The History of Christmas from Christmas Costume

Christmas is a Christian Festival (a Mass for Christ), and for those that are of the Christian Faith it is a very important time in their celebrations. However people of many faiths (and even agnostics) choose to kick-back and enjoy themselves!

The roots of the celebration at this time of year go way, way back into the mists of unrecorded history. Imagine that you are a struggling hunter, striving to feed yourself; you would very soon begin to dread the onset of winter. The days get shorter and shorter, correspondingly the nights get longer and colder, so when you get to the longest night it would be natural to celebrate that you have reached the hardest point and that Spring is getting closer. Soon the Sun would be back warming the land, the Norsemen (of Northern Europe) worshipped the Sun, calling it Houl, this is thought to be where we have taken the word Yule from. To ward off the darkness of winter they lit a special fire known as the Houl Fire, with special Hule logs, (guess where this is going...) this is thought to be the derivation of the now popular (and frankly yummy) Yule Log Cake.

It is thought that the pre-Roman Britains (along with many of our North European neighbors) would have marked the mid winter point. The livestock would have been fattened in the Summer and Autumn then over-wintered. To keep all your animals alive all winter could be very hard, so as part of the festivities many of the animals were slaughtered. The majority of the meat would have been stored and preserved (where possible) but this would result in a surfeit of fresh food, over time this became a reason for feasting; the start of a party season that has lasted a very long time!

The ancient Romans are also thought to have marked this time as the rebirth of the New Year and this time became known as the festival of Saturnalia. Their partying went on from the 17th December for 7 days, a time when rules and regulations were turned upside down, this is where we get figures like the Lord of Misrule and the traditions that surround 12th Night. One of the 12th night festivities was servants having a party where the masters would serve wine and where gender roles were also reversed. This tradition is kept alive with Principal Boys (played by women) and Dames (played by men) in Pantomimes.

In the early years of Christianity the birth of Christ was not marked, indeed the Bible is silent on the date of Christ's birth (this is a fact pointed out by some of the dissenting denominations that do not celebrate Christmas). Easter was the central festival for this spreading religion, however the mid winter festivals were still popular amongst the population.

In the 4th Century the Church adopted the various winter festivals as their own, settling on December 25th for Christmas Day. Some sources attribute this decision to Pope Julius I (AD 337-52). Christmas Day remained a minor festival with the main emphasis placed on the visit of the Three Wise Men.

The Medieval religious year was dominated by Christmas-related holidays, some starting 40 days before Christmas and others also focusing on the days leading up to Christmas, now known as Advent, giving rise to the now popular Advent Calendars. Some of the Saturnalian traditions were concentrated on the days following the winter solstice; these are thought to have formed the foundations of the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 to January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days. At this time bringing Holly and Ivy into the house at winter became a tradition.

In the Middle Ages, the holiday had become so popular that chroniclers routinely listed excesses of their time (a bit like a massive 'OK!' or 'Hello' report). Reportedly, King Richard II's 1377 feast featured 300 sheep, and 28 oxen!

The singing of Carols became popular and touring groups of singing and dancing players started up. Like the festivities that surrounded Halloween these eventually became associated with excess, along with the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule; this gratuitous partying contributed to a decline in the popularity of Christmas festivities.

The Christmas festival took a very big hit in the mid 1530's when Henry VIII made himself Supreme Head of the Church in England. His aggressive political movement looked on many of the traditions proceeding his rule as 'Papist' and therefore against his wishes.

Over time Christmas regained some of its popularity until a massive wave of religious reform swept over Britain. In 1645 Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan movement are credited with 'canceling Christmas', this Bah-humbug attitude lives on with a collection of anti-Christmas costumes!

We have to wait until the Victorian period for Christmas, as we know it today, to really get hold (and develop into the commercial excess we know and love). Queen Victoria and her husband Albert are credited with many popular Christmas traditions that have endured right through to the present day. They, along with fashionable Victorians of the day popularised, the Christmas Tree, Christmas Cards and made a great event our of sitting down to Christmas Dinner.

Many, many variations on the history and origin of Christmas Festivities are available and the history above is our take on the subject. Whatever your viewpoint on this great time of year we wish you a Very Happy Christmas from all of us here at www.christmascostume.co.uk!