Father Christmas

While St. Nicholas was catching on in Europe, Father Christas was evolving in the British Isles. Unlike his gift-giving counterpart, however, Father Christmas was a personification of the season, depicted in a green robe with a holly wreath around his head, surrounded by food and drink.

Norse

The Vikings believed their father god, Odin, had a different aspect for every season. At the winter solstice, he was an old man dressed in a long coat with flowing white hair and beard who secretly visited among his people to determine their contentment. From the autumnal equinox to Beltane, Odin rode across the skies in a wild hunt on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Children would leave carrots, straw and sugar in their boots by the fireplace for the magical horse to eat.

Anglo-Saxons

At the winter solstice, the most elderly man in the village would dress in furs and drape himself with ivy. “Old Winter” would go from house to house, carrying the spirit of the season with him. To extend him hospitality meant good luck in the new year.

Celts

For the Celts, this was the time of the Oak King and Holly King. But there is another image upon which Father Christmas is based. The Green Man personified the everlasting qualities of nature. Popular among cultures before the Romans (to them he was Viridios which means verdure), images of the Green Man adorn many Medieval churches in England. He is depicted with ivy—the sacred symbol of rebirth in pagan as well as Christian traditions—wreathing his head and growing out of his mouth and ears. Or he is covered in oak leaves, the most sacred of trees to the Druids.

Modern Times

The earliest references to Father Christmas can be found in a carol written by Richard Smart, the rector of Plymtree in Devon, sometime in the mid-15^th century:

Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
’Who is there that singeth so?’
’I am here, Sir Christëmas.’
’Welcome, my lord Christëmas,
Welcome to us all, both more and less
Come near, Nowell!

Ben Johnson described Sir Christmas in Christmas His Masque (1616) as clad in round hose, long stockings, doublet, high-crowned hat with a broach, long thin beard, ruffles, white shoes, a scarf and cross-tied garters. In 1638, “Christmasse” was depicted as “an old reverend Gentleman in a furr'd gowne and cappe…” (The Springs Glorie by Thomas Nabbes).

Meanwhile, In America, Sinterklaas was taking hold. In 1809—the year the New York Historical Society named St. Nicholas patron saint of New York City—Washington Irving wrote of him as a rotund, pipe-smoking Dutchman in a broad-brimmed hat and baggy breeches. But it was Clement Clark Moore who gave us our modern image of jolly old St. Nick in his 1822 poem, T’was the Night Before Christmas. Then, in 1863, an American artist by the name of Thomas Nast painted him clad in a red suit instead of the traditional long, flowing green robe.

With the rise in popularity of Sinterklaas in the United States, and the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, Father Christmas’ spirit-of-the-wildwood attributes and ties to nature gradually faded away. Today he is synonymous with St. Nick and Santa Claus.

Dec. 6th St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas, the 4^th century Orthodox Bishop of Myra in Turkey, is venerated by all Christians. As a boy, he lost his wealthy parents to an epidemic. St. Nicholas used his inheritance to help the poor and is best known for his secret gift-giving. He often placed coins in shoes left out overnight on doorsteps.

According to legend, St. Nicholas encountered a man so poor he had no dowries for his three daughters. This meant they would never marry. So St. Nick threw three bags of gold coins through their cottage window over three consecutive nights.

Determined to discover the identity of his benefactor, the poor man stayed up the third night to catch St. Nicholas when he delivered the final bag. But the good bishop dropped it down the chimney instead. It fell into one of the daughters’ freshly-washed stockings hanging from the fireplace to dry.

The Dutch term for St. Nicholas is Sinter Klaas. As the patron saint of sailors, he was hugely popular in Amsterdam during the 16^th century. When the Dutch came to the New World, they brought Sinter Klaas with them. In 1809, the New York Historical Society named him patron saint of New York City (New Amsterdam).

The Boy Bishop

An interesting British custom with regard to St. Nicholas Day dates from the 13^th century. On Dec. 6^th, a mock bishop was chosen from among a church’s altar and choir boys. The “boy bishop” dressed in the robes of a real bishop—mitre on his head and the crozier in his right hand. Other boys were elected deans and canons and dressed in the robes of those offices. The youngsters could perform all ecclesiastical duties except mass.

On Dec 6^th the boy bishop conducted a service after which he and the other youngsters formed a procession and paraded through the town streets. They knocked on doors and demanded donations to the “bishop’s subsidy” which was a kind of pocket change allotment for clergymen.

The boy bishop maintained his office until Holy Innocent’s Day, December 28^th. If the youngster died before then, he was buried with all the honors of that office. Salisbury Cathedral contains the tomb of one such boy bishop.

The custom of appointing a boy bishop is believed to have derived from the Magnificat (Song of Mary) which in one verse says:

He hath put down the mighty from their seat,

and hath exalted the humble and meek.

Appointing a boy bishop, therefore, was viewed by the church as a lesson in humility and recognition of the wisdom of youthful innocence.

Henry VIII banned the practice of appointing boy bishops in 1526, but Queen Mary reinstated it when she took the throne. Elizabeth I finally abolished it during her reign, but the tradition continued on the Continent. It has since enjoyed a limited revival at Hereford, Salisbury and Westminster Cathedrals.

The practice also was common in schools and colleges. Eton conducted a Montem every three years until 1847. In 1758, it changed from the last week of January to Whitsun Tuesday. Eton’s version was more akin to flag day, or a school spirit day with marching bands and distinguished visitors.

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.