Early History of Christmas Subject of Recent Manchester Historical Society Presentation
Drunken Romans, dismembered children and eight-legged horses were all discussed during the last meeting of the Manchester Historical Society. Nan Curtis, daughter of Society Member Carl Curtis, gave a presentation on the unexpected early history of Christmas as seen through the lens of Art History.
This reporter received a very friendly greeting upon arrival. “If you’re looking for some historical relics, you’ve come to the right place!” said one of the members of the Manchester Historical Society. He was referring to himself and the older residents that filled up a small beige meeting room at the Sharon United Methodist Church Community Hall, on Thursday November 14th at 7:30pm.
Ms. Curtis, a museum professional for eight years with advanced degrees from Cal State and the University of Michigan School of Information, covered three main areas of the early history of Christmas. First, she introduced the ancient world pagan celebrations that were interwoven into the early Christmas holiday. Then she talked about the figure of St. Nicolas. And finally she talked about northern European pagan traditions that feed into modern notions of Christmas.
When Was Jesus Born?
Christ as the Good Shepherd, mosaic from the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy, (ca. 425).
According to Curtis, and confirmed by other scholars, the early church had no idea upon what date Jesus was born. Only two of the four gospels talk in any detail about Jesus’ birthday, and none give a date. More importantly, there are no artistic depictions of Jesus’ birth from that period. Instead of his birth, the early church focused on Jesus as the good shepherd, with very little focus on his early life. Curtis offered Christ as the Good Shepherd, a mosaic from the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 425, as an example.
In fact, Jesus birthday wasn’t established until 345 A.D., in a document called the Philocalian Calendar. The Philocalian Calendar not only set Jesus’s birthdate as December 25th, but placed it at the beginning of the liturgical year. As only the death dates of church fathers and martyrs were important to the early church it is likely that Jesus birthdate was not recorded and Philocalian Calendar was a tool used by Emperor Constantine in his attempt to use Christianity as a way to unify the empire
Three important midwinter festivals all fell around that date. Saturnalia, the harvest festival, started on December 17th, and ran to as late as December 24th. On December 25th, Romans celebrated the winter solstice in the name of Sol Invictus, the unconquerable Sun. And then on January 1st, they celebrated the New Year (calling it the “Kalends of January”, from which we get the word Calendar) as we still do today. That whole period from Mid-December to the beginning of January was a public holiday. Little work was done, people drank and feasted and gave gifts, and regardless of their faith, they celebrated together.
Placing Jesus Birthday on the Winter Solstice, which sat at the heart of this extended celebration, only made sense to Constantine and later imperial administrators, who were faced with the task of Christianizing an empire as smoothly as possible.
Who Was St. Nicholas?
At the same time as Constantine was establishing Christianity, and when Jesus’ birthday was just being pondered in the early church, Nikolaos of Myra, who we call St. Nicholas, was Bishop of the Byzantine city of Myra. He was a renowned wonderworker, and two key legends were later attributed to him. In Curtis’ favorite legend, three boys set off on a journey to visit St. Nicholas and receive his blessing. On their way, they stay the night at an inn. The innkeeper robs the boys, and then murders them to keep the secret. His wife then advises him that the bodies will need to be disposed of. In one version of the story, St. Nicholas comes seeking his pilgrims and the innkeepers attempts to feed the Bishop meat from the boys, which he has stored in a tub of salt. Nicholas, not fooled by the ruse, reassembles the boys and restores them to life.
Saint Nicholas giving coins to the widower. Could Saint Nicholas be the origin of Santa’s gift giving? The dowry for the three virgins (Gentile da Fabriano, c. 1425, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome).
In a second story, an old widower has three daughters. But because he is impoverished the widower cannot afford dowries for his daughters, and thus fears that because he can’t marry his daughters off, they will become slaves or prostitutes. Nicholas, upon hearing the plight of the widower, decides he must help the man in such a way that will most honor God. So, one night, Nicholas collects gold into a sack and anonymously tosses the gold through an open window along with instruction to marry off the eldest daughter. The bishop does this on two more successive nights, and in some versions of the story, the sacks of gold go down a chimney or smokestack instead of through an open window. Finally, the bishop is caught by the widower.
Nicholas asks the widower to keep the Bishop’s secret, and to have his daughters only thank God for the gifts.
And What About That Eight Legged Horses?
Apparently, in the North, the harsh world of the Germanic tribes lead to a different set of winter traditions. Like the Romans, the Germans celebrated the harvest, and the dark of winter. But the nights were darker, and colder, and longer up along the North Sea than they were down on the Mediterrenean. The celebrations were indoors, and they focused on bright fires and staying warm.
Odin astride the eight-legged steed Sleipnir. Could Odin be the origin of Santa’s yearly flight? (18th century)
While the Germanic tribesmen huddled in their long houses, they told stories about the rushing winds and storms outside. One of the most popular was about the celebration their Gods were having in the sky. The one-eyed, white bearded sky god Odin (or, Woden, from whom we get “Woden’s Day”, or “Wednesday”) rode an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. The excess of legs meant the horse was fast enough to lead The Wild Hunt. The Hunt was the howling swirl of last year’s dead, ravaging through the forest for one last hunt. Odin, on his steed, stayed out ahead of the hunt, leading the ghosts to their final reward in the other world.
In addition to this fast, bearded god racing through the night, ancient Germans celebrated the darkness of winter with boughs of evergreen, and even with evergreen trees, because the greenery promised the eventual return of spring.
And from all of these pagan survivals, Ms. Curtis posited much of modern Christmas. The Roman festivals, the German Gods, the traditions surrounding St. Nicholas… all of these elements seem to fuse together over the years and give us the holiday we now recognize.
The next Historical Society meeting will be Thursday December 12th, at 7:30pm in the Sharon United Methodist Church Community Hall. It will be the annual Christmas Party. Christmas Carols will be sung, cookies will be exchanged. The public is encouraged to attend. Bring a singing voice, cookies to share, and the good will of the season!
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