by Martyn Whittock, Christian Today
Today in the UK we celebrate Christmas and the period around it with many familiar traditions and activities. There is an understandable assumption that we have always done things this way. However, celebrating Christmas has a long and complex history and things change over time.
It is not possible to describe all the complex, rich and varied global Christmas traditions. One cannot do justice to all the traditions marked, over time, across what is now the UK either, but we can get an idea of major developments and milestones along the way to what we would now recognise as a ‘traditional’ Christmas.
In this brief examination, English traditions will dominate because – while there are fascinating specific historic activities known from Wales, Scotland and Ireland – the documentary evidence tends to be stronger for England and it is also clear that many of the traditions from this area (reinforced by imports, especially from the USA) have fed into most of what we now recognise as ‘traditional’ Christmas events. Aspects of this version of Christmas then spread out across the British Empire.
Ancient roots
Despite some claims to the contrary, we do not have a firm idea of the time of year when Jesus was born. Various suggestions have been put forward but there is no irrefutable evidence. However, a document from the year 354 shows the Church began fixing Christmas on December 25th. This annexed existing pagan festivals of Sol Invictus (the Invincible Sun), the Saturnalia, and other mid-winter festivals in the northern hemisphere. There is other evidence which indicates that this may officially have started as early as 336; and a connection with December 25th probably long predated this.