Christmas Every Day

From the Jesuit Relations

All our savages, but especially the Hurons, profess to have a special esteem for the all-endearing mystery of the birth of our lord Jesus Christ. I have seen some notable proofs of this given by these latter; they themselves entreated the father, long before the feast-day, to make arrangements so as to celebrate it in the most solemn manner possible. They sent their children to seek for what could be used in constructing a grotto, in which they were to make a representation of the mystery; and I took pleasure in hearing a little girl who, having brought with much care a beautiful sort of grass, said that she had done it in the thought and hope that the little infant Jesus might be laid upon that grass. Our good Christians made some more serious preparations, For they all confessed; and those to whom permission was given to receive Communion, did so very devoutly, at the midnight mass. The grotto, which was well fitted to inspire devotion, was Incessantly visited; and it rendered a very pleasing although rather protracted Service,—to draw from them the expression of their feelings as they themselves express them, when addressing the divine child. As a climax to their devotion, they asked that the infant Jesus should do them the favour of visiting them, by being carried through their village. But, as they thought that they had rendered themselves unworthy of this by some things that had taken place, they held grand Councils and took great precautions to obtain this favour from their missionary. The Matter was conceded to them, and carried out on the Day of the epiphany in a manner that seems to me worthy of being recorded. For my part, I was much touched by it.

They desired, then, in execution of their design, to imitate what in other ages had been done by the three great stranger Captains, who came to confess and adore Jesus Christ in the Manger, and afterward went to preach him in their own country. All the Hurons, Christians and non-Christians, divided themselves into three companies, according to the different nations that constitute their village; and, after choosing their Chiefs, one for each nation, they furnished them with porcelain, of which they were to make an offering to the infant Jesus. Every one adorned himself as handsomely as he could. The three Captains had each a scepter in his hand, to which was fastened the offering, and wore a gaudy head-dress in guise of a crown. Each company took up a different position. The signal for marching having been given them at the sound of the trumpet, they heeded the sound as that of a voice Inviting them to go to see and adore an infant God new-born. Just as the 1st company took up their march,—conducted by a star fastened to a large standard of the colour of sky-blue, and having at the rear (head) their Captain, before whom was carried his banner,—The 2nd company, seeing the first marching, demanded of them (aloud) the object of their journey; and on learning it, they Joined themselves to them, having in like manner their chief at their head with his banner. The third company, more advanced on the road, did as the second; and, one after another, they continued their march, and entered our Church, the star remaining at the entrance. The 3 chiefs, having first prostrated themselves, and laid their Crowns and sceptres at the feet of the infant Jesus in the Cradle, offered their Congratulations and presents to their saviour. As they did so, they made a public protestation of the submission and obedience that they desired to render him; solicited faith for those who possessed it not, and protection for all their nation and for all that land; and, in conclusion, entreated him to approve that they should bring him into their village, of which they desired he should be the master.

I was engaged in carrying the little statue of the divine infant, which inspired great devotion; I took it from the grotto, and from its cradle, and carried it on a fine linen cloth. Everyone seemed touched, and pressed forward in the crowd, to get a nearer view of the holy Child. Our Hurons left the church in the same order in which they had come. I came after them, carrying the little statue, preceded by two Frenchmen bearing a large standard, on which was represented the infant Jesus with his holy mother.

A parasitic shrub, Viscum album, mistletoe has a long history in folklore and legend. The Druids supposedly solemnly collected it around midwinter and it was deemed to have magical healing powers and be a token of peace. It is perhaps from this origin that the Christian use of it at Christmas proceeded. Like many evergreens it was used a church decoration (despite prejudice against it in some parts). At York Minster during the Middle Ages a branch of mistletoe was laid on the altar during the Twelve Days of Christmas and a public peace proclaimed in the city for as long as it remained there.

The custom of kissing under the mistletoe was long in developing. Some medieval English homes hung an effigy of the Holy Family inside a wooden hoop decorated with winter greenery under which it was customary to exchange an embrace or kiss. After the Reformation when the image of the Holy Family disappeared,  the kissing bunch or bough, a collection of greenery which often included mistletoe, remained as a Christmas custom. Kissing beneath it, or just a sprig of mistletoe, seems to have been a custom confined to the servant class until the nineteenth century when it was more generally adopted. In the Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens describes its use in the early nineteenth century:

From the centre of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just suspended with his own hands a huge branch of mistletoe, and this same branch of mistletoe instantaneously gave rise to a scene of general and most delightful struggling and confusion; in the midst of which, Mr. Pickwick, with a gallantry that would have done honour to a descendant of Lady Tollimglower herself, took the old lady by the hand, led her beneath the mystic branch, and saluted her in all courtesy and decorum.

Each kiss necessitated the removal of a berry from the sprig and when all berries were gone the merriment ceased. The custom was for a long time confined to the English-speaking world though it has spread abroad in recent years. The only European tradition that appears similar is the Austrian New Year’s custom when the Sylvester figure is permitted a kiss under any sort of greenery.

A large fortress-like church complex on Manger Square in Bethlehem centred on the site where Jesus was said to have been born.

As early as the second century local tradition claimed that the Nativity of Christ had taken place in a stable-cave, the location of which was sufficiently well-known that the Roman emperor Hadrian established a pagan grove there dedicated to Adonis in order to discourage Christian worship on the site. In the third century Origen and other visitors were still being directed to the spot. The theologian reported: “In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and the rumor is in those places and among foreigners of the Faith that indeed Jesus was born in this cave.”

The first Church of the Nativity was built over the cave by Saint Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine. This church was later damaged in an uprising and was rebuilt in the sixth century at the command of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. When the area was overrun by Persian invaders in 614 legend claims that the Church of the Nativity was spared because of depictions in a mosaic of Magi in Persian dress.

The cross-shaped Church of St Mary of the Nativity, 170 feet long and 80 feet wide, stands above the small grotto where a silver star marks the spot where Jesus was born; the inscription reads Hic De Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est — “Here Jesus Christ was Born of the Virgin Mary.”  Nearby is a chapel where the manger stood in which the infant was placed. Surrounding the Church of the Nativity are other chapels and convents of the Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian churches; these three denominations share the administration of various parts of the complex. Quarrels between them in the nineteenth century took on dangerous overtones. The Russian goverment supported the Orthodox claims while the Catholics were backed by the French government; these hard feelings were one of the reasons for the outbreak of the Crimean War in the 1850s

For over a century the town of Oaxaca, Mexico has held the Noché del Rábano, Night of the Radishes, a festival dedicated to the carving of the large twisted local radishes which are shaped by artists into Nativity scenes, images of the Virgin of Guadelupe, Aztec gods or local geography. Thousands of townspeople and tourists crowd the town square during the Christmas season to tour the stalls, visit the hundreds of vendors and enjoy the music and fireworks that accompany this fiesta. Recently prizes have been offered for works made from corn husks and dried flowers.