Medieval Christmas

Christmas was one of the highlights of the medieval calendar not only for the rich but also for the peasantry.

Medieval christmas. In medieval iceland the christmas period would fall on the period when daylight would last only 4 to 5 hours leaving for long and cold nights. Downloadable as a bbc podcast here or here. The first recorded use of the word christmas was in 1038 when a book from saxon england used the words cristes. Christmas the feast of jesus s nativity was important but more significant was easter and perhaps also the annunciation that moment celebrated on 25 march when god was supposedly conceived in mary s womb.

A copper engraving by lucas cranach the elder in 1509 shows that by then something like a christmas tree had emerged from these antecedents. And a christmas eve play of adam and eve used a fir as paradise tree hung with apples. The occupants inhale the scent of decorative evergreens drink sweet wine and tuck into a hearty meal. In more recent times the term carol has come to mean any song associated with christmas.

A succession of stanzas with different texts interspersed with a recurring refrain. Late medieval germany knewa christmas pyramid a construction of ever greens with a star on top. The most popular subject for such dramas and tropes was the holy family particularly the nativity. Celebrations were for the birth of christ as opposed to simply peasants enjoying themselves.

As interest in the nativity grew so did christmas as a holiday. Medieval carols from england and elsewhere have survived though much transformed. For the longest holiday of the year typically the full twelve days of christmas people stopped work homes were decorated and a yule log burned in the hearth. The poetic form was simple.

Venison was also a popular alternative in medieval christmas celebrations although the poor were not allowed to eat the best cuts of meat. It was also a time of danger when evil creatures would wander the land. Christmas may owe its popularity in medieval times to liturgical dramas and mysteries presented in the church. For the longest holiday of the year typically the full twelve days of christmas people stopped work homes were decorated and a yule log burned in the hearth.

Inside a large fire burns brightly filling the room with intense warmth. Christmas was one of the highlights of the medieval calendar not only for the rich but also for the peasantry. In medieval times goose was the most common option. Icelandic sagas relate various strange events that happened during the yule festival.

However the christmas spirit might entice a lord to donate the unwanted parts of the family s christmas deer the offal which was known as the. The church ensured that christmas was a true religious holiday. 7 christmas trolls in iceland.