Post by Scruffy Brooky on Dec 8, 2010 19:45:17 GMT
I posted the following on another forum this time last year, the users there seemed to like it...
I've been refreshing my memory by reading a couple of my favourite books and making a few notes. I'm making a post on it to aid my own retention of information more than anything! Additions (and corrections) welcome!
Until the 4th Century Common Era, January the 6th was celebrated by the Church as being the date of Jesus' birth. The current date of 25th December was appointed somewhere between 336 and 353 CE to coincide with the celebration of the winter solstice. It has been widely speculated that the change was made due to the threat, within the Roman Empire, posed by the cult of Mithras, a Sun God, whose birth date was celebrated as 21st December.
Some commentators have commented that Yule, in days gone by, was a particularly significant point in the Wheel of the Year, and that the name itself points to this. Old Norse and Old English respectively contained "Jol" and "Geol" as the words for wheel. If the word Yule is indeed derived from these, it would seem to point to a certain prominence.
The Roman festival of Saturnalia took place between 17th and 24th December. During this period all business was suspended, including war. Social conventions were effectively reversed. Slaves changed place with masters, there was dancing in the streets, animal masks were worn, heavy drinking took place and sexual license was extended. There was an elected Lord of Misrule who would be given unfettered freedom. Such a person would usually be a slave.
The tradition of the Lord of Misrule continued, at least into Tudor times (although Sir Walter Scott seems to have recorded later occurrences). In Tudor times all nobles would have had a Lord of Misrule, to rule from Samhain to Imbolc. Notably the same period that a modern Pagan might attribute to the Lord of the Wild Hunt, or the Holly King. The Lord of Misrule would also have "a Court" of characters whom one might associate with a mummers play: hobby horses, dancing bears, St George and the Dragon, Robin Hood, male dancers dressed as women, people wearing animal masks etcetera. Such practices were interestingly attributed to the Catholic Church by the Protestants during the reformation, as "Popish Heathenism". Indeed during the 17th Century the Puritans branded Christmas a heathen festival and church services on Christmas Day were banned in 1644.
The feast day of St Nicholas occurs on December 6th. St Nicholas is the patron of numerous groups including children, sailors and (topically) bankers. He has the power to grant special wishes on his feast day, and people would light a candle, make their wish and leave the candle to burn all night. He also apparently delivered gifts to those who had been good all year.
Parallels have been drawn between Santa and Northern European Shamans due to the reindeer, the perceived ability to fly, and entering and leaving a building through the chimney. Within these cultures a shaman's spirit is said to leave and return through the smoke hole in the ceiling of their round houses, when in trance.
Old Father Christmas, complete with crown of holly and knobbly club, has been likened to the Lord of Misrule, and to Odin or Woden. Odin in particular flies through the sky distributing gifts to those who have worshipped him throughout the year. Woden flew the skies collecting the souls of the dead. Somewhere between the two there is the Goddess Holle who led the wild hunt accompanied by female spirits who gave out gifts and good fortune.
Around December 21st or 22nd occurs the Solstice itself, when we have the shortest number of hours of daylight, this coincides with the feast day of St Thomas, the patron of the elderly (linking him coincidentally to the Roman God Saturn). People would go “a-Thomasing”, distributing money to the poor, and children would beg for sweets, fruit and corn.
This date was also known as Bellringer’s Eve. This was because the church bells would be rung to warn that as it was the longest night of the year the powers of darkness were at their height! People would stay in the company of friends, eating and drinking until the dawn.
Modern Christmas Eve was traditionally the time when Christmas preparations would get into full swing, with such activities as putting up Christmas trees. Such Yuletide greenery is essentially Pagan, and representative of the ongoing nature of life. While some greenery has become acceptable in church over Christmas, Mistletoe (sacred to Druids) remains (generally) banned, presumably due to the fertility connotations attributed to berries, seen as representing drops of semen. Indeed kissing under the mistletoe is a sanitised form of fertility ritual. Two other plants strongly associated with the season, Holly and Ivy are also essentially fertility plants, and both also correspond to luck and protection. Holly is seen as a masculine plant and Ivy feminine, or sacred to the God and Goddess respectively, if you prefer.
The Christmas tree itself if often, in this country, attributed to Prince Albert, however decorating trees is probably as old as mythology, and is believed to have occurred during Roman Saturnalia. The lights of a Christmas tree were originally candles and are remnants of Sun worship. The baubles have been taken to be a representation of either the 7 planets or the 9 worlds. The tinsel may represent the world serpent. At the top of the tree we either have the pole star or a representation of the Sun Goddess. Potentially linked to the Christmas tree is the English tradition of the kissing bough. This was a frame covered in evergreens candles ribbons and apples. Again the symbolism was of the light of the sun and eternal life.
Another seasonal tradition is that of the Yule log. It is borne of the Ancestor’s fires to greet the rebirth of the sun. Usually an ash or oak log, it would be collected, from the woods, by children in the afternoon. The log would be decorated with sprigs of greenery and libations. According to some sources it would be marked with the shape of a man as a nod to times of human sacrifice. If you passed the log you would be expected to bow to it or raise your hat. The log would be lit with a remnant of last years log and expected to burn for a minimum of 12 hours, and preferably be big enough to be re-lit on each of the 12 days. Good fortune is associated with all involved in this particular tradition, and the ashes of the log would be scattered on the fields to ensure good harvest, or kept making charms.
The stroke of midnight that sees Christmas Eve roll into Christmas Day was thought to be a sinister time, when the gates of the otherworld would open and this is the rationale for holding a midnight mass.
Christmas lunch has traditions with potential Pagan associations. The eating of turkey is believed to be a modern tradition, reintroduced by U.S. Servicemen during World War One. The British tradition was goose or duck, with the goose a symbol of the winter Goddess Holle. In some areas a boars head would be eaten. The boar is a sacred animal to the Norse God Frey. Plum pudding is believed to be an interpretation of the porridge of corn and fruit The Dagda made in his cauldron. The act of lighting the pudding on fire is an act of sympathetic magic for the newly waxing sun.
The games we play on Christmas Day, especially charades, are memories of guising and mummers plays. Such plays had an intrinsically Pagan format. Ritual combat resulting in a death is reminiscent of the Oak King and the Holly King. The dead character would be revived by an almost shamanic character called “The Doctor”. Another, more sinister (by today’s standards at least) traditional form of entertainment was the Christmas Bull. Known by various regional names the bull was comprised of a wooden head and a body made of cloth sacking worn by a member of the group. The Bull and the group would travel from residence to residence around the village singing carols. As soon as the door to the residence was open the Bull would rush in and chase the occupants, especially the women, until placated with beer and mince pies for him and his attendants. Other versions of animal masking using different animals occurred in some areas, notably a horse, sacred to Odin or Woden.
Boxing Day was so named as it was the day that small boxes were opened to retrieve the money collected throughout the year for distribution amongst the poor. The boxes in question often took a form that we might refer to as a piggy bank. As such the tradition may have once been linked to Frey, due to his sacred animal being the boar. Interestingly the 26th December is also St Stephen’s Day. St Stephen worked in the kitchen of King Herod, and cooked a boar’s head.
The tradition of the hunting of the wren is by modern standards barbaric, involving the literal hunting of a wren, for no other reason than to parade it through the streets crucified, sell its feathers for luck and bury the bird in the church yard. The Wren Song that the group would sing makes reference to Robin The Bobbin (maybe better known as Cock Robin), who is believed to be the Celtic Sun God Bel.
A further violent tradition involved holly beating. Groups of young boys would terrorise working class women by beating working class women on the upper arms with holly until they bled. This may have been related to the martyrdom of St Stephen and also to solstice blood sacrifice, with an aim of protecting the cattle and fertility in seed sowing.
Modern New Year’s Eve, as distinct from Celtic Samhain and old Christian New Year (around the Spring Equinox), saw Scottish people gathering at churches at midnight. This could be arguably to see the clock strike twelve or arguably because a number of old churches are built on old Pagan sites. Indeed this argument is furthered by accounts that in a number of places around the country the site of choice was not a church, but a stone circle or standing stone. Kissing for luck at the turn of the year is believed to be a sanitised ritual akin to that already discussed in relation to mistletoe. Burning the old year out may well have been an extension of the Midwinter bonfires.
Also at this time of year the Hogmanay Bull similar to the Christmas Bull, but with a hint of ritual sacrifice. Once in the home the bull’s tail would be singed, and the smoke should be inhaled. After this act the bull must be made welcome, and if not, the company would circle widdershins, build a cairn and curse the household.
January 1st sees the custom of first footing, still observed by my own Grandparents. The first person over the threshold after midnight was an omen for the year ahead. Such were the attitudes of the time; anyone with a physical deformity would be seen as a bad omen. Other bad omens would include red heads and people wearing green, also people carrying knives, wearing black or begging would be forbidden entry.
By contrast a man would ideally be young, tall, dark and handsome, or a woman would be fair and beautiful. Children would always be welcome. Empty handed would indicate poverty in the year ahead, so a gift of food, fuel or money was auspicious. The first footer would usually not speak until they had stirred the fire, and wished a happy new year to the family in the house. The first footer would then give their gift and should be promptly offered food and drink or the good luck would be gone.
Well done if you made it to the end!!!
I've been refreshing my memory by reading a couple of my favourite books and making a few notes. I'm making a post on it to aid my own retention of information more than anything! Additions (and corrections) welcome!
Until the 4th Century Common Era, January the 6th was celebrated by the Church as being the date of Jesus' birth. The current date of 25th December was appointed somewhere between 336 and 353 CE to coincide with the celebration of the winter solstice. It has been widely speculated that the change was made due to the threat, within the Roman Empire, posed by the cult of Mithras, a Sun God, whose birth date was celebrated as 21st December.
Some commentators have commented that Yule, in days gone by, was a particularly significant point in the Wheel of the Year, and that the name itself points to this. Old Norse and Old English respectively contained "Jol" and "Geol" as the words for wheel. If the word Yule is indeed derived from these, it would seem to point to a certain prominence.
The Roman festival of Saturnalia took place between 17th and 24th December. During this period all business was suspended, including war. Social conventions were effectively reversed. Slaves changed place with masters, there was dancing in the streets, animal masks were worn, heavy drinking took place and sexual license was extended. There was an elected Lord of Misrule who would be given unfettered freedom. Such a person would usually be a slave.
The tradition of the Lord of Misrule continued, at least into Tudor times (although Sir Walter Scott seems to have recorded later occurrences). In Tudor times all nobles would have had a Lord of Misrule, to rule from Samhain to Imbolc. Notably the same period that a modern Pagan might attribute to the Lord of the Wild Hunt, or the Holly King. The Lord of Misrule would also have "a Court" of characters whom one might associate with a mummers play: hobby horses, dancing bears, St George and the Dragon, Robin Hood, male dancers dressed as women, people wearing animal masks etcetera. Such practices were interestingly attributed to the Catholic Church by the Protestants during the reformation, as "Popish Heathenism". Indeed during the 17th Century the Puritans branded Christmas a heathen festival and church services on Christmas Day were banned in 1644.
The feast day of St Nicholas occurs on December 6th. St Nicholas is the patron of numerous groups including children, sailors and (topically) bankers. He has the power to grant special wishes on his feast day, and people would light a candle, make their wish and leave the candle to burn all night. He also apparently delivered gifts to those who had been good all year.
Parallels have been drawn between Santa and Northern European Shamans due to the reindeer, the perceived ability to fly, and entering and leaving a building through the chimney. Within these cultures a shaman's spirit is said to leave and return through the smoke hole in the ceiling of their round houses, when in trance.
Old Father Christmas, complete with crown of holly and knobbly club, has been likened to the Lord of Misrule, and to Odin or Woden. Odin in particular flies through the sky distributing gifts to those who have worshipped him throughout the year. Woden flew the skies collecting the souls of the dead. Somewhere between the two there is the Goddess Holle who led the wild hunt accompanied by female spirits who gave out gifts and good fortune.
Around December 21st or 22nd occurs the Solstice itself, when we have the shortest number of hours of daylight, this coincides with the feast day of St Thomas, the patron of the elderly (linking him coincidentally to the Roman God Saturn). People would go “a-Thomasing”, distributing money to the poor, and children would beg for sweets, fruit and corn.
This date was also known as Bellringer’s Eve. This was because the church bells would be rung to warn that as it was the longest night of the year the powers of darkness were at their height! People would stay in the company of friends, eating and drinking until the dawn.
Modern Christmas Eve was traditionally the time when Christmas preparations would get into full swing, with such activities as putting up Christmas trees. Such Yuletide greenery is essentially Pagan, and representative of the ongoing nature of life. While some greenery has become acceptable in church over Christmas, Mistletoe (sacred to Druids) remains (generally) banned, presumably due to the fertility connotations attributed to berries, seen as representing drops of semen. Indeed kissing under the mistletoe is a sanitised form of fertility ritual. Two other plants strongly associated with the season, Holly and Ivy are also essentially fertility plants, and both also correspond to luck and protection. Holly is seen as a masculine plant and Ivy feminine, or sacred to the God and Goddess respectively, if you prefer.
The Christmas tree itself if often, in this country, attributed to Prince Albert, however decorating trees is probably as old as mythology, and is believed to have occurred during Roman Saturnalia. The lights of a Christmas tree were originally candles and are remnants of Sun worship. The baubles have been taken to be a representation of either the 7 planets or the 9 worlds. The tinsel may represent the world serpent. At the top of the tree we either have the pole star or a representation of the Sun Goddess. Potentially linked to the Christmas tree is the English tradition of the kissing bough. This was a frame covered in evergreens candles ribbons and apples. Again the symbolism was of the light of the sun and eternal life.
Another seasonal tradition is that of the Yule log. It is borne of the Ancestor’s fires to greet the rebirth of the sun. Usually an ash or oak log, it would be collected, from the woods, by children in the afternoon. The log would be decorated with sprigs of greenery and libations. According to some sources it would be marked with the shape of a man as a nod to times of human sacrifice. If you passed the log you would be expected to bow to it or raise your hat. The log would be lit with a remnant of last years log and expected to burn for a minimum of 12 hours, and preferably be big enough to be re-lit on each of the 12 days. Good fortune is associated with all involved in this particular tradition, and the ashes of the log would be scattered on the fields to ensure good harvest, or kept making charms.
The stroke of midnight that sees Christmas Eve roll into Christmas Day was thought to be a sinister time, when the gates of the otherworld would open and this is the rationale for holding a midnight mass.
Christmas lunch has traditions with potential Pagan associations. The eating of turkey is believed to be a modern tradition, reintroduced by U.S. Servicemen during World War One. The British tradition was goose or duck, with the goose a symbol of the winter Goddess Holle. In some areas a boars head would be eaten. The boar is a sacred animal to the Norse God Frey. Plum pudding is believed to be an interpretation of the porridge of corn and fruit The Dagda made in his cauldron. The act of lighting the pudding on fire is an act of sympathetic magic for the newly waxing sun.
The games we play on Christmas Day, especially charades, are memories of guising and mummers plays. Such plays had an intrinsically Pagan format. Ritual combat resulting in a death is reminiscent of the Oak King and the Holly King. The dead character would be revived by an almost shamanic character called “The Doctor”. Another, more sinister (by today’s standards at least) traditional form of entertainment was the Christmas Bull. Known by various regional names the bull was comprised of a wooden head and a body made of cloth sacking worn by a member of the group. The Bull and the group would travel from residence to residence around the village singing carols. As soon as the door to the residence was open the Bull would rush in and chase the occupants, especially the women, until placated with beer and mince pies for him and his attendants. Other versions of animal masking using different animals occurred in some areas, notably a horse, sacred to Odin or Woden.
Boxing Day was so named as it was the day that small boxes were opened to retrieve the money collected throughout the year for distribution amongst the poor. The boxes in question often took a form that we might refer to as a piggy bank. As such the tradition may have once been linked to Frey, due to his sacred animal being the boar. Interestingly the 26th December is also St Stephen’s Day. St Stephen worked in the kitchen of King Herod, and cooked a boar’s head.
The tradition of the hunting of the wren is by modern standards barbaric, involving the literal hunting of a wren, for no other reason than to parade it through the streets crucified, sell its feathers for luck and bury the bird in the church yard. The Wren Song that the group would sing makes reference to Robin The Bobbin (maybe better known as Cock Robin), who is believed to be the Celtic Sun God Bel.
A further violent tradition involved holly beating. Groups of young boys would terrorise working class women by beating working class women on the upper arms with holly until they bled. This may have been related to the martyrdom of St Stephen and also to solstice blood sacrifice, with an aim of protecting the cattle and fertility in seed sowing.
Modern New Year’s Eve, as distinct from Celtic Samhain and old Christian New Year (around the Spring Equinox), saw Scottish people gathering at churches at midnight. This could be arguably to see the clock strike twelve or arguably because a number of old churches are built on old Pagan sites. Indeed this argument is furthered by accounts that in a number of places around the country the site of choice was not a church, but a stone circle or standing stone. Kissing for luck at the turn of the year is believed to be a sanitised ritual akin to that already discussed in relation to mistletoe. Burning the old year out may well have been an extension of the Midwinter bonfires.
Also at this time of year the Hogmanay Bull similar to the Christmas Bull, but with a hint of ritual sacrifice. Once in the home the bull’s tail would be singed, and the smoke should be inhaled. After this act the bull must be made welcome, and if not, the company would circle widdershins, build a cairn and curse the household.
January 1st sees the custom of first footing, still observed by my own Grandparents. The first person over the threshold after midnight was an omen for the year ahead. Such were the attitudes of the time; anyone with a physical deformity would be seen as a bad omen. Other bad omens would include red heads and people wearing green, also people carrying knives, wearing black or begging would be forbidden entry.
By contrast a man would ideally be young, tall, dark and handsome, or a woman would be fair and beautiful. Children would always be welcome. Empty handed would indicate poverty in the year ahead, so a gift of food, fuel or money was auspicious. The first footer would usually not speak until they had stirred the fire, and wished a happy new year to the family in the house. The first footer would then give their gift and should be promptly offered food and drink or the good luck would be gone.
Well done if you made it to the end!!!