The Christmas Tree symbolizes the Tree of Life, and the traditional holiday wreath and Yule log both represent the Wheel of the Year, the travels of the Sun. They are evergreens, plants that maintain their powers in winter; they are decorated with symbols of increase, plenty, and light. Tannenbaum, from the popular song “Oh Tannenbaum,” which is sung when the tree is lit, is a Celtic word that means “sacred tree,” and yule is a German word that means “the wheel.”
The ancient roots of Christmas become even clearer when we consider the Roman holiday of Saturnalia (December 17-24). During this time the rules of society were relaxed and social positions were reversed. The king became a pauper, masters served their servants, and little dolls were given as gifts in honor of Oops, the Goddess of Opulence. December 24 was the Night of the Mothers, when the power of birthing was celebrated. (At one time the church declared this Adam and Eve Night.) On this night women were exalted for their ability to produce and nurture human life. (Later we will explore the celebrations of the Mother Goddess that occur this time of year in Brazil and West Africa.) The next day, December 25, was Juvenalia, Children's Day, when the youngsters were given wonderful food and warm things to wear, especially socks, which became the present-day Christmas stocking. It seems the mothers of my childhood retained this custom, whether they knew its origins or not. Giving warm clothing is a practice I'd like to see reembraced during the time of the Winter holidays.
The practice of kissing under the mistletoe gets risky—depending upon who is in the room! This covert courtship ritual comes from the Druids, who saw symbols of fertility in this evergreen plant with white berries (semen) and golden roots (sunlight).
At midnight on December 31 our ancestors made great noises to chase away the Spirits of the old year. Sometimes a doll made of old clothes was buried at midnight. Today Old Father Time, who is bearded, robed, and carrying a blade, yields to a bouncing baby boy wearing a crisp new diaper, blowing a horn, and throwing confetti, and everybody cries out joyously, “Happy New Year.” The old pagan rituals live on in Christian clothing.
And in the second half of the twentieth century, the African American holiday of Kwanzaa was born, and the cycle of new traditions birthing from old lives on.
Christmas
The story of Christmas is probably the most well-known myth of origin in Western culture. The short version goes like this:
Mary, the daughter of Anne and Joachim, was a virgin. The Angel Gabriel visited her and informed her that she would be “overshadowed” by a dove. God, her Father, who made her without the Original Sin of Eve, would impregnate her (by blowing in her ear) so that she could give birth to Him as her son. Her widowed fiancé, Joseph, agreed to the plan without question. But they had to deal with the government like everybody else, so they went to Bethlehem to register for the census. While there, she gave birth to a baby boy in a stable. Three wise men (one of them Black) followed a star from a great distance to come visit the child, who was born on December 25 (an arbitrary date). That was the first Christmas. His birth gave the Western world its division of historical time. From then on, Western history would be measured as occurring before (B.C. and backward) or after (A.D. and forward) the birth of her little boy, the illustrious ancestor supported by and identified with or as God.
—Luisah Teish
Celebrants recount the story by constructing a nativity scene with Mother, Father, Child, and Visitors all in their places on the front lawn. Their homes are adorned with beautifully colored lights, and Yule logs crackle in the fireplace. They decorate a green tree with delicate glass bulbs, hovering angels, drizzling snow, candy canes, and on the very top a guiding light…a star. Songs are sung, a delicious meal is consumed, and people kiss under the mistletoe. When the glowing embers of the Yule log turn to ashes, and as children sleep through the midnight hour, the Flying Dutchman arrives.
Santa Claus: The Flying Dutchman
Santa Claus is an American adaptation of Sint Nikolaas (Saint Nicholas), the Flying Dutchman. He is also known as Père Noël, Grandfather Frost, and Kris Kringle. He is believed to have been a 3G bishop from Anatolia who wore a red suit trimmed in white fur. His flying reindeers, Rudolph and Company, may have come from Scandinavia. In Northern and Eastern Europe, the feast of Saint Nicholas, known for the generous tossing of sacks of money through the windows of poor homes, was celebrated on December 5 or 6.
The American Santa Claus is more of a secular folk character than a sacred one. He is “saintly” in that he judges the behavior of children (“He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice”) and rewards good behavior with toys and sweets.
A Black Christmas
I am a country girl at heart and usually spend most of my time in the countryside outside of whatever city I visit. I guess you could call my need for the country an “Earth Jones.” I just have to be in the greens. When traveling I always buy a piece of cloth indigenous to the area and a book of the regional folklore so that I can take a piece of the “real people” home with me.
I'd been in Holland a few weeks one November and needed another travel bag to accommodate the books and clothes I'd bought and the gifts I'd been given. Until this day I'd spent most of my time in the countryside, but I was coming to love the city of Amsterdam with its waterways and tulip gardens and free spirit. I was enchanted by the statues of Hermes and Poseidon overlooking the canals, seduced by vendors selling cheese and Belgian lace, and flattered by an occasional flirtatious smile. I found the sugar beets, windmills, and old castles intriguing. I still wasn't accustomed to the flatlands of Amsterdam and all of Holland (the source of the name “the Netherlands”), and I did find myself missing the beautiful hills of the San Francisco Bay Area.
My companions agreed to escort me through the major department stores in Amsterdam. We turned a corner and suddenly I was confronted by Dutch Christmas decorations. (The sight of Christmas decorations in November has always irritated me. The effort to project a Winter holiday into the Fall season feels unnatural to me. In the United States some stores begin their Christmas advertising as early as the day after Halloween! The rush to the mall (spell that m-a-w-1) and its buying frenzy makes me dizzy. It is, for me, “the nightmare before Christmas.”)
As I walked with my friends from one store to the next, I became aware of the presence of a Black figure in holiday decorations. I'd met many Black people from Suriname living in Holland, but this figure did not reflect any of that culture. Some displays depicted a stylish Black high-fashion mannequin, whereas others used the image of a pollywog—a bug-eyed black doll with big white or red lips. These made me think of black-faced minstrels. In the minstrel shows of the American theater, White men put burnt cork on their faces and acted out outrageous stereotypes of Black people. In these shows Blacks were always depicted as lazy, fearful, and ignorant. In the post-slavery period, when African American performers sought the stage, they were forced to blacken their natural faces and perform an imitation of an imitation of themselves.
Curious and a bit insulted, I began taking pictures of the Black figure. Eventually my companions noticed my interest and unrest and introduced me to this character. His name is Black Peter, and he's Santa Claus' hit man. At first I thought they were pulling my leg, but a little research confirmed this piece of information.
In much of Europe, and particularly in Holland, the main fun takes place on St. Nicholas Eve, December 5. According to the story, St. Nicholas, who was a Bishop, comes each year in a ship from Spain, riding a white horse, to visit every child. To those who are good he will give a gift of sweets or biscuits, and those who have been bad get a light smack with a bunch of birch twigs. Children set out a clog or shoe beside the fire-place containing some hay, bread, and a carrot to reward the saint's horse, in the hope that his assistant, Black Pete, will leave a present, rather than delivering a smack or, worse still, wrapping the really bad children up in the empty sack he carries and transporting them away to Spain as captives. 2
I found this character interesting but also disturbing.
In Europe and the United States, Christmas is