Now Where Did That Santa Cap

By: Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach - [other]
Now Where Did That Santa Cap (and Other Christmas Traditions) Come From? " by Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ CoachT

For many of us, December means Christmas, but it's not the only celebration going on this time of the year, nor do those of us who celebrate Christmas celebrate it the same way.

Also in December are Hanukkah, Yalda in Iran, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, and Dong Zhi, "The Arrival of Winter," in China.

I laughed (in spite of myself) when I came upon this picture of the pileus used to celebrate Saturnalia in ancient Rome. What does it remind YOU of? http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm? site==http://www.villaivlilla.com/pileus.htm? Put a white ball on the end, and there you have it!

Where do our Christmas traditions come from? Some pre-date Christian times, and some reflect the Roman Festival of Saturnalia.

WINSTER SOLSTICE

Winter Solstice on the Julian calendar was December 25th. .

The solstices were important to agricultural people as they marked the change of seasons. Primitive people were very familiar with "the heavens" because they used the stars for navigation and other important information.

STONEHENGE

Much ancient architecture relates to the solstices, for instance Stonehenge. For most of the year, the sunrise can't even be seen from the center of Stonehenge, but on the longest day of the year, June 21st, the rising sun appears behind one of the main stones (called the Heel Stone), creating the illusion that it is balancing the stone.

The same phenomenon happens again during the winter solstice, only it's in the opposite direction and at sunset.

NEWGRANGE

Newgrange, in Ireland, does the same thing. A huge circular stone structure estimated to be 5,000 years old, much older than Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids, it was built so that it receives a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on winter solstice.

In times before science, navigation instruments, a stable sense of time, or any written history, knowing the seasons was important. Remember there was a time when people were "unsure" whether the sun would return the next morning after its nightly "exit" from the sky. They were equally unsure that, as the days shortened (culminating in Bruma , which meant "shortest' on December 25th) that the sun would ever come back! They had only the word of "elders" that days got shorter and then they got longer again, and the sun was always "okay" and would be there.

Sun == survival; food and warmth. Remember what the cold and darkness of winter would be like without electricity for warmth and light.

SATURNALIA

Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing, began on December 17th and celebrated the last sowing. A joyous festival, it was called "the best of days" (Catullus 24.15). Including celebrations to Ops, the goddess of plenty, and Consus, the god of the storage bin, it culiminated with the Festival Natalis Solis Invicti, which meant Birth of the Invincible Sun, on December 25th.

The festival began with rituals at the temple of Saturn, then a festive banquet where people dressed casually and wore pilei, soft caps made from paper. At the end of the banquet everyone shouted "Io Saturnalia!" [Guhl & Koner 481]

Back home it was a time for relaxing and was a favorite time for servants, as masters changed roles and waited on them at dinner time, and they were allowed unaccustomed luxuries such as leisure and gambling. On the last day, small gifts were exchanged, like pottery dolls and beeswax candles.

The Lord of Misrule was appointed, who could order others around, and this tradition survived right on through to British Christmas traditions.

Decorations involved greenery being hung over doorways and windows and ornamenting stairs. Ornaments were put on trees (outdoors) including symbols of the sun and stars.

CHRISTMAS

According to one source, the early Christian church did not celebrate the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared it. In 320 AD (or 349 AD?), Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ. In 325 AD, (or 337 AD?) Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, decreed that the birth would be celebrated on December 25th. (He also introduced Sunday as a holy day in a new 7-day week.) In 354 AD (or 313 AD?), Bishop Liberius of Rome officially ordered his churches to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th.

Winter solstice this year will occur at 11:04 PST on December 21. Christmas, as usual, will be on December 25th.

Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ CoachT, http://www.susandunn.cc . Bringing the power of Emotional Intelligence to YOUR life through coaching, distance learning courses, and eBooks, http://www.webstrategies.cc/ebooklibrary.html. mailto:sdunn@s... for FREE eZine .

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