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.

Running with the bulls, English style

Most folks believe the sport of running with the bulls originated in Spain during the 16^th century. In fact it’s believed to have been invented by William, Earl of Warren on November 13, 1209 in the Lincolnshire village of Stamford, England.

The story goes like this: the earl was standing on his castle wall when he spied two bulls fighting over a cow in a nearby meadow. The butcher who owned the bulls tossed a bucket of water on them in an attempt to separate the creatures, which only infuriated them. One took off for the village with its owner and his dog right behind.

The earl mounted his horse and galloped after them.

The bull charged down main street with the earl, the butcher and, by now, all the local dogs in hot pursuit. The folks in town joined the fray yelling for all they were worth, waving hats and hurling stones at the animal. Eventually the bull was caught.

The earl was so amused, he donated the meadow to the town. His only stipulation was that every November 13^th thereafter, Stamford would conduct a bull run.

And so it did until 1839.

At 10:45AM every November 13th, St. Mary’s Church bells would peel the announcement that the running of the bull was about to begin. Shops closed and the main street was barricaded on both ends with carts and wagons. People lined the street in preparation of the fun.

At 11AM a bull was set loose.

A man in a barrel with both ends knocked out was rolled toward the bull to provoke it. Enraged, it would then charge.

The bull was driven down the main street onto the bridge over the Welland River, then into the stream. If it survived, it was allowed to climb ashore and the chase resumed. Eventually the creature was caught, butchered and the meat sold at a reduced rate to the needy who that night supped on English beefsteak.

Bull running spread to other English towns, the most notable being Tutbury in Staffordshire. By the 1700’s, people were bequeathing money to assure the Stamford bull run continued. For a while, the town held a second run the first Monday after Christmas.

Attempts to end the practice met with resistance. Then, in 1824, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals formed.

The Society brought a lawsuit in 1836 against some of the individuals who participated in that year’s run. The next year, the Stamford run turned into a riot when dragoons waded into the fray brandishing their swords and muskets. By 1839, town fathers had banned the event altogether.

Many believe the English custom of running with bulls originated with the Saxons. November is known as “blood month” -- the time of year when livestock was slaughtered in preparation for winter. Stamford’s bull run also coincided with St. Brice’s Day which was the anniversary of Ethelred’s massacre of the Danes in the year 1002. Or it may have been introduced into England by the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar.

Whatever its true origins, running with the bulls remained a very English pastime for more than six hundred years.