Christmas Customs and Traditions
December 8th, 2008
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by admin · Filed Under: Faith · Love · Of Interest
Christmas combines probably the greatest gathering of customs and traditions from many people of many lands, and probably the greatest event in human history, when all of those customs, folklore and traditions come together into a harmonious whole to bring us what we know as the Christmas season. How wonderful that is.
As we remember our traditions and take part in family customs, or perhaps see our children involved in a Christmas pageant, it recreates in us each year a true spirit of Christmas.
The very first Christmas pageant was put together by St. Francis of Assisi. He put on a Christmas pageant with real people and real animals, and the people it is said were so blessed by this that they spontaneously burst into joyous song. And that started community singing or carol singing. So both the pageant and the carol singing originally came from St. Francis of Assisi.
We think about all the traditions that come together at Christmas and we sometimes wonder where they come from. Like the Christmas tree for instance. The Christmas tree originally, for the Germans, symbolized the Garden of Eden, because it came from a play called the Paradise Baum which meant “The Tree of Paradise.” It was a medieval play. The Tree of Paradise became the Christmas tree.
At that time the play was enacted outdoors, then later suppressed and the people were not allowed to perform the play. So they took the tree, instead of having it outdoors, they took the fir trees indoors. And that’s when it began to become the Christmas tree. At first there was nothing on the tree; it was just a live tree that was taken indoors to remind people of the evergreen, the life that was always there in the midst of the darkest winter.
But is said that Martin Luther was walking through the countryside one evening; it was a dark yet starry and moonlit night and the moon was shining on the snow-tipped branches of the evergreen trees. He was so taken by this scene that when he arrived home he tried to explain it and have his family envision that scene, and in order to help them envision the scene he lighted candles and attached them to the limbs of the fir tree that was in the house.
That’s how the tradition started of having lights on the Christmas tree. We don’t have just regular candles on Christmas trees anymore. You know why? Well, in the early days when that happened there were a few fires.
When I was young and growing up in England we used candles; we had little clips that fitted on the branches of the tree and the candles slotted into little metal cups. The candles were about the size of birthday cake candles and were usually spiraled and they fit into the cups, and we lit the candles on the tree at Christmas time. Of course, later on actual lights were used on the Christmas tree.
So the Christmas tree is a very special symbol for us all, isn’t it? And mistletoe. Think about mistletoe and you may wonder where the tradition of that came from. Well the beginning for that was way back in the first and second centuries. The Druid priests considered the mistletoe holy, and on the fifth day after the close of the winter solstice they would go out and use a golden knife to cut the mistletoe off the holy oak trees. And they would distribute the sprigs of mistletoe to the people in the village. The mistletoe was said to be sacred and it would keep away all of the woodland spirits or evil spirits that might enter their home. So they would hang it over the door and it would keep those evil spirits out.
Do you know where they word “mistletoe” came from? The mistletoe came from an old Anglo-Saxon word or two words, “mistel” and “tan.” At first it was called “misteltan.” And “mistel” simply means “dung.” And “tan” means “twig.” So it was the dung which the birds dropped that grew on the twig. At first, instead of thinking of just seeds that were passing through the birds, they thought the birds actually brought the berries that were there.
Soon it grew into a greater symbol. In Scandinavia they had the idea of the mistletoe representing fertility.
They had a goddess of fertility called Freya and a god of the summer sun called Balda. Freya rescued Balda and brought about his resurrection through the mistletoe. So they recognized it had life-giving powers; that it brought humans back to life. In Scandinavia, too, they hung it over the door frames to keep evil spirits out and to bring life into the house. So it has a long history.
The Romans also recognized it as a symbol of peace and whenever they came to a place where there was mistletoe in the oak trees in winter, they would lay down their arms if they were facing enemies and declare a truce between them.
Mistletoe gradually came to symbolize love and of course after that there came the kissing under the mistletoe which is an inevitable conclusion and a lovely practice.
Holly was also recognized as a very much prized but prickly decoration for doorways and windows, especially on doorways because it was said to either keep evil spirits out or snag them before they could get in. It was a sort of like fly-paper for fairies or something.
There was also a legend that the crown of thorns that Jesus wore at the crucifixion was made up of holly leaves, and that’s how the holly wreaths came about for us in our day.
So as we look at all these things, we think “Wow, let’s look at all the other symbols that are there.” One we don’t use so much in the United States is the wassail bowl. Have you ever heard of that? The wassail bowl really originated with the Anglo-Saxons round about the fifth century. At their feasts they used to pass around the golden cup of mead or wine, and they would salute each other with the words, “Was Hale!” And it meant “Behold!”
So it became the wassail bowl, and they used to fill it with wine and other magical ingredients and carry it around to all the households of the village so that everyone could drink of that wassail bowl.
The Christmas stocking and the idea of hanging it on the mantelpiece, the fireplace, was at first a stocking hung on the fireplace to dry. And the story goes that St. Nicholas came by and accidentally dropped a bag of gold in the stocking; and it took off from there.
The children of Amsterdam used to place wooden shoes or clogs inside the fireplace so that when St. Nick looked down he could see the shoes there, and if he saw them they were sure to get goodies. Later they purposefully substituted socks or stockings for the shoes because the shoes were not flexible but the stockings were and they would hold a lot more goodies.
The Yule log comes from Scandinavia, a dark country and very cold in the winter time. At the beginning of the winter season the men would go out and get the biggest log they could find and drag it back to the baronial hall where they would put it in the fireplace and light it; it would stay lighted all winter because they would keep feeding that log.
The tradition was that the Yule log would be lighted from the Yule log of the previous year, so the fire would always be going. The word comes from the Feast of Juul; that’s where we get our Yuletide from.
Where did Christmas presents or Christmas gifts start? Well, long ago, gifts used to be exchanged at New Year; it was a pagan custom. Then the early priests suggested it would be better at Christmastime since it was a time of goodwill and looking after the poor. So they started to go around collecting money and jewelry in boxes for distribution to the poor. At first they called those boxes “priests boxes,” the gradually began to call them presents. Then as the Christmas tree came along, the presents were either on or under the tree.
Christmas cards were started in about 1846 by a man named Joseph Kundle, He made them out of a lithograph plate and hand-painted them. It didn’t come into vogue until 1862, some years later, and then it all started off. Now today, in the United States alone, we send more than two billion Christmas cards every year.
The greeting “Merry Christmas!” comes from England. In the olden days on Christmas morning the villagers would throw their windows open and would call out to their neighbors “Merry Christmas!” And it sort of captures the jollity of the whole Christmas season and all the traditions, doesn’t it, and brings it all together.
So we say today, “Merry Christmas!”
We become filled with the spirit of Christmas because all of those traditions have carried us right up to this point today. And Christmas is a time of light, isn’t it? We look around and we see the beautiful lights. My wife, Kathryn, and I love to ride around the area at night and look at the Christmas lights.
The Christmas trees have a sort of enchantment for children and adults alike. And when we see a wreath, either in a window or on a door, we know that it proclaims a holiday.
We have a sense of upliftment when we see all of these decorations. And surely, Christmas itself, the idea of Christmas and what it’s all about is a time of light, isn’t it? Where the star shines brightly and the heavens are radiant with light, and the whole season is bright with the sense of welcoming the Christ child. It’s a time of light. It’s a time of love. It’s a time of giving.
One person said that “Christmas is whenever and wherever someone is touched by that ever-living and ever-giving Spirit of God, so that their hearts are opened with the expression of unselfish love.”
So, Merry Christmas to you!
Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions. Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.
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