Father Christmas
Father Christmas seems to be as old as Europe. Once he was Woden, lashing his rein-deer through the darkness of northern midwinter. Then he encountered the Church, and She transformed him into a saint, the much-loved Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (in south-west Turkey) in the fourth century. St Nicholas became the patron saint of children, and was given 6 December as his day.
Since the 6th century St Nicholas has been venerated in both East and West, though virtually nothing is known of his life. Some believe he may have been one of the fathers at the Council of Nicea (325), imprisoned during the Emperor Diocletian’s persecution.
According to legend, Nicholas was an extremely generous man. He revived three schoolboys murdered by an innkeeper in a tub of pickles. He rescued three young women from prostitution by giving their poverty-stricken father three bags of gold. (Hence the use of three gold balls as the pawnbroker’s signs.) When he wanted to help a poor family whom he knew, but he did not want them to know it was him he climbed up on their roof on Christmas Eve and dropped some coins down the chimney.
The next morning the coins, to the great surprise of the family, were found in the stockings of the ladies, who had hung them to dry by the fire the night before. Every year after that they put their stockings out, in the hope that some more money would fall into them. They told the story of this amazing appearance to their friends and neighbours, and the custom caught on.
Over the centuries many, including children, sailors, unmarried girls, pawnbrokers and moneylenders have claimed him as their patron.
Perhaps it was on account of S Nicholas’ generosity that in recent centuries children began to write little notes sometime before 6 December, to tell him about the toys they specially wanted. These notes were then left on the windowsill at night – or else on a ledge in the chimney.
But St Nicholas Day chanced to lie in the magnetic field of a much more potent festival…. and after awhile his activities were moved towards Christmas. Then in Bavaria the children still left their notes on the window sill, but they addressed them to Liebes Christkind – Krishkinkle as they knew him – and the saint’s part in the matter was simply to deliver the letters in heaven.
The most popular result of the cult of St Nicholas has been the institution of Santa Claus. He is based on Nicholas’ patronage of children and the custom in the Low Countries of giving presents on his feast. Santa Claus has reached his zenith in America, where the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam (New York) united to it Nordic folklore legends of a magician who both punished naughty children and rewarded good ones with presents.
The Winter Solstice
A Midwinter festival has been a part of life since pre-Christian times. When the hours of daylight are fewest, the warmth of the sun weakest, and life itself seemingly at a standstill, our ancestors, the pagan peoples of Europe and Western Asia, kept festival by lighting bonfires and decorating their buildings with evergreens.
Perhaps they believed that the dying sun could be enheartened by fire, and the life of the buried seed assured by the presence of evergreen branches.
With the advent of Christianity, the Spring gods became identified with Christ, and the birthday of the sun with the birthday of the Light of the World. Pope Gregory instructed Augustine not to worry about harmless outward customs, as long as the right God be worshipped through them. And so many Anglo-Saxon customs were never discarded, but simply endowed with a new significance.
By 1598 one John Stow of London wrote how: “Against the feast of Christmas, every man’s house, as also their parish churches, were decked with holme, ivie, bayes, and whatsoever the season of the yeare afforded to be greene.”
What about Christmas trees?
There are two early stories that mention fir trees. The first involves St Boniface, who went to Germany in the 8th century as a missionary and found people sacrificing a child to their god under an oak tree. Boniface was appalled, and rescued the child. He then chopped down the oak tree and found a tiny fir tree growing nearby. He gave this to the people and said: “This is a symbol of life. Whenever you look at this tree, remember the Christ-child who is the one who will give you life, because he gave his life for you.”
The second early fir tree story involves Martin Luther in the 16th century. It is said that one year he decided to drag a fir tree into his home and to decorate it with candles. He used it as a visual aid, telling people that the candles symbolised Jesus as the light of the world, and the evergreen tree symbolised the eternal life that Jesus gives to us. Many of the people who followed Luther were struck by the idea, and took up the custom.
Christmas Eve
How do you celebrate Christmas Eve? It has its own customs, the most popular of which is going to Midnight Mass, or the Christ-Mas. This used to be the only Mass of the year which was allowed to start after sunset. In Catholic countries such as Spain, Italy and Poland, Midnight Mass is in fact the most important church service of the entire Christmas season, and many people traditionally fast beforehand. The hour was first chosen at Rome in the fifth century to symbolise the idea that Christ was born at midnight – a mystical idea in no way hindered by historical evidence! No one knows the hour of his birth.
In other countries, such as Belgium and Denmark, people dine during the evening, and then go on to the Midnight Service.
In 1947 one British writer pointed out its “domestic convenience” : “for where there are children and no servants, husband and wife may be unable to communicate at any other time.” (Some things don’t change, then!)
The English are behind some countries when it comes to exchanging presents: in Germany, Sweden and Portugal the custom is to exchange on Christmas Eve. But the English are ahead of Serbia and Slovakia, where the Christmas tree is not even brought into the house and decorated until Christmas Eve. And there was a time when no decorations could be brought into our church until after Evening Prayer on Christmas Eve.
Yule logs are not so popular since the decline of the fireplace, but traditionally they were lit on Christmas Eve from a bit of the previous year’s log, and then would be burned non-stop until 12th Night (6th January). Tradition also decreed that any greenery such as holly, ivy or mistletoe must wait until Christmas Eve until being brought into the house.
Why robins?
The robin is a traditional Christmas symbol in the UK, the colourful bird often depicted on our greetings cards and Christmas gift wrapping. We use little robin decorations to trim our Christmas trees and our Christmas cakes or chocolate logs. It’s hardly surprising that we cherish this pretty, cheerful little bird as part of our Christmas festivities because he is so colourful and most other birds have migrated to warmer climates. And during our long bleak winters it lifts us to hear the chirpy song of the festive robin.
However, there is more to this chirpy fellow then just cute Christmas cards of him posing on snow covered post boxes and nesting in old copper watering cans.
Robins live throughout Europe (Except the far North) and Western Siberia. During our winter months robins in colder climates move to warmer wintering gathering grounds here. Robins who live in close proximity to people can become rather tame, especially towards avid gardeners. Some cheeky robins have learned to take advantages of unearthed worms caused from gardeners digging and turning the soil. It has also been discovered that robins can fish. Not for large fish though, the robin itself being only 14 cm and weighing between 14 and 21 gram but they can hover and dive for fish in shallow waters.
Male robins are very territorial and sing to proclaim their territory – what sound like a cheerful winter song to us is actually a warning of occupation to other robins in the area and the fight defend their territory.
Robins mate and nest in late March. The female robin builds a nest from dry dead leaves and moss in crevasses in trees, wall cavities or in under growth. Because robins don’t build traditional nests with twigs and sticks and instead simply line holes and crevasses we hear tales of robins nesting in old watering cans and wellington boots. The female lays between 4 and 6 small white to slightly blue speckled eggs which she incubates for 2 weeks. At two weeks old the robin chicks can fly. By this time the father robin feeds his offspring for a further 3 week until the chicks become independent at around five weeks old, meanwhile the female rears her second brood. Chicks are not born with the trademark vibrant red breast feathers. They shed their chick feathers to make way for their splash of red on their breasts. Not many robin chicks get to show off their new red feathers with pictures poses on top of snow covered post-boxes or pine-trees because more than a half of the chicks die during their first year. However, robins can live up to the ripe old age of 5 years, which is something to sing about.
So spare a thought for this festive little bird this Christmas time because he works hard for his living. Maybe leave them some tasty Christmas treats on your bird table, some bacon rind and a stuffing ball. And maybe leave out a few old terracotta plant pots for a homeless female robin looking for somewhere to build their nests.
[this item was taken from santaspostbag.co.uk]
The Virgin
Behold the Virgin approaching near,
And the Christ so young upon her breast,
Angels low-bowing before them here,
And the King of life saying, ‘Tis best’.
Old Celtic prayer