Yuletide Customs
The exact date when Yuletide became an established season of feasting is not known, but long ago when the heathen gods still ruled the minds and lives of the Teutonic tribes, certain ceremonies customarily took place from the 14th of December to the 6th of January. The people believed that the sun's wheel, Jul, paused in its course and rested after its yearly round, a belief easy of credence to the minds of far Northern people, as the sun did not rise above the horizon at that season. For these three weeks there was Yule peace, all feuds were dropped for the time, and solemn sacrifices were offered to ensure the fruitfulness of fields and animals. Relics of these ceremonies are still observed in some parts of Hessen. At midnight of the 24th of December the village youths parade the streets and proclaim the advent of the days of peace. During the remainder of Jul everything must rest, neither wagons nor spinning-wheels may be used, lest harm should overtake the flocks and fields.
The Icelanders by law and ancient custom date the beginning of their year from Yule Day; they also count a person's years by the number of Yules in his life, just as a Chinese man reckons his age by the number of New Year's Days he has seen.
The English revert to the ancient Saxon feasts on the 25th of December, when a great wassailing and feast was held in honor of great Thor, the anniversary being known as the "Mother Night," as the progenitress of all other nights in the year. The distinctive names for this festival were Gule, Gwyl, Jul, or Yule,—the belief of the learned being that these terms expressed the idea of a wheel or circle, embodying the central idea of a holy day. Gwl in Welsh and Geol in Saxon signify holy day, and seem to be interchangeable with Yule or I-ol, signifying ale,— the foremost ingredient in early Saxon or English feasts.
Christmas, a variation of Christ-mass, owes its name to the fact that in the Greek and Roman churches a mass in honor of Christ's birth was celebrated on that day. In many languages the word for Christmas means birthday, as the French word Noil, the Italian Natale, and indirectly the German Weihnachten, or sacred night, alluding to the birth of Christ as the event that consecrated it. The correct date of Christ's birth is unknown, nor was the day observed as Christmas until two hundred years after his birth, but Yuletide had been observed five hundred and fifty years before, the Persians keeping holiday very much as we of the present day. Then Rome took up its observance, and borrowed customs from Egypt, Persia, and Greece, adopting also the mistletoe and its rites from the Druids. Julius, pope of Rome in 400 A. D., fixed upon the 25th of December as being the day of the winter solstice, and to replace the pagan rites and festivals the Church introduced grand masses or Christmasses. Gradually came Christmas carols or Christmas hymns, then Christmas trees and a revival or survival of the pagan rites used with a Christian significance. Christmas now has come to mean simply the day, whereas formerly it was a season. Our English ancestors observed the holiday for twelve days and nights, finishing with Twelfth Night. In Ireland the little altar is kept up, with its candles and decorations, until "Little Christmas Day," two weeks from Christmas, and from the poems of Herrick (whose authority on ancient customs is undoubted) the Christmas decorations may be left until Candlemas Day, the 2d of February, when they must all be taken down unless the inmates wish to see a goblin for every leaf left on the wall. One poem says
"End now the white loaf and the pye,
And let all sports with Christinas dye."
Another poem commences —
"Down with the rosemary and bayes,
Down with the mistletoe,
Instead of holly, now upraise
The greener box for show.
The holly hitherto did sway;
Let box now domineere
Until the dancing Easter Day
Or Easter Eve appeare."
The use of evergreens at Christmas comes from the Romans, who thus ornamented their temples during the feast of Saturn, while ivy was universally used in feasts in honor of Bacchus. The ancient Druids hung green branches and mistletoe over their doors as a propitiation to woodland sprites; they used also to cut green trees and carry them into their houses to protect the spirits of the forest and streams from the death-dealing winds, thinking the spirits, thus protected, would go forth in the spring to reclothe the forests with beautiful foliage and unlock the ice-bound streams. A survival of this superstition was found among the English peasantry not more than two hundred years ago. They hung evergreens in their cottages in the belief that they would attract sprites, and that the boughs would remain unnipped by the frosts and furnish a shelter for the woodland deifies. "Standard trees" in the city were originally "nailed fule of holme and ivy" showing that the external aspect of Christmastide was a public concern in the days of our ancestors. In "Poor Robin's Almanac," 1695, is this allusion to the Christmas evergreens:
"With holly and ivy,
So green and so gay.
We deck up our bouses
As fresh as the day.
With bays and rosemary
And laurel compleate
And every one now
Is a King in concrete."
These must be taken down by Twelfth Day.
"Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the baies and mistletoe,
Down with the holly, ivy, all
Wherewith you drest the Christmas hall
So that the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind."
As mistletoe and holly are our principal decoration, it may be well to know the origin of their use and their supposed power. The Druids at Yuletide used to cut the mistletoe to place upon their altars with elaborate ceremonies. Their name for it was All-Heal or All-Healing. There was a large procession, headed by the Druidical priests, with bards singing canticles and hymns; then a herald preceded three Druids, furnished with implements for severing the sacred plant; then the prince or chief of the Druids, accompanied by all his followers. The chief mounted the oak and with a golden knife detached the mistletoe and presented it to the priest, who received and bore away the branches with great reverence. Two white bulls were sacrificed during the rite. On the first day of the new year, the branches, after resting on the altars in the interval, were distributed among the people as a sacred and holy plant, the Druid priest crying, "The mistletoe for the New Year." Just when the mistletoe became known as the "kissing-bush" is not known. There are many superstitions in regard to the mistletoe,—it being usually accounted friendly in British traditions, though in other nations it has been used for evil. In Northern mythology it was used to destroy the "god of light." Balder, the "white god" or the "god of light," dreamed that his life was in danger, and his mother, Frigga, exacted a promise from all animate and inanimate things, from sickness, and from fire and water, that they would bring no harm to her son. Because she thought the mistletoe too insignificant she omitted to make the same request of it, and the evil god Loki fashioned an arrow of it, which he put into the hands of Hoeder, Balder's blind brother, who, joining the other gods in playful attacks upon the invulnerable Balder, unconsciously gave him the fatal wound.
Many English girls believe that they will not be wedded inside of twelve months unless they have at least one kiss under the mistletoe. In many counties a berry is plucked from the mistletoe with each kiss, and when there are no berries no kisses are allowed. Mistletoe used to be considered a charm or amulet to ward off the baleful influence of witches. It was also considered that its influence was irresistible, that no one could possibly pass beneath it without yielding to its power, and hence both matron and maid must submit to the salutation which has since become customary.
The holly, with its traditions and customs, comes down to us from the old Romans and Teutons, and "bringing in the holly" used to be a matter of some ceremony. The good folk of Rutland, England, never bring holly into the house before Christmas Eve, believing that to do so would entail upon them a year of ill luck; and in Derbyshire it is believed that the roughness or smoothness of the holly that comes into a house at Christmas foreshadows whether husband or wife will rule during the coming year. The superstition that the holly is to remind us of Christ's suffering is of later origin than most of the Christmas customs. A little Christmas carol, in the Christmas number of "Harper's Magazine," 1898, prettily embodies this idea:
"The holly berry's red as blood,
And the holly bears a thorn:
And the manger-bed is a Holy Rood,
When Jesus Christ was born."
In the Black Mountains at the present day the custom of bearing home the Yule log is still carefully observed in all its ancient detail. The house-father fells the chosen tree, then he utters a prayer, and carefully lifts up his log and bears it home on his shoulder. His sons follow his example, each bearing a log for himself. The father then leans his log up against the house, being careful that the freshly cut end is uppermost, the lesser logs or ends surround it. As the father places each log he says, "A merry log day."
The fire thus kindled is not allowed to go out until the following year, or great evil will befall the household. Portions of the preceding Yule log lighted the new logs, and the remains of each year's fire were carefully stored away among the household treasures for this purpose.
In the Highlands of Scotland it is, to this day, considered a great misfortune if the fire goes out, and it is said "Tae nae luck, ye've let oot the fire." The Yule log of England is chosen for its knots and rugged roots, a cross-grained block of elm being usually chosen, as it will burn longer. This used to be decorated with garlands of greens and ribbons and drawn to its place with much merriment.
Formerly the members of a family and the guests sat down in turn upon the Yule log as the throne of the Master of Revels or the Lord of Misrule, sang Yule songs, drank to the Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and as part of the frolic ate Yule dough or Yule cakes, drank furmenty, spiced ale, and from the wassail bowl.
Then they played Yule games, and finally kindled the Yule log from brands kept from the previous year. Herrick writes:
"Kindle the Christmas brand, and then
Till sunneset let it burne;
Which quencht, then lay it up agen,
Till Christmas next returne.
"Part must be kept, wherewith to teend
The Christmas log next yeare:
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischief there."
A similar custom was retained on the Continent called Souche de Noel. In Norfolk and other counties, as long as any part of the Yule log remained burning, all the servants were regaled at their meals with the best of cider and ale.
The early English and Irish people called Christmas the "Feast of Lights" and used to burn the "Christmas candle," which was so large as to burn several nights before being consumed. It is one of the most interesting of the Christmas customs, for very early it was made symbolical of the "Light of the World," and its burning became a religious observance. Whether it was, as is claimed, a pagan rite, offered to the sun for its returning warmth at Yuletide, is not really known.
Used as a Christian symbol, however, the Christmas candle grew larger and larger until it assumed such huge dimensions as to last the whole twelve nights of the holidays. The candle was often ornamented with a lamb, typical of the Lamb of God. These candles are still sold in various places at Christmas time. In the buttery (pantry) at St. John's College, Oxford, may still be seen an ancient stone candlestick bearing a figure of the Lamb. This candlestick used to be placed upon the "high table" each of the twelve nights of the Christmas festival, and in it burned the famous candle of St. John's.
One of the Christmas games used to be "jumping the candles." Twelve candles, representing the months of the year, were placed at intervals on the floor, and each person in turn was required to jump over them. If all were successfully passed over and still burned brightly, good fortune would be the jumper's during the coming year; but if any candle flame was put out it betokened ill-luck coming in the month it represented. If all were put out, the bachelor or maid who committed the direful deed would not only not marry during the coming year but might expect a disappointment in love. This custom is now used on Halloween-night.
A hundred years ago the English chandlers used to pay tribute to their patrons in the form of huge mould candles, and the coopers presented their patrons with great logs, called Yule dogs or blocks, and direct descendants of the Yule log.
The poor little Puritan children were not allowed to keep Christmas, because to do so savored of popery in their elders eyes. Governor Bradford, on the second Christmas in the New World, 1621, wished people to work, but if they would not work they must not play; if they kept Christmas at all it must be as a "matter of devotion." One thing, however, the children did have in the early days of New England was the "Christmas candle." This candle was home-made, of tallow, large, with the wick divided at the lower end to form three legs, while at its heart was concealed a quill well filled with gunpowder. On Christmas Eve it was lighted, and the quaint little Puritan folk sat around it, telling stories, until suddenly the candle went off with a bang, filling the children with glee, and giving them their only taste of holiday fun.
Germany is the Fatherland of the Christmas tree and of Kriss Kringle, the "Merry Man;* and Kriss Kringle still adorns the top bough of every tree, large or small, in Germany.
It is said that Christmas trees were used to place gifts upon as early as 1632; they certainly were by 1744, as Goethe in "The Sorrows of Werther" alludes to the custom. France adopted the Christmas tree about 1840, and Prince Albert introduced it into England the first Christmas after his marriage. The Queen still keeps up this custom, having a tree for her own gifts, one for her children and grandchildren, and one for the household. Since then the custom has become world-wide. The "Tree of Candles," is of more ancient date. There is an old French romance of the thirteenth century in which the hero sees a tree whose branches from top to bottom are covered with burning candles, while on the top is a figure of a child shining with a still greater radiance.
This tree symbolized humanity — the upper lights being the souls of the good, those below, of the wicked, while the child represented Christ. The poetic idea of the Christmas tree as a symbol of the renewed life of nature which begins with the lengthening of the days comes from Germany. From the Norse mythology comes the suggestion of the Christmas tree as typical of the new-born sun in that it was bedecked with lights, and was an emblem of spring on account of its rich green. Probably the Norse mythology was the origin of the "tree of candles" more than of the present Christmas tree. On the introduction of Christianity the Christmas tree, although not known then by that name, became the type of Christ.
The following quotation from L. P. Lewis gives these emblems of the Christmas tree:
"The tree itself, stately and tall, was symbolical of His Majesty and grandeur; the green, of His godliness and immortality; the lights, of His glory and of the Star in the East, and the angel on top (which was then never omitted), of the angels who gave to the shepherds the words still spoken each Christmas Day, "Peace on earth, good-will to men."
