UKC

I think I looked in to this a few years ago, then forgot and had to look it up again. Plenty of info through Google, but this link seems quite easy to read.

http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/25th.shtml

any comments or musings welcome

In reply to Pesda potato:

Why not?

In reply to FesteringSore:

because its just a random day of the year why not the 14th of August? My own personal preference would be to revert to celebrating the winter solstice, shortest day of the year and the gradual return of the light. I know we can celebrate whatever we want personally but as a culture we dont have much choice, christmas happens to us and is inescapable.

In reply to Pesda potato:

Just ignore it. Tricky at first, but it works out.

It is a celebration of the winter equinox. Obviously not the exact date. But all religions are sun worshippers when you boil it all down to the nitty gritty.

D

In reply to Pesda potato:

Because if it was in mid summer it would make a nonsense of a lot of the carols.

Why would shepherds want to wash their socks by night, all seated round the fire? Who needs a fire in mid summer?

And what about King Wenseslas? How could he walk through deep and crisp and even snow in mid summer?

But, yes, when I was working I would much rather have had a nice long holiday in the summer than at the grottiest time of the year.

The folk in the Southern Hemisphere have got it made, so expect opposition to any proposed date change.......

In reply to Pesda potato:

But it's nice to do something merry in the bleak midwinter? Jan-Feb might be better

In reply to Pesda potato:

It should be 1st Jan surely, as they mark the same event?

In reply to Pesda potato:

The date of 25th has many theories, Saturnlia, Winter Solstice, etc. It being easier to hi-jack a festival than to ban it.
However the whole feasting thing has a lot to do with how we used to live. Back before freezers and good ways of preserving food and before Turnip Townsend and modern farming techniques food had a fixed "sell by date". Farmers would regularly kill off a certain amount of their stock (sheep, cattle etc) because they could not store enough food to see them through the winter and would slaughter some for the sake of the herd. This meat and many vegetables could only be preserved for so long. Salting and pickling etc would help but chances are you wouldn't get fresh food till spring. So the feasting days coincide with the desire for a last big meal before the hard times and as a way of using up food that wouldn't last. Also as a way of using up last years pickled and preserved stuff that would be unlikely to last a second year.

In reply to Pesda potato:

I think Christmas is seen by many to brighten up the coldest, darkest, most depressing time of year. If it fell in the middle of July I'm sure it wouldn't be anything like as popular.

In reply to Trangia:


Good job we don't live in Australia then.

In reply to The Lemming:

Indeed. It's a hoot seeing all the jolly festive winter scenes here, in 36 c heat.