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Christmas has arrived, we all celebrate it, but only few know the real reason why. It is time for “hygge” and Christmas baking. The home is decorated with a Christmas tree and “kravlenisser” (Paper pixies that are places on walls and furniture all over the house). But where does Christmas originate from and who is Santa Claus really?
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Originally a midwinter festival
Christmas was originally a midwinter festival, which the Christian church adopted and transformed into a celebration of the birth of Christ. The Old Norse Christmas was celebrated in January and the southern festival honouring Sol invictus, i.e. the Unconquered Sun(god), was held on December 25, which is the reason why the Christian Christmas was set at the same time.
According to German and Nordic customs, the festivities started the evening before we celebrate Christmas in Denmark today. Actually, it was a vigil, dating from the time of Catholicism, where people waited together for midnight to arrive for thereafter to have a mass at the time of Jesus Christ’s birth.
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 The first Christmas celebrations in the Nordic countries
The oldest know proof of Christmas celebrations in the Nordic countries dates back to around year 900. The Norwegian king Harald haarfager and his son Hakon the Good (Norway’s first Christian king) are mentioned in connection with Christmas. As regards Hakon the Good and Christmas, he is known as the king that ordered the Norwegians to “celebrate the festival of Jule (Christmas) at the same time as Christian men celebrated it” (hereby it is implied that the pre-Christian Nordic Christmas was formerly celebrated at a different time of the year). The nature of the Old Norse Christmas celebration is apparent from the expression “to drink Christmas”. For centuries, the Christian understanding of Christmas has fought against the secular or popular view. Modern thoughts have influenced the development of Christmas through time so that many customs have become part of Christmas over time. |
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Why it is called “jul” Ever since the introduction of Christianity in Denmark more than 1000 years ago by Harald Blåtand (Harald Bluetooth), the church’s henchmen have tried to make the Danes call the Christian Christmas for “kristmesse” (Christ’s Mass), but without luck. We Nordic people maintain the heathen Jul, Yule or Géol. However, the Anglo-Saxons on the British Isles were more co-operative. They adopted the word Christ’s Mass, and this has stayed since in the word Christmas. Nevertheless, particularly in the eastern part of Great Britain, they still know what “yuletide” means! Source: www.sol.dk/jul
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Wednesday, November 09 2011
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