After all, we didn’t really have them over here until Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularised them in 1840. Still, we’ve always got the Christmas tree, right? Nothing sinister about that. Whereas Santa rewards good children, Krampus plays the bad cop to the big red guy’s good cop and punishes bad kids, especially in areas of Eastern Europe.
There is of course a dark side to Father Christmas, as you might expect, and that would be Krampus, who’s variously Santa’s little evil helper or his ancient enemy. Brits 'driven into debt by pressure to provide perfect Christmas'.Ryanair to recognise pilot unions to avoid massive Christmas strikes.Nazareth cuts Christmas celebrations over Trump Jerusalem move.The magazine Harper’s Weekly published what’s thought to be the first illustration depicting modern Santa in the 1860s, though he originally wore green robes and had associations with the “green man” of legend, who ruled the woods and forests in pagan belief. Why do we hang a stocking out for him? Because, according to legend, Saint Nicholas heard about three sisters who were forced into a life of prostitution to earn enough money to eat, so he tossed three coins down their chimney to help them out, which landed in the girls’ stockings drying on the hearth.įather Christmas as a jolly old man with a white beard was indeed thought to be based on St Nicholas, who can be traced back to Asia Minor in about 350 AD (around the time Pope Julius was fixing the date of Jesus’s birth), and somewhere along the way he got mashed up with other folklorish characters, including Kris Kringle from 19th-century German tradition. Speaking of supernatural beings abroad on Christmas Eve, what about the big man himself? Father Christmas, Santa, Saint Nick. And those leaving church on Christmas Eve while the consecration is still going on are bang-on guaranteed to witness a procession of ghosts wending their way through the streets. Might be worth firing up a Yule Log, burned according to the ancient traditions of tree worship – though, as ever, take care should the blazing log cast shadows which appear to be headless, then you can guarantee you’ll see a death over the coming year.īut be careful getting there on that night cattle are said to kneel down and speak in human voices. Just Christmas Eve and the big day to get through, and you’re home and dry. So far, you’ve done everything right to ensure a trouble-free Christmas. Why? Latterly because the three wise men travelled in that direction to pay homage to the Christ-child, but in days far before that because that was the trajectory of the “sun god”, a deity whose birthday was celebrated on 25 December. It was once thought to be lucky to partake in the act of making the pudding, especially if the pudding was stirred east-to-west. But while you’re doing that, remember that the making of the Christmas pud is steeped in folklore as well.
Perhaps you could save a sprig of holly to stick on top of the Christmas pudding, like what you see on Christmas cards but never actually in real life. But perhaps a safer bet is to store holly and ivy in the house until next year – apparently, this is a sure-fire way of preventing a lightning strike on your home. The customs were writ before the advent of the recycling wheelie bin, of course, so you might be able to circumvent them in that way.
But old English tradition says you shouldn’t just throw Christmas greenery out the door, or a death will occur in the house before the following Yuletide. According to old customs, holly should never be brought into your house before Christmas Eve or bad luck will result.Īnd you all know that your Christmas decorations should be taken down by Twelfth Night, or 6 January – one of Christ’s early birthdays, remember. and I’m not just talking about pricking your finger. But be careful with them, for they reek of danger. It used to be said that mistletoe was banned in churches because of its pagan associations, though York Minster – which itself has ancient links to the Vikings – used to hold a special Mistletoe Service where the city’s wrongdoers could beg the pardon of the church.įrom mistletoe to the holly and the ivy, two Christmas staples.
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