Christmas Blog Part Three, Three being The Third number Counted.

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.

Christmas Blog Part Deux: The World Goes Topsy Turvy

Continuing on with the Holiday lessons, I present to you part 2 of our continuing series in the creation of what has become a cherished family happening. You may not be quizzed on this, but you will most certainly be expected to finish the article. And I have my ways of finding out whether or not you read it. Like a quiz. Maybe.

So in the first blog we delved into the genesis of the earliest human celebrations which became incorporated into our modern Christmas. We found the marauding band of Viking tribes imported their custom of burning a log to ward off whatever it was that was stealing their daylight. This over time became known as a Yule log. Of course there are other very early celebrations that added further to our current holiday. One of the most important is the Roman contribution to this festive season. Roman? Roman, you say?

Yes, Roman. There are two very important contributions that were added by the Romans when they went around conquering the world. The first is a celebration called Saturnalia. This was a wild celebration that happened during the winter months, right around the winter solstice. Saturn, the Roman god of harvest, was the reason for this season, a celebration of the bountiful harvest. Originally planned to be only one day, the revelry soon overtook the entire week. There was music, food, and public merriment everywhere. Masters and slaves switched roles for a day or two, and the wine flowed easily. Everyone in the empire was a part of this, from the very lowly to the super rich. It's important to note that this Saturnalia festival was one of the few Roman festivals that was not solely celebrated by the wealthy. So everyone - young and old, male and female, rich and poor - would look forward to these holiday parties. Saturnalia managed to last for several generations, despite the fact that it was at various times attempted to be controlled and either reduced or banned completely by various Emperors at different times! So even way back then, this holiday was something that could not or would not be snuffed out.

Eventually over time, this holiday lost favor with the Empire, although private celebrations were held at various times. But somewhere around 274 AD, the Roman Emperor Aurelian  came into power. Aurelian inherited an empire that stretched out over many lands, several of which had unique or independent celebrations. As a matter of fact, his "Empire" seemed more like a loosely federated union of conquered lands rather than an actual united empire. And so Aurelian "created" a new Roman celebration, including a brand new Sun god, the god Sol Invictus ("The Unconquered Sun"). Many of the conquered Roman territories already worshiped a similar deity known in many regions simply as Sol. Seizing an opportunity to unite the newly conquered lands, Aurelius decreed that the Feast of Sol Invictus would be celebrated every year on December 25th. With the Roman government backing Sol Invictus, many of the older Saturnalia practices now came back into public favor, so the festivities grew bigger and stronger, including the topsy-turvy practice of role reversal between masters and slaves. A "Lord of Misrule" was elected or found somehow, usually from a lowly status and he reigned for the evening or however long the festival went. This feast, since it was now instituted by the Emperor himself became an Empirical Holiday, celebrated by one and all in every Roman province - including one of the furthest provinces in the Roman world: Britannia. And so it was, in the third century, that Sol Invictus was merged with the feast already in place by the ancient Vikings called Jul, thus adding to our origins of the modern-day Christmas time. Now, while Jul - and other pagan rituals instituted by the Celtic peoples living in Anglo-Saxon England were more solemn, Sol Invictus - or more correctly the Saturnalia feast now called Sol Invictus - was much more lighthearted and merry and raucus. And thus began the constant pull of the double-edged holiday between the secular and the sacred.

A couple of bits of Trivia here, just because I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Rome, as you know, is a very Mediterranean city, and as such it tends to not get quite as cold as it does in other parts of the world - say for example in the former Roman province of Britannia. During the time of Sol Invictus (and of course going further back into Saturnalia) it was customary to decorate all homes and dwellings with all manner of flowering plants and tree branches, especially those of the Laurel or Oak variety, which were held in high esteem by the priests and royalty of Rome. However, in Brittania, although the laurel and oak do grow there, unlike Rome those trees go bare during the winter - and subsequently also during the traditional time of Sol Invictus. Because of this, the Roman Legions that were first assigned to the faraway province had a heck of a time finding anything to decorate their homes. On observation of the current celebrations by the conquered pagans in Britannia at the time, the Romans noticed that the Celts and former Vikings would celebrate the festivities with branches of holly, ivy and mistletoe and other evergreens in the area. So what did those old Romans do for Sol Invictus? Why they Deck'd (decorated) their Roman Halls with Boughs of Holly! Fa la la la la, la la la la! (And yes, that's where the song came from: Rome.)

So we've discussed our Norse and Roman origins of this amazing holiday. In the next blog we'll touch upon some of the Celtic influences on this huge celebration.

Christmas Blog - Part the First, Or "Yule Love This"

As many of you know, or don't know yet, I love Christmas, the whole Christmassy season. Oh, please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason. All talking in rhyme aside, Christmas, in and of itself, is a big deal. Always has been, always will be. It's a time when gifts are given, meals are planned, families gather and excess is abound. We light up the tree, wrap the gifts, send the cards, eat the meals and make memories. But how did this merriment come to be? There are lots and lots of reasons, some religious, some not-so-much. But all fascinating, and all culminating in this huge celebration. Over the next couple of days, I hope to share with you some information, some you might know, some you think you know, and some that you didn't know - and hopefully all entertaining. So, without further ado, I present to you the histories and origins of many of our Christmas traditions.

From the dawn of civilization (hey, that sounds like a movie trailer! "From the Dawn of Civilization, comes an epic story 10 Thousand Years in the making!!" ...anyway, sorry for the interruption.)

Okay, from the dawn of civilization when humans first began to write on walls, ("Zog was Here") we humans have had a very special relationship with winter: The days get shorter, the nights get longer, and Mister Sandman floats from rooftop to rooftop. And because the days are shorter, the wind blows bitterly cold, and - in the northern areas of our world at least - the earth became barren and cold, we as humans would turn inward to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Just as animals burrow deep in the ground or find caves and hibernate, we find our own shelter and create shelter for our domesticated animals. During these harsh and bitter months, the smarter of our ancestors noticed that at some point in the year, the sun stops its movement across the sky and begins to "turn around" and shine longer. Because of this, they declared this a holy time and celebrations began cropping up around the Winter Solstice. These celebrations would be the earliest origins of the holiday we now know as Christmas.

As we grew into societies, regardless of permanent settlements or not, the solstice time became more and more elaborate, and so the celebrations did as well. One of the earliest named celebrations came from our Norwegian ancestors. In the bleak midwinter the Norse peoples, afraid that the sun would no longer shine because the days were getting shorter, would find the biggest log they could find in the forest and burn it continuously. (That is they would burn the log, not the forest). This would of course "re-light" the sun, and there was much rejoicing. ("Yay.") They called this celebration "Jul". Now remember that the habit of pronouncing a "J" sound in Norvay, Sveden, or Daenmark is pronounced as a "Y" sound - as in "Yumpin' Yiminey, I yust go nuts at Christmas!" So pronounce the word for a cut tree that's used for "Jul" in proper Norse and what do you get? Yep, you get a Yule Log. This is, as I said, a Norse tradition, and those old Norsemen - comprised of the tribes of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes - came marauding onto the shores of England - thus giving old "Anglo-Saxon" England the holiday tradition of burning a Yule Log.

Speaking of Jul, those old Norse Anglo-Saxons gave us another word to use during this time of the year: Yuletide. We just found out where the word Yule came from, but what exactly is a Yuletide? In those ancient times, the Anglo-Saxon peoples had their own lunar calendars of 29 days each, but each calendar year also had two 60 day periods called "tides". In the ancient Anglo-Saxon calendar, the first tide was called "Litha Tide" and the second one was called, "Jul Tide". Those old Anglo-Saxons continued the original festivities of Jul including the burning of the Jul Log, but they would do so during the 12 day period between First Jul (December) and the After Jul (January). When Christianity was brought into Britannia (the Roman name for Angle-land as it eventually came to be known) these twelve days were celebrated between what eventually became Christmas day (December 25th) and the Feast of the Epiphany, or the Visiting of the Magi or Three Wise Men (January 6th), otherwise known today as... the Twelve Days of Christmas. This is why we still call this the "Yuletide season".

One last bit of trivia: Our English word "Jolly" - which is used ironically quite a bit during this season comes from the very same root word: Jul.

And so, this Jul celebration and it's burning of the wood, er, log,  was incorporated into the already existing celebrations as practiced by the existing Celtic peoples of Jolly Old England when the Norsemen arrived. As many other ancient peoples did, The Celts noticed that almost all plants, trees and vegetation "closed for the winter" in their land. Nothing would grow in that harsh environment. Nothing, that is, except for Holly, certain Ivy plants, evergreen trees, mistletoe, and very special roses. Since these Christmas symbols require much more discussion, I will wait for another blog to give those their proper descriptions. But thus began the genesis of their connection to our modern Christmas

I hope you enjoyed today's foray into the inner workings of this amazing holiday. There are many more interesting bits to come. Happy holidays!