Christmas: a history
Dec. 9th, 2007 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynI've spent this morning finding out more about Yule. This is mostly because someone foolishly told me that they didn't celebrate Christmas - they celebrated Yule (which was the traditional pagan celebration at this time of year) and so I decided to investigate what they would be getting up to. I've always had some dark suspicions about my pagan friends, ever since I discovered that the traditional druidic way of divining the future featured stabbing someone and then watching the patterns made by their limbs as they spasmed. But anyway...
First of all, it appears as if Yule has moved since pre-conversion times. The Norwegian historian Olav Bø, thinks it was probably normally celebrated around January 12th. This kinda backs up my conviction that the only pagan celebration that the early Christians actually thieved with intent was Saturnalia, from Rome, which kinda makes sense as the Church Fathers were all living there at the time. That's where we get the notion of the 'twelve days of Christmas' from, and the gift giving - children used to get small dolls and adults used to get candles, apparently. Anyway, Yule apparently happened in early to mid January.
It was a German and Scandanavian celebration, and not a traditionally British one, although it is believed that it spread to England with the Anglo-Saxons (who may have nicked it, if it's true that there wasn't much of a mass migration from the continent, and more the case that a lot of nice solid Britons decided that 'Germanic' was kinda cool). There's not a lot of evidence left to say how it was celebrated, although the Swedish kings used to sacrifice captives at Uppsala, every ninth year, to mark the Yuletide celebrations.
To be fair, it does appear that the Christmas ham was completely nicked from Yule. Pigs and boars used to be slaughtered, and the burning of the Yule log was, likewise, traditional. Allegedly the Christmas Tree is as well, but I can't find anyone who admits to having heard of the Christmas Tree existing before the 18th century, which makes me suspicious, although some sources say that Martin Luther first started the tradition in the 16th century.
On the one other Christmas tradition I was curious about - Christmas carols weren't explicitly Christian at first, but were apparently not nicked from anyone else's religion. They were folk songs, sung at any major festival such as the harvest, which then became church songs, and were eventually linked to Christmas.
So. That's the fruits of my morning's research. I shall hold this close to my heart, every time someone tells me that I'm actually celebrating a pagan festival. And I shall say "do you see any slaughtered enemies here?
"Erm. OK. Yeah. It's a fair cop. I'm totally appropriating someone else's religion. More roast boar? It goes very well with the screams of the dying, I've found..."
First of all, it appears as if Yule has moved since pre-conversion times. The Norwegian historian Olav Bø, thinks it was probably normally celebrated around January 12th. This kinda backs up my conviction that the only pagan celebration that the early Christians actually thieved with intent was Saturnalia, from Rome, which kinda makes sense as the Church Fathers were all living there at the time. That's where we get the notion of the 'twelve days of Christmas' from, and the gift giving - children used to get small dolls and adults used to get candles, apparently. Anyway, Yule apparently happened in early to mid January.
It was a German and Scandanavian celebration, and not a traditionally British one, although it is believed that it spread to England with the Anglo-Saxons (who may have nicked it, if it's true that there wasn't much of a mass migration from the continent, and more the case that a lot of nice solid Britons decided that 'Germanic' was kinda cool). There's not a lot of evidence left to say how it was celebrated, although the Swedish kings used to sacrifice captives at Uppsala, every ninth year, to mark the Yuletide celebrations.
To be fair, it does appear that the Christmas ham was completely nicked from Yule. Pigs and boars used to be slaughtered, and the burning of the Yule log was, likewise, traditional. Allegedly the Christmas Tree is as well, but I can't find anyone who admits to having heard of the Christmas Tree existing before the 18th century, which makes me suspicious, although some sources say that Martin Luther first started the tradition in the 16th century.
On the one other Christmas tradition I was curious about - Christmas carols weren't explicitly Christian at first, but were apparently not nicked from anyone else's religion. They were folk songs, sung at any major festival such as the harvest, which then became church songs, and were eventually linked to Christmas.
So. That's the fruits of my morning's research. I shall hold this close to my heart, every time someone tells me that I'm actually celebrating a pagan festival. And I shall say "do you see any slaughtered enemies here?
"Erm. OK. Yeah. It's a fair cop. I'm totally appropriating someone else's religion. More roast boar? It goes very well with the screams of the dying, I've found..."
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 11:05 am (UTC)From wikipedia (because it says it better than I could):
"The term [Pagan] can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam."
So surely if it's derived from a whole bunch of non Christian/ Judaism/Islamic religions then it can be said to be derived from paganism?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 11:53 am (UTC)I will frequently swich between calling this time of year Christmas and Yule, I'll admit that. I'm only "pagan" in the sence its the best word for what my belief structure works around, but its more something I've worked out than dictated to me.
new age, crystal waving, hippy crap
Date: 2007-12-09 07:36 pm (UTC)rant over.
on the plus side, good research...
merry christmas :)
Re: new age, crystal waving, hippy crap
Date: 2007-12-10 09:33 am (UTC)I comprehend the rant. I rather object, however, to the specifics...
no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 10:57 pm (UTC)The Wassail Song (all varieties thereof) which was a mostly medieval tradition
The Boar's Head Carol (possibly from pagan roots, who can tell)
The Holly and the Ivy is deeply dubious to my mind but largely appears to have been Christianised.