Modresnach, Modresnacht, Robin Hood Green Man Solstice Oscar Wilde America lecture Christmas Eve customs
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Out on the plains
the brolgas are dancing
Lifting their feet
like war horses prancing
Up to the sun
the woodlarks go winging
Faint in the dawn light
echoes their singing
Orana! Orana!
Orana! To Christmas Day.
Down where the tree-ferns
grow by the river,
There where the waters
sparkle and quiver,
Deep in the gullies
Bell-birds are chiming,
Softly and sweetly their
lyric notes rhyming
Orana! Orana!
Orana! To Christmas Day.
Friar-birds sip the
nectar of flowers,
Currawongs chant in
wattle-tree bowers
In the blue ranges
Lorikeets calling
Carols of bushlands
rising and falling
Orana! Orana!
Orana! To Christmas Day. ‘Carol of the Birds’ (Australian Christmas carol;
'Orana' means 'welcome')Listen
Bush Christmas (Australia)
Jingle control (and
if you missed it, scroll up to see Santa flying)
And the very night that is
sacrosanct to us these people call modranect, that is, the mothers'
night, a name bestowed, I suspect, on account of the ceremonies which
they performed while watching this night through. Venerable Bede, (c. 672 - May 25, 735 CE), writing c. 730
Take no scorn to wear
the horn
It was the crest when you were born
Your father's father wore it
And your father wore it to
Robin Hood and Little John
Have both gone to the fair-o
and we will to the merry green wood
To hunt the buck and hare-o ‘Hal-n-Tow’ (traditional)
And Robin Hood he to the green wood, And there he was taken ill.
And he sent for a monk, to let him blood Who took his life away;
Now this being done, his archers did run, It was not time to stay. Old English ballad; one tradition
says Robin Hood died on this day, 1247
"I never hurt fair maid in all my time,
Nor at my end shall it be;
But give me my bent bow in my hand,
And a broad arrow I'll let flee;
And where this arrow is taken up,
There shall my grave diggèd be." Robin Hood; Old English
ballad
Christ have mercy on his soul,
That died on the rood.
For he was a good outlaw,
And did poor men much good. ‘Husbandman's Song’; on Robin Hood
Ghosts never appear on Christmas Eve. English traditional proverb
This night (you may my Almanack be)
Is the return of famous Christmas-eve:
Ye virgins then your cleanly rooms prepare,
And let the windows bays and Laurels wear;
Your Rosemary preserve to dress your Beef, Nor forget me, which I advise in chief. Author unknown, pre-1826
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds. St Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, born on
this day in 1491, Prayer for
Generosity
Come bring with a noise,
My merry, merry boys, The Christmas log to the
firing;
While my good dame she
Bids ye all be free, And drink to your
heart’s desiring.
With the last year’s brand
Light the new block, and, For good success in his
spending,
On your psalteries play
That sweet luck may Come while the log is a
teending. (burning)
Drink now the strong beer,
Vut the white loaf here, The while the meat is a
shredding;
For the rare mince-pie,
And the plums stand by, To fill the paste that’s a
kneading. Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), English poet;
'Hesperides', 1648
Habit with him was the test of truth,
“It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth.” George Crabbe, English poet, born December 24, 1754,
The Borough, Letter iii, ‘The Vicar’, 138
On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;
On Christmas Eve the mass was sung;
That only night, in all the year,
Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear. Sir Walter
Scott
(1771 - 1832), Scottish writer; 'Marmion'
I do not want people to be very agreeable,
as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal. Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), English novelist; in a letter, December 24, 1798
Not deep the poet sees, but wide. Matthew Arnold, English poet, born on December 24, 1822; 'Resignation'
Culture is the passion for sweetness and
light, and (what is more) the passion for making them prevail. Matthew Arnold; 'Literature and
Dogma'
Whoever does not eat well on Christmas Eve
will have night visions of demons. Old German Protestant proverb
One writes my autographs all
day for my admirers, the other receives the flowers that are left really
every ten minutes. A third whose hair resembles mine is obliged to send
off locks of his own hair to the myriad maidens of the city, and so is
rapidly becoming bald. Oscar Wilde,
Irish writer, in a letter home from the American lecture tour for which
he embarked on December 24, 1891, boasting that he needed three
secretaries to attend to the adulation of his American audiences
'Twas
the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ...
'A Visit from St
Nicholas' (aka 'The Night Before Christmas'), allegedly by Clement
Moore, perhaps by Major Henry Livingston Jr
You may just think I am a red Jew son-of-a-bitch, but I'm keeping Thomas Jefferson
alive.
IF Stone, progressive American journalist, born on December 24, 1907
Note: The
solstice (Yule) can occur either on December 21 or
22.
In the Book of Days, our information is on December 22.
Are you looking for
more origins and folklore of Yuletide? Click for the big
Christmas page at the Scriptorium
This is a
Germanic/Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon annual commemoration, an Odinist
Midwinter festival held approximately on this date*, many practices of
which can still be found in our Christmas traditions.
We know about it from the Venerable Bede, (c. 672 -
May 25,
735 CE) a medieval
monk, author and scholar, whose
best-known work is Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. Writing about the customs of the pagan Anglo-Saxons,
Bede mentions their practice of celebrating a holiday he called Modranicht
or Modresnacht on the eve of Christmas. (Modresnach is another spelling
and seems the most commonly used, at least on the Internet.) Bede, writing
in 730, informs us that
Modresnach was the most important pagan festival in 8th-Century
Britain. Bede referred to this time of Yuletide celebration as ‘Kilderdaag’ – the time of slaughtering (animals for the feast
– often a pig).
From the little we
know, it seems that motherhood was celebrated on this night, and it had a
divinatory function as well. It was apparently believed that dreams on
this night foretold events of the year to come.
Traditionally, pine or
other evergreen trees are decorated tonight to represent the tree of life.
The decorated evergreen tree symbolises the Tree of Life, or Yggdrasil (World Tree). In Norse Mythology, Yggdrasil was a gigantic ash
tree, thought to hold all of the different worlds: such as Asgard, Midgard, Utgard and Hel. Like Jesus on the
Cross (often called ‘the Tree’ in the Christian tradition), Odin
suffered on Yggdrasil.
The star at the top of
the Modresnachtree represents
the pole star of the Star God or Goddess. Feasts and gift-giving were in
honour of the bounties given by the Mother Goddesses to their human
children. According to German folklore, at around this time a Yuletide
witch known as Lutzelfrau flies through the sky on her broom, bringing
mischief to mortals who neglect to honour her with small gifts.
Perchta is another witch of Germanic Yuletide. In the
southernmost areas of Germany, children traditionally carry masks and
carry a broom (besom), while going from door in door begging gifts
in the name of Perchta.
In the Orkney Islands, tonight was
called Helya's Night – the night the children of the household were
committed into the protection of ‘Midder Mary’ – Mother Mary, the
Virgin Mary. This name superseded the older name of Modresnach. Perhaps Helya is a corruption of the Old Norse heilagr meaning
holy.
In an old custom
from the Orkneys, a mother would raise her hands over a slumbering infant,
speaking these words:
Mary Midder had de haund
Ower aboot for sleepin-baund
Had da lass an' had da wife,
Had da bairn a' its life.
Mary Midder had de haund.
Roond da infants o' wur land.
These words would be repeated over all the children.
Yule was greeted in Orkney households that were especially
clean and tidy. This need for tidiness may have been connected to the fact that the
trows were rife at Yule. These creatures were known to despise
untidiness in a house – harking back to their original
role as spirits of the dead. Three burning coals were dropped into
water, lest the trows “take the power o’ feet or hands”. Also, a
round oatcake was prepared for each of the children in the family; these
‘Yule cakes’ might have symbolised the sun.
Across many cultures,
motherhood is commemorated in the guise of such deities as Mary,
Isis,
Yemaya and the Three Mothers
(Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Parvati).
* Sources vary. Formerly, I had this at December 20, but
based on the Venerable Bede's reference I have placed it at December
24.
“It
is important to note that both the Anglo-Saxon word ‘modra-(niht)’
and the Latin ‘matrum’ are in the plural, not the singular.
Modern Heathens often celebrate this holiday primarily as ‘Mother
Night,’ conceived of as being the night the year is born, the
solstice tide. This is very beautiful imagery, and certainly a most
fitting way to celebrate this event. But we should not lose sight of
the fact that the Anglian holy tide described by Bede was very clearly
the ‘Night of the Mothers’, --what would in Scandinavian
countries be called the disablot, Disting, or festival of the disir,
the tribal soul-mothers. It is also clear that, since the festival is
described as a sacrifice, it was intended primarily for the deceased
mothers more than the living ones: the mothers who have gone through
and past death to become sources of wisdom and soul-might for their
living folk. Thus, while indeed it makes perfect sense to celebrate
the solstice with the imagery of Mothernight, and honor today's living
mothers, there is no question that the tribal soul-mothers are the
ones who should receive highest mindfulness and honor on this holy
night.” Matrons
and Disir: The Heathen Tribal Mothers
The
old Roman Saturnalian
greening of the temple soon led to church decorations at Christmas (in old
church calendars, Christmas eve is marked 'Templa exornantur':
churches are decked) and eventually the Christmas wreath and tree
emerged. The latter had an interesting path down the centuries to modern
homes. Tradition has it that St Boniface
in the eighth century substituted a fir tree for the pagan oak, as a
symbol of the faith. While Church reformers often turned their zeal and
malice towards “idolatrous” practices, Martin
Luther fostered the ancient Christmas tree cult by using a candlelit
tree as a representation of Christ’s home, the starlit heavens. Fir
trees decorated with candles, apples, fruits and paper flowers were
introduced by German immigrants into Britain, and popularised later in the
nineteenth century by Prince Albert,
the German-born consort of Queen Victoria.
“Christmas
Trees and Maypoles are remnants of the Scandinavian
Ash, called Yggdrasil,
the Tree of Time, whose roots penetrate to heaven, Niffheim and
Ginnungagap (the gap of gaps). In Ginnungagap the frost giants
dwell, in Niffheim is the great serpent Nidhögg; and under this
root is Helheim, the home of the dead.
“We
are told that the ancient Egyptians, at the Winter Solstice, used a
palm branch containing twelve leaves or shoots to symbolise the
‘completion of the year.’ [cf Twelve days of
Christmas, PW] The modern custom comes from Germany.” Evans, Ivor
H, Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
Celtic
Tree Month of Beth
(Birch) commences(Dec 24 - Jan
20)
Like other Iron Age Europeans, the Celts were a polytheistic people prior to their
conversion to (Celtic)
Christianity. The Celts divided the year into 13 lunar cycles
(months or moons). These were linked to specific sacred trees which gave
each moon its name.Today commences the Celtic
tree month of Birch.
In this, the most
ancient of the Greek festivals to Dionysus
(Bacchus), the god of wine, the people went to great excesses
with drinking and revelry. Slaves enjoyed full freedom today and
peasants assailed pedestrians while riding by in carriages. Goats
were sacrificed in the temples and special choruses, called dithyrambs, were sung today.
The god’s
worshippers threw away as much self control as they could and
indulged in excessive drinking and wild dancing sessions till
exhaustion set in. Sometimes dancers in their ecstatic frenzy tore
apart wild beasts. There was a religious element as well, with
choruses called dithyrambs
being sung and goats sacrificed.
This deity was
the same as the Roman Bacchus, and Saint Dionysus,
Dionysius or Dennis is a christianised form of the pagan god. St
Dennis, or Denis, is the patron of France, the home of fine wines.
Etymologically
the name Dionysus means the Zeus of Nysa and seems to be congruent
with the Vedic (Indian) god Soma. Originally he was just the god of
wine, then later of vegetation and warm moisture, then later of
pleasures and civilisation. While at first he was seen as a mature
man, Dionysus was later depicted in art as a rather effeminate
beardless youth.
We are told that
as a youth he was made mad by the goddess Hera, so to be cured he
went to visit the Oracle of Dodona. On the way he was carried over a
marsh by an ass, which he rewarded with the power of speech. Later
he travelled the world, giving humans the art of winemaking.
Greek comedy,
which so influenced modern Western drama, had its origins in this
libertine festival.
In 59 CE, the notorious Roman emperor, Nero,
instituted the Juvenalia festival, originally on December 24. It
commemorated, of all things, the first shaving of his beard at the
age of 21, symbolising his transition from youth to manhood. The
Juvenalia was a theatrical festival which was turned by succeeding
emperors into a spectacle of chariot races and fights between wild
beasts, celebrated on January 1.
"JUVENA'LIA,
or JUVENA'LES LUDI (70Ioubena/lia w#sper
tina\ neaniskeu/mata), were scenic games instituted by Nero
in A.D. 59, in commemoration of
this shaving his beard for the first time, thus intimating that he
had passed from youth into manhood. He was then in the twenty-second
year of his age. These games were not celebrated in the circus, but
in a private theatre erected in a pleasure-ground (nemus), and consisted of every kind of
theatrical performance, Greek and Roman plays, mimetic pieces, and
the like. The most distinguished persons in the state, old and
young, male and female, were expected to take part in them. The
emperor set the example by appearing in person on the stage; and
Dion Cassius mentions a distinguished Roman matron, upwards of
eighty years of age, who danced in the games. It was one of the
offences given by Paetus Thrasea that he had not acquitted himself
with credit at this festival (Dion Cass. lxi.19; Tac. Ann.xiv.15, xv.33, xvi.21). Suetonius (Ner. 12)confounds this
festival with the Quinquennalia, which
was instituted in the following year, A.D. 60
[Quinquennalia.]
The Juvenalia continued to be celebrated
by subsequent emperors, but not on the same occasion. The name was
given to those games which were exhibited by the emperors on the 1st of January
in each year. They no longer consisted of scenic representations,
but of chariot races and combats of wild beasts (Dion Cass. lxvii.14; Sidon. Apoll. Carm. xxiii.307,
428; Capitol. Gord. 4; cf. Lipsius,
ad Tac. Ann. xiv.15)." Source
Christmas Eve Today is a full or partial holiday in 29
countries of the world.
Cross
bleeds in St Thomas’s church, Malabar, India
In St Thomas’s Church, Malabar, India, there was for a long time a
stone cross which bled on Christmas Eve as soon as the Jesuits started to
say mass. The stone changed from white to yellow, then to black, azure,
then, at the end of mass, back to white, while blood flowed from the
monument. If the miracle failed to appear, there would be a calamity in
the area. William
Hone, the nineteenth-century English folklorist, wrote,
“Perhaps it is further miraculous, that in a country where there is
liberty of thought and speech, and a free press, no stone cross will do
the like”.
Tolling the Devil's Knell, All Saints Parish Church, Dewsbury, W.
Yorkshire, UK
Starting at 11pm on Christmas Eve, one stroke of the church bells is
tolled for every year since the birth of Jesus
Christ, whose birth heralded the
devil's demise. Source
T'owd 'oss, Richmond, N. Yorkshire, UK A custom passed
down through local families who dress in hunting clothes and blow a horn,
on Christmas Eve and New Year's
Eve. Source
Today’s plant Frankincense, Pinus Taeda, was designated today’s
plant by medieval monks. It was dedicated to the virgin
Trasilla
(Thrasilla) and Emiliana of
Rome, whose feast day this is.
On the last days of Advent,
the days leading to Christmas, it was once the tradition for
Calabrian minstrels to enter Rome and Naples and be seen everywhere
saluting shrines of Mary. This tradition was enacted for the
musicians to soothe the mother of Jesus Christ until her birth-hour
at Christmas. These minstrels were known as Pifferari, and played
instruments rather like bagpipes.
German
Christmas Eve
Tonight is Der Heilige Abend, the Holy
Evening, the climax of the German Christmas season. It is said that
the pure in heart today will witness the rivers and wells turn to
wine, trees blossom and bear fruit at once and animals speak.
Mountains are said to open up to reveal gemstones, and church bells
can be heard even at the bottom of the sea.
The
present-table
In Germany, Christmas Eve is
observed by many with great reverence and affection. Shops and
offices close at noon, with people coming home to decorate trees and
place gifts under the trees or on derGabentisch (the
present-table). When it is time for the children to come and claim
their presents on this night, a bell is rung.
Wunderkerzen
In Germany tonight, the Christmas story is often read aloud in the
family home, where sparklers, or Wunderkerzen, are lit and
held by the children as carols are sung and tree candles are lit, to
be burned daily until Epiphany (January 6). A kind of pass the
parcel game is played, with the first layer of the parcel for
grandmother to open, and so on down through the family by age.
Today’s
menu In Germany on Christmas Eve,
it has been traditional since the middle ages to eat carp which have
been fattened since St Bartholomew’s Day, August
24. Also on the
family table will be green kale (Grünkohl) and pork. These
used to be followed in Schleswig-Holstein by sweet rice pudding with
butter and cinnamon, a custom still observed in Norway, Finland and
Denmark on this day. People in Munich eat white sausage and cold
macaroni salad.
Fat
Stomach Night In Germany, an old Protestant
saying goes, Whoever does not
eat well on Christmas Eve will have night visions of demons. So
tonight is called Dickbuuk,
Fat Stomach Night or Vullbuuk
(Full Stomach) in Oldenburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
Mary’s
place In the Black Forest of
Germany, on Christmas Eve it is traditional to set an extra place at
the festive table for Mary, the mother of Jesus, because there was
no room at the inn for her. In the Nahe District of the Rhineland,
some flax is left on the distaff so Mary can dry her baby during the
night.
Healing
loaf In the German district of
Lake Pulver, it is traditional on Christmas Eve to keep a candle
burning and to leave a loaf of bread on the windowsill facing the
church. The next day, the loaf with its curative powers will be
eaten by the family.
Grave
candles In Berchtesgaden,
Germany, a lit candle is placed on each grave on Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile at Oberammergau, small Christmas trees with candles are placed on the
graves.
Animal
feeding In Germany it is traditional
for the father of the family to go and feed the animalsof the household before the
lighting of the candles on the Christmas tree. This custom observes
the fact that only animals were in the stable to keep the
Christ-child company.
Good
harvest In Thuringia, Germany, on
Christmas Eve, it was once the custom to pull one straw from the
thatch of the roof. If the straw had seed on it, it was an omen of a
good harvest to come. Fruit trees on this night were beaten to
improve their yield, and it was said that if the weather was cold,
the winter would be hard but the Spring would come early.
Shaken
up In Swabia, Germany, it is an
old Christmas Eve custom to shake vinegar and wine casks so they
would always remain full.
Pocketing
the presents Boys and girls in Ratzeburg,
northern Germany, traditionally save up for months to buy presents
for their parents, to give them on Christmas Eve. Forbidding their
parents to enter, they light numerous small candles in the parlour,
fastening them on a yew bough amid paper decorations. The presents
for the parents are laid out under the bough, but the gifts for each
other they hide in their pockets. On Christmas Day the presents are
laid out by the parents for their children.
Lamb’s
wool In eighteenth-century England, roast apples on a string used to
be dropped into a bowl of spiced ale on Christmas Eve, making a
drink called lamb’swool. In
Werrington, England, the revellers sang wassail (health toast) songs
and threw the toasts from the wassail-bowl onto apple trees to
ensure a bountiful harvest.
Setting a watch on Christmas Eve, Chester, UK Up until at least the 17th century,
Chester had a quaint custom called "Setting a watch on
Christmas Eve" in which a procession made its way through the
streets, headed by the Mayor and Aldermen, together with the Dean
and Chapter, and many other official dignitaries and members of the
Guilds. The Recorder delivered a speech telling of the City's
ancient fame, and that its foundation was the work of Lleon Mawr,
the legendary giant. The day ended with banquets and general
rejoicing.
Kneeling
oxen In the western parts of
Devonshire, England, it used to be believed that at midnight on
Christmas Eve the oxen in their stalls would always be found
kneeling. In Cornwall and Devon, people believed that bees would
sing in their hives today.
Fresh
bread In parts of England, such as
Cornwall and Devon, it used to be believed that bread baked on
Christmas Eve would never go mouldy.
The
Old Lad In medieval England, church bells were rung in the hour before
midnight. This custom was called the Old Lad’s Passing Bell, the
bells being tolled to mark the demise of Satan (the Old Lad) and the birth of
Christ.
The
cock’s crow In Shakespeare’s time it was believed in England that the cock
would crow all night long on Christmas Eve and that Satan’s powers
were at their weakest.
Mistletoe
time Traditionally today is the day to hang up
mistletoe.
These days many Christmas dinner tables feature a
Yule log, often an iced cake. The tradition hails from ancient Scandinavia, where at Juul, or the
Winter
Solstice, people used to kindle large bonfires in honour of Thor.
In old England, on Christmas Eve it was a custom to drag a huge log to the hall of the manorial home, where it was lit with a piece of last year’s Yule log. It was believed this smaller piece of wood when kept in a cellar would protect the home from fire. The flame of the Yule log was believed to burn out past wrongs. It was considered very bad luck if a squinting person, a flat-footed woman, or a bare-footed person entered the hall when the fire was burning.
One form of ancient Yule log was the Devonshire type called an
ashton faggot, which was a bundle of ash sticks bound with nine ash hoops. On Christmas Eve farm labourers would drag the faggot by two horses to their master’s house, where everyone, rich and poor, celebrated the day with sack races, apple bobbing and jumping for treacle cakes suspended from the ceiling. Whenever an ash hoop cracked open in the fire, the master had to provide a new bowl of cider.
In Cornwall, England, the log was called the mock, and today was a special holiday in which children could stay up till midnight and drink to the mock.
"The calend
fires were a scandal
even to Rome, and St.
Boniface obtained from Pope Zachary their abolition. But
probably the Yule-log in its many forms was originally lit only in
view of the cold season. Only in 1577 did it become a public
ceremony in England;
its popularity, however, grew immense, especially in Provence; in
Tuscany, Christmas is simply called ceppo (block, log --
Bonaccorsi, op. cit., p. 145, n. 2). Besides, it became connected
with other usages; in England,
a tenant had the right to feed at his lord's expense as long as a
wheel, i.e. a round, of wood, given by him, would burn, the landlord
gave to a tenant a load of wood on the birth of a child; Kindsfuss
was a present given to children on the birth of a brother or sister,
and even to the farm animals on that of Christ, the universal little
brother (Tiele, op. cit., p. 95 sqq.)." Catholic
Encyclopedia
In Northern Europe,
winter
festivities were once considered to be a Feast of the Dead,
complete with ceremonies full of spirits, devils, and the haunting
presence of the Norse god, Odin, and his night riders. One
particularly durable Solstice festival was "Jol" (also
known as "Jule" and pronounced "Yule"), a
feast celebrated throughout Northern Europe and particularly in
Scandinavia to honor Jolnir, another name for Odin.
Since Odin was the god of intoxicating drink and ecstasy, as well
as the god of death, Yule customs varied greatly from region to
region. Odin's sacrificial beer became the specially blessed
Christmas ale mentioned in medieval lore, and fresh food and drink
were left on tables after Christmas feasts to feed the roaming
Yuletide ghosts. Even the bonfires of former ancient times
survived in the tradition of the Yule Log, perhaps the most
universal of all Christmas symbols.
The origins of the Yule Log can be traced
back to the Midwinter festivals in which the Norsemen
indulged...nights filled with feasting, "drinking Yule"
and watching the fire leap around the log burning in the home
hearth. The ceremonies and beliefs associated with the Yule Log's
sacred origins are closely linked to representations of health,
fruitfulness and productivity. In England, the Yule was cut and
dragged home by oxen or horses as the people walked alongside and
sang merry songs. It was often decorated with evergreens and
sometimes sprinkled with grain or cider before it was finally set
alight.
In Yugoslavia,
the Yule Log was cut just before dawn on Christmas Eve and carried
into the house at twilight. The wood
itself was decorated with flowers,
colored silks
and gold,
and then doused with wine and an offering of grain. In the area of
France
known as Provence, families would go together to cut the Yule Log,
singing as they went along. These songs asked for blessings to be
bestowed upon their crops and their flocks. The people of Provence
called their Yule Log the tréfoire and, with great ceremony,
carried the log around the house three times and christened it
with wine before it was set ablaze.
To all Europeans, the Yule Log was
believed to bring beneficial magic and was kept burning for at
least twelve hours and sometimes as long as twelve days, warming
both the house and those who resided within. When the fire of the
Yule Log was finally quenched, a small fragment of the wood would
be saved and used to light the next year's log. It was also
believed that as long as the Yule Log burned, the house would be
protected from witchcraft. The ashes that remained from the sacred
Yule Log were scattered over fields to bring fertility, or cast
into wells to purify and sweeten the water. Sometimes, the ashes
were used in the creation of various charms...to free cattle from
vermin, for example, or to ward off hailstorms.
Some sources state that the origin of
Yule is associated with an ancient Scandinavian fertility god and
that the large, single Log is representative of a phallic idol.
Tradition states that this Log was required to burn for twelve
days and a different sacrifice to the fertility god had to be
offered in the fire on each of those twelve days.
Televising burning yule logs has become a
Christmas tradition for some television stations in the United
States, such as The
Yule Log on New
York City's WPIX-TV.
The expression 'Yule log' has also come
to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as 'chocolate
logs'. Wikipedia
Apples and pears
In New Forest, Hampshire, on Christmas Eve, people threw apple cider on the apple and pear trees to ensure a good harvest. They
sang
Apples and pears with right good corn,
Come in plenty to everyone,
Eat and drink good cake and hot ale,
Give Earth to drink and she’ll not fail.
The Yule candle
In old Britain it was customary to light a huge Yule candle on this day, and let it burn
till the end of the twelve days of Christmas (till Epiphany, January
6).
Kris Kringle
In nineteenth-century Pennsylvania, USA, many German immigrants kept up the traditions of the Fatherland, including on Christmas Eve putting a stocking at the end of a child’s bed to be filled by
Krish-kinkle, from Christ-kindlein, or Christ child, who comes down the chimney. A naughty child will find, instead of gifts, a birch-rod left by Pelsnichol
(Nicholas with the fur). Sometimes the two characters were conflated, giving rise to Kris Kringle, another name for
Santa Claus.
Shoes for stockings
In France it is customary on Christmas Eve to put out shoes, rather than stockings, to be filled with gifts by
le petit Jésus. French church altars will be garlanded with flowers tonight.
Roman sweeties
In Rome centuries ago, the fathers at the Vatican were presented with sweets and cakes on Christmas Eve. The tradition continues in a sense, in our plum puddings and mince pies today.
Turta
In Rumania on Christmas Eve they eat turta, a many-layered cake, representing the swaddling clothes of the Christ child.
The rooster’s mass
In Mexico the midnight service on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) is called la
misa del gallo, or the rooster’s mass. For the nights of Advent before
Christmas, an image of the baby Jesus circulates from house to house where it is kissed and sung to with sacred songs. People bringing the image gather outside the door and beg entry in song, with the choral reply saying, in effect, “go away, you might be scoundrels”, until the supplicants are finally let in.
La misa del gallo is also celebrated in Spain, the Philippines and other Spanish-speaking countries.
“The Christmas Eve gaiety is interrupted at midnight be the ringing of bells calling the families to ‘La Misa Del Gallo’ (The Mass of the Rooster). It is called the ‘Mass of the Rooster’ because it is said that the only time that a rooster crowed at midnight was on the day that Jesus was born. The most beautiful of these candlelight services is held at the monastery of Montserrat, high in the mountain near Barcelona, which is highlighted by a boy's choir describes as performing the Mass in ‘one pure voice.’”
Source
Norwegian cod
In Norway, traditional Christmas Eve fare is lye-treated codfish, boiled potatoes, gingerbread and punch.
The Julbok
The Swedes on Christmas Eve eat cod-fish treated with lye as in Norway. It is the time to welcome the elves of Christmas and the
Julbok, a goat who is generally credited with the delivery of
Christmas presents.
In Sweden,
most of the children are visited by Santa Claus this day.
Christkindli
Swiss children wait up on Christmas Eve for the Christkindli, or Christ-child, to arrive in his reindeer-drawn sleigh bearing gifts.
Golden pigs
In the former nation of Czechoslovakia on Christmas Eve the custom was to tell tales of a mythical pig of gold and to eat soup made of cod roe.
Venetian treat
A traditional Christmas Eve delicacy here is torta de lasagne, a pasta dish with dried fruits, pine nuts and candied orange peel.
Faire calene
In Marseilles, France, the tradition on Christmas Eve was to eat vegetarian food before going to the mass, which is called
faire calene.
Juleaften
In Denmark, Christmas Eve is Juleaften, on which family members light the Christmas tree candles and exchange gifts after dancing around the tree and singing traditional carols. Tonight is perhaps the biggest occasion of the Danish year, with the consumption of prune-stuffed goose, with red cabbage and cinnamon rice pudding (grod). Grod is used to appease the
Julenisse, or Christmas elves, and seeds are left out in dishes for the birds.
Templa exornantur
In old church calendars, today is marked with the text Templa exornantur, meaning, the churches are to be
decked.
Snapdragon
Snapdragon is a popular name for the antirrhinum plant. It also is the name of a popular nineteenth-century game played in England on Christmas Eve. In a darkened room, brandy was poured over a dish of raisins and lit. Players had to grab a raisin with their bare hands. The custom relates to the old Druid fire rites at the
Winter Solstice which almost coincides with this day. The poorer people played Flapdragon with a candle in a can of beer.
Hodening
A Hodening is the name for an old English Christmas Eve custom in which men used to go from house to house singing carols, with a hobby horse made from a horse’s head on a pole with a cloth covering. A string enabled the operator to snap the horse’s jaw for effect.
Santa
comes tonight, or maybe Krampus
"Once the Christians criminalized orgiastic excess, the Krampus-fertility
nexus evolved into more of a taboo-stalker kind of scenario, in
which the devilish figure, traditionally depicted with a swollen
foot-long red tongue, malevolently thrusts himself on nubile women
who are eternally "protesting" his advances." Source
“St.
Ignatius of Loyola (possibly December 24, 1491 - July
31, 1556),
baptized Iñigo Lopez de Loyola, was the founder of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as
the Jesuits, a Roman Catholic religious order established to
strengthen the Church, initially against Protestantism.”Source
1745
Benjamin Rush, American physician and signatory of the Declaration
of Independence, one of the founders of psychiatry
1809Kit
Carson (d. 1868), American
frontiersman and Indian agent, who acted
as guide to the explorer John Charles Fremont across the Rocky
Mountains to California
1926 Gordon Parsons, Australian
author of the favourite Australian folk song, The Pub With No Beer,about a pub at Taylor’s Arm,
NSW, Australia, near where this almanac is being writtenLyrics
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The son of William Fitz-Ooth, Robin Ooth, or Hood,
dissipated his inheritance and joined a band of outlaws. He is, of course,
famous for robbing from the rich to give to the poor. He is said to have died on
this day at a nunnery in Yorkshire. At Kirklees, Yorkshire, a gravestone once
had the (probably unauthentic) inscription
Hear undernead dis laith stean
Laiz Robert Earl of Huntington,
Nea arcir ver American actor hie sa geude
An piple kaud im Robin Heud.
Sic utlawz as hi, an iz men,
Wil England never sigh agen.
Obit 24 kal. Dekembris, 1247
Pic: Leaning heavily against Little John's sobbing breast, Robin Hood flew his last arrow out through the window, far away into the trees
Wyeth, Robin Hood
and His Adventures
The
facts about the life of Robin Hood are hazy at best, and this is only one
conjectured date of the English outlaw’s death. It is said he died aged 86 and
was bled to death by an aunt in the convent of Kirklees. Blowing his
horn, he summoned Little John to his bedside and said
Give me my bent bow in my hand, And
an arrow I'll let free,
And where that arrow is taken up, There let my grave digged be.
The alleged grave may still be seen
near Huddersfield.
Robin’s origins
and the Green Man
The famous English outlaw who robbed from the rich to give
to the poor was first heard of in a Latin clerical chronicle in 1354 in which
Robin was a trespasser in a royal forest. As early as 1438 a ship was registered
at Aberdeen with the name Robin Hood, and in 1486 King Henry VII watched Robin Hood pageants
at York. The English outlaw was in sixteenth-century Scotland a cult figure,
probably because of his resistance to English authority. Tennyson saw the fabled
figure as an alternative to the values of modernism.
We may see Robin Hood’s death,
coming as it does on the day before Christmas, the ancient festival wherein the
forces of the new were born again, as an allegory of the annual ‘death’ of
the vegetative process. The next day, following the Winter Solstice, the process
begins anew and the days grow ever longer, bringer life back to the soil. Such
are the myths and legends associated with death-rebirth deities,
especially at Yuletide.
In his colour of Lincoln Green and
his presence in Sherwood
Forest, Nottinghamshire,
Robin is a cognate of the archetype, the Green
Man, a
symbol of uncertain origin common in the British
Isles. Classic examples of the Green Man are most frequently found among the
stonework in and on churches, in
the borders and decorations of bibles and other religious works – he is even
carved, under the instruction of Michelangelo, on the tomb of Pope
Julius II in
Rome – though it is more
likely pagan in
nature. The French called him tete de feuilles (head of leaves)
and the Germans called him blattmaske (leaf mask) or blattqesicht.
In the English tradition, this sprite is also called Robin Goodfellow or Puck,
and may be depicted with a goat's cloven hooves like Satan and the wood-dwelling
satyr, Pan (pictured
at left), Greek god of shepherds and flocks. In Roman mythology, he is the god Faunus. Other
possible references to him are Green George, Jack-in-the-Green, and the Green Knight ...
1579William Withers, the
prophet-boyof Walsham le Willows,
England, “to the great admiration of the beholders, and the greefe of his
parentes”, fell into a ten-day coma, or trance, from which he emerged a
forceful preacher, full of forebodings and condemnation. The eleven-year-old
farm-boy was visited by many from far and wide who came to observe the
“wonderfull worke of God shewed upon a chylde”, as a pamphlet described the
phenomenon.
After
the earthquake of April
6, 1580, he said “when the Lord passed you by as it were but
with one touche of his finger”, and ranted that “if there was no change in
their sinful way of life, there would be far greater earthquakes when the Lord
would shake the houses on their heads and make the earth open and swallow them
up”.
1642
At Edgehill, where two months previously (October 23) had been fought a great battle of the
English Civil War, shepherds, a parson, a justice and other notables saw for the
second of many nights an apparition of the whole battle. Hearing about it, King
Charles I sent six commissioners to investigate, and all witnessed the
phenomenon.
1753
Following close on the heels of the change of calendar on September 2, 1752, people
waited for the thorn tree at Glastonbury, England, to bloom on Christmas Day,
but they had to wait until January 5, confirming the view of many that the
change was irreligious and Christmas should now be on January 5. At Quainton,
Buckinghamshire, 2,000 people also waited to watch a blackthorn, taken from a
cutting of the thorn tree, which also failed to bloom as customary on Christmas
Day. The thorn tree at Glastonbury grew when St Joseph of
Arimathea, Jesus’
uncle, stuck his staff in the ground at Glastonbury, and always bloomed on
Christmas Day.
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute heilige Paar.
Holder Knab´ im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh',
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Hallelujah,
Tönt es laut von fern und nah,
Christ, der Retter ist da,
Christ, der Retter ist da!
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb' aus Deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund',
Christ, in Deiner Geburt,
Christ, in Deiner Geburt!
Tradition
has it that the organ at St Nikolaus was not working that night before Christmas
(a popular version of the story claims that mice had eaten out the bellows). The
story of the rushed composition may also be apocryphal, as a manuscript was
discovered in 1995,
apparently in Mohr's hand and dated 1816, already identifying Gruber as the
composer.
It is believed that the
carol has been translated into more than 300 languages around the world, and it
is one of the most popular carols of all time.
1875
Fifty-nine people died when the pearling fleet they were in was hit by a cyclone
in Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia. This was 99 years to the day before Cyclone
Tracy destroyed the Northern Territory capital city of Darwin (see below).
1881Oscar Wilde embarked for America and a year-long lecture
tour on such topics as ‘The House Beautiful’ and ‘The Decorative
Arts’.
Striking copper miners and their children
– about 500 people in all – were having a Christmas celebration in
Italian Hall;
strike-breakers outside barred the doors then an unknown person called
"Fire!". In the
ensuing stampede, seventy-three children were crushed or suffocated.
“In
1913, northern Michigan was rocked by a series of strikes of copper mines. The
bosses used every trick in the book to break the solidarity of the workers. In
Calumet, on Christmas Eve, company thugs broke up a strikers' Christmas party
by shouting "fire" and then barring the door. In the subsequent
panic, 73 children were smothered to death. Woody Guthrie has immortalized
this instance of the violence of class war.”Source
“During the next few days of the Christmas season, Calumet buried its dead. The country mourned the disaster. Newspapers around the country ran editorials against the copper bosses. Union organizers were shot and run out of town on a rail. The dispute between the miners and their bosses reached the floor of the U.S. Congress. And their struggle now became a fight for the conscience of the nation.” Source
Come with me in nineteen thirteen
To Calumet, Michigan, copper country
I'll take you to a place called 'Italian Hall'
Where the miners are having their big Christmas ball
I'll take you in a room, it's up a high stair
Singing and dancing is heard everywhere
You can shake hands with the people you see
And watch the kids dance round their big Christmas tree
You ask about work and you ask about pay
They tell you they make less than a dollar a day
Working the copper claims, risking their lives
So it's fun to spend Christmas with children and wives
Talking and laughing is heard everywhere
And the spirit of Christmas is there in the air
Before you know it you're friends with us all
And you're dancing around and around in the hall
A little girl sits down by the Christmas tree
lights
To play the piano, so you've got to keep quiet
To hear all this fun you would not realize
That the copper boss thug-men are milling outside
The copper boss thugs stick their heads in the door
One of them yelled, and he screamed, There's a fire
A lady she hollered, There's no such a thing
Keep on with your dancing, there's no such a thing
A few people rushed, but it was only a few
It's just the scabs and the thugs fooling you
A man grabbed his daughter and carried her down
But the thugs held the door and they could not get out
Then others followed, a hundred or more
Though most of the people remained on the floor
The gun-thugs they laughed at their murderous joke
And the children were smothered on the stairs by the door
Such a terrible sight I never did see
We carried the children back up to their tree
The scabs outside still laughed at their spree
And the children that died there were seventy-three
The piano played a slow funeral tune
And the town was lit up by the cold Christmas moon
The parents they cried and the miners they moaned
Oh see what your greed for money has done.
1924
Eight people died in what was thus far Britain’s worst air crash, when an
Imperial Airways plane crashed near Croydon.
1928
Albert Einstein and eminent physicist Leo Szilard filed a patent in England for
a refrigerator. A prototype proved too noisy for domestic use, but the magnetic
pump in many nuclear reactors is based on their noisy fridge.
1948Personnel
moved into the first solar-heated house built in the US.
1951 King Idris
I (appointed that day) formally announced the independence of Libya after six years of the
country being administered by the French and the British.
1974 Australia: On the night of Christmas Eve,
and into Christmas
morning, Tropical
Cyclone Tracy
completely devastated the Northern Territory's capital city of Darwin, causing the evacuation of half the population, and the loss of many
lives.
Officially, 45 died, but
no one reckoned the numbers of Aborigines, hippies and transient people camped
in the bush and on the many beaches in the wider area. It was, of course,
convenient for the government to keep the numbers down in this national disaster
that had the remote city isolated for days.
Some
of the world's poorest countries (e.g. Bangladesh, Lesotho) sent money and
messages, as did Australia's traditional friends and allies.
In meteorology,
a tropical cyclone
(informally, a typhoon
or hurricane) is a type
of low-pressure
system that generally forms in the tropics, but not on the equator. They could
not exist without the Coriolis effect and hence cannot form or travel near
the equator, as shown by this
map.
Folklore
There is a curiosity in
the name of the cyclone that destroyed Darwin on this day, because it is the
same as the surname of one of the four knights who murdered the famous English
churchman Thomas a Becket. William de Tracy was the leader of the knights, and
for his crime all those of that surname were cursed by the Church with this ban:
Wherever by sea or land they go, For ever the wind in
their face shall blow.
Hence the old expression
“All the Tracys have the wind in their faces”, which means that those who do
wrong will always be punished. Becket was born on December 21 and died on
December 29. Coincidentally, Cyclone Tracy was just about right in between these
two days.
"The
official death toll was about 45 (incredible B/S) but according to the locals
there were actually hundreds of people killed. To be an "officially dead
person" you had to be found fairly intact and with ID on your person; or
have someone ID you. Darwin is right at the top of the NorthWest of Australia.
Its tropical and the standard garb is shorts and thongs (very hot and humid).
They dug graves with bulldozers and piled the bodies and bits in. I heard from
the locals that entire aboriginal settlements were wiped out. Ancient forrests
[sic] were razed to the ground, impassable even on foot: just so much kindling to
Tracy. It became a 'political' issue, and for some reason the government seemed
to think a high death toll would make them look bad; what with an election just
around the corner."Source
Click on an area of interest to receive
a regional map
"The tropical cyclone data presented at the site above are
intended to convey only general information on current storms and must not be
used to make life or death decisions or decisions relating to the protection of
property: the data may not be accurate.
If you are in the path of a storm you should be listening to official
information sources. These data have no official status and should not
be used for emergency response decision-making under any circumstances."
1974
The Beatles finally and legally dissolved their partnership.
1974
John Stonehouse, former British Labour minister, was arrested in Australia,
having disappeared some weeks previously when he faked his own drowning in
Florida, USA. Police in Melbourne apprehended him, though they thought at the
time that he was missing alleged English murderer Lord Lucan.
1980
At the height of the Christmas shopping rush period, a bomb exploded in the
central Sydney Woolworths store, and an extortion demand for half a million
dollars was received.
1989
Manuel Noriega, the deposed dictator of Panama, surrendered to the Papal nuncio
in Panama City, temporarily foiling American plans to capture him.
1990 Wind speeds of
approximately 240 kph were recorded during a cyclone along the coast of
Queensland, Australia.
The
colour photograph of Earthrise – taken by Apollo 8 astronaut,
William A Anders, December 24, 1968. Although the photograph is usually
displayed with the moon below the earth, this is how Anders saw it.
reetings from Australia.
How it works
Rural
Dionysia, ancient Greece
In old England, on Christmas Eve it was a custom to drag a huge log to the hall of the manorial home, where it was lit with a piece of last year’s Yule log. It was believed this smaller piece of wood when kept in a cellar would protect the home from fire. The flame of the Yule log was believed to burn out past wrongs. It was considered very bad luck if a squinting person, a flat-footed woman, or a bare-footed person entered the hall when the fire was burning. 
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Hear undernead dis laith stean
Robin’s origins
