Tag: christmas

The Celebration of New Year’s Day Within Medieval Europe

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Within Medieval Europe, January 1st was not widely celebrated as the secular New Year’s Day holiday it is regarded as during the modern day. Instead, January 1st was observed as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical calendars, a date which commemorates the circumcision of Christ, which according to Jewish custom, would have occurred 8 days after his birth with December 25th being counted as the first day. Although the Gregorian calendar eventually shifted focus toward celebrating the secular New Year on January 1st, this date was intrinsically tied to Christian religious observances for centuries. January 1st was not the standard across Europe during early development of the secular New Year however as the New Year was celebrated upon different dates in various parts of Europe depending upon the local traditions of the region. Some areas celebrated the New Year on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, aligning it with the spring equinox and the start of new agricultural cycles whilst others celebrated upon December 25th, to coincide with Christmas and the birth of Christ. When Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, January 1st was officially reinstated and recognized as New Year’s Day. This calendar reformation standardized timekeeping across Catholic countries, and over time, Protestant countries adopted the practice as well. The decision to place the New Year on January 1st was in part due to pragmatism as it simplified administrative and financial matters for the state, but also symbolic and ideologic, as it connected the start of the year with the earlier Roman calendar tradition of honoring Janus, the Ancient Roman deity of transitions, and marking the beginning of new political terms under the Julian calendar. Though modern day New Year celebrations are largely secular, the date of January 1st carries the weight of centuries old traditions, from Roman rituals to Christian observances, blending the sacred and the secular

One Person Can Change the World Via the Gift of Charity

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It is often said that one person cannot make a difference, but on December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens released A Christmas Carol, with charitable donations skyrocketing seemingly overnight as the book became a best seller and sold out by Christmas Eve of that same year. A Christmas Carol has gone on to become one of the best selling book publications of all time even during the modern day. Dickens’ publication was not only a story, it was a strong critique of the socioeconomic inequalities which plagued Victorian England, and Europe as a whole, during the 19th century due to the development of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century. Dickens’ work discusses the moral obligations of the wealthy and was successful at projecting a message of social justice and reformation. After its release, the English public’s attitude toward poverty and charity softened, with many becoming more generous during the holiday season, a tradition which persists into the modern day in the form of holiday gift giving on Christmas and/or Christmas Eve. Dickens deliberately retailed A Christmas Carol affordably in a concerted effort to ensure it would reach as broad of an audience as possible. This decision contributed greatly to the novels rapid success and influence within English culture. The book serves as a strong example of how both literature and art can function as powerful tools for advocacy and reformation, perhaps even upon a global scale

The Origin of the Tradition of Bringing Christmas Trees Indoors

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During the Ancient Roman Saturnalia festival near the winter solstice, coniferous branches, boughs, and trees were brought indoors and kept. Although the exact rationale is debated, the concept may have developed as a means to symbolize everlasting life and/or as a method to ensure the god Saturn, the patron deity of time, wealth, and agriculture among other things within Ancient Rome, would prolong summer and shorten winter. In the 4th century A.D. this festival was replaced by the Christian holiday of Christmas which adopted the practice of bringing trees indoors as well. It should be noted, bringing coniferous trees indoors during the winter solstice was a pagan tradition throughout the northern hemisphere, with multiple cultures and empires outside of the Ancient Romans adopting the practice

The Origin of the Christmas Tree Tradition

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Sélestat, France (pronounced “sill-eh-schtat”) is the birthplace of the Christmas tree tradition, a ritual started in 1521 as logged by town records of the first trees cut solely for decorative purposes. The first Christmas trees were hung from the ceiling of St. George’s Cathedral, a gothic church from the 15th century

The Oldest Artwork in Human History

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Near the Ardeche River (pronounced “arr-desh”) in southern France, less than 0.5 kilometers away, 3 explorers set out a few days before Christmas in 1994. While seeking drafts of air emanating from the ground which would point to the presence of caves, these explorers found a subtle airflow which was blockaded by rocks. The explorers found a narrow shaft which was cut into the cliffside, so narrow in fact that their bodies could just barely squeeze through it. Deep inside the cave the explorers stumbled upon the oldest known cave paintings in human history, twice as old as any other artistic depiction made by human hands. The cave itself had been perfectly sealed for tens of thousands of years which is why this 32,000 year old artwork was found in pristine condition. In honor of the lead discover Jean-Marie Chauvet (pronounced “zhan mah-ree sho-vee”), the cave was named “Chauvet Cave”. The French Ministry of Culture controls all access to the cave, an intervention which was rapidly implemented as this discovery was immediately understood as an enormous scientific find, perhaps one of the greatest anthropological and artistic discoveries ever made. Scientists and art historians are typically the only members of the public permitted access to Chauvet Cave, with archeologists, paleontologists, and geologists being the most common interdisciplinary teams provided entry

The Christian Adaptation of the Pagan Ostara Festival Which Became Easter

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Just as Christmas replaced the pagan holiday of Saturnalia, Easter replaced the pagan holiday of Ostara, a festival celebrating the pagan goddess of spring, a time of renewal, fertility, and birth. The Catholic Church strategically adopted the pagan seasonal calendar to fit its own narrative, rebranding the winter season of scarcity with a time of purification for Christians, entitling this period as “Lent”

Christmas On The Western Front During World War I

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During World War I, a ceasefire occurred for a single day on December 25, 1914. This temporary peace was referred to as the “Christmas Truce” in English but in German it is referred to as “Weihnachtsfrieden” and in French it is referred to as “Treve de Noël”. The Christmas truce was a widespread but unofficial ceasefire along the European Western Front. In the week leading up to the Christmas, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange small gifts and spend time talking and drinking alcohol. While initiating the truce, Axis soldiers called out to the Allied infantry by loudly stating “you no shoot, we no shoot”. In some areas, soldiers from both sides ventured into no man’s land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle, exchange food, and give and receive small souvenirs. Joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps occurred, and many meetings ended in the singing of Christmas carols. Soldiers played games of football with one another, providing one of the most memorable images of the truce which was taken during a break out game. Peaceful behavior however was not ubiquitous as fighting continued in some areas, while in others the sides settled on no more than arrangements to recover the bodies of soldiers who had recently died in combat

Jesus Christ’s Birthday Being an Ancient Roman Holiday

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Jesus Christ’s birthday was actually in the summer but moved to the winter in order to coincide with the pagan solstice festival “Saturnalia”, in which lit trees and slaughtered goats were celebrated as hallmarks of the tradition. This pagan holiday was an annual massive gathering to feast and socialize. The traditional form of Christmas was phased out during the 19th century in favor of being changed to a more Christian centered holiday. Originally, during Saturnalia, trees were brought indoors to keep them alive in the hopes that summer would be prolonged and winter would be shortened