By: Jennifer Richardson Holt
If you’re a regular reader of this blog its contents will shock you about as much as dipping your hand in water and finding it wet. I admit this fact does make me a bit nervous since, if I am revisiting a familiar theme, as it seems I apparently am, I worry that I become boring and repetitive which I do so desperately not want to do. I can’t seem to fight that my mind finds fascination in certain things and henceforth wanders to those things whenever the opportunity presents itself. I am putting a fair amount of hope in the fact that each of you has some interest that, when it comes up (even if you did cause as much) you could rattle on about for a disconcerting amount of time. Of course, this amount would be disconcerting to you, it would just be a lovely conversation to you, but you understand what I mean. So, with the hopes that my readers will humor me as you all are so prone to do, (and I love you all for it), I am going to make today’s writing a melding of three or possibly four of my very favorite topics. Now that I have written it out, perhaps I am a bit ambitious in my plans. However, I shan’t be called a quitter so tolerate my bold efforts. Let us hope I can say something of value. I shall aim for meaning and be happy with coherence.
Let me establish for you the topics today by giving a rundown of all of them involved. We can call this a brief briefing if you will. I am going to start with the most obvious, yes, that’s right, I am giving you Christmas again. I genuinely apologize if you don’t want to hear it, but I cannot help it. The love for this season is too great in me to ignore it. I do however hope to approach it from an angle that is a bit different. I am going to incorporate also into the holiday my love for history, especially the Tudor period of history and as you can see by name of the time frame, we are also embracing my ever-present love for my ancestral homelands which is all things British. And finally, amongst it all, I take on symbolism which is and has always been near and dear to my heart. I guess to sum up I will be talking a bit about a few of the meaning-laden aspects that we share with a Tudor Christmas. A few of which I have written about in the past, but I hope the visitation of the historical aspect makes it not quite the same. I do understand some of you might be ready to tune out right here. If you want to read on and hope for the best I’d appreciate it, but if not, I understand that too.
Interestingly enough, the reason that the holiday is celebrated when it is, certainly doesn’t start with the time frame of which I speak. There were other groups far before them that all had some celebration in the mid-winter. The Norse peoples, the ancient Anglo Saxons and even the Romans, all found it the perfect timing for festivity. The reason is simple. We probably talk about cheer more during this holiday than any other and in the mid-winter in ancient times it was desperately needed. This was and is the darkest and coldest time of year to eke out an existence and I daresay this was immensely true without the joys of electricity and other such luxuries. If ever there was a time that joy and hope was needed to be heavily infused into life this, was it. And all three of the aforementioned peoples had 3 elements that all their celebrations had. Each incorporated feasting, lights and greenery.
To start with the latter, we see it clearly today. We bring trees and garlands in our homes and hang wreaths on our door. Back then they brought whatever the most abundant still surviving greenery was into their homes. In Britain it was the holly and the ivy. Even the Romans used holly for pagan revelry because it met the necessary combination of being available and green. They loved the lush remembrance of life amongst the grey and dead. I like to think of that as we decorate our own homes. Of course, we have the luxury of artificial greenery of any and every kind. We could go so far as to decorate with palms or green oak leaves thanks to the joys of silk and plastic but if we really get down to it, we treasure the green so much because it means this drab and dreary existence outside our windows will not be permanent.
Lights are easy to understand. In ancient times candles were everywhere this time of year, true, it was THE light source year-round but this time of year they, just like us now, go above and beyond with excessive lights. It is the epitome of cold and dark, and we battle against it with warmth and illumination as best we can. I don’t suppose we humans have ever really been fans of the dark. It is understandable I suppose since in the dark is what we cannot see and therefore do not know. Hence, we are forever trying to expel it. We’ve never been really good with things that we don’t truly know. I suppose we still aren’t. But that’s a blog for another day.
Feasting is an effort at which we are still pretty efficient. Over half a century ago they would have begun fasting at the beginning of the month mostly to save up resources for the feasting that would follow. We still enjoy stuffing ourselves silly at this time of year as did they since they took a full 12 days to do so. Yes, the song with all those weird gifts is actually talking about a holiday lasting just shy of a fortnight. See what I did there and used a British term? They even went so far as to be sure that the poor had provisions made so they too could enjoy feasting. We do try to do that a bit ourselves with soup kitchens and gifts to the needy, but I wonder if we don’t focus on us and ours to the point that the less fortunate may fall by the wayside. I know that’s not the case with everyone but, in glancing inward, I think I may fall into the category that sees my little crowd and unintentionally wears blinders to those outside my merry band.
I have rambled about traditions of the holiday that are filled to the brim with deeper connotations and have been for centuries. I would be willing to venture that we often go through the holiday motions without thinking much of them. But as the lover of symbolism that I am, I am going to put more effort into digging deeper. My artificial trees, garlands and wreaths will tell me of struggles that are only temporary. The lights adorning yards and homes will remind me darkness has already been overcome. And during one of the many feasts throughout the season, and this one will be the kicker as I readily admit I am prone to gluttony this time of year, I will do my best to think of those who are not so ridiculously and lavishly blessed. And in doing so I will try to do more than just think about them but to truly help while remembering that this holiday isn’t just for those on the guest list to all my gatherings but for every human on this planet. Hope, joy and cheer are for us all.
Prose and Possibilities 