Christmas Gift-Giving

The custom of giving gifts this time of year was established long before Christians appropriated December 25^th as Christ’s birthday. The Romans exchanged presents during Saturnalia (Dec. 17^th-23^rd). They gave clay figures and candles to friends and loved ones in celebration of the return of the sun. Fruits and sweet cakes ensured a prosperous year. The gift of copper coins bearing the image of Janus brought good luck. (Janus was the two-faced new year god who looked forward and backward at the same time.) Holly twigs with sweets attached were especially popular gifts.

It’s believed the tradition of giving holly during Saturnalia grew out of the Roman practice of bestowing strenae on New Years. This custom dates from 747 B.C. when Tatius entered Rome in triumph on New Years Day and was given branches of vervain— the herb of grace—cut from the goddess Strenia’s sacred grove. Tatius declared that, henceforth, Jan 1^st would be celebrated with the exchange of gifts. This Roman custom degenerated over time in Britain until it became one of handing out bribes to officials. It was abolished there in 1290 A.D.

Pagans

During the twelve-day winter solstice celebration, pagans decorated trees with food and symbols to entice the return of the tree spirits. Food and milk were set out as a thank you to the land spirits for the gift of life they bestowed. Vikings offered presents to their chieftains during Yule. Chieftains exchanged elaborately ornamented weapons and parcels of land.

Christians

Until the rise in popularity of St. Nicholas, Christians exchanged gifts on Epiphany. The observance of Epiphany—when the wise men presented gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus--dates from the 3^rd century while Christ Mass (Christmas) dates from the 4^th century.

a’Thomasing/Gooding Day

Since the 12^th century, the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle--patron saint of architects and builders—has been celebrated on December 21^st. The story goes that, while traveling in India, St. Thomas encountered King Gundoforus who asked him to build a palace. St. Thomas accepted and the king went away. Instead of constructing the edifice with the money the king left him, however, St. Thomas gave it to the poor.

When Gundoforus wrote to ask how the palace was progressing, St. Thomas sent a message back telling him it was ready to be roofed. The king sent more money and, as before, St. Thomas gave it to the poor. Eventually the king returned, only to discover there was no palace. When he demanded to know why, St. Thomas said Gundoforus couldn’t see his palace because it had been built in heaven.

For this reason, St. Thomas Day became associated with charitable giving in Britain. Wheat was cooked and distributed to the poor so they could make frumenty—a kind of porridge from which plum pudding evolved. Widows and other destitute women known as “mumpers” went begging with two-handled pots into which they received the wheat. (According to Franicis Grose’s 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a mumper was a genteel beggar.) This custom became known as “going a’Thomasing.” It also was called “going a’gooding” since grateful recipients wished their benefactors all the goodness of the season.

According to Robert Chamber’s Book of Days (1862), a’Thomasing still existed in 1857. Poor women would call at the principle houses in the parish and collect pennies or provisions toward Christmas dinner for their families. In exchange, they gave sprigs of holly, mistletoe, or handspun yarn.

Regency Christmas Traditions: The Origins of Christmas

'Tis the season when we reminisce about the origins of Christmas. As a Regency author, I’m particularly interested in the holiday traditions practiced during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries in England. Many of the customs and observances actually originated with non-Christian cultures.

In an effort to convert the people of those cultures, the church appropriated pagan holidays and superimposed saints days and other religious events over them. Perhaps its most brilliant strategy was to establish December 25^th as Christ’s birthday—Christ mass—when, according to biblical accounts, Jesus was born in the spring.

Roman

This was the time of year the Romans celebrated their god Saturn in a festival called Saturnalia. It ran from December 17 to December 23^rd. Temples were festooned with garlands and candles. The senate closed, no criminals were executed and students enjoyed a holiday from school. Saturnalia was marked by the making and giving of presents, the sharing of food and drink, and a great deal of merry making. Roles were reversed; slaves pretended to be masters and masters had to serve their slaves.

More important, between 274 and 390 A.D., the Romans worshipped the sun god Sol Invictus. They celebrated December 25^th as his Dies Natalis Solis Invicti—birthday of the unconquered sun.

Norse

The Vikings celebrated the twelve-day winter festival of Jōl (Yule) around the winter solstice in late December. Jōl means “wheel,” which is how the Vikings perceived the seasons.

They believed the winter solstice was the height of their father god Odin’s wild hunt across the skies on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, a hunt which began on the Autumnal Equinox and ended at Beltane. Father Odin had a different aspect for every season of the year. In December, he was an elderly man in a long cloak with a flowing white beard. Norsemen believed the veil between this world and the next was thinnest at the winter solstice. The spirits of their ancestors walked abroad.

Celtic

For the Celts, this was the time of year when the Oak King of summer and Holly King of winter fought for dominance. And while they battled, the sun stood still. (solstice is derived from the Latin word sol, which means sun, and sistere, which means to stand still.) They built stone circles and mounds to precisely mark when the winter solstice occurred. The Celts fashioned wreaths and garlands from sacred evergreen plants (ivy of the Oak King, holly of the Holly King, and magical mistletoe) and decorated their homes to remind themselves that life would return to their forests and fields in the spring. They rang bells and sang songs to drive away evil spirits. 

It is important to note that, for most pagan cultures, the winter celebration lasted longer than a single day. It is therefore no accident the church established Christmastide/Yuletide as running from Christmas Eve until Twelfth Night (Epiphany) on Jan 6^th.