Before I continue with this new posting, I'd like to quickly touch upon something I failed to bring up in the last post. As I mentioned below, one of the biggest contributors to our modern version of Christmas was the Roman feast of Sol Invictus, the Feast of the Unconquered Sun. Now the the following information has been debated back and forth by religious scholars for years, one of which happens to be the Catholic Pope now! But it's still a fascinating subject, so in the interest of fairness I'll press on. Although the Christian faith now celebrates this time of year as the birth of Jesus, the truth is exactly WHEN Jesus was born is a mystery that may never be solved. The early Christian church originally held a firm stance that the birth of Christ, although mentioned in the Bible was never meant to be a Holy Day of worship. (Doesn't that just blow your mind?) Once Christianity was firmly established in Rome, the early Christians began to convert what was the former Roman Empire, and they systematically substituted Christian overtones to what they considered pagan celebrations. Most celebrations they managed to convert to Christian ritual - but with Jul and other Winter celebrations they had a lot of trouble. One way they managed to get a foothold on Jul in Angle-land was this: Sol Invictus translated into English, even Olde Englishe, is The Unconquered Sun. What if you changed the word "Sun"... to "Son"? What is the meaning NOW? That's how I believe they managed it in England and other places around Europe. Each Roman province, including Rome herself, had a Sun God to worship. What if Jesus was the Son/God? How different is that? Just something to think about.
Anyway, shifting away from strong religious overtones for the moment, I'd like to discuss the various symbols of the Christmas Holiday and their origins and meanings.
Let's start with the smallest of the symbols: Mistletoe. Mistletoe has long been a symbol of love, peace and goodwill. Mistletoe is in reality an aerial parasite that has no roots of its own and therefore lives off the tree that it attaches itself to; without that tree the mistletoe would die. Because of this natural phenomenon, ancient cultures believed that mistletoe to be very sacred - how else can a plant live without roots? For centuries before the birth of Jesus, many cultures used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter. Even clans in the heat of battle would stop their skirmishes and claim a temporary truce when they would chance upon mistletoe. They believed the plant had special healing powers for everything from female infertility to poison ingestion. From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious, and sacred plants of European folklore. One of the most fascinating comes to us from our Viking neighbors. The story goes that Mistletoe was the sacred plant of Frigga, the Norse goddess of love and the mother of Balder, the god of the summer sun and harvest. One night Balder had a dream of death, which greatly alarmed his mother, for should he die all life on earth would end as well. Frigga went through the forest and made everything that grew on or under the earth and made them all promise that Balder would not be harmed. Pleased, Frigga all but forgot about the dream. But Balder had one enemy, Loki, the god of mischief and he knew of one plant that grew neither on the earth nor under the earth, but on apple and oak trees: the lowly mistletoe. So Loki made an arrow tip of the mistletoe, and gave to the blind god of winter, Hoder, who was tricked by Loki into thinking he was shooting at a stag, striking Balder dead. For three days each element in the universe tried to bring Balder back to life, but with no success; and for three months Frigga grieved for her son. During these months the world became barren and cold and covered with ice. When it was discovered that it was mistletoe that was to blame for Balder's death, Frigga made an antidote potion for him from the plant, which eventually restored him. It is said the tears of joy that she shed for her son turned into the pearly white berries on the mistletoe plant, and in her joy Frigga decreed that who should ever stand under the humble mistletoe, no harm should befall them, only a kiss, a token of love. And so at Christmastime, a young lady standing under a ball of mistletoe brightly trimmed with evergreens, ribbons, and ornaments, cannot refuse to be kissed. Such a kiss could mean deep romance or lasting friendship and goodwill. If the girl remained unkissed, she would not expect not to marry the following year.
One of my favorite American Christmas additions is the beautiful Poinsettia, or Star Flower as it is originally known. This plant, with it's beautiful red petal-like leaves, grows wild all over our southern neighbor, Mexico. The poinsettia is named after Joel R. Poinsett, who served as the USA's first ambassador to Mexico, from 1825-1829. He saw this indigenous plant with large scarlet leaves encircling small, greenish yellow blossoms, which was used as the Mexican Christmas flower. He sent specimens back to the USA, where they flourished. The legend of the poinsettia tells of a girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo. They were very poor but always looked forward to the Christmas festival. Each year a large manger scene was set up in the village church, and the days before Christmas were filled with parades and parties. Now, the church bells in this village had remained silent for many years and It was said that whomever brought the Baby Jesus the best gift in the village would make the church bells ring again. The two children loved Christmas but were always saddened because they had no money to buy any presents. They especially wished that they could bring something to the church for the Baby Jesus, but alas they had nothing of value to give. On Christmas Eve, Maria and Pablo set out for church to attend the service, and on their way they picked some weeds growing along the roadside to take them as their gift to the Baby Jesus in the manger scene. Of course the other children teased them when they arrived with their gift, but they said nothing for they knew they had given what they could. Maria and Pablo began placing the green plants around the manger and miraculously, the green top leaves turned into bright red petals, and soon the manger was surrounded by the beautiful star-like flowers of the poinsettia, and in the distance the entire village heard the church bells ring for the first time in many many years - all because of a simple gift of love from the poorest children in the village.
Anyway, shifting away from strong religious overtones for the moment, I'd like to discuss the various symbols of the Christmas Holiday and their origins and meanings.
Let's start with the smallest of the symbols: Mistletoe. Mistletoe has long been a symbol of love, peace and goodwill. Mistletoe is in reality an aerial parasite that has no roots of its own and therefore lives off the tree that it attaches itself to; without that tree the mistletoe would die. Because of this natural phenomenon, ancient cultures believed that mistletoe to be very sacred - how else can a plant live without roots? For centuries before the birth of Jesus, many cultures used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter. Even clans in the heat of battle would stop their skirmishes and claim a temporary truce when they would chance upon mistletoe. They believed the plant had special healing powers for everything from female infertility to poison ingestion. From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious, and sacred plants of European folklore. One of the most fascinating comes to us from our Viking neighbors. The story goes that Mistletoe was the sacred plant of Frigga, the Norse goddess of love and the mother of Balder, the god of the summer sun and harvest. One night Balder had a dream of death, which greatly alarmed his mother, for should he die all life on earth would end as well. Frigga went through the forest and made everything that grew on or under the earth and made them all promise that Balder would not be harmed. Pleased, Frigga all but forgot about the dream. But Balder had one enemy, Loki, the god of mischief and he knew of one plant that grew neither on the earth nor under the earth, but on apple and oak trees: the lowly mistletoe. So Loki made an arrow tip of the mistletoe, and gave to the blind god of winter, Hoder, who was tricked by Loki into thinking he was shooting at a stag, striking Balder dead. For three days each element in the universe tried to bring Balder back to life, but with no success; and for three months Frigga grieved for her son. During these months the world became barren and cold and covered with ice. When it was discovered that it was mistletoe that was to blame for Balder's death, Frigga made an antidote potion for him from the plant, which eventually restored him. It is said the tears of joy that she shed for her son turned into the pearly white berries on the mistletoe plant, and in her joy Frigga decreed that who should ever stand under the humble mistletoe, no harm should befall them, only a kiss, a token of love. And so at Christmastime, a young lady standing under a ball of mistletoe brightly trimmed with evergreens, ribbons, and ornaments, cannot refuse to be kissed. Such a kiss could mean deep romance or lasting friendship and goodwill. If the girl remained unkissed, she would not expect not to marry the following year.
One of my favorite American Christmas additions is the beautiful Poinsettia, or Star Flower as it is originally known. This plant, with it's beautiful red petal-like leaves, grows wild all over our southern neighbor, Mexico. The poinsettia is named after Joel R. Poinsett, who served as the USA's first ambassador to Mexico, from 1825-1829. He saw this indigenous plant with large scarlet leaves encircling small, greenish yellow blossoms, which was used as the Mexican Christmas flower. He sent specimens back to the USA, where they flourished. The legend of the poinsettia tells of a girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo. They were very poor but always looked forward to the Christmas festival. Each year a large manger scene was set up in the village church, and the days before Christmas were filled with parades and parties. Now, the church bells in this village had remained silent for many years and It was said that whomever brought the Baby Jesus the best gift in the village would make the church bells ring again. The two children loved Christmas but were always saddened because they had no money to buy any presents. They especially wished that they could bring something to the church for the Baby Jesus, but alas they had nothing of value to give. On Christmas Eve, Maria and Pablo set out for church to attend the service, and on their way they picked some weeds growing along the roadside to take them as their gift to the Baby Jesus in the manger scene. Of course the other children teased them when they arrived with their gift, but they said nothing for they knew they had given what they could. Maria and Pablo began placing the green plants around the manger and miraculously, the green top leaves turned into bright red petals, and soon the manger was surrounded by the beautiful star-like flowers of the poinsettia, and in the distance the entire village heard the church bells ring for the first time in many many years - all because of a simple gift of love from the poorest children in the village.
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