Dennis Hanagan –
The tradition of putting up greenery – wreaths, mistletoe, etc. – to celebrate Christmas is similar to how ancient civilizations celebrated the winter solstice.
The website History.com says Egyptians filled their homes with green palms and papyrus reeds at this time. Romans decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. Druids and Vikings favoured mistletoe. On the longest night of the year, greenery for them symbolized life and hope that the sun would return after winter.
For Christians, Christmas began as a mass for the birth of Jesus Christ. Religious scholars argue over what day he was born, but the Encyclopedia Britannica says the Catholic Church in Rome chose December 25 in the fourth century during the reign of Constantine the Great. It says the choice was “possibly to weaken pagan traditions,” adding that some scholars believe Christ was born closer to early spring near what we know today as Easter.
The online publication The Conversation gives contradictory answers. It says the church in Rome chose December 25 in 366 CE to undermine pagan celebrations of the solstice, thinking that mingling celebrations of Christ with pagan celebrations would make Christ more acceptable to the masses. But the article goes on to say that Jesus’s birthdate “has not (been) linked to the pagan rituals.” So what is it? How did we arrive at Christmas on December 25?
Yule is often used to refer to Christmas. But in a December 2023 article, the London Evening Standard says Yule and Christmas are distinct celebrations.
Yule comes from the Norse word ‘hweol’ meaning wheel, referring to the sun. Celebrations, usually around Dec. 21, involved nature-based rituals to mark the changing of the seasons and included lighting Yule logs and feasting. In modern times, says the Standard, Yule celebrations have morphed into wiccan practices.
Britannica says Yule became associated with Christmas in the ninth century after King Haakon Haraldsson of Norway visited England, converted to Christianity and ordered that Yule should be observed simultaneously with Christmas.
The word Christmas derives from the Middle English word Cristenmasse, meaning Christian mass, says Wikipedia.
Although some might consider it sacrilegious to shorten the name of Christ to an X in the word Xmas, Dictionary.com in a December 2018 article says Xmas has been used since the mid-1500s. It says X represents the Greek letter chi, the first letter in the word Xpiotoc, which means Christos, the “anointed one” or “messiah.”
History.com says Santa Claus can be traced to St. Nicholas, a monk born about 280 CE in modern-day Turkey who gave away his wealth and helped the poor and sick. But AI Overviews claims Odin, the Norse god of wisdom and magic, might have contributed to the Santa legend with his gift-giving, knowing who was good or bad and “leading a ghostly procession through the sky” with an eight-legged flying horse named Sleipnir.
The website Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario says the first Christmas tree noted in Canada was in 1781 in Sorel, Quebec. German-born Baron Friederick von Riedesel cut down a balsam fir from the forest surrounding his home and decorated it with candles.
Newfoundlanders introduced Yule logs to Christmas celebrations. In Quebec, children hung stockings beside the Christmas tree believing they would be filled by the Christ child. In the newly settled Prairie provinces in the 19th century, celebrants ate boiled buffalo hump and beaver tail before donning their “steels” to skate on a nearby frozen pond or stream.
The Imperial War Museum in London recounts that on Christmas Eve, 1914, during the First World War, British and German soldiers along portions of the Western Front emerged from their trenches, greeted each other, took photos, exchanged gifts and buried casualties before returning to their fighting positions.
Every year since 1971, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree to Boston in remembrance of the medical aid and relief supplies Boston gave Halifax after the great 1917 blast in Halifax Harbour, when an explosives-laden French cargo ship collided with a Norwegian vessel. The blast wiped out the north end of the city, says the Canadian Encyclopedia. Nearly 2,000 people died, 9,000 were maimed or blinded, and 25,000 were left without shelter.
Whatever the history of Christmas celebrations, a Britannica video offers this: “Regardless of its origin it’s nice to have a reason to look forward to the darkest days of the year.”
