Christmas, or Christ’s Mass, is a religious celebration of the birth of Jesus; a 25 December birthday party to be shared with family and friends. One may ask: Really? Today?
The Bible says that Jesus was born in Bethleham during the time of Augustus (27BC to 14CE) as his mother, Mary, travelled with Joseph to participate in a census. The Bible claims this census was ordered by Augustus, however, according to scholars, there was no census under Augustus. The Gospel of Luke, the section of the Bible which mentions the census, may have meant the census of Quirinius in Judea, which occurred in 6CE. However, this was, after the death of King Herod whose reign is described in the Gospel of Matthew before and, crucially, after the birth of Jesus. This contradiction leads some scholars to admit that the Gospel of Luke may be incorrect with regards to the census. Furthermore, the census of Quirinius only affected residents of Judea. Joseph’s family, living in Galilee, would not have had to travel to Bethlehem for the census. Confusing! The dates and circumstances around the birth of Jesus are therefore uncertain.
There is no mention in the Bible of the specific date of Jesus’ birth, so early Christians did not celebrate Christmas. In 350 AD, Pope Julius Ichose 25 December as the birth of Jesus, probably to attract pagans away from the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia, 17 – 23 December, and the birth of Mithras on 25 December.
Saturnalia celebrated Saturn, the god of agriculture, in the week leading up to the winter solstice. It was a hedonistic festival involving food, drink and the giving of gifts. Slaves were given some temporary freedoms. Mithraism flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and it was mainly practised by soldiers, imperial slaves, freedmen and officials. Mithras, the god of the sun, war and justice, was said to be born out of a rock. In mythology, Mithras’ slaughter of a sacred bull led to the creation of the world. One Mithraic hymn included, “Thou hast redeemed us too by shedding the eternal blood.” When the Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity in the 4th Century, Mithraism rapidly declined. In 529 AD, Emperor Justinian declared 25 December, Christmas Day, as a civic holiday, absorbing pagan festivals and practices into Christianity.
In the dark days of the winter solstice, ancient people revered or even worshipped the sun and its return to longer, sunnier days. The Norsemen, for whom winters were darker and longer, celebrated Yuletide in the winter solstice. They would fell a large oak tree and burn its logs for twelve days. There was feasting, merriment and storytelling in honour of the Norse gods, especially Odin, the Yule Father. This was the time for family, friends, food and drink; not a time to go a-viking! Greenery was brought indoors to decorate statues of the Norse gods. Sometimes trees would be brought inside too, as they were believed to house the spirits of the forests.
The Druids would cut mistletoe from the sacred oak tree as the winter fruit was seen as a blessing in the winter months. Holly was later brought into the house as it too had winter berries. Martin Luther brought a pine tree into his house, inspired to do so when walking home through a pine forest and seeing sparkling starlight, and the tree decorated with candles in his home would remind his family that Jesus came down from Heaven.
Christmas in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages there were twelve days of feasting, beginning with early Mass on Christmas morning and, lasting until 5 January when people would eat, drink, play games and dance. Those working the land only tended to their animals while other labours ceased until Plough Monday, the Monday after Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night saw cross dressing, practical jokes and mischief. One game involved a rich fruit cake which contained a hidden bean. The person whose slice of cake held the bean became ‘King’ or ‘Lord of Misrule’ for the night.
In terms of food, mince pies were originally made with meat. The commoners drank ale and spiced cider, but wealthier folk drank wine, like Henry III who ordered the equivalent of 1,272 bottles of wine. Henry VIII ordered 40 salmon, huge amounts of venison, wild boar and lampreys. It was certainly a time for feasting and drinking.
However, many European Protestants in the 1600s believed that Christmas festivities not only led to drunkenness and hedonism but were linked with Catholicism. The uncertainty surrounding Jesus’ birth date did not help either. Scottish Presbyterians banned Christmas celebrations in 1640. Hogmanay became the time for Scottish celebrations as Christmas Day only became a national holiday in Scotland in 1958. In England, Parliament banned Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide in June 1647, but these bans were removed in 1660 with the Restoration.
A Victorian Christmas
The early Victorians did not celebrate Christmas like those in the Middle Ages; many worked on that day. Before the Victorian age, Christmas trees had been popular in Germany and Queen Charlotte, wife of George I continued the tradition, but it was Prince Albert, also German and the husband of Queen Victoria, who popularised a decorated Christmas tree by having a family illustration published in the Illustrated London News in 1848.
Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, helped spread the spirit of Christmas, at its time and continues to do so today. As Scrooge’s nephew remarked “apart from the veneration due to the sacred name and origin…Christmas is a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.”
Today, the Slade song goes “So here it is, Merry Christmas. Everybody’s having fun”. However, this is not the case for everybody today. For the lonely, the homeless, and those in extreme poverty; there is no fun at Christmas. There is no magic M&S fairy to conjure up a glamorous Dawn French to provide delicious food onto her groaning table and welcome happy, jolly guests to feast, drink and be merry. As much as Christmas can be a time for joy, we must also remember those that cannot partake in that joy.
Christmas is a charitable time for many to provide a happy Christmas to those in need. Scrooge discovered this from his visits by the Spirits of Christmas and the message is still applies today. So, as Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, every one!”.
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