In this English carol from the 16th century we see the length of the early-modern Christmas season: “From Hallowtide” (November 1) “to Candlemas” (February 2). After that, the season of Lent approaches.
Now have good day, now have good day! I am Christmas, and now I go my way.
Here have I dwelt with more and less From Hallowtide till Candlemas, And now must I from you hence pass; Now have good day!
I take my leave of king and knight, And earl, baron, and lady bright; To wilderness I must me dight; Now have good day!
And of the good lord of this hall I take my leave, and of guests all; Methink I hear Lent doth call; Now have good day!
The most popular soft drink in Sweden during the Christmas season is Julmust. Created by Swedish chemist Harry Roberts as a non-alcoholic beverage option, the drink tastes like a mixture of cola and root beer or, some say, like cola and apple juice. To this day, the Roberts company remains the only source of the authentic Julmust syrup whose recipe remains a secret.
So dominant is Julmust's hold on the Christmas soft drink market that both Coca Cola and Pepsi have tried to market their own versions with scant success.
In a self-pitying moment in 1897 Santa Claus wrote his “Farewell” which was printed by Life magazine. In it he said that he had hopes of being remembered in Europe but that his imminent demise in America had been brought about by religion:
I die because those who preach the tenderness of Christ to little children say that those parents lie sinfully who mask their own tender impulses under a gentle fable to please their little ones. Santa Claus was always the friend of good and trusting children. That they believed in him was a sign of the goodness of parents who begat them. The children who believed not in him were the children of evil parents, who never cared for the happiness of their offspring …. No discovery of Science has killed me. I was too small a lie to be worthy of the serious warfare of scientific truth. The fine weapons of those who, under the garb of religion, are always looking for wrong in others, have laid me low. Poor Santa Claus departs this earth, not because he did wrong, but because he could not survive the attacks of those who regard happiness as a sin.
This illustration from Life, December 1897, entitled “How He Comes” shows Santa adopting to new technology. As well as being pulled by 12 (!) reindeer, Santa has taken to the new-fangled automobile and telephone lines as means of getting presents to children. He also appears to be employed by the postal service.
Though doubters doubt and scoffers scoff, And peace on earth seems still far off Though learned doctors think they know The gospel stories are not so; Though greedy man is greedy still And competition chokes goodwill, While rich men sigh and poor men fret, Dear me! we can’t spare Christmas yet!
Time may do better–maybe not ; Meanwhile let’s keep the day we’ve got! On Bethlehem’s birth and Bethlehem’s star Whate’er our speculations are, Where’er for us may run the line Where human merges with divine, We’re dull indeed if we can’t see What Christmas feelings ought to be, And dull again if we can doubt It’s worth our while to bring them out.
“Glory to God: goodwill to men !” Come! Feel it, show it, give it, then! Come to us, Christmas, good old day, Soften us, cheer us, say your say To hearts which thrift, too eager, keeps In bonds, while fellow-feeling sleeps. Good Christmas, whom our children love, We love you, too! Lift us above Our cares, our fears, our small desires! Open our hands and stir the fires Of helpful fellowship within us, And back to love and kindness win us! – E. S. Martin., Life, 1897
Like St Nicholas, this new gift-bringer was a judgmental sort of guy. Here he outlines the kind of behaviour he likes or dislikes, and what the result of his findings will be in the morning.
What on earth possessed the unknown author to portray Santeclaus in a reindeer sleigh? St Nicholas had always come on a flying horse or wagon, the Christ Child and assorted European gift-bringers always walked, sometimes with a scary helper, sometimes with a donkey.
The reindeer, sleigh, and fur clothes indicate someone from a northerly clime — no one had ever thought that was a necessary attribute before — but it leads straight to a sleigh pulled by 8 reindeer, a setting in the North Pole, and an army of industrious elves
In 1821 an anonymous poet took his own peculiar version of the name Sinterklaas, and wrote the word “Santeclaus” on the fur hat of a revolutionary new character. This new gift-bringer was not the Dutch bishop, or frightening dark figure, or the Baby Jesus; he was an elderly man in a fur robe, arriving on roof tops in a sleigh pulled by a reindeer.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of this poem, The Children’s Friend: A New Year’s Present, to Little Ones from Five to Twelve published by William Gilley. It included eight illustrative plates (hand-coloured upon additional payment) and eight verses about the American gift-bringer’s activities. It gave the world a secular gift-bringer, someone who could be embrace by children of any denomination or ethnic background. It made him a creature of the North — clad in fur and reindeer-powered. It definitively moved gift-bringing to Christ Eve, casting St Nicholas’ Day and New Year’s Eve into disrepute. From this date forward the man we know as Santa Claus accelerates into our culture.
Over the next few days we will explore this too-little-known masterpiece.
Before 1821 there were a number of Christmas gift-bringers in the USA. Dutch families, chiefly in New York, honoured Sinterklaas, their name for St Nicholas. Since no American had written about Sinterklaas, his legend spread orally and a variety of spellings referred to Santa-claw, St a. Klaus, Sandy Claw, Sancte Claus, etc. In Pennsylvania and Maryland, German immigrants had brought Belsnickle (or Pelznichol), a rough fur-clad fellow, or Kriss Kringle (or Kriss Krinkle or Krishkinkle, etc.), their version of das Christkindl or Christ Child. Some English immigrants referred to Queen Mab or other fairies but as yet, there was no Santa Claus.
This poem entitled will show how ethnically particular the St Nicholas figure was by 1810. He comes on his saint’s day (December 6), not on Christmas Eve, and his presents are clearly Dutch, especially the giant cookies in the shape of the bishop.
Oh good holy man! whom we Sancte Claus name, The Nursery forever your praise shall proclaim; The day of your joyful revisit returns, When each little bosom with gratitude burns, For the gifts which at night you so kindly impart To the girls of your love, and the boys of your heart.
O! Come with your panniers and pockets well stow’d, Our stockings shall help you to lighten your load, As close by the fireside gaily they swing While delighted we dream of the presents you bring.
Oh! Bring the bright Orange so juicy and sweet, Bring almonds and raisins to heighten the treat; Rich waffles and dough-nuts must not be forgot, Nor Crullers and Oley-Cooks [cookies] fresh from the pot.
But of all these fine presents your Saintship can find, O! Leave not the famous big Cookies behind; Or, if in your hurry, one thing you mislay, Let it be the Rod – and ah! keep it away.
Then holy St. Nicholas! all the long year, Our books we will love, and our parents revere; From naughty behavior we’ll always refrain, In hopes that you’ll come and reward us again.
