The Everything Family Christmas Book (12 page)

Perhaps a more likely explanation for the popularity of boar’s head as part of the Christmas feast, however, is that the custom is another remnant of pagan times. In some places, the German god Frey was considered responsible for the well-being of livestock. As Frey was symbolized by the boar, a boar was often sacrificed in hopes of a prosperous spring herd.

Like many Christmas traditions popular in medieval England, the boar’s-head custom eventually became impractical and died out. Boars became increasingly hard to track down and were dangerous to catch once they were found. Then, too, the week’s worth of cooking and preparation required was more conducive to a well-staffed castle kitchen than that of a home. The boar’s head was gradually replaced by the more familiar pork, roast beef, turkey, and goose.

Wassail

Wassail was a popular Christmas drink in England, particularly in Victorian times. The drink’s name comes from the old toast expression
waes hael
(to your health), and was made of eggs, curdled cream, nuts, spices, roasted apples, and mulled ale.

In pagan times, wassail was thought to provide more than just good cheer. During the agricultural festivals, groups would visit apple trees and douse them with wassail to ensure that the next apple harvest would be plentiful. This ritual also involved a great deal of noise making to ward off evil, which helped to instill a festive atmosphere. From this ritual grew wassail’s association with parties.

Now that its significance to the apple harvest has been more or less forgotten, wassail is considered no more than a tasty holiday drink—a rowdy eggnog. (The tradition of mulled wine—a warmed mixture of wine and spices such as cloves—also has associations with the tradition of wassail.)

The Lord of Misrule and the Mummers

The Lord of Misrule played a major part in the Christmas festivities in medieval England. Like the Boy Bishop, he was the leader of many holiday activities, but he also had real power, and his whims had to be obeyed by all, even the king. The Lord of Misrule was a strictly secular figure, appointed by the king and the nobility to reign over the twelve days of Christmas. The man chosen for this position, however, was generally wise enough not to abuse his power when dealing with the nobility.

Much of the custom surrounding the Lord of Misrule had parallels with the Roman Saturnalia, during which masters and slaves changed places, with general rowdiness abounding.

Out on the streets among the common people, the Lord of Misrule was head of the mummers, a traveling band of rowdy players who roamed the streets in costume performing plays, songs, and so on. Though they stuck to the streets for the most part, the mummers were sometimes known to barge into churches and disrupt the service, an act that did not sit well with church officials.

The mummers, roving street carousers all, offered just about anything that would win the attention of passersby. The classic mummer’s play has a number of variations, but it always focuses on the death and revival of one of the principals. The ancestors of street actors, the mummers did it all: plays, songs, comedy routines, and nearly any other diversion that came to mind.

Like carolers, mummers would often perform in exchange for goodies, though their performances were often disruptive and sacrilegious. When the Puritans came to power, they did away with the Lord of Misrule and his companions. Though the restored monarchy reinstated most of the Christmas traditions outlawed by the Puritans, the Lord of Misrule remained an outlaw. He and the mummers never again enjoyed the freedom and popularity they had had in medieval England; however, Christmas mummers can still be found in some parts of the world, including Ireland and Canada’s Newfoundland.

The Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree is by far the most popular form of holiday greenery in the United States. Indeed, it has become such an integral part of the Christmas celebration that most people cannot imagine celebrating the holiday without one in their living room. Yet the tree is a relatively recent innovation.

No one seems to be able to explain the reasons behind the popularity of the Christmas tree, but, along with Santa, it is now a Christmas icon. The beauty, the smell, the fun of decorating, the spirit, the memories of holidays past—whether of pine, fir, or cedar—there’s simply nothing like a good Christmas tree.

Combining Legends and History

As early as the Roman Saturnalia, trees were hung with decorations, but this custom did not become part of Christmas until the Middle Ages. Like all greenery with pagan origins, the tree has long been assigned Christian significance, but how it came to be so important to Christmas is the subject of much debate. The earliest record of a decorated tree is from an English book printed in 1441, which describes a tree set up in the middle of a village, decorated with ivy. The popular consensus, however, is that the Christmas tree originated in Germany.

According to one legend, St. Boniface, who helped organize the Christian church in France and Germany during the mid-700s, was responsible for the first Christmas tree. One Christmas Eve, St. Boniface was traveling through the forest and happened upon a group of people gathered around an oak tree preparing to sacrifice a child to the god Thor. In protest of this act, St. Boniface destroyed the oak, either with an ax or a single blow from his fist. When the oak was felled, a fir tree appeared in its place. St. Boniface informed the people that this was the Tree of Life, representing Christ.

One of the most popular Christmas-tree legends concerns Martin Luther. One Christmas Eve, as Luther was ambling through the forest, he became enraptured by the beauty of the starlight playing off the evergreen branches. Luther chopped down a tree and brought it home, where he lit it with candles in an effort to duplicate the scene for his family. Though Luther himself never mentioned this event, the legend spread throughout the land.

Another familiar legend holds that when Christ was born, all the animals received the power to speak, and the trees bloomed and brought forth fruit, despite the harsh winter. All the grand trees came forth to pay homage to the Lord, except one tiny fir tree, embarrassed by her stature. But then the Lord came down and lighted the fir tree’s branches, making her sparkle, and she was no longer ashamed.

In yet another legend, a poor man gave shelter and food to a needy child one Christmas Eve; the child turned out to be the Christ Child. In return for the man’s generosity, the Child created a small, lighted fir tree that grew outside the house.

Because of Martin Luther’s supposed association with the Christmas tree, strictly Roman Catholic inhabitants of southern Germany would not have trees in their homes until the nineteenth century, when news of the custom’s popularity in America traveled overseas.

The Paradise Tree

Though these legends are entertaining, most experts believe that the truth behind the Christmas tree is much less spectacular. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pine trees were used in Europe as part of the miracle plays performed in front of cathedrals at Christmas time. The plays detailed the birth and fall of humanity, its salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, and Christ’s promise of redemption. The pine trees, decorated with apples, symbolized the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

Though such plays were later banned by the church, the tradition of this Paradise Tree, or Paradeisbaum, was kept alive in individual homes. People began decorating the trees with wafers to represent the Eucharist; later, these wafers evolved into cookies, cakes, fruit, and other goodies. At first, these foods were shaped to represent some aspect of the Nativity, but in time they came to depict anything the decorator’s heart desired.

To this day, the Christmas tree enjoys incredible popularity in Germany. The decorating of the tree is one of the most anticipated events of the holiday, and in some homes each family member has his or her own tree. So beloved is the Christmas tree there that the most popular carol in Germany after “Silent Night” is “O Tannenbaum” (“Oh, Christmas Tree”).

By the 1800s, the Christmas tree had spread to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria. In Scandinavia, fishermen trimmed trees with fish nets and flags. Today, it is more common in those countries to decorate with cookies, candy, fruit, and flags.

The most famous tree in Great Britain is a gift each year from Norway, in appreciation for Britain’s help during World War II. When Norway was occupied by the Nazis, King Haakan set up a free Norwegian government in London. Since 1947, each year Norway has presented the people of Britain with an enormous tree at least seventy feet high, which is set up in Trafalgar Square for all to enjoy.

Christmas Trees in America

The tradition of the decorated Christmas tree, which German immigrants followed for years, did not spread to other parts of colonial American society until the 1830s. After it caught on, however, it became almost as beloved as it is in Germany. At the end of the nineteenth century, combination tree stands and music boxes that rotated the tree and played soothing music were popular with wealthy Americans. Today, most homes have some type of Christmas tree during the holidays; trees can be found everywhere from department stores to offices to churches. Even trees growing outside are decorated.