Christmas Every Day

The notion that Christmas was situated on December 25 by the early church because of the date’s connection to the winter solstice and sun worship has no contemporary evidence for it. The earliest we hear of it is in this 12th-century Syriac manuscript:

The Lord was born in the month of January, on the day on which we celebrate the Epiphany [January 6]; for the ancients observed the Nativity and the Epiphany on the same day, because he was born and baptized on the same day. Also still today the Armenians celebrate the two feasts on the same day. To this must be added the Doctors who speak at the same time of the one and the other feast. The reason for which the Fathers transferred the said solemnity from the sixth of January to the 25^th of December is, it is said, the following: it was the custom of the pagans to celebrate on this same day of the 25^th of December the birth of the sun. To adorn the solemnity, they had the custom of lighting fires and they even invited Christians to take part in these rites. When, therefore, the Doctors noted that the Christians were won over to this custom, they decided to celebrate the feast of the true birth on this same day; the 6^th of January they made to celebrate the Epiphany. They have kept this custom until today with the rite of the lighted fire.

It is almost certainly not a true explanation but you still it attested to on the Web.

In Nicaragua, Christmas begins December 7 with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, known in Spanish as “La Purísima” (The Most Pure). The exuberance and the loudness of the festivities is such that it has also come to be called “La Noche de Gritería”, the Night of the Screams. Songs are sung at maximum volume, fireworks are set off and crowds shout out questions and responses: “Quien causa tanta alegría?” — “Why all this happiness? —  “La Concepción de María!” — “The Conception of Mary!” — “Viva la Concepcio!” — “Long live the Conception!” Homeowners hand out out candies, fruit and little treats to the crowds who will party until dawn.

The patron saint of  Aberdonians, apothecaries, Austrians, bakers, barrel-makers, boatmen, Belgians, boot-blacks, brewers, brides, butchers, button-makers, captives, chandlers, children, coopers, dock workers, Dutchmen, druggists, firemen, fishermen, florists, folk falsely-accused, Greeks, grooms, haberdashers, judges, Liverpudlians, longshoremen, merchants, murderers, newlyweds, notaries, old maids, orphans, parish clerks, paupers, pawnbrokers, perfumers, pharmacists, pilgrims, pirates, poets, rag pickers, Russians, sailors, sealers, shipwrights, Sicilians, spice dealers, students, thieves, travellers, and weavers.

As people begin to grumble about Christmas stress, it’s time to remind them of the words of St Maximus of Turin, 1600 years ago:

You well know what joy and what a gathering there is when the birthday of the emperor of this world is to be celebrated; how his generals and princes and soldiers, arrayed in silk garments and girt with precious belts worked with shining gold, seek to enter the king’s presence in more brilliant fashion than usual …If, therefore, brethren, those of this world celebrate the birthday of an earthly king with such an outlay for the sake of the glory of the present honor, with what solicitude ought we to celebrate the birthday of our eternal king Jesus Christ. Who in return for our devotion will bestow on us not temporal but eternal glory.

A virgin martyr slain by her father for converting to Christianity, St Barbara’s feast day, December 4, is the start of Christmas season in Syria and Lebanon and the occasion for European traditions involving blossoms. In Germany, Austria, the Czech lands and Slovakia a ‘Barbara twig’ is cut from a cherry tree and placed in water. If it blooms on or before Christmas Eve the family will see a marriage in the year to come. In Provence and parts of the Middle East wheat and lentils are sown on St Barbara’s Day and if they germinate are served on Christmas.

When her father chopped off her head he was instantly struck dead by a bolt of lightning. For this explosive reason Barbara is the patron saint of miners and artillery men.

 A Swedish mystic and saint, patron of Sweden, founder of the Brigittine Order, and a visionary whose revelations about the Nativity were highly influential in the way it was artistically depicted during the Middle Ages.

After the death of her aristocratic husband Bridget entered a convent and began to have a series of visions, some political, some personal and some of which dealt with the birth of Jesus. Until Bridget’s revelations it was believed that Mary had given birth in the normal fashion but after she announced that it had been revealed to her that Mary had given birth standing in prayer, without pain or effort, medieval art changed its portrayal of the Nativity.

 Bridget was canonized in 1391 and her Revelations were printed in 1492.

A wreath, usually of greenery, to which are attached candles, invented by the reforming Lutheran pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern. In Hamburg in 1833 he opened the “Rauhe Haus”, the Rough House, which sheltered orphaned or neglected children. In order to make the Christmas story more real to them every night of Advent he told them stories, prayed and lit a candle. To accommodate the candles a wheel-shaped chandelier was built, around which evergreens were twined. Visitors and supporters were impressed by this display and the custom spread but those who imitated it reduced it in size to four candles, one for each week of Advent.

Many churches and homes mark the progress of Advent by lighting one additional candle a week until on the final Sunday all four are alight. Three of these candles are purple or violet (penitential colours) while the one lit on the third Sunday (Gaudete Sunday) is the pink of rejoicing. After Christmas these candles are often replaced with white ones.

The candles represent the coming of Jesus, the Light of the World, and it was once customary for someone named John or Joan to be first to light them because John the Baptist at the River Jordan was the first to see the fire of divinity in Jesus and John the Evangelist began his gospel by referring to Jesus as the Light. The wreath is an ancient symbol of victory while the greenery represents the ever-lasting life.

A German variation on the Advent wreath is a seven-branched candle-holder. In the southwestern United States the wreath is occasionally made from bunches of red chili peppers. Acadians in the Canadian Maritime provinces fashion their Advent wreaths in the form of a cross and place them at the foot of the church altar.

 The world’s largest Advent Wreath takes up a whole city block in Münster, Germany.

In Denmark it would be difficult to be unaware of the approach of Christmas. Every child has an Advent calendar which when opened reveals a candy or a picture and most familes have an Advent candle or wreath. Charitable Danes buy Children’s Developing Country Calendars with the profits going to a Third World project. Danish television broadcasts the “Children’s Christmas Calendar” starting on December 1 with a different puppet show or fairy tale every day until Christmas. At the beginning of the month Christmas lights adorn buildings and Christmas trees and displays are set up outdoors.

Danes spend December preparing for the celebrations to come: gift buying and wrapping, Christmas card sending, with each card marked by a Christmas Seal ( a Danish invention) and baking. Among the cookie favourites are pebbernødder (like the German pfeffernüsse), vanilla cookies, deeep-fried klejne and honey-cakes. Danes also like to make home-made candies and cakes such as marzipan, rum balls and apple cake.  Many decorations are homemade, especially the red-and-white Christmas heart. A recent (since 1945) imported custom from Sweden is the St Lucia procession which takes place in schools and public institutions on December 13. A girl dressed in white with a wreath of fir and candles leads children in singing. Some families cling to the tradition of erecting the Christmas tree at the last moment to surprise the children but other families decorate the tree together, with the Christmas hearts, Danish flags, tinsel and candles with a star at the top.

 The Christmas lunch — usually in the form of an office party — is a popular custom which, despite the name, can be held at any time of the day. The menu will include herring, liver paté, ham, sausage, cheese and biscuits with plenty of beer (often a Christmas beer brewed only for that time of year) and schnapps. These parties have a reputation for being on the wild side but most are quite tame events. On December 23, Little Christmas Eve, it is common to invite guests to drink glögg, a spiced red wine.

On Juleaften, Christmas Eve, shops close early and people rush home to be with their families. Some will spend the afternoon in church, others in trimming the tree but all will look forward to the traditonal dinner. Roast goose is the main course, accompanied by potatoes and red cabbage but the meal must contain, either as a starter or dessert, rice porridge. Hidden in the porridge is an almond and the one who finds it is considered lucky for the coming year and gets a small prize, often a marzipan pig. When dinner is over and the washing up is done, the tree is revealed and presents are opened. Many Danish families preserve the lovely custom of walking, with joined hands, around the tree singing a Christmas carol. Another Christmas Eve custom that has been kept for centuries is the setting out the juleneg, a sheaf of grain for the birds.

In Denmark gifts are brought by a Santa Claus figure called the Julemanden who is reputed to live in Greenland, a Danish possession, and travel by reindeer sleigh. He is assisted in his efforts by native sprites known as Nisser. These are elves dressed in red and grey with pointed red hats who live in attics and barns; they have a mischievous side and need to be placated, preferably by leaving out a bowl of rice pudding for them.

Juleaften is the high point of Danish Christmas celebrations. The next two days, Christmas Day and Second Christmas, are official holidays, spent visiting,  relaxing with family and friends and eating smørrebrod, open-faced sandwiches and drinking aquavit.

   Like the British the Danes will sit down for a few minutes to listen to a royal broadcast which the monarch gives at 6 p.m. on December 31. New Year’s Eve is a time of parties, dining out and pranks — the Danish sense of humor finds great pleasure in the practical jokes played on Nytaarsaften.

On January 6, Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day, the tree is taken down and disposed of — sometimes it is turned into firewood and sometimes it is hung with suet and seeds for the birds. Candles are lit in the house in honour of the Magi and the Christmas season is over for another year.