Christmas Explained

It happens every year.

And every year we do the same things at the same time, get fat, watch a load of repeats, eat too much chocolate and wear silly jumpers that we wouldn’t be seen dead in at another time of the year.

But have you ever wondered what it is all about?

The Star of Bethlehem.

starThis is a strange thing to choose when looking at the origins of Christmas things. No one actually believes that the Star of Bethlehem every actually existed ... do they?

Firstly, it only appears in one of the gospels, and that was written many years after the events it reports.

Secondly, stories of this kind are often intended as allegory, a story containing a meaning or lesson, as much as a representation of facts.

Thirdly, you can’t follow a star very effectively. Unless it is the North Star, through the course of the night, a star will move. Following yonder star will see you going round in a circle that will only stop when the star you are following dips below the horizon or the sun rises.

However, there are suggestions that the Star might be referring to astronomical conjunctions of planets. This is where various planets appear to come together in the night sky. 2,000 years ago, this would have been seen as significant and might have been added to the story to give a bit of mystique.

There were such conjunctions around the beginning of the First Century. What was the Star of Bethlehem?

Santa Claus

Father christmas The origins of Santa are both lost in time, and well-preserved is very recent additions to the festival.

OK, that wasn’t much help. But it depends on which Santa you are talking about.

Let me muddy the waters a bit.

Santa Claus, is a corruption of St Nicholas. St Nicholas lived in Turkey in the 3rd and 4th Centuries. He was from a wealthy family, gave all his inherited wealth to the poor, became an early Bishop and associated with general good deeds.

He is the patron saint of all sorts including, archers, thieves, prostitutes and children.

Of course, like all ancient characters like this, there is very little evidence for the truth of any aspect of his life, and it is just as likely that things said about him, were made up or really about someone else.

There is no suggestion that he had any reindeer, reindeer not being a thing in Turkey in the 3rd and 4th Centuries, and he certainly couldn’t fly them around the world delivering pressies to all the good little boys and girls.

Saint Nicholas

Father Christmas, on the other hand, was a sort of the spirit of the festival, and more concerned with making sure that everyone had enough to drink than giving gifts to kids. He was more like The Green Man of ancient lore than the character we have today.

However, Father Christmas, changed, and started to wear red, in 1823, when Clement Clarke Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas turning him into a jolly elf, intent on sneaking into children’s bedrooms and leaving them loads of pressies.

The History of Father Christmas

Wassailing

wassailing cupsWassailing is a long-standing Christmas tradition that you may not be too familiar with.

Largely, confined to them strange folk what live in the recesses of the world called ‘the countryside’ and a few of the more obscure festive songs, it has a strange mythical origin.

A wassailing song

On one level, wassailing is simply going around your neighbourhood at Christmas, singing songs and cadging glasses of spice, mulled wine or something stronger. Not unlike carol singing ... in fact ... carol singing is about it.

However, there is an older form, which probably says much about its origins. This involves going around orchards, banging loads of pots and pans, singing songs and cadging glasses of spiced, mulled wine.

This rather eccentric habit, that still goes on, often on Twelfth Night, probably comes from a pagan ritual, that has at least something to do with scaring off evils spirits ... although I suspect that without the cadging of glasses of spice, mulled wine, the tradition would have died off long before it became a tradition.

Ritual and revelry, the story of wassailing

Christmas Shopping?

Give as you live If you are Christmas Shopping this year ... and it is not compulsory ... here is a simple guide

1. Don’t spend more than you can afford
2. Shop locally and support the high street
3. buy sustainably and save the planet
4. If you do shop online, support local charities

Raise free funds for Hothouse Theatre and Oh My Nottz by shopping online with Give As You Live, over 4200 retailers to choose from, shop & raise a donation at no cost to you!

Click here

The Winter Solstice

The winter festival has always been associated with the Winter Solstice. This is the point when the Sun is at its lowest point and the day is the shortest or rather, the night is the longest. This occurs on or about the 21st December.

This is caused because the Earth axis has a 24-degree tilt, which was in tern caused by the Earth being hit be an asteroid in the dim and distant past. In the winter, this means the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun.

After the Winter Solstice, the days start to get longer ... now there is a cause for celebration.

Winter Solstice

Before Christmas
The festival known today as Christmas or “the Festive Season” predates Christianity and has gone by many names, some of which are still in use today. Yule or Yuletide and Noel are the best know. Yule was a Germanic festival celebrated by the Saxons and the Norse or Vikings. Noel is of French origin and may come from the old French nael and may be a reference to birth.

Yuletide

The Romans
Christmas comes just after the winter solstice and has always been a celebration of the return of the sun as the days start to get longer. The Romans had a festival of Saturnalia which occurred from 17th to 23rd of December, involved the giving of gifts and general merry making. This festival covered the run-up to the solstice but was otherwise very much the same as our modern Christmas in many respects.

Saturnalia

The Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree is of German origin and was brought to Britain in the early C19th by the Royal family and became popular in the 1840s – it does not get a mention in A Christmas Carol, but nor does Santa. Before that, there was a long-standing tradition of bringing evergreen foliage into the home where it was placed over the doorway to ward off evil spirits. It is likely that this tradition dates back many hundreds or even thousands of years.

Christmas Trees

Christmas Pudding

Christmas pudding is a very British Tradition which is probably medieval in origin. Sometimes referred to as plum pudding, despite it not having any plums in it, due to the Victorians calling raisins plums or even figgy pudding.

Christmas pudding

Mince Pies

The humble mince pie has been with us since the C13th and was brought back from the east by crusaders. Originally, they were a savoury mixture of minced meat with fruit and were at one time referred to as Christmas Pies. They have over the years become sweeter and lost the meat from the recipe.

Mince pies

Christmas Cards

The first Christmas Cards were printed in the 1843. The same year that Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. This was a time when the growing middle classes were rediscovering and in the process reinventing the winter festival.

In medieval times, Christmas had been a big thing. By the early industrial revolution, it was becoming somewhat forgotten. However, the growth of a wealthy middle-class looking to reconnect with old traditions, led ultimately to the development of Christmas as we know it today, including the humble Christmas Card.

The First Christmas Card

Christmas Chrackers

The Christmas Cracker is a very British thing. It all started in the 1840s ... the same time as Christmas Cards and A Christmas Carol ... when Tom Smith, a sweet manufacturer copied the idea of putting his sweets in an interesting wrapper from the French, to help them sell.

It didn’t work.

Until he hit in the idea of adding a bit of a bang! to the process of opening them!

Christmas Crackers

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas Day, 26th December, also known as St. Stephens’s Day.

This name has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. Nor is it anything to do with all the boxes leftover from the Christmas presents.

Boxing Day was the day when the alms boxes, the boxes where people put money for the poor, were opened and the money distributed.

Boxing Day

Oh My Nottz is a HotHouse Theatre production. Co. No. 6505843 Charity No. 1154523. Tel 07535138506 email guy@hothousetheatre.com website www.hothousetheatre.com
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