Christmas Cake, Cards, And Carols… How Some Christmas Traditions Began

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY

The main focus for our Advent preparations for Christmas, should, of course, be on the Gospel accounts of the Nativity of our Lord. But there are also numerous traditions which have grown up around Christmas, which, while not essential, do encourage a Christmas spirit and contribute toward the celebrations.
The word “Christmas” goes back almost a thousand years, and is an abbreviation of “Christ’s Mass.” This name, with its focus on the birth of Christ and the Eucharist, is partly a reflection of the fact that there are strong Eucharistic overtones in the Nativity accounts — Bethlehem means “House of Bread,” and Jesus was laid in a manger, a receptacle which was designed to hold fodder for animals. But it also points to the centrality of the Mass in any Catholic celebration.
Christmas Day was one of the four quarter days observed in England during the Middle Ages and beyond, the others being Lady Day, kept on March 25, Midsummer Day on June 24, and Michaelmas on September 29. Lady Day is, of course, the Feast of the Annunciation, and Michaelmas celebrated the Feast of the Archangels, including St. Michael. Quarter days were the days on which school terms started, rents were due, and servants were taken on.
Christmastide as a time of festivity became very prominent during the Middle Ages and it is thanks to St. Francis of Assisi that we have Nativity plays and Nativity scenes. On Christmas Eve 1223, he created the first such scene, using live animals, in a cave near Greccio, a town about 60 miles to the south of Assisi. And it was also under the influence of St. Francis that Christmas caroling became popular in Europe from this time, with the first work in English to feature carols appearing in the early fifteenth century.
But following the Reformation, in seventeenth-century England, Christmas was banned by the Puritans, who enacted anti-Christmas laws; these, however, were repealed when the monarchy was restored in 1660. This proscription had also been the case in Puritan New England, and it was only from the mid-1700s that Christmas began to be celebrated more widely in America, with it becoming a federal holiday in 1870.
The celebration of Christmas in England during the eighteenth century was more muted than it had been in previous centuries, and by the beginning of the nineteenth century it was in many respects sadly neglected.
One popular tradition, though, which dated back to medieval times, was the celebration of Twelfth Night, the vigil of the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. This involved the production of a Twelfth Night cake which was gradually replaced by the more modern Christmas cake as the Victorian era, which began in 1837, unfolded.
Many of our current Christmas traditions date from this time, and there was really a transformation in people’s perceptions of the feast and a renewed interest in its celebration. This has been attributed to Queen Victoria through her marriage to Prince Albert. Although he may not have introduced Christmas trees to England, he and Victoria certainly helped to popularize them.
The penny post was introduced in England in 1840, with the Penny Black and Two Penny Blue being the world’s first mass-produced postage stamps, and over time this made the development of the Christmas card industry possible. In 1843, Henry Cole was responsible for commissioning a Christmas card to be sold for one shilling. This was a lot of money at the time given that there were twelve pennies in one shilling, and the average wage for a general laborer was only about one pound, or twenty shillings, per week.
But over time, and with the introduction of a half-penny post, cards became more popular, and in 1873, the firm of Prang and Mayer began producing popular greeting cards; in 1874 they commenced selling Christmas cards in America.
In some respects, Christmas cards might seem a relatively trivial part of the Christmas celebrations, but who can tell how much joy they have brought to loved ones, friends, and acquaintances over the years, or have led to renewed ties, or to disagreements being forgotten?
The tradition of singing Christmas carols was re-established by the Victorians, and it was during this era that some of the most beautiful carols were written. An important book popularizing carols was Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, which was published in 1833. This work included the first appearance in print of Hark the Herald Angels Sing and The First Noel.
It could be said, though, that the person who probably did the most to popularize Christmas traditions in England during the nineteenth century was the author Charles Dickens, particularly through his book, A Christmas Carol, which was published in 1843. It recounts the tale of the aging miser and misanthrope, Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by various ghosts, including Christmas spirits of the Past, Present, and Yet to Come. By the end of the story Scrooge has been completely transformed and sets out to celebrate Christmas with relish, and also to do all he can to help those around him.
This work helped to promote and popularize Christmas as a time for family gatherings and feasting, for peace and goodwill, for gift giving and generosity, and also highlighted the author’s concerns about widespread poverty and social injustice in Victorian society.
Santa Claus is another figure who has become a fixture of the modern Christmas, especially for children. He is based on traditions involving St. Nicholas of Myra and the British “Father Christmas,” an originally late medieval figure who was seen an embodiment of the Christmas spirit. It is from the Dutch figure of “Sinterklaas,” though, which was itself based on St. Nicholas, that we get the name Santa Claus.
The modern depiction of him as a burly, white-bearded man in a red coat and black boots, who has a bag or sack of gifts for children, was popularized during the nineteenth century in North America following the publication in 1823 of the poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, and also through the work of the artist Thomas Nast.
The poem is better known under its alternative title of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and sees St. Nicholas in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, who enters houses down the chimney while carrying a sack of toys, and who then fills the stockings hanging by the fireplaces.

Spiritual Uplift

Santa might seem unnecessary to a proper celebration of a spiritual Christmas, but again, who can say how much innocent pleasure the thought and expectation of him bringing presents has brought to young children all around the world over the years?
But while all the above elements are good and inspiring, in the end the really important thing about Christmas is that it celebrates the Incarnation of Christ, who came into the world on a cold night two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. And so our main focus at this time should be on the newborn Babe in Bethlehem, and His Mother and St. Joseph.
But even so, the traditions which have grown up around the celebration of Christmas are heartwarming, and contribute to making Christmas a time of celebration, of spiritual uplift and joyful merrymaking.
Long may they continue!

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(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk. He has also written two time-travel/adventure books for young people, and the third in the series is due to be published next year — details can be seen at: http://glaston-chronicles.co.uk.)