"Perchta the Disemboweller" and other surprises from Christmas past
What comes to mind when you think of Christmas? A tall evergreen decorated with ornaments? Santa Claus in his red-and-white gear? Twinkly coloured lights?
Over the years, the stories and symbols behind Christmas have continued to evolve – and according to Canadian historian Gerry Bowler, as long as the holiday has been around, people have been arguing about it.
Christmas carries many different meanings and people have staked their claim to the holiday in as many divergent ways, Bowler notes. He's a repository of fascinating facts about Christmas over the centuries – including many which may surprise you!
Early Christian era
The first "war on Christmas" was arguing whether to even celebrate it, Bowler explains. "The very early church had no interest in Christ's earthly origins," he notes, but eventually many Christians began to mark the birth of Christ. People were fascinated by the story of the Nativity and wanted more information than was offered by the gospels, so they began making up stories of Jesus' childhood, stories of where the Magi had come from, stories of the midwife that presided over Jesus' birth. Over time, these stories were reflected in the earliest celebrations of Christmas.
Precisely when to mark the Nativity was also a big point of contention in early Christianity. Many dates and seasons were suggested, but eventually by the 300s most branches of Christianity had decided on December 25, Bowler says. He notes that those who suggest the date was chosen to coincide with the winter solstice are likely wrong, given that most Christians would have rejected any association with Pagan holidays. Instead, the December date is likely based on the notion that Jesus was conceived in the spring – nine months from which would put his birth in late December. While Rome and other major cities were early adopters of the current date, it took about a century for churches in the eastern reaches to fall in line.
Victorian era
What we often think of as a prim-and-proper age was actually anything but when it came to Christmas.
17th and 18th century
Christmas today is seen as a time of warmth and joy, but for a period from the 1600s through to the 1800s, it was anything but – in fact, it was outright rowdy. When the Puritans took power, they quickly moved to abolish Christmas in Scotland, the New England colonies, and parts of England itself. When Christmas was reinstated in 1660, it returned in a debased state, largely disconnected from religion. It became a holiday for the lower classes, mostly celebrated through agricultural festivals, with lots of outdoor activities and drinking.
"By the 1800s, it was a positive menace," Bowler explains. "In London, the drunkenness was at an astonishingly high level; in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, mobs of young proletarian men were using Christmas as kind of a class war, carousing in the streets, banging on pots and pans, breaking up church services… So it was necessary in the 1800s to reinvent Christmas."
19th century
As Christmas was reinvented for a new era, writers like Charles Dickens picked up on the emerging themes of forgiveness, reconciliation, family, and charity in books like A Christmas Carol. Dickens, like many, realized the celebration of Christmas had been missing many of those key tenets of Christianity.
1990s to today
The phrase "war on Christmas" appears in the 1990s, when secularists attempted to push religion out of the public sphere, Bowler notes. That movement spurred countless lawsuits to remove Christmas trees, lights, and other symbols of the holiday from public spaces, or to rename those emblems (e.g. a "Christmas tree" is renamed a "community tree").
"The Christmas argument has literally become an industry," Bowler says. "The number of astonishing rulings continues to amaze me."
From the beginning
When did Christmas get so commercial? The answer to that age-old lament is simple, Bowler says: it's been that way since the holiday first began.
Sermons from the year 400 CE complained about excess and the greed of children during early Christian holidays, he points out.
As far back as the early Middle Ages, when there was no money economy to speak of, there was still excess in the form of feasting.
And while the jolly gift-bringer we now know as Santa Claus has had some curious incarnations over the years – such as Pere Fouettard (Father Whip) who carried a bunch of sticks to beat naughty children, or Perchta the Disemboweller, an alarming Nordic character who would either give you a gift or slit your belly and fill it with oats – he's evolved into a much more marketable aspect of the season.
In the 1200s, merchants responded to the rising popularity of St. Nicholas with special fairs and new toys. By the time Santa Claus began to take over in the 1820s with the rise in prosperity and the cheapening of mass goods, he became a godsend for marketers looking to capitalize on the gift-giving season.
Today, Bowler notes, Christmas spending has accelerated to the point where it's a major part of the world economy.
Click LISTEN to hear Mary's full interview with Gerry Bowler for more of his intriguing insights into Christmas controversies over the centuries.
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