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A righte Merrie Christmasse!!!
The Story of Christ-tide
By John Ashton. Copperplate
Etching of "The
Wassail Song," by Arthur
C. Behrend.
London: published by the Leadenhall
Press, Ltd., 50 Leadenhall Street;
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent
& Co., Ltd. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 153-157 Fifth Avenue.
The Leadenhall Press Ltd.
London
[1894]
[Transcriber's Notes:
This text contains passages using the Anglo-Saxon thorn (Þ or þ,
equivalent of "th"), which should display properly in most text
viewers. The Anglo-Saxon yogh (equivalent of "y," "i," "g," or "gh")
will display properly only if the user has the proper font, so to
maximize accessibility, the character "3" is used in this e-text to
represent the yogh.
Characters with a macron are preceded by an equal sign and enclosed in
square brackets, e.g., [=a].
Superscripted characters are preceded by a carat and enclosed in curly
brackets, e.g., y^{t}.]
[Illustration: The Wassail Song]
TO THE READER
I do not craue
mo thankes to haue,
than geuen to me
all ready be;
but this is all,
to such as shall
peruse this booke.
That, for my sake,
they gently take
what ere they finde
against their minde,
when he, or she,
shal minded be
therein to looke.
_Tusser._
A righte Merrie Christmasse!!!
PREFACE
It is with a view of preserving the memory of Christmas that I have
written this book.
In it the reader will find its History, Legends, Folk-lore, Customs,
and Carols--in fact, an epitome of Old Christ-tide, forming a volume
which, it is hoped, will be found full of interest.
JOHN ASHTON.
A righte Merrie Christmasse!!!
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Date of Christ's Birth discussed--Opinions of the Fathers--The
Eastern Church and Christ-tide--Error in Chronology--Roman
Saturnalia--Scandinavian Yule--Duration of Christ-tide 1
CHAPTER II
Historic Christ-tides in 790, 878, and 1065--William I.,
1066-1085--William II.--Henry I., 1127--Stephen--Henry II.,
1158-1171--Richard I., 1190--John, 1200--Henry III., 1253--Edwards I.,
II., and III.--Richard II., 1377-1398--Henry IV.-V., 1418--Henry
VIII., his magnificent Christ-tides 9
CHAPTER III
Historic Christ-tides--Edward VI., 1551--Mary--Elizabeth--James
I.--The Puritans--The Pilgrim Fathers--Christmas's Lamentation--Christ-tide
in the Navy, 1625 19
CHAPTER IV
Attempts of Puritans to put down Christ-tide--Attitude of the
people--Preaching before Parliament--"The arraignment, etc., of
Christmas" 26
CHAPTER V
The popular love of Christmas--Riots at Ealing and
Canterbury--Evelyn's Christmas days, 1652, '3, '4, '5, '7, Cromwell
and Christ-tide--The Restoration--Pepys and Christmas day, 1662--"The
Examination and Tryal of old Father Christmas" 34
CHAPTER VI
Commencement of Christ-tide--"O Sapientia!"--St. Thomas's day--William
the Conqueror and the City of York--Providing for Christmas
fare--Charities of food--Bull-baiting--Christ-tide charities--Going
"a-Thomassing," etc.--Superstitions of the day 45
CHAPTER VII
Paddington Charity (Bread and Cheese Lands)--Barring-out at
Schools--Interesting narrative 53
CHAPTER VIII
The Bellman--Descriptions of him--His verses. The Waits--Their
origin--Ned Ward on them--Corporation Waits--York Waits (17th
century)--Essay on Waits--Westminster Waits--Modern Waits 63
CHAPTER IX
Christ-tide Carols--The days of Yule--A Carol for
Christ-tide--"Lullaby"--The Cherry-tree Carol--Dives and Lazarus 70
CHAPTER X
Christmas Eve--Herrick thereon--The Yule Log--Folk-lore thereon--The
Ashen Faggot--Christmas Candles--Christmas Eve in the Isle of
Man--Hunting the Wren--Divination by Onions and Sage--A Custom at
Aston--"The Mock"--Decorations and Kissing Bunch--"Black
Ball"--Guisers and Waits--Ale Posset 75
CHAPTER XI
Christmas Eve in North Notts--Wassailing the Fruit Trees--Wassail
Songs--Wassailing in Sussex--Other Customs--King at Downside
College--Christ-tide Carol--Midnight Mass--The Manger--St. Francis of
Assisi 84
CHAPTER XII
Decorating with Evergreens--Its Origin and Antiquity--Mistletoe in
Churches--The permissible Evergreens--The Holly--"Holly and
Ivy"--"Here comes Holly"--"Ivy, chief of Trees"--"The Contest of the
Ivy and the Holly"--Holly Folk-lore--Church Decorations--To be kept up
till Candlemas day 91
CHAPTER XIII
Legends of the Nativity--The Angels--The Birth--The Cradles--The Ox
and Ass--Legends of Animals--The Carol of St. Stephen--Christmas
Wolves--Dancing for a Twelve-months--Underground Bells--The Fiddler
and the Devil 97
CHAPTER XIV
The Glastonbury Thorn, its Legend--Cuttings from it--Oaks coming into
leaf on Christmas day--Folk-lore--Forecast, according to the days of
the week on which Christmas falls--Other Folk-lore thereon 105
CHAPTER XV
Withholding Light--"Wesley Bob"--Wassail Carol--Presents in
Church--Morris Dancers--"First Foot"--Red-haired Men--Lamprey
Pie--"Hodening"--Its Possible Origin--The "Mari Lhoyd" 111
CHAPTER XVI
Curious Gambling Customs in Church--Boon granted--Sheaf of Corn for
the Birds--Crowning of the Cock--"The Lord Mayor of Pennyless
Cove"--"Letting in Yule"--Guisards--Christmas in the Highlands--Christmas
in Shetland--Christmas in Ireland 117
CHAPTER XVII
Ordinance against out-door Revelry--Marriage of a Lord of
Misrule--Mummers and Mumming--Country Mummers--Early Play--Two modern
Plays 125
CHAPTER XVIII
A Christmas jest--Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas--Milton's Masque of
Comus--Queen Elizabeth and the Masters of Defence 138
CHAPTER XIX
The Lord of Misrule--The "Emperor" and "King" at Oxford--Dignity of
the Office--Its abolition in the City of London--The functions of a
Lord of Misrule--Christmas at the Temple--A grand Christmas there 143
CHAPTER XX
A riotous Lord of Misrule at the Temple--Stubbes on Lords of
Misrule--The Bishops ditto--Mumming at Norwich 1440--Dancing at the
Inns of Court--Dancing at Christmas--The Cushion Dance 155
CHAPTER XXI
Honey Fairs--Card-playing at Christmas--Throwing the Hood--Early
Religious Plays--Moralities--Story of a Gray's Inn Play--The first
Pantomime--Spectacular drama--George Barnwell--Story respecting this
Play 162
CHAPTER XXII
Profusion of Food at Christ-tide--Old English
Fare--Hospitality--Proclamations for People to spend Christ-tide at
their Country Places--Roast Beef--Boar's Head--Boar's Head
Carol--Custom at Queen's College, Oxon.--Brawn--Christmas Pie--Goose
Pie--Plum Pudding--Plum Porridge--Anecdotes of Plum Pudding--Large
one--Mince Pies--Hackin--Folk-lore--Gifts at Christ-tide--Yule
Doughs--Cop-a-loaf--Snap-dragon 169
CHAPTER XXIII
The First Carol--Anglo-Norman Carol--Fifteenth-Century Carol--"The
Twelve Good Joys of Mary"--Other Carols--"A Virgin most Pure"--Carol
of Fifteenth Century--"A Christenmesse Carroll" 180
CHAPTER XXIV
Christmas Gifts forbidden in the City of London--Charles II. and
Christmas Gifts--Christmas Tree--Asiatic Descent--Scandinavian
Descent--Candles on the Tree--Early Notices of in England--Santa
Claus--Krishkinkle--Curious Tenures of Land at Christmas 186
CHAPTER XXV
Christ-tide Literature--Christmas Cards--Their Origin--Lamplighter's
Verses--Watchman's Verses--Christmas Pieces 194
CHAPTER XXVI
Carol for St. Stephen's Day--Boxing Day--Origin of Custom--Early
examples--The Box--Bleeding Horses--Festivity on this Day--Charity at
Bampton--Hunting the Wren in Ireland--Song of the Wren Boys 201
CHAPTER XXVII
St. John's Day--Legend of the Saint--Carols for the Day--Holy
Innocents--Whipping Children--Boy Bishops--Ceremonies connected
therewith--The King of Cockney's Unlucky Day--Anecdote thereon--Carol
for the Day 207
CHAPTER XXVIII
New Year's Eve--Wassail--New Year's Eve Customs--Hogmany--The
Cl[=a]vie--Other Customs--Weather Prophecy 214
CHAPTER XXIX
New Year's Day--Carol--New Year's Gifts--"Dipping"--Riding the
"Stang"--Curious Tenures--God Cakes--The "Quaaltagh"--"First foot" in
Scotland--Highland Customs--In Ireland--Weather Prophecies--Handsel
Monday 220
CHAPTER XXX
Eve of Twelfth Day--Thirteen Fires--Tossing the Cake--Wassailing
Apple-Trees--The Eve in Ireland--Twelfth Day, or Epiphany--Carol for
the Day--Royal Offerings 232
CHAPTER XXXI
"The King of the Bean"--Customs on Twelfth Day--Twelfth Cakes--Twelfth
Night Characters--Modern Twelfth Night--The Pastry Cook's
Shops--Dethier's Lottery--The Song of the Wren--"Holly Night" at
Brough--"Cutting off the Fiddler's Head" 238
CHAPTER XXXII
St. Distaff's Day--Plough Monday--Customs on the Day--Feast of the
Purification 246
CHAPTER I
Date of Christ's Birth discussed--Opinions of the
Fathers--The Eastern Church and Christ-tide--Error in
Chronology--Roman Saturnalia--Scandinavian Yule--Duration of
Christ-tide.
The day on which Jesus Christ died is plainly distinguishable, but the
day of His birth is open to very much question, and, literally, is
only conjectural; so that the 25th December must be taken purely as
the day on which His birth is celebrated, and not as His absolute
natal day. In this matter we can only follow the traditions of the
Church, and tradition alone has little value.
In the second and early third centuries of our æra, we only know that
the festivals, other than Sundays and days set apart for the
remembrance of particular martyrs, were the Passover, Pentecost, and
the Epiphany, the baptism or manifestation of our Lord, when came "a
voice from Heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." This seems always to have been fixed for the 6th of January,
and with it was incorporated the commemoration of His birth.
Titus Flavius Clemens, generally known as Clemens of Alexandria, lived
exactly at this time, and was a contemporary of Origen. He speaks
plainly on the subject, and shows the uncertainty, even at that early
epoch of Christianity, of fixing the date:[1] "There are those who,
with an over-busy curiosity, attempt to fix not only the year, but the
date of our Saviour's birth, who, they say, was born in the
twenty-eighth year of Augustus, on the 25th of the month Pachon,"
_i.e._ the 20th of May. And in another place he says: "Some say that
He was born on the 24th or 25th of the month Pharmuthi," which would
be the 19th or 20th of April.
[Footnote 1: _Stromat._, L. 1, pp. 407-408, ed. Oxon., 1715.]
But, perhaps, the best source of information is from the _Mémoires
pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers Siècles_, by
Louis Sebastian le Nain de Tillemont, written at the very commencement
of the eighteenth century,[2] and I have no hesitation in appending a
portion of his fourth note, which treats "_Upon the day and year of
the birth of Jesus Christ_."
[Footnote 2: Translated by T. Deacon in 1733-35, pp. 335-336.]
"It is thought that Jesus Christ was born in the night, because it was
night when the angel declared His birth to the shepherds: in which S.
Augustin says that He literally fulfilled David's words, _Ante
luciferum genuite_.
"The tradition of the Church, says this father, is that it was upon
the 25th of December. Casaubon acknowledges that we should not
immediately reject it upon the pretence that it is too cold a season
for cattle to be at pasture, there being a great deal of difference
between these countries and Judæa; and he assures us that, even in
England, they leave the cows in the field all the year round.
"S. Chrysostom alleges several reasons to prove that Jesus Christ was
really born upon the 25th of December; but they are weak enough,
except that which he assures of, that it has always been the belief of
the Western Churches. S. Epiphanius, who will have the day to have
been the 6th of January, places it but at twelve days' distance. S.
Clement of Alexandria says that, in his time, some fixed the birth of
Jesus Christ upon the 19th or 20th April; others, on the 20th of May.
He speaks of it as not seeing anything certain in it.
"It is cited from one John of Nice, that it was only under Pope Julius
that the Festival of the Nativity was fixed at Rome upon the 25th of
December. Father Combesisius, who has published the epistle of this
author, confesses that he is very modern: to which we may add that he
is full of idle stories, and entirely ignorant of the history and
discipline of antiquity. So that it is better to rest upon the
testimony of S. Chrysostom, who asserts that, for a long time before,
and by very ancient tradition, it was celebrated upon the 25th of
December in the West, that is, in all the countries which reach from
Thrace to Cadiz, and to the farthest parts of Spain. He names Rome
particularly; and thinks that it might be found there that this was
the true day of our Saviour's birth, by consulting the registers of
the description of Judæa made at that time, supposing them still to be
preserved there. We find this festival placed upon the 25th of
December in the ancient Roman Calendar, which was probably made in the
year 354....
"We find by S. Basil's homily upon the birth of our Lord that a
festival in commemoration of it was observed in Cappadocia, provided
that this homily is all his; but I am not of opinion that it appears
from thence either that this was done in January rather than December
or any other month in the year, or that this festival was joined with
that of the Baptism. On the contrary, the Churches of Cappadocia seem
to have distinguished the Feast of the Nativity from that of the
Epiphany, for S. Gregory Nazianzen says, that after he had been
ordained priest, in the year 361, upon the festival of one mystery, he
retired immediately after into Pontus, on that of another mystery, and
returned from Pontus upon that of a third. Now we find that he
returned at Easter, so that there is all imaginable reason to believe
that he was ordained at Christmas, and retired upon the Epiphany. S.
Basil died, in all probability, upon the 1st of January in the year
379, and S. Gregory Nyssen says that his festival followed close upon
those of Christmas, S. Stephen, S. Peter, S. James, and S. John. We
read in an oration ascribed to S. Amphilochius, that he died on the
day of the Circumcision, between the Nativity of Jesus Christ and His
Baptism. S. Gregory Nyssen says that the Feast of Lights, and of the
Baptism of Jesus Christ, was celebrated some days after that of His
Nativity. The other S. Gregory takes notice of several mysteries which
were commemorated at Nazianzium with the Nativity, the Magi, etc., but
he says nothing, in that place, of the Baptism. And yet, if the
festival of Christmas was observed in Cappadocia upon the 25th of
December, we must say that S. Chrysostom was ignorant of it, since he
ascribes this practice only to Thrace and the more Western
provinces....
"In the year 377, or soon after, some persons who came from Rome,
introduced into Syria the practice of celebrating our Lord's Nativity
in the month of December, upon the same day as was done in the West;
and this festival was so well received in that country that in less
than ten years it was entirely established at Antioch, and was
observed there by all the people with great solemnity, though some
complained of it as an innovation. S. Chrysostom, who informs us of
all this, speaks of it in such a manner as to make Father Thomassin
say, not that the birth of Jesus Christ had till then been kept upon a
wrong day, but that absolutely it had not been celebrated there at
all.
"S. Chrysostom seems to say, that this festival was received at the
same time by the neighbouring provinces to Antioch; but this must not
be extended as far as to Egypt, as we learn from a passage in Cassian.
This author seems to speak only of the time when he was in Scetæ
(about 399), but also of that when he wrote his tenth conference
(about the year 420 or 425). But it appears that, in the year 432,
Egypt had likewise embraced the practice of Rome: for Paul of Emesa,
in the discourse which he made then at Alexandria upon the 29th of
Coiac, which is the 25th of December, says it was the day on which
Jesus Christ was born. S. Isidore of Pelusium, in Egypt, mentions the
Theophany and the Nativity of our Saviour, according to the flesh, as
two different festivals. We were surprised to read in an oration of
Basil of Seleucia, upon S. Stephen, that Juvenal of Jerusalem, who
might be made bishop about the year 420, was the first who celebrated
there our Saviour's Nativity."
The Armenian Church still keeps up the eastern 6th of January as
Christmas day--and, as the old style of the calendar is retained, it
follows that they celebrate the Nativity twenty-four days after we do:
and modern writers make the matter more mixed--for Wiesseler thinks
that the date of the Nativity was 10th January, whilst Mr. Greswell
says it occurred on the 9th April B.C. 4.
It is not everybody that knows that our system of chronology is four
years wrong--_i.e._ that Jesus Christ must have been born four years
before _Anno Domini_, the year of our Lord. It happened in this way.
Dionysius Exiguus, in 533, first introduced the system of writing the
words _Anno Domini_, to point out the number of years which had
elapsed since the Incarnation of our Lord; in other words he
introduced our present chronology. He said the year 1 was the same as
the year A.U.C. (from the building of Rome) 754; and this statement he
based on the fact that our Saviour was born in the twenty-eighth year
of the reign of Augustus; and he reckoned from A.U.C. 727, when the
emperor first took the name of Augustus. The early Christians,
however, dated from the battle of Actium, which was A.U.C. 723, thus
making the Nativity 750. Now we believe that that event took place
during Herod's reign, and we know that Herod died between the 13th
March and 29th March, on which day Passover commenced, in A.U.C. 750,
so that it stands to reason that our chronology is wrong.
Some think that the date of 25th December, which certainly began in
the Roman Church, was fixed upon to avoid the multiplication of
festivals about the vernal equinox, and to appropriate to a Christian
use the existing festival of the winter solstice--the returning sun
being made symbolical of the visit of Christ to our earth; and to
withdraw Christian converts from those pagan observances with which
the closing year was crowded, whilst the licence of the _Saturnalia_
was turned into the merriment of Christmas.
This festival of the Saturnalia (of which the most complete account is
given by Macrobius in his _Conviviorum Saturnaliorum_) dated from the
remotest settlement of Latium, whose people reverenced Saturnus as the
author of husbandry and the arts of life. At this festival the utmost
freedom of social intercourse was permitted to all classes; even
slaves were allowed to come to the tables of their masters clothed in
their apparel, and were waited on by those whom they were accustomed
to serve. Feasting, gaming, and revelry were the occupations of all
classes, without discrimination of age, or sex, or rank. Processions
crowded the streets, boisterous with mirth: these illuminated the
night with lighted tapers of wax, which were also used as gifts
between friends in the humbler walks of life. The season was one for
the exchange of gifts of friendship, and especially of gifts to
children. It began on the 17th December, and extended virtually, to
the commencement of the New Year.
Prynne[3] speaks thus of Christmas: "If we compare our Bacchanalian
Christmasses and New Year's Tides with these Saturnalia and Feasts of
Janus, we shall finde such near affinytie betweene them both in regard
of time (they being both in the end of December and on the first of
January), and in their manner of solemnizing (both of them being spent
in revelling, epicurisme, wantonesse, idlenesse, dancing, drinking,
stage playes, and such other Christmas disorders now in use with
Christians), were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian
Festivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to
abominate them."
[Footnote 3: _Histrio Mastix_, ed. 1633, p. 757.]
The Anglo-Saxons and early English knew not the words either of
Christmas or Christ-tide. To them it was the season of Yule. Bede (_de
temporum ratione_, c. 13), regards it as a term for the winter
solstice. "Menses Giuli a conversione solis in auctum dici, quia unus
eorum præcedit, alius subsequitur, nomina acceperunt": alluding to the
Anglo-Saxon Calendar, which designated the months of December and
January as _æerre-geola_ and _æftera-geola_, the former and the latter
Yule. Both Skeat and Wedgwood derive it from the old Norse _jól_,
which means feasting and revelry. Mr. J.F. Hodgetts, in an article
entitled "Paganism in Modern Christianity" (_Antiquary_, December
1882, p. 257), says:--
"The ancient name (Yule) for Christmas is still used throughout all
Scandinavia. The Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians wish each other a 'glad
Yule,' as we say 'A merry Christmas to you.' This alone would serve to
draw our attention to Scandinavia, even if no other reason existed for
searching there for the origin of our great Christian Feast. The grand
storehouses of Pagan lore, as far as the Northern nations of Teutonic
race are concerned, are the two Eddas, and if we refer to the part, or
chapter, of Snorri Sturlson's Edda, known as _Gylfa Ginning_, we shall
find the twelfth name of Odin, the Father of the Gods, or Allfather,
given as _Iàlg_ or _Iàlkr_ (pronounced _yolk_ or _yulg_). The
Christmas tree, introduced into Russia by the Scandinavians, is
called _ëlka_ (pronounced _yolka_), and in the times just preceding,
and just after, the conquest of Britain by the English, this high
feast of Odin was held in mid-winter, under the name of _Iàlka tid_,
or Yule-tide. It was celebrated at this season, because the Vikings,
being then unable to go to sea, could assemble in their great halls
and temples and drink to the gods they served so well. Another reason
was, that it fell towards the end of the twelve mystic months that
made up the mythical, as well as the cosmical, cycle of the year, and
was therefore appropriately designated by the last of the names by
which Odin is called in the Edda."
There are different opinions as to the duration of Christ-tide. The
Roman Church holds that Christmas properly begins at Lauds on
Christmas Eve, when the Divine Office begins to be solemnised as a
Double, and refers directly to the Nativity of our Lord. It terminates
on the 13th of January, the Octave day of the Epiphany. The evergreens
and decorations remain in churches and houses until the 2nd of
February, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
But I think that if we in England are bound by ecclesiastical law as
to the keeping of Christ-tide, it should, at least, be an English
use--such as was observed before the domination of Rome in England.
And, previous to the _Natale_, or Festival of the Nativity, the early
Church ordained a preparatory period of _nine days_, called a
_Novena_. These take the commencement of Christ-tide back to the 16th
December, on which day the Sarum use ordained the Anthem, which
commences, "O Sapientia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodidisti," and at the
present time this day is marked in the Calendar of the English Church
Service Book as "O Sapientia." That this was commonly considered the
commencement of Christ-tide is shown by the following anecdote of the
learned Dr. Parr:--A lady asked him when Christmas commenced, so that
she might know when to begin to eat mince pies. "Please to say
Christmas pie, madam," replied the Doctor. "Mince pie is
Presbyterian." "Well, Christmas pie--when may we begin to eat them?"
"Look in your Prayer-book Calendar for December and there you will
find 'O Sapientia.' Then Christmas pie--not before."
The Festival was considered of such high importance by the
Anglo-Saxons that the ordinary Octave was not good enough; it must be
kept up for _twelve_ days. And Collier (_Eccl. Hist._, 1840, vol. i.
p. 285) says that a law passed in the days of King Alfred, "by virtue
of which the _twelve days_ after the Nativity of our Saviour are made
festivals." This brings us to the feast of the Epiphany, 6th January,
or "Twelfth Day," when Christmas ends--for the Epiphany has its own
Octave to follow, and I think the general consensus of opinion is in
favour of this ending.