Dakota Beacon

Christmas traditions and customs observed today grew from simple beginnings two millennia ago in Roman-occupied Palestine. Since then, every conceivable style of celebrating Christmas occurred somewhere in the world. Millions of people in dozens of countries kept Christmas for centuries in countless ways.

Over the centuries, the date for celebrating Christ’s birth spanned the autumn season from All Souls Day to Twelfth Night. It has been celebrated on St. Martin’s Day, November 11; St. Nicholas’ Day, December 6; St. Stephen’s Day, December 26; New Year’s Day; Old Christmas Day, January 6.

Many old customs carry forward to today. Though the significance of some customs has faded, we practice them because of tradition.

Consider the use of greenery to “deck the halls.” Use of greens in celebrating Holy Days may have been borrowed from the use of boughs in the Jewish celebration in the Feast of Tabernacles. Romans exchanged green branches as a sign of good fortune. Germanic tribes often used greenery in festivals. Celtic and Norse people worshipped the green plants that did not die. Trees of pine, spruce, fir, decorated their homes to ward off evil spirits.

After the Germanic tribes were Christianized, Christmas celebrations included apples and rosemary carried in processions. Apples represented mankind’s Fall in the Garden of Eden.  Rosemary represented mankind’s redemption.

Early missionaries used holly to illustrate Christ’s suffering. Holly, so the legend goes, was used in Christ’s crown of thorns. The berries were, at first, white. As the crown was pressed down, the berries became bright red with His blood.

Mistletoe traces an ancient history going back to the time of the Druids. At different times mistletoe was ascribed magical powers. In “Merrie England,” a girl kissed under a sprig would find good luck.

Candles originally represented Christ as the light of the world. Speculation maintains that this Christian custom may even have roots in the Jewish Festival of Lights and the use of the Menorah.

People always celebrated joyous occasions with feasting and revelry. Gathering around a sumptuous table groaning under the weight of food for the purpose of fun and conversation stretches back into dim history.

Volumes are written about Christmas feasting.  From boar’s head to peacock, from plum pudding to breads and cakes, use of food has been, and probably always will be, central to celebrating Christ’s birth.

Alcohol played a principle role in the Christmas celebration from the earliest times. Whether wassail or other fermented beverages, alcohol lubricated the celebration and revelry. Fermentation magically changed the harvested grain into a liquid with power to stimulate and transform. General inebriation was encouraged and the custom persists to one extent or another to this day.

Calvin, and later the Puritans, took issue with the celebration of Christmas because of the customs rooted in pagan practices. Celebrating Christ-tide was one thing. Celebrating Christ-mass was quite another. In the view of the Puritans, Christ-tide was simple and spiritual if not severe. Yuletide, celebrated with Christ-mass, was quite merry and unconcerned with the birth of mankind’s Savior.

A welter of superstitious practices were believed to bring good luck. A windy Christmas brought good fortune. A cricket chirping at Christmas indicated good luck. Opening house doors when the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve rids the house of evil spirits. Bells and chimes must sound on Christmas to scare off evil spirits. Young ladies who wish to improve their love life must sleep on a piece of Christmas cake. The superstitions are endless.

We moderns make our own Christmas traditions unique to the early twenty-first century. A few hundred years from now folks will look back with amazement on our curious custom of mobbing the malls the first day after Thanksgiving to take advantage of Holiday sales.

None of the peculiar or bizarre customs encountered through the centuries dispel the truth of the Biblical account of Christ’s arrival. Cutting through the fog of superstition and staying true to the Biblical text keeps the Christmas celebration in perspective. All the traditions, all the customs, all the superstitions and legends began with the advent of the Christ child two thousand years ago. We would do well to re-read the ancient text before immersing ourselves in the hodgepodge and residue of custom and tradition.

“I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”  --Luke 2:10-12