play "Gaudete" |
Christmasin Mediaeval and Tudor England |
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play "Gaudete" |
Christmasin Mediaeval and Tudor England |
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In 350AD the Pope decreed that the feast of Christ's Nativity should be held on December 25. This was fortunate because in Northern Europe it was essential to find some excuse to celebrate the period of the winter solstice. Communal feasting, lights, fire, song, dance and traditional ritual helped (and still help) to see people through the depressing time when the days are at their shortest, the nights are at their darkest, and the shadows are at their longest. This is probably why Christmas festivities have survived so strongly in otherwise secular societies, while more significant Christian feasts like Easter have lost their importance in the social calendar. |
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| The Christmas season was a lengthy affair in the Middle Ages, beginning with the festival of the gift-giving St. Nicholas on 6th December. In a time when people relied on good weather and good light to work, there was little to be done except keep warm and make merry. Many animals would have been slaughtered, since little winter fodder was available, and the harvest had been gathered, so food was usually plentiful. |
Father Christmas was originally a pagan figure similar to Bacchus. He was part of the drunken revelries presided over by the Lord of Misrule, an important figure who turned the established order on its head for the duration of the festival; men dressed as women, lords and servants changed places, and games took the place of work. |
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Although Christmas trees, traditional in other parts of Europe, were only introduced into Britain in the 19th Century, it was an old tradition to decorate the home with holly, ivy, and other greenery. St.Augustine, in his mission to convert the pagan Saxons, was instructed by the Pope to decorate the church with greenery at Christmas. In place of fairy lights there was the yule log, filling the hearth and kept burning through Christmas. |
Food was as important in the celebration of Christmas as it is now, although there was no set menu and the principal idea was to eat as much as possible of anything going.
Turkey was added to the seasonal repertoire as soon as it was imported from the New World, but other Christmas favourites included goose, peacock pie, marzipan and exotic fruits and spices. The Christmas Pudding began as a spiced and fruity version of frumety, more like porridge. By Georgian times it had evolved into the boiled pudding known today. The Medieval taste for mixing meat, fruit and spices produced the modern mince pie, though nothing remains in todays mix of the meat except the suet. |
Winter was a time for hunting, and the boar's head was a traditional delicacy at Christmas. |
December 25, the feast of the Nativity, was not considered to be one of the major festivals in the early Christian calendar, which was dominated by the all-important Easter. But from the 13th Century there was a growing interest in the Virgin Mary and in stories of the Holy Family, so Christmas increased in importance.
The Reformation saw the end of prolonged and wild Christmas festivities which were seen, with good reason, as pagan. In Cromwell's time the festival was abolished and even churches were closed.
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Music was as important a part of Christmas celebrations as it is in today's shopping malls. Carols - songs in which the congregation could join - celebrated many festivals, but it is the Christmas carols which survive. Wassailing, joyous singing and drinking, had no religious significance but was an important part of the Christmas season. Church bells rang out on Christmas Eve, not only to summon people to mass; noise, as well as light and warmth, kept the evil spirits at bay.
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January 1 was established as the start of the New Year by the Romans. In the Middle Ages the calendar year began, confusingly, on March 25, but January 1 was still called New Year. New Year was the time for giving of gifts, and in courtly circles this meant giving gifts to the Monarch, as a helpful reminder of one's existence.
It gained prominence after the Reformation in strict Protestant areas, like Scotland, where Christmas revelries were frowned upon but people still needed a reason to celebrate the dark days. |
In Medieval and Tudor times,the wildest, loudest and most drunken revelry in the Christmas period occured not on December 25, but on January 5, the feast of Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, celebrating the arrival of the Three Kings. This is when a cake was baked, containing a bean. Whoever found the bean was crowned king. |
| Midwinter celebrations were held in cottages and castles alike. Peasants might have their mummers plays, with tales of St.George and the Turkish Warrior, to keep them entertained while they caroused. Courts had better known playwrights to produce masques and plays for Twelfth Night. |
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