Only three weeks and three days to Christmas Day!
I wonder if you know any of the stories behind how we get such things as Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Christmas Trees, candles, the turkey, etc involved in the Christmas Story. The reason I ask, is that I get called upon to give one on my talks illustrated with music called “Christmas Customs and Traditions” at this time of year.
LIGHT AND CANDLES
If you think about it, one of the things that we associate with the Christmas season is light. Many people illuminate their homes, both inside and outside with lights. We decorate our Christmas trees with “Fairy Lights.” Once upon a time these were not fairy lights, but candles! Go into most churches over the Christmas period and you will no doubt see candles lit in the churches. Indeed I attended an Advent Carol Service last Sunday, and the entire church was illuminated by candles! So how is all this linked back to Pagan Worship?
Well the pagans were a pretty observant lot! They had noticed during the winter season that daylight gets less, that the sun seems to loose its strength, and the weather gets colder. It must be obvious then that the sun is burning out! So why not light huge bonfires to help the sun gain the strength it needs, and what better day to do this than on the shortest day of the year – when the sun is at its lowest ebb?
In the eyes of these pagan people this practice was proven a success because come what we call spring the sun had gained new power – the daylight hours had lengthened and the temperature had risen!
Christians took over the light as a sign of truth. Jesus is referred to in the Bible as “the light of the World.” So to remind us of this we have candles on the altar.
I wonder if you know any of the stories behind how we get such things as Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Christmas Trees, candles, the turkey, etc involved in the Christmas Story. The reason I ask, is that I get called upon to give one on my talks illustrated with music called “Christmas Customs and Traditions” at this time of year.
LIGHT AND CANDLES
If you think about it, one of the things that we associate with the Christmas season is light. Many people illuminate their homes, both inside and outside with lights. We decorate our Christmas trees with “Fairy Lights.” Once upon a time these were not fairy lights, but candles! Go into most churches over the Christmas period and you will no doubt see candles lit in the churches. Indeed I attended an Advent Carol Service last Sunday, and the entire church was illuminated by candles! So how is all this linked back to Pagan Worship?
Well the pagans were a pretty observant lot! They had noticed during the winter season that daylight gets less, that the sun seems to loose its strength, and the weather gets colder. It must be obvious then that the sun is burning out! So why not light huge bonfires to help the sun gain the strength it needs, and what better day to do this than on the shortest day of the year – when the sun is at its lowest ebb?
In the eyes of these pagan people this practice was proven a success because come what we call spring the sun had gained new power – the daylight hours had lengthened and the temperature had risen!
Christians took over the light as a sign of truth. Jesus is referred to in the Bible as “the light of the World.” So to remind us of this we have candles on the altar.
Advent Candles
Once upon a time real candles were used on Christmas trees!THE CHRISTMAS CRIB
Long ago at the end of the year it became a custom with the Romans to give clay dolls as presents. When the Romans became converted to Christianity the dolls became the characters in the Christmas Story.
In most churches and in many town centres you will find a Christmas Crib. In the crib you will find all the main characters of the Christmas Story – Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the Shepherds, the Kings, an Ox, an Ass, sheep etc. Yet if you know the Christmas Story you will realise that the Shepherds and the Kings did not arrive in Bethlehem at the same time! So why are all these people crammed into the Christmas Crib?
Well the “blame” for this fairly and squarely rests with St Francis of Assisi. In 1224 at Graecia in Italy he built a crib and used real live people to enact the Christmas Story.
NATIVITY PLAYS AND PANTOMIMES
Today it has become something of a tradition to attend two types of play at Christmas. One is a Nativity Play and the other, is a more light hearted and entertaining play usually called a pantomime.
During the middle Ages many people were unable to read, and so they were “told” religious stories by means of a Miracle Play. These Miracle Plays would also tell the Christmas Story and became known as Nativity Plays. These plays were acted on “pageants” which was the name for a large horse drawn cart. The plays began to have amusing scenes in them, which were often not suitable to be performed in church, so they were performed in the open air, usually in the market place and other suitable spots where crowds would gather – hence the need for the performance to be mobile.
Next blog I will look at Carols, Evergreens – Holly, Mistletoe etc.
How do you get from the Romans to St Francis? 8-0
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