We often hear people (or ourselves) complain about the original spirit of Christmas getting lost in the shuffle of modern commercialism. This led me to do a little research on the origins of the holiday, and some of what I found rather surprised me. Why Dec. 25th? Why the gift giving? Where did the tree and holy and mistletoe come from? What about the fat guy with the beard?
Let's imagine ourselves in the place of our ancient ancestors as we journey back to a time centuries B.C., (or the politically correct B.C.E. which stands for Before Common Era.) Our journey round the seasons in those days meant confronting a period of growing darkness and cold, with almost all growing things dying all around us. Our food was what we could preserve in hopes of lasting through the winter when warmth would finally return to re-awaken the ground and the plants and the source of all our sustenance. In short winter was a very big deal, and routinely threatened our survival. We must imagine a time without such things as electric lights, or heat or late night TV. Consequently we have a great deal of time to pay attention to the sky, particularly the sun and the moon and the stars. We are highly motivated to study the movement of the sun because we have no thermostat we can nudge up as the winter nights get longer and colder. The sun equals light and warmth and survival. It is only natural that we personify and deify this ball of light that travels daily across our sky. It requires no blind faith, we can feel the power of this being to our very bones. And winter annually reminds us of what life would be like without our mighty sun, and it is not a pretty sight. So we develop rituals that might persuade our beloved ball of light to return to us once again and bring warmth and light and life to our lands.
In 274 A.D. (C.E.) Aurelian, Emperor of Rome proclaimed December 25th would be the birthday of the "Invincible Sun." This was the Winter Solstice, longest night and shortest day in the Roman calendar, re-birthday of the Sun of God. In 336 C.E., Emperor Constantine Christianized this holiday, proclaiming it to be the birthday of Jesus, though Jesus was almost certainly born during the spring, since shepherds don't watch over their flocks by night during the dead of winter. So that's where we got December 25th.
What about the gift giving? Imitation of the wise men? Well, as you probably guessed, not originally. The most prominent "pagan" celebration in Rome, in December, was Saturnalia. Saturn was the god of agriculture, and the celebration had much to do with fertility. It resembled a cross between Halloween and Mardi Gras. Between the dark and the light, the earth goes topsy turvy. What was long becomes short and vice versa. What was dark becomes light. What was hidden is about to emerge. What was dead or unborn is about to live. In Rome, Saturnalia recognized this reversal in nature in a wild and grim revelry each December. Restraints of law and morality were unleashed. Class distinctions were abolished. Masters served their slaves, accepting taunts and insults that would be punished any other time of year. The community selected one person to be King of Saturnalia. This mock king directed his subjects to drink, dance and carouse. At the close of the festival he was expected do himself in on Saturn's altar and thus restore order.
The King of Saturnalia became a clown in the Middle Ages, transformed into the Lord of Misrule, the spirit of festive anarchy. He was a comic monarch who reigned over exuberant costumed citizens. Crowds paraded through torch-lined streets and created long processions in carts. Lord of Misrule ordered the people to sing bawdy verses and drink to excess. People freely gambled at the church altar. This harlequin king had many names in many countries: King of the Bean in England, Abbas Stultorum in France, the Abbot of Unreason in Scotland. Under the Lord of Misrule, tradesmen gave gifts to their patrons. In Russia, peasants sang outside the houses of the lords and received gifts. But no grim death awaited this Lord as it did the martyr Saturnalia king.
The flavor of this holiday found its way to the new world. In fact, in 1828 New York began a police force in response to a particularly violent celebration the year before. Our puritan forefathers wanted nothing to do with the holiday, and in fact outlawed it in Boston. Even Congress held session on Christmas day for our first 60ish years.
Oddly enough, Christmas as we know it today, was born of publishing
and the media. In 1843 Charles Dickens published his classic, A Christmas
Carol, about the conversion of a hard hearted man reborn to generosity.
An American factory owner attended a reading of it, and chose to close
his factory on Christmas day. It showed us the use and meaning of Christmas.
Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) a biblical scholar, educator and poet
gave us A Visit from St. Nicholas, better known as The Night Before Christmas.
He just dreamed up the reindeer and his entrance through the chimney! St
Nicholas, was Patron of children and sailors, in Greece, Sicily, and Russia.
Traditionally he is traced to a 4th-century Turkish Bishop (Hence the red
costume.) In the Netherlands and elsewhere his feast (Dec. 6) is a children's
holiday. The English in New York adopted him from the Dutch's Sinter Clause,
calling him Santa Clause. In 1863 a cartoonist for Harper's Weekly,
named Nash settled the issue of what Santa looked like. He looked like
a rich robber baron but one who gave to the unfortunate or disempowered.
Before the 19th century the family was supposed to train children to be
disciplined and work hard. Now attention could be lavished upon children
without seeming to spoil them. We could pretend that presents were not
in the realm of commerce, but rather in the realm of magic and affection.
The tree custom appears to have originated in Germany, where the burning Yule log gave way to a tree with burning candles on it. Both relate to the solstice preoccupation with light and that which survives in winter. Holly and mistletoe have similar histories celebrating life and fertility. Druid ladies apparently received more than a smooch if caught under the mistletoe. The Druids, cut it on the sixth night of the moon, and believed it to be an aphrodisiac. (Magically -- not medicinally. It's highly toxic!) Depending on who you believe the tree custom either came to the New World with German immigrants or was popularized by Prince Albert when he married Queen Victoria in 1840.
What to make of all this? Frankly, it leaves me optimistic. If we are
capable of instituting rituals that acquire a widespread perception of,
"This is how it has always been done." in as little as 150 years we may
be more malleable than I've previously given us credit for. What might
it take to introduce rituals that are planetary in scope and perspective?
Ones that celebrated the preciousness and miracle of all life, rather than
an ethnocentric celebration of one version of the god-energy that leave
more beings outside the circle than within?
Yours in the ever deepening mystery... David J. Beede
You can contact me at david@clmg.com or snail mail at:
Spiritual Advisory Council
115 Cygnet Lane
Melrose, FL
32666