History: The History Of Christmas

From the WSJ, editorial page.

COMMENTARY
A Brief History of Christmas
By JOHN STEELE GORDON
December 21, 2007; Page A19

Christmas famously "comes but once a year." In fact, however, it comes twice. The Christmas of the Nativity, the manger and Christ child, the wise men and the star of Bethlehem, "Silent Night" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" is one holiday. The Christmas of parties, Santa Claus, evergreens, presents, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Jingle Bells" is quite another.

But because both celebrations fall on Dec. 25, the two are constantly confused. Religious Christians condemn taking "the Christ out of Christmas," while First Amendment absolutists see a threat to the separation of church and state in every poinsettia on public property and school dramatization of "A Christmas Carol."

A little history can clear things up.

The Christmas of parties and presents is far older than the Nativity. Most ancient cultures celebrated the winter solstice, when the sun reaches its lowest point and begins to climb once more in the sky. In ancient Rome, this festival was called the Saturnalia and ran from Dec. 17 to Dec. 24. During that week, no work was done, and the time was spent in parties, games, gift giving and decorating the houses with evergreens. (Sound familiar?) It was, needless to say, a very popular holiday.
[Illo]

In its earliest days, Christianity did not celebrate the Nativity at all. Only two of the four Gospels even mention it. Instead, the Church calendar was centered on Easter, still by far the most important day in the Christian year. The Last Supper was a Seder, celebrating Passover, which falls on the day of the full moon in the first month of spring in the Hebrew calendar. So in A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea decided that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon of spring. That's why Easter and its associated days, such as Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, are "moveable feasts," moving about the calendar at the whim of the moon.

It is a mark of how late Christmas came to the Christian calendar that it is not a moveable feast, but a fixed one, determined by the solar calendar established by Julius Caesar and still in use today (although slightly tweaked in the 16th century).

By the time of the Council of Nicea, the Christian Church was making converts by the thousands and, in hopes of still more converts, in 354 Pope Liberius decided to add the Nativity to the church calendar. He also decided to celebrate it on Dec. 25. It was, frankly, a marketing ploy with a little political savvy thrown in.

History does not tell us exactly when in the year Christ was born, but according to the Gospel of St. Luke, "shepherds were abiding in the field and keeping watch over their flocks by night." This would imply a date in the spring or summer when the flocks were up in the hills and needed to be guarded. In winter they were kept safely in corrals.

So Dec. 25 must have been chosen for other reasons. It is hard to escape the idea that by making Christmas fall immediately after the Saturnalia, the Pope invited converts to still enjoy the fun and games of the ancient holiday and just call it Christmas. Also, Dec. 25 was the day of the sun god, Sol Invictus, associated with the emperor. By using that date, the church tied itself to the imperial system.

By the high Middle Ages, Christmas was a rowdy, bawdy time, often inside the church as well as outside it. In France, many parishes celebrated the Feast of the Ass, supposedly honoring the donkey that had brought Mary to Bethlehem. Donkeys were brought into the church and the mass ended with priests and parishioners alike making donkey noises. In the so-called Feast of Fools, the lower clergy would elect a "bishop of fools" to temporarily run the diocese and make fun of church ceremonial and discipline. With this sort of thing going on inside the church to celebrate the Nativity, one can easily imagine the drunken and sexual revelries going on outside it to celebrate what was in all but name the Saturnalia.

With the Reformation, Protestants tried to rid the church of practices unknown in its earliest days and get back to Christian roots. Most Protestant sects abolished priestly celibacy (and often the priesthood itself), the cult of the Virgin Mary, relics, confession and . . . Christmas.

In the English-speaking world, Christmas was abolished in Scotland in 1563 and in England after the Puritans took power in the 1640s. It returned with the Restoration in 1660, but the celebrations never regained their medieval and Elizabethan abandon.

There was still no Christmas in Puritan New England, where Dec. 25 was just another working day. In the South, where the Church of England predominated, Christmas was celebrated as in England. In the middle colonies, matters were mixed. In polyglot New York, the Dutch Reformed Church did not celebrate Christmas. The Anglicans and Catholics did.

It was New York and its early 19th century literary establishment that created the modern American form of the old Saturnalia. It was a much more family -- and especially child -- centered holiday than the community-wide celebrations of earlier times.

St. Nicolas is the patron saint of New York (the first church built in the city was named for him), and Washington Irving wrote in his "Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York" how Sinterklaes, soon anglicized to Santa Claus, rode through the sky in a horse and wagon and went down chimneys to deliver presents to children.

The writer George Pintard added the idea that only good children got presents, and a book dating to 1821 changed the horse and wagon to reindeer and sleigh. Clement Clarke Moore in 1823 made the number of reindeer eight and gave them their names. Moore's famous poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," is entirely secular. It is about "visions of sugar plums" with nary a wise man or a Christ child in sight. In 1828, the American Ambassador Joel Roberts Poinsett, brought the poinsettia back from Mexico. It became associated with Christmas because that's the time of year when it blooms.

In the 1840s, Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol," which does not even mention the religious holiday (the word church appears in the story just twice, in passing, the word Nativity never). Prince Albert introduced the German custom of the Christmas tree to the English-speaking world.

In the 1860s, the great American cartoonist Thomas Nast set the modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly, bearded fat man in a fur-trimmed cap. (The color red became standard only in the 20th century, thanks to Coca-Cola ads showing Santa Claus that way.)

Merchants began to emphasize Christmas, decorating stores and pushing the idea of Christmas presents for reasons having nothing whatever to do with religion, except, perhaps, the worship of mammon.

With the increased mobility provided by railroads and increasing immigration from Europe, people who celebrated Christmas began settling near those who did not. It was not long before the children of the latter began putting pressure on their parents to celebrate Christmas as well. "The O'Reilly kids down the street are getting presents, why aren't we?!" is not an argument parents have much defense against.

By the middle of the 19th century, most Protestant churches were, once again, celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday. The reason, again, had more to do with marketing than theology: They were afraid of losing congregants to other Christmas-celebrating denominations.

In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law a bill making the secular Christmas a civil holiday because its celebration had become universal in this country. It is now celebrated in countries all over the world, including many where Christians are few, such as Japan.

So for those worried about the First Amendment, there's a very easy way to distinguish between the two Christmases. If it isn't mentioned in the Gospels of Luke and Mark, then it is not part of the Christian holiday. Or we could just change the name of the secular holiday back to what it was 2000 years ago.

Merry Saturnalia, everyone!

Mr. Gordon is the author of "An Empire of Wealth"

Video: Lego Millenium Falcon

Video: Sears Portrait Studio

Last year the Seattle boys went to Sears and got their holiday portraits done, this year, it was the SF and Seattle girls...

Dance: Ballet reinterpretted by gymnasts

This is quite moving and amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5lN96dgt_Y

Music: Kid Beyond feat on NPR

A nice piece on Kid Beyond. America's finest beatboxer.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5683802

Artist: Red Nose Studio

I found this studio from an illustration I'd seen in the "American Way" magazine, while traveling recently. The images are simply magical puppetry. Be sure to see their little movies too!

Visit Red Nose Studio's Website

Review a broader portfolio at their artist rep

The article in American Way

Video: How We Met

Video: Miller Time - Evil Beaver

Video: Not a morning person

Clipta - new video wave: Not a morning person

Video: Bath Time

Game: Chain Reaction Dots

Really wonderful flash game. Very intuitive.
Try to capture dots in a chain reaction.

http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/

Video: Fishy music video

Fish Film set to music
http://www.factoryfilms.net/pop.php?file=Chem1_FactoryWeb.mov

Video: Chess For Girls

Video: Gecko's In Love

Amazing ad.

Video: Music Video from India

Video: How to breakup in 64 easy steps

Art: Nimis and Arx

I found this by accident while traveling around on the internet.
In 1980 the artist and arthistorian Lars Vilks started to work on Nimis, a construction of driftwood and rests from the cutting areas.


http://www.ladonia.net/nimis_arx/index.html

Definition of Globalization

Finally, a good definition of globalization.

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?


Answer: Princess

Diana's death.


Question: How come?


Answer:

An English princess with

an Egyptian boyfriend

crashes in a French

tunnel, driving a

German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian

who was drunk

on Scottish whisky,

(check the bottle before you change the spelling),

followed closely by

Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor, using

Brazilian medicines.

This is sent to you by

a Texan,

using Steve Jobs' technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that uses Taiwanese

chips, and a

Korean monitor,

assembled by

Bangladeshi workers

in a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian

lorry-drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen,

and trucked to you by Mexican illegals.....

That, my friends, is Globalization

Video: Nike Freestyle Commercial

Video: Timing is Everything

Unbelievable choreography found on Japanese TV.

Game: Blox Game

Fun little puzzle game.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/bloxorz

Vide: Daft Hands Harder Faster

This is super boring until the :51 seconds into it. then it gets pretty rad.

Artist: Theo Jansen - Kinetic Sculptures

This guy makes sculptures that are powered by the wind. They're quite remarkable.



His website: http://www.strandbeest.com/

Wiki article on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Jansen

Movie of his stuff:
http://www.glumbert.com/embed/kineticsculpture

Video: This Here Place

The only home improvement show worth watching.

Video & Site: Sky Maul

http://www.kasperhauser.com/skymaul_site/html/home.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UULTRF3kg0s&NR=1

Audio Illusions

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/04/17/three_interesting_au.html

Video: Happiness Factory

This is a really adorable movie short created by Coco-cola. It's worth watching a couple times to see all the details.

http://www.coca-cola.com/HF/index.jsp

Artist: Josh Cochran

I especially like Josh's Flash work.

http://www.joshcochran.net/index.php

Video: Retro Games in Stop Motion

Video: A Gentleman's Duel

Really wonderful cartoon in 3d animation goodness.

A gentlemen's duel
Uploaded by nettouch

The State: 43rd Annual All Star Halloween Special

In Part One be sure to watch the "Manzelle" clip.

Part One


Part Two
John Stewart appears in this clip


Part Three


Part Four

The State: $240 worth of pudding

I remember this being one of my favorite episodes of MTV's sketch comedy, The State.

Mad TV : iRack

Be sure to watch this one through to the end. Clip from Madtv season 12 episode 16.
apple I-rack spoof

Flight of the Conchords - David Bowie's Antennae Nipple

Chicago's Columbian Exposition - 1893

Here are some resources:

This one has great images - all taken from books at the time

Book: Leopolds Ghost

I recently read this book.

The website

Book: The Devil in the White City by Eric Lawson

I recently finished the Book "Devil in the White City", written by the same author as "Isaac's Storm". The book was fantastic. A book review to come shortly.

Visit the official Book Site

Book: Ishmael:An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn

I recently read the Book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Full review to come shortly.

Go to the Ishmael website

Zebra + horse = zorse

From the New Zealand Herald June 29, 2007

Eclyse the zorse is striking proof of how an offspring inherits genes from both parents - which in her case was a male zebra and a female horse. The result is shown in her amazing coat which looks like a zebra's that has been partly covered in white paint.

Read The Article

Flight of the Conchords - Business Time

New Zealand's fourth most popular pop folk parody duo.

Business Time. Hilarious!



The First Rap Song Ever!

Artist: Souther Salazar

Souther Salazar's work first began to circulate in the early '90s, in the form of photocopied cut-and-paste micro-comics and zines he made in his bedroom as a young teenager in rural Oakdale, California. After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, he moved to LA. Salazar exhibits his collages, paintings, drawings, and sculptures in dense and frenzied installations that encourage exploration and participation by the viewer. His work has appeared in galleries nationwide, and in publications such as Kramers Ergot, Swindle, and the Drama, as well as a recent cover feature in Giant Robot.

http://www.southersalazar.net/

Iraq Museum

There are so many tragedies to speak of in Iraq since the US invasion. Among the many is the near total loss of historical and cultural artifacts from it's extensive history. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has created a database of Iraq's lost treasures. It's well worth checking out.

Unlike the hording by Germany in WWII of cultural and artistic artifacts (see my post on Rape Of Europa), it seems highly unlikely that their cultural assets will ever be recovered.

Musical Instruments: Acordians Rule!

Smythe's Accordian Center - If you're into accordians, then this is the place for you in the Bay Area. Accordian repair, workshops and classes.

smythesaccordiancenter.com

Artist: Eva Martin - Jewelry

Our friend's Bradly and Felicity had their wedding ring created by Eva (see pic to the left). What makes her works so amazing is that she weaves a story into each piece of jewelry she creates.

www.evamartin.com

Artist: Natasha Dikareva

I found Natasha's work during an Open Studios night in the Mission, SF. What I particularly liked about her work was the installation, and this melding of materials, periods - clay and metal, old and new.

Visit Natasha's Site

Documentary: Rape Of Europa

I saw this film at the San Francisco International Film Festival and would recommend it to anyone!

Based on the non-fiction book of the same name, this documentary tells the story of systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and the Second World War.

It's incredibly well told and illustrated with lots of film footage and pictures from that time.


http://www.therapeofeuropa.com/

Planet Unicorn Heyyy

Even if you don't watch the entire thing, watch the intro for this. Unicorn Planet, planet Unicorn, heyyy!

Adorable Animated Short : Burning Safari

Robots vs. Monkey
Burning Safari

New Life Forms on Film

No matter how many times I see this video it enthralls me.

Educational Video: Julius Sumner Miller!

Talk about a nutty professor. In this episode he teaches you the Drama of Very Cold Things.

Color photos from 1910s

Apparently the Tsar’s official photographer figured that if he took 3 black and white photos of the same thing with red blue and green filter, eventually the technology would come along to re-combine them into actual color photographs. Well, he was right. And now you get to see color photographs of life in Russia in 1910. Absolutely remarkable.

What fascinates me the most about this is that I’ve come to expect people dressed in clothing from the turn of the century to be in black and white. And when I see them in color, it doesn’t feel as distant to me. It gives them more of a human, rather than historical appearance.

See the site!

Artist: Josh Heilaman

A mixed-media artist from Oklahoma whose palette and sensibility are continually evolving. He uses acrylic paints and just about any other medium he can put hands on to create environments heavy with seas, forests and cities — all populated by creatures of whimsy. Heilaman's work has been featured in publications and exhibitions throughout North America.

I found this artist at Flavor Pill.

Women in Art

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art morphing together.

Flash Animation: Animation vs Animator

Really fun flash animations!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/316541

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/368557

http://www.gladdening.com/FlashFun/desktop.html

Artist: Chad Mount

I found this guy on FlavorPill

www.chadmount.com

Maker Faire 2007

Jaime Zollars Really wonderful illustrator. I purchased the silkscreen featured in this post. She introduced me to a place where I could get good prints (postcards, etc) done. Her postcards were pretty cool. The place is Overnightprints.com.

The Paper Source - A guy managing the Papersource in San Francisco taught people the art of Goco Printing. He even demonstrated how one could use Brownie Camera flash bulbs to create a print.

Craftgym Here's a great place if you don't want to invest to heavily in crafting supplies, or crafting space in your own home. For a fee, you can print on their Gocco printer, user their paper marbleing vats, etc. There's also a ton of classes that look like alot of fun!


Metallurge Casting - This gal made some pretty rad dinnerware.

Lulu.com - Looking to make your own books, cds, dvds? Lulu will do this with their really great selection of binding types and high quality printing.

The Neverwas Haul made an appearance. Inspired by the sci fi of jules Verne, the Neverwas Haul is a self-propelled 3 story victorian house on wheels. The haus is home to The Travelling Acadamy of UnNatural Science. A collaborative group of artists and adventurers.

Pod Pod Post Gallery/Store of Mail Art.

Craft Mafia - resource / coop for crafters

The Stereo Club of California Has a bunch of info on their site related to 3d imaging.

Mrs Grossmans is a sticker making company located here in the bay area. They even give tours.

Martin Hsu - Awesome Illustrator / Artist

This artist captured humans in bottles

The Skank Sack

This sack is designed with the active Skank in mind.


http://www.devilducky.com/media/61980/

David Blaine Mock - u -mentary

David Blaine Mock - u -mentary

http://sjl.funnyordie.com/v1/view_video.php?viewkey=c3f7e2336b27310f0b9e

New Taekwondo Gym in Martinez

Our pal Jordan has *just* opened his new Taekwondo gym.
http://www.bay-ata.com/instructors.php

1848: When America Came of Age - from Time Magazine

I love the way in which you can backtrack through time and find remarkable parallels in the way people thought about themselves. Kurt Anderson recently wrote about the parallels between the year 1848 and the present in the 3.18.07 issue of Time Magazine.

A snippet: "Miraculous new communications technologies have suddenly appeared, transforming everyday life. Everything is moving discombobulatingly fast. Globalization accelerates. Wall Street booms. Outside San Francisco, astounding fortunes are made overnight, out of nothing, by plucky nobodies. The new media are scurrilous and partisan. Marketing spin and advertising extend their influence as never before. A fresh urban-youth subculture has emerged, rude and vibrant, entertainment-fixated and violence-glorifying. Christian conservatives are furiously battling cultural decadence, and one popular sect insists that the end days are nigh. Ferocious anti-immigration sentiment is on the rise. Both major American political parties seem pathetically unable to deal with the looming, urgent issue of the day. Insurgents practicing asymmetrical warfare have, practically overnight, threatened to bring down the political order of Western civilization. And the President has tapped into patriotic rage to invade a poor desert country, having dubiously claimed that the enemy nation represents a clear and present military danger to America."

To read more of this article:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1597503,00.html

3d commercial - I'd love to play this game!

http://seewhatyoumean.3ds.com/

Swarm of Starlings

You need to play through about a minute to get to the meat of this, but this is more like a swarm of birds rather than a flock of them!

Awesome Artist - Chris Haughton

Chris Haughton is a London-based illustrator and animator. After studying design in Ireland for four years, he travelled throughout China, India and Southeast Asia. His wanderlust brought him to Hong Kong where he worked on freelance design and illustration projects for a year before moving to London. Haughton illustrates for Time, The Guardian, The Independent and The South China Morning Post. His colourful illustrations and designs can be seen on his site :
http://www.vegetablefriedrice.com/

Found on FlavorPill

A Cappella group sings Dr Dre

DeCadence (an A Cappella group at UC Berkeley) sings Ben Folds version of Dr Dre's, Bitches Ain't Shit.

With New Technology Comes a Help Desk

Every good company needs a 'help desk' for those times when new technology is introduced.

Organic Metalwork Sculptures

Beautiful organic shapped kinetic metal sculptures.

See great sculptures!

Learn to dance with Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite takes us through some impressive dance moves.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/napoleon

Spiders on Drugs

Who knew spiders reacted so poorly to drugs.

The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine

Lounn Brizendine is a Neuro-Psychiatrist and founder of the Womens Brain Center at UCSF based in San Francisco. She's spent the past 20 years researching the differences between the male and female brain. This book collates the research done between her and her collegues into an extremely readable, fascinating and entertaining book.

This book doesn't go deeply into the science, but rather summerizes what is happening in a female brain at various points throughout her life, from inutero to menopause. As it turns out it's structures and neurochemicals are ever changing "like the weather"(unlike the male brain, which remains somewhat unchanged except in 2 key moments in their life).

Some fun did you know's I got from this book:

• During pregnancy, you will loose 8% of your brain mass while your brain restructures itself. The mass will return 6 months post pregnancy, but your brain will be far more adept at mapping and locating things than it was prior to pregnancy.


• A female's brain is uniquely structured to read minute changes in people faces and appearance
  

http://louannbrizendine.com/

Listen to an interview with Louann Brizendine on KQED's Forum

Buy the book on Amazon