\nToday, for the 22nd consecutive year, I want to devote this Christmas Sunday broadcast to the subject of Christmas. On the 21 preceding Christmas Sundays we have covered many aspects of the subject, including tracing its first general observance in Waterville to as late as 1856. Today let us look at some of the more general aspects of this holiday.<\/p>\n
The word Christmas means Christ’s Mass, the special observance in the church as early as the fourth century of our era. It is noteworthy that for the first three centuries after Christ the church did not observe his birth at all. This was partly because the early Christians regarded the celebration of birthdays a pagan custom to be avoided, but it was even more because there was a strong belief in the early church that not only Jesus’ conception, but also his actual birth had been miraculous in the sense of his earthly appearance, and that far from having any birthday, he had existed from the beginning of time. As John’s gospel put it: “In the beginning was the word, and the word became flesh.”<\/p>\n
But the gospels also told clearly the story of Jesus’ human birth, and gradually by the end of the third century the church had come to recognize it. Jesus was to the church in 300 A.D. both a God-infant and a human infant; the two went together.<\/p>\n
The time of the winter solstice when, after the shortest day in the year, the days begin to lengthen and the sun seems to be new-born out of the winter darkness, had, long before the birth of Jesus, been recognized by special religious observance in all parts of the world. When Jesus was born, the whole Mediterranean world was under the rule of Rome. The Roman observance of the winter solstice was the Saturnalia, a festival of gay merry-making, even of licentious abandon. When the Emperor Constantine made Christianity a recognized religion in the Roman Empire, Christian leaders saw an opportunity to translate the Saturnalia into Christian observance. One of the best ways to make the Empire truly Christian, these leaders suggested, would be not to abolish the old pagan festivals, but to turn them into Christian practice. It was not the worship of the sun, but of the babe of Bethlehem that ought to be observed. By the 5th century most Christian peoples observed December 25 as the recognition day for Jesus’ birth, though for many centuries later the date was by no means universal. January 6 is still its date in the Eastern Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n
Iconoclastic disparagers of Christianity have tried to show that Christmas continued to be a pagan festival with only a few Christian trimmings, that in fact Christianity took over most of the pagan customs of the ancient world. The disparagement is undeserved. It is true that Christianity wisely and successfully adapted to conditions in different parts of the world as it extended out of Palestine. St. Paul’s letters are full of the ways he and his disciples took advantage of Greek thought and Greek customs, and scholarly study of the New Testament has revealed influences from Egypt, Persia and even India in our Christian beliefs.<\/p>\n
It was to the credit of Christianity that it took the beliefs, the myths, the customs of the ancient world and made many of them truly Christian. The medieval church tried to make Christmas a day solely of religious observance, but the merry-making of the old Saturnalia never entirely died out and by the time of the Reformation the day was one of jollity and frolicking. That is why it was condemned by the Puritans who came to power in England in the 17th century. Instead of trying to restore Christmas to strictly religious observance, the Puritans decided to abolish it altogether and with it also abolished observance of Easter. It is probable that the church services during the season of Advent paid some recognition to Jesus’ birth. It was the recognition by secular celebration and gaudy display that the Puritans really attacked. An Act of Parliament in 1647 decreed that “anyone who is found observing by abstinence from labor, feasting, or otherwise observing Christmas Day shall pay a fine of five shillings.”<\/p>\n
Twenty-six years earlier Governor <\/em>Bradford of the Plymouth Colony in America reprimanded several young men who announced that it was against their conscience to work on Christmas Day. Bradford said they had been pitching the bar and playing stool-ball instead of working. Early in 1681. however, <\/em>the Massachusetts Magistrate repealed the prohibition against Christmas, but approval of the repeal was by no means universal. That stout Puritan, Judge Samuel Sewall, wrote in 1686: “Though many observe Christmas Day, others like myself are vexed <\/em>that the people profane it. Sad is it that we have no longer authority to compel them to do otherwise.”<\/p>\n So strong was the feeling in New England against observing Christmas as a holiday that not until well after the Civil War was it so regarded. In fact as late as 1872 a man was fined in Boston for refusing to work on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n Puritan and Episcopalian practice was in conflict in the colonies, and continued so long after the Revolution. The Episcopalians recognized Christmas as a day of merry festival, as well as religious observance, but even they did not seek to make it a public holiday until the latter half of the 19th century.<\/p>\n It was through the Sunday School, the movement that developed so strongly in the middle of that century, that secular customs connected with Christmas made their way into the orthodox churches. A Christmas tree was first set up in a New York Sunday School in 1847. Carols were being sung in these schools by 1850 and about the same time gifts were presented to the Sunday School children. In fact it was said that herds of New York children attended Sunday School for only a few weeks before Christmas just to get the presents. By the faithful those kids were called “Christmas Bummers”.<\/p>\n Let us now turn to the origin of certain Christmas customs. The origin of Santa coming down a chimney comes from an old Norse legend that the goddess Hertha appeared in the fireplace at Christmas time and brought good luck to any family she visited. The yule log is an old pagan custom, a big oak log brought into Norse homes in honor of Thor, the god of thunder. The use of Xmas for the longer word Christmas has good Christian origin. X was the Greek letter Chi, the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, spelled. in Greek~ Chi, Rho, Iot~, Sigma, Tau, Omicron~ Sigma. For centuries the X alone was a holy symbol.<\/p>\n The use of evergreens at Christmas stems from pagan times. In the Roman Saturnalia laurel and other greens were used extensively. Because evergreen did not die in winter, it became a symbol of the Christian eternal life. Both mistletoe and holly were believed to have magical powers. Kissing under the mistletoe had no romantic origin, but comes to us from a custom in the Roman army. When enemies met under the mistletoe, they laid down their arms, embraced each other, and declared a truce. As for holly, legend had it that Christ’s crown of thorns was made from that plant; so Christmas wreaths took the shape of Christ’s thorny crown.<\/p>\n Though some of the customs like those we have just mentioned are nearly world-wide, there are others that are peculiar to certain countries and seen in the U.S. only in some newly arrived family from that foreign land. In Poland children sleep on a bed of straw on Christmas Eve, so as to share in the Christ child’s humble birth. In Holland Dutch children fill their wooden shoes with hay for Santa’s white horse, hoping he will replace it with sweets for them. In Italy it is a female Santa for whom children set out their shoes. She is La Befena. In Czechoslovakia a cherry branch is placed in water at the beginning of Advent. If it blooms on Christmas Day, that means good luck for a year. In Argentina a jug filled with candy is hung from the ceiling. A child is blindfolded and tries to break the jug with a bat. The first child that succeeds is hero of the day, though all assembled children share the candy. In the rural villages of Finland evergreen boughs are cut and piled to form a green carpet from a nearby hill to the village square, so the Christ child can walk in comfort. In Norway Christmas is shot in. When on Christmas Eve the people go visiting, they creep up to a house and shoot a gun to frighten away the witches. In Denmark it is not Santa Claus, but Nissi the gnome that is the center of attention.<\/p>\n In Yorkshire, England there is an ancient Christmas rite called “tolling the Devil’s knell”. A team of bell ringers toll the bell of the parish church, one stroke for each year since the birth of Christ. The tolling was believed to keep the Devil away for twelve months. In northern Greece the housewife prepares nine different dishes on Christmas Eve. Set on a low table, with incense burning before them, the nine foods are placed in front of the family icons so that the Virgin Mary may eat and be content. In rural Ireland the families prepare for a possible visit by the Holy Family on Christmas Eve. The kitchen table is set after the evening meal, and on it is placed a loaf of bread filled with raisins and caraway seeds, a pitcher of milk and a lighted candle. Thus hospitality is extended not merely to the Holy Family, but also to any traveler who chances to pass by.<\/p>\n Let us take a look at the different names for Santa Claus. That name itself is a contraction of Saint Nicholas. The Dutch pronunciation of that saint could not get around the English tongue. So in the English colonies in America he became Santa Claus. In Scandinavian countries he is called the Yule Man. In England, he is usually Father Christmas.<\/p>\n And now, finally, what about hanging stockings for Christmas? There is an old tradition that once, when St. Nicholas was coming down a chimney on Christmas Eve, he dropped some coins. Instead of falling into the ashes, they dropped into a stocking hung by the fire to dry. Ever since, the generous St. Nick has been expected to fill fireside stockings at Christmas.<\/p>\n Year: 1969<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #825, Broadcast on December 21, 1969<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42949,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}