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rockspider -> RE: Christmas Decorations (12/6/2009 6:44:02 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kittinSol
It sounds lovely - you've built a neo-pagan tree, which is, from my limited knowledge, how Christmas started out in the first place. Didn't the Christians come and stick their own celebrations on an anciently established holy day?
The Jesus birthday thing is very cute, and it makes for a charming tale for children, and nativity scenes are beautiful (I was born in Provence, where they basically invented the thing: Creche with santons. ) .
It's a lovely legend, and a wonderful reason to eat, drink, and be merry (hope I said that right :-) .
When the first missionarys was going in to northern Europe, just after 900, the birth of Jesus was not celebrated on a special day. We had the solstice (first day longer than the previous). The missionarys hijacked the day and now celebrated the birth of Jesus on it. Well knowing you wouldn't get the wikings, celts and other to not have a party, even if they now should call them self for cristians.
The cristmas tree is something much later and originates in the areas around the alps. The various German, Austrian, Czech and Swiss regions have been claiming they invented it for long, and now i see the French hopping on the bandwaggon too[:D]
It is not religious at all, but really is to make a center for the celebration. First mention of it in Denmark is about anno 1720. The original tradition of it is that it get carried in to the house in darkness when the children is asleep. It is placed in the room called the fine lounge. Something the rich had and was used on special occasions. The room was sealed off from nosey childrens eyes and decorated with the gifts hung on the tree in plain view. Furthermore the cristmas cookies and quite a lot of sweets was hung on the tree. All that stuff really only made for the celebration. I still make these and they are filled in paperhearts or other homemade containers made of colorfull glittery paper. To add the final touches candles was placed and a star of cristmas was placed on top.
Cristmas eve the family gathered in the common lounge and had a festive meal. Today roast pork with crackling and or roast duck, with red cabbage, potatoes normally boiled plus some candised in sugar. That is Denmark. Sweden and Norway have other stuff. When the dinner was over the family elder would disappear and suddenly the big doors swung open and the tree stood there in all its glory with all the candles lit. In my youth the gifts was below it. Today, with the volume, it is in a pile next to it. Due to the fact that nobody really has this locked up fine lounge traditions has changed slightly. In my home we all went shopping for the tree and all helped carry it home, and the kids did the decoration of it, in the days up to cristmas eve, as we helped mum make the cookies and the sweet. A tradition i like to pass down to my daugther today.
The whole family would enter and join hands around the tree and walk slowly around singing the hymns and cristmas songs. When the candles was burned down or so far down they had to be extinguished. The time was come for the children to attack the tree and grab their presents. After that "you ate the tree" meaning eating all the cookies and the sweets. Today you take one or two sort of out of tradition, while the presents passed around from the pile.
All this happens on the evening 24.th. Cristmas day is dead as a doornail in all of Scandinavia. Boxing day is a lunch where the the big cold table with the small warm dishes is served. Traditionally a feast of 30 different dishes served with snaps and beer. In the evening all the big moviehouses, theatres present their premieres and the nightlife is going full blast.
Calling the cristmas tree for pagan is wrong as it has no roots what so ever in pagan religions. More like a good idea coined by some central European farmer and it spread like wildfire.
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