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    Christmas, A Very Peculiar History
    Christmas, A Very Peculiar History
    Christmas, A Very Peculiar History
    Ebook147 pages1 hour

    Christmas, A Very Peculiar History

    By Fiona Macdonald

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    About this ebook

    Just when you thought it was safe to take a sneak peek into your stocking, it's 'Christmas: A Very Peculiar History'. Taking an unbiased view of the myth and mystery surrounding the origins of the yuletide season, this book introduces mindbending facts about the holiday season and shatters the myths surrounding some of Christmas' most treasured and well-known facets: When exactly was Jesus born? Why is Santa's outfit red and white? Where do we get Christmas trees from? What's the snow in a snowglobe made of? What's Boxing Day all about? 'Christmas: A Very Peculiar History' takes a sideways look at bizarre yuletide customs and stories from around the world, such as Santa's evil sidekick, the terrifying Krampus, and the Scandinavian celebration of Saint Lucy. So leave the mince pies on the mantlepiece if you've been good and block up your chimneys if you've been bad, because 'Christmas: A Very Peculiar History' is here.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSalariya
    Release dateFeb 3, 2012
    ISBN9781908759023
    Christmas, A Very Peculiar History

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      Book preview

      Christmas, A Very Peculiar History - Fiona Macdonald

      MacD

      Quotes

      These poor simple creatures are made after superstitious festivals, after unholy holidays… I have known some that have preferred Christmas Day before the Lord’s Day [Sunday].

      Puritan Member of Parliament, speaking about English men and women, 1644.

      Bah! Humbug!… Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.

      Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’s story, A Christmas Carol, 1843.

      "Go Christmas, Go Hannukah,

      Go Kwanzaa, Go Solstice…

      Go Christmas, go Hanukkah,

      go whatever holiday you Wannakuh!"

      Advertising slogan by a major clothing retailer, USA, 2009. It was withdrawn after protests.

      Introduction

      Christmas! ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year…’ or so the 1963 hit song confidently informed listeners. The title of a later Christmas compilation album,‘What a Night!’ (issued 2008), sounded rather less certain – but perhaps the double meaning was unintentional.

      Assuming that Christmas IS indeed wonderful, this book will ask why so many people worldwide still feel that it is so special. It will also investigate how today’s frantic festive combination of family, food and frenzied shopping – to say nothing of novelty musical numbers and mawkish movies – came to be linked to a religious ritual remembering the birth of an apparently fatherless baby to a poor, homeless refugee.

      Time to give…

      Why do we like Christmas? Is it just because it’s a holiday – a welcome break for anything between one day and a fortnight away from the pressures of work or school? Is it – in the northern hemisphere at least – a warm and brightly-shining spot in a cold and gloomy season? Is it because of all the presents? Not just because we like getting them, but because it’s also good to give – to our friends, our family and to charities. In the USA, for example, over half the donations to good causes are made in the weeks before Christmas Day.

      ...and to consume

      Is Christmas so much fun because we enjoy the food, the drink, the decorations and the parties? Because it’s nice to get Christmas cards from distant friends, and send our own Christmas greetings? Or do we like lighting candles, singing carols, watching Nativity plays and waiting for Santa Claus? Is Christmas simply a great occasion for shops and businesses to make lots of money? Or is it, as many people of faith believe, a time of hope and consolation?

      Joy to the world!

      Christmas has a long history – stretching back, confusingly, for centuries before baby Jesus Christ was born. The fact that it has survived so long suggests that it fills an important gap in our lives. A world without Christmas would be miserable. If Christmas did not exist, we would have to invent it!

      Welcome Yule!

      ‘Welcome be ye that are here,

      Welcome all and make good cheer;

      Welcome all, another year,

      Welcome Yule!’

      English carol, words first written down around AD 1450

      SANTA SAYS: Ho ho ho, I’ll be your guide through the history of Christmas today! After all, who better to show you around?! You’ll meet my friend the Cherub soon... I wonder where he’s got to? In the meantime, come and climb on my sleigh! Ride with me as we travel 5,000 years back in time, to find out how Christmas began.

      CHAPTER ONE: Midwinter Madness

      Brrrrr! It’s the middle of winter here in the frosty northern hemisphere. Cold, dark and dangerous – the very dead of the year. The ground is frozen hard; the streams are covered with ice. There’s no green grass to feed the cattle; fruits and berries have vanished from the leafless trees. Wild creatures have migrated south, or hidden themselves to hibernate. Fish don’t leap in the rivers. No birds sing.

      Each day, there is less light. The nights grow longer and colder. As you huddle under your smelly goatskin rug, you’re hungry and shivering. Have you stored enough grain? Have you cut enough firewood? And will something fierce and nasty from the forests prowl out of the darkness to eat you?

      Just as bad, the dim grey days are making you very miserable. You’re tired, slow, clumsy, depressed. You feel vaguely ill, and horribly lazy.

      Why this winter gloom? What’s happening to your world? And why – in every way – has the Sun stopped shining?

      SANTA: Don’t worry, my friend! Be happy! It will soon be the SOLSTICE….

      Turning world

      Every year, the Earth orbits the Sun, spinning on its own axis. But because the Earth is tilted as it travels, sunlight does not strike its surface evenly. Instead, the amount of light reaching places on the Earth varies from day to day. This is why days can be longer or shorter at different times of the year. The difference in daylight hours from season to season increases with distance North or South from the Equator.

      The day the Sun stands still

      Twice a year, at Midsummer and Midwinter, there are moments in time when the top and bottom of the tilting Earth get closest to, or furthest away from, the Sun. These moments are known as ‘solstices’; they happen at the longest (Midsummer) and shortest (Midwinter) days.

      To a person standing on the ground, the Earth’s orbit and tilted angle (or ‘axial tilt’) make it look as if the Sun is climbing higher or sinking lower in the sky, day by day. And, at each solstice, it appears that the Sun stands still for a while, and then changes direction.

      Our word ‘solstice’ was invented by the Romans, over 2000 years ago. Like many past peoples, they observed how the Sun seemed to stop in the sky at Midsummer and Midwinter, and gave this phenomenon a name. They combined two existing words in Latin, their language, to create a new one:

      ‘sol’ (the Sun) + ‘sistere’

      (to stay still) = solstice!

      SANTA: So you see, my friend, there’s no cause for despair! The Sun’s not going to disappear! And after the solstice it will soon shine more strongly again. The days will get longer, the weather will grow warmer. The world will be reborn, believe me!

      If you want further proof, you can visit monuments based on careful observations of the solstices. They’ll show you how the Sun always rises, even at the darkest time of the year.

      Newgrange

      At Newgrange tomb in Ireland, constructed around 3,200 BC, there is a chamber built to catch a beam of light on the Winter Solstice. The sunbeam illuminates the floor of the chamber for 17 minutes before disappearing until next year.

      Still not convinced? Then what what you need is light, warmth – and action. They will make you more cheerful!

      Build a big bonfire! Hold a huge feast, or be like the the Romans, and throw a splendid party to celebrate the solstice!

      SANTA: I LOVE a party! Hop back on to my sleigh. We’re off to Ancient Rome!

      Senator M Cornelius Galba Requests the Pleasure of your Company at a PUBLIC, ALL-NIGHT, LAMP-LIT feast for...

      SATURNALIA

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