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| Raphael's "The Crowning of Charlemagne" |
You were expecting to read about Christian Christmas on this page? Go to January 6, and you will find it there.
Why does Charlemagne matter? Because of this paragraph, in History magazine:
"Charlemagne served as a source of inspiration for such leaders as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), who had visions of ruling a unified Europe".
And just as true of Macron and Merkel and Juncker and the other European wannabe Charlemagnes today, and key to the argument of the Brexiteers.
And presumably it was because he chose December 25th for his coronation that another of the wannabe Reichsulers of Europe, William Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, chose to become crowned as King of Aengland, in Westminster Abbey, today in 1066 - well it can't have been because it was Christmas, because it wasn't Christmas, not back then, as you will see if you go to my Jan 6 page, as suggested above!
But that page only tells you about Christian Christmas; what William the Conqueror would have encountered when he came to England would have been fascinatingly different, and yet remarkably the same. Let me, but keeping it very brief, explain (with multiple links to TheBibleNet, for those who want to learn more).
In the ancient world there was a sky god, the allfather, whom the Greeks called Zeus, the Jews Yahweh, the Celts Dagda, the Scandinavians Woden or Odin, the Saxons Wotan...
And a mother goddess, in three roles, because there are three phases of the moon: the maiden, the mother-wife, and the old crone.
At midwinter the sun reached its solstice, meaning the rebirth of the year. In mythological terms, the sky god and the earth goddess touched; she was impregnated, and spring was born some months later. Their union signifies the turning of the year. The midwinter solstice falls on Dec 21, and was known by the Romans as Sol Invictus (see Dec 29 for a little more on this).
The sky-god is the original Father Christmas. He rode the skies, not in a sleigh pulled by elves, but on an eight-legged horse - though Greek myths have the sun-hero in a chariot (Phaeton, Helios), while the Biblical equivalent, Noah's Ark, is both daily, monthly and annual - carrying the gift of creation from the nether world (the dragons and serpents of the nether world are simply the worms who biodegrade dead matter, adding thereby the nitrogen without which the Spring would fail).
According to the Venerable Bede, writing three hundred years before William the Conqueror, Christmas Eve (Early Yule 20th) was called Modraniht, Mother's Night. The mother was normally depicted, in statuettes and figurines, carrying fruit or horns of bounteous harvest. She symbolised fertility in all its aspects - hearth and home, progeny, agriculture, husbandry...These mothers (usually nine) were known as the Wyrds, the Nornir, the Parcae, the Fates etc; they sustained the life force, deciding human fate as well as those of the gods and goddesses, and indeed the universe itself.
According to the Venerable Bede, writing three hundred years before William the Conqueror, Christmas Eve (Early Yule 20th) was called Modraniht, Mother's Night. The mother was normally depicted, in statuettes and figurines, carrying fruit or horns of bounteous harvest. She symbolised fertility in all its aspects - hearth and home, progeny, agriculture, husbandry...These mothers (usually nine) were known as the Wyrds, the Nornir, the Parcae, the Fates etc; they sustained the life force, deciding human fate as well as those of the gods and goddesses, and indeed the universe itself.
In Denmark the mother goddess may have been called Nerthus; she was worshipped on an island with a sacred grove, in a holy wagon covered with a drape - rather like Moses' Ark of the Covenant, in fact. Only one priest, the high priest may touch it. "He can feel the presence of the goddess when she is there in her sanctuary", Bede tells us, and this too is exactly the same for the Mosaic Ark. After the winter solstice the cart was drawn by oxen on pilgrimage around the tribal lands and feted as it went; ceasefires accompanied it. Tales of King David trying and failing, then trying and succeeding, to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, reflect this.
Nerthus was later replaced by two goddesses, Freya and Frigg. Freya is the one whom Christianity transformed into mother Xmas; she too was toured around the villages, in her case in a wagon pulled by cats. Later, instead of her, wise women symbolised her - until Christianity reduced the wise women to witches (you guessed that, didn't you, from the presence of the cats?). She wore a black lambskin hood lined with white cat-skin, a long cloak and cat-skin gloves and carried a tall staff, symbolising the World Tree that joined heaven to Earth, plus the spirit world. The staff was decorated with brass (cf Moses' Nechushtan), depicting her journey to the spirit world, topped with a brass knob, adorned all round with magical stones representing knowledge. The staff, which was an Asherah in Mesopotamia, a totem-pole amongst the pre-American tribes, became the Christmas tree; the magical stones were the fairy balls that we now put on the tree. The seer (now masculinised into Santa Claus, which is really Saint Nicholas) was greeted with a feast, and slept in the chief's house for the night; in the morning she made her new year predictions (whence our resolutions). The next evening she sat on a high stool as incantations were sung to summon the midwinter spirits (whence carols). Some seers travelled with a choir of up to 30 trained singers, who also danced (her elves). Then her visions for the coming year, uttered oracularly.
Amber pages
Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and scientist, born today in 1642
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, born today in 1876
Nerthus was later replaced by two goddesses, Freya and Frigg. Freya is the one whom Christianity transformed into mother Xmas; she too was toured around the villages, in her case in a wagon pulled by cats. Later, instead of her, wise women symbolised her - until Christianity reduced the wise women to witches (you guessed that, didn't you, from the presence of the cats?). She wore a black lambskin hood lined with white cat-skin, a long cloak and cat-skin gloves and carried a tall staff, symbolising the World Tree that joined heaven to Earth, plus the spirit world. The staff was decorated with brass (cf Moses' Nechushtan), depicting her journey to the spirit world, topped with a brass knob, adorned all round with magical stones representing knowledge. The staff, which was an Asherah in Mesopotamia, a totem-pole amongst the pre-American tribes, became the Christmas tree; the magical stones were the fairy balls that we now put on the tree. The seer (now masculinised into Santa Claus, which is really Saint Nicholas) was greeted with a feast, and slept in the chief's house for the night; in the morning she made her new year predictions (whence our resolutions). The next evening she sat on a high stool as incantations were sung to summon the midwinter spirits (whence carols). Some seers travelled with a choir of up to 30 trained singers, who also danced (her elves). Then her visions for the coming year, uttered oracularly.
Amber pages
Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and scientist, born today in 1642
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, born today in 1876
Dame Rebecca West (Cicely Isabel Fairfield), English authoress, born today in 1892
Humphrey DeForest Bogart, actor, born today in 1899
Carlos Castañeda, author, died today in 1931
As did Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, some minor civil servant presumably, or ... wait a moment ... do you mean the tramp from the Lambeth Walk? Sir Charles! Eh,what! Makes him sound like a right Charlie. Today in 1977.
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