Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan

Christmas in Ritual and
Tradition,
by Clement A. Miles

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Title: Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan
Author: Clement A. Miles
Release Date: August 21, 2006 [EBook #19098]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Christmas In Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan

by Clement A. Miles
Published by T. Fisher Unwin
1912
[Illustration:
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI (DETAIL).
GENTILE DA FABRIANO
(Florence: Accademia)]
|5|

PREFACE
In this volume I have tried to show how Christmas is or has been kept
in various lands and ages, and to trace as far as possible the origin of
the pagan elements that have mingled with the Church's feast of the
Nativity.
In
Part I. I have dealt with the festival on its
distinctively Christian
side. The book has, however, been so planned that readers not
interested in this aspect of Christmas may pass over Chapters II.-V.,
and proceed at once from the Introduction to
Part II., which treats of pagan survivals.
The book has been written primarily for the general reader, but I
venture to hope that, with all its imperfections, it may be of some use to

the more serious student, as a rough outline map of the field of
Christmas customs, and as bringing together materials hitherto
scattered through a multitude of volumes in various languages. There is
certainly room for a comprehensive English book on Christmas, taking
account of the results of modern historical and folk-lore research.
The writer of a work of this kind necessarily owes an immense debt to
the labours of others. In my bibliographical notes I have done my best
to acknowledge the sources from which I have drawn. It is only right
that I should express here my special obligation, both for information
and for suggestions, to Mr. E. K. Chambers's "The Mediaeval Stage,"
an invaluable storehouse of fact, theory, and bibliographical references.
I also owe much to the important monographs of Dr. A. Tille, "Die
Geschichte der deutschen Weihnacht" and "Yule and Christmas"; to Dr.
Feilberg's Danish work, "Jul," the fullest account of Christmas |6|
customs yet written; and of course, like every student of folk-lore, to Dr.
Frazer's "The Golden Bough."
References to authorities will be found at the end of the volume, and
are indicated by small numerals in the text; notes requiring to be read in
close conjunction with the text are printed at the foot of the pages to
which they relate, and are indicated by asterisks, &c.
[Transcriber's Note: The 'small numerals' are represented in this ebook
by numbers in {curly braces}. The footnotes appear at the end of the
ebook and are indicated by numbers in [square brackets]. Page numbers
from the original edition have been retained and appear in the text
between |pipe characters|.]
I have to thank Mr. Frank Sidgwick for most kindly reading my proofs
and portions of my MS., and for some valuable suggestions.
C. A. M.
|7|

CONTENTS

PREFACE 5
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION 15
The Origin and Purpose of Festivals--Ideas suggested by
Christmas--Pagan and Christian Elements--The Names of the
Festival--Foundation of the Feast of the Nativity--Its Relation to the
Epiphany--December 25 and the Natalis Invicti--The Kalends of
January--Yule and Teutonic Festivals--The Church and Pagan
Survivals--Two Conflicting Types of Festival--Their Interaction--Plan
of the Book.

PART I--THE CHRISTIAN FEAST

CHAPTER II
CHRISTMAS POETRY (I) 29
Ancient Latin Hymns, their Dogmatic, Theological
Character--Humanizing Influence of Franciscanism--Jacopone da
Todi's Vernacular Verse--German Catholic Poetry--Mediaeval English
Carols.
CHAPTER III
CHRISTMAS POETRY (II) 53
The French Noël--Latin Hymnody in Eighteenth-century
France--Spanish Christmas Verse--Traditional Carols of Many
Countries--Christmas Poetry in Protestant Germany--Post-Reformation
Verse in England--Modern English Carols. |8|

CHAPTER IV
CHRISTMAS IN LITURGY AND POPULAR DEVOTION 87
Advent and Christmas Offices of the Roman Church--The Three
Masses of Christmas, their Origin and their Celebration in Rome--The
Midnight Mass in Many Lands--Protestant Survivals of the Night
Services--Christmas in the Greek Church--The Eastern Epiphany and
the Blessing of the Waters--The Presepio or Crib, its Supposed
Institution by St. Francis--Early Traces of the Crib--The Crib in
Germany, Tyrol, &c.--Cradle-rocking in Mediaeval
Germany--Christmas Minstrels in Italy and Sicily--The Presepio in
Italy--Ceremonies with the Culla and the Bambino in Rome--Christmas
in Italian London--The Spanish Christmas--Possible Survivals of the
Crib in England.
CHAPTER V
CHRISTMAS DRAMA 119
Origins of the Mediaeval Drama--Dramatic Tendencies in the
Liturgy--Latin