Christmas and Candlemas in Medieval Times

When Christians Disposed of Trees and Household Greenery

Dec 21, 2009 Michael Streich

Indoor greenery from the Winter Solstice until Candlemas ensured the return of vegetation while candles and other household fire anticipated the return of spring.

   

When to bring Christmas trees and other seasonal greenery into the house and when to dispose of such items is more than superstition. Traditional customs governing these aspects of the Christmas celebration are rooted in pre-Christian Europe as well as Roman practices. Indoor greenery, coupled with fire – a Yule Log or candles, referred to agricultural concerns and the anticipation of the return of the sun and planting season. Prior to the early modern period, Christians did not dispose of indoor greenery until February 2nd, Candlemas – or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin in the Medieval Church calendar.

The Christmas tree and other Indoor Greenery

The Winter Solstice represented the high point of darkness and silence. Even the earliest human communities grew accustomed to the seasonal changes and looked to the heavens to appease the spirits or gods that were believed to control the patterns of nature. Over time, rituals became more elaborate and ensconced in festival patterns repeated yearly as part of on-going cycles celebrating the harmonization of nature and human communities. During the Roman Saturnalia, laurel and other greenery was hung in homes and in temples, a tradition later fused with early Christian practices.

As Christian missionaries made their way into pagan Northern Europe, similar customs were encountered and adopted into the ecclesiastical cycles charted by the church. The practice of bringing greenery into a house - whether holly, ivy, bay, mistletoe, or rosemary, at the time of the winter solstice served several purposes. The old pagan ideals of superstitious “good luck” tied to the return of vegetation also provided sacramental order within the ecclesiastical calendar, ensuring uniformity of worship.

Christmas trees were not brought into a house until Christmas Eve. In the modern tradition, they were not discarded until Twelfth Night. For many Christians, Epiphany signaled the end of the Christmas period. But according to medieval tradition, no indoor greenery was disposed of until Candlemas. February 2nd represented the end of the official Christmas season for the church. The blessing of candles at Candlemas was the transition from darkness to light and symbolic of all life, not just vegetation.

Candlemas and the Importance of Light

Candlemas originated in the 4th Century and is tied to both the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Candles, in church tradition, have always been symbolic of Christ as “light of the world.” It is therefore logical that the Feast of Christ’s presentation in the temple should be accompanied by the blessing of candles.

On Candlemas Eve, Medieval Christians brought candles to the church to be blessed. These included large family candles that were only lit at times of death or during storms, although some researchers differentiate between these family candles and “rain-or-storm-candles.” So-called “penny candles” were used during Advent and All Souls. Slender, red candles were lit during childbirth.

It is evident that the magical use of candles, although part of church sacramentals, was tied to several important themes: Christ as light of the world who brings life, sustains life, and promises eternal life. Since most Christians in the Middle Ages were peasants (estimates are 98% of the European population) engaged in some type of farming, these images were not only important but tied peasants closely to church order and conformity.

Christmas Greenery and Christmas Light

The presence of fresh greenery and light, from candles or a traditional Yule Log, pointed to the return of spring and fertility. The growth of the church in Europe and the ecclesiastical seasonal cycle imposed on the faithful incorporated these often magical traditions. Like the blessing of votives in the Temples of Diana on her festival days in Ancient Rome, so also the church blessed candles before the sacrificial altar. Christmas and Candlemas and indelibly linked.

Sources:

• Charles Panati, Sacred Origins of Profound Things (Penguin, 1996)
• R.W. Scribner, Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Reformation Germany (London: the Hambledon Press, 1987)