Christmas Every Day

If you read Michael P. Foely’s Why We Kiss Under the Mistletoe: Christmas Traditions Explained, you will come across this passage:

Another remarkable transformation took place in Louisiana’s Cajun country, when the Kristkindl brought by Swiss immigrants became “La Christine,” a woman who brings homemade treats and small gifts on New Year’s Eve.

That description almost fits in with the remarks of Paul Chiquet, a Lousiana librarian, who told the blog EvangelineToday.com that La Christiane [not La Christine] was associated with the New Year, not Christmas, which jibes with accounts that in times gone by Christmas was the day for a religious celebration and the New Year was the time of gift giving.

Several months ago we featured “Death May Be Your Santa Claus”, a sermon recorded on a 78 rpm disk by the Reverend J.M. Gates. Such recordings sold well in African American communities in the 1920s. Today we feature a similar, perhaps even more sombre, exploration of that theme by the Reverend A.W. Dix, “Death May Be Your Christmas Present.”

Saint Lucia was a virgin martyr who was blinded before her execution in 304 — thus she is sometimes represented in art holding a plate containing her eyeballs. She was venerated first in Syracuse, Sicily where she died but her cult spread throughout Europe, reaching even Sweden where she is celebrated on her feast day, December 13.

She is usually portrayed as a young woman, sometimes wearing a crown of candles, but in areas of Northern Italy, Santa Lucia appears as a veiled blind old woman. On December 13, riding a cart and donkey, accompanied by her helper Castaldo, she brings gifts to children.

A pre-Christmas tradition for children in Bergamo is to visit the church of the Madonna dello Spasimo  with letters telling Lucia what they would like to receive for Christmas. There they lay letters containing their Christmas wish lists next to the altar containing the statue of the Blessed Virgin of Spasimo, also known as Santa Lucia. In other northern Italian cities there are other designated areas for the collection of such requests.

On the eve of her feast day children leave coffee, tea, or biscuits for Santa Lucia, a carrot or hay for the donkey and a glass of wine for Castaldo. Should they be so bold as to stay up to try and catch the saint delivering the presents, they risk being blinded by Lucia with ashes.

This song is a carol celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas by using the numbers to set forth Christian doctrine — a dial here means a compass, or guide. It first appeared in an almanac of 1625 but may be much older. The song “Green Grow the Rushes” may have been based on “A New Dial”. 

What are they that are but one?
What are they that are but one?
We have one God alone In heaven above sits on His throne:

Chorus: In those twelve days let us be glad : / For God of His power hath all things made.

What are they which are by two?
Two testaments, the old and new, We do acknowledge to be true:

What are they which are but three?
Three persons in the Trinity Which make one God in unity:

What are they which are but four?
Four sweet Evangelists there are, Christ’s birth, life, death which do declare:

What are they which are but five?
Five senses, like five kings, maintain In every man several reign:

What are they which are but six?
Six days to labor is not wrong, For God himself did work so long:

What are they which are but seven?
Seven liberal arts hath God sent down With divine skill man’s soul to crown:

What are they which are but eight?
Eight Beatitudes are there given Use them right and go to heaven:

What are they which are but nine?
Nine Muses, like the heaven’s nine spheres, With sacred tunes entice our ears:

What are they which are but ten?
Ten statutes God to Moses gave Which, kept or broke, do spill or save:

What are they which are but eleven?
Eleven thousand virgins did partake And suffered death for Jesus’ sake:

What are they which are but twelve?
Twelve are attending on God’s son; Twelve make our creed.
The Dial’s done:

In a post on June 15, I had reported that the credit for the earliest printed Christmas card must now be given to a certain Mr Clements in 1829. Diligent research has determined that this was an error and the 1842 card of John Callcott Horsley and Sir Henry Cole must be reinstated to its position of preeminence. 

But one wonders exactly what it was this unfortunate youth was peddling in London in December 1842. From the court reporter section of the Illustrated London News:

A boy named Williams, about eleven years of age, was charged with selling prints in the streets, -The constable, 41 E, produced five little Christmas pieces, which he said he found on him. He saw the prisoner addressing a lady coming out of her house in Euston-square. He took him into custody, The prisoner, an innocent intelligent-looking child, said his mother lived in Westminster. She had given him a few pence in the morning to purchase prints in St. Paul’s Churchyard, he paid 5d. for seven of them.-Mr. Greenwood said the prints were very nicely coloured and executed, and he did not think they could be sold so cheap. -One of the officers of the court said they were sold at that rate. -The prisoner begged of his worship not to punish him, as he sold the prints for the support of a widow mother. He had done no harm, and hoped his worship would not punish him.—Mr. Greenwood said he considered it but as an excuse for begging, and he would punish the prisoner for that offence. He would send him to the House of Correction for fourteen days.

Though not exactly a Christmas card, a Yule-time card appeared in 1841 in Scotland, a land that had viewed Christmas with suspicion since the holiday’s abolition in the 1560s. A Leith printer, Charles Drummond, produced a card that, in true Scottish style, made no mention of Christmas but instead carried the traditional Hogmanay wish: “A Gude New Year, And Mony o’ Them”. 

The Virgin’s Girdle or the Girdle of St Thomas is a Christian relic held in the cathedral of Prato, Italy. According to legend, the Virgin Mary (having been bodily assumed into Heaven) dropped her knotted belt to Thomas, the famous doubting disciple of Jesus. It is displayed five times annually from a special balcony designed by Donatello and the final time is on Christmas Day. The relic is deemed to be particularly helpful to pregnant women.

This legend is so powerful that other denominations and even other Catholic churches claim to be in possession of the genuine belt. In Eastern Orthodoxy it is known as the Cincture of the Theotokos and is kept on Mount Athos in Greece. Syrian Orthodox believers venerate the Holy Girlde in the Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt, in Homs, Syria.

In January 1887, The Graphic, an illustrated London magazine published a two-page spread entitled “A Hunt for Christmas Dinner in Manitoba.”  Only two years after the completion of the trans-continental railway and the crushing of the Northwest Rebellion, Manitoba was Canada’s newest province, still largely unsettled.

Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1886 novel of a young American lad who discovers he is the heir to a British aristocratic fortune, has been turned into a movie or television program at least 25 times. Americans, Japanese, Brazilians, Italians, Hungarians, Germans, Norwegians, and Russian directors have all taken a shot at the story. 

The first Hollywood attempt, produced in 1921, starred “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford (born in Canada) as both the little lord and his mother.

The most famous version appeared in 1936 with Freddie Bartholomew as the hero and the redoubtable C. Aubrey Smith as his grandfather. Bartholomew’s portrayal is all gooey sweetness and syrupy light; I wish he had gone to my school so the bullies could have thrashed him instead of me.

Another popular rendition was the 1980 TV movie with Ricky Schroder and Alec Guinness in the principal roles.

This brings us to the Christmas connection with the story. In a previous post we have spoken about movies that have nothing to do with Christmas yet have become holiday favourites on television over the holiday season. This is the case with the 1980 version and German viewers. For over 30 years, Der Kleine Lord (“The Little Lord”) has  been a regular feature on German TV, attracting millions of viewers every year.

For centuries Hungary has been a cultural cross-road; situated between eastern and western Europe and the Balkans, rich in ethnic identity and a land where Protestantism and Catholicism can each claim many followers, Hungary shows its mixed heritage in the celebration of Christmas.

On December 6, St Nicholas Day, the saint (Mikolás to Hungarians) in his traditional bishop’s attire arrives to deliver small presents and candy to good girls and boys and switches to the bad ones. Children leave their neatly-polished shoes out for Nicholas to fill. On his travels to shopping areas and schools and in parades he is often accompanied by an angel and a devilish companion named Krampusz.

But the saint’s appearance is only a prelude to the Christmas celebrations which accelerate on December 24. Adults hurry home from work, children are sent off to play and the tree is decorated in their absence. After a visit from the gift-bringer (which on Christmas Eve is the baby Jesus or his angels) a bell is rung and children may view the tree and open their presents. Following supper the family might sing carols or attend midnight mass. The following two days are national holidays. Christmas itself tends to be reserved for immediate family and the large afternoon dinner, often of turkey; visiting friends and family takes place on December 26.

Seasonal delights include the szalon cukor, brightly wrapped chocolate candies with a marzipan or jelly centre, and baigli, traditional walnut and poppy-seed cakes.