The first specifically Christmas hymns that we know of appear in 4th century
Rome. Latin hymns such as
Veni redemptor gentium, written by
Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to
Arianism.
Corde natus ex Parentis (
Of the Father's love begotten) by the Spanish poet
Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today.
[47]
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in North European monasteries, developing under
Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed
stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional
Christmas carol.
By the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, under the influence of
Francis of Asissi, a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in the native language developed.
[48] Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of
John Awdlay, a
Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty-five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of
wassailers, who went from house to house.
[49] The songs we know specifically as carols were originally communal folk songs sung during celebrations such as "harvest tide" as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church. Traditionally, carols have often been based on
medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. Some carols like
"Personent hodie", "
Good King Wenceslas", and "
The Holly and the Ivy" can be traced directly back to the
Middle Ages. They are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung.
Adeste Fidelis (O Come all ye faithful) appears in its current form in the mid-18th century, although the words may have originated in the 13th century.
Singing of carols initially suffered a decline in popularity after the
Protestant Reformation in northern Europe, although some Reformers, like
Martin Luther, wrote carols and encouraged their use in worship. Carols largely survived in rural communities until the revival of interest in popular songs in the 19th century. The 18th century English reformer
Charles Wesley understood the importance of music to worship. In addition to setting many psalms to melodies, which were influential in the
Great Awakening in the United States, he wrote texts for at least three Christmas carols. The best known was originally entitled "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings", later renamed "
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing".
[50] Felix Mendelssohn wrote a melody adapted to fit Wesley's words. In Austria in 1818 Mohr and Gruber made a major addition to the genre when they composed "
Silent Night" for the St. Nicholas Church, Oberndorf.
William B. Sandys'
Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) contained the first appearance in print of many now-classic English carols, and contributed to the mid-Victorian revival of the festival.
[51]
Completely secular Christmas seasonal songs emerged in the late 18th century. "
Deck The Halls" dates from 1784, and the American, "
Jingle Bells" was copyrighted in 1857. In the 19th and 20th century, African American spirituals and songs about Christmas, based in their tradition of spirituals, became more widely known. An increasing number of seasonal holidays songs were commercially produced in the 20th century, including jazz and blues variations. In addition, there was a revival of interest in early music, from groups singing folk music, such as The Revels, to performers of early medieval and classical music.
Food
A special
Christmas family meal is traditionally an important part of the holiday's celebration, and the food that is served varies greatly from country to country. Some regions, such as
Sicily, have special meals for Christmas Eve, when 12 kinds of fish are served. In England and countries influenced by its traditions, a standard Christmas meal includes turkey, meat, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, sometimes bread and cider. Special desserts are also prepared, such as
Christmas pudding,
mince pies and
fruit cake. In Poland and other parts of eastern Europe and Scandinavia, fish often is used for the traditional main course, but richer meat such as lamb is increasingly served. In Germany, France and Austria, goose and pork are favored. Beef, ham and chicken in various recipes are popular throughout the world. The
Maltese traditionally serve
Imbuljuta tal-Qastan,
[52] a chocolate and chestnuts beverage, after
Midnight Mass and throughout the Christmas season. Slovaks prepare the traditional Christmas bread
potica,
bûche de Noël in France,
panettone in Italy, and elaborate tarts and cakes. The eating of sweets and chocolates has become popular worldwide, and sweeter Christmas delicacies include the German
stollen,
marzipan cake or candy, and Jamaican rum fruit cake. As one of the few fruits traditionally available to northern countries in winter, oranges have been long associated with special Christmas foods.
Cards
Main article:
Christmas cardChristmas cards are illustrated messages of greeting exchanged between friends and family members during the weeks preceding Christmas Day. The traditional greeting reads "wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", much like that of the first commercial
Christmas card, produced by
Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843. The custom of sending them has become popular among a wide cross-section of people with the emergence of the modern trend towards exchanging
E-cards!
Christmas cards are purchased in considerable quantities, and feature artwork, commercially designed and relevant to the season. The content of the design might relate directly to the
Christmas narrative with
depictions of the Nativity of Jesus, or
Christian symbols such as the
Star of Bethlehem, or a white
dove which can represent both the
Holy Spirit and
Peace on Earth. Other Christmas cards are more
secular and can depict
Christmas traditions, mythical figures such as
Santa Claus, objects directly associated with Christmas such as candles,
holly and baubles, or a variety of images associated with the season, such as Christmastime activities, snow scenes and the wildlife of the northern winter. There are even humorous cards and genres depicting nostalgic scenes of the past such as
crinolined shoppers in idealized 19th century streetscapes.
Some prefer cards with a poem, prayer or
Biblical verse; while others distance themselves from religion with an all-inclusive "Season's greetings".
Stamps
A number of nations have issued
commemorative stamps at Christmastime. Postal customers will often use these stamps to mail
Christmas cards, and they are popular with
philatelists. These stamps are regular
postage stamps, unlike
Christmas seals, and are valid for postage year-round. They usually go on sale some time between early October and early December, and are printed in considerable quantities.
In 1898 a Canadian stamp was issued to mark the inauguration of the Imperial Penny Postage rate. The stamp features a map of the globe and bears an inscription "XMAS 1898" at the bottom. In 1937, Austria issued two "Christmas greeting stamps" featuring a
rose and the signs of the
zodiac. In 1939,
Brazil issued four
semi-postal stamps with designs featuring the
three kings and a
star of Bethlehem, an
angel and child, the
Southern Cross and a child, and a mother and child.
Both the
US Postal Service and the
Royal Mail regularly issue Christmas-themed stamps each year.
Gift giving
The exchanging of
gifts is one of the core aspects of the modern Christmas celebration, making the Christmas season the most profitable time of year for
retailers and businesses throughout the world. Gift giving was common in the
Roman celebration of
Saturnalia, an ancient festival which took place in late December and may have influenced Christmas customs.
[53] Christmas gift giving was banned by the
Catholic Church in the
Middle Ages due to its suspected
pagan origins.
[53] It was later rationalized by the Church on the basis that it associated
St. Nicholas with Christmas, and that gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were given to the infant Jesus by the
Biblical Magi.
Legendary gift-bringing figures
A number of figures of both Christian and mythical origin have been associated with Christmas and the seasonal giving of gifts. Among these are
Father Christmas, also known as
Santa Claus, Père Noël, and the
Weihnachtsmann;
Saint Nicholas or
Sinterklaas; the
Christkind; Kris Kringle;
Joulupukki; Babbo Natale;
Saint Basil; and
Father Frost.
The most famous and pervasive of these figures in modern celebration worldwide is Santa Claus, a mythical gift bringer, dressed in red, whose origins have diverse sources. The name Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch
Sinterklaas, which means simply Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, during the 4th century. Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the care of Children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast on the 6th of December came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts. Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a gift or not. By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other parts of central and southern Europe. At the
Reformation in 16th–17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or
Christkindl, corrupted in English to Kris Kringle, and the date of giving gifts changed from December the 6th to Christmas Eve.
[54]
The modern popular image of Santa Claus, however, was created in the United States, and in particular in
New York. The transformation was accomplished with the aid of notable contributors including
Washington Irving and the
German-American cartoonist
Thomas Nast (1840–1902). Following the
American Revolutionary War, some of the inhabitants of
New York City sought out symbols of the city's non-English past. New York had originally been established as the Dutch colonial town of
New Amsterdam and the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition was reinvented as Saint Nicholas.
[55] In 1809, the
New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named
Sancte Claus the patron saint of
Nieuw Amsterdam, the
Dutch name for
New York City.
[56] At his first American appearance in 1810, Santa Claus was drawn in bishops' robes. However as new artists took over, Santa Claus developed more secular attire.
[57] Nast drew a new image of "Santa Claus" annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the robed, fur clad, form we now recognize, perhaps based on the English figure of Father Christmas. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920s.
[58]
Santa Claus is famous around the world for giving gifts to good children
Father Christmas, a jolly, well nourished, bearded man who typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, predates the Santa Claus character. He is first recorded in early 17th century England, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and
drunkenness rather than the bringing of gifts.
[41] In
Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa. The French
Père Noël evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image. In Italy, Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus, while
La Befana is the bringer of gifts and arrives on the eve of the
Epiphany. It is said that La Befana set out to bring the baby
Jesus gifts, but got lost along the way. Now, she brings gifts to all children. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by
Knecht Ruprecht, or
Black Peter. In other versions,
elves make the toys. His wife is referred to as
Mrs. Claus.
There has been some opposition to the narrative of the American evolution of Saint Nicholas into the modern Santa. It has been claimed that the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the American War of Independence.
[59] Moreover, a study of the "children's books, periodicals and journals" of New Amsterdam by Charles Jones revealed no references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas.
[60] However, not all scholars agree with Jones's findings, which he reiterated in a booklength study in 1978;
[61] Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York was alive and well from the early settlement of the
Hudson Valley on.
[62]
Current tradition in several
Latin American countries (such as
Venezuela and
Colombia) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes, a reconciliation between traditional
religious beliefs and the
iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.
In
Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary,
Liechtenstein,
Slovakia and Switzerland, the
Christkind (
Ježíšek in Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian and Ježiško in Slovak) brings the presents. The German St. Nikolaus is not identical with the Weihnachtsmann (who is the German version of Santa Claus/Father Christmas). St. Nikolaus wears a
bishop's dress and still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts and fruits) on December 6 and is accompanied by
Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.
[63]
History
Mosaic of Jesus as
Christo Sole (Christ the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under
St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
[64]Pre-Christian background
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
Main article:
Sol Invictus means "the birthday of the unconquered sun".
Modern scholars have argued that the festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered".
[citation needed] Some early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.
[8]"O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born",
Cyprian wrote.
[8] John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: "They call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord . . .?"
[8]
Although
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti has been the subject of a great deal of scholarly speculation,.
[citation needed] the only ancient source for it is a single mention in the
Chronography of 354, and Hijmans argues that there is no evidence that the celebration precedes that of Christmas.
[21]"[W]hile the winter solstice on or around the 25th of December was well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there is no evidence that a religious celebration of Sol on that day antedated the celebration of Christmas, and none that indicates that Aurelian had a hand in its institution," according to modern Sol scholar Steven Hijmans.
[21]
Winter festivals
A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.
[65] Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman
Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and
Yule logs and various foods from
Germanic feasts.
[66] Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called
Yule, held in the late December to early January period.
[citation needed] As
Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas.
[citation needed] Scandinavians still call Christmas
Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,
[67] a usage first recorded in 900.
Christian feast
The
New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus.
[8][68] Around AD 200,
Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on 25
Pashons.
[8] This corresponds to May 20.
[69] Tertullian (d. 220) does not mention Christmas as a major
feast day in the
Church of Roman Africa.
[8] However, in
Chronographai, a reference work published in 221,
Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the
spring equinox, popularizing the idea that Christ was born on December 25.
[70][71] The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December.
[72] De Pascha Computus, a calendar of feasts produced in 243, gives March 28 as the date of the nativity.
[73] In 245, the theologian
Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays.
[74] In 303, Christian writer
Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods. However, since Christmas does not celebrate Christ's birth "as God" but "as man", this is not evidence against Christmas being a feast at this time.
[8] Moreover, the fact that the innovation rejecting
Donatist Church of North Africa celebrated Christmas suggests that the feast had been established before the living memory of those who began that Church in
311.
Feast established
The earliest known reference to the date of the nativity as December 25 is found in the
Chronography of 354, an
illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome.
[75] In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of
Epiphany (January 6), although this festival emphasized celebration of the
baptism of Jesus.
[76]
Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of
Catholicism following the death of the pro-
Arian Emperor
Valens at the
Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to
Constantinople in 379, and to
Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after
Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as
bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by
John Chrysostom in about 400.
[8]
The Examination and Trial of Father Christmas, (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in
England.
Middle Ages
In the
Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the
magi. But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of
St. Martin of Tours), now known as
Advent.
[77] In Italy, former
Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.
[77] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the
Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as
Christmastide or
Twelve Holy Days.
[77]
The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King
Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King
William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.
By the
High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various
magnates celebrated Christmas.
King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.
[77] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts.
Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.
[77] "Misrule"—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on
New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.
[77]
Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated
ivy,
holly, and other evergreens.
[78] Christmas
gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.
[78] The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques and pageants. In 1607,
King James I insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games.
[79] It was during the
Reformation in 16th–17th century Europe, that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or
Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.
[54]
Reformation into the 19th century
Following the
Protestant Reformation, groups such as the
Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of
popery" or the "rags of
the Beast."
[80] The
Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King
Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old style Christmas generosity.
[79] Following the
Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the
English Civil War, England's
Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647.
[80] Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks
Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with
holly and shouted royalist slogans.
[80] The book,
The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", and carol singing.
[81] The
Restoration of
King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In
Scotland, the Presbyterian
Church of Scotland also discouraged observance of Christmas. James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, however attendance at church was scant.
[82]
In
Colonial America, the
Puritans of
New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in
Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor
Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
[83] At the same time, Christian residents of
Virginia and
New York observed the holiday freely.
Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the
Moravian settlers of
Bethlehem,
Nazareth and
Lititz in Pennsylvania and the
Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes.
[84] Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the
American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.
[85] George Washington attacked
Hessian (German) mercenaries on Christmas during the
Battle of Trenton in 1777, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.
By the 1820s,
sectarian tension had eased in Britain and writers, including William Winstanly, began to worry that Christmas was dying out. These writers imagined
Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday. In 1843,
Charles Dickens wrote the novel
A Christmas Carol, that helped revive the 'spirit' of Christmas and seasonal merriment.
[86][87] Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.
[88] Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, in contrast to the community-based and church-centered observations, the observance of which had dwindled during the late 18th century and early 19th century.
[89] Superimposing his secular vision of the holiday, Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit.
[90] A prominent phrase from the tale,
'Merry Christmas', was popularized following the appearance of the story.
[91] The term
Scrooge became a synonym for miser, with
'Bah! Humbug!' dismissive of the festive spirit.
[92] In 1843, the first commercial
Christmas card was produced by
Sir Henry Cole.
[93] The revival of the
Christmas Carol began with
William B. Sandys Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), with the first appearance in print of
'The First Noel',
'I Saw Three Ships',
'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' and
'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen', popularized in Dickens'
A Christmas Carol.
In Britain, the
Christmas tree was introduced in the early 19th century following the personal union with the
Kingdom of Hanover, by
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen to King
George III. In 1832 a young
Queen Victoria wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with
lights,
ornaments, and
presents placed round it.
[94] After her marriage to her German cousin
Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain.
[44] An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, created a sensation when it was published in the
Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in the United States in 1850.
[45][95] By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.
[45]
In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several
short stories by
Washington Irving which appear in his
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon and "Old Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in
Aston Hall, Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned,
[96] and he used the tract
Vindication of Christmas (1652) of Old English Christmas traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories.
[79] In 1822,
Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem
A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line:
Twas the Night Before Christmas).
[97] The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.
[98] This also started the cultural conflict of the holiday's spiritualism and its
commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book "The First Christmas in New England",
Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.
[99] While the celebration of Christmas wasn't yet customary in some regions in the U.S.,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in 1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so".
[100] In
Reading, Pennsylvania, a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas — threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the Savior's birth".
[100] The First Congregational Church of Rockford,
Illinois, 'although of genuine Puritan stock', was 'preparing for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in 1864.
[100] By 1860, fourteen states including several from
New England had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.
[101] In 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States
Federal holiday, signed into law by President
Ulysses S. Grant.
[101] Subsequently, in 1875,
Louis Prang introduced the
Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the "father of the American Christmas card".
[102]
Source : wikipedia
