Not all Christmases include snow Our family has celebrated on the beaches of Australia Florida California and Hawaii depending on where we lived at the time Stocksy com 8
one Season of darkness season of light A midwinter celebration held in December and January is common in many parts of the world That’s true even when in places like Australia the winter months fall during the hottest part of the year Why do so many people in the world embrace festivities that include such features as a baby in a manger a jolly old man in red a grinchy tightwad gifts indoor trees and a stuffed turkey on the dinner table all in the name of Christmas Let’s take a look at where all those midwinter celebrations began Early Midwinter Celebrations In the depths of winter when the days are short and the temperatures are chilly it’s not surprising that people look 9
Ancient Egyptian sun god Ra Vladimir Zadvinskii Shutterstock com forward to the long warm days of spring and summer Thousands of years ago when winter could be a time of fear discomfort and starvation the promise of the sun’s eventual return was certainly worth celebrating In the northern hemisphere the shortest day of the year is December 21 or 22 winter solstice after which each day gets a little longer until June 21 or 22 summer solstice the day each year with the most hours of daylight In the northernmost towns people must endure nearly twenty four hours of darkness on that shortest darkest day Midwinter celebrations were common throughout the northern hemisphere long before Christian leaders adopted December 25 as a special holy day And yes that’s the origin of the word holiday 10
season of darkness season of light Many ancient peoples like the Egyptians worshipped the sun or had sun gods Ancient structures such as the Egyptian pyramids were sometimes built to align with the sun’s position on certain special days The solstice was just one of the things that was celebrated along with birthdays and key planting and harvest dates The Norse word for a midwinter season of celebra tion is Jul Jól in Iceland The English word yule may come from these Nordic roots In Old Norse poetry the word was sometimes used to mean feast Today the word generally refers to the Christmas holiday season Time to Feast Midwinter was a good time for feasting because livestock like lambs born in spring had often reached a good size for slaughter With food being hard to find at that time of year it made sense to feast on meat rather than to keep feeding livestock when hay and grain were more expen sive Fermented ales and fruit wines were also ready to drink about then and alcohol was often part of the partying that took place during solstice festivals Yule Logs and the Yule Goat The yule log is a large piece of wood that people put in their fireplaces at Christmas Sometimes yule logs were burned until there was nothing left but ashes The ashes were collected after the log was gone and were spread in gardens and fields Adding ash to the soil provides some nutrients and can help certain plants grow better Christmas Unwrapped High-Tech Yule Logs Today it’s possible to enjoy the tradition of the yule log even if you don’t have a fireplace as long as you have a television or computer In 1966 the television station wpix broadcast footage of a burning log for three hours on Christmas Eve for New Yorkers who didn’t have a fireplace The original film was shot at Gracie Mansion where the mayor of New York City lives Filming was a little more exciting than anyone expected To get a clear shot of the burning fire the film crew removed the safety screen A spark flew out of the fireplace and set an expensive antique rug on fire The original yule log film lasted only 17 seconds and was looped over and over while it was aired Because the program was so popular it was refilmed a few years later in California and was then rebroadcast for 23 years The new version was 6 minutes long and was a little less jerky Many imitations have since been created and shown on various television stations and over the Internet and recorded on dvds including one that stars various cast members from the animated film Shrek 11
