Now you may be thinking why this post isn’t titled ‘Four Calling Birds’?

The truth is that the original wording of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' song is 'Four Colly Birds', an archaic nickname for blackbirds. Over the years, as 'colly birds' has fallen into disuse, the rhyme has transformed through misinterpretation into 'Four Calling Birds'.

So do blackbirds have any significance at Christmas? Actually, they do, as they were originally one of the ingredients in the humble, yet popular, mince pie.

No way, I hear you cry! Mince pies are those small pastries filled with mixed fruit and spices. How could a blackbird be included in that?

Ah, but the history of the mince pie has a lot more to it.

The Origins of the Christmas Pie

The mince pie used to be a major and central part of the Christmas feast. Rather than being a small dessert or snack-sized pie, the mince pie was a huge and lavish dish, filled with as many lavish and luscious ingredients as could be found, including blackbirds.

This meant that the pie contained far more than fruit. In fact, any kind of meat and poultry was minced together with fruits and spices.

In medieval times, this was simply called ‘The Christmas Pie’, and would often be shaped into a crib, to reflect the religious festival.

Of course, when Oliver Cromwell led the Puritans to power in England during the Seventeenth Century, this type of ‘abominable and idolatrous confection’ was outlawed. The Christmas Pie was made illegal.

But, as with other Christmas traditions during Cromwell’s reign, it went underground. The Christmas Pie became a round, traditional pie and was called a Minc’d Pie, so as to avoid prosecution.

After Cromwell’s regime was removed in 1660, the Minc’d Pies remained in their new form, growing larger and more lavish.

A Farm in a Pie

One incredible pie baked in 1770 contained the following.

• 4 geese
• 2 turkeys
• 2 rabbits
• 4 wild ducks
• 2 woodcocks
• 6 snipe
• 4 partridges
• 2 ox tongues
• 2 curlews
• 7 blackbirds
• 6 pigeons

The pie was so large that it needed to be fitted with 4 wheels to enable in to be served.

Other Blackbird Pie References

Of course, there is one other historical reference to blackbirds and pies, confirming their original popularity as a tasty pastry ingredient. In the popular nursery rhyme ‘Sing A Song of Sixpence’ the second line refers to ‘Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie’. Although the rhyme reveals these to be live birds, the implication is that a blackbird pie was certainly not unusual.

Could the rhyme actually be referring to a Christmas Pie?

The Modern Mince Pie

It wasn’t until the Nineteenth Century that the mincemeat was gradually omitted and replaced with suet, nuts, fruits, spices and syrups. Bizarrely, this concoction was still referred to as mince, and sometimes even still as mincemeat, in reference to the origins of the dish.

The pie became smaller, and found its new position as a traditional dessert or small treat.

These days, we buy jars of fruit mince to make our mince pies, even though there is nothing minced about these ingredients at all.

So next time you see a blackbird, consider how they used to be one of the favoured eating birds of Christmas, and how lucky they are the tradition has passed.

On the Third Day of Christmas, we’re going to look at some of the peculiarly French Christmas traditions as they celebrate Noël.

There is some debate as to the origins of the word Noël. Some say it is derived from the French word for 'news' - nouvelles - meaning that the French Christmas greeting 'Joyeux Noel' actually means 'Joyous News' and celebrates the news of Jesus' birth. Others relate Noël back to the Latin word 'natalis', meaning a birth or birthday.

France has some unique traditions at this time of year, and some of these can even vary throughout the different regions.

An Early Visit From Father Christmas

Most notably, in Eastern and Northern France, as in some other regions of Western Europe, the Christmas season starts much earlier, on 6 December. This is la Fête de Saint Nicolas, and is still traditionally the night when Père Noël (Father Christmas) would visit to leave his presents for the children. This again illustrates the congruence between the Saint Nicholas Christmas figure and the European Father Christmas, whilst maintaining a separation between this tradition and Christmas Day. This means that Christmas Day is kept primarily as a day of religious significance, involving the church services and a family feast.

French children would place shoes in front of the fireplace, instead of stockings, in the hope that Père Noël would fill them with sweets, fruit, nuts and small toys.

A separate Christmas character is Père Fouettard, who would give out spankings to children who had been naughty, though one suspects this character was used more as a threat in much the same way as the modern Santa Claus takes notice of who has been naughty or nice.

In other parts of France, this separation has dwindled over the years, as in other parts of the world, and Père Noël now arrives on Christmas Eve.

In some regions, as modern traditions become more wide-spread through television and film, these days small gifts are left for the children on December 6th, whilst larger presents arrive on Christmas Day, so as to appease all expectations.

Other regions of France would mark 8 December as la Fête de Lumières where households would place candles in their windows, lighting up the village to honour the Virgin Mary.

A Yuletide Tradition Survives - The Christmas Feast

The traditional family feast is commonly held after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and is called Le Reveillon, which means ‘The Awakening’ and is intended to mark the morning following Christ’s birth.

Although the feast is similar to Christmas dinners throughout Europe, the French still maintain the tradition of the Yule log as a chocolate cake decorated to resemble a winter felled tree. This modern confectionary is a distant memory of the original Northern European Yule Festival and the huge log that would be burned each Midwinter to appease the elements and bring luck for the following year.

As elsewhere in the world, a true French Christmas is a mix of old pagan traditions, intertwined with religious significance and adapted to fit modern tastes. As the world becomes smaller each year through television and travel, it would be hoped that cultural variations such as those enjoyed in France will be maintained so as to preserve the wide variety of Christmas traditions.

It might surprise you to know that the Christmas festivities used to last all the way up to Candlemas on February 2nd. Candlemas is the Christian feast to mark the end of the traditional lying-in period undertaken by Mary after the birth of a child – and is therefore held forty days after Christmas day. On the fortieth day, she would have taken part in a ritual purification to rid her of the ‘Sin of Eve’; that of having given birth.

It was during medieval times that Christmas festivities began to shrink until eventually Twelfth Night came to signify the end of the holiday, so as to encourage workers to return to the fields.

Supposedly, the Twelve Days of Christmas marks the time it took for the three wise men to find their way to the baby Jesus. This led to the creation of the feast of Epiphany on January 6th. Over the Centuries, secular celebrations also abounded on Twelfth Night, with parties, drunkenness, games and music being commonplace. With many of these activities being either forbidden or difficult for most people during the working year, Twelfth Night signified the last chance to play games and behave raucously for nearly a year, hence the popularity for this tradition for many centuries.

Shakespeare was commissioned by the court of Queen Elizabeth I to pen ‘Twelfth Night (Or What You Will)’ as an entertainment for the Queen. Although the play contains no references to Christmas, or even the Twelfth Night, it was so named to mark the occasion of its first performance and therefore serves as an example of the importance given to the occasion.

These days, many of us now return to work after Boxing Day, robbing the Twelve days of their significance.

As to why the narrator gives two turtle doves to his true love on the second day, (as well as a second partridge in a pear tree, it must be said), the reasons are more to do with creating a complex memory game for children, as discussed in yesterday’s post.

Tomorrow, on day three, I’ll be looking at a particularly French Christmas in a feeble attempt to tie into the title of three French Hens.

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…"

I'm sure I don’t need to spell out that today, being Christmas Day, is the first of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Of course, these days, most people only consider the twelve days of Christmas when singing the song, but Christmas as a holiday actually extends from December 25th to the feast of the Epiphany on January 5th.

Tomorrow, I’ll be looking into the history of the Twelve Days, but today, the song is uppermost in our minds.

Test Your Memory! How Many Can You Remember?

The song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ can be traced back as far as the Sixteenth Century, and was first published in a book entitled ‘Mirth without Mischief’ in 1780. But the melody was updated early in the twentieth century by Frederick Austin. In fact, in its earliest form, the song was more of a game. Players would join a circle and each in turn would recite the first verse, “On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, A partridge in a pear tree.”

Then each person would recite the second verse, having to remember all the previous presents as they amassed. (“Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree…”) and so on. If you forgot any of the gifts, you had to perform a forfeit.

The poem memory game itself hasn’t changed much over the Centuries, except that the original ‘four colly birds’ transformed into ‘four calling birds’; colly birds being an archaic term for blackbirds. Occasionally different versions have appeared that rearrange the last few verses and in America, the opening line is more commonly sung as ‘…my true love gave to me,’ but otherwise the song is unchanged.

A Party Game or a Religious Allegory?

As usual with Christmas traditions, there are those that insist that there is religious significance to the song. In fact, the Christian argument is an urban myth, traced back to a Catholic website in 1995 that has since removed the page. But the story has spread across the internet on pages such as this one, so that many now believe that the song is spiritual in nature.

The argument goes that the different gifts signify different Christian concepts, as follows.

Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas)

1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

It is easy to see that there is very little to these supposed religious meanings other than numbers. Even then, the original author who decided to create this myth has struggled with finding a suitable correlation for some of the numbers; with no appropriate ‘11’ being obvious in the scriptures, the writer decided to refer to eleven faithful apostles by conveniently skipping Judas out of the traditionally recognised twelve.

There is no deeper significance to the song. It is simply a memory game recited as a poem by children at Christmas time that eventually found its familiar melody approximately one hundred years ago.

Five Gold Rings? My True Love Only Needs One!

I am happy to say that I prefer to think of the song purely as a statement of romantic love at Christmas time. This Christmas, my true love gave to me her answer of ‘yes’ to my proposal. So you can keep your partridges, pear trees and all those birds and milk-maids, ‘cause my true love loves me back and that’s the best present I could have.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Although a staple Christmas story for nearly two centuries, the full significance of Clement Moore’s poem is often forgotten.

Published in 1822, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ crystalised for many what would become the widely understood depiction of Santa Claus. This particular incarnation would later become intertwined with the European Father Christmas, creating the international figure we know today.

In fact, Moore remained anonymous as the author at first, worried that the secular nature of the poem could cause controversy for his position as a Baptist Minister. Once the popularity of the poem was assured though, Moore’s name became known and he forever became famous as the man who designed a central part of our modern day Christmas.

But Moore was not just a Baptist Minister. In writing this poem for his children, he drew upon his knowledge of anthropology and his fascination for ancient traditions at this time of the year. In weaving some of these traditions into his tale, many took on a new significance.

There are so many Christmas traditions and concepts that find their beginning in Moore’s poem that it seems appropriate, particularly on this Christmas Eve, to pick through the verses and illustrate just how much our modern day Christmas owes to these 56 lines.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

by Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

(Actually, the hanging of stockings had been around for some time by this point and is linked to the original tales of Saint Nicholas. Not surprisingly, Saint Nicholas was a very popular historical figure for his tendency for generosity to the disadvantaged. One such story tells of how he was passing through a poor village when he overheard the troubles of one family. A father had three daughters, but unable to afford a dowry to secure a suitable husband for each of them, it was becoming increasingly likely that they would be forced into prostitution. Therefore, as each girl reached the appropriate age, Saint Nicholas passed by and dropped a bag of gold through their bedroom window. Each time, the family was able to use the gold as a dowry and the girl was able to marry.

One variation on the tale has it that Saint Nicholas tossed the bags of gold through the window and they landed in the girl’s stocking, which had been hung out to dry. It is from this that we developed the tradition of hanging a stocking for Saint Nicholas to demonstrate his generosity.)

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

(This is the first ever mention of St Nick using reindeer as a mode of transport, but it was not a random choice. Firstly, Moore was familiar with the Northern European Christmas celebrations and their Christmas gift-givers such as Father Christmas and Old Man Winter. He also drew many of his inspirations from Lapland, as a suitably wintery climate, and therefore included the traditional use of a sleigh with reindeer to reflect how a mythical figure from that part of the world would travel.)

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

(Some people may be surprised to see Rudolph is not included amongst Santa’s roll-call of reindeer. In fact, Rudolph was a commercial creation that came about approximately a century later as part of an advertising campaign for a department store. Once the song became popular, Rudolph cemented himself as the most famous of Santa’s reindeer, despite never appearing in the ‘official’ line-up.

The choice of eight reindeer is also significant. Actually, eight reindeer would be incredibly impractical in pulling a sleigh, but Moore was slipping in an obscure reference to another Northern European Christmas tradition. Before Christ, the Norse winter festival of Yule took place at the winter Solstice and is responsible for providing many of our modern traditions. One of them, and a precursor to the idea of the Christmas Eve visitor, is that the God Odin would ride around the world at night on the festival, deciding who deserves good or bad luck for their crops for the year ahead. Bestowing prosperity or hardship on the people he visits, the Odin tradition can be seen as a possible origin for the idea of Santa drawing up a list of who has been naughty or nice. The part of the Odin myth that Moore was interested in was to do with his horse. Odin rode a massive eight legged horse on his annual journey, and by selecting eight reindeer for his poem, Moore was able to slip in a reference to one of the original Christmas gift-givers.)

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

(So why the roof? Is there any significance to this? If we return to Lapland again and Northern climates, many traditional dwellings were built into the ground, with a covering of skins and other materials to keep out the elements. This meant that the roof rose out of the ground and it was therefore possible for a visiting sleigh to arrive on your roof, although what damage that would do, I am unsure…)

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

(The chimney is one of the more bizarre aspects of the Santa Claus myth. Why would anyone choose this method to gain entry? Again, Moore was showing his knowledge of Lapland housing. With Lapland dwellings built low into the ground, there was only one opening in the middle of the roof that served as both entry and exit, as well as the chimney for the fire. So by entering a Lapland house, you were actually bounding down the chimney. A clue to this is contained in the poem as St. Nicholas doesn’t climb down the chimney, but enters with one bound.)

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

(At this period in history, there was no single image of how Santa Claus looked. He was just as likely to be depicted as a wine-soaked party-goer on a sled pulled by turkeys than he was a bearded old man in a cloak, and hundreds of other variations besides. Continuing his theme of borrowing from the Lapland tradition, Saint Nicholas is dressed as you would expect someone from that part of the world. Notably, Moore does not describe the colours of Santa’s outfit, and the images inspired from this poem were free to use any colours they felt appropriate. It wasn’t until Coca-Cola adopted Santa Claus for their annual Christmas advertising campaigns in the 1930s that he became commonly associated with the red and white outfit we know today, selected to reflect the Coca-Cola brand. Yet another example of commercial advertising shaping Christmas.)

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

(Commonly, Father Christmas or Santa was depicted actually wearing a wreath about his head, made of holly or other Christmas greenery.)

He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

(Although Moore describes Saint Nicholas as a ‘right jolly old elf’, this has been taken to mean that Santa is actually a magical elf. This is most likely the origination of the idea of elves assisting Santa at Christmas Eve as well as the other-worldly nature of the big man himself, but this is definitely an extreme extrapolation from Moore’s poem. It is quite clear that the narrator is not necessarily defining Santa as an elf but is likening him to one due to his jolly nature. Also, Moore does not provide any other background for his creation – no North Pole refuge for example. All of these magical elements were later added by modern commercial depictions and Hollywood.)

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

(Santa’s exit up the chimney is also more interesting when put into the context of the Lapland dwelling. Although the poem implies magic has taken place in Santa rising back up the chimney, in Lapland, rising up the chimney means no more than leaving through the front door, as they are one and the same.)

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

And with that, Clement Moore shaped our Christmas Eve celebrations for ever. Don’t forget to pull down a copy of the poem to read to your children in bed tonight and when you do, reflect on how different Christmas would be if Clement Moore hadn’t decided to imbue the occasion with his fascination for ancient traditions and true Christmas spirit.

So here’s the thing; an American corporation ruined a Christmas classic.

Strong words, I know, but hear me out.

If you live in the UK, you may already be familiar with Raymond Briggs' 'Father Christmas' books from the 1970s and the wonderful cartoon adaptation produced in 1991 by TVS, the award winning producers of 'The Snowman'.

A Christmas Classic

I can still remember having the first book read to me by my grandfather as a child, and warming to this particularly human and identifiable characterisation of Father Christmas. There was none of the excess of American portrayals - no North Pole Christmas village, no elves and ridiculous toy factories, no sickly schmaltz - but a human, humorous character that just happened to magically travel the world every Christmas Eve delivering presents.

The charm of this Father Christmas was the particularly English grumpiness and cynicism Briggs' gave to the character. No one, not even someone as magical and mythical as Father Christmas, could possibly be as sickeningly cheerful and upbeat all the time. Briggs' character experienced the frustrations of trying to live up to his reputation whilst dealing with the same daily chores as each of us.

The charm came from seeing that Father Christmas still had the same day-to-day lifestyle as the rest of us. Whether it is putting his suit into the dry-cleaners or dealing with the postman over his mail, Father Christmas was one of us - a recognisable character - which only added to his magic.

I can still remember my grandfather laughing aloud at the revelation that Father Christmas packed his sandwiches in an old Oxo tin, exactly as he did for years. Tending his own garden, making his own dinner, packing his own sleigh; Father Christmas was one of us. He just happened to have a more interesting job.

The Cartoon Adaptation

In transferring Briggs' character to the cartoon, TVS retained the characterisation brilliantly, especially by employing Mel Smith as the voice. The grumpy, ordinary Father Christmas came to life for all of us who remembered the books. This was the scotch drinking, 'bloomin' Father Christmas of my childhood, finally given voice.

Just recently, I managed to get this cartoon on DVD. I convinced my partner to watch it, after having just watched the other Briggs' adaptation, 'The Snowman'.

I was stunned.

This wasn't the Father Christmas I remembered. The voice had been rerecorded by William Dennis Hunt and the dialogue altered in such a way as to make Briggs' character completely unrecognisable. The language had been toned down to remove the 'bloomin' expletives. He was no longer critical of French cuisine, instead now reveling in what was on offer. Most notably, his monologue as he goes through his own Christmas presents has been changed. No longer does he bemoan the ghastly socks and awful tie from his aunts, reflecting a very real-world attitude to Christmas morning presents. These are now spoken of as wonderful items from his elves - otherwise completely non-existent. And, laughably, the bottle of scotch from his uncle is passed off in the American version as a lifetime supply of after-shave!

So Americans aren't only uncomfortable with Father Christmas being grumpy, he's also not allowed to drink! Hardly a Merry Christmas!

The Corporate Sanitation of Father Christmas

I contacted TVS to get some background for why this voice-over change happened. Alex Tham was happy to fill me in.

"It was completely watered down for the US market at the request of Sony Pictures, (then Columbia Tri-Star). They removed any reference to wine, bloomin' etc etc", writes Alex. "And in fact I still get emails from American saying that it’s tantamount to blasphemy even in the watered down state!"

Something tells me the Americans just don’t 'get it'. The magic of Father Christmas isn't in the plastic candy canes and bizarre Coca-Cola mythology that dominates Christmas films these days. ('Fred Claus' and 'Elf' - I'm looking at you!). The magic of Christmas is much warmer than the schmaltz that passes for Christmas spirit in modern American popular culture.

I've written elsewhere on the differences between the Americanised Santa Claus and the British Father Christmas, but these two different versions go some way to illustrating the different ways Americans and British view their Christmas figures.

Santa Claus Vs Father Christmas

The American version of Santa Claus, that eventually travelled the world and became entwined with the European Father Christmas, was largely determined by 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' by Clement Moore and published in 1822. Many of the traditions we associate with Santa Claus or Father Christmas originate in this poem and to do it justice, it will be the subject of a future post.

The irony is that Moore's depiction of Santa is closer to the human character later depicted by Briggs' (he's a smoker for a start) and contains none of the candy cane North Pole mythology that Briggs' also avoided. In fact, Briggs' Father Christmas seems to have taken only the elements of the Santa Claus myth that appear in Moore's poem. (The reindeer and sleigh, the chimney visitations.)

Of course, many of the American objections are probably more to do with Father Christmas being grumpy instead of a constantly 'ho ho ho-ing' department store window decoration. But then, why would we want to read or watch a character with so little depth? We wouldn't. It is this depth that made the original books a best selling classic.

It's just a shame that the American audience try to avoid depth in their Christmas entertainment or complain when it is shown. Tim Allen transforming into Santa Claus is considered a proper Christmas depiction, but a book that reflects real attitudes to Christmas in a recognisable world is dismissed as blasphemy.

If you can, find the Mel Smith original version and watch it with your children on Christmas Eve. You won't be disappointed. And you may even have a chuckle along the way.

Every December, Hollywood unleashes the Christmas family films. This year, the leader of the pack is Fred Claus, a desperately unfunny romp, that plays with all the same Christmas imagery that all of them do. The Christmas village at the North Pole, the elves in the toy factory, every house festooned with fairy lights Griswald-fashion, and so on.

Yet, each year, these films strike me as particularly un-Christmassy. They lack the warmth and genuine magic of this holiday, substituting hollow platitudes of family togetherness that strikes a maudlin tone.

An Unlikely Christmas Film

For me, the greatest Christmas film of all time (apart from The Muppet Christmas Carol) is the French film Joyeux Noel. Released in 2005, the film depicts the events of Christmas 1914, as Germans and allied forces laid down their weapons for a spontaneous cease fire.

The Strangest Christmas Mass in History

This particular Christmas is remembered in history for the startling events when Germans rose out of their trenches carrying Christmas trees. They invited the allies to join them and for the rest of Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day they swapped stories, played soccer and shared food and drink.

It was an event never to be repeated as the authorities soon stamped out any future attempts at collusion, but the amazing night of December 24th, 1914 continues to be spoken of as an illustration of the power of the ordinary soldier to resist the push for war.

Although the idea of watching a film set in the trenches of World War One may seem like an odd choice for Christmas, every time I have watched it, I feel the warmth of human bond shared by these soldiers as they realized that they could not desecrate Christmas Eve by fighting.

Although not Christian myself, I was nearly brought to tears when the Scottish army Chaplin held a Christmas Eve Mass in no-man’s land to a gathering of three warring armies.

True Christmas Spirit

For me, this film depicts the truth about Christmas. Never mind the tinsel and the food and the presents. Never mind the Nativity (although the Mass is a high-point of the film). The point was that people recognized that this holiday was about caring for your neighbours, about sharing hardships together, about love.

So when you settle down this month for a film to put you in the Christmas mood, look past all those gaudy films where the veneer of Christmas lights hides a hollow story of materialism or family disunity. Choose a film that celebrates how warm Christmas can be, even in the coldest of places.

Watch Joyeux Noel.

The Christmas tree is, when one thinks about it, one of the most bizarre of Christmas traditions. Yet no house would feel complete at Christmas without the inclusion of a brightly decorated evergreen taking up a corner of the room.

The Christmas tree has a colourful history and has been part of the midwinter festival since before Christ. Transformed over the centuries to be included within the Christian version of the holiday, I am sure no one could ever have predicted that today, families would be decorating artificial trees in Australia, cutting down forests of pines in the USA and erecting gigantic 20 metre trees in Trafalgar Square to rival even Nelson’s Column.

Tree Decoration as a Matter of Survival

The oak was the original Christmas tree of choice, even before there was a Christmas. Before the absorption of the pagan midwinter festivals into the Christian Christmas celebrations, the northern European tribes worshipped the trees as totems of nature. The oak was seen as the greatest of trees and was decorated each midwinter with bright colours. This was an attempt to lure nature to return to the trees each Spring.

There were many different tree rituals throughout the world in early history. The Norse nations practiced the tradition of the Yule Log (a subject for another post) that was intended to have the same purpose. The ancient Egyptians revered the evergreen and would bring their branches indoors for the winter solstice.

With the survival of the people so closely tied to the whims of nature, it is no surprise that so many superstitions and rituals developed around the idea of ensuring a quick thaw and a fast return to life after the midwinter. These were not mere festivities, but were carried out with a deeply held belief that failure to do so could bring disaster upon the community.

The Pine Defeats the Oak

After the Christmas holiday began to travel across Europe, the old midwinter feasts became entwined with the new Christian celebration. Most notably, the Germanic tribes still fervently hung onto their tree worshipping rituals, despite the Church’s attempt to draw the people into the Christian fold.

A compromise was reached by the fortuitous and effective substitution of the pine for the oak. By suggesting the pine as the tree of worship, the Church was able to suggest a Christian meaning for the ritual by pointing to the three corners of the pine tree triangular shape as representing the three parts of the holy trinity. This suggestion allowed the pagan tribes to continue their deeply-entrenched custom of tree decoration at midwinter whilst acknowledging the Christian celebration.

The Christmas Tree Travels Abroad

The Christmas tree remained popular in these northern European areas for centuries and didn’t arrive in England until the early nineteenth Century. Even then, the first recorded English Christmas trees did not seem to catch on, even though the royal household had taken to the tradition in a small way in the 1830’s, as recorded in the young Victoria’s diaries.

Famously, it wasn’t until the German born Prince Albert continued his family tradition by presenting Queen Victoria with a spectacular Christmas tree, sometime between 1846-48, that others latched onto the fad.

It was a while later before the Christmas tree became popular in the United States, by which time the original pagan origins were long forgotten.

The Modern Tree

These days, there is an irony in our modern Christmas tree. Hundreds of thousands of trees are chopped down to stand, shedding pine needles into the carpet over the course of a month, weighted down with electric lights and plastic ornaments. Alternatively, fake trees with metal trunks and tinsel branches are snapped together in a strange, artificial parody of nature. And we do these things without ever questioning why.

For a tradition that started out as a ritual to preserve a powerful link to the natural world, the modern Christmas tree has now become a surreal centerpiece to the family holiday. But it’s one I know I can’t do without.

Tomorrow is the first day in December, and will be marked by children all over the world opening the first little door on their advent calendar.

Each day, a new door will be opened until the final door (#24) is prised open on Christmas Eve.

But although the advent calendar is supposed to count down the days of Advent leading up to Christmas, Advent doesn’t actually begin until Sunday.

Four Sunday's in December

Advent is a Christian holy season that actually marks the beginning of the western Christian year. It commences on Advent Sunday (the fourth Sunday preceding Christmas) and lasts until Christmas, marking a period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the nativity. In fact, the word ‘Advent’ means Arrival or Coming, referring to the approaching celebration of the birth of Jesus.

It is observed by changes to the standard Church service, including dark purple replacing the more usual colours of the church (in some areas, the colour used is blue to differentiate between Advent and Lent). Each of the four Sunday’s of Advent contain lessons relevant to the season, and there is a growing sense of joy at the impending arrival of God on Earth.

Only 24 Days to Go!

For those of us who do not participate in the Christian Church, Advent means nothing more than an often chocolate-flavoured countdown to the big day – a tradition we owe to Victorian German Lutherans. The first known Advent calendar was made in 1851, although Advent candles and Advent clocks had been around for some time. In 1901, printed advent calendars started to be sold, developing over the years in different varieties; some with little doors for each date and some with small sweets or chocolates.

The man most often credited with popularizing the printed Advent calendar was Gerhard Lang. It is he who was responsible for the innovation of creating little doors that would reveal a seasonal picture. Other companies adapted this idea, changing the pictures for a daily Bible verse.

With cardboard becoming rationed during the Second World war, production was halted for many years and this ended Lang’s successful business.

A Chocolate a Day Keeps the Dentist in Business

Modern Advent calendars often have little relation to the Advent period they are supposedly counting down, and some manufacturers now choose to refer to their products as “Christmas calendars” or “Countdown Calendars” to avoid the Christian connotations.

Even so, the majority of Advent Calendars have avoided religious imagery for many years, becoming just another merchandising opportunity for Disney characters, Daleks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and any other fleetingly popular children’s characters.

The Advent Calendar is also more honest these days in the choice of pictures and presents behind each door. After all, most children see the opening of each window as a day closer to the arrival of Father Christmas and are usually rewarded with an image of the chimney-climbing gift-giver instead of a nativity scene.

Almost everyone knows, these days, that Santa Claus came to us over the centuries from Saint Nicholas. But why do some people still insist on calling him Father Christmas?

The truth is that there is a huge case of mistaken identity happening here as both names have distinctly different origins.

The Transformation of Saint Nicholas

I plan to explore the history of Saint Nicholas in a separate post, but for the purposes of this post we only need to acknowledge that Saint Nicholas was a popular figure in Turkey in the 3rd and 4th Centuries. As the Patron Saint of children (and, surprisingly, the Patron Saint of pawnbrokers) Saint Nicholas became popular amongst the Dutch as Sinter Klaas, but this was further transformed to Santa Claus when the Dutch brought this tradition with them to the Americas.

Famously, Santa Claus underwent his final and biggest make-over in the 1930’s when a hugely successful Coca-Cola advertising campaign gave him the red and white outfit and appearance we recognise today.

Alternatively, the origins of Father Christmas go back even further still and predate Christ, despite the name he would come to be known as.

Old Man Winter, Knocking at Your Door

Originally called Father Winter or Old Man Winter, he was a popular part of the Midwinter festivals that took place in the British Isles and Northern Europe. An elder of the village would dress up to personify winter and would visit each house within the village or community. The family would provide him with food and drink, thereby appeasing the winter elements and providing luck for the coming year.

The Midwinter festivals were full of these superstitious traditions that all seemed to rely on pleasing the spirits to reduce the severity of the winter elements and Father Christmas was just one more of these.

Renamed after the adaptation of the Midwinter festivals into the Christmas celebrations in the fourth century, the tradition was too popular to disappear and continued in a similar form for the following hundreds of years.

Two Traditions Become One

It wasn’t until the Nineteenth Century and the arrival of the Santa Claus tradition in England that the two characters began to become merged as one. As both characters were said to visit all houses at Christmas, the merging was an obvious one.

For some British and Europeans, the distinction of Father Christmas over Santa Claus is defended, but many now use the two names interchangeably. Even so, there can still be seen traces of the original Father Christmas if you know where to look.

In certain parts of the British Isles, for example, Father Christmas is often not depicted as the popular Coca-Cola Santa Claus of today, but as a thinner, long cloaked and hooded old man more in keeping with the old tradition. Sometimes, the colours may be the same in a further merging of traditions, but he may also appear in all manner of bright colours and accessories, distinguishing Father Christmas even more from the commercialised Santa of today.