Of Christmas, rabbit holes and the Christmas Pickle

Recently my niece expressed a wish to return to the more traditional focus of Christmas. But what might that mean? One that is not driven by commercialism, or by excess? Looking back at some of the previous eras, these excesses are very much tradition. The Elizabethans and the Georgians certainly celebrated to excess, the Victorians with the advent of mechanisation brought mass production and Dickens created a Christmas that we all still aspire to today that can often be fraught with false expectation of family unity, charity and repleteness – and not to mention snow!

We often glibly state that we know Christmas was pieced together from Celtic, pagan and other global traditions. Here in England we kind of know that it has “roots” in celtic/druid lore, possibly Saturnalia (Roman Times) and that Christianity took some of the tradition and amalgamated into their own celebrations and then Dickens came along during the Victorian era and re-invented the season.

But this is not necessarily the case........

In researching some of the folklore around the festivities I fell down a few rabbit holes on the t'interweb and got lost in many diverting and diverse discussions and writings. But what are the rules, traditions and why?

I have summarised the ones I considered to be interesting, this is by no means an exhaustive list, nor is it intended to be a global consideration (in fact I really have tended to concentrate on England). I have also not included those more well-known discussions on Turkey or Goose, Father Christmas or St Nick and other more well-known aspects of our current Christmas – you can google these and fall down your own rabbit holes if you like!

I hope you enjoy…….

In days of yore (I like that phrase!) we used the Julian calendar for centuries, this was found to give too many leap years so was eventually substituted by the Gregorian Calendar adopted in 1752. So, in 1752, we lost days and 2nd September was immediately followed by 14th September. This means that occasionally we may hear of “Old Christmas” being celebrated on 6th January – which would have been the time in the season (not the date itself if that makes sense?) when it fell in the old calendar. The reasons behind the changes and how they occurred is a rabbit hole worth falling down.

Christianity didn’t just pluck dates out of the air to coincide with the birth of Jesus (although they did do this with some other pagan rituals and festivals). Whilst the Roman festival of Saturnalia fell on 25th December the earliest documentation of this is in the 12th Century and the dates for Christianity are documented much earlier. Christians believe that the Annunciation (announcement of and actual conception) was 25th March.

This is also the date christians believe the world was created and the day Jesus died - and in the old Julian calendar was the beginning of the year when Lady Day (referring to Mary) was celebrated - so all in all a busy day! January 1st became the start of the new year once we adopted the Gregorian calendar - but this was another rabbit hole I fell down and started reading about how Old Lady Day (March 25th + 11 days lost due to the calendar change = April 5th - later changed to April 6th ) became the start of the tax year but then it got really confusing with maths so I stopped.

– so 9 months later (from March 25th - keep up!) would be 25th December. However, they did hi-jack some of the rituals – such as using Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe (some churches however will still not allow holly and mistletoe into their premises). Twelfth night (6th January) also becomes Epiphany in the Christian calendar - the date the 3 wise men visit the infant Jesus. I went to Sunday School and was brought up in the christian faith so kind of knew this - but it's actually really interesting to me to regain context.

Today we may bring holly and ivy into the house for a table decoration, or on the mantel – or if really posh then up the stair rail! Mistletoe may also feature in some of our home decoration. In previous times it was the evergreen nature of the foliage brought into the home that was important as a symbol of enduring and returning life and to ensure life returns after winter – this is why we also have a tree (but this arrived in England a lot later during Victorian times).

So, in addition to the holly and ivy they would also bring in bay, rosemary, laurel – anything green in fact. These were not be brought into the house until Christmas eve as it was said that it would be sign to capricious spirits that you were anticipating a celebration and they could easily spoil it and/or bring bad luck - so beware of capricious spirits if you are intending an early, lockdown decorating spree for Christmas.

Likewise there was a date that the evergreens should be disposed of (by burning was the most popular choice). This date differs dependant on where you lived in the country or _when_ you lived but was either by twelfth night (6th January) or for Christian beliefs and/or in the middle ages by Candlemas (2nd Feb).

Each evergreen holds a meaning and is symbolic of something:

Holly & Ivy – pagan/saturnalia sees Holly as a male plant with Ivy as the female plant. Dependent upon which came first into the house would indicate whether male or female would rule the house the following year (must remember that one!).

In Christian terms Holly is said to symbolise the crown of thorns and the berries are symbolic of the blood of Christ. Ivy does not figure too much in the Christian traditions. Many carols that mention the two are talking about the superiority of holly (males) over ivy (females). In fact the carol The Holly & The Ivy only mentions ivy in the first verse, the remainder of the song is about the virtues of the Holly (go check out the lyrics- I did just to be sure). Feeling a bit disgruntled now......

Mistletoe – in druid religion this plant was seen as one that warded off evil spirits and was also for fertility. As it is a parasite of the oak tree (amongst a few others) it was thought to keep the spirit of the oak tree safe over the winter, therefore bringing it into the house meant you had the spirit of the oak inside protecting you and your family. The notion of kissing under the mistletoe seems to originate in the 18th Century in England. The custom was that you picked a berry before you received a kiss, once the berries had gone – no more kisses. Not so sure that plastic versions have the same ability.

The Yule Log – this was part of the winter solstice where a tree (yes - a whole tree!) was dragged into the home with one end placed in the hearth. This would then be lit by a piece of last year’s log saved safely for this purpose. Oak was the tradition in England (Birch in Scotland) and it was thought to be bad luck to buy it – it should be brought in from your own land or common land. Now some continue the tradition (but with a smaller log!) that burns for each day of the 12 days of Christmas. It should burn for 12 hours on Christmas Day , but it is bad luck to dispose of the ashes outside on Christmas Day itself. Those of you with real fires or log burners will know how difficult this must have been - especially if you were also having to dodge a whole tree trunk whilst preparing for Christmas dinner.

Ghost stories at Christmas - The tradition of telling ghost stories around the fire comes from the Yule Log folklore. The Puritans did away with this tradition – until Dickens brought it back with the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future making the Christmas period a time to remember those lost, and to take stock for the ending of the year and the start of a new year. A tradition to resurrect maybe?

The Robin as the bird of Christmas - I’m reminded of a tale about the robin and you might think this is why it tends to be associated with Christmas – that the bird tried to peck away the thorns from the crown of Jesus and its breast was stained with blood from its struggles (although surely this would be Easter?).

However it would seem that this tradition stems from the Victorian Christmas in that, as cards became a popular tradition to send, postmen wore red uniforms and therefore were knows as redbreasts. Artists began to depict letters being delivered by the bird and over time this meant that the robin is now forever associated with Christmas.

Our Christmas celebrations have not gone unhindered through time. By the 12th Century many had lost interest and stopped many of the traditions held. Many of the rituals had become part of a religious backdrop that was quite inaccessible to all -often being in Latin. It was Sir Francis of Assisi that recharged interest by creating Nativity Plays, initially in Italy (in Italian) that later spread across Europe into other languages. Whilst the plays and songs were loosely based on the religious story, they were told more outside the church environment by travelling minstrels and the words were often changed. The carol “I saw three ships” comes from this time. Thus the "people" regained Christmas from the realm of high church.

In Elizabethan times, Father Christmas held an esteem that has never been seen since and Christmas was the principal Holiday of the year that lasted for the 12 days of Christmas with gift giving on New Year’s Day. The 12 days were followed by Plough Monday on 7th January when all went back to work.

During this festive time, the Lord, the serf, the tenant and the steward met on equal ground. Much feasting was the order of the day with the meals often lasting 10 hours with a boar’s head being the centre of the meal .Of course with the recent trade routes open with places such as Constantinople, Syria and Egypt, exotic spices were available.

In 1640 in England, Christmas took another hit when the Puritans took over parliament under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell - what a killjoy! (my husband is a descendant of Oliver's and I can assure you that the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree 😉). Christmas was banned, but carol singing and festivities were often held in secret. A time of respectful contemplation was the intended way to pass the time over the old timeline of festivities. However, with the re-instatement of King Charles II Christmas was brought back and the old traditions reinstated which is why he became known as the merry monarch who saved Christmas. Hurrah!!

The early Georgian’s celebrated well – think Jane Austen’s Regency stories of parties, lots of food and gift giving which seems the order of the day. The 12 days were celebrated in style, the evergreen decorations still exists in this period as does the yule log with a blazing fire being the heart of the celebrations. It was often the case that a twelfth night party was held with apple bobbing, dancing, drinking and eating.

However, with the advent of the Industrial revolution from the mid 1700s, the Christmas festivities were cut short , no more the 12 days of merriment, employers needed their workforce, labour was hard so people were exhausted and were adrift from their traditions as many had become displaced from their rural communities into the cities where the factories were.

It was left to the Victorians, and specifically Charles Dickens to re-invent Christmas in the early 1800s. Between the 1500s and the mid 1800s England had been going through a mini ice age meaning that through winter the Thames (and many other rivers and lakes) froze over. Cold and snow was therefore common for Dickens growing up with these sorts of winters. When he wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 he was sharing a romantic version of remembered childhood Christmases which put charity (and snow) at the heart of the season and gave us our view of a ‘traditional Christmas’.

Snow is so closely linked to Christmas that it is depicted on cards, in songs and we all hope for snow on Christmas Day – a rare occurrence now in England that's for sure.

The Victorians, the fruits of the industrial revolution and Dickens brought us the Christmas Tree, Christmas Cards, Christmas crackers, and mass production of affordable toys and decorations. They also give us the notion of singing Christmas carols door to door (this practice did exist before but not in this way – a google search of the history of Christmas carols should send you down another nice rabbit hole for a while).

The growing network of railways meant that families could finally be together again at Christmas– a very strong Victorian value. We may use fairy lights rather than candles on our tree, we may Skype with family rather than travel – but these are still a legacy of the Victorian traditional Christmas.

My family having a 1970s Christmas

There was recently a BBC documentary series (Back in Time for Christmas) following a family as they recreated Christmas from the 1940s to modern day. It depicts how, over time, expectations on food, gifts, family time and entertainment during the festive season have become increasingly unobtainable and stressful (I blame Delia).

The family decided that the 1970s was the best Christmas experience with just the right balance between family time and commercialism.

So what may be considered our 20th and 21st Century additions to the list of traditions? Here are my thoughts:

Ugly Christmas sweaters (1980s)
Elf on the shelf (2005)
Advent calendars (1903 but mass popularity by 1920)
Santa Claus in the image we see him today including his red suit from a coca-cola add in the 1930s
Wrapping paper
Artificial Christmas trees and artificial greenery
Christmas films – It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas , not to mention A Muppet Christmas Carol
Delia Smith (also Heston, Jamie etc who all have added expectations of what and how we serve Christmas dinner)
Novelty presents
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (1949)
Secret Santa gifts
Tracking Santa apps
E-cards
The Queen’s speech

In my meandering I also found the Christmas pickle – never knew it existed! Apparently the night before Christmas an ornament shaped like a pickle is hung in the tree secretly and on Christmas morning, the first to find it will get a special gift or surprise (this one has totally bypassed me). I think it originates in Germany.

Many of us also have family traditions that have developed over generations. My parents, who grew up during the WWII, talk of socks filled with nuts, an orange and a little toy. My siblings and I always woke up to a pillow case full of presents at the end of the bed when we were young (1960s/70s) . There are rituals in opening – one person at a time opens one present then the next – we still do that in our house now. We have pork pie at breakfast because that was a tradition in Dad’s family. Many of my tree ornaments have either been handed down or have special memories attached to family, friends or places visited.

I think it can be seen from this that tradition is not static. Times, contexts and individual circumstance helps to change and amend practices. Some disappear, some are reborn in a different guise. So maybe we don’t need to stress about keeping up traditions and start harvesting and curating the ones we like and suit our lives.

In our home we will continue to have “traditional” turkey with all the extras on Christmas Day with cold turkey, chips and gravy on Boxing day and I will gift table presents, tree presents and boxing day presents.

However, maybe I'll make some changes to the "traditions"

Change #1 I want to spend less money on buying and create more individual gifts – but I’m not convinced that changing my way of seeing Christmas will resonate well with all recipients – I might like to receive something handmade but not everyone does.

Change #2 I am going to look into Iceland’s Jolabokaflod, meaning book flood where Christmas Eve finds you curled up with a new book and a mug of hot chocolate.

Change #3 Maybe I’ll resurrect the tradition of telling ghost stories around the fire – as long as it doesn’t get too scary!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Some of my Rabbit holes:

https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/days-out/top-10-quirky-christmas-traditions/

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/

https://blog.hrp.org.uk/curators/william-iiis-kensington-christmas/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/plea-resurrect-christmas-tradition-telling-ghost-stories-180967553/

https://shakespeareandbeyond.folger.edu/2015/12/18/elizabethan-holidays-christmas-new-years-day-and-ploughmonday

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_loghttps://mommyonpurpose.com/memory-making-christmas-traditions/

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/victorian-christmas-traditions?gclid=CjwKCAiA4o79BRBvEiwAjteoYFfxidqlU4rId0lYM0HAMMoxcjDHGmaYNORD6-MS91-NVJ4k4T4A_BoCBHYQAvD_BwE

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/

https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/whenchristmasiscelebrated.shtml