by Seb Sharpe
It may seem an oxymoron, but it is somewhat widely known that Christmas did in fact exist before Christ. The Norsemen of Scandinavia widely celebrated Yule, a period from winter solstice onwards, in which large logs would be burnt with feasting continuing as the logs burned. These festivals often lasted up to a fortnight as the people welcomed the return of the sun and wished for better fortunes in the years to come.
December has always been the ideal time for celebration as excess cattle would be slaughtered and many beers would complete fermentation at this time, providing the people with all the necessary ingredients of a very enjoyable feast.
In my opinion the most interesting ancient festival of this time was the Roman Saturnalia. This of course was a celebration of the god Saturn. However, what makes this interesting is the great social change the festival brought, as the social order flipped as the sun slipped past the horizon after solstice. This meant the slaves of the Roman Empire became the masters. Upper class Romans also celebrated the birth of the God Mithra of December the 25, marking the day with high ceremonial significance.
Christmas as a celebration is not mentioned in the Bible, despite its significance as an event. The date of Christ's birth is not mentioned either. This allowed early Christians to establish the festival on their own terms, placing the day of celebration on the 25th in order to attract more pagan worshippers and induct them into the church, as this was an existing festival day. It is for this reason that many Puritans in the seventeenth century rejected the festival as unnecessary grandeur and as a commercial, even pagan, plot by the Catholic church.
In recent history, it was the Americans who completely reinvented Christmas, beginning in the nineteenth century; this is often dated from the publication of Clement Clarke Moore's 'The Night Before Christmas' (originally titled 'A Visit from St Nicholas') in 1823. They changed the festival from a raucous rampage into a respectable, family-centred celebration. Americans introduced the concept of the Christmas spirit as promoting "peace and goodwill to all men".
It is this spirit that is most important to us today.
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| Saturnalia, in Ancient Rome - 25 December |
December has always been the ideal time for celebration as excess cattle would be slaughtered and many beers would complete fermentation at this time, providing the people with all the necessary ingredients of a very enjoyable feast.
In my opinion the most interesting ancient festival of this time was the Roman Saturnalia. This of course was a celebration of the god Saturn. However, what makes this interesting is the great social change the festival brought, as the social order flipped as the sun slipped past the horizon after solstice. This meant the slaves of the Roman Empire became the masters. Upper class Romans also celebrated the birth of the God Mithra of December the 25, marking the day with high ceremonial significance.
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| Santa Claus by Thomas Nast (1881) |
In recent history, it was the Americans who completely reinvented Christmas, beginning in the nineteenth century; this is often dated from the publication of Clement Clarke Moore's 'The Night Before Christmas' (originally titled 'A Visit from St Nicholas') in 1823. They changed the festival from a raucous rampage into a respectable, family-centred celebration. Americans introduced the concept of the Christmas spirit as promoting "peace and goodwill to all men".
It is this spirit that is most important to us today.
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