Christmas Traditions

Christmas..

What magic this word holds for the ear, and what worlds it carries to the listener..

With it he remembers the greatest event in all history, and his spirit revives as he recalls its meaning..

And with it he remembers, at the same time, sweet traditions he has been used to keeping since childhood; he grew up with them and they grew up with him, and perhaps he never knew that they are older, in some cases, than Christmas itself.

For the first Christians, in keeping the day of the Nativity, had recourse to many of the traditions the ancients used to practice, and practiced them, adding to them nothing new but the spirit; and that addition was enough to create those traditions anew.

The Date of Christmas

Why was December 25 chosen as the day on which to celebrate Christmas?

It is well known that the day on which Christ was born is not historically established, which led the Church in its earliest age to celebrate it at different times according to the different churches: as it was sometimes celebrated in December, it was at other times celebrated in January, or in April, or in May.

Since all the churches had to agree on a fixed day for Christmas, the old pagan feasts and their dates were taken into account. The northern peoples used to keep a feast for the sun, giver of light and life, and they kept it on the shortest days of the year. The Hebrews celebrated the feast of Hanukkah at a time not far removed from the feast of the sun. And the Romans kept the feast of the Saturnalia for a whole week, running from December 17 to 24, decorating their houses with trees during it and offering gifts. Add to this that December 25 was the feast of Mithras in Rome.

These considerations, taken all together, may have had their effect in fixing the day of Christmas among the early Christians. The fixed date came into general use toward the end of the fourth century, when St. Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, approved it, giving as his reason that the pagans were then in festival, and so the Christians too could keep their feast without provoking others. Rome officially recognized the date of the feast in the year 336.

Christmas Carols and Plays

It is not known exactly when the use of hymns and carols began as part of the celebration of Christmas; for the use of music to celebrate the birth of Jesus was practiced almost from the beginning. The French historians say that one of the bishops of Rome was the first to introduce singing and chanting into the service, and that was in 192. In the fourth century the writing of Christmas carols and their setting to music became widespread. The poets had recourse to certain pagan hymns, altering and recasting them to fit the new occasion.

As for the Christmas plays, they came into being in the eighth century. Their action turned on scenes chosen from Holy Scripture, and they were performed in the churches and in the town squares. Certain parts of the plays were chanted, which further spread Christmas music and carols. It is not known for certain which came first: the carols or the Christmas plays.

Then came the year 1223, in which the Pope gave St. Francis of Assisi leave to set up a stage on which the story of the Nativity might be played. He built a stage near the church, and used real people and animals in the performance, not mere images. That scene made such an impression on the souls of the beholders that its repetition, and its passage from country to country, became inevitable.

It is believed that the origin of the giving of gifts at Christmas lies in the gifts the three Magi offered to Jesus, mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. The legends current in the Middle Ages say that those Magi were Melchior, king of the Arabs, who offered gold as a sign of kingship; Gaspar, king of Tarsus, who offered myrrh as a sign of medicine; and Balthasar, king of Abyssinia, who offered frankincense as a sign of priesthood.

There are certain authorities who say that the origin of gift-giving goes back to a spiritual idea: the desire to show Christ's love for mankind and his unselfishness, by bringing joy to others and making them offerings. Add to this that Christ is God's gift to man, and so it became incumbent on the Christian to offer, in his turn, a gift to his brother man.

And there are other authorities who affirm that this custom is simply the survival of an old custom the pagans followed: the Romans used to give gifts at the feast of the Saturnalia.

It is fitting in this connection to touch on the alms given to the needy at Christmas. The current legend said that Jesus himself goes about on Christmas Eve in the form of a beggar asking for charity. Hence it was a duty to give alms to whoever asked for them on that eve, lest Jesus be turned away disappointed and God's wrath descend on that miserly house.

And who does not know Santa Claus? Which of us was never a child?..

Yet many may not know that Santa Claus is in his origin a real person, not a legendary one, and that he is none other than St. Nicholas himself..

St. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor, and from his childhood he cared nothing for merriment and play like his companions, but devoted himself to the study of Holy Scripture. When his parents died he would not keep the inheritance for himself, and resolved to dispose of it in secret. And it happened that he heard there was a man in the city intending to sell his three daughters in the slave market, because he could not provide dowries for them. Nicholas hurried, and threw through the window (some say: through the chimney..) three bundles of gold coins, in three successive installments. And when the father learned their source, Nicholas charged him to let no one into his secret. (One of the stories says: one of the bundles fell into a stocking — and hence the origin of the tradition that gifts are put in stockings..)

St. Nicholas, who afterwards became an archbishop, died in 343. There is a great host of legends woven around him and around his gifts, which children still repeat, all hope and expectancy and longing...

Some historians hold, however, that the custom of Santa Claus coming down through the chimney and leaving gifts is an old pagan custom. The Germanic goddess Hertha used to do just that: she would come down through the chimney amid the smoke and guide the readers of the future. And the Germans used to bake cakes in the shape of a shoe, symbolizing Hertha's shoe, and put gifts in them for their children.

In ancient Rome cakes were baked in the shapes of animals and people and offered at the feasts as gifts to the members of the Senate. Afterwards they began to show great art in making them, and that custom passed to the Christians at the feasts of Christmas. In England it became the custom to give cakes to the poor women who go about at Christmas singing in the markets. And from there the tradition of making cakes at Christmas and offering them spread.

The most common and widespread of Christmas traditions is the Christmas tree. And decorating the tree is one of those delights that old and young alike relish, and that both await with longing.

The custom of bringing the tree from the wild into the house is an old one. Its purpose was not only to bring nature within the walls of the house, but also — since it was believed that there are spirits in trees, as in all the creatures of nature — to bring those very spirits into the house. Houses used to be decorated with trees at the feast of Bacchus, god of wine. And they used to adorn the trees with suns and moons and stars.

In the tenth century a beautiful legend spread which goes back in its origin to an Arab Christian writer, a specialist in geography. The legend says: on the eve on which Jesus was born, all the trees in the forests blossomed and bore fruit, even the trees that were then wrapped in snow. And to this legend, which captivated the minds of the multitudes, goes back the tradition of decorating the house with the Christmas tree, and of decorating the tree itself.

But this tradition did not spread universally until the sixteenth century, when the tree became a symbol of Christ, the tree of life, and its ornaments a symbol of his gifts: light, life, and wisdom.

Is not the light of candles a symbol of light and guidance? So candles became one of the traditions of Christmas, symbolizing the light and the guidance which Jesus brought to earth. St. Jerome says that candles express Christian joy. And certain legends say that the candles are lit on the night of the feast to guide the child Jesus in his wanderings then.

Candles are still used even now, though the electric lights have taken their place, in many cases, in decorating the Christmas tree.

Christmas Bells

Christmas bells find an echo in every ear, and their pealing on the day of the feast has a beloved ring — so it is no wonder that the whole world listens, on the eve of the feast every year, to the bells of Bethlehem ringing and ringing, as if heaven too were listening..

The custom of ringing the bells expresses rejoicing at the birth of Jesus. In the Middle Ages the custom was that the bells tolled the tolling of grief for a full hour just before midnight on Christmas Eve; then, when midnight came, they began to peal the peal of gladness and joy. By the tolling of grief was meant the sending of a warning to the darkness, a sign that the birth of Christ was drawing near. And so bells became a part of the ornament of the Christmas tree as well.

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These are a few of the sweet Christmas traditions, which add beauty to the beauty of the memory of the Nativity, and so bind the beauty of the spirit of Christmas to the beauty of its outward forms.

... And may every Christmas find you well..!