What is Christmas? This is an age old question but many of us think of it as family gathering, celebrating Christ, time of exchanging gifts, cookies, Christmas music, Christmas movies and more. Well all of that may be true but I was curious to look back and see how Christmas became the holiday we celebrate in December. Some of what I may uncover may shock you or maybe you already knew and forgotten. Join me as we delve into the mythos and mystery of Christmas.
To understand Christmas let us first take a look at what Yule is. Now Yule is celebrated near Christmas Day however are not the same holiday. I know many of us think Yule is another name for Christmas but surprisingly they are two separate celebrated holidays. With this said, let us see what Yule is all about and why some of us choose to celebrate Yule…..
According to https://stores.renstore.com/history-and-traditions/yule-history-and-origins, Yule comes from the old Norse jól and Old English géohol which was a season of hunting after the harvest was done. This fell in what we now call December so it eventually became associated with the Christmas Holiday. The Yuletide season lasted from the end of November to the beginning weeks of January but the feast of Yule lasted three days over the Winter Solstice and marked the beginning of the new year. Yule was similar to Passover in Jerusalem before the Temple was destroyed. For Passover, the Jewish people would bring lambs, birds, and other animals for sacrifice. The blood would be offered on the altar and the meat cooked for the Passover meal. According to Norse historian and saga translator Lee M. Hollander every nine years Germanic (Norse) farmers were compelled to come to the temple hof and make sacrifices and feasts over a prescribed period of time during yuletide. Yule was celebrated in Germanic countries with animal sacrifices where the sanctified blood was then used to paint the altar, temple posts, and the supplicant himself as part of the ritual. He was literally "washed in the blood". This was followed by feasts, storytelling and drinking around a large communal fire. In Grettis Saga Yule is described as a time of "greatest mirth and joy among men."
According to https://thevikingdragon.com/blogs/news/the-origins-of-yule, In Scandinavia they don't call it Christmas (Christ-Mass), instead they still retain the old pagan name for the Yuletide celebrations which they call Jul (pronounced Yule). Yule was a pagan festival that followed the midwinter solstice (usually around 21st December) and celebrated the return of the sun as the days slowly started to get longer again. The festivities, which involved lots of drinking and consuming of slaughtered animals, lasted up to 12 days, hence the 12 days of Christmas. In Scandinavia it is still traditional to leave food out (usually porridge with butter) for the little red-capped tomte or nisse (household spirits or house elves) and thus we have the tradition of leaving food (usually cookies) out for Father Christmas, who in Sweden is called the Jul Tomte (the Yule Elf). Yule is the turning of the year when, as the days slowly start to get longer, the Nordic peoples celebrated the end of the year and the return of the sun, the completion of the another yearly cycle of life, death and rebirth. The Modern English word Yule comes down to us via the Middle English yol from the Anglo-Saxon Geol, though nowadays it is more commonly known as Christmastide or the 12 Days of Christmas. However in Scandinavia they still call it jul (pronounced yule) or jol. One of the many names of Odin recorded in the Icelandic sources is Jolnir, which means The Yule One. Though this name probably refers to his role as leader of the Wild Hunt at Yule, rather than to a jolly giver of gifts! (I can find no evidence for the claim on Wikipedia that Odin was known as Jolfaðr, the Yule Father). So how did Yule become Christmas? King Hakon of Norway, who was a Christian, passed a law that the Christian Christmas Day and the Pagan Yuletide celebrations were to be henceforth celebrated at the same time. While this only impacted the Norwegian territories it illustrates how these festivals were intentionally combined into one celebration. We do know that the celebration of Yule wasn’t always twelve days long. The Norse text 'Heimskringla: The Saga of Hakon the Good' talks about it lasting for three days, or as long as the ale continued. The night it began was known as slaughter night, where animals would be ritually slain and their blood collected in bowls to be splattered over the wooden idols of the gods and over the participants using a bunch of twigs. The animals' meat was then consumed in a feast which was known at the julblot. Now https://www.learnreligions.com/history-of-yule-2562997explains Yule as: The Pagan holiday called Yule takes place on the day of the winter solstice, around December 21 in the northern hemisphere (below the equator, the winter solstice falls around June 21). On that day, an amazing thing happens in the sky above us. The earth's axis tilts away from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, and the sun reaches its greatest distance from the equatorial plane.
The European Origins of Yule reveal some interesting things. In the Northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has been celebrated for millennia. The Norse peoples, who called it Jul, viewed it as a time for much feasting and merrymaking. In addition, if the Icelandic sagas are to be believed, this was a time of sacrifice as well. Traditional customs such as the Yule log, the decorated tree, and wassailing can all be traced back to Norse origins. The Celts of the British Isles celebrated midwinter as well. Although little is known today about the specifics of what they did, many traditions persist. According to the writings of Pliny the Elder, this is the time of year in which Druid priests sacrificed a white bull and gathered mistletoe in celebration.
The Roman Saturnalia is actually dating back further than Yule or Christmas. I am sure many of you are not familiar with this festival, and if you are…..I am impressed. Few cultures knew how to party like the Romans. Saturnalia, which fell on December 17, was a festival of general merrymaking and debauchery held around the time of the winter solstice. This week-long party was held in honor of the god Saturn and involved sacrifices, gift-giving, special privileges for slaves, and a lot of feasting. Although this holiday was partly about giving presents, more importantly, it was to honor an agricultural god. A typical Saturnalia gift might be something like a writing tablet or tool, cups and spoons, clothing items, or food. Citizens decked their halls with boughs of greenery, and even hung small tin ornaments on bushes and trees. Bands of naked revelers often roamed the streets, singing and carousing — a sort of naughty precursor to today's Christmas caroling tradition.
Now that we understand that the winter solstice has connections to this season, we can find some celebrations around the time of the Roman holiday. Other celebrations around the world at this time were based on Welcoming the Sun Through the Ages. Four thousand years ago, the Ancient Egyptians took the time to celebrate the daily rebirth of Ra, the god of the Sun. As their culture flourished and spread throughout Mesopotamia, other civilizations decided to get in on the sun-welcoming action. They found that things went really well... until the weather got cooler, and crops began to die. Each year, this cycle of birth, death, and rebirth took place, and they began to realize that every year after a period of cold and darkness, the Sun did indeed return. Winter festivals were also common in Greece and Rome, as well as in the British Isles. When a new religion called Christianity popped up, the new hierarchy had trouble converting the Pagans, and as such, folks didn't want to give up their old holidays. Christian churches were built on old Pagan worship sites, and Pagan symbols were incorporated into the symbolism of Christianity. Within a few centuries, the Christians had everyone worshiping a new holiday celebrated on December 25, although scholars believe it is more likely that Jesus was born around April rather than in the winter. In some traditions of Wicca and Paganism, the Yule celebration comes from the Celtic legend of the battle between the young Oak King and the Holly King. The Oak King, representing the light of the new year, tries each year to usurp the old Holly King, who is the symbol of darkness. Re-enactment of the battle is popular in some Wiccan rituals.
In recorded history we start to note when things of historical note occurred according to the authors of course. According to https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yule-festival, One of the earliest known references to Yule is from English monk and historian Bede, who wrote in the early 8th century about “giuli,” a period in the old pagan calendar used by Germanic groups such as the Norse and the Anglo-Saxons. Giuli was a two-month span that marked the time when sunlight began to increase again at the winter solstice. It was not a festival per se but a marking of the passage of time. “Yule” became a name for Christmas about the 9th century, and in many languages yule and its cognates are still used to describe that holiday—jul in Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish; joulud in Estonian; joulu in Finnish; and jol in Icelandic. The Christmas holiday is still referred to as Yule in the Scots language. According to the saga of King Haakon Haraldsson (also known as Haakon I Adalsteinsfostre or Haakon the Good) of Norway, who ruled in the 10th century, the Norse Yule celebration and Christian Christmas celebration were merged during his reign. Haakon became Christian after a visit to England, and after his return to Norway he put into law that Yule should be celebrated at the same time as Christmas. Everyone was required to have ale from a measure of grain and keep the holiday while the ale lasted or else be subject to a fine.
Now that we have an understanding of what Yule represents, let us take a look at some of the traditions of Yule. Perhaps you may find some familiar traditions whom take there origins from this holiday. Let us see shall we. From this point Christmas continued to overtake Yule, although some vestiges of the original celebration remain. One of these is the Yule log, still popular today although usually in altered form. It is thought that the original Yule log was a large log that burned throughout the entire multiday festival, for as many as 12 days. A popular modern take on the Yule log is a roulade-style cake decorated to look like a log. Another remaining tradition is that of the Yule goat. In towns and cities throughout Sweden during the Christmas season, large goats are constructed out of straw. It is thought that the tradition originated in ancient times, perhaps as a tribute to the god Thor, who was said to ride in a chariot pulled by goats. In Sweden the goat came to be associated with the Christmas celebration, and the Yule goat is now considered by many to be a companion or counterpart to Santa Claus. This information comes from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yule-festival.
The Yule Ham: Just as the goat was associated with Thor, the boar was associated with Freyr. Pigs and wild boar were sacrificed to Freyr to grant a bountiful harvest or to bless marriages and children. After the sacrifices were made during a Norse Yule, the meat was boiled and eaten at the feast. In the middle ages, the boar's head was considered the best part and it was served to the head table with an apple in its mouth. Today the vestiges of this tradition are found in the Christmas Ham and the Boar's Head Carol.
Mistletoe may surprise you to learn is a Yule tradition. Mistletoe was greatly revered by the Ancient Druids and the Norse people believed it was magical. It stayed green all year round even though the host tree would drop its leaves and look dead. It drew in nutrients without any roots in the earth. It was always found high up in oak and apple trees. If found in a sacred oak tree, it was cut down with a gold sickle during a special ceremony and caught in a white cloak before it hit the ground. Then the magical mistletoe was divided and a piece was given to every home in the village to ward off evil for the next year. Thus hanging mistletoe over the door became a New Year's tradition. According to About.com kissing under the mistletoe is related to Frigga also known as Freyr. The Norse goddess of love was Frigga. Frigga had two sons, one of which was blind. The evil figure of Loki made an arrow out of mistletoe wood and shot Frigga's blind son with the mistletoe arrow. The blind son died, and the goddess' tears became the mistletoe's white berries. When Frigga's blind son came back to life later, the Nordic goddess decided to turn mistletoes in Scandinavia into a symbol of love and fertility, requiring a kiss between humans meeting beneath the mistletoe.
Wassail translates as "Good Health" as in "I drink to your good health", but it was also the alcohol punch made with spices and fruit juice that was used to make the toast. The word toast comes from the toasted bread served with the brew. If it also contained eggs, milk or cream it was called nog. To go a-wassailing was like trick-or-treat for grown-ups. They would go from house to house and beg for wassail and other treats, like figgy pudding. The tradition originated before Christianity as an orchard blessing ritual. The people believed that the fruit trees went into hibernation when the nights grew longer. So they would gather in the orchards after Mid-winter and make as much noise as they could to wake up the trees. All of these Yule traditions mentioned above can be found at https://stores.renstore.com/history-and-traditions/yule-history-and-origins
https://thevikingdragon.com/blogs/news/the-origins-of-yulestates the twelve days of Yule are as follows:
~The first night of Yule - Mother Night (Módraniht)
Sacred to Frigg, Freya, and the Disir
Industriousness
Yulmonath
~Second night of Yule - The Wild Hunt
Sacred to Odin and Ancestors
Perseverance
Horning
~Third night of Yule
Sacred to Mani and Darkness
Courage
Lenting
~Fourth night of Yule
Sacred to Aegir, Njord, and Freyr
Love
Ostara
~Fifth night of Yule
Sacred to Community
Hospitality
Merrymoon
~Sixth night of Yule
Sacred to Eir and Healing
Discipline
Midyear
~Seventh night of Yule
Sacred to Thor and Children
Fidelity
Haymoon
~Eighth night of Yule
Sacred to Skadi and Ullr
Truth
Harvest
~Ninth night of Yule
Sacred to Odin and Fathers
Honor
Shedding
~Tenth night of Yule
Sacred to Sunna and Light
Justice
Hunting
~Eleventh night of Yule
Sacred to the Valkyries and Warriors
Self Reliance
Fogmoon
~Twelfth night of Yule - Wassail
Sacred to all Divine Friends and Oath Night
Wisdom
Snowmoon
I think we now have a pretty good idea of Yule. But what does this have to do with Christmas. Is there a connection to Christmas? Why is Christmas in December? Let us take a look now and see what we can learn….
According to https://parade.com/living/history-of-christmas, The 16th-century Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" says, "God rest ye merry, gentlemen / Let nothing you dismay / Remember, Christ, our Saviour / Was born on Christmas Day." It’s a beautiful carol, recognizable in most households today. Except the holiday season does not always feel restful, Christ was likely not born on December 25 and not all Christians around the world celebrate his birth on that particular day. Christmas was even banned in Boston for a time! There’s some explaining to do there. And while it’s true we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas (note the word combination of "Christ" and "Mass"), this specific celebration did not begin until the fourth century, according to History.com. Before that, Easter was the main celebration for Christians. As Inside the Vatican reported, one belief is that St. Hippolytus claimed December 25 for Christianity first. He did this with his commentary on the book of Daniel (written circa 205 AD), stating that the birthdate of Jesus was December 25 (scholars do not agree this particular date was the factual birthdate). According to History.com, Pope Julius I chose December 25 "in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival." Technically, the original Christmas festival was actually observed on January 7. This is partly because the Julian calendar (also known as the "Old Calendar") was once used since Julius Caesar's time up until Pope Gregory XIII's reform, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted. With the change, over a week of days in the year were lost.
So, using the Julian calendar, as Orthodox Christians still do, just means December 25 is on a different day. The first recorded Christmas celebration was December 25, 336 AD. The date was chosen because it is nine months after the Annunciation, which celebrates Christ’s conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, on March 25 (also the date of the spring equinox). Because there was/is significance to the amount of time between the spring equinox and Christmas Day, it didn't make sense for them to celebrate earlier just because many others adopted the new Dec. 25 as the Christmas celebration. echnically, these Orthodox believers observe the Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds on January 6, and Adoration of the Magi plus Christmas Day on January 7. These Feast days are all about going to church and gathering with loved ones for lavish meals.
We now can start to understand why there are so many traditions and many celebrations around the world. But when did these traditions start and when did we recognize Christmas as the holiday we know it as today….
https://parade.com/living/history-of-christmasgoes on to explain some of the history of the holiday. When Puritan settlers arrived in 1620, they believed Christmas to be too extravagant and they did not celebrate the holiday, per History.com. They believed "there was no scriptural basis for commemorating Christmas." In fact, celebrating Christmas was actually banned in Boston from 1659-1681, according to History! Christmas became recognized as a federal holiday around two centuries later in 1870.
Now let us look into the traditions a little deeper to help us maybe find the answer to what Christmas truly is. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-christmas/has all the traditions handed down through time by period of time or rule such as Tudor era. Feel free to look there for more information. I would break it down but feel we are getting a little over informed about this holiday and we are just getting started on it. Who knew there was so much history behind these two holidays which are similar to one another but yet vastly different.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/christmas-tree-historyshares with us the history of the greatest Christmas season tradition and symbol……the Christmas Tree itself. Indeed, the surprising history of Christmas trees originates with pagan winter solstice celebrations, a fact that once made the now-popular symbol a point of contempt in Christian cultures. Multiple countries have laid claim to starting the tradition, but historians have been able to trace it, at the very least, to Northern Europe, where the forests were flush with evergreen trees. Evergreens likely held a special significance in pagan cultures because they retained their color in the winter months. Whereas other trees shed their leaves and appeared like dead, gnarled things springing from the ground, evergreens were a symbol of life. Many pagan cultures adorned their homes with evergreen boughs to keep evil spirits at bay, a common element among winter solstice rituals. In fact, according to the Society of Ethnobiology, the period now known as the 12 Days of Christmas was considered by pagan cultures to be the darkest and most dangerous time of the year. Fearful believers would cover their homes in aromatic plants like pine and fir, smudging the walls with resin as a protective measure. Although many countries have declared themselves the home of the Christmas tree, historians have said it’s likely that the real first tree was erected in 16th-century Alsace, in modern-day France. At the time, however, Alsace was a part of German territory, and so the tradition technically belongs to the Germans. Historical records show that a Christmas tree was indeed put up in the Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539, and the tradition quickly became popular throughout the region. In fact, Christmas trees became such a rage that laws had to be put in place banning the cutting of pine branches and limiting each house to one tree, according to TIME. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther is also commonly credited with being the first person to put lights on a Christmas tree. He is said to have decorated his family’s tree with candles one night after a long walk through a forest in which he became entranced by the stars above him. It was around this time, in the mid-18th century, that George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, supposedly brought the first Christmas tree into the royal palace. However, it wasn’t until 1848 that the common image of a decorated Christmas tree with presents beneath it took hold. That year, the Illustrated London News published an engraving of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert gathered around a tree with their children admiring the toys beneath its branches. It was an evident success, and in the late 19th century, the advent of Thomas Edison’s long-lasting carbon filament lamps brought about Christmas lights, replacing Luther’s 16th-century fire hazard. This brought about Christmas Trees taking hold in the United States. Electricity lobbyists led the push for a “National Christmas Tree” at the White House to show off the wonders of electricity. In 1923, a 48-foot-tall balsam fir tree with 2,500 light bulbs was erected in the nation’s capital, per the National Park Service. Not long after, a 20-foot-tall Christmas tree was displayed at the Rockefeller Center, which was still under construction. Soon enough, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country. Today, more than 25 million live Christmas trees are sold each year in the United States — and that’s not to account for the 84 percent of families who put an artificial tree on display in their homes. What began as a pagan tradition has exploded into a key part of Christmas celebrations across the globe.
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/holidays-celebrations/a41615038/history-of-christmas/states: It's a Christian holiday, so it has religious significance. Artists have been painting the nativity scene for centuries, and innumerable movies have been made to explore the holiday's joyful themes. But what's the deal with the jolly man in the big red suit? Why do we keep decorated trees in our homes? And why are those ornaments traditionally round? If you really think about it, there is a lot to be learned. Initially named the Feast of the Nativity, the holiday spread to Egypt by 432 and England and Germany by the sixth century. Believers went to church, then had a raucous celebration with wine and a carnival-like atmosphere. The Christmas traditions were much like the pagan ones from the solstice and Juvenalia, which were now absorbed into the single day. Wait, but who invented Santa Claus? Okay, Santa was kind of a real person. A real monk named St. Nicholas was born in Turkey around 280 A.D. The legend goes that he traveled the country giving away his wealth, and became known as the protector of children. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. In parts of northern Europe, the day is celebrated with special cookies and gifts. Children will leave letters for St. Nicholas and carrots for his donkey then wake to find presents under their pillows or in their shoes and stockings. Sound familiar? Good ol' Saint Nick entered American culture thanks to Dutch immigrants who celebrated Sinterklaas (a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas or Dutch for Saint Nicholas), but he wasn't popularized until the 1822 poem "Twas The Night Before Christmas." Then, in 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on the poem to create the jolly red image of Old Saint Nick we know today. This image of Santa that we know and love was only further defined by the beloved Coca-Cola Company Christmas advertisements first created in 1931 by illustrator Haddon Sundblum, featuring a bright red suit, matching cap, and boots.
Have you ever wondered what and why we sing about Figgy Pudding? https://parade.com/recipes/what-is-christmas-puddingexplains it as: Christmas pudding is a traditional dessert that is a combination of dried fruits, nuts, eggs or molasses, spices, flour and butter. Steaming the Christmas pudding is generally the cooking method used and then it's served with some kind of topping like a decadent hard sauce. It is an old-fashioned favorite for Christmas dessert, also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding. Originally, people started to enjoy this dessert in the United Kingdom. Recipes for Christmas Pudding were made from ingredients that were more affordable, and accessible and were stored in the pantry for special occasions. Root vegetables were a popular ingredient, as were flour and spices, which may have been used sparingly. Lard and suet were frequently used in this dessert and are replaced by butter nowadays. Christmas pudding is delicious on its own, but it can be made even more indulgent with a caramel or bourbon sauce. Ice cream or freshly made whipped cream are delicious toppings as well. Coconut and chopped nuts give the pudding extra flair.
Ever wonder why we hang stockings? https://christmasphere.com/what-is-the-origin-of-christmas/explains it as this: In the 1900s the biggest change to Christmas was the commercialisation of the holiday, with companies finding ways to market the holiday more towards children and buying toys as presents. In 1902 the plush teddy bear was invented specifically for Christmas. Every year since companies have been trying to put out the ‘toy of the year’ for Christmas. Prior to this, the Victorian tradition of putting out stockings was popular even as toys became the gift of choice. Children would hang a stocking at the end of their bed and on Christmas morning they would small toys and an orange.
Let us end this look into Christmas and Yule with some fun facts about Christmas. These facts and more can be found at https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas. In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous—a lot like today’s Mardi Gras parties. The first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in Captain John Smith’s 1607 Jamestown settlement. Poinsettia plants are named after Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the red-and-green plant from Mexico to America in 1828. Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was the product of Robert L. May’s imagination in 1939. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the Montgomery Ward department store.
https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/christmas-and-advent/what-is-christmas-understanding-the-history-and-origin.htmlexplains a very interesting twist to this holiday. The Origin of Christmas Eve
For centuries, Christmas was celebrated not as a single day, but as a whole season in parts of the world, beginning with this day, December 24, Christmas Eve. Perhaps the practice of celebrating the evening before the big day is an echo from ancient Jewish reckoning. Among earlier Jews, a day began at six in the evening and ran until six the following evening. Had not Moses written: "An evening and a morning were the first day"? Christmas means "Christ-mass." Although the date is a guess, the tradition of observing it goes back to at least the fourth century. Under the influence of the church, Christian traditions replaced pagan solstice festivals throughout Europe. Often the more innocent pagan practices (such as bringing in a Yule log, decorating with holly and the like) were carried over into the Christmas observance, transfigured with new meaning. This site also goes on to explain a few other interesting Christmas nuances. The Christian Meaning Behind Ancient Traditions: Evergreen Trees were the symbol of eternal life. Martin Luther introduced them to the Reformation Church as a picture of our endless life in Christ, by bringing in a tree to his family on Christmas Eve lit with candles (Isaiah 60:13). Candlesare a picture that Christ is the Light of the world (John 8). Holly speaks of the thorns in His crown (Matthew 27:29). Red is a color of Christmas that speaks of Christ's blood and death. Bells are associated with ringing out news. Christ is the good news, the best news of all. In 1822, Clement Moore wrote a poem for children that has never been forgotten. It was entitled, "Twas the Night before Christmas..."! Santa Claus is a Dutch word that is actually Sinter Claus, Saint Nicholas, in English. Saint Nicholas was the supposed early Bishop of a church in Asia Minor [the modern country of Turkey]. He became aware of some desperate needs in his congregation, and a family having to sell their children into slavery, so one night he came and left money on their doorstep. It was gold in a stocking. Gifts are a reminder of the gifts of the Magi to baby Jesus. Each of them speak to a component of His incarnation: Majesty in life, Bitterest Agony in Death and He as God's Perfect gift to us (Matthew 2). Christmas Cards started in 1844. An English artist named William Dobson, drew up some pictures in England for use at this season. They found local use there and soon spread to America. In 1846 Cole and Horsley saw the commercial potential of this growing tradition and started the production of what is now over a $1,000,000,000.00 industry, that sees 4 billion cards sent each year in America alone. 3 Christmas Carols that Tell the True Christmas Story: "The First Noel", "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and "Joy to the World". The site above mentioned has great write ups explaining why these three Christmas Carols were picked.
Oh, did you think Christmas was all fun and merry? According to https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/krampus-could-come-you-holiday-season-180957438/, there is a dark side to Christmas. A mangled, deranged face with bloodshot eyes tops a furry black body. Giant horns curl up from his head, displaying his half-goat, half-demon lineage. Behind this terror, a dozen more stomp through the snow of the streets of Lienz, Austria, among a din of cowbell jangles. The creatures dash through the streets, chasing giggling children and adults alike, poking them with sticks and scaring some with the realization that they were naughty this year. Krampus himself historically comes around the night of December 5, tagging along with St. Nicholas. He visits houses all night with his saintly pal. While St. Nick is on hand to put candy in the shoes of good kids and birch twigs in the shoes of the bad, Krampus' particular specialty is punishing naughty children. Legend has it that throughout the Christmas season, misbehaved kids are beaten with birch branches or can disappear, stuffed into Krampus' sack and hauled off to his lair to be tortured or eaten. "The Krampus is the yin to St. Nick's yang," Seghers tells Smithsonian.com. "You have the saint, you have the devil. It taps into a subconscious macabre desire that a lot of people have that is the opposite of the saccharine Christmas a lot of us grew up with." In fact, Krampus' roots have nothing to do with Christmas. Instead, they date back to pre-Germanic paganism in the region. His name originates with the German krampen, which means "claw," and tradition has it that he is the son of the Norse god of the underworld, Hel. During the 12th century, the Catholic Church attempted to banish Krampus celebrations because of his resemblance to the devil. More eradication attempts followed in 1934 at the hands of Austria's conservative Christian Social Party. But none of it held, and Krampus emerged as a much-feared and beloved holiday force.
Ever wonder what the deal with coal is? https://www.christmascentral.com/resources/christmas-traditions/what-does-it-mean-to-get-a-lump-of-coal-in-your-stocking/took a look to see about just that. Christmas is a holiday filled with tradition. Some traditions, however, can be a bit puzzling. For instance, most people are familiar with the threat that misbehaving children might find nothing but a lump of coal in their stocking on Christmas morning. How did the odd story of coal as a Christmas gift begin? The concept of naughty children receiving unwelcome Christmas presents is not strictly an American invention. Other cultures have similar traditions. Italian children know La Befana, the “Christmas witch,” leaves toys and candy for good children, while bad children get lumps of coal. Misbehaving Dutch and German children are warned of the Krampus, a scary sort of “anti Santa” who leaves coal for Christmas instead of presents. Traditionally, naughty American children sometimes received stones, sticks or even cold potatoes in their Christmas stockings. The infamous lump of coal became a more well-known disciplinary gift in the early 1900s. By that time, many households, especially in the city, used coal for heating. It’s easy to imagine Santa snatching a piece of coal from the scuttle and popping it into a child’s stocking on his way up the chimney. Today, while the fear of Christmas coal has faded, fake coal is sometimes given as a humorous gag gift. Nonetheless, exploring how this humble household item transformed over time and across cultures adds a delightful layer to the Christmas tale.
Well it is easy to see why Christmas is such a mythical holiday filled with many different ways to celebrate. It can be easy to understand why people have such belief in this holiday. It has been said that this holiday represents Peace on Earth. I do find it a time of peace within myself and around me. I also though find it at times does get lost in the commercialism. Let us all take time to remember the traditions we grew up with and mix them with new traditions we make as families blend and grow. Remember that for all the fun and merriment of the season you better behave and be good this year because you never know if Krampus is waiting around the corner.
Remember everyone to fill your hearts with joy and love this Christmas season or Yuletide Season. May your holidays be blessed and filled with family and friends. May the blessings of this holiday renew you and fill you for the upcoming year. Blessings to you all.