CHRISTMASTIDE

"For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home." ~W.J. Ronald Tucker

ChristmasTide, MidWinter, Solstice, Yuletide, Twelve Tide - all the names given to various winter feasts, at different times in history. The early Celts believed that winter began with Samhain, or the end of summer. Samhain was a harvest feast but it is likely that winterfests began to mingle with the harvest festivals as the days passed and it became clear that daylight was growing shorter and the wind colder. The perception was that the nature of time itself changed when summer passed. Not only was "time" not behaving properly it was also believed that the veil or space between the worlds was much thinner beginning with the end of summer and there were great possibilities for magic to be worked. But possibilities for misfortune to befall were also much greater due to the ease with which beings moved from time to time and world to world to world. Nearly all cultures believed in small beings, such as elves, fairies, trolls and gnomes, who lived underground, underneath the tree roots or in the deep dark woods of Europe.


In the vast dark forests of the north, where the sharp cold winds came early,the pre-christian Germanic tribes observed the season of Yule leading up to Solstice and Yuletide probably continued well past the time we now consider "Christamas Day."As the hours of darkness increased, the need for fires increased as well, and the abundant bounty of forest firs, holly and mistletoe were brought inside to drape the halls as well, in the belief that their "evergreen" properties of eternal life would encourage the return of the sun to its proper place in the skies.
Medieval Winter celebrations began in the early part of the season, and soon grew to include Twelve Tide, or the Twelve Days of Christmas, up through the time time of Epiphany, or the coming of the Magi … the eastern Calendar moved the Feast of Christmas to the 7 of January, and the season was extended again. In many areas of Europe, Christmas markets sprang up with the blessing of the Church and Carnaval lent its African and Asian traditions and games to the atmosphere of festival and celebration. The "Lord of Misrule" added his antics to the sense that the natural order of things was suspended through out the winter festive season … in the later yearsoif the 19th century puppet shows and mummers parades became popular as well … Wassailing and Caroling became a part of the Yuletide festivies. It was the custom of the "Lord of the Manor" to invite all his serfs and their families into the great hall for feasting, merry-making, and one would imagine, just to stay warm.

"This is Yuletide! Bring the holly boughs, Deck the old mansion with its berries red; Bring in the mistletoe, that lover's vows Be sweetly sealed the while it hangs o'erhead. Pile on the logs, fresh gathered from the wood, And let the firelight dance upon the walls, The while we tell the stories of the good, The brave, the noble, that the past recalls."