where did the celebrations come from? christmas through the ages

Where did the Where did the celebrations celebrations come from?come from?

Christmas Christmas through the Agesthrough the Ages

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Lighting fires

• Pre-Christian, northern societies celebrated the winter solstice with fire, light and jollity.

• They looked forward to Spring coming • Christmas, as the celebration of the

birth of Christ, was also a winter festival • It used many pagan traditions, one of

which was the burning of fires to ward away dark.

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Evergreens

• In pagan times evergreens have been valued for their ability to show signs of life in the middle of winter - even in some instances producing berries and flowers.

• Early Christians displayed evergreen plants in the home to symbolise everlasting life.

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Mistletoe

• A kissing-bough was often hung from the ceiling.

• This would consist of a round ball of twigs and greenery, decorated with seasonal fruit, such as apples.

• Later this became the bunch of mistletoe, under which no lady could refuse a kiss.

• Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids and was banned in some churches

• But until 18th Century, it was often found on the alter of churches (as done York Cathedral) where it was sign of peace.

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In Medieval times – with help from

Matthew• The first recorded use of the word "Christmas" was in

1038 when a book from Saxon England used the words "Cristes Maesse" in it.

• Yule Logs: today yule logs are seen as log-shaped chocolate cakes. However, these stem back to the time of the Celts when logs were often decorated with greenery and ribbon, it was lit with the saved end of the previous year's log and kept burning for 12 days and nights at the end of December as it was thought that the sun stopped still at this time of the year.

• Burning the logs would persuade the days to grow longer again. Yule is actually an old Viking word meaning ‘winter festival’.

• For Christians the symbolism of the yule log is that it kept the stable warm for the newly born Christ

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In Medieval times with help from Nadiya

• The Christmas crib originated in Medieval times in Italy.

• The Christmas crib was in medieval times but in medieval Italy , in 1223 were saint France of Assisi came in , it was to explain the local people of Assisi the Christmas story ,

• It seems that the part played by animals in the Christmas story also comes from the early 13th century even if the Bible does not mention them !

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In Medieval times with help from Nadiya

• Children on the December 28th was their worse nightmare.

• It was "Holy Innocents Day" or "Childermass Day“ and that was when king Herod was king , he ordered that all the children under two years be killed .

• In Medieval England, children were reminded of Herod’s cruelty by being beaten.

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In Medieval times – even more help from

Nadiya• What was eaten on Christmas Day? Certainly not

turkey. • The rich would have eaten goose and, with the

king’s permission, swan. • If they could be caught, woodcock would also be

eaten. • To make a roast bird look even more tasty,

medieval cooks used to cover the cooking bird with butter and saffron plant. This would give the cooked bird a golden colour by the time it was served.

• However, if the poor could afford it, the Church had a fixed price of 7 pence for a ready cooked goose.

• An uncooked goose would cost 6 pence - about a day’s wages.

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In Medieval times

• Venison from deer would also be on the menu. • It has also given us a famous saying !! The poor

would not be allowed to eat the best parts of a deer. • However, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, a

decent lord might let the poor have what was left of the deer.

• These parts were known as the deer's ‘umbles’. These were the heart, liver, tongue, feet, ears and brains.

• Mixed with whatever else a cook could get, they were made into a pie.

• Therefore, the poor would eat ‘umble pie’. Nowadays, if you have to say your sorry about something, it is said that you are having to eat ‘humble pie’.

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Why do we have mince pies at Christmas?

• Traditionally mince pies were more rectangular to symbolize the manger shape. They were also filled with real meat to represent the baby Jesus. They were then covered with a lattice work of pastry to show the straw that was in the manger. Over time people started to add in spices and eventually the meat was dropped but the spicy mixture remained and eventually fruit was added. That is why it is called mince meat even though there isn’t actually any meat in it! Then, slowly, over time the mince pie became the shape that it is today!

By Helen

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Traditional Christmas

Food

Mince pies are descended from ‘Christmas pies’, which contained a variety of meats as well as fruit and spices. Christmas pies were very much bigger than the mince pies we eat today. One pie is recorded as having among its ingredients; a hare, a pheasant, a capon, two rabbits, two pigeons, two partridges, the livers of all these animals, as well as eggs, pickled mushrooms and spices. Sometimes these pies could weigh as much as 220 lbs (that is about 100kg – how much do you weigh?). They became a regular part of Christmas celebrations in the C16th century and would also contain spices from the Holy Land to mark the fact that was where Christ was born and spices were given to him on his birth by the 3 Wise Men.

By Matthew

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In Medieval times• Christmas puddings in Medieval England

were spicy porridge and known as "frumenty".

• This was considered a real treat. • It was made of thick porridge (or boiled

wheat). • Currants and dried fruit were stirred in. • The yolks of eggs were also added and, if

available, spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

• The mixture was left to cool and set before being served.

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Christmas Pudding

The earliest puddings were nothing like the ones we enjoy today. They were long and round, and shaped like a thick sausage. They consisted of chopped-up meat, suet, oatmeal and spices and they were cooked in the scalded intestines of a sheep or pig. These puddings were served hot at the beginning of a meal as the first course. Puddings rather like the ones we eat at Christmas began to appear in the sixteenth century. Since they were boiled in a bag, they were known as ‘bag puddings’. This is because the pudding mixture was always tied up in a cloth or a bag and then boiled in a large pan, often in the tub that boiled the clothes on wash day. As the pudding cooked it would swell out to until it became round in shape.

By Matthew

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In Medieval times• "Mumming" was also practiced at

Christmas. • This was where actors performed

plays and dances in villages or castles.

• Mystery plays were also performed in which the story of Christ was told.

• King Herod would be in a mystery play and he would be the equivalent of a ‘baddie’ in a modern pantomime.

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In Medieval times• Boxing Day has traditionally been associated

with the rich giving gifts to the poor in boxes. • This is not strictly true. • On Boxing Day, the poor did receive money

from their masters but in hollow clay pots with a slit in the top.

• These had to be broken to get the money out. • These small clay pots were nicknamed

"piggies". • As a result, we now have piggy banks for

collecting money in.

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Tudor Christmas

• Turkeys were still a rarity, as the first one only arrived in 1519

• Goose was still the most popular meat but .. • 'Sugar, spice and everything nice ...'• The exhortation to 'eat, drink and be merry'

epitomised Christmas in Elizabethan England.

• A highlight of the season was the Christmas feast, which, in those households that could afford it, culminated in a 'banqueting course' of sweet and colourful delicacies.

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Tudor Christmas

• A banquet, or sweetmeat, course allowed the host to display his wealth and status.

• It was a way to show off culinary and artistic skills.

• Sugar which was very expensive was the key ingredient.

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Tudor Christmas

• They were prepared and displayed to dazzle the guests with their beauty, delicacy and wit.

• ‘Collops of bacon', made from ground almonds and sugar, were a great favourite

• Walnuts, eggs and other items made from sugar-plate, (sugar, egg & gelatine that was moulded into different shapes)

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Tudor Christmas

• All of this would be accompanied by hot drinks, including 'lambswool'.

• This was made from hot cider, sherry or ale, spices and apples, which when hot exploded, to create a white 'woolly' top.

• Spiced wines and syllabubs were also popular.

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Laws• It was also the fashion in Tudor times for

mince pies to be shaped like a crib. The rule of Oliver Cromwell in the mid-C17th ended this practice as it was seen as bordering on blasphemy.

• With all this eating taking place, it would be difficult to imagine anyone in Tudor times wanting to do anything energetic at all.

• In this sense, Henry VIII helped them as in 1541, he had a law introduced (the Unlawful Games Act) which banned all sports on Christmas Day except archery.

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Laws• In 1551 a law was passed by Edward VI that

everybody had to walk to church on Christmas Day when they attended a church service.

• Technically this is still the law today though it is difficult to imagine anyone getting into trouble for using their car etc.

• In the mid-1550's a law was also passed by the church that banned all pictures of the baby Jesus having a bath.

• It had been a tradition for years for artists to paint Jesus having his first bath but the church stated that Jesus was so pure that he did not need a bath!

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The restrained restoration of Christmas

• In 1644, an Act of Parliament banned Christmas celebrations.

• Viewed by the Puritans as unnecessary, not to mention threatening, to Christian beliefs, all activities to do with Christmas, both domestic and religious, including attending church, were forbidden.

• The ban, however, was unpopular and many people continued to celebrate privately, albeit in a far more restrained manner than in Elizabethan times.

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• A more openly festive, if slightly subdued, spirit returned following the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

• Old customs were revived, and Christmas as both a religious and social festival was celebrated throughout society.

• The writings of Samuel Pepys provide a fascinating insight into Christmas in London during the decade following the Restoration.

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• A civil servant best known today for his diaries, Pepys' observations about Christmas give us a feeling for what the season was like for Londoners at the time.

• In common with his contemporaries, Pepys worked on Christmas Eve, and often for part of Christmas Day itself.

• He attended church without fail on Christmas Day and, in 1660 and 1664, he went to both morning and evening services.

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• The Christmas meal was also an important part of the day.

• Pepys noted with pleasure, or otherwise, what he ate each Christmas.

• In 1662, he made do with 'a mess of brave plum porridge and a roasted pullet ...', a rather frugal meal owing to his wife's illness.

• This was supplemented by a bought, rather than home-made, mince pie.

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• In other years he enjoyed richer food, including a 'shoulder of mutton', and in 1666 'some good ribs of beef roasted and mince pies ... and plenty of good wine'.

• For entertainment, Pepys attended theatrical productions when possible, and read and played music at home.

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• Twelfth Night, the 6th of January, has been celebrated as the end of the Christmas season since the Middle Ages.

• One of the most important days in the Christian calendar, Twelfth Night also marked the Feast of the Epiphany, when the three wise men, or Magi, arrived in Bethlehem to behold the Christ child.

The Twelfth Cake was popular during the Georgian and Regency periods

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• The word 'epiphany' comes from the Greek word for manifestation, and was chosen because this was the night on which the Christ child, called 'the King of the Jews', was manifested to the Gentiles.

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Early Christmas presents

•One of the main reasons we have the custom of giving and receiving presents at Christmas, is to remind us of the presents given to Jesus by the Wise Men: Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh.

•Frankincense was a perfume used in Jewish worship and, as a gift, it showed that people would worship Jesus.

•Gold was associated with Kings and Christians believe that Jesus is the King of Kings.

•Myrrh was a perfume that was put on dead bodies to make them smell nice and, as a gift, it showed that Jesus would suffer and die.

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Giving gifts

• The custom of offering these things as Epiphany gifts was common for centuries.

• In 1756, The Gentleman's Magazine reported that: 'His Majesty, attended by the principal officers at Court ... went to the Chapel Royal at St James' and offered gold, myrrh and frankincense'.

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Christmas in the 18th and 19th century

• During the 18th and 19th centuries, Twelfth Night parties were popular and usually involved games-playing, drinking and eating.

• Traditionally, the cake contained both a dried bean and a dried pea.

• The man whose slice contained the bean was elected King for the night; a Queen was found with a pea.

• For the rest of the evening, they ruled supreme. Even if they were normally servants, their temporarily exalted position was recognised by all, including their masters.

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Victorian Christmas

• By the early 19th century, the cake itself had become very elaborate, with sugar frosting and gilded paper trimmings, often decorated with delicate figures made of plaster of Paris or sugar paste.

• It remained the centrepiece of the party, although the bean and pea of earlier times were usually omitted.

• As the antiquarian William Sandys then observed, 'Twelfth Night ... is probably the most popular day throughout the Christmas, thanks to Twelfth Cake and other amusements'.

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The Christmas tree

• The image of a glittering fir tree, with its dark-green branches illuminated by twinkling lights, at the centre of a happy domestic scene is today one of the most powerful and recognisable images of a 'traditional' Christmas.

• For many, the Christmas tree is also firmly associated with the Victorians, and indeed with those great advocates of Christmas, Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert.

The Royal family enjoy the first Christmas tree at Windsor - illustration from 'The Life of Victoria' by Alice Corkran

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St Boniface & the Christmas tree

• In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach the Word of God.

• He did many good works there, and spent much time in Thuringia, an area which was to become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry.

• Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak.

• By the 12th century it was being hung, upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol of Christianity.

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Christmas tree decorations

• The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510.

• In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

• Tinsel was invented in Germany around 1610. • At that time real silver was used, and machines

were invented which pulled the silver out into the wafer thin strips for tinsel.

• Attempts were used to use other metals but they did not work

• So silver was used for tinsel right up to the mid-20th century.

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The Christmas tree

• The custom was introduced into England during the Georgian period.

• Queen Victoria herself remembered such trees in the 1830s, happily describing potted trees placed on round tables 'hung with lights and sugar ornaments'.

• So, although Prince Albert is generally given credit for introducing the Christmas tree to England,

• he in fact simply popularised and made fashionable an already existing custom.

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Christmas crackers

• 'If there is one thing inseparable from Christmas in general and the little ones' seasonable gatherings in particular, it is - a cracker. With what a delightful look of expectation they have waited for it to go "bang", and how they have screamed as they scrambled after the surprise which came in response to the explosion ...'.

• So observed a Victorian writer about one of the two real Christmas innovations of the period: the Christmas cracker.

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The story of the Christmas cracker:

• On a trip to Paris in 1840, Tom Smith, a confectioner, admired the French sugared almond bon-bons, wrapped in coloured tissue paper, and decided to introduce them in London.

• And so says Lewis ‘Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith He has imported French novelties to try them out. As gifts they were not popular until he wrapped them up and added a snapper’.

• Apparently, one evening, watching the logs crackle, he imagined a bon-bon with a pop.

• He made a coloured paper wrapper and put in it another strip of paper impregnated with chemicals which, when rubbed, created enough friction to produce a noise.

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The First Christmas Card with help from Lewis

• The sending of greeting cards at Christmas began in the Victorian era. Sir Henry Cole, who had a lot of letters to write one Christmas, has an inspired thought.

• His idea was to print a seasonal greeting card which would save hours of handwriting, and he engaged his friend, the artist John Horsley, to design nearly 1000 hand-coloured lithographs.

• Though wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in the European Middle Ages, the first commercial Christmas and New Year's card was designed and printed in London, England in 1843.

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The first Christmas Card

• They were printed in lithography by Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, London, and hand-colored by a professional "colourer" named Mason.

• The Christmas card was lithographed on stiff cardboard, 5 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches, in dark sepia, and shows a family party in progress, beneath which is the greeting, "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

• It also states that is was "Published at Summerly's Home Treasury Office, 12 Old Bond Street, London."

• The price was 1s (5p). An original copy of this card is considered very rare, but copies of a facsimile reprint issued in 1955 can still be found today.

http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/color/lithogr.htm

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The first Christmas card

http://www.victoriana.com/christmas/1stcard.html

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Why do we have a Robin on Christmas cards? By

Lewis• Postmen in Victorian England were

nicknamed Robins this was because their uniforms were red.

• Robins were often the design on Christmas cards, sometimes carrying a leather sack with letters stuffed in them.

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More about Christmas presents

• Presents are left in different places in different countries!

• In most of Europe, the presents are left in shoes or boots put out by the children.

• In Italy, the U.K. and the U.S.A. presents are left in stockings, often left hanging by a fire place. This comes from the story of St Nicolas

• In many countries, presents for friends and family may be left under the Christmas Tree.

• In the UK, they are often opened on Christmas day morning with all the family together.

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More about Christmas presents

• But presents are opened on different days over the world as well.

• The earliest presents are opened is on St. Nicholas' Day on December 6th. Children in Holland, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic and some other European countries open some of their presents on that day.

• Children in the UK, USA and many other countries, such as Japan, open their presents on Christmas Day, December 25th.

• The latest presents are opened on January 6th (a month after the earliest). This is known as Epiphany and is mainly celebrated in Catholic countries such Spain and Mexico.

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World War I – Football!

• Legend has it that on Christmas Day 1915, soldiers from both sides of the trenches in World War One met up in No-Man’s-Land for a game of football.

• Nothing official was kept of this brief meeting on Christmas Day between the enemy, so our knowledge of what took place has always been somewhat patchy.

• However, the death in 2001 of one of the men who took part in this match resurrected memories of the occasion.

• Bertie Felstead, the last survivor of that football match, died in July 2001 aged 106 years.

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World War II – Making do

• 'In the present circumstances many people are asking, ought we celebrate Christmas at all? There can be no doubt that this is the very year when we should think, not less, but more about Christmas - not only as an escape from the horrors of war, but as a remembrance of nobler ideals.'

• So wrote the editor of the Picture Post in December 1939.

• People were encouraged to spend available money, either on National Savings Certificates and War Bonds to support the war effort, or on everyday goods to support commercial traders.

• Where possible, this seems to have been taken to heart, and although Christmas during wartime was a greatly reduced affair, the spirit of the season remained strong.

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• Children regularly wrote to Father Christmas, and some families extended hospitality to those less fortunate than themselves.

• Their hope and kindness in a trying time proved that this exhortation from the Picture Post fell on receptive ears:

• 'And if we are merry at Christmas, we shall be showing the Nazis that we are winning the war of nerves, and maintaining the gallant spirit which has overcome the adversities which are no novelty to this windswept isle.'

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• Good cheer abounded, but the Blitz did disrupt both Christmas celebrations and seasonal travel.

• Travel to family gatherings and even short shopping trips could be difficult.

• Rationing and the general lack of both luxury goods and daily foodstuffs meant that food preparation required patience and imagination.

• Sugar, butter, and eggs could only be acquired in small quantities, so substitutions, such as using grated carrots instead of sugar to sweeten cakes, were made.

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• Home-made decorations, such as paper-chains, and any available artificial decorations were used to enliven the home and offer cheer - despite the constant threat of bombing.

• A small artificial tree was a great asset, as it could be easily transported to the bomb shelter as required.

• One East End family had one made of goose feathers, which could be decorated with tinsel and paper decorations.

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Christmas carols

• However, some of the problems experienced at Christmas then have had a knock-on effect for us!

• For example, carol singers going from house to house now is as a result of carols being banned within churches in Medieval times.

• Carol singers in Medieval times took the word "carol" literally - it means to sing and dance in a circle.

• So many Christmas services were spoiled by carol signers doing just this, that the Church at the time banned them and ordered the carol singers into the street! Hence Carol singers that go from house to house.

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By SerenaChristmas in Christmas in the pastthe past

• I asked my grandmother and she told me that, in Alsace, Its baby Jesus who comes, they put a big Christmas tree with colored Cristal balls and candles. Then, Santa Claus came and asked them if they had been good, she says that she was scared because if you where bad they punished you. And after that they opened the gifts and they eat.

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By Billy• In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the

house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck!

• There once lived a woman so poor, says a Ukrainian folk tale, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family. One Christmas morning, she awoke to find that spiders had trimmed her children’s tree with their webs.

• When the morning sun shone on them, the webs turned to silver and gold. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees

where did the celebrations come from? christmas through the ages

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