Did you know . . .?
Attempts by the Puritan government to stop people publicly celebrating Christmas and to force shops and businesses to stay open instead, led to violent and businesses to stay open instead, led to violent confrontations between supporters and opponents of Christmas in many towns. December 25 became a typically dreary day of everyday work and fasting. For eighteen barren years England was officially a country without Christmas. However, although Christmas celebrations were banned, they did not die out. Instead, they went underground until 1660.
Despite the risks, people held secretive religious services marking Christ’s birth and also maintained the secular aspects of the day.
With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, when Charles II took the throne of England, the Directory of Public Worship and all other anti-Christmas legislation brought in from 1642 to 1660 was declared null and void, and done away with. There are some historians who believe that the common man’s desire to see the traditional, raucous Christmas celebrations restored helped lead to the Restoration of the monarchy! However, after eighteen years without a publicly recognized Christmas, the nation did not immediately resume the traditional feasting and other celebrations.
Enter William Winstanley, an Essex farmer’s son, diarist and writer, and the man who saved Christmas. Under the penname of Poor Robin Goodfellow, Winstanley extolled the joys of Christmas. He believed that Christmas was a time for helping those worse off than oneself and, if it was celebrated properly, that it gave the poor and the destitute something to look forward to as the cold, dark days of winter drew on.
Did you know . . .?
William Winstanley, the savior of Christmas, encouraged storytelling round the fire at Christmastime, with both Bible stories and ghost stories! Some of the best such stories, written in the classic Victorian Yuletide vein, were penned by M.R. James (1862-1936). Many of them—such as “The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral,” “The Ash-tree,” “Number 13,” and “A Warning to the Curious”—were written to be read aloud, to select gatherings of friends, as Christmas Eve entertainment. So accomplished a writer of ghost stories was he, that his method of storytelling is now known as Jamesian.
So Winstanley lobbied powerful lords—and even the king himself—to set an example to others by opening their houses, so that family, friends, and tenants might partake of feasting and other entertainments. He encouraged carol-singing once again, with carols such as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “I Saw Three Ships” being particular favorites, and dancing too, “the whole company, young and old, footing it lustily to the merry sound of the pipe and fiddle.”
Winstanley was also a proponent of the traditional twelve days of Christmas, which began with the gathering of holly on Christmas Eve with which to decorate the home. A noted poet as well, he composed a rhyme for Christmas revelers to sing as they trooped home through the snow with the gathered greenery.
Now Christmas is come
Let us beat up the drum,
And call all our neighbors together.
And when they appear,
Let us make them such cheer
As will keep out the wind and the weather.
Everyone attended church on Christmas morning, to celebrate the Nativity, before returning home for the first of many feasts. Between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, football matches took place against other villages, there was skating on frozen ponds, country walks, horse rides, and visits to other houses so that they might enjoy yet more festive hospitality.
Twelfth Night itself saw the return of wassailing, with songs being sung around the tallest tree in the apple orchard, which then had its roots drenched with cider for good luck. The twelve days of celebrating ended with a final supper of roast swan, followed by “caudle Sack posset”—a thick and very alcoholic custard.
Did you know . . .?
The Puritans were not the first to discourage Christmas celebrations. In 1583, the Scottish Presbyterians had already decided that there was no biblical reason for celebrating Christmas and it remained a normal working day for them, right up until 1958! Although Christmas has been restored, and the Feast of the Nativity enjoyed another renaissance during the Victorian period, today Christmas celebrations are still banned by some religious groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Did you know . . .?
According to the Holy Days and Fasting Days Act of 1551, which has not yet been repealed, you cannot drive to mass on Christmas Day. You have to walk to church instead.
You also shouldn’t take part in any sports, except for archery. Henry VIII banned all forms of sport on Christmas Day, other than archery, but then bluff King Hal himself didn’t practice what he preached, as he was rather partial to a game of footie!
And under a law enacted by Elizabeth I in 1588 you should only have goose for Christmas dinner; she made it an offense to eat any other bird on Christmas Day.
WHAT IS A YULE LOG?
The Yule log, either in the form of a small wood and holly sprig centerpiece placed on the table during Christmas dinner or in its guise as a chocolate dessert, is still a popular part of Christmas, particularly among those with a sweet tooth.
To our pagan ancestors living in the frozen north of Europe and Scandinavia, the dark days of winter were a frightening time. The night was the domain of demons and malicious spirits. On top of that, Odin, chief among the Norse gods, flew through the sky on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, looking down at the world with his furious one-eyed gaze, deciding who should prosper and who should perish in the year ahead.
The sensible choice was to stay inside at this time of year, safe from the horrors that lurked outside. To help keep the darkness at bay, on or around December 21, the time of the winter solstice, fathers and sons would go out into the forests and bring back the largest log they could find. This massive piece of timber was then put on the fire and left to burn for the entirety of the season of Yule—twelve days altogether.
Yule was the name given to the Viking winter feast, a time when light and new birth were celebrated in the face of the darkness and death witnessed in the natural world. It was at this time that evergreens were brought into the house; a sign that life persisted, even during these dying days of the year.
However, despite the deeply felt need to keep unwanted spirits outside, in Scandinavia people also believed that the burning Yule log warmed the frozen shades of the family’s dearly departed, who returned to the ancestral home every Christmas Eve. Some families even went to the trouble of laying a place for them at the dinner table.
In England, the preferred wood for the Yule log was ash, while in Scotland birch was favored. As well as keeping everyone warm and providing heat to cook by, the Yule log was also a symbol of prosperity to come; every spark that fell from it was supposed to represent a pig or calf to be born in the spring.
In Germany, the Yule log miraculously had the power to protect a home from lightning, and whenever a storm threatened, the stump of the Christbrand (as it was called after Germany’s conversion to Christianity) was rekindled.
As long as the Yule log burned, feasting and revelry were in order. But should the log go out, then bad fortune would fall upon the household, for it was then that Old Night and its minions would sneak inside to do their mischief.
Did you know . . .?
The English word “Yule” is a corruption of the Old Norse Jō l. However, Jō l itself may derive from hjól, meaning “wheel.” In this sense, it refers to the moment when the wheel of the year is at its lowest point, in midwinter, ready to rise again in the spring.
Despite the Christianizing of the winter solstice, the Yule log remained an important feature of the festive season. The old gods might have gone, replaced by Christianity, but the ancient superstitious fears surrounding the dark had not!
To the Celtic mind, when the days were at their shortest, at the end of December, the sun itself stood still and it was only by keeping the Yule log burning for those twelve d
ays that the sun would deign to return and the days grow longer once more. So it was that by the Middle Ages the log would be hauled into the house on Christmas Eve, with great pomp and ceremony, and lit using a piece of the previous year’s log, saved for just this purpose.
By the nineteenth century in England the custom had changed, as so many did under the influence of the more practically minded Victorians. Now, rather than burning for twelve days, the Yule log only had to last twelve hours, and in some homes the log was replaced by a candle (candles having their own symbolic connections with the Star of Bethlehem).
Of course, now the Yule log has become the edible Christmas log. For any chocolate lover it has to be one of the highlights of the festive fare that gets wheeled out—better even than Christmas cake! And if you’re one such admirer of the cocoa bean, then you should try this recipe yourself.
Chocolate Christmas Log
175 g/6 oz. butter
175 g/6 oz. plain chocolate
140 ml/¼ pint of double cream
100 g/3½ oz. caster sugar
75 g/3 oz. plain flour
75 g/3 oz. icing sugar
4 eggs
4 tbs rum
1 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs vanilla essence
2 drops almond essence
Icing sugar
Start by greasing and lining a 13 × 9 in. Swiss roll tin and pre-heat the oven to 395°F. Cream the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl before folding in the sifted flour and cocoa powder. Transfer the whole lot to the tin and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cake has risen and turned golden. Take it out and allow to cool, but only slightly.
Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on a dampened cloth and sprinkle caster sugar on it. Turn the cake out onto the sheet, trim the edges, and roll it up. Allow the cake to cool further. Then, whisk together the double cream, rum, and both the vanilla and almond essence until stiff. Gently unroll the cake again and spread it with the cream filling. Roll it up once more.
Cream together the butter, icing sugar, and chocolate, then cover the cake with the mixture. Sprinkle your finished chocolate log with icing sugar and chill in the fridge for one hour before serving. Garnish with a sprig of holly.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST NOËL?
The first Nowell the angel did say Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay; In fields where they lay tending their sheep, On a cold winter’s night that was so deep. Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Born is the King of Israel.
We hear it sung of in carols every year, from the familiar “The First Nowell” to the obscure, such as “Sir Christèmas.” But what does Noël mean? And what was the first one?
Delving into the origins of “The First Nowell” raises almost as many questions as it answers. Certainly there is much doubt over the carol’s origins, as well as the uncertainty regarding the meaning and origin of the word “Nowell.”
Some believe that the English word “Nowell” comes from the French Noël meaning “Christmas,” which is itself from the Latin natalis, meaning “birth.” However, others think that Noël is actually the French version of the English Nowell, which they believe comes from the Anglo-Saxon, and means “now all is well.”
Then again, it may also originate from two Gaulish words, noio or neu (both meaning “new”) and helle (meaning “light”), and instead refers to the winter solstice, after which the days start to lengthen again, with sunlight banishing the darkness. Or perhaps it is a combination of all of these.
So, in the context of the carol, it would appear that the angel was telling the shepherds that all was now well because the Christ child had been born. But whatever its meaning, “The First Nowell” surely refers to the first-ever Christmas, when Jesus Christ was born (even though he probably wasn’t born in the middle of winter at all), and the first Nowell itself was the first time that God announced to the faithful through his divine messenger that all was well. Take your pick.
It is harder to pinpoint the origins of the carol, however. It is generally considered to have been written in or around the sixteenth or seventeenth century, although it could date from as far back as the thirteenth century, and its actual author remains unknown. The song was at first handed down orally and didn’t appear in print until the 1800s. The familiar form of the carol that everyone knows today actually originated in Cornwall, appearing in Some Ancient Christmas Carols ten years before Gilbert and Sandys’ Christmas Carols (1833). This later collection was edited by William B. Sandys, while the carols were arranged and edited by Davies Gilbert, who also wrote extra lyrics for some of them. The melody is believed to be a corruption of an earlier tune that would have been sung in a church gallery during services.
The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams notably included “The First Nowell” in the concluding movement of his “Christmas masque” On Christmas Night (which was based upon Dickens’ A Christmas Carol) and his Nativity play The First Nowell.
Of course, the true stars of the carol are the shepherds to whom the angel makes its special announcement in the first verse. These shepherds represent the common man and particularly the Gentiles (those people who are not Jewish), which is why they play such an important role in the Christmas story.
However, in the first printed version of the carol, the line actually states that there were “three poor shepherds.” Legends surround the identity of these individuals, just as there are stories told regarding the identity of the three wise men.
In his own note on the text of the carol, William Sandys remarks:
According to some legends, the number [of shepherds] was four, called Misael, Achael, Cyriacus, and Stephanus, and these, with the names of the three Kings, were used as a charm to cure the biting of serpents, and other venomous reptiles and beasts. Something to bear in mind next time you take a stroll through adder country.
WHAT HAVE HOLLY AND IVY GOT TO DO WITH CHRISTMAS?
Well, of course, for starters, there’s the popular carol “The Holly and the Ivy” that’s sung at Christmas:
The holly and the ivy
When they are both full grown;
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown.
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.
The holly bears a blossom
As white as any flower;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To be our sweet savior.
The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good.
What is myrrh anyway?
The holly bears a prickle
As sharp as any thorn;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas Day in the morn.
The holly bears a bark
As bitt’r as any gall;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all.
Although this oh-so-familiar carol is called “The Holly and the Ivy,” when you come to look at it, it is blatantly only about the holly. But that still doesn’t explain why both holly and ivy have become so inextricably connected with Christmas.
The main reason is that they are both evergreens, like the fir tree and the boughs used to form the traditional Christmas wreath and, as such, their significance dates back to pagan times. The Romans believed that both holly and ivy brought good luck and so decorated their homes with the plants during the festival of Saturnalia. They would also give sprigs of the plants to friends and loved ones as good luck tokens.
In time, the Church took these traditional elements of the extant winter festivals and gave them a Christian twist, adding their own symbolism. The sharp leaves of the holly came to represent Christ’s crown of thorns, while the red berries were drops of his blood. The nascent Church was so successful in modifying the symbolism of the holly
that in Scandinavia it is still known as the “Christ-thorn.”
Other legends were invented, linking Christ to the holly. One stated that there had been a holly tree growing outside the stable where the infant Jesus was born. The tree was bare of berries, hungry birds having eaten them all. However, as soon as Jesus was born the tree grew new buds again, then flowers, and finally berries—all in the space of that one night.
Another tale had it that the shepherds who visited the infant Christ left behind a lamb as a gift, corralling it within a pen of holly branches. The lamb had other ideas, however, and forced its way out of the enclosure to return to the hill pastures with its mother. In doing so, the poor thing tore its coat, the sharp prickles of the holly drawing blood from the creature. It being a cold night, the drops of blood froze, becoming the holly’s red berries.
To the Medieval mind, the holly and the ivy had other important characteristics. The holly represented the male—with its tough, woody stems and sharp prickles—while the ivy was supposed to be female—clinging and feeble. People believed that whichever plant was brought into the house first on Christmas Eve (as it was unlucky to bring either into your home before then) would be in charge for the following year. If the holly was brought in first, the man would be the boss, but if the ivy entered before the holly, the woman would be head of the household.
Christmas Miscellany Page 8
