Christmas Every Day

“Broncho Billy and the Baby” was a short Christmas allegory by Peter B. Kayne which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1910 and which spawned seven motion pictures. The story is of three bandits who rob the bank at New Jerusalem and head out into the desert to escape. There they encounter a dying woman who extracts a promise from them that they will save her new-born baby. The outlaws battle thirst and the elements and finally one of them makes it back to New Jerusalem with the infant just in time for the Christmas Eve service.

The first cinematic version appeared in 1911, a one-reeler called The Outlaw and the Child; it was followed by three more silent films in 1913, 1916 and 1919. The first sound version (and Universal Studio’s first outdoor talkie) was Hell’s Heroes in 1930, filmed by William Wyler in the Mojave Desert. Charles Bickford, Raymond Hatton, and Fred Kohler Sr play three genuinely hard men and the movie is uncompromising and harsh. Two more sentimental renditions both called Three Godfathers appeared in 1936 and, more memorably, in 1948. The latter was a John Ford western starring John Wayne, Harry Carey Jr. and Pedro Armendariz; it was the only one to dare a happy ending. In 1974 the made-for-television The Godchild moved the plot to three Civil War escapees played by Jack Palance, Jack Warden and Keith Carradine.

A type of Christmas tree in Bavaria on which a dozen special ornaments are hung in token of those things necessary for a good marriage. They include an angel (representing God’s guidance), a bird (joy), a fish (Christ’s blessing), a flower basket (good wishes), a fruit basket (generosity), a heart (true love), a house (protection), a pine cone (fruitfulness), a rabbit (hope), a rose (affection), a Santa figure (goodwill), and a teapot (hospitality).

Christmas in Honduras begins with the appearance of the Warini, the Christmas Herald — a masked dancer who goes house-to-house accompanied by singers and drummers. His dance on January 6 will signal an end to the season. In fact dancing is an integral part of Christmas celebrations in this Central American country. The aboriginal Garifuna people perform costumed dances such as Pijamanadi, Dona Amidi, Coreopatea and John Canoe. In early December the women of certain tribal groups will dance in groups door-to-door; neighbourhoods will stage tambakus; and on Christmas morning children and their families will dance rondas and play games.

 As in most Latin American countries the manger scene or nacimiento is central to home devotions at Christmas. The entire family will take part in putting together the scene which can be quite ornate and detailed. Other activities during Advent include participating in or watching the pastorelas, costumed shepherd dramas whose rehearsals start in October and enjoying office parties where workers may be matched in cochombros, a kind of Secret Santa present exchange.

A major part of getting ready for Christmas is the preparation of holiday food and drink. The Christmas Eve meal is often centered on turkey or roast piglet but there are many other traditional Honduran dishes such as meat pie filled with vegetables, raisins, fried plantain and peppers, nactamales, or sartén, green peppers stuffed with sour cream, cottage cheese, milk and corn dough, slow-cooked in an earthenware pot. The seasonal Honduran Christmas drink is eggnog, made from milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and guaro liquor.

With much of the Honduran population living in the United States it is no surprise that American Christmas customs have penetrated the country. Presents are often exchanged on December 25 instead of on January 6 and Santa Claus has been edging out the Magi as gift-bringer. But most traditions linger. The nine days of the  posadas processions are still observed and Christmas mass is still a major attraction in this intensely Catholic land. Christmas trees have still not displaced the nacimiento and Three Kings Day will still see festive parades and the burning of Mr Old Year as the Christmas season comes to a close.

Every year on Old Christmas Day, January 6, a strange game is played in Haxey, Lincolnshire. A Fool, dressed in red rags with a faced smeared with soot and ochre, opens the proceedings by welcoming all present and declaring that the order of the day is

Hoose agin hoose, town agin town, /And if you meet a man knock him down, /But don’t hurt him.

While he is pronouncing this speech he is being ritually fumigated by a bonfire (see below). He then leads his team of red-clad Boggans and their King Boggan, or Lord of the Hood, to a nearby field where the next several hours the men of the parish will contest for the possession of a a series of “hoods” or rolls of canvas, rope and leather. Visits to local pubs are part of the struggle. The game is said to have links to pre-Christian ritual combats performed as a fertility rite.