To: K-list
Recieved: 2000/12/21 04:55
Subject: [K-list] A Medieval Christmas
From: Fiona
On 2000/12/21 04:55, Fiona posted thus to the K-list:
A Medieval Christmas
As the holiday season engulfs us -- and as we are subjected to a
barrage of sentiment and commercialism (which are often
indistinguishable from one another) -- simpler days seem so much
more attractive, and many of us tend to look to the past. Thanks to
Charles Dickens and a flood of nostalgia for the last century, we
have a fairly good idea of what a Victorian Christmas was like.
But the concept of observing Christ's birthday goes back much
farther than the nineteenth century -- in fact, the origin of the
English word "Christmas" is found in the Old English Cristes Maesse
(Mass of Christ). So what was it like to celebrate Christmas in the
Middle Ages?
Just exactly what Christmas was like depends not only on where it
was observed, but when. In late antiquity, Christmas was a quiet
and solemn occasion, marked by a special mass and calling for
prayer and reflection. . (For an examination of the date's origin,
see the article on Christmas at the Catholic Encyclopedia.)
More commonly (and enthusiastically) celebrated was the Epiphany.
This is another holiday whose origins are sometimes lost in the
festivities of the moment. It is generally believed that Epiphany
marked the visit of the Magi and their bestowal of gifts on the
Christ child, but it is more likely that the holiday originally
celebrated Christ's baptism, instead. Nevertheless Epiphany, or
Twelfth Night, was much more popular and festive than Christmas in
the early middle ages, and was a time for the bestowal of gifts in
the tradition of the three Wise Men -- a custom that survives to
this day.
Customs particular to the Christian holiday also arose. The
Yuletide became a time for feasting and socializing as well as a
time for prayer.
CHRISTMAS - ORIGIN OF THE WORD
The word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the
Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Cristes-messe, in 1131. In
Dutch it is Kerst-misse, in Latin Dies Natalis, whence comes the
French Noël, and Italian Il natale; in German Weihnachtsfest, from
the preceeding sacred vigil. The term Yule is of disputed origin.
It is unconnected with any word meaning "wheel". The name in Anglo-
Saxon was geol, feast: geola, the name of a month (cf. Icelandic
iol a feast in December).
EARLY CELEBRATION
Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church
The word Christmas is derived from the Old English Cristes maesse,
"Christ's Mass." There is no certain tradition of the date of
Christ's birth. Christian chronographers of the 3rd century
believed that the creation of the world took place at the spring
equinox, then reckoned as March 25; hence the new creation in the
incarnation (i.e., the conception) and death of Christ must
therefore have occurred on the same day, with his birth following
nine months later at the winter solstice, December 25. The oldest
extant notice of a feast of Christ's Nativity occurs in a Roman
almanac (the Chronographer of 354, or Philocalian Calendar), which
indicates that the festival was observed by the church in Rome by
the year 336.
Until the fourth century, no fixed date had been formally set by
the Church -- in some places it was observed in April or May, in
others in January and even in November. It was Pope Julius I who
officially fixed the date at December 25th, and why exactly he
chose the date is still not clear. Although it is possible that it
was a deliberate Christianization of a pagan holiday, many other
factors seem to have come into play
Many have posited the theory that the feast of Christ's Nativity,
the birthday of "the sun of righteousness" (Malachi 4:2), was
instituted in Rome, or possibly North Africa, as a Christian rival
to the pagan festival of the Unconquered Sun at the winter
solstice.This syncretistic cult that leaned toward monotheism had
been given official recognition by the emperor Aurelian in 274. It
was popular in the armies of the Illyrian (Balkan) emperors of the
late 3rd century, including Constantine's father. Constantine
himself was an adherent before his conversion to Christianity in
312. There is, however, no evidence of any intervention by him to
promote the Christian festival. The exact circumstances of the
beginning of Christmas Day remain obscure.
From Rome the feast spread to other churches of the West and East,
the last to adopt it being the Church of Jerusalem in the time of
Bishop Juvenal (reigned 424-458). Coordinated with Epiphany, a
feast of Eastern origin commemorating the manifestation of Christ
to the world, the celebration of the incarnation of Christ as
Redeemer and Light of the world was favoured by the intense concern
of the church of the 4th and 5th centuries in formulating creeds
and dogmatic definitions relating to Christ's divine and human
natures.
Christmas is the most popular of all festivals among Christians
and many non-Christians alike, and its observance combines many
strands of tradition. From the ancient Roman pagan festivals of
Saturnalia (December 17) and New Year's come the merrymaking and
exchange of presents. Old Germanic midwinter customs have
contributed the lighting of the Yule log and decorations with
evergreens. The Christmas tree comes from medieval German mystery
plays centred in representations of the Tree of Paradise (Genesis
2:9).
In time, Christmas grew in popularity -- and as it did so, many of
the Pagan traditions associated with the winter solstice became
associated with Christmas as well.
Many of the customs we observe today originated in the middle ages
More to follow ...
....
1/9698/0/_/680797/_/977399760/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
http://www.kundalini-gateway.org
DISCLAIMER!
Home | Archive Index | Search the archives | Subscribe
K. List FAQ | Kundalini FAQs | Signs and Symptoms | Awakening Experiences | K. list Polls | Member Essays | Meditations | List Topics | Art Gallery | Cybrary | Sitemap | Email the moderators.
symbol.