My sainted mother always said I set out to “ruin every Sunday, ruin every holiday” just before she threw one of her patented, whistling backhanders.
Continuing in that historic vein, let us look at the real origins of Christmas. We shall review the work of History.com to allege Christmas is not even the birthday of Jesus Christ, that it was a pagan holiday long before Jesus Christ was born and that we have all been hoodwinked to buy more stuff from Amazon.com. If you had the nerve to celebrate Christmas in Puritan Boston you were fined 5 shillings. Oliver Cromwell actually banned Christmas. The first full-time police force in New York City was formed after a Christmas riot.
Hey, don’t blame me. Blame the Scrooges at History.com.
According to that august website, centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight. No ESPN. No Netflix. No smartphones.
In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from Dec. 21, the winter solstice — and a day before my birthday — through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. Now that’s a holiday party.
The end of December was not only my birthday but a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking. Again, a perfect time for my birthday.
In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was no holy day, but a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down, History.com reported. They must have known my birthday was coming.
In the early years of Christianity, Easter, not Christmas, was the main holiday and the birth of Jesus was not even celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday, according to History.com. 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 his birth may have occurred in the spring, Pope Julius I chose Dec. 25.
It is commonly believed the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the established pagan Saturnalia festival, if you can believe those killjoys at History.com. First called the Feast of the Nativity, this custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of “Christmas” had spread all the way to Scandinavia.
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, the website reported. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion. On Christmas, believers first attended church but then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today’s Mardi Gras.
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 1645, they vowed to rid England of “decadence” and, as part of their effort, canceled Christmas. Big mistake. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and with him came the return of the popular holiday.
The pilgrims, English separatists who came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas actually was banned in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined 5 shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Capt. John Smith reported Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.
After the American Revolution, English customs, including Christmas, fell out of favor. In fact, Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans reinvented Christmas and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family centered day of peace and nostalgia.
In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon,” a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. The book created the idealized version of Christmas, which we celebrate today.
Christmas riots?
Ruin every Sunday. Ruin every holiday.
Emmet Meara lives in Camden in blissful retirement after working as a reporter for the Bangor Daily News in Rockland for 30 years.