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140-545: The custom was first recorded in 1800, with subsequent accounts of it being produced into the early twentieth century. According to these, the Mari Lwyd was a tradition performed at Christmas time by groups of men who would accompany the horse on its travels around the local area, and although the makeup of such groups varied, they typically included an individual to carry the horse, a leader, and individuals dressed as stock characters such as Punch and Judy . The men would carry

280-658: A Festival in the Lutheran Churches , a solemnity in the Roman Catholic Church , and a Principal Feast of the Anglican Communion . Other Christian denominations do not rank their feast days but nevertheless place importance on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, as with other Christian feasts like Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. As such, for Christians, attending a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church service plays an important part in

420-463: A Nativity play ; an exchange of Christmas cards ; attending church services ; a special meal ; and displaying various Christmas decorations , including Christmas trees , Christmas lights , nativity scenes , garlands , wreaths , mistletoe , and holly . Additionally, several related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus , Father Christmas , Saint Nicholas , and Christkind , are associated with bringing gifts to children during

560-508: A soft mutation of m to f ( Welsh pronunciation: [v] ), rendering the form y Fari Lwyd . Positing the custom to be "the survival of some ancient popular rite or ceremony", in 1888 David Jones suggested that its origins were Christian, and that it had once been part of the festivities of the Feast of the Ass , a commemoration of the flight into Egypt of Mary and Saint Joseph that

700-467: A Christian context. The prevailing atmosphere of Christmas has also continually evolved since the holiday's inception, ranging from a sometimes raucous, drunken, carnival -like state in the Middle Ages , to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century transformation. The celebration of Christmas was banned on more than one occasion within certain groups, such as

840-467: A Mari Lwyd was observed performing alongside at least twelve singers in a chemist's shop in the Mumbles , Swansea. Ettlinger subsequently expressed the view that "Dr. Peate deserves the sincerest gratitude of all folk-lore students for having so valiantly penetrated the mysteries surrounding the Mari Lwyd." The historian Ronald Hutton stated that the Mari Lwyd tradition appeared to have become defunct in

980-543: A cone, which was then stuffed with hay and decorated with buttons for eyes and harvest gloves for ears, thus resembling an animal's snout. An individual could conceal themselves under the sheet and use a hay fork inserted into the hay to hold it up. A similar custom appears in an account from 1897, in which an entity known as the Bwca Llwyd ("Grey Bogy") was described; it involved an imitation horse's head being made from canvas and stuffed with hay, being carried about using

1120-530: A customary holiday since time immemorial , it was not until 1871 that it was designated a bank holiday in Scotland. Following the Restoration of Charles II, Poor Robin's Almanack contained the lines: "Now thanks to God for Charles return, / Whose absence made old Christmas mourn. / For then we scarcely did it know, / Whether it Christmas were or no." The diary of James Woodforde, from the latter half of

1260-599: A distance in order to ease the pressure of war for the day) to friendly socializing, gift giving and even sport between enemies. These incidents became a well known and semi-mythologised part of popular memory. They have been described as a symbol of common humanity even in the darkest of situations and used to demonstrate to children the ideals of Christmas. Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were prohibited in public. During

1400-491: A family-centered festival of generosity, linking "worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation." Superimposing his humanitarian vision of the holiday, in what has been termed "Carol Philosophy", Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit. A prominent phrase from

1540-659: A feasting hall. The winner would be decided by the reactions of those watching the exchange. The winner would drink a large cup of beer or mead in victory, then invite the loser to drink as well. The 13th-century poem The Owl and the Nightingale and Geoffrey Chaucer 's Parlement of Foules contain elements of flyting. Flyting became public entertainment in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries, when makars would engage in verbal contests of provocative, often sexual and scatological but highly poetic abuse. Flyting

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1680-496: A hay fork on All Hallow's Eve . Cawte also noted the example of other Welsh folk customs featuring the head of a horse, however he opined that these "so not seem to be closely related to the mari lwyd". A horse's head was prepared in a manner akin to the Mari Lwyd for a spring festival known as the mynwenta or pynwenta , which took place in Pembrokeshire circa 1820. As part of this festival, young men and women gathered at

1820-584: A hobby horse that had a goat's head. Hole drew parallels between hoodening and the Christmas Bull tradition recorded in Dorset and Gloucestershire . In south-west England, there are two extant hobby horse traditions—the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss festival and Minehead Hobby Horse —which take place not at Christmas time but on May Day . Although the origins of these traditions are not known with any certainty,

1960-813: A major point of tension between the Anglican party and the Puritan party." The Catholic Church also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old-style Christmas generosity. Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War , England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647. Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury

2100-483: A man dressed as a horse or bull toured the local area from Christmas until after Twelfth Day , and that they were given food or money to leave the householders alone. The Mari Lwyd next appeared in an 1819 account from West Glamorgan , where the Mari Lwyd itself was termed an Aderyn Bee y llwyd (roughly "Grey Magpie") and was accompanied by "three or four partners in the profits of the expedition, who are by turns horse, groom, or attendants". It has been suggested that

2240-603: A mill for a night's entertainment. In the late nineteenth century, a tradition was recorded in North Wales that was known as "giving a skull", in which the skull of a horse or donkey was placed over the front door of a woman's house on May Day as a sign of contempt. In parts of Wales a horse's head – sometimes with horns attached – was featured as part of the charivari processions designed to shame those who were deemed to have behaved in an immoral manner. [1] at youtube.com Christmas Christmas

2380-422: A more traditional Christmas display. The concentric assortment of leaves, usually from an evergreen , make up Christmas wreaths. Candles in each window are meant to demonstrate that Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light of the world. Christmas lights and banners may be hung along streets, music played by speakers, and Christmas trees placed in prominent places. It is common in many parts of

2520-722: A play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games. It was during the Reformation in 16th–17th-century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl , and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve. Following the Protestant Reformation , many of the new denominations, including the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church , continued to celebrate Christmas. In 1629,

2660-737: A protest against the holiday. Instead, the importance of the holiday and all its trappings, such as the Christmas tree and gift-giving, was transferred to the New Year. It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the persecution ended and Orthodox Christmas became a state holiday again for the first time in Russia after seven decades. European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that likewise, in Nazi Germany , "because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of

2800-489: A sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast." This was done in order to solve the "administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east." The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund

2940-880: A sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in Godey's Lady's Book , Philadelphia in 1850. By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America. In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. and "Old Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in Aston Hall , Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned, and he used

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3080-482: A sequence of poems titled The Mare's Tale which were published alongside Hicks-Jenkins' images in 2001. In her 1977 novel Silver on the Tree , the author Susan Cooper included an appearance from the Mari Lwyd. In September 2024, as part of series 6 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK , contestant Marmalade referenced the Mari Lwyd as part of her representation of her home town of Pontyclun . In 1919, H. W. Evans recorded

3220-604: A similar situation had resulted in the resurrection of the hoodening tradition in East Kent. The Mari Llwyd is a feature in modern celebrations of the Hen Galan (English: Old New Year ), such as those at Cowbridge , Cwm Gwaun and Aberystwyth . The town council of Aberystwyth also organised "The World's Largest Mari Lwyd" for the Millennium celebrations in 2000. A mixture of the Mari Lwyd and Wassail customs occurs in

3360-542: A single example found in both Brecknockshire and Ceredigion . There is a single record of the custom being performed in North Wales , in an example from Wrexham , which Cawte believed was the result of a Glamorgan man bringing the custom with him as he moved north. Previously, Peate had cautioned that the comparative absence of recorded examples from Mid and North Wales was not proof that the Mari Lwyd custom had never been present in those areas. Cawte opined that there

3500-621: A variant of the wider wassailing custom that was found throughout Britain. Most recorded sources term this particular custom Mari Lwyd . Jones considered this to be a translation of "Blessed Mary", and thus a reference to the Virgin Mary , mother of Jesus, a key religious figure in the Catholic Church , Eastern Orthodox Church , and others. Although translating it slightly differently, as "Holy Mary", Peate endorsed this viewpoint. Although some of his acquaintances later suggested that

3640-450: Is a ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. Examples of flyting are found throughout Scots , Ancient , Medieval and Modern Celtic , Old English , Middle English and Norse literature involving both historical and mythological figures. The exchanges would become extremely provocative, often involving accusations of cowardice or sexual perversion . Norse literature contains stories of

3780-561: Is a sentence in the Chronograph of 354 . Liturgical historians generally agree that this part of the text was written in Rome in AD 336. Though Christmas did not appear on the lists of festivals given by the early Christian writers Irenaeus and Tertullian , the early Church Fathers John Chrysostom , Augustine of Hippo , and Jerome attested to December 25 as the date of Christmas toward

3920-638: Is a shortened form of 'Christ's Mass '. The word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131. Crīst ( genitive Crīstes ) is from the Greek Χριστός ( Khrīstos , 'Christ'), a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ‎ ( Māšîaḥ , ' Messiah '), meaning 'anointed'; and mæsse is from the Latin missa , the celebration of the Eucharist . The form Christenmas

4060-475: Is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ , observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world . It is a feast central to Christianity . In the liturgical year , preparation for Christmas begins on the First Sunday of Advent (the fourth Sunday before), and it is followed by Christmastide , which historically in

4200-531: Is another abbreviation of the Greek word). The holiday has had various other English names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as "midwinter", or, more rarely, as Nātiuiteð (from the Latin nātīvitās below). Nativity , meaning 'birth', is from the Latin nātīvitās . In Old English , Gēola (' Yule ') referred to the period corresponding to December and January, which

4340-529: Is considered by some as Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice , which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship ; according to eighth-century biographer Æddi Stephanus , Saint Boniface (634–709), who was a missionary in Germany, took an ax to an oak tree dedicated to Thor and pointed out a fir tree , which he stated

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4480-611: Is no evidence of its usage among the common dialect in this period. Given that llwyd is the usual word for "grey" in the Welsh language and that Welsh speakers would have been exposed to the English word "mare", an alternative suggestion considered by Peate was that the term Mari Lwyd had originally meant "Grey Mare". This etymological explanation would have parallels with the name of a similar hooded horse tradition found in Ireland and

4620-559: The Iliad a consistent differentiation between representations in Greek of Achaean and Trojan speech, where Achaeans repeatedly engage in public, ritualized abuse: "Achaeans are proficient at blame, while Trojans perform praise poetry." Taunting songs are present in the Inuit culture, among many others. Flyting can also be found in Arabic poetry in a popular form called naqā’iḍ , as well as

4760-495: The Christian Eucharist , the uneasy frontier between living and dead, so as to present a model of what poetry itself is – frontier work between death and life, old year and new, bread and body." The Mari Lwyd was utilised by the artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins in a series of drawings from around 2000 that focused on a metamorphosing horse/man as a nightmarish harbinger of his father's death. Catriona Urquhart wrote

4900-724: The Isle of Man , which is known in Irish as the Láir Bhán and in Manx as the Laare Vane , in both cases meaning "White Mare". Initially believing that "there is much to be said for this suggestion", Peate later embraced it fully. Cawte similarly believed that "Grey Mare" was the most likely original meaning of the term, noting that the Mari Lwyd appeared to represent a horse and that similar hobby horse customs in neighbouring England, such as

5040-514: The Mari Lwyd ; the etymology of this term remains the subject of academic debate. The folklorist Iorwerth C. Peate believed that the term meant "Holy Mary" and thus was a reference to Mary, mother of Jesus , while the folklorist E. C. Cawte thought it more likely that the term had originally meant "Grey Mare", referring to the heads' equine appearance. Several earlier folklorists to examine the topic, such as Peate and Ellen Ettlinger, believed that

5180-490: The Old English verb flītan meaning 'to quarrel', made into a gerund with the suffix - ing . Attested from around 1200 in the general sense of a verbal quarrel, it is first found as a technical literary term in Scotland in the sixteenth century. The first written Scots example is William Dunbar , The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , written in the late fifteenth century. I will no longer keep it secret: it

5320-544: The Puritans and Jehovah's Witnesses (who do not celebrate birthdays in general), due to concerns that it was too unbiblical. Prior to and through the early Christian centuries, winter festivals were the most popular of the year in many European pagan cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needed to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached. Celtic winter herbs such as mistletoe and ivy , and

5460-904: The Star of Bethlehem ; in that country it is known in Spanish as the Flower of the Holy Night . Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe , red amaryllis , and Christmas cactus . Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with these plants, along with garlands and evergreen foliage. The display of Christmas villages has also become a tradition in many homes this season. The outside of houses may be decorated with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs , snowmen , and other Christmas figures. Mistletoe features prominently in European myth and folklore (for example,

5600-522: The Virgin Mary . In the Gospel of Luke, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to be counted for a census, and Jesus is born there and placed in a manger . Angels proclaim him a savior for all people, and three shepherds come to adore him. In the Gospel of Matthew, by contrast, three magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the king of the Jews . King Herod orders

5740-469: The Welsh Methodist revival contributed to the decline of both the Mari Lwyd and a number of other Welsh folk customs. In 1802, the harpist Edward Jones of Merionethshire published a book in which he lamented the destructive impact that Christian preachers were having on Welsh folk customs, which they were criticising as sinful . In his view, "the consequence is, Wales, which was formerly one of

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5880-698: The Yule log , Yule boar , and the Yule goat . Often leading a ghostly procession through the sky (the Wild Hunt ), the long-bearded god Odin is referred to as "the Yule one" and "Yule father" in Old Norse texts, while other gods are referred to as "Yule beings". On the other hand, as there are no reliable existing references to a Christmas log prior to the 16th century, the burning of the Christmas block may have been an early modern invention by Christians unrelated to

6020-585: The massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later returns to Nazareth. In the 2nd century, the "earliest church records" indicate that "Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord", an "observance [that] sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers"; although "they did not agree upon a set date". The earliest evidence of Christ's birth being marked on December 25

6160-461: The pwngco . The Mari Lwyd party would approach a house and sing a song in which they requested admittance. The inhabitants of the house would then offer excuses for why the team could not enter. The party would sing a second verse, and the debate between the two sides – known as the pwnco (a form of musical battle similar to flyting ) – would continue until the house's inhabitants ran out of ideas, at which time they were obliged to allow

6300-714: The three kings cake was renamed the "equality cake" under anticlerical government policies . In the early 19th century, Christmas festivities and services became widespread with the rise of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England that emphasized the centrality of Christmas in Christianity and charity to the poor, along with Washington Irving , Charles Dickens , and other authors emphasizing family, children, kind-heartedness, gift-giving, and Santa Claus (for Irving), or Father Christmas (for Dickens). In

6440-411: The "Merryman" who played music, and Punch and Judy (both played by men) with blackened faces; often brightly dressed, Punch carried a long metal fire iron and Judy had a besom . Wel dyma ni'n dwad (Well here we come) Gy-feillion di-niwad (Innocent friends) I ofyn am gennad (To ask leave) I ofyn am gennad (To ask leave) I ofyn am gennad i ganu (To ask leave to sing) — A common opening to

6580-534: The "father of the American Christmas card". On June 28, 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States federal holiday . During the First World War and particularly (but not exclusively) in 1914, a series of informal truces took place for Christmas between opposing armies. The truces, which were organised spontaneously by fighting men, ranged from promises not to shoot (shouted at

6720-415: The 14th century. He therefore suggested the possibility that it might have been performed by coal and iron miners in western Glamorgan, Carmarthenshire, and western Monmouthshire , and that from there it could have spread into those villages where goods were manufactured using those minerals. The earliest published account of the Mari Lwyd appeared in 1800 in J. Evans' A Tour through Part of North Wales, in

6860-648: The 18th century, details the observance of Christmas and celebrations associated with the season over a number of years. As in England, Puritans in Colonial America staunchly opposed the observation of Christmas. The Pilgrims of New England pointedly spent their first December 25 in the New World working normally. Puritans such as Cotton Mather condemned Christmas both because scripture did not mention its observance and because Christmas celebrations of

7000-590: The 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement. At the height of this persecution, in 1929, on Christmas Day, children in Moscow were encouraged to spit on crucifixes as

7140-662: The Anglican poet John Milton penned On the Morning of Christ's Nativity , a poem that has since been read by many during Christmastide. Donald Heinz, a professor at California State University, Chico , states that Martin Luther "inaugurated a period in which Germany would produce a unique culture of Christmas, much copied in North America." Among the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church , Christmas

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7280-521: The Christian world, dependent on local tradition and available resources, and can vary from simple representations of the crib to far more elaborate sets – renowned manger scene traditions include the colourful Kraków szopka in Poland, which imitate Kraków 's historical buildings as settings, the elaborate Italian presepi ( Neapolitan , Genoese and Bolognese ), or the Provençal crèches in southern France, using hand-painted terracotta figurines called santons . In certain parts of

7420-417: The Christmas season and have their own body of traditions and lore. Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. Over the past few centuries, Christmas has had a steadily growing economic effect in many regions of the world. The English word Christmas

7560-426: The Christmas tree, many individuals place a star at the top of the tree symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem , a fact recorded by The School Journal in 1897. Professor David Albert Jones of Oxford University writes that in the 19th century, it became popular for people to also use an angel to top the Christmas tree in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the Nativity of Jesus . Additionally, in

7700-407: The Dozens , a verbal-combat game representing a synthesis of flyting and its Early Modern English descendants with comparable African verbal-combat games such as Ikocha Nkocha . In the Finnish epic Kalevala , the hero Väinämöinen uses the similar practice of kilpalaulanta (duel singing) to defeat his opponent Joukahainen . In " The Roaring Trumpet ", part of Harold Shea's introduction to

7840-429: The English term Merry Lude , referring to a merry game. Peate opposed this idea, arguing that if the latter was converted into Welsh then the result would be merri-liwt or merri-liwd . Peate also dismissed the idea that had been suggested to him that the term Mari in this context had derived from Morris , a reference to Morris dance . Another reason to doubt this idea is that there is no known historical link between

7980-557: The Leader pretended to try to restrain it. The Merryman played music and entertained the householders. The folklorist Iorwerth Peate believed that in recorded examples from Glamorgan it was apparent that the Mari Lwyd custom had become "indistinguishable" from the practice of wassailing , although added that there were still some examples of wassailing that did not involve the Mari Lwyd. He added that links between Mari Lwyd and wassailing were also apparent from recorded examples in other part of Wales, thus opining that Mari Lwyd represented

8120-399: The Mari Lwyd to local houses, where they would request entry through song. The householders would be expected to deny them entry, again through song, and the two sides would continue their responses to one another in this manner. If the householders eventually relented, the team would be permitted entry and given food and drink. Although the custom was given various names, it was best known as

8260-399: The Mari Lwyd", lines 398–400 The Mari Lwyd has prompted responses from the arts in Wales. In 1941 Faber & Faber published "Ballad of the Mari Lwyd and other poems , then first book by poet Vernon Watkins . The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has written that the title ballad, "one of the outstanding poems of the century, draws together the folk-ritual of the New Year,

8400-474: The Mari Lwyd, which was found in South Wales, and the Morris dance, which was concentrated in the north of the country. In other recorded instances, the Mari Lwyd custom is given different names, with it being recorded as y Wasail "The Wassail" in parts of Carmarthenshire . In the first half of the 19th century it was recorded in Pembrokeshire under the name of y March "The Horse" and y Gynfas-farch "The Canvas Horse". One account from West Glamorgan has

8540-464: The Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066. By the High Middle Ages , the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28 oxen and 300 sheep were eaten. The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and

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8680-446: The Norse gods is a flyting between Heimdall and Loki in which Heimdall says, "All insults are untrue. I state facts." The climactic scene in Rick Riordan 's novel The Ship of the Dead consists of a flyting between the protagonist Magnus Chase and the Norse god Loki. In the Monkey Island video game series, insults are often integral to duels such as sword fighting and arm wrestling. In Assassin's Creed: Valhalla , in which

8820-432: The Presbyterian Church of Scotland discouraged the observance of Christmas, and though James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, attendance at church was scant. The Parliament of Scotland officially abolished the observance of Christmas in 1640, claiming that the church had been "purged of all superstitious observation of days". Whereas in England, Wales and Ireland Christmas Day is a common law holiday, having been

8960-430: The U.S., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in 1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so." In Reading, Pennsylvania , a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas—threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate

9100-454: The United States after the American Revolution , when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time. With the atheistic Cult of Reason in power during the era of Revolutionary France , Christian Christmas religious services were banned and

9240-417: The Virgin Mary during the Middle Ages. He expressed the view that the original custom had been "horrific in origin and intention" and that from an early date it had been connected to wassailing. Cawte concurred that it was "reasonable to accept" that the Mari Lwyd head had become attached to an independent wassailing tradition, but said that the connection to the Virgin Mary was unnecessary. Pearce also suggested

9380-412: The West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night . Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries , is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians , as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season surrounding it. The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament , known as the Nativity of Jesus , says that Jesus

9520-416: The anniversary of the Savior's birth." The First Congregational Church of Rockford, Illinois , "although of genuine Puritan stock", was 'preparing for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in 1864. By 1860, fourteen states including several from New England had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday. In 1875, Louis Prang introduced the Christmas card to Americans. He has been called

9660-443: The border town of Chepstow , South Wales, every January. A band of English Wassailers meet with the local Welsh Border Morris Side, The Widders, on the bridge in the town . In the 21st century, the revival of the custom has extended to Abergavenny . Mari Lwyd, Lwyd Mari A sacred thing through the night they carry. Betrayed are the living, betrayed the dead All are confused by a horse's head. — Vernon Watkins, "Ballad of

9800-496: The building, otherwise it was the local custom that before he left he would rake out the fire with his poker. In the case from Llangynwyd, however, there was no interplay between the householders and troupe, but rather the latter were typically granted entry automatically after singing the first verse of their song. Once inside, the entertainment continued with the Mari Lwyd running around neighing and snapping its jaws, creating havoc, frightening children (and perhaps even adults) while

9940-404: The competitive verses of Japanese Haikai . Echoes of the genre continue into modern poetry. Hugh MacDiarmid 's poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle , for example, has many passages of flyting in which the poet's opponent is, in effect, the rest of humanity. Flyting is similar in both form and function to the modern practice of freestyle battles between rappers and the historic practice of

10080-507: The context of a Christian celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree, being evergreen in colour, is symbolic of Christ, who offers eternal life; the candles or lights on the tree represent the Light of the World —Jesus—born in Bethlehem. Christian services for family use and public worship have been published for the blessing of a Christmas tree, after it has been erected. The Christmas tree

10220-715: The cultural aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations, and Christmas trees. A similar example is in Turkey , being Muslim-majority and with a small number of Christians, where Christmas trees and decorations tend to line public streets during the festival. Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus's birth, with some claiming that certain elements are Christianized and have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity ; other scholars reject these claims and affirm that Christmas customs largely developed in

10360-462: The cultural conflict between the holiday's spiritual significance and its associated commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book The First Christmas in New England , Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree. While the celebration of Christmas was not yet customary in some regions in

10500-700: The custom of kissing under a mistletoe, are common in modern Christmas celebrations in the English-speaking countries. The pre-Christian Germanic peoples —including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse—celebrated a winter festival called Yule , held in the late December to early January period, yielding modern English yule , today used as a synonym for Christmas . In Germanic language-speaking areas, numerous elements of modern Christmas folk custom and iconography may have originated from Yule, including

10640-537: The custom re-emerged in the borderlands between Vale and the mountains in part because people in Glamorgan sought to reaffirm their sense of cultural identity during the termination of their traditional industries, and partly because the Welsh Folk Museum was located in the area. More widely, he believed that the revival of the Mari Lwyd was in large part due to the "forces of local patriotism", noting that

10780-577: The custom was still performed at several villages in the Maesteg area of Glamorgan. During the 1970s, Hole commented that the tradition was still found in Glamorganshire and Carmarthenshire. During the 1980s, further revived forms of the Mari Lwyd tradition emerged in Caerphilly , Llantrisant , and St Fagans , all of which are in the same borderland between Vale and mountains. Commenting on

10920-520: The custom's decline was also a result of changing social conditions in South Wales. He argued that the Mari Lwyd wassailing custom "gave an approved means of entering the houses of neighbours in a culture in which there were few public assemblies – at least in the heart of winter – in which the convivial spirit of the season could be released". Further, he suggested that the gifts of food, drink, and sometimes money "no doubt helped to further

11060-628: The date as December 25, the date of the winter solstice in the Roman calendar. It is nine months after Annunciation on March 25, also the Roman date of the spring equinox. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar , which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. However, part of the Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 of

11200-523: The day often involved boisterous behavior. Many non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England. Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659. The ban on Christmas observance was revoked in 1681 by English governor Edmund Andros , but it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region. At

11340-406: The decorating of the Mari Lwyd. The Mari Lwyd custom was performed during winter festivities, specifically around the dates of Christmas and New Year . However, the precise date on which the custom was performed varied between villages, and in a number of cases the custom was carried out for several consecutive nights. There is a unique example provided by an account from Gower in which the head

11480-475: The distribution of Mari Lwyd appearances, Cawte noted that it was principally a custom associated with Glamorgan, with two-thirds of instances falling within that county. The custom stretched east into the industrial valleys of Monmouthshire, with the most easterly account coming from Monmouth itself; this account is also one of the earliest. A number of examples were also found in Carmarthenshire , with

11620-589: The earliest recorded use of the word shit as a personal insult. In 1536 the poet Sir David Lyndsay composed a ribald 60-line flyte to James V after the King demanded a response to a flyte. Flytings appear in several of William Shakespeare 's plays. Margaret Galway analysed 13 comic flytings and several other ritual exchanges in the tragedies. Flytings also appear in Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister and John Still's Gammer Gurton's Needle from

11760-542: The early 20th century. In the middle of that century it was revived in Llangynwyd . In 1967, Lois Blake published a letter in the journal English Dance and Song in which she noted that the Mari Lwyd appeared each Christmas Eve at the Barley Mow Inn at Graig Penllyn , near Cowbridge , where a man named John Williams had kept the custom alive for the past sixty years. Blake also explained that she believed that

11900-409: The early-19th century, writers imagined Tudor -period Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol , which helped revive the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal merriment. Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion. Dickens sought to construct Christmas as

12040-516: The end of the fourth century. December 25 was the traditional date of the winter solstice in the Roman Empire, where most Christians lived, and the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of Sol Invictus , the 'Invincible Sun') had been held on this date since 274 AD. In the East , the birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6. This holiday

12180-680: The example of Llantrisant, which was inaugurated in 1980, Mick Tems noted that the custom had "re-established herself so strongly that there are complaints if she misses any of her regular calls". He noted that in 1991 the Llantrisant Mari Lwyd was taken to Yn Chruinnaght , a Pan-Celtic festival on the Isle of Man, and that it had also been taken to the Lowender Peran festival at Perranporth in Cornwall . Hutton believed that

12320-517: The existence of a similar custom which had existed in Solva , Pembrokeshire circa 1840, during his mother's childhood. He stated that this custom entailed the use of what he termed a "Mari Lwyd", furthermore providing a drawing of it using his mother's recollections as a basis, although was unaware of how this costume had been used. According to Evans' description, this Mari Lwyd consisted of a sheet that had been sewn together along two adjacent sides to make

12460-585: The feast of St. Martin of Tours ), now known as Advent. In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent. Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days. In 567, the Council of Tours put in place the season of Christmastide , proclaiming "the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as

12600-570: The feeling of community among country folk while at the same time manifesting it". He argued that the changing social conditions altered the ways that people in southern Wales celebrated Christmas, hence contributing to the folk custom's decline. In a 1935 article on the subject of the Mari Lwyd, Peate stated that the tradition "is still met with; it is practised in the Cardiff district, Bridgend, Llangynwyd, Neath and other Glamorgan districts". He highlighted an example from Christmas Eve 1934, in which

12740-589: The fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", old Father Christmas and carol singing. During the ban, semi-clandestine religious services marking Christ's birth continued to be held, and people sang carols in secret. It was restored as a legal holiday in England with the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 when Puritan legislation was declared null and void, with Christmas again freely celebrated in England. Many Calvinist clergymen disapproved of Christmas celebration. As such, in Scotland,

12880-660: The first commercial Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole . The revival of the Christmas Carol began with William Sandys 's Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), with the first appearance in print of " The First Noel ", " I Saw Three Ships ", " Hark the Herald Angels Sing " and " God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen ", popularized in Dickens's A Christmas Carol . In Britain, the Christmas tree

13020-566: The following century. The Georgian Iadgari demonstrates that Christmas was celebrated in Jerusalem by the sixth century . In the Early Middle Ages , Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in western Christianity focused on the visit of the magi . However, the medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11,

13160-506: The gods flyting. For example, in Lokasenna the god Loki insults the other gods in the hall of Ægir . In the poem Hárbarðsljóð , Hárbarðr (generally considered to be Odin in disguise) engages in flyting with Thor . In the confrontation of Beowulf and Unferð in the poem Beowulf , flytings were used as either a prelude to battle or as a form of combat in their own right. In Anglo-Saxon England , flyting would take place in

13300-407: The head termed the aderyn bee [ bi ?] y llwyd , meaning the "Grey Magpie", although this may be due to an error on the part of the recorder, who could have confused the horse's head for the aderyn pica llwyd , an artificial bird in a tree that was carried by wassailers in the same area. Note that in modern Welsh, the Mari Lwyd is referred to with definite article y , which subsequently causes

13440-491: The hoodening tradition of East Kent, also made reference to horses with their name. Peate suggested that even if the term Mari Lwyd had originally referred to a "Grey Mare", it could still have come to be associated with Mary in popular folk culture following the Reformation, thus explaining why Mary is referred to in the lyrics of some surviving Welsh wassailing songs. A further suggestion is that Mari Lwyd derives from

13580-401: The horse's jaw was able to open and close as a result of string or lever attached to it, and there are accounts of pieces of glass being affixed into the eye sockets of some examples, representing eyes. An observer of the tradition as it was performed at Llangynwyd during the nineteenth century noted that preparation for the activity was a communal event, with many locals involving themselves in

13720-441: The lack of any late medieval references to such practices may suggest that they emerged from the documented elite fashion for hobby horses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this, the hooded animal traditions may be comparable to England's Morris dance tradition, which became a "nation-wide craze" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before evolving into "a set of sharply delineated regional traditions". In mapping

13860-614: The legend of Baldr ); it is an evergreen parasitic plant that grows on trees, especially apple and poplar, and turns golden when it is dried. It is customary to hang a sprig of mistletoe in the house at Christmas, and anyone standing underneath it may be kissed. Mistletoe has sticky white berries, one of which was traditionally removed whenever someone was kissed under it. This is probably a fertility ritual. The mistletoe berry juice resembles semen. Other traditional decorations include bells , candles , candy canes , stockings , wreaths , and angels . The wreaths and candles in each window are

14000-525: The merriest and happiest countries in the World, is now becoming one of the dullest". Reflecting such a view, in 1852 the Reverend William Roberts, a Baptist minister at Blaenau Gwent , condemned the Mari Lwyd and other related customs as "a mixture of old Pagan and Popish ceremonies... I wish of this folly, and all similar follies, that they find no place anywhere apart from the museum of the historian and antiquary." Owen suggested that

14140-468: The observance of Christmas, claiming it undermined Islam . In 2023, public Christmas celebrations were cancelled in Bethlehem , the city synonymous with the birth of Jesus. Palestinian leaders of various Christian denominations cited the ongoing Israel–Hamas war in their unanimous decision to cancel celebrations. Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around

14280-690: The older Julian calendar , which currently corresponds to January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity rather than knowing Jesus's exact birth date is considered to be the primary purpose of celebrating Christmas. The customs associated with Christmas in various countries have a mix of pre-Christian , Christian, and secular themes and origins. Popular holiday traditions include gift giving ; completing an Advent calendar or Advent wreath ; Christmas music and caroling ; watching Christmas movies ; viewing

14420-452: The pagan practice. Among countries with a strong Christian tradition , a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed that incorporate regional and local cultures. For example, in eastern Europe Christmas celebrations incorporated pre-Christian traditions such as the Koleda , which shares parallels with the Christmas carol . Christmas Day (inclusive of its vigil , Christmas Eve), is

14560-493: The party entry and to provide them with ale and food. An account from Nantgarw described such a performance, in which the Punch and Judy characters would cause a noise, with Punch tapping the ground to the rhythm of the music and rapping on the door with a poker , while Judy brushed the ground, house walls, and windows with a broom. The householders had to make Punch promise that he would not touch their fireplace before he entered

14700-418: The pieces used to make the representation are considered a valuable family heirloom . The traditional colors of Christmas decorations are red, green, and gold. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion ; green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter; and gold is the first color associated with Christmas, as one of

14840-472: The possibility that in parts of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire the Mari Lwyd tradition came under the influence of mystery plays , thus explaining why later recorded examples from those counties contained characters known as "the Sergeant" and the "Merryman". The folklorist Trefor M. Owen also suggested that the Mari Lwyd was a practice "which probably had a religious (if pre-Christian) origin", adding that by

14980-698: The recognition of the Christmas season . Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance. A 2010 survey by LifeWay Christian Resources found that six in ten Americans attend church services during this time. In the United Kingdom, the Church of England reported an estimated attendance of 2.5   million people at Christmas services in 2015. Nativity scenes are known from 10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Assisi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe. Different types of decorations developed across

15120-443: The regionalised popularisation of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century fashion for hobby horses among the social elite. Although the tradition declined in the early to mid-twentieth century, partly due to opposition from some local Christian clergy and changing social conditions, it was revived in new forms in the mid-to-latter part of the century. The tradition has also inspired various artistic depictions, appearing, for instance, in

15260-538: The same era. While flyting died out in Scottish writing after the Middle Ages, it continued for writers of Celtic background. Robert Burns parodied flyting in his poem, " To a Louse ", and James Joyce 's poem "The Holy Office" is a curse upon society by a bard. Joyce played with the traditional two-character exchange by making one of the characters representing society as a whole. Hilary Mackie has detected in

15400-624: The same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, predominantly Moravian settlers of Bethlehem , Nazareth , and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in

15540-420: The tale, "Merry Christmas" , was popularized following the appearance of the story. This coincided with the appearance of the Oxford Movement and the growth of Anglo-Catholicism , which led a revival in traditional rituals and religious observances. The term Scrooge became a synonym for miser , with the phrase "Bah! Humbug!" becoming emblematic of a dismissive attitude of the festive spirit. In 1843,

15680-811: The three gifts of the Magi , symbolizing royalty. The Christmas tree was first used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strassburg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer , Martin Bucer . In the United States, these "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees." When decorating

15820-437: The time it had been recorded, it had become "emptied of its religious content". Also embracing Peate's suggestion of ancient origins, Ellen Ettlinger believed that the Mari Lwyd represented a "death horse", as symbolised by the white cloth worn by its carrier, suggesting that it was originally employed in a pre-Christian ritual to mark the festival of Samhain . The folklorist Christina Hole suggested that this "ancient character"

15960-475: The totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime's racial ideologies." As Christmas celebrations began to spread globally even outside traditional Christian cultures , several Muslim-majority countries began to ban

16100-528: The tract Vindication of Christmas (1652) of Old English Christmas traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories. In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas ). The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance. This also started

16240-696: The tradition had once been a pre-Christian religious rite, although scholarly support for this interpretation has declined amid a lack of supporting evidence. The absence of late medieval references to such practices and the geographic dispersal of the various British hooded animal traditions—among them the Hoodening of Kent , the Broad of the Cotswolds , and the Old Ball , Old Tup , and Old Horse of northern England—have led to suggestions that they derive from

16380-531: The use of Mari for Mary was unknown in Wales prior to the Protestant Reformation , he countered these criticisms with the observation that the term Mari was being used in reference to the Virgin in the mid-14th century Black Book of Carmarthen , thus attesting to its early usage in Welsh. He nevertheless accepted that during the medieval period the term might have been restricted largely to poets, given that there

16520-467: The use of a hobby horse, the performance at Christmas time, a song or spoken statement requesting payment, and the use of a team who included a man dressed in women's clothing. A related example is the hoodening custom of East Kent in southeastern England . In an area along the border between Derbyshire and Yorkshire , the Old Tup tradition featured groups knocking on doors around Christmas carrying

16660-443: The work of the painter Clive Hicks-Jenkins and the poet Vernon Watkins . The Mari Lwyd itself consists of a horse's skull that is decorated with ribbons and affixed to a pole; to the back of the skull is attached a white sheet, which drapes down to conceal both the pole and the individual carrying this device. On occasion, the horse's head was represented not by a skull but was instead made from wood or even paper. In some instances,

16800-458: The world for town squares and consumer shopping areas to sponsor and display decorations. Rolls of brightly colored paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured to wrap gifts. In some countries, Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night . The tradition of the Nativity scene comes from Italy. One of the earliest representation in art of the nativity

16940-411: The world, including many whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong Kong); in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of

17080-442: The world, notably Sicily , living nativity scenes following the tradition of Saint Francis are a popular alternative to static crèches. The first commercially produced decorations appeared in Germany in the 1860s, inspired by paper chains made by children. In countries where a representation of the Nativity scene is very popular, people are encouraged to compete and create the most original or realistic ones. Within some families,

17220-460: The year 1798, and at Other Times . Although the book itself focused on North Wales, the chapter in which the passage was included discussed the language and customs of Wales more generally. In this section, Evans related that: Evans returned to the custom in his 1804 work Letters Written During a Tour Through South Wales, in the year 1803, and at Other Times . Here he provided a clearer discussion than before, making it apparent that teams accompanying

17360-433: Was "no clear reason" for the distribution of the Mari Lwyd custom, which cut through various local cultural features. Those areas where it was found did not correlate with any distinction between English-speaking and Welsh-speaking areas in South Wales. He acknowledged however that there was a "reasonable correspondence" between the areas in which the Mari Lwyd was recorded and the areas which were used for mineral production in

17500-527: Was a more fitting object of reverence because it pointed to heaven and it had a triangular shape, which he said was symbolic of the Trinity . The English language phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in 1835 and represents an importation from the German language. Since the 16th century, the poinsettia , a native plant from Mexico, has been associated with Christmas carrying the Christian symbolism of

17640-552: Was also used during some periods, but is now considered archaic and dialectal. The term derives from Middle English Cristenmasse , meaning 'Christian mass'. Xmas is an abbreviation of Christmas found particularly in print, based on the initial letter chi (Χ) in the Greek [Χριστός] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |literal= ( help ) , although some style guides discourage its use. This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where Χρ̄

17780-404: Was born in Bethlehem , in accordance with messianic prophecies . When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room, and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds , who then spread the word. There are different hypotheses regarding the date of Jesus's birth . In the early fourth century, the church fixed

17920-497: Was celebrated as one of the principal evangelical feasts . However, in 17th century England, some groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery " or the "rags of the Beast ". In contrast, the established Anglican Church "pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons, and saints' days. The calendar reform became

18060-596: Was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans. Football, among the sports the Puritans banned on a Sunday, was also used as a rebellious force: when Puritans outlawed Christmas in England in December 1647 the crowd brought out footballs as a symbol of festive misrule. The book, The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on

18200-619: Was eventually equated with Christian Christmas. 'Noel' (also 'Nowel' or 'Nowell', as in " The First Nowell ") entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël , itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis (diēs) meaning 'birth (day)'. Koleda is the traditional Slavic name for Christmas and the period from Christmas to Epiphany or, more generally, to Slavic Christmas-related rituals, some dating to pre-Christian times. The gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem to

18340-490: Was found in the early Christian Roman catacomb of Saint Valentine . It dates to about AD 380. Another, of similar date, is beneath the pulpit in Sant'Ambrogio, Milan . Flyting Flyting or fliting ( Classical Gaelic : immarbág , Irish : iomarbháigh , lit. "counter-boasting"), is a contest consisting of the exchange of insults between two parties, often conducted in verse. The word flyting comes from

18480-501: Was historically marked on 14 January. According to Jones' idea, the Mari Lwyd itself represented the donkey on which Mary rode during the story. Peate was of the opinion that the Mari Lwyd was "no doubt a survival of a pre-Christian tradition" that had once been spread across Britain and other parts of Europe, and which – having survived the Christianisation of Britain – had been renamed Mari Lwyd in reference to

18620-638: Was introduced in the early 19th century by the German-born Queen Charlotte . In 1832, the future Queen Victoria wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights , ornaments , and presents placed round it. After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert , by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain. An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created

18760-464: Was kept buried throughout the year, only being dug up for use during the Christmas season. The custom used to begin at dusk and often lasted late into the night. The Mari Lwyd party consisted of four to seven men, who often had coloured ribbons and rosettes attached to their clothes and sometimes wore a broad sash around the waist. There was usually a smartly dressed "Leader" who carried a staff, stick, or whip, and sometimes other stock characters, such as

18900-694: Was not primarily about Christ's birth, but rather his baptism . Christmas was promoted in the East as part of the revival of Orthodox Christianity that followed the death of the pro- Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced in Constantinople in 379, in Antioch by John Chrysostom towards the end of the fourth century, probably in 388, and in Alexandria in

19040-446: Was once "a bringer of fertility". However, after 1970 the folkloric trend for interpreting such hobby horse traditions as pre-Christian survivals had ended, as scholars came to express greater caution about proposing origins for such customs. The Mari Lwyd was part of a wider "hooded animal" tradition that the folklorist E. C. Cawte identified as existing in different forms in various parts of Britain. Features common to these customs were

19180-450: Was originally performed by a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form. " Misrule "—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there

19320-435: Was permitted despite the fact that the penalty for profanities in public was a fine of 20 shillings (over £300 in 2024 prices) for a lord, or a whipping for a servant. James IV and James V encouraged "court flyting" between poets for their entertainment and occasionally engaged with them. The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie records a contest between William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy in front of James IV, which includes

19460-512: Was special Christmas ale. Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy , holly , and other evergreens. Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord. The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques, and pageants. In 1607, King James I insisted that

19600-594: Was with thy sister thou hadst such a son hardly worse than thyself. Lokasenna Like ane boisteous bull, ye rin and ryde Royatouslie, lyke ane rude rubatour Ay fukkand lyke ane furious fornicatour Sir David Lyndsay , An Answer quhilk Schir David Lyndsay maid Y Kingis Flyting ( The Answer Which Sir David Lyndsay made to the King's Flyting ), 1536 Ajax: Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear? Feel then. Thersites: The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel beef-witted lord! William Shakespeare , Troilus and Cressida , Act 2, Scene 1 Flyting

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