with Kalends were eventually absorbed into the celebration of Christmas. Called “kalends” (or “calends”), the Romans also used this word to refer to the first day of each month, within the framework of lunar phases. On this day, Roman officials posted the calendar for each month. The English word “calendar” comes from the old Latin term “kalends.” New consuls were inducted into office and for at least three days high festival was kept. The houses were decorated with lights and greenery, another precursor to the modern Christmas tree. As at the Saturnalia, masters drank and gambled with slaves. Vota, or solemn wishes of prosperity for the Emperor during the New Year, were customary and the people and the Senate were even expected to present gifts of money to him.
Emperor Caligula (ruling 37–41 AD) excited much disgust by publishing an edict requiring these gifts and by standing on the porch of his palace to receive them in person. Such gifts, not only presented to the emperor, but frequently exchanged between private persons were called strenae, a name still surviving in the French étrennes (New Years presents). A sprig of greenery taken from the groves dedicated to the goddess Strenia was considered a very traditional gift. Later, the Romans added cakes and honey (symbolizing a sweet New Year), and coins (symbolizing wealth) to the roster of traditional New Year gifts. Feasting, drinking, and merrymaking rounded out the festival. Kalends Eve celebrations resembled our own New Year’s Eve festivities. A fourth century Greek scholar named Libanius (314–393) wrote that almost everyone stayed up on Kalends Eve to usher in the New Year with drinking, singing, and revelry. Instead of spending the evening at home, crowds of people roamed through the streets, returning to their houses near daybreak to sleep off the night’s overindulgence. Sound familiar?
It will, therefore, be no surprise to discover that the present day Scottish traditions of Hogmany, staying up to “the bells” at midnight and New Year’s Day feasts, are no modern invention but mirror very closely the pagan practices in Roman times.
Indeed, the feast of Saturnalia and the Roman Kalends festival of New Year had only two days between them, and over time the customs of each became intertwined.
The Roman Catholic Church established the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, on New Year’s Day. Moreover, on the same day, the Anglican and Lutheran churches celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ (based on the belief that if Jesus was born on December 25, then his circumcision on the eighth day of his life (Luke 2:21) was on January 1/2).
However, in spite of these new “Christian” holy days the church found itself unable to root out of people the immoral practices of Kalends, which is not a surprise given that the vast majority of those under Roman Catholic influence were not new creatures in Christ, changed within by the Holy Spirit but merely those who acknowledged the church’s religion outwardly. With the prominence given to Christmas, what happened over time was that most of the Kalends practices transferred into the Christmas festivities. The church’s recorded denunciations of such pagan festal practices are numerous, ranging in date from the fourth century to the eleventh and coming from Spain, Italy, Antioch, northern Africa, Constantinople, Germany, England, and various districts of what is now France. Attempts were made to root the practices out by making the first three days of the year a solemn fast with litanies (set, audible prayers, often chanted in processions). What disturbed the church most was the continued Kalends practices of cross-dressing, dressing as animals with animal skins and heads, auguries (interpreting the will of the gods by examining flight patterns of birds), the superstitions about fire, the giving of presents, and the excess of feasting, drunkenness, and general riot.
In a letter written in 742 by St. Boniface (born in England but missionary to Germany where he remains Germany’s patron saint) to Pope Zacharias, Boniface complained that certain:
Alamanni, Bavarians and Franks refused to give up various heathen practices because they had seen such things done in the sacred city of Rome, close to St. Peter’s and as they deemed, with the sanction of the clergy. On New Year’s Eve, it was alleged, processions went through the streets of Rome with impious songs and heathen cries, tables of fortune were set up and at that time no one would lend fire or iron or any other useful article to his neighbour.
They recount also that they have seen women wearing pagan amulets and bracelets on their arms and legs and offering them for sale.43
The Pope replied that these things were odious to him, should be so to all Christians and so in 743, all such practices at the January Kalends were formally forbidden by the Council of Rome. Most of the customs associated with either the modern New Year or the Roman one were anticipated by earlier festivals. As noted earlier, many of the Kalends practices shifted to Christmas. Most of the observances surrounding New Year rest on the principle that “a good beginning makes a good ending,” that as the first day is, so will the rest be. For example, if you would have plenty to eat during the year, dine lavishly on New Year’s Day, or if you would be rich, see that your pockets are not empty at this critical season. This is by no means exclusive to Europeans but is common among Hindus also. To this day in Scotland, visitors on New Year’s Day would be considered rude not to bring a gift with them.
Many ancient peoples performed rituals to do away with the past and purify themselves for the New Year. For example, some people put out fires they were using and started new ones (hence the Scottish custom for “first-footers” to bring with them a piece of coal as a gift). The Celts (as we noted earlier) celebrated the New Year (Samhain) on November 1, marking the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the cold, dark winter ahead (this was a precursor to Halloween). They built “sacred” bonfires to scare off evil spirits and to honor their sun god. Throughout Britain even to recent times, pagan superstitions lay behind many odd traditions and rituals. For many centuries among Slavs, the first visitor to one’s house on Christmas Day was considered very important and may be compared with “first-footing” in Scotland on January 1. The character of the first visitor was believed to determine the welfare of the household throughout the coming year and the superstitions surrounding the event are many and varied in number from region to region. Due to the fact that Christmas was abolished in Scotland during the late sixteenth century, New Year assumed a greater significance in Scotland than in probably any other European country. It is only through the spread of Anglicanism, the resurgence of Roman Catholicism, and the demise of Protestant Church attendance throughout the twentieth century, that Christmas has come to rival New Year in popularity.
43. Tangl, Letters of Saint Boniface, 50.
Historical Basis of Christmas in Modern Britain44
We have noted the development of Christmas in Britain during the Middle Ages under the guidance of the Roman Catholic Church. We now want to trace its course into the modern world, commencing with its examination upon the rediscovery of scriptural truth at the Reformation.
The reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) provides a point of cohesion for evaluating the Reformation in England but only because of its longevity, rather than the ease of widespread generalizations. We quote at length the comments of the historian Christopher Haigh:
With a reign that lasted over four decades, Elizabeth accomplished what neither of her predecessors could do: she enforced a politico-religious vision. Her methods were not markedly different than any tried before but she incorporated a sensitivity to opposing forces that Edward VI and Mary had not granted.
Her success, originally political and then slowly religious, resulted as much from this approach and her devotion to uniting the realm as it did from her longevity; had she died after five or six years, like her predecessors Edward VI and Mary, indeterminacy would likely have reigned again.
