For one thing, we're not entirely sure how much Christmas in its earliest forms in Rome was inspired by or derived from pagan festivities like Saturnalia and celebrations of the sun. Various Roman authors record that new Christian converts were actually actively discouraged from using any of their old pagan celebratory ways in the "new" Christmas celebrations.
A few sources indicate that early Roman celebrations of Christmas were actually pretty conservative: Roman authorities wanted to distinguish it from the more madcap, bonkers Saturnalia festival, so they banned gambling, drinking, and raucous parties. Over the years, though, those traditions crept back into the day celebration, so that by medieval times it was completely normal for the entire 12 days of Christmas to be a substantial festival that involved dancing, singing, chaos and the celebratory eating of lucky mince pies.
Gift-giving, though, was banned as being excessive for a few centuries. Christmas was by no means a formal part of the European calendar in the period following the Middle Ages, though. The Puritans had tried to ban it we'll get to that in a minute , and a lot of the traditions of the 12 days deteriorated as feudal lords and their servants and serfs stopped being the main social structure of Europe. It wasn't even an official holiday until the 19th century.
The idea of Christmas as a one-day, important holiday only came back into fashion seriously in Victorian times, largely because of the influence of Queen Victoria's German husband Prince Albert, but also because of new technological innovations : the Victorian period brought the first Christmas mass-produced ornaments, Christmas crackers, and Christmas cards.
If we're dating the birth of the modern Christmas, the Victorian period is where it's at. The pilgrims were, in many cases, giant Scrooges.
For all that we associate a lot of modern Christmas traditions with Americana like the Coke Santa, its first few years on American shores were rocky: some settlements banned it entirely, with Christmas celebrations being entirely outlawed in Boston between and The Victoriana that had taken over Britain began to filter over and make people enthusiastic about it only in the s, though it snowballed from there. One of the biggest architects of the "traditional Christmas" was actually the author Washington Irving , who published a series of stories in romanticizing the holiday and providing a mixture of old and invented "traditions" that defined it.
Generally, the date for Yule was determined by the lunar cycles but usually fell between late December to early January. Additionally, numerous Yule traditions are similar to Christmas traditions. Some of these traditions include carol singing, burning large wooden logs on the fireplace, and so on. On the other hand, the winter solstice was observed on December 25th according to the Julian calendar.
This date coincided with the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture. It is only after the advent of Christianity in the Roman empire that the date of this holiday was debated. Christmas Day is observed on December 25th as a public holiday in most parts of the world. Countries that do not celebrate Christmas as a public holiday include:. In some regions, this holiday is celebrated on varying dates due to the use of different calendars.
For instance, members of the Orthodox Church in Russia , Georgia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Serbia, and Jerusalem, observe this holiday according to the Julian calendar which falls on January 7th. Hence, these Orthodox Christians observe Christmas on December 25th. On the other hand, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the birth of Jesus on the same day as His baptism which is referred to as Theophany on January 6th.
In some cases, especially for the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, they observe Christmas Theophany on January 19th. Although Christmas traditions vary from one region to another due to cultural differences, common customs around this holiday include:.
In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration. Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter? It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.
First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by and to England by the end of the sixth century. By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated.
By the Middle Ages , Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief. In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in , they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas.
By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday. The pilgrims , English separatists that came to America in , were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell.
As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From to , the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident. After the American Revolution , English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia.
But what about the s piqued American interest in the holiday? The early 19th century was a period of class conflict and turmoil. During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted classes often occurred during the Christmas season. This catalyzed certain members of the upper classes to begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America.
The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. The family was also becoming less disciplined and more sensitive to the emotional needs of children during the early s. As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed. People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated.
In the next years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving. Although most families quickly bought into the idea that they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of a growing nation.
0コメント