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… Scrooge was better than his word … it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep b Aremesi D’Ecc Christmas well … May that be truly said of us, and all of us! — C D, A Christmas Carol ssential acts about the easo o hristma
haeo uid PHÆTON PUBLISHING LTD. . — Dublin —
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Keeping Chrimas Well
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ISBN: ---- P B F-L F-I P ( )
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PART II
A QUESTION-&-ANSWER GUIDE Linked Contents TO THE SEASON OF C ¡¢ Part II Click for Chapter page links: PART I £. e Merry Christmas »» SOME MAKERS & —Where It Came From MILESTONES OF CHRISTMAS ¤. Christmas Calendar: »» —A PERSONAL SELECTION— e ¥ Days of Christmas Part I Click for Section page links: ¦. Interlude: e Tom & Jerry»» . Charles Dickens & Washington Irving »» §. Christmas Calendar: »» e Days of Christmas . Robert Seymour »» ¨. Interlude: Scrooge Movies »» . Pagan Rome & its Empire»» ©. Christmas Calendar: »» .Saint Nicholas »» e Days of Christmas . Saint Francis of Assisi »» ª. Interlude: Christmas Movies »» . Martin Luther »» «. e Vigils of Christmas »» . Marchmont Nedham, England, s »» —day begins at night . Edmund Andros, New England, s »» ¬. e Banning of Christmas »» . Henry Livingston Jr., »» in Geneva, England, Scotland, Clement C. Moore, & Don Foster & the U.S. . e Children’s Friend, »» £¯. Interlude: More Christmas Movies »» .Prince Albert & Mr Mike Carr »» ££. e Resurgent Christmas »» . omas Nast »» of the English-speaking World . Ulysses S. Grant »» £¤. e Street Carnival »» . Valentine Davies »» —Mumming, Wassail, & Waits . Col. Harry Shoup, USAF »» £¦.Other Days & Seasons »» . e Year »» around Christmas . Unknown author of Dán d’Oidhche Nodlag »» £§. Afters: Notes on ¥ Christmas foods »» Christmas Cookies »» A Visit from St Nicholas, ± »» Sources & bibliography »»
Keeping Christmas Well was rst choice in The Irish Catholic’s SELECTION OF BOOKS SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES AT CHRISTMAS.
Some reviews ‘… Amusing and seasonal …e book is very entertaining both in its array of ‘A good guide to the festive season, raising a miscellaneous facts about the season of few laughs and managing to evoke some old- the Nativity and in its wide array of fashioned nostalgia for a time of year swamped illustrations, many drawing on the rich by commercialism. traditions left us by the Victorians. ‘Another charming publication from ‘e aim of the author is to entertain Phaeton… D’Ecca has already published and to enlighten in a gentle way – and a novel with them, e Secret of Jules and she achieves both, making this a Christmas Josephine. Her latest book is a collection of present which will amuse for years to come.’ ways of celebrating Christmas and of seasonal —THE IRISH CATHOLIC, lore, mostly of the nineteenth century, with illustrations galore, some in colour. ‘… a very attractive seasonable title…’ ‘e rst part of the book looks at —BOOKS IRELAND, seventeen makers and milestones of Christmas from Charles Dickens to the author of Dán d’Oidhche Nodlag. e second part has several hundred questions and answers on Christmas- related topics such as where it came from, Christmas movies, the vigils of Christmas, and much more.’ —BOOKS IRELAND,
PART I
M & M C
) H R P C , ,
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. ‘ ’ ( , , ) akers & ileones of hrimas eeping hrimas ell—art 1
7ZR:ULWHUVDQGDQ$UWLVW³ forces in both countries were determined that Christ mas should remain an ordinary working day. I. CHARLES DICKENS ( – ) In England, the near-death of Christmas and WASHINGTON IRVING was remarkable, in view of the wild exuberance ( – ) come rst in with which this list because, without Christmas— their combined eorts—in ‘Old Christ- particular, the pioneering mas,’ as it work of Irving—much of would later the world might be without be called— a Christmas today. (PORTRAIT: . ) trad itionally Both men wrote in the had been rst half of the century, celeb r ated when English-speaking there. Old countries were turning their Christ mas backs on Christmas. Many (which re- in England had stopped tained its full celebrating the holiday; vigour until many in the U.S. had never the second .celebrated it; and powerful ¡¢£ ¤¡ C. half of the (. , THE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS, ). eeping hrimas ell—art 1 akers & ileones of hrimas ] Irving’s jolly Nicholas had little in common with the austere
European bishop; he smoked a ‘mighty pipe,’ travelled over roof-
tops on a horse, and
took presents from [ his breeches’ pockets,
, ¡ (I.L.N. ¢ £¤) dropping them down chimneys. On St Nicholas’s Day, he brought presents in a wagon. For children, the big dierence with this St Nicholas was that he did not leave behind ‘SINT NIKOLAAS—VERTELLINGEN VOOR DE JEUGD’ [‘SAINT NICHOLAS—STORIES ‘ ’ FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’] . . , , , DRAWN: .. (or even wield!) a switch ( ) . . , : … eeping hrimas ell—art 1 akers & ileones of hrimas ] for the naughty, as he traditionally did in Europe, where the Saint’s visit had always been a worrying lottery. Bad children did not face just an empty
stocking or a lump of coal in it—but a punishment implement. In century Netherlands, the Saint [below] might even take the naughty away
in his bag.
[ e birch rod, how ever, was not easy to get rid of anywhere, and it made a deter mined comeback in other Amer i- can depictions ( ’ ST NIKOLAAS EN ZIJN KNECHT of the children’s ‘SINT NIKOLAAS - VERTELLINGEN VOOR DE JEUGD’ [‘SAINT NICHOLAS - STORIES ., DRAWN: . , ) gift-giver in the FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’] . . , , , DRAWN: .. , : …. . .next decades. e rst American visual depiction eeping hrimas ell—art 1 akers & ileones of hrimas
< DQGD/DWHU6DLQW³ ( , , ), V. SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI (c. –). , ( To the early Church, Christmas was a time for , C. ) addressing the serious business of man’s redemption, not for cele brating. e faithful, how- ever, had di erent ideas, and kept the holiday as if they were still pagans. e Church spent (- more than half a millennium , , C.¡¢¢) condemning them for this. e much-loved and revolutionar y Saint Francis, however, (at the start of the century) took a more human view, ABOVE: ‘ ’ ( - focusing attention on the story of Bethlehem. , , C. ) Famously he re-created the Nativity scene with live animals. His inuence gave legitimacy to RIGHT: ‘ ( the idea that Christmas should be a joyous )’ I.L.N., > celebration, centred on the birth of a baby. . . eeping hrimas ell—art 1 akers & ileones of hrimas DQG7KUHH0HQRI/HWWHUV³
IX. MAJOR HENRY LIVINGSTON JR. (–) [
. You say that pagan Rome had a big influence PART II on our Christmas customs, but in what way?
CHAPTER —Nearly all of our most appealing Christ mas customs come T M from two great C Roman festi vals: the Saturnalia of to December and W C F H S the Kalends at the beginning of January.
. What do you mean?
‘THE BEST OF DAYS’ —Well, have a —C look at the follow- ‘ ’ ing set of ‘rules.’ (. , CHRISTMAS POEMS PICTURES, ¡ ¢). . e hrimas alendar— e 40 ays
things are done on certain days (even to know why CHAPTER some people think the season of Christmas lasts T T S for forty days) it is helpful to know something C C : about the calendar of the early Christian church. It explains things. T F D C . Now that you mention it, my grandmother . Why do you say ‘Christmas Calendar’? Is it insists on leaving different in some way from the regular calendar? up her Christmas decorations —In fact, it is. e western until the night Christmas calendar largely of Feb ruary , follows the liturgical calendar which she calls of the rst millennium Chris- Candlemas Eve. tian Church. For a start, a ‘day’ C. She says the lights ( ¢ ), can have a nonstandard meaning. MADE FOR ¤ and greenery ¢ [UNIVERSITY cheer up the OF UPPSALA] . at sounds complicated. month of January, and she quotes ‘ ’ ( , ) —It’s not really, but to understand why certain . .some poem that says it was traditional to leave eeping hrimas ell—hapter 2 e hrimas alendar— e 40 ays
. But days of Christmas? It sounds so are considered separately. unfamiliar. I always thought there were ‘Twelve e three seasons I’m referring to, however, Days.’ are the ‘Seasons of Christmas’—when Christ mas had properly begun, and before it had denitively —ere were/are ended. On waking each morning, you were three important entitled to say to yourself if you wanted: trad itional seasons ‘ is is a day of Christmas.’ of Christ mas. All of them started as dates in the church calendar, [‘KL’] , . ‘NATIVITAS DOMINI’ ‘ VIGILIA’, but acquired much C. broader signicance, even in civil law. [UNIV. OF GLASGOW] . Do these include days before Christmas?
—No. ere are also seasons before Christmas: Advent, the Novena of Christmas (starting on December ), and even the nearly two ‘ ’(.. , ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, ) months starting at All Hallows Eve, but these. . e om and erry
CHAPTER
—INTERLUDE— T T J
…many people think Christmas is invented ‘…the tree is up, and the Tom and Jerry mix is only to furnish an excuse for hot Tom and Jerry. in the refrigerator.’ [ —e Apartment, ] [—Damon Runyon, Guys and Dolls]
‘What’ll you have lad? —I’m having Tom and Jerry myself. … Get a Tom and Jerry for the young lady, George.’ [—Beyond Tomorrow, ]
‘… —’ .’—THE CHEATERS, eeping hrimas ell—hapter 4 e hrimas alendar— e 12 ays
rst arose in a speci c historic context (in Rome, in . Is there any record the fourth century)—the time when, and the place of this? where, the Christ mas we now know came into being. —Yes. ere is a . But why Twelve Days? written reference in an interesting —Because in the fourth cen tury, the church in document of : Rome (but not outside Rome) changed the date on an illustrated calendar, which it celebrated the birth of Christ from January drawn by an artist to December . is change was not without named Philocalus controversy. e Twelve Days linked the (new) for a wealthy Roman , , December date and the (old) January date. named Valentinus. e [ C. , ] calendar (a Renais- sance copy of which [above] is in the Vatican Library) makes this evocative statement: VIII KAL. IAN. NATUS CHRISTUS IN BETLEEM IUDEAE. [—Eight days before the Kalends of January (i.e. on December ) Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea.] , ’ , : ( ). .is document incorporated a lost eeping hrimas ell—hapter 4 e hrimas alendar— e 12 ays
C W C W—W W I < LEFT: ‘LES MARTYRS DE L’ARRIÈRE’—‘ ’ ( LE RIRE , , )
BELOW: ‘WIGILJA W ZIEMIANCE’ —‘ ’— .., (. , C. )
‘AM HEILIGEN ABEND’ —‘ ’ ( . , , )
. . eeping hrimas ell—hapter 5
S M—T CHAPTER hristmas arol has been turned into more —INTERLUDE— than a hundred lms, either for the cinema or S M for television, and the story never loses its appeal. e following are classic, traditional adap- tations (those set in century London, and with venerable actors playing Scrooge)—
ot everyone has read A Christmas Carol (a quick, fun read), but is there anyone who Nhas not seen a lmed adaptation of it?
, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, , ( . , SEE ‘SOURCES’) eeping hrimas ell—hapter 7
CHAPTER
T V C
. So what’s this business about the days of Christ mas not being all of the same length?
—It’s because the — ‘’ ?’ origin of Christmas was — ‘ , , , .’ (THE APARTMENT, ) a church holiday. As we
already saw, not all days , are equal in the eyes of (. , H.W.) the Christian church. Sundays and feast days . rank higher than other days, and feast days are by .no means all equal to one another. akers & ileones of hrimas eeping hrimas ell—art 1
XVII. THE UNKNOWN AUTHOR of a century Christmas Eve Hymn from the west of Ireland (Dán d’Oidhche Nodlag) with English trans- lation (a brilliant one) by Douglas Hyde. For all those whose Christ mas centres around the Nativity, the degree to which these lines from that hymn evoke a sense of the unfathomable is unsurpassed: …Little babe who art so great, Child so young who art so old, In the manger small his room, Whom not heaven itself could hold. …Father — not more old than thou ?
Mother — younger can it be ? ( , C. ) Older, younger is the son, . Younger, older she than he. . e hope you enjoyed this Sample from eBook KeepingW Christmas Well by Artemesia D’Ecca [ePub ISBN ref.: - - - ], showing how this ePub displays on iPad (and in the same layout on any eReader, iPhone, etc.). e full eBook contains more than additional pages, with + illustrations (in colour and original b+w).
Also in Hardback Edition, ISBN ref.: -- - : www.phaeton.ie. .
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