The medieval holiday of Christmas is an amalgamation of Christian and pagan, old and new. In the pagan festival of Yule, druids blessed and burned a log and kept it burning for twelve days as part of the winter solstice. The church has its own version of this — Candlemas, or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin held on 2nd February. Medieval parishioners came to church with a penny and a candle to be blessed. Other candles were taken away to comfort the sick and dying or to give hope during thunderstorms. The Yule log gave the pagans a symbolic light to guide them through the harsh winter, while the Candlemas candle gave Christians solace in times of cold and hunger. The joining of these two traditions meant ordinary people could celebrate the birth of Christ and their own salvation, as well as enjoy themselves with the feasting and fun associated with pagan tradition.
But it wasn’t fun for everyone. Childermass or Holy Innocents Day was on December 28th — the day King Herod ordered the killing of all boys under the age of two in an attempt to kill Jesus. While nowadays we might expect youngsters to be playing with their new toys over the holiday season, in medieval times they were cowering in cupboards. That’s because in medieval England, children were reminded of Herod’s cruelty by being beaten. Many thought December 28th a day of bad luck. People were reluctant to get married on that day, or start building something and Edward IV refused to be crowned.
One example of the heady mix of Christian and pagan is the tradition of the Lord of Misrule. This was someone appointed at Christmas to be in charge of Christmas revelries, which often included drunkenness and wild parties in the tradition of Yule. Again, the church had an equivalent, called a boy bishop. This tradition seems to come from ancient Rome, from the feast of Saturnalia. During this time, the ordinary rules of life were turned upside down. Masters served their slaves, and offices of state were held by peasants. The Lord of Misrule presided over all of this and had the power to command anyone to do anything.
In the church, on January 1st’s Feast of Fools, similar strangeness occurred. Priests wore masks at mass, sang lewd songs and ate sausages before the altar. It was a time of such wildness that lords often employed special guards to protect their property in case of rioting. Tenants of a manor belonging to London’s St Paul’s Cathedral were obliged to keep watch over the manor house, and were paid with a fire, a loaf of bread, a cooked dish and a gallon of ale — a sumptuous Christmas dinner.
