twelfth Night; Yule Goat; Zagmuk
478
Merry
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'^^t
MejTjj
In contemporary English the word "merry" means "jolly," "cheerful,"
"lively," or "happy." Few people realize, however, that it once meant
something slightly different. At the time the English coined the
phrase "Merry Christmas," merry meant "pleasant," "delightful," or
"joyful." Thus, at that time, the well-known phrase "merry England"
did not mean "jolly England," but rather "pleasant" or "delightful"
England. When used to describe a holiday, the word "merry" signaled
that it was a time of festivity or rejoicing.
In greeting one another with the phrase "Merry Christmas," the En-
glish were wishing each other a festive and joyful holiday. The six-
teenth-century English Christmas carol, "God Rest You Merry, Gen-
tlemen," offers another example of this usage. Contemporary English
speakers often interpret the title of this song to mean something like
"God Rest You, Jolly Gentlemen." In fact, the comma separating
"merry" from "gentlemen" in the original phrase tells us that in this
context "merry" does not function as an adjective describing the gen-
tlemen in question. In the sixteenth century, "God Rest You Merry,
Gentlemen" meant "God Rest You Joyfully, Gentlemen" or, as con-
temporary English speakers might be more likely to say, "God Keep
You Joyous, Gentlemen" (for the phrase "Merry Christmas" in different
languages, see Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Further Reading
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
479
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Merry Cl^rfstmas and
Happy New Year
Here's how to say "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" in lan-
guages from around the world.
Afrikaans
Brazilian Portuguese
Bulgarian
Catalan
Chinese (Cantonese)
Chinese (Mandarin)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Esperanto
Estonian
Faeroese
Finnish
Flemish
French
Gaelic (Scots)
German
Greek
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Geseknde Kersfees en 'n Gelukkige Nuwe
Jaar
Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Vesela Koleda i Chestita Nova Godina
Bon Nadal i un Felig Any Nou
Sin Dan Fae Lok. Gung Hai Fat Choi.
Shen Dan Kuai Le. Xin Nian Yu Kuai.
Sretan Bozic. Sretna Nova Godina.
Stastne a Vesele Vanoce a Stastny Novy Rok
Glaedig Jul Og Godt Nytar Gelukkige
Nieuwjaar
Vrolik Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuw
Jaar
Felican Kirstnaskon Kaj Bonan Novjaron
Roomusaid Joulupuhi ja Head Uut Aastat
Gledhilig Jol Og Eydnurikt Nyggjar
Hyvaa Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar
Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee
NoUaig Chridheil Agus Bliadhna Mhath Yr
Frohliche Weihnachten und ein Gliickliches
Neues Jahr
Kala Christougenna kai Evtichismenos o
Kainourious Chronos
Barka ka Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar
Shekara
Mele Kalikimaka Ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou
Hag ha-Molad Sameah. Shanah Tovah.
480
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Inupik (Eskimo)
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Pennsylvania German
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Tagalog
Turkish
Vietnamese
Yiddish
Yoruba
Boldog Karacsonyi Uennepeket Es Boldog
Ujevet
GledhHeg Jol Og Farsflt Komandi Ar
Selemat Hari Natal Dan Selamat Tahun Baru
Jutdlime Pivdluarit Ukiortame Pivdluaritlo
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo
Meri Kurisumasu Soshite Akemashite
Omedeto
Sungtanul Chukaheyo. Sehae Bok Mani
Baduseyo.
Natale Hilare et Annum Faustum
Priecigus Ziemsvetkus un Laimigu Jaungadu
Linksmu kaledugnenna. Laimingu Najuju
Metu.
God Jul Og Godt Nytt Ar
En Frehlicher Grischtdaag un en Hallich Nei
Yaahr
Krismas-e Shoma Mubarak. Sal-e no
Mobarak.
Wesolych Swiat i Szczesliwego Nowego
Roku
Feliz Natal e um Prospero Ano Novo
Craciun Fericit Si Un An Nou Fericit
Veselogo Rozhdestva. Schastlivogo Novogo
Goda.
Hristos se Rodi. Srecna Nova Godina.
Vesele Vianoce i na Ndravie v Novom Roku
Vesele Bozicne Praznike in Srecno Novo
Leto
Feliz Navidad y Prospero Afio Nuevo
God Jul Och Ett Gott Nytt Ar
Maligayang Pasko. Maligayang Bagong Taon.
Neseli Noel. Mutlu Yilbasi.
Chuc Mung Giang Sinh. Chuc Mung Nam
Moi.
Fraylekhn Krimes. A Git Yor.
E Ku Odun, e Ku lye'dun
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Web Sites
The Donnell Library Center of the New York Public Library maintains a web
site listing common phrases in 26 different languages. For "Merry Christmas,"
see: http://www.nypl.0rg/branch/central_units/d/f/expressions/list/merryc.htm
For "Happy New Year," see: http://www.nypl.0rg/branch/central_units/d/f/
expressions/Ust/happyn/htm
Travelang.com, a commercial web site dedicated to providing products and
services useful to travelers and students of foreign languages, offers a page
that translates the phrase "Merry Christmas" and "Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year" into a wide variety of foreign languages:
http://www.travlang.com/languages/christmas.html
Messiah}
George Frideric Handel's (1685-1759) Messiah is perhaps the most
popular piece of classical music associated with the Christmas sea-
son. Two common misconceptions have spread along with its fame.
Although many call the work "The Messiah," Handel named his ora-
torio simply "Messiah." These days most performances of the piece
take place around Christmas. Nevertheless, Handel never intended
Messiah to be connected with the Christmas season. In fact, he wrote
the oratorio in the late summer of 1741 and premiered it around
Easter of the following year. Subsequent performances during Han-
del's lifetime also took place around Easter.
Composition of Messiah
Although he composed the music for Messiah, Handel did not select
the biblical texts that make up the libretto. His friend Charles
Jennens compiled a collection of biblical verses outlining the birth
and death of Jesus and the redemption of humankind. Jennens's
compilation delighted and inspired Handel. He sat down to write
the music for these texts on August 22, 1741. Composing with light-
ning speed, he completed the oratorio about three weeks later, on
September 14. Some say that Handel once remarked about the
482
Messiah
work's creation, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the
great God himself." The approximately two and one-half hours of
music is divided into three parts, often referred to as the "Nativity,"
"Passion," and "Redemption" sections because of the themes devel-
oped in each.
Handel scored Messiah as an oratorio. An oratorio is a long choral
work made up of arias, duets, trios, and choruses. Oratorios attempt
to tell a story, usually a religious one. The music must convey all,
since no dialogue, scenery, or costumes are used. Some experts be-
lieve that oratorios evolved out of the medieval mystery plays {see
also Nativity Play). Indeed, early oratorios included dance and dra-
matic representations, as well as church hymns, and were usually
performed in churches. Handel's Messiah differed sigiiificantly from
the first oratorios written in the early 1600s. Messiah consists of noth-
ing other than music, beautiful and sometimes difficult music. Han-
del often employed opera singers to perform the challenging solo
parts of his oratorios and staged the performances in theaters rather
than churches.
First Performance of Messiah
Although the German-born Handel was living and working in Lon-
don at the time he composed Messiah, the first public performance of
the oratorio took place in Dublin, Ireland. Handel brought several
principal singers over from England, including noted operatic sopra-
no Signora Avoglio and singer- actress Mrs. Susannah Gibber, who
sang the alto parts. He engaged Dublin musicians to present the other
solo parts. The choir consisted of singers from both Dublin cathedrals,
although the premiere performance took place in a music hall on
Fishamble Street. The cantankerous dean of St. Patrick's Gathedral,
who was none other than Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), the author of
Gulliver's Travels, at first refused to permit his choristers to participate
in an event held in such a secular setting. Luckily for the audience,
and for the history of music, he eventually relented.
In order to increase the number of people who would fit in the avail-
able seating, newspaper advertisements kindly requested that ladies
who planned to attend refrain from wearing hoops under their skirts.
Gentlemen were asked to leave their swords at home.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Handel's Messiah premiered on April 13, 1742, and was warmly re-
ceived. Mrs. Gibber's rendition of "He Was Despised" so moved one
member of the audience. Dr. Patrick Delaney, a friend of Jonathan
Swift's, that he cried out, "Woman, for this thy sins be forgiven
thee!" Delaney may have had some very specific sins in mind since
rumors concerning Susannah Gibber's amorous affairs had made
her the talk of London. In the days that followed, several Dublin
newspapers printed the following review:
On Tuesday last Mr. Handel's Sacred Grand Oratorio, the
Messiah, was performed in the New Musick Hall in Fish-
amble-street; the best Judges allowed it to be the most fin-
ished piece of Musick. Words are wanting to express the ex-
quisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crowded Audi-
ence. The Sublime, the Grand, and the Tender, adapted to
the most elevated, majestick and moving Words, conspired
to transport and charm the ravished Heart and Ear.
The review also praised Handel for donating the proceeds from this
performance to three Dublin charities.
Later Performances of Messiah
Encouraged by Dublin's warm reception Handel returned home to
London and arranged for performances to take place in that city.
London rewarded his best efforts with rejection. Ghurch officials
objected to staging a work on a sacred theme in the profane space of
a public theater. In spite of these objections, Govent Garden Theater
hosted the first London performance oi Messiah on March 23, 1743.
The audience and the critics responded with indifference. In addi-
tion, Handel's friend Jennens, who had supplied the libretto for
Messiah, faulted the composer in a letter to a friend. With blind con-
ceit Jennens wrote, "His Messiah has disappointed me, being set in
great hast, tho' he said he would be a year about it, & make it the
best of all his Gompositions. I shall put no more Sacred Works into
his hands thus to be abused" Qacobi, 1982, 41-42).
Apparently, King George II attended one of the early performances
oi Messiah. Some writers believe this occasion gave birth to the tra-
dition whereby the audience stands during the "Hallelujah" chorus.
(Others believe that King George III started this tradition). In any
484
Messiah
case, one of these kings rose from his seat at this point in the piece.
Whether he was reacting to the exuberance of the music or simply
attempting to stretch his legs cannot now be determined. In those
days etiquette demanded that no one remain seated when the king
stood up. As a result, the entire audience rose to its feet, creating a
tradition still observed today.
During the decade of the 1740s Handel aired Messiah only a few
more times. The work teetered on the edge of obscurity until 1750
when Handel began to perform it in a series of annual concerts to
benefit charity. Over the next nine years the work achieved wide-
spread popularity.
Handel's Death
On April 6, 1759, two days before Palm Sunday, Handel conducted
what was to be the last performance of his life, a presentation of
Messiah at Covent Garden. He collapsed upon leaving the theater
and had to be carried home. In the days that followed, Handel
passed in and out of consciousness. The elderly composer recog-
nized the seriousness of his condition. In one of his clear moments
he expressed his wish to die on Good Friday, as did Jesus, "in the
hope of rejoining the good God, my sweet Lord and Savior, on the
day of his Resurrection." On Good Friday, April 13, 1759, seventeen
years to the day from the premiere performance oi Messiah in Dub-
lin, Handel lay dying at his home in London. He passed away quiet-
ly sometime between that evening and the following morning.
A few days before his death Handel requested that he be buried in
Westminster Abbey and set aside money to pay for his funeral mon-
ument. The artist who created the monument depicted the compos-
er at work on one of the arias from Messz'a/?. Visitors to Westminster
Abbey may note that the monument dedicated to the composer's
memory misspells the word "messiah."
Handel's Personality and Legacy
Although later generations attributed a kind of milktoast piety to the
famed composer of Messiah, Handel's friends and contemporaries
described him as a somewhat gruff yet amiable man. He rejoiced in
485
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the consumption of large quantities of food and drink, earning him-
self a reputation for gluttony. Stubborn, arrogant, and irritable when
it came to the correct interpretation of music, he acquainted many
musicians with the rough edge of his tongue. He could, and often
did, swear fluently in four languages. On the other hand, Handel
possessed an excellent sense of humor combined with a flair for tell-
ing funny stories. He won a reputation for honesty in financial deal-
ings, so much so that musicians accepted his occasional lOUs with-
out a qualm. Finally, friends, family, musicians in his employ, and
charities all benefited from his generosity.
Although Messiah stands as perhaps the composer's best-known
work, Handel himself did not count it as his greatest achievement.
He judged the chorus "He Saw the Lovely Youth" from his oratorio
Theodora to be far superior to the "Hallelujah" chorus from Messiah.
Neither proud nor self-effacing, Handel evaluated his own accom-
plishments fairly and was capable on occasion of belittling some of
his less-distinguished pieces of music. Later composers paid tribute
to his brilliance. Ludwigvon Beethoven (1770-1827) once exclaimed
"He was the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my
head and kneel before his tomb." Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809),
after hearing Messza/i for the first time, reportedly exclaimed of Han-
del, "He was the master of us all."
Further Reading
Barber, David W. Getting a Handel on Messiah. Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
Sound and Vision, 1994.
Buxton, David, and Sue Lyon, eds. Baroque Festival. Volume 4 of The Great
Composers, Their Lives and Times. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1987.
Dean, Winton, and Anthony Hicks. The New Grove Handel. New York: W. W.
Norton, 1983.
. "Handel, George Frideric." In Stanley Steele, ed. The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Volume 8. London, England: Macmil-
lan, 1980.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Jacobi, Peter. The Messiah Book. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982.
Weinstock, Herbert. Handel. Second edition, revised. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1959.
486
Mexico, Christmas in
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Mexico^ cfiristmas in
Mexicans ornament their homes, churches, and streets in joyous an-
ticipation of Christmas. These festive decorations may include bright
pinatas, multicolored Nativity scenes, scarlet poinsettias, and twin-
kling light displays. Religious observance and family merrymaking
are also important elements of Mexican Christmas celebrations.
Decorations
The Christmas season in Mexico begins in mid-December when
many families retrieve their Nativity scenes from storage. Old pieces
are cleaned and new figurines may be added to the family collection.
In Mexico Nativity scenes are called nacimientos, which literally means
"births." The central figures of Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus are
referred to as misterios, or "mysteries." Along with Nativity scenes,
pifiatas, and poinsettias, some families now add a Christmas tree to
their home decorations.
Posadas, Pastores, and Novenas
Many families assemble their Nativity scenes on December 16. This
date coincides with a number of other Christmas customs. It marks
the beginning of the nine-night Christmas novena, a series of prayer
services in preparation for Christmas. These services are called misas
de aguinaldo, which means "Christmas gift masses" {see also Misa de
Gallo). Las Posadas, a reenactment of Joseph and Mary's journey to
Bethlehem and search for shelter, also begins on December 16. Per-
formances of Los Pastores, a humorous folk play recounting the
story of the shepherds' journey to Bethlehem, begin in the latter
part of December as well.
Piiiatas
As Christmas draws near, markets begin to fill up with colorful
Christmas goods such as children's toys and figurines for Nativity
487
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
scenes. Merchants also display a wide variety of pinatas, a special
kind of Mexican toy popular at celebrations involving children. The
traditional way of making a pifiata calls for filling a clay pot with
treats, such as candy, nuts, fruit, and small toys. Artisans then cover
the pot with a combination of papier mache, colorful tissue or crepe
paper, paint, tinsel, and sequins. Nowadays, many artisans leave out
the pot and form the pifiata out of paiper mache alone, shaping it
into any form that strikes their fancy. Children may choose from a
nearly infinite variety of shapes, including animals, cartoon charac-
ters, flowers, vegetables, suns, moons, stars, comets, electrical appli-
ances, and vehicles of all kinds. During the Christmas season, homes,
plazas, shops, schools, churches, and other institutions display pifia-
tas as seasonal decorations.
What's more, children play games with pifiatas at holiday season
parties, such as those that follow Las Posadas. The pifiata hangs
from a rope which is suspended over a pulley in the ceiling. Each
child is blindfolded in turn and given a chance to break open the
pihata with a big stick. An adult spins the blindfolded child around
several times and then takes hold of the rope. While the rest of the
children call out instructions to the blindfolded youngster, an adult
raises or lowers the pihata to keep it away from the swinging stick.
488
Mexico, Christmas in
Eventually, a child succeeds in striking the pifiata, breaking it open
and spilling all of its treats onto the floor. The children rush forward
to gather up the sweets and toys.
Christmas Foods
Mexicans serve Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. This meal usual-
ly features roast turkey. This dish is especially appropriate to Mexican
celebrations. Turkey is native to the Americas, and it was first import-
ed to Europe by the Spanish colonists who conquered Mexico in the
sixteenth century. Ensalada de la Nochebuena, or "Christmas Eve Sal-
ad," is another typical Christmas dish. It usually includes sliced fruits,
beets, and nuts. Tamales, tortillas, fish, steak, punch, hot chocolate,
and a special kind of doughnut often appear on the Christmas menu
as well.
Christmas Activities
On Christmas Eve many families finally place the Christ child fig-
urine into the Nativity scene. The figurines representing the shep-
herds, who have been inching their way towards the stable shelter-
ing the Holy Family, also arrive on Christmas Eve. Mexicans cele-
brate Christmas Eve by attending the Misa de Gallo, or Midnight
Mass. Often the air crackles with the sound of exploding firecrack-
ers as worshipers approach the church. After church families return
home to large, festive meals. The next morning the children may
receive a small gift from their parents. They will have to wait until
Epiphany to receive the rest of their gifts. Mexicans spend Christ-
mas Day visiting with family members and friends.
Innocents' Day, Epiphany, and Candlemas
In spite of the gruesome deed it commemorates, Mexicans celebrate
Dia de los Inocmtes, or Holy Innocents' Day, December 28, with high
spirits. Tradition calls for the playing of practical jokes and tricks on
the unwary. The one who is tricked is referred to as an inocente, or an
"innocent."
In Mexico children traditionally receive their Christmas presents on
Epiphany, which they call Di'a de los Reyes, or Three Kings' Day. The
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Three Kings, or Magi, serve as Mexico's gift bringers. According to
Mexican folklore, the Three Kings journey around the world on the
eve of Epiphany, rewarding well-behaved children with Christmas
presents. In anticipation of these treats children place their shoes
near the family Nativity scene or just outside a door or window.
Often they leave straw and a dish of water to refresh the Wise Mens'
camels. In the morning they find the water and straw gone and their
shoes spilling over with gifts. Three Kings' Day celebrations usually
feature a special ring-shaped bread or cake called La Rosea de los
Reyes, or "Three Kings' Cake." Bakers insert a tiny doll in the batter
for each cake. Whoever finds the doll in their slice of cake will have
good luck in the coming year. Lastly, Mexicans finally complete their
Nativity scenes on Epiphany, moving the figurines representing the
Three Kings into the stable that shelters the Holy Family.
The Christmas season ends with Candlemas on February 2. On this
day many families take down their Nativity scenes and store them
until the following year.
Further Reading
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
Marcus, Rebecca, and Judith Marcus. Fiesta Time in Mexico. Champaign, 111.:
Garrard Publishing Company, 1974.
Sechrist, Elizabeth Hough. Christmas Everywhere. 1936. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Fiesta! Mexico's Great Celebrations. Brookfield, Conn.:
Millbrook Press, 1992.
Wakefield, Charito Calvachi. Navidad Latinoamericana, Latin American Christ-
mas. Lancaster, Pa.: Latin American Creations Publishing, 1997.
Web Site
A site sponsored by Mexico Connect, a web magazine published by Con-
exion Mexico S.A. de C.V.: http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/feature/
xmasindex. html
490
Midnight Mass
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Mf^nfgl^tMass
The Roman Catholic Church honors Christmas with three separate
masses, each with its own distinctive liturgy. The first of these masses
takes place in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and is called
Midnight Mass. In Spanish-speaking countries. Midnight Mass is
known as the Misa de Gallo, or the rooster's mass {see also Ply gain).
The first Christmas masses were celebrated at St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome on Christmas morning. In the fifth century Roman officials
added another mass to be celebrated in the middle of the night.
Rules in effect from about 400 to 1200 a.d. prescribed that this mass
be held ad galli cantum, that is, when the rooster crows. Roosters
begin to crow at about three in the morning. Eventually, however,
the scheduling of the mass shifted to midnight. Perhaps the popular
belief that Jesus was born at midnight influenced this shift. A
fourth-century Latin hymn expresses this belief:
When the midnight, dark and still.
Wrapped in silence vale and hill:
God the Son, through Virgin's birth.
Following the Father's will.
Started life as Man on earth [Weiser, 1990, 52].
In the fifth century a third mass, held at daybreak, was added to the
first two. Each of the three masses, however, emphasized a different
aspect of the Nativity. The first mass at midnight celebrated the mys-
tery of the relationship between the Father and the Son, the second
rejoiced at the birth of the Son on earth, and the third commemorat-
ed the birth of the Son in human hearts. Folk tradition translated
these three themes into descriptive names for each of the masses.
Thus, the Midnight Mass was known as the "Angels Mass," the
dawn mass became the "Shepherds Mass," and the morning mass
was called the "Mass of the Divine Word."
Until the eleventh century, the pope alone held the privilege of con-
ducting three masses in honor of Christmas. After that time the cus-
491
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
torn spread throughout the Church. Today Roman Catholic churches
and cathedrals throughout the world offer Midnight Mass on Christ-
mas Eve. In addition, television stations in seventy nations transmit
live broadcasts of the pope's Midnight Mass from St. Peter's Basilica
in Rome.
Further Reading
Baldovin, John F. "Christmas." In Mircea EUade, ed. The Encyclopedia of
Religion.Yolume 3. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt,
Brace and World, 1952.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and Canadian Heritage:
http://www.culture.fr:80/culture/noel/angl/mesminu.htm
492
Mincemeat Pie
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MmcemeatVie
Christmas Pie
The name "mincemeat" may puzzle many of those who have come
across a meatless recipe for this dish in their cookbooks. Mincemeat
pie is an old English Christmas favorite. The dish got its name from
what used to be its main ingredient, minced meat. Over the cen-
turies, however, meat gradually dropped out of many recipes. Today
the dish gets most of its flavor from fresh and dried fruits, spices, and
sugar.
Medieval Christmas Cookery
In pre-industrial times people slaughtered the animals that were to
provide them with their winter meats in late autumn. At this time of
the year domesticated animals could no longer find enough to eat by
grazing. Since most of the family's grain was needed for feeding
human beings throughout the lean winter months, the animals that
were not kept for breeding purposes were killed {see also Martin-
mas). In medieval times this meant that cooks could expect a large
quantity of meat to prepare for the feasting that took place during
the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Food preservation, however, challenged medieval cooks since they
did not have access to preservatives or reliable refrigeration. Instead,
people employed sugars and spices to preserve meats and fish. Fresh
and dried fruits were less expensive and easier to obtain than sugar
or honey, so they were often used to flavor dishes. In England me-
dieval cooks prepared large fruit, meat, and butter pies for wealthy
families entertaining many guests at Christmas. Some researchers
believe that the sugary fruit helped to preserve the meat, others con-
tend that its function was to cover the flavor of the aging meat. En-
closing the ingredients in a tough, airtight crust also helped to pre-
serve them. Medieval diners apparently possessed a rather blunt
sense of humor about their foods. They sometimes called these stur-
493
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
dy enclosures "coffins." Not only could these hard-crusted meat pies
be prepared well ahead of time, but also their rich ingredients served
as a special Christmas treat.
The dish we know today as mincemeat pie was so popular during the
Christmas season that, in earlier times, it was also called Christmas
pie. During the Middle Ages the presentation of the Christmas pie
was just as important as its ingredients, since medieval feasts aimed
at offering diners a spectacle as well as a meal. A late fourteenth-cen-
tury recipe for Christmas pie describes a manner of both preparation
and presentation:
Take a Pheasant, a Hare, a Capon, two Partridges, two pi-
geons, and two Conies; chop them up, take out as many
bones as you can, and add the livers and hearts, two kidneys
of sheep, forcemeat made into balls with eggs, pickled mush-
rooms, salt, pepper, spice, and vinegar. Boil the bones in a pot
to make a good broth; put the meat into a crust of good paste
"made craftily into the likeness of a bird's body"; pour in the
liquor, close it up, and bake well; "and so serve it forth with
the head of one of the birds at one end and a great tail at the
other, and divers of his long feathers set cunningly all about
him" [Crippen, 1990, 122-23].
Another popular way of presenting the Christmas pie required the
cook to mold the pie into the shape of a manger and place a dough
image of the baby Jesus on top.
Jack Homer's Christmas Pie
Mincemeat pies have played a prominent role in several episodes of
English political and religious history. In 1532 King Henry VIII
(1491-1547) began a campaign to reduce the political and economic
power of the Roman Catholic Church in England. He started to dis-
solve England's monasteries and to claim their wealth for the crown.
Some say that Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury, tried
to protect his abbey from this fate by freely offering the monarch the
deeds to twelve of the abbey's richest estates {see also Glastonbury
Thorn). He attempted to tickle the king's fancy as well as satisfy his
greed by inserting the deeds into the crust of a Christmas pie which
494
Mincemeat Pie
was to be presented to the king as a Christmas gift. The abbot asked
one of his trusted agents, Thomas IHiorner, to deliver the pie to the
king. Along the way, however, Horner reportedly pulled out the
deeds for himself. Some writers claim that an old English nursery
rhyme commemorates this Christmas theft in what are now veiled
images:
Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating a Christmas pie
He put in his thumb
And pulled out a plum
And said, "What a good boy am I!"
In this instance, crime did pay. Henry VIII dissolved Glastonbury
Abbey and seized its possessions, Horner took possession of Mells
Manor, and Abbot Richard Whiting was brutally executed on a
trumped-up charge of treason. It is only fair to add that Horner's
descendants, still living at Mells Manor, deny much of this story.
They claim that Thomas Horner bought Mells from the king and
that the rhyme has nothing to do with their ancestor. The full truth
of the matter may never be known.
Puritan Opposition to Mincemeat
In the following century Christmas pie once again landed in the
middle of England's political and religious controversies. In the sev-
enteenth century mincemeat pie, along with plum pudding, raised
the ire of an increasingly powerful Protestant sect known as the
Puritans. Some writers claim that the manger- shaped pies and
dough images of Jesus scandalized the Puritans' sense of religious
decorum. Others suggest that the Puritans viewed the consumption
of mincemeat pie as an act of gluttony that did not befit the season
of the Nativity. An anonymous writer of the time parodied the
Puritans' objection to traditional English Christmas fare in the fol-
lowing lines of verse:
The high- shoe lords of Cromwell's making
Were not for dainties — roasting, baking;
The chiefest food they found most good in.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Was rusty bacon and bag pudding;
Plum-broth was popish, and mince-pie —
O that was flat idolatry! [Chambers, 1990, 2: 755]
The Puritans condemned mincemeat pie and those who feasted on
it at Christmas time. Another writer mimicked their thundering de-
nunciations of the dish in the following lines:
Idolatrie in crust! Babylon's whore
Rak'd from the grave, and bak'd by hanches, then
Sew'd up in Coffins to unholy men;
Defil'd, with superstition, like the Gentiles
Of old, that worship'd onions, roots, and lentiles!
[Pimlott, 1978, 46]
Catholics and Anglicans defended the traditional Christmas pie against
Puritan attackers. As Protestants and Catholics strove with one an-
other to dominate England's political life, the consumption or avoid-
ance of mincemeat pie at Christmas time became a sign of religious
and political loyalties. One writer mocked the views of his more
extreme Puritan contemporaries in the following lines of verse:
All plums the prophet's sons deny.
And spice-broths are too hot;
Treason's in a December pie.
And death within the pot [Chambers, 1990, 2: 755].
In spite of this controversy both plum pudding and mincemeat pie
survived the brief period of Puritan rule in the seventeenth century.
They emerged once again in the following centuries as English
Christmas favorites. In 1728 one foreigner who had experienced an
English Christmas noted that at this time of year, "Everyone from
the King to the artisan eats [plum] soup and Christmas pies."
Changing Recipes
Over the years mincemeat pie recipes began to call for less meat and
more fruit and sugar. A sixteenth-century pie described by English
poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674) contained beef tongues, chicken,
eggs, orange and lemon peel, sugar, and various spices. As sugar
became more affordable and, therefore, more widely available, a divi-
496
Mincemeat Pie
sion between sweet and savory dishes arose in English cooking.
Mincemeat pie gravitated towards the galaxy of sweet foods. In fact,
many later recipes for mincemeat pie omit meat entirely. Never-
theless, most of these meatless pies still call for suet, or beef fat.
Today's Christmas baker can choose between meat and meatless
recipes. For example, one recipe calls for sliced apples, chopped lean
beef or ox hearts, suet, sugar, cider, sour cherries, raisins, citron, can-
died orange and lemon peel, mace, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt,
pepper, and nuts. More common, however, are recipes that omit the
meat and add additional fruits to the mixture, such as figs, prunes,
cherries, pears, dried apricots, raisins, or currants. Sherry, brandy, or
molasses may be added as well. Mincemeat ages well and may be
made several weeks in advance in order to allow the flavors to blend
and mature.
Further Reading
Bett, Henry. Nursery Rhymes and Tales. Second edition. 1924. Reprint. De-
troit, Mich.: Singing Tree Press, 1968.
Black, Maggie. "The Englishman's Plum Pudding." History Today 31 (De-
cember 1981): 60-61.
Chambers, Robert. "December 25 — Old English Christmas Fare." In his
The Book of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Opie, lona, and Peter Opie, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes.
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Pimlott, ]. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.].: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
^.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Miracle on 341!^ Street
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) has become one of America's best-loved
Christmas movies. Based on a book of the same name, it tells the
story of Susan Walker (a little girl who doesn't believe in Santa
Claus), her mother Doris Walker (an independent career woman),
neighbor Fred Gailey (a lawyer who has fallen in love with Doris),
and an elderly gentleman who calls himself Kris Kringle. Doris
Walker works at Mac/s in New York City. She hires Kris Kringle to
play Santa Claus for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Seeing that
he is a natural in the role, she convinces him also to work as a store
Santa. Kringle's unconventional philosophy of sending customers to
rival stores if Macy's does not carry the item they're looking for
boosts Macy's sales. Nevertheless, his belief that he really is Santa
Claus raises difficulties. Kringle remains unaware of these difficulties
for quite a while, as he works on inspiring Susan's belief in Santa
Claus and aiding Doris's handsome neighbor in his campaign to win
her heart. By the end of the movie, the girl has found faith in Santa,
her mother has fallen in love with the neighbor, and Kris Kringle has
returned home.
The Author of the Book
Valentine Davies grew up in New York City. He attended the Univer-
sity of Michigan and Yale Drama School and went on to write plays,
novels, and, eventually, screenplays. He and director George Seaton
became pals and, during a vacation that the two of them took with
their wives in Nevada, he shared with Seaton his idea for Miracle on
34th Street. Seaton set to work on creating a screenplay and finished
his first draft about a year and a half later. Davies's short novel was
published in the same year that the film was released. For his part in
the film, Davies won an Academy Award for best original story. Da-
vies and Seaton worked together on other projects, including the
films Chicken Every Sunday (1949) and The Bridges atToko-Ri (1955).
498
Miracle on 34th Street
The Director and Screenwriter
George Seaton began his theatrical career as a stage actor and pro-
ducer. In 1933 he began to write screenplays. He did double duty on
Miracle on 34th Street, both writing the script and directing the film.
His ability to translate Davies's novel into the more visual medium
of a movie script garnered him an Academy Award for best screen-
play. Though it did not win, the movie also received an Academy
Award nomination for best picture of the year.
The Actors
Little Natalie Wood, who played Susan Walker, made her motion
picture debut in 1943 at the age of five. She had appeared in three
other movies before Miracle on 34th Street. Her naturalness on cam-
era adds much appeal to the film and made her a child star. She
continued her career on into adulthood and picked up three Acade-
my Award nominations along the way for her roles in Rebel Without
a Cause (1955), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and Love With a Proper
Stranger (1963). She is also remembered for her tragic death in a
drowning accident off the California coast in 1981.
Miracle on 34th Street charms audiences by pairing 8-year-old Natalie
Wood with 72-year-old Edmund Gwen, who played Kris Kringle.
While Wood was a relative newcomer, both to life and to the world of
film, the elderly Gwen had achieved the status of veteran in the
world of the dramatic arts. Born in Wales in 1875, he appeared in his
first movie in 1916, after a successful London stage career. Miracle on
34th Street won him the acclaim of his peers. He received an Academy
Award for best supporting actor for his portrayal of Kris Kringle.
The film's romantic angle often takes a back seat to its comedic bits
and its touching treatment of a mother and child's journey towards
the capacity to imagine, hope, and trust. Maureen O'Hara, who plays
Doris Walker, and John Payne, who plays her boyfriend Fred Gailey,
were well paired as a subdued romantic couple. Just as she did in
Miracle on 34th Street, O'Hara often played independent, strong-
willed women who go it alone in a world where men have the upper
hand. John Payne played many romantic leads in the 1940s. In the
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1950s his career turned towards action and western films. He also
starred in the western-themed television show. The Restless Gun.
Facts about the Film
Seaton had originally planned to use the false names "Tracy's" and
"Trimballs" for the two famous New York stores that appear in the
film. After both stores gave permission to use their proper names,
however, he changed them back to Macy's and Gimbel's. A good
portion of the movie was shot on location in New York City. Seaton
was even permitted to range freely about the 34th Street store dur-
ing the Christmas season, in order to film Macy's real holiday rush.
During the movie's opening scenes, viewers are treated to actual
shots of Macy's famous Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Although Miracle on 34th Street appears incredibly sweet to today's
audiences, the Roman Catholic Church voiced moral objections to
the film at the time of its debut. Church officials disapproved of the
movie because the leading lady plays a divorced woman.
When the film first came out, publicity experts played up the roman-
tic aspects of the film rather than its connection to Christmas. In
fact, instead of opening during the holiday season the film pre-
miered in June of 1947.
Remakes
The enduring popularity of the 1947 film inspired Twentieth-Cen-
tury Fox to authorize a remake in 1994. The new, color version of the
film stars child actress Mara Wilson as Susan Walker, and Richard
Attenborough as Kris Kringle. This time around, however, Macy's
refused to let the filmmakers use its name. After shooting a few
parade shots in New York City — not Macy's real parade but rather a
movie version of the yearly event — production moved to Chicago.
In this version of the story, Susan's mother works for a fictional
department store called Cole's, which faces stiff competition from its
arch-rival. Shopper's Express.
The story was also adapted as a made-for-television movie in 1973.
Barely remembered television versions of the story aired in 1955,
1956, and 1959, the first two airing under the title Meet Mr Kringle.
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Misa de Gallo
Further Reading
Danielson, Sarah Parker. Miracle on 34th Street: A Hollywood Classic. New
York: Smithmark, 1993.
Davies, Valentine. Miracle on 34th Street. New York: Harcourt, Brace and
Company, 1947.
Galbraith, Jane. "Now the Miracle Is Off 34th Street, Macy's Says 'No
Thanks' to a Remake of the Classic, so the Film Moves to Chicago."
Newsday (April 18, 1994): B13.
Werts, Diane. "A'Miracle'in the Making/Behind the Scenes of a Christmas
Classic." Newsday (November 21, 2001): B27.
Misa de Gallo
Misa de Aguinaldo, Missa do Galo
Misa de gallo (pronounced MEE-sah day GAH-yoh) means "roost-
er's mass" in Spanish. Both the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking
peoples of the world refer to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve as
the rooster's mass. The Portuguese term for "rooster's mass," missa
do galo, closely resembles its Spanish cousin.
This curious name for Midnight Mass comes from a bit of old Euro-
pean folklore. According to a traditional tale Jesus was born at the
stroke of midnight. The task of announcing this miraculous event
fell to the roosters. The first rooster fluttered to the roof of the stable
and proclaimed in a human voice, "Christ is born!" The second fol-
lowed, crying out, "In Bethlehem!" Since the rooster was the first
creature to call humankind to worship on the eve of Jesus' birth,
people throughout the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds
honor the animal by referring to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve
as the "rooster's mass."
Perhaps elements of this legend inspired the scheduling of Midnight
Mass itself. Since early medieval times Roman Catholic priests have
celebrated three Christmas masses. Rules dating back to the fifth cen-
tury A.D. ordained that the first Christmas mass be celebrated ad galli
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cantum, that is, when the rooster crows {see also Plygain). Few roosters
crow as early as midnight. Instead, the belief that Jesus was born at
midnight determined the hour at which the first mass was held.
The Philippines
Roman Catholic churches in the Philippines offer nine rooster's
masses on the nine nights preceding Christmas. This practice re-
mains from colonial times. In the Philippines and other areas colo-
nized by the Spanish, missionaries instituted a special novena for
the nine days before Christmas. A novena is a prayer service offered
on nine consecutive days. The missionaries deemed the novena nec-
essary in order to impress upon the recent converts the importance
of the upcoming feast day. In the Philippines the Christmas novena
is called Simbang Gabi, a Tagalog phrase which means "night mass."
The Filipinos also use Spanish terms for these masses, referring to
them as misas de gallo, "rooster's masses," or misas de aguinaldo
(MEE-sahs day ah-ghee-NAL-doh), which means "Christmas pre-
sent masses" or "gift masses." The "gifts" refer to the shepherds'
offerings to the infant Jesus. These nine early morning masses are
also celebrated in some parts of Central America and the Caribbean.
In the Philippines the rooster's masses begin on December 16 and
usher in the Christmas season. A festive rather than solemn mood
pervades these observances, in spite of the fact that the masses begin
at four in the morning. At four a.m. church bells ring, marching
bands play, and fireworks explode, rousing anyone who is stiU in bed
and reminding everyone to attend mass. Young people who went to
parties the night before may stay out long enough to attend the
masses before returning home. After the service many stay to social-
ize with one another and share the traditional breakfast of salabat
(ginger tea) and puto bum-bong (sweetened rice cakes). Although the
last of these nine masses occurs in the early morning hours of
December 24, Roman Catholic churches in the Philippines still offer
Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Further Reading
Christmas in Brazil. Chicago: World Book, 1991.
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
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Mistletoe
Christmas in the Philippines. Chicago: World Book, 1990.
IHienderson, IHielene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Mfstfetoe
The parasitic plant known as Viscum album to botanists has attached
itself in a mysterious way to the celebration of Christmas. More
commonly known as mistletoe, this plant frequently makes its home
on the branches of apple trees, but may also be found on poplars,
hawthorns, limes, maples, and even, occasionally, on oak trees. Ac-
cording to an old English custom, sprigs of mistletoe may be hung
over doorways and from ceilings around Christmas time; anyone
may kiss a person who passes beneath the mistletoe. How did this
plant and this custom come to be associated with Christmas? Per-
haps no definitive answer to this question can be given, but we can
review the history of the plant from ancient times to the present.
Over the centuries a variety of European beliefs and customs have
linked mistletoe to the winter season, magic, good will, and flirtation.
Evergreens in Ancient Times
Mistletoe is an evergreen, a plant that stays green throughout the
winter. Like holly and ivy, mistletoe even bears fruit during this
cold, dark season. The ancient Romans as well as the pagan peoples
of northern Europe adorned their homes with evergreen boughs for
their winter festivals (see also Kalends; Yule). These plants, which
continue to thrive as others around them appear to wither and die,
may have symbolized the promise of new life or of eternal life to
these ancient peoples. The custom of decking homes and temples
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with greenery during the heart of winter passed on into later north-
ern European Christmas celebrations.
Celtic Customs and Beliefs
Over a century ago the famous anthropologist and classics scholar Sir
George Frazer (1854-1941) suggested that mistletoe was an especial-
ly sacred plant to both the ancient Romans and the ancient peoples
of northwestern Europe (sometimes referred to as the Celts). He pro-
posed that the mistletoe plant, which not only lives without roots in
the ground but also stays green in winter, baffled these ancient peo-
ples. Therefore, they assigned mistletoe a special role in their reli-
gious beliefs.
Frazer claimed that the pagan peoples of ancient France, Britain, and
Ireland held mistletoe to be sacred, and they harvested it in special
ceremonial ways. These peoples believed that mistletoe possessed
magical powers and that the rare plants that grew on oak trees were
the most powerful of all. Mistletoe gained its power in part from its
ability to live halfway between heaven and earth. Therefore, when the
Druids, or pagan priests, harvested the plant, they cut it with golden
sickles and were careful never to let it touch the ground. The Druids
called the plant "all-healer" and thought it had the power to cure
many ills, including infertility, nervous diseases, and toothaches. (To-
day we know that mistletoe berries are highly poisonous, however).
Mistletoe was also thought to attract good luck and to ward off witch-
craft. Frazer asserted that the European folklore of his day still con-
tained traces of these ancient beliefs. He noted that in some modern
Celtic languages the word for mistletoe translates to "all-healer."
Norse Mythology
The ancient Norse also reserved a special place for mistletoe in their
mythology. Balder, the Norse god of sun and summer, was beloved
in heaven and on earth. His mother, Frigga, the queen of the Norse
gods, loved Balder so much she set about extracting a promise from
every thing on the earth to refrain from harming her son. She disre-
garded the puny mistletoe, however, thinking it powerless to dam-
age the sun god.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
This omission provided an opportunity for the evil god Loki to
scheme against Balder. Loki obtained some mistletoe and fashioned
it into a spear. Then he brought it to Hodur, Balder's blind brother,
the god of night. The other gods were amusing themselves by toss-
ing all sorts of objects at Balder and watching them turn aside at the
last minute, bound by their promise not to harm the god. Loki
offered Hodur the spear, assuring him that it, too, would turn aside
before it could hurt the sun god. Hodur threw the mistletoe spear at
his brother. It pierced Balder's chest and killed him. According to
one version of the myth, the father of these two brothers, Odin,
eventually sent someone to kill Hodur, thus avenging Balder's death.
At least one writer has suggested that the Norse attached this myth
to the turning of the seasons, viewing the summer solstice as the
time of Balder the sun god's death, and the winter solstice as the
time of Hodur the night god's death.
Mistletoe as an Emblem of Good Will
This Norse myth suggests that the ancient Scandinavians believed
that mistletoe possessed unseen powers — in this case, put to evil
purposes. At some point, though, mistletoe became a symbol of
peace and good will in pagan Scandinavia. Enemies who happened
to meet beneath it in the forest declared a day's truce from fighting.
In Scandinavia a branch of mistletoe hung above a threshold thus
came to signify the offer of hospitality and friendship within. Some
claim that, after the coming of Christianity, mistletoe was seldom
incorporated into church Christmas decorations, due to its strong
association with the pagan past. Others disagree with this claim. If
such a ban did exist, then York Cathedral in England defied it.
During medieval times Church officials placed a branch of mistletoe
upon the high altar on Christmas Eve, signaling a general pardon for
all wrongdoers for as long as it remained there.
Kissing under the Mistletoe
The custom of kissing under the mistletoe appears to be of English
origin. Although in recent centuries the British have earned a repu-
tation for being physically reserved, this was not always the case. In
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Mistletoe
the sixteenth century the visiting Dutch scholar Erasmus (1466?-
1536) wrote that the English were so fond of kissing at meeting and
parting that it was impossible to avoid being constantly kissed. It is
difficult to say with certainty when the British adopted the custom of
kissing under the mistletoe at Christmas time. A seventeenth-centu-
ry document speaks of the transport and sale of mistletoe at Christ-
mas, but none mentions the custom of kissing under the mistletoe
until the eighteenth century when some writers suggest that it be-
came a common practice.
The custom attracted a number of somewhat contradictory folk
beliefs. According to one belief, each time a boy kissed a girl under
the mistletoe, he must pluck one of the berries. When no berries
remained, no more kissing could occur under that branch. Some
claimed that to refuse a kiss under the mistletoe meant that one
would not marry in the next twelve months. Others claimed that no
marriage was possible after such an offense. Another folk belief ad-
vised householders to burn their mistletoe branches after Twelfth
Night in case the boys and girls who kissed under them never mar-
ried. Still another recommended that a sprig of mistletoe be kept in
order to drive evil away from the house during the coming year. The
sprig might also be used to light the fire under next year's Christmas
pudding, or plum pudding. Finally, some thought it unlucky to cut
mistletoe at any other time than Christmas.
The English often displayed mistletoe in the form of a kissing bough,
a circular, or even spherical, configuration of greenery woven around
hoops of wire or wood. One expert claims that the kissing bough
reached the peak of its popularity in the eighteenth century and be-
gan to decline in the nineteenth century. In The Pickwick Papers,
British writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870) offers a charming descrip-
tion of the fun and flirtation that occurred under the mistletoe in his
day:
From the centre of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had
just suspended with his own hand a huge branch of mistle-
toe, and this same branch of mistletoe instantaneously gave
rise to a scene of general and most delightful struggling and
confusion; in the midst of which, Mr. Pickwick, with a gal-
lantry that would have done honour to a descendent of Lady
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ToUimglower herself, took the old lady by the hand, led her
beneath the mystic branch, and saluted her in all courtesy
and decorum. The old lady submitted to this piece of practi-
cal politeness with all the dignity which befitted so impor-
tant and serious a solemnity, but the younger ladies, not
being so thoroughly imbued with a superstitious veneration
for the custom — or imagining that the value of a salute is
very much enhanced if it cost a little trouble to obtain it —
screamed and struggled, and ran into corners, and threat-
ened and remonstrated, and did everything but leave the
room until some of the less adventurous gentlemen were on
the point of desisting when they all at once found it useless
to resist any longer and submitted to be kissed with a good
grace. Mr. Winkle kissed the young lady with the black eyes,
and Mr. Snodgrass kissed Emily, and Mr. Weller, not being
particular about the form of being under the mistletoe, kissed
Emma and the other female servants just as he caught them.
As to the poor relations, they kissed everybody, not even ex-
cepting the plainer portions of the young-lady visitors, who,
in their excessive confusion, ran right under the mistletoe as
soon as it was hung up, without knowing it! Wardle stood
with his back to the fire, surveying the whole scene with the
utmost satisfaction; and the fat boy took the opportunity of
appropriating to his own use, and summarily devouring, a
particularly fine mince-pie that had been put carefully by for
someone else.
Today many people still enhance their Christmas festivities with
mischievous sprigs of mistletoe. The custom is typically found in
Britain, France, or countries where the British have settled, such as
Canada and the United States.
Further Reading
Baker, Margaret. Christmas Customs and Folklore. Aylesbury, Bucks, England:
Shire Publications, 1968.
Cooper, Quentin, and Paul Sullivan. Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem. Lon-
don, England: Bloomsbury, 1994.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
508
Mummers Parade
Frazer, James. The New Golden Bough. Theodor Gaster, ed. New York: S. G.
Phillips, 1959.
Guerber, H. A. Myths of Northern Lands. 1895. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Sing-
ing Tree Press, 1970.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Mummers Varade
For more than one hundred years, the people of Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, have lined the streets on New Year's Day to watch the
Mummers Parade. Marching string bands, fancy and funny floats,
and thousands of extravagantly costumed mummers dazzle onlook-
ers brave enough to risk the winter weather. Although participants in
Philadelphia's first officially sanctioned parade strutted up Broad
Street in 1900, local people established the custom of parading in
costume on New Year's Eve and Day way back in the first half of the
nineteenth century {see America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Cen-
tury).
Parade Forerunners
Many of those who celebrated Christmas in early nineteenth- centu-
ry America did so by shooting off guns {see also Shooting in Christ-
mas). This custom was popular in the West, the South, and in many
areas settled by Germans. Those who didn't own guns, such as chil-
dren, found other ways to make loud noises, like popping inflated
hog bladders, the nineteenth-century equivalent of a balloon. On
occasion a gang of especially rowdy frontiersmen blew up a stash of
gunpowder, so as to create an especially deafening noise with which
to usher in Christmas. In some American towns and cities boys and
men took to the streets at Christmas and New Year's, blowing on tin
horns, ringing fire bells, firing guns, shouting, drinking, cussing,
fighting, and generally disturbing the peace.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
In areas where the English had settled, some of their descendants
kept up a version of Christmas time mumming. Groups of boys or
young men would dress in rude, homemade costumes, and go door to
door, reciting some garbled folk verse and partaking of the house-
hold's hospitality in the form of food and drink. The Scotch Irish prac-
ticed similar customs on New Year's Eve, or Hogmanay. In Penn-
sylvania, some Americans of German descent developed a distinctive
custom called belsnickling (for more on belsnickling, see Knecht Ru-
precht). Young men and boys disguised their identities by covering
their faces with a mask or low-slung hat or by darkening them with
burnt cork, soot, or redwash. Then they dressed in rags, furs, or baggy
overcoats and armed themselves with bells, whips, and sacks. Thus
arrayed they trouped about town or village, playing tricks on neigh-
bors and frightening children by cracking their whips while tossing
them sweets and nuts. They received food and drink at homes where
they succeeded in amusing householders with rhymes and horseplay.
Pre-Civil War Holiday Masquerades in Philadelphia
In nineteenth-century Philadelphia all these traditions collided and
merged, creating pandemonium in the streets at New Year's and
Christmas. By the 1830s and 1840s, people began to create slightly
fancier disguises for their holiday frolics. Some dressed up as blacks
or members of other ethnic groups in order to make fun of them,
thereby using holiday mumming customs as a way of expressing
their fear of or hostility towards certain groups. Others were less
pointed in their actions and choice of dress. Costumed celebrants,
dubbed "fantasticals," often converged downtown, engaging in lively
horseplay and raising a ferocious din with firecrackers, horns, whistles,
bells, hornpipes, or homemade instruments of various kinds. Some of
these intrepid instrumentalists organized themselves into impromptu
bands, marching up and down the street and churning out a discor-
dant kind of music referred to as "callithumpian." A newspaper ac-
count from January 10, 1834, describes New Year's celebrations in the
nearby town of Easton:
The Fantasticals. On New Year's Day our borough witnessed a
parade of the fantasticals — the immediate body guard of the
lately elected redoubtable Col. Sheffler. It was a new and per-
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Mummers Parade
haps an improved edition of the late parades in New York and
Philadelphia. The corps including music (numbered) about
one hundred. The Calithumpian band had been uniformed
and pressed into service. These commenced their inelody
about 10 o'clock in the forenoon and made the circuit of the
town, playing the most splendid and novel voluntaries and
variations. Their dresses displayed taste and ingenuity. All the
quarters of the earth appeared to have been ransacked to
swell the ranks of the Enterpian band. Indians, Negroes,
hunters, Falstaffs, Jim Crows and nondescripts, all displaying
surprizing (sic) skill upon their several instruments . . . Conch-
shells, old cracked instruments, stones, shingles, tin horns,
speaking trumpets, here and there a bassoon, old kettles, pot-
lids, dozens of cow-bells strung upon poles and iron hoops
constituted their musical instruments. . . . [Welch, 1991, 29-30]
In the rest of the country these carnivalesque Christmas celebrations
faded as the century rolled by. In Philadelphia, however, holiday
noisemaking and masquerading customs grew in popularity. Phila-
delphia's first mummers club, a group organized solely for the pur-
pose of parading together in costume on New Year's Day, was orga-
nized in 1846. Called the Chain Gang, the club survived into the
twentieth century.
In the early days these masqueraders were referred to as "shooters."
The name came from the old, established custom of shooting in
Christmas. By the 1880s a few people began to refer to them as
mummers and the new name stuck.
In the year 1861 the rowdy revelers succeeded in reducing the center
of the city to chaos. Many of the city's leading citizens were not
amused. Opposition to these disorderly practices can be traced back
to the eighteenth century, when historical documents reveal that
certain Christmas masqueraders were tried in courts of law for their
unruly behavior. The Pennsylvania legislature passed a law against
Christmas masquerading and masked balls in 1808, but in spite of
the stiff penalties — up to three months in jail and fines of up to
$1,000 — the law was not really enforced. In 1868 and again in 1881
Philadelphia's city government attempted to outlaw Christmas noise-
making, masquerading, and parading.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
These laws failed to root out the deeply entrenched custom, howev-
er. Instead, these half-hearted restrictions, plus the growing, late-
nineteenth- century consensus that Christmas was a domestic holi-
day, acted together to shift the holiday season masquerading away
from Christmas and towards New Year's Day (for more on the chang-
ing sentiments concerning Christmas, see America, Christmas in Nine-
teenth-Century).
African-American cultural elements began to influence the parade in
the second half of the nineteenth century. Many mummers paraded
with a particular kind of strutting walk that some researchers believe
may have been derived from the cakewalk, a nineteenth- century
African-American dance that parodied and exaggerated the fancy
steps popular in the formal balls of the time. The name came from
the custom of awarding a cake to the couple with the best moves.
The song "Oh, dem Golden Slippers," written by African-American
composer James Bland in 1879, became very popular with the mum-
mers and today it still serves as a kind of theme song for the parade.
Post-Civil War Parade
In the years following the Civil War, the Philadelphia Mummers
Parade as we know it today took shape. The year 1876 witnessed the
first, unofficial. New Year's Day Mummers Parade. The parade did
not proceed in a direct manner down the street, however. Instead,
participants meandered towards city hall, stopping frequently to eat,
drink, and socialize. The leisurely paraders might take all day to
arrive at their final destination. In that era many saloons offered free
beer and food to the marchers. Paraders partook freely of these
offerings. What's more, neighborhood women and local stores often
baked cakes for their favorite clubs. The clubs stopped by to sere-
nade the women or the storeowners, and received the cake in
return. Some groups pulled a cake wagon along behind them, a
vehicle specially designated to hold these offerings. These cakes pro-
vided refreshments at later New Year's parties.
By the 1880s many mummers clubs had been established. Members
of these groups came primarily from the neighborhoods of South
Philadelphia, still a stronghold of parade enthusiasts today. In 1888
the first cash prize was awarded to a mummers club for its perfor-
mance in the parade.
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Mummers Parade
Twentieth Century and Beyond
By 1900 city officials grew tired of trying to curtail the sprawling
parade and decided to sponsor it instead. The city provided cash
prizes for the best club performances in two divisions, fancy and
comic. The fancy clubs focused their attention on creating beautiful
and elaborate costumes. The comics dedicated themselves to making
people laugh. In 1902 the first string band, named Trilby, marched in
the official parade.
With the parade now an accepted event in Philadelphia's yearly cal-
endar, participants began to put more and more effort into their cos-
tumes. By the 1920s the captains of fancy clubs wore long, magnifi-
cent trains along with their costumes. In 1929 the leader of the Silver
Crown Club wore a satin train that stretched a city block in length.
Dozens of page boys kept the train from dragging on the ground.
As the years went by old clubs died out and new clubs took over.
Some old traditions, too, began to fade away. The old simple comic
costume — often a coat turned inside out with a sign pinned to it —
fell out of favor to be replaced with more elaborate efforts. Another
old mummers' device, a walking stick with some dice attached to the
top of it, was eliminated, perhaps out of fears that some might use it
as a weapon. Female impersonators began to make regular appear-
ances with the clubs beginning in the early twentieth century.
The need for coordination between mummers clubs gave rise to the
Mummers' Association. This association, together with city hall offi-
cials, began to formulate rules governing parade participants and the
awarding of prizes. With each decade the number of rules and restric-
tions grew, as what was once a spontaneous folk custom became a
government-regulated event.
Nevertheless, it is family tradition, not prize money, that inspires a
large percentage of the mummers to carry on the old New Year's
Day customs. Many parade participants grew up watching their
grandfathers, uncles, and fathers march in the parade.
Nowadays mummers compete with one another in four divisions:
the comics, the fancies, the string bands, and the fancy brigades. The
comic clubs organize their displays around humorous themes and
dress like clowns. The string bands are marching, costumed musical
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ensembles, featuring the banjo and the saxophone. The fancy clubs
wow the audience with their imaginative and lavish costumes and
floats, and the fancy brigades — the largest of all the clubs — show-
case spectacularly costumed performers in an elaborately choreo-
graphed performance.
Over the years both the number of participants and the value of the
cash prizes has increased. In recent years about 15,000 costumed
mummers have taken part in the parade. In 2002 the judges award-
ed a total of $375,000 among various winners.
Recent Controversies and Challenges
One initially unpopular parade rule was announced in 1963. It de-
clared that marchers could no longer appear in blackface. The ruling
was made in response to pressure from civil rights activists, who felt
that the spectacle of white people disguising themselves as simple-
minded blacks was degrading to African Americans. Many mummers
were outraged at this interference. They pointed out that mummers
had painted their faces black for hundreds of years as a kind of sim-
ple, homemade disguise. Activists countered that in spite of its ori-
gins, blackface had since become a method of poking fun at black
people. The 1963 parade, monitored by hundreds of police, was tense
and sullen, but only a small percentage of mummers defied the ban
on blackface. The tension over this issue subsided after a few years.
During the 1960s, no predominantly African-American clubs marched
in the parade. The last African-American club, the Octavius V. Cato
Club, had put in its final parade appearance in 1929. Lingering sus-
picion and resentment over the blackface issue kept all but a few
African Americans out of the parade again until the Octavius V. Cato
string band marched with the Goodtimers Club in 1987. Since that
time slowly increasing numbers of African Americans have joined
the existing clubs.
Women, too, had been excluded from the parade until recent times,
although over the years a few had succeeded in infiltrating the parade
in mask and costume. The first women to openly march in the parade
did so in 1975, as official members of the Dick Crean String Band.
Slowly but surely, other clubs began to accept female members.
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Mummers Parade
Some bystanders complain that with the advent of television cover-
age, the mummers perform less for the crowds and more for the
camera. Perhaps in response to the convenience of being able to
watch the parade on television, the crowds lining the streets have
dwindled from a high of about two million people in the 1940s to
about a quarter of a million people in recent years. In response to
declining turnouts, the city has decreased the parade route from 2.5
miles to 10 city blocks.
The mummers themselves are preoccupied with the expense involved
in maintaining their tradition. Costuming an entire club costs tens of
thousands of dollars, money that must be raised by club members
since no corporate sponsorship is allowed. The number of fancy
clubs has decreased in recent years in response to the rising costs of
these costumes. Only the top contenders in each division can expect
to defray some of their club's expenses with prize money. The rest
continue because of their pride in a Philadelphia tradition and their
love for mumming.
Further Reading
Alison, James. "Stmttin' in Style." The World and 1 13 Qanuary 1998): 178 (11).
Davies, Susan G. Parades and Power. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California
Press, 1986.
Lange, Karen E. "Kings for a Day." National Geogi-aphic 199, 1 Qanuary
2001): 58-65.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1995.
Welch, Charles E. Oh, Dem Golden Slippers. Revised edition. Philadelphia,
Penn.: Book Street Press, 1991.
Web Sites
The Philadelphia Recreation Department maintains a page on the Mum-
mers Parade at: http://www.phila.gov/recreation/mummers/index.html
Parade results, route map, photos, and other information concerning Phila-
delphia mummery can be found at: http://mummers.com
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Mummmg
Geese Dancing, Guising, Masking, Mummering
Mumming is a form of folk entertainment in which bands of masked
and costumed merrymakers roam the streets singing, dancing, acting
out stories, or simply engaging in horseplay. In past centuries people
throughout Europe celebrated the Christmas season by mumming
or by hosting bands of mummers in their homes. In the United States
today we allow children to practice a similar form of seasonal mas-
querading at Halloween.
Since mumming began as a folk rather than elite tradition, mum-
mers usually wore simple, homemade costumes, often accompanied
by masks or blackening of the face. Indeed, some scholars trace the
origins of the English word "mumming" back to the ancient Greek
term for "mask," mommo. In some cases, the mummer's costume
represented a mythical figure whose character or behavior the
mummer enacted in a kind of folk drama called a mummers' play. In
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Mumming
other cases, mummers simply cavorted under the cover of disguise,
engaging in playiiil but sometimes rather unruly behavior to the
amusement or irritation of their neighbors. Christmas time mum-
ming was particularly common in the British Isles, where it survived
as a popular folk custom until the mid-nineteenth century.
Ancient Precedents
How did this custom attach itself to the Christmas season? Some
would answer this question by pointing to the revels that took place
during the ancient Roman feast of Kalends. During this midwinter
new year festival, groups of young men ran through the streets
dressed as women or animals and, under the cover of disguise,
engaged in many behaviors that would normally have been frowned
upon.
Although Christian authorities condemned these activities, they
proved difficult to stamp out, even after Christianity became the
dominant religion and Christmas an important winter holiday. One
researcher has counted at least forty separate Church documents
containing official denunciations of these kinds of midwinter mas-
querades. These documents range from the fourth to the eleventh
centuries and come from authorities in many European lands as well
as north Africa and the Near East.
Mumming in Britain
Some researchers believe that these ancient customs lingered on in
a few places, eventually giving rise to Christmas time mumming
practices. Others disagree, arguing that these ancient practices died
out in all but a few places hundreds of years before medieval mum-
ming customs were established. In any case, Christmas time mum-
ming can be traced back to the late Middle Ages. The earliest docu-
ments referring to it date back to the thirteenth century. Although
mumming sprang from the lower classes, by the fourteenth century
King Edward III adopted an elaborate rendition of this practice as a
Christmas season entertainment at court. Among the elite, these
costumed Christmas revels eventually developed into masques or
masquerades.
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In some areas mumming was known as "masking" or "guising"
(from the word "disguise"). In other areas the word "guising" even-
tually became "geese dancing." In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century
England bands of mummers, also called "maskers" or "guisers,"
frequently appeared on the streets during the Twelve Days of
Christmas. The following account of one such band in the fifteenth
century illustrates the mixture of fun and fear that the revelers
inspired:
John Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made disport with his
neighbors and friends, and was crowned King of Christmas.
He rode in state through the city, dressed forth in silks and
tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons habited as the twelve
months of the year. After King Christmas followed Lent,
clothed in white garments trimmed with herring skins, on
horseback, the horse being decorated with trappings of oys-
ter shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy time
should follow the Christmas revelling. In this way they rode
through the city, accompanied by numbers in various gro-
tesque dresses, making disport and merriment; some clothed
in armour; others, dressed as devils, chased the people, and
sorely affrighted the women and children; others wearing
skin dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions, and
other animals, and endeavoring to imitate the animals they
represented, in roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly
and appalling the stoutest hearts [Halpert and Story, 1969,
49].
For the most part, people engaged in mumming and welcomed
mummers into their homes because it was fun. Mummers relished
parading in costume and appreciated the protection it gave them to
praise or tease their neighbors as they saw fit. The less well-off
might also avail themselves of this opportunity to exact hospitality
from their more prosperous neighbors. Indeed, mummers usually
demanded and received food or drink from each household or locale
they visited. No doubt many people liked the lively atmosphere cre-
ated by the mummers and enjoyed their entertaining antics. Others
probably resented being pestered for gifts of food and drink.
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Mumming
Mummers ' Plays
In Great Britain and Ireland some mummers eventually began to
entertain their hosts with short folk dramas called mummers' plays.
Since mummers' plays were often passed down through oral tradi-
tions, they varied in many details. Nevertheless, three main story
lines emerge, which experts have dubbed the hero-combat, the
sword play, and the wooing ceremony. The hero- combat was the
most popular of these stories. Some of the characters likely to ap-
pear in this play include St. George, Father Christmas, the king of
Egypt or England, the king's daughter, a pompous doctor, and a
Turkish knight. The story revolves around a fight between the hero,
St. George, and the Turkish knight. One combatant kills the other.
Afterwards, the bumbling doctor miraculously manages to revive the
dead soldier. All of this takes place amidst a great deal of silly or gar-
bled dialogue in which characters flatly announce their identities
and narrate their actions. Father Christmas often serves as a kind of
announcer for the play. In England women did not usually take part
in mumming, so all the roles were played by men.
After presenting their play, the mummers collected coins from the
audience in return for their dramatic efforts. Mummers performed
these plays most frequently at Christmas time, but in some areas
they were presented around Easter and All Souls' Day (November 2).
Although some writers believe these plays, or at least the themes
they touch on, to be ancient, others point out that the earliest writ-
ten records of the plays date back to the eighteenth century.
Mumming in Europe
British and Irish mumming traditions have been well documented
by generations of historians and folklorists. Although Christmas
mumming was practiced in many parts of Europe, it is somewhat
more difficult to find descriptions of the custom from other Euro-
pean countries (see also Bulgaria, Christmas in; Latvia, Christmas
in; Lithuania, Christmas in; Russia, Christmas in; for similar cus-
toms practiced outside of Europe, see Ecuador, Christmas in; Mar-
shall Islands, Christmas in the Republic of the; Nigeria, Christ-
mas in). One of the best portraits of the practice outside of Great
Britain and Ireland comes from the pen of Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910),
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the great Russian writer. The following excerpt from his novel War
and Peace (1865-69) describes Christmas festivities in a well-to-do
Russian household:
The mummers (some of the house-serfs) dressed up as
bears, Turks, inn-keepers and ladies — frightening and funny
— bringing with them the cold from the outside and a feel-
ing of gaiety, crowded, at first timidly, into the anteroom,
then hiding behind one another they pushed into the ball-
room where shyly at first and then more and more merrily
and heartily, they started singing, dancing, and playing
Christmas games. The countess, when she had identified
them and laughed at their costumes, went into the drawing-
room. . . . Half an hour later there appeared among the other
mummers in the ballroom an old lady in a hooped skirt —
this was Nicholas. A Turkish girl was Petya. A clown was
Dimmler. An hussar was Natasha, and a Circassian was Sonya
with burnt-cork mustache and eyebrows. After the conde-
scending surprise, non-recognition, and praise from those
who were not themselves dressed up, the young people
decided that their costumes were so good that they ought to
be shown elsewhere.
Mumming in North America
Mumming remained a popular Christmas season pastime in Eng-
land until the mid-nineteenth century. After that time it faded away
almost completely, being kept alive in only a few places by local
enthusiasts. Long before its decline, however, English emigrants had
carried this custom to the New World. In the seventeenth century
the English established themselves in Newfoundland (now part of
Canada). Local inhabitants there carried on a tradition of Christmas
mumming, or "mummering," as they called it, until the 1960s.
In the United States English settlers introduced mumming to an
ethnically diverse population. In Pennsylvania, English Christmas
time mumming traditions combined with the German folk figure
Belsnickel to create the custom of belsnickeling {see Knecht Ru-
precht). When these influences collided with the holiday season
noisemaking traditions of Scandinavians and the musical and dance
heritage of African Americans, new traditions were born.
520
Mumming
Although Philadelphia city officials periodically attempted to dis-
band the noisy holiday revelers, they finally accepted these customs
in an organized format, issuing the first official permit for the Phila-
delphia Mummers Parade in 1901. Philadelphians continue to stage
this extravagant event every year on New Year's Day. Squads of
elaborately costumed mummers, magnificent floats, and lively string
bands all march through the city streets, and judges select the win-
ning entries. In spite of its name the parade bears little resemblance
to its ancestral English mumming traditions, except that participants
wear costumes and, often, masks.
Related Customs
Mumming was only one of a number of old Christmas customs that
authorized revelry, including unruly or forbidden behavior, under
the cover of masks and disguises. These practices span many cen-
turies and come from different lands. Examples include belsnickel-
ing, the ceremonies surrounding the boy bishop, the customs asso-
ciated with Berchta, Black Peter, Germany's Knocking Nights, the
Feast of Fools, masques, pantomimes, Los Pastores, Las Posadas,
Plough Monday, St. Sylvester's Day, and Twelfth Night celebra-
tions. Although their historical and cultural roots vary, some authors
identify in these customs a perennial return to the ancient theme of
celebrating midwinter with costumed merrymaking.
Controversies
Although Christmas mumming no doubt entertained many partici-
pants and onlookers, mummers also caused many disturbances.
Complaints against mummers ranged from excessive noisiness to
malicious mischief and, even, criminal acts. Perhaps the excitement
of shedding one's usual social role with the aid of a disguise, com-
bined with a good deal to drink, tilted some mummers towards rau-
cous behavior. In other cases, some who set out to steal, incite politi-
cal disturbances, or simply settle old scores with a neighbor found it
convenient to disguise themselves as mummers. This tendency toward
disorder caused local authorities throughout the centuries to attempt
to eradicate the practice. Indeed, the oldest document known to men-
tion Christmas mumming records that it was forbidden in the French
town of Troyes in 1263. In 1405 the practice was outlawed in London.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
In the seventeenth century the Puritans railed against it. Throughout
the nineteenth century Pennsylvania legislators attempted to abolish
it. Ironically, legislators were never able to kill this form of folk enter-
tainment. Mumming finally died a natural death at a ripe old age
when the societies that gave birth to it had changed so much that
ordinary people simply abandoned the practice.
Further Reading
Brody, Alan. The English Mummers and Their Plays. Philadelphia, Pa.: Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania Press, 1970.
Chambers, Robert. "December 24 — The Mummers." In his The Book of
Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Halpert, Herbert, and G. M. Story, eds. Christmas Mumming in 'Newfound-
land. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1969.
Helm, Alex. The English Mummers' Play . Totowa, N.I.: Rowman and Little-
field, 1981.
Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press, 1994.
. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Langstaff, fohn. Saint George and the Dragon. New York: Atheneum Press,
1973.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Miller, Katherine. Saint George, A Christmas Mummers' Play . Boston, Mass.:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967.
"Mummers' Play." In Phyllis HartnoU, ed. The Oxford Companion to the
Theatre. Fourth edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1996.
Robertson, Margaret. "The Symbolism of Christmas Mummering in New-
foundland." Folklore 93, 2 (1982): 176-80.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Philadelphia Department of Recreation on the Mum-
mers Parade: http://www.phila.gov/recreation/mummers/index.html
522
Myrrh
cS>q^>^qiS)q^>^qiS)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^tBejQeji^>^t3Sj*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
Myrrt)
The sap of the myrrh tree {Commiphora myrrha) dries into hard, red-
dish brown lumps of gum resin known as myrrh. Although unfamil-
iar to us today, in ancient times myrrh was a precious and much
sought-after substance. The Magi, or Wise Men from the East,
brought the baby Jesus a gift of myrrh.
History and Significance
In order to understand the significance of this gift, we must explore
the uses of myrrh in biblical times. Ancient records tell us that it was
perhaps most commonly employed as a medicine. The Romans,
Greeks, Assyrians, and other peoples of the ancient Mediterranean
and Near East prescribed myrrh in treatments for a wide variety of
afflictions, including sores in the mouth, infections, coughs, and
worms. It was also burned to fumigate the rooms of the sick. Myrrh
appears at the beginning of Jesus' life as a gift and at the end of his
life as a medicine. Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus is offered a
cup of wine mixed with myrrh (Mark 15:23). This suggests that
myrrh was used as a painkiller. The ancient Egyptians used myrrh in
the process of embalming corpses. The ancient Hebrews also treated
the dead with myrrh; according to the Gospel of John, Jesus' body
was treated with myrrh and aloes before being wrapped in cloth for
burial Qohn 19:39).
Myrrh was also highly valued as a component of perfume and in-
cense. Although myrrh has a pleasant smell, like many more familiar
perfume products, it has a bitter taste. In fact, the English word
"myrrh" comes from the Hebrew and Arabic terms for "bitter."
Myrrh was especially prized as an ingredient in perfumed oils and
lotions because of its enduring fragrance and long shelf life. The
Hebrews made myrrh one of the primary ingredients of the holy oil
with which they anointed their high priests and the sacred objects of
their temples. It was also used to make incense, which many ancient
peoples, such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Persians,
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
and Babylonians, burned in home and temple worship. Frankin-
cense was preferred over myrrh in the making of incense, however.
In ancient times, Arabia supplied the Mediterranean and Asia with
most of their myrrh and frankincense. These products were so highly
valued and so difficult to obtain outside of Arabia that they became a
luxury affordable only by the rich.
The Magi's gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh have each been
assigned a special significance in Christian lore and legend. Due to its
bitterness, the gift of myrrh has often been interpreted as a symbol of
the hardships that Jesus would suffer in his adult life: persecution and
early death. The fact that myrrh was used in embalming has led some
to assert that myrrh represents Jesus' humanity. Like us, he would die.
Another interpretation suggests that because myrrh had many medic-
inal uses in biblical times, it must represent Jesus' role as a healer of
body and spirit. Finally, it might be argued that the gift of myrrh sym-
bolizes Jesus' role as a Jewish religious leader, since myrrh was a main
ingredient in the holy oil used to anoint Jewish high priests.
Customs
Until the mid-1 700s tradition dictated that the British monarch offer
a gift of frankincense, gold, and myrrh at the Chapel Royal on Epiph-
any. Heralds and knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath accompa-
nied the king on this reenactment of the Magi's royal pilgrimage.
The procession was abandoned under the unstable King George III
(1760-1820), although a proxy continues to deliver the monarch's gift
of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Chapel Royal on Epiphany. A
similar royal offering was at one time customary in Spain.
Myrrh Today
Today myrrh trees can be found in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and
Somalia. Myrrh is still used as a component of incense and perfume.
It is also found in mouthwashes, gargles, and toothpastes. Interest in
the medicinal properties of myrrh has been increasing in recent
years. Herbalists recognize its antiseptic, antifungal and astringent
qualities. Moreover, a recent scientific study has found that myrrh
indeed does reduce pain, affirming ancient uses of the drug.
524
Myrrh
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Groom, Nigel. Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade.
London, England: Longman House, 1981.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Lehner, Ernst, and Johanna Lehner. Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants
and Trees. 1960. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Lipkin, R. "Myrrh: An Ancient Salve Dampens Pain." Science News 149, 2
Qanuary 13, 1996): 20.
"Myrrh." In AUen C. Myers, ed. Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids,
Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987.
525
National cfiristmas Tree
The National Christmas Tree stands on the lawn of the President's
Park South — or Ellipse, as it is more commonly called — in Wash-
ington, D.C. Its ceremonial illumination each year in early December
kicks off a festival called the Pageant of Peace. The pageant was es-
tablished in order to "foster friendship and understanding among all
peoples" and "to reflect the unity of purpose that emanates from the
diversity of traditions and backgrounds of mankind." The festival
lasts till January 6, Epiphany. Over the years, radio and then televi-
sion coverage has made the National Christmas Tree an increasingly
important symbol of Christmas celebrations in the United States.
The Early Years
Community trees illuminated with electric lights date back to the first
years of the twentieth century. From California the idea spread to
New York City, resulting in a tree-lighting ceremony in Madison Fkrk
(now known as Madison Square Gardens). In 1913 the first commu-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
nity tree in Washington, D.C., was erected on the East Plaza of the
Capitol Building. Lighting ceremonies took place in 1913 and 1914,
but folded due to lack of funds. The event resumed at the end of
World War I.
In 1923 the Capitol tree was eclipsed by another community tree,
however, this one standing on the Ellipse south of the White House
and lit by the president himself. That year President Calvin Coolidge
agreed to flip the switch that illuminated the 60-foot fir tree's electric
lights. He did so at sundown on Christmas Eve, but showed little
interest in the proceedings. The evening's activities also included a
free concert at the tree by the Marine Band quartet, a 9:00 p.m. carol
sing on the North Lawn, and a midnight reenactment of the journey
of the Magi at the Washington Monument.
Several years later President Coolidge designated the General Grant
tree, located in California's King's Canyon National Park, the Na-
tion's Christmas Tree. Although this 267-foot-tall tree is never dec-
orated with lights and ornaments, Christmas ceremonies have taken
place at the foot of the tree since 1925.
Washington's first National Christmas Tree had come from Cool-
idge's home state of Vermont, a donation from Middlebury College.
Between the years 1924 and 1933 the ceremony took place in Sher-
man Plaza using a living Christmas tree. During these years the
event became increasingly popular. Radio announcers broadcast the
ceremony in 1925. In 1926, a flare was sent up at the moment of the
illumination. This signal alerted buglers dispersed throughout the
city to proclaim the lighting of the tree in song. By 1929 the hot
lights and heavy ornaments had so damaged the tree that it had to
be replaced.
Between the years 1934 and 1938, the renovation of Sherman Plaza
forced the lighting ceremony to move to Lafayette Park. Two living
Christmas trees were used in alternate years, in order to avoid per-
manently harming either one.
World War II
In 1939 the tree-lighting ceremony returned to the Ellipse, but in
1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered it moved to the South
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National Christmas Tree
Lawn of the White IHiouse, a decision he felt would make the pro-
ceedings "more homey." The United States entered World War II in
December of that year. On Christmas Eve the British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, who was in Washington to confer with Roosevelt
about the war, appeared alongside President Roosevelt at the tree-
lighting ceremony. Both gave brief speeches about the war and
Christmas. In 1942 wartime blackout requirements led to the can-
cellation of the tree's illumination. Nevertheless, First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt insisted on an alternate ceremony. Schoolchildren col-
lected ornaments for the tree and a ceremony featuring the ringing
of chimes was substituted for the usual illumination. The blackouts
continued in 1943 and 1944. In these years, tags bearing the names
of men serving in the military were attached to each ornament.
Post-War Years
By Christmas of 1945 World War II was over and Washingtonians
rejoiced anew as President Harry S. Truman pushed the button that
illuminated the National Christmas Tree for the first time since 1942.
Truman preferred to spend Christmas at home in Missouri and so
missed a number of illumination ceremonies. Without an appear-
ance by the President, the event's glamour and popularity sagged.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie breathed new
life into the illumination ceremony, however. In 1954 they moved it
back to the Ellipse, which permitted larger crowds to gather. In that
same year the date of the ceremony was moved back to December
17 and a series of related activities lasting from December 17 to
January 6 was added. This program of activities, named the "Christ-
mas Pageant of Peace," was concocted by local businessmen to attract
more tourists to the area at Christmas time {see also Commercialism).
Twenty-seven foreign embassies participated in the pageant that year,
sending performers to demonstrate the Christmas songs, dances,
and traditions of their countries. A full-scale Nativity scene, featur-
ing live animals, was also erected as part of the pageant. In addition,
during the Eisenhower years the tree-lighting ceremony was tele-
vised to ever-expanding TV audiences, which helped make the tree a
national icon of the holiday season.
Between the years 1954 and 1972, festival organizers scouted out
beautiful, tall trees from various parts of the country, bought them.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cut them down, and imported them to Washington to serve as the
National Christmas Tree. In that era festival organizers thought that
planting a living Christmas tree on the Ellipse would interrupt the
area's usage during the rest of the year. As the festival became a
more important part of the nation's Christmas celebrations, various
states began to send smaller Christmas trees to stand alongside the
"pathway of peace" that leads to the National Christmas Tree. Even-
tually all fifty states were represented.
Problems and Protests
The illumination ceremony was postponed until December 22 in
1963. President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed on No-
vember 22, and the nation observed a thirty- day mourning period
for him in which it was deemed inappropriate to light the tree.
The illumination ceremony became the site of political protests dur-
ing Richard M. Nixon's presidency. Citizens who opposed American
involvement in Vietnam used the occasion to voice their objections
to the war, heckling the President during his speech. One year the
police arrested nine people, charging them with disorderly conduct.
Another kind of objection was raised by the American Civil Liberties
Union. On behalf of several plaintiffs, they charged that the Nativity
scene that had become part of the display violated the constitutional
guarantee against the government establishing or promoting a par-
ticular religion. The courts decided in their favor in 1973, and the
Nativity scene was eliminated.
At the same time, the White House received numerous letters that
criticized the continuing practice of cutting down a magnificent tree
each year for the ceremony. In response to these concerns President
Nixon requested that a living tree be planted on the Ellipse. In 1973
the National Arborist Association contributed a 42-foot Colorado
Blue Spruce from Pennsylvania, which was uprooted and transplant-
ed to Washington, D.C., to serve as the National Christmas Tree. The
tree lasted only four years. In 1977 it was replaced with another
Colorado Blue Spruce. This tree was knocked over by strong winds
in January 1978. The following year it was replaced by yet another
Colorado Blue Spruce, 39%-feet high, which was uprooted from the
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National Christmas Tree
home of the Myers family of York, Pennsylvania, in exchange for
$1,500.
In December of 1978, a new ritual was added to the illumination
ceremony. Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy was lifted to the top of the
Christmas tree by a cherry picker to place the last, topmost orna-
ment on the tree. In the years that followed, this honor was general-
ly reserved for a member of the president's or vice-president's fami-
ly. In 1980 Penne Langdon, the wife of one of the American hostages
being held in Iran, performed this task.
As a means of expressing America's solidarity with the hostages.
President Carter ordered that the National Christmas Tree remain
unlit in 1979 and 1980. The hostages were released on January 20,
1980, President Ronald Reagan's Inauguration Day. Even though
Christmas had passed, Reagan had the tree decorated and illumi-
nated in celebration of both events.
The Eighties and Beyond
The Reagans often invited children to assist them in the tree-light-
ing ceremony. One year a boy scout and a girl scout attended the
ceremonies. Another year a child selected by the Make-a-Wish
Foundation helped the President and his wife light the tree.
During the Reagan years, the President lit the Christmas tree by re-
mote control from inside the White House. An assassination attempt
on Reagan's life in 1981 in combination with other death threats led
security advisors to insist on this change. His successor. President
George H. W. Bush, once again strolled out to the Ellipse to light the
tree. During Bush's presidency his wife Barbara Bush placed the top-
most ornament on the Christmas tree four years in a row. As the
wife of Reagan's vice-president, she had also performed this task,
and so holds the national record for most cherry picker rides (twelve)
to the top of the National Christmas Tree.
Over the years the Pageant of Peace expanded, thereby pushing the
date of the illumination ceremony back into the early part of De-
cember. During the Clinton presidency it took place on various dates
between December 5 and December 11. The crowds continued to
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
grow as well. In 1993, approximately 9,000 people attended the
event. In recent years over 75,000 electric lights have twinkled from
the National Christmas Tree. The decorations on the tree vary from
year to year.
Further Reading
Menendez, Albert J. Christmas in the White House. Philadelphia, Pa.: West-
minster Press, 1983.
Seeley, Mary Evans. Season's Greetings fivm the White House. Tampa, Fla.: A
Presidential Christmas, 1998.
Web Site
The National Park Service, which maintains the President's Park South (the
Ellipse), sponsors a page on the National Christmas Tree and the Pageant
of Peace at: http://www.nps.gov/whho/pageant/
Natrona's cfiristmas Tree
King's Canyon National Park, located in east central California, is
home to some of the largest trees in the world. These enormous red-
wood trees, called giant sequoias, or Sequoiadendron giganteum, can
live for over 3,000 years. One of these behemoths, named the Gen-
eral Grant tree, serves as the Nation's Christmas Tree.
The General Grant tree is only the third largest sequoia in the park.
Nevertheless, its dimensions impress. The tree reaches over 267 feet
in height. It measures 40 feet in diameter and 107 feet in circumfer-
ence around the base. The first branch extending off the trunk does
so at about 100 feet from the ground. A sturdy young adult, the tree
is estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 years old.
President Calvin Coolidge declared the General Grant tree to be the
Nation's Christmas Tree in 1926. He did so at the request of Charles
E. Lee of Sanger, California. Mr. Lee visited King's Canyon in 1924,
and as he gazed up at the General Grant tree, he overheard a little
girl next to him say that it would make a marvelous Christmas tree.
532
Nation's Christmas Tree
Inspired by this chance remark, he led a December 25 Christmas
program at the foot of the tree in 1925. IHIe also wrote to the Presi-
dent, requesting that the chief executive officially designate the
General Grant as the Nation's Christmas Tree. Coolidge did so on
April 28, 1926. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the tree
as a national shrine in 1956, dedicating it to those who died while
serving their country.
The yearly Christmas ceremony at the foot of the tree has continued
since 1925. The event has been nicknamed the "trek to the tree." It
attracted 450 celebrants in 2001. In addition to visitors from across
the nation and around the world, many residents of nearby Sanger,
California, make the yearly pilgrimage, led by members of the town's
chamber of commerce. Park rangers traditionally place a large Christ-
mas wreath at the base of the tree. The "trek" takes place on the
second Sunday in December.
Alternative ceremonies take place all the way across the country in
Washington, D.C. There a rival tree, located on the Ellipse (or Presi-
dent's Park South), serves as the National Christmas Tree.
Web Sites
The National Park Service furnishes a page on the Nation's Christmas Tree
at: http://www.nps.gov/seki/xmastree.htm
"The Spirit of the Season Seen in the General Grant Sequoia, the Nation's
Living Christmas Tree," a news release article from the United States Ge-
ological Survey, can be found at this address: http://www.usgs.gov/public/
press/public_affairs/press_releases/prl537m.html
The web site for the Sanger District Chamber of Commerce offers some
information about the trek to the tree at:
http://www.sangerorg/events. html#trek
^1^^
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Natwhy Legends
Folklorists define a legend as a short, oral narrative about a person,
place, or incident. Legends purport to be true, which generally means
that they stay within the boundaries of what's considered possible
within the shared cultural assumptions of the tale tellers and their
audience.
The English word "legend" comes from the Latin word legere, which
means "to read." The term originated in the early Middle Ages in
reference to accounts of the lives of the saints read aloud at religious
services held on their feast days. As the Middle Ages wore on, these
saints' tales became more and more numerous, and more and more
fantastic. Gradually, the word legend came to mean an untrue or
improbable story. Medieval people not only told legends about
saints, but also about biblical events and characters. Indeed, scriptur-
al texts gave so little information concerning important events like
the Nativity that much room remained for ordinary people to em-
broider their fanciful designs around the bare outlines of the story.
Legends Concerning Jesus' Birth
The Gospel according to Matthew tells of a miraculous star that
appeared in the heavens to herald the birth of Jesus (see Jesus, Year of
Birth; Star of Bethlehem). Old European legends expanded on this
theme, inventing other miraculous signs that occurred on the day of
Jesus' birth. For example, many tales proclaimed that on the day Jesus
was born, plants burst into bloom and rivers ran with wine.
Although the Gospel accounts of Christmas do not mention any
animals at the scene of Jesus' birth, medieval legends not only de-
clared their presence at the manger in Bethlehem, but also told of
their marvelous deeds. According to one tale, the rooster was the
first animal to respond to the miraculous birth. He fluttered up to
the roof of the stable and cried in Latin, "Christus natus est," which
means "Christ is born" (see also Misa de Gallo). It probably did not
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Nativity Legends
seem too odd to western European Christians in the Middle Ages to
imagine a rooster in ancient Judea crowing in Latin to honor Christ's
birth, since Latin was the official language of the Western Church.
When the raven heard the rooster's declaration, he rasped the ques-
tion, "quando," or when? The rook replied, "hac node," this night. The
ox murmured, "uhi," where? The sheep bleated, "Bethlehem," and
the ass bellowed, "eamus," let's go! This clever tale assigns each of
the animals a Latin phrase that mimics the sound of its own voice.
Other legends recounted the ways in which various animals paid
tribute to the Christ child on the night of his birth. According to one
such story, the robin stood near the flames of the Holy Family's
meager fire, beating its wings all night to keep the fire alive and, as a
result, singeing its breast red from the flames. The stork tore feathers
from her own chest to make a downy bed for the newborn Jesus,
and ever since has been honored as the patron of new births. The
nightingale nestled near the manger and caroled along with the
angels. As a result, her song still remains sweeter and more musical
than that of other birds. The owl did not follow the other animals to
the stable at Bethlehem. Shamed by its own irreverence, the owl has
ever since hidden from the sight of other animals, appearing only by
night to cry in a soft voice: "Who? Who? Who will lead me to the
Christ child?"
Even plants honored and aided the newborn Jesus and his mother,
Mary. Yellow bedstraw and sweet woodruff offered themselves as
bedding for Mary and the baby, thereby earning the folk name "Our
Lady's Bedstraw." Some tales assigned creeping thyme the same
modest role and a similar folk name, "Mary's Bedstraw." When the
Holy Family fled into Egypt {see also Flight into Egypt), the rose-
mary plant provided Mary with a clean place on which to hang
Jesus' baby clothes after she had washed them. For rendering this
small service to Jesus and his mother, the plant was blessed ever
after with beautiful blue flowers and a sweet fragrance. In other ver-
sions of this tale Mary hung Jesus' clothes on a lavender bush, which
afterwards produced delightfully fragrant flowers. She hung her own
blue cloak on the rosemary plant, whose previously plain white flow-
ers remained forever imprinted with its color and soothing fragrance.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas Legends
Over the centuries Christmas and the customs connected with it
have inspired a multitude of legends. Many related folk beliefs ac-
companied these legends. These folk beliefs frequently echoed the
underlying premise of the Nativity legends recounted above, that is,
that the whole of creation responds to the Savior's birth by acts of
praise, adoration, and service.
One popular European legend declared that oxen knelt in their sta-
bles at midnight each year on Christmas Eve to honor the moment
of Jesus' birth. Often animals were granted powers far beyond their
normal capacities on Christmas Eve. English, French, and German
folklore maintained that barnyard animals whispered among them-
selves in human language at that moment. The tales cautioned that
these animals often spoke of the faults of their human masters or of
impending deaths in the community, making it perhaps unwise to
try to overhear them. The daring listener would probably find greater
delight in creeping up to a beehive on Christmas Eve, since English
folklore insisted that bees sang psalms, hymns, or symphonies in glo-
rious harmonies to commemorate the Nativity.
Among Middle Eastern Christians, stories circulated about trees and
plants, especially those growing along the banks of the Jordan River,
that bowed towards Bethlehem at that same moment. Many Euro-
pean legends marveled at trees and plants that momentarily burst
into fruit and flower on Christmas Eve. An old Russian folk belief
hinted that water briefly turns into wine in honor of the occasion.
French and German folklore declared that hidden treasures revealed
themselves at midnight on Christmas Eve, and that mountains split
open to display their hidden veins of precious metals and stones.
Other tales told of buried or sunken bells that somehow tolled mys-
teriously at midnight on Christmas Eve. (For other Christmas leg-
ends, see Berchta; Befana; Boar's Head; Cherry Tree; Christmas
Rose; Christmas Tree; Flight into Egypt; Frau Gaude; Glaston-
bury Thorn; Jultomten; Kallikantzari; Lebanon, Christmas in;
Poinsettia; Snow Maiden; Syria, Christmas in; Twelve Days of
Christmas; Urban Legends; Wenceslaus, King; Wild Hunt.)
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Nativity Legends
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Degh, Linda. "Legend." In Thon\as A. Green, ed. Folklore: An Encyclopedia of
Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO,
1997.
Foley, Daniel J. Tlie Christmas Tree. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books, 1960.
Hackwood, Frederick W. Christ Lore. 1902. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Re-
search, 1969.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Lehane, Brendan. The Book of Christmas. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books,
1986.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Palmer, Geoffrey, and Noel Lloyd. A Year of Festivals. London, England:
Frederick Warne, 1972.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Marian Library and International Marian Research
Institute at the University of Dayton, Ohio, on Mary's Flowers (part of The
Mary Page): http://www.udayton.edu/mary/main.html
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Natwit\)V[m)
Throughout the centuries people have celebrated Christmas by re-
enacting the story of Jesus' birth in folk dramas known as Nativity
plays. This tradition can be traced back to the liturgical dramas of the
European Middle Ages. Today the Christmas pageant, the Hispanic
customs of Las Posadas and Los Pastores, the star boys, and vari-
ous living Nativity scene customs carry on this tradition.
Liturgical Dramas
The liturgical dramas of the Middle Ages provide us with the earliest
documented examples of Nativity plays. These dramas began as
simple reenactments of biblical stories spoken in Latin and per-
formed by members of the clergy and choir during religious services.
One of the earliest recorded versions of a play of this sort was per-
formed at the cathedral in Rouen, France, in the twelfth century. In
this brief representation of the Nativity, a choirboy, playing the part of
an angel, announced the birth of Christ from on high. The choir
sang, "Glory to God in the highest," and the priests below answered,
"and on earth peace to men of good will." Several of the cathedral's
canons (clerical staff), dressed as shepherds, drew near the altar. Two
priests, acting as midwives, stopped them and asked whom they
sought. The shepherds replied, "Our Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
The priests then pulled back a curtain revealing a stable that con-
tained a statue of the Virgin and Child. The shepherds bowed and
worshiped, then returned to their places singing, "Alleluia."
The clergy used liturgical dramas to introduce a mostly illiterate
population to a range of biblical stories. These simple dramas proved
quite popular and began to be embellished. Humorously exaggerat-
ed and outlandish events eventually slipped in. These innovations
entertained the audience and were not, in those times, seen as inap-
propriate by the ordinary person. Church authorities disagreed, how-
ever. Some scholars believe that this controversy, plus the need for
538
Nativity Play
greater space to accommodate the growing audiences, nudged these
brief dramas out onto the church steps and other public arenas in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
By the thirteenth century these dramas developed into "mystery" or
"miracle" plays performed by lay actors. Mystery plays presented bib-
lical stories concerning God's or Christ's intercession in the world,
while miracle plays presented religious stories not found in the
Bible, for example, dramas concerning the lives of the saints. Some
scholars argue that these plays developed from secular dramatic tra-
ditions that evolved alongside, and not from, liturgical traditions.
Whatever their origins, the mystery plays took many of the same
biblical stories and greatly expanded them so that the plots now
included numerous legendary or fanciful events and characters. In
addition, actors recited the often humorous and sometimes even
ribald dialogue in the local language rather than in Church Latin.
Mystery Plays
From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, mystery plays were
performed in public plazas and other open-air settings across Eu-
rope. Ordinary citizens not only enjoyed these public performances,
but also acted in them and financed them. In England various guilds
produced the mystery plays most closely related to their trade. The
goldsmiths, for example, took responsibility for the adoration of the
Magi, one of the most popular Christmas plays. Other Christmas
themes represented in these plays included the slaughter of the in-
nocents {see Holy Innocents' Day), the Flight into Egypt, and the
shepherds' pilgrimage to Bethlehem.
In the meantime. Church authorities continued to disapprove of the
coarse and humorous elements that had crept into the liturgical dra-
mas and mystery plays. Roman Catholic authorities finally forbade
churches from presenting the dramas in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. The secular versions of the plays began to die out in the
sixteenth century due to opposition by the Church as well as the
influence of new religious perspectives brought about by the Re-
formation. In England, the Puritans opposed the plays as sacrile-
gious and worked towards their eradication.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Folk Dramas in the New World
Even as Europeans were abandoning the mystery and miracle plays,
Spanish missionaries were introducing them in the New World.
Once again the clergy found that simple, dramatic representations of
Bible stories could teach elements of the Christian religion to the
illiterate. In this instance the plays also helped to bridge the gap in
language and culture between the Spanish missionaries and the
native peoples. Two of these religious plays survive today in the form
of folk dramas that have become Christmas traditions in Mexico
and other Central American countries as well as the American
Southwest. Los Pastores tells the story of the shepherds' pilgrimage
to the Christ child. Las Posadas reenacts Mary and Joseph's search
for shelter in Bethlehem.
Folk Dramas in Europe
In spite of the waning of Nativity plays in Europe, the tradition of
Christmas season folk dramas continued in other guises. Many
writers credit St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) with creating the
first Nativity scene in the early thirteenth century. Using real people
and animals, he recreated the scene at the manger in Bethlehem in a
cave near the Italian village of Greccio. The custom of staging living
Nativity scenes soon spread throughout Europe. It survives today as
a Christmas Eve custom in southern France and an Epiphany cus-
tom in parts of Italy.
Medieval Europeans also donned costumes for another Christmas
tradition: mumming. Although the masked merrymaking carried
out by mummers may not qualify as a form of drama, in some areas
mummers presented folk plays as well as simply cavorted under the
cover of a disguise. Christmas season mumming practices survived
until recent times in Europe and North America. Several Epiphany
customs also contain dramatic elements. In many Spanish-speaking
countries, people reenact the arrival of the Three Kings at Bethlehem
with parades featuring costumed Wise Men riding through the streets
on horseback. In central Europe, Epiphany triggers the appearance of
the star boys, local lads who carol from house to house dressed as the
Three Kings.
540
Nativity Play
The American Christmas Pageant
Of all the Christmas customs involving elements of folk drama, the
contemporary American Christmas pageant bears perhaps the closest
resemblance to the early medieval Nativity plays. These pageants are
usually performed by children or teens with the aid of adults. They
frequently take the form of a simple drama depicting the events sur-
rounding the birth of Jesus. Christmas legends or the "holiday spirit"
provide alternative themes. Christmas pageants often include music,
especially Christmas carols, and various kinds of recitations. One
writer traces the history of the American Christmas pageant back to
mid-nineteenth-century Boston. Parishioners of a German Catholic
church sponsored a pageant in which the parish children, dressed as
shepherds and singing Christmas carols, dramatized the shepherds'
pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The pageant attracted the attention of
people throughout the city. The custom eventually spread across the
country to Catholic and Protestant churches alike.
Further Reading
Crippen, Ttiomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Margetson, Stella. "Medieval Nativity Plays." History Today 22, 12 (Decem-
ber 1972): 851-57.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
"Mystery Play." In Phyllis HartnoU, ed. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre.
Fourth edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
''S
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Nativhy Scene
Bethlehem, Christmas Crib, Creche, Krippe, Lapinha,
Manger Scene, Nacimiento, Pesebre, Portale, Presepio, Putz
Against the backdrop of a stable complete with straw and farm ani-
mals, figurines representing Mary and Joseph peer with wonder
into the cradle where the newborn Jesus lies. Dolls representing the
Three Kings, or Magi, approach with gifts, while shepherds kneel
in adoration of the child. This recreation of the Gospel accounts of
Jesus' birth is called a Nativity scene. Placed in churches, homes, or
outdoor locations. Nativity scenes enhance worship or simply de-
light onlookers with beautiful representations of Christ's birth.
Origins
The earliest uses of a crib in worship date back to fourth-century
Rome. Of the three masses observed at Christmas, one was called Ad
Praesepe (meaning "to the crib"). This mass took place in the basilica
of Santa Maria Maggiore, at a shrine built from boards believed to
have come from the original stable of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
542
Nativity Scene
Churches throughout Italy and Europe gradually adopted the cus-
tom of saying mass over a crib at Christmas time.
St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) generally receives the credit for
popularizing the Nativity scene as we know it. It is said that at
Christmas time in 1224 he recreated the manger scene using real
people and animals in a cave near the Italian village of Greccio. Mass
was said in this novel setting and St. Francis preached about the
humble birth of the newborn King. Onlookers enjoyed this reenact-
ment of Christ's birth so much that the custom soon spread through-
out Italy and Europe.
Reenactments of this sort still take place on Christmas Eve in some
villages in the French region of Provence. Lengthy processions of
costumed villagers solemnly file through the streets arriving finally
at the manger of Christ's birth, where a living Mary, Joseph, and
baby Jesus await them. In the towns of Les Baux and Seguret hun-
dreds of people walk in candlelit Christmas Eve processions that end
in the local church where a mass is said.
Living Nativity scenes are also reenacted yearly in Italy. In Abruzzi,
Italy, the village of Rivisondoli sponsors a procession and living Na-
tivity scene on Epiphany Eve that involves up to 600 people. Many
wear traditional regional costumes and are accompanied by animals
as they make their pilgrimage to the manger. Worshipers may also
bring gifts for the Holy Child, such as fruit, lambs, chickens, or pigs.
The Magi, played by local officials, ride horses. The Virgin Mary rides
a donkey and Joseph walks by her side. The procession ends at a
manger within a cave and is followed by singing.
Early Nativity Scenes
The popularity of these living Nativity scenes gave rise to another
custom: recreating the birth scene with figurines. By the sixteenth
century many churches throughout Italy and Germany presented a
Nativity scene of this type at Christmas time. Some French churches
adopted the custom as well.
In the seventeenth century families began to create their own Na-
tivity scenes. These became more elaborate with time. The art form
reached spectacular heights in eighteenth- century Naples, Italy. Fami-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
lies competed with each other to produce the most elegant and
elaborate crib scenes. These scenes expanded far beyond the manger
to include village backdrops, ordinary villagers, ruined Roman tem-
ples, angels, and even foreigners whom the families thought might
have rushed to Bethlehem had they known of the miraculous birth.
(See also Christmas Village.)
Rich and noble Italian families employed established artists and
sculptors to create clay or wood heads and shoulders. The artists
then attached these heads to flexible bodies fashioned out of cloth,
string, and wire. Costumes cut of rich fabrics, some embellished with
jewels, adorned each figure. The splendor of the backdrops, howev-
er, vied with the exquisitely detailed props and figurines for the
viewer's attention. Some settings included real waterfalls, while oth-
ers featured gushing fountains or even an erupting Mount Vesuvius.
Today many of these marvelous works are preserved and displayed
in Italy's museums and churches.
The Nativity scene also rooted itself firmly in French soil, especially
in the southern region of Provence. The first manger scenes included
only those figures most related to the story of the Nativity: Mary,
Joseph, the baby Jesus, the shepherds, etc. In the eighteenth century,
however, people began to display a multitude of characters in their
home Nativity scenes. Some writers claim that Italian peddlers in-
troduced these new figurines to southern France.
In 1803 small clay statuettes from Provence, called santons (or "little
saints") appeared at the Christmas fair in Marseille. These santons
became an essential element of the French Nativity scene. In addi-
tion to characters mentioned in the biblical accounts of the Nativity,
the Provengal santons represented a wide variety of ordinary French
townspeople, such as the baker, the mayor, the fishmonger, the vil-
lage idiot, and others. One writer has identified many of these figures
as stock characters in folk Nativity plays that circulated throughout
the region as early as the Middle Ages. Like their Italian counterparts,
French Nativity scenes depicted the birth of Christ taking place in a
local setting, such as a village in Provence. French settlers brought
the Christmas crib with them to Canada where another innovation
occurred. The French Canadians of Quebec often set up their Nativity
scenes under the Christmas tree.
544
Nativity Scene
Southern Europe
In southern Europe, where the Christmas tree never found much
favor, home Christmas decoration focuses around the Nativity
scene. The Spanish call the scene a nacimimto (meaning "birth") or a
belm (meaning "Bethlehem"), the Italians call it a presepio (meaning
"crib"), and the French call it a creche (meaning "crib"). In the same
way that many North Americans collect Christmas tree ornaments,
many southern European families slowly build a treasured collection
of Nativity figurines. Though the scene itself may be assembled
beforehand, many await Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to
place the baby Jesus in his crib. Some civic and church celebrations
also center on manger scenes. In Spain Nativity scenes may be
found in public plazas. On Epiphany several local men dressed as
the Three Kings may visit the public Nativity scene, reenacting the
adoration of the Magi.
In Italy Nativity scenes pop up everywhere in the weeks before
Christmas. Shop windows display manger scenes made out of pas-
try, bread, fruit, seeds, shells, and even butter. Children make Na-
tivity scenes out of cardboard or papier mache. Many churches pre-
sent crib scenes as well. The Basilica of Saints Cosmos and Damian
in Rome houses one of the most famous. Twenty-seven-feet high,
forty-five-feet long, and twenty-one-feet wide, it contains several
hundred hand-sculpted wooden statues. Rome's Church of Santa
Maria in Ara Coeli exhibits the most famous Christ child, however.
An old custom encourages children to recite carefully memorized
sermons in front of his crib. Folk beliefs credit the jewel-studded
golden infant, known as "Santo Bambino," with the power to heal.
Latin America
Spanish colonizers brought the Nativity scene with them to the
Americas. The Nativity scene enjoys widespread popularity through-
out Latin America today, where it is known as a nacimiento, pesebre,
portale, or in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, as a presepio or lapinha.
Latin American manger scenes range from simple representations of
the Holy Family to elaborate depictions of the manger, village, and
surrounding countryside. This countryside may host characters more
likely to be found in rural South America than in ancient Judea,
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
including women making tortillas, Indians selling tropical fruit, and
peasants leading heavily laden burros. The figurines themselves
range from relatively crude clay representations to delicate antique
figurines passed down from previous generations. In Mexico many
families set up their Nativity scenes on December 16, a date that
corresponds with the beginning of the nine-day Christmas novena.
Many Latin American families place the Jesus figurine in his cradle
on Christmas Eve. The Magi, on the other hand, inch forward daily
towards the manger, arriving on January 6, Epiphany. Throughout
Latin America Nativity scenes may also be found in churches and
public squares. Many of these traditions can also be found through-
out the American Southwest, a region of the United States with a
long history of Spanish and Mexican settlement.
Central Europe
In Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and other central European coun-
tries, the preparation of Nativity scenes still provides a delightful oc-
cupation for children and adults during Advent. The German Nativ-
ity scene, called a Krippe (meaning "crib"), may contain hundreds of
figurines and many lovely details. In Czechoslovakia people call
their manger scenes "Bethlehems." In some areas of the country the
figures may be constructed from bread dough and later painted.
The United States
In the eighteenth century German Moravian immigrants brought
this custom with them to the United States. The Moravian Nativity
scenes, called putz (from the German word for "decorate"), spread
out in extravagant detail. Dozens or hundreds of figurines might be
placed amidst gardens, fountains, arbors, villages, streams, bridges,
waterfalls, and other delightful scenery. These elaborate designs
might take up an entire room. In Pennsylvania many German Ameri-
cans, particularly those in areas settled by Moravians, maintain the
custom of "putzing" and "putz -visiting." The town of Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, founded by Moravians, builds a community putz
every year. On one occasion the builders used 800 pounds of sand, 64
tree stumps, 12 bushels of moss, 40 evergreen trees, and 48 angels in
the creation of the community putz.
546
Nativity Scene
In past years many towns throughout the United States erected
Nativity scenes at Christmas time. Recently these displays have pro-
voked controversy. Questions regarding the separation of church
and state, as well as vandalism, have led many towns to abolish
public Nativity scenes. Nevertheless, many families and churches
continue to enjoy this old Christmas custom.
Further Reading
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
Cohen, Hennig, and Tristram Potter Coffin, eds. The Folklore of American
Holidays. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1987.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas the World Over. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books,
1963.
. Little Saints of Christmas. Boston, Mass.: Dresser, Chapman and
Grimes, 1959.
Milne, Jean. Fiesta Time in Latin America. Los Angeles, Calif.: Ward Ritchie
Press, 1965.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in France. Lincolnwood, lU.: Passport Books, 1991.
. Christmas in Italy. World Book-Childcraft International, 1979.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Web Sites
A site sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and Canadian Heritage:
http://www.culture.fr/culture/noel/angl/noel.htm
A site sponsored by the "Creche Herald" newsletter: http://www.op.net/
-bocassoc
547
New Year's Day
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New Yearns Bay
In many places people begin their New Year's celebrations on New
Year's Eve. Oftentimes these celebrations include staying up to ring
in the new year. These late-night festivities frequently involve food,
drink, fortune-telling, good-luck charms, games — especially games
of chance — and, at the stroke of midnight, noisemaking. Exchang-
ing well- wishes for the year ahead is another widespread New Year's
Eve and New Year's Day practice (for the phrase "Happy New Year" in a
variety of languages, see Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
The passing of the old year and the beginning of the new one in-
evitably call attention to the passing of time, represented by the
popular European and American New Year's symbols Father Time
and the New Year's baby.
In Europe fortune -telling was once a widespread New Year's Eve
custom. People used a wide variety of rituals and spells in order to
divine who would marry, who would prosper, who would endure
hardship, and who would die in the coming year. Lithuanian folklore
provided young people with many formulas for discovering the
name of an admirer or a future spouse. Many people continue to use
these old folk charms as New Year's Eve games.
In many countries folklore decrees that certain objects or activities
bring luck for the new year. In a number of European countries peo-
ple practice firstfooting, a custom whereby the household's luck for
the year is determined by the first person to step over the threshold
after the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve. In Germany folk
tradition teaches that people who encounter a pig or a chimney
sweep on New Year's Eve or Day will have luck in the year to come.
In the Philippines, round objects — from the polka dots on clothing
to round-shaped foods — bring luck on New Year's Eve. In Greece,
St. Basil's bread confers good fortune to those who consume it at the
start of the year (for more on New Year's in Greece, see St. Basil's Day).
In Spain eating twelve grapes in the last twelve seconds of the old
year brings sweetness and good fortune in the new year.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
One widespread folk belief asserts that events taking place on New
Year's Eve and New Year's Day foretell future trends. Thus people
refrain from hard work and hope for good weather and good news
during these crucial first hours of the new year. Some Americans
practice the custom of kissing their spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend at
midnight on New Year's Eve, presumably as a good-luck charm to
insure that love and passion will continue throughout the year.
In some places, such as Syria, Greece, and Lebanon, seasonal gifts
are exchanged on New Year's Day (for a twentieth-century New Year's
gift bringer, see Grandfather Frost). This custom was once wide-
spread in Europe and America, but shifted in the nineteenth century,
when Christmas became the occasion for gift giving among friends
and family.
Roman New Year Celebrations
Many contemporary New Year's celebrations, with their emphasis on
fun and carousing, bear a striking resemblance to those hosted by
the ancient Romans (for another ancient New Year's celebration, see
Zagmuk). The Romans celebrated their new year holiday, called
Kalends, by feasting, singing, drinking, staying up late, masquerad-
ing, gambling, gift giving, fortune-telling, and exchanging good wish-
es for the new year. What's more, after the institution of the Julian
calendar in 45 B.C., the Romans shifted their new year celebrations
from March 25 to January 1, a date we eventually inherited from
them (for more on the Julian calendar, see Old Christmas Day).
Medieval New Year Celebrations
Although early Christian authorities chose to place Christmas be-
tween Saturnalia, a Roman midwinter festival, and Kalends, the
Roman new year celebration, they strongly disapproved of the cus-
toms associated with these holidays. For centuries Church officials
urged their followers to abandon what they viewed as the riotous
pagan practices attached to these festivals. In 567 the second provin-
cial Council of Tours tried to counteract the still-popular Kalends
festivities by ordering Christians to fast and do penance during the
first few days of the new year.
550
New Year's Day
At the same time, however, they expanded Christmas from a feast
day to a season. They declared the days that fall between Christmas
and Epiphany to be a festal tide — a period of special observance
and rejoicing following an important feast day. These twelve days,
often called Christmastide, became better known as the Twelve Days
of Christmas. Since this new festive period now included January 1,
practices associated with the Roman new year could easily attach
themselves to the Christmas season. In the seventh century Church
officials made a new effort to reclaim the January 1 holiday from
pagan celebrations. They introduced a new Christian holy day, the
Feast of the Circumcision, to be celebrated on January 1.
In spite of opposition from Church officials the customs surrounding
Kalends lingered on long after Christianity had become the domi-
nant religion in Europe. Religious authorities disapproved of some of
these customs more than others, however. For instance, they vehe-
mently denounced masquerades, fortune-telling, excessive drinking,
and boisterous behavior in the streets. One researcher has counted
at least forty separate documents containing official denunciations
of midwinter masquerades. These documents range in dates from the
fourth to the eleventh centuries and come from Church authorities in
many European lands as well as north Africa and the Near East.
Nevertheless, these criticisms do not appear to have affected ordi-
nary people very much. Medieval new year celebrations continued
as fun-filled occasions. Though officially a religious observance, live-
ly folk customs marked the celebration of St. Sylvester's Day, also
scheduled for January 1. In some countries low-ranking clerics let
loose by observing the Feast of Fools on that same date.
In spite of Church denunciations of the magical practices associated
with Christmas and New Year's Day, European folklorists have re-
corded a multitude of popular beliefs concerning fortune-telling and
good-luck charms linked to the Twelve Days of Christmas. One such
fortune-telling custom, called firstfooting, was particularly associated
with New Year's Eve. Religious authorities appear to have ignored
New Year's customs which they viewed as more benign, however,
such as feasting and gift giving. Indeed, these two Kalends customs
flourished in medieval new year celebrations.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
New Year Customs Migrate to Christmas
Some researchers believe that a number of ancient new year cus-
toms survived the decline of paganism by simply attaching them-
selves to the Christmas holiday. For example, many writers trace the
decoration of homes and churches with greenery back to Roman
new year celebrations. Exchanging greetings and good wishes for
the new year also dates back to Roman times. Some researchers
speculate that late medieval Christmas masques and mumming
practices may have represented the remnants of Roman new year
masquerades.
The Puritans and the Protestant Reformation
In the sixteenth century a religious reform movement surged across
Europe giving birth to Protestant Christianity. In England during
that same century, a new body of religious officials began to com-
plain about the high incidence of masking, mumming, drinking,
feasting, dancing, gambling, and gaming associated with the Christ-
mas season. These officials, members of a Protestant religious sect
known as the Puritans, attempted to eradicate these practices by
outlawing the celebration of Christmas. What's more, they argued.
New Year's Eve was better spent in self-examination and prayer than
in hard drinking and rowdy revelry.
After the Puritans fell from power the English returned to many of
their old Christmas customs. The people of Scotland, however, took
many of the Puritan criticisms of Christmas to heart and never really
revived their old Christmas celebrations. Instead New Year's Day
became the main midwinter holiday (for more on New Year's celebra-
tions in Scotland, see Hogmanay). In fact, Christmas didn't again be-
come a legal holiday in Scotland until 1958. The Scots referred to
New Year's Day as "Hogmanay," a word of uncertain origins. Lin-
guists suspect that it evolved from the old French term aguillaneuf
which means New Year's gift, the last day of the year, or the celebra-
tion at which New Year's gifts are exchanged. A related Spanish
word, aguilnaldo, means Christmas tip. New Year's gift, or, in Latin
America, Christmas carol {see also Boxing Day).
552
New Year's Day
Changing Dates
Before the introduction of the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., the Romans
began their new year in March. Some scholars believe that they cel-
ebrated New Year's Day on March 25. When Julius Caesar (100 B.c-
44 B.C.) decided to reform the Roman calendar system (resulting in
the Julian calendar), he moved New Year's Day to January 1. Ac-
cording to the Julian calendar, winter solstice fell on December 25
and spring equinox fell on March 25. These two dates eventually
became feast days in the Christian calendar. Church officials placed
the Feast of the Nativity on December 25 and the Feast of the
Annunciation on March 25. During the Middle Ages the religious
significance of the Annunciation inclined many European countries
to begin the new year on that date. Others began their new year on
Christmas Day. In spite of the widespread official recognition of
March 25 as New Year's Day, many ordinary people continued the
ancient tradition of ushering in the new year on January 1.
When Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585) authorized the Gregorian cal-
endar reform in 1582 he ordered the official observance of New Year's
Day back to January 1 {see also Old Christmas Day). Italy, France,
Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal switched to the new calendar sys-
tem in that same year. Other European nations dawdled over making
this change, primarily for religious reasons. Many Protestant nations
hesitated to adopt the calendar for fear of seeming to accept the
authority of the Pope. Much of Orthodox eastern Europe viewed the
proposed changes as out of step with their religious traditions.
Nevertheless, over the next several centuries the European nations
slowly began to adopt the Gregorian date for the beginning of the
new year. Scotland switched New Year's Day to January 1 in 1660,
Protestant Germany in 1700, and Russia in 1706. England and her
colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Up until that time
their new year officially began on March 25, in spite of the fact that
many people actually celebrated the holiday on January 1.
From the Puritans to the Nineteenth Century
In seventeenth- and eighteenth- century Europe and America, New
Year's Eve celebrations still bore a good deal of resemblance to the
Roman holiday of Kalends. Many people celebrated the holiday by
553
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
staying up late in order to indulge in some combination of heavy
drinking, public carousing, gaming, masquerading, gambling, feast-
ing, fortune -telling, or dancing. The Puritan campaign against this
kind of New Year's celebration — a continuation of the critique
launched centuries ago by the early Christians — enjoyed only limit-
ed success, mostly among devout Protestants. By the nineteenth
century, however, some concerned Protestants began to promote
alternative methods of celebrating New Year's Eve. They gathered
together at Watch Night services to pray, sing, and worship. They
also formed spiritual resolutions at the start of the year.
In the nineteenth century, Christmas was becoming an increasingly
important holiday {see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-
Century). As a result, several ancient New Year's customs migrated
towards Christmas and eventually attached themselves to this holi-
day. People began to send Christmas cards to one another, a greet-
ing that often replaced the New Year's letter, visit, or formal ex-
change of good wishes. Similarly, the New Year's gift, which had
been associated with the holiday since Roman times, transferred
itself to Christmas. As Christmas grew in importance. New Year's
was drawn into its orbit, becoming a satellite observance surround-
ing the emerging, major midwinter holiday.
Twentieth Century and Beyond
Meanwhile, in Soviet Russia (1917-91), government policy turned
New Year's Day into the major midwinter holiday. The government
actively discouraged the celebration of Christmas because it was a
religious holiday, while promoting the observance of New Year's Eve
and Day. This policy also affected holiday celebrations in countries
under Soviet rule, such as Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Soviet officials even tried to encourage the transfer of popular Christ-
mas customs, such as decorating Christmas trees, to New Year's.
Since the fall of the Soviet regime in 1991, people have been cele-
brating Christmas more openly.
In America, Watch Night services declined in popularity throughout
the twentieth century. Certain Protestant churches, however, espe-
cially those whose congregations are composed mostly of African
Americans, still host these observances.
554
New Year's Day
By the twentieth century the custom of making a New Year's resolu-
tion had spread beyond pious Protestant circles into the wider cul-
ture, losing its religious associations in the process. People began to
mark the start of the new year with a determined effort to improve
themselves in some way, often to better their health.
In the late twentieth century, yet another campaign to convert tradi-
tional New Year's celebrations got started. Unlike previous efforts,
however, this one was secular rather than religious in nature. In 1976
a group of Boston citizens organized an alternative New Year's Eve
celebration called First Night. This civic event, designed as an alco-
hol-free, family-oriented celebration, featured entertainment by lo-
cal performing artists. Its success led to its eventual adoption by over
150 American cities, as well as various cities abroad.
Nevertheless, most Americans continue to associate New Year's Eve
with parties. The nation's best-known party takes place in New York
City's Times Square. Although event organizers will not permit
those attending the Times Square event to carry in liquor, alcoholic
beverages, especially champagne, are common at most American
New Year's Eve parties. Singing the Scottish song "Auld Lang
Syne" has also become a popular American New Year's Eve custom.
New Year's Day is a national holiday in the United States. Some
African Americans also observe it as Emancipation Day. Those who
attended late-night parties the night before may take advantage of
the opportunity to sleep in. Many Americans watch televised foot-
ball matches on New Year's Day. These "bowl" games mark the con-
clusion of the college football season and pit the best teams in the
various conferences against one another.
Many southerners, especially African Americans, enjoy a dish called
hopping John on New Year's Day. Eating this mixture of black-eyed
peas, rice, and pork on New Year's Day is said to bring luck for the
coming year.
Further Reading
Bellenir, Karen. Religious Holidays and Calendars. Second edition. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
Edwards, GiUian. Hogmanay and Tiffany, The Names of Feasts and Fasts. Lon-
don, England: Geoffrey Bles, 1970.
555
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Gaster, Theodor. New Year, Its History, Customs, and Superstitions. New York:
Abelard-Schuman, 1955.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. San Francisco, CaHf.: Harper and Row, 1984.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
New York Cky^ CJ^ristmas in
A number of New Yorkers and New York City customs have played
an important role in the development of the American Christmas.
Several nineteenth-century New Yorkers helped to bring Santa
Glaus into being. In more recent times New York City has become
an important destination for Christmas shoppers and tourists. Final-
ly, at least one of the city's Christmas traditions, Macy's Thanks-
giving Day Parade, has become a nationally televised event an-
nouncing the start of the Christmas season.
Birth of Santa Claus
Most researchers agree that Santa Claus bears a suspicious resem-
blance to the European gift bringer St. Nicholas. This resemblance
is no coincidence, in spite of the fact that Dutch and German immi-
grants to the American colonies don't appear to have brought with
them much of their St. Nicholas folklore. The early American writer
Washington Irving (1783-1859) gave St. Nicholas an important posi-
tion in New York's Dutch community in his satirical book A History
ofNewYork (1809). In 1822 one of Irving's friends, Clement C. Moore
(1779-1863), a languages professor at New York's General Theologi-
cal Seminary, used elements of Irving's portrayal of St. Nicholas in a
poem of his own. Entitled "A Visit from St. Nicholas," the poem
describes a Christmas gift bringer who rides through the night skies
556
New York City, Christmas in
on Christmas Eve in a magic sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and
enters homes via the chimney. Though Moore called the gift bringer
"St. Nicholas," the American public soon dubbed the pot-bellied,
pipe-smoking man "Santa Claus." Moore's description suggests that
St. Nicholas was smaller than life-sized, in fact, an elf. In the latter
part of the nineteenth century Harper's Weekly illustrator Thomas
Nast (1840-1902) published a series of prints depicting Santa Claus.
Nast settled on depicting him as a life-sized, portly old man with a
long, white beard and a pipe. This description seized the public's
imagination and became part of Santa's official image.
In 1897 yet another New Yorker, this time an eight-year-old girl
named Virginia O'Hanlon, helped Americans to settle some of
their metaphysical questions concerning the national gift bringer.
She wrote a letter to a local newspaper called the Neiu York Sun ask-
ing the newspaper editor to tell her whether or not Santa Claus was
real. Virginia's letter and the newspaper's response have become
beloved bits of American Christmas lore. The often-quoted phrase,
"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," comes from the paper's editor-
ial response, written by reporter Francis P. Church.
Macy's Parade
As Santa Claus became an important part of American Christmas
folklore he was drafted into the service of many commercial ven-
tures. For example, he plays an important role in Macy's Thanks-
giving Day Parade, begun in 1924. Macy's started the parade as a
means of attracting shoppers to its stores and extending the Christ-
mas shopping season as far back as Thanksgiving. The classic Christ-
mas movie Miracle on 34th Street (1947) boosted the parade's fame
by showing shots of the parade during the movie's opening scenes.
Nationwide television coverage followed. In this manner the parade
worked its way from an event of local importance to a national icon
of the start of the holiday season. The parade's trademark feature
consists of a series of enormous balloons in a wide variety of fun
shapes, including those of cartoon characters and animals. Tradi-
tionally Santa Claus brings up the rear of the parade. The parade
begins at 77th Street and Central Park West and ends at Macy's, lo-
cated in Herald Square at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 34th
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Street. For New Yorkers, Santa's arrival in Herald Square kicks off
the start of the holiday shopping season.
Window Displays
In addition to their reputation for quantity and quality of goods, a
number of New York stores are famous for their Christmas store win-
dow displays. The more well known department stores announce
opening dates for their windows, which often pre-date Thanksgiving,
and people trying to get the first glimpses of these magnificent
tableaux may crowd the pavement outside the stores on these days.
Indeed, thousands line up to see the windows at Lord and Taylor —
located on Fifth Avenue at 38th Street — which often feature mecha-
nized, moving displays.
Rockefeller Center
Other New York City Christmas sites and decorations that have be-
come familiar to the public at large include the Christmas tree and
skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Over the years Rockefeller Center
has become an important destination for the city's Christmas tour-
ists. In 1996, half a million people per weekend visited the site.
The first Rockefeller Center tree, erected in 1931, measured only 12
feet high. It was put up on the empty lot by the men at work con-
structing the new complex of buildings, some say out of gratitude for
having a job during the Depression. In 1933 the owners of the com-
pleted Rockefeller Center decided to carry on the tradition of the
yearly tree. The tradition has been going strong since then. Design-
ers have tried various tree-decorating schemes over the years. In
1933, strings of blue and white lights ornamented the tree. Another
year only floodlights were used. During World War II, ornaments
took the place of lights, which were eliminated in order to meet
wartime blackout requirements. The use of ornaments was discon-
tinued, however, when it was discovered that high winds, enhanced
by the wind tunnel effect created by the surrounding tall buildings,
could easily dislodge them from the tree. Decorators realized the
danger posed by ornaments the year they festooned the tree with
aluminum icicles. During strong winds the tree menaced people
558
New York City, Christmas in
passing below by discharging volleys of the spear-like icicles. These
days approximately 30,000 electric lights adorn the ornament-free
tree, which is topped by a 60-pound star.
Rockefeller Center's landscape and garden team search New York
state and New England for potential Christmas trees throughout the
year. In order to find a Norway Spruce — the preferred variety — that
has grown to about 70 or 80 feet, the team may employ the services
of a helicopter. The trees usually come from privately owned proper-
ties rather than forests, as this variety is not native to the region.
Once the ideal tree is spotted, the owners are approached with an
offer to sell their tree. Many feel it an honor to have their tree select-
ed for Rockefeller Center. The final selection is made by mid-sum-
mer. At the end of the Christmas season, the tree is turned into
mulch and recycled into the earth.
The first few Christmas trees at Rockefeller Center were erected in
the middle of the sunken plaza. In 1936 the plaza was transformed
into a winter ice-skating rink. Nowadays the tree is set up between
the rink and the General Electric building (formerly the RCA build-
ing)-
Other Decorations
A number of the city's well-known buildings and institutions deco-
rate for the holidays. The corporation that owns the Empire State
Building illuminates the upper floors of the building with red and
green lights during the month of December. The Humanities and
Social Sciences Library of the New York City public library system —
located at Fifth Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets — shows its
holiday spirit by placing two 60-pound wreaths around the necks of
the magnificent stone lions that adorn the steps to the building.
New Yorkers have quickly become accustomed to the giant snow-
flake that dangles above the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th
Street. The snowflake stands approximately two-and-one-half sto-
ries in height and contains 6,000 light bulbs. This seasonal decora-
tion first appeared in 1984. Ritzy Park Avenue puts on its own show
for Christmas, decking the trees planted in the Avenue's meridians
with white and gold lights. The display stretches for about two miles,
beginning around 48th Street and ending at 96th Street.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Events
Each Christmas season the Rockettes, a troupe of female dancers, put
on a special Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall. This tradition
dates back to 1933. The Nativity scene calls for real camels and don-
keys, which don't always behave on stage as planned. Each year they
perform their dance of the toy soldiers, which ends with the toy sol-
diers, all in a row, falling over backwards like a set of dominoes.
Since 1954 New Yorkers have also enjoyed yearly performances of
The Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet Company. Those who
prefer song to dance may attend the Messiah Sing-In at Avery Fisher
Hall. At this event the audience takes a stab at singing Handel's ora-
torio themselves. This tradition dates back to the 1960s.
Many New Yorkers and out-of-towners celebrate Christmas by taking
in a Broadway show. Indeed New York's justly famous theater district
sells more tickets at Christmas time than at any other time of year.
New Year's Eve
Finally, many Americans close out the holiday season by tuning into
another New York City event: the large street party at Times Square
on New Year's Eve. The climax of the party comes at midnight, when a
large, illuminated ball atop a pole standing on the roof of the former
Times Building begins to drop. The fall lasts 60 seconds and marks the
last minute of the old year and the exact beginning of the new year.
This event has been broadcast on television since 1943. In recent years
about half a million people have gathered in Times Square on New
Year's Eve to wait for the magic moment when the ball drops.
Further Reading
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York. Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Web Sites
The Rockefeller Center web site offers information about its Christmas tree
and skating rink at: http://www.rockefellercenter.com
Radio City Music Hall's web site contains information about its Christmas-
time attractions at: http://www.radiocity.com
560
Nigeria, Christmas in
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Nigeria^ cfiristmas m
The west African nation of Nigeria, once a colony of Great Britain, is
the most ethnically diverse country in aU of Africa. It hosts over 200
different cultural groups that speak 400 different languages. About
fifty percent of Nigerians are Muslims. Approximately 40 percent em-
brace Christianity, and 10 percent adhere to traditional religions. Mus-
lims predominate in northern Nigeria, while Christianity is strongest
in the southern part of the country.
Nigeria's Christians celebrate Christmas by buying their children
gifts, especially new clothes and shoes. In large cities children may
be taken to department stores where Father Christmas will give
them a trinket of some kind. Many shops and businesses decorate
their premises for the holiday. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are
often observed with church services.
In Calabar, a city in southeastern Nigeria where many ethnic Ibibio
live, wandering companies in colorful attire perform traditional folk
dramas and masquerades at Christmas time. Children also don masks
made from colored raffia, or hide their faces under heavy makeup, as
they gather together in groups that compete with one another to put
on the best masquerade combining song, dance, and drumming.
Sometimes bystanders will pay them for their efforts with a coin or
two.
Many Nigerians living and working far from their native towns and
villages travel home to spend Christmas with their families. The added
strain on Nigeria's transportation system often means terrible traffic
jams and extreme delays in all modes of public transportation. What's
more, the high concentrations of people on the roads and in the
marketplaces inspires bandits, pickpockets, and all manner of thieves
to increase their activities during this season of the year. So far these
difficulties have not stopped Nigerians from celebrating Christmas
with gifts and family reunions.
The Ibo (also spelled Igbo) people, who make up about 28 percent of
the country's population, are especially well known for their devo-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
tion to spending Christmas with their families. Although their native
lands lie in eastern Nigeria, economic conditions have forced many
Ibo to look for work in other parts of the country. Nevertheless, Ibo
migrants continue to prize their place in village social life and make
every effort to return at Christmas to spend time with family mem-
bers. These holiday visits also afford them the opportunity to follow
the fortunes of friends and acquaintances, and to attend weddings.
People often schedule weddings and other important social func-
tions for the Christmas season, so as to include these once-a-year
returnees.
Further Reading
"Behold, Today Is Christmas." Africa News Service Qanuary 25, 2001).
Available for a fee through elibrary.com.
Blauer, Ettagale, and Jason Laure. Enchantment of the World: Nigeria. New
York: Children's Press, 2001.
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1999.
Momodu, Shaka. "The Annual Eastward Drift." Africa News Service 0an-
uary 10, 2002). Available for a fee through elibrary.com.
Nonyelum, Chris. "The Other Side of Christmas." Africa News Service
(December 27, 2001). Available for a fee through elibrary.com.
Owhonda, John. Nigeria: A Nation of Many Peoples. Parsipanny, N.J.: Dillon
Press, 1998.
562
Noel
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Noel
Noel, Nowel, Nowell
Contemporary English dictionaries define the word "noel" (also
spelled "nowel" or "nowell") as a cry of joy associated with the cele-
bration of Christmas. In past eras English speakers also used the
word to refer to the feast of Christmas itself. This usage never faded
in the French language, where the word Noel still means Christmas,
or, when spelled without a capital "n," means "Christmas carol."
Although the English word "noel" is now considered somewhat
obsolete, a number of traditional Christmas carols retain this old
expression.
Researchers differ in their explanations of the origin of the word
"noel." Most trace it back to the Latin word for birthday, natalis.
Indeed, in the fourth century Church authorities in Rome introduced
Christmas as Dies Natalis Domini, the "Birthday of the Lord" {see also
December 25). The more formal name for the holiday was Festum
Nativitatis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, the "Feast of the Nativity of
Our Lord Jesus Christ." Over the centuries the Latin words Natalis
and Nativitatis passed into local languages across western Europe
giving birth to vernacular words for Christmas. For example, the
Portuguese call Christmas Natal, the Italians refer to it as Natale, and
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the Spanish call it Navidad. Other modern words for Christmas that
probably evolved from the Latin natalis include the Gaelic Nollaig, the
Welsh Nadolig, and the Provengal Nadal. Most scholars also trace the
English "noel" and the French "Noel" back to the Latin word natalis.
In contrast, other writers suggest that the English word "noel"
evolved from the Latin word for "news," novella. They believe that
this Latin term was used to tell the joyous news of Jesus' birth, and
so became the jubilant cry of those celebrating the feast of Christ-
mas, or even another term for the feast itself. One researcher who
supports this theory notes that in the Middle Ages people greeted
news of especially happy events with cries of "noel." Finally, another
scholar has suggested that "noel" comes from the Hebrew word
Immanuel (or Emmanuel). This word — which, in Christian scripture
is used to refer to Jesus (Matthew 1:23) — means "God with us."
Further Reading
Crippen, Tfiomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Duncan, Edmondstoune. The Story of the Carol. 1911. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Stevens, Patricia Banning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
Noisemakmg
For Christmas customs that call for noisemaking, see America,
Christmas in Nineteenth-Century; Befana; Denmark, Christmas
in; Germany, Christmas in; Knecht Ruprecht; Knocking Nights;
New Year's Day; Norway, Christmas in; Shooting in Christmas;
Twelfth Night; Twelve Days of Christmas; Up Helly Aa; Wassail-
ing the Fruit Trees; Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial
564
North Pole
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Nortl^Pofe
How did Santa Claus come to choose the North Pole as his home?
He didn't. This address was chosen for him by American cartoonist
Thomas Nast (1840-1902). In 1882 Nast depicted Santa perched on
top of a crate bearing the label "Christmas box 1882, St. Nicholas,
North Pole." Nast's vision apparently caught on. Several years later,
another artist portrayed Santa returning to his North Pole home.
Soon, it became standard lore that the jolly gift giver inhabited the
polar north.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
What inspired Nast to give Santa such a remote residence? The
iniluential portrait of the Christmas gift giver, painted decades earli-
er by Clement C. Moore in "A Visit from St. Nicholas," described him
wearing fur robes. This made it likely that he came from a cold cli-
mate. Nast may also have read Horatio Alger's 1875 poem entitled
"St. Nicholas," in which Alger declared that this "patron saint of
Christmas night" lived beyond the "polar seas." At the time when
Nast was conjuring up his images of Santa, no explorer had yet
reached the North Pole, although several expeditions had begun the
perilous journey. This remote and mysterious place, which no hu-
man being had yet seen, must have seemed the perfect abode for
that elusive and magical creature, Santa Claus {see also Children's
Letters).
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
566
Norway, Christmas in
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Norwa\)^ cfiristmas in
When Christianity came to Norway, its inhabitants abandoned some
old beHefs and practices and adapted others to the new religion.
Over the centuries remnants of ancient pagan beliefs concerning
midwinter magic entwined themselves with Norway's developing
Christmas lore and customs.
Yule
Some researchers believe that the ancient Norwegians, along with
the other peoples of northern and central Europe, celebrated a mid-
winter festival called Yule. Moreover, these writers propose that a
number of midwinter customs connected with this festival lingered
on for centuries after the coming of Christianity. For example, old
European beliefs concerning visiting Christmas ghosts and other
supernatural figures may have been rooted in ancient ideas about
the return of the dead at Yule. The midwinter rides of the Wild Hunt
may also have grown out of the lore surrounding Yule. Some writers
trace the origin of the Yule log back to the great bonfires lit for the
Yule festival. The brewing of Christmas ale may also date back to
ancient times. Lastly, some writers suspect that the Scandinavian
Christmas mascot, the Yule goat, first kicked up its heels during the
old Yule festival.
Old Customs and Superstitions
A number of old Norwegian Christmas superstitions and customs
come from the ancient belief that spirits haunt the long, dark nights
of the Christmas season. According to one old folk belief, the spir-
its of the dead return to their families on Christmas Eve. Folk custom
suggested that, upon retiring, living family members leave out a
plate of food so that the spirits of the dead could also join in the
Christmas feast. In past times Norwegians believed that evil spirits
were particularly active on Christmas Eve. Men in rural areas band-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ed together on that night to practice a custom known as shooting in
Christmas. Together they tramped to each house in the village and
saluted it with a volley of gunfire. According to old folk beliefs, the
sudden, explosive noise frightened away evil spirits. Keeping a Yule
log or a blessed candle burning in the hearth all night also warded
away witches and other evil beings. Moreover, in past times rural
Norwegians painted tar crosses over doors at Christmas time. These
crosses kept evil spirits from entering.
Another old superstition warned against doing any work that in-
volved the turning of a wheel during the days surrounding Christmas
{see also Twelve Days of Christmas). For example, spinning with a
spinning wheel or carrying loads in wheeled vehicles were both con-
sidered unlucky. Old folk beliefs taught that at the time of the winter
solstice the circular actions involved in these tasks indicated an ill-
fated impatience with the slow turning of the wheel of the sun. These
old superstitions and customs faded away in modern times.
The Julenisse
The traditions and lore surrounding the Julenisse, or Christmas elf,
can also be traced back to ancient times. Unlike many old Nor-
wegian Christmas traditions, however, the Julenisse lives on in con-
temporary folklore and customs. Some folklorists suspect that the
Julenisse evolved from ancient beliefs in ancestral spirits who visited
their old homesteads at Christmas time. Contemporary lore teaches
that the Julenisse lives in dark corners of Norwegian homes. For
most of the year this magical being dozes and dreams, although
when awake he keeps a watchful eye on household doings. The
Julenisse becomes more active around Christmas time. Then he will
use his magical powers to cause household mishaps if not appeased
with a bowl of porridge. Like his Swedish cousin, the Jultomten, the
Norwegian Julenisse brings the family's Christmas gifts.
Preparations
Many Norwegians incorporate Advent calendars and Advent can-
dles into their Christmas preparations. Selecting the family Christ-
mas tree is also an important element of Christmas preparations for
568
Norway, Christmas in
qe,qSj'^qP'q^'^qP'Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^Qe>*'^Qe,.-Sj'^Qe,.-Sj'^qP''^
many families, as is giving the home a thorough cleaning. Families
often bake a wide variety of cookies and breads during the days pre-
ceding Christmas, and some even brew special Christmas beers {see
also Christmas Cake). In past times people believed that all Christ-
mas cleaning, baking, slaughtering, and brewing should be complet-
ed by St. Thomas's Day, December 21. In the old days people also
prepared for Christmas by making batches of candles. Although
modern Norwegians no longer need to rely on candles for light dur-
ing the long winter nights, candlemaking is still a popular pre-
Christmas activity.
In old Norway the Peace of Christmas began on St. Thomas's Day.
Towns designated special watchmen to ensure that peace and friend-
liness reigned during the holiday season. The Peace of Christmas also
extended to animals. Hunters and fishermen removed traps and
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
snares during the holiday season. This kindliness towards animals
lives on in the custom of erecting a Christmas sheaf for birds and
other small animals to feast on.
Christmas Eve
Church services are held around five p.m. on Christmas Eve. Those
who attend return home to a sumptuous Christmas dinner. Popular
main dishes include roast pork, sausages, and mutton. Many people
also serve lutefisk (boiled codfish previously preserved in lye), a tra-
dition surviving from past times when Norwegians abstained from
eating meat on Christmas Eve. Like the Danes, Norwegian families
also serve a dish of rice pudding with a single almond in it. Whoever
finds the almond in their serving of pudding will have luck in the
coming year. Other favorite Christmas desserts include creme cara-
mel and cloudberry cream.
After dinner, some families take out the Bible and listen to one fami-
ly member read the Gospel passages describing the birth of Jesus
{see Gospel According to Luke; Gospel According to Matthew).
Then the family gathers around the Christmas tree, joins hands, and
sings Christmas carols. To the relief of many impatient children,
opening gifts comes next. Before going to bed many families make
sure to leave out a bowl of pudding for the Julenisse.
Christmas Day
Church services are also held on Christmas Day. The day's main
event, however, consists of a lavish Christmas buffet. The meal may
include pork ribs, meat patties, a selection of cold meats, herring,
trout, salmon, codfish, cheese, fruit, cloudberry cream, bread, and
cake. Adults also enjoy beer and aquavit, a Scandinavian liquor, with
the meal.
Some people practice an old custom called Julbukk, or "Christmas
goat," on Christmas Day. Groups of costumed children and adults
walk through their neighborhood entertaining householders with
songs in exchange for treats. These groups may bring a goat with
them, or someone may impersonate a goat and this animal's typical-
ly unruly behavior. Sometimes these costumed goats discipline mis-
behaving children by butting them. If two costumed goats meet.
570
Norway, Christmas in
they often entertain onlookers by engaging in a play fight (for similar
customs, see Mumming).
Related Days
In Norway the Christmas season is peppered with saints' days and
other related celebrations. Many Norwegians celebrate St. Lucy's Day
on December 13. In the past, however, most Norwegians understood
the Christmas season to start on December 21, St. Thomas's Day.
Norwegians also celebrate St. Stephen's Day, December 26. In the
past bands of men rose before dawn and galloped from village to vil-
lage singing folk songs about the saint. These robust performances
awakened householders, who then refreshed Stephen's men with ale
or other alcoholic beverages. Today one can still see bands of young
men, often in traditional costumes, singing folk songs from door to
door on St. Stephen's Day. Many Norwegians spend the day visiting
with friends and family members.
Norwegians greet NewYear's Eve with a fresh round of noisemaking
and parties. On January 6, Epiphany, the star boys roam the streets
singing Christmas carols. The Christmas season ends on St. Knut's
Day, January 13.
Further Reading
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Norway. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Hubert, Maria, comp. Christmas Around the World. Stroud, Gloucestershire,
England: Sutton, 1998.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Patterson, Lillie. Christmas in Britain and Scandinavia. Champaign, 111.:
Garrard Publishing Company, 1970.
Sechrist, Elizabeth Hough. Christmas Everywhere. 1936. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
http://odin.dep.no/ (CHck on "Language," "English," "History, culture,
geography, recreation," then scroll down to "Christmas in Norway.")
571
The Nutcracker
Tl^e Nutcracker
One of the best-loved and most widely known ballets of our time.
The Nutcracker, tells the story of a young girl's enchanted Christmas
Eve. German writer, illustrator, and composer E. T. A. Hoffmann
(1776-1822) wrote the original story on which the ballet is based.
Russian composer Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) set the tale to
music in the early 1890s. Some ballet companies present The Nut-
cracker every year at Christmas time. In addition, Tchaikovsky's "The
Nutcracker Suite," a shorter, orchestral work that summarizes the
music presented at length in the ballet, appears on many Christmas
concert programs.
The Tales and the Making of the Ballet
Hoffmann would have been delighted to discover that his stories lived
on to inspire the works of great composers. Hoffmann himself found
tremendous inspiration in the works of Austrian composer Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), so much so that he changed his own
middle name to Amadeus. Years after Hoffmann's death, his life as a
teller of tales fueled the musical imagination of French composer
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoff-
mann spins a fantasy around the writer and a number of his works.
One of Hoffmann's stories, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
(1819), intrigued French writer Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870). Dumas
published a translated and freely adapted version of this story in
French. Dumas's "The Story of a Nutcracker" (1844) charmed the di-
rector of Russia's Imperial Ballet, who decided to commission a work
based on the story. He hired the French choreographer Marius Fetipa
and his Russian colleague Lev Ivanov to choreograph the dancing.
Fetipa and Ivanov outlined the stage action needed to tell the story.
Then they handed over a specific set of instructions to the composer
who had been commissioned to write the music for the ballet. Luckily
for future ballet lovers they selected Fyotr Tchaikovsky, who at that
time was already considered a rising star among Russia's composers.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Hoffmann's complicated and somewhat frightening tale can hardly
be recognized in today's productions of The Nutcracker. Petipa and
Ivanov presented The Nutcracker as a delightful children's fantasy.
The ballet companies that have performed The Nutcracker since then
have adjusted the story here and there as well.
The Story as Told in the Ballet
Basically, the tale unfolds as follows. The first act takes place at a
Christmas Eve party in Nuremberg, Germany. Many guests and
their children arrive at the home of the Stahlbaum family. While the
adults decorate the Christmas tree, the children play with toys. The
mysterious Drosselmeyer arrives bringing gifts for his godchildren,
Clara and Fritz Stahlbaum. Clara immediately falls in love with one
of the toys, a wooden nutcracker. When the careless Fritz takes pos-
session of the toy he breaks it, upsetting Clara greatly. The guests
depart and the children are sent to bed.
Shortly thereafter, Clara comes back to the drawing room to visit her
nutcracker. Clara finds herself reduced to the same size as the nut-
cracker and her brother's toy soldiers. Dozens of mice come out of
their holes and, led by their king, they attack the soldiers. The nut-
cracker rallies the toy soldiers against the mice. As the mouse king
and the nutcracker fight one another, Clara throws her shoe at the
mouse king, giving the nutcracker the chance to defeat him. The sol-
diers win, and the nutcracker turns into a prince. Out of gratitude for
her help, the nutcracker prince takes Clara on a journey to the King-
dom of Sweets. They pass through a flurry of dancing snowflakes as
they enter the magic kingdom.
In act two the citizens of the Kingdom of Sweets entertain Clara and
the nutcracker prince. Exotic foodstuffs, such as Arabian coffee and
Spanish hot chocolate, dance for them. Even flowers come to life
and begin to waltz. Finally, the queen of this enchanted kingdom,
the Sugarplum Fairy, dances with the nutcracker prince {see also
Sugarplums). Most versions of the ballet end with Clara returning
to her own world, while in others she remains in the Kingdom of the
Sweets.
574
The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky's Score
Although Tchaikovsky accepted the job of producing the musical
score for The Nutcracker, the task proved somewhat troublesome for
him. He began working on the score in the winter of 1891. His per-
sonality and life circumstances may have contributed to the difficulty
he experienced in composing the lighthearted music for the ballet.
Extremely sensitive by nature, he often fell into periods of deep
gloom. Several months before he began work on The Nutcracker, his
close friend and patron, Mrs. Nadezhda von Meek, abruptly severed
both their financial and personal relationships for no apparent rea-
son. This abandonment plunged Tchaikovsky into depression and
deeply shook his faith in human relationships. This recent event may
explain why the composer found himself uninspired by the task of
setting the sweet, simple fairy tale to music. Moreover, the rigid
framework given him by the choreographers, which specified the
character and exact length of many musical passages, restricted the
degree of creativity he could bring to the work.
Nevertheless, Tchaikovsky labored away at the project until two
great life events interrupted his progress. In March he left Russia for
the United States, where he had been engaged to conduct the con-
cert that was to open New York City's new music hall, known today
as Carnegie Hall. His journey to the United States took him through
Paris, France. There he learned that his sister Alexandra had died. In
a letter to his brother Modest, the composer confessed, "Today even
more than yesterday I feel the absolute impossibility of portraying
the 'sugar-plum fairy' in music."
After a successful sojourn in the United States his return trip to
Russia again took him through France. There he bought a newly
invented musical instrument called a celesta to take back with him
to Russia. Tchaikovsky would introduce Russian audiences to its
haunting xylophone -like tones in "The Dance of the Sugarplum
Fairy," one of the most famous passages from The Nutcracker. When
Tchaikovsky arrived in Russia in June he once again took up his
work on the score. In spite of all his efforts, he confided in a letter to
a friend that he thought The Nutcracker music far inferior to the
music he had composed for the ballet Sleeping Beauty.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Tchaikovsky's estimation of the value of The Nutcracker music gradu-
ally increased. He decided to write an orchestral suite based on the
ballet music. This time it took him only twelve days to complete the
work. "The Nutcracker Suite" premiered in March of 1892, before
the ballet had ever been performed. The audience loved the evoca-
tive melodies and requested several encores. Even today, "The
Nutcracker Suite" stands as one of Tchaikovsky's best-loved works.
First Performances
The first performance of The Nutcracker ballet took place on Decem-
ber 17, 1892, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The audience and critics react-
ed without enthusiasm. Some writers point out that audiences of
Tchaikovsky's time were not used to the idea of ballets being per-
formed to high-quality symphonic music. In fact, Tchaikovsky's three
great ballet scores — Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker
— raised the standard for ballet music, and opened the door for
other important composers to enter the field. Early audiences of The
Nutcracker may also have disliked the fact that children occupy cen-
ter stage for most of the first act, and that the serious dancing does
not really begin until the second act. Luckily for Tchaikovsky, how-
ever. Tsar Alexander III of Russia liked the ballet. With the Tsar's nod
of approval. The Nutcracker became a standard work in the world of
Russian ballet. Outside of Russia, however, the ballet remained un-
known for many years.
At the height of his career, less than a year after the premiere of
The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky was dead. In the fall of 1893 a Russian
nobleman, who had discovered that his nephew had an affair with
the composer, threatened to expose Tchaikovsky as a homosexual.
Alarmed by this development, a number of Tchaikovsky's associates
and former college classmates met to decide the composer's fate.
This so-called "court of honor" ruled that Tchaikovsky should com-
mit suicide in order to protect his, and, by extension, their reputa-
tions. Tchaikovsky had long feared the scandal and complete social
shunning that would engulf him and his family if the public discov-
ered his sexual orientation. When the great composer was found
dead two days later, his associates circulated the story that he had
died from cholera contracted from drinking a glass of unboiled water
at a restaurant during an epidemic of the disease.
576
The Nutcracker
International Fame
The first performance of The Nutcracker in the West took place in
London in 1934. In 1944 the San Francisco Ballet became the first
American company to present the ballet. In 1954 the New York City
Ballet added the work to their repertoire. Since that time The Nut-
cracker has become a December favorite for many dance companies.
The work naturally attached itself to the Christmas season, since all
the action in the story takes place on Christmas Eve. The story's
magical elements offer ballet companies the opportunity to enter-
tain their audiences not only with wonderful music and dancing, but
also with fabulous costumes and fantastic special effects. The razzle-
dazzle appeals to children as well as adults. In fact, many parents
bring children to see The Nutcracker as a special holiday treat. Due to
its popularity with audiences, the ballet has become a relied-upon
money-maker for many ballet companies. Box-office receipts from
its performances must often finance a good portion of a company's
season.
Further Reading
Brinson, Peter, and Clement Crisp. The International Book of Ballet. New
York: Stein and Day, 1971.
Brown, David, Gerald Abraham, David Lloyd-Jones, and Edward Garden.
"Tchaikovsky." In TJte New Grove Russian Maste/s. Volume 1. New York:
W.W.Norton, 1986.
Buxton, David, and Sue Lyon, eds. Pyotr Tchaikovsky .Volume 3 of The Great
Composers, Their Lives and Times. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1987.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y: Doubleday, 1979.
Lehane, Brendan. The Book of Christmas. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books,
1986.
Reynolds, Nancy, and Susan Reimer-Torn. Dance Classics. Chicago: A Cap-
pella Books, 1991.
Terry, Walter. Ballet Guide. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1976.
Watson, Marjorie R. The Fairy Tales of Hoffmann. New York: E. P. Dutton and
Company, 1960.
Weinstock, Herbert. Tchaikovsky. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959.
577
oldcfirhtmas Bay
When Pope Gregory XIII established the Gregorian calendar in
1582, he ushered in an era in which the people of Europe disagreed
on what day it was. As a result, they celebrated Christmas on differ-
ent days. Before the Gregorian reform Europe had adhered to the
Julian calendar, which was a full ten days behind the newly institut-
ed Gregorian calendar. Some nations and churches refused to adopt
the Gregorian reforms. In these lands people continued to celebrate
Christmas on December 25, but did so according to the Julian cal-
endar. Their celebrations fell on January 5 according to the new
Gregorian calendar. In past eras the English sometimes referred to
January 5 or 6 as "Old Christmas Day."
Calendar Confusion
By the sixteenth century many learned Europeans realized that there
was something seriously wrong with their calendar system. The cal-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
endar in use at that time was called the Julian calendar, named after
the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (100 B.C. -44 B.C.), who authorized
its adoption in 46 B.C. A small but important error marred this calen-
dar system. The astronomers who designed the Julian calendar cal-
culated the solar year to be 365.25 days long. In fact, it takes the
earth 365.2422 days to complete its orbit around the sun. While this
difference only amounts to 11 minutes and 14 seconds every year,
each passing year compounded the error, increasing the gap be-
tween the dates on the Julian calendar and the astronomical events
and seasonal changes of the solar year. For example, in 45 B.C. spring
equinox fell on March 25 {see also Annunciation). By the time the
Council of Nicea met in 325 a.d. to determine the date of Easter,
spring equinox was falling on March 21.
As the centuries passed scholars debated the calendar problem,
although nothing was done to correct it until the sixteenth century. In
1545 the Council of Trent empowered Pope Paul III to propose a solu-
tion to the dilemma. Investigators labored on the problem for forty
years, until a Jesuit astronomer named Christoph Clavius submitted a
viable program of calendar reform to Pope Gregory XIII. In 1582 Pope
Gregory XIII officially adopted Clavius's proposed reforms, resulting
in a new calendar system known as the Gregorian calendar.
The researchers who devised the Gregorian calendar knew the true
length of the solar year and based the new calendar around it. In order
to correct the errors that had compounded over the years from the use
of the Julian calendar system. Pope Gregory XIII decreed that ten days
be eliminated from the calendar year of 1582. Thus, in that year
October 5 was followed by October 15 in all lands that had adopted
the new calendar. This brought the spring equinox back to March 21,
the date on which it had occurred at the time of the Council of Nicea.
Medieval calendar systems had also been plagued by the fact that the
nations of Europe began their new year on different dates. The
Gregorian calendar also declared January 1 to be New Year's Day in
an attempt to standardize the beginning of the European year.
Resistance to Reform
Although scholars agreed that the Julian calendar system was flawed,
many European nations resisted the changes proposed by the Gre-
580
Old Christmas Day
gorian calendar. Religious controversies fueled this resistance. The
Roman Catholic nations of Italy, France, Luxembourg, Spain, and
Portugal switched to the new calendar system in the same year it
was announced. Many Protestant nations hesitated to adopt the cal-
endar for fear of seeming to accept the authority of the Pope. In
addition, much of Orthodox eastern Europe viewed the proposed
changes as out of step with their religious traditions. This meant that
at the close of the sixteenth century, the nations that did adopt the
Gregorian reforms were fully ten days ahead of those that did not.
Europe Adopts the New Calendar
By 1584 most of the Roman Catholic German states had adopted
the calendar, along with Belgium and parts of the Netherlands.
Hungary switched to the new calendar in 1587. Switzerland began
making the changes in 1583 and completed them 229 years later, in
1812. More than one hundred years passed before the Protestant
nations began to adopt the Gregorian calendar. Denmark and the
German Protestant states did so around the year 1700. In 1752 Great
Britain and her colonies converted to the Gregorian calendar sys-
tem. Sweden followed suit in 1753. Japan joined the Gregorian sys-
tem in 1873, and Egypt in 1875. Between the years 1912 and 1917
many of the eastern European states switched to the Gregorian calen-
dar system, including Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Romania, and the former Yugoslavia. China also embraced the Gre-
gorian system during those years. Russia joined the club in 1918,
just after the Revolution. Greece held out until the early 1920s, the
last major European nation to adopt the sixteenth-century reforms.
Christmas Controversy
At the time of its creation, the ten-day gap between the new Gre-
gorian calendar and the old Julian calendar created a situation in
which the peoples of Europe celebrated Christmas on different days.
By the time England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, the gap
had crept up to eleven days. With the stroke of a pen English legisla-
tors ordered that September 2, 1752, be followed by September 14,
1752.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Many ordinary people defied this change, fearful that it would
adversely affect their livelihood in some way. Although many writers
have reported that resistance to the new calendar took the form of
riots and slogans, such as "Give us back our eleven days," recent
research has failed to find convincing evidence of these events.
Instead, it appears that people resisted the change in less dramatic,
more personal ways. Some refused to celebrate the feast days on the
new Gregorian schedule and clung instead to the old dates, now
known by different names {see also Glastonbury Thorn). For exam-
ple, under the Gregorian reform the day that had been December 25
instantly became January 5. Many called January 5 "Old Christmas
Day" or Christmas Day "Old Style." Correspondingly, December 25
was known as Christmas Day "New Style." By the nineteenth centu-
ry Old Christmas Day had crept a day further away from the Gre-
gorian calendar, falling on January 6, Epiphany. As the Julian calen-
dar continued to drift away from the Gregorian calendar throughout
the twentieth century. Old Christmas Day shifted yet another day
forward in the Gregorian calendar, falling on January 7.
Some branches of the Orthodox Church have never accepted the
Gregorian calendar. Their festival dates are still set according to the
Julian calendar. Therefore, they observe Christian festivals on differ-
ent dates than do most Western Christians. In Russia, for example.
Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas on January 7. Orthodox
Ethiopians and Egyptians also observe Christmas on January 7. {See
also Ethiopia, Christmas in.)
Further Reading
Bellenir, Karen, ed. Religious Holidays and Calendars. Second edition. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Poole, Robert. "'Give Us Back Our Eleven Days'." Past and Present 149 (No-
vember 1995): 95-140.
%i
582
Ornaments
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Ornaments
Snow-covered evergreens standing in the woods are merely trees.
Once decorated, they become Christmas trees. Over the centuries
people have adorned their Christmas trees with many different kinds
of objects. The very earliest ornaments tended to recall the religious
significance of the holiday. At one point people decorated their
Christmas trees with good things to eat and gifts for one another. In
more recent times Christmas ornaments have served primarily as
pretty decorations for the tree.
Earliest Ornaments
The earliest known Christmas tree ornaments were apples. Medieval
actors used them to decorate the paradise tree, the central prop of
the paradise play, a medieval European mystery play often per-
formed on December 24 {see also Nativity Play). The apples repre-
sented the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Later, unconsecrated communion wafers were added to the tree,
representing the salvation offered to humankind by Jesus Christ.
Cherries might also hang from the tree in honor of the Virgin Mary
(see also Cherry Tree). Although these town-square dramas eventu-
ally fell out of favor with the populace, some writers suspect that
people in parts of France and Germany kept the custom of celebrat-
ing Christmas with a decorated fir tree, which eventually became
known as a Christmas tree.
The first detailed description of a decorated Christmas tree in some-
one's home dates back to 1605 and comes from Strasbourg, Ger-
many. According to this account, early seventeenth-century Germans
festooned their Christmas trees with roses made out of colored
paper, apples, wafers, and decorations made of shiny bits of gold foil
or sugar. Indeed, a wide variety of ornaments made from food dan-
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gled from early German Christmas trees. The Germans hung gilded
nuts on their trees, and later, cookies. They shaped these cookies in
the form of hearts, angels, bells, and stars {see also Star of Beth-
lehem). Fruits and vegetables molded out of marzipan and colored
with vegetable dyes soon followed. Some people made ornaments
out of eggshells, transforming them, for example, into tiny baskets
which could be filled with candy. In fact, the traditional German
Christmas tree was covered with so many good things to eat that it
was nicknamed a "sugar tree." Children looked forward to disman-
tling the tree on January 6, Epiphany, because they were then al-
lowed to gobble up all the treats that had tempted them throughout
the Christmas season.
Early Nineteenth-Century Ornaments
German immigrants brought their tree-decorating ideas with them
to the United States. Like their ancestors in the old country, the
Pennsylvania Dutch covered their Christmas trees with apples, nuts,
and cookies. Some of them had brought elaborately carved wooden
cookie molds with them from Germany. Others devised new tin
cookie cutters to transform their dough into birds, animals, flowers,
and other fanciful shapes.
As other Americans adopted the Christmas tree in the nineteenth
century, they continued the German tradition of decorating it with
good things to eat {see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-
Century). With a needle and thread they created long strings of
cranberries and popcorn to drape over its branches, thereby adding
two native American plant products to the decorated tree. They also
created cornucopias, small cone- or horn-shaped containers filled
with hard candies, and dangled them from the tree. Some stuffed
lace bags with tiny treats and hung these as ornaments. Lucky chil-
dren might also find sugarplums tucked among the branches of the
tree. Candy canes, too, whose shape recalled shepherds' crooks,
might swing from the branches of the nineteenth-century tree.
Inventive women also fashioned ornaments out of strings of beads,
ribbons, gilt paper, and lace.
In addition, many Americans adopted the German custom of hang-
ing gifts for children on the branches of the Christmas tree. This
worked because parents gave their children lightweight, unwrapped
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Ornaments
trinkets rather than heavy, boxed gifts throughout most of the nine-
teenth-century {see also Commercialism; Wrapping Paper). Some
families, however, preferred to hang stockings by the fireplace as
receptacles for gifts. As people began to give each other heavier gifts,
they shifted them to the space beneath the Christmas tree.
Covered with cookies and candies, studded with nuts, gilded with
glittering candles, and trimmed with trinkets of all sorts, the nine-
teenth-century Christmas tree dazzled children and adults alike. In
his short story "A Christmas Tree" (1850), English author Charles
Dickens (1812-1870) captured the allure of the bountifully decorated
tree of his era in the following lines:
I have been looking, this evening, at a merry company of chil-
dren assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas
tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table,
and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted
by a multitude of little tapers; and everywhere sparkled and
glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls,
hiding behind green leaves; and there were real watches
(with movable hands, at least, and an endless capacity of
being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs; there
were French polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes,
eight-day clocks, and various other articles of domestic furni-
ture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolverhampton), perched
among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy house-
keeping; there were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more
agreeable in appearance than many real men — and no won-
der, for their head took off, and showed them to be full of
sugarplums; there were fiddles and drums; there were tam-
bourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat-boxes,
peepshow-boxes, and all kinds of boxes; there were trinkets
for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and
jewels; there were baskets and pin cushions in all devices;
there were guns, swords and banners; there were witches
standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes;
there were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-
wipers, smelling-bottles, conversation- cards, bouquet-hold-
ers; real fruit, made artificially dazzling with gold leaf; imita-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
tion apples, pears, walnuts, crammed with surprises; in short,
as a pretty child, before me, delightedly whispered to another
pretty child, her bosom friend, "There was everything, and
more."
Dickens's enticing description leaves little room to wonder why the
decorated Christmas tree soon became the focus of family Christmas
celebrations.
Commercial Ornaments
Sometime around 1870 a new fad in Christmas tree decorations
began. Instead of decorating the tree with gifts and things to eat,
people began to buy commercially made decorations designed sole-
ly for use as ornaments. Most of these early commercial ornaments
came from Germany.
Early German designers fashioned novel ornaments out of tin and
wax. In the city of Dresden, artisans specialized in making ornaments
out of embossed and painted cardboard. Only some of their designs
featured Christmas symbols. They also crafted numerous orna-
ments shaped like fish, birds, ordinary and exotic animals, or recent
inventions, such as the steamship and the motor car. In 1878 artisans
from Nuremberg devised thin strips of silver foil that could be strewn
over the tree's branches like icicles. They called the thin strips engel-
shaar, which means "angels' hair," but we know them today as "tin-
sel." German printers also adopted recently invented color-printing
techniques to turn out thousands of color illustrations of Christmas
themes. Popular designs included angels, St. Nicholas, and the
Weihnachtsmann. People collected especially pretty images and be-
gan to use them to ornament their Christmas trees and, sometimes,
even to decorate their Christmas cookies {see also Christmas Cake).
Glass Ornaments
The blown-glass ornaments that began to pour out of Lauscha,
Germany, in the 1870s were the ones that really caught the public's
fancy, however. Lauscha had been a center of German glassmaking
for centuries. In the second half of the nineteenth century some of
its artisans discovered that they could blow decorative shapes out of
glass to adorn Christmas trees. Demand was so high that the entire
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Ornaments
town was quickly drawn into the ornament industry. Whole families
worked side by side, with the adult men molding the glass, the adult
women silvering and painting the ornaments, and children breaking
the glass stems and attaching metal caps. Soon, buyers representing
major American stores, such as F. W. Woolworth, were making trips
to Lauscha to snap up these unique Christmas decorations.
These early buyers chose their stock from a profusion of glass ap-
ples, pears, pinecones, and icicles. As the market for their products
expanded, the glassblowers began to diversify their output into a
dizzying range of shapes. Soon buyers could choose between a myr-
iad of vegetable shapes, including pickles, carrots and corn, angels,
the Weihnachtsmann, St. Nicholas, cartoon characters, hot air bal-
loons, Zeppelins, fish, dogs, clowns, birds, trumpets, drums, violins,
bells, hearts, houses, churches, and more. A great deal of handcraft-
ing went into many of these early glass ornaments. Some artisans,
for example, took the trouble to insert tiny whistles into the stems of
their trumpet ornaments, so that they could sound a single note.
Americans could not get enough of these German novelties.
Although World War I disrupted production in Germany and cut off
America's supply, the ornament trade resumed in the post-war
years. World War II, however, struck the German industry a blow
from which it would never recover. Not only was Germany devastat-
ed by the war, but the town of Lauscha fell within the territory
turned over to the Soviets afterwards, becoming part of East Ger-
many. The Communist government frowned upon trade with the
United States and the other Western nations. This policy severely
limited the artisans' access to the once-worldwide market for Laus-
cha's goods. In addition, many children of glassblowers abandoned
this sweaty, labor-intensive trade after the war.
During World War II the Corning Glass Company began to produce
ornaments in the United States. Corning replaced the glassblowers
with glass-blowing machines, however. Although the machines
turned out uniform, round balls rather than the dazzling variety of
shapes produced by the German artisans, a machine could produce
in a minute the same number of ornaments it took a German glass-
blower all day to produce. Today, Corning still makes most of the
ornaments produced in the United States.
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Ethnic Ornaments
Just as Christmas symbols vary from country to country so do typical
Christmas ornaments. Some of these ornaments may strike Ameri-
cans as quite unusual. For example, in the Ukraine, spiders and their
webs dangle from the traditional tree. These symbols come from an
old legend that tells of a poor woman who had no ornaments to
hang on her tree on Christmas Eve. The next morning, however, the
family awoke to see shining silver spider webs floating between the
branches. A friendly spider had decorated the tree for the poor fami-
ly. In the Scandinavian countries one might find straw goats hanging
from the tree {see also Yule Goat). The Danes favor red and white
hearts and strings of miniature red-and-white Danish flags {see also
Denmark, Christmas in).
Lighting the Tree
The earliest description of an illuminated tree comes from southern
Germany in the year 1660. The light was provided by candles. Since
candles were relatively expensive in those days, humble folk often
had to make do with devices such as miniature wicks floating in
walnut shells filled with oil.
Most of our early accounts of illuminated trees date from the nine-
teenth century, when the Christmas tree was becoming popular in
Britain and the United States. By the second half of the nineteenth
century, candles had become an expected ornament on the Ameri-
can Christmas tree. People found the spell of the candle-covered
tree nearly irresistible, in spite of the dangers it posed. The candles
not only threatened to set the tree itself on fire, but also could con-
sume flammable ornaments or ignite the clothing of anyone who
brushed by them. Newspaper advice columns cautioned families to
designate at least one person to keep a watchful eye on the lit tree at
all times and to have a bucket or wet sponge handy to extinguish
any accidental fire. Often the tree was lit for the first time on Christ-
mas Eve. Excited children fidgeted outside the parlor doors while
their parents painstakingly placed and lit the candles. Some were
told that Santa Claus not only left the gifts but also decorated the
tree. The magical sight of the glowing, gift-bestrewn tree enchanted
children and adults alike.
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Ornaments
In spite of the yearly newspaper reports of Christmas tree fire trag-
edies, people continued to illuminate their trees with candles. So
great was the desire for a safe, illuminated tree that in 1882, only
three years after inventor Thomas Edison gave the world the first
electric light, one of his associates figured out how to use the new
invention to light up a Christmas tree. The new electric tree soon
became a fashionable Christmas toy for the rich, who could afford to
hire an electrician to come to their homes and wire the tree by hand.
In 1895 electric lights appeared on the White House Christmas tree
at the request of President Grover Cleveland.
In 1903 the Ever-Ready Company of New York brought electric
Christmas tree lights nearer the reach of ordinary people by devising
the first string of ready-made lights. Problems remained, however.
Not only were these strings heavier than today's lights, but each
light was connected to the next by "series" wiring. This meant that
when one bulb burned out, the whole string refused to light. In ad-
dition, during the first decades of the twentieth century, many Amer-
ican homes still did not have electricity. Gradually, electricity spread
throughout the country and the price of the strings of electric lights
came down. Only after World War II did "parallel" wiring come into
widespread use. In this wiring system the failure of one bulb did not
affect the others. Tiny "midget" lights achieved widespread popular-
ity in the 1970s.
Further Reading
Foley, Daniel J. The Christmas Tree. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company, 1960.
Metcalfe, Edna. The Trees of Christmas. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1969.
Snyder, Phillip V. The Christmas Tree Book. New York: Viking Press, 1976.
Sterbenz, Carol Endler, and Nancy Johnson. The Decorated Tree. New York:
Harry N.Abrams, 1982.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
The Time-Life Book of Christmas. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987.
589
Vantomime
In England many families celebrate Christmas by attending a pan-
tomime show. Although in the United States the word "pantomime"
refers to dramas enacted without dialogue, the word has a different
meaning in Britain. There, a pantomime show combines dialogue,
music, dance, acrobatics, slapstick humor, colorful costumes, and
special effects around the enactment of a simple story, often a fairy
tale. Pantomime brings a bit of the circus to the theater, as the em-
phasis is on amusing the audience with as many flashy diversions as
possible rather than telling the story in an economical way. While
children enjoy the spectacle, adults are amused by the innuendo,
camp humor, and satire laced throughout the performance.
Pantomime traces its roots back to the ancient world, although
much more recent theater traditions have influenced it as well. Its
ancestors include Roman and Greek mime traditions. Renaissance
improvisational comedy, and musical theater.
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Ancient Pantomime
The English word "pantomime" comes from the ancient Greek
words for "all" (panto) and "mimic" (mimos). The ancient Romans
were especially fond of pantomimes. Roman mimes used masks to
distinguish various characters and were often aided by a chorus,
which chanted the story, as well as by musical accompaniment. By
the end of the fourth century Christianity had become politically
powerful in the Mediterranean world. Church and state officials be-
gan to speak out against pantomime and other forms of theater,
arguing that its actors portrayed and promoted immoral and inde-
cent activities. This attitude of condemnation continued through the
Middle Ages. Mimes and other actors faced excommunication for
their participation in the kinds of drama frowned upon by the
Church. Nevertheless, many forms of folk drama persisted through-
out this period, including some associated with the Christmas sea-
son, such as mumming, and Christmas time mystery or miracle
plays, folk dramas depicting events related to the birth of Jesus {see
also Nativity Play).
Commedia Dell' Arte
In the sixteenth century commedia dell'arte, a kind of improvised
burlesque comedy, began to re-popularize elements of pantomime
in Italy. Although the plots varied, these dramas revolved around
the interactions of a number of standard characters. These characters
included Pantalone (or Pantaloon), a lecherous, scheming business-
man, and Graziano, a pompous professor. Other important roles
were filled by the zanni, or "servant" characters. These included Ar-
lecchino (or Harlequin), a scamp; Colombina (or Colombine), a sim-
ple young woman; and Pucinella (or Punch), a slow-witted, hunch-
backed fool. The madcap antics of these servants gave rise to the
English word "zany." In commedia dell'arte actors expressed them-
selves with exaggerated gestures, masks, miming, dancing, music,
and tumbling, in addition to dialogue. Because it did not rely heavily
on language to communicate, commedia dell'arte crossed bound-
aries easily. It became popular throughout Europe in the sixteenth
through eighteenth centuries.
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Pantomime
British Harlequinade
Nineteenth-century British pantomime evolved from eighteenth-
century commedia dell'arte influences. John Weaver of London's
Drury Lane Theatre introduced a new kind of entertainment he
called a pantomime in 1702. Weaver's pantomime placed commedia
dell'arte characters such as Harlequin and Colombine in the midst
of ancient myths enacted through song, dance, and mime. In 1717
John Rich, inspired by Weaver's success, presented a short funny
scene between the acts of a regular play at Lincoln's Inn Fields
Theatre. This scene featured the courtship of Harlequin and Colom-
bine and was told in mime.
This addition to the regular bill of fare at the theater proved wildly
popular, and before long other commedia dell'arte characters were
introduced, such as Punch and Pantaloon. Although these additional
characters spoke dialogue, the romance between Harlequin and
Colombine continued to be presented in mime. These entertain-
ments always starred the roguish Harlequin, and so they became
known as harlequinade. Like commedia dell'arte, harlequinade com-
bined music, dance, acrobatics, mime, and dialogue to create a comic,
burlesque spectacle. It also added special effects (such as characters
disappearing through trapdoors) and lavish costuming, which daz-
zled and delighted audiences.
The Birth of British Pantomime
In the early nineteenth century British harlequinade evolved into the
art form now known as pantomime. Pantomime flourished as the
century progressed, while harlequinade faded, disappearing some-
time in the early twentieth century. Pantomime treated spectators to
the same kind of circus atmosphere as did harlequinade, but differed
in a number of important ways. In pantomime the role of the clown
grew to be larger and more important than that of Harlequin.
In the latter half of the century pantomime shed the commedia del-
l'arte characters of Harlequin, Colombine, and Pantaloon, and gravi-
tated toward the retelling of fairy tales, myths, and fables. A loose-
knit plot based around one of these stories held the various elements
of the pantomime together as the extravagant spectacle surged back
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and forth across the stage. Unlike its predecessor, pantomime as-
signed all characters dialogue. By the 1820s women were being cast
in the role of the principal boy, an innovation that tickled the the-
ater-going public. This innovation slowly developed into a tradition
whereby the young male lover was played by a woman and the
dame, a comical older woman, was played by a man. Finally, where-
as harlequinade had always been a diversion from or addition to the
main attraction, pantomime developed into an attraction in and of
itself.
In the 1830s and 1840s pantomime attached itself to the Christmas
season {see also Victorian England, Christmas in). It was deemed a
suitable family activity, since the fairy tale themes enchanted chil-
dren, and the spicy dialogue, which children failed to understand,
amused adults. Pantomimes generally opened on Boxing Day, De-
cember 26, and the public flocked to theaters to see them during the
Twelve Days of Christmas. In some places, pantomimes proved so
popular they ran until March. Although pantomime found favor
with the general public, many literary and other intellectual figures
disdained it as a vulgar and disorderly display.
Christmas Themes
Some writers have commented on the underlying similarities be-
tween pantomime and other Christmas entertainments that featured
unruly behavior under the cover of masks and disguises. Examples
of these entertainments include belsnickeling {see Knecht Ruprecht),
the customs associated with Germany's Knocking Nights, the
Feast of Fools, Feast of the Ass; masques, mumming. Plough
Monday customs, and Twelfth Night celebrations {see also Kalends
and Zagmuk). By the time pantomime became popular in Great
Britain, however, most of these practices had died out.
Although pantomime sprang from a different set of cultural and his-
torical roots than did these earlier customs, it seems to represent a
perennial return to the theme of celebrating midwinter with cos-
tumed revelry. One important distinction remains. While ordinary
people banded together to carry out these earlier forms of folk
entertainment, pantomime was produced by professionals. Conse-
quently, while the earlier revels often took place in the streets or in
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Pantomime
private homes, pantomimes, offered to the public as a product for
sale, could only be experienced in private theaters.
Established Tradition
Many believe that the heyday of pantomime occurred during the
Victorian era. Indeed, the nineteenth century produced a number of
pantomime stars including Joey Grimaldi, the celebrated clown of
the early 1800s, and Dan Leno, the famous dame of the late 1800s.
Nevertheless, during the twentieth century the British public contin-
ued to crowd the theaters that hosted pantomimes during the Christ-
mas season. Although in the past many pantomimes premiered on
Boxing Day, today the pantomime season runs from mid-December
to mid-January. Moreover, while theater attendance throughout
Britain continues to sag, pantomime brings in such large audiences
that many theaters rely on box-office takings from these perfor-
mances to substantially boost yearly revenues.
Further Reading
Baxter, Beverley. "Two Thousand Years of Pantomime." In Harry Ballam and
Phyllis Dibgy Morton, eds. The Christmas Book. 1947. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Chambers, Robert. "December 26 — Christmas Pantomimes." In his The
Book of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapUnger, 1977.
"Pantomime." In Phyllis HartnoU, ed. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre.
Fourth edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Walsh, William S. The Story of Santa Klaus. 1909. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1991.
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Varadise Tree
Christbaum
Few people today would recognize a fir tree decorated only with red
apples and white, circular wafers as a paradise tree. The paradise tree
developed as a prop for the paradise play, a medieval European mys-
tery play performed around Christmas time. Indeed, with its early
historical connection to the Christmas season, the paradise tree
may well have been the forerunner of the Christmas tree.
Mystery Plays
In medieval western Europe, mystery or miracle plays taught bibli-
cal stories and Christian ideas to a largely illiterate populace {see also
Nativity Play). At first, only clergy acted in these plays, which were
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Paradise Tree
spoken in Latin and presented inside churches. As audiences grew,
performances were moved to the front steps of the church or to
large open plazas. With this movement out of sacred space, lay peo-
ple began to take part in the plays, and the dialogue slipped into
local languages. What's more, frivolous, humorous, and ribald inci-
dents were added to the basic plot. Church officials frowned on
these changes, but the plays only increased in popularity. Small
groups of actors traveled from town to town satisfying the popular
demand for this form of entertainment.
Paradise Play
Mystery plays often rooted themselves in the seasons and feast days
of the Church calendar. The paradise play, which recounted the story
of Adam and Eve, attached itself to the Advent season. Although
the play featured the story of the Creation and the disobedience of
Adam and Eve, it closed with the promise of the coming of a Savior.
This made it appropriate for the celebration of Advent and Christ-
mas. Moreover, the medieval Church declared December 24 the
feast day of Adam and Eve. Around the twelfth century this date
became the traditional one for the performance of the paradise play.
Paradise Tree
The paradise tree served as the central prop for the paradise play. It
represented the two important trees of the Garden of Eden: the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Originally,
only apples adorned the paradise tree. These symbolized the fall of
humanity described in the Adam and Eve story. Perhaps because
most other trees were barren and lifeless during December, the
actors chose to hang the apples from an evergreen tree rather than
from an apple tree. In the fifteenth century round, white communion
wafers were added to the paradise tree. These wafers stood for the
promise of reconciliation with God made possible through Jesus
Christ. Sometimes cherries also served as tree ornaments, symbol-
izing faith and reminding audiences of Mary and the Annunciation
{see also Cherry Tree). A circle of lit candles usually surrounded the
paradise tree during performances. The play was performed within
this circle.
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Church authorities banned miracle plays in the fifteenth century, but
these popular plays continued to be performed for at least another
century. Before disappearing completely they bequeathed the cus-
tom of the paradise tree to the peoples of France and the Rhine
River region of Germany. Some Germans adopted a new name for
the tree, calling it a Christbaum, or "Christ tree." Over time white
pastry dough ornaments cut into the shape of hearts, angels, stars,
and bells replaced the communion wafers. Ornaments representing
humans, lions, dogs, birds, and other animals were made out of
brown dough. Blooming paper roses might also embellish the tree, a
symbol of the birth of Jesus {see also Christmas Rose; Christmas
Symbols). During the nineteenth century some German people still
put figurines representing Adam, Eve, and the serpent under their
trees at Christmas time. In some sections of Bavaria the Christmas
evergreen, decorated with lights, apples and tinsel, is still called a
paradise tree.
Further Reading
Metcalfe, Edna. The Trees of Christmas. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press,
1969.
Sterbenz, Carol Endler, and Nancy Johnson. The Decorated Tree. New York:
Harry N.Abrams, 1982.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
^
Pastores^ Los
La Pastorela
Los pastores (pronounced lobs pah-STOH-rays) means "the shep-
herds" in Spanish. This is the name given to a Mexican folk drama
that tells the story of the shepherds' pilgrimage to the newborn
Christ child. The play is also referred to as La Pastorela, which means
"the pastoral" or "the country story" in Spanish. Performances of
this play usually take place in mid to late December.
598
Pastores, Los
The Gospel according to Luke (2:8-20) states that an angel an-
nounced Jesus' birth to a group of shepherds and encouraged them
to make a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The shepherds went to Beth-
lehem and found the Christ child, confirming the words of the angel.
The story told in Los Pastores is loosely based on this Bible passage.
History
The roots of the Shepherds' Play can be traced back to the mystery or
miracle plays of medieval Europe {see also Nativity Play). These
plays began as brief interludes during church services in which the
clergy enacted simple versions of Bible stories and religious doc-
trines. These liturgical dramas began sometime around the tenth and
eleventh centuries. The clergy used them to teach elements of the
Christian religion to a largely illiterate population. The plays proved
popular and, eventually, folk performers began to stage them in pub-
lic arenas. Many changes accompanied this shift. The new folk dra-
mas embroidered the original plots, adding humorous and racy dia-
logue, characters, and events. These innovations caused the Church
to ban these performances in the fifteenth century.
Many of these plays dealt with the stories behind the Christian holi-
days and were performed on those days. The Shepherds' Play was
one of a number of stories enacted at Christmas time. During the fif-
teenth century several Spanish authors developed elaborate written
versions of The Shepherds' Play, or Los Pastores. These plays fea-
tured coarse and comical shepherds who entertained audiences by
responding to the great events surrounding the Nativity with fear,
greed, and confusion. In fact, the amusing antics of the shepherds
nearly eclipsed the solemn story of the Nativity.
In the sixteenth century Spanish missionaries came to Mexico to con-
vert the native peoples to Christianity. The Native Americans not
only came from very different cultural backgrounds than did the
Spanish, but also spoke very different languages. In order to bridge
this gap the missionaries decided to use mystery plays to teach them
Bible stories. They introduced Los Pastores sometime during the six-
teenth century.
Like the mystery plays of medieval Europe, Los Pastores eventually
passed from the hands of the clergy and the church grounds to the
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
hands of the people and the public plaza. This transition produced
similar results. Although the basic outline of the story remained the
same, the play continued to evolve along the same lines it had fol-
lowed in Europe. Over time new characters and events were added
to the play. The drama evolved into a comedy in which the Devil
tries to distract the dull-witted shepherds from their quest and heav-
en's angels intercede to keep the oafish pilgrims on course.
Plot and Characters
Although the plots may vary somewhat according to local traditions,
a number of main characters appear in every version of the play. The
starring roles go to the shepherds. They are portrayed as lazy, thick-
headed, and easily distracted from their quest by opportunities to
eat, sleep, or flirt. In fact, these less-than-heroic shepherds must be
coaxed and even argued into setting out on their pilgrimage. At
some point they encounter an elderly though spunky hermit. The
hermit helps keep the shepherds on their course and entertains the
audience with his sharp tongue. A scheming DevU appears through-
out the play, sometimes disguised to fool the shepherds and some-
times in a traditional red costume complete with horns and a tail. He
and his minions attempt to lure the shepherds away from their pil-
grimage by appealing to all their weaknesses.
Often, the play also includes the angel Gabriel, who announces Je-
sus' birth to the shepherds, and the archangel Michael, who descends
from heaven to protect the shepherds from the Devil's temptations.
Sometimes a host of angels must battle a squadron of devils in order
to protect the boorish travelers. At last, however, the shepherds arrive
in Bethlehem and present their gifts to the Holy Family. The play
ends with the Devil conceding defeat.
Performances
Local townspeople, schools, and even semi-professional acting
groups present versions of Los Pastores. The drama is usually staged
in some public place, like a plaza or a church, but may also be pre-
sented at someone's home. It may last anywhere from half an hour
to several hours. Actors use dialogue, song, dance, verse, costume,
and melodramatics to convey the story.
600
Pastores, Los
This Mexican folk drama may be found in numerous towns and
cities in the United States, especially in areas where many Mexican
Americans live, such as the southwestern states. Some American
folklorists point out, however, that fewer and fewer folk perfor-
mances are given each year. Instead, the tradition is being carried on
by professional and semi-professional actors. The city of San An-
tonio, Texas, at one point hosted dozens of amateur troupes dedicat-
ed to the presentation of Los Pastores. Today only one amateur group
remains, bringing about twenty performances a year to churches,
missions, or people's backyards between Christmas Eve and Candle-
mas, February 2. In addition, the San Antonio Conservation Society
presents the public with a more formal, professional version of the
play each year at the city's San Jose Mission.
Further Reading
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
Christmas in the American Southwest. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Cohen, Hennig, and Tristram Potter Coffin, eds. The Folklore of American
Holidays. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1987.
Flores, Richard R. Los Pastores, History and Performance in the Mexican Shep-
herd's Play of South Texas. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
Press, 1995.
Milne, Jean. Fiesta Time in Latin America. Los Angeles, Calif.: Ward Ritchie
Press, 1965.
Ribera Ortega, Pedro. Christmas in Old Santa Fe. Second edition. Santa Fe,
N.M.: Sunstone Press, 1973.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Peace of ct^ristmas
The city of Turku, Finland, claims to be the only place in Scandinavia
that has observed the old Scandinavian tradition of declaring the
"Peace of Christmas" from medieval times to the present. Each year
around noon on December 24 a crowd gathers in Old Square, the
former center of city government. After the clock of the nearby Turku
cathedral strikes twelve they sing "A Safe Stronghold Is Our God,"
an old hymn by Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546).
Then, from a balcony overlooking the square, the city clerk reads the
words of an old document in Finnish and Swedish, thus signaling
the start of the Peace of Christmas. The proclamation advises people
to attend to their devotions and behave peacefully towards one
another. The document also warns that anyone who violates the
Peace of Christmas will answer to the law. The declaration ends by
wishing the assembled crowd a Merry Christmas. Afterwards the
crowd sings the Finnish national anthem. Both Finnish and Swedish
television stations broadcast the event.
The city of Turku, which has declared itself Finland's "Christmas
city," hosts another important peace event during the Christmas
season. Each year bishops from four denominations make an ecu-
menical appeal for world peace in a special service held in Turku's
cathedral. The bishops represent the Evangelical-Lutheran Church
of Finland, the Orthodox Church of Karelia and Finland, the Roman
Catholic Church of Finland, and the Methodist Church of Northern
Europe. The bishops' appeal is taped and broadcast along with the
declaration of the Peace of Christmas.
In past times people took the Peace of Christmas quite seriously. In
old Norway the Peace of Christmas began on St. Thomas's Day,
December 21. So strong was the desire for harmony that appointed
guards roved the towns to insure that peace reigned throughout the
season. The penalties for violent crimes doubled during this period,
adding extra incentive to comply with the seasonal declaration of
peace.
602
Philippines, Christmas in the
Further Reading
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Noiway Past and Present. Oslo, Norway: Johan
Grundt Tanum Forlag, 1970.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the city of Turku, Finland: http://www.christmas city.com
Pl^f fippmes^ cl)rhtmas m tl)e
The Philippines is the only nation in Asia where the majority of peo-
ple are Christian. Since Spanish colonizers brought the Christian reli-
gion to the Philippines hundreds of years ago, most Filipino Christi-
ans are, like the Spanish, Roman Catholic. The Philippines has been
called the "land of fiestas." For many Filipinos, Christmas is the most
joyous fiesta of the year.
Rooster Masses
In the Philippines the Christmas season begins on December 16
with the first of nine early morning church services called the Misa
de Gallo, or "rooster's mass." Known as Simbang Gabi in the Tagalog
language spoken by many Filipinos, these services take place every
day between December 16 and December 24. A festive rather than
solemn mood pervades these observances in spite of the fact that
the masses begin at four in the morning. At that early hour church
bells ring, marching bands play, and fireworks explode, rousing any-
one who is still in bed and reminding everyone to attend mass. In
small towns the priest himself may knock on doors, calling parish-
ioners for this early morning service. These services are well attend-
ed, since many Filipinos see them as an essential element of their
Christmas celebrations. To many who attend, the socializing that
takes place after the service is as important as the mass itself.
Vendors sell breakfast foods outside, and people stop to chat with
friends and neighbors in the fresh, early morning air.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas Carols
Many Filipinos enjoy singing Christmas carols. Caroling often be-
gins in earnest on December 16. Bands of young people and adults
take to the streets, singing Filipino carols as well as a smattering of
English carols they have come to know. Filipino custom encourages
people to reward carolers with money or sweets. Some people carol
as a way of raising money for civic organizations. Youngsters often
want to keep the coins and treats for themselves, however. Others
carol simply for the fun of it.
In some parts of the Philippines groups of folk performers, called
Pastores, offer free entertainment on the nights before Christmas.
Pastores means "shepherds" in Spanish. This Filipino custom comes
from an old Spanish custom of the same name. Dressed in folk cos-
tumes, the performers sing Christmas carols and other traditional
Filipino songs. Sometimes they act out scenes from the Nativity
story as well.
Decorations
Decorating the home is an important part of the Christmas celebra-
tion in the Philippines. The most cherished Christmas decoration is
the parol, a star-shaped lantern. Many families make their own.
Children often learn how to make star lanterns in school by covering
a bamboo frame with colored rice paper or cellophane. Tassels or
streamers are usually attached to each of the five points on the star.
In the old days people illuminated these lanterns by placing a candle
within them. Nowadays an electric light is often deemed safer.
Many cities sponsor parol competitions in the days before Christ-
mas. Judges award prizes to the most beautiful homemade lanterns.
In the city of San Fernando, the lantern competition has become a
spectacle that draws crowds from the surrounding areas. Each year
the lanterns entered in the competition have grown in size. Many
now have to be carried on flatbed trucks.
Other Christmas decorations include candles, wreaths, Christmas
trees. Nativity scenes, and Christmas cards. Cards may be dis-
played by attaching them to a red or green ribbon which is then
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
strung across the room. Filipinos also incorporate fresh flowers into
their Christmas decorations. Flowers are readily available in the
month of December due to the country's warm climate.
During the holiday season Christmas decorations festoon shops,
streets, and plazas as well as homes. Electric light displays, star lan-
terns, Christmas trees, and scenes from the Nativity story all appear
in these public displays.
Christmas Trees
Many Filipino families have adopted the European custom of deco-
rating their homes with a Christmas tree. In the Philippines Christ-
mas trees are as likely to be found on a porch or balcony as they are
in the living room. Since pine trees are quite expensive in the Philip-
pines, some families buy an artificial tree instead. Others use palm
trees, or make an artificial tree out of twigs and branches or out of
cardboard. Filipinos decorate their trees with miniature star lanterns,
bamboo or wood carvings, candies, ribbons, shells, and tiny boxes
wrapped like Christmas gifts.
Nativity Scenes
Nativity scenes are another important element of Filipino Christmas
decorations. In past times Nativity scenes were principally found in
churches and were made to be life sized. Nowadays these scenes
may be smaller. They usually appear for the first time in churches on
December 16. Nativity scenes may be found in Filipino homes as
well. Filipinos call the Nativity scene a belen, the Spanish word for
Bethlehem. Like the people of many other nations, Filipinos place
the infant Jesus figurine in his Nativity scene crib on the evening of
December 24.
Christmas Eve
Filipinos prepare for Christmas Eve by giving their homes a thor-
ough cleaning. Those who can afford it also buy new clothes, which
they wear for the first time to Midnight Mass or to Christmas
morning mass. Families also stock up on special holiday foods, since
extensive visiting takes place over the holiday season.
606
Philippines, Christmas in the
Christmas Eve is a family affair in the Philippines. Often the extend-
ed family will gather at one of the grandparents' homes early in the
evening. Filipinos are famous for their hospitality, so distant relatives
and even friends of relatives are often welcome at this event. Very
small children may be left at home to nap while most of the family
attends Midnight Mass. Large numbers of people attend mass on
this evening, so many people arrive early, hoping to secure a seat.
Churches are often filled by 10:00 p.m.
After the mass most people return home for a bountiful Christmas
Eve banquet. Hosts and hostesses of large gatherings may have pre-
pared as many as fifteen or twenty different dishes for guests to
choose from. These may include arroz caldo (chicken and rice soup),
lumpia (spring rolls), rellenong manok (boned stuffed chicken), rel-
lenong bangus (boned stuffed milkfish), and calamay (coconut rice
pudding). Bands of carolers may arrive at the door during this festive
meal, as well as neighbors and friends who stop by to wish everyone
a Merry Christmas. Children sometimes sing, dance, or perform a
little play for the adults. The party continues until four or five in the
morning. Afterwards, bed rolls are spread out for the many house-
guests who stay the night.
Christmas Gifts
Some people exchange Christmas gifts during the Christmas Eve
party. Others wait until Christmas Day. As a rule, gifts are simple in
the Philippines and often include homemade foods or useful items,
such as new clothes. Although Santa Claus is known in the Philip-
pines, he does not act as a gift bringer there. Most Filipino children
know that their presents come from Mom, Dad, and the grand-
parents.
Christmas Day
Those who did not attend Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve often
begin the day by attending Christmas morning mass. More family
visits take place on Christmas Day. Families may call on aunts, un-
cles, godparents, and grandparents. The children usually receive a
small trinket at each house, so they eagerly agree to these rounds of
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
visits. It is especially important that children visit their godparents
on Christmas Day. Sometimes the children perform a song, dance, or
skit for their godparents. The godparents, in turn, offer a gift to each
godchild.
Filipinos sit down to another lavish meal on Christmas Day. Christ-
mas dinner, which usually takes place around midday, frequently
features lechon, roast suckling pig. Options for those who cannot
afford a suckling pig include ham and lenong manok, stuffed chicken.
Flan, a caramel-flavored custard, is often served for dessert.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Filipinos celebrate throughout the entire Twelve Days of Christmas,
the days between Christmas and Epiphany. Performances, parties,
exhibitions, and entertainments of all kinds take place during these
days.
Holy Innocents' Day
Filipinos observe December 28, Holy Innocents' Day, by playing
practical jokes on one another. According to custom one cannot
complain if one is fooled by a friend. In addition, anyone who suc-
ceeds in borrowing something on this day is not expected to give it
back.
New Year
Filipinos often celebrate New Year's Eve at parties, discos, and
balls. Many sport the paper party hats sold by countless roadside
vendors in the preceding days. Polka-dotted clothes are also popu-
lar on New Year's Eve, since Filipino folklore teaches that anything
round brings good luck for the new year. Filipinos celebrate New
Year's Eve by making noise. Those who cannot lay their hands on
firecrackers will beat on pots and pans. The noisemaking comes to a
head at midnight. After midnight, many settle down to a large meal.
The menu often includes stuffed peppers, ham, and sweets. Cooks
try to place as many round foods as possible on the table. Many
Filipinos make sure to have grapes in the house on New Year's Eve.
Following an old Spanish custom, they pop one grape into their
608
Philippines, Christmas in the
mouth for each of the twelve chimes of the clock as it rings in the
new year. Doing so ensures that they will have a sweet new year.
Many also turn on every light in their home at midnight. According
to Filipino folk belief, this will bring about a bright new year.
Another folk belief teaches that those who stay home all day on
New Year's Day will spend much time with their loved ones in the
coming year. Many people take this advice and spend January 1 at
home with their families.
Epiphany
Epiphany, January 6, signals the end of the Christmas season. In
order to bring the holiday season to a close a little more quickly,
however, the holiday is often observed on the first Sunday of Janu-
ary. Some families follow the Spanish custom of putting the chil-
dren's shoes near a door or window on Epiphany Eve, so that the
Wise Men, or Magi, can fill them with candies and trinkets. Others
distribute candies and trinkets to the children themselves. Many
towns sponsor parades that reenact the Three King's journey to
Bethlehem. Riding on horseback in splendid costumes, the kindly
kings often toss coins and sweets to the children who have come to
see the parade. Churches, too, offer similar pageants portraying the
arrival of the Three Kings at the manger in Bethlehem.
Further Reading
Christmas in the Philippines. Chicago: World Book, 1990.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
■?%.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
vlougt) Monday
In past centuries the people of rural England observed the Twelve
Days of Christmas with rest and recreation. Daily tasks resumed
after Epiphany. Women returned to their spinning the day after
Epiphany, dubbed St. Distaff's Day. Men took up their ploughs
again on the first Monday after Epiphany, which was called Plough
Monday.
In earlier times Plough Monday marked the beginning of "Plough-
tide," one of the four agricultural seasons recognized by both folk
and Church custom. After having lain fallow during the coldest,
darkest months of the year, the earth was ready to be turned over in
preparation for the sowing of the spring harvest. In the sixteenth
century English writer Thomas Tusser (1524-1580) commemorated
this return to the plough in verse:
Plough Monday, next after that Twelftide is past
bids out with the plough, the worst husband is last
[Hutton, 1996, 126].
History
The earliest records of Plough Monday date back to medieval times.
In those days ploughmen organized themselves into guilds, associa-
tions of men working the same trade. Plough guilds or other farming
associations often kept a light burning in front of an image in the
local church, which was believed to confer blessings on all those who
plied the trade. It appears that some groups stored a communal
plough in the church as well. On Plough Monday bands of plough-
men collected money to keep these "plough lights" burning. Some
pulled a plough in procession throughout the community while oth-
ers collected coins from the populace. In addition, some writers sug-
gest that in medieval times ploughs were blessed on Plough Monday.
In the sixteenth century the changes in religious thinking brought
about by the Reformation partially halted these practices {see also
610
Plough Monday
Puritans). Many reformers condemned plough lights and plough
blessings as a form of superstition and therefore forbade them. Plough
processions persisted, however, as a way of celebrating the beginning
of a new agricultural cycle. The parading ploughmen continued to
collect offerings as well, only now they put them towards their own
amusement instead of some communal or religious purpose.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, those participating in
these processions still dragged a plough throughout the community.
They referred to it as a "fool plough" and often decorated it. The
young men who participated in these processions were known by a
variety of names, such as the plough boys, plough lads, plough jacks,
plough bullocks, plough witches, or plough stots. They often black-
ened their faces and wore some kind of homemade costume. Fre-
quently, one lad dressed as a woman, called Bessy, and another as a
fool or clown. These two stock figures engaged in playful banter
while the others, their clothing embellished with ribbons, patches,
straw or other fanciful items, played along. The plough boys accepted
food and drink as well as money, but threatened the householder
who refused to give anything with the prospect of having his or her
garden ploughed under. In some areas the lads enticed greater gen-
erosity from their audiences by performing mummers' plays and
folk dances, such as sword dances and other kinds of morris dances.
Contemporary Customs
These practices finally died out in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. The mid-twentieth century, however, witnessed
a curious revival of religious customs surrounding Plough Monday.
With the founding of the Council for Church and Countryside in
1943, a number of agriculturally oriented services from the medieval
era were reintroduced into local worship. Some churches now ob-
serve the Blessing of the Plough on the Sunday before Plough Mon-
day. In this ceremony farmers and others whose work is related to
agriculture carry a plough up to the chancel steps where they and
the plough are blessed "that the people of our land may be satisfied
with bread." The congregation prays for the ploughmen and for all
who "offer the work of the countryside to the service of God." In
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
some areas local people have also revived the various folk celebra-
tions associated with this day, such as morris dances and mummer's
plays.
Further Reading
Brewster, H. Pomeroy. Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church. 1904.
Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Chambers, Robert. "January 11 — Plough Monday." In his The Book of Days.
Volume 1. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Howard, Alexander. Endless Cavalcade. London, England: Arthur Baker,
1964.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
612
Plum Pudding
vlumVuddmg
Christmas Pudding, Figgy Pudding
The traditional Christmas dinner in England ends with a dessert
called plum pudding. This dish features a blend of dried fruit, spices,
and other flavorings, such as lemon and orange peel, sugar, eggs,
flour, and butter or suet. In spite of its name, plum pudding may or
may not contain prunes or plums. The origins of this English Christ-
mas favorite lie in medieval cooking techniques in which sugars,
fruits, and spices were used to preserve and enhance the flavor of
meat.
Medieval Cookery
The task of food preservation severely challenged medieval cooks
since they did not have access to preservatives or reliable refrigera-
tion. Instead, people employed sugars and spices to preserve meats
and fish. Fresh and dried fruits were less expensive and easier to
obtain than sugar or honey, so they were often used to flavor dishes.
In England medieval cooks prepared large fruit, meat, and butter
pies for wealthy families entertaining many guests at Christmas.
Some researchers believe that the sweetness of the fruit covered the
flavor of the aging meat. Enclosing the ingredients in a tough, air-
tight crust also helped to preserve them. Cooks achieved the same
effect by adding sugars and spices to a common medieval dish
known as pottage or porridge. This stew-like dish resulted from sim-
mering all one's ingredients in a single pot. The well-to-do com-
bined meats, spices, and fruits in their pottages. If a more solid dish
was desired, cooks could produce a stiff pottage by adding thicken-
ers such as bread crumbs, egg yolks, and ground almonds.
Plum Pottage
Although the popularity of most pottage dishes declined by the sev-
enteenth century, one variation continued to thrive. It was known by
the somewhat mysterious name of "stewed broth." Cooks created
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
this pottage dish by boiling together meat, currants (a raisin-like
dried fruit), spices, bread crumbs, and sandlewood (for coloring). By
the late sixteenth century, cooks were tossing dried plums into the
cooking pot. This innovation became so popular that stewed broth
acquired the name "plum pottage," "plum broth," or "plum por-
ridge." One old recipe suggested boiling beef or mutton in broth
thickened with brown bread. After this combination had cooked for
some time raisins, currants, prunes, cloves, mace, and ginger were
added and the entire concoction boiled again. Another recipe in-
structed the cook to boil some beef and veal together with sherry,
lemon juice, orange juice, sugar, raisins, currants, prunes, nutmeg,
cinnamon, cloves, brown bread, and cochineal (a red dye). The re-
sulting stew could be made weeks ahead of time. Diners consumed
it as a first course rather than as a dessert. It became a Christmas
favorite and was sometimes called "Christmas porridge."
During the seventeenth century the Puritans spoke out against
many traditional English Christmas festivities. Many of them con-
demned the eating of plum porridge and mincemeat pie at Christ-
mas time. Some saw it as a symbol of disgraceful gluttony. For oth-
ers, the act of eating these foods symbolized allegiance to the pope
and to Roman Catholicism, and so smacked of heresy. According to
the Puritans, one writer of the day quipped, "Plum-broth was Pop-
ish, and mince-pie — O that was flat idolatry!" Catholics and Angli-
cans defended traditional English Christmas fare against these Puri-
tan attacks. As Catholics and Protestants strove with one another to
dominate England's political life during the seventeenth century, the
consumption or avoidance of plum porridge at Christmas time was
viewed by some as a sign not only of religious but also of political
loyalties. One writer parodied the views of his more extreme Puritan
contemporaries in the following lines:
All plums the prophet's sons deny.
And spice-broths are too hot;
Treason's in a December pie.
And death within the pot [Chambers, 1990, 2: 755].
The English continued to consume plum porridge with relish in
spite of the brief period of Puritan rule in the mid-seventeenth cen-
tury. In 1728 one foreigner who had experienced an English Christ-
mas wrote: "Everyone from the King to the artisan eats soup and
614
Plum Pudding
Christmas pies. The soup is called Christmas porridge, and is a dish
few foreigners find to their taste."
Plum Pudding
Plum porridge disappeared from the ranks of English Christmas fare
in the early nineteenth century, supplanted by plum pudding. In
1823 another foreign observer of the English at Christmas time
wrote that "probably there is not a single table spread on Christmas
Day throughout the land — from the King's to the lowest artizan's
that can scrape together enough to buy him a dinner at all — that is
not furnished with roast beef and plum pudding." The dish proved
so popular in the Devon village of Paignton that its citizens concoct-
ed a giant, communal pudding in 1819. It contained one hundred
twenty pounds of raisins, an equal amount of suet, or beef fat, and
four hundredweights of flour. When finished, the enormous pud-
ding weighed nine hundred pounds.
Plum pudding evolved out of plum porridge sometime in the seven-
teenth or eighteenth centuries. Unlike its predecessor, it contained no
meat, but did call for beef suet, or fat, as a thickener. Sugar might be
added as well, as this commodity had become much less expensive
and easier to obtain than in previous times. The sauce designed to
accompany the pudding, a syrup made of such ingredients as butter,
sugar and brandy, further enhanced the dish's sweetness. Indeed,
unlike plum pottage, plum pudding was conceived of as a dessert.
A mid-eighteenth-century recipe called for currants, raisins, eggs,
bread crumbs, nutmeg, and ginger. As this ingredient list reveals,
some plum puddings contained neither prunes nor plums. This omis-
sion can be explained by the fact that sometime around the seven-
teenth century the word plum had come to be used as a general term
referring to any dried fruit. Other writers point out that the word plum
also used to mean "to swell" or "to plump up." They argue that the
"plum" in plum pudding refers to the expansion that the dish under-
goes when baked. In some areas of England plum pudding was
known as "figgy pudding." People from these districts called raisins
"figs," hence the raisin-rich plum pudding was called figgy pudding.
Finally, plum pudding was thought to improve with age. One custom
encouraged housewives to prepare their Christmas pudding by Stir-
Up Sunday, approximately five weeks before Christmas.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Although the English considered plum pudding a special holiday
dish before the nineteenth century, it wasn't adopted as the most fit-
ting closure to the Christmas feast until that time. By the late nine-
teenth century, fashionable Victorian cooks were referring to plum
pudding as Christmas pudding. It is unclear exactly what influenced
the English to promote the dish to its new status. Perhaps the Christ-
mas stories of Charles Dickens (1812-1870), which did much to en-
courage the Victorian revival of Christmas, inspired this change {see
also Christmas Caro/, A; Victorian England, Christmas in).
Another change in the nineteenth-century English Christmas was the
decline of Twelfth Night celebrations. These celebrations featured an
elaborate cake into which a pea, charm, or coin was baked. As the
Twelfth Day cake fell out of favor, these objects found their way into
the Christmas pudding. Today some still insert a coin into the Christ-
mas pudding batter. It brings good luck to the diner who receives it in
his or her portion of the pudding. One writer reports a more elaborate
custom in which the cook adds a coin, ring, and thimble to the pud-
ding batter. The coin represents worldly fortune; the ring, marriage;
and the thimble, blessings to whoever receives them.
Further Reading
Black, Maggie. "The Englishman's Plum Pudding." History Today 31 (De-
cember 1981): 60-61.
Chambers, Robert. "December 25 — Old English Christmas Fare." In his
The Book of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Pimlott, ]. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.I.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Sansom, William. A Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
616
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'Q^
Plygain
1%.
vlygain
The Plygain is a Welsh carol service originally held early on Christ-
mas morning {see also Wales, Christmas in). The Welsh word "Ply-
gain" comes from the Latin phrase pulli cantus, which means "cock-
crow song." Originally, the service was scheduled for three a.m. to
coincide with the crowing of the first rooster on Christmas morning
(see also Misa de Gallo).
The Plygain seems to have evolved from the Roman Catholic Mid-
night Mass on Christmas Eve. During the Reformation religious au-
thorities throughout Great Britain eliminated many Roman Catholic
customs {see also Puritans). Nevertheless, Welsh historical records
indicate that early morning Christmas services, called Plygains, were
still being held in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth cen-
turies. These services, conducted by candlelight, included prayers,
Christmas carols, and the occasional sermon. A widespread custom
required each person who attended to bring a candle to help illumi-
nate the dark church. Often the entire population of the parish at-
tended, regardless of religious affiliation. In some places the people
processed to the church with lighted candles or torches. Sometimes
young people would stay up all night on Christmas Eve rather than
get up early in the morning. They often passed the middle of the
night at a local farmhouse singing, dancing, and amusing them-
selves.
The Plygain began to die out in the twentieth century. One researcher
claims that it was discontinued because of the increasingly unruly
behavior of those who chose to attend. In the few places in which the
service survived, the inconvenient starting time of three a.m. shifted
forward towards the morning or backwards towards the previous eve-
ning. Eventually, even the date of the service was changed. Today the
Plygain takes place in only a few locales and may be scheduled any-
time between mid-December and early January. It consists entirely of
unaccompanied carol singing and no longer retains any element of
religious observance.
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Further Reading
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Vomsettm
Flor de la Nochebuena
The poinsettia originally hails from Mexico. The leaves that crown
the end of each poinsettia stalk undergo a seasonal color change in
December, turning from green to red. As Christianity spread across
Mexico during the colonial era, this color change turned poinsettias
into a popular Christmas decoration. The Mexicans call the plant flor
de la Nochebuena, or "Christmas Eve flower."
A Mexican folktale explains this name. Many years ago on Christ-
mas Eve a poor girl sought a gift to offer to the Christ child. She
realized, however, that she owned nothing beautiful enough to give
the infant. She began to cry, but eventually her desire to pay tribute
to the child overcame her shame. She plucked a branch of an ordi-
nary green plant that grew beside the road and humbly brought it to
618
Poinsettia
the manger. As she laid it beside the crib the leaves of the plant burst
into a brilliant red in recognition of the child's humility and Jesus'
pleasure with the gift.
The poinsettia's popularity in the United States can be traced back to
the initial interest of one man. Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett. Appointed
the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Dr. Poinsett also maintained an
interest in botany. While stationed in Mexico in 1825 he noticed a
plant whose ordinary green leaves turned a brilliant red in December.
Intrigued by these tongues of fire he sent samples home to South
Carolina where he maintained a greenhouse. Other horticulturists
soon adopted the plant. Botanists named the plant Euphorbia pulcher-
rima, but the public called it "poinsettia" in honor of the man who
first imported it to the United States. By the last quarter of the nine-
teenth century New York shopkeepers were offering poinsettias at
Christmas time. By the twentieth century Americans had fully adopt-
ed the plant as a Christmas symbol. The current popularity of the
poinsettia as a Christmas decoration can be measured in numbers. In
2000 Americans bought more than 65 million of these potted plants.
The leaves of the poinsettia are very sensitive to light. During the
darkest weeks of the year the leaves at the end of each stalk react to
the shortage of sunlight by changing color. Although people com-
monly refer to the poinsettia's scarlet blooms as "flowers," in fact
only the yellow buds at their centers are flowers. The red halos that
surround them are composed of a special kind of leaf known as a
bract.
Americans seem to favor red poinsettias as Christmas decorations,
but other less well known varieties of the plant sport leaves that
change from green to white, yellow, or pink. A number of these vari-
eties were developed by the Ecke family. In the early part of this cen-
tury Paul Ecke, a flower farmer located near Los Angeles, California,
played a major role in developing new varieties of poinsettias and
championing these hardier and more attractive plants as Christmas
decorations. His cross-country promotional tours eventually paid off.
Not only has the poinsettia become a Christmas symbol, but also the
Ecke family farm, now located in Encinitas, California, continues to
supply a large percentage of America's demand for the potted plants
and the cuttings from which they grow {see also Urban Legends).
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Further Reading
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
Christmas in the American Southwest. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Comfort, David. jMSt Say Noel. New York: Fireside Books, 1995.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hottes, Alfred Carl. 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies. 1946. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Web Site
"Poinsettia: The Christmas Flower," an article by D. Michael Benson, et al.,
through the American Phytopathological Society, located in St. Paul, Min-
nesota. Published in the December 2000 -January 2001 issue of their online
journal, APSnet, at: http:www.apsnet.org/online/feature/xmasflower/
^^
Voland^ cfiristmas m
The people of Poland celebrate Christmas with many old folk and
religious customs. A number of Polish Christmas customs make ref-
erence to the Star of Bethlehem. Indeed, the star is Poland's most
popular Christmas symbol.
Christmas Eve Fast
Traditionally, Poles, following Roman Catholic teachings, have fasted
on December 24. The first meal of the day was a meatless supper.
The Poles made up for this, however, by permitting the Christmas
Eve meal to be composed of up to twelve different dishes. According
to folk tradition, Poles did not sit down to eat on Christmas Eve until
the first star appeared in the sky. Around sunset children dashed
outdoors to scan the sky for the first star, eager to begin the eve-
ning's festivities. When sighted, the star was referred to as the Star of
Bethlehem.
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Poland, Christmas in
Oplatek
Upon sitting down to their Christmas Eve supper, many PoHsh fami-
lies observe the old tradition of sharing an oplatek between them.
These small white wafers resemble Roman Catholic communion
wafers. The father bids family members to be at peace with one
another and breaks the wafer. Everyone present eats a piece of the
broken wafer. So significant is this custom that families may even
send absent members a broken oplatek so that they, too, may par-
take of the blessed wafer.
Animals
Polish folk tradition acknowledges the important role played by ani-
mals at the birth of Jesus. One old custom recommends strewing
straw on the Christmas Eve table, as a reminder that Jesus was born
in a stable {see also Yule Straw). Another advises that crumbled op-
latek wafers be fed to barn animals on Christmas Eve, as a way of
including them in the Christmas blessing.
Christmas Dinner
In Poland the Christmas Eve supper has a special name. It is called
Wigilia, which means "vigil" in Polish. It may also be called the "star
supper." Traditional Christmas Eve foods include carp or pike, al-
mond soup (made from almonds, raisins, rice, and milk), beet soup,
cabbage, and other vegetable and grain dishes. Poppyseed cake, gin-
ger cake, and other pastries may be served for dessert. Polish folk
tradition suggests setting a place at the table for the Christ child as
well as places for any absent family members. The unused place set-
tings remind diners of the spiritual presence of these absent guests.
Gifts and Carols
Other Christmas Eve activities include singing kolendy, or Christmas
carols, opening gifts, and attending Midnight Mass. Poland's gift
bringer is known as the "Star Man." Polish folk tradition teaches that
he brings presents to children on Christmas Eve. The star boys, a
group of carolers dressed as characters from the Nativity story and
carrying a star-shaped lantern before them, often accompany the Star
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Man. In past times the village priest sometimes dressed up as the Star
Man and visited homes on Christmas Eve. This strict Star Man might
quiz children on their knowledge of the Catholic catechism before
handing out gifts. The star boys continue their activities throughout
the Twelve Days of Christmas, the days between Christmas and
Epiphany. They appear on street corners and doorsteps, singing
Christmas carols and hoping to be offered coins and treats in return.
Fortune-Telling
Christmas Eve, and indeed the entire Twelve Days of Christmas,
were once thought to be especially powerful days for fortune-telling.
Many superstitions and charms offered advice on how to read one's
future during these days. For example, the events that take place on
Christmas Eve were thought to set the pattern for the coming year.
Therefore people tried to eat well, give and receive generously, and
act kindly. One folk belief declared that a sunny Christmas Eve
meant that the year to come would bring fair weather. By contrast,
another folk belief stated that a warm Christmas foretold a chilly
Easter. Numerous folk charms taught young girls ways to predict
their marital futures on Christmas Eve. For example, girls could hide
straws underneath the Christmas Eve tablecloth and draw them out
randomly. A green straw signified marriage in the near future, a
withered straw foretold a period of waiting, a yellow straw meant
spinsterhood, and a very short straw warned of an early death (for a
similar custom, see Lithuania, Christmas in).
Christmas Trees, Nativity Scenes, Nativity Plays
Both Christmas trees and Nativity scenes may be found in Polish
homes at Christmas time. The Polish city of Krakow sponsors a Na-
tivity scene competition, which began in 1937 as a way of preserving
an old folk tradition. Contestants in this competition must first make
a model of Krakow's Wawel Cathedral and then place the manger
scene on its doorstep. The winning entries are displayed in the Mu-
seum of Ethnography.
In past eras groups of boys performed Nativity plays, or szopka, dur-
ing the Twelve Days of Christmas. These youngsters roamed towns
622
Poland, Christmas in
and villages with homemade puppet theaters, performing folk plays
loosely based on the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. With the
boys' help, the puppets not only acted, but also sang, the story. The
stage and backdrop for the puppets were usually designed to repre-
sent the manger in which Christ was born, thus these performances
served as animated Nativity scenes. In Krakow the backdrop for the
puppet shows often depicted Wawel Cathedral.
Epiphany
In Poland the Christmas season ends with Epiphany on January 6.
On this day people blessed their homes by writing the initials of the
Three Kings, or Magi, over their front doors with blessed chalk.
These initials, KMB, come from the names most often associated
with them in folklore: Kaspar (or Caspar), Melchior, and Balthasar.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Hubert, Maria, comp. Christmas Around the World. Stroud, Gloucestershire,
England: Sutton, 1998.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
Web Site
A site sponsored by Internet Polska, a web site administrator for Polish gov-
ernment and travel agencies: http://www.polishworld.com/christmas/
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Vosadas^ Las
During the nine days before Christmas, many Hispanic communities
host a nightly procession known as Las Posadas. In Spanish las
posadas means "the inns" or "the lodgings." According to this old
Mexican custom, groups of children and adults reenact Mary and
Joseph's search for shelter in Bethlehem. Staging Las Posadas re-
quires the coordination of many people. The event may be organized
by a group of neighbors, families and friends, churches, or commu-
nity organizations.
The Procession and Celebration
Las Posadas begins on the evening of December 16. Participants
gather at a prearranged time and place, sometimes offering prayers
before the event begins. Two youngsters are selected to play the
roles of Joseph and Mary. These roles may be carried out in a variety
of ways. In many places they hold images of Joseph and Mary before
them as they lead the procession out into the street. These images
are called misterios, or "mysteries." In other places the children act-
ing as Joseph and Mary dress the part, donning robes that evoke the
biblical era. In rural villages Mary may ride upon a donkey. In some
locales a child dressed as an angel clears the way for the Holy
Couple. Participants file out in procession behind Mary and Joseph,
carrying candles and singing Christmas songs.
The procession dramatizes Joseph and Mary's search for a place to
spend the night in Bethlehem, an event suggested in chapter two of
the Gospel according to Luke. In Las Posadas the couple must be
refused shelter at least once before a kind innkeeper finally takes
them in. Joseph and Mary lead the procession through the streets to
the first house. Joseph knocks on the door and begs shelter for the
night. He often chants this request in rhymed verse. The homeown-
er has agreed in advance to participate in the event, playing the role
of the innkeeper. He or she comes to the door, but refuses Joseph's
request. Joseph and Mary turn away into the night, leading the pro-
624
Posadas, Las
cession to another house. The organizers may arrange many reiiisals
or only one. Sometimes the first innkeeper experiences a change a
heart after Joseph explains their situation and reveals their identities.
In any case, Joseph and Mary finally encounter a family that gra-
ciously welcomes them, and their entourage, into the house. This
family will host the evening's entertainment.
Before the arrival of the procession the hosts prepare a Nativity
scene or altar with room for the images that the children carry.
When the entire procession has entered the house Mary and Joseph
come forward, putting the statues in the places reserved for them.
This act, and the accompanying prayer, concludes the procession
and the party begins. The hosts offer traditional Mexican sweets,
such as tamales, bizcochitos (sugar cookies) and such beverages as
spiced hot chocolate to their guests. The evening's entertainments
usually include music, dancing, a candy-filled pinata for the children,
and sometimes fireworks.
Las Posadas may be enacted in a variety of ways, depending on local
traditions as well as on limitations of time, space, money, and per-
sonnel. In the old days, processions took place on each of the nine
nights preceding Christmas. Today, many groups stage only one pro-
cession on the last of the nine nights, Christmas Eve. Although tra-
ditionally the pilgrims marched through the streets. Las Posadas has
been adapted to fit new living situations. In some areas, Mary and
Joseph wend their way down the halls of apartment buildings. In
others they graciously include the corridors of nursing homes in
their trek.
History
In many ways Las Posadas resembles the old European custom of
Christmas time mumming. Most writers trace its historical roots
back to the medieval European mystery or miracle plays, however
{see also Nativity Play). These plays taught Bible stories and reli-
gious doctrine to a largely illiterate people. They began sometime
around the tenth and eleventh centuries as simple enactments of the
liturgy performed in churches by the clergy. As the plays became
more complex and entertaining, audiences grew. Eventually, folk
performers began to stage them in public arenas. Many changes
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
deemed undesirable by the clergy accompanied this shift. These in-
novations caused the Church to ban these performances in the fif-
teenth century.
Nevertheless, dramatizing biblical stories had proved an effective
means of communicating religious ideas. In the sixteenth century
two Spanish saints created a new kind of religious ceremony to ac-
company the Christmas holiday. St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) pro-
posed that special prayers be offered on each of the nine days before
Christmas. This type of religious observance, known as a novena,
found favor with St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), who added a
religious pageant to the event. Spanish missionaries brought this cus-
tom to Mexico in the sixteenth century where they used it to teach
the story of Jesus' birth to the native people they found there. As
these ceremonies were organized by Church officials, they were at
first very religious and quite somber. Gradually, the people them-
selves began to organize the event, and a lighter, more festive mood
began to emerge.
Observances in U.S. Cities
From Mexico Las Posadas spread south to El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Nicaragua, and north to the United States. In the
latter, many impressive observances of Las Posadas can be found
throughout the southwestern states. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a
number of Roman Catholic churches organize traditional nine-night
Posadas. Different families host the celebrations during the first
eight nights, then the churches themselves hold the party on Christ-
mas Eve. The city of San Antonio, Texas, stages a Posadas procession
along the river that attracts thousands of people. Mariachi musi-
cians, choral ensembles, and ordinary citizens follow behind Mary
and Joseph. Luminarias, or small bonfires, light the parade route.
The crowd rejoices when the Holy Family finally finds lodging.
Afterwards the city hosts a party for children in a nearby plaza.
Further Reading
Bragdon, Allen D. Joy Through the World. New York: Dodd, Mead, and
Company, 1985.
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
626
Puritans
Christmas in the American Southwest. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit, Micti.:
Gale Research, 1992.
Milne, Jean. Fiesta Time in Latin America. Los Angeles, Calif.: Ward Ritchie
Press, 1965.
Ribera Ortega, Pedro. Christmas in Old Santa Fe. Second edition. Santa Fe,
N.M.: Sunstone Press, 1973.
Vuntans
In the sixteenth century a religious reform movement surged across
Europe. The leaders of this movement, known as the Reformation,
sought to abolish Church practices they deemed inconsistent with
scripture. The Reformation gave birth to Protestant Christianity and
to the many different sects and denominations that fall under that
heading. In Britain it inspired the formation of a number of sects,
one of which was known as the Puritans.
The Puritans advocated a "purified" form of worship, stripped of tra-
ditional embellishments such as organ music, choir singing, ecclesi-
astical robes, and church decorations. Puritan ministers wore street
clothes while presiding over simplified services in plain churches.
Throughout the sixteenth century British Puritans lobbied for Church
reform. The majority of high-ranking officials in the Church of En-
gland opposed them, however, as did Queen Elizabeth I and her Stu-
art successors. In the early seventeenth century, small groups of En-
glish Puritans sought religious freedom by immigrating to America.
There they founded Plymouth Colony and, later, Massachusetts Bay
Colony {see also America, Christmas in Colonial; England, Christ-
mas in).
By the mid-seventeenth century, Puritan forces had gained the up-
per hand in British politics and succeeded in ousting the king.
During the years in which they dominated the political scene, the
Puritans legislated a number of religious and social reforms forcing
English society to conform to their beliefs. They directed some of
these reforms toward the celebration of Christmas.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Campaign Against Christmas
Before coming to power Puritan leaders had preached against what
they viewed as irreverent and excessive Christmas customs. For
example, in 1583 Philip Stubbes published a pamphlet titled Ana-
tomic of Abuses, detailing what he viewed as the offensive behaviors
with which the English celebrated Christmas. To his mind, a season
marked by masking, mumming, theater-going, games, gambling,
feasting, and dancing, as well as by an increased number of sexual
encounters and robberies could hardly be said to honor Christ {see
also Masques). Puritans also objected to the drinking, gaming, for-
tune-telling, and carousing that characterized New Year's Eve cele-
brations, and declared prayer and self-examination to be the most
appropriate ways to commemorate the holiday {see also Resolu-
tions; Watch Night).
By the mid-1600s, however, Puritan critics had gone from attacking
excesses associated with Christmas to attacking the holiday itself.
Between 1644 and 1659 the Puritan majority in Parliament attempt-
ed to abolish the celebration of Christmas. They pointed out that the
Bible neither gives the date of Jesus' birth nor requests that people
honor it {see also Jesus, Year of Birth). According to their way of
thinking, this meant that Christmas should be eliminated. Many
Puritan leaders condemned those who disagreed with them as ene-
mies of the Christian religion. For example, in 1656 one Hezekiah
Woodward published a pamphlet whose title revealed, at length, his
scorn for Christmas and those who observed it. It read:
Christ-Mas Day, The old Heathens feasting Day, in honour to
Saturn their Idol-God, the Papists Massing Day, the Pro-
phane man's Ranting Day, the Superstitious man's Idol Day.
The Multitudes Idle Day, Satans, that Adversarys Working
Day, The True Christian Mans Feasting Day. Taking to Heart,
the Heathenish Customes, Popish Superstitions, Ranting
Fashions, Fearful Provocations, Horrible Abominations, com-
mitted against the Lord, and His Christ, on that Day and days
following [Pimlott, 1978, 53-54].
Puritan leaders in Parliament did more than just speak out against
Christmas. In 1642 they banned the performance of plays at Christ-
mas. In the year 1644 Christmas fell on the last Wednesday in De-
628
Puritans
cember. The law ordered that people fast and do penance on the last
Wednesday in the month. The Puritans saw to it that no exception
would be made for Christmas. In London people ignored the edict,
and shops closed as usual for Christmas Day. The following year the
Puritan Parliament outlawed the religious observance of Christmas
altogether, forbidding special church services in honor of the day.
This change led one observer to comment wryly: "O blessed Refor-
mation! . . . the church doors all shut and the tavern doors all open!"
Handfuls of the traditionally devout defied the ban and sought out
priests who quietly continued to offer services on Christmas Day. Yet
even such sober celebrations involved a calculated risk. On Christ-
mas Day in 1657 soldiers burst into one London church in the mid-
dle of the Christmas service and arrested all present.
Active Resistance
In 1647 Parliament took the final step. It outlawed the secular cele-
bration of Christmas and many other Christian feast days as well.
This time the edict met with active resistance, leading in some in-
stances to violent clashes with officers of the law. In an effort to
enforce the ban, town criers were ordered to ride through the streets
shouting, "No Christmas! No Christmas!" Some London shops ig-
nored the new law and closed on Christmas Day. Others remained
open, drawing angry crowds to their doorstep.
Officers of the law were summoned to remove the greenery from
several London churches, and sullen crowds booed the Lord Mayor
when he appeared before them. A riot in Ipswich resulted in the loss
of life. Oxford mobs rioted as well, though they were somewhat
luckier, reporting only broken skulls. In Canterbury men defied the
ban by playing ball games in the street, thereby frustrating the
mayor's attempt to open the market. Eventually, the mayor was
tossed to the ground, and in the general mayhem prisoners were
rescued from the town jail. Twelve shops did open their doors to do
business on that day, but menacing onlookers tossed their wares
roughly about, encouraging them to close. Ten thousand men of
Kent and Canterbury resolved to defend their holiday in a public
declaration threatening that if they could not observe Christmas Day
under the current government, then they would see the king put
back on his throne.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Passive Resistance
In spite of this outburst of opposition, subsequent Christmases saw
few open confrontations. Historians believe, however, that behind
closed doors many English families continued to celebrate a private
Christmas, consisting of a day's rest, a festive meal, and family mer-
riment. Indeed, throughout the period in which both the religious
and secular observance of the day were banned, many London shops
continued to close on Christmas Day. In 1656 attendance in Parlia-
ment dipped notably on December 25. Presumably the defaulters
were at home, celebrating Christmas.
Even these private, home celebrations did not escape Puritan criti-
cism. Not only did Puritans object to those who observed Christmas
by not working, attending religious services, and enjoying traditional
entertainments, some strongly disapproved of traditional Christmas
foods as well. To extremists certain foods, such as mincemeat pie
and plum pudding, took on political connotations. Resisting them
signified one's loyalty to the current regime; indulging in them re-
vealed royalist or Roman Catholic sympathies. These traditional
Christmas treats proved difficult to resist, though, even for Puritans.
In 1652 Puritan authorities accused one of their own, a preacher
named Hugh Peters, of speaking against the celebration of Christ-
mas in his sermons and then eating two mincemeat pies for supper.
Scotland
In Scotland Puritanism took greater hold of both the laity and clergy.
John Knox (1513-1572), leader of the Scottish Reformation and
founder of the Presbyterian Church, opposed all church festivals. In
1561 the Scottish national assembly eliminated Christmas along
with many other Christian feast days. In the years that followed,
local authorities attempted to enforce this law. Historical records
show that in the year 1574 fourteen women from Aberdeen were
arrested and tried for dancing and singing carols on Christmas Eve
{see also Christmas Carols). A baker found himself before local
authorities for having thrown a New Year's Eve party at which he
reportedly cried, "Yule, Yule, Yule." Others were punished for not
working on Christmas Day. Nevertheless, thirty years later, shortly
after the turn of the seventeenth century, some people still resisted the
elimination of the old festivities.
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Puritans
Religious authorities repeatedly condemned the little bursts of mid-
winter revelry that took place in their towns. In 1606 clergymen in
Aberdeen felt again compelled to denounce those who at Christmas
or New Year's donned costumes, wore the clothing of the opposite
sex, or danced with bells, whether in the streets or in private homes.
By the 1640s authorities began to turn their attention towards quell-
ing home celebrations of the holiday. In 1659 one especially severe
minister named Murdoch Mackenzie went to extreme lengths to
enforce this ban. He undertook a house to house search on Christ-
mas Day to make sure that none of his parishioners were enjoying a
private Christmas goose.
The Return of the Monarchy
In 1660 Parliament restored the monarchy and King Charles II as-
sumed the British throne. King Charles restored all the old holidays,
including Christmas. Many historians believe, however, that English
Christmas celebrations never quite recovered their former luster.
Indeed, the British never revived a number of old Christmas tradi-
tions, such as masques and the raucous revelry associated with the
Lord of Misrule. In Scotland the Puritan attempt to abolish Christ-
mas succeeded more completely. New Year's Day replaced Christ-
mas as the principal winter holiday in that region {see also Hogma-
nay).
Conclusion
American journalist H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) once defined Puri-
tanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somehow, may be hap-
py." After reviewing the history of the Puritan campaign against
Christmas, many contemporary Americans might agree with him. In
order to gain a fuller understanding of what motivated the Puritans
to cancel Christmas, one must consider the religious and political
climate of the times. Puritan leaders sincerely believed that they
were restoring their country to the true Christian faith. Moreover, in
Reformation Europe politics and religion fused together to form a
single system of rule. Each country's leader customarily chose that
nation's religion, making religious dissent tantamount to political
rebellion. Political authorities could, and did, imprison, persecute.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
and execute citizens for their religious beliefs. Depending on who
was in power, both Protestants and Catholics suffered from this cli-
mate of intolerance. Viewed in this context, the Puritan crusade
against Christmas can be seen as one of the era's typical, if by our
standards eccentric, attempts to compel ordinary citizens to adopt
the religious beliefs of those in power.
Further Reading
Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press, 1984.
. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Putz
A putz is a kind of Nativity scene, that is, a representation of the
scene of Jesus' birth. Putzes are most often found in towns that harbor
a community of Moravians. Moravians represent a very old branch of
Protestant Christianity; they are also known as the Unity of Brethren
or the Unitas Fratrum. This denomination traces its roots back to cen-
tral Europe and, indeed, many of the Moravians who emigrated to the
United States in the eighteenth century were German speakers from
that region. Thus they called their Nativity scenes putz (pronounced
"pootz"), from the German verb putzen, which means "to decorate."
Many Moravians settled in eastern Pennsylvania. Thus, putzes are
more common there than in other parts of the country.
Possible Origins
The Moravian American putz may have been inspired by the Christ-
mas gardens erected by many central Europeans in the 1700s (for
632
Putz
more on Christmas gardens, see Christmas Village). The Christmas
garden, usually constructed underneath the Christmas tree, con-
sisted of a miniature village enclosed within a fence. Families de-
lighted in organizing a Lilliputian community under their tree, com-
plete with miniature barns, houses, and shops. Some of these vil-
lages contained a Nativity scene within them; others did not. The
Christmas garden was particularly popular in Poland and the Ger-
man-speaking countries.
Moravian Putzes
Among American Moravians putz building can be traced back to the
late eighteenth century. Moravians buUt putzes in their churches and
their homes. They often constructed their putzes under the Christ-
mas tree, but also set them up against a backdrop of evergreens or
placed them on tabletops covered with greenery. Though the magi-
cal, miniature landscape usually contained a Nativity scene, the holy
figures were often embedded among a wealth of other details, such
as hills, streams, flocks of sheep, mill-houses, barking dogs, homes,
shops, craftsmen and women plying their trades, carriages, church-
es, farms, barns, old men smoking pipes, glassy lakes, waterfalls,
snow-capped mountains, caves, and all manner of fish, fowl, and
animals. Noah's ark and the pairs of attendant animals often made
their appearance in the putz as well. People who built putzes invest-
ed a lot of time and energy into giving their landscapes a life-like
appearance. They gathered real moss and other greenery to cover
the hills and fields, sprinkled sand along their lakefronts to create
beaches, and illuminated their buildings from within with tiny can-
dles. Some devotees created miniature mechanical devices to turn
mill wheels and make water flow in streams.
In nineteenth-century Moravian homes children were not allowed
to view the putz until Christmas Eve. The putz stayed up from Christ-
mas to Epiphany. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
turies, Moravian residents of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, celebrated
this period of time, the Twelve Days of Christmas, with parties and
visits. Putz-viewing parties became popular by 1850. In eastern
Pennsylvania, non-Moravians began to take an interest in putzes.
According to an 1858 newspaper article describing Christmas in Lititz,
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Pennsylvania (a town with a large Moravian community), complete
strangers might show up on one's doorstep and ask to see the putz.
As the tradition of putz building developed, the putzes tended to get
larger and larger, and people began to compete to see who could
build the biggest and best. Some putzes took up entire rooms and
contained dozens, if not hundreds, of figures.
Today both large and small putzes can still be found in Moravian
churches and homes. Some church putzes contain figures represent-
ing the entire Christmas story, from the prophecies of Isaiah to the
Annunciation, Nativity, and Flight into Egypt.
The town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania — founded by Moravians —
builds several community putzes each year at the town's Moravian
churches. This custom came about in the 1930s after one particularly
successful putz-building family, that of Edward Neisser, had 1,000
people knock on their door during the Christmas season, asking to
see their putz. Neisser suggested that the town build a community
putz for the public to enjoy and the chamber of commerce took him
up on that suggestion in 1937.
Related Customs
During the 1940s and 1950s, when toy train sets were an extremely
popular gift for boys, the custom of setting up a toy train under the
Christmas tree attained a certain degree of popularity. Some folk-
lorists view this practice as an outgrowth of putz building. They also
recognize similarities between the old Moravian custom of putz
building and the more recent hobby of collecting and displaying
miniature, ceramic Christmas villages.
Further Reading
King, Constance. Christmas Antiques, Decorations and Traditions. Wood-
bridge, Suffolk, England: Antiques Collectors Club, 1999.
Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 2000.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsylva-
nia Folklore Society, 1959.
634
Pyramid
Sweitzer, Vangie Roby. Christmas in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Pa.: Central
Moravian Church, 2000.
Web Sites
"The Putz," a page from the Moravian Church in America's web site at:
http://www.moravian.org/faq/putz.html
An explanation of the Moravian Christmas putz offered by the East Hills
Moravian Church, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: http://easthillsmc.
org/putz.html
Vyramid
Ceppo, Lichtstock, Lightstock, Weihnachtspyr amide
A Christmas pyramid is a triangular or pyramidal structure made up
of shelves of unequal lengths joined along their outside edges by
supporting posts or poles. Christmas decorations are displayed on
each shelf, with the lowest and longest shelf often reserved for a
Nativity scene. Family and friends may arrange apples, cookies,
nuts, small gifts, evergreen branches, Christmas cards, stars, fig-
urines, candles, flags, and other embellishments across the other
shelves according to their taste. A star or pinecone often adorns the
apex of the pyramid. In one variation of the pyramid popular in cen-
tral Europe several centuries ago, a propeller sits atop a pyramid
shaped like a tall, round, layer cake. A central axis pole supporting
the propeller runs through each of three circular shelves. Rising heat
currents from the candles on the shelves below cause the propeller
to spin, which in turn causes the axis to spin and the layers of the
pyramid to rotate.
Several authors view the candles as the most important ornaments
on the pyramid and suggest that the decorated pyramid serves as an
elaborate candlestick. Indeed, one German name for this structure,
Lichtstock, means "light stick." Some authorities maintain, however,
that the Lichtstock was a simple pole covered with evergreens bear-
ing a single candle. They offer Weihnachtspyramide as the German
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
term for the Christmas pyramid. The Italians call the pyramid a ceppo,
which means "log." Some explain this odd name by noting that the
ceppo, with its glowing candles, replaced the burning of the Yule log
in Italy.
The Christmas pyramid originated in Germany and became a pop-
ular Christmas tradition by the seventeenth century. In early times,
the pyramid was hung from the ceiling. Families garnished their
pyramids with candles and figurines, for example, of soldiers and
angels. Along with the paradise tree, the pyramid stands as a pos-
sible ancestor to the modern Christmas tree.
From Germany the use of pyramids spread to central Europe, Italy,
and England. German settlers brought the custom to America. As
early as 1747 Moravian communities in Pennsylvania were celebrat-
ing Christmas with decorated pyramids. By contrast, the first Ameri-
can Christmas tree dates only as far back as the early 1800s {see also
America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century; Bethlehem, Penn-
syvania, Christmas in).
In Germany the Christmas tree began to replace the pyramid in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The exploding popularity of
the Christmas tree in the nineteenth century contributed to the
declining use of the Christmas pyramid in many countries. The
Italians maintained the tradition of the Christmas ceppo, perhaps
because they never adopted the Christmas tree.
In Erzgebirge, a region of Germany famous for its mining industry,
miners began carving fancy wooden pyramids in the nineteenth
century. The miners had already developed a tradition of carving
wooden candlesticks in the shape of miners and angels. The miners
represented the men of the region, while the angels represented the
women. Families placed groupings of these candlesticks in their
windows at Christmas time, displaying one miner for every boy child
in the family and one angel for every girl child. Similar wooden fig-
urines eventually began to populate the shelves of their Christmas
pyramids. Miners, Christmas trees, and scenes from the Nativity
story, whirled round and round on the propeller-topped shelves.
Today villages in Erzgebirge build large, motorized community pyra-
mids, vying with one another to see which locale produces the most
impressive display.
636
Pyramid
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Ahnanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Foley, Daniel J. The Christmas Tree. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company,
1960.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Sterbenz, Carol Endler, and Nancy Johnson. The Decorated Tree. New York:
Harry N. Abrams, 1982.
Web Site
The German Embassy in Washington, D.C., offers a page describing the
Christmas pyramid on its web site at: http://www.germany-info.org/xmas/
ch_15.html
1*%
637
eer
The natural habitat of the reindeer, or Arctic deer, spans the north-
ernmost reaches of Russia, Siberia, and the Scandinavian countries.
Reindeer also roam across Canada, where they are known as cari-
bou. Reindeer differ from other deer not only in their capacity to
withstand cold, but also in the fact that both male and female ani-
mals grow antlers. Until the twentieth century an indigenous people
of northern Scandinavia called the Sami made their living primarily
as reindeer herders. These reindeer facts, however, cannot by them-
selves explain how these unfamiliar animals were drafted into con-
temporary American Christmas lore.
Santa's Reindeer
The idea that Santa Glaus drives a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer is
usually credited to one man's flight of fancy. In 1822 Clement C.
Moore (1779-1863), a classics professor at General Theological Semi-
nary, wrote a poem for children entitled "A Visit from St. Nicholas."
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
This poem, officially published in 1844, did much to establish the leg-
end and lore of Santa Claus in the United States {see also Elves and
North Pole). In it Moore assigns eight flying reindeer the task of
pulling Santa's toy-laden sleigh. Moreover, he gave these animals
names: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and
Blitzen. Moore encoded his own private joke in these last two names.
Donder means "thunder" in Dutch, and Blitzen means "lightning" in
German.
How did Moore come up with this unusual reindeer imagery? Cer-
tainly St. Nicholas, who might be considered Santa's European pre-
decessor, never resorted to such an unusual mode of conveyance {see
also St. Nicholas's Day). No definitive answer can be given to this
question, although researchers have made a number of speculations.
One writer points out that the year before Moore wrote "A Visit from
St. Nicholas," one William Gilley published a poem that depicts
"santeclause" driving a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. Moore may
have read this poem and simply borrowed the idea from this little-
known work. Others have suggested that Moore was inspired by an
image from old Norse mythology in which Thor, the thunder god,
rides a flying chariot pulled by the magical goats, Gnasher and
Cracker. It may also be that Moore paired Santa with the exotic rein-
deer in order to suggest that he came from a remote land in the far
northern reaches of the world.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
In the early twentieth century an ordinary department store worker
added a new reindeer to Santa's team. Robert L. May, an employee
at Montgomery Ward, wrote a poem entitled "Rudolph the Red-
Nosed Reindeer" in 1939. The store printed the poem and distrib-
uted it to children as a sales gimmick.
Written to appeal to children, the poem tells the story of a young
reindeer who was rejected by his playmates for being different. The
rejected youth, named Rudolph, had a large, shiny, red nose while all
the other reindeers had small black noses. One very misty Christmas
Eve, however, Santa discovers that the shiny red nose gives off
enough light to help him sail safely through the murky night skies.
Once the other reindeer realize Rudolph's nose is a valuable asset
they befriend the once lonely youngster.
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Reindeer
Almost two and one-half million copies of the poem were sent
home with shoppers in 1939, and more than three and one-half mil-
lion in 1946, when Montgomery Ward reprinted May's work. The
store then released the copyright on the poem back to the author,
who published it in a book for children.
In 1949 a friend of May's named Johnny Marks composed a song
based on the story told in the poem. In its first year on the market
Rudolph fans bought two million copies of the song. Entitled, like
the poem, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," it remains a popular,
contemporary Christmas tune, which has now been recorded hun-
dreds of times. In the decades following publication of the poem and
the song, Rudolph's fame continued to spread. His story has been
told in 25 different languages, and has even been made into a net-
work television special. In addition, hundreds of Christmas knick-
knacks now bear his image.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Resolutions
Many Americans begin the new year by resolving to change some-
thing about their lives. The most common resolutions seem to in-
volve losing weight, quitting smoking, getting more exercise, spend-
ing more time with loved ones, improving one's finances, and low-
ering stress. Relatively few people manage to keep these resolutions.
Many complain that the tradition of making New Year's resolutions
compels them to start the year with a struggle likely to end in failure
and corresponding feelings of guilt. How did such a stressful custom
come to be associated with the celebration of the new year?
History
The New Year's resolution developed among the Puritans, an early
Protestant Christian sect whose teachings emphasized the need for
self- discipline, morality, self-examination, and religious conversion.
Puritan leaders found fault with the way in which most people cele-
brated Christmas and New Year's. They criticized the heavy drinking,
public carousing, gaming, masquerades, gambling, and dancing that
took place on New Year's Eve. They urged their followers to abandon
these coarse practices and to instead devote the occasion to self-
examination and prayer. Devout Puritans observed the new year by
searching their souls, pledging to change their ways, and putting
themselves right with God. In the eyes of committed Puritans, the
turning of the year — which seems to bring with it a heightened
awareness of the passing of time and our eventual deaths — provid-
ed a natural occasion to review one's life and amend it for the better.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, evangelical Protestant
groups that grew out of the Puritan movement continued to criticize
excessive New Year's Eve festivities. Ardent members of these groups
marked the arrival of the new year with pious resolutions. Religious
studies professor Leigh Eric Schmidt has recorded several of these
resolutions in his book Consumer Rites. On New Year's Eve in 1846 a
woman named Frances Quick resolved to "begin the New Year with
prayerful petitions." She continued:
642
Resolutions
I feel firm, strong, resolute tonight. I will not seek to glean
pleasure from the coming year, or reap selfish and merce-
nary advantage from it; but will go forth in the strength of
God to conquer my own weaknesses, improve the powers
which he has given me, and make it my daily study to find
some avenue of usefulness to others [Schmidt, 1995, 118].
Evangelical Christians began to hold New Year's Eve Watch Night
services to facilitate the formation of spiritual resolutions such as
these and to provide an alternative to the frivolous and often drunk-
en activities that continued to characterize the holiday. These two
visions for the holiday, the one sober and religious and the other
raucous and secular, contended with one another throughout the
nineteenth century {see also First Night).
Modem Resolutions
According to Schmidt, the New Year's Eve resolution as we know it
came about in the early twentieth century when the evangelical
Christian custom of making a pious resolution moved out into the
broader culture, stripped of its religious content. People began to
resolve to improve themselves in various ways — not necessarily
spiritual or religious — in the coming year. Often these resolutions
had to do with improving one's health.
In the mid-nineteenth century Frances Quick called on "the strength
of God to conquer [her] own weaknesses." The contemporary custom
of making a New Year's resolution still revolves around the desire to
conquer one's weaknesses, but does not necessarily retain the refer-
ence to God. Many interpret the practice instead as a challenge to
their own individual willpower. Advertisers are quick to remind us of
the dangers of relying on individual willpower alone, however. Weight
reduction programs, gyms, and other companies whose services might
help us attain our most common goals flood the market with adver-
tisements each January, hoping to profit from our need for help in car-
rying out our New Year's resolutions {see also Commercialism).
Further Reading
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holi-
days. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Reveillon
The French celebrate Christmas Eve with an elaborate meal called
reveillon (pronounced ray-veh-YON). Reveillon means "awakening"
in French. This banquet usually takes place after attending Midnight
Mass on Christmas Eve. In past times people may have savored re-
veillon even more than they do today because it signaled the end of
the four-week Advent fast.
Reveillon in France
Although in France some people choose to celebrate reveillon in
restaurants, most opt to feast at home. Many invite extended family
members and guests to their table. To sustain themselves through
the long church services, the family often takes a light snack in the
early evening. Small children may be put to bed for a few hours
before the evening's activities begin. When families dine at home,
the women usually cook and serve the food. This may include wash-
ing dishes between courses in order to serve each on a clean plate.
Special preparations set the tone for an elegant celebration. The
table sparkles with candles, polished silverware, and a Christmas
centerpiece. The family's best tablecloth lies underneath. Much work
in the kitchen must take place before the diners sit down, since the
meal may consist of up to fifteen courses. Several wines accompany
the meal, and toasts are offered throughout. The feast often begins
with oysters or other shellfish. In Paris common reveillon dishes
include goose liver pate, roast turkey or roast goose stuffed with
prunes and pate, special preparations of potatoes and vegetables,
cheese, fruit, nuts, and for dessert, huche de Noel (Christmas log), a
special chocolate, cream-filled cake shaped like a log.
Other regions maintain their own traditional Christmas Eve menus.
In the southern region of Provence a choice of thirteen desserts
greets diners at the end of the meal, one for Jesus and each of the
twelve apostles. Typical desserts include fresh and dried fruits, such as
figs, dates, pears, and oranges, marzipan, sweet bread, and cookies.
644
Reveillon
Reveillon in the United States and Canada
The tradition of the reveillon supper traveled with French colonists
to the Americas. In the nineteenth century New Orleans's French
population continued to celebrate Christmas Eve with attendance at
Midnight Mass followed by reveillon dinners at home. Today many
prominent New Orleans restaurants attract diners with sumptuous
reveillon menus. The French Canadians of Quebec also inherited the
tradition of coming home to reveillon supper after Midnight Mass. A
traditional reveillon menu in Quebec consists of la tourtiere (a meat
pie), a stew of meat balls and pork, minced pork pie, oyster or pea
soup, a variety of sauces and relishes, and several desserts. Tradi-
tional reveillon desserts include pastries, candies, fruitcake, sugar
pie, cornmeal cake, doughnuts, ice cream, and buche de Noel.
Further Reading
Christmas in Canada. Chicago: World Book, 1994.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ross, Corinne Madden. Christmas in France. Lincoln wood. III: Passport
Books, 1991.
/f- "
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
RO&T
m
The robin appears on Christmas cards, ornaments, and other Christ-
mas decorations. No one seems to know, however, just how the bird
became a Christmas symbol. British and Irish folklore links the
robin with the wren, another Christmas bird {see also Wren Hunt).
Past folk beliefs assigned magical qualities and near sacred status to
both birds.
Folklore
British and Irish folklore often paired the robin and the wren. Some
folk verses painted the two as sweethearts, in spite of the fact that
they represent different species. These verses always cast the robin
as male and the wren as female. The following lines describe their
romance:
Cock robin got up early
At the break of day.
And went to Jenny's window
To sing a roundelay.
He sang cock robin's love
To little Jenny Wren,
And when he got unto the end.
Then he began again [Lawrence, 1997, 38].
Traditional lore also paired robins and wrens according to their
shared qualities. Several English and Irish folk verses express the fol-
lowing sentiment:
The robin and the wren
Are God Almighty's cock and hen [Armstrong, 1970, 168].
Perhaps the assumption that the birds were especially beloved by
God gave rise to folk beliefs warning against harming robins or
wrens. As the following folk verses teach, bad luck inevitably fol-
lowed:
646
Robin
Cursed is the man
Who kills a robin or a wren.
Kill a robin or a wren
Never prosper, boy or man.
The robin and the redbreast
The robin and the wren
If ye tak'out of the nest
Ye'U never thrive again [Lawrence, 1997, 40].
According to various legends, one of these sacred birds once per-
formed a heroic feat for humankind. Old tales from various parts of
Europe lauded either the wren or the robin as the original fire-fetch-
er, the creature who delivered the first flames to humankind. In addi-
tion, English folklore assigned supernatural abilities to the robin. A
fairly widespread belief credited the robin with a foreknowledge of
death and illness. According to these beliefs, a robin tapping on the
window or flying in or about the house meant that death, disease, or
some other misfortune would visit the family. Along similar lines,
English folklore also claimed that both the robin and wren pitied the
dead. According to this belief, the two birds often covered the lifeless
bodies of whatever dead creatures they encountered in the woods
with moss or leaves. These gestures of compassion supported their
reputation as kindly, holy creatures.
Christmas Symbol
Very little in the above account makes the robin a natural choice for
a Christmas symbol. Nevertheless, in Victorian times the robin ap-
peared frequently on Christmas cards as an emblem of the season
{see also Victorian England, Christmas in). Perhaps the popularity
of this image grew out of a general affection for this non-migratory
bird, remembered especially at the time of year when nature pre-
sented the robin with its harshest conditions {see also Christmas
Sheaf).
In addition, some connection can be drawn between the bird images
printed on some nineteenth-century Christmas cards and elements
of the folk beliefs explained above. For example, one illustration
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
depicts a smartly dressed robin in top hat, jacket, and vest courting a
wren in bonnet and shawl. Another shows a winter woodland scene
in which a robin and wren drape moss and leaves over a doll (whose
body resembles that of a dead child partially covered with snow).
Other Victorian Christmas cards cast the robin as a symbol of the
new year and the wren as a symbol of the old year.
Far more difficult to understand, however, is the popularity of Christ-
mas cards depicting dead birds, especially robins, which peaked dur-
ing the 1880s. Sentiments such as "Sweet messenger of calm decay,"
and "Peace divine" accompanied these perplexing pictures. Nowa-
days most people would agree that neither the sentiments nor the
images evoke the spirit of Christmas. The Victorian fondness for that
which evoked tender emotions, especially pity, may explain the pop-
ularity of these kinds of cards.
Few people today associate the robin with death. Instead, the image
of the robin at Christmas time probably triggers kindly thoughts
about animals enduring the cold of winter or about the promise of
spring to come.
Further Reading
Armstrong, Edward A. The Folklore of Birds. Second edition, revised and
enlarged. New York: Dover Publications, 1970.
Buday, George. The History of the Christmas Card. 1954. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
IngersoU, Ernest. Birds in Legend, Fable and Folklore. New York: Longmans,
Green and Company, 1923.
Lawrence, Elizabeth Atwood. The Hunting of the Wren. Knoxville, Tenn.:
University of Tennessee Press, 1997.
^§^
648
Rosemary
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'^
Roseman)
Seasonal decorations of greenery have embellished European Christ-
mas celebrations for centuries. Rosemary was at one time a popular
element in these decorations. Between the fourteenth and the mid-
nineteenth centuries, rosemary reigned as a favorite item in English
Christmas garlands. In the seventeenth century the English poet Rob-
ert Herrick (1591-1674) noted that, according to local custom, "Rose-
mary and baies [bays] that are most faire were stuck about the houses
and the churches as Christmas decorations" {see also Laurel).
Folk belief attributed a number of positive qualities to the plant,
qualities that might be thought to justify its association with the sea-
son. Rosemary signified remembrance, as attested to by Ophelia in
Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. In addition, evil spirits fled in the pres-
ence of rosemary. Finally, its name echoed that of Mary, mother of
Jesus, one of whose symbols was the rose. Should these explana-
tions be found wanting, many legends developed to offer a Christian
explanation of the herb's connection with Christmas {see also Na-
tivity Legends). Rosemar/s popularity has since declined, however.
Today we seldom twine this fragrant herb into our Christmas deco-
rations.
Auld, Williams Muir. Christmas Traditions
Omnigraphics, 1992.
Further Reading
1931. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
649
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS'Qe'*qS'Q^
Russia, Christmas in
RMSsfa^ cfiristmas in
Contemporary Russian Christmas celebrations mix traditional folk
and religious customs with remnants of the secular celebrations insti-
tuted during the Communist era (1917-91). The traditional Russian
Christmas season, called Sviatki, lasted from Christmas to Epiph-
any, and was marked by feasting, fortune -telling, merrymaking, and
religious observance. Since the fall of the Communist government
the observance of religious holidays has been increasing. Most Rus-
sians who claim a religious affiliation are Orthodox Christians, a
branch of the Christian faith known for its ancient and elaborate ritu-
als. Since the Russian Orthodox Church still follows the Julian calen-
dar, Russians celebrate Christmas on January 7 rather than on De-
cember 25 {see also Old Christmas Day). Exposure to and adoption
of Western Christmas customs has also increased in recent years.
Christmas Customs in Old Russia
As far back as the Middle Ages Russians welcomed Christmas with
the singing of kolyadki, or Christmas carols. Carolers worked their
way through neighborhoods expecting to be given cookies or other
sweets in return for their musical entertainment. Mumming is an-
other old Russian Christmas custom. The famous Russian writer Leo
Tolstoy (1828-1910) included a passage describing Russian mumming
customs in his novel War and Peace. Russian mummers favored
dressing up as animals, especially as goats, horses, and bears. Beggar
costumes were also popular.
Russian folklore warned that magical spirits and forces waxed pow-
erful during the Christmas season. The Russian people, therefore,
developed numerous folk charms to protect their homes, farms, and
families from evil spirits or misfortunes. They also searched nature
for omens of things to come. Folk tradition suggested that Christmas
weather could predict the next year's agricultural prospects. Starry
skies meant one could expect a plentiful pea harvest, for example.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Many young women worked fortune -telling charms at Christmas
time in the hopes of catching a glimpse of their future husbands.
Many different spells existed. One encouraged young ladies to
throw a boot of theirs into the street on Christmas Eve. The first
young man to find the boot would be their future husband. Another
custom suggested that unmarried women light a candle in front of a
mirror at midnight on Christmas Eve. This charm was supposed to
cause the face of their future husband to appear in the mirror.
Other popular Christmas season activities included eating and drink-
ing with family and friends, and decorating Christmas trees. Most
people made homemade ornaments out of fruit, nuts, foil, and
carved wood. Finally, children in the cities eagerly awaited the Christ-
mas Eve visit of Grandfather Frost, who brought gifts to well-be-
haved girls and boys.
Feasting and Fasting in Old Russia
Religious observances surrounding Christmas also flourished in Old
Russia. These observances began with a fast that started 39 days
before Christmas. Those who participated abstained from eating
meat, dairy products, and eggs during this period. On December 24
some refrained from eating anything at all until the first star
appeared in the sky, signaling the arrival of Christmas Eve. Then
they enjoyed a twelve-course dinner. The twelve courses represent-
ed the Twelve Days of Christmas. The main course was usually fish
instead of meat. Other traditional dishes included a kissel (a kind of
berry pudding), borsch (beet soup), and kutya, a dessert made of
boiled wheat berries, poppy seeds, and honey. A number of supersti-
tious customs surrounded this dessert. Feasant families used to save
a spoonful of kutya to throw at the ceiling. If the grains stuck to the
ceiling, it signaled a good harvest to come. Many people also attend-
ed a lengthy church service on Christmas Eve.
The Advent fast finally ended on Christmas Day. Feople celebrated
the end of the fast and the arrival of Christmas Day by feasting on
roast meats, such as goose, ham, and duck. Roast suckling pig and
pig's head were favorite Christmas dishes {see also Boar's tiead).
Other popular Christmas dinner dishes included piroshki (meat-
stuffed pastries), pelmeni (beef and pork dumplings), and blini (thin
652
Russia, Christmas in
buckwheat pancakes filled with caviar and sour cream). People
washed down these heavy dishes with tea and vodka. In addition,
many people attended special religious services on Christmas Day.
The devout might attend special services held on each of the Twelve
Days of Christmas.
Christmas under Communism
The Communist party, which came to power in 1917, opposed reli-
gion and religious holidays. The new Soviet government also adopt-
ed the Gregorian calendar already predominant in the West. Since
the Russian Orthodox Church stuck with the old Julian calendar, this
meant that Christmas now fell on January 7 and Epiphany on Jan-
uary 19. Although the Communists did not close all of Russia's
churches, government officials often persecuted those who dared to
attend religious services. Religious and folk celebrations of Christ-
mas were suppressed and the day was no longer a legal holiday.
New Year's under Communism
The Communists realized, however, that people wanted to continue
their wintertime festivities. So they made January 1, New Year's
Day, a legal holiday and shifted many non-religious Christmas cus-
toms to that day. Under the Communist government Grandfather
Frost brought children gifts on New Year's Eve instead of Christmas
Eve. It is said that Joseph Stalin reincorporated the decorated tree
into these winter celebrations by declaring it to be a New Year's tree
instead of a Christmas tree. Likewise, the Christmas dinner became
the New Year's dinner.
The government also instituted new holiday customs of its own.
Communist officials created a "Festival of Winter" with special per-
formances, parades, and children's activities during the last two
weeks of December. On New Year's Day a fabulous children's party
took place inside the Kremlin, the walled compound that served as
the headquarters of the Soviet government. Extravagant decorations
converted this usually formidable location into a child's fantasyland.
Fifty thousand tickets were made available for this yearly event,
which included the official arrival of Grandfather Frost and his
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entourage as well as a variety of entertainments provided by musi-
cians, dancers, acrobats, clowns, and actors dressed as fictional char-
acters.
During the Communist period Grandfather Frost was assigned two
new companions, the Snow Maiden, and the New Year's boy. While
the Snow Maiden was a character from an old Russian folktale, the
New Year's boy was a new creation. At public events he was repre-
sented by a young boy in a costume with the numbers of the new
year blazoned across it {see also Baby).
Ironically, New Year's Day became Russia's favorite holiday during
the Communist era, partly because of the popularity of the old
Christmas customs that resurfaced on that date and also because the
occasion did not lend itself to political propaganda.
Christmas since 1991
Since the fall of the Communist government in 1991 and the re-
establishment of the independent nation of Russia, the Russian peo-
ple have begun to revive the celebration of Christmas. The most
noticeable change is the increase in religious observance. In recent
years Russian Orthodox churches have noted record attendances at
Christmas services. According to a 2003 poll, 27 percent of Russians
stated that they planned to go to Christmas services, and 18 percent
indicated that they might go. Many fewer people, however — only
12 percent — observed the rigorous pre-Christmas fast.
A Westerner might find a Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve service
both tiring and fascinating. The service starts at midnight and lasts
until close to dawn. The only seats in the church are lined up against
the walls and are generally reserved for the elderly, the sick, and
pregnant women. All others stand during the services. The candle-
light flickering off the religious paintings that cover the walls, the
scent of burning incense, the singing of the choir, and the chanting
of the priest and congregation combine to create an atmosphere of
religious mystery. Christmas Eve services conducted by the head of
the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexi II, are now broadcast
on Russian television.
654
Russia, Christmas in
Some of the old Soviet customs Hnger, however. Gala New Year's
Eve celebrations, which include champagne and fireworks, continue
to find favor with the people. Winter festivals still provide Russians
with special holiday season entertainments. Grandfather Frost con-
tinues to bring presents to children on New Year's Eve. What's more,
he still finds New Year's trees there to greet him. Some writers be-
lieve that these old Christmas customs will eventually gravitate back
to the celebration of the Nativity. For the time being, however, the
celebrations that take place on New Year's Eve and Day still consti-
tute the major midwinter festival in Russia. A poll taken in 2003
indicated that 88 percent of Russians approved of giving gifts on
New Year's Day, while only 9 percent viewed gift exchanges as an
appropriate Christmas custom.
Some Russians have begun to include elements of Western Christ-
mas celebrations in their holiday festivities. In recent years Santa
Claus-shaped decorations and treats have appeared in many stores.
Moreover, some people have begun to celebrate December 25, a day
known as "Catholic Christmas" in Russia.
Further Reading
Associated Press. "Russians Mark Orttiodox Christmas." New York Times
(January 6, 2003).
Christmas in Russia. Chicago: World Book, 1992.
Clynes, Tom. Wild Planet. Detroit, Mich.: Visible Ink Press, 1995.
655
St. Barbaras Bay
In parts of France, Germany, Syria, and Lebanon the Christmas
season opens on St. Barbara's Day, December 4. Scholars now be-
lieve that St. Barbara never existed. Moreover, the Roman Catholic
Church eliminated her feast day in 1969. Nevertheless, many people
continue to enjoy the folk customs connected with the saint.
Legend of St. Barbara
According to legend, Barbara lived in a city of Asia Minor called Nic-
omedia (currently Izmit) sometime between the second and fourth
centuries. Her father kept her shut up in a tower in order to shield
her from outside influences. Somehow she developed a strong inter-
est in Christianity. When her father was away, she installed three
windows, representing the Holy Trinity, in the bath he was building
for her. When he returned she confessed that she was a Christian.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Upon hearing this news her father ilew into a rage and beat her.
When she persisted in her faith against his wishes, he turned her
over to the authorities. They sentenced her to death, since Christi-
anity was still illegal at that time. Barbara's father resolved to carry
out the sentence himself. In one version of the story he beheaded
her and was struck by lightning on his way home. In another version
the lightning kills him before he can behead his daughter.
Christians venerated Barbara as a saint from as early as the seventh
century a.d. Many artists depicted her standing in front of a tower
with three windows. She became the special patron of miners, forts,
and artillerymen, as well as the patron of builders and architects. The
role of lightning in her story, as well as her improvement of, and
later imprisonment in, a tower, may have suggested these connec-
tions. People have also invoked the saint to protect them against
lightning, storms, and sudden death.
European Customs
In Europe Barbara is associated with the cherry blossom, which
symbolizes spiritual or feminine beauty. Germans, Czechs, Austri-
ans, Poles, and other central and eastern Europeans begin Barbara
branches on December 4. Cherry tree branches are broken off and
kept in a pot of water near the stove. This premature warmth en-
courages the branch to blossom. If the buds blossom on Christmas
Eve, then the girl who tended the branch will find a good husband
within the year. Others interpret the flowers as signs that good for-
tune will visit the household. This old custom has regained some
popularity among Western Christians. Instead of cherry branches,
some people use apple, plum, almond, forsythia, jasmine, or horse
chestnut branches.
Middle Eastern Customs
In Syria and Lebanon, Christians celebrate St. Barbara's Day with
feasting and alms-giving. Parents often throw a special party for their
children. They prepare special sweet dishes and set them on a table
illuminated with candles. Wheat plays a double role in the composi-
tion of these treats, both as a main ingredient and as a symbol of the
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St. Barbara's Day
soul's immortality. Often, a family member or friend dons a white
robe and crown in order to play the role of St. Barbara at the feast.
When all is ready she ushers the children into the room and leads
them in singing and other activities. The children may also bring these
treats to the homes of needy families. They greet the household with
the following sentiment: "May God bless you and bring you happi-
ness throughout the year. Father and mother beg you to accept these
gifts from us." Some children in these countries celebrate St. Barbara's
Day with masquerades. Wearing rags and frightening masks, they
knock on doors in their neighborhood and ask for "blessings." House-
holders respond by giving them candy, coins, or candles.
Weather and Crop Lore
Weather and crop lore have also attached themselves to St. Barbara's
Day. In southern France, especially Provence, an old custom advises
that dishes of water-soaked grain be placed on sunny windowsills on
this day. If the "St. Barbara's grain" sprouts and grows, crops will
flourish in the coming year. If the seeds in the little dish die, then
crops will fail. After performing this test some people put St. Barbara's
grain in their Nativity scene to represent the coming harvest. In Po-
land people watch the weather on St. Barbara's Day. Rain on Decem-
ber fourth means that cold and ice will arrive by Christmas Day. Cold
and ice on St. Barbara's Day foretells a warm, rainy Christmas.
Further Reading
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Second edition, revised. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1983.
Delaney, lohn ]. Dictionary of Saints. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.
Harper, Howard. Days and Customs of All Faiths. 1957. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Kirsch, ]. P. "St. Barbara." In Charles B. Hervermann, ed. Catholic Ency-
clopedia. Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson, 1913. Available online at:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02284d.htm
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1966.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. 46 Days of Christmas. New York: Coward-McCann,
1960.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
St. Basf Ps T>a\)
Orthodox Christians recognize January 1 as St. Basil's Day. St. Basil
(c. 329-379) was born in central Turkey and became famous for his
intellectual brilliance, his care of the poor, and the rules he wrote to
govern monastic life. Greeks celebrate St. Basil's Day with gift giv-
ing, carol singing, a special kind of bread, and a number of customs
designed to attract good luck for the coming year.
New Year's Eve
The eve of St. Basil's Day coincides with New Year's Eve. On this
long, dark night, relatives and friends gather together to wait for the
beginning of the new year. Many people play cards or other games
of chance on this evening, as old superstitions link New Year's Eve
and Day with fortune-telling. When the clock strikes midnight peo-
ple wish each other "Chronia polld" (many years) or "Kali chronid"
(good year).
The first person to enter the home after midnight determines the
household's luck in the coming year {see also Firstfooting). A strong,
healthy person will bring good luck to the house. An icon (a reli-
gious image used in prayer and worship) can also bring good luck to
a home if it is the first thing to come in from the outside. The person
bearing the icon must carry it with outstretched arms, so it enters
the house before he or she does. Greek families may observe other
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St. Basil's Day
superstitions on New Year's Eve, such as opening windows at mid-
night to release any evil spirits hanging about the house.
Another old New Year's Eve tradition encourages children and
adults to go from house to house, singing carols called kalanda (see
also Christmas Carols). One such Greek carol, called "Kalanda Pro-
tochronias" honors the start of the new year and the arrival of St.
Basil from Caesarea in what is now Turkey. Traditionally these carol-
ers carried with them a paper star, a ship, an orange, an apple, and a
green branch from the dogwood tree (see also Christmas Symbols).
The singers would bestow a blessing on the families they visited by
brushing them on the back with the branch. People also went carol-
ing on New Year's Day, but sometimes added other symbolic acts
thought to ensure the household's luck, such as tossing wheat into
their backyard or prodding their fire.
St. Basil's Day, New Year's Day
On New Year's Day families gather together to share a loaf of vasilo-
pita, "St Basil's bread." (Some families eat the vasilopita after midnight
on New Year's Eve.) Bakers insert a coin into this sweet, braided bread
(or cake, in some regions of Greece). Whoever gets the coin in their
slice of bread will have good luck in the coming year. The bread is
often distributed in a ceremonial way. The head of the household
makes the sign of the cross over the bread and cuts the first slice,
which is "for Christ." The second and third pieces are offered to St.
Basil and the Virgin Mary. The next piece goes to the head of the
household, and the remaining slices go to the rest of the household,
with the eldest receiving theirs first and the youngest last. Some fami-
lies also designate slices "for the house" and "for the poor." In rural
areas farm animals, too, may be included in this custom.
An old Greek legend explains the origins of this custom. It claims
that when St. Basil was acting as bishop of Caesarea, he was asked
to return a sack of valuable items that had been collected from the
people of the city (some say by over-greedy tax collectors, others by
thieves). People began to argue over what belonged to whom. St.
Basil received divine aid in sorting out these disputes. He asked
some women to bake the treasures into a large loaf of bread. When
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
he sliced and distributed the pieces everyone miraculously received
only their valuables.
As January 1 is the feast day of St. Basil, special religious services are
held in his honor. These services feature the recitation of the Divine
Liturgy written by St. Basil. Instead of celebrating birthdays, Greeks
celebrate their name-day, that is, the feast day of the saint after
whom they were named. January 1 is the name-day for all those
named Vasil, Vasili, Vasiliki, Vasilia, Basil, and its English equivalent
William.
Traditionally Greek families open their holiday gifts on St. Basil's
Day. Indeed, St. Basil, who visits Greek homes on New Year's Eve, is
the traditional Christmas season gift bringer. In some places fami-
lies left out little offerings of special foods — such as a glass of water
and pomegranates, sweets, vasHopita, fish, or jellied pork pie — dur-
ing the night for the saint to refresh himself. In recent years foreign
influence has led some people to exchange presents on Christmas
Day rather than on St. Basil's Day.
Over the years plenty of superstitions and folk charms have attached
themselves to New Year's Day. People still observe some of them for
fun. As one's activities on New Year's Day are thought to predict one's
preoccupations in the coming year, people try to avoid arguing, sob-
bing, or losing anything on this day. They seek out happy news and
avoid thinking about sad things. Some eat sweets as a means of
insuring they will have a "sweet" new year. Some people put on new
clothes as a charm guaranteeing that they will be well groomed all
year long. When dinnertime comes, tables are set with plenty of
food, insuring that the family will enjoy abundant provisions in the
months ahead.
Further Reading
Griffin, Robert H., and Ann H. Shurgin, eds. The Folklore of World Holidays.
Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1999.
Mikalis, Elena, and Odysseus MikaUs. "Celebrating Christmas and New
Year's Day in Traditional Greek Style." Business America 117, 12 (1996): 6.
Rouvelas, Marilyn. A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America. Be-
thesda, Md.: Nea Attiki Press, 1993.
662
St. Distaff's Day
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
St. Distaffs Bay
Rock Day
In pre-industrial Europe many of the agricultural and household
chores that marked the turning of the seasons attached themselves
to saints' days. All across Europe, for example, people slaughtered
animals and celebrated the harvest on St. Martin's Day {see Mar-
tinmas). In England folk tradition carried this tendency one step
further, inventing St. Distaff's Day to mark women's return to work
after the Christmas holiday.
St. Distaff's Day fell on January 7, the day after Epiphany. On this
day folk tradition advised women to return to the daily chores they
had put aside during the Twelve Days of Christmas. Before the
invention of factory-made cloth, the task of spinning constituted
perhaps the most representative of all female chores. Women of all
ages, ranks, and incomes spun thread. Thus, English folk tradition
commemorated women's return to work on the day after Epiphany
by inventing a joke holiday called St. Distaff's Day. There never was a
saint named Distaff. The word "distaff" refers to one of the principal
tools women used in spinning, a rod upon which flax or wool was
tied and out of which thread was pulled. This tool was also known
as a "rock," hence the day was also known as "Rock Day."
Although English custom encouraged women to return to work,
men remained at liberty until Plough Monday. This inequality be-
came the subject of many Distaff Day customs, which encouraged a
playful battle of the sexes rather than an earnest return to work.
Robert Herrick's (1591-1674) poem, "St. Distaff's Day; or, the Mor-
row After Twelfth Day" records some of these practices:
Partly worke and partly play
Ye must on S. Distaffs day:
From the Plough soone free your teame;
Then come home and fother them.
If the Maides a spinning goe.
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Burne the flax, and fire the tow:
Scorch their plackets, but beware
That ye singe no maiden-haire.
Bring in pailes of water then.
Let the Maides bewash the men.
Give S. Distaffe all the right.
Then bid Christmas sport good-night.
And next morrow, every one
To his own vocation [Chambers, 1990, 1: 68].
Herrick shows that as women returned to their spinning, custom
encouraged men to tease the women by setting fire to their flax or
wool. This act in turn allowed women the pleasure of dousing the
men with buckets of water. If Herrick's account is accurate, it would
seem that very little work was actually accomplished on St. Distaff's
Day {see also St. Knut's Day).
Further Reading
Brewster, H. Pomeroy. Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church. 1904.
Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Chambers, Robert. "January 7 — St. Distaff's Day." In his The Book of Days.
Volume 1. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
664
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'Q^
St. John's Day
1%.
St. ]o{)ns Bay
On December 27 the Christian calendar commemorates St. John the
Evangelist, also called St. John the Divine. One of the twelve apos-
tles of Jesus, John is known as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." Per-
haps this explains why he was honored with a feast day that falls just
two days after Christmas. Germans and Austrians observed the day
with the blessing and drinking of wine. At an old ceremony known
as the Johannissegen, Roman Catholic priests blessed wine brought in
by parishioners. The people then took the wine home and toasted
one another with it, saying, "Drink the love of St. John." According
to folklore, the blessed wine also bestowed health on all who drank
it. For this reason even babies were encouraged to take a sip of the
holy liquid on St. John's Day. Folklore also claimed that the blessed
wine warded off lightning, attracted a bountiful harvest, kept other
wines from going sour, and banished many diseases.
History and Legends
St. John's Day is one of three Christian festivals that follow in close
succession upon Christmas. St. Stephen's Day occurs on December
26, St. John's Day on December 27, and Holy Innocents' Day on
December 28. These commemorative days were established by the
late fifth century. The figures they honor share two things in com-
mon. Stephen, John, and the Innocents all lived during the time of
Christ and were martyred for him. In addition, Stephen, John, and
the Innocents represent all the possible combinations of the distinc-
tion between martyrs of will and martyrs of deed. The children
slaughtered at King Herod's command in Bethlehem did not choose
their fate, but suffered it nonetheless, and so were considered mar-
tyrs in deed. St. John willingly risked death in his defense of the
Christian faith, but did not suffer death, and so was considered a
martyr of will. St. Stephen risked and suffered death for his faith,
and thus became a martyr of will and deed.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Europeans were celebrat-
ing St. John's Day with the consumption of large quantities of wine,
blessed and otherwise. These celebrations may have been inspired by
a legend in which John was offered a cup of poisoned wine by a
pagan priest. In some versions of the story John drinks the wine with
no effect, in others he detects the poison before drinking it.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 27 — St. John the Evangelist's Day." In his
The Book of Days. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Harper, Howard. Days and Customs of All Faiths. 1957. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
666
St. Knut's Day
St. Knut^s Bay
St. Hilary's Day
St. Knut's Day falls on January 13, the twentieth day after Christmas,
and marks the end of the Christmas season in Sweden and Nor-
way. In Sweden the day is known as the Twentieth Day of Christ-
mas. The Swedish Christmas season lasts longer than twenty days,
however, since it begins on December 13, St. Lucy's Day.
Two Saints
While the Swedes and Norwegians honor St. Knut (also spelled
"Canute") on January 13, the Roman Catholic and Anglican tradi-
tions acknowledge St. Hilary of Poitiers on this day. Canute Lavard, a
Danish nobleman, lived in the twelfth century. Political rivals mur-
dered Canute on January 7, 1131, in order to prevent him from be-
coming king. Legends say that many miracles occurred at Canute's
tomb. These miracles catapulted the deceased Danish lord into
sainthood. His feast day was eventually moved from January 7 to
January 13. St. Knut shares this date with St. Hilary (also "Hilarius"),
a fourth-century bishop famed for his religious writings and forceful
personality.
Customs
An old Scandinavian saying proclaims, "Twentieth-day Knut, drives
the Yule out." People took the saying quite literally in past times.
They removed all Christmas decorations, flung open doors and win-
dows, and swept all the dust and debris from their celebrations out
of the house on this day. Folk belief also recommended that house-
holders tap the walls with sticks in order to chase out any Christmas
ghosts, trolls, or Jultomten that might be lurking there. In Sweden a
man dressed as "Knut" in colorful rags sometimes appeared to help
the household "sweep out Christmas."
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Elements of these older practices can be seen in Sweden's contem-
porary St. Knut's Day traditions. On this day Swedes dismantle their
Christmas trees. Children's parties centered around this event have
become another special feature of the day. These parties offer the
opportunity for one last bout of Christmas eating, drinking, singing,
and dancing, as well as the pleasure of observing the last lighting of
the Christmas tree. While the adults pack up the delicate Christmas
tree ornaments, the children stuff themselves with the candy and
cookies that have been used to decorate the tree. After the tree is
stripped the assembled company throws it out onto the snow, often
wishing it and the Christmas season a final farewell in song. Folk tra-
ditions suggest that the tree be thrown through a window. Swedes
sometimes dispose of the trees by gathering several together and
setting them ablaze as great outdoor bonfires.
Further Reading
Cagner, Ewert, comp. Swedish Christmas. New York: Henry Holt and Com-
pany, 1959.
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Noiway. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
St. Lucy^s Bay
Santa Lucia
In Sweden the Christmas season begins on December 13, St. Lucy's
Day. St. Lucy's Day celebrations feature girls who dress and act as the
saint. Crowned with wreaths of greenery studded with glowing can-
dles, they sing songs about St. Lucy and distribute gifts of food. In
North America, some Swedish families, churches, schools, and insti-
tutions also celebrate St. Lucy's Day. Italy, the country of Lucy's birth,
honors her feast day as well.
668
St. Lucy's Day
Life and Legends of St. Lucy
St. Lucy, or Santa Lucia, lived in Syracuse, a town on the Italian
island of Sicily, during the late third and early fourth centuries. The
many legends of her life vary somewhat, offering accounts of some
or all of the following events.
Although Lucy was a Christian, her great beauty attracted the atten-
tion of a pagan nobleman. He pursued her but she rejected him.
When he told Lucy that her beautiful eyes "haunted him day and
night," she tore her eyes out and sent them to him, hoping to be left
in peace. God restored them in recognition of her willing sacrifice,
however. In another effort to escape marriage, Lucy distributed her
dowry among the poor. This act so angered her suitor that he in-
formed religious authorities of her adherence to the then-illegal
Christian faith. The authorities demanded that she perform a sacri-
fice to the pagan gods. She refused and was sent to a brothel. When
this attempt to punish her failed, she was taken to prison. She again
refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, whereupon she was con-
demned to death. The first attempts to execute her failed as God
again intervened on Lucy's behalf. The guards sent to fetch the girl
from her cell found they could not move her. In an effort to carry out
their orders they put ropes around her, then set the floor on fire.
When neither of these tricks enabled them to move the saint, they
stabbed her in the neck. It is believed that she died in 303 a.d.
History
Scholars agree that the legend of St. Lucy contains more fiction that
fact. Nevertheless, her cult flourished in Syracuse as early as the fifth
century. In the sixth and seventh centuries it spread to the Italian
cities of Rome and Ravenna. Eventually her fame stretched across
Europe, and she became one of the most popular saints of the
Middle Ages. Artists often depicted her carrying her eyes in a dish or
holding the palm of martyrdom and a lamp. Some portrayed her
with a sword thrust through her throat. People invoked the aid of St.
Lucy for afflictions of the eyes and throat.
Although her feast day currently falls on December 13, before the
sixteenth-century Gregorian calendar reform {see also Old Christ-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
mas Day), St. Lucy's Day fell on the winter solstice. Legends claimed
that the saint blinded herself on this, the shortest day of the year. In
fact, her name, Lucia, comes from the Latin word for "light," lux.
Thus, many old folk customs invoked Lucy as a symbol of light,
especially the light that coincides with the lengthening of days after
the winter solstice.
St. Lucy's Day is especially celebrated in the country of her birth,
Italy, and in Scandinavia. How did this Italian saint develop a fol-
lowing in the land of the Vikings? When the people of the cold, dark
North converted to Christianity around 1000 a.d., they acquired a
special fondness for the saint whose feast day marked the return of
the sun and whose name itself means "light." Over the centuries
they kindled many flames and fires in her name. At one time people
in northern Europe lit "St. Lucy's fires" on the evening of her feast
day. They threw incense into the flames and bathed in the smoke,
which was said to protect one from witchcraft, disease, and other
dangers. While this was happening, others played music to accom-
pany the sun's changing course. An old Scandinavian custom for-
bade all turning motions on St. Lucy's Day, including spinning, stir-
ring, and working a grindstone. Superstitions warned that these cir-
cular motions might interfere with the sun's change of course.
Folk belief also hinted that miracles occurred at midnight on St.
Lucy's Eve. The few souls awake and alert at this potent hour might
hear cattle speaking or see running water turn into wine. In past
times many believed that the saint had the power to shorten the
winter season. This belief led to the custom of writing her name and
drawing a picture of a girl alongside it on doors and fences in the
hopes that the saint would hasten the end of winter. Another old
custom encouraged people to keep a candle burning in their home
all day long on her feast day.
St. Lucy's Day in Italy
In Italy St. Lucy is called Santa Lucia. St. Lucy's Day is observed
throughout the country, but is especially honored in Sicily. The day
has traditionally been celebrated with bonfires, processions, and
other illuminations. In Sicily St. Lucy, dressed in a blue cloak show-
ered with stars, brings gifts to children on the eve of her feast day.
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St. Lucy's Day
Children leave their shoes outside on St. Lucy's Eve in order to col-
lect her offerings. Sicilians also remember the miracle that St. Lucy
performed when famine struck the island. According to legend,
hunger had weakened so many that the people of Syracuse went as
a group to the church to ask the saint to deliver them. While they
were praying, a ship loaded with grain sailed into the harbor. For
this reason Italians celebrate St. Lucy's Day by eating a boiled wheat
dish called cuccia or cuccidata. Lucy is the patron saint of the Italian
cities of Syracuse and Milan.
St. Lucy's Day in Sweden
In Sweden today, St. Lucy's Day, or Luciadagen, marks the beginning
of the Christmas season. The family celebrates this day in a special
way. One daughter acts as the "Lucy bride." She gets up very early
and prepares coffee and buns for the family. These buns are called
Lussenkatter, or "Lucy cats." She dresses in a white robe with a red
sash and carefully places a wreath of ligon berry leaves and lit can-
dles on her head. Attired thus as St. Lucy, she brings the simple
breakfast to each bedroom, awakening family members with a song
about the saint. According to old traditions, this St. Lucy's Day
breakfast should be served very early in the morning, between one
and four a.m.
Varying traditions suggest that the oldest, youngest, or prettiest girl
perform this role. The other girls in the family may follow her,
dressed in white robes and crowned with tinsel halos. The boys may
participate as starngossar, or star boys. They also dress in white. In
addition, they wear tall, pointed hats made of silver paper and carry
star-topped scepters. These Swedish customs have spread to Finland,
Norway, and Denmark.
Over the years many other folk beliefs and customs also attached
themselves to St. Lucy's Day. Old folklore in rural areas advised
farmers to thresh all the grain from the year's harvest by St. Lucy's
Day. The season's spinning and weaving were also to be completed
by that day. Other traditions suggested that farmers slaughter the
Christmas pig {see also Boar's Head) on St. Lucy's Day and that
cooks bury the lutfisken, a traditional Christmas fish, in beech ashes
on St. Lucy's Day in order for it to be ready by Christmas. Folklore
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also advised housewives to finish their Christmas cleaning and dec-
orating by this day.
Origins of Swedish St. Lucy's Day
No one knows exactly when and how Swedes came to revere St.
Lucy in this way. Some compare the symbols connected with the
Lucy bride to those associated with Freya, a goddess from Scandi-
navia's pagan past. The pagan god Frey, to whom sacrifices were
offered at Yule, had a sister named Freya. The ancient Scandinavians
associated Freya with love, fertility, war, and wealth. She wore a
bright necklace and drove a chariot pulled by cats.
Other folklorists contend that Lucy and her story are thoroughly
Christian. Historians suspect that the custom of the Lucy bride de-
veloped in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. Some
connect it with a Swedish legend concerning the saint's miraculous
intervention during a famine. This legend closely resembles the Si-
cilian tale told above. One winter a terrible famine ravaged Sweden.
During the longest night of the year, when the sufferings caused by
cold, dark, and hunger were at their peak, a mysterious ship sudden-
ly appeared on Lake Vannern. A woman dressed in white, her face
radiating light, stood at the prow of the ship. It was St. Lucy. She
guided the ship into harbor and delivered the stores of food it con-
tained to the poor and hungry.
Recent Traditions
Although originally part of a family celebration, the role of the Lucy
bride has spread to offices, schools, and other public institutions.
Like the Lucys of home celebrations, these public Lucys wear white
gowns and a crown of candles. They and their followers bring gifts
of food, song, and light to co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citi-
zens. Students playing the role of Lucy sometimes surprise favorite
teachers in the early morning. Lucy and her followers also visit hotel
guests, hospital patients, and even early-morning commuters and
policemen.
During the past thirty or forty years villages and cities all over
Sweden began to select their own Lucy queens. Often they organize
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St. Lucy's Day
a parade for the winner, who may be accompanied by youths dressed
as star boys, biblical figures, trolls {see also Jultomten), or other relat-
ed characters. In Stockholm the judges must select their Lucy from
among hundreds of competitors. Each year the honor of crowning
Stockholm's Lucy bride goes to the winner of the Nobel Prize in lit-
erature.
Further Reading
Ekstrand, Florence. Lucia Child of Light. Seattle, Wash.: Welcome Press,
1989.
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas the World Over. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books,
1963.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Italy. Chicago: World Book-Childcraft Interna-
tional, 1979.
. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
Ryan, E. G. "Lucy, St." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 8. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. Festivals of Western Europe. 1958. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1994.
. 46 Days of Christmas. New York: Coward-McCann, 1960.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
■^,
St. M-UYtlH. See Martinmas
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St. Nf cl^o fas
St. Nicholas lived in the late third and early fourth centuries. Very lit-
tle is known about his life. By the Middle Ages, however, he had
become one of Europe's most venerated non-biblical saints. In
France and Germany more than two thousand churches carry the
saint's name, bearing silent testimony to the intensity of past devo-
tions. St. Nicholas was the Christmas season gift bringer in parts of
northern Europe. His legend and the customs surrounding it trav-
eled to America with European immigrants. In the United States St.
Nicholas was transformed into Santa Claus. His new American
name evolved from his old Dutch name, Sinterklass. Although Nich-
olas's popularity has declined considerably since medieval times,
some Europeans still celebrate his feast day, which falls on Decem-
ber 6 {see St. Nicholas's Day).
Life of St. Nicholas
Nicholas was born in Asia Minor, a region that later became the
nation of Turkey. Most scholars believe he was born around 280 a.d.
and died around 343. He pursued a religious career and eventually
became bishop of Myra, a town in Asia Minor now called Demre.
Some believe that he attended the Council of Nicea in 325 a.d. This
important meeting of the leaders of the early Christian Church pro-
duced the Nicene Creed, a fundamental statement of the Christian
faith. Other researchers point out that his name does not appear on
the roster of those in attendance until the Middle Ages, when his
cult was at the height of its popularity. Although next to nothing is
known for certain about the saint's life, many legends credit him
with miraculous deeds.
St. Nicholas and the Three Maidens
One of the oldest and most popular of these legends tells how
young Nicholas saved three sisters from an evil fate. The sisters had
all reached the age at which young women marry. Unfortunately,
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St. Nicholas
their father could not provide any of them with a dowry so he
planned to sell them into prostitution. When Nicholas found out
about this he took a small bag of gold to the family's house after it
got dark and threw it in an open window (some say he threw it
down the chimney). The father gratefully seized the gold and used it
to pay for the dowry of the eldest girl. Nicholas provided dowries for
the second and third daughters in the same fashion. The third time
Nicholas pulled this trick the girls' father was waiting for him. When
the bag of gold came flying into the house he ran outside, discov-
ered Nicholas, and thanked him for his generosity. Nicholas asked
the man not to tell others of his good deed.
Some writers believe this legend eventually gave rise to several
Christmas season customs, including the tradition whereby St. Nich-
olas distributes gifts on his feast day. In addition, the custom of
putting out shoes or hanging stockings by the fireplace to receive
the saint's, and later Santa's, gifts might also have been inspired by
this story. This legend achieved such widespread fame and populari-
ty that the three bags of gold became an emblem of the saint. Some-
times artists simplified their images of the saint by depicting the
bags of gold as three gold balls. Eventually, the three gold balls be-
came the symbol for a pawnbroker's shop, perhaps because to those
who knew the legend, the gold balls recalled the act of reclaiming
something of worth.
St. Nicholas and the Three Students
While the above story tells of a good deed the saint did during his
lifetime, other tales recount the miracles he worked after his death.
One of the most popular of these sprouted up in twelfth- century
France and describes how St. Nicholas aided three traveling stu-
dents who fell into the hands of an evil innkeeper. While the stu-
dents slept the innkeeper searched their bags and stole all their
money. In an attempt to cover up his crime, he not only killed the
sleeping students but also cut them up and hid the pieces of their
bodies in his pickle barrels. The saint, outraged at this crime, caused
the pieces of their bodies to come together again and restored the
students to life. This story depicts Nicholas once again coming to the
rescue of young people. Perhaps this inclination to aid the young
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St. Nicholas
explains why later traditions identified Nicholas as a bringer of gifts
to children.
St. Nicholas and the Unpaid Loan
Another medieval tale describing a miracle performed by the dead
saint tells how he prevented an unscrupulous Christian from cheat-
ing a Jewish moneylender. The saint caused the Christian's death in
such a way as to reveal the hiding place of the money he owed to
the moneylender. Uncomfortable with this solution to his problem,
the moneylender remarked that if the saint were truly good he
wouldn't have let the guilty man die. Thereupon St. Nicholas
brought the Christian back to life. The Christian then repented his
attempt to cheat the moneylender and paid his debt. These events
impressed the moneylender so much that he converted to Chris-
tianity. Thus, St. Nicholas acquired a reputation for imposing scrup-
ulous honesty in financial transactions.
In Italy around the time of the Renaissance the Medici family, a
wealthy and influential clan of bankers and politicians, placed three
gold balls on their coat of arms. They probably hoped that this sym-
bol of St. Nicholas would inspire confidence in the integrity of their
financial dealings. Eventually, others in the financial trades began to
use the gold balls as a symbol of their profession.
Patronages
Many other tales tell how the saint rescued sailors from storms at
sea, returned the kidnapped, defended those falsely accused of
crimes, and fought against evil spirits associated with such pagan
deities as Artemis. Along with the story of the three dowryless maid-
ens, these tales circulated with greater frequency in southern and
eastern Europe. There Christians recognized Nicholas first and fore-
most as the patron of seafarers. Belief in the saint's concern for those
at sea spread throughout Europe. Evidence of this belief can be
found in the many churches in European port towns dedicated to
the saint.
In northern and central Europe, however, where the tale of the three
students achieved widespread popularity, people venerated St. Nich-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
olas primarily as the patron of children. Indeed, over time illustra-
tions depicting the story of the three students reduced their ages so
that they began to appear as children rather than as young men.
This trend can also be detected in northern European depictions of
the three dowryless maidens. Furthermore, in northern Europe St.
Nicholas acquired the reputation of being sympathetic to the prayers
of those looking for marriage partners and those hoping for chil-
dren. His association with fertility further supported his identity as a
patron of children.
By the late Middle Ages people living in different regions of Europe
held somewhat different images of the saint's concerns. These dif-
ferences explain why Nicholas eventually became a bringer of gifts
to children in northern and central Europe and not in southern and
eastern Europe. As the popularity of his cult grew, Nicholas acquired
many patronages. He became the patron saint of children, students,
bankers, pawnbrokers, sailors, dock workers, brewers, coopers (bar-
rel makers), travelers, pilgrims, thieves, undeserving losers of law-
suits, and the nations of Greece and Russia.
Bones of St. Nicholas
For centuries the Church of St. Nicholas in Myra guarded what were
believed to be the saint's remains in a stone sarcophagus. Around
the year 1000, some of the saint's relics were donated to the city of
Kiev, an act that planted the saint's cult in Russia. In the eleventh
century another, more dramatic move took place. In the year 1087 a
ship from Bari, Italy, arrived at Myra. The men on board seized the
remains of the saint and carried them back to Bari. It is unclear
whether or not the custodians of the saint's relics in Myra consented
to their removal. The Italians may have been motivated by fear that
the Muslim Turks, who had invaded Asia Minor from the east, would
desecrate the saint's tomb. Or the citizens of Bari may simply have
coveted the privilege of housing the saint's relics, since in those days
people held the bodily remains of saints in great honor.
Soon after Nicholas's bones were established in Bari a steady train of
pilgrims began to visit the town, no doubt bringing new wealth and
prestige to the city. To accommodate the bones as well as the
tourists, the archbishop commissioned the building of a glorious
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St. Nicholas
new basilica in Bari. It was completed in 1108. Only afterwards did
anyone recognize that the Muslim workmen who had built and dec-
orated much of the church had incorporated an assertion of the
Islamic faith onto the church walls. The phrase "There is no God but
Allah, and Mohammed is His Prophet," written in Arabic calligraphy,
was woven into the designs decorating the walls. Given the beauty of
these designs, church officials decided not to remove them.
St. Nicholas in the Twentieth Century
The cult of St. Nicholas in western Europe reached its height during
the Middle Ages. In the centuries that followed, interest in the saint
slowly diminished, reflecting an overall decline in the veneration of
saints. In 1969 the Vatican itself struck a blow at the saint's status
when it removed Nicholas from the universal calendar of saints,
making his veneration optional, rather than obligatory, for all Roman
Catholics.
Perhaps this demotion explains why in 1972 the Roman Catholic
Church willingly donated some of the saint's long-coveted bones
and relics to the Greek Orthodox Church of New York City. One
might also recall that the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches
split apart from one another in 1054, shortly before the seizure of St.
Nicholas's bones from their tomb in Orthodox Asia Minor by sailors
from Roman Catholic western Europe. Viewed in this light, the trans-
fer of a portion of St. Nicholas relics back to the Orthodox Church
appears as something of a belated apology for this questionable act.
In any case, the gift was presented as a token of the growing good
will between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The Greek
Orthodox Cathedral in New York kept some of the relics, but the
majority of them are now housed in the Shrine of St. Nicholas in
Flushing, New York.
In recent years the citizens of Demre, Turkey, have begun to lobby
for the return of the bones to their original resting place. Their group,
called the "Santa Claus Foundation," sent a letter to the archbishop
of Bari requesting the return of the relics. Since Turkey is a predomi-
nantly Muslim country, some grumble that the group is not motivat-
ed by religious beliefs but rather by the desire to secure a lucrative
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tourist attraction for their town. Demre already hosts a yearly cele-
bration on St. Nicholas's Day. The sixteen-year-old event, which
began as a religious symposium, now includes a festival featuring
the awarding of a "Father Christmas Peace Prize."
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ebon, Martin. Saint Nicholas, Life and Legend. New York: Harper and Row,
1975.
Jones, Charles W. Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1978.
McKnight, George. St. Nicholas. 1917. Reprint. Williamstown, Mass.: Corner
House Publishers, 1974.
Newland, Mary Reed. The Saint Book. New York: Seabury Press, 1979.
St. NfcJ^ofas^'s T)a\)
During the Middle Ages St. Nicholas was one of the most venerat-
ed saints in western Europe. Although his popularity has since
declined, his feast day, December 6, is still celebrated in the Neth-
erlands and other European countries. Immigrants brought the leg-
ends and customs surrounding St. Nicholas with them to the United
States. There the saint was transformed into the American Christ-
mas season gift bringer called Santa Claus.
Shoes, Stockings, and Gifts
In Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and parts of
Germany, folk tradition cast St. Nicholas in the role of a Christmas
season gift bringer. Folk representations of St. Nicholas usually por-
tray him as an elderly white-bearded man who carries a bishop's
staff and dresses in a red bishop's robe and miter. This kindly saint
distributes presents to others in honor of his feast day. On the night
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St. Nicholas's Day
of December 5 he brings fruit, nuts, cookies, candy, and other small
gifts to well-behaved children. Those who have misbehaved too
often during the year might receive a stick, warning them of punish-
ment to come.
Children expecting presents on St. Nicholas's Eve helpfully provide
smaU receptacles in which the saint may deposit his gifts. In the
Netherlands children leave their shoes by the fireplace. In Czecho-
slovakia children attract the saint's attention with stockings hanging
on the window frame. In Austria Nicholas knows to look for chil-
dren's shoes on the windowsill. Perhaps inspired by legends of pagan
spirits descending into homes via the smoke from the hearth, St.
Nicholas often enters homes through the chimney {see also Berchta).
St. Nicholas's Helpers
The powerful saint does not have to carry out his gift-giving activities
alone. According to some folk traditions, he can compel a minor
demon to aid him in his mission. In Czechoslovakia this devil is
known as a cert. In parts of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland a
shaggy demon called Klaubauf, or Krampus, serves St. Nicholas. He
frightens children with his blackened face, scarlet eyes, horns, and
clanking chains. Incidentally, the name "Klaubauf" is a contraction of
the German phrase Klaub aufl, which means "pick 'em up." This is an
especially appropriate name since St. Nicholas and his helper often
toss their goodies on the floor. In other parts of Germany a rough fel-
low named Knecht Ruprecht, or "Knight Ruprecht," sometime aids
the saint. In the Netherlands a menacing character called Black Peter
tags along behind Nicholas. These sinister figures often carry a heavy
sack of gifts, the book in which the saint has recorded the children's
behavior, and a stick with which to smack misbehavers.
History
As early as the tenth century, St. Nicholas's Day was observed with
liturgical dramas retelling the story of the saint. By the twelfth centu-
ry these dramas had evolved into "St. Nicholas Plays," which were
usually produced by choirboys in honor of the saint's feast day {see
also Nativity Plays). These plays retold some of the most widely
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
known legends concerning St. Nicholas and were quite popular dur-
ing the late Middle Ages, when the cult of St. Nicholas reached its
zenith in western Europe. They present us with some of the earliest
surviving European plays that take as their subject matter something
other than Christian scripture.
Some researchers think that the custom of giving gifts to children on
St. Nicholas's Day started in the twelfth century. At that time nuns
from central France started to leave gifts on the doorsteps of poor
families with children on St. Nicholas's Eve. These packages con-
tained nuts and oranges and other good things to eat. Some re-
searchers believe that ordinary people adopted the custom, spread-
ing it from France to other parts of northern Europe. Other writers
suppose that the folklore surrounding St. Martin may have inspired
the traditions that turned St. Nicholas into a gift giver. In past cen-
turies St. Martin, another bishop-saint, was said to ride through the
countryside delivering treats to children on the eve of his feast day
{see Martinmas). In the Netherlands Nicholas's helper Black Peter
wears sixteenth-century clothing, which may indicate that St. Nich-
olas was bringing gifts to Dutch children at least as far back as that
era.
Western Europeans honored Nicholas as the patron saint of chil-
dren. Some of the customs associated with his feast day gave chil-
dren the opportunity to reign over adults. For example, in medieval
times the festivities surrounding the boy bishop often began on St.
Nicholas's Day. The boy bishop, a boy who assumed the rank of
bishop for a short while, was one of the mock rulers who presided
over Christmas season merrymaking in the Middle Ages {see also
King of the Bean; Lord of Misrule). In the sixteenth century,
schoolboys in the British Isles hit upon the idea of barring out the
schoolmaster in order to gain a few days' vacation. This custom,
which continued for several centuries, was often practiced on St.
Nicholas's Day.
An early seventeenth- century document records a German Protes-
tant minister's displeasure with the myth that St. Nicholas brings
gifts for children. His sentiments echoed the concerns of many
Protestant leaders of that era who wished to do away with the vener-
ation of saints. In the centuries that followed, the Christkindel, or
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St. Nicholas's Day
"Christ Child/' became the Christmas season gift bringer in most of
Germany. This change indicates that Protestant leaders had achieved
some success in their campaign against the saint.
St. Nicholas's Day in the Netherlands
The Netherlands hosts Europe's most extensive St. Nicholas Day
celebrations. They begin with the official arrival of St. Nicholas in the
Netherlands, weeks before his feast day. Each year the arrival of St.
Nicholas and Black Peter from their home in far-off Spain is reen-
acted in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. A great crowd
gathers to witness the arrival of the ship bearing the saint and his
helper. A white horse, St. Nicholas's traditional mode of transport,
stands ready to serve the saint. As the gift bringers descend from the
ship, the crowd easily identifies Nicholas by his red bishop's robe,
miter, crook, and long white beard. After greeting the mayor, the
saint and his helper lead a parade to Amsterdam's central plaza.
There the royal family officially welcomes Holland's Christmas sea-
son gift bringers. This event is broadcast on Dutch television.
In the weeks that follow, store windows display treats and gifts
appropriate for St. Nicholas's Day. Meanwhile, children dream of the
evening when they will put their shoes by the hearth to receive gifts
from the kindly saint. Dutch folklore asserts that Nicholas and Black
Peter, mounted on the saint's magical white horse, fly across Hol-
land on St. Nicholas's Eve distributing gifts to children. Black Peter
does the dirty work of slipping down the chimneys to deposit the
children's gifts. He also collects the carrots, hay, and sugar that
thoughtful children have left there for St. Nicholas's horse. If the two
should find any children who misbehave frequently, they leave a rod
or switch, warning of punishment to come.
Families begin celebrating St. Nicholas's Day on the evening of
December 5 when they enjoy a special meal together. A traditional
St. Nicholas's Day dinner features roast chicken or duck. In addition,
many special sweets are served at this meal. Some cooks mark each
person's place at the table with letterbankets, large, marzipan-filled
pastries shaped like letters of the alphabet. Other St. Nicholas's Day
treats include speculaas, spicy butter cookies, oliebollen, doughnuts
with raisins in them, and taai-taai, honey cookies.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
It is not unusual for St. Nicholas and his helper. Black Peter, to visit
these parties. Sometimes they just open the door, throw candies into
the room, and dash away {see also Julklapp). Other times they enter
and deliver these treats to the children in person, along with advice
and admonitions concerning future behavior. Adults know that
friends or family members are impersonating these figures, but chil-
dren are often astonished by the pair's detailed knowledge of their
good and bad deeds during the past year.
Family members also exchange presents with one another at this
time. In fact, St. Nicholas's Eve, Sinterklaas-Avond in Dutch, is some-
times called Pakjes-Avond, or "Parcel Evening." Attention falls less on
the simple gifts themselves, however, than on the tricky way in
which they are delivered and the rhyming verses that accompany
them. Sometimes the package only contains a clue as to where the
real gift is hidden. Other times small gifts are wrapped in a succes-
sion of much larger boxes. The Dutch take great care in composing
humorous lines of verse to accompany these gifts. Everyone looks
forward to hearing these short poems read out loud. Those who
can't come up with something clever can hire one of the profession-
al verse writers who ply their trade at department stores around St.
Nicholas's Day. Indeed, rhyming verses can be found throughout
Dutch society at this time of year. Visitors to the Dutch parliament
may be surprised to find the nation's politicians occasionally deliver-
ing a short rhyming speech in honor of the holiday.
St. Nicholas's Day in Italy
St. Nicholas's Day festivities in Italy emphasize the saint's role as
the patron of seafarers. In Italy St. Nicholas Day is observed on May
7 and May 8, dates that commemorate the arrival of the saint's relics
from their original tomb in Myra (now Demre), Turkey. The town of
Bari, where the saint's remains now rest, hosts a large celebration.
Worshipers flock to the saint's tomb in the Church of San Nicola. A
procession escorts a statue of the saint from his tomb down to the
harbor. Followers place the image on the deck of a flower-strewn
boat which is escorted out to sea by hundreds of small vessels carry-
ing fishermen and pilgrims. After the day's festivities worshipers
escort the image back to the Church of San Nicola.
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St. Nicholas's Day
Further Reading
Bragdon, Allen D. Joy Through the World. New York: Dodd, Mead, and
Company, 1985.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Jones, E. Willis. The Santa Claus Book. New York: Walker and Company,
1976.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
McKnight, George. St. Nicholas, His Legend and His Role in the Christmas
Celebration and Other Popular Customs. 1917. Reprint. WilHamstown,
Mass.: Corner House Publishers, 1974.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Walsh, William S. The Story of Santa Klaus. 1909. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1991.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, contains a page de-
scribing St. Nicholas Day celebrations: http://www.holland.com
(Search "Sinterklaas" and "St. Nicholas")
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St. Stepfiens Bay
St. Stephen lived during the time of the Apostles and the founding
of the Christian Church. The Book of Acts (chapters 6 and 7) de-
scribes Stephen as a man "full of grace and power," as well as a
skilled speaker. He was stoned to death around 35 a.d. for his reli-
gious beliefs, becoming the first Christian martyr. His feast day falls
on December 26, the second of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
History and Legend
Three Christian festivals follow in close succession upon Christmas
Day. St. Stephen's Day occurs on December 26, St. John's Day on
December 27, and Holy Innocents' Day on December 28. These
commemorative days were established by the late fifth century. The
figures they honor share two characteristics in common. These char-
acteristics motivated Church authorities to schedule their commem-
orative days close together in the Christmas season. Stephen, John,
and the Innocents all lived during the time of Christ, and each was
connected in a special way to his life and teachings. In addition, all
became martyrs for him. In fact, Stephen, John, and the Innocents
represent all the possible combinations of the distinction between
martyrs in will and martyrs in deed. The children slaughtered at
King Herod's orders in Bethlehem did not choose their fate, but
suffered it nonetheless, and so were considered martyrs in deed. St.
John willingly risked death in defense of the Christian faith, but did
not suffer death, and so was considered a martyr in will. St. Stephen
risked and suffered death for his faith, thus becoming a martyr in
will and deed.
During the Middle Ages many legends arose about beloved saints,
especially when biblical or historical accounts of their lives failed to
provide sufficient details. An old English Christmas carol about St.
Stephen illustrates this tendency. The carol dates back to the year
1400 and depicts the saint as a kitchen servant in King Herod's cas-
tle at the time of Jesus' birth:
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St. Stephen's Day
Stephen out of the kitchen came, with boar's head on hand.
He saw a star was fair and bright over Bedlem stand.
He cast down the boar's head and went into the hall,
I forsake thee. King Herod, and thy works all.
I forsake thee. King Herod, and thy works all.
There is a child in Bedlam born is better than we all
[Duncan, 1992, 63-64].
With his great hall and boar's head supper, the King Herod of this
writer's imagination resembles a medieval English lord more closely
than he does a king of ancient Judea.
European Customs
Perhaps Stephen's death at the hands of a stone-throwing mob
explains how he later became the patron saint of stonecutters and
bricklayers. It is somewhat more difficult to explain how he became
the patron saint of horses in many European countries, since they
play no role in the story of his life or death. Nevertheless, through-
out central and northern Europe many old folk customs associated
with St. Stephen's Day feature horses. In rural Austria people decked
their horses with ribbons and brought them to the local priest to
receive a blessing. Afterwards the horses fed on blessed oats in order
to insure their health and well-being in the coming year. In past
centuries English and Welsh folklore recommended the running,
and then bleeding, of horses on St. Stephen's Day. In those days
people believed that this practice, which consisted of making a small
cut in the horse's skin and letting some blood drain out, promoted
good health. Horses were also bled in parts of Austria and Germany
on St. Stephen's Day. Various German folk customs also advocated
the riding or racing of horses on St. Stephen's Day. In Munich men
on horseback entered the church during St. Stephen's Day services
and rode three times around the sanctuary. Hundreds of riders and
their beribboned horses participated in this custom, which was not
abandoned until 1876.
Other customs at one time associated with St. Stephen's Day include
the wren hunt in Ireland, Wales, and England, and the blessing of
fields and straw in southern France, where the day was also known as
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"Straw Day." In past centuries the Welsh celebrated December 26 as
"Holming Day." On this day men and boys struck each other on the
legs with holly branches. In some areas men thrashed women and
girls about the arms with the branches. The spiny holly leaves quickly
drew blood. Although some people interpreted the custom as a
reminder of the bloody death of St. Stephen, it may also have origi-
nated from the belief that periodic blood-letting ensured good health.
A few final customs associated with St. Stephen's Day reflect a some-
what closer connection to the saint. In Poland people confer St.
Stephen's Day blessings by throwing handfuls of rice, oats, or wal-
nuts at one another. This act symbolizes the stoning of St. Stephen.
In past centuries the English gave small gifts of money to all those
who provided them with services during the year. These tips were
called "boxes," thus, St. Stephen's Day became known as Boxing
Day. In a small way this practice served to redistribute wealth in the
community. Since St. Stephen's role in the Christian community of
which he was a member was to ensure the fair distribution of goods,
perhaps this custom can be said to reflect the saint's earthly vocation.
Swedish Customs and Lore
Old Swedish and Norwegian traditions also encouraged the racing
of horses on St. Stephen's Day {see also Norway, Christmas in). In
past centuries, horse races sometimes followed St. Stephen's Day
church services. Folk belief suggested that the man who won the
race would be the first to harvest his crops. The Swedish historian
Olaus Magnus (1490-1557) mentioned these races in his writings,
and they are believed to date back to medieval times. In rural areas
mounted men raced each other to the nearest north-flowing stream
or ice-free spring in the early morning hours, believing that the
horse that drank first would stay healthy throughout the year.
The most noted Swedish St. Stephen's Day custom, however, involved
bands of men on horseback called "Stephen's men" or "Stephen's rid-
ers." On St. Stephen's Day they rose before dawn and galloped from
village to village singing folk songs about the saint. These robust per-
formances awakened householders, who then refreshed Stephen's
men with ale or other alcoholic beverages. Today one can still see
bands of young men, often in traditional costumes, singing folk songs
from door to door on St. Stephen's Day.
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St. Stephen's Day
Swedish folklore implies that the country's St. Stephen's Day cus-
toms do not honor the St. Stephen of the New Testament, but rather
a medieval saint of the same name who spread Christianity in
Sweden. According to legend, the medieval Stephen loved horses
and owned five of them. When one tired, he mounted another in
order to spare the beasts without interrupting his tireless missionary
efforts. The Stephen riders are thus thought by some scholars to rep-
resent the saint and his devoted followers.
Other scholars, however, doubt the existence of the medieval St.
Stephen. They propose instead that legends concerning the medie-
val saint arose to explain persistent pre-Christian customs associat-
ed with the day. These researchers note that horses were sacred to
the cult of Frey, the Scandinavian god of sunlight, fertility, peace, and
plenty {see also Yule). Other experts trace the origin of St. Stephen's
Day horse riding back to the ancient Roman custom of racing horses
around the time of the winter solstice.
Further Reading
Brewster, H. Pomeroy. Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church. 1904.
Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Chambers, Robert. "December 26 — St. Stephen's Day." In his The Book of
Dfli/s. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Duncan, Edmondstoune. The Story of the Carol. 1911. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Murray, Alexander. "Medieval Christmas." History Today 36, 12 (December
1986): 31-39.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Urlin, Ethel. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
St. S j; tester ''sDaj;
Sylvester Abend
On December 31 the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Sylvester, a
Roman Christian who became pope in 314 and continued in that
role until his death in 335. His feast day falls on December 31 and is
celebrated in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
Life and Legends of St. Sylvester
Little is known about Sylvester's life. His tenure as pope took place
during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine I. Legend
claims that Sylvester played an active role in the conversion of Con-
stantine to Christianity, but historians reject this tale. As Pope Syl-
vester witnessed the divisions between Christians caused by the rise
of Arianism, a doctrine concerning the nature of Christ, he sent two
representatives to the Council of Nicea. Convened by Emperor Con-
stantine, the Council debated and rejected Arianism. His feast day
was established in 1227 by Pope Gregory IX. At least one writer has
suggested that his feast day was placed on December 31 for symbol-
ic reasons. Just as December 31 ushers in a new year, so, too, did the
conversion of the emperor Constantine usher in a new epoch in the
history of Christianity.
Customs
Since Silvester Abend, or "Sylvester's Eve," is also New Year's Eve, many
Germans and Austrians hold late-night parties {see also New Year's
Day). In Germany these festive gatherings may include drinking,
eating, dancing, singing, and fortune -telling. The traditional method
690
St. Sylvester's Day
of St. Sylvester's Eve fortune -telling is called Bleigiessen. This tech-
nique involves melting a small lump of lead in a spoon held over a
candle. The molten lead is cast into a bowl of cold water. It hardens
into a distinctive shape which is then interpreted to represent some
aspect of one's fortune for the coming year.
In at least one Swiss town — Urnasch in Appenzell Canton — bands
of mummers known as "Silvesterclausen" still parade through the
streets in costumes, bells, and headdresses on December 31, as weU
as on St. Sylvester's Day Old Style, which falls on January 13 {see also
Old Christmas Day). They visit homes, yodel three times, and are
rewarded with wine by the occupants.
Some of the customs associated with St. Sylvester's Day cannot easi-
ly be connected with the life of the saint. In past eras the Germans
celebrated St. Sylvester's Day with mumming and noisemaking. In
some parts of Austria, a rather sinister figure called Sylvester haunt-
ed New Year's Eve gatherings. He wore a grotesque mask, flaxen
beard, and a wreath of mistletoe. He lurked in some dark corner
until someone foolishly walked under the pine boughs suspended
from the ceiling. Then he leaped forward, seized them, and roughly
kissed them. At midnight the guests drove him away as the last rem-
nant of the old year. Although this custom bears little association
with the saint's life, it can be connected to the saint's name. The
name "Sylvester" comes from the Latin word for forest, silva. Nearby
forests probably provided the mistletoe associated with the startling
Austrian Sylvester.
Further Reading
Brewster, H. Pomeroy. Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church. 1906.
Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Stevens, Patricia Bunning. Merry Christmas!: A History of the Holiday. New
York: Macmillan, 1979.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Web Site
A site sponsored by German instructor Robert J. Shea, Missouri:
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/customs.htm
St. T^iomas^s Bay
The Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, established in the twelfth cen-
tury, originally fell on December 21, the day of the winter solstice.
Folk customs attached to the saint's day, therefore, reflected both the
occurrence of the solstice and the closeness of Christmas. Although
the Roman Catholic Church has since moved St. Thomas's Day to
July 3, some Anglicans preserve the December date. The Greek Or-
thodox Church celebrates the saint's feast on October 6.
Life and Legends of St. Thomas the Apostle
Jesus selected Thomas as one of his twelve disciples. Although he
appears in all four Gospels, he is perhaps best remembered as the
apostle who questioned the truth of Jesus' resurrection because he
had not seen the risen Jesus with his own eyes Qohn 20:25). In so
doing he earned the nickname "Doubting Thomas." In the Greek
used by the writers of the New Testament, his name means "twin."
According to legend, St. Thomas spread the gospel to the East, ven-
turing as far as India in his quest. There he established a Christian
community in the southwestern region known then as Malabar, cur-
rently part of the state of Kerala. One story claims that Thomas
found and baptized the Three Kings {see also Magi). These three
then became India's first bishops. Another tale reports that an In-
dian king commissioned Thomas to build an opulent palace. In-
stead, the saint took the money entrusted to him for the project and
distributed it to the poor. He died a martyr's death and was buried in
Mylapore, near the city of Madras.
Artists often depicted the saint kneeling by the side of the risen
Christ, verifying Jesus' identity by touching his wounds. Artists have
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St. Thomas's Day
also portrayed him holding a carpenter's rule. In medieval times he
was known as the patron saint of architects, masons, and stonecut-
ters. St. Thomas also protects the aged.
English Begging Customs
St. Thomas's Day falls within the Christmas season in many Euro-
pean countries. Customs associated with the day reflect its proximity
to the holiday. In past times in rural England children, the poor, and
the elderly might go "Thomasing" on that day. The most typical par-
ticipants in this old customary practice, however, were poor, elderly
women. Also known as "mumping," "doleing," "corning," or "good-
ing," the custom permitted these folk to go door to door asking for
small handouts in order to enjoy good things to eat at Christmas
time. The elderly collected money, which helped them afford special
Christmas foods. The words to an old English Christmas song de-
scribe this custom:
Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat.
Please spare a penny for the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha'penny, God bless you
[Muir,1977,35].
In lieu of money, prosperous households often distributed grain to
their less-fortunate neighbors, who turned it into various Christmas
cakes, breads, or sweets. Often it became frumenty, a dessert made
of boiled wheat, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. In Worcestershire chil-
dren begged for apples. The well-to-do not only presented these
small gifts, but might also offer Christmas ale or other forms of
seasonal cheer. In return for their charity, rich householders received
a sprig of holly or mistletoe, which folk beliefs suggested would
bring them good luck. In some regions of the country, the well-off
contributed money to a local church fund known as "St. Thomas's
Dole." The clergy and churchwardens distributed the money to the
needy on the Sunday before St. Thomas's Day. Evidence suggests
that the custom of begging door to door on St. Thomas's Day arose
in the eighteenth century, peaked in the early nineteenth century,
and died out in the early twentieth century.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
School Customs
In England students of past eras raced to school early on St.
Thomas's Day. If they succeeded in arriving before the teacher, they
were allowed to lock him out and so escape their lessons {see also
Barring Out the Schoolmaster). In Belgium children practiced this
custom with both parents and teachers, exacting the promise of
treats in return for unlocking the doors. In some areas students tied
their teachers to a chair until their demands were met, which often
required teachers to take them to a local tavern. In Denmark, some
schools put students in charge on St. Thomas's Day. The students
conferred fancy titles on themselves and issued documents pro-
claiming their scholastic achievements.
Germany, Holland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia
In central Europe many past St. Thomas Day practices focused on the
short day and long night of the winter solstice. In Germany and
Holland one custom encouraged especially early rising after this, the
longest night of the year. The last to rise or arrive at work or school
was called "lazybones" or Domesesel (Thomas ass). In Germany St.
Thomas's Eve was also called "Spinning Night," in reference to the
practice of some spinners who stayed at their task all night in order to
earn extra money for Christmas. Dancing and singing helped to ease
the toil and pass the long night hours. Another past custom encour-
aged charity in light of the coming Christmas holiday. On St. Thom-
as's Day German employers were expected to make small gifts to
their employees in order that they might buy Christmas provisions.
Old Austrian traditions recommended driving out demons on St.
Thomas's Day. According to folk belief evil spirits fled from loud
noises, so people rang bells, cracked whips, and staged raucous
parades in frightening masks. These noisemaking practices contin-
ued on during the following nights, a practice that earned them the
nickname the "rough nights." Christian versions of this St. Thomas's
Day exorcism also existed. In some households the head of the fami-
ly would walk through the house, barn, and yard spreading incense
and sprinkling holy water, while the rest of the family and servants
gathered together in prayer. In this way the family protected itself
from evil spirits and blessed the homestead for the coming Christ-
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St. Thomas's Day
mas festival. Similar "smoke blessings" were also practiced during
the Christmas season in Czechoslovakia and Germany.
This turning point in the solar year also attracted many charms and
divination practices. For example, old folk beliefs informed German
girls that if they slept upside down on St. Thomas's Day, with their
feet on the pillow and their head near the foot of the bed, they would
dream of their future husbands. English girls achieved the same effect
by wrapping a peeled onion in a handkerchief and sleeping with it
under their pillow. Another German and Austrian custom connected
St. Thomas's Day with the baking of Kletzenbrot or Hutzelbrot, a fruit
bread. In Germany, if the cook interrupted the kneading process to
dash out and hug all the trees in the orchard, the trees were bound to
bear much fruit in the coming year.
Norway
St. Thomas's Day ushered in the Christmas season in old Norway.
In past times Norwegian custom insisted that all Christmas prepara-
tions be completed by St. Thomas's Day, including the chopping of
enough firewood to last throughout the two-week Christmas festi-
val. All Christmas baking, slaughtering, and brewing should also
have been finished by that day. For this reason Thomas the Apostle
long ago acquired the humorous nickname, "St. Thomas the Brewer."
In past times Norwegians visited each other on St. Thomas's Day in
order to sample one another's Christmas ale.
In old Norway the Peace of Christmas began on St. Thomas's Day.
Towns designated special watchmen to ensure that peace and
friendliness reigned during the holiday season. Penalties for violent
crimes doubled at this time of the year. So strong was the desire for
harmony during the Christmas season that one folk tradition even
discouraged mentioning the names of harmful animals, such as
wolves, during this period.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 21 — St. Thomas's Day." In his The Book of
Dfli/s. Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holiday, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Noiway Past and Present. Oslo, Norway: Johan
Grundt Tanum Forlag, 1970.
Hole, Christina. Christmas and Its Customs. New York: M. Barrows and Com-
pany, 1958.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Metford, J. C. J. Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend. London, England:
Thames and Hudson, 1983.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
Thonger, Richard. A Calendar of German Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1966.
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1952.
St. WenCesiaUS, see Wenceslas, King
696
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Salvation Army Kettfes
The sight of a well-wrapped man or woman standing next to a red
kettle and shaking a hand-held bell greets many an American Christ-
mas season shopper upon entering or leaving a department store.
For over one hundred years the Salvation Army has stationed these
bell-ringers on street corners and at malls in order to collect money
to feed the poor at Christmas time. For many, the red kettle and tin-
kling bell have become a holiday symbol and a reminder that the
Christmas season is upon us.
The Salvation Army is a non-profit, religious organization dedicated
to spreading the Christian faith and aiding the poor. It began in Lon-
don, England, in the year 1865, when Methodist minister William
Booth (1829-1912) decided that in order to reach social outcasts and
poor people with the Christian message, he would have to leave his
church and preach in the streets. Booth and his followers overcame
early opposition and achieved a degree of success. In 1878 Booth
changed his organization's name from the Christian Mission to the
Salvation Army. In 1880 some of Booth's followers emigrated to the
United States, founding a branch of the Salvation Army in New York
City. The organization is now active in 99 countries and claims over
three million members worldwide.
The first Salvation Army Christmas kettle appeared in San Francisco
in 1891. In that year Joseph McFee, who had achieved the rank of
captain within the Salvation Army, resolved to raise funds to provide
Christmas dinners for those in need. The Englishman remembered
having seen people with big pots collecting coins for charity back
home in his native Liverpool. He decided the same strategy could
work here. McFee obtained a kettle and permission to set it up at the
foot of Market Street, where the Oakland ferry landed. His cam-
paign was a success, and by 1895 thirty Salvation Army divisions in
various towns and cities were using the Christmas kettles. The use of
kettles to collect coins reminded donors that their money would be
used to prepare meals for the poor. Indeed, in the early days the slo-
gan "Keep the pot boiling" often appeared on the Salvation Army
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
signs posted above the kettles. In 1897 the Salvation Army declared
that donations made to kettles nationwide had provided 150,000
Christmas dinners for poor people. By 1898 the New York chapter of
the Salvation Army was providing an enormous, sit-down Christ-
mas dinner for the poor in Madison Square Garden.
The vision of Christmas as a season especially appropriate for chari-
table giving gained in popularity in the second half of the nineteenth
century {see also Christmas Carol, A; America, Christmas in Nine-
teenth-Century). By the last decade of the nineteenth century, the
idea of funding Christmas dinners for the poor had become particu-
larly fashionable among the middle and upper classes. Rich donors
often attended the dinners as well, which were held in arenas or
theaters. The well-to-do were required to buy a ticket to the event,
which entitled them to a spectator's seat inside the arena. There they
witnessed first-hand masses of poor people sating their hunger, and,
hopefully, expressing their gratitude to their benefactors. These
trends in charitable giving may have contributed to the Salvation
Army's sweeping success in their Christmas kettle campaign.
The Salvation Army still provides sit-down Christmas dinners for
those in need, but today's kettle donations may also go towards pro-
viding the means for poor families to celebrate Christmas dinner at
home or towards other social services. The Salvation Army aids seven
million Americans each year from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Their
success with the bell and kettle at Christmas time has inspired other
charities to post their own volunteers on the sidewalk with similar
equipment to collect charitable donations during the holiday season.
Further Reading
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1996.
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Web Site
For more on the history of the Salvation Army's kettle campaign, visit the
Salvation Army's International Heritage web site: http://www.salvation
army.org/heritage. nsf/AllSubCategories?openView&RestrictToCategory=
Christmas_Kettle&main=Symbols
698
Santa Claus
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'^
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Santa claus
Kriss Kringle, St. Nick
Born in the United States of mixed ethnic and religious heritage,
Santa Claus embodies the American ideal of the nation as a great
melting pot of cultural identities. Santa Claus became an important
folk figure in the second half of the nineteenth century, about the
time when Americans were beginning to celebrate Christmas in
large numbers {see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Cen-
tury). Santa Claus bears a good deal of resemblance to his closest
relative, the old European gift bringer St. Nicholas. Indeed "St.
Nick" serves as one of Santa's nicknames.
While the origins of many legendary figures remain obscure, re-
searchers have traced the basic framework of the Santa Claus myth
back to the creative works of three individuals: writer Washington
Irving (1783-1859), scholar Clement C. Moore (1779-1863), and il-
lustrator Thomas Nast (1840-1902). These men, in turn, drew on ele-
ments of European and Euro-American Christmas folklore in their
portrayals of the Christmas gift bringer. Interestingly enough, Ameri-
cans embraced this "ready-made" folklore in the late nineteenth
century, a time when ready-made goods of all kinds became widely
available due to the rise of industrial manufacturing.
Today Santa Claus reigns as an icon of American Christmas celebra-
tions. Many Christmas decorations bear his image, and popular
songs tell of his North Pole and Christmas Eve activities. Nearly
every American child can tell you that Santa is a plump, old man
with a white beard who wears a baggy red suit and cap trimmed
with white fur. Many send letters to his North Pole workshop de-
scribing the gifts they would like to receive for Christmas {see also
Children's Letters). They eagerly await Christmas Eve, when he
loads his sled with toys for good girls and boys and flies around the
world, sliding down chimneys to place the presents under decorated
Christmas trees. As if to confirm this Christmas fairy tale, men in
699
Santa Claus
Santa suits regularly appear on street corners, at office parties, and in
department and toy stores around Christmas time.
Before Santa Claus
In spite of its contemporary popularity, Christmas was not widely
celebrated in the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century
{see also America, Christmas in Colonial). A few ethnic groups,
however, clung to the Christmas customs inherited from their Euro-
pean ancestors. Before Santa Claus became a familiar gift bringer to
most Americans, the Pennsylvania Dutch received Christmas gifts
from the Christ Child, whom they called Christkindel, Christ-kind-
lein, or Christkindchen.
The Pennsylvania Dutch were Swiss and German immigrants who
settled in Pennsylvania during the eighteenth and nineteenth cen-
turies. These German-speaking immigrants called themselves Deut-
sche, which means "German." Eventually, Americans turned "Deut-
sche" into "Dutch." Although the "Plain Dutch" (the Amish, Menno-
nites, and Brethren) did not celebrate Christmas, the "Gay Dutch"
(Lutherans and Reformed) did.
The Gay Dutch brought their German Christmas folklore with them
to the United States. This folklore included two Christmas gift bring-
ers, the Christ Child and Belsnickel {see Knecht Ruprecht). These
two figures were distributing gifts to people of German descent in
Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century, decades before Moore wrote
his famous Christmas poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," and a cen-
tury before Thomas Nast's illustrations popularized Santa Claus.
Belsnickel was also known in German communities in Michigan,
Iowa, and New York.
The Christ Child in America
The Christ Child contributed very little to our contemporary image
of Santa Claus. Unlike Santa Claus, who rides in a magical flying
sleigh, the early American Christ Child traveled from house to house
on a humble donkey. Children left out plates or baskets filled with
hay for the Child's mount. The Christ Child exchanged the hay for
nuts, candy, and cookies.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
By the early 1800s, however, the image of the Christ Child began to
blur together with that of another European gift giver, the elderly St.
Nicholas. Moreover, the German words for Christ Child, Christ-
Kindel or Christ-Kindlein, began to slur as more non-German speak-
ers attempted to pronounce these words. "Christkindel" turned into
"Krist Kingle," and later, into "Kriss Kringle." In 1842 the publication
of The Kriss Kringle Book cemented this pronunciation error and
compounded it by using the name to describe a gift giver who
seemed suspiciously like Santa Claus. Eventually, all that remained
of the German Christ Child was the Americanized name "Kriss
Kringle." And even that was transformed into a nickname for Santa
Claus.
Belsnickel in America
Belsnickel may have contributed to the image of Santa Claus in a
more direct way. In Germany Belsnickel, or Knecht Ruprecht, ac-
companied St. Nicholas on his gift-giving rounds. Germans pictured
him as a shaggy, soot-covered man who carried a whip, a bell, and a
sack of treats. In Pennsylvania Dutch country, however, Belsnickel
made his rounds without St. Nicholas. He brought nuts, candies,
and cookies to children daring enough to brave a possible smack of
the whip as they scrambled for the treats he tossed on the floor.
Since Belsnickel often dressed in furs, at least one writer has specu-
lated that his image may have inspired the fur-trimmed suit worn by
Santa Claus. In the United States beliefs and customs surrounding
Belsnickel survived somewhat longer than those surrounding the
Christ Child, dying out in the early twentieth century.
St. Nicholas in America
Whereas Belsnickel and the Christ Child appeared around Christ-
mas, St. Nicholas traditionally brought his gifts on the eve of his
feast day, December 6 {see also St. Nicholas's Day). Historical evi-
dence suggests that the gift-giving customs surrounding the saint
were well known in the Netherlands during the eighteenth century.
By contrast, only a few scattered references to beliefs and customs
surrounding St. Nicholas can be found among Dutch and German
immigrants to the United States during this same era. Apparently,
702
Santa Claus
folk traditions concerning St. Nicholas as a winter season gift giver
did not cross the Atlantic with Dutch and German immigrants in any
great force.
Washington Irving and St. Nicholas
The St. Nicholas we know today needed the help of writer Wash-
ington Irving to establish a toehold in this country. In 1809 Irving's
satirical A History of New York raised St. Nicholas to a position of
importance in New York's Dutch-American community, primarily as
a symbol of ethnic identity. In doing so, he made a few changes to
the traditional European image of the saint. Irving replaced the tall,
somber, and commanding man in a red bishop's robe with a short,
round, jolly Dutchman who smoked a long-stemmed pipe and dressed
in colonial garb.
Clement C. Moore and St. Nicholas
Clement C. Moore, a professor at New York's General Theological
Seminary, was a friend of Washington Irving's. In 1822 he wrote a
poem about St. Nicholas that was destined to shape the American
image of Santa Claus. Titled "A Visit from St. Nicholas," the poem
begins with the familiar line, "'Twas the night before Christmas."
Moore based the appearance of St. Nicholas partly on the image of
him presented in Irving's History and partly on a plump Dutch man
who lived near Moore's house. Moore's St. Nicholas also bears some
resemblance to Irving's portrait of WouterVan Twiller, the first gover-
nor of the New Netherlands colony in what is now New York.
Although the poem is about St. Nicholas, Moore shifted the tradi-
tional date of Nicholas's visit from the eve of his own feast day to
Christmas Eve. In this way Moore transformed the saint into a Christ-
mas gift bringer. In addition, Moore's poem promoted the European
St. Nicholas's Day custom of using stockings as convenient recepta-
cles for gifts. Moore also retained the old European idea that St.
Nicholas enters homes through the chimney, an idea some writers
ultimately trace back to the belief that pagan deities spiraled down-
wards into homes on the smoke of hearth fires {see also Berchta).
703
Santa Claus
In spite of his reliance on Dutch folklore in portraying the image and
activities of St. Nicholas, Moore eliminated Black Peter, St. Nicho-
las's faithful companion in the Netherlands. According to Dutch tra-
dition. Black Peter usually did the dirty work of climbing down the
chimney and so acquired a grimy appearance. In Moore's poem St.
Nicholas himself descends the chimney and thus appears all "tar-
nished with ashes and soot." Moore may also have been patterning
this aspect of St. Nicholas's appearance after Belsnickel, whom nine-
teenth-century German-American youth would impersonate by
coating their faces and hands with soot.
Although Moore is sometimes credited with the invention of Santa's
flying reindeer, scholars note that the image actually appeared in a
little-known children's poem published a year before Moore wrote
"A Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore did, however, assign the reindeer
the names by which we still know them today: Dasher, Dancer,
Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen. Moore's poem
was first published under his own name in 1844.
More Confusion Over Names
By the time the next major contributor to the gift bringer's mytholo-
gy came upon the scene, the St. Nicholas figure popularized by
Moore and Irving had become known as Santa Claus. The Dutch
phrase for St. Nicholas is Sinterklaas. Apparently, American English
speakers found this word troublesome. Scholars have uncovered a
number of early American renditions of the good saint's name,
including "St. Aclaus," "St. Iclaus," "Santeclaw," "Sancte Klaas," "St.
Claas," and "St. a claus." Eventually, Americans settled on "Santa
Claus," a name which, for most English speakers, obscured the gift
giver's link back to one of Europe's most popular saints.
Thomas Nasi and Santa Claus
Nineteenth-century illustrations depicting Santa Claus reveal that
people held widely varying views as to what the gift bringer looked
like. Some imagined him as fat, others as thin. Some saw him as
gnome-like, others as an adult human being. One magazine illustra-
tion even depicted him as a little girl, perhaps confusing him with
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
another gift bringer, Christkindel. In the late 1800s illustrator Thomas
Nast, a German-born immigrant, published a series of Santa Claus
drawings that captured the public imagination and settled the issue
of Santa's appearance.
In embellishing the mythic figure outlined by Moore and Irving,
Nast may well have drawn on his knowledge of northern European
customs surrounding Christmas gift givers. In a series of drawings
published over the course of thirty years, Nast created the Santa
Claus costume with which we are so familiar today: a long, white
beard, black boots, and a red suit trimmed with white fur. At least
one writer has speculated that Nast drew on popular German con-
ceptions of a fur-clad gift giver, such as Belsnickel, in designing the
costume. The fact that the costume was primarily red, however, sug-
gests that Nast had the European St. Nicholas in mind, since the
saint was traditionally depicted wearing the red robes of a bishop.
Nast expanded the Santa lore of his time by giving the gift bringer a
home address, the North Pole, and some new helpers, elves. Fur-
thermore, although Moore's poem suggested that Santa was an elf
himself, Nast settled on portraying him as a fat, jolly, elderly man.
Some speculate that Nast knew of the Scandinavian tradition where-
by elves deliver Christmas gifts {see Jultomten). They suggest that
knowledge of this folk custom may have inspired him to add elves to
Santa's household.
Nineteenth-Century Developments
Although the folklore surrounding Santa Claus has for the most part
remained remarkably stable since its creation, a few changes oc-
curred over the course of the nineteenth century. The original Dutch
St. Nicholas punished misbehaving children by leaving them only a
rod or stick, which symbolized a beating. So did Knecht Ruprecht,
Belsnickel, and, by some reports, Christkindel. As the century rolled
by, however, Americans placed less and less emphasis on the puni-
tive aspect of Santa's mission. Some researchers attribute this devel-
opment to changing concepts of childhood and child rearing. By the
late nineteenth century many Americans began to view children less
as unruly creatures who needed to be controlled by threat of punish-
ment and more as ignorant and innocent souls who needed to be
706
Santa Claus
taught through nurturance and good example. Apparently, Santa
Claus changed his attitudes towards children along with the rest of
the country.
Moore's poem makes no mention of a Christmas tree, and has the
jolly gift giver fill the children's stockings instead. Nevertheless, Santa
eventually adopted the old German custom of placing gifts under the
Christmas tree. In 1845 a children's book titled Kriss Kringle's Christ-
mas Tree presented American audiences with the idea that the Christ-
mas gift bringer hangs his gifts on the Christmas tree. Throughout the
nineteenth century the association between the tree and the gifts
grew stronger as the custom of installing a decorated tree in one's
house at Christmas time gained in popularity. As Americans began
to give one another more and heavier gifts, they began to place them
beneath the tree rather than hang them on the tree. And while
stockings hung by the fireplace never completely disappeared from
the American Christmas scene, they became a much less important
component of the gift-giving ritual when Santa began to place gifts
under the tree.
Promoting the Santa Claus Myth
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Santa Claus myth had
become so well established that retailers, advertisers, and charities
began to use it to promote their interests {see also Commercialism).
Hired Santas began to appear on street corners and in department
stores. In 1937 the first training school for professional Santas was
established in Albion, New York. Its classes taught potential Santas
how to act and dress the role and coached them in Santa mythology.
By the mid-1950s New York City alone could boast of at least three
such Santa schools.
In the first half of the twentieth century, however, some people wor-
ried whether the sudden proliferation of street-corner Santas would
cause children to question the Santa Claus myth. In 1914 a group of
concerned citizens in New York City formed the Santa Claus Asso-
ciation, a group whose self-appointed mission was to safeguard chil-
dren's belief in Santa Claus. At Christmas time they busied them-
selves with collecting children's letters to Santa Claus from the post
office and responding to the requests they contained. In 1929 post
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
office officials themselves took over the task of responding to these
letters. Other groups did their part to limit the overbooking of
Santas. In 1937 the Salvation Army stopped hiring Santas to pro-
mote their cause. In 1948 the Boston city council recommended that
the city host only one Santa per season to be headquartered on
Boston Common.
While some worked to protect children's belief in Santa Claus, oth-
ers wondered whether children should be taught the myth at all.
Religious parents expressed concern that children would confuse
Santa Claus with Jesus. Their concern echoed that of German Pro-
testant reformers from centuries past who eventually succeeded in
replacing St. Nicholas as the holiday season gift bringer with Christ-
kindel.
Twentieth-Century Developments
Santa has become such a popular American institution that a multi-
tude of training courses are now available for the thousands of peo-
ple who play Santa Claus each year at public events. It has been esti-
mated that about 20,000 "rent-a-Santas" ply their trade across the
United States each year at Christmas time. Most of the training
directed at these seasonal Santas teaches them how to maintain
their jolly manner and appearance under pressure from the public.
Practical advice, such as not falling asleep on the job, blends with
bits of Santa etiquette, such as not accepting money from a parent
while a child is looking on, and avoiding eating garlic, onions, or
beans for lunch. Another typical teaching counsels seasonal Santas
to keep their cool even if blessed by a "royal christening" from an
over-excited child.
The twentieth century has witnessed only a few refinements to the
basic Santa Claus myth. The most important of these was the addi-
tion of a new member to Santa's team of flying reindeer, a gawky,
young, red-nosed creature named Rudolf. Young Rudolf enjoyed
instant popularity with the American public, inspiring both a popu-
lar song and a children's television special. In addition, beginning in
the 1920s the Coca-Cola Company commissioned artist Haddon
Sunblom to draw a series of color illustrations of Santa Claus for an
708
Santa Claus
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advertising campaign. Like Nast's earlier illustrations, these draw-
ings helped to define the image of Santa Claus in the minds of many
Americans.
During the twentieth century American pop culture reached almost
every part of the globe. People from all over the world can now identi-
fy the jolly, chubby, white-bearded man in the red suit as Santa Claus.
He competes with other Christmas gift bringers, such as Grandfather
Frost and La Befana, for the allegiance of people in many nations.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Further Reading
Barnett, James H. The American Christmas. New York: Macmillan, 1954.
Comfort, David. jMSt Say Noel! New York: Fireside Books, 1995.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y: Doubleday, 1979.
Jones, Charles W. Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Jones, E. Willis. The Santa Claus Book. New York: Walker and Company,
1976.
Nast St. Hill, Thomas. Thomas Nast's Christmas Drawings for the Human
Race. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1996.
Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press,
1995.
Sansom, William. A Book of Christmas. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, 1968.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland
and Company, 1997.
Waits, William. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York Uni-
versity Press, 1993.
^
710
Saturnalia
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Saturnalia
The ancient Romans honored the god Saturn in a midwinter festival
known as Saturnalia. Many of the customs associated with Satur-
nalia reversed ordinary social rules and roles. Early Christian writers
disapproved of this rowdy Roman revelry. Nevertheless, some of the
customs associated with Saturnalia later attached themselves to the
celebration of Christmas {see also Kalends).
Saturn and His Festival
Some scholars believe that the Romans borrowed Saturn from the
Greeks by simply exchanging the deity's Greek name, Kronos, for the
Roman name, Saturn (for more on Kronos, see Father Time). In addi-
tion, they assigned him a new, Roman history. Others believe that he
evolved from a minor Etruscan god of agriculture. Scholars debate
the meaning of the Roman god's name. Some believe the word "sat-
urn" comes from the Latin verb for "to sow," whose root is sat.
Others, however, think it evolved from saturo, which means "to fill"
or "to satisfy." According to Roman mythology, Saturn ruled over the
kingdom of Latium, the region surrounding Rome, as its first king
during its golden age. He established the first laws and taught
human beings agriculture. In this era of joy and plenty, people lived
together in harmony and shared equally in the earth's bounty.
The Romans honored Saturn as the patron of agriculture and of civi-
lized life. They held his festival at the end of the autumn sowing sea-
son when cold weather arrived in earnest. In the early years of the
Roman Republic Saturnalia took place on December 17. At the close
of the first century A.D., however, the celebrations had stretched into
a fuU week of fun ending around December 23. Many of the customs
associated with Saturnalia recalled the equality and abundance that
characterized Saturn's reign on earth.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Equality
Lucian, a second-century Greco-Roman writer, drew up a set of rules
summarizing proper conduct during Saturnalia. Chief among these
rules was the decree that "all men shall be equal, slave and free, rich
and poor, one with another" This temporary equality was especially
apparent at the banquets characteristic of this Roman holiday. During
the rest of the year the seating arrangements, portions, and service
offered at Roman feasts reflected differences in wealth and social
rank among the guests. Lucian's rules for Saturnalian banquets,
however, neatly erased these inequalities. At a Saturnalian feast:
Every man shall take place as chance may direct; dignities
and birth and wealth shall give no precedence. All shall be
served with the same wine. . . . Every man's portion of meat
shall be alike. When the rich man shall feast his slaves, let
his friends serve with him [Miles, 1990, 166-67].
Perhaps the slaves enjoyed the festival more than anyone else. They
were exempted from their usual duties and from all forms of punish-
ment. Furthermore, during the time of the festival they wore the felt
cap given to freed slaves and could criticize and mock their masters
without fear of reprisal. Moreover, at the feast held in honor of the
holiday slaves sat down to eat first and were waited on by their mas-
ters.
Mock Kings
The mock kings who presided over the Saturnalian feasts offered
one humorous exception to the general rule of equality. As these
monarchs were chosen by lot, anyone might become king for the
evening, even a slave. The king's commands had to be obeyed, no
matter how outrageous. According to one observer, the king's orders
might require "one to shout out a libel on himself, another to dance
naked, or pick up the flute-girl and carry her thrice around the
room." Christmas celebrations in medieval Europe also elevated a
variety of mock authorities into temporary positions of power {see
also Boy Bishop; Feast of Fools; King of the Bean; Lord of Mis-
rule). Many researchers trace the origins of these figures back to the
mock kings who presided over the Saturnalian banquets.
712
Saturnalia
Leisure and Merrymaking
Slaves were not the only people enjoying free time during Satur-
nalia. Schools, stores, and courts of law closed their doors for the
duration of the festival. No one worked during Saturnalia except
those who provided the food that fueled the feasts. In fact, Lucian's
rules mandated that people put all serious business aside and devote
themselves to enjoyment:
All business, be it public or private, is forbidden during the
feast days, save such as tends to sport and solace and delight.
Let none follow their avocations saving cooks and bakers.
Anger, resentment, threats, are contrary to law. No discourse
shall be either composed or delivered, except it be witty and
lusty, conducing to mirth and jollity [Miles, 1990, 166].
In addition to feasting and drinking, the Romans enjoyed public
gambling during Saturnalia, an activity that was against the law dur-
ing the rest of the year. They expressed good will towards one an-
other by exchanging small gifts, especially wax candles called cerei,
wax fruit, and clay dolls called signillaria. Other popular customs
included various kinds of informal masquerades in which men and
women cavorted in the clothing of the opposite sex. More serious-
minded Romans disapproved of the drunken excesses and the
noisy, carousing crowds that wandered through the streets during
the festival.
Echoes of this ancient Roman holiday remain in the English lan-
guage. Today we use the word "Saturnalian" to refer to celebrations
characterized by excess and abandon.
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
James, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1993.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Room, Adrian. Who's Who in Classical Mythology. Lincolnwood, 111.: NTC
Publishing Group, 1996.
ScuUard, H. H. Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 1981.
Sl^epl^er^s
The Gospel according to Luke tells that an angel announced
Jesus' birth to some humble shepherds who were spending the
night in a nearby field. Many Bible commentators have remarked
that this incident shows that God's favor rests with the poor, since
they were the first to receive news of Christ's birth.
After receiving the angel's visit, the shepherds journey to Bethle-
hem in order to pay homage to Jesus, the newborn king. They find
the Holy Family lodged in a stable. Since Mary had no crib, she laid
the baby Jesus in a manger, or trough used to feed animals. Thus in
Luke's account of Jesus' birth, the Holy Family lodges with the ani-
mals and is visited by shepherds.
The Gospel according to Matthew offers a different version of
events {see also Gospel Accounts of Christmas). In that account,
educated and well-to-do men from the East, the Magi, are the first
to learn of Jesus' birth. Matthew's story implies that the Holy Family
lives in Bethlehem. No shepherds appear in Matthew's account, just
as no Magi appear in Luke's account.
Sheep and Shepherds in the Bible
In biblical times people relied on sheep and goats more than any
other kind of domestic animal. Important figures from the Hebrew
scriptures, or Old Testament, were shepherds — such as Abraham,
714
Shepherds
Moses, and David. Nevertheless, shepherds were considered very
humble folk and were thus looked down on by some.
The Bible mentions sheep and shepherds hundreds of times. Most
of these references are metaphorical rather than literal, however.
Sheep require a good deal of care and the expert guidance of a shep-
herd to flourish. In order to illustrate God's care for his people, bibli-
cal writers sometimes described God as a shepherd and God's peo-
ple as sheep. The Bible also compares good leaders to shepherds.
Jesus, who began his life among animals and those who care for
them, would later be described as both lamb and shepherd. In
explaining his mission as a teacher, healer, and leader, Jesus refers to
himself as a shepherd (Luke 15:4-7, Matthew 15:24, John 10:3-30).
The early Christians pictured Jesus in this way as well (Hebrews
13:20, 1 Peter 2:25). The Bible also portrays Jesus as a lamb Qohn
1:29). The ancient Jews sacrificed lambs as a means of reconciling
themselves to God after having sinned. The first Christians came to
see Jesus as a kind of sacrificial lamb, whose willing death for their
sakes released them from the consequences of sin.
Christmas Customs
The shepherds' pilgrimage to Bethlehem has been reenacted in
countless Nativity plays, including the Hispanic folk play known as
Los Pastores. In some predominantly Catholic countries, people
refer to the dawn mass on Christmas Day as the "Shepherds' Mass,"
in honor of their journey to visit the newborn Jesus. Pilgrims to
Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem can visit various "Shepherds Fields,"
sites promoted as the place where the shepherds received the angel-
ic announcement of Jesus' birth.
Further Reading
Freedman, David Noel, ed. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids,
Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000.
Keck, Leander, ed. New Interpreter's Bible: Luke, John. Volume IX. Nashville,
Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995.
Ryken, Leland, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman, III, eds. "Sheep,
Shepherd." In their Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove, 111.:
InterVarsity Press, 1998.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Siloes
Boots
Most Americans are familiar with the Christmas custom of hanging
up a stocking by the fireplace for Santa Claus to fill with gifts. In
some countries, however, people use shoes or boots rather than
stockings as gift receptacles.
In Sicily, children leave their shoes outdoors on the eve of St. Lucy's
Day, December 13 {see also Italy, Christmas in). When the kindly
saint passes by during the night, she deposits treats in the shoes,
which the children discover the next morning.
In the Netherlands, children put shoes by the fireplace on the eve of
St. Nicholas's Day, December 6. Dutch children sometimes also
leave hay, carrots, or sugar for St. Nicholas's horse. In the morning
they find their shoes filled with presents. German children also
receive gifts from St. Nicholas on his feast day. They place their
boots by the fireplace, a window, or the bedroom door on the
evening of December 5. In the morning they feast on the sweets
tucked inside the boots {see also Germany, Christmas in).
In Iceland the Christmas Lads fill children's shoes with candy.
Youngsters help the Lads find the shoes by positioning them on a
windowsill in the days preceding Christmas. A similar custom takes
place in Estonia, where young people leave shoes out on a win-
dowsill in the weeks before Christmas and wait for elves to come fill
them with treats.
In France children set their shoes before the fireplace, underneath
the Christmas tree, or near the Nativity scene on Christmas Eve.
The French gift bringer. Fere Noel, fills them with sweets and toys
before morning comes.
In Spain the Three Kings, or Magi, stuff children's shoes with trin-
kets and sweets on Epiphany, which the Spanish also refer to as
Three Kings Day. Spanish children deposit their shoes on the bal-
716
Shooting in Christmas
cony, outside their front door, or near a fireplace on the evening of
January 5. Many considerately leave straw for the Magi's camels as
well. The next morning they race to recover trinkets and sweets left
inside the shoes. The Three Kings also fill the shoes of Mexican, Bra-
zilian, and Filipino children on Epiphany {see also Brazil, Christmas
in; Philippines, Christmas in the). Filipino and Brazilian young-
sters put their shoes near a window or door on Epiphany eve and in
the morning find them overflowing with sweets and trinkets. In
Mexico children place their shoes near the Nativity scene, or just
outside a door or window that they might serve as handy baskets for
gifts. They often offer water and straw for the Kings' camels as well.
Further Reading
Christmas in Germany. Second edition. Lincoln wood. III: Passport Books,
1996.
Christmas in Mexico. Chicago: World Book, 1976.
McLenighan, Valjean. Christmas in Spain. Chicago: World Book, 1988.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in France. Chicago: World Book, 1988.
%^
sfiootmgm cfiristmas
In some areas of Europe, the United States, and Lebanon people cel-
ebrate Christmas Eve by making noise. One especially noisy custom
comes from central and northern Europe and is called "shooting in
Christmas." In Germany some people still follow this old folk tradi-
tion. Several hundred marksmen gather in Berchtesgaden, Germany,
each year on Christmas Eve. As midnight approaches, they fire rifles
and mortars for nearly an hour to usher in Christmas. Folklorists sus-
pect that in past times people hoped that the sudden bangs produced
by noisemaking customs such as these would frighten off evil spirits
{see also Ghosts; Twelve Days of Christmas).
Emigrants brought this custom with them to the United States, where
it sometimes migrated from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve. In the
eighteenth century bands of men tramped from house to house be-
717
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
tween midnight and dawn on New Year's Eve in Pennsylvania's Ger-
man communities {see also Mummers Parade). They shot off their
guns, recited folk rhymes, and partook of each household's hospitality.
This noisy habit irritated some of their neighbors. In 1774 the Penn-
sylvania Assembly attempted to preserve the general peace by passing
an act prohibiting any random firing of guns on or around New Year's
Day.
In spite of this opposition, the custom of shooting in the new year
lingered on in some German-American communities until well into
the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century many southerners
and westerners shot off guns to welcome in Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day {see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Cen-
tury; Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial). Southerners
added to the din by setting off firecrackers as well.
Further Reading
Barrick, Mac E. German-American Folklore. Little Rock, Ark.: August House,
1987.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Kirchner, Audrey Burie, and Margaret R. Tassia. In Days Gone By: Folklore
and Traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Un-
limited, 1996.
718
Slaves' Christmas
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slaves^ cfiristmas
Slavery in the United States can be traced back to the early seven-
teenth century. Although some of these colonial era slaves included
Native Americans and poor Europeans, the vast majority of people
subjected to slavery in America were of African descent. Slavery
never became as popular in the Northern states as it did in the
Southern states. By the 1830s the Northern states had all but elimi-
nated slavery, though it was still legal throughout the South. Slavery
in the Southern United States ended with the close of the American
Civil War in 1865.
How did the slaves celebrate Christmas? Though many belonged to
well-to-do families, they themselves were poor and shared only a
small fraction of the families' lavish festivities. Many, but not all,
slaveowners granted their slaves a day or more of rest at Christmas
time. Some also provided them with ample amounts of food, includ-
ing the better cuts of meat, a form of nourishment that some schol-
ars believe they rarely enjoyed during the rest of the year. Some also
distributed passes to certain slaves, permitting them to visit relatives
who lived in different places. Slaves relished these simple Christmas
pleasures, activities that many slaveowners took for granted the year
round. (See also America, Christmas in Nineteenth -Century.)
Leisure
Many slaveowners gave their slaves three days off at Christmas time.
Some permitted fewer or no days of rest, and others allowed more
than three days. On some plantations slaves were authorized to
select a Yule log to burn in the main fireplace of the manor house.
The slaves' holiday lasted as long as the log burned. Naturally the
slave sent to fetch the Yule log from the woods exercised a great deal
of care in choosing what he hoped would be a very slow-burning
log. In this way the Christmas holiday could be extended to New
Year's Day.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Not every slave got to rest at Christmas time. Since slaveowning fam-
ilies sometimes hosted elaborate Christmas dinners and parties,
slaves who worked as household servants often found their workload
increased at Christmas time. What's more, slaves could not count on
time off at Christmas, since the master could always cancel their holi-
day. Indeed, some slaveowners withheld the privilege of celebrating
Christmas from slaves who had displeased them during the year
Most plantation slaves passed their Christmas holiday by taking part
in some or all of the feasting, singing, dancing, music making, and
storytelling that characterized Christmas in the slaves' quarters.
Some slaves took advantage of the time off to hold quilting bees.
Many of the quilts they made featured the color red, a favorite shade
with many slaves. Both slave men and women participated in the
craft of quilting. Other handicrafts were also produced and sold at
Christmas time, because in many areas custom permitted slaves to
keep all the money they earned during the Christmas holiday. (The
rest of the year any money they earned belonged to their masters.)
Some slaves may have devoted time to a more dangerous holiday
hobby: studying. Studying was dangerous because many Southern
states had strict laws forbidding the education of slaves.
Food and Drink
Some slaves never quite got enough to eat throughout the year.
Rich, sustaining, and especially tasty foods, like choice cuts of meat,
butter, eggs, and sugar almost never appeared on slaves' tables. Since
most masters gave their slaves extra rations of high-quality food at
Christmas time, the holiday not only represented a mouth-watering
chance for slaves to eat their fill but also afforded them an opportu-
nity to savor some of the tasty foods that their masters enjoyed year
round. At Christmas time slaves might dine on a combination of
meats, including roast chicken, ham, pickled pigs' feet, squirrel, or
possum. Side dishes might include squash, greens cooked with ham
hocks, salad greens and eggs, or ashcakes (boiled cornmeal sweet-
ened with molasses and wrapped in cabbage leaves to bake). For
dessert some slaves baked a cake or made sweet potato pie. On
some plantations the mistress prepared a large Christmas banquet,
which the master and mistress served to their slaves. {For more on
slaves' holiday foods, see Hopping John).
720
Slaves' Christmas
Many of these Christmas feasts included homemade wine or gener-
ous servings of the masters' own liquor. This policy often resulted in
drunkenness, as slaves were not permitted to drink at any other time
of the year and thus were unaccustomed to the effects of alcohol.
Former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) believed
that many slaveowners promoted this drunkenness as a means of dis-
couraging slaves from seeking their own freedom. After the holidays
were over slaveowners suggested to the slaves that if freed they would
quickly slip into a life of laziness and alcoholic overindulgence. They
pointed to the slaves' recent excesses as evidence for their argument.
Visits and Marriages
Slaves could never count on keeping their families together. Some-
times the master would sell a husband away from a wife, or a child
away from his or her parents. Nevertheless, some slaveowners per-
mitted slaves to visit nearby relatives at Christmas time. On Christ-
mas Eve the master distributed passes permitting certain individuals
to travel. Slaves welcomed the visitors warmly. Even if not a relative,
the visitor would bring news from another part of the county and,
perhaps, greetings from a relative. Slaves looked forward to these
Christmas visits all year long. Nevertheless, this privilege could be
withheld from slaves who displeased their masters.
Christmas was a popular time for slaves to marry. The joyous family
reunions and rowdy revelry that characterized the "Big Times," as
slaves sometimes referred to the Christmas holiday, inspired an in-
creased number of romantic encounters leading to marriage.
Gips
Many slaveowners gave gifts to their slaves at Christmas time. Typi-
cal gifts included hats, hair ribbons, tobacco, sugar, bandanas, col-
lars, or coins. In addition, the master often offered as Christmas gifts
the things he would have to supply for the slave anyway, such as
warm clothing and shoes. Some wealthy plantation owners fur-
nished slaves with gifts of money at Christmas time. They might also
present them with the means to prepare a sumptuous banquet, offer-
ing them such luxury foodstuffs as beef, chicken, turkey, pork, duck,
apples, oranges, cakes, pies, and biscuits.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Plantation slaves sometimes had to make a formal visit to the "big
house" (the manor house) to receive these gifts. Many never entered
the mansion during the rest of the year. They arrived dressed in their
best clothing to perform the little ritual surrounding Christmas gift
giving. Along with his gifts, the master offered Christmas greetings
to the slaves, wishing each of them a happy holiday. Sometimes he
gave them a glass of eggnog and proposed a toast. Upon receiving
his or her gift the slave would extend Christmas greetings and good
wishes to the master and his family. Sometimes the slaves would
collectively present the master or mistress with a token gift, such as
a homemade basket or a clutch of eggs.
At other plantations, the slaves did not receive their gifts in the big
house. Instead, the master and mistress visited the slaves in their
quarters to watch them sing and dance and to present them with gifts.
Sometimes the white folks joined for a while in the slaves' festivities.
On Christmas Day, custom permitted slaves to ask a Christmas gift
of any white person they saw. All they had to do was to approach
them and shout out, "Christmas gift!" before the white person could
speak to them. Slaveowners who considered themselves good-na-
tured let themselves be bested, and stocked up on coins, sweets, and
trinkets to give away in this little game.
In spite of their poverty, slave parents often gave their children a
modest Christmas gift. These gifts consisted of things like home-
made baskets, hats, aprons, or strip quilts.
Song and Dance
Temporarily relieved from the daily routine of hard work, plantation
slaves celebrated by music making and dancing. Some records indi-
cate that these Christmas Eve and Christmas Day revels lasted most
of the night. Slave musicians played music with any kind of instru-
ment they could get their hands on, including homemade drums,
pipes, fiddles, and banjos. Those who could not find or play musical
instruments could still sing songs to entertain one another and to
accompany instrumental music.
In some parts of the South slaves practiced a Christmas masquerade
known as Jonkonnu. Men dressed in tattered, makeshift costumes
and masks. Thus attired they rambled from house to house playing
722
Slaves' Christmas
music and dancing. IHiouseholders gave them coins or trinkets in ex-
change for their entertainment.
Slaves also sang religious music at Christmas time. In fact, African-
American slaves developed their own style of religious songs known
as "spirituals." Some well-known spirituals retell elements of the
Christmas story. These include "Mary Had a Baby/' "Go Tell It on the
Mountain," "Rise up Shepherd and Follow," "Sister Mary Had-a But
One Child," and "Behold That Star."
Religion
Slaves attended religious services and gathered together to pray at
Christmas time. Some slaves belonged to conservative Christian de-
nominations, such as the Baptists and Methodists, which forbade
dancing. These people would avoid the Christmas parties and instead
organize prayer meetings. Some of the meetings lasted for hours;
others lasted all night.
Running Away and Rebelling
Christmas was a popular time of year to run away from one's master
and to seek freedom in the North. Slaves reasoned that they were
less likely to be missed at home or apprehended on the roads at
Christmas time than at any other time of the year. They would not
be expected to show up for their daily chores until after the holiday.
Furthermore, whites were accustomed to seeing many black wayfar-
ers on the streets and b5Avays during the holiday season. The liber-
ties allowed slaves at Christmas time may also have inspired a num-
ber of slave revolts. One historian has estimated that approximately
one third of both documented and rumored slave rebellions oc-
curred around Christmas. In the year 1856, slave revolts occurred in
nearly every slave-holding state at Christmas time.
Christmas Legends, Lore, and Superstition
Throughout the South, both white and black children were told that
Gabriel the angel sprinkled Stardust on the earth in early winter. It
turned into the first frost of the season as it hit the ground. Its
sparkling beauty served to remind children of the coming of the Christ
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Child. Slaves also passed along bits of old European Christmas lore,
such as the belief that animals gain the power of human speech on
Christmas Eve {see also Nativity Legends). If one crept quietly into
the barn at just the right moment, one might overhear them mur-
mur praises to God and the baby Jesus. Nevertheless, to do so
would bring a mountain of bad luck down on one's head.
New Year
Some plantation slaves celebrated New Year's Day with a cakewalk
{see also Mummers Parade). In this competitive dance, couples step-
ped side by side, moving around the dance floor in the form of a
square. Their exaggerated movements amplified and made fun of
the formal dances popular among white folk. The couple who exhib-
ited the fanciest moves won a cake.
Southern slaves and their masters shared certain New Year's Day
superstitions. Many believed that consuming a dish called hopping
John, made from black-eyed peas and ham hocks, brought good luck
for the coming year. Other popular beliefs included the notion that to
argue on New Year's Day meant that one would be drawn into argu-
ments throughout the coming year. Many invoked the superstition
that to cut one's hair on New Year's Day was to divide one's wealth in
two. Others held to the belief that to borrow or lend anything on New
Year's Day would bring bad luck for the rest of the year.
The worst luck a slave could encounter on New Year's Day was to be
separated from a close family member through work contracts ar-
ranged by the master. Those hired out to work for the year on other
plantations left on New Year's Day. For this reason slaves sometimes
called January 1 "Heartbreak Day."
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) signed
the Emancipation Proclamation into law, granting immediate free-
dom to slaves in the Southern states. This event is still celebrated as
Emancipation Day in some African-American communities.
Psychological Pressures
In addition to all the other deprivations experienced year-round by
American slaves, they were also subjected to unusual kinds of psy-
724
Slaves' Christmas
chological pressures at Christmas time. These pressures resulted from
the role that Christmas played in justifying the institution of human
slavery to slaveowners. For example, the slaves' own joy could be
used against them, since some slaveowners pointed to the happy
Christmas celebrations of their slaves to justify the institution of slav-
ery. Others harped on their slaves' enjoyment of leisure and alco-
holic beverages at Christmas time, suggesting to them that they had
a natural inclination towards idleness and drunkenness and thus
were better off as slaves. While slaves ran the risk of inspiring these
thoughts in their masters if they indulged in Christmas pleasures,
they skirted other dangers if they refused. The master might view
those who grumbled at Christmas time as potential troublemakers
(who would be watched closely and subjected to possible future
punishments). As a result, slaves may have felt obligated to appear
pleased with the Christmas celebrations allotted to them, even when
they were in fact unhappy.
Some masters cynically promoted slave Christmas celebrations, be-
lieving that this once-yearly binge relieved just enough suffering and
want to prevent slaves from openly rebelling against their inferior
status. Others may have been less aware of the possibility that the
simple pleasures they afforded their slaves at Christmas time played
a role in the preservation of slavery.
Conclusion
In spite of all the pressures and deprivations they were subjected to,
African-American slaves wrested some degree of holiday happiness
out of the foods and freedoms allowed them at this time of year.
Rising above their circumstances, they contributed a number of
beautiful spirituals to the American repertoire of Christmas carols.
Our Christmas celebrations today are still the richer for them.
Further Reading
Dipeiro, Diane. "Together at Christmas (Christmas Traditions of African-
American Slaves)." Colonial Homes 20 (December 1, 1994): 28(2).
Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll. New York: Pantheon, 1974.
McKissack, Patricia, and Frederick McKissack. Christmas in the Big House,
Christmas in the Quarters. New York: Scholastic, 1994.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christinas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1996.
Scheel, Eugene. "Recalling Joys of Christmas, Big and Small." The Wash-
ington Post (December 3, 2000): V03.
Snow Maiden
Snegurochka
Contemporary Russian folklore declares that the Snow Maiden is
Grandfather Frost's grandchild and assigns her the role of helping
him distribute gifts to Russia's children on New Year's Eve. The
Snow Maiden is usually represented as a beautiful little girl or teen-
ager with long blond braids. She dresses in a light blue robe and cap
trimmed with white fur. She may wear a modern, knee-length robe
and white boots or a more traditional ankle-length robe. An old
Russian legend tells her story. Neither Christmas nor Grandfather
Frost appear in this traditional tale. In the twentieth century. Com-
munist officials linked the legend of the Snow Maiden with their
chosen gift bringer. Grandfather Frost.
Legend of the Snow Maiden
Snegurochka is the Russian word for "Snow Maiden." Many different
versions of her tale can be heard across Russia. The outlines of the
story remain the same, however.
Once upon a time an old, peasant couple were watching their
neighbors' children romp in the snow. The couple had always want-
ed children of their own but had reached old age without having
any. As they watched the youngsters play, their longing inspired
them to build a little girl out of snow. They rolled, patted, and
shaped the snow, creating the image of a beautiful little girl with
long braids. She was so life-like that they spoke to her, beseeching
her to come to life and live in their house as their own daughter.
Moments later the snow girl seemed to breathe, then her lips and
726
Snow Maiden
cheeks blushed pink, and her braids turned from white to golden
blond. Their wish had come true! The girl told them that she had
come from the land of winter to be their daughter. The astonished
couple hugged the girl and took her home with them.
The Snow Maiden was cheerful and good as well as beautiful. Every-
one loved her. The old couple took great joy in making a home for
her and in watching her frolic with the other children. But as spring
approached the Snow Maiden began to change. Little by little, she
lost her good spirits and seemed to grow tired or ill. One day she
announced that the time had come for her to return to the far north,
to the land of winter. The couple begged her not to go. The old wom-
an hugged her daughter tightly and felt drops of water on the sur-
face of the girl's skin and clothes. This alarmed the old couple, but
neither knew what to do. In a few minutes the Snow Maiden had
melted away completely.
Her disappearance broke their hearts. They mourned for her through-
out the spring and summer. They tried to shut their ears to the
laughter of children playing in the sunshine, since it only reminded
them of the sweet Snow Maiden. The old couple passed a gloomy
autumn, and, soon, winter returned to the land. One evening, as the
snow swirled around the eaves of their house, they heard a knock at
the door. The sound struck fear into their hearts because they could
not imagine who would visit them on such an evening. Soon they
heard a familiar high-pitched voice cry, "Mama, Papa, open the door!
The winter snows have returned your daughter to you!" The old
man flung open the door and there stood the smiling Snow Maiden.
The old couple wept and embraced her. Just as before, the three of
them passed a joyful winter together. As spring approached the old
couple resigned themselves to the Snow Maiden's disappearance.
They did not grieve for her when she melted, though. They knew
that the winter snow would return their Snegurochka to them next
year.
Further Reading
Christmas in Russia. Chicago: World Book, 1992.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
SoMtl^ Africa^ Cl^rf stmas in
South Africa is located on the southernmost tip of the African conti-
nent. Because it lies in the Southern Hemisphere, South Africa cele-
brates a summertime Christmas (for more on the difference between the
Northern and Southern hemispheres, see Winter Solstice). Many peo-
ple head for the mountains or the beach at this time of year and thus
celebrate Christmas with picnics, barbecues, sports, and other out-
door activities.
In spite of the heat Christmas shoppers often find shopping districts
decorated with the typical trappings of a northern Christmas, includ-
ing Christmas trees sprayed with false snow, and various depictions
of sleighs, reindeers, and cold, dark, winter evenings. Father Christ-
mas, dressed in red velvet and furs, often makes a sweaty appear-
ance as well. Shoppers may further the illusion of a cozy, northern
Christmas by purchasing Christmas cards picturing snowy, winter
scenes. Or they may embrace the realities of a South African Christ-
mas by choosing cards that feature the plants, animals, and land-
scape of a South African summer.
The English Christmas Heritage
Christmas celebrations in South Africa share much in common with
those of Great Britain, as many white South Africans are descended
from English settlers {see also England, Christmas in). Although
Afrikaners outnumber South Africans of British descent, English-
speaking South Africans have wielded much cultural influence due to
their political dominance in the twentieth century. Moreover, many
Afrikaners come from strict Protestant sects, such as Calvinism, that
have not placed much importance on the celebration of Christmas.
Father Christmas, Christmas cards, Christmas dinners that begin with
Christmas crackers and end with plum pudding, Christmas stock-
ings, and family excursions to pantomime shows are among the
Christmas traditions introduced to South Africa by its English set-
tlers. Some South Africans, following the lead of their Australian
728
South Africa, Christmas in
colleagues, hang up pillow cases instead of stockings, thereby giving
Father Christmas more room to be generous {see also Australia,
Christmas in). Like the British, South Africans observe Boxing Day
on December 26 by giving tips to workers who have served them
throughout the year, such as garbage collectors.
The Afrikaner Christinas Heritage
Afrikaners trace their roots back to Dutch, German, and French set-
tlers who came to South Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. In the early part of the twentieth century, Afrikaners from
rural South Africa celebrated Christmas by attending church and
receiving Holy Communion (the Eucharist), or by reading from the
Bible at home. Children might receive a few, simple gifts. Special
cakes and jam tarts, rarely available in those days, were served with
Christmas dinner, which often featured roast turkey or roast pork. In
some families, however, these special desserts were served on New
Year's Eve rather than Christmas. Families often went visiting on
Christmas Day to exchange Christmas greetings in person. Over
time many Afrikaners adopted the more festive Christmas customs
of English South Africans.
Music
South Africans have embraced the custom of attending outdoor,
candlelit, sing- along caroling concerts on Christmas Eve {see also
Christmas Carols). These concerts, known as Carols by Candle-
light, began as an Australian Christmas custom and later migrated to
South Africa.
Music is an important component of Christmas festivities for many
South Africans. Some go caroling from door to door on Christmas
Eve. Others form Christmas bands that play in the streets during the
last few days before the holiday. Traditionally only men and boys par-
ticipate in this custom. The groups wear matching uniforms whose
purchase is financed through their various fundraising activities.
Christmas Day
Christmas morning church services often feature special programs,
such as Christmas pageants put on by the congregations' youth or
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
special choir concerts. Many South Africans eat Christmas dinner
around noon. This makes sense if, in spite of the summer heat, they
keep the European custom of eating a heavy, oven-roasted meal.
After an early afternoon nap, some head off to the beach or other
cool, outdoor locations.
Black and Asian South Africans
Black South Africans compose about 75 percent of the nation's pop-
ulation. Until recently a political system known as apartheid insured
that most black South Africans lived separately from whites and
remained relatively poor and uneducated. Most black South Africans
are Christians, but a sizeable percentage hold to traditional, tribal
religious beliefs. Before the dismantling of apartheid in the early
1990s, the Christmas celebrations of black South Africans tended to
revolve around family gatherings, festive meals, and simple gifts.
Now black South Africans find themselves increasingly drawn into
Christmas commercialism.
South Africa also hosts a small minority of Asians, many of whom
are Hindus and Muslims and therefore do not celebrate Christmas.
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Tucker, Cathy C. Christmas Worldwide. Philadelphia, Pa.: Xlibris, 2000.
Wernecke, Herbert H. Celebrating Christmas Around the World. 1962. Re-
print. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1999.
730
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'Q^
Spain, Christmas in
1%.
Spain^ cfiristmas m
In Spain, as in many other southern European countries, Easter is a
more important hoHday than Christmas. Nevertheless, the Spanish
celebrate a joyous Christmas season, one that emphasizes food,
family, and religious observance.
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Some Spaniards consider the Christmas season to begin on Decem-
ber 8 with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This holiday
honors the purity of Mary, Jesus' mother. In the city of Seville the
festival is celebrated with the "Dance of the Sixes," which takes
place in the city's cathedral. At the close of the service held in honor
of the Immaculate Conception, elaborately costumed choirboys per-
form this dance in front of the altar, accompanied by a hymn.
Christmas Decorations
In early December Christmas markets appear in the main plazas of
many Spanish cities. These markets sell Christmas decorations, orna-
ments. Nativity scene figurines, garlands of greenery, and Christ-
mas trees.
The Spanish center their home celebrations of Christmas around the
Nativity scene, which they call a nacimiento (literally, "birth") or a
belen (which means "Bethlehem"). Nativity scenes also appear in
churches and town squares around Christmas time. Children delight
in recreating the home Nativity scene each year, often embellishing
previous arrangements with new figurines, bits of moss, and other
additions designed to add a touch of reality to the setting. In recent
years Christmas trees also have become popular in some areas.
Nevertheless, the Spanish cherish their Nativity scenes. True enthu-
siasts, called belenistas, join clubs dedicated to promoting and pre-
serving Spanish crib-making traditions.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas Foods
As Christmas draws nearer, Spanish housewives begin to stock up
on various Christmas foods. Many people look forward to munching
on roasted chestnuts during the Christmas season. Marzipan and
turron, a kind of nougat candy studded with nuts, are both favorite
Christmas sweets.
All across Spain, housewives serve a variety of fish dishes on
Christmas Eve. Many serve roast turkey for Christmas dinner on the
following day. Spanish cooks sometimes bone the turkey before
stuffing and cooking it. Turkey stuffing usually includes some kind of
pork — either bacon, ham, or sausage — as well as mushrooms, nuts,
and onions. Various kinds of wines, including sherry and champagne,
may also be served with the holiday meal. Spanish cuisine varies
from region to region, and so do traditional Christmas foods. In the
northwestern region of Galicia, for example, Christmas dinner might
feature a roast suckling pig.
Pardons
Some lucky prisoners have their offenses pardoned on Christmas
Eve. Prison officials and lawyers tour penitentiaries on December 24,
reviewing cases and releasing those prisoners whose offenses seem
excusable in some way.
Christmas Eve and Day
Spaniards spend Christmas Eve at home with their families. As the
sky darkens some families place a lighted lamp in the window. Many
also place lighted candles around the Nativity scene or around the
family's shrine to the Virgin Mary. As is typical in Spain, dinner is not
served until nine or ten o'clock. Afterwards, many people attend
Midnight Mass.
Family celebrations continue on Christmas Day. The baby Jesus fig-
urine is finally placed in the Nativity scene crib. Some families have
adopted the practice of exchanging gifts on Christmas Day. Tradi-
tionally, however, only children received Christmas gifts, brought to
them by the Three Kings on January 6, Epiphany. Singing Christ-
732
Spain, Christmas in
mas carols is another favorite Christmas Day activity. Ordinarily, the
main meal of the day is a late lunch served around two in the after-
noon. Accordingly, Spaniards serve a large Christmas dinner in the
middle of the afternoon on Christmas Day.
Holy Innocents' Day
Spaniards celebrate December 28, Holy Innocents' Day, in much
the same way Americans celebrate April Fools' Day, by playing prac-
tical jokes on one another. Children's parties and games are also
held on this day. Although Innocents' Day commemorates a bloody
event, folk customs associated with this day are fun and frivolous.
New Year's Eve
Spaniards celebrate New Year's Eve a few days later, on December
31. Many families eat pork on New Year's Eve, since the pig is con-
sidered a good-luck symbol for the coming year. As family members
wait for the clock to strike midnight, twelve grapes are distributed to
each person present. Everyone then attempts to eat one grape for
each stroke of the clock as it chimes midnight. Although eating
twelve grapes in twelve seconds may be uncomfortable, the rewards
are worth it. According to Spanish folk belief, each of the twelve
grapes will sweeten the corresponding month of the new year. After
the stroke of midnight many people go out on the town. The rest of
the evening may be spent at bars, nightclubs, or parties that last
until the wee hours of the morning.
Epiphany
The Spanish refer to Epiphany as Dia de los Tres Reyes, or "Three
Kings Day." In the weeks preceding Three Kings Day, children write
letters to the Wise Men, or Magi, letting them know about the gift
they would like to receive {see also Children's Letters). In the old
days families would gather at the edge of town hoping to offer their
children a glimpse of the Magi on their journey. Somehow, the
townsfolk never guessed correctly which road the Wise Men would
take. Upon returning to town, however, the disappointed children
often discovered that the Wise Men had arrived by another route
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
and were waiting for them at the Nativity scene in the town's central
plaza.
Nowadays, many Spanish cities hold elaborate parades on Epiphany
Eve to welcome the Three Kings as they pass through town on their
way to Bethlehem. Parents take their children to these parades so
that the little ones can see the splendidly robed Magi riding high
atop an elaborate iloat. The Kings wave kindly to the crowd and,
more importantly, toss sweets to the children.
Upon returning home from excursions such as these, children leave
their shoes in a place where the Wise Men are sure to find them,
often on a balcony, just outside the front door, or by the fireplace.
They usually leave a bit of straw for the Magi's camels as well. In the
morning they find the shoes filled with trinkets and sweets. One old
tradition recommended that parents brush their children's cheeks
with coal or ashes as they slept on Epiphany Eve. When the children
discovered the mark in the morning, the parents told them it meant
that Balthasar, the black king, had stooped down to kiss them while
they were asleep.
The Three Kings only bring presents to children. In recent years Santa
Claus has become increasingly popular in Spain, and so has the cus-
tom of adults exchanging Christmas presents with one another.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
McLenighan, Valjean. Christmas in Spain. Chicago: World Book, 1988.
Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1990.
734
Star Boys
Star Boys
Stamgossar
In parts of central Europe and Scandinavia troupes of costumed chil-
dren, known as star boys, entertain their neighbors with Christmas
carols and dramas on Epiphany. One member of the group carries a
long pole from which a bright star, representing the Star of Bethle-
hem, dangles. Children dressed as the Three Kings, or Magi, follow
the star, sometimes accompanied by a retinue of figures associated
with the Nativity and other Bible stories. In some areas a child dressed
as Judas collects the coins that onlookers offer in return for the chil-
dren's performances. In recent years some charitable organizations
have begun collecting money by sponsoring groups of star boys. In
many areas, however, neighbors have traditionally offered the group
food and drink, rather than money. In places where young adults take
part in these performances, neighbors may invite the group to sample
their Christmas cheer. In past times Swedish star boys, called stamgos-
sar, often arrived at their final destination slightly drunk.
The yearly trek of the star boys reminds onlookers of the journey of
the Magi and their final arrival at the stable in Bethlehem on Epi-
phany. Researchers speculate that this custom evolved out of medieval
Nativity plays that reenacted the story of Three Kings. This Epiphany
tradition can be found in parts of Germany, Poland, Switzerland,
Norway, and Sweden. {For a similar custom, see India, Christmas in.)
Further Reading
Cagner, Ewert, comp. Swedish Christmas. New York: Henry Holt and Com-
pany, 1959.
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas the World Over. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books,
1963.
Henricksen, Vera. Christmas in Norway. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum
Forlag, 1970.
Russ, Jennifer M. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
StarofBet()le()em
Christmas Star
In the Gospel according to Matthew (2:2-14), we learn that the
rising of an unusual star guided the Magi to Jerusalem. The Magi
interpreted this star as a sign that a great person was about to be
born. They treated the star as a beacon, following it to the place
directly above which it shone. There, in Bethlehem, they recognized
Jesus as the newborn king whose birth was foretold by the star.
Astrology in Biblical Times
The Gospel according to Luke says nothing of the Star of Bethle-
hem, yet the miraculous star plays an important role in Matthew's
account of Jesus' birth {see also Gospel Accounts of Christmas).
What could explain this difference? Perhaps it has something to do
with beliefs the ancient Hebrews held about astrology.
Many peoples of the ancient Near East, such as the Greeks, Romans,
and Mesopotamians, thought that the stars influenced human be-
havior. Furthermore, unusual stellar events were widely believed to
announce the birth of great individuals. Astrologers, therefore, culti-
vated knowledge of the stars in order to predict human events.
736
Star of Bethlehem
The ancient Hebrews seemed to be influenced by these beliefs,
although for the most part their leaders rejected astrology. The He-
brew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) reflects this ambivalence.
On the one hand, certain passages denounce astrology as foreign
and wrong. On the other hand, some passages suggest that unusual
human events could be accompanied by the movement of heavenly
bodies. One prophecy links the coming of the Messiah with the ris-
ing of a new star. It proclaims that "a star shall come forth out of
Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel" (Numbers 24-17). In
another prophecy, a rising star stands for the coming of the Messiah.
The prophecy declares that "nations shall come to your light and
kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:3).
The difference between Matthew's and Luke's accounts of Jesus'
birth may reflect this same ambivalence towards astrology. Matthew
wrote of the rising of an unusual star, implying that the birth of Jesus
fulfilled certain Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the
Messiah. Luke's exclusion of the story of the star is consistent with
the strand of Jewish belief that rejected astrology as a foreign reli-
gious doctrine.
Scientific Explanations for the Star
Did a strange star appear in the heavens at the time of Christ's
birth? The question intrigues many scholars, from Bible experts to
astronomers. A definitive answer still eludes them, however, because
the two most important pieces of information necessary to solve the
mystery are themselves unclear. First, Matthew's gospel provides
only a vague mention of the star. Second, the exact year of Jesus'
birth remains in doubt (see Jesus, Year of Birth). So researchers scan
astronomical records from the years around 1 B.C. searching for un-
usual happenings in the sky.
Matthew's description could fit any bright, irregularly occurring
celestial phenomena. For instance, he might have been referring to a
comet. Comets, however, were generally thought to herald disaster
in ancient times. So it is unlikely that the appearance of a comet
could have inspired the Magi to search for a newborn messiah. The
Magi might have been spurred into action by a conjunction, which
occurs when two or more planets appear to draw very near each
737
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
other in the sky. Finally, they might have witnessed an exploding
star, or nova.
The first European person to seek a scientific explanation of the Star
was Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), the famous German astronomer
and mathematician. He speculated that the Christmas Star might in
fact have been a conjunction. By calculating the movements of the
planets backwards in time, he determined that there had been a
conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in 6 B.C. Since that time a
variety of astronomical explanations for the Star have been pro-
posed. Until recently, most scholars agreed that the triple conjunc-
tions of 7 B.C. presented themselves as the best candidates for the
Christmas Star. Jupiter and Saturn drew near to each other on three
occasions in that year, very spectacularly on May 22, and again on
October 5 and December 1. Triple conjunctions of this sort are very
rare, and the Magi, wise men who watched the stars, would have
known that.
738
Star of Bethlehem
In recent years, another set of conjunctions has also begun to inter-
est the experts. On August 12 in the year 3 B.C., Jupiter and Venus
approached each other in the sky. The Magi might also have noted
that this unusually close conjunction took place in the constellation
of Leo. Leo, the lion, symbolized the people of Judah. This close con-
junction was surpassed less than a year later when the two stars
appeared to overlap each other in the early evening sky on June 17, 2
B.C. This extremely rare event, called an occupation, would certainly
have attracted the attention of the Magi. None of us has ever wit-
nessed an occupation, since the last one occurred in 1818 and the
next will take place in 2065. What's more, between the dates of these
two conjunctions, another set of three conjunctions occurred. The
planet Jupiter and the star Regulus passed close by one another on
September 14, 3 B.C., again on February 17, 2 B.C., and yet again on
May 8, 2 B.C. This triple conjunction may have had special signifi-
cance to the Magi as well. Both Jupiter and Regulus were associated
with kingship by ancient Babylonian astrologers.
How do researchers decide which of these known astronomical
events comes closest to fitting the description of the Christmas Star?
They attempt to reconcile the dates of these events with other events
that were supposed to have happened near the time of Christ's
birth. For example, both Gospel accounts of Christmas agree that
Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great. Most historians
believe that Herod died in 4 B.C. Therefore, Jesus must have been
born during or before 4 B.C., an assumption that rules out the possi-
bility that the conjunctions of 3-2 B.C. could have been the star ob-
served by the Magi. Yet other scholars contest the arguments offered
by these historians and claim instead that Herod probably died in 1
B.C. In that case, the conjunctions of 3-2 B.C. become the best candi-
date for the Christmas Star.
Religious Perspectives
Finally, many religious people feel that a scientific explanation for
the Star of Bethlehem is not needed. Some feel that the story of the
Star is a symbolic, rather than an historical, account, attempting to
convey spiritual truths rather than material facts. Others believe that
the Christmas Star really did rise over Bethlehem when Jesus was
739
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
born. Some people who hold this opinion think that it was a natu-
rally occurring phenomenon of some kind. Others believe that God
caused this miraculous star to appear in order to proclaim the birth
of the Savior. They do not expect anyone to find a logical, scientific
explanation for the star.
Folklore
Centuries of fascination with the Star of Bethlehem have made stars
an important Christmas symbol (see also Philippines, Christmas
in the; Poland, Christmas in). They often top our decorated Christ-
mas trees and appear in other Christmas decorations. Old Christ-
mas customs, such as the cavorting of the star boys, also make use of
this symbol. Finally, many planetariums present special programs ex-
ploring the many theories about the Star of Bethlehem around Christ-
mas time. These programs offer a new, scientific way to celebrate this
ancient Christmas symbol.
Further Reading
Aveni, Anthony. "The Star of Bethlehem." Archeology 51, 6 (November-
December 1998): 34-38.
Branley, Franklyn M. The Christmas Sky. Revised and newly illustrated edi-
tion. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1990.
Hultgren, Arland J. "Stars, Star of Bethlehem." In Paul J. Achtemeier, ed.
HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Revised edition. San Francisco, CaUf.: Har-
perSanFrancisco, 1996.
Krupp, E. C. Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon,
Stars, and Planets. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Mosley, John. The Christmas Star. Los Angeles, Calif.: Griffith Observatory,
1987.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Earth & Sky radio series contains an article by Jeff
Kanipe, "The 'Stars' of Bethlehem" Qanuary 19, 1999): http://www.earth
sky.com/Features/Articles/stars.html
740
Stir-Up Sunday
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'^
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StiV-Up Sunday
In England some people still refer to the Sunday before the begin-
ning of Advent as "Stir- Up Sunday." The name comes from the tra-
ditional collect (or prayer) offered in Anglican churches on that day.
It reads: "Stir up, we beseech Thee O Lord, the wills of thy faithful
people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of Thee be plenteously rewarded." In past times the words "stir
up," however, also reminded people to begin preparing their Christ-
mas puddings {see also Plum Pudding). Children chanted a rhymed
verse on that day that mixed the words of the collect with requests
for special Christmas fare: "Stir up, we beseech thee, the pudding in
the pot, and when we do get home tonight, we'll eat it up all hot."
Thus, the preparation of the Christmas pudding eventually became
associated with this day. Folk beliefs advised each family member to
take a turn stirring the pudding, an act that was believed to confer
good luck. Another custom encouraged stirrers to move the spoon in
clockwise rotations, close their eyes, and make a wish.
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Howard, Alexander. Endless Cavalcade. London, England: Arthur Baker,
1964.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapUnger, 1977.
741
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Stockings
The early nineteenth-century poem by Clement C. Moore, "A Visit
from St. Nicholas," describes an old Christmas custom concerning
stockings. The poem's narrator notes that his children's stockings
"were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas
soon would be there." Many American homes today present a simi-
lar scene on Christmas Eve. Children leave stockings near the fire-
place expecting that Santa Glaus will come and fill them with candy
and toys during the night.
Some writers trace the roots of this stocking custom back to an
ancient legend concerning St. Nicholas {see also St. Nicholas's Day).
The legend tells of an anonymous act of kindness performed by the
saint. Nicholas knew of a man who had three daughters of mar-
riageable age for whom he could not afford dowries. Since the girls
could not get married without dowries, their father was considering
selling them into prostitution. One evening Nicholas came by their
house and threw a small sack of gold through the window, thereby
providing a dowry for the eldest girl. He donated dowries for the
other two girls in the same manner. On the evening of the last gift,
the man raced outside, caught Nicholas in the act, and thanked him
for his generosity. In some versions of this story, Nicholas throws the
sack of gold down the chimney and it lands in one of the daughter's
stockings, which had been hung there to dry.
In medieval times people across Europe celebrated St. Nicholas's
Day on December 6. In a number of northern European countries,
folk traditions developed around the idea of St. Nicholas bringing
treats to children on St. Nicholas's Eve. Adults instructed children to
leave their shoes by the fire that evening so that the saint could pop
down the chimney and fill them up with fruit, nuts, and cookies. In
some parts of Europe families substituted stockings for shoes.
Eventually, the tradition of giving gifts to children began to gravitate
towards Christmas. In Germany children began to hang stockings
742
Stockings
by the end of their beds on Christmas Eve so that the Christ Child
{see Christkindel) could fill them with treats as she voyaged from
house to house. This stocking custom migrated to the United States,
England, France, and Italy during the nineteenth century {see also
America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century). In the twentieth
century Santa Claus overpowered both the Christ Child and the
saint, emerging as the dominant winter holiday gift giver. Some
believe that the stockings children hang up today ultimately hark
back to St. Nicholas's good deed. These days, however, Santa, not
the saint, is expected to perform this Christmas miracle.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ebon, Martin. Saint Nicholas, Life and Legends. New York: Harper and Row,
1975.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Shoemaker, Alfred L. Christmas in Pennsylvania. Kutztown, Pa.: Pennsyl-
vania Folklore Society, 1959.
743
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Store window Displays
Department stores present window displays to the public all year
round. But the scenes displayed at Christmas time are different. More
imaginative, more opulent, and tinged with fantasy or nostalgia, these
scenes add to the enjoyment of many holiday shoppers. The enticing
Christmas window display is as old as the contemporary Christmas,
having established itself as an important seasonal tradition in the late
nineteenth century.
Nineteenth-Century Beginnings
Historians trace Christmas window displays back to the 1820s. These
first few displays featured nothing more than merchandise sur-
rounded by a few flowers, some greenery, and patriotic symbols.
Still, during the 1820s and 1830s many inhabitants of New York City
spent some part of Christmas Eve making the rounds of the better
toy and candy stores, admiring the modest displays of shop wares
nestled among evergreens and lit by gaslights.
Christmas shop windows quickly evolved beyond serving as mere
functional displays of goods and became a form of commercial en-
tertainment. By the 1870s New York shop window displays had
reached such artistic heights that they were being reported in the
newspapers. In 1872 a toyshop called L. P. Tibbals tickled the public's
fancy with a large display of toy trains and other mechanical, moving
toys. Macy's became famous for its yearly display of dolls. In 1874 its
designers created a miniature croquet party populated by $10,000
worth of dolls imported from Europe (for more on Macy's, see Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade). In the same year reviewers lauded
Lord and Taylor for their fine display of Christmas trees and gar-
lands.
Each year window dressers at rival stores vied with one another to
produce the most eye-catching and talked-about Christmas displays
of the season. By the 1880s New York window dressers were treating
744
Store Window Displays
the public to a series of mechanized, moving displays. When one
store mounted a tableaux featuring scenes from Montreal's winter
carnival — complete with sledders sliding down an icy hill — Macy's
countered by creating a miniature reproduction of a scene from the
popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-52) — the one in which the
character Eliza is chased by bloodhounds. Displays such as these
tended to sacrifice the capacity of the store window to advertise
goods for sale in favor of attracting attention by means of novelty.
Nevertheless, such lavish and artistic displays offered a form of free
holiday entertainment to the public and thereby added to the store's
prestige.
Though people thought the store windows entertaining, storeown-
ers were well aware of the commercial value of these displays. In
1895, the Dry Goods Chronicle advised businesses gearing up for the
Christmas shopping season to:
Fit up your place as it was never fitted before. Dress it in
evergreens and bright colors. Make your store such an invit-
ing bower of Christmas loveliness that people cannot stay
away[Schmidt, 1995, 161].
These extravagant Christmas fantasies invited shoppers to treat the
holiday as a season of material abundance and wish fulfillment.
Shop owners hoped that this attitude would inspire purchases.
Twentieth-Century Trends
In the twentieth century store window displays continued to serve
as a form of Christmas season entertainment. In many large cities,
stores unveiled their holiday displays the day before Thanksgiving or
on Thanksgiving Day itself. These "openings" sometimes attracted
crowds. Families often made special trips downtown during the hol-
iday season to admire the Christmas windows. In many cities one
store emerged as the perennial favorite in the unofficial yearly com-
petition in Christmas window dressing. In Chicago Marshall Fields
grabbed the spotlight. In Cleveland Higbees and the May Company
split the honors. In New York City Macy's, with its 75 feet of display
windows along 34th Street, established a solid reputation for out-
standing Christmas windows. In Minneapolis Dayton's won rave
745
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
reviews, while in Philadelphia Wanamaker's wowed the public with
its yearly Christmas extravaganzas.
These last two stores hit upon the strategy of moving their displays
inside the building, so that customers would actually have to enter
and walk past merchandise for sale in order to view the decorations.
Wanamaker's offered the public religious displays, while Dayton's
specialized in the secular aspects of Christmas. The "Grand Court"
in Wanamaker's interior held what was at one time the largest pipe
organ in the world, making it easy for window dressers to turn the
court into an elegant "cathedral" at Christmas time. The store played
up this theme by hiring its own musical director, who led Christmas
carol sing-alongs for shoppers and organized Christmas concerts in
the court. In 1966 Dayton's of Minneapolis recreated an entire
"Dickens Village" in the interior of the store (for more on Charles Dick-
ens, see Christmas Carol, A). The "village" contained 34 buildings,
150 characters (automatons and humans), and 25 vignettes, all built
at three-quarters life size. The attraction took up 12,000 square feet
of floor space and cost about a quarter of a million dollars. The vil-
lage was a hit with the public. It drew 110,000 people into the store
in its first week alone, and 20,000 a day thereafter. To defray the
tremendous cost of the exhibit the store decided to use it again the
following two years.
Some have predicted that holiday shoppers' increasing reliance on
catalogs and the internet as a means of simplifying holiday shopping
will hurt brick-and-mortar merchants, leading to the eventual de-
cline of the Christmas window display. The rise of large suburban
shopping malls, with common areas available for holiday decora-
tions, may also influence how stores choose to spend their display
dollar. Nevertheless, the tradition of extravagant Christmas window
decor continues in many quarters, much to the delight of dedicated
holiday shoppers.
The View from the Other Side of the Window
The public may forget the delights of decorated store windows as
soon as January rolls around. By contrast, many professional window
dressers working for big city department stores begin planning their
next Christmas display as soon as the holiday season ends. Coming
746
Sudan, Christmas in
up with a workable new idea may take time. Concepts and budgets
generally require executive approval, and some materials may need
to be ordered well in advance, such as custom-made mechanized
mannequins and the designer clothes they wear. Though store win-
dows change year round, many designers consider their Christmas
windows to be their most important effort of the year, a chance to
show off their skills and to make a reputation for themselves in the
world of window dressing.
Further Reading
Bellman, Sheryll. Tltrough the Shopping Glass. New York: RizzoU, 2000.
Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 2000.
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holi-
days. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Sudan^ Christmas in
Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is an ethnically and religiously
diverse society. About 70 percent of its citizens are Muslim and some
claim Arab roots. They live mostly in the north. About 25 percent of
Sudanese follow tribal religions and about five percent are Chris-
tians. These people, mostly black Africans from a variety of ethnic
groups, live primarily in the south. The country has been embroiled
in a civil war since the 1980s which has left two million people either
dead or displaced from their homes. Disease, starvation, and terrible
abuses of human rights, including the use of torture and the capture
and sale of southern Sudanese as slaves, have also caused unfath-
omable misery.
In spite of all this suffering, Sudanese Christians still celebrate Christ-
mas. Their celebrations might seem unfamiliar to many Americans,
however. They never adopted the western European custom of de-
747
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
corating a Christmas tree. The American Santa Claus and other
Christmas gift bringers are unknown to them. In much of war-torn
southern Sudan, Christians simply hope to celebrate Christmas by
attending church and sharing a good meal with their family. Christ-
mas church services in Sudan include readings from the Bible as well
as many hymns written in tribal languages such as Nuer, Dinka, Shil-
luk, Naban, Zande, Baria, and Tira. Hymn singing is often accom-
panied by drumming and sometimes by dancing. One foreign aid
worker described a moving Christmas Eve service attended by many
refugees in which the sermon pointed out that Jesus came into the
world as a refugee, his parents forced to leave their homes to fulfill
the demands of a hostile government {see also Gospel According to
Luke). People who can afford it wear new clothes on Christmas Day.
Dance parties, featuring traditional tribal dress and dancing, also
take place at Christmas time.
Further Reading
Humphrey, Marj. "Herod Lives; The Story from Sudan." Commonweal 111
(December 16, 1994): 8(3).
Tucker, Cathy C. Christmas Worldwide. Philadelphia, Pa.: XUbris, 2000.
SMgarpfi
urns
In Clement C. Moore's famous poem, 'A Visit from St. Nicholas," the
children lie "nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-
plums danced through their heads." Although today's children crave
candy canes and chocolates at Christmas time, Moore's poem re-
minds us that over one hundred years ago children longed for sugar-
plums. In fact, sugarplums symbolized a child's Christmas joys to such
an extent that Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's late nineteenth-century
Christmas ballet. The Nutcracker, features a character called the "Sug-
arplum Fairy," who rules over the Kingdom of Sweets.
What exactly are sugarplums, anyway? In past centuries people might
call any kind of candied fruit a sugarplum. In addition, confectioners
748
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
used the term to refer to candied spices. Thus, dried and sugared
plums, apricots, cherries, ginger, aniseeds, and caraway seeds might
all go by the name "sugarplum." Traditional recipes suggest various
preparations for this confection. Some sugarplum recipes called for
coating dried fruit in sugar or sugary icing. Others recommend
cooking it in sugar syrup. Nineteenth-century American cooks occa-
sionally stewed greengage plums in a sugar and cornstarch syrup,
calling the resulting sweets "sugarplums."
Today's cooks might find it confusing to lump so many different
confections together under the name "sugarplum." In earlier times,
however, the word "plum" served as a generic term for any kind of
dried fruit {see also Plum Pudding). Given this definition, the term
"sugarplum" might be said to offer an accurate description of these
candies. Sugarplums, or "comfits" as confectioners sometimes called
them, not only delighted children as special Christmas treats, but
also enriched a variety of cakes and puddings during the seven-
teenth through nineteenth centuries.
Further Reading
Snyder, Pfiillip V. The Christmas Tree Book. New York: Viking Press, 1976.
Weaver, William Woys. Tlie Christmas Cook. New York: HarperPerennial,
1990.
750
Syria, Christmas in
Syria^ cfiristmas in
Christians make up just under 10 percent of the population of the
Middle Eastern nation of Syria. Most are Eastern Christians, that is.
Christians whose traditions of worship developed in the Middle East,
north Africa, and eastern Europe. Among the many denominations
represented in Syria are the Syrian, Greek, and Armenian Orthodox
churches, the Maronite Church, the Assyrian (or Nestorian) Church,
the Syrian Catholic Church, and the Melchite (or Greek Catholic)
Church. Many Eastern Christians fast for some or all of Advent, a
period of spiritual preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas
time. Eastern Christians fast by avoiding meat, dairy products, fish,
and eggs.
Christmas Eve and Day
Church bells ring out on Christmas Eve and many Syrians attend
evening religious services. They mark Christmas Day with a festive
dinner and visits to family members and friends. Visitors are offered
coffee, nuts, fruit, candy, and Middle Eastern sweets, such as baklava,
burma, and mulabas.
Gift Bringer
In Syria, the camel is the Christmas season gift bringer. Legend
elaborates that the youngest of the camels that carried the Magi to
Bethlehem to worship the infant Jesus fell down exhausted at the
end of its long journey. Jesus blessed the animal and bestowed upon
it the gift of immortal life. Ever after it has traveled the world, bring-
ing gifts to Syrian children on New Year's Eve.
New Year's Day
Syrians give presents on New Year's Day. Many people also go vis-
iting on this day. Hosts offer their guests coffee and sweets. Women
751
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
usually stay home to receive guests on New Year's Day, and go visit-
ing themselves on January 2.
Epiphany
Syrian Christians also have many customs and folk beliefs concern-
ing Epiphany. This holiday, falling twelve days after Christmas, is
interpreted differently by Eastern and Western Christians. While
Western Christians associate the day with the arrival of the Magi,
Eastern Christians observe it as a commemoration of Jesus' baptism.
According to the Bible, when Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan,
the Holy Spirit of God, in the shape of a dove, flew down to him
from heaven (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10 and 3:22, John 1:32). Inspired
by this event, Syrian folk legends declared that the gates of heaven
open each year on Epiphany eve, making it a night of mystical power
and unlooked-for miracles. Syrian Christians call Epiphany eve
Lailat al-Qadr, "the night of destiny." Muslims use the same name
for a holiday of their own, which falls during the holy month of Ram-
adan and honors another opening of the gates of heaven. For Mus-
lims Lailat al-Qadr commemorates the delivery of the Qur'an, the
Muslim holy book, to the prophet Muhammad by Gabriel, the angel
who also heralded Jesus' birth.
According to Syrian folklore, the trees bow down at midnight on
Epiphany eve in honor of Jesus Christ. What's more, God blesses the
especially devout with miracles of increase on this evening. Thus, the
truly good might wake to find that a half-empty jug of wine is now
brimming, or a pot of dough is now filled to overflowing. One old
superstition advises housewives to push a silver coin into a small
lump of dough, tuck it inside a towel and tie it to a tree on Epiphany
eve. Overnight the dough becomes leaven. Families keep the miracle
dough throughout the year.
Christians in Syria mark Epiphany day with church services. Among
Orthodox Christians Epiphany is also known as "Blessing of the
Waters Day." Some Syrians bring bottles of water to church for the
priest to bless. In addition, priests visit Christian homes at Epiphany
time, performing a house-blessing ceremony with holy water (spe-
cially blessed water). Children chase and splash each other with
water on this day, perhaps inspired by these pious customs.
752
Syria, Christmas in
Further Reading
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Sechrist, Elizabeth. Chnstmas Everywhere. 1936. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Om-
nigraphics, 1998.
Spicer, Dorothy G. The Book of Festivals. 1937. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
753
Times Square^ New Yearns 'Eve in
Many Americans spend the exact moment of midnight on New
Year's Eve watching a highly illuminated ball slide down a pole
perched atop a tall building facing New York City's Times Square.
How did this event, broadcast on television throughout the United
States and around the world, come to symbolize New Year's Eve for
so many people?
History
In 1896 a businessman named Adolph Ochs bought a nearly defunct
New York newspaper and began to restore it to health. After a number
of years, he decided to construct a new building to house this paper,
the NewYork Times. The property he purchased lay along 42nd Street,
facing Longacre Square. At eighteen stories high, the completed Times
building was among the taller buildings in turn-of-the-century Man-
hattan. The owners of other tall buildings had celebrated their open-
ings with fireworks so Ochs decided to follow suit. Ochs scheduled
755
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
his celebration for New Year's Eve 1904. The event not only marked
the opening of the building, but also the changing of the square's
name from Longacre to Times Square. In those days, many New
Yorkers gathered at Wall Street's Trinity Church to usher in the new
year. Ochs's fireworks lured people away from the church's midnight
bell ringing.
The success of Ochs's event, and the publicity it garnered for the New
York Times, enticed Ochs to repeat the stunt in the years that followed.
In 1907 the city of New York decreed rooftop fireworks a fire hazard.
So Ochs cooked up another eye-catcher to call attention to his build-
ing (and his newspaper). An iron and wood ball weighing over 600
pounds was attached to the top of a pole standing on the roof of the
building. The one hundred 25-watt light bulbs embedded in the ball
glowed dimly in the dark. At the stroke of midnight the ball was
released and slid down the pole, signaling the start of the new year.
Ochs may well have patterned this spectacle after a long forgotten
daily occurrence. In those days, Washington D.C.'s Naval Observa-
tory telegraphed the New York City Western Union building (later
the site of the World Trade Center) each day precisely at noon. A
flanged metal ball at the summit of a pole perched atop the building
was released upon the arrival of this signal. This highly visible event
helped people to set their watches accurately.
With the exception of the years 1942 and 1943, the ball-dropping cer-
emony has continued to this day. In those years, wartime blackout
restrictions prevented the illumination of the ball. Those who gath-
ered in Times Square instead observed a minute of silence followed by
the recorded sound of ringing bells. The first radio broadcast of the
Times Square festivities took place in 1929. The first television broad-
cast occurred in 1943. These broadcasts helped to turn a local New
York event into a nationwide celebration {see also "Auld Lang Syne").
The Ceremony Today
The ball still drops from the rooftop of the same building, though
the paper is no longer headquartered there and its name has been
changed from the New York Times Building to One Times Square.
The owners of this building possess the current New Year's Eve ball,
while a consortium of local business owners, known as the Times
756
Times Square, New Year's Eve in
Square Business Improvement District, and an organization called
Countdown Entertainment, produce the event itself.
Event organizers suggest that those who wish to witness the ball-
dropping ceremony in person arrive at Times Square as early as pos-
sible. The best areas from which to see the ball drop often fill up
during the afternoon hours of December 31. The police begin block-
ing off streets to vehicles at 6:00 p.m. or earlier, depending on when
the streets begin to fill up. The event has drawn about half a million
people to the Times Square area in recent years.
Today's event boasts considerably more razzle-dazzle than Ochs's
original entertainments. At 6:00 p.m. workers hoist the ball to the
top of a 77-foot pole and flip the switch that lights it up. The ball
used today, a geodesic sphere made from aluminum and plastic,
weighs 1,070 pounds and measures 6 feet in diameter. It is covered
with 504 crystal triangles that reflect and refract the light from hun-
dreds of bulbs. Four hundred thirty- two light bulbs — clear, colored,
and strobe — blaze from the interior of the sphere, while 168 halo-
gen bulbs sparkle on the exterior. Rotating mirrors affixed to the sur-
face of the ball reflect the ball's glow into the crowd. Loudspeakers
provide continual musical entertainment from 10:30 p.m. until 11:59
p.m., when the ball begins its 60-second descent.
The 2001 New Year's Eve festivities featured some special additions
made to honor the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The
New Year's Eve ball was fitted with special crystal triangles dedicated
to the memory of all those who died in the attacks. Event organizers
also created an evening bell-ringing ceremony. All over the city,
church bells rang at 6:00 p.m. in memory of the victims. Individuals
and places of worship as well as other institutions were also asked to
participate by ringing bells.
Further Reading
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NeiuYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Web Site
The Times Square Business Improvement District maintains a web page on
its New Year's Eve festivities at: http://www.timessquarebid.org/new_year/
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Timkcit
Timqat, Timket
In Ethiopia, Epiphany is a far more important holiday than Christ-
mas. Whereas Western Christians commemorate the journey of the
Magi in their Epiphany celebrations, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians
honor the occasion of Jesus' baptism. Accordingly, they call the festival
Timkat (sometimes also spelled "Timqat" or "Timket"), which means
"baptism." Since the Ethiopian Orthodox Church follows a different
calendar than that commonly adhered to in the West, Ethiopians cele-
brate Timkat on January 19 {see also Old Christmas Day). The festivi-
ties spill over to the following day, when Ethiopians observe the Feast
of St. Michael the Archangel.
Preparations
Adults prepare for Timkat by washing their cotton robes, called sham-
ma, and restoring them to a brilliant whiteness. In addition, they
brew special beers, bake bread, and slaughter a sheep in preparation
for the Timkat feast. Children receive new clothes from their parents
for this special occasion.
Religious Observances
Religious observances begin around sunset on Timkat Eve. Garbed
all in white, parishioners wait outside their local church for the
priests to emerge with the tabot, or holy ark. The ark contains the
Tablets of the Law, which Jews call the Torah and Christians know as
the first five books of the Old Testament. Ethiopians do not believe
that the original Ark of the Covenant was lost. Instead they claim
that the Cathedral of Axum in Ethiopia now guards this precious
relic. Each Ethiopian Orthodox church has a blessed replica of that
original. On Timkat Eve the priests and parishioners of each church
form a procession bearing the tabot to a nearby body of water where
an all-night celebration will take place. Processional crosses, incense
censers, drums, trumpets, and bells set the mood as the congrega-
758
Timkat
tion wends its ways towards the water. Priests in their bejewelled
ceremonial robes and sequined velvet umbrellas show up as splash-
es of color amidst the sea of worshipers in white. In Ethiopia's capi-
tal, Addis Ababa, many congregations meet at Jan Meda, the old
horse-racing arena.
Hours of drumming, dancing, eating and drinking precede the reli-
gious service, which begins at two in the morning. Around dawn the
priests bless the stream or lake by submerging a gold cross and a
consecrated candle in it. The priests scatter drops of water on those
who want to rededicate themselves to their Christian faith. Some
enthusiastic worshipers, not content with this mild gesture, immerse
themselves completely in the water. Afterwards the crowd resumes
the feasting, singing, and dancing. Later, jubilant processions, led by
dancing and singing priests, escort the tabots back to their shrines.
Recreation
Many enjoy the afternoon by watching/eres gugs. This event, held on
many feast days, resembles medieval European jousting. Participants
wear capes made out of lions' manes and headdresses made from
baboon hair. Colorful brocades, velvets, and tassels adorn their hors-
es. The game itself may have developed out of the military maneu-
vers practiced by the mounted warriors of past eras. One band of
horsemen armed with bamboo lances tries to knock the members of
the other band off their horses. The defenders must escape these
blows by clever horsemanship or deflect them with shields made of
rhinoceros or hippopotamus hides.
Well-attended public events such as these provide an opportunity to
engage in another kind of sport, that is, the search for a mate. Many
young men wander through the crowds hoping to spot an attractive,
eligible young woman. The more bold among them may then ap-
proach the girl's father with inquiries.
Further Reading
Clynes,Tom. Wild Planet! Detroit, Mich.: Visible Ink Press, 1995.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
759
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Levine, Donald N. Wax and Gold. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1965.
MacDonald, Margaret Read. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit, Mich.:
Gale Research, 1992.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the Ethiopia Tourism Commission:
http://www.visitethiopia.org/cultatt.htm
Twe[\tl) Nfg^t
Epiphany Eve, Old Christmas Eve
According to an old European form of reckoning, the Christmas
season ended on the twelfth day after Christmas. People relaxed
and celebrated during these dozen days known as the Twelve Days
of Christmas. Twelfth Night marked the last evening of the Twelve
Days of Christmas. Twelfth Night customs called for one final burst
of feasting and revelry to commemorate the close of the Christmas
season. Church custom, and some ethnic traditions, placed Twelfth
Night on the evening of January 5. In certain places, however, people
celebrated Twelfth Night on January 6.
leasts, Cakes, and Kings
In past eras the English, French, Spanish, German, and Dutch com-
memorated Twelfth Night with feasts, special cakes, and a kind of
masquerade presided over by the King of the Bean {see also Christ-
mas Cakes). This mock king may have evolved from a similar figure
popular during the Roman midwinter festival of Saturnalia. In
medieval courts, mock kings, like jesters, served to entertain the
assembled company during the Christmas season. Records from
some English households indicate that they were chosen from
among those with musical or other skills that lent themselves to
entertainment. Moreover, they took charge of organizing the holiday
760
Twelfth Night
season festivities. These mock kings acquired many other names,
including the Lord of Misrule, the Master of Merry Disports, and
the Abbot of Unreason. Records from late medieval France indicate
that one method of choosing this mock ruler was to serve out pieces
of cake into which a single bean had been baked. The one whose
piece of cake contained the bean got the job. His title. Rex Fabarum,
or King of the Bean, may have referred back to this manner of selec-
tion or to his lack of real power.
During the Renaissance this particular title and custom appear to
have gravitated towards Twelfth Night. Ordinary people began cele-
brating Twelfth Night with feasts, cakes, and bean kings. These
kings, along with their queens, directed the remainder of the feast.
The rest of those attending the feast took up the role of courtiers.
The following day, Epiphany, introduced the image of a different
kind of king. Starting in the Middle Ages, western European Epiph-
any customs began to revolve around commemorations of the ar-
rival of the Three Kings, or Magi, in Bethlehem.
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
In or around the year 1600 William Shakespeare wrote a play called
Twelfth Night, Or What You Will. Although the play does not refer to
the holiday per se, it does weave a comedy around the actions of
characters in disguise. Some literary researchers think that Shake-
speare put the words "Twelfth Night" into the play's title in order to
suggest a particularly appropriate time of year for the play's perfor-
mance. Indeed, playgoing was a popular activity during the Twelve
Days of Christmas.
Masques
During the Renaissance some of the most splendid feasts of the
Christmas season occurred at the homes of the wealthy on Twelfth
Night. In England King Henry VIII (1491-1547) appears to have
introduced the Italian custom of celebrating Twelfth Night with
masques. These elaborate costumed events featured the enactment
of some simple scenes or tableaux using song, dance, flowery
speeches, and fancy scenery. The custom might be thought of as an
elite version of the mumming practices already established among
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
the common people. The masques performed at court were short,
simple, and sometimes frivolous works designed to raise as much
laughter as possible while providing a colorful spectacle. These pro-
ductions were very popular during the Christmas season, but were
also performed at other times of year. The famous writer Ben Jonson
(1572-1637) raised the artistic level of these works somewhat when
he offered a Christmas masque — Christmas His Masque — to be per-
formed at court in the year 1616. In England the Twelfth Night
masque reached its zenith in the early seventeenth century and
afterwards began to decline.
Characters
In the late seventeenth century the English diarist Samuel Pepys
(1633-1703) described his enjoyment of a new custom whereby
Twelfth Night merrymakers drew slips of paper from a hat on which
were written the names of characters found at the bean king's court.
They were expected to impersonate this character for the rest of the
evening. In this way everyone present at the celebration, not just the
king and queen, got into the act. By the end of the eighteenth centu-
ry this innovation had almost completely replaced the earlier custom
of planting a bean and a pea inside the Twelfth Night cake. In fact, it
became so popular with ordinary folk that, by the end of the eigh-
teenth century, shops sold packets of cards with names and draw-
ings of characters printed on them. The absurd names given to these
characters served to describe their exaggerated personalities. Exam-
ples include Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, Sir Gregory Goose, and Miss Fanny
Fanciful.
In the early part of the nineteenth century, the English still celebrat-
ed Twelfth Night with parties, cakes, mock kings, and characters.
The English writer Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) described the Twelfth
Night festivities of his era in the following way:
Christmas goes out in fine style, — with Twelfth Night. It is a
finish worthy of the time. Christmas Day was the morning of
the season; New Year's Day the middle of it, or noon; Twelfth
Night is the night, brilliant with innumerable planets of
Twelfth-cakes. The whole island keeps court; nay all Chris-
tendom. All the world are kings and queens. Everybody is
762
Twelfth Night
somebody else, and learns at once to laugh at, and to tolerate,
characters different from his own, by enacting them. Cakes,
characters, forfeits, lights, theatres, merry rooms, little holi-
day-faces, and, last not least, the painted sugar on the cakes,
so bad to eat but so fine to look at, useful because it is per-
fectly useless except for a sight and a moral — all conspire to
throw a giddy splendour over the last night of the season,
and to send it to bed in pomp and colours, like a Prince
[Miles, 1990, 337-38].
Pranks
By the early nineteenth century, the Twelfth Night cake had evolved
into a large and complicated display of cake, icing, and other embell-
ishments. Bakeries displayed these models of the confectioner's art
in their windows, and people gathered outside to admire them. The
playful atmosphere of Twelfth Night may have encouraged school-
boys to carry out the following Twelfth Night prank. Unnoticed
among the throng of cake-admirers, they pinned the clothing of two
adults together or nailed a gentleman's coattails to the windowsill.
Then they stood back and enjoyed the confusion that arose when
the pinned and nailed individuals attempted to leave the bakery
window.
Decline of Twelfth Night
The importance of Twelfth Night as a holiday declined throughout
the second part of the century. Some writers blame this on the rapid
industrialization of the English economy, which in general resulted
in the increase of the number of workdays and the decrease in the
number of holidays. As Twelfth Night began to wane, so did its cus-
toms. One of them, however, the Twelfth Night cake, was kept alive
in at least one place by a curious bequest. In the late eighteenth cen-
tury an actor by the name of Robert Baddeley achieved some success
playing at London's Drury Lane Theatre. In his will he left a sum of
one hundred pounds to be invested in such a way as to provide the
actors playing at Drury Lane Theatre on January 5 with wine and a
Twelfth Night cake every year. The will also stipulates that in return
for the feast the company drink to his health.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Old Christmas Eve
Some Twelfth Night customs may have been created indirectly by the
acts of politicians. The British calendar reform of 1752 moved the cal-
endar forward eleven days in order to synchronize the country with
the continental European calendar {see Old Christmas Day). With
the stroke of a pen, the day that would have been Christmas Eve
became Epiphany Eve. This maneuver appears to have transferred
several English Christmas customs, such as the wassailing of fruit
trees and the viewing of the Glastonbury thorn to Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night in Colonial America and the
Early United States
When the British settled in colonial America, they brought their
Twelfth Night celebrations with them. In the eighteenth century
Twelfth Night parties frequently took place in regions where large
numbers of English colonists had settled, such as Virginia, Maryland,
Delaware, and Pennsylvania. They were especially popular with mem-
bers of the Church of England (later the Episcopal Church) and
among the wealthy, who celebrated Twelfth Night with formal balls.
These balls featured a bountiful buffet table, loaded with such deli-
cacies as Twelfth Night Cake (a kind of fruit cake), roasted meats,
candied fruit, cookies, fritters, and New Year's pie. This last item was
an elaborate dish prepared by placing a beef tongue into a boned
chicken, wedging the chicken into a boned duck, stuffing the duck
into a boned turkey, cramming the turkey into a boned goose and
then roasting the stuffed goose in an oven. Just as in Europe, colo-
nial and early American cooks placed a bean and a pea inside their
Twelfth Night cakes as a means of selecting a Twelfth Night king and
queen.
In colonial and early American times the Christmas season, capped
by the celebration of Twelfth Night, was associated with romance
and served as a favorite time of year for weddings {see also Twelve
Days of Christmas). Twelfth Night balls offered young, single people
the chance to meet and to interact freely, and thus, hopefully, to find
a mate. This goal was facilitated by the fact that the parties usually
featured dancing and some form of masking, as well as card and
764
Twelfth Night
dice games. Indeed, some balls were designed exclusively as affairs
for the young. One very famous colonial romance led to a marriage
scheduled for Epiphany, the day after Twelfth Night. George Wash-
ington (1732-1799) and his bride, Martha Dandridge Custis (1732-
1802), married on January 6, 1759.
Needless to say, those who did not celebrate Christmas deplored the
idea of a Twelfth Night ball {see America, Christmas in Colonial;
Puritans). One man, Mordecai Noah, who published a book on
home economics in the year 1820, had this to say about the wasteful
custom of Twelfth Night feasting:
What a sum to be destroyed in one short hour! The suhstan-
tials on this table, consisting of a few turkeys, tongues, hams,
fowls, rounds of beef and game, all cold, could have been
purchased (or fifty dollars; the residue of this immense sum
was expended for whips, creams, floating islands, pyramids
of kisses, temples of sugarplumbs, ices, blanc manges, maca-
roons and plumb cake; and ladies of delicacy, of refined
habits, of soft and amiable manners, were at midnight, cloy-
ing their stomachs, after exercise in dancing, with this trash
[Weaver, 1990, 13-14].
Last of the Twelve Days of Christmas
Some Twelfth Night customs appear to have sprung from its posi-
tion as the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Old folk cus-
toms in France and the German- speaking countries encouraged
noisemaking processions on Twelfth Night, designed to drive out
the spirits that prowled the dark evenings of the Twelve Days of
Christmas. Old German folk beliefs also suggested that Berchta, a
frightening figure associated with the Twelve Days, appeared to peo-
ple most often on Twelfth Night. In fact, the day took on her name in
some German-speaking areas, becoming Perchtennacht, or "Berchta
Night." Finally, other Twelfth Night customs arose from its status as
the evening before Epiphany. On this evening Italian children expect
La Befana to arrive bearing their Christmas season gifts. Likewise,
children in the Spanish-speaking world await the arrival of the gift-
bearing Three Kings {see also Epiphany; Mexico, Christmas in;
Philippines, Christmas in the; Spain, Christmas in).
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Further Reading
Christmas in Colonial and Early America. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition.
London, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapUnger, 1977.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Weaver, William Woys. The Christmas Cook. New York: HarperPerennial,
1990.
766
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS'Qe'*qS''^
Twelve Days of Christmas
1%.
Twelve Bays ofcf^ristmas
Christmastide, The Days of Fate, The Nights of Mystery,
Smoke Nights, The Twelve Quiet Days
The Twelve Days of Christmas fall between December 25 and January
6, that is, between Christmas and Epiphany. Church customs, as well
as some folk traditions reckon the twelve-day period as beginning on
Christmas and ending on the day before Epiphany. Other traditions
recognize the day after Christmas as the first of the Twelve Days and
Epiphany as the last. In past centuries Europeans experienced the
Twelve Days as both a festive and fearful time of year.
Establishment of the Holiday
By the fourth century most western European Christians celebrated
Epiphany on January 6. In the same century Western Church officials
declared December 25 to be the Feast of the Nativity. In establishing
these dates for the two festivals, the Church bracketed a twelve-day
period during which a number of non-Christian celebrations were
already taking place. For example, the Roman new year festival of
Kalends as well as the Mirthraic festival commemorating the Birth
of the Invincible Sun occurred during this period. What's more, the
raucous Roman holiday of Saturnalia was just drawing to a close as
this period began. Further to the north some researchers speculate
that the Teutonic peoples may have been observing a midwinter fes-
tival called Yule at about this time of year. The establishment of
Christmas and Epiphany during this cold, dark season provided fur-
ther occasions for midwinter celebrations. In 567 the Council of
Tours declared the days that fall between Christmas and Epiphany to
be a festal tide. This decision expanded Christmas into a Church
season stretching from December 25 to January 5. In English this
period is known as Christmastide.
Early Church authorities condemned the riotous festivities that cha-
racterized the pagan holidays celebrated during this period, espe-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
cially Kalends, which fell on January 1. Eventually, they declared
January 1 to be a Christian holiday, the Feast of the Circumcision.
They urged their followers to observe this and the other Christian
768
Twelve Days of Christmas
festivals that took place at this time of year with a joyful sobriety
rather than drunken gaming, masking, dancing, and revelry.
As Christianity became more firmly rooted in Europe, political lead-
ers declared the Twelve Days to be legal holidays. Near the end of
the ninth century King Alfred the Great of England (849-899) man-
dated that his subjects observe the Twelve Days of Christmas, out-
lawing all legal proceedings, work, and fighting during that time.
The Norwegian King Haakon the Good (d. c. 961) established the
Christian observance of the festival in Norway in the middle of the
tenth century.
Feasting, Resting, Revelry, and Charity
In late medieval England, manor house records indicate that the
gentry indeed exempted the peasants who worked their lands from
labor during these days. Of course the weather also cooperated, late
December presenting the farmer with little to do in the fields or
barns. Custom also dictated that the lord provide a feast for all those
working on his lands. In exchange, the workers, or villeins, were
expected to bring gifts of farm produce to the manor house.
The well-to-do enjoyed a variety of diversions during the Twelve
Days, including feasting, storytelling, hunting, playing and listening
to music, and watching and participating in dances and tourna-
ments. King Richard II of England (1367-1400) organized a Christ-
mas tournament that drew knights from all over Europe. The jousting
matches lasted nearly two weeks and were followed each evening by
feasting and dancing. The late medieval tale Sir Gazvain and the
Green Knight, set in England during the Christmas season, offers a
marvelous description of how the well-to-do entertained them-
selves during these festival days.
By the end of the Middle Ages both jousting and the manorial feast
for those who worked on large estates disappeared as ways of cele-
brating the Twelve Days. Although some landowners continued to
entertain the poor at this time of year, most preferred to feast with
family and friends. Records from the time of the Renaissance indi-
cate that the English continued to enjoy feasting, dancing, music-
making, and performances of various kinds during the Twelve Days
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
{see also Christmas Carol; Lord of Misrule; Nativity Play). Play-
going was another popular holiday diversion around the time of the
Renaissance. Lastly, the courtly masque evolved out of the mum-
ming and disguising practices already common at this time of year
during this era.
The idea that the wealthy should make some special provision for
the poor during the Twelve Days of Christmas lingered throughout
the following centuries. As late as the nineteenth century some
English farm laborers felt entitled to claim Christmas hospitality
from the local landlord. The customs associated with Boxing Day
also reflected the notion that the well-to-do should give generously
around Christmas time. This noble ideal inspired the American writer
Washington Irving (1783-1859) to write a story about an English
squire who tried to maintain old-fashioned Christmas hospitality by
keeping an open house during the Twelve Days. Irving's work influ-
enced the English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Dickens's
famous work A Christmas Carol tells the story of a rich and greedy
old man who learns compassion and charity one Christmas Eve.
Wealthy colonial Americans who celebrated Christmas observed
the Twelve Days as a period of festivity, relaxation, and romance.
Many parties took place during the twelve days. Young, single peo-
ple found these occasions ideal for light-hearted flirting or serious
scouting for a possible mate. Many weddings also took place during
this period.
Other Holidays
A variety of holidays punctuate the Twelve Days of Christmas. The
customs, stories, and festivities associated with these observances
add additional color to the celebration of the Twelve Days. These
holidays include St. Stephen's Day on December 26, which later
became Boxing Day in England, St. John's Day on December 27,
Holy Innocents' Day on December 28, New Year's Day and the
Feast of the Circumcision on January 1, and Twelfth Night on Jan-
uary 5 or 6. These celebrations, along with the festivities associated
with the Twelve Days themselves, declined as European societies be-
came increasingly industrialized.
770
Twelve Days of Christmas
Ghosts and Spirits
Much of the lore and many of the customs associated with the
Twelve Days suggest that ordinary people viewed the time as one in
which supernatural forces and spirits roamed the earth. Indeed, in
ancient times the pagan observers of the Yule festival believed that
the spirits of the dead returned to earth during these few days.
Perhaps this belief eventually gave rise to the lore surrounding the
Wild Hunt. In much of northern Europe this band of fierce spirits
was believed to ride the stormy night skies during the Twelve Days
of Christmas. In the German-speaking lands the witch-like figure of
Berchta haunted the Twelve Days. In Scandinavia the mischievous
Jultomten lurked about the house during this season. In Iceland
the prankster spirits known as the Christmas Lads annoyed house-
holders while keeping just out of sight. Greek folk beliefs suggested
that small goblins known as the kallikantzari caused many a
mishap during the Twelve Days. In parts of northern Europe folk
beliefs warned that bears, werewolves, and trolls wandered about
preying on the unwary. British folklore suggested that fairies and the
Will o'the Wisp, a magical creature who appeared as a light or flame
in the darkness, hindered those who traveled abroad on these dark
nights {see also Elves). Perhaps the English custom of telling ghost
stories at Christmas time can be traced back to the widespread
European folk belief that ghosts and spirits are especially active at
this time of year.
Folklore suggested many remedies for this situation. In Germany
and Austria people burned incense in their homes and churches
throughout the Twelve Days. They believed that the smoke drove
out evil influences and spirits. In fact, some Germans referred to the
Twelve Days as the "Smoke Nights," Rauchndchte in German, in ref-
erence to this custom. Moreover, German speakers sometimes re-
ferred to the Twelve Days as the "Nights of Mystery," perhaps in ref-
erence to the religious significance of the season as well as the
heightened activity of the spirit world during these days. Other
German folk customs associated with the Twelve Days included
making loud noises, crossing oneself, wearing frightening masks
and costumes, and burning bonfires as ways of scaring off harmful
spirits. In spite of all this noise and activity, people from the German
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
region of Bavaria called this period the "Twelve Quiet Days." This
name reflects old folk beliefs found in parts of England, Denmark,
and Germany prohibiting spinning, washing, cleaning, and baking
during this time.
While Germans and Austrians tried to scare off the Christmas season
goblins, the Scandinavians tried to appease their relatively harmless
visitors. Scandinavian folk custom advised householders that sup-
plying the Jultomten with a nightly bowl of porridge would put these
household sprites in a better mood. The Greeks, on the other hand,
approached the problem in much the same way as did the Germans.
Greek lore warned householders to keep a fire burning in the hearth
during the Twelve Days to ward off the kallikantzari {see also Greece,
Christmas in).
Fortune-Telling
In some parts of central Europe, events that transpired during the
Twelve Days were taken as omens of what would happen in the
coming twelve months. For example, the weather that occurred dur-
ing the Twelve Days foretold the year's weather patterns, according
to folk belief. In German-speaking lands the Twelve Days were
sometimes called the "Days of Fate," perhaps in reference to these
kinds of beliefs. Folklore also suggested that dreams occurring dur-
ing these days predicted coming events. In past eras girls employed
magical formulas at this time of year to discover who their future
husbands would be. One such silly exercise recommended throwing
a shoe into a pear tree twelve times in a row. If the shoe stuck in the
tree on any of these attempts, one could rest assured of marrying the
man of one's dreams.
Further Reading
Christmas in Germany. Lincolnwood, 111.: Passport Books, 1995.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
The Glory and Pageantry of Christmas. Chicago: Time-Life Books, 1963.
Hadfield, Miles, and lohn Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
772
Twelve Days of Christmas
Henisch, Bridget. Cakes and Characters: An English Christmas Tradition. Lon-
don, England: Prospect Books, 1984.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England: Ox-
ford University Press, 1994.
. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Lehane, Brendan. The Book of Christmas. Chicago: Time-Life Books, 1986.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Russ, Jennifer. German Festivals and Customs. London, England: Oswald
Wolff, 1982.
773
Up Helly Aa
In Great Britain the long Christmas season draws to a dose with
Up Helly Aa, a spectacular fire festival celebrated in Scotland's Shet-
land Islands. In the late nineteenth century Shetlanders celebrated
the festival on January 29, or "Twenty-Fourth Night" Old Style, the
twenty-fourth evening after Old Christmas Day. In recent times,
however, the festival has been scheduled for the last Tuesday in
January.
This celebration has changed significantly over the past 140 years. In
the mid-nineteenth century the young men of Lerwick blew horns
and dragged burning barrels of tar through the streets atop sledges
on various dates surrounding Christmas. After the town had admired
the din and the blaze, guizers, or mummers, emerged onto the
streets and visited the homes of their friends. Local folklore taught
that these visits brought good luck. In the 1870s the town council
banned the burning of tar barrels in response to complaints from
housewives that the burning tar spilled onto the streets and stuck to
the boots of passersby, who eventually tracked it into their homes.
The burning tar barrels also constituted a significant fire hazard. The
guizers remained, however.
In the late nineteenth century a torchlit procession replaced the
burning tar barrels. The procession climaxed with the burning of a
replica of a Norse, or Viking, galley. The ship represented the six
hundred years during which the Shetland Islands were under Norse
rule. In 1899 the chief guizer, known as Guizer Jarl, posted the first
Up Helly Aa "bill," a lengthy document poking fun at local events,
people, and institutions. In subsequent years, this custom became a
776
Urban Legends
regular feature of the festival, along with the torchlit procession, the
burning of the ship, and the visits of the guizers. These days, teams
of guizers visit social halls and restaurants instead of homes, and
present a short skit to those assembled there. Merrymaking contin-
ues until the early hours of the morning.
What could the festival's strange name, "Up Helly Aa," possibly
mean? Some researchers believe it came from "Uphaliday," an old
Scottish term for Twelfth Day or Epiphany. Uphaliday was the day
on which the holidays were up, or over. These writers reason that Up
Helly Aa means something like "up holidays all," a fitting name for
the festival that marks the end of the long Christmas season in the
Shetland Islands.
Further Reading
Edwards, Gillian. Hogmanay and Tiffany, The Names of Feasts and Fasts.
London, England: Geoffrey Bles, 1970.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
MacDonald, Margaret Read, ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1992.
Urban Legends
In addition to traditional Nativity legends, Christmas has inspired a
number of urban legends over the years. An urban legend is a story
about some mundane aspect of contemporary life that is usually be-
lieved by its teller to be true even though it is, in fact, false. While
traditional legends often concern magical or supernatural creatures
and events, urban legends generally treat everyday situations and
events familiar to both listener and teller. They often contain an im-
plied warning or commentary on some aspect of contemporary life.
Urban legends spread by word of mouth, e-mail, faxes, the media,
and the World Wide Web.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Poisonous Poinsettias
One urban legend concerning an everyday aspect of the Christmas
holiday takes the form of a dire warning about the leaves of the poin-
settia plant. It claims that they contain a deadly poison. Each year, it
declares, small tots die from sampling the enticing, bright red leaves.
Apparently, this legend took shape in 1919 when a child in Hawaii
died suddenly, and people simply assumed that the culprit was a poin-
settia leaf. This myth acquired so much power that in 1975 a petition
was submitted to the Consumer Products Safety Commission request-
ing that poinsettias be sold with a warning label. After looking into the
facts of the matter, the Commission denied the request.
According to the POISINDEX®, a reference source used at most
poison control centers, poinsettia leaves are not poisonous. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture agrees, although some researchers sus-
pect that consuming sufficient quantities of the plant's milky sap
may cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. Poinsettia leaves
taste terrible, however, making it extremely unlikely that anyone
would consume enough to get sick. The myth of the poisonous
poinsettia persists in spite of the evidence against it. A 1995 poll of
American florists showed that about 66 percent of them still be-
lieved that poinsettias were poisonous.
Crucified Santa Claus
Another urban legend concerning Christmas tells of a tasteless holi-
day store window display in Japan. According to the legend, the per-
sonnel at a Japanese department store attempted to boost Christmas
sales by setting up a cheery, crucified Santa Claus in their display
window. One version of this legend claims that this event took place
in 1945, others claim it happened in the 1990s. One variant describes
the Santa as a billboard image, another claims that the department
store in question prepared a number of doll-sized, crucified Santas.
The location at which this event supposedly took place also varies
from story to story.
The legend implies that there is something deeply wrong with the
way in which the Japanese celebrate Christmas. The crucifix is the
central symbol of the Christian religion, hence the image of the cru-
cified Santa seems to suggest that, whether out of ignorance or
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
greed, the Japanese in question have made Santa Claus into the cen-
tral figure of the Christian religion. Japan is a non-Western nation,
and Christians constitute only a small minority of the population.
Thus, the story seems to confirm the fears of those who suspect that
non-Western, non-Christian foreigners like the Japanese simply can-
not or will not grasp our cherished symbols and values. Or perhaps
the legend serves to transfer guilt about the Western obsession with
the commercial aspects of Christmas onto the Japanese. The legend
implies that it is they, not we, who have replaced Jesus with Santa
Claus in our holiday observances.
Candy Cane Symbolism
Another recent legend suggests that hundreds of years ago candy
makers encoded Christian symbols into the red-and-white design
on candy canes. The story asserts that the red stripes represent the
blood of Christ, and the white background his purity. Some versions
of the legend assert that the three thin red stripes on some candy
canes stand for the Holy Trinity. Other versions of the tale add that
the J-shape of the candy cane stands for Jesus, and that the hardness
of the candy cane stands for the idea that Jesus' church is founded
on a rock.
In fact, the history of the candy cane is uncertain. Some researchers
believe that it was invented in Europe in the seventeenth century and
that the shape was intended to resemble a shepherd's crook rather
than the letter "j." One tradition maintains that it was invented by
clerics from the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, as a treat for chil-
dren attending Christmas services held around the Nativity scene.
The suckable candies also kept the children quiet during the services.
The original candy cane was pure white. American candy manufac-
turers added the red stripes in the early twentieth century.
"Santa" Dies in Chimney
One final legend tells of a family's Christmas tragedy. A man regret-
fully informs his wife and children that he must go out of town on a
business trip for the Christmas holiday. The wife and children resign
themselves to celebrating Christmas without him. He finishes his bus-
iness earlier than expected, however, and returns home on Christmas
780
Urban Legends
Eve. He decides to surprise his children by dressing up as Santa Claus
and coming down the chimney with a sack of toys. He gets stuck in
the chimney and suffocates to death. Meanwhile, his wife and chil-
dren decide to celebrate Christmas Eve by lighting a fire in the fire-
place. The smoke refuses to be drawn up the chimney and pours into
the living room, accompanied by a funny smell. The children investi-
gate what is blocking the chimney and find the lifeless body of their
father, dressed as Santa Claus.
The impact of this tale hinges on the contrast between the whole-
some, family Christmas celebration and the macabre discovery of
the father's dead body. Like other urban legends, many variations of
this morbid tale circulate throughout the population. The exact rea-
son for the man's return, the cause of his death, and clues that lead
his family to investigate what's blocking the chimney may vary, but
the outline of the story remains the same. No verified account of any
such event exists. Nevertheless, there have been several documented
instances of burglars and would-be Santas getting stuck in chimneys
and having to be rescued by police and fire departments. The legend
of the dead, smoked Santa lives on, however.
Further Reading
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Mexican Pet: More "New" Urban Legends and Some
Old Favorites. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1986.
. "Urban Legend." In his American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. New
York: Garland Publishing, 1996.
Comfort, David. jMSt Say Noel! New York: Fireside Books, 1995.
Ellis, Bill. "Legend, Urban." In Thomas A. Green, ed. Folklore: An Encyclo-
pedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art. Volume 2. Santa Barbara,
Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1997.
Smith, Paul. "Legend, Contemporary." In Thomas A. Green, ed. Folklore: An
Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art. Volume 2. Santa
Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1997.
Turkington, Carol. The Home Health Guide to Poisons and Antidotes. New
York: Facts on File, 1994.
Web Site
A site sponsored by the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, California,
on urban legends: http://www.snopes.com (cUck on "Holidays," then
"Christmas")
781
Victorian 'England^ cfiristmas in
Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire from 1837 to 1901. Although
she played little part in it herself, she presided over the revival of
English Christmas celebrations. At the turn of the nineteenth century
many English Christmas customs had disappeared or were in decline.
By the 1840s, however, the English had begun to revive the splendor
of the Christmas season. The Victorian Christmas mixed new cus-
toms, such as the Christmas tree, with old ones, such as the singing
of Christmas carols. In this way the Victorians recreated the English
Christmas as a festival of good will, charity, and domestic harmony.
Decline
By the early 1800s Christmas had fallen out of fashion in England.
Historians find few mentions of Christmas in newspaper articles or
advertisements from the early decades of the nineteenth century.
Moreover, folklorists of the era lamented the decline of many old
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Christmas customs. Indeed, Christmas withered along with the entire
calendar of saints' days and feast days inherited from earlier times.
Changes in the British economy severely curtailed the observance of
these holidays in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
For example, in the year 1761 the Bank of England closed its doors for
47 holidays. By 1825 the number of observed holidays had declined to
40 and in 1830 it dropped to 18. By 1834 the number of holidays hon-
ored by the Bank of England had plummeted to four. Some of the hol-
idays eliminated were those that fell in or around the Twelve Days of
Christmas, including Holy Innocents' Day and Epiphany. In 1833
the Factory Act ruled that British workers had a legal right to only two
holidays besides Sunday: Christmas and Good Friday.
Revival
During the second half of the nineteenth century the English re-
claimed and transformed Christmas. What caused the turnaround in
attitude? Some historians believe that the Oxford movement, a cam-
paign for religious reform within the Church of England, generated
renewed appreciation of Christmas traditions through its promotion
of ritual, decoration, and the old holy days. In addition, images of
Prince Albert and Queen Victoria celebrating Christmas with a deco-
rated Christmas tree kindled widespread interest in this new Christ-
mas custom. Finally, some writers credit Charles Dickens's influential
portraits of Christmas charity in A Christmas Carol (1843) and Christ-
mas cheer in The Pickwick Papers (1837) with inspiring Victorian appre-
ciation of the Christmas season. Others disagree, arguing that Dickens
captured the emerging Victorian attitude towards Christmas, rather
than inspired it. Whatever his place in the chain of cause and effect,
both British and American audiences hailed A Christmas Carol, and
the tale became a cherished element of Victorian Christmas lore.
Christmas Dinner
Christmas dinner was one of the few English Christmas customs
that had never really gone out of fashion. The Victorians relished
their holiday feast, contributing two new dishes to the traditional
Christmas dinner. Plum pudding, a dessert, replaced plum porridge
as a first course. The Victorians also adopted roast turkey as a possi-
784
Victorian England, Christmas in
ble main course, in addition to the more traditional roast beef or
roast goose. The renewed emphasis on the pleasures of the table, so
ably promoted by Dickens, elevated the Christmas dinner into a
centerpiece of the Victorian festival.
Christmas Charity
Changes in the treatment of the poor at Christmas time reveal the
importance of Christmas charity in Victorian times. In 1847 a new law
allowed Christmas dinners to be served in all workhouses for the
poor. Charitable donations supplied much of the food for these din-
ners. During the Victorian era, performing acts of charity became an
important part of the observance of Christmas for many middle-class
people. Some visited workhouses on Christmas Day. Others distrib-
uted gifts of food and money, known as "boxes," among the poor of
their parish on the day after Christmas. In Victorian times people
called the twenty-sixth Boxing Day in reference to this custom. In
past eras the English had observed December 26 as St. Stephen's
Day. Parliament declared Boxing Day a public holiday in 1871.
Protestants Embrace Christmas
As the themes of charity and domestic harmony became dominant in
Victorian Christmas celebrations and the disorderly, public revelry of
past eras faded, those Protestant denominations that had once op-
posed the celebration of Christmas softened their attitudes toward it.
This opposition dated from the time of the Reformation and found its
strongest advocates in the Puritans. In late nineteenth-century Amer-
ica a similar process of reincorporation was underway as many Protes-
tant churches in the United States also accepted Christmas back into
the fold of legitimate observances {see also America, Christmas in
Nineteenth-Century).
Christmas Trees and Gifts
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the English gave Christ-
mas gifts, or boxes, to servants, the poor, and those who provided
them with services during the year. Those who gave holiday season
gifts to family and friends did so on New Year's Day. In the early
part of the nineteenth century, however. New Year's gift giving ap-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
peared to be dying out. Two English folklorists writing in the 1830s
remarked upon the ominous decline of the practice. In the Victorian
era the English revived winter season gift giving, transferring the
custom from New Year's Day to Christmas. The Christmas tree played
an important role in this transfer and revival.
Historians credit German-born Prince Albert for importing this Ger-
man custom to Great Britain {see also Germany, Christmas in). A
well-known 1840s illustration depicting Queen Victoria, Prince Al-
bert, and their children gathered around the Christmas tree motivat-
ed middle-class families to adopt this custom. (Fashionable Victori-
ans often sought to imitate royal tastes.) Like the Germans, English
families covered their Christmas trees with good things to eat and
small gifts. Hence, the tree focused everyone's attention on giving and
receiving. In addition, because it stood at the center of the household,
the tree drew the exchange of Christmas gifts into the family circle.
By the end of the century, Victorians customarily gave Christmas
gifts to friends and family. New Year's gifts had become the excep-
tion rather than the rule. Queen Victoria remained loyal to the old
custom, though, still sending New Year's, rather than Christmas,
gifts as late as 1900.
While the Christmas tree grew in popularity among middle-class
Victorians, many working-class families adopted the more afford-
able and convenient Christmas stocking. This custom, too, encour-
aged the exchange of small gifts within the family.
By the 1880s Santa Claus had arrived in England. Unlike the English
Father Christmas, Santa Claus brought gifts to children at Christmas
time. By the end of the century the popularity of this American gift
bringer prompted retailers to begin using his image to boost Christ-
mas sales.
Christmas Carols
In the early years of the nineteenth century several English folklorists
predicted the approaching demise of the Christmas carol. Observers
of English folk customs mourned that only a scattered handful of old
people knew and sang the traditional songs. This timely handwring-
ing may have inspired several important collections of Christmas car-
ols, which were published in the early part of the century. With their
786
Victorian England, Christmas in
renewed interest in Christmas and its traditions, middle-class Victori-
ans welcomed these traditional songs back into their Christmas festiv-
ities. By the 1870s churches began to incorporate these almost-forgot-
ten Christmas songs into their holiday services. In 1880 an Anglican
bishop, Edward W. Benson, later archbishop of Canterbury, first de-
vised the Ceremony of Lessons and Carols, a special Christmas ser-
vice blending Bible readings with carol singing.
Christmas Greetings and Entertainments
By the 1860s Victorians had come to cherish seasonal greeting cards
{see also Christmas Card; Robin). Many of these cards wished the
recipient "Happy New Year" rather than "Merry Christmas," but by
the 1870s the increasing importance of Christmas led card makers to
include Christmas greetings as well. Victorian Christmas card de-
signers created colorful and elaborate cards, often enhanced with silk,
cords, and tassels. The ingenious cards so enchanted the public that
newspapers reviewed new designs and people carefully collected
and displayed the cards they received.
At about mid- century Christmas crackers emerged as another Vic-
torian Christmas novelty. These cardboard tubes, wrapped in deco-
rative papers, contained a variety of tiny trinkets. When pulled on
both ends, the party favors burst with a loud popping sound.
Other Christmas entertainments included parlor games. In the game
called "Snapdragon," the hostess filled a bowl with currants (a rai-
sin-like dried fruit), poured spirits on top of them, and set a lighted
match to the mixture. Players dared one another to grab a currant
out of the flaming bowl. When the family tired of Snapdragon they
might move on to other parlor games, such as Blind Man's Bluff or
charades, or they might entertain one another with recitations,
magic tricks, or Christmas carols.
The kissing bough offered a different kind of entertainment to the
lovelorn or to the adventurous who lingered nearby. According to
custom, one could steal a kiss from anyone who passed beneath its
branches of mistletoe. Victorian tastes in Christmas decorations
called for plenty of greenery, in addition to the kissing bough, usu-
ally displayed in the form of ropes, wreaths, and sprays.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Victorians continued their Christmas iiin on Boxing Day. On this day
many families crowded into theaters to view a pantomime, a circus-
like presentation of a folk or fairy tale.
Customs in Decline
Although many of the more boisterous English Christmas customs,
such as mumming, had already deteriorated by Victorian times, a
few more withered away under the spell of the new Victorian Christ-
mas. Twelfth Night, which had been celebrated in the past with
sumptuous cakes, costumed balls, and charades, faded throughout
the Victorian period as Christmas Day grew in importance. In addi-
tion, the waits, bands of nighttime musicians who serenaded house-
holders at Christmas time in exchange for food, drink, or tips, also
fell out of favor during this era. Nevertheless, by the end of the nine-
teenth century, the Victorians celebrated Christmas more vigorously
than their ancestors had at the beginning of the century.
Further Reading
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Miall, Antony, and Peter Miall. The Victorian Christmas Book. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1978.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Web Site
A site sponsored byVictoriana.com contains pages that offer images and text
descriptions ofVictorian Christmas celebrations: http://www.victoriana.com/
christmas/default.htm
%«
788
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS'Qe'*qS'Q^
Virginia O'Hanlon
ViVginfa O^Hanlon
In 1897 an eight-year-old girl named Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a let-
ter to a newspaper called the NewYork Sun. The letter asked the news-
paper editor to tell her whether or not Santa Claus was real. Vir-
ginia's letter, and the newspaper's response, have become beloved
bits of American Christmas lore. The often-quoted phrase, "Yes,
Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," comes from the paper's editorial
response, written by reporter Francis P. Church and published on
September 21, 1897.
Virginia's Letter and the Sun's Response
Dear Editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
Claus. Papa says "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the
truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O' Hanlon
115 West 95th Street
New York City
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the
skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see.
They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their
little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's
are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant,
in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as
measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth
and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love, and
generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and
give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be
the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if
there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith, then, no
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have
no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which
childhood iills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Clausl You might as well not believe in fairies!
You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see
Santa Claus coming down what would that prove? Nobody sees
Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither
children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the
lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there.
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen
and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest
man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever
lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can
push aside that curtain and view — and picture the supernal beauty
and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is
nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives, and he lives forever! A thou-
sand years from now, Virginia, nay ten times ten thousand years
from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Who Was Francis P. Church?
Francis Church, the child of a Baptist minister, was born in 1839. He
graduated from Columbia College in 1859 and went on to cover the
Civil War as a reporter for the NezvYork Times. Some time after that he
joined the staff of the NewYork Sun, where he covered religious mat-
ters.
When Virginia's letter arrived at the offices of the Sun in 1897, the edi-
torial page chief assigned Church the chore of writing a response.
Church, known for his bitter, sarcastic wit, was none too pleased with
the assignment, but resigned himself to crafting a suitable reply. His
response surpassed everyone's expectations. It was so popular that the
Sun reprinted it every year at Christmas time, until the paper went out
of business about fifty years later. Church died in 1906.
790
Virginia O'Hanlon
Whatever Happened to Virginia?
Virginia's early thirst for knowledge continued as she matured into
adulthood. She graduated from New York's Hunter College in 1910
with a B.A., and went on to acquire an M.A. at Columbia University.
She completed her studies with a Ph.D. from Fordham University.
Dr. O'Hanlon served as an educator in New York City's public school
system, ending her career as principal of P.S. 401 in Brooklyn. She
retired in 1959 and died in 1971.
Further Reading
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas in the Good Old Days. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1994.
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
Snyder, Phillip V. December 25. NewYork: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1985.
791
Warts
Two hundred years ago groups of instrumentalists and singers known
as "the waits" roamed the nighttime streets of towns and villages
across Britain during the Christmas season. They stopped in front of
houses and performed folk songs, popular tunes, or Christmas carols.
During the two weeks before Christmas the waits sometimes played
well into the night, often awakening people asleep in their beds. In
return for these seasonal serenades householders were expected to
offer the musicians food, drink, or money. In some towns the waits col-
lected these tips by returning at a more reasonable hour in the days
that followed. Boxing Day being a logical choice. In Scotland the waits
performed around New Year's Day rather than Christmas.
History
In medieval England the king required certain of his minstrels to
wander through the city streets at night guarding the citizenry and
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
calling out the hour. Collectively known as "the watch/' these court
pages gradually evolved into uniformed town employees known as
"the waits." Several theories have been advanced as to the origin of
the term "waits." Perhaps the most popular one claims that "the
waits" simply developed from the phrase "the watch." Others sup-
pose that the term "waits" came from zvayghtes, an old English word
for the oboe, one of the instruments played by these musical watch-
men. Another writer suggests that the term derived from the old
Scottish word loaith, which means "to wander" or "to roam."
In the early 1500s the citizens of London recognized the waits by
their blue tunics, red sleeves, red hats, and silver collars and chains.
Their official duties included playing for the mayor and town offi-
cials at feasts and parades, as well as watching over London's dark-
ened streets. Several accounts dating from around the turn of the
eighteenth century report that local youth routinely badgered these
town musicians into helping them court their sweethearts with
nighttime serenades. Eventually, the night patrols performed by
these watchmen were taken over by a regular police force. The waits
survived for a time, however, as bands of nighttime singers and
instrumentalists.
Perhaps influenced by other Christmas customs, such as wassailing
and caroling, the waits eventually adopted the practice of perform-
ing songs around Christmas time in exchange for food, drink, or tips
{see also Wassail; Wassailing the Fruit Trees). Some towns and
cities issued licenses to the waits for this purpose. The Christmas
time activities of the waits peaked in the eighteenth and early nine-
teenth centuries. To the dismay of the established members of the
waits, however, impromptu groups, often of dubious musical accom-
plishment, also began to carol at Christmas time in hopes of cashing
in on the customary tip. In the town of Westminister the leader of
the officially recognized town waits complained to the city magis-
trate about the unofficial competition in 1820. Perhaps the dissonant
musical offerings made by these amateurs helped to turn public atti-
tudes against the waits. By the late nineteenth century public ap-
proval of this and many other seasonal begging practices declined.
No longer wanted, either as watchmen or as musicians, the institu-
tion of the waits finally disappeared.
794
Wales, Christmas in
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "December 24 — The Waits." In his The Book of Days.
Volume 2. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Duncan, Edmondstoune. The Story of the Carol. 1911. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Palmer, Geoffrey, and Noel Lloyd. A Year of Festivals. London, England:
Frederick Warne, 1972.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Wales^ cfiristmas in
Wales has been called "the land of song." Indeed, its Christmas tra-
ditions reflect a deep love of singing. Many Americans are familiar
with at least one Welsh Christmas song; musicologists believe the
familiar Christmas carol,"Deck the Halls," to be of Welsh origin.
Music
Communities across Wales sponsor music and poetry festivals called
Eisteddfods in honor of the holiday. These festivals include competi-
tions for the best carols and poems written in Welsh, thus helping to
create a large body of Welsh Christmas music and verse. The Royal
National Eisteddfod, held each year in August, is the largest of this
kind of festival. The Eisteddfod is an ancient Welsh tradition; histori-
cal records trace it as far back as the twelfth century.
The Plygain, or carol service, is another old Welsh Christmas tradi-
tion involving singing. These church services used to be held around
three a.m. on Christmas morning. This tradition survives in a modi-
fied form in a few locales. The observances now consist entirely of
carol singing and have been shifted to hours considered more rea-
sonable by the participants.
Another old custom taught children to go caroling with calenigs. A
calenig is a piece of fruit (usually an apple) studded with spices, gar-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
nished with sprigs of greenery, and set on stick legs. Sometimes vil-
lagers also stuck a candle into the center of the apple (for a similar cus-
tom, see Christingle). Children carried these good-luck charms with
them while caroling and gave them away at households where they
received a warm welcome. Some writers believe that the word "cale-
nig" comes from the Latin word for "new year," Kalends. Indeed,
sprigs of greenery, such as those which adorn the calenig, were typical
new year's gifts among the Romans.
Mari Lwyd
The yearly visit of the Mari Lwyd called for verbal, rather than musi-
cal, skill. The Mari Lwyd is a kind of hobbyhorse made from a horse's
skull covered over with a sheet and ornamented with bits of glass and
ribbons. The horse's head is devised in such a way that someone hid-
ing underneath the sheet can snap the horse's jaws open and shut.
Around Christmas time the Mari Lwyd appears in the company of a
band of local men. This band visits each house in town, knocking on
the door and engaging in an informal contest of improvisational verse
with the occupants. The contest is over when one or the other party
cannot think of anything more to say. Usually the householders con-
cede defeat, after which they are expected to let the Mari Lwyd party
enter their home. Tradition dictates that the householders reward the
Mari Lywd band with something to drink and perhaps some coins. A
similar custom, known as hodening, also takes place in a number of
locations in England. These hodening customs occur at several differ-
ent times of the year, including Christmas.
Wren Hunt
In past centuries boys frequently participated in the wren hunt on
St. Stephen's Day, December 26. This custom appears to have died
out in the twentieth century, however.
Further Reading
Hubert, Maria, comp. Christmas Around the World. Stroud, Gloucestershire,
England: Sutton, 1998.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Patterson, Lillie. Christmas in Britain and Scandinavia. Champaign, III: Gar-
rard Publishing Company, 1970.
796
Wassail
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Wassail
The word "wassail" may sound unfamiliar to many Americans in
spite of its long association with the Christmas season in Great
Britain {see also England, Christmas in). There, the word has been
used over the centuries to refer to a toast, a caroling custom, and a
beverage {see also Christmas Carol).
The Toast
The English word "wassail" comes from the Middle English phrase
wes heil, which means "be whole" or "be healthy." The contemporary
English word "hale," meaning sound, healthy or vigorous, evolved
from the second word in this phrase. Medieval Britons toasted each
other with the cry, "Wes heil!" The proper response was "Drinc heill"
meaning "drink wholeness" or "drink health." The phrase first ap-
pears in this context in a twelfth-century document.
A fourteenth-century document reveals that in that era the toast "wes
heil" accompanied the passing of a communal cup. Each person in the
gathering received the cup along with a kiss, responded, "Drinc heil,"
sipped from the vessel, toasted the next person, and passed the cup to
them. A document dating from the thirteenth century mentions a spe-
cial wassail bowl designed for communal dunking of bread and cakes.
By the end of the fourteenth century many wealthy English families
possessed heirloom wassail bowls. Much ceremony could accompany
the use of these bowls. When King Henry VII (1457-1509) called for
his wassail bowl on Twelfth Night, the following protocol was ob-
served. The chapel choir came into the hall and stood to one side.
Next, the steward entered the hall with the royal bowl and cried,
"Wassail" three times. Then the choir burst into song.
The Caroling Custom
Historical evidence suggests that sometime in the sixteenth century
common folk began carrying wassail bowls from house to house
during the Christmas season. They garnished the bowl with decora-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
tions such as ribbons, holly, mistletoe or other greenery, and col-
ored paper. Crying, "Wassail, wassail," they brought the decorated
bowl full of spiced ale to their well-off neighbors, hoping to ex-
change a cup of Christmas ale for a gift of food or a tip. Hence, the
groups were called "wassailers," and the custom itself, "wassailing."
In another variant of this custom the wassailers carried an empty
bowl to their neighbors, bidding the householders fill it up for them.
Some researchers believe that women upheld this tradition more
frequently than men.
Often these wassailers sang carols as they stood in front of their
neighbors' homes. A number of wassailing carols have survived to
present times. The following verses of an old wassailing song show
that these carolers maintained the practice of toasting another's
health with the beverage donated to them:
Wassail, wassail all over the town
Our bread it is white, and our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made of the maple tree
So here, my good fellow, I'll drink to thee.
The wassailing bowl, a toast within
Come, fill it up unto the brim
Come fill it up that we may all see
With the wassailing bowl I'll drink to thee.
Come, butler, come bring us a bowl of your best
And we hope your soul in heaven shall rest
But if you do bring us a bowl of your small
Then down shall go butler and bowl and all
[Duncan, 1992, 107].
The following verses of another carol, usually sung by children,
show that wassailers did not necessarily limit their requests to drink:
Here we come a wassailing
Among the leaves so green.
Here we come a wandering
So fair to be seen.
Chorus: Love and joy come to you.
And to you your wassail too.
798
Wassail
And God bless you and send you a happy New Year,
And God send you a happy New Year.
We are not daily beggars.
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbor's children
Whom you have seen before.
Call up the butler of this house.
Put on his golden ring.
Let him bring us up a glass of beer
And the better we shall sing.
We have got a little purse
Made of stretching leather skin.
We want a little of your money
To line it well within.
Bring us out a table.
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a moldy cheese
And some of your Christmas loaf.
God bless the master of this house.
Likewise the mistress too.
And all the little children
That round the table go [Chambers, 1990, 1: 28].
In rural zones some wassailers sallied forth at night to salute their
fruit trees with song and drink {see Wassailing the Fruit Trees). In a
few areas these agricultural wassailers bestowed this ritualized bless-
ing on farm animals, such as oxen.
Wassailing took place throughout the Christmas season, the most
important dates being those surrounding Christmas, New Year's,
and Twelfth Night. The practice began to die out in the late nine-
teenth century, along with other seasonal begging customs.
The Beverage
In spite of the decline of public wassailing practices in Victorian
times, the British continued to drink from the domestic wassail bowl
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
{see also Victorian England, Christmas in). They referred to the bev-
erage it contained as "wassail." This drink consisted of sweetened
wine or ale spiced with some combination of cinnamon, cloves, gin-
ger, mace, allspice, or coriander. The beverage might also contain
chopped apples, beaten eggs, milk, or cream, in which case it was
sometimes referred to as lamb's wool.
Further Reading
Chambers, Robert. "January 1 — New- Year's Day Festivities." In his The Book
0/ Days. Volume 1. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Duncan, Edmondstoune. The Story of the Carol. 1911. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Palmer, K., and R. W. Patten. "Some Notes on Wassailing and Ashen Fagots
in South and West Somerset." Folklore 82 (winter 1971): 281-91.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
800
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Wassailing the Fruit Trees
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Wassaf fmgtl^e Fmft Trees
In past centuries people in some parts of England bestowed a tradi-
tional, ritualized blessing on their fruit trees during the Christmas
season. They sang and drank to the trees' health, hence the custom
was known as "wassailing the fruit trees" or, more specifically, as
"wassailing the apple trees" {see also Wassail). This practice took
place on a variety of dates within the Christmas season, including
Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Old Twelfth Night Qanuary
17). Most people who participated in this tradition, however, hon-
ored their trees on the evening of January 5. This day was known as
Twelfth Night, Epiphany Eve, or Old Christmas Eve {see also Old
Christmas Day).
Although each locale developed its own variations, the main fea-
tures of the custom remained the same. Family members, farm
workers, or neighbors gathered together in the evening and pre-
pared a bowl of wassail punch. Then they carried the wassail outside
to the fruit trees or orchard, filled each other's cups, drank, and sang
to the trees. These wassailing songs encouraged the trees to produce
bountifully in the coming year, as illustrated in the following verse in
a song from Devon and Cornwall:
Here's to thee, old apple tree.
Whence to bud and whence to blow.
And whence to bear us apples enow:
Barn-fulls, bag-fulls, sack-fulls.
Lap-fulls, hat-fulls, cap-fulls:
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! [Crippen, 1990, 190].
Another song from Kent conveys similar sentiments:
Stand fast, root, bear well, top;
God send us a yowling crop.
Every twig, apple big;
Every bow, apples enow;
Hats full, caps full, bushel bushel sacks full.
And my pockets full too! Hooray! [Crippen, 1990, 191].
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Shouts, horn blasts, and even shots aimed between the tree branch-
es might accompany the singing. Some folklorists interpret the noise
as additional encouragement to the trees to blossom and fruit as the
days lengthened. In some areas the singers poured the remains of
the wassail onto the roots of the fruit trees. They sometimes left a bit
of cake and some salt in the crook of the tree as a gift for robins or
other birds. In some areas groups of local men trooped from home-
stead to homestead blessing the trees in this fashion. Householders
usually thanked them with food, ale, or money.
Some folklorists believe that the wassailing of fruit trees may have
originated in pagan times. The earliest documented account of the
custom, however, dates back only as far as the sixteenth century. In
the seventeenth century the English poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
wrote the following lines about the custom as it was practiced in
Devon:
Wassail the trees, that they may bear
You many a plum and many a pear:
For more or less of fruit they bring
As you do give them wassailing [Crippen, 1990, 189].
The wassailing of apple and other fruit trees at Christmas time
began to die out in the nineteenth century. By the beginning of the
next century it had disappeared, though the twentieth century wit-
nessed a few revivals of the custom. Herrick's advice notwithstand-
ing, the practice resurfaced in these places less as an aid to agricul-
tural prospects and more as an occasion for festivity and an attrac-
tion for sightseers.
Further Reading
Crippen, Thomas G. Christmas and Christmas Lore. 1923. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Palmer, Geoffrey, and Noel Lloyd. A Year of Festivals. London, England:
Frederick Warne, 1972.
Palmer, K., and R. W. Patten. "Some Notes on Wassailing and Ashen Fagots
in South and West Somerset." Folklore 82 (winter 1971): 281-91.
802
Watch Night
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New Year's Eve Service
Some Americans refer to New Year's Eve as Watch Night. The name
comes from the tradition of attending lengthy church vigils, called
Watch Night services, on this evening. Watch Night services begin
late in the evening on December 31 and continue through midnight.
They usually feature singing, prayers and sermons. Attendees are
encouraged to review their behavior in the year that has just passed,
to renew their commitment to God in the year to come, and to pray
for themselves, their families, and the world {see also Resolutions).
New Year's Eve Watch Night services got their start in the Methodist
and Moravian churches. Today they are most often found in evangel-
ical Protestant churches, especially those whose congregations are
composed primarily of African Americans.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Vigils
Vigils — church services held on the evening before an important feast
day — can be traced back to early Christian times. The Watch Night
service adapts this church custom to New Year's Eve, a secular holiday.
The word "vigil" comes from the Latin term vigilia, which means "to
watch." When English Methodists began holding late-night services
in the eighteenth century, they called them Watch Night services.
Making New Year's Eve a Religious Holiday
In the sixteenth century a religious reform movement known as the
Reformation gave birth to Protestant Christianity. A group of early
Protestant Christians known as the Puritans found fault with many
holiday celebrations, including those that took place on New Year's
Eve. In particular they objected to the heavy drinking, masking {see
also Masque; Mumming), gaming, gambling, dancing, and public
carousing that characterized the celebration of the holiday. They found
these customs coarse and viewed them as contrary to the behavior
that they believed should characterize a Christian society.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries evangelical Protestant
leaders, such as those belonging to the newly formed Methodist de-
nomination, took up the campaign to reform New Year's Eve celebra-
tions. They tried to give the holiday a religious significance by urging
their followers to use the occasion to examine their spiritual lives and
to resolve to do better in the coming year. Watch Night services pro-
vided worshipers an opportunity to meditate and pray on these issues.
The late-night services could easily be linked to biblical teachings by
referring to passages from Christian scripture that admonish the faith-
ful to be awake and alert for the hour of Christ's coming (for example,
Matthew 25:1-13). Watch Night services became popular among
American evangelical Christians in the nineteenth century.
Methodist Watch Night Services
John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of the Methodist Church, first
observed Watch Night services among Moravian Christians. These
services inspired him to approve of similar observances for Metho-
dists (for more on Moravian Christmas customs, see Bethlehem, Penn-
804
Watch Night
sylvania, Christmas in; Christingle; Lovefeast; Putz). He first met
Moravians on his sea voyage to the American colonies, where he
served from 1735 to 1737 as an AngHcan priest in Georgia. He con-
tinued to have contact with Moravians upon his return to England,
where he broke away from the Church of England to form the Meth-
odist Church.
The first Watch Night services convened by British Methodists were
held monthly on the night of the full moon and were often attended
by those who sought an alternative to carousing at the local pub. The
service emphasized renewal of one's commitment to Christ. The light
of the moon permitted worshipers to walk home safely after mid-
night when the service had concluded. Later the Methodist Church
added New Year's Eve Watch Night services, also presented as an
alternative to the boisterous and alcohol-laden celebrations taking
place on the streets and in the taverns.
English Methodists brought the Watch Night service with them to the
American colonies. The first Watch Night services to be convened by
American Methodists took place at Philadelphia's St. George's Meth-
odist Church and at New York City's Wesley Chapel in November of
1770.
In the nineteenth century monthly Watch Night services declined in
popularity while New Year's Eve Watch Night services found favor in
both British and American Methodist churches. During the twenti-
eth century, however, the New Year's Eve Watch Night service began
to fall out of favor in Methodist congregations composed primarily
of European Americans. In recent years, a secular attempt to reform
New Year's Eve has produced a new alternative to traditional New
Year's Eve celebrations: the First Night festival.
African Americans
Among African Americans the Watch Night service has spread be-
yond Methodist congregations and into other Protestant churches.
In some black churches Watch Night services take on a somber tone,
as people consider the passing of time and their own mortality. In-
spiring sermons, along with plenty of opportunities to sing and pray,
round out the experience.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
African-American slaves who attended Watch Night services on
December 31, 1862, may have felt their prayers were answered the
following day {see also Slaves' Christmas). On January 1, 1863, Presi-
dent Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, free-
ing over three million slaves. Some African-American communities
still celebrate January 1 as Emancipation Day.
Moravians
A few Moravian congregations also continue to hold Watch Night
services. According to Moravian tradition, the pastor should begin a
sermon as midnight approaches. As the clock strikes midnight a
trombone choir or other kind of band cuts the sermon off in mid-
stream. The pastor abandons his or her unfinished speech and joins
the congregation in singing the hymn, "Now Thank We All Our
God." The interruption symbolizes the teaching that Christ could
return at any minute and reminds everyone of the need for constant
spiritual readiness. In another form of this tradition the congregation
stands up and leaves the church at midnight, in the middle of the
pastor's sermon. In past times Moravian Watch Night services also
included a review of the year's most important events, but this cus-
tom has been abandoned.
Further Reading
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. Toronto, Ontario, Cana-
da: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.
Hogan-Albach, Susan. "Watch Night: It's an Age-Old New Year's Eve Tra-
dition That's about Much More than Watching the Clock and Making
Resolutions." MinneflpoJis Star Tribune (December 27, 1997): 05B.
Sawyer, Edwin A. All About the Moravians. Bethlehem, Pa.: The Moravian
Church in America, 2000.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holi-
days. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Web Site
"Meet the New Millennium Through Watch-Night Service," an article by
the Rev. Diedra Kriewald, published by the United Methodist News Service
and available online at: http://umns.umc.org/99/nov/608.htm
806
Weihnachtsmann
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Weif}nacf}tsmann
In Germany Christmas begins on Christmas Eve, which is called
Weihnacht, or "watch night." A mythological figure known as the
Weihnachtsmann, or the "Christmas man," ushers in the Christmas
season there. The Weihnachtsmann resembles the English Father
Christmas more than he does Santa Claus. Like Father Christmas,
the Weihnachtsmann personifies the Christmas season.
Unlike his English counterpart, however, the Weihnachtsmann often
appears as both old and tired. He is commonly depicted as a bearded
old man trudging through snow-covered streets, shoulders drooping.
Often he carries a small Christmas tree over his shoulder. Perhaps
the image of the exhausted, elderly gift bringer is meant to represent
the age of the year, which at Christmas time has nearly expired. The
Weihnachtsmann is only one of several folk figures known to visit
German-speaking lands in December. Others include Berchta, Christ-
kindel, Knecht Ruprecht, and St. Nicholas.
Further Reading
Lehane, Brendan. A Book of Christmas. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books,
1986.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Wenceslas^ King
St. Wenceslaus, Vaceslav, Vaclav
The familiar Christmas carol, "Good King Wenceslas," tells of a vir-
tuous deed performed by the noble King Wenceslas on the day after
Christmas, St. Stephen's Day. Is King Wenceslas an historical or a
legendary character? If historical, did he ever perform a deed similar
to that described in the carol?
According to the carol. King Wenceslas spied a poor man scavenging
wood outside his castle on St. Stephen's Day. Moved by the needy
man's plight. King Wenceslas found out where he lived, and set forth
with his page to bring the man food, drink, and fuel. The wind and
cold nearly overcame the king's page but, with Wenceslas's encour-
agement, the page stumbled forward, treading in his master's foot-
prints. Heat rose from the tracks of the saintly king, a sign of heav-
en's approval of his act of charity.
The story told in the song combines historical fact with pious specu-
lation. The song's lyrics describe a tenth-century Bohemian duke
who later became a saint. Known as St. Vaceslav or St. Vaclav in
Czechoslovakia, his name is usually rendered as "Wenceslas" or
"Wenceslaus" in English. He was born to a Christian father, Wrati-
slaw, and a pagan mother, Drahomira, around the year 903. His
grandmother, St. Ludmilla, educated him in the Christian faith.
When his father died his mother became the duchess of Bohemia.
Drahomira resented the influence of Ludmilla over the young Wen-
ceslas, and so arranged to have the older woman murdered. Hor-
rified by this act and by her unscrupulous political dealings, Wen-
ceslas eventually wrested power away from his mother and assumed
the title of duke. Drahomira had hindered the spread of Christianity,
but Wenceslas supported the new religion. Furthermore, Duke
Wenceslas acquired a reputation for personal piety and charity to the
poor. Drahomira still opposed him, however, and soon convinced
Wenceslas's brother Boleslaw to murder the young Duke and take
808
Wenceslas, King
his place on the throne. Wenceslas died at the hands of his brother
on September 28 in the year 935. Although he may have been
deprived of earthly power at a young age, Wenceslas was elevated to
sainthood after his death. He became the patron saint of Bohemia
by the eleventh century. His feast day is September 28.
In the nineteenth century an Englishman named John Mason Neele
(1818-1866) wrote the lyrics to "Good King Wenceslas." He based
the story on legends concerning the saint's good deeds as duke of
Bohemia. He paired these lyrics with a thirteenth-century tune he
found in an obscure book of early songs. Although the sturdy
melody may now automatically evoke images of the noble king
trudging through the snow, the tune had earlier been used as a
spring carol titled "Spring Has Now Unwrapped the Flowers."
Neele's winning combination of words and music spread the legend
of Wenceslas to listeners who otherwise would never have known of
the saint.
Further Reading
Mersfiman, Francis. "St. Wenceslaus." In Charles B. Hervermann, ed. Catho-
lic Encyclopedia. Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson, 1913. Available online at
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15587b.htm
Papin, ]. "St. Wenceslaus." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume 14. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Studwell, William E. The Christmas Carol Reader. Binghamton, N.Y.: Ha-
worth Press, 1995.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
^^wf}ke cfimtmas^^
"White Christmas" is the most popular Christmas song ever record-
ed. Written by Irving Berlin (1888-1989) and featured in the 1942
movie Holiday Inn, it soon inspired a large and loyal following. Bing
Crosby (1904-1977), one of America's most popular mid-century
crooners, sang the tune in the motion picture and also recorded it as
a single. It sold so many copies that the die press used to imprint the
records literally wore out. Crosby recorded the song again in 1947,
once more in 1952 — as part of the sound track for the movie White
Christmas — and yet again in 1955. By 1968 listeners had snapped up
30 million copies of the song. For decades "White Christmas" reigned
not only as the best-selling Christmas song ever recorded, but also as
the best-selling single ever recorded. In 1997, pop star Elton John
finally toppled this achievement with his musical tribute to Princess
Diana, "Candle in the Wind."
The Composer
Irving Berlin was the stage name of Israel Baline, the youngest child
of a Russian Jewish family that immigrated to the United States in
1893 and settled in New York City's Lower East Side. Although his
own family did not celebrate Christmas, the composer later fondly
recalled childhood memories of scampering over to his neighbors,
the O'Hara's, to enjoy their Christmas tree and share in their Christ-
mas goodies. Perhaps he called on some of these memories when he
composed his nostalgic, best-selling Christmas song. Musical suc-
cess was no stranger to Irving Berlin, however. He published 800
songs in his lifetime, many of them hits, and wrote hundreds more.
Berlin possessed a knack for capturing in song the spirit of the times,
an event, or a holiday, even one that he didn't himself celebrate. In
addition to "White Christmas," some of his timeless tunes include
"Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," "(There's No Business
Like) Show Business," and "God Bless America."
810
"White Christmas"
"White Christmas," the Song
In 1940 Berlin began work on a series of songs for a musical comedy
about a man who retires from show business to run a country inn
open only on holidays. While working on the show's Christmas
song, he remembered a winter spent in sunny Hollywood, where it
never quite felt "like Christmas." He realized that the very difficulties
he recalled formed the basis of a song. He fixed in his mind an
image of jaded Hollywoodites sitting around a southern California
swimming pool at Christmas time, reminiscing about the Christ-
mases of their childhoods, and then put pencil to paper. The song as
originally composed includes a first verse that speaks of palm trees
and mild weather. Later renditions of the song usually skip this verse.
Although it generally took Berlin days, weeks, or months to write a
song, he completed "White Christmas" in a single, all-night work
session. Berlin, never afraid to sing his own praises, was so pleased
with "White Christmas" that the morning after he completed the
song he told his transcriber, "It is not only the best song I ever wrote,
it's the best song anybody ever wrote" (Clancy, 2000, 65).
Holiday Inn
Berlin succeeded in selling his songs and story idea to Paramount
Pictures, which turned them into the 1942 musical Holiday Inn. The
movie gave "White Christmas" the public exposure it needed to be-
come a hit. It featured Bing Crosby, who played a singer and dancer
who moves to the country to run an inn open only on holidays. He
falls in love with an up-and-coming singer, played by Marjorie Rey-
nolds, who must choose between the retiring innkeeper and a flashy
Hollywood-bound dancer played by Fred Astaire. Berlin composed a
song for each holiday featured in the movie. As he liked to exercise a
great deal of control over the presentation of his songs, he worked
closely with the director, technicians, and actors, advising the singers
on appropriate phrasing and execution for each song. Perhaps irri-
tated with this constant stream of advice, the director asked Berlin to
leave the set while they filmed Bing Crosby singing "White Christ-
mas." Berlin agreed, but then found that he couldn't resist hanging
around. He hid himself behind some flats (panels used to dampen
sound), but was discovered during the filming by a technician.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Although the cast predicted that the film's Valentine's Day song, "Be
Careful, It's My Heart," would become the most beloved song from
the show, "White Christmas" soon entranced audiences. It spoke
powerfully to American soldiers fighting in World War II, who were
also dreaming of other, happier times. They swamped their radio
stations with calls requesting the song. Back home, "White Christ-
mas" won the Academy Award for the best song in a motion picture
released in 1942.
While the American public dreamed along with "White Christmas,"
the idea behind the story for Holiday Inn fueled the business imagina-
tion of Kemmons Wilson. When he opened a chain of family motels in
the 1950s he named it after one of his favorite movies, "Holiday Inn."
White Christmas, the Movie
Meanwhile, back in Hollywood movie producers decided to capital-
ize on the popularity of "White Christmas" by filming a remake of
Holiday Inn which would again feature the song. In order to make
sure the public knew that the movie revolved around the tune, they
named the film White Christmas (1954). Bing Crosby once more
played the lead role, this time with actor Danny Kaye as his sidekick.
The two play old army buddies who are also song and dance men.
They meet and fall in love with two singing and dancing sisters,
played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. The foursome prepare a
Christmas show for a rural Vermont inn run by a retired army gener-
al, Crosby and Kaye's former commander. Like Holiday Inn, White
Christmas gives Crosby two opportunities to sing "White Christmas,"
one at the beginning and the other at the end of the story.
A Personal Tribute
In 1967 New York City composer and singer John Wallowitch and a
group of his friends gathered on the sidewalk outside Irving Berlin's
house to celebrate Christmas by serenading the retired composer
with his famous holiday song, "White Christmas," and a love song
called "Always." These devoted fans kept up this yearly Christmas
time tribute until Berlin's death in 1989. In 1983, the singers actually
rang the doorbell and were invited in. Berlin graciously told them
812
"White Christmas"
that their visit and performance was the nicest Christmas present he
had ever had.
Further Reading
Bergreen, Laurence. As Thousands Cheer: The Life of living Berlin. New York:
Viking, 1990.
Crump, William D. The Christmas Encyclopedia. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland,
2001.
Furia, Philip. living Berlin, A Life in Song. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998.
Clancy, H. Mark. "Dreaming of Christmas: Hollywood and the Second
World War." In Mark Connelly, ed. Christmas and the Movies. London,
England: I. B. Tauris and Co., Ltd., 2000.
Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christinas! Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni-
versity Press, 2000.
Menendez, Albert J., and Shirley C. Menendez. Christmas Songs Made in
America. Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland House, 1999.
Pool, Daniel. Christmas in NewYork. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1997.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
wf}ke HoMse^ Cl^rf stmas m tfie
The White House became the official residence of the president of the
United States in 1800. Throughout the nineteenth century, it was re-
ferred to as the President's House, the President's Palace, or the Execu-
tive Mansion. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) dubbed it
the White House in 1901. As Christmas became a more important
holiday in the United States, White House Christmas celebrations
expanded beyond family festivities to include public acts of charity,
political functions, activities dedicated to enhancing public relations,
and special observances, such as the National Christmas Tree-light-
ing ceremony.
White House Christmas Parties
Christmas was not a popular holiday in some regions of the United
States during the early years of the Republic {see America, Christ-
mas in Colonial). Nevertheless, a number of the early American
presidents, such as George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jeffer-
son (1743-1826), James Madison (1751-1836), and James Monroe
(1758-1831), came from Virginia, a state whose inhabitants tended
to keep the old English custom of celebrating a jolly Christmas {see
also Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial). Yet it was the
Massachusetts-born John Adams (1735-1826) and his wife Abigail
(1744-1818) who first occupied the White House upon its comple-
tion in November of 1800 and who hosted the first White House
Christmas party in that same year. According to the story that grew
up about the party, Mrs. Adams could not get the newly constructed
building properly heated, in spite of the huge amounts of wood she
burned in its fireplaces. The shivering guests left as soon as they
deemed it polite.
In 1811 noted hostess Dolley Madison (1768-1849) gave a sumptu-
ous Christmas dinner party, over which she presided dressed in a
gown of purple velvet adorned with pearls. Her serious-minded hus-
band. President James Madison, wore his usual plain black clothing.
Dolley's sisters Anna and Lucy attended, as did writer Washington
814
White House, Christmas in the
Irving (1783-1859) and many notable political figures, such as Secre-
tary of State James Monroe, Henry Clay (1777-1852), and John Ran-
dolph (1773-1833). The Madisons served a Virginia-style feast, fea-
turing turkeys, chickens, ducks, wild game, vegetables, and puddings
(see Plum Pudding). After dinner guests and hosts entertained each
other with games, singing, and dancing.
Some White House Christmas parties have served diplomatic pur-
poses as well as social ones. In 1860 President James Buchanan (1791-
1868) hosted a delegation of Pawnee Indians at a White House Christ-
mas party. In 1874 President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) and his
wife welcomed the King of Hawaii to their Christmas party. Special
decorations were devised for this important occasion.
Needless to say, many first ladies have been accomplished hostesses.
In 1929 fire struck the White House on Christmas Eve. Lou Hoover
kept the dinner party going in the formal dining room, while her
husband President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) rushed to the site of
the fire in the West Wing. Although 16 fire engines answered the
alarm, some of the President's guests stayed through the entire party
without ever realizing that the building was on fire.
Throughout the late twentieth century the number of Christmas
parties hosted at the White House grew. Some of these parties re-
flected the personal tastes of the president or first lady. For example,
in 1957 Mamie Eisenhower threw a Christmas tea party for women
reporters. Some parties, once instituted, were taken up by succeed-
ing administrations. The Kennedys threw a variety of specialized
Christmas parties, including one for the members of the diplomatic
corps, and another for their children. The Johnsons maintained both
of these events.
By the 1970s the first family was expected to entertain several seg-
ments of Washington society at Christmas time. In 1979 the Carters
gave a Christmas ball for 1,000 people, in large part members of
Congress and their spouses. White House chefs loaded the buffet
tables with ham, roast beef, smoked salmon, crab claws, cheese rings,
artichokes, mushrooms, and more. The very next night the Carters
threw another Christmas party for 500 members of the Washington
press corps. By the time the Clintons threw a Christmas party for the
press in 1994, the guest list numbered 2,000.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
A Child's Christmas in the White House
The very first White House Christmas party, held in 1800 by Presi-
dent John Adams and his wife Abigail, included special festivities for
children. The White House's first children's Christmas party did not
end on a happy note, however. Susanna, the Adams's grandchild,
showed the other children the dolly dish set she had received for
Christmas. One little girl became so envious that she broke the tiny
dishes into pieces. At this provocation Susanna flew into a rage and
bit the nose and cheeks off her companion's doll. The President
himself had to exercise his diplomatic skills and executive authority
to break up the fight and restore order.
In 1805 Thomas Jefferson threw a Christmas party for his six grand-
children. As he was a widower, Dolley Madison, the wife of his sec-
retary of state, James Madison, acted as hostess. One hundred chil-
dren attended and were entertained by the President himself, who
churned out rollicking tunes on the violin.
In 1835 President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) invited a large num-
ber of Washington children to a Christmas Day party in the White
House. He treated them to a fancy feast, prepared by his French chef
and served in the formal dining room. After dinner he supplied the
children with cotton snowballs and permitted them to have a snow-
ball fight in the East Room.
Teddy Roosevelt's wife Edith once threw a Christmas party for 600
children, the sons and daughters of administration officials. It includ-
ed a special dinner in the state dining room, at which the President
helped serve the children their food.
First Lady Nancy Reagan threw a Christmas party for 178 hearing-
impaired children in 1981. She hired professional entertainers, also
hearing-impaired, to lead the festivities and presented each child with
a Christmas gift.
White House Charity
Giving to charity became an important aspect of nineteenth-century
Christmas celebrations {see also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-
816
White House, Christmas in the
Century). According to certain popular stories, the generosity of
some of the nineteenth-century presidents and their families reflect-
ed this trend. According to one account. President Andrew Jackson
once brought sweets and toys to a local orphanage at Christmas
time. The orphans' plight moved him, as his parents had both died by
the time he was fourteen, leaving him without a home. When asked
by the children about Santa Claus, he reminisced that as a child he
had not known of him, nor had he celebrated Christmas.
Abraham Lincoln's (1809-1865) son Tad was reported to have a large
heart at Christmas time. According to one story, in 1863 he insisted
on shipping the books his parents bought him for Christmas to sol-
diers fighting the Civil War. His father agreed with the plan, request-
ing that food and blankets also be added to the box. On Christmas
Day in 1864 Tad brought some poor children home with him to the
White House. The cook refused to feed them, but Tad went over her
head and appealed to his father, who, pleased with his son's gen-
erosity, ordered that each be fed a turkey dinner.
In 1883 the sons and daughters of some of Washington, D.C.'s lead-
ing citizens joined Christmas clubs dedicated to helping the needy
at Christmas time. With the aid of adults, the clubs organized charita-
ble Christmas dinners for some of the capital's poor children. Young
Nellie Arthur served as president of district II, and, accompanied by
her father President Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886), she presided over
a dinner for 500 needy children.
Presidential Christmas charity continued throughout the twentieth
century. Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge (1872-
1933) handed out gifts at the offices of the Salvation Army. Presi-
dent Hoover's wife Lou also gave to the needy, as did Eleanor
Roosevelt (1884-1962), who personally visited poor neighborhoods
on Christmas Day, bearing food and gifts. President Harry S. Tru-
man (1884-1972) provided two needy families — one white and the
other black — with Christmas gifts and dinner, a custom which he
preferred not to publicize. In 1961 Jacqueline Kennedy brought gifts
to 200 children at the District of Columbia's Children's Hospital.
Nancy Reagan visited the same hospital at Christmas time twenty
years later.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Greetings from the White House
Franklin (1882-1945) and Eleanor Roosevelt were the first presiden-
tial couple to send large numbers of cards at Christmas time. These
cards were specially prepared by the White House engraver. During
the time of the Eisenhower presidency, it became customary for the
president to send an official, presidential Christmas card to the
members of his cabinet, heads of state, senators, congressional rep-
resentatives, and other government workers. Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1890-1969) was an amateur artist, and during his administration
some of his own paintings were featured on the White House Christ-
mas card. His portrait of Abraham Lincoln, executed from a black-
and-white photograph, appeared on the White House card one year.
In another year the White House Christmas card featured one of his
landscape paintings.
Since Eisenhower's time. White House Christmas cards have usually
depicted the president and first lady, or offered views of the White
House at Christmas time. Subsequent presidents often commissioned
painters or photographers to produce images specially for the White
House Christmas card.
Throughout the twentieth century ordinary Americans became in-
creasingly fond of the custom of sending Christmas cards. The num-
bers of cards sent from the White House during each administration
seem to reflect this overall trend. The Nixons sent 37,000 Christmas
cards in 1969. In 1980 the Carters sent over 100,000 cards. During the
1990s President and Mrs. Clinton customarily ordered 300,000 spe-
cially designed White House Christmas cards from Hallmark Cards.
A Discontinued New Year's Custom
Beginning in 1800 and continuing throughout the nineteenth centu-
ry, American presidents hosted a kind of New Year's Day reception
at the White House called a levee. (A similar event was held on July
4). Members of the administration, government officials, and other
distinguished guests came to the White House to offer the president
their best wishes for the new year. Ordinary citizens, too, were wel-
come at these events. As Washington and the nation grew, more and
more people attended the New Year's Day levee.
818
White House, Christmas in the
By the 1920s the event had become an ordeal for the president and
his wife. In 1929 members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the
diplomatic corps, military officers, and government officials began
arriving at 11:00 a.m. President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover received
their guests on the north portico, shaking each person's hand and
exchanging a few words with them. They began to receive the gen-
eral public at noon and greeted 6,300 people before the day was
done. After that, they decided that the nation had simply grown too
large for such a ceremony and discontinued it.
White House Christmas Firsts
President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) set up the first Christmas
tree in the White House in 1853. Mrs. Coolidge organized the first
Christmas carol sing in 1923, with the help of choristers from the
First Congregational Church. The ceremonies surrounding the light-
ing of the National Christmas Tree got their start in 1923 under
President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge also composed the first presi-
dential Christmas message to the American people. The first official
White House Christmas card dates back to the Eisenhower adminis-
tration. Jimmy Carter was the first president to participate in a public
menorah-lighting ceremony held in Washington, D.C.'s Lafayette
Park in 1979 {see Hanukkah). Subsequent presidents also participat-
ed in menorah-lighting ceremonies. In a 1997 Oval Office ceremony,
William Jefferson Clinton became the first president to light a meno-
rah inside the White House.
Further Reading
Menendez, Albert J. Christmas in the White House. Philadelphia, Pa.: West-
minster Press, 1983.
Seeley, Mary Evans. Season's Greetings from the White House. Tampa, Fla.: A
Presidential Christmas, 1998.
Web Site
The White House maintains a web site with information about its holiday
celebrations at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Wilduunt
Asgardsreid, Furious Host, Furious Hunt,
Gabriel's Hounds, Gandreid, Jolerei,
Julereien, Raging Host, Yuletide Host
If one listens closely to the swirling winds of a stormy winter night,
eerie voices seem to howl in the darkness. In past centuries much
folklore from northwestern Europe interpreted these sounds as a
sign that the Wild Hunt was abroad. People invented many names
for this unruly procession of ghosts, goblins, and deities that stormed
across the night skies. For the most part, the wailing spirits fright-
ened listeners, but in some places they also aided human beings.
Belief in the Wild Hunt was especially strong between the ninth and
fourteenth centuries. Historical records indicate that some medieval
Europeans believed the Wild Hunt capable of rampaging through
their dreams, carrying their spirits off on unwholesome adventures
while their bodies slumbered. Folkloric records indicate that the
Wild Hunt might appear in the skies at any time of year. Never-
theless, in many locales the ghostly riders were thought to be most
active during the Twelve Days of Christmas, especially Twelfth
Night.
The leaders, members, and purpose of the Wild Hunt varied some-
what from region to region. In Wales, Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the
Underworld, led the hunt. In England some believed the Wild Hunt
was led by King Arthur. Others referred to the noises on the wind as
the baying of Gabriel's Hounds. The phantom hounds represented
the souls of unbaptized infants, and their passing signified a death
to come. In Norway the Hunt was known as the Gandreid, which
means "spirits' ride." According to Norwegian folklore, the spirits of
those who had died during the past year charged across the night
skies during the Gandreid, increasing the fertility of all the fields
they passed over. The Gandreid was most active around Epiphany,
or Twelfth Night.
820
Wild Hunt
In German-speaking and Scandinavian lands the Hunt was known
as Asgardsreid, literally "Asgard's Ride," and was thought to occur
most often during Yule or the Twelve Days of Christmas. Asgard was
the home of the Scandinavian gods. Many believed that the fear-
some, one-eyed king of the Scandinavian gods, Odin, led the wild
ride across the skies to Asgard, mounted on his eight-legged steed.
He and his riotous following were sometimes called the Wild Hunt,
the Raging Host, the Jolerei or the Julereien (the Yuletide Host), and it
was believed dangerous for Christians to see them. Nevertheless,
some peasants left the last sheaf of grain in their fields as an offering
for Odin's horse. In some locales Odin's wife Frigga headed the
throng of spirits.
In other German-speaking areas the noises on the wind meant that
the goddess Berchta and her following of wraiths, fairies, and the
souls of small children rode abroad. Berchta roamed the world dur-
ing the Twelve Days of Christmas, but was especially active on
Twelfth Night. She rewarded the industrious and punished the lazy.
In northern German lands the Furious Hunt or Furious Host was led
by a similar goddess, Holde, who commanded a similar band of fol-
lowers. The passing of Holde and her followers blessed the lands
below, ensuring that crops would double during the coming year.
{See also Germany, Christmas in.)
Further Reading
Guerber, H. A. Myths of Northern Lands. 1895. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Singing
Tree Press, 1970.
Hutton, Ronald. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles. Oxford, En-
gland: Basil Blackwell, 1991.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Williamsburg^ Yir^nia^
cl^ristmas in Colonial
The town of Williamsburg became the capital of colonial Virginia in
1699. In colonial times the town was the site of important political,
social, and cultural events. When Richmond became the capital of
Virginia in 1 780, Williamsburg's importance declined. In 1926 John D.
Rockefeller (1839-1937), a wealthy philanthropist, decided to renovate
or rebuild many of the town's eighteenth-century buildings. The result
was an historic zone of 120 colonial- style buildings that has become a
major tourist attraction. Visitors during the Christmas season can
enjoy many elements of a colonial Christmas in Virginia, including ac-
commodations furnished in the style of the eighteenth century, special
concerts, colonial-style Christmas feasts, bonfires, fireworks, and tours
of the Christmas decorations of the historic district.
Christmas in Colonial Virginia
In colonial times, American Christmas celebrations varied consider-
ably from region to region {see also America, Christmas in Colo-
nial). These differences stemmed from the religious affiliation of the
foremost religious or ethnic group in the region. While the stern
Puritans that dominated much of New England frowned on the cel-
ebration of Christmas, the many Christmas-loving Anglicans who
made their homes in Virginia relished the holiday. In Puritan-gov-
erned communities Christmas was treated like any other work day,
but in Williamsburg and much of the rest of Virginia, Christmas kicked
off the start of a merry season of feasts, parties, weddings, and re-
laxation {see also Twelve Days of Christmas).
Before Christmas
Devout Anglicans observed Advent, a period of spiritual prepara-
tion for the coming of Christ, in the weeks preceding Christmas. The
822
Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial
very observant among them fasted, consuming only one full meal a
day. They also meditated on their own shortcomings and on the bib-
lical passages concerning the birth of Jesus and the second coming
of Christ. The less observant found their thoughts drifting to the
coming pleasures of Christmas. A week before Christmas in the year
1773, Philip Fithian, a young man who served as a tutor to the chil-
dren of wealthy Virginia planter Robert Carter, wrote in his diary:
Nothing is now to be heard of in conversation, but the Balls,
the Fox-hunts, the fine entertainments, and the good fellow-
ship, which are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas
[Lewis and Young, 1970, 12].
Many shared these preoccupations. In 1766 the Virginia Almanack of
1766 warbled:
Now Christmas comes, 'tis fit that we
Should feast and sing, and merry be:
Keep open house, let fidlers play,
A fig for cold, sing care away;
And may they who thereat repine.
On brown bread and on small beer dine
[Lewis and Young, 1970, 26].
Feasts and Parties
For well-to-do Virginians the holiday season revolved around festive
meals and parties. Foods available to colonial Virginians at Christmas
time included turkeys and other wild game, ham and other kinds of
farm-raised meat, oysters, bread, corn, winter vegetables like pota-
toes and turnips, dried fruit, and preserved fruits and summer veg-
etables. Fresh and candied fruit, puddings, and cakes were favorite
holiday desserts {see Plum Pudding and Christmas Cakes). Vir-
ginians washed down these foods with wine, liquor, beer, or other
alcoholic beverages like hard cider, rum punch, and eggnog.
Perhaps more important than the food was the opportunity to social-
ize. Family reunions, visits with friends and relatives, and parties both
large and small were the hallmarks of the season. Perhaps because
newcomers often brought word of new ideas and events in far-off
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
places, hostesses were eager for strangers to join friends and family
members in their celebrations. In 1746 the London Magazine applaud-
ed the open-handed Christmas celebrations of colonial Virginians:
All over the Colony, an universal Hospitality reigns, full Tables
and open Doors, the kind Salute, the generous detention. . . .
Strangers are fought after with Greediness, as they pass the
Country, to be invited [Christmas in Colonial and Early Ameri-
ca, 1996, 11].
Music making and dancing were important activities at these holiday
get-togethers. Philip Fithian bears witness to Virginians' love for
Christmas-time dancing with a journal entry from December of 1773:
After Breakfast, we all retired into the Dancing-Room. . . .
There were several Minuets danced with great ease and pro-
priety; after which the whole company Joined in country-
dances, and it was indeed beautiful to admiration, to see
such a number of young persons, set off by dress to the best
Advantage, moving easily, to the sound of well performed
Music, and with perfect regularity, tho' apparently in the
utmost Disorder — The Dance continued til two, we dined at
half after three — soon after Dinner we repaired to the
Dancing-Room again . . . [until] it grew too dark to dance
[Oliver and Theobald, 1999, 20].
Christmas parties might include the singing of Christmas carols as
well as instrumental music for dancing. People welcomed Christmas
morning with all sorts of noisemaking activities. Virginians, like
many other southerners, shot off guns and banged on pots and pans
to usher in the holiday (see also Shooting in Christmas).
Marriage and Romance
The Christmas season, especially the period between Christmas Day
and Twelfth Night, was a time associated with weddings and ro-
mance. Several famous early American couples from Virginia wed at
this time of year. Future first president George Washington (1732-
1799) and his bride, Martha Dandridge Custis (1732-1802), married
on January 6, 1759. In 1782 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), who later
824
Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial
became the third president of the United States, married Martha
Wayles Skelton (1748-1782) on New Year's Day.
Slaves and Free Blacks
Slaveowners generally gave their slaves a few days off at Christmas
time {see also Slaves' Christmas). In addition to the slaves, Williams-
burg was home to many free blacks who worked in the skilled trades
or as laborers. Indeed, historical research suggests that African Ameri-
cans, both slave and free, comprised over half the population of
Williamsburg.
Men, Women, Children, and Gifts
Well-to-do men often rode out to hunt on Christmas morning while
women supervised the preparation of the Christmas feast. In colo-
nial Virginia, Christmas was more of an adult holiday than a chil-
dren's festival. No special activities were planned to entertain chil-
dren and few parents gave their offspring gifts. Instead, as was the
custom in that age, gifts were given to social inferiors to thank them
for their service over the past year. Some tradesmen observed the
custom of Christmas boxing {see Boxing Day), and most slave mas-
ters gave gifts to their slaves. Some people gave small gifts to family
members and close friends on New Year's Day. George Washington,
one of the colony's wealthiest men, proved an exception to these
gift- giving rules. In 1759 he recorded the fact that he bought the fol-
lowing items as presents for his stepchildren: a bird on bellows, a
cuckoo, a turnabout parrot, a grocers shop, an aviary, a Prussian dra-
goon, a man smoking, six small books for children, six pocket hand-
kerchiefs, and other toys.
Christmas Decorations
In colonial times Virginians decked the insides of their homes and
churches with greenery. They made garlands of evergreens which
they strung along banisters and railings, and wrapped around pil-
lars. At home ropes of greenery might dangle from the fireplace
mantel. In addition, some pressed sprigs of holly against their win-
dow panes, or displayed bouquets of holly and other winter green-
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
ery on their tables. They might also strew their homes with herbs,
such as rosemary, bay (or laurel), lavender, and rose petals, in order
to give rooms a fresh scent. Boys often shot down boughs of mistle-
toe from high tree branches so that it could be fashioned into kiss-
ing boughs and other ornaments. The making of these decorations
was usually women's work.
Christmas in Contemporary Williamsburg
In 1934, after the partial restoration of colonial Williamsburg had
been completed, some residents of the historic district began to dec-
orate their homes, inside and out. The practice grew and flourished
year after year. Now tourists have become accustomed to seeing
wreaths featuring fresh fruit and other colorful, natural materials on
the front doors of Williamsburg homes and shops. The first wreaths
of this kind were created by historical researcher Louise Fisher, who
was inspired by the designs of Italian Renaissance sculptor Luca
deUa Robbia (1400-1482) and also by the work of English artist
Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721). Delia Robbia's garlands and wreaths
included natural garnishes, such as lemons, apples, and pine cones.
Fisher knew these natural materials to be available in the eighteenth
century and began to produce front door wreaths along these de-
signs. Soon all Williamsburg followed suit, and from there this style
of wreath began to spread across the country. Some people know
them as Williamsburg-style wreaths, while others call them Delia
Robia wreaths.
In 1937 the first contest for front door wreaths and decorations took
place. Soon homeowners began to vie for the prestigious blue rib-
bon affixed to the most charming Williamsburg-style doorway deco-
rations. The cash prize donated by the Colonial Williamsburg Foun-
dation also tempted homeowners to participate. In response to in-
terest from tourists, a popular Christmas decorations tour of the his-
toric district was launched in 1969.
In recent years, concerned that contemporary doorway decorations
may be giving tourists the wrong impression, colonial Williamsburg
officials have begun to publicize the fact that there is no historical
evidence that colonial Virginians decorated the outside of their
homes at all at Christmas time. Moreover, historians agree that they
826
Williamsburg, Virginia, Christmas in Colonial
would never have wasted fruit, a relatively rare and precious item,
especially in the winter, on outdoor or indoor decorations of any
kind. Sometimes colonial hostesses arranged fruit into a pyramid
and set it at the center of their buffet table, where it served both as a
colorful table decoration and as dessert.
Residents of colonial Williamsburg also developed the tradition of
placing a lighted candle in their window during the Christmas sea-
son {see also Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas in; Christmas
Candles; Ireland, Christmas in). Historians give a cool nod of
approval to this custom, since colonists did put candles in their win-
dows to honor a royal anniversary of some kind or a military victory.
They didn't, however, light these candles at Christmas time. Never-
theless, contemporary residents of the town see the practice as a
compromise between the demands of historical accuracy and their
own desire to observe the modern custom of lighting up one's home
for Christmas. Nowadays a ceremony called the Grand Illumination,
which takes place in early December, kicks off the season of candlelit
windows in Williamsburg. In the past the ceremony has included the
singing of Christmas carols and a procession through the historical
district led by a fife and drum corps, as well as a group of men in
colonial costumes representing the night watch. As the procession
passes each home, family members light their candles. The proces-
sion continues until the windows of the historical district twinkle
with candles.
Beginning in 1957 Christmas celebrations in colonial Williamsburg
have also included fireworks displays. Although colonists exploded
fireworks in celebration of successful military campaigns and in
honor of a monarch's birthday, they did not use them at Christmas
time. Again, the use of Christmas fireworks in colonial Williamsburg
represents a compromise between historical accuracy and the desire
to celebrate. Special bonfires, another authentic colonial custom,
also light up the night skies at Christmas time.
Further Reading
Christmas in Colonial and Early America. Chicago: World Book, 1996.
Kainen, Ruth Cole. America's Christmas Heritage. New York: Funk and Wag-
nails, 1969.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Lewis, Jr., Taylor Biggs, and Joanne B. Young. Christmas in Williamsburg.
Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1970.
Oliver, Libbey Hodges, and Mary Miley Theobald. Williamsburg Christmas.
New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the Colonial Wil-
liamsburg Foundation, 1999.
Weaver, William Woys. The Christmas Cook. New York: HarperPerennial,
1990.
Web Sites
"Another Look at Christmas in the Eighteenth Century," an article by David
DeSimone, assistant manager of religious studies and programs in the
Department of Trades/Presentations and Tours at Colonial Williamsburg
(originally published in The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter 16, 4 (winter
1995-96): http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/xmas/xmasqa.htm
"Christmas Customs," an article by Emma L. Powers, an historian in Colo-
nial Williamsburg's Department of Research (originally published in The
Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter 16, 4 (winter 1995-96): http://www.history.
org/Almanack/Ufe/xmas/customs.htm
"Colonial Williamsburg Activities and Programs," a page sponsored by
American Park Network: http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/
cw/activities.html
winter Solstice
Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, falls on December 21 or
22 in the Northern Hemisphere. Winter solstice marks that turning
point in the year after which the days begin to lengthen and the
nights begin to shorten. In the Northern Hemisphere the longest
day of the year, summer solstice, falls on June 21 or 22. In the South-
ern Hemisphere this same day is observed as winter solstice. In the
course of human history many peoples have honored the solstices
with ceremonies and festivals. Early Christian authorities placed
Christmas near the winter solstice in the hopes of replacing pagan
holidays clustered on and around that date {see also December 25).
828
Winter Solstice
Solstice Astronomy
The word "solstice" comes from the Latin phrase sol stitium, which
means "the sun stands still." A daily observer of the sunrise will
notice that the sun comes up at a slightly different position along the
horizon each day. In the Northern Hemisphere, as summer turns to
winter, the sun rises a bit further to the south each day. The days
grow shorter and the nights longer. Finally, the sun appears to rise
over the same point on the horizon for several days in a row. This is
the time of the winter solstice, the time when the sun appears to
"stand still" along the horizon. In reality, the sunrise still moves on
those days, but only very slightly. The actual day of the solstice
occurs when the sun reaches its southernmost position along the
horizon. This happens on the shortest day and longest night of the
year. The following day the sun begins to move north along the
horizon, and the days slowly begin to lengthen while the nights
shorten. The days continue to grow longer until the summer solstice,
after which they begin to shorten again as the sun once more turns
southward.
The explanation for this yearly cycle lies in the mechanics of the
earth's orbit around the sun. The earth's axis, the hypothetical line
connecting the North and South Poles, does not meet the plane of
the earth's orbit around the sun at a perpendicular angle. Instead,
the earth is tilted 23 degrees to one side. This tilt causes the earth's
exposure to the sun to vary throughout the year.
During one six-month period of the earth's yearly orbit, the tilt
points the North Pole towards the sun. During this period the
Northern Hemisphere gradually gains exposure to the sun, while
the Southern Hemisphere loses exposure. In the north the days
lengthen and the sun crosses the sky more directly overhead, hence
the weather grows warmer. Three months after the winter solstice
the Northern Hemisphere arrives at the spring equinox, the twenty-
four hour period in which night and day are of equal lengths. Night
and day are also of equal lengths in the Southern Hemisphere on
that same date. There, since the days are growing shorter, the event
is called the autumn equinox. In the north the days continue to
lengthen and the nights to shorten until the very last day of this six-
month period, summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
This situation reverses itself during the next six months. As the earth
continues its orbit around the sun, the tilt begins to turn the South
Pole towards the sun and the North Pole away from it. This decreas-
es the Northern Hemisphere's exposure to the sun's warming rays
while increasing the Southern Hemisphere's exposure. As a result,
the days lengthen in the Southern Hemisphere, bringing spring and
summer to that zone while the people of the Northern Hemisphere
experience fall and winter. The solstices as well as the equinoxes are
reversed. The same day on which northerners experience winter sol-
stice, southerners experience summer solstice.
The effect of this yearly cycle increases as one moves away from the
equator and is greatest near the Poles, which undergo months of
unbroken light or darkness near the solstices. The prolonged dark-
ness may strongly affect those who live in the far north {see also
Depression). Only the people living along the earth's equator are
not affected by this cycle, since the equatorial zones receive about
the same exposure to the sun throughout the year. The length of the
days and nights does not change at the equator, so seasonal differ-
ences all but disappear.
Winter Solstice in Ancient Rome
According to the Julian calendar used by the ancient Romans, winter
solstice fell on December 25. Although for most of their long history
the Romans did not celebrate the winter solstice per se, two impor-
tant Roman festivals fell on either side of this date. Saturnalia was
celebrated from December 17 to December 23. Kalends, the new
year festival, began on January 1 and lasted until January 5.
In the late third century a.d., however, the Roman emperor Aurelian
(c. 215-275) added a new celebration to the calendar, the Birth of
the Invincible Sun. He chose December 25, the winter solstice, as
the date for this festival honoring the sun god. In fact, by the late
third century the solstice did not occur on December 25. A flaw in
the design of the Julian calendar caused this error. The creators of
the Julian calendar believed the year to be 365.25 days long. The
actual length of the solar year is 365.242199 days. This tiny discrep-
ancy caused the calendar to fall behind the actual sun cycle by one
day every 128 years. In 46 B.C., when the Julian calendar was estab-
830
Winter Solstice
lished, the winter solstice really did occur on December 25. By the
late third century winter solstice was arriving two and one-half days
early. Nevertheless, the twenty-fifth had engraved itself in the minds
of the populace as the date of the solstice, and so was retained as the
date of the new solstice holiday {see also Old Christmas Day).
Winter Solstice and the Date of Christmas
In the middle of the fourth century, when Christian officials in Rome
chose a date for the celebration of the Nativity, they, too, selected
December 25. Most scholars believe that they chose this date in
order to draw people away from the pagan holidays celebrated at
that time of year. In fact, a document written by a Christian scribe
later in that century explains that the authorities chose December 25
for the feast of the Nativity because people were already accustomed
to celebrating on that date. Moreover, some Christian leaders found
celebrating Jesus' birth at the time of the winter solstice especially
appropriate as they considered him "the sun of righteousness"
(Malachi 4:2) and the "light of the world"0ohn 8:12). With the new
festival date in place. Christian leaders exhorted the populace to
dedicate their midwinter devotions to the birth of Jesus rather than
to the birth of the sun.
Winter Solstice and Other Ancient Celebrations
The people of Egypt used a slightly different calendar than did the
Romans, one in which winter solstice fell on January 6. Egyptians
also honored the sun god on the day of the winter solstice. Other
Egyptian festivals that took place on January 6 included the birthday
of the god Osiris and the birth of the god Aeon from his virgin
mother, Kore. As early as the second century Egyptian Christians
adopted January 6 as one of their feast days, too. They began to cele-
brate Epiphany on that day.
Some researchers speculate that the ancient peoples of northern
Europe celebrated a festival called Yule around the time of the win-
ter solstice. Other researchers disagree, however, arguing that the
festival took place in November.
People who lived in close contact with the natural world and who
did not possess modern astronomical knowledge may well have
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
viewed the gradual shortening of the days and the cooling of the
weather with apprehension. It is easy to understand why many of
these ancient peoples honored the gods on the shortest day of the
year and gave thanks for the return of the sun.
Contemporary Celebrations
In recent years, renewed interest in pagan or "earth" religions in the
developed countries has prompted some people to begin celebrating
the solstices again. Although we now understand the astronomical
mechanisms behind this cycle in the earth's seasons, our lives still
depend on these celestial maneuvers and the seasonal rhythms they
create. The new solstice celebrations honor these life-giving process-
es with ceremony and festivity.
Further Reading
Baldovin, lohn. "Christmas." In Mircea Eliade, ed. The Encyclopedia ofReli-
g/'on. Volume 3. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Bellenir, Karen, ed. Religious Holidays and Calendars. Second edition. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998.
Heinberg, Richard. Celebrate the Solstice. Wheaton, III: Quest Books, 1993.
Henes, Donna. Celestially Auspicious Occasions. New York: Berkley, 1996.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Krupp, E. C. Beyond the Blue Horizon. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Matthews, lohn, and Caitlin Matthews. The Winter Solstice. Wheaton, III:
Quest Books, 1998.
Smith, C. "Christmas and Its Cycle." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume
3. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
wise Men of tl^e East, see Magi
832
Wrapping Paper
qPjqejtaijqS'*'^qS''^*qS''^*'^'^*'^qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*
WrappingVaper
How would you feel if, instead of finding a pretty arrangement of
wrapped gifts under the tree on Christmas morning, you discovered
a naked jumble of store-bought merchandise with the price tags still
on? What is it that turns an ordinary purchase into a Christmas gift?
Nineteenth- century Americans found the answer to that question in
decorative wrapping paper. Once encased in the paper, the individ-
ual identity and cost of each item disappeared. All that remained vis-
ible was the wrapping, a symbolic statement of the item's status as
gift. Today we use the trick of wrapping paper to turn ordinary store-
bought items into gifts for all sorts of occasions.
History
Christmas gift giving was an uncommon practice throughout most
of the nineteenth century {see also America, Christmas in Nine-
teenth-Century). Moreover, those who gave gifts seldom bothered
to wrap them. Parents deposited trinkets in their children's stockings
as is, and adults exchanged small homemade items without bothering
to disguise them. In the late nineteenth century the idea of exchang-
ing Christmas gifts grew more popular, and some people began to
shop for them in stores.
Around 1880 people began to wrap their purchases in decorative
paper or decorated boxes. At the same time retailers were searching
for a way to encourage people to give store-bought rather than home-
made items as Christmas gifts. Many consumers objected that man-
ufactured goods were too impersonal and commercial to serve as
appropriate Christmas gifts. In the last decade of the nineteenth
century, retailers began to wrap their customers' holiday purchases
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
in paper decorated with Christmas symbols. They discovered that
the special wrapping paper boosted sales enormously. Apparently,
removing the price tag and encasing the item in wrapping paper
transformed manufactured goods into acceptable gifts by disguising
their true identity until the last moment and emphasizing instead
their status as a gift.
At the turn of the century, manufacturers also adopted the new sales
gimmick. They began to ship all kinds of wares in decorative holiday
packaging. If consumers wondered whether these ordinary manu-
factured items could serve as appropriate gifts, the holiday packag-
ing removed all doubt. By the 1920s manufacturers had added one
more detail to this already successful strategy. Instead of shipping
goods in special packaging they slipped special, decorative sleeves
around standard packaging. Retailers could remove the holiday sleeve
right after Christmas, thereby turning their special "Christmas stock"
back into ordinary stock.
Further Reading
Waits, William. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York Uni-
versity Press, 1993.
834
Wreath
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS'Qe'*qS'C^
Wreatf}
Americans recognize the evergreen wreath as a Christmas symbol.
Many people hang them on their front doors at Christmas time or
display them in other parts of the house. No one seems to know the
exact history of this custom. Some speculate that the front door
wreath evolved out of the older, German Advent wreath. Others
suppose it to be an old Irish custom.
The English word "wreath" comes from the old Anglo-Saxon verb
writhan, meaning "to writhe" or "to twist." Indeed, Christmas wreaths
are made by bending or twisting branches of greenery into a circular
shape.
Wreaths have served as powerful symbols for millennia. In ancient
Greece and Rome wreaths of greenery worn as crowns sat on the
brows of those believed to have won divine favor. Thus, wreaths
adorned the heads of sacrificial animals, winners of athletic and
artistic competitions, participants in religious festivals, and kings.
The type of greenery used to make the wreath also sent a message.
Winners of athletic and literary contests donned wreaths of laurel.
Wreaths of ivy circled the brows of those honoring the wine god,
Dionysus or Bacchus. Those whose achievements brought about mili-
tary victories or peace wore wreaths of olive.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
The Bible also makes frequent mention of wreaths, usually associat-
ing them with joy, triumph, and honor. As Christianity developed its
own symbolic code, it turned the laurel wreath into a sign of the
attainment of salvation. In more general terms, the wreath repre-
sents the same thing as the circle, often interpreted as a symbol of
eternity.
Further Reading
Becker, Udo, ed. "Wreatfi." In his The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols.
New York: Continuum, 1994.
Palmer, Geoffrey, and Noel Lloyd. A Year of Festivals. London, England:
Frederick Warne, 1972.
Thompson, Sue Ellen, ed. Holiday Symbols. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics,
1998.
Webber, F. R. Church Symbolism. Second edition, revised. 1938. Reprint.
Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book. 1952. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1990.
^|S
Wren Hunt
Hunting of the Wren
In rural communities of England, Ireland, France, and Wales, the
day after Christmas once witnessed a ritualized attack on one of the
region's tiniest and most harmless birds: the wren. Although this
practice declined to near extinction during the twentieth century,
the wren still figures as a minor Christmas symbol, appearing on
Christmas cards, ornaments, and other seasonal decorations.
Customs
In some locales early accounts of the "wren hunt" or "the hunting of
the wren" give Christmas or Christmas Eve as the date of the cere-
mony. Eventually, however, these local traditions gravitated to the
836
Wren Hunt
day after Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, which was the more com-
monly accepted date for the hunt. On this day bands of men and
boys would range the countryside scouring the brush in search of a
wren. After spotting one of the dainty brown birds the group flushed
it out of the bushes using sticks or stones to stun and, eventually, kill
it. The hunting party might chase the bird for hours before they suc-
ceeded in this task. In some areas the hunters used bow and arrows
or even pistols to bring down their diminutive prey. Afterwards, the
band trooped back to town displaying their trophy. The man or boy
who succeeded in finally killing the bird was lauded as the hero of
the day.
The second phase of the wren hunt began when the team returned
to town. The group devised a decorative display for the tiny carcass.
In some areas of France the bird was nailed to a pole decorated with
ribbons and greenery. On the Isle of Man it was suspended from
the intersection of two hoops entwined with greenery, ribbons, foil,
and other decorative items. The finished display was known as a
"wren bush." The Welsh typically built a wren house, a small wood-
en box, in which to carry the bird.
After securing the dead bird amidst these trappings, the wren boys
then paraded through the streets of town. In some areas they wore
masks and unusual apparel, often dressing in women's or girls'
clothing {see also Mumming). At each house they visited they dis-
played their catch, sang songs about the wren hunt, and asked for
coins, food, or drink in return. The following verses from various
wren hunt songs were often included in these performances:
The wren, the wren, the King of all birds
St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze;
Although he is little, his family is great,
I pray you good landlady, give us a treat [Hutton, 1996, 98].
We hunted the wren for Robbin the Bobbin
We hunted the wren for Jack of the Can,
We hunted the wren for Robbin the Bobbin
We hunted the wren for everyman [Buday, 1992, 104].
On the Isle of Man the wren boys gave householders a wren feather,
thought to bring good luck for the coming year, in exchange for a
837
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
donation of coins. In many places, however, if householders refused
a small gift to the wren boys, the boys sang insulting songs at the
doorstep before moving on. After the day's ceremonies were over,
the wren boys usually took time to bury the wren. In some locales
these burials took the form of mock funerals.
In a few places the traditional wren hunt did not demand the death
of the bird. In Wales' Pembrokeshire region, the wren boys captured
and displayed a live bird. In general, the Scots did not participate in
the wren hunt, but in Galloway a ceremony known as the "Deckan of
the Wren" occurred on the morning of New Year's Day. The men
caught, rather than killed, a wren, decorated it with ribbons, then let
it go.
Origins
Folklorists disagree about the origins of this custom. Some experts
argue that the wren hunt derives from the beliefs and practices of
ancient societies. A number of these thinkers propose that the cus-
tom grew out of old Celtic beliefs about wrens. They speculate that
as Christianity entrenched itself in Britain and Ireland, the killing of
the wren came to represent the killing of pagan religious practices.
Some evidence suggests that the Celts associated the bird with wis-
dom and prophecy. In one old Irish text, the wren was referred to as
the "magus bird," a bird whose actions served as omens of the future.
In another, it is claimed that the Celtic word for wren can be traced
back to a contraction of the old Celtic words for "druid's bird."
Others who believe in the ancient roots of the custom link it to a dif-
ferent set of beliefs and practices. They find similarities between the
wren hunt and the ancient European and Near Eastern custom of
sacrificing a king or other royal figure to the gods. When ordinary
people took on this sacrificial role they were treated as kings for a
brief while before their execution. Interestingly enough, European
folklore concerning the wren often depicts the tiny creature as a
king. Moreover, the image of the wren as king emerges as a persis-
tent theme in wren hunt lore. The folk verses cited above provide an
example.
838
Wren Hunt
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century
None of these speculations can be proven, however. The fact that
the earliest accounts of the tradition in Britain and Ireland date back
to the early eighteenth century has led at least one researcher to
conclude that the custom must be of relatively modern origin and
cannot have been in continual practice since ancient times. More-
over, this writer reminds us that efforts of the wren boys were direct-
ed toward the end result of collecting money and food. He notes
that the hunting of the wren began to decline in the late nineteenth
century, along with other begging traditions such as boxing {see
Boxing Day), mumming, and Thomasing {see St. Thomas's Day).
Many of the historical documents describing the wren hunt express
concern over the cruel fate dealt to the innocent and inoffensive
bird. The wren hunt was condemned in France after the Revolution,
briefly reinstated, and then banned again around 1830. Irish and
English authorities condemned the custom in the middle of the nine-
teenth century. In spite of this opposition, the wren hunt continued
in some places. In Wales the custom lingered until around the turn
of the century.
Twentieth Century
Throughout Ireland the practice persisted until the mid-twentieth
century. It continued in southern Ireland, and in recent times has
even enjoyed a bit of a revival. Some people continue to wear the
traditional straw suits for the event, though a dummy wren is usually
substituted for a dead bird. The Irish have made other changes to
the ancient custom as well. Nowadays both boys and girls, and even
adults, may join in the wren hunt. Often the boys dress as women
and the girls as men. They perform folk songs, folk dances, or even
bits of mummers' plays at each house on their route. In West Kerry, a
pantomime horse, or hobby horse, leads the wren hunt procession.
The wren hunters usually donate the money given to them by
householders in return for these performances to a civic cause. Con-
tributions may also be used to fund a St. Stephen's Day "Wren
Dance" to which the neighborhood is invited.
On the Isle of Man the wren boys killed their last wren in the early
twentieth century. The ceremony continued in at least one location
839
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
on the island, however, using token wrens. A recent revival of inter-
est in Manx folk traditions has led to a renewal of this revised ver-
sion of the old seasonal custom.
Legends and Lore
A number of legends purporting to explain the yearly persecution of
the wren depict the little bird as a betrayer of various Christian lead-
ers. In one legend Jesus is fleeing his persecutors, who are tracking
him by the trail of blood dripping from his wounds. A robin sees the
drops of blood and flutters down to erase these tracks. A field of
wheat miraculously springs up in the barren field over which Jesus
has walked. When the pursuing soldiers encounter this field they ask
the robin if a man has walked through the field recently. The robin
answers, "Not since the wheat was planted." This answer temporarily
fools the soldiers until a wren tells them that the wheat was planted
only yesterday. The soldiers then hurry forward and capture Jesus.
In another legend, a wren foils St. Stephen's escape from his captors.
In one variation of the tale, the wren's song wakens the guards just
as Stephen is about to break free. In another, chirping wrens give
away the saint's hiding place.
An Irish legend depicts the bird as a traitor to the cause of Irish
political freedom who enjoys warning foreign invaders of Irish mili-
tary maneuvers. In one version of the tale, the wren hops up and
down on a drum in order to alert the Danes that the Irish are about
to attack. In another, the wren tells Oliver Cromwell's forces of the
impending Irish attack.
In spite of the role played by the wren in these legends, European
folklore generally portrays the wren in a positive light. In addition to
a widespread designation as the king of birds, much lore depicted
the wren as a clever animal who uses her intelligence to counteract
the disadvantages of her small size. In many areas people thought
the bird brought good luck, and folk traditions warned against dis-
turbing or harming the wren in any way. In the British Isles, the
wren was especially beloved. In "Auguries of Innocence" (1803) the
English poet William Blake (1757-1827) wrote:
840
Wren Hunt
He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be beloved by men.
Why then did the wren become the object of this yearly hunt? Why
did the hunt take place on St. Stephen's Day? Perhaps the stoning of
the wren, a beloved bird, symbolized the stoning of Stephen, a be-
loved saint. Or perhaps the yearly lifting of sanctions against harming
the wren served to reinforce these sanctions during the rest of the
year. Over a century of research by folklorists has produced many fas-
cinating speculations, but no definitive answers to these questions.
Further Reading
Armstrong, Edward A. The Folklore of Birds. Second edition, revised and
enlarged. New York: Dover Publications, 1970.
Buday, George. The History of the Christmas Card. 1954. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Hadfield, Miles, and John Hadfield. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Boston,
Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1961.
Hole, Christina. British Folk Customs. London, England: Hutchinson and
Company, 1976.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Lawrence, Elizabeth Atwood. Hunting the Wren: Transformation of Bird to
Symbol. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1997.
Moran, Rena. Christmas in Ireland. Chicago: World Book, 1985.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: TapUnger, 1977.
Web Site
Ireland's Dingle Peninsula hosts a web site containing an article by Peter
Woods entitled, "Hunting the Wren," at:
http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/wren.html
841
Yule
Many researchers believe that in the early Middle Ages, people in
northern Europe celebrated a midwinter festival called Yule, /7i?i/, or
Jol. Although the history of the word remains uncertain, some au-
thorities believe it comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, geol, meaning
"feast." Others argue that it derives from an old Germanic word,
either iol, iul, or guil, meaning "wheel." Thus, the festival is thought
by some to have celebrated the turning of the wheel of the year and
the lengthening of days after the winter solstice. In medieval times.
Yule became another term for "Christmas" or "Christmas season."
Origins
Some scholars believe that the ancient Celtic and Teutonic peoples
of northern and central Europe observed a great autumn festival
sometime in November. The customs connected with this festival
843
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
highlighted the contrasting themes of death and abundance. With
the coming of cold weather many plants withered and died, includ-
ing the grass that fed domesticated animals. Consequently, the peo-
ple adopted this season for the slaughter of the herds and the prepa-
ration of preserved meat for the winter. The slaughter also furnished
the festival tables with a feast of fresh meat. Special autumn beers
may also have been brewed for this festival, and used to toast the
gods {see also Christmas Ale). At this time of the year people lit cer-
emonial fires and honored their dead ancestors. Some authorities
claim that this feast venerated the Germanic god Odin, others that it
venerated the Norse god Thor. This festival probably marked the
end of the old year and the beginning of the new year.
At least one scholar has suggested November 11 or 12 as the date of
this festival. In medieval times, November 11 became St. Martin's
Day, or Martinmas. Medieval Europeans celebrated Martinmas by
feasting, commemorating the dead, slaughtering animals and pre-
serving their meat, and enjoying the first taste of the year's wines.
Did these November celebrations evolve out of the practices of
ancient Mediterranean peoples or were they native to the North?
One group of experts argues for Roman origins. They note that the
Germanic peoples and the Romans came into close contact as they
battled each other for land and rule during the last centuries of the
Roman Empire. As a result of this exposure, the Teutonic peoples
adopted some Roman customs, such as the celebration of the new
year around the time of the winter solstice. The festivities that char-
acterized Roman midwinter festivals, such as decorations of green-
ery, fortune -telling, processions of singers and masqueraders, and
the exchange of gifts, also infiltrated northern celebrations {see also
Kalends; Saturnalia). The northerners combined these customs
with those of their autumn celebration and shifted the date of the
new festival to midwinter, creating a new holiday called Yule.
Other authors disagree with this line of reasoning, however. They
believe that the northerners must have waited anxiously for the win-
ter solstice and the lengthening of days, since the midwinter days
are even shorter and colder in northern Europe than they are in the
Mediterranean. These writers contend that the pagan peoples of
northern Europe always celebrated around the time of the winter
844
Yule
solstice, rejoicing in the return of the sun and the lengthening of days.
According to these authors, the customs associated with medieval
Yule originated in the north.
Yule in Medieval Scandinavia
Since the pagan Scandinavian peoples left no documents of their
own, it is impossible to confirm any theory of the holiday's origin.
Around the ninth century Christian missionaries introduced the art
of writing with pen and paper to the region. The years from around
900 to 1300 A.D. produced a few additional records describing the
customs, stories, and beliefs of the pagan Scandinavians. From these
records, researchers have reconstructed a speculative picture of medie-
val Scandinavian Yule celebrations.
Some say the festival began on the longest night of the year (the
winter solstice), a day that ushered in the month known as "Yule
Month." The Yule celebration lasted over a number of days and
involved feasting, fires, and sacrifices. Bonfires blazed in honor of
the sun's struggle against, and eventual triumph over, the darkness
and cold of winter. People gathered around the fires listening to
ancient legends, singing songs, eating, drinking, and offering sacri-
fices to the gods. They might save a piece of the great logs used for
the fires, called Yule logs, in order to start the next year's bonfire.
During the Yule festival those who had died during the year were
remembered. Their ghosts were thought to rise from the grave and
attend the festivities. The boar, a symbol of the god Frey, who repre-
sented sunlight, fertility, peace, and plenty, formed an important part
of the Yule feast. The king offered the largest boar in the land in sac-
rifice. It was considered a holy object, and when it was brought into
the king's hall, men swore binding oaths before it (see also Boar's
Head).
As Christianity gained momentum in Scandinavia, some Christian
rulers attempted to mesh pagan and Christian observances. The
tenth-century Norwegian king, Haakon the Good, ordered that Yule
celebrations should be held around the time of Christmas. Never-
theless, he refused to participate in the full range of sacrifices that
the pagan kings usually offered at this time. Eventually, customs
compatible with the Christian seasonal observance, such as feasting
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
and merrymaking, were absorbed into the celebration of Christmas.
A trace of the old pagan festival lingers in the modern Danish, Nor-
wegian, and Swedish word for Christmas: /w/.
Yule in Medieval Britain
Although the word "yule" eventually passed into the English lan-
guage, some say that the Britons did not observe the festival in early
medieval times. The earliest written use of the word "yule" in Britain
occurs in a manuscript written by the scholarly English monk St.
Bede (c. 672-735). Bede noted that the English people of his day (the
Angles) used the word Giuli, an ancestor of the word "yule," as a
name for both December and January. He continued, "The months
Giuli get their names from the turning round of the sun towards the
increasing of the day, because one of them precedes and the other
follows it." Bede's evidence suggests that the word "yule" may in-
deed have derived from an old word that referred in some way to
the concept of turning.
But did the English celebrate a special festival at this time? Bede
claims that they did. He wrote that the Angles "began their year
from the eighth day before the Calends of January [Dec. 25], on
which we now celebrate the birthday of our Lord. And they called
that night Modranicht, i.e., night of the mothers, as I suppose, be-
cause of the ceremonies which they performed in it, keeping watch
all night." Bede speculates that this day was originally called "Giuli"
and that the months of December and January derived their names
from the festival, but he is not certain. No evidence exists to confirm
this speculation. It is not until the eleventh century that we find
other British manuscripts that refer to December 25 as "Yule." Be-
fore that time old English manuscripts referred to December 25 as
"midwinter," "midwinter's mass," or "Nativity." From the eleventh
century onwards, "Yule" gained gradual acceptance as another term
for Christmas or the Christmas season.
Some argue that the Scandinavian Vikings brought the term and the
festival with them when they conquered and settled in parts of
England in the ninth through eleventh centuries. Others claim that
the Anglo-Saxon people of early medieval Britain, along with the
Scandinavians and northern Germans, did celebrate a midwinter
846
Yule
festive season, regardless of what it may have been called. They
point out that the strategy of early Christian missionaries was to
convert pagan populations by allowing them to practice most of
their old customs, but attaching new. Christian meanings to their
observances. They believe that many British customs associated with
Christmas in later centuries, such as the burning of Yule logs, mum-
ming, the wassailing of fruit trees, the hunting of small animals,
and decorating with greenery, originated in this early winter festival.
Further Reading
Gelling, Peter, and Hilda Ellis Davidson. The Chariot of the Sun and Other
Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age. New York: Frederick A.
Praeger, 1969.
Guerber, H. A. Myths of Northern Lands. 1895. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Sing-
ing Tree Press, 1970.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson, eds. Holidays, Festivals, and
Celebrations of the World Dictionary. Second edition. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1997.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
James, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omni-
graphics, 1993.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythol-
ogy, and Legend. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hu-
manities Press, 1978.
Tille, Alexander. Yule and Christmas: Their Place in the GermanicYear. London,
England: David Nutt, 1899.
Urlin, Ethel L. Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days. 1915. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1992.
M
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Yule Goat
Joulupukki, Julbock, Julbukk, Klapparbock
In Norway and Sweden the goat, rather than the reindeer, symbol-
izes Christmas and brings Christmas gifts. In Sweden straw goats
constitute a staple Christmas decoration {see also Yule Straw), while
in Norway the animal lends its name to a Christmas Day caroling
custom.
Origins and History
Some authors contend that the Yule goat originated in pre-Christian
Yule celebrations. They believe that the ancient Scandinavians dedi-
cated their Yule festival to the god Thor, whose companion animal
was the goat. According to legend, this Norse god rode in a chariot
pulled by two billy goats. Others view the Yule goat as a medieval
invention. They argue that the goat typically accompanied the Devil
in medieval folk plays performed around Christmas time.
In medieval times the Yule goat frolicked at the center of Scandina-
vian Christmas festivities. Using a goat skin and head as a costume,
two men would masquerade as a goat, sometimes with a third sit-
ting astride them. Such displays and the raucous revelry that accom-
panied them alarmed Church authorities. In the sixteenth century
they began to issue prohibitions against these kinds of events. Never-
theless, groups of young people in Sweden maintained the goat as a
sort of mascot when they caroled and danced for their neighbors
around Christmas time. In the eighteenth century the goat adopted
848
Yule Goat
a new Christmas role in Sweden: gift bringer. In the late nineteenth
century, however, this task was taken over by the Jultomten.
The Yule goat also visited Denmark and Finland in past times, but
not as a gift giver. The Danish Klapparbock and the Finnish Joulupukki
frightened children and warned them to behave. Although the Fin-
nish gift bearer of today resembles Father Christmas, he still bears
the name "Joulupukki," which translates as "Yule buck."
Today
In Sweden the Yule goat, or Julbock, lives on as a favorite Christmas
decoration. In Norway a contemporary Christmas custom took its
name, Julbukk, from the ancient Yule goat. Groups of costumed chil-
dren and adults walk through their neighborhood entertaining
householders with songs in exchange for treats. These groups may
bring a goat with them, or someone may dress as a goat and imper-
sonate the animal's typically unruly behavior. Sometimes, costumed
goats discipline misbehaving children by butting them. If two cos-
tumed goats meet, they often entertain onlookers by engaging in a
play fight.
Further Reading
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
Web Sites
A site sponsored by the Finnish Embassy: http://www.finland.org/xmas.html
A site sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
http://odin.dep.no/ (Click on "Language," "English," "History, culture,
geography, recreation," then scroll down to "Christmas in Norway.")
849
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Yule Log
Bouche de Noel, Calignaou, Chalendal, Christmas Block,
Christmas Log, Trefoir, Yule Clog
In past eras many European people burned Yule logs in their homes
at Christmas time. Often these enormous logs burned throughout
the Twelve Days of Christmas. The many customs and beliefs as-
sociated with these logs suggest that at one time they were thought
to have magical powers. According to a variety of folk beliefs, a
burning Yule log or its charred remains could not only protect a
household from evil powers, but also confer health, fertility, luck,
and abundance.
History
Many writers trace the Yule log back to the ancient pagan holiday of
Yule. Although little can be determined for certain regarding the
early history of this celebration, most authors agree that it included
the burning of great bonfires. The earliest historical record mention-
ing a Yule log for the fireplace, however, comes from medieval Ger-
many. German documents from this time contain a number of ref-
erences to such logs. At least one writer traces the French Yule log
back to a medieval tax that required peasants to bring an enormous
log to the local manor house each year on Christmas Eve {see also
Europe, Christmas in Medieval).
In England, however, the custom can only be traced back as far as
the seventeenth century. The English had a number of names for the
logs, including Yule log. Yule clog, Christmas log, and Christmas block.
The English poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674) wrote a poem in which
he described the customs and beliefs surrounding the Yule log in
Devonshire, England. Herrick's householders lit their "Christmas
log" using a fragment of the previous year's log. Moreover, they ser-
enaded the burning log with music in order to coax good luck and
abundance from it. Lines from another of Herrick's poems advised
that the singed remains of the Yule log could protect the household
850
Yule Log
against evil during the coming year. By the nineteenth century the
Yule log could also be found at Christmas celebrations in Germany,
France, northern Italy, Serbia, and most of northern Europe.
Selection and Preparation
The Yule log was bigger than the usual chunk of wood tossed on the
evening fire. In some places tree trunks or parts of tree trunks were
used. The Scots preferred the trunk of a birch tree, dried and stripped
of leaves and bark. Hence, the Scottish saying, "He's a bare as a birk
on Yule e'en," meaning "He's very poor." The French had many
names for the Yule log. In Provence it was known as a calignaou, but
in other areas it was called a chalendal or a trefoir. In Provence people
believed that the best Yule logs were taken from fruit trees. The Serbs
chose their log from green oak, olive, or beech trees. In some parts of
England people scoured the countryside for a Yule log on Candle-
mas. They set it aside to dry during the warm weather, thereby pre-
paring an evenly burning log for the following Christmas.
Ceremonies and Superstitions
The selection of the log and its entrance into the house were often
accompanied by rituals and invocations. The Serbs poured wine on
the log, sprinkled it with grain or other foodstuffs, made the sign of
the cross over it, and officially welcomed it into the home with a
blessing. In Provence, France, people sprinkled wine over the log
and blessed it in the name of the Trinity. Moreover, as the Provengal
family trooped out to get their log, they sang songs requesting that
fertility and abundance grace their family and their farm. Before
burning the log they drew a human figure on it in chalk. In other
areas, a human figure was carved onto the log. In Brittany, France,
the oldest and youngest family members lit the log together, while
offering a prayer to Jesus. Another popular custom in many areas
advocated decking the log with ribbons and greenery.
Many superstitions attached themselves to the Yule log. In England
many people believed that maidens should wash their hands before
touching it. If they didn't, the log would not burn well. Other English
folk beliefs warned that if a barefoot or squinting person came into
the house while the log was lit, ill luck was sure to follow. According
851
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
to some folk beliefs, the shadows cast by the light of the Yule log
could be read as omens.
Lighting the Log
In many places tradition demanded that the new Yule log be lit with a
fragment of last year's log. In some areas people set flame to the Yule
log on Christmas Eve, in other places on Christmas morning. Custom
commonly dictated that the log be kept burning continuously on
Christmas Day. If the fire went out, bad luck would dog the house-
hold during the coming year. In some parts of Italy and England the
852
Yule Log
log was kept burning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas.
English families whose logs went out during the Twelve Days often
found it difficult to relight them. In some areas folk beliefs warned
that it was unlucky to lend fire to a neighbor during these days, a
belief that can be traced back to the Roman celebration of Kalends.
Some towns kept communal fires burning for the purpose of lending
flame to the unlucky folk whose fires went out. Greek folklore also
advised householders to keep a fire in the hearth every day between
Christmas and Epiphany. According to Greek folk beliefs, the fires
warded off the evil elves known as the kallikantzari {see also Greece,
Christmas in).
Gifts and Blessings
In some places Christmas gifts were distributed around the Yule log.
In past times parents in some parts of Italy lit the Yule log, blindfold-
ed their children, and instructed the tots to hit the burning Yule log
with sticks, thereby releasing magical sparks. While the children
were doing so, the parents brought out the children's gifts. When
their blindfolds were removed the delighted children fell upon the
gifts magically provided by the log. Eventually, the Italians adopted
the Christmas pyramid as a way of displaying Christmas decora-
tions, foods, and gifts. Nevertheless, they call the pyramid a ceppo,
which means "log" in Italian. Only the name remains as a clue to
the existence of an earlier custom. A similar custom was once prac-
ticed in Burgundy, France. Parents instructed their children to say
their prayers in another room while they hid some treats underneath
the log. When the children returned they hit the log with a stick to
make it bring forth its hidden treasures.
Widespread beliefs attributed special powers to the remains of the
Yule log. Many people spread the ashes on their fields to increase the
fertility of the land. In addition, families often guarded a charred
chunk of the log in their homes in the belief that it deflected evil forces
from the household and contained curative powers. Folk beliefs found
across Europe attributed many powers to the ashes, including the
power to prevent chilblains, cure toothaches, rid farm animals of para-
sites and disease, make cows calve and poultry lay, keep mice out of
the corn, and protect the house from lightning and fire.
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Decline
Yule logs fell out of favor in the nineteenth century. Their disappear-
ance coincided with the decline in the importance of fires as sources
of household light and warmth. This, in turn, led to the disappear-
ance of large fireplaces. Indeed, today's tiny ornamental fireplaces
cannot accommodate a proper Yule log. In France a trace of the Yule
log remains in a popular log-shaped Christmas cake called a buche
de Noel, or "Christmas log."
Further Reading
Bragdon, Allen D. Joy Through the World. New York: Dodd, Mead, and
Company, 1985.
Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City,
N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
Frazer, lames. The New Golden Bough. Thomas Caster, ed. New York: S. C.
Phillips, 1959.
Hole, Christina. Christmas and Its Customs. New York: M. Barrows and
Company, 1958.
Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
lames, E. O. Seasonal Feasts and Festivals. 1961. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.:
Omnigraphics, 1993.
Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit,
Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Muir, Frank. Christmas Customs and Traditions. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Italy. Chicago: World Book-Childcraft Inter-
national, 1979.
%«
854
Yule Straw
qPjq^<^qS'*'^qS'Qe'*qS''^*'^Qe'*'*qS'*'^'^'^*'^'^|^'^'^*'^qS'i^'^qS''^*qS'^
^fef
Yufe straw
In Norway, Sweden, Estonia, and Finland decorations made out of
straw appear in homes and shops during the Christmas season.
These ornaments may represent the remnants of the old custom of
sleeping on a straw bed at Christmas time. In Poland and Lithuania
people do different things with Yule straw. There they use it to tell
fortunes on Christmas Eve.
Straw Beds
In Norway the straw bed can be traced back to the Middle Ages.
Medieval Europeans often scattered fresh straw on the floor for spe-
cial occasions. This may have served to increase cleanliness and de-
crease odors, especially in dwellings with earthen floors. In Norway
all members of a household would sleep on the straw-covered floor
instead of in their beds at Christmas time. Several explanations have
been offered for this custom. Christian interpretations suggest that
the practice represented the pious desire that rich and poor should
share the same conditions at Christmas time. Moreover, the custom
reminded one of the only kind of bed that the Holy Family could
find on the night Jesus was born. Medieval records contain com-
plaints about the loose behavior of some of those practicing this
855
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
pious custom, however. Other authors suggest that the custom sur-
vived from pagan fertility rituals. Still others connect it with old folk
beliefs concerning Christmas ghosts. Belief in the seasonal appear-
ance of the dead may itself date back to pagan Yule celebrations.
Whatever its origin, the belief in the yearly reappearance of the dead
lived on until the nineteenth century in Norway. According to this
belief, the ghosts of one's ancestors and others associated with the
homestead returned during the Christmas season. Folk traditions
warned of the actions unhappy ghosts might take and advised fami-
lies on how best to placate the spirits. One tradition suggested that
the family vacate their beds in order that the ghosts might rest com-
fortably.
Straw Magic
The straw spread on the floor for Christmas acquired certain magical
properties from its role in the observance of the holiday. The dreams
one had while sleeping on the Christmas straw were often held to
be prophetic. The grains falling from the straw to the floor gave clues
about the quality of the coming harvest and even about the fate of
individual family members in the coming year. Out of respect for its
mysterious powers, people did not simply discard the straw at the
end of the Christmas season. Until as late as the nineteenth century
people spread the Yule straw in the fields hoping to improve the
coming harvest. They also fed it to sick cattle as medicine and twist-
ed it into ornamental crosses.
Straw Decorations
Although the beliefs that supported the old practices have died out,
the custom of decorating with straw at Christmas time remains
throughout Estonia and Scandinavia. Popular shapes include mobiles,
goats, stars, and angels. In past days the mobiles were known as
"crowns." They consisted of several straw rings hung with a multitude
of diamond-shaped straw ornaments. In some areas of Norway these
mobiles were fashioned from the Yule straw. The straw goat originat-
ed in Sweden, where it survives as a reminder of the Yule goat who,
in the past, brought children their Christmas gifts.
856
Yule Straw
Straw Fortunes
Lithuanian families often strew their Christmas Eve table with straw,
which they then cover with a white tablecloth before setting out plates
and utensils. The hay reminds everyone that Mary gave birth to Jesus
in a stable. After dinner Lithuanians enjoy telling fortunes. One old
folk charm requires everyone seated at the table to reach under the
tablecloth and pull out a straw. For an unmarried person, a short, fat
straw predicts a short, fat boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. A long, thin
straw assures one of attracting a tall, thin partner. Married people
interpret the same signs in a different fashion. The long, thin straw
means a year of hardship while a fat straw indicates abundance.
In Poland, too, people tuck Yule straw under the tablecloth on Christ-
mas Eve. Girls can predict their marital fortunes by reaching under
the cloth and drawing out a straw. Those who pick a green straw are
sure to marry soon, while those who select a withered straw will
continue to wait. Yellow straws mean a life without marriage, and
short straws indicate an early death.
Further Reading
Foley, Daniel J. Christmas the World Over. Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Books,
1963.
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Norway Past and Present. Oslo, Norway: Johan
Grundt Tanum Forlag, 1970.
Ross, Corinne. Christmas in Scandinavia. Chicago: World Book, 1977.
857
1^
Zagmuk
Akitu, Babylonian New Year, Zagmug
Some writers trace elements of traditional European Christmas cele-
brations back to ancient Mesopotamian new year festivities. Indeed,
an examination of the Zagmuk, or Akitu, festivals of ancient Meso-
potamia reveals some striking resemblances to European celebra-
tions of Twelfth Night and the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Myths
Two thousand years before the birth of Christ, the Mesopotamians, a
people of the ancient Middle East, celebrated their new year festival
around the time of the spring equinox. The land once occupied by
the ancient Mesopotamians now lies within the modern nation of
Iraq. The Sumerians, who inhabited southern Mesopotamia, called
their version of the festival "Zagmuk," while the Babylonians called
it "Akitu." Experts believe that the festival lasted eleven or twelve
859
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
days. It honored the yearly renewal of the world by the sun god
Marduk, who created the world out of chaos. The people viewed the
last days of the year as a time of decay. The forces of life and order
were weak, and the forces of death and chaos were strong. To pre-
vent the god of chaos and destruction from gaining control, the sun
god Marduk must again defeat him in battle.
Ceremonies
The ceremonies enacted during Zagmuk reflected these beliefs.
Priests recited the lengthy epic describing the original victory of
Marduk over the forces of disorder. The king also played a special
role in new year observances. In the temple of Marduk, the high
priest ceremonially stripped the king of power and rank, reinstating
him only after the king had knelt and sworn to the god that he had
always acted in accordance with the god's will. Some scholars pro-
pose that Mesopotamian beliefs dictated that the king die at the end
of the year in order to descend into the underworld and aid Marduk
in his yearly battle. Historical evidence suggests that a mock king
was selected from among the ranks of criminals. During the time of
the festival, he was given all the luxuries and privileges that the real
king enjoyed. At the end of the festival, however, some scholars
believe that the mock king was executed and sent to the underworld
in place of the real king. Other scholars doubt that this occurred.
According to another custom, the king and a woman from the tem-
ple reenacted the marriage of the god Marduk and his consort.
Popular Customs
Popular customs and festivities evoked not only the epic struggle
between the forces of order and disorder, but also the joyful celebra-
tion of the birth of the new year. In anticipation of Marduk's victory,
the people staged mock battles between the gods, watched the
burning of ceremonial bonfires, gave gifts, paid visits, feasted, and
paraded in masquerade {see also Kalends; Saturnalia).
Similarities
Some of the customs and folk beliefs associated with Zagmuk re-
semble those of medieval European celebrations of the Twelve Days
860
Zagmuk
of Christmas and Twelfth Night {see also Europe, Christmas in
Medieval). Similar acts of revelry and topsy-turvy events character-
ized the observance of both festivals. During the Twelve Days of
Christmas, mock kings and bishops assumed temporary authority,
costumed figures masqueraded through the streets, and people
feasted together and lit special fires {see also Boy Bishop; Feast of
Fools; Feast of the Ass; Lord of Misrule; Mumming; Yule; Yule
Log). Moreover, both Zagmuk and the Twelve Days of Christmas
were celebrated at the end of the calendar year. Folk beliefs associat-
ed with both festivals warned that the waning of the year unleashed
potentially destructive supernatural forces {see also Berchta; Christ-
mas Lads; Ghosts; Kallikantzari; Knecht Ruprecht; Wild Hunt;
Yule). Finally, the length of these festivals — eleven or twelve days —
presents another interesting similarity. Because both festivals were
observed at the end of the year, some experts suggest that these fes-
tival days represented a kind of intercalary period, the additional
11.25 days needed to reconcile the lunar year of 354 days to the solar
year of 365.25 days.
Further Reading
Count, Earl W. iOOOYears of Christmas. New York: Henry Schuman, 1948.
Gaster, Theodor. New Year: Its History, Customs, and Superstitions. New York:
Abelard- Schuman, 1955.
Smith, Jonathan Z. "Dying and Rising Gods." In Mircea Eliade, ed. The
Encyclopedia of Religion. Volume 4. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
^Vt^
861
APPENDIX 1
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This bibliography lists all books and articles consulted for this volume.
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Ann, Martha, and Dorothy Myer Imel. Goddesses in World Mythology. Santa
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Appelbaum, Diana Karter. Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American
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Armstrong, Edward A. The Folklore of Birds. Second edition, revised and
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Aveni, Anthony. Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Cultures. New York:
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
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Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
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885
APPENDIX 2
Web Sites
This appendix furnishes addresses for web sites offering informa-
tion on a wide variety of Christmas-related topics.
Christmas Around the World
International
This site provides links to pages describing Christmas celebrations m
CT*
en
around the world, sponsored by Coral Technologies, Inc.: ^
http://www.santaclaus.com/world.html
Australia
The following web site, sponsored by the Australian government's
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the
Arts, offers information on Christmas celebrations in Australia:
http://www.acn.gov.au/articles/1998/ll/xmas.htm
The Australian National Botanic Gardens sponsors a page on native
plants associated with Christmas. Gives photos as well as text from
Australian Native Plants by John Wrigley and Murray Fagg (1996):
http://www.anbg.gov.au/christmas/christmas.html
Bulgaria
"Wonderland Bulgaria," a web site maintained by Iliana Rakilovska,
Irina Simeonova, Maria Nankova, and Kamen Minchev, furnishes
information on the history, population, folklore, and geography of
Bulgaria. For information on Bulgarian folk festivals, see:
http://www.omda.bg/engl/ethnography/festivals.html
887
OJ
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
Canada
A site sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and Canadian
Heritage presents research on Christmas customs in Canada and
France, with bibliography:
http://www.culture.fr:80/culture/noel/angl/noel.htm
Estonia
"Christmas Customs in Estonia," an article posted on the web by
Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is available at:
http://www.mfa.ee/estonia/kat_174/1191.html
Ethiopia
A site sponsored by the Ethiopia Tourism Commission:
http://www.visitethiopia.org/cultatt.htm
en Finland
y5 Christmas site sponsored by the Finnish Embassy in Washington,
-g D.C.:
^ http://www.finland.org/xmas.html
France
A site sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and Canadian
Heritage presents research on Christmas customs in Canada and
France, with bibliography:
http://www.culture.fr:80/culture/noel/angl/noel.htm
Germany
The German Embassy in Washington, D.C., maintains a number of
pages describing German Christmas foods and customs on its web
site. Go to the site listed below, click on "search," and enter the word
"Christmas":
http://www.germany-info.org
German customs, holidays, and traditions page, offering informa-
tion on many German holidays and festivals, including Christmas,
posted by German instructor Robert J. Shea, Missouri:
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/customs.htm
Web Sites
Ghana
The following page, posted by the Rev. Peter E. Adotey Addo, a writer
and United Methodist minister born in Ghana, describes Christmas
celebrations in his native country:
http://www.addo.ws/afishapa.htm
For a short story by the Rev. Peter Addo describing a boy's Christmas
in Ghana, see:
http://www.southerncrossreview.0rg/3/fireedit.html
India
Kerala Journal has posted "A Boy's Easter, and Christmas too," an
essay by Thomas Palakeel, a professor of English literature at Bradley
University. It describes a boy's Christmas in Kerala, India:
http://www.shelterbelt.com/KJ/eastchrist.html
Jamaica
Past and present Jamaican Christmas customs, sponsored by Xavier (^
Murphy, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida: tn
http://www.jamaicans.com/culture/christ90.htm fo
Latvia
"Latvian Seasonal Holidays," an article written by Mera Mellon of
the University of Latvia's Center for Ethnic Studies and posted to
the web by the Latvian Institute, located in Riga, Latvia:
http://www.latinst.lv/seasonal_holidays.htm
Lebanon
An article titled "Lahhoud Attends Christmas Mass at Bkirki," pub-
lished in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 26, 1998, posted on news@
Lebanon.com:
http://www.lebanon.com/news/local/1998/12/26.htm
Lithuania
The Lithuanian Folk Culture Center, located in Vilnius, Lithuania,
offers excerpts from two books on Lithuanian folk customs, Lithua-
nian Roots, edited by Rytis Ambrazevicius:
http://www.lfcc.lt/publ/roots/nodel.html
889
a*
en
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
and The Lithuanians: An Ethnic Portrait, by Juozas Kurdirka:
http://www.lfcc.lt/publ/thelt/nodel.html
The Anthology of Lithuanian Ethnoculture contains an article entitled
"Lithuanian Customs and Traditions" at:
http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/customs/christmas.html
Merry Christmas in Foreign Languages
The Donnell Library Center, of the New York Public Library, main-
tains a web site listing common phrases in 26 different languages.
For "Merry Christmas," see:
http://www.nypl.0rg/branch/central_units/d/f/expressions/list/
merryc.htm
Travelang.com, a commercial web site dedicated to providing prod-
ucts and services useful to travelers and students of foreign lan-
guages, offers a page that translates the phrase "Merry Christmas"
and "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" into a wide variety of
V foreign languages:
y5 http://www.travlang.com/languages/christmas.html
XI
ai
^ Mexico
Explains Mexican Christmas customs, sponsored hy Mexico Connect,
a web magazine published by Conexion Mexico S.A. de C.V.:
http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_ /feature/xmasindex.html
Mexico Online, online information and consulting service, offers page
on Christmas in Mexico:
http://www.mexonline.com/xmas.htm
Norway
Portrait of Christmas in Norway, sponsored by the Royal Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
http://odin.dep.no/ (Click on "Language," "English," "History, cul-
ture, geography, recreation," then scroll down to "Christmas in
Norway")
Poland
Description of Polish superstitions and traditions surrounding Christ-
mas, sponsored by Internet Polska:
http://www.polishworld.com/christmas/
890
Web Sites
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
Christmas Customs
Advent
Bernadotte School in IHiallerup, Denmark, offers customs for each
day of Advent, submitted by elementary school students around the
world:
http://www.algonet.se/~bernadot/christmas/calendar.html
Epicurious Foods (a division of CondeNet., Inc.) offers recipes from
Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines for each day in Advent:
http://food.epicurious.com/c_play/c02_advent/advent.cgi
The German Embassy in Washington, D.C., offers a page describing
Advent customs in Germany:
http://www.germany-info.org/xmas/ch_16.html
I
Advent Wreath ^
This page, sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
offers an introduction to the use of the Advent Wreath in religious
services:
http://www.elca.org/dcm/worship/worship_planning/church_
year/christmas_cycle.html
Amish Christmas
'An Amish Christmas," by Brad Igou, posted on the web site of
Amish Country News, a monthly visitors guide to Lancaster, Penn-
sylvania's Amish Country:
http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/amishChristmas.htm
"Auld Lang Syne"
The World Burns Club furnishes a history of the song "Auld Lang
Syne" on its web site:
http://www.worldburnsclub.com/newsletter/auld_lang_syne_
what_about.htm
"Burns Country," a web site devoted to the promotion and enjoy-
ment of the works of Robert Burns, includes the "Auld Lang Syne"
C/3
en
891
Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, 2nd Edition
entry from the Robert Burns Encyclopedia:
http://www.robertburns.0rg/encyclopedia/AuldLangSyne.5.shtml
Ceremony of Lessons and Carols
Cambridge University's King's College Chapel maintains a web site
which offers information on its famous Ceremony of Lessons and
Carols service:
http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/ninelessons/
"Charlie Brown Christmas, A"
The Charles M. Schulz Museum, located in Santa Rosa, California,
offers a web site with information on Schulz and his achievements:
http://www.charlesmschulzmuseum.org
Children's Letters
^ North Pole, Inc., an Icelandic organization that sends out return let-
y5 ters to children who write to Santa Claus in Iceland:
http://www.santa.is
ai
Christingle
The Moravian Church in America offers a page on the Christingle at
its web site:
http://www.moravian.org/faq/christingle.html
The Royal School of Church Music, a non-profit organization dedi-
cated to promoting all styles of church music in all denominations,
offers information on Christingle services at its web site:
http://www.rscm.com/sundaybysunday/christingle_services.htm
Christmas Card
The Greeting Card Association's web site:
http://www.greetingcard.org/
Victoriana.com, a site dedicated to history buffs and antique hunt-
ers interested in the Victorian age, offers the following page, which
furnishes color photos of Victorian Christmas cards:
http://www.victoriana.com/christmas/default.htm
892
Web Sites
A Christmas Carol
Introduction to and background for A Christmas Carol posted by the
Dickens Project, an educational project of a consortium of Univer-
sity of California scholars:
http://humwww.ucsc.edu/dickens/dea/ACC/ACC.index.html
Christmas History and Folklore
Victoriana.com, a site aimed at history buffs and antique hunters inter-
ested in the Victorian era, provides pages that offer text and description
of Victorian Christmas foods, decorations, toys, crafts, cards, and trees:
http://www.victoriana.com/christmas/default.htm
The magazine History Today maintains a website which offers users
the ability to search past issues by subject. Several articles on historical
aspects of Christmas are available, some on the web, some through
back order only:
http://www.historytoday.com
Freetown Village, a living history museum located in Indianapolis, ^
Indiana, offers a brief description of its reenactment of an 1870s ^
Christmas in a settlement of newly freed African Americans. Go to
its web site and click on "special events":
http://www.freetown.org/
About. com's Urban Legends and Folklore site provides information
on many aspects of Christmas lore:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/msubxmas.htm
Christmas Markets
A site sponsored by the German Information Center in New York
and the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., contains a page on
the Christ Child Market:
http://Germany-info.org/ (Search "Christmas market")
The November/December 2001 Newsletter of the Scandinavia
Tourism Board of North America offers information on holiday cele-
brations in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden at:
http://www.goscandinavia. com/frnewsletter.html
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Christmas Tree
The National Park Service's page on the National Christmas Tree in
Washington, D.C.:
http://www.nps.gov/ncro/PublicAffairs/NationalChristmasTree.htm
The National Christmas Tree Association's web site:
http://www.realchristmastrees.org/
The National Park Service furnishes a page on the Nation's Christ-
mas Tree at:
http://www.nps.gov/seki/xmastree.htm
"The Spirit of the Season Seen in the General Grant Sequoia, the Na-
tion's Living Christmas Tree," a news release article from the United
States Geological Survey, can be found at this address:
http://www.usgs.gov/public/press/public_affairs/press_releases/pr
1537m.html
The web site for the Sanger District Chamber of Commerce offers
some information about the trek to the tree at:
http://www.sanger. org/ events. html#trek
Christmas Village
Department 56's web site offers a brief history of the company and
its products:
http://www.dept56.com/history.asp
"Christmas Villages," a page from the Christmas Traditions in France
and Canada exhibit, sponsored by the Virtual Museum of Canada:
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Noel/angl/village.htm
Commercialism
A site sponsored by Alternatives, a Christian non-profit group advo-
cating simpler living and less wasteful holiday celebrations:
http://www.simpleliving.org
"Simplify the Holidays" pamphlet posted at the Center for a New
American Dream web site:
http://www.newdream.org/holiday/index.html
894
Web Sites
Epiphany
The following article by the Rev. Thomas Fitzgerald offers informa-
tion on Greek Orthodox "Special Services and Blessings," including
Epiphany. It appears on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Ameri-
ca's web site:
http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7113.asp
Glastonbury Thorn
"Magical Glastonbury," an article by Geoffrey Ashe, describes the
history and legends associated with Glastonbury, England, posted
by Britannia Internet Magazine:
http://www.britannia.com/history/glastonl.html
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The web site for the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden,
located in the author's hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, of-
fers a brief biography of Theodor Geisel, images of previously un- n
published art work, and a listing of local Seuss-related events:
http://www.catinthehat.org/index.html
Jonkonnu
The Bahamas Tourism Office provides information on Jonkonnu at:
http://www.bahamas.com/culture/junkanoo/index.htm
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The New York Historical Society maintains a web exhibit on the
parade at:
http://www.nyhistory.org/macyday/index.html
Mumming
The Philadelphia Department of Recreation's page on the Philadel-
phia Mummers Parade:
http://www.phila.gov/recreation/mummers/index.html
Nativity Legends
The Marian Library and International Marian Research Institute,
hosted by the University of Dayton, posts "The Mary Page." This
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searchable site contains a summary of the ilower legends associated
with the Blessed Virgin Mary:
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/main.html
Nativity Scene
This site provides a wealth of information concerning Canadian and
French Christmas traditions and contains pages treating the history
of the Nativity scene, sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture
and Canadian Heritage:
http://www.culture.fr/culture/noel/angl/noel.htm
The "Creche Herald" newsletter, a publication for Nativity scene
enthusiasts:
http://www.op.net/~bocassoc/crechel.htm
Peace of Christinas
City of Turku, Finland, site:
http://www.christmascity.com
Putz
"The Putz," a page from the Moravian Church in America's web site at:
http://www.moravian.org/faq/putz.html
An explanation of the Moravian Christmas putz offered by East Hills
Moravian Church, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania:
http://easthillsmc.org/putz.html
An official site of the Moravian Church in America that offers a vari-
ety of information about Moravian beliefs and practices:
http://www.moravian.org
Pyramid
The German Embassy in Washington, D.C., offers a page describing
the Christmas pyramid on its web site:
http://www.germany-info.org/xmas/ch_15.html
St. Nicholas's Day
A site sponsored by the Netherlands Board of Tourism:
http://www.holland.com (Search "Sinterklaas" and "St. Nicholas")
896
Web Sites
Star of Bethlehem
"The 'Stars' of Bethlehem/' a January 19, 1999, article by Jeff Kanipe,
is available through the Earth and Sky magazine web site:
http://www.earthsky.org/Features/Articles/stars.html
Urban Legends
The Urban Legends Reference Pages, sponsored by the San Fer-
nando Valley Folklore Society, collects and analyzes urban legends
and offers a page on Christmas legends:
http://www.snopes.com/ (Click on "Holidays," then "Christmas")
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Christmas Resources
Reader's Digest Christmas site gives recipes, stories, crafts, and
shopping links:
http://www.rdchristmas.com "
"A Holy Christmas," a site sponsored by United Church of Christ
minister Richard Fairchild and his wife Charlene, offers links to most-
ly religious resources posted on the web, including Advent calendars.
Advent candle-lighting liturgies. Advent preparations and medita-
tions. Advent sermons, biblical accounts and studies, Christmas his-
tory and traditions, Christmas carols and customs from around the
world, Christmas Eve and Day services, hymns, stories, poems, and
much, much more:
http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/christmaspage.html
Lists movies with Christmas themes and gives cast, director, and
release date:
http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/christmas_movie.html
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New Year's Celebrations and Customs
First Night
First Nighf''^ International hosts a web site at the following address:
http://www.firstnight.com
Football Bowl Games
The Tournament of Roses Association maintains its own web site with
detailed information on the parade and football game:
http://www.tournamentofroses.com
Happy New Year in Foreign Languages
The Donnell Library Center, of the New York Public Library, main-
tains a web site listing common phrases in 26 different languages.
^ For "Happy New Year," see:
^ http://www.nypl.0rg/branch/central_units/d/f/expressions/list
/happyn.htm
Travelang.com, a commercial web site dedicated to providing products
and services useful to travelers and students of foreign languages, of-
fers a page that translates the phrase "Merry Christmas" and "Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year" into a wide variety of foreign lan-
guages:
http://www.travlang.com/languages/christmas.html
Hogmanay
The city of Edinburgh, Scotland, has posted a web site on its Hog-
manay Festival at:
http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org
Hopping John
"The Story of Hopping John," posted by noted food writer John
Thorne on his web site at:
http://www.outlawcook.com/Fage0102.html
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Web Sites
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Mummers Parade
The Philadelphia Recreation Department maintains a page on the
Mummers Parade at:
http://www.phila.gov/recreation/mummers/index.html
Parade results, route map, photos, and other information concerning
Philadelphia mummery can be found at:
http://mummers.com
■?%
Saints and Holy Figures
Gabriel
"Gabriel the Archangel," a page available through Catholic Forum, a
web site affiliated with Liturgical Publications of St. Louis, at:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintg03.htm
Mary, Blessed Virgin
The Marian Library/International Marian Research histitute of the
University of Dayton, a Roman Catholic university with a Marian
focus, has set up a page of questions and answers about Mary at:
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/ (Click on "Questions")
C/l
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APPENDIX 3
Associations
This appendix lists groups whose missions relate to Christmas in
some way. A brief summary of the group's purpose, available publi-
cations, and full contact information accompanies each listing.
Alternatives for Simple Living
Address: 5312 Morningside Ave., P.O. Box 2787, Sioux City, lA 51106
Phone: 712-274-8875; Toll-free: 800-821-6153; Fax: 712-274-1402
Contact: Rose Ann Pridie, Office Manager
E-mail: alternatives@simpleliving.com
Web site: http://www.simpleliving.org
Founded: 1973
Publications: The Alternative Wedding Book; Beyond a Consumer Life- >
style (video); Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (video); Simplify g
and Celebrate: Embracing the Soul of Christmas; Adventures in Simple g'
Living; Simple Living 101; To Celebrate: Reshaping Holidays and Rites of 5'
Passage; Y/ltose Birthday Is It, Anyway? (Christmas annual) . en
Purpose: Promotes voluntary simplicity by educating members and
the public on alternatives to materialistic lifestyles and celebra-
tions. Runs National Alternatives Celebrations campaign, urging a
reduced reliance on commercial modes of celebration and a return
to the original meaning of holidays, especially Christmas. Suggests
donating money saved to projects that promote human welfare.
Also known as "Alternatives."
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Christmas Philatelic Club
Address: 312 Northwood Dr., Lexington, KY 40505-2104
Contact: Linda Laurence, Secretary-Treasurer
E-mail: cpc@hwcn.org
Web site: http://www.hwcn.org/link/cpc
Founded: 1969
Publications: Yule Log (bimonthly bulletin)
Purpose: Facilitates the association of stamp collectors interested in
materials relating to Christmas. Promotes the education of its mem-
bership regarding Christmas stamps and stamp collecting.
Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society (CS & CSS)
Address: 3606 S. Atherton St., State College, PA 16801-8301
Phone: 814-466-3469; Fax: 814-466 3469
Contact: Florence H.Wright, Secretary- Treasurer
E-mail: betsychuck@att.net
Founded: 1931
Publications: Green's Catalog of the Tuberculosis Seals of the World;
Mosbaugh's Red Cross Seals of the World Catalog; Mosbaugh's U.S. All
Fund Seal Catalog; Seal News (quarterly newsletter).
Purpose: Distributes the results of worldwide research on charity
and fundraising seals so that members can improve their coUec-
o
5 tions. Offers occasional lectures and slide shows.
Friends of the Creche
Address: 3619 N. Nelson Street, Arlington, VA 22207
Phone: 707-525-2016
Contact: James Govan
E-mail: JimGovan@aol.com
902
Associations
Web site: http://www.udayton.edu/mary/gallery/creches/creche
friends/html
Founded: 1999
Publications: Creche Herald (quarterly newsletter)
Purpose: Gathers information about creches (Nativity scenes) and
publicizes this Christmas tradition. Encourages creche exhibits and
inspires artists to create creches. Serves as a liaison to creche asso-
ciations in other countries and educates members on the history
and cultural diversity of creches. Hosts biennial convention.
Golden Glow of Christmas Past
Address: 6401 Winsdale Street, Golden Valley, MN 55427
Contact: Mary Morrison
E-mail: snowbaby@marymorrison.org
Web site: http://www.execpc.com/~gmoe/gg-web2
Founded: 1980
Publications: The Glow (bimonthly newsletter)
Purpose: Promotes the collection of antique Christmas ornaments,
lights, and other decorative paraphernalia (especially those made
before 1966). Collects and disseminates information about antique
Christmas decorations. Facilitates networking among collectors and
educates them through its annual convention and newsletter.
'^^
Holly Society of America, Inc.
Address: 309 Buck Street, Millville, NJ 08332-3810
Phone: 856-825-4300
Contact: Rondalyn Reeser, Secretary
E-mail: secretary@hollysocam.org
Web site: http://www.hollysocam.org
Founded: 1947
Publications: A Guide to Identification of Cultivated Ilex; Holly Pyrenes
(Seeds); Holly Society Journal (quarterly); Sources for Unusual Hollies;
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Holly and Air Pollution; How to Pick a Winner: A Guide to Competitive
Exhibition of Holly Sprigs; The Coin-Leaved Japanese Hollies; Interna-
tional Checklist of Cultivated Ilex, Part 1; Diseases of Holly in the United
States; Hollies of the Canary Islands; A Field Guide to Insect Pests of
Holly; Tips on Choosing, Planting and Caring for Your Holly; Inter-
national Checklist of Cultivated Ilex, Part 2; Hollies — Versatile Beauty
for the Landscape; Hollies: A Gardener's Guide; Hollies for the Landscape
in the Southeast; Ilex Cultivar Registration List, 1958-1993.
Purpose: Works to inspire interest in holly cultivation. Provides a
medium for all enthusiasts — from beginners to professional bota-
nists — to exchange information on hollies. Sponsors lectures and
publications concerning hollies and encourages scientific research
on the plant. Arranges tours of important holly collections and hosts
an annual meeting for society members and other interested par-
ties.
%«
National Christmas Tree Association
Address: 1000 Executive Parkway, Ste. 220, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-205-0944; Fax: 314-576-7988
Contact: Don Evanshanko, executive director
E-mail: info@realchristmastrees.org
^ Web site: http://www.realchristmastrees.org
.9 Founded: 1955
Publications: American Christmas Tree Journal (5 per year)
° Purpose: Promotes the interests of Christmas tree growers. Runs
■< National Christmas Tree contest. Holds national convention for
growers and provides services to them. Collects and distributes
information on Christmas trees, makes referrals.
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Associations
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Noelophiles Club
Address: 12 Passage Bourgoin, F- 75013 Paris, France
Phone: 011-33-1-68275416; Fax: 011-33-1-44249166
Contact: Jean-Claude Baudot, President
Founded: 1992
Publications: Le Pere Noel Par Le Pere Noel (book written in French).
Purpose: Promotes the collection of items related to Pere Noel
(Father Christmas), Santa Claus, and other Christmas folk figures.
Sponsors exhibits of these collections.
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Indi
ex
The Index lists customs, symbols, legends, musical and literary
works, historical figures and mythological characters, foods and bev-
erages, religious groups and denominations, geographical locations,
ethnic groups, keywords, alternate names, and other special subjects
mentioned in the text.
"A Soils Ortus Cardine" 140
Abbot of Unreason.
See Lord of Misrule
Aberdeen, Scotland 630, 631
Aborigines 42
Abrahan\ (biblical) 304, 714
Abmzzi, Italy 543
Abyssinian Church 355
Acts, Book of See Bible
A.D 385-86
Adam (biblical) 1-3, 107, 304,
583,597,598
Adam, Adolphe Charles
(1803-1856) 144
Adam and Eve Day 1-3, 428,
473,597
Adams, Abigail (1744-1818) . . . 814,
816
Adams, lohn (U.S. president,
1735-1826) 814, 816
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 759
Adonis 59
Advent 3-6, 100, 161, 235, 275,
463, 464, 597
in America (colonial) .... 822-23
in Austria 546
in Bulgaria 91-92
in Ecuador 201
in Egypt 205
in England 4, 54, 741
in Estonia 224
in France 4, 644
in Germany 4, 6, 7, 10, 11,
154,276-78,414,546
in Ghana 284
in Greece 312
in Guatemala 320
in India 355
in Iran 357
in Ireland 8,359
in Lebanon 424
in Lithuania 427
in the Marshall Islands 460
Moravian 65, 67, 438
in Rome 4
in Russia 652
in Spain 4
in Switzerland 546
in Syria 751
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Advent calendar 5, 7-8, 164,
190, 224, 274, 276, 278, 421, 568
Advent candle 5, 8-9, 224, 568
See also candles;
Christmas candles
Advent wreath 5, 9, 10-11, 190,
276, 278, 352, 421, 835
See also wreath
advertising 26, 179, 180
See also Macy's;
store window displays
Aeon 218, 831
Africa 343, 387-88, 416-17
See also Egypt; Ethiopia;
Ghana; Madagascar;
Nigeria; Somalia;
South Africa; Sudan
African-American customs
and legends 21-22, 416-17,
512, 514, 520, 554, 555, 724, 803,
805-6, 825
See also slaves, American
Afrikaners 728,729
Akitu. See Zagmuk
Alabama 211
Alaska 197
Albania 581
Albert (consort of Queen Victoria,
1819-1861) 170, 784, 786
Albion, New York 707
Albuquerque, New Mexico .... 441,
626
Alexander III (tsar of Russia,
1845-1894) 576
Alexi II (patriarch of
Russian Orthodox Church,
1929- ) 654
Alfred the Great (king of
England, 849-899) .... 230, 769
Alger, Horatio (1832-1899) 566
All Saints' Day 161,467
AUSouls'Day 467,519
Almacius (fourth century) 249
Alsace, Germany 170
Alsace-Lorraine, France 56
altars 58, 316, 506, 625
Amahl and the NightVisitcns
(1951, G. C. Menotti) 457
America. See Central America;
Mexico; North America;
South America; United
States
America, colonial 13-18, 805
eggnog in 14, 203
English colonists in 14-16,
213, 627, 764, 814
games in 14, 15, 274, 764-65,
815
Moravians in 17, 67, 438
Puritans in. . . . 13, 15-16, 627, 822
slaves in 14,15,719,825
Twelfth Night in 764-65
Twelve Days of Christmas in . . 770
See also United States
American Civil Liberties
Union 530
American Greetings Company
(Cleveland, Ohio) 177
American Lung Association . . . . 159
American Revolution 171
Amiens, France 245, 463
Amish 16, 28-30, 701
Amsterdam, Netherlands ... 73, 683
Anatomie of Abuses (1583,
P. Stubbes) 628
Anchor Brewing Company
(San Francisco, CaUf.) 117
And to Think That I Saw It on
Mulbeiry Street (1937) 346
Andersen, Hans Christian
(1805-1875) 103
Angelico, Era (c. 1400-1455) 34
angels 30-32, 367, 538
and children's letters 109
908
Armenia
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and Christ Child 114
as Christmas symbol .... 164, 278
in the Gospel according
to Luke 307, 599, 714
in the Gospel according
to Matthew 309, 327, 328,
339, 390, 473
and Joseph 255, 309, 327,
328, 339, 390, 473
in legends 156, 535
as ornaments 586
and St. Nicholas 101
and shepherds 62, 140, 285,
307, 599, 714
See also Gabriel; Michael
"Angels from the Realms
of Glory" 144
Angels Mass 491
"Angels We Have Heard
On High" 143
Anglican Communion
and Advent 3, 741, 822-23
in America (colonial) 14, 16,
19, 822
in Bethlehem 62
and Christmas 13
in England 496, 614, 741
and Gaudete Sunday 275
and St. Hilary of Poitiers 667
and St. Thomas's Day 692
See also Ceremony of Lessons and
Carols; Church of England;
Episcopalian
Anglo-Saxon customs and
beliefs 846-47
animals 661
blessings of .... 92, 125, 222, 281,
430, 621, 687, 799
kindness toward 163, 569-70
lore 279, 332, 402, 430-31,
534-35, 536,724
in Nativity scenes 540, 543
sacrifice of 70, 75, 450, 715,
835, 845
slaughter of .... 75, 465, 493, 569,
663, 671, 758, 844
See also ass; bears; birds; boar;
buU; camel; dog; donkey;
goat; goose; horses; lamb;
nightingale; owl; ox; peacock;
pig; raven; reindeer; robin;
sheep; stork; swan; wren
Anklopfnachte. See Knocking
Nights
Anna (biblical) 95, 96
Annunciation 33-34, 250, 269,
471, 474, 553, 597
Antananarivo, Madagascar .... 450
Antigua, Guatemala 321
Antioch 188
Antipas (ruler of Galilee,
4 B.C.-39 A.D.) 328
apartheid 730
Apostles 429, 644, 686
See also St. John's Day;
St. Peter; St. Thomas
Appelbaum, Diana Karter 445
Appenzell Canton,
Switzerland 691
apples 2, 3, 107, 168, 170, 428,
583, 596, 597, 598
April Fools'Day 341, 733
Arabia (ancient) . . 266, 453, 454, 524
Arabic Infancy Gospel 256
Archelaus (ruler of Judea,
22B.C.-C.18A.D.) 256,309,
328
Arianism 690
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) . . 77-78,452
Arizona State University 260
Ark of the Covenant 758
Arkansas 211
Armenia 5, 35-36, 162
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Armenian Iranians 356, 357
Armenian Orthodox 5, 61, 63,
162, 188, 355, 358, 751
Armistice Day 468
Arnason, Jon 152
art depicting
angels 32
Annunciation 34
Flight into Egypt 255
Gabriel 270
Jesus 375
Joseph 391
Kronos 243
Magi 61, 457
Mary 470
saints 669, 675, 692-93
Santa Claus 566
See also wall paintings
Art School of Stockholm
(Sweden) 154
Artemis 677
Arthur (king of the Britons,
sixth century) 298, 820
Arthur, Chester A. (U.S.
president, 1829-1886) 817
Arthur, Jean (1900-1991) 368
Aschenklas. See Knecht
Ruprecht
Asgard 821
Asgardsreid. See Wild Hunt
Asia 343
See also China; India; Japan;
Philippines; Vietnam
Asians in South Africa 730
ass 164-65,220,245-46,
247-48, 535
See also donkey
Ass, Feast of the.
See Feast of the Ass
Assyrian Church 358, 751
Assyrian Iranians 356, 357
Assyrian Iraqis 358
Assyrians (ancient) 523
Astaire, Fred (1899-1987) 811
astrology 70, 453, 736-37, 739
astronomy 384-85, 453, 580,
737-39, 829-30, 831
Athenaeum (Manchester,
England) 133, 136
Athens, Greece (ancient) 47
Attenborough, Richard
(1923- ) 500
"Auguries of Innocence"
(1803, W.Blake) 840-41
"Auld Lang Syne" 37-39, 333,
370, 555
AureHan (Roman emperor,
c. 215-275 A.D.) 70, 830
Austin, Stanley 300-1
Australia . . . 40-43, 79, 146, 728, 729
Austria 153, 771-72
children's letters in 108-9
Christkindel in 114
Epiphany Eve in 221
Holy Innocents' Day in 341
Knecht Ruprecht in 409
Magi in 457
Martinmas Eve in 465
Nativity scenes in 546
New Year's Eve in 690
St. Barbara's Day in 107, 658
St. John's Day in 665
St. Nicholas's Day in .... 680, 681
St. Stephen's Day in 687
St. Sylvester's Day in .... 690, 691
St. Thomas's Day in 694, 695
autumn equinox 829
autumn festivals. . . 116, 464, 843-44
Avalon 298
Avery Fisher Hall (New York,
N.Y) 560
Axum Cathedral (Ethiopia) .... 758
910
bells
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BabaNoel 357,358
Baboushka 35, 45-46, 50, 221,
311,457
baby. New Year's 47, 549
Babylon 32, 265, 524, 739
Babylonian New Year.
See Zagmuk
Bacchus 372,835
Baddeley, Robert
(c. 1732-1794) 763
Baghdad, Iraq 358
Bahamas 79, 387, 388, 389
Bairn Bishop. See boy bishop
baked goods. See cakes;
Christmas cakes; cookies;
gingerbread
Baker, Rick 346
baking 17, 36, 191, 279, 281,
349, 359, 421, 569, 758
Balaam (biblical) 454
Balder 504-6
ballet. See The Nutcracker
balls (dances). ... 22, 216, 444, 511,
764-65, 815
Balthasar 283, 427, 451, 454,
456, 734
See also Magi
Baltimore, Maryland 21, 135
Bank of England 784
Banks, Norman 40, 146
Baptism, Feast of. See Epiphany
Baptist 13, 23, 723
Barbara branches 107, 278, 658
Bari, Italy 363, 678, 684
barring-outs 15, 20, 47-49, 215,
246, 682, 694
Bartel. See Knecht Ruprecht
Basilica of Sts. Cosmos and
Damian (Rome, Italy) 545
battles, mock 860
Bavaria, Germany 3, 278, 281,
286, 414, 598, 772
bay. See laurel
B.c 385-86
Bean King. See King of the Bean
bears 402
Beauvais, France 247
beer 225, 333, 758, 844
See also Christmas ale
Beethoven, Ludwig von
(1770-1827) 486
Befana 45, 50-51, 57, 110, 164,
221, 366, 457, 709, 765
begging customs.
See belsnickeling; Boxing
Day; boy bishop; mumming;
star boys; wassail; wren hunt
"Behold That Star" 723
Belgium . . . 153, 155, 341, 465, 468,
581, 680, 694
Belize 387,388
bells 52-55, 164
in Denmark 192
in England 54, 198-99, 215
in Ethiopia 758
in Greece (ancient) 52
in Guatemala 321
in India 355
in Ireland 360
Jewish customs 52
in Lebanon 425
legends 53, 536
in the Philippines 502, 603
Roman Catholic customs. . 53-54
in Rome (ancient) 52
in Scotland 631
in Syria 751
in the United States .... 756, 757
See also Devil's knell;
Salvation Army
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Belsnickel ... 26, 412, 701, 702, 705,
706
See also Knecht Ruprecht
belsnickeling 23, 25, 412-13,
510,520,521,594,705
Bengal, India 354-55
Benson, Edward W.
(1829-1896) 100,787
Berchta ... 50, 56-58, 221, 234, 267,
280-81, 286, 402, 409, 521, 765,
771, 807, 821
See also Frau Gaude
Berchtesgaden, Germany 717
Berlin, Germany 154
Berlin, Irving (1888-1989). . 810-11,
812-13
Bermuda 387
Bertha. See Berchta
Beta Mariam (Lalibela,
Ethiopia) 228
Bethlehem. . . . 59-63, 142, 536, 735
Christmas services in 35
massacre of the innocents
in 255, 256, 327, 339, 473
and Nativity story . . 303, 304, 307,
308, 309, 381, 383, 451, 453,
457, 472, 539, 542, 599, 714
See also Star of Bethlehem
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. . 8, 64-68,
438, 546, 633, 634
Bethlehem Steel 65
Bethlehems 546
Bible . . 102, 302, 470, 482, 628, 715,
748, 752, 836
Acts, Book of 686
Daniel 269
Genesis, Book of 1, 187, 473
Gospel according to
John 378-79, 523
Gospel according to Luke . . . 59,
62, 95, 185, 248, 249, 269, 270,
303-4, 305-7, 375, 377, 381, 383-
84, 385, 390, 440, 471, 472-73,
599, 624, 714, 736-37
Gospel according to
Matthew 59,185,255,
303-4, 305, 308-9, 326-27, 328,
339, 375, 377, 383, 384, 385, 390,
451-54, 457, 472-73, 534, 714,
736-37
Gospels . . 217-18, 303-9, 542, 570
Isaiah 165
Jeremiah 309
New Testament 11, 30, 59,
269-70
Old Testament ... 11, 30, 59, 166,
266, 269, 454, 714, 737, 758
See also Ceremony of Lessons
and Carols; Torah
birds and bird lore 34, 163, 192,
534-35, 802
See also goose; nightingale;
owl; peacock; raven; robin;
stork; swan; wren
Birmingham and Midland
Institute (England) 134
Birth of the Invincible Sun . . 69-71,
186, 230, 767, 830
Birthday of the Blessed
Virgin Mary 474
birthdays .... 185-86, 313, 421, 563
Bissel, Emily 159
Black Hellebore.
See Christmas rose
Black Peter . . . 72-73, 402, 409, 521,
681, 682, 683, 684, 705
Blake, William (1757-1827) . . 840-41
Bland, James (1854-1911) 512
Blessed Virgin. See Mary
Blessing of the Plough 611
Blessing of the Waters Day . . 36, 752
blessings. . . 125, 221, 313, 422, 428,
431, 610-11, 661, 687, 688, 851
of animals 92, 125, 222, 281,
430, 621, 687, 799
912
Byzantine Empire
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^<;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^q^QejqSjq^QejqiS).^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qeji^
of candles. See Candlemas
of Christn\as ale 116
of homes 222, 283, 432, 457,
623, 694-95, 752
with smoke 694-95
of water 222, 314, 752, 759
of wine 665
See also wassailing
blooming trees and plants at
Christmas. See Glastonbury
thorn; Nativity legends; plant
and tree customs and lore
boar 845
boar's head . . . 74-78, 215, 232, 687
"Boar's Head Carol" .... 76-77, 142
Bohemia 244, 438, 809
bonfires. See fire and bonfires
Booth, William (1829-1912). ... 697
boots as gift receptacles. . . . 716-17
Boston, Massachusetts . . . 135, 210,
211, 541, 708
Advent in 8
colonial 16
First Night in 254, 555
Boston Common 708
"Boston Hymn" (1863,
R. W. Emerson) 210
Botticelli, Sandro (1445-1510) . . 34,
457
Bouguereau, Adolphe -William
(1825-1905) 34
Boxing Day 79-81, 118
in Australia 42
in Belize 388
in England 79-81, 214,
291-92, 594, 595, 688, 770, 785,
788, 793
in South Africa 729
boy bishop . . . 82-87, 216, 234, 246,
340, 404, 437, 521, 682
boys' customs. See men's and
boys' customs
Bradford, William (1590-1657) . . 15
Brazil 89-91, 545, 717
bread 296
in Austria 695
in Bulgaria 92,93
in Ethiopia 758
in Germany 153, 154, 695
in Greece . . . 123, 312-13, 313-14
in Italy 365
in Mexico 490
in Norway 569
See also Christmas cakes;
food
Brereton, William 299
Brethren 16, 701
Bride 97
"Bring a Torch, Jeannette,
Isabella" 142
Briskin, Sam 369
Bristol, England 477
Britain. See England;
United Kingdom
Brittany, France 264, 851
Brooks, Phillips (1835-1893). . . 146
Brown, William Wells
(1815-1880) 211
Brussels, Belgium 155
Buchanan, James (U.S.
president, 1791-1868) .... 815
Buckinghamshire, England 80
Bulgaria 91-93,554,581
bull 70, 91, 321
BuUerklas. See Knecht Ruprecht
Bumba-meu-Boi 91
Burgundy, France 853
Burning of the Devil 320
Burns, Robert (1759-1796) . . 37, 333
Bush Barbara (1925- ) 531
Bush, George H. W. (U.S.
president, 1924- ) 531
Butz. See Knecht Ruprecht
Byzantine Empire 32
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cabezudos 321
Caesar Augustus (Roman
emperor, 63 B.C.-14 a.d.) . . 305,
383
Caesar, Julius (Roman emperor,
100-44 B.C.) 397,553,580
Cairo, Egypt 205
cakes 262, 295, 331, 392, 398,
490,512,616
See also Christmas cakes;
food; Twelfth Night
Cakewalk 512, 724
Calabar, Nigeria 561
calendar
early Christian 185
Egyptian 218, 831
Ethiopian 228, 758
Gregorian 35, 215, 300, 553,
579-82, 653, 669
Jewish 325
Julian . . 35, 162, 188, 255, 397, 550,
553,579-82,651,653,830-31
Philocalian 186
of saints 679, 784
See also Advent calendars
calendar candles 190
calendar reform 33, 215, 300,
579-82, 669, 764
Calends. See Kalends
California 527
mission churches 175-76
Nation's Christmas Tree .... 528,
532-33
poinsettias in 619
Rose Bowl 258
calignaou. See Yule log
Caligula (Roman emperor,
12-41 A.D.) 398
calUcantzari. See kallikantzari
Calvinism 728
Cambridge, England 100, 214
Cambridge University
(England) 100,436
camel 221, 425, 490, 560, 717,
734, 751
Campin, Robert (c. 1378-1444). . 34
Canada 39,
Amish in 29
belsnickelers in 412
Boxing Day in 79
Christingle in 113
First Night in 254
Kwanzaa in 417
mistletoe in 508
mumming in 520
Nativity scenes in 544
reindeer in 639
Remembrance Day in 468
reveillon in 645
Santa Claus in 110
Candlemas. ... 85, 95-99, 122, 162,
215, 318, 437, 474, 490, 601, 851
candles
in America (colonial) 827
in Brazil 90
on Christmas trees .... 168, 280,
588-89
in Denmark. . . 190, 192, 193, 194
in Estonia 226, 286
in Ethiopia 759
in Germany 278, 279, 280,
286, 588
and Hanukkah 324-25
in Iceland 349, 352
in Ireland 359,361,362
and Kwanzaa 417
in Lithuania 286, 428
Moravian 439
914
ceppo
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^qf^'^q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'fSj'^
in Norway 568, 569
and paradise tree 597
in the Philippines 604
and Posadas 624
and pyramids 635
in Rome (ancient) 713
in Russia 652, 654
in the United States 588-89
See also Advent candle;
Advent wreath; calendar
candles; Candlemas;
Christingle; Christmas
candles; Christmas symbols;
faroUtos; Ireland, Christmas
in; Plygain; pyramid;
St. Lucy's Day; Saturnalia
candy cane 164, 584, 780
Canterbury, England 629
Canute Lavard (10947-1131) . . 667
Capitol Building
(Washington, D.C.) 528
Capra, Frank (1897-1991) . . 366-70
card playing 14, 272, 274, 425,
660, 764-65
See also games
Caribbean 343,417
See also Bahamas; Jamaica;
Jonkonnu; St. Kitts-Nevis
Carnegie Hall (New York) 575
Carnival 422
carol services 62, 617
carol singing 630
in America (colonial) 824
Amish 29
in Australia 40
in England 783
in Germany 276, 280
in Iceland 351
in India 354
Moravian 439
in Poland 621
in Spain 732-33
in the United States 746, 819
See also Plygain
CaroHngian Empire 96
caroling 8
in Bulgaria 92,93
in England 213, 794, 797-99
in Ghana 285
in Greece 312, 660
in India 354, 355
in Lithuania 431
in Norway 848
in the Philippines 604, 607
in Russia 651
in South Africa 729
in Wales 795-96
See also star boys; waits
carols. See Christmas carols;
hymns
"Carols by Candlelight" .... 40-41,
146, 729
Carr,Mark 172
Carrey, Jim 345-46
Carter, Amy 531
Carter, Jimmy (U.S.
president, 1924- ) . . . 531, 815,
818, 819
Carter, Robert 823
Carter, Rosalynn (1927- ) . . 815, 818
Caspar 283,451,454,456
See also Magi
Cathedral of Axum (Ethiopia). . . 758
Celtic customs and legends .... 75,
97,298,504,838,843-44
Celts in Iceland 349
Central America
See Belize; El Salvador;
Guatemala; Hispanic;
Honduras; Nicaragua
Central Moravian Church
(Bethlehem, Pa.) 67, 438
ceppo 636
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Ceremony of Lessons and
Carols 5, 100-1, 144, 146,
214, 787
Ceres 97
cert 101, 402, 681
Chaldea 455
Chaldean Church 358
Chaldean Iranians 357
Chaldean Iraqis 358
chalendal. See Yule log
ChamberUn, Clarence 446
Chapel Royal (England) . . 266, 302,
524
charity 29, 111, 484, 485
in America (colonial) 14
in Brazil 91
in Denmark 192
in Ecuador 201
in England .... 79, 133, 134, 693,
770, 783, 784, 785
in France 291
in Germany 283, 694
in Ireland 361
in Lebanon 658-59
in Syria 658-59
in the United States 25-26,
177,180,293,814,816-17
See also Salvation Army;
star boys
Charles II (king of England,
1630-1685) 631
"A Charlie Brown
Christmas" 102-5
charms .... 123, 125, 163, 214, 281,
314, 330, 490
See also King of the Bean;
plum pudding
cherries 583
cherry blossoms 658
cherry tree . . . 106-7, 164, 257, 278,
658
"The Cherry Tree Carol" . . 107, 391
Chicago, Illinois 444, 745
Childermas 339-40
See also Holy Innocents' Day
children's customs and lore ... 272,
291, 343, 577, 678, 748-50
and Advent 5, 6, 7, 274
in America (colonial) 825
Amish 29
in Armenia 35, 36
in Australia 41
in Austria . . 114, 341, 409, 410, 411
in Belgium 341,468
in Brazil 89,90,717
in Czechoslovakia 101
in Denmark 193, 849
in England . . . 113, 214, 253, 290,
340, 594, 693, 741, 786, 798-99
in Estonia 224, 227, 716
in Ethiopia 229, 758
in Finland 849
in France . . 261, 262-64, 716, 853
in Germany ... 6, 7, 57, 114, 154,
276-77, 278, 279, 280, 283, 341,
409, 410, 411, 414, 468, 584,
636, 716, 780
in Ghana 284, 285
in Greece 401, 661
in Guatemala 320, 321
and Hanukkah 323, 325
and Holy Innocents' Day . . . 340,
341
in Hungary 341
in Iceland 151, 152, 351, 716
in India 354, 355
in Iran 274, 357
in Ireland 360, 361
in Italy 50-51, 221, 363, 364,
365, 545, 670-71, 716, 765, 853
in Latvia 422
in Lebanon 425-26, 658-59
in Lithuania 427, 432
in the Marshall Islands 462
in Mexico. . 274, 488, 489, 490, 717
916
Christianity, western
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3Sj*'*qf^qP>q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^^^
Moravian 439,633
in the Netherlands . . . 72-73, 716
in Nigeria 561
in Norway 570,849
in the Philippines . . . 604, 607-8,
609, 717
in Poland 620, 621-22
in Russia ... 45, 310, 652, 653-54,
726
in Scotland 253, 330-31
in South Africa 729
in Spain . . . 716-17, 731, 732, 734
in Sweden 394, 668
in Switzerland 114
in Syria 658-59, 751, 752
in the United States. . . 20-21, 25,
26, 175, 444, 445, 509, 516, 541,
584, 588, 626, 723, 833
in Wales 795-96
in Yugoslavia 341
See also Posadas; St. Nicholas's
Day; Santa Claus; shoes;
star boys; stockings;
students' customs
children's letters to gift bringers . . 5,
51, 108-11, 213, 261, 351, 366,
699, 707, 733
chimney
and Father Christmas . . . 110, 213
and Hertha 58
and St. Nicholas ... 72, 410, 681,
683, 705
and Santa Claus. . . . 699, 703, 742,
790
China 237-38, 581
Chrismon tree 5, 112
Christ Child 154, 167-68, 292,
701-2, 723-24, 743
See also Christkindel
Christian denominations
(eastern). See Orthodox
Christian denominations
(western). See Anglican;
Church of England;
Episcopalian; Protestant;
Roman Catholic
Christian symbols 34
Christianity
early 71,249,381-82,400,
554, 563
spread of 70, 115, 228, 349,
459, 517, 567, 592, 603, 618, 808,
838, 845, 847
Christianity, eastern
and Adam and Eve Day 1
and Advent 3
and Bethlehem 62-63
in Bulgaria 91
and Epiphany 217, 218, 220,
222, 752
and Feast of the
Circumcision 250
in India 355
in Iran 356
in Iraq 358
and Joseph 391
and Magi 453
See also Orthodox
Christianity, western 535, 597,
598, 599, 767
and Advent 3
and Annunciation 33
and bells 53-54
in Bethlehem 62
and boy bishops 82, 85-86
and Epiphany 217, 218, 220,
222, 752
in Europe (medieval) .... 230-31
and Feast of the
Circumcision 250
and Joseph 391
and Magi 453
and mumming 517
and New Year's 550-51, 553
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Christingle 113-14
Christkindel 17, 25, 26, 113,
114-15, 279, 410, 682-83, 701,
706, 708, 807
Christmas (origins of word) . . . 188
Christmas. See Father Christmas
Christmas ale 115-17, 225, 232,
351, 567, 569, 693, 695, 798
See also beer; drinking
Christmas bell (plant) 40
Christmas block. See Yule log
Christmas bonus 118-19, 181,
201,293
Christmas Boys. See Christmas
Lads
Christmas bush 40
Christmas cakes 120-23, 279,
359, 361, 854
See also cakes
Christmas candles .... 124-25, 165
in Denmark 124, 125, 191
in Ireland 124, 359, 360, 361
Moravian 65, 67
See also candles
Christmas cards 18, 28, 108,
126-31,164,335,554
in Brazil 91
in Denmark 193
in England .... 126-29, 213, 373,
647-48, 787
in Ghana 284
in Ireland 359
in the Philippines 604-6
in South Africa 728
in the United States 19, 23,
27,129-31,181,818,819
See also letter writing
A Christmas Carol (1843,
C. Dickens) ... 26, 132-38, 240,
287, 345, 366, 770, 784
Christmas carols . . . 139-48, 165-66,
235, 337, 372, 391, 457, 552, 563,
808
in America (colonial) 15
in Denmark 193
in England . . 98, 141-42, 143, 144,
213, 214, 479, 686-87, 786-87
in France 142, 143, 262
in Germany 141, 143, 276
in Ghana 284
in Greece 312
in Lebanon 424
in Lithuania 427
in the Marshall Islands 462
Moravian 439
in Norway 570, 571
in the Philippines 604
in the United States . . . 541, 723,
725
in Wales 795
See also carol singing; caroling;
"Carols by Candlelight";
Ceremony of Lessons and
Carols; Plygain
Christmas cat 350
Christmas club . . . 148-49, 181, 817
Christmas crackers . . . 149-50, 192,
214, 728, 787
Christmas dinner
in Armenia 36
in Australia 41-42
in Brazil 90
in Bulgaria 92
in Denmark 192-93
in Ecuador 202
in England . . . 74-78, 214, 231-32,
406,419,613-16,784-85
in Greece 312-13
in Guatemala 321
in Iceland 350
in India 356
in Iran 357
in Iraq 358
in Ireland 361
in Italy 365
918
Christmas markets
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!S>Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^'^'^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^q^
in Lebanon 424, 425
in Littiuania 431
in Mexico 489
in Norway 570
in ttie Ptiilippines 608
in Poland 621
in Russia 652-53
in Soutti Africa .... 728, 729, 730
in Spain 732, 733
in the United States 697-98
See also food; meal, common
Christmas Eve 546
in Armenia 36
in Australia 40-41
and Barbara branches 658
in Bethlehem 62-63
in Brazil 90
in Canada 645
Christingle 113
in Denmark 192
in Ecuador 202
in Egypt 205
in England .... 100, 198-99, 214,
215,316,318,506,801
in Estonia 125, 225-26, 286
in Ethiopia 228
in Finland 602
in France 262-64, 536, 540,
543, 644, 716
in Germany . . . 125, 279-80, 286,
411, 536, 717, 742-43, 807
in Ghana 284
in Greece 312
in Guatemala 320, 321
in Iceland 152, 350-51
in India 354, 355
in Iran 357
in Ireland 199,360-61
in Italy 364, 365
in Latvia 421
in Lebanon 425
legends . . . 167, 360, 430-31, 535,
557, 724
in Lithuania. . 125, 274, 286, 427-
31,857
in Mexico 487, 489
Midnight Mass 491-92, 501
Moravian . . 65, 67, 113, 438, 439,
633
in Norway 567, 570
in the Philippines 502, 606-7
in Poland 620-22, 857
in Russia 536, 652, 654
in Scandinavia 208, 392
in South Africa 729
in Spain 732
in Sudan 748
in Sweden 393
in Syria 751
in the United States 20, 21, 22,
26, 440-41, 557, 601, 645, 699,
703, 724, 742-43, 744
in Wales 617
Christmas fairs. See Christmas
markets
Christmas garden. See Christmas
village; putz
Christmas His Masque
(1616, B. Jonson) . . 239, 478, 762
Christmas in July
celebrations 42-43
Christmas knock. See Julklapp
Christmas Lads 151-53, 208,
286, 350, 351, 352, 353, 402, 716,
771
Christmas Lent. See Advent
Christmas log. See Yule log
Christmas Lord. See Lord of
Misrule
Christmas markets ... 114, 153-55,
264, 276, 278, 297, 363, 544, 731
Christmas pie. See mincemeat pie
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Christmas pudding.
See plum pudding
Christmas rose . . . 156-58, 166, 262
Christmas seals . . Ill, 159, 190, 192
Christmas season .... 161-62, 217,
240, 551, 760
in America (colonial) .... 14, 824
in Brazil 89
in Bulgaria 92
in Denmark 194
in Ecuador 201,203
in England 98, 161, 162
in Estonia 224, 225
in Europe (medieval). . . . 161-62,
230-31
in France 265, 657
in Germany 282, 657, 807
in Greece 312
in Ireland 362
in Lebanon 657
in the Marshall Islands 459
in Mexico 490
in Norway 161, 163, 571, 667
in the Philippines 162, 502,
603, 609
in Poland 623
in Russia 162, 651
in Shetland Islands 777
in Spain 731
in Sweden .... 161, 667, 668, 671
in Syria 657
in the United States . . . 161, 162,
556
See also dates; Twelve Days of
Christmas
Christmas sheaf 163, 192, 570
Christmas ship 165-66
Christmas Star. See Star of
Bethlehem
Christmas symbols 164-66
in Denmark 190-91
in Germany 586
in India 354
in Poland 620
Christmas tree 18, 28, 102, 164,
165, 167-74, 174, 293, 315, 545,
633, 740
in Australia 40
in Brazil 90
in Canada 544
in Denmark 192, 193, 194
in Ecuador 202
in England . . . 170, 173, 213, 214,
319, 408, 783, 784, 786
in Estonia 224-25
in France 170, 171, 262, 716
in Germany 2-3, 153, 167,
170, 276, 278, 279, 280, 283, 292,
636, 807
in Ghana 284, 285
in Guatemala 320
history of 2, 235, 596, 636
in Iceland 350, 352
in India 354, 355
in Iran 357
in Iraq 359
in Ireland 359
and Jesse tree 376
in Latvia 421
in Lebanon 424
in Lithuania 427, 432
in the Marshall Islands 462
in Mexico 487
in Norway 568,570
in the Philippines 606
in Poland 622
in Russia 171, 554, 652, 653
in South Africa 728
in Spain 731
in Sweden 154, 668
in the United States 19, 23,
25, 171-73, 179, 293, 297, 319,
558-59, 634, 699, 707, 744, 819
920
commercial aspects
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See also Chrismon tree;
National Christmas Tree;
Nation's Christmas Tree;
ornaments
"A Christmas Tree" (1850,
C. Dickens) 287, 585-86
Christmas village 174-76
See also putz
Christmas yard. See Christmas
village
Christmastide. See Twelve Days
of Christmas
Church, Eastern.
See Christianity, eastern
Church, Francis P.
(1839-1906) 557, 789-90
Church, Western.
See Christianity, western
church ales 116-17
Church of England . . 627, 764, 784,
805
See also Anglican
Church of the Nativity
(Bethlehem) 35,59-62
Church of St. Nicholas
(Myra, Asia Minor) 678
Church of San Nicola
(Bari, Italy) 684
Church of Santa Maria in Ara
Coeli (Rome, Italy) 545
Churchill, Winston
(1874-1965) 529
Cibber, Susannah
(1714-1766) 483,484
Circumcision, Feast of the.
See Feast of the Circumcision
Civil War, American ... 19, 26, 179,
389, 512, 719
Clavius, Christoph
(1537-1612) 580
Clay, Henry (1777-1852) 815
cleaning
in Armenia 36
in Denmark 191
in Estonia 224
in Ethiopia 758
in France 261
in Germany 281
in Guatemala 320
in Iceland 350, 353
in India 354
in Ireland 359
in Latvia 421
in the Marshall Islands . . 460, 461
in Norway 569
in the Philippines 606
in Scandinavia 667
in Sweden 672
clergy . . . 244-45, 248, 551, 596, 599,
602, 603, 625, 693, 758-59
Cleveland, G rover (U.S.
president, 1837-1908) .... 589
Cleveland, Ohio 745
Clinton, Hillary Rodham
(1947- ) 815, 818
Clinton, WUiam Jefferson (U.S.
president, 1946- ) 531-32,
815, 818, 819
Clooney, Rosemary
(1928-2002) 812
CMB 221, 222, 283, 457
See also KMB
Coca-Cola Company 103, 708
cock fighting 14
Colman, Samuel (1832-1920). . 130
Cologne, Germany. . . 154, 456, 780
Colonial WUiamsburg
Foundation 826
commedia dell'arte 592, 593
Commemoration of St. Mary . . 474
commercial aspects
of Christmas . . 19, 26-27, 139-40,
162, 176-83, 284, 380, 416, 707,
780
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of New Year's 643
See also Macy's; shopping;
store window displays;
wrapping paper
communion wafers. ... 2, 430, 583,
596,597,598
Communist era 554
in Armenia 35-36
in Bulgaria 93
in Estonia 226
in Germany 587
in Latvia 422
in Lithuania 432
New Year's in 554
in Russia ... 45, 310-11, 554, 651,
653-54, 726
Conception, Feast of the
Immaculate. See Immaculate
Conception, Feast of the
concerts 67-68, 425
Congregationalist 13, 23
Conrad I (king of Germany,
d. 918) 83
Constantine I (Roman
emperor, d. 337) 690
Constantinople (ancient) . . 188, 456
Consumer Rites: The Buying and
Selling of American Holidays
(1995, Schmidt) 642
cookies 17, 191, 205, 279, 280,
295,296,365,569,584,586
CooUdge, Calvin (U.S.
president, 1872-1933) .... 173,
528,532,533,817,819
Coolidge, Grace (1879-1957). . 817,
819
Copenhagen, Denmark 194
Coptic Orthodox 205, 355, 358,
582
corning 693
Corning Glass Company
(Corning, N.Y) 587
Cornwall, England 801
costumes
in England 476, 518, 611
in Ethiopia 759
in Germany 281, 414, 771
in Guatemala 320
in Iceland 352, 353
Jonkonnu 388
in Latvia 422
in Lebanon 659
mumming 516, 518, 520
in Norway 570, 849
in Russia 520, 651
in Scandinavia 848
in Switzerland 691
in Syria 659
in the United States 21, 510,
513-14
See also masks; masquerading;
mumming; star boys
Cotton Bowl. See Southwest
Bell Cotton Bowl
Council for Church and
Countryside (England). . . . 611
Council of Basle (1435) 245
Council of Braga, second
(572) 316,335,372
Council of Chalcedon (451) ... 379
Council of Ephesus (431) 473
Council of Macon (581) 4
Council of Nicea (325) . . . 379, 580,
674, 690
Council of Tours, second
(567) . . . 230, 249, 400, 550, 767
Council of Trent (1545) 580
courtship customs. . . 507, 652, 759,
764-65, 770, 794
See also fortune -telling
Covent Garden Theater
(London, England) . . . 484, 485
"The Coventry Carol" 141
creche. See Nativity scene
922
December 25
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^i;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^q^QejqSjq^QejqiS)tSjQejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qejq^
crib. See Nativity scene
Crimean War 61
Cron\well, Oliver (1599-1658) . . 840
Crosby, Bing (1904-1977) 810,
811,812
cross (crucifix) 222, 228, 462,
568, 758, 759, 778, 856
cross-dressing ... 82, 245, 517, 631,
713, 837, 839
Cuenca, Ecuador 202
Czech customs and legends. . . 107,
409, 457, 546, 658, 680, 681, 695,
808
See also Bohemia; Moravian
daTodi,Jacapone (1228-1306) . . 141
Dadabenoely 449
daft days 329
Dallas, Texas 260
Dance of the Sixes 731
"The Dance of the Sugarplum
Fairy" {The Nutcracker, P.
Tchaikovsky) 575
Dance, Wren 839
dancing 554, 769
in America (colonial). ... 14, 764,
815, 824
in England. . . . 434, 611, 628, 769
in Ethiopia 229, 759
in Iceland 352
in Ireland 361
in Lithuania 431
in the Marshall Islands . . 459-60,
461
in Scotland 334, 631
in Spain 731
in Sudan 748
in the United States 21, 512,
723, 724
See also balls; Jonkonnu
dates
of Advent 3,4,5
of Christmas. ... 35, 162, 185-89,
230, 381-82, 553, 579-82, 828,
831, 846
of Epiphany 218
of Feast of the Circumcision . . 249
ofjesus'birth 381-86
of New Year's Day 553
of Thanksgiving 180
ofYule 846
David (king of Judea and Israel,
d. 962 B.C.) . . 59, 303, 307, 376,
715
Davies, Valentine (1905-1961). . . 498
Davis, Jefferson (president
of Confederate States,
1808-1889) 204
Days of Fate 772
Dayton's (Minneapolis,
Minn.) 745-46
De Havilland, Olivia (1916- ) . . 368
De Soto, Hernando
(c. 1500-1542) 13
dead, customs and lore
concerning the .... 467-68, 771,
844
in England 287, 647
in Estonia 125, 286
in Germany 125, 286, 464
in Iceland 352
in Ireland 467
in Latvia 286
in Lithuania. . . 125, 286, 428, 430
in Madagascar 450
in Norway .... 286, 567, 568, 856
in Scandinavia 286, 395, 845
in Scotland 467
December 25 33, 185-89
See also dates
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"Deck the Halls" .... 142, 338, 795
Deckan of the Wren 838
decorations and decorating. . . . 153-
55, 162, 168, 195, 315-19, 335,
552, 836
in America (colonial) . 15, 825-26
in churches. . . 275, 316, 337, 354,
363, 506, 543, 552, 606, 825
in Denmark 190-91
in England 213, 216, 222,
316-19, 372, 373, 649, 784, 797-
98
in Estonia 224, 856
in Europe (medieval) . . . 234, 372
in France 262, 851
in Germany . . 278, 280, 283, 292,
543
in Ghana 285
in Iceland 350, 352
in India 354, 355
in Iraq 359
in Ireland 362
in Italy 363, 364, 543
in Latvia 421
in Lebanon 424
in Lithuania 432
in Mexico 487
in Nigeria 561
in the Philippines 604-6
in Rome (ancient) . 371, 398, 503,
844
in Scandinavia 856
in Spain 731
in Sweden 395, 672, 849
in the United States . . 558, 618-19
See also greenery; holly; ivy;
kissing bough; laurel;
mistletoe; Nativity scenes;
ornaments; pyramid
Delaney, Patrick (16857-1768) . . 484
Delaware 764
Delia Robbia, Luca
(1400-1482) 826
Demre, Turkey . . . 674, 679-80, 684
Denmark. . . 352, 570, 581, 671, 772
Christmas in 190-94
Christmas candles in. . . 124, 125,
191
Christmas seals in 159, 190
Julnissen in 394
Martinmas in 465, 467
ornaments in 588
St. Thomas's Day in 694
Yule goat in 849
Department 56 175
depression 195-98
Destiny, Night of. See Epiphany
Detroit, Michigan 180, 444, 445
Devil ... 72, 157, 158, 215, 320, 411,
600, 848
Devil's knell 198-99, 215, 360
Devon, England 615, 801, 802
Devonshire, England 97, 850
Dewali 354
Dewsbury, Yorkshire,
England 199, 215
Dia de los Tres Reyes . . 220, 489, 733
dice 272, 398, 765
See also games
Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) . . 26,
132-38, 240-41, 287, 345, 366,
507, 585-86, 616, 770, 784
Dies Natalis Domini 188, 563
Diocletian (Roman emperor,
c. 245-c. 313) 385
Dionysus 47, 371, 835
Dionysus Exiguus
(c. 500-c. 560) 385-86
disguising. See masque
Divine Liturgy 662
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" . . 147
Dr. Suess's How the Grinch Stole
Christmas (2000 film) 345
924
Eisteddfods
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsi.q^i^ts6qej.^ts6qejq^Qejqej.^Qejts?,q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3i^
dog lore 332
See also animal lore
doleing 693
donkey 560, 701
See also ass
Douglass, Frederick
(1817-1895) 22,211,720
dove. See birds
drama. See Black Peter; Jonkonnu;
Knecht Ruprecht; masque;
mumming; Nativity play;
Nativity scene; pantomime;
paradise tree; Pastores;
Plough Monday; Poland;
Posadas; star boys
Drayton Beauchamp, England . . 80
Dresden, Germany 154, 586
drinking 254, 769
in America (colonial) 14
in England 628
in Estonia 225
in Ethiopia 759
Martinmas 465, 467
in Rome (ancient) 713
St. John's Day 665, 666
in the United States . . 20, 22, 23,
720
See also beer; Christmas ale;
eggnog; New Year's Day;
wassail; wassailing; wine
"drinking Yule." See Christmas ale;
Yule
Druids 504
drumming 748, 758, 759
Drury Lane Theater
(London, England) . . . 593, 763
Dry Goods Chronicle 745
Dublin, Ireland 483, 484
Dumas, Alexandre
(1802-1870) 573
Diirer, Albrecht (1471-1528) ... 255
Dutch- American customs. . 25, 703
Dutch immigrants to
America 16-17, 556, 701,
702-3
Dutch immigrants to
South Africa 729
Dutch Reformed 13, 16, 701
Dyed Moroz. See Grandfather Frost
East (U.S.) 171
Easter 48, 222, 312, 357, 377,
431, 433, 459, 482, 519, 580, 731
Easton, Pennsylvania 510-11
Ecke, Paul 619
Eckehart, Meister
(12607-1327) 141
Ecuador 341,201-3
Edinburgh, Scotland 252
Edison, Thomas (1847-1931) . . 589
Edward III (king of England,
1312-1377). . . 272, 434, 476, 517
Edward IV (king of England,
1442-1483) 341
eggnog 14, 203-5
Eggnog Riot 204
Egypt (ancient) 187, 218, 265,
371, 523, 831
Egypt (modern) 581, 582
Christmas in 205
Epiphany in 222, 831
Egypt, Flight into. See Flight
into Egypt
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (U.S.
president, 1890-1969) .... 529,
533, 818, 819
Eisenhower, Mamie
(1896-1979) 529,815
Eisteddfods 795
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El Salvador 626
Elizabeth (biblical) 471
Elizabeth I (queen of England,
1533-1603) 290,299,627
Elizabeth II (queen of England,
1926- ) 41,214
Ellen, Vera (1921-1981) 812
Ellipse (Washington, D.C.) 527,
528, 529, 533
elves 206-9, 227, 286, 349,
352-53, 402, 706, 716
See also Christmas Lads;
Julenisse; Jultomten
Emancipation Day. . . . 210-11, 555,
724, 806
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
(1803-1882) 210
Empire State Building
(New York, N.Y.) 559
Encinitas, California 619
Enewetak, Marshall Islands. . 459-62
England 296, 479, 577, 581-82,
697
Advent in 4, 54, 741
Annunciation in 33
barring-outs in 48, 682, 694
bird lore in 646-47
boar's head feast in . . . 74, 75-78,
687
Boxing Day in 79-81, 214,
291-92, 594, 595, 688, 770, 785,
788, 793
boy bishop in 82-87
Ceremony of Lessons and
Carols in 100
Christingle in 113
Christmas in 213-17, 230,
581-82,846
Christmas ale in 116-17
Christmas cakes in 121, 122
Christmas candles in 124
Christmas cards in 126-29,
213, 373, 647-48, 787
Christmas carols in . . 98, 141-42,
143, 144, 213, 214, 479, 686-87,
786-87
Christmas rose in 156
Christmas season in. . 98, 161, 162
Christmas trees in 170, 173,
213, 214, 319, 408, 783, 784, 786
Devil's knell in 198-99
Epiphany in . . . 215, 220, 221-22,
266, 318, 436, 524, 610, 784
Father Christmas in . . . 110, 213,
239-41
Feast of Fools in 244
firstfooting in 215, 252-53
games in . . 214, 272-74, 628, 629,
769, 787
ghosts in 287, 771
gift giving in 124, 213, 214,
252, 289-90, 291, 769, 785
greenery in 162, 213, 252,
316-19, 335, 337-38, 372, 373,
407-8, 503, 506-8, 629, 649, 787,
847
hodening in 796
Holy Innocents' Day in 215,
339-40, 784
kissing bough in 407-8, 507
Lord of Misrule in 434-37
Martinmas in 464
masques in 476-78
medieval and Renaissance . . 230,
231, 272, 289-90, 296, 372, 419,
434-47, 476-78, 769-70, 793-94,
846
mistletoe in 316, 318, 319,
407-8,503,506-8,693,787
mumming in 216, 239, 389,
434, 476, 517-20, 628, 761, 770,
788, 847
Nativity plays in 539
926
Epiphany Eve
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^qf^'^q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
New Year's in . . 215, 289-90, 373,
552, 553, 628, 785-86, 801
pantomime in 591, 593-95
Puritans in 329, 552, 614,
627-30, 631
pyramid in 636
St. Distaff's Day in 663-64
St. Steptien's Day in .... 291-92,
687, 785
St. Thomas's Day in 693
Santa Claus in 241, 786
Stir-Up Sunday in 741
stockings in 214, 743, 786
Twelfth Night in . . 122, 215, 216,
220, 232, 373, 404, 405-6, 436,
476, 507, 616, 760-64, 788, 797,
801
Twelve Days of Christmas in
in 220,290,318,436,493,
518, 594, 610, 663, 769-70, 771,
772, 784, 853
Victorian . . 128-29, 273, 338, 373,
595, 616, 647-48, 783-88, 799-
800
waits in 793-94
Watch Night in 804
Wild Hunt in 820
wren hunt in 836, 839
Yule in 846
Yule log in 850, 851, 852-53
See also A Christmas Carol;
Glastonbury thorn; lamb's
wool; London; mincemeat
pie; Plough Monday; plum
pudding; wassail; wassailing
English -American customs. . 19,510
English -Australian customs. . . . 40,
41, 42, 43
English-Canadian customs. . . . 520
English colonists in America. . 14-16,
213, 627, 764, 814
English colonists in Australia ... 40
English colonists in Jamaica . . . 387
English colonists in
South Africa 728-29
Enoch, Book of 270
Epiphany .... 96, 161, 187, 217-23,
381, 453, 457, 546, 551, 582, 761,
777
Armenian 162
in Brazil 89,717
in Ecuador 203
in Egypt 222,831
in England .... 215, 220, 221-22,
266, 318, 436, 524, 610, 784
in Estonia 224, 225
in Ethiopia 228, 758-60
in Europe (medieval) 220-22,
230, 235
in France 220, 221, 265
in Germany .... 282-83, 584, 635,
735
in Greece . . 312, 313, 314, 401, 402
in Iceland 151, 152, 351, 353
in Ireland 362
in Italy . . . 220, 221, 364, 366, 540
in Lebanon 426
in Lithuania 427
in Mexico 489-90,717
Moravian 633
in Norway .... 571, 635, 735, 820
in the Philippines 609, 717
in Poland 623, 635
in Russia 651, 653
in Scandinavia 122, 635
in Spain 4, 545, 716-17, 732,
733-34
in Sweden 635, 735
in Switzerland 635
in Syria 752
in the United States 527
Epiphany Eve
in Austria 221
in Brazil 717
in Denmark 194
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in Germany 221, 282
in Italy. . . 50-51, 110, 366, 543, 765
in Lebanon 426
in Mexico 490
in Norway 221
in the Philippines 609, 717
in Poland 221
in Russia 46, 311
in Spain 717, 734
in Sweden 221
in Switzerland 221
in Syria 752
See also Twelfth Night
Epiphany King. See King
of the Bean
Episcopalian 13, 250
See also Anglican
Erasmus (14667-1536) 507
Erzgebirge, Germany 636
Estonia 125, 224-27, 286, 554,
581, 716, 855, 856
Ethiopia 266, 454, 524
Christmas in . . . 162, 228-29, 274
Timkat in 758-60
Ethiopian Orthodox 162, 228,
582, 758-59
Europe
Adam and Eve Day in 1-3
bells in 53
boar's head in 74-78
boy bishop in 82-86
Candlemas in 96
cherry tree lore in 106-7
Christmas cakes in 120-23
Christmas candles in ... . 124-25
Christmas carols in 140-44
Christmas markets in. . . . 153-55
Christmas rose in 156-58
Christmas season in .... 161-62,
230-31
Epiphany in. . . . 220-22, 230, 235
Feast of Fools in 244-46
ghosts in 286-87
greenery in 234, 315-19
Holy Innocents' Day in ..340-41
King of the Bean in 404-6
Martinmas in 463-68
medieval . . . 1-3, 74, 75-76, 82-86,
116, 120-21, 141, 230-35, 291,
295, 404-5, 463, 464
Nativity legends in 534-36
Nativity plays in 538-40
Nativity scenes in . . . 543-45, 546
New Year's Day in 549-50,
551-53
Old Christmas Day in . . . 579-82
paradise tree in 596-98
pyramids in 636
St. Barbara's Day in .... 657, 658,
659
St. John's Day in 666
St. Nicholas in 674-84
Twelfth Night in ... . 760-64, 765
Twelve Days of Christmas
in 767, 769, 771-72
Wild Hunt in 820-21
Yule in 843-47
Yule log in 850-54
Yule straw in 855-57
See also Albania; Armenia;
Austria; Belgium; Bohemia;
Bulgaria; Celtic; Czech;
Denmark; England; Estonia;
Finland; France; Germany;
Greece; Hungary; Iceland;
Ireland; Isle of Man; Italy;
Latvia; Lithuania;
Luxembourg; Moravian;
Netherlands; Norway;
Poland; Portugal; Romania;
Rome; Russia; Scandinavia;
Scotland; Serbian; Sicily;
Spain; Sweden; Switzerland;
Turkey; Ukraine; United
Kingdom; Wales; Yugoslavia
928
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQeji:^isejtSoq^isejts6qSjq^qf^'S^q^QejqSjq^Qejts?,q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qej^
Evangelical-Lutheran Church
of Finland 602
Eve (biblical) . . . 1-3, 107, 473, 583,
597,598
Ever- Ready Company
(New York) 589
evil spirits, customs to repel. . . . 53,
649,717,850
in Austria 694
in England. . . . 318, 337, 340, 507
in Estonia 225
in France 765
in Germany 221, 278, 281,
414, 765, 771
in Greece 661
in Guatemala 320
ancient Jewish 52
in Latvia 422
in Norway 567-68
in Rome (ancient) 52
in Russia 651
in Scotland 332
See also kalUkantzari
Factory Act (U.K., 1833) 784
Fairbanks, Alaska 197
fairings 296
fairy lore . . . 206-7, 349, 403, 771, 821
fantasticals .... 20, 21, 444-45, 510
farolitos 164, 237-38
fasting 400, 629
during Advent ... 4, 91, 205, 427,
464, 823
on Christmas Eve . . 280, 365, 620
in Eastern Church .... 5, 91, 205,
312, 424, 751
in France 644
in Greece 312
in India 355
in Iran 357
in Ireland 360
in Italy 365
in Lebanon 424
during Lent 33
in Lithuania 427
in Poland 620
in Russia 652, 654
in Syria 751
in Western Church ... 4, 400, 550
Fate, Days of. See Twelve Days
of Christmas
Father Christmas 164, 239-41,
261, 395, 478, 786, 807, 849
in Armenia 36
in England 110, 213, 239-41
in Ghana 285
in Latvia 422
in Nigeria 561
in South Africa 728, 729
Father Christmas Peace Prize . . 680
Father Time . . 239, 241, 242-43, 549
Feast of Baptism. See Epiphany
Feast of Fools 82, 220, 234,
244-46, 247, 250, 434, 521, 551,
594
Feast of Jordan. See Epiphany
Feast of Lights. See Epiphany;
Hanukkah
Feast of St. Michael the
Archangel 758
Feast of the Ass . . . 245-46, 247-48,
255, 594
Feast of the Assumption 474
Feast of the Circumcision 161,
235, 244, 248-51, 400, 474, 551,
768, 770
Feast of the Holy Innocents.
See Holy Innocents' Day
Feast of the Immaculate
Conception 162, 474, 731
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Feast of the Presentation of
Christ in the Temple.
See Candlemas
Feast of the Purification of
the Blessed Virgin.
See Candlemas
Feast of the Three Kings.
See Epiphany
feasting
in America (colonial) 14,
764-65, 815, 823
in Armenia 36
in Bulgaria 93
in England 231-33,434,
493-94, 628, 769
in Ethiopia 759
in France 264
in the Marshall Islands . . . 461, 462
Martinmas 465-67, 844
in Mesopotamia (ancient) . . . 860
in Rome (ancient) 712-13
St. Barbara's Day 658
in Scandinavia (ancient) .... 845
Twelfth Night 404, 760-61,
764, 765
in the United States 21
See also boar's head;
Christmas dinner; food
Federated Department Stores
of Ohio 180
FedEx Orange Bowl 260
Feinberg, Richard 176
fertility folklore and rituals. . . . 340,
850, 853, 856
and Berchta 56-57
in Bulgaria 92
in France 851
in Germany 56-57, 821
in Latvia 422
in Norway 820, 856
in Scandinavia 75, 163
Festum Nativitatis Domini
Nostri Jesu Christi . . . 188, 563
Fete des Rois. See Epiphany
Fiesta Bowl. See Tostitos Fiesta
Bowl
Finland .... 109, 208, 224, 394, 602,
671, 849, 855
"The Fir Tree"
(H.C.Andersen) 103
fire and bonfires 165, 535, 647
in America (colonial) 827
Celtic 97, 844
in England 318
in Estonia 226
and firstfooting 252
in Germany. . . 281, 465, 468, 771
in Greece 402,772
in Guatemala 320
in Iceland 352, 353
in Italy 670
Martinmas 465, 468
Mithraism 70
in the Netherlands 465
pagan Norse and Germanic . . 58,
464
in Scandinavia 670, 845
in Scotland 333, 776
in Sweden 668
in southwest United States . . 238
and Zoroastrianism 455
See also Guatemala, Christmas
in; luminarias; Martinmas;
Up Helly Aa; Yule; Yule log;
Zagmuk
fireworks
in Denmark 194
in Germany 282
in Ghana 284
in Guatemala 321
in Iceland 352
in India 355
in Lebanon 425
930
football bowl games
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^qf^'^q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
in the Marshall Islands 462
in Mexico 489
in the Philippines . . 502, 603, 608
in Russia 654
in the United States 20, 21,
718, 755-56, 827
First Night 254-55, 555, 805
"The First Nowell" 141
firstfooting 252-53, 549, 551
in England 215, 252-53
in Greece 314, 660
in Ireland 362
in Italy 365
in Scotland 331
fish 262
See also food: German,
Mexican, Norwegian,
Polish, Russian, Spanish,
Swedish
Fisher, Louise 826
Fisher, R. S 258
Fithian, Philip 823, 824
Flight into Egypt . . 31, 255-57, 304,
309, 327, 339, 390, 472-73
customs involving . 246, 247, 539
legends about 46, 535
Flor de la Nochebuena.
See poinsettia
Florence, Italy 155
Florida 13,21,259
Flushing, New York 679
food
American ... 14, 17, 720, 764-65,
815, 823
Armenian 36
Australian 41-42
Brazilian 90
Bulgarian 92,93
Danish 191,193,467
Dutch 17,203,683
Ecuadorian 202
English 74, 75-77, 203, 214,
231-32, 419-20, 693, 764-65,
784-85
Estonian 225, 226
Filipino 607, 608
French 264, 644
French-Canadian 645
German 17, 280, 282, 467
Ghanaian 284, 285
Greek 313
Guatemalan 321
Icelandic 350
Indian 354, 356
Iranian 357
Iraqi 358
Irish 361, 467
Italian 365, 671
Latvian 421
Lebanese 425
Lithuanian 429, 431
Malagasy 450
Marshallese 460-61
Martinmas 467
Mexican 489,625
Norwegian 203, 570
PoHsh 621
Portuguese 467
Russian 652-53
Scandinavian 74, 75, 467
Scottish 333
South African 729
Spanish 732, 733
Swedish 74,671
Syrian 751
See also boar's head; Christmas
cakes; Christmas dinner;
hopping John; mincemeat
pie; plum pudding; revellion;
sugarplums
Fools, Feast of See Feast of Fools
football bowl games . . 258-60, 274,
446, 555
See also sporting events
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Fort Lauderdale, Florida 259
fortune -telling customs. . . 274, 772
in Austria 107,691
in Czechoslovakia 107
in Denmark 125
in England. . . . 373, 406, 628, 695
in Estonia 226
in Germany . . . 107, 277, 281, 282,
691, 695
in Latvia 422
in Lebanon 425
in Lithuania 274, 429-30,
432-33, 549, 857
New Year's 549,554
pagan Norse and Germanic . . 58
in Poland 107,622,857
in Rome (ancient). . 398, 550, 844
in Russia 652
and St. Basil's Day 660
Forty Days'Fast of St. Martin 4,
464
fox hunting 14
See also hunting
France 291, 296, 463, 575, 581
Advent in 4, 644
boy bishop in 82, 86, 340
Candlemas in 96
Christmas in 261-65
Christmas candles in 124
Christmas carols in. 142, 143, 262
Christmas Eve in . . . 262-64, 536,
540, 543, 644, 716
Christmas rose in. . . 156, 157-58,
262
Christmas season in. . . . 265, 657
Christmas trees in 170, 171,
262, 716
Epiphany in 220, 221, 265
Feast of Fools in 244-45, 250
Feast of the Ass in . . 247-48, 255
Martinmas in 464, 467
medieval 232, 404-5
mistletoe in 262, 504, 508
Nativity plays in . . . 262, 538, 544
Nativity scenes in 261, 262,
264, 540, 543, 544, 659, 716
New Year's in 264, 265, 553
ornaments in 262, 583
paradise trees in 2, 598
Pere Noel in . . . 110-11, 261, 716
St. Barbara's Day in ... . 657, 659
St. Nicholas's Day in . . . 261, 674,
682
St. Stephen's Day in 687
stockings in 743
Twelfth Night in 122, 404-5,
760, 761, 765
wren hunt in 836, 837, 839
Yule log in. . . . 262, 850, 851, 853,
854
See also reveillon
Frankfurt, Germany 154
frankincense 220, 265-66, 302,
309, 451, 455, 524
Frau Gaude 57, 267, 403, 409
See also Berchta
Frauentragen 6, 276-77
Frazer, George (1854-1941) ... 504
Frederick I (Barbarossa; Roman
emperor, c. 1123-1190) ... 456
Freetown Village (Indiana State
Museum) 22
French Alps 264
French-American customs . . 19, 21
French-Canadian customs. . . . 544,
645
French colonists in the
Americas 645
French immigrants to
South Africa 729
Frey 75, 115, 672, 689, 845
Freya 672
Friends, Society of. See Quaker
Frigga 504-6, 821
932
German immigrants to America
cS>q^>^qiS)q^t]^qi?)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3Sj*'*qf^Qe,.^qf6cae,q^£]^cae,.^£]^q^
Frost, The 310
"Frosty the Snowman" 147
fruit trees, wassailing.
See wassailing
Furious Host. See Wild Hunt
Furious Hunt. See Wild Hunt
Gabriel (angel). . . 269-71, 304, 600,
723, 752
and Annunciation 2, 31, 33,
250, 377, 471, 473, 474
Gabriel's Hounds. See Wild Hunt
GaUcia, Spain 732
Galilee 304,307,309,328
Galloway, Scotland 838
Galveston, Texas 211
gambling . . 272, 550, 552, 554, 628,
713
games ... 30, 231, 272-75, 552, 554
in America (colonial) 14, 15,
274, 764-65, 815
ball 15, 228, 229, 462, 629
card 14, 272, 274, 425, 660,
764-65
dice 272, 398, 765
in England .... 214, 272-74, 628,
629, 769, 787
in Ethiopia 759
on Holy Innocents' Day 733
in Iran 357
in Lebanon 425
in Lithuania 274, 428
in the Marshall Islands. . . 460, 462
in Mexico 274, 488-89, 625
parlor 272-74,787
and St. Basil's Day 660
in Spain 733
See also football bowl games;
jousting; Julklapp; sporting
events
Gamla Stan (Stockholm,
Sweden) 154
Gandreid. See Wild Hunt
Ganna. See Genna
Garden of Eden 1, 2, 270, 597
Garden of Gethsemane 271
Garter, Thistle, and Bath,
knights and heralds of the
orders of 266, 302, 524
Gaspar. See Caspar
Gaster, Theodor 47
Gaudete Sunday 275
Gaue. See Frau Gaude
Gaul 249
geese dancing. See mumming
Geisel, Theodor
(1904-1991) 345-47
General Grant tree.
See Nation's Christmas Tree
Genesis, Book of. See Bible
Genna 228, 229, 274
The Gentlemen's Magazine 300
George II (king of England,
1683-1760) 484
George III (king of England,
1738-1820). . 266, 302, 484, 524
George V (king of England,
1865-1936) 214
Georgia 211
German-American customs. . . . 19,
25,510,520,546,718
German immigrants to
America 179,509,702-3
and Christkindel. . . . 114-15, 701
and Christmas tree 171, 584
in colonial times 16-17, 64
and New Year's baby 47
in New York 16-17, 556
in Pennsylvania. . . 16-17, 64, 701
andputz 174,546
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German immigrants to
South Africa 729
Germanic customs and
legends 75, 286, 464, 767,
821, 843-44
See also Berchta
Germans in Estonia 225
Germans in Guatemala 320
Germany 296, 297, 581, 780
Advent in .... 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 154,
276-78, 414, 546
Advent wreaths in. . . 10, 11, 276,
835
and Berchta . . 56-58, 221, 280, 765
boy bishop in 86, 340
Christkindel in . 114, 279, 682-83
Christmas in 276-83
Christmas ale in 116
Christmas carols in. . 141, 143, 276
Christmas Eve in . . . 125, 279-80,
286, 411, 536, 717, 742-43, 807
Christmas garden in 633
Christmas markets in . . . 153-54,
276, 297
Christmas rose in 156, 166
Christmas season in . . . 282, 657,
807
Christmas trees in 2-3, 153,
167, 170, 276, 279, 280, 283, 292,
636, 807
Epiphany in . . . 282-83, 584, 635,
735
Epiphany Eve in 221, 282
Feast of Fools in 244
fortune -telling in. . 107, 277, 281,
282, 691, 695
ghosts in 286, 771
gift giving in . . 154, 278, 279, 280,
292, 352, 444, 468
greenery in 316
and Holde 57
and Holy Innocents' Day . . . . 341
Knecht Ruprecht in. . . . 278, 409,
411, 702
Knocking Nights in 278, 414
Magi in 283,456,457
Martinmas in . . 464, 465, 467, 468
medieval 234
Moravians in 438
Nativity scenes in 154, 170,
277, 278, 280, 283, 543, 546
New Year's in 281, 282, 549,
553, 690
New Year's baby in 47
ornaments in . . 170, 280, 583-84,
586-87,588
paradise trees in 2, 598
pyramid in 278, 636
St. Barbara's Day in ... . 278, 657,
658
St. John's Day in 665
St. Nicholas in ... . 278, 674, 680,
681, 682-83, 702, 716
St. Stephen's Day in . . 281-82, 687
St. Sylvester's Day and
Eve in 282, 690-91
St. Thomas's Day in . . 277, 694-95
smoke blessings in 695
star boys in 282, 735
stockings in 742-43
Twelfth Night in . . . 122, 282, 404,
405, 406, 760, 765
Twelve Days of Christmas
in 280-81, 771-72
Weihnachtsmann in 279, 807
Yule in 846-47
Yule log in 850, 851
Ghana 284-86
Ghost of Christmas Present . . . 240
ghost stories 135-36, 287, 771
ghosts 286-88, 771
and Berchta 56
in England 287, 771
in Estonia 225, 226
934
gifts
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^<;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^'SjQejqSjq^QejqiS)q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qej^
and Frau Gaude 267
in Ireland 360,467
in Norway .... 286, 567, 568, 856
in Scandinavia .... 395, 667, 845
in Scotland 467
and Wild Hunt 820
Gibbons, Grinling (1648-1721). . 826
gift bringers. See Baba Noel;
Baboushka; Befana; Berchta;
Black Peter; camel; cert;
Christkindel; Christmas Lads;
Dadabenoely; elves; Father
Christmas; Grandfather
Frost; Haus-Christ; Julemand;
Jultomten; Kaledu Senis;
Knecht Ruprecht; Magi;
offerings for gift bringers;
Pere Noel; St. Basil;
St. Nicholas; Santa Claus;
Snow Maiden; Star Man;
Weihnachtsmann;
Yule Goat
gift giving 28, 29, 195, 289-94,
380, 742
in America (colonial) . 14, 18, 825
in Armenia 35
in Australia 40, 41
in Brazil 89
in Denmark 191, 193
in Ecuador 202
in Egypt 205
in England . . . 124, 213, 214, 252,
289-90, 291, 769, 785
in Ethiopia 229
in France . . 261, 264, 265, 291, 853
in Germany . . 154, 278, 279, 280,
292, 352, 414, 468
in Ghana 284, 285
in Greece 313, 550, 660, 662
in Guatemala 321
Hanukkah 325
in Iceland 350, 351
in India 354, 355
in Iran 357
in Iraq 358
in Italy .... 366, 543, 670-71, 853
Kwanzaa 417
in Latvia 422
in Lebanon 424, 425, 550
in Lithuania 427
in Madagascar 449
in the Marshall Islands . . . 461, 462
in Mesopotamia (ancient) . . . 860
in Mexico 489-90
New Year's 550
in Nigeria 561
in Norway 292, 394, 570
in the Philippines 607
in Poland 621
in Rome (ancient) 289, 293,
398, 713, 844
in Russia 310, 655
in Scotland 252, 330, 331
in Spain 732, 734
in Sweden. . 292, 392-93, 393-95,
672
in Syria 550, 751
in the United States ... 19, 21, 22,
23, 25, 26, 130, 293, 389, 720,
833-34
See also shoes; stockings
gifts 153-55, 164, 289-94
in Armenia 36
in England 290
in Germany 292
homemade 25, 29, 148, 177,
357, 833
in Iceland 351
in Iran 357
in Italy 364
of the Magi . . . 451, 454, 455, 524
in the Marshall Islands 460
in the Netherlands 684
in the Philippines 607
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in Rome (ancient) 398
in Scotland 331
in South Africa 729
store-bought 26, 27, 148,
176-82,833-34
in Sweden 392-93
in the United States 171-72,
175, 176-82, 584-85, 707, 720,
722, 833-34
gigantes 321
Gilley, William 640
Gimbel's department store
(Philadelphia, Pa.) ... 180, 445,
500
ginger 295, 296
gingerbread 121, 153, 171, 225,
279,290,295-97
See also bread; cookies
Giotto (c. 1267-1337) 255
girls'customs. See women's
and girls' customs
Glasgow, Scotland 329
Glastonbury Abbey (England). . 298,
300-1,494-95
Glastonbury thorn . . 215, 298-301,
764
"Go Tell It on the Mountain". . . 147,
723
goat 588, 640, 714
See also Yule goat
God. ... 67, 100, 187, 457, 539, 597,
646, 714, 715
and Adam and Eve 1,2, 473
and angels 31, 32, 307, 309
customs honoring . . 95, 122, 248
and Gabriel 250, 269-70
and Jesus 377-79,752
and Joseph 390
and Mary. ... 2, 33, 470, 472, 473,
474
and St. Lucy 669
and St. Martin 468
"God Rest You Merry,
Gentlemen" .... 141, 213, 479
Gode. See Frau Gaude
gods
Adonis 59
Aeon 218, 831
Artemis 677
Bacchus 372, 835
Balder 504-6
Dionysus 47, 371, 835
Egyptian 218
Etruscan 711
Frey 75, 115, 672, 689, 845
Greek 242-43
Hodur 506
Jupiter 243
Kronos 242-43,711
Loki 506
Marduk 860
Mesopotamian 860
Mithras 69-71, 186
Norse 504-6
Odin 115, 411, 506, 821, 844
Osiris 218, 371, 831
Roman 186
Saturn 239-40,243,711
Sol 69-70, 186
Thor 330, 640, 844, 848
Uranus 243
Zeus 243
goddesses
Bride 97
Celtic 97
Ceres 97
Freya 672
Frigga 504-6,821
Germanic 56-58, 267, 821
Holde 56,57,58,821
Nike 32
Norse 58
Strenia 289, 398
winter 56-58, 267
936
greenery
cS>q^>^qP)q^<^qS)qejq^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qe,iT^>^qfiq^>^t3S''**'^Qe,q^£]^cae,.-Sj'^qP'*
gold . . . 220, 302, 309, 451, 455, 524
Golden Nights 6
"Good Christian Men Rejoice". . 276
Good Housekeeping 367
"Good King Wenceslas" . . 808, 809
"Good Night and Joy Be Wi'
YouA'" 37
gooding 693
Goodrich, Frances 368, 370
Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company (Akron, Ohio) . . 446
goose 463, 467
Gospel accounts of Christmas. . 165,
303-9
See also Bible
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. . . 106,
256
Gothenburg, Sweden 154
Grandfather Frost . . 35, 36, 45, 164,
310-11, 709
in Bulgaria 93
in Lithuania 432
in Russia 652, 653-54, 726
Granger, Gordon (U.S.
general) 211
Grant, Cary (1904-1986) 367
Grant, Ulysses S. (U.S.
president, 1822-1885) .... 815
grapes 549, 608-9, 733
grave site customs. . . 125, 226, 279,
286, 338
"The Greatest Gift" (1938,
P.V.D. Stern) 367
Greccio, Italy 364, 543
Greco, El (1541-1614) 34
Greece (ancient) 31, 265, 452,
523, 591,
astrology in 736
drama in 140
festivals in 47
gods 47, 242-43, 371, 711
greenery in 371, 423, 835
Greece (modern) 581
Advent in 312
Candlemas in 96
Christmas in 312-14
Epiphany in . . 312, 313, 314, 401,
402
New Year's in . . 123, 312, 313-14,
549,550,660-61
St. Basil's bread in. . . 123, 313, 549
St. Basil's Day in . . 313-14, 660-62
St. Nicholas in 678
See also kallikantzari
Greek Catholic 751
Greek Orthodox Church ... 5, 218,
312, 358, 692, 751
and Adam and Eve Day 3
and Epiphany 218
and St. Thomas's Day 692
Greek Orthodox Church
of New York City 679
greenery 315-19
in America (colonial). . . . 15, 633,
825-26
in Denmark 191
in England 162, 213, 252,
316-19, 335, 337-38, 372, 373,
407-8, 503, 506-8, 629, 649, 787,
847
in Europe (medieval) 234,
315-19
in Latvia 421
and pagan Norse and
Germanic peoples .... 58, 315
in Rome (ancient) 168, 234,
315, 398, 423, 503, 504, 552, 835,
844
removal of 97-98,318
in Scotland 252
in Spain 731
in Sweden 668
See also holly; ivy; kissing
bough; laurel; mistletoe;
rosemary; wreath
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Greenland 110
Greeting Card Association
(Washington D.C.) .... 130-31
Gregorian calendar. . . 35, 215, 300,
553, 579-82, 653, 669
Gregory I (pope, c. 540-604) 4,
233-34
Gregory IX (pope, before
1170-1241) 690
Gregory XIII (pope, 1502-1585). . 33,
35,553,579-81
Grimaldi, Joey (1778-1837) .... 595
Grotto of the Nativity 61, 62
Gruber, Franz (1787-1863) .... 144
Gryla 151, 152, 350
Guadalupe, Virgin of 474
Guaraldi, Vince 103-4, 105
Guatemala 320-21, 626
guising. See mumming
guizers 776-77
Guy Fawkes Day 445, 467
Guyana 387
Gwen, Edmund (1875-1959) . . 499
Gwyn ap Nudd 820
Haakon the Good (king of
Norway, d. c. 961) .... 230-31,
769, 845
Hackett, Albert 368, 370
Hadrian (Roman emperor,
76-138 A.D.) 59
Hale, Edward Everett
(1822-1909) 211
"Hallelujah" chorus {Messiah,
G.F.Handel) 484,486
Halloween. . . 161, 436, 444, 467, 516
Ham (biblical) 454
Hamburg, Germany 154
Hamlet {1600-1, W.
Shakespeare) 208,649
Handel, George Frideric
(1685-1759) . . 135, 482-86, 560
Handsel Monday 79
Hanover, Germany 154
Hans Muff. See Knecht Ruprecht
Hans Trapp 114
"Hansel and Gretel" 297
Hanukkah 42, 197, 323-25
harlequinade 593-94
"The Haunted House"
(C.Dickens) 287
"The Haunted Man"
(C.Dickens) 287
Haus-Christ 292
Haydn, Franz Joseph
(1732-1809) 486
"He Saw the Lovely Youth"
{Theodora, G. F. Handel). . . 486
"He Was Despised"
{Messiah, G. F. Handel) ... 484
Hebrews (ancient) 378, 523,
736-37
Hebrew scriptures. See Bible:
Old Testament; Torah
Helene of Mecklenburg
(duchess of Orleans,
1814-1858) 170-71
Henry III (king of England,
1207-1272) 233
Henry V (king of England,
1387-1422) 233
Henry VII (king of England,
1457-1509) 797
Henry VIII (king of England,
1491-1547) 86, 434-36,
476, 477, 494-95, 761
Herald Square
(New York, N.Y.) 557-58
Herbergsuchen 6
938
Howard, Ron
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^i;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf:jq^Qejqej.^Qejts?,q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qejq^
Hereford Cathedral
(Hereford, England) 87
hero-combat mumming play . . 519
Herod, King (73-4 B.C.). ... 31, 186,
255, 303, 326-28, 339, 383, 384,
385, 390, 473, 665, 686-87, 739
customs involving 220
in Gospel of Matthew 304, 308-9
and Magi 451,453
Herodotus (c. 484-between
430 and 420 B.C.) 452
Herrick, Robert (1591-1674). . 97-98,
318, 405, 420, 423, 496, 649, 663-
64, 802, 850
Hertha 58
Hess, Karen 343
Higbees (Cleveland, Ohio) .... 745
Hindus 354, 730
Hispanic. See Mexico;
Pastores; Posadas
A History of New York
(1809, W.Irving) 556,703
hobbyhorses 796, 839
Hodur 506
Hoffmann, E. T. A.
(1776-1822) 573-74
Hogmanay 328-34, 552, 553
HolboU, Einar 159
Holda. See Berchta
Holde 56, 57, 58, 821
Holiday Inn (1942 movie) 810,
811-12
Holland. See Netherlands
HoUe. See Berchta
holly 315, 335-38, 371, 503,
in America (colonial) 825
as decorative symbol. . . 128, 129,
164, 318-19
in Denmark 191
in England 213, 240, 316,
318-19,335,337-38,693
in Wales 688
"The Holly and the Ivy" . . 142, 337,
372
Holmes, Oliver Wendell
(1841-1935) 210
Holming Day 688
Holy Grail 298
Holy Innocents' Day 161, 246,
339-42, 665, 686, 770
and boy bishops 82, 83, 84
in Ecuador 202-3
in England 215, 339-40, 784
and Feast of Fools 244
massacre of innocents 304,
327-28, 339, 390, 539, 665
in Mexico 489
in the Philippines 608
in Spain 733
Holy Spirit ... 33, 34, 438, 470, 471,
752
holy water. See water: holy
Honduras 626
Hong Kong immigrants in
Australia 42
Hoover, Herbert (U.S. president,
1874-1964) 815, 819
Hoover, Lou (1874-1944) 815,
817,819
Hopkins, John Henry, Jr 146
hopping John 343-44, 555, 724
Horner, Thomas 495
horse races 14, 71, 274, 361,
horseplay 216,570-71
horses 281, 687, 688-89, 716,
759, 796, 821
Horsley, J. C. (1817-1903) 127
Hot Cockles 272
"How Bright Appears the
Morning Star" 439
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
(1957,T. Geisel) 345-47
Howard, Ron (1954- ) 345
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Hudson's department store
(Detroit, Mich.) 180, 445
Humanities and Social Sciences
Library (New York, N.Y.) . . 559
Hungary 341, 581
Hunt, Leigh (1784-1859). . . 762-63
Hunt, Richard M. (1827-1895) . . 130
hunting .... 163, 214, 361, 769, 847
hunting of the wren.
See wren hunt
Hunt the Slipper 273
hymns 23, 139, 140, 141, 143,
450, 459, 461, 471, 491, 602, 748
See also carols; Christmas carols
"I Saw Mommy Kissing
Santa Claus" 139
"I Saw Three Ships" 140, 165
"I Wonder as I Wander" 147
Ibibio 561
Ibo 561-62
ice skating rinks 154
Iceland 110, 349-53
See also Christmas Lads
icons 228, 314, 660
Id al-Fitr 205
Idumeans 327
Igbo 561-62
Imbolc 97
Immaculate Conception,
Feast of the 162,474,731
Imperial Ballet (Russia) 573
"In Dulci Jubilo" 141, 276
incense 265-66, 523-24
in Austria 694, 771
in Bulgaria 92
in Ethiopia 758
in Germany. . . 221, 281, 283, 771
in Greece 402
in Russia 654
in Scandinavia 670
India 266, 453
Christmas in 354-56
St. Thomas in 692
Indiana 22
Innocents' Day.
See Holy Innocents' Day
Iowa 701
Ipswich, England 629
Iran 452, 453
American hostages in 531
Christmas in 356-58
games in 274
Iraq 859
Christmas in 358-59
Ireland 483
Advent in 8, 359
ancient 838
barring-outs in 48
bird lore in 646
Christmas in 359-62
Christmas candles in. . . 124, 359,
360, 361
Christmas Eve in . . . 199, 360-61
fairy lore in 207
greenery in 504
Holy Innocents' Day in 341
Martinmas in 467
mumming in 361, 519, 839
St. Stephen's Day in. . . . 361, 687
wren hunt in 214, 361, 687,
836, 839, 840
Irenaeus (c. 120-140 to c. 200) . . 473
Irish immigrants to America . .179,
360
Irving, Washington
(1783-1859) 137-38,556,
699, 703, 705, 706, 770, 815
940
Jesus
Isaiah (biblical) 165, 375
Isle of Man 837-38, 839-40
Israel 59, 62, 309
Israel Bethel Church
(Washington, D.C.) 210
"It Came Upon a Midnight
Clear" 23, 146
It's a Wonderful Life
(1946 mn\) 175,366-71
Italy 581, 592, 677
Befana in 45, 50-51, 57, 110,
221, 366, 765
Christmas in 363-66
Christmas markets in . . 153, 155,
363
customs in England 477
Epiphany in 220, 221, 364,
366, 540
Epiphany Eve in 50-51, 110,
366, 543, 765
Magi in 364, 456, 543
Martinmas in 467
masques in 477, 761
medieval and Renaissance . . 220
Nativity scenes in 363, 364,
540, 542-43, 544, 545
New Year's in 365, 553
pyramid in 364, 636
St. Lucy's Day in ... . 364, 668-71
St. Nicholas in .... 363, 678, 684
stockings in 51, 366, 743
Twelfth Night in 761
Yule log in 364,636,851,
852-53
See also Rome; Sicily
Ivanov, Lev (1834-1901) . . 573, 574
ivy 315, 337, 371-73, 503, 835
as decorative symbol. . . 128, 129,
164
in England 213, 240, 316,
318,319,335,338
Jackson, Andrew (U.S. president,
1767-1845) 816,817
Jamaica 387-88, 389
Jamestown, Virginia 14
Jan Meda arena (Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia) 759
Japan 182, 581, 778-80
Japheth (biblical) 454
Jefferson, Thomas (U.S.
president, 1743-1826) .... 814,
816, 824-25
Jennens, Charles 482, 484
Jeremiah (biblical) 309
Jerusalem ... 96, 188, 247, 324, 327,
451
Jesse tree 5, 375-76
Jesus 126, 137, 164, 302, 339,
377-81, 470, 482, 502, 597, 708,
748, 780
and Advent 3, 8, 823
ancestry of 375
baptism of 35, 36, 187, 217,
218, 426, 752, 758
birth of 3, 11, 30, 31, 33,
59-61, 104, 140, 279, 326-27,
377-80, 390, 440, 472, 563, 599,
628, 714, 737, 739-40, 752
burial of 298
as Christ 378
circumcision of 248-50, 390,
473, 474
crucifixion of 328, 523
customs involving 116, 121,
123, 247, 305, 313, 364, 428,
494, 495, 542, 543, 545, 546,
606, 621, 644, 661, 855
date of birth 185-88
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divinity of 217, 218, 266,
377-78, 453
and Gabriel 269,270
Gospel accounts of 303-9
incarnation 187, 377-78
legends about 106, 114, 156,
165, 166, 198, 202, 215, 224,
256-57, 321, 491, 501, 534-36,
618-19, 751, 840
letters to 5, 108-9
as light 378-79,831
and Magi 453, 454, 455, 456,
523, 524, 751
Muslims and 424
naming of 248, 377-78, 390
Nativity plays 220, 592, 623
presentation in the Temple . . 95,
96,97
as sacrificial lamb 715
and St. Martin 463
and St. Thomas 692
as second Adam 2
as shepherd 715
symbols associated with. . . . 112,
124, 316, 337, 375, 423, 454,
524, 583, 598, 780
year of birth. . . . 379, 381-86, 737
"Jesus, Thou Call Me" 67
Jewish customs. See Judaism
Jews 61, 63, 265
Jibril. See Gabriel
John (king of England,
1167-1216) 233
John Canoe. See Jonkonnu
John Kooner. See Jonkonnu
Johnson, Andrew (U.S.
president, 1767-1845) .... 135
Johnson, Claudia (Lady
Bird, 1912- ) 815
Johnson, Lyndon (U.S.
president, 1908-1973) .... 815
Jola-Sveinar. See Christmas Lads
Jonah (biblical) 376
Jones, Chuck 345
Jones, Inigo (1573-1652) 478
Jonkonnu 21, 387-89, 722
Jonson,Ben (1572-1637) 239,
477-78, 762
Jordan, Feast of. See Epiphany
Jordan, River 222, 536, 752
Joseph. ... 31, 59, 95, 248, 255, 256,
303-4, 305-6, 309, 327, 328, 339,
390-92, 470, 472, 473, 474
customs involving ... 6, 146, 201,
247, 276, 360, 364, 391, 542,
543
legends about . . 106, 256-57, 360
See also Posadas
"Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine" . 391
"Joseph, Lieber Joseph Mein" . . . 141
Joseph of Arimathea
(first century a.d.) 298-99
Josephus (c. 37-100 a.d.) . . . 384-85
Joulupukki. See Yule goat
Joulutonttuja. See Jultomten
Jour de Rois. See Epiphany
jousting 759, 769
"Joy to the World" 143, 213
Judaism 327
Jewish calendar 325
Jewish customs . . . 248, 266, 378,
715
Jewish law 390,474
Jewish lore 270,271
See also Hanukkah
Judea . . 307, 308, 309, 326, 327, 383
Judith (biblical) 376
Julbock. See Yule goat
Julbukk 570-71
See also Yule goat
Julemand 193
Julenisse 191, 394, 568, 570
See also Jultomten
942
Klaubauf
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQeji:^isejtSoq^isejts6qfi.^ts6qejq^Qejqej.^Qejts?,q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qej^
Julereien. See Wild Hunt
Julian calendar. . . 35, 162, 188, 255,
397, 550, 553, 579-82, 651, 653,
830-31
Julius (pope, d. 352) 188
Julius Caesar. See Caesar, Julius
Julklapp . 274, 280, 292, 392-93, 414
julnisse 394
Julotta 22, 146
Jultomten 164, 208, 209, 286,
393-95, 403, 568, 667, 706, 771,
772, 849
Juneteenth 211
Junkanoo. See Jonkonnu
Jupiter (Roman god) 243
Justin Martyr (c. 100-c. 165) ... 473
Justinian (Byzantine emperor,
483-565 A.D.) 61
Kaledu Senis 432
Kalends . . . 397-400, 550, 551, 796,
830, 853
and date of Christmas. . . 71, 186,
230, 767
and Feast of Fools 244
and Feast of the
Circumcision 249, 400
and gift giving .... 265, 289, 293,
398
and greenery. . 168, 315, 398, 423
and masquerading 517
kaUikantzari . . 286, 313, 401-3, 771,
772, 853
Karenga, Maulana 416
Karloff, Boris (1887-1969) 345
Kaspar 427
See also Magi
Katherine of Aragon
(queen of Henry VIII of
England, 1485-1536) 476
Kaye, Danny (1913-1987) 812
Kennedy, Jacqueline
(1929-1994) 815,817
Kennedy, John F. (U.S.
president, 1917-1963) 530,
815
Kent, England 629, 801
Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630). . . 738
Kerala, India 355-56, 692
Kiev, Ukraine 678
kinara 417
King Christmas.
See Father Christmas
King of the Bean .... 122, 222, 234,
274, 282, 404-6, 437, 760-61, 762,
764
Kings, Feast of the Three.
See Epiphany
kings, mock ... 82, 234, 712, 860, 861
See also King of the Bean;
Lord of Misrule
King's Canyon National Park
(Calif.) 528, 532-33
King's Chapel (Boston, Mass.) . . 16
King's College (Cambridge,
England) 100, 214
Kings' Day. See Epiphany
kissing bough 216, 319, 338,
373, 407-8, 787, 826
kissing under the mistletoe. . . 407-8,
503,506-8
Klapperbock. See Yule goat
Klaubauf 681
See also Knecht Ruprecht
Klopfelnachte. See Knocking
Nights
Klopfelscheit. See Knocking
Nights
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Klopfleinsnachte .
See Knocking Nights
Kmart 175
KMB 427, 623
See also CMB
Knecht Ruprecht 17,278,402,409-
13, 681, 702, 706, 807
Knocking Nights. . . . 278, 286, 414,
521,594
Knox, John (1513-1572). . . 329, 630
koledari 92
Konstfack (Stockholm,
Sweden) 154
Kore 218,831
Korvatunturi, Finland 109-10
Krakow, Poland 622, 623
Krampus 681
See also Knecht Ruprecht
Kremlin (Moscow, Russia) .... 653
Krippe. See Nativity scene
KrissKringle 115,702
See also Santa Claus
The Kriss Kringle Book (1842). . . 702
Kriss Kringle's Christmas Tree
(1845) 171,707
Kristina (queen of Sweden,
1626-1689) 225
Kronos 242-43, 711
Kwanzaa 197,416-17
La Guardia, Fiorello
(1882-1947) 447
labor unions. See Christmas
bonus
Labrador, Canada 113
Lady Day 33
Lafayette Park
(Washington, D.C.) 528
Lailat al-Qadr 221, 752
Lake Vannern, Sweden 672
Lalibela (Ethiopian king) 228
Lalibela, Ethiopia 228
lamb 715
lamb's wool 203, 419-21, 800
Langdon, Penne 531
Latin America
See Central America;
Mexico; South America
Latium 711
Latvia 286, 421-23, 554, 581
laurel. . . 76, 315, 316, 319, 423, 826,
835
Lauscha, Germany 586-87
lavender 535
laws (concerning Christmas
celebrations) 230, 521
in Alsace 1 70
in America (colonial) 15, 17
in England .... 477, 521, 627-30,
769
in Finland 602
in France 521
in Norway 116, 602, 769
in Scotland .... 143, 552, 630-31
in the United States 19, 20,
22-23,180,412,511-12,718
lead pouring 282, 422, 691
See also fortune -telling
Lebanon .... 221, 424-26, 550, 657,
658-59, 717
Leddat 228
Lee, Charles E 532-33
Lenaia 47
Leno, Dan (1860-1904) 595
Lent 33
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) . . 34,
457
Leppaludi 152
Lerwick, Shetland Islands,
Scotland 776-77
944
literary works
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^i;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^q^QejqSjq^QejqiS).^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qejq^
Les Baux, Provence, France. . . . 543
"Let It Snow" 147
letter writing 27
to gift bringers 5, 108-11, 213
See also Ctiristmas cards
levee 818-19
Libanius (314-393) 398, 399
libation 285
Liberius (pope, d. 366) 188
Liberty Films 369
Lichtstock. See pyramid
Liege, Belgium 155
"Lift Every Voice and Sing". . . . 211
light displays 165
in Australia 40
in England 213
in Ghana 284
in India 354, 355
in Ireland 360
in Lebanon 424
in the Philippines 606
in Rome (ancient) 398
in Sweden 154
in the United States . . 65, 558, 559
lights, Christmas tree .... 173, 462,
527-32, 558, 589, 598
Lights, Feast of. See Epiphany;
Hanukkah
lilies 34
Lincoln, Abraham
(1809-1865) 210, 724, 806,
817,818
Lincoln, Thomas (Tad,
1853-1871) 817
Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre
(London, England) 593
Liseburg Park (Gothernburg,
Sweden) 154
literary works
And to Think That I Saw It on
Mulberry Street (1937) .... 346
"Auguries of Innocence"
(1803, W.Blake) 840-41
"Boston Hymn" (1863,
R. W. Emerson) 210
A Christmas Carol (1843;
C. Dickens) ... 26, 132-38, 240,
287, 345, 366, 770, 784
Christmas His Masque
(1616, B. Jonson) . . 239, 478, 762
"A Christmas Tree" (1850,
C. Dickens) 287, 585-86
"The Fir Tree"
(H.C.Andersen) 103
"The Greatest Gift"
(1938, PV.D. Stern) 367
Hamlet (1600-1,
W. Shakespeare) 208, 649
A Histoiy of New York
(1809, W.Irving) 556,703
Hoiv the Grinch Stole Christmas
(1957,T. Geisel) 345-47
The Kriss Kringle Book
(1842) 702
Kriss Kringle's Christmas Tree
(1845) 171,707
"The Man Who Never Was"
(1944, PV.D. Stern) 367
Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-44,
C. Dickens) 133
"The Nutcracker and the
Mouse King" (1819,
E. T.A.Hoffmann) 573
The Pickwick Papers (1837,
C.Dickens) 133,137,138,
507-8, 784
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer" (1939, May) . . . 147,
640-41
"St. Distaff's Day; or, the
Morrow After Twelfth Day"
(R. Herrick) 663-64
"St. Nicholas" (1875,
H. Alger) 566
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(fourteenth century) 769
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Sketches by Boz (1836,
C. Dickens) 133
"The Story of a Nutcracker"
(1844, A. Dumas) 573
Twelfth Night, Or What
You Will (1601-2,
W. Shakespeare) 761
"A Visit from St. Nicholas"
(1823, C. C. Moore) ... 26, 208,
556-57, 566, 639-40, 701, 703-5,
707, 742, 748
War and Peace (1865-69,
L. Tolstoy) 520, 651
Lithuania 581
Christmas in 427-33
Christmas Eve in . . 125, 274, 286,
427-31, 857
fortune -telling in . . . 274, 429-30,
432-33, 549, 857
games in 274, 428
ghosts in 286
Magi in 457
New Year's in. . . 432, 433, 549, 554
Yule straw in 855, 857
Lititz, Pennsylvania 633-34
Little Christmas 227, 362
Little Christmas Eve 432
Little Lent. See Advent
liturgical colors
for Advent 4
for Christmas 10, 112
for Gaudete Sunday 275
for Holy Innocents' Day 340
"Lo, How a Rose E'er
Blooming" . . 140, 141, 166, 276
Loki 506
Lombardo, Guy (1902-1977) ... 39
London, England . . . 133, 484, 577,
593, 630, 697, 763
Christmas tree in 173
laws in 290, 477, 521, 629
mumming in 477, 521
waits in 794
London Magazine 824
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
(1807-1882) 210
Lopez de Mendoza Grajales,
Francisco 13
Lord and Taylor (New York,
N.Y.) 558,744
Lord of Misrule 85, 161, 216,
234, 246, 404, 434-37, 631, 761
Lorraine, France 261
See also Alsace-Lorraine, France
Louis XI (king of France,
1423-1483) 341
Louisiana 21, 23, 211, 260, 645
lovefeast 67, 438-39
L. P. Tibbals (New York, N.Y.) . . 744
Lucia 154
See also St. Lucy's Day
Luciadagen. See St. Lucy's Day
Lucian (c. 120-after 180 a.d.) . . 712
luck customs, good 107, 340,
551, 850
in Bulgaria 93
in England .... 318, 337-38, 373,
616, 693, 741
in Estonia 226
in Germany 282
in Greece 314, 660, 661
in Isle of Man 837-38
in Latvia 422
in Lithuania 428, 429
in Mexico 490
in Norway 570
in the Philippines 608-9
in Scotland 776
in Spain 733
in the United States . . . 344, 550,
555, 724
in Wales 796
See also firstfooting
946
Martin Chuzzleioit
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qe,iT^>^qfiq^>^t3S''**'^Qe,q^£]^cae,.-Sj'^^
luminarias 9, 238, 440-41, 626
Luther, Martin (1483-1546) . . . 154,
168, 465, 602
Lutheran 701
and Advent 3,10
and Christmas 13, 16
in Estonia 224
and Feast of the
Circumcision 250
in Germany 279
in Latvia 421
Luxembourg 553, 581
McChntock, Marshall 346
McFee, Joseph 697
Maccabean War 323-24
Mackenzie, Murdoch 631
Macy's department store
(New York, N.Y.) .... 179, 180,
498, 500, 744, 745
Thanksgiving Day parade . . 443-
49, 498, 500, 556, 557-58
Madagascar 449-50
Madison, DoUey (1768-1849) . . 203,
814-15,816
Madison, James (U.S. president,
1751-1836) 814-15,816
Madison Park (now
Madison Square Gardens,
New York, N.Y.) 527,698
Magdeburg, Germany 154
Magi 166, 187, 304, 308-9,
326-27, 339, 357, 451-58, 472,
542, 546, 714, 736, 737, 738, 739
art depicting 61, 457
and Baboushka 46, 457
and Befana 50, 457
in Brazil 89
and Christmas rose 156
in Denmark 194
in Ecuador 201
in England 539
and Epiphany. . 217, 218, 219-20,
453, 457, 543, 735, 761, 765
in France 262
in Germany 283, 456, 457
in India 354
in Ireland 362
in Italy 364, 456, 543
in Mexico 490
in the Philippines 609
and St. Thomas 692
in Spain 110, 716-17, 732,
733-34
in Syria 751, 752
See also frankincense; gold;
myrrh
Magnificat 471-72
Magnus, Olaus (1490-1557) ... 688
Malabar, Kerala, India 692
"The Man Who Never Was"
(1944, PV.D. Stern) 367
Manchester, England 133
manger. See Nativity scene
Manger Square (Bethlehem) ... 62
Manx. See Isle of Man
Maracana stadium
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) 89
Mardi Gras 21
Marduk 860
Mari Lwyd 796
Marks, Johnny (1909-1985) ... 641
Maronite Church 424, 751
Marseilles, Provence, France . . . 544
Marshall Fields (Chicago, 111.) . . 745
Marshall Islands 459-62
Martin I (pope, d. 655) 464
Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-44,
C. Dickens) 133
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martyrdom 665, 686
Mary (mother of Jesus) . . 59, 61, 141,
248, 303-4, 307, 309, 377-78, 390,
470-75, 714
and Annunciation .... 31, 33-34,
269, 270, 471
and Candlemas 95, 96, 97,
474
comparison with Eve 2
customs involving ... 6, 116, 123,
201, 247, 276-77, 313, 360, 364,
428, 542, 543, 661, 732, 857
and Feast of the
Circumcision 250, 473, 474
and Flight into Egypt . . 255, 256,
473
folklore about. . 92, 106, 156, 165,
256-57, 360, 455, 535
and Magnificat 471-72
Nativity plays 220
Rose of Jericho 257
symbols associated with 34,
107, 166, 316, 337, 583, 597, 649
and Visitation 471
See also Feast of the
Immaculate Conception;
Posadas
Mary (queen of England,
1516-1558) 85
"Mary Had a Baby" 147, 723
Mary, House of (LaHbela,
Ethiopia) 228
Maryland 14, 764
masking. See mumming
masks 521
in England 476
in Germany 278, 281, 771
in Nigeria 561
in Rome (ancient) 592
masquerading 216, 220, 394,
398, 550, 551, 561, 764, 860
See also Berchta; Black Peter;
boy bishop; Ecuador;
Feast of Fools; Guatemala;
Jonkonnu; Kalends;
King of the Bean; Knecht
Ruprecht; Knocking
Nights; Lord of Misrule;
masques; Mummers
Parade; mumming;
Nativity play; Nigeria;
pantomime; paradise tree;
Pastores; Plough Monday;
Posadas; St. Barbara's
Day; St. Lucy's Day;
St. Nicholas's Day;
Saturnalia; star boys;
Twelfth Night; Yule goat;
Zagmuk
masques 216, 231, 239, 434,
476-78, 517, 521, 552, 594, 631,
761-62, 770
Mass of the Divine Word 491
Massachusetts 8, 16, 135, 210,
211, 254, 541, 555, 708
See also Boston
Massachusetts Bay Colony 15,
627
Master of Merry Disports.
See Lord of Misrule
Mather, Cotton (1663-1728) .... 16
May, Robert L 640-41
May Company (Cleveland,
Ohio) 745
meal, common 70, 228
See also Christmas dinner;
feasting; lovefeast
Media (ancient) 452
Medici family 677
Meet Mr. Kringle (film,
1955, 1956) 500
948
Michigan
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQeji:^isejtSoq^isejtsiqfiq^tsiqfiq^qejqSjq^QejqiS)tSjQejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,c^
Meeting of the Lord. See
Candlemas
Melbourne, Australia 146
Melchior 283, 427, 451, 454,
455, 456
See also Magi
Melchite Church 751
Melendez, Bill 103,104
Mellon, Thomas (1813-1908) ... 49
Mencken, H. L. (1880-1956) ... 631
Mendelson, Lee 103, 104
Mennonite 16, 701
menorah 324-25, 819
Menotti, Gian Carlo (1911- ) . . 457
men's and boys' customs
in America (colonial) . . . 825, 826
in Bulgaria 92,93
in England 252, 253, 318,
338, 373, 476-77, 519, 610-12,
663-64, 763, 798, 802, 839
in Estonia 225
in Ethiopia 229
in France 122
in Germany 282, 636
in Guatemala 320, 321
in India 354, 355
in Ireland 839
in Isle of Man 837-38
in Italy 365
in Lebanon 425-26
in Lithuania 431
in the Marshall Islands . . 460, 461
in Norway 567-68, 571
in Poland 621-22, 623
in Rome (ancient) 398, 517
in Scandinavia 848
in Scotland . . . 252, 253, 331, 776,
838
in South Africa 729
in Sweden 688-89
Twelfth Night 404-6
in the United Kingdom 837
in the United States .... 176-77,
412, 444-45, 509-15, 717-18, 722
in Wales 688, 796, 838, 839
and wren hunt . . 836-38, 839-40
"merry" (meaning of) 479
"Merry Christmas" . . . 479, 480-82
"Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year" (in
different languages) . . . 480-82
Mervyns of California 175
Mesopotamia 453, 736, 859-60
Messiah (1741,
G.F.Handel) 482-86,560
Methodist 23, 723, 803, 804-5
Methodist Church of
Northern Europe 602
Mexican-American customs. . . 601
Mexico 237, 238, 441, 618-19
Advent in 9
Christmas in 487-90
Epiphany in 489-90, 717
games in 274, 488-89, 625
Holy Innocents'Day in . . 341, 489
Nativity scenes in 487, 489,
490, 546, 717
Virgin of Guadalupe in 474
See also Pastores; Posadas
Miami, Florida 259
Micah (biblical) 59
Michael (archangel) 269, 271,
600, 758
Michigan 701
Middle East. See Arabia;
Babylon; Bethlehem;
Chaldea; Egypt; Iran;
Iraq; Israel; Jerusalem;
Lebanon; Media;
Mesopotamia; Nazareth;
Palestine; Persia; Saudi
Arabia; Syria; Turkey;
Yemen
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Middlebury College
(Vermont) 528
Midnight Mass. . . 144, 235, 491-92,
501,617
in Bethlehem 62
in Brazil 90
in Canada 645
in Ecuador 202
in France 248, 264, 644
in Germany 279
in Guatemala 321
in Ireland 361
in Italy 364, 365
in Lebanon 425
in Mexico 489
in the Philippines 606, 607
in Poland 621
in Spain 732
in the United States 21, 645
Midwest (U.S.) 29
Milan, Italy . . 155, 220, 365, 456, 671
Milner- White, Eric 100
mime 591, 592
mincemeat pie . . . 232, 493-97, 614,
630
Minneapolis, Minnesota . . . 745-46
Minnesota 22, 745-46
Miracle on 34th Street
(1947 film) 109,448,
498-501,557
miracle plays . . 106-7, 141, 539-40,
592,596-97,598,599,625
miracles
on Christmas Eve 430-31
and Epiphany 752
and Jesus 106,187,218
and St. Knut 667
and St. Lucy 670, 671, 672
and St. Nicholas 675, 677
Misa de Gallo . . 489, 491, 501-3, 603
misas de aguinaldo 487
Missa do Galo 90
Missouri 21
mistletoe. . . 128, 164, 191, 213, 240,
315,503-9
in America (colonial) .... 15, 826
in Austria 691
in England 316, 318, 319,
407-8,503,506-8,693,787
in France 262, 504, 508
Mithraism 69-71
Mithras 69-71, 186
Mobile, Alabama 21
Mohr, Josef (1792-1848) 144
Monroe, James (1758-1831). . . 814,
815
Montgomery, James
(1771-1854) 144
Montgomery Ward
department store 640-41
Moore, Clement C.
(1779-1863) 26,208-9,
556-57, 566, 639-40, 699, 701,
703-4, 705, 706, 707, 742, 748
Moors 72
Moravian 16, 17, 546, 636
Advent customs 8
in Bethlehem, Pa 64-67
religious services 113, 803,
804-5, 806
See also lovefeast; putz
morketiden 198
"Morning Star" 67, 439
morris dances 611, 612
Moscow, Russia 311
Moses 376, 715
Mount Parnassos, Greece 401
mountain lore 536
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
(1756-1791) 573
Mubarak, Hosni (president
of Egypt, 1928- ) 205
Muhammad 270, 752
950
mystery play
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^i;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^q^QejqSjq^QejqiS)q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qejq^
Mummers Parade
(Philadelphia, Pa.) .... 20, 413,
509-15,521
mumming. . . 231, 398, 516-22, 540,
552, 594, 625
in America (colonial) 16, 17,
412
crime related to 521
in England 216, 239, 389,
434, 476, 517-20, 628, 761, 770,
788, 847
in Germany 691
in Ireland 361,519,839
in Latvia 422
in Russia 520, 651
in Scotland 331, 776
in Switzerland 691
in the United States . . . 19-20, 23
See also Jonkonnu;
Mummers Parade
mumping 693
Munich, Germany 154, 687
Museum of Ethnography
(Poland) 622
music 334, 364, 434, 459-60,
461, 626, 722-23, 769, 795
Amahl and the Night Visitors
(1951, G. C. Menotti) 457
"Auld Lang Syne" . . . 37-39, 333,
370, 555
"The Dance of the Sugarplum
Fairy" (P. Tchaikovsky) .... 575
"Hallelujah" chorus
(G. F. Handel) 484, 486
"He Saw the Lovely Youth"
(G. F. Handel) 486
"He Was Despised"
(G. F. Handel) 484
Messiah (1741, G.F.
Handel) 482-86, 560
The Nutcracker (1892, E. T. A
Hoffmann and P.
Tchaikovsky) . . 560, 573-77, 748
"The Nutcracker Suite"
(P Tchaikovsky) 573, 576
Sleeping Beauty (1889,
P. Tchaikovsky) 575, 576
Swan Lake (1877,
P. Tchaikovsky) 576
The Tales of Hoffmann
(1881, J. Offenbach) 573
Theodora (1750,
G.F.Handel) 486
See also Christmas carols;
concerts; hymns;
Jonkonnu; songs
Muslims 61, 222, 679
in Bethlehem 63
in Egypt 205
in Ethiopia 228
and Gabriel 270
in Ghana 284
and Id al-Fitr 205
in Iran 356
in Iraq 358, 359
and Lailat al-Qadr 221, 752
in Lebanon 424, 425
in Madagascar 449
in Nigeria 561
and Ramadan . . 42, 205, 424, 752
in South Africa 730
in Sudan 747
Mylapore, India 692
Myra, Asia Minor (Turkey) .... 674,
678, 684
myrrh 220, 266, 302, 309, 451,
454, 455, 523-25
Mystery, Nights of. See Twelve
Days of Christmas
mystery play 141, 231, 483,
539-40, 592, 596-97, 599-600,
625
See also paradise play
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name-days 313, 662
Name of Jesus, Feast of the
Circumcision and the. See
Feast of the Circumcision
Naples, Italy 543
Nast, Thomas (1840-1902) 26,
109, 208-9, 565-66, 699, 705-6,
709
National Arborist Association
(U.S.) 530
National Cathedral
(Washington, D.C.) 301
National Christmas Tree
(Washington, D.C.) 173,
527-32, 533, 814, 819
National Tuberculosis
Association 159
Nation's Christmas Tree
(Calif.) 528, 532-33
Native American customs 440
Nativity legends 106, 167-68,
262, 534-37, 777
See also urban legends
Nativity plays. . . 220, 231, 235, 391,
456, 476, 538-41, 715, 735
in Brazil 91
in England 539
in France 262, 538, 544
in Ghana 284
in Iran 357
in Poland 622-23
in the United States 541
See also Pastores; plays;
Posadas
Nativity scenes 109, 164, 171,
174, 235, 305, 391, 457, 542-47
and Advent 5, 6
in Austria 546
in Brazil 90, 545
in Canada 544
and Candlemas 97, 162
in Church of the Nativity 61
competitions 544, 622
in Czechoslovakia 546
in Ecuador 202
on Epiphany Eve 543
in France 261, 262, 264, 540,
543, 544, 659, 716
in Germany 154, 170, 277,
278, 280, 283, 543, 546
in Iran 356
in Ireland 360, 362
in Italy. . . . 363, 364, 540, 542-43,
544, 545
in Lebanon 424
living. . . . 264, 364, 538, 540, 543,
560
in Mexico .... 487, 489, 490, 546,
717
in the Philippines 606
in Poland 622, 623
and Posadas 625
and pyramids 635
in Spain 545, 731, 732, 734
in Switzerland 546
in the United States 21, 530,
546-47, 560
See also putz
Naval Observatory
(Washington, D.C.) 756
Nazareth 256, 304, 307, 309
Nazareth, Pennsylvania 64
Neele, John Mason
(1818-1866) 809
Neisser, Edward 66, 634
Netherlands 153, 296, 581
Black Peter in . . . 72-73, 409, 681,
682, 683, 705
Martinmas in 465
St. Nicholas in . . 72-73, 680, 681,
682, 683-84, 702, 706, 716
952
New Year's Eve
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsi.q^i^ts6qej.^ts6qejq^QejqSjq^QejqiS)tSjQejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3^
St. Thomas's Day in 694
Twelfth Night in . . 122, 404, 405,
760
New England (U.S.) .... 15-16, 19,
822
Newfoundland, Canada 520
New Mexico 238, 441, 626
New Netherlands Colony 703
New Orleans, Louisiana. . . 21, 260,
645
New Testament. See Bible
new year, ancient Germanic . . . 464
new year, ancient
Mesopotamian. See Zagmuk
new year, ancient Roman.
See Kalends
New Year's boy 654
New Year's cards 126, 787
New Year's Day 161, 197,
549-56, 553, 770
in Armenia 35-36
in Bahamas 388
in Bulgaria 93
date of 33, 553
in England 553, 785-86
in Estonia 226
and football bowl games . . 258-60
in France 264, 265, 553
in Germany 549, 553
gift giving 289-90
in Greece 312, 549, 550, 661
in Guatemala 321
in Iraq 358
in Ireland 362
in Italy 553
in Lebanon 550
in Lithuania 432, 433, 554
in Luxembourg 553
in Madagascar 450
in the Marshall Islands 462
in the Philippines 609
in Portugal 553
in Russia 553, 653-54
in Scandinavia 392
in Scotland . . . 329, 552, 553, 631,
793, 838
in Spain 553
in Syria 550, 751-52
in the United States 20, 25,
177, 343-44, 413, 521, 555, 718,
719, 724, 818-19
See also Emancipation Day;
Hogmanay; Kalends;
Mummers Parade
New Year's Eve 274, 398,
549-50,551,552,553-55
in America (colonial) 718
in Austria 690
in Bulgaria 92
in Denmark 194
in England .... 215, 289-90, 373,
552, 628, 801
in Estonia 226
and Father Time 242-43
in Germany. . . 281, 282, 549, 690
in Greece 123, 313, 660-61
in Iceland 352-53
in Ireland 362
in Italy 365
in Lebanon 425
in Lithuania 432-33, 549, 554
in Madagascar 450
in the Marshall Islands 462
in New York City 39, 755-57
in Norway 571
in the Philippines .... 549, 608-9
in Russia . . 310, 311, 653, 654-55,
726
in Scotland .... 328-34, 630, 631
in South Africa 729
in Spain 549, 733
in Syria 751
in the United States . . 21, 37, 39,
510,550,553-54,755-57
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See also First Night;
resolutions; St. Basil's Day;
St. Sylvester's Day;
Times Square; Watch Night
New Year's gift. . . 177, 289-90, 291,
329, 398, 552, 554, 785-86, 796
New Year's symbols ... 47, 242-43,
262
New Year's tree 653, 655
New York 16-17, 19-20, 135,
619, 701, 703, 707
New York City . . . 172, 211, 556-60,
575, 679, 697, 698, 707, 789-91,
805
New Year's Eve in . . 39, 555, 560,
755-57
shops 26-27, 744-45
See also Macy's
New York City Ballet
Company 560, 577
NewYork Sun 557, 789-90
NewYork Times 755, 756, 790
New Zealand 79, 254
Nicaragua 626
Nicomedia 657
Nigeria 561-62
Night of Destiny 221, 752
nightingale 535
Nights of Mystery 771
Nike 32
Nile River 222
nisse 191
Nixon, Richard M. (U.S.
president, 1913-1994) .... 530,
818
Noah 454
Noah, Mordecai (1785-1851) . . 765
Nobel Prize 673
Noel 563-64
noisemaking
in America (colonial) . . 15, 17, 824
in Austria 694
in Denmark 194
in France 765
in Germany . . 278, 281, 414, 691,
765, 771
in Italy 51, 366
in Lebanon 717
in Norway 571
in the Philippines 608
in Scandinavia 520
in Scotland 332, 333
in the United States . . 20, 22, 23,
412,509,510,511,717-18
See also Befana; Knecht
Ruprecht; Knocking Nights;
New Year's Day; shooting in
Christmas; Twelfth Night;
Twelve Days of Christmas;
Up Helly Aa; wassailing
Nokia Sugar Bowl 260
Nombre de Dios Mission
(St. Augustine, Fla.) 13
Norse mythology. . . 58, 115, 504-6,
640
North (U.S.) 719, 723
North America. See America,
colonial; Canada; Mexico;
United States
North Carolina ... 14, 21, 211, 388,
389
North Pole 109, 206, 209, 261,
395, 565-66, 699, 706
Norton, Charles Eliot
(1827-1908) 211
Norway 173, 208, 671
Christmas in 230-31, 567-71,
769, 845
Christmas ale in . . . 116, 567, 569
Christmas cakes in 122
Christmas season in ... 161, 163,
571, 667
Epiphany in. . . 571, 635, 735, 820
Epiphany Eve in 221
ghosts in 286, 567, 568, 856
gift giving in 292, 394, 570
954
ornaments
Julenissen in 394, 568, 570
medieval 230-31, 845
Peace of Christmas in 602
St. Knut's Day in 667
St. Stephen's Day in . . . 274, 571,
688
St. Thomas's Day in ... . 116, 569,
571, 602, 695
seasonal affective
disorder in 197-98
star boys in 735
Wild Hunt in 820
Yule in 567, 845
Yule goat in 848, 849
Yule straw in 855-56
Nova Scotia, Canada 412
novenas 6, 162, 202, 364, 487,
502, 546, 626
"Now Thank We All Our
God" 806
Nowel. See Noel
Nuremberg, Germany ... 114, 154,
276, 411, 586
The Nutcracker (1892,
E. T. A. Hoffmann and P.
Tchaikovsky) . . 560, 573-77, 748
"The Nutcracker and the
Mouse King" (1819,
E. T. A. Hoffmann) 573
"The Nutcracker Suite" (1892,
P Tchaikovsky) 573, 576
"O Christmas Tree,
O Christmas Tree" 276
"O Come All Ye Faithful" . . 143, 213
"O Holy Night" 144
"O Little Town of Bethlehem" . . . 23,
146
Ochs,Adolph (1858-1935). . 755-56,
757
Octave of the Birth of Our
Lord. See Feast of the
Circumcision
"Ode to Joy" 370
Odin 115, 411, 506, 821, 844
Offenbach, Jacques
(1819-1880) 573
offerings for gift bringers 208,
209, 221, 393, 394, 662, 683, 701,
716, 717, 734
O'Hanlon, Virginia
(18907-1971) 557, 789-91
O'Hara, Maureen (1920- ) . . . . 109,
499
"Oh, Dem Golden Slippers"
(1879, J. Bland) 512
Ohio 29, 180
Oklahoma 211
Olafsson, Stephan 152
Old Christmas Day . . . 215, 579-82,
776
See also Epiphany
Old Christmas Eve 764, 801
See also Twelfth Night
Old Lad's Passing Bell.
See Devil's knell
Old Testament. See Bible
"Once in Royal David's City" ... 100
Ontario, Canada 39
oplatek 621
Orange Bowl 259-60
Origen (c. 185-c. 254) 185-86
Orkney, Scotland 332
ornaments 153, 155, 583-89
in Brazil 90
Chrismon tree 112
cookies 121
in Denmark 192
in England 407, 786
in France 262, 583
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in Germany . . . 170, 280, 583-84,
586-87,588
in Ghana 285
Jesse tree 376
in Latvia 421
in Lebanon 424
in Lithuania 432
National Christmas Tree . . . 528,
532
paradise tree 596, 597, 598
in the Philippines 606
in Russia 652
in Sweden 668
in the United States ... 171, 172,
297, 558-59, 584-85, 587, 588-89
See also decorations; pyramid
Orthodox 61
Abyssinian 355
and Advent 3, 5
and Annunciation 33
Armenian 5, 61, 63, 162, 188,
355, 358, 751
Assyrian 358, 751
and Bethlehem 63
in Bulgaria 91
Chaldean 358
Coptic 205, 355, 358, 582
and Epiphany 187, 217, 218,
220, 222
in Estonia 224
Ethiopian . . 162, 228, 582, 758-59
and Feast of the
Circumcision 250
in Finland 602
and Flight into Egypt 255
and Gregorian calendar .... 581,
582
Greek ... 3, 5, 218, 312, 358, 692,
751
and incense 266
in Latvia 421
in Lebanon 424
Maronite 424, 751
and Mary 470
and New Year's 553
Russian 162, 651, 653, 654
Syrian 355, 358, 751
See also St. Basil's Day
Orthodox Church of Karelia
and Finland 602
Osiris 218,371,831
owl 535
ox 164-65, 220, 535, 536
Oxford, England 629
Oxford movement 784
Oxford University (England) ... 74,
76-78,215,436
Pageant of Peace (Washington,
D.C.) 173,527,529
Pageant of the Shearmen
and Tailors 141
pageants. ... 29, 146, 284, 305, 538,
541, 729
Paignton, Devon, England .... 615
paintings. See art; wall paintings
Palermo, Sicily, Italy 155
Palestine 59, 222
Palm Festival 259
Palm Sunday 247
pantomime. . . 80, 214, 521, 591-95,
728, 788
Papa Noel 424-25
Parade, Mummers (Philadelphia,
Pa.). See Mummers Parade;
mumming
parades 20, 202, 321, 511
Epiphany 734
Jonkonnu 388
Martinmas 465, '
956
plant and tree customs and lore
qSjq^oej'Sjq^QejqiSjQejii^ts^iQejii^iSijQejq^i^tsiq^i^Sjqf^'S^q^qf^'S^'SjQejqSjq^QejqiSjq^qejqiSjQejii^ts^iQeji:^^
St. Lucy's Day 673
in Spain 734
Thanksgiving Day . . 180, 443-49
paradise play. . 2, 168, 583, 596, 597
See also miracle play; mystery
play
paradise tree 2, 107, 168, 235,
583, 596-98, 636
Paramount Pictures 369
pardons 506, 732
Paris, France 575, 644
Park Avenue (New York, N.Y.) . . 559
Parliament (British) . . 628, 629, 630,
631, 785
parliament (Dutch) 684
Pasadena, California 258
Pase del Nifio Viajero 202
Pastores .... 22, 235, 487, 521, 538,
540, 598-601, 604, 715
Paul III (pope, 1468-1549) 580
Payne, John (1912-1989) . . 499-500
Peace of Christmas 225, 569,
602-3, 695
peacock 231, 232
"Peanuts" 102-3
Pelz Nicholas. See Knecht
Ruprecht
Pembrokeshire, Wales 838
penance 4
Pennsylvania 180, 445, 500
Amish in 29
barring-outs in 49
Belsnickel in 410
colonial .... 16-17, 410, 701, 718,
764
Moravians in . . . 632, 633-34, 636
mumming (belsnickeUng)
in . . 19-20, 412-13, 520-21, 522
putz in 632, 633-34
See also Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania; Mummers
Parade; Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Assembly 718
Pennsylvania Dutch customs
and legends 29, 171, 410,
412, 584, 701, 702
Pepys, Samuel (1633-1703) . . . 405,
762
Perchta. See Berchta
Perchtennacht 57, 221, 765
See also Epiphany
Pere Fouttard 261
Pere Noel Ill, 261, 264, 716
Perpetuus (bishop of Tours). . . 4, 464
Persia (ancient) . . 69, 265, 452, 453,
455, 523
Peters, Hugh (1598-1660) 630
Petipa, Marius (1819-1910) . . . 573,
574
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .... 17,
18, 20, 135, 179, 180, 412, 413,
445, 521, 746, 805
See also Mummers Parade
Philippines 238
Christmas in 603-9
Christmas season in . . . 162, 502,
603, 609
Epiphany in 609, 717
Misa de Gallo in 502, 603
New Year's Eve in ... . 549, 608-9
Philocalian calendar 186
The Pickwick Papers
(1837, C.Dickens)... 133, 137,
138, 507-8, 784
Pierce, Franklin (U.S. president,
1804-1869) 172,819
pig . . 74, 75, 282, 431, 467, 549, 733
pilgrimages 228
pifiatas 460, 487-89, 625
Pius XII (pope, 1876-1958) . . . 271,
391
plant and tree customs and
lore . . 256-57, 534, 535, 536, 659
in Australia 40
in Germany 695
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in Greece 401
in Lebanon 426
in Syria 752
See also Christmas tree;
holly; ivy; laurel; mistletoe;
Nativity legends; poinsettia;
rosemary; trees
Plato (c. 428-c. 348 B.C.) 452
playacting 216
playgoing . . 193, 281, 560, 628, 761,
770
plays 22, 434
banning of 628
folk 6, 248, 561, 592, 848
miracle 106-7, 141, 539-40,
592, 596-97, 598, 599, 625
mummers. . . . 239, 361, 516, 519,
611,612
mystery . . . 141, 231, 483, 539-40,
592,596-97,599-600,625
paradise .... 2, 168, 583, 596, 597
puppet 623
St. Nicholas 681
See also Nativity plays;
pantomime; Pastores;
Posadas
Pliny the Elder (23-79 a.d.) .... 372
Plough Monday .... 161, 215, 231,
521,594,610-12,663
plum pottage 613-15
plum pudding . . 122, 134, 164, 406,
507, 613-16, 741, 784
in Australia 41
in Ireland 361
and Puritans . . 495, 496, 614, 630
in South Africa 728
Plygain 146, 617-18, 795
Plymouth Colony 15, 627
Pocahantas (c. 1595-1617) 14
Poinsett, Joel Roberts
(1779-1851) 619
poinsettia ... 90, 129, 164, 262, 487,
618-20, 778
Poland 457,633
Christmas in 620-23
Christmas Eve in . . . 620-22, 857
Epiphany Eve in 221
fortune-telling in . . 107, 622, 857
St. Barbara's Day in ... . 658, 659
St. Stephen's Day in 688
Yule straw in 855
Polo, Marco (1254-1324) . . 455, 456
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744) . . 127
popes 90,365,491,492
Gregory I (540-604) ... 4, 233-34
Gregory IX (pope, before
1170-1241) 690
Gregory XIII (1502-1585) .... 33,
35,553,579-81
Julius (d. 352) 188
Liberius (d. 366) 188
Martin I (d. 655) 464
Paul III (1468-1549) 580
Pius XII (1876-1958) . . . 271, 391
Sergius I (687-701) 96
Sylvester (d. 335) 690
Portugal 467,553,581
Posadas 5, 6, 22, 109, 146, 235,
276, 320, 391, 487, 521, 538,
540, 624-28
Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665) . . 255
Prang, Louis 129
pranks 318,
in Denmark 194
in Ecuador 202-3
in England 763
in Mexico 489
in the Philippines 608
in Spain 733
in the United States 412, 510
See also Christmas Lads;
Julnisse; Jultomten;
kalUkantzari
958
Puritans
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3S'*'^qf^'^q^qf^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'q^'^
prayers 471-72, 741, 851
pre-Christian festivals and
customs. See Kalends;
Saturnalia; Yule; Zagmuk
Presbyterian ... 13, 17, 23, 329, 630
Presentation of Christ in the
Temple, Feast of the.
See Candlemas
presepios 90
See also Nativity scenes
President's Park South. See
Ellipse (Washington, D.C.)
Prisoner's Base 272
processions
in Bethlehem 62
boy bishop 84
Candlemas 96, 97
Christmas Eve 264, 543
in England 266,610-11
Epiphany 266
Epiphany Eve 543
in Ethiopia 228, 758-59
and Feast of Fools 245
and Feast of the Ass 247
in France 261, 264, 543
in Germany 281, 411
in Ghana 284
in Guatemala 321
in India 355-56
in Ireland 839
in Italy . . . 220, 363, 543, 670, 684
in Rome (ancient) 844
St. Lucy's Day 670
St. Nicholas's Day. . 261, 363, 684
St. Stephen's Day 281
in Scotland 333-34, 777
in the United States 827
Protestant
and bells 54
Christingle 113
in England . . 552, 614, 785, 804-5
in Estonia 224
in Finland 602
in Germany 170, 682-83
and Gregorian calendar 581
in Iraq 358
in Ireland 360
and New Year's 552, 553, 554
in Scotland 329, 552
in the United States 23, 541,
555, 785, 803, 805-6
See also Amish; Anglican;
Baptist; Brethren;
Congregationalist; Dutch
Reformed; Episcopalian;
Lutheran; Mennonite;
Methodist; Moravian;
Presbyterian; Puritans;
Quaker; UniversaUst
Protestant Reformation .... 13, 29,
114, 126, 143, 199, 254, 329, 465,
539, 610, 617, 627-32, 708, 785,
804
Provence, France 264, 406, 543,
544, 644, 659, 851
Prudentius (348-after 405) .... 140
Pulterklas. See Knecht Ruprecht
puppet theater 623
Purification of the Blessed Virgin,
Feast of the. See Candlemas
purification rituals 332
See also Candlemas
Puritans .... 29, 179, 380, 434, 552,
627-32, 785
in America (colonial) . . 13, 15-16,
627, 822
and boar's head 76
and Christmas carols. . . 143, 146,
630
and games 272
and greenery 629
and mincemeat pie 495-96,
614, 630
and mumming 522, 628
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and Nativity plays. . . 539, 628-29
and New Year's . . . 554, 628, 630,
804
and plant and tree lore 299
and plum pudding 614, 630
and resolutions 642
in Scotland .... 329, 552, 630-31
putz 66-67, 174, 546, 632-35
See also Christmas village;
Nativity scenes
pyramid .... 17, 168, 170, 278, 292,
364, 635-37, 853
Pythagoras (c. 580-c. 500 B.C.) . . 452
Quaker 13,17,412
Quebec, Canada 544, 645
Queen of the Bean . . 282, 404, 761,
762, 764
Queen's College (Qxford,
England) 74, 76-78, 215
Quick, Frances 642-43
Quincy, Josiah (1772-1864). ... 211
Quirinius 305, 383
Qur'an 270, 752
races 398
chariot 258-59
horse ... 14, 71, 274, 361, 688-89
Rachel's Tomb (Bethlehem) .... 63
Radio City Music Hall
(New York, N.Y.) 560
ragamuffins 444-45
Ragged Schools (London,
England) 133, 136
Raging Host. See Wild Hunt
Ramadan 42, 205, 424, 752
Randolph, John (1773-1833). . . 815
raven 535
Ravenna, Italy 669
RawU, Herbert F 148
Reagan, Nancy (1921- ). . . 816, 817
Reagan, Ronald (U.S.
president, 1911- ) 531
Red Cross (Wilmington, Del.) . 159
Reed, Donna (1921-1986) . . 368, 369
reenactments 22
of Magi's journey 524, 528,
540, 545, 609
of Marduk's marriage 860
of Nativity story 6, 715
of St. Martin's deed 468
relating to St. Nicholas . . 73, 683
See also Nativity plays;
Pastores; Posadas
Reformation. See Protestant
Reformation
reindeer .... 164, 557, 639-41, 705,
708, 728, 848
religious services 472
Advent 9
in Armenia 36
and bells 53-54
in Bethlehem 62-63
Candlemas 96-97
in England 627, 629
in Ethiopia 228-29, 758-59
in Germany 687, 780
in Ghana 285
in Greece 314
in India 354, 355
in Iran 357
in Iraq 358
in Ireland 361
in Lebanon 425
in Madagascar 449
960
Roman Catholic
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qejq^>^t3Sj*'*qf^qP>q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP''^^
in ttie Marstiall Islands . . 461-62
in Mexico 487
in Norway 570
in the Philippines 603, 606
Protestant 23
Puritan 627
in Russia 652, 653, 654
St. Basil's Day 662
St. Stephen's Day 687, 688
in South Africa 729
in Spain 731
in Sudan 748
in Syria 751, 752
Thanksgiving 445-46
United Church of Christ 462
in the United States 723
See also Angels Mass;
Ceremony of Lessons and
Carols; Christingle; Julotta;
lovefeast; Midnight Mass;
Plygain; Shepherds Mass;
Watch Night
Remembrance Day 468
resolutions. New Year's . . 254, 554,
555, 642-43
reveillon 21, 261, 262, 644-45
See also Christmas dinner
Reynolds, Marjorie (1921-1997) . . 811
Rhea 243
Rich, John (1692-1761) 593
I^chard II (king of England,
1367-1400) 769
Riis, Jacob (1849-1914) 159
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 89
"Rise Up, Shepherd, and
Follow" 147, 723
Rivisondoli, Abruzzi, Italy 543
RKO Pictures 367, 368
robin . . . 128, 129, 164, 535, 646-48,
840
Rock Day. See St. Distaff's Day
Rockefeller, John D.
(1839-1937) 822
Rockefeller Center
(New York, N.Y.) 558-59
Rockettes 443, 560
role reversals 82-87, 245, 340,
711-12
Roman Catholic 500, 617, 631
and Adam and Eve Day 1, 2
and Advent 3, 5
and Annunciation 33
and bells 53-54
in Bethlehem 62
in Brazil 90
and Christmas 13, 35, 188
and Church of the Nativity ... 61
in England 494, 614, 630
and Epiphany 187, 222, 457
and Feast of the Ass 248
and Feast of the
Circumcision .... 248, 249, 250
in Finland 602
and Gaudete Sunday 275
in Germany. . . 170, 278, 279, 280
and Gregorian calendar. . 579-81
and Holy Innocents' Day . . . . 340
and incense 266
in India 355
in Iraq 358
in Ireland 359
in Italy 365
and Joseph 391
in Latvia 421
in Lithuania 427
and Mary 470, 474
and Midnight Mass . . 491-92, 501
and Nativity plays 539, 626
and New Year's 550-51
in the Philippines 502, 603
in Poland 620,621-22
and St. Barbara 657
and St. Hilary of Poitiers .... 667
St. John's Day 665
and St. Martin 465
and St. Nicholas 679
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and St. Sylvester 690
and St. Thomas 692
and Shepherds Mass 715
in the United States 13, 23,
541, 626
See also popes
Roman Catholic Church of
Finland 602
Roman Circus 71
Roman Empire. . 32, 59, 69-71, 295,
328, 383-84, 844
Romania 581
Rome 155, 234, 265, 295, 364,
523,553,554,591,592
Advent in 4
Candlemas in 96
early Christian . 32, 188, 230, 249,
542, 563
gift giving in 289, 293, 796
greenery in 168, 234, 315,
398, 423, 503, 504, 552, 835, 844
Midnight Mass in 90
Nativity scenes in 545
pre-Christian 97, 168, 186,
206, 239-40, 243, 244, 315, 335,
371-72,553,736,835,844
St. Lucy's in 669
winter solstice in . . . 71, 186, 553,
689, 830-31
See also Kalends; Saturnalia
Roosevelt, Edith (1861-1948) . . 816
Roosevelt, Eleanor
(1884-1962) 529,817,818
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (U.S.
president, 1882-1945) .... 180,
528-29, 818
Roosevelt, Theodore (U.S.
president, 1858-1919). . 172, 814
rooster's mass 603
See also Misa de Gallo; Plygain
rose 598
See also Christmas rose
Rose Bowl 258-59, 260
Rose of Jericho 257
rosemary 290, 318, 319, 423,
535, 649, 826
Rouen, France 538
rough nights 694
Rovaniemi, Finland 110
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer" (poem: 1939,
May; song: 1949, Marks). . 147,
640-41
Ru-Klas. See Knecht Ruprecht
Russia 575, 576, 581, 582, 639
Christmas in 582, 651-55
Christmas Eve in . . 536, 652, 654
Christmas season in. . . . 162, 651
Christmas trees in 171, 554,
652, 653
Grandfather Frost in ... . 310-11,
652, 653-54, 726
medieval 651
mumming in 520, 651
New Year's in 310, 311, 553,
554, 653-55, 726
St. Nicholas in 678
Snow Maiden in 726-27
See also Baboushka
Russian Imperial Ballet 573
Russian Orthodox. . . 162, 651, 653,
654
Russian Revolution (1917) 45
Saba 454
sacrifice 167, 672, 845
of animals 70, 75, 450, 715,
835, 845
of mock kings 838, 860
S.A.D. See seasonal affective
disorder
962
St. Nicholas
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^i;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^q^QejqSjq^QejqiS)q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qeji^
"A Safe Stronghold Is Our
God" 602
saining 332
St. Ambrose (339-397) 140
St. Andrew's Day 277, 436
St. Augustine (d. 604) 233
St. Augustine, Florida 13, 21
St. Barbara's Day ... . 107, 162, 276,
278, 657-60
St. Basil (c. 329-379) 123, 312,
313, 660, 661, 662
St. Basil's bread. . 123, 313, 549, 661
St. Basil's Day ... . 312, 313, 660-62
St. Bede (c. 672-735) 287, 330,
386, 454, 464-65, 846
St. Boniface (c. 675-754) 167
St. Bridget (d. c. 524-528) 97
St. Catherine's Roman
Catholic Church
(Bethlehem, Palestine) 62
St. Distaff's Day . . 161, 610, 663-64
"St. Distaff's Day; or, the
Morrow After Twelfth Day"
(R. Herrick) 663-64
St. Eustorgius Church
(Milan, Italy) 220, 456
St. Francis of Assisi
(c. 1881-1226) . . . 141, 364, 540,
543
St. George (third century) 519
St. George's Methodist Church
(Philadelphia, Pa.) 805
St. Gregory of Nazianzus
(c. 330-c. 398) 188
St. Helena (c. 248-c. 328) . . 59, 456
St. Hilary's Day. See
St. Knut's Day
St. Ignatius Loyola
(1491-1556) 626
St. Irenaeus (c. 120-140 to
C.200) 473
St. John Chrysostom
(c. 347-407) 188
St. John of the Cross
(1542-1591) 626
St. John the Baptist
(first century a.d.) 270, 471
St. John's College (Oxford
University, England) 436
St. John's Day . . . 161, 226, 244, 339,
665-66, 686, 770
St. Justin Martyr
(c. 100-c. 165) 473
St. Kitts-Nevis 387
St. Knut's Day 161, 224, 571,
667-68
St. Lucy 56, 669
St. Lucy's Day ... . 152, 161, 668-73
in Italy 364, 668-71
in Norway 571
in Sicily 364, 669-71
in Sweden . 161, 667, 668, 671-73
St. Lucy's Eve 717
St. LudmiUa (c. 860-921) 808
St. Mark's Cathedral
(Cairo, Egypt) 205
St. Martin of Tours
(c. 316-397) 291,410,411,
463, 464, 465, 467, 468, 682
St. Martin's Day. See Martinmas
St. Martin's Lent 4, 464
St. Nicholas (c. 280-c. 343) 83,
241, 402, 468, 640, 674-80, 742,
743, 807
in Austria 109
and Black Peter 72-73
and cert 101
in Germany 114, 153, 278,
279, 586
and Knecht Ruprecht 409-11
in Sweden 395
in the United States 26,
556-57, 699, 702-6, 708
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"St. Nicholas" (1875, H. Alger) . . 566
St. Nicholas Bishop 83
St. Nicholas's Day . . . 161, 291, 409,
412, 680-85, 742
and boy bishops 83, 87, 682
in Britain 48, 682
in Czechoslovakia 101, 681
in France 261, 674, 682
in Germany 278, 674, 680,
681, 682-83, 702, 716
in Italy 363, 678, 684
in the Netherlands 72-73,
681, 682, 683-84, 716
St. Nicholas's Eve . . . 411, 681, 683,
684, 742
in Austria 108-9,681
in Germany 278, 716
in the Netherlands 716
St. Nicholas Plays 681-82
St. Nick 699
St. Paul's Cathedral
(London, England) 85
St. Peter (d. c. 64 a.d.) 410
St. Peter's Basilica
(Rome, Italy) .... 365, 491, 492
St. Petersburg, Russia 575
St. Philip's Fast. See Advent
St. Stephen (d. c. 36 a.d.) 339,
686-87, 689, 840, 841
St. Stephen's Day . . . 161, 215, 244,
339, 665, 686-90, 770, 808
and Boxing Day. . . 79, 214, 291-92
in England 291-92, 687, 785
in Germany 281-82, 687
in Ireland 361, 687
in Lithuania 431
in Norway 274, 571, 688
in Sweden 274, 688-89
in Wales 796
and wren hunt .... 837, 839, 841
St. Sylvester's Day. . . 282, 521, 551,
690-92
St. Thomas (d. 53 a.d.) . . 456, 692-93
St. Thomas's Day 692-96
in Estonia 224, 225
in Germany 277, 694-95
in Norway . . . 116, 569, 571, 602,
695
in the United Kingdom 48,
215, 693-94
St. Thomas's Dole 693
St. Thorlak's Day 350
St. Veceslav or Vaclav.
See St. Wenceslaus
St. Wenceslaus (c. 903-935). . 808-9
Salisbury Cathedral
(Salisbury, England) . . 84, 85, 86
Salvation Army ... 26, 697-98, 708,
817
Sami 639
San Antonio, Texas 601, 626
San Antonio Conservation
Society (San Antonio,
Tex.) 601
San Fernando, Philippines .... 604
San Francisco, California. . 577, 697
San Francisco Ballet 577
San Jose Mission
(San Antonio, Tex.) 601
Sanger, California 532-33
Santa Claus . . 18, 28, 164, 242, 293,
351,498,699-710,807
in Australia 40, 41
in Brazil 89-90
and elves . . . 206, 208-9, 394, 395
in England 241, 786
and Father Christmas . . 239, 241
in Finland 394
in Ghana 284
in Italy 51, 366
in Japan 778-80
letters to 5, 109-10
in Lithuania 427
mailing address 110
964
seasonal affective disorder
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3Sj*'*qf^qP>q^qf^'^fSj'^'^q^'^qP'f^
and North Pole 565-66
in the Philippines 607
precursors 56-58
and reindeer 639-40
in Russia 311, 655
and St. Nicholas 674, 675
in Spain 734
in the United States ... 19, 23, 26,
115, 179-80, 445, 449, 556-57,
588, 640, 674, 680, 699-709, 716,
742, 743, 789-90
See also gift bringers
Santa Claus Association 707
Santa Claus Foundation
(Demre, Turkey) 679
"Santa Claus Is Coming to
Town" 147
Santa Fe Trail 238
Santa Lucia. See St. Lucy's Day
Santa Maria Maggiore
(Rome, Italy) 542
Santals 355
santons 264, 544
saoshyant 452-53
Sarg,Tony (1882-1942) 446
Satterlee, Henry Yates 301
Saturn 239-40, 243, 711
Saturnalia. . . 82, 240, 243, 397, 399,
711-14, 830
and date of Christmas . . 71, 186,
230, 550, 767
and Feast of Fools 244, 246
and gift giving 289
and greenery. . 315, 335, 371, 234
and mock kings . . . 234, 404, 437,
760
Saudi Arabia 524
sauna 225
Savannah, Georgia 21
Scandinavia .... 207, 208, 297, 392,
639, 771, 772, 856
ancient 506,672,845
boar's head feast 74-75
pre-Christian 115, 672
Christmas cakes in 121-22
Christmas candles in . . . 124, 125
Christmas season in 161
Christmas sheaf in 163
Christmas trees in 171
customs in Estonia 227
ghosts in 286
Martinmas in 467
noisemaking in 520
ornaments in 588
Wild Hunt in 821
Yule in . . . 115, 395, 672, 821, 845,
See also Denmark; Finland;
Iceland; Julotta; Norway;
Sweden
Schimmelreiter. See Knecht
Ruprecht
Schmidt, Leigh Eric 642, 643
Schulz, Charles (1922-2000) . . 102-5
Scotch-Irish immigrants
to America 17, 510
Scotland 37, 143, 207, 838
barring-outs in 48
Boxing Day in 79
Christmas candles in 125
Christmas season in 161-62
firstfooting in 252-53
Martinmas in 467
New Year (Hogmanay)
in . . 328-34, 552, 553, 631, 793,
838
and Puritans 630-31
UpHellyAa 776-77
waits in 793
Yule log in 851
Scrooge, Ebenezer. See
A Christmas Carol
Sears, Edmund (1810-1876) ... 146
seasonal affective disorder
(S.A.D.) 197-98
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Seaton, George (1911-1979) . . 498,
499,500
Second Christmas Day .... 29, 193
Sedulius (fifth century) 140
Seguret, Provence, France 543
Serbian customs 851
Sergius I (687-701) 96
Seuss, Dr. (Theodor Geisel,
1904-1991) 345-47
Seville, Spain 731
Sewa, Persia 456
Shakespeare, William
(1564-1616) 208, 649, 761
sheep 535, 714-15, 758
Shem (biblical) 454
shepherds 354, 714-15, 780
customs involving . 201, 489, 538,
539, 541, 542
in Italy 364
Jesus as 378
and Jesus'birth. . 31, 62, 140, 270,
304,307,440,472,502
See also Pastores
shepherds' fields 715
Shepherds Mass 491, 715
Shepherds Play 599
Sherman Plaza
(Washington, D.C.) 428
Shetland Islands, Scotland. . 161-62,
776-77
ships 312, 776-77
shoes as gift receptacles 221,
675, 716-17, 742
in Austria 681
in Brazil 89,717
in Estonia 227, 716
in France 262-64, 716
in Germany 411, 716
in Iceland 152, 351-52, 716
in Italy 364, 671, 716
in Mexico 490,717
in the Netherlands 72, 681,
683, 716
in the Philippines 609, 717
in Spain 716, 734
See also gift giving
shooting in Christmas
or New Year's 717-18
in America (colonial) .... 15, 824
in Denmark 194
in Germany 282, 717
in Lebanon 425
in Norway 568
in the United States 20, 22,
509,511,717-18
shopping 26, 148, 153-55, 161,
162, 176-77, 195, 224, 350, 356,
359, 556, 557
See also Christmas markets;
commercial aspects of
Christmas
shopping season 443, 445
Shrine of Nuestra Sefiora de la
Leche (St. Augustine, Fla.) . . 13
Shrine of St. Nicholas
(Flushing, N.Y.) 679
shrines 61, 732, 759
Shrove Tuesday 48
Siberia 639
Sicily, Italy 364, 669-71, 716
"Silent Night" 144, 276
"Silver Bells" 147
Silvester Abend 282, 690
Simeon (biblical) 95, 96, 97
Sinterklass 705
Sir Christmas. See
Father Christmas
Sir Gaiuain and the Green Knight
(fourteenth century) 769
"Sister Mary Had-a But
One Child" 723
Skansen Park (Stockholm,
Sweden) 154
skating rink (Rockefeller Center,
New York, N.Y.) 558,559
966
"Spring Has Now Unwrapped the Flowers"
Sketches by Boz (1836,
C. Dickens) 133
slaves, American 14, 15, 21-22,
210-11, 343, 388-89, 719-26, 806,
825
See also African-American
customs and legends
slaves in the Caribbean 343
slaves in Jamaica 387
slaves in Rome (ancient) 398,
712, 713
slaves in Sudan 747
Sleeping Beauty (1889,
P. Tchaikovsky) 575, 576
Smart, Henry 144
Smith, John (c. 1580-1631) 14
Smith, Thomas 149-50
smoke 331, 332
Smoke Nights 281, 771
Snapdragon 273, 787
Snegurochka. See Snow Maiden
Snow Maiden 164, 310, 311,
654, 726-27
snow rose. See Christmas rose
Sol 69-70,186
Solemnity of Mary. See
Feast of the Circumcision
Somalia 266, 524
Song of Mary (Magnificat) .. 471-72
songs 316, 335, 372
See also Christmas carols;
hymns; music
sourvakari 93
South (U.S.) 14-15, 19, 20-22,
343-44, 387, 388-89, 509, 718,
719-25, 824
South Africa 728-30
South America. See Brazil;
Ecuador; Guyana
South Carolina 14, 211, 343
South Lawn (White
House) 528-29
Southwest (U.S.)
Advent in 9
Christmas in 22, 237-38
luminaries in 440-41
Nativity plays in 540, 601
Nativity scenes in 546
Posadas in 626
Southwest Bell Cotton Bowl. . . 260
Spain 72, 153, 238, 266, 302,
524, 581, 683
Advent in 4
Christmas in 731-34
Christmas carols in 142-43
Epiphany in 4, 545, 716-17,
732, 733-34
Feast of the Circumcision in . . 249
Magi in 110, 716-17, 733-34
Nativity scenes in 545, 731,
732, 734
New Year's in 549, 553, 733
Twelfth Night in . . . 404, 405, 760
Spanish colonists in the
Americas .... 13, 238, 489, 545
See also De Soto, Hernando
Spanish colonists in the
Netheriands 72
Spanish colonists in the
Philippines 237-38, 603
Spanish missionaries in the
Americas. . . . 440-41, 540, 599,
626
Spanish missionaries in the
Philippines 502
spider 588
Spinning Night 694
sporting events ... 42, 274, 334, 361
See also football bowl
games; jousting
spring equinox. . . 33, 187, 553, 580,
829, 859
"Spring Has Now Unwrapped
the Flowers" 809
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Stalin, Joseph (1879-1953) .... 653
Stanford University 258
star boys .... 221, 282-83, 538, 540,
571, 621-22, 671, 673, 735, 740
star lantern 604, 606
Star Man 621-22
star, Moravian 66
Star of Bethlehem 124, 304,
308-9, 327, 354, 451, 456, 472,
534, 620, 735, 736-40
Star of Bethlehem
(Bethlehem, Pa.) 65-66
starngossar. See star boys
stars 164, 428, 457, 559, 620,
621, 652, 670, 735, 740
Stephen's Riders 688-89
Stern, Philip Van Doren 367
Stewart, Jimmy (1908-1997) . . 368,
369
Stick Week 350
Stir-Up Sunday 215, 615, 741
Stockholm, Sweden 154, 673
stockings 25, 675, 703, 742-43
in Czechoslovakia 681
in England 214, 743, 786
in France 743
in Germany 742-43
in Ireland 361
in Italy 51, 366, 743
in South Africa 728
in the United States ... 171, 172,
585, 707, 716, 742, 743, 833
store window displays 19, 26,
179, 305, 445, 545, 558, 683, 744-
47, 778
See also commercial aspects
stork 232
"The Story of a Nutcracker"
(1844, A. Dumas) 573
"The Story of the Goblins
Who Stole a Sexton"
(C. Dickens) 287
storytelling 769, 771
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
(1811-1896) 211
Strasbourg, Germany .... 170, 583
straw. . . 224, 421, 428, 429-30, 431,
432, 490, 535, 621, 622, 687
See also Yule straw
Straw Day 688
straw goat 848, 856
Strega. See Befana
Strenia 289, 398
stress, Christmas-related. . . 195-97
Stubbes, Philip
(c. 1555-c. 1610) 628
students' customs 694
See also barring-outs;
children's customs and lore
Sudan 747-48
Sugar Bowl. See Nokia
Sugar Bowl
sugarplums 171, 584, 748-50
suicide 197
See also depression
Sumerians 859
summer solstice 506, 829
sun 186, 187, 421, 422, 568,
670, 829-30, 832
Sun, Birth of the Invincible. See
Birth of the Invincible Sun
Sun Day 198
sun god
Egyptian 218
Mesopotamian 860
Norse 504-6
Roman 186,230
Scandinavian 330
See also gods
Sunblom, Haddon 708
supernatural creatures
See cert; Christmas cat;
Christmas Lads; elves;
968
televised events and shows
qSjq^oej'Sjq^QejqiSjQejii^ts^iQejii^iSijQejq^i^tsi.q^i^tsiqSjq^qf^'S^q^QejqSjq^QejqiSjq^qejqiSjQejii^ts^iQejii^iS^
evil spirits; fairy lore; ghosts;
gift bringers; Gryla; Julenisse;
Jultomten; kalUkantzari;
trolls; werewolves;
Wild Hunt; witches
swan 231, 232
Swan Lake (1877,
P. Tchaikovsky) 576
Sweden 208, 581, 602
Christmas bread in 121
Christmas candles in 125
Christmas markets in. . . 153, 154
Christmas rose in 157
Christmas season in ... 161, 667,
668, 671
Epiphany in 635, 735
Epiphany Eve in 221
gift giving in . . . 274, 292, 392-93,
393-95
St. Knut's Day in 667, 668
St. Lucy's Day in . . 161, 667, 668,
671-73
St. Stephen's Day in . . 274, 688-89
Santa Claus in 110
star boys in 735
Yule goat in . . . 395, 848, 849, 856
Yule straw in 855
See also Julklapp; Jultomten
Swedish-American customs. ... 22
Swerling, Jo 368
Swiss immigrants to America . . 701
Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745) ... 80,
482
Switzerland 581
boy bishop in 83
Christkindel in 114
Epiphany Eve in 221
Nativity scenes in 546
St. Nicholas's Day in 681
St. Sylvester's Day in . . . 690, 691
star boys in 221, 735
sword dances 611, 612
sword play 519
Sylvester (pope, d. 335) 690
See also St. Sylvester's Day
Sylvester (folk figure) 691
Sylvester's Eve 282
Synaxis of the Theotokos 255
Syracuse, Sicily, Italy 669, 671
Syria
ancient 383
Christmas in 751-53
Epiphany in 221, 752
New Year's in 550, 751-52
St. Barbara's Day in 162, 657,
658-59
Syrian Catholic Church 751
Syrian Orthodox Church 355,
358, 751
I'
Ta Chiu 42
Tablets of the Law 758
The Tales of Hoffmann
(1881, J. Offenbach) 573
Tallahassee, Florida 13
Tallinn, Estonia 225
Target Companies 444-45
Target Stores 175
Tarsus 454
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilich
(1840-1893) . . . 573-74, 575-76,
748
Tehran, Iran 356
Telemachus (fourth century) . . . 249
televised events and shows . . . 214
Ceremony of Lessons
and Carols 100
"A Charlie Brown
Christmas" 102-5
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Christmas Eve service
in Russia 654
How the Grinch Stole
Christmas 345
It's a Wonderful Life 369
Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade. . . 444, 447-48, 556, 557
Midnight Mass 90, 365, 492
Mummers Parade 515
National Christmas Tree
lighting 527, 529
New Year's Eve in Times
Square 39, 755, 756
Peace of Christmas 602
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer" 641
St. Nicholas's arrival in
Amsterdam 683
TertuUian (c. 155 or 160-after
220 A.D.) 315-16, 473
Teutonic. See Germanic
Texas 22, 211, 260, 601, 626
Thanksgiving. . . 162, 177, 180, 197,
558, 698, 745
See also Macy's
theatergoing. See playgoing
Theodora (1750, G. F. Handel) . . 486
Theophania. See Epiphany
Thor 330,640,844,848
Thorne, John 343
Three Fates 206
Three Kings. See Magi
Three Kings Day. See Epiphany
Three Kings of Cologne 456
thyme 535
Tiberius (42 B.C.-37 a.d.) 384
Tiffany, Louis C. (1848-1933) . . 130
Times Square (New York, N.Y) . . 39,
555, 560, 755-57
Timkat 228, 758-60
See also Epiphany
tinsel 586, 598
Tiomkin, Dimitri (1894-1979) . . 370
Titian (1488 or 1490-1576) .... 255
Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910) . . . 519-20,
651
Torah 758
See also Bible: Old Testament
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl 260
Tournament of Roses . . 258-59, 260
Trafalgar Square (London,
England) 173
trees. See cherry tree;
Christmas tree;
Glastonbury thorn;
National Christmas Tree;
Nation's Christmas Tree;
paradise tree; plant and tree
lore; wassailing
trefoir. See Yule log
trek to the tree 533
Tremont Temple
(Boston, Mass.) 211
Trinity Church (New York,
N.Y.) 756
Trinity College (Cambridge
University, England) 436
trolls. . . 349, 353, 402, 667, 673, 771
Tromso, Norway 197-98
Troyes, France 521
Truman, Harry S. (U.S.
president, 1884-1972) .... 529,
817
Truro, England 100
Turkey 454, 674, 679-80, 684
Turku, Finland 602
Tuskegee, Alabama 22
Tusser, Thomas (1524-1580) ... 610
"'Twas the night before
Christmas." See "A Visit
from St. Nicholas"
Twelfth Day 220
See also Epiphany
970
United States
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qe,iT^>^qfiq^>^t3S''^*'^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP'q^
Twelfth Night. ... 50, 161, 246, 274,
404-6, 521, 594, 760-66, 770,
859, 861
in America (colonial). . . . 764-65,
824
in England . . . 122, 215, 216, 220,
232, 373, 404, 405-6, 436, 476,
507, 616, 760-64, 788, 797, 801
in France . . . 122, 404-5, 760, 761,
765
in Germany . . 122, 282, 404, 405,
406, 760, 765
in Ireland 362
in the Netherlands 122, 760
in the United States 21
and Wild Hunt 820,821
and winter goddesses .... 56-57,
821
Twelfth Night, Or What
You Will {1601-2,
W. Shakespeare) 761
Twelve Days of Christmas 50,
161, 207, 230, 250, 402, 551,
760,767-73,859,860-61
in England . . . 220, 290, 318, 436,
493, 518, 594, 610, 663, 769-70,
771, 784, 853
in Germany 280-81, 771-72
in Greece .... 313, 401, 402, 771,
772
in Iceland 151-52, 771
in Italy 853
in the Philippines 608
in Poland 622
in Russia 652
and Wild Hunt 286, 820
and winter goddesses .... 56-57,
267
Twelve Quiet Days 281, 772
Twentieth-Century Fox 500
Twentieth Day of Christmas . . . 667
Twenty-Fourth Night 776
Ujeland, Marshall Islands . . 459-62
Ukraine 588
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics
and Estonia 226-27
and Lithuania 432
See also Communist era
United Church of Christ 462
United Kingdom .... 254, 468, 581,
594, 595
Christmas candles in . . . 124, 588
Christmas crackers in. . . . 149-50
legends 106, 207-8, 504
Martinmas in 465-67
wassail in 797-800
See also England; Ireland;
Isle of Man; Scotland;
Wales
United States . . . 297, 468, 516, 591
Advent calendar in 7
Advent candle in 8
barring-outs in 49
belsnickeling in 412-13
Ceremony of Lessons
and Carols in 100
Charles Dickens in 135
Christmas ale in 115, 117
Christmas bonus in 118-19
Christmas cakes in 121
Christmas cards in 129-31
Christmas carols in 144-46,
146-47
Christmas clubs in 148-49
Christmas pageants in. . 146, 541
Christmas seals in 159
Christmas season in . . . 161, 162,
556
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Christmas trees in 19, 23,
25, 171-73, 179, 293, 297, 319,
558-59, 634, 636, 699, 707, 744,
819
Christmas villages in ... . 174-76
commercialism 176-82, 380
Congress 23
Consumer Products Safety
Commission 778
Department of Agriculture . . 778
Depression era 180, 558
depression in 195
eggnog in 203-4
gift giving in 293, 833
greenery in 338, 508
Hanukkah in 325
Jonkonnu in 387, 388-89
Kwanzaa in 416-17
Lithuanians in 432
National Christmas Tree . . 527-32
Nation's Christmas Tree. . . 532-33
Nativity scenes in 21, 530,
546-47, 560
New Year's baby in 47
New Year's Day football
games 258-60,274
New Year's Eve in . . 550, 553-54,
755-57
nineteenth-century . . 19-28, 412
ornaments in 584-85, 587,
588-89
poinsettias in 619
Postal Service . . . 109, 111, 707-8
St. Lucy's Day in 668
St. Nicholas in 26, 556-57,
680, 699, 702-6, 708
Santa Claus in 19, 23, 26,
115, 179-80, 208-9, 445, 449,
556-57, 588, 640, 674, 680, 699-
709, 716, 742, 743, 789-90
shooting in Christmas . . . 717-18
stockings in 171, 172, 585,
707, 716, 742, 743, 833
sugarplums in 750
See also America, colonial;
Amish; Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania; Dutch
immigrants to America;
Emancipation Day;
German immigrants to
America; Irish immigrants to
America; Macy's; Moravian;
Mummers Parade; New York
City; Pastores; Posadas;
Puritans; Salvation Army;
Scotch-Irish immigrants
to America; slaves; Swiss
immigrants to America;
Times Square; White House;
Williamsburg, Virginia
United States (regions)
East Coast 171
Midwest 29
New England .... 15-16, 19, 822
North 719,723
South 14-15,19,20-22,
343-44, 387, 388-89, 509, 718,
719-25, 824
Southwest 9, 22, 237-38,
440-41, 540, 546, 601, 626
West 22,509,718
Unity of the Brethren.
See Moravian
Universalist 16
University of Glasgow
(Scotland) 329
University of Michigan 258
Up HellyAa 162, 776-77
Uranus (Greek god) 243
urban legends related to
Christmas 777-81
Urnasch, Appenzell Canton,
Switzerland 691
972
Washington, Martha
qSjq^Qej'Sjq^QejqiS)Qeji:^ts?,Qeji:^i3ijQejq^i^tsiq^i;Sj'3S'qf^*'3S'qf^q^QejqSjq^QejqiS)q^Qejts?,Qeji:^ts?,Qeji^
Vaclav or Vaceslav.
See St. Wenceslas
Valentine cards 126-27
Valley Hunt Club (Calif.) 258
Van Twiller, Wouter
(15807-1656) 703
Vecchia. See Befana
Velazquez, Diego (1599-1660) . . 457
Veliki Ustyug, Russia 311
"Veni, redemptor gentium" . . . 140
Venice, Italy 155
Vermont 528
Veterans Day 468
Victoria (queen of England,
1819-1901) . . 170, 783, 784, 786
Vietnam 181, 530
vigils
in Ethiopia 228
in the United States 21
See also Watch Night
Vikings 776, 846
villancicos. See Christmas carols
Virgin. See Mary
Virginia 14, 211, 764, 814, 815
See also Williamsburg, Virginia
Virginia Almanack 823
Virginia O'Hanlon.
See O'Hanlon, Virginia
"A Visit from St. Nicholas"
(1823, C. C. Moore) ... 26, 208,
556-57, 566, 639-40, 701, 703-5,
707, 742, 748
visiting 27, 30
in America (colonial) .... 823-24
in Armenia 36
in Denmark 193
in Estonia 226
in Germany 280, 281
in Iceland 351
in India 356
in Iran 357
in Iraq 358
in Lebanon 425
in Mesopotamia (ancient) . . . 860
in Mexico 489
New Year's Day in the
United States 20
in Nigeria 562
in Norway 116, 571, 695
in the Philippines 606-7
slaves in the United States . . 719,
720
in South Africa 729
in Syria 751-52
Wade, John Francis 143
waits 144, 216, 788, 793-95
See also caroling
Wales 142, 207, 687, 688, 820,
836, 837, 838, 839
Christmas in 795-96
See also Plygain
wall paintings 70
See also art
Wallowitch, John 812
Wanamaker's
(Philadelphia, Pa.) 746
War and Peace (1865-69,
L.Tolstoy) 520,651
Washington, Booker T.
(1856-1915) 22
Washington, George (U.S.
president, 1732-1799) . . 14, 68,
203, 765, 814, 824, 825
Washington, Martha
(1731-1802) 68,765,824
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Washington, D.C 135, 210, 301
National Christmas
Tree in 527-32
Naval Observatory 756
White House Christmas . . 814-19
Washington Monument
(Washington, D.C.) 528
wassail . . 214, 232, 419-20, 797-800
wassailing 142, 215, 764, 794,
801-2,847
Watch Night . . 211, 554, 643, 803-6
water
blessing of . . . . 222, 314, 752, 759
games with 664, 752
holy 36, 283, 402, 694, 752
lore 332, 431, 534, 536, 670
Watts, Isaac (1674-1748) 143
Wawal Cathedral (Krakow,
Poland) 622, 623
"We Three Kings of Orient
Are" 23, 146, 457
weather lore 429, 431, 433,
468, 622, 651, 659, 772
Weaver, John (1673-1760) 593
web sites
Advent 11
Amish 30
Australia 43
Bahamas 389
Bulgaria 93
Ceremony of Lessons
and Carols 101
Christingle 114
Christmas cards 131
A Christmas Carol 138
Christmas markets 155
Christmas trees 174
Christmas villages 176
commercialism 182-83
England (Victorian) 788
Epiphany 223
Estonia 227
Ethiopia 229,760
Finland 602
First Night 255
France 265
Gabriel 271
Germany 283, 637
Ghana 286
Glastonbury thorn 301
Hogmanay 334
hopping John 344
India 356
Jonkonnu 389
Latvia 423
Lebanon 426
Lithuania 433
Macy's Thanksgiving Day
parade 449
Mary 475, 537
"Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year" 482
Mexico 490
Moravian 68, 439, 635
Mummers Parade 413, 515
National Christmas Tree .... 532
Nation's Christmas Tree .... 533
Nativity scenes 547
Netherlands (St. Nicholas) . . 685
New York City 560
Norway 395, 571
Peace of Christmas 602
poinsettias 620
Poland 623
Salvation Army 698
Schulz, Charles 105
Seuss, Dr 347
Star of Bethlehem 740
Times Square 757
Tournament of Roses 260
United States,
nineteenth-century 28
urban legends 781
Watch Night 806
974
women's and girls' customs
cS>q^>^q|S)q^>^q|S)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qejq^>^t3Sj*'*qf^qP>q^qf^'^q^'^'^q^'^qP''^^^
White House 819
Williamsburg, Virginia
(colonial) 828
wren hunt 841
Yule goat 849
Weihnachtsn\ann . . . 164, 279, 586,
807
Wenceslas, King
(c. 903-935) 808-9
werewolves 402, 771
Wesley, John (1703-1791) . . . 804-5
Wesley Chapel (New York,
N.Y) 805
West (U.S.) 22, 509, 718
West Kerry, Ireland 839
West Point Military Academy
(West Point, N.Y.) 204
Western Union building
(New York, N.Y.) 756
Westminster, England 794
Westminster Abbey
(Westminster, England) . . 135,
485
Westminster Palace
(Westminster, England) ... 272
whipping customs 93, 340-41,
688, 694
White, Hugh 258
"White Christmas" 139, 147,
810-13
White Christmas (1954 movie) . . 812
White House 814-19
Christmas tree 172, 173,
527-32, 589, 819
Whiting, Richard 494-95
Whittier, John Greenleaf
(1807-1892) 211
Wild Hunt . . 56, 234, 267, 280, 286,
402, 409, 567, 771, 820-21
Will O'the Wisp 207, 771
Williamsburg, Virginia 822-28
Advent in 8-9,822-23
Christmas in colonial .... 822-26
Wilmington, North Carolina. . . 389
Wilson, Kemmons 812
Wilson, Mara (1987- ) 500
Wilson, Woodrow (U.S.
president, 1856-1924) .... 173
Winchester Cathedral
(Winchester, England) 84
wine 372, 420, 467, 665-66,
844, 851
Winter, Festival of (Russia) .... 653
Winter Lent. See Advent
winter rose. See Christmas rose
winter solstice . . 187, 197, 670, 692,
694, 828-32, 844-45
in Egypt (ancient) 218, 831
in Estonia 224
in Latvia 421
and legends 58, 506
in Norway 568
in Rome (ancient) . . 71, 186, 553,
689, 830-31
"Winter Wonderland" 147
Wise Men of the East. See Magi
witches 57, 318, 414
Wode. See Frau Gaude
Women's Christmas 362
women's and girls'customs . . . 107,
195, 340
in America (colonial) . . . 825, 826
in England . . . 252, 253, 318, 337,
338, 373, 610, 695, 798, 851
in France 122
in Germany 277, 281, 636,
695, 772
in Greece 402
in Iceland 349-50
in India 354, 355
in Ireland 359,362
in Lithuania 430
in the Marshall Islands . . 460, 461
in Poland 622,857
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in Russia 652
in Scotland 252, 253
St. Barbara's Day 658
St. Lucy's Day 668, 671-73
St. Sylvester's Day 692
in Sweden 668, 671-73
in Syria 751-52
Twelfth Night 404, 406
in the United States . . 176-77, 512
See also St. Distaff's Day
Wood, Natalie (1938-1981) .... 499
Woodward, Hezekiah 628
wooing ceremony 519
Woolworth, F. W. 587
Worcestershire, England 693
World War 1 468, 528, 587
World War II 173, 199, 367-68,
447,558,587,589,812
National Christmas Tree
during 528-29
wrapping paper. ... 19, 25, 26, 171,
177, 179, 335, 373, 392, 833-34
wreath 164, 315, 335, 835-36
in England 338, 787
in the Philippines 604
in Sweden 671
Sylvester's 691
in the United States . . . 533, 559,
826
See also Advent wreath
wren 128, 646-47, 648, 836-41
wren hunt 214, 361, 687, 796,
836-41
See also hunting
Wyler, William (1902-1981). ... 369
U:
K
"xmas" 188
Yale University 259
Yawning for a Cheshire
Cheese 274
Yemen 454
York Cathedral
(York, England) .... 84, 85, 86,
316,506
Yorkshire, England 199, 215
Yugoslavia 341, 581
Yule 349, 371, 464, 767, 771,
831, 843-47, 850
and Berchta 56
and boar's head 75
in England 846
in Estonia 224
and Frau Gaude 267
and ghosts 286, 287
and greenery 315, 335
in Norway 567, 845
in Scandinavia .... 115, 395, 672,
821, 845, 846, 848
in Scotland 330
Yule ale. See Christmas ale
Yule Boys 152
Yule bread. See Christmas cakes
Yule cake. See Christmas cakes
Yule candle. See Christmas candles
Yule clog. See Yule log
Yule goat 164, 392, 395, 567,
848-49, 856
Yule log 165, 850-54
in America (colonial) 15
in Bulgaria 92
in England .... 98, 847, 850, 851,
852-53
in France 262, 850, 851, 853,
854
976
Zoroastrianism
cS>q^>^q|S)q^t]^qi?)Qe,iT^q!?,Qe,iT^>^Qeji^>^t3Sj*'*qf^Qe''^qf^Qe,q^£]^c3P,q^>^c3!^
in Germany 234, 850, 851
in Italy .... 364, 636, 851, 852-53
in Latvia 422
in Lithuania 431
in Norway 567, 568
in Scandinavia (ancient) .... 845
in Scotland 851
in Serbia 851
in the United States 719
Yule straw 855-57
See also straw
Yuletide Host. See Wild Hunt
Yuletide Lads. See Christmas Lads
Zagmuk 859-61
Zechariah 270
Zeus 243
Zinzendorf, Count Nikolaus
Ludwigvon (1700-1760) ... 64
Zoroaster (c. 628-c. 551 B.C.). . . 452
Zoroastrianism 69, 452, 455
Zwarte Piet. See Black Peter
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