Written by Mid-Atlantic Team Member:

Maevelin Y.

Mist and cloud and darkness veil the wintry hour,
But the sun dispels them with his rising power.
Mist and cloud and darkness often dim thy day
But a Christmas glory shines upon thy way.
May the Lord of Christmas, Counsellor and Friend,
Light thy desert pathway even to the end. – F. R. Havergal

What do you think of when you hear the word Christmas? What’s the first thing you think of? Santa? Jesus? Commercialization?  I know personally that when I think of Christmas my mind plays a bit of tug of war between warm thoughts of snuggling into my favorite spot on the couch with my hot chocolate and favorite blanket, reading in the glow of the Christmas tree lights and the harsh thoughts of pushing my way through the masses in an overly decorated department store to find things that fit my budget to give to my children who will just give all the credit to Santa anyway. So many people, myself included, rush through the holidays and very rarely slow down to think about what we are doing, much less why we are doing it. Tradition has become habit and the reasons for our holiday traditions have become cloudy.

To grasp a solid understanding of how our holiday traditions unfurled, one must first go back to the age before the holidays were considered “holy days”. A time where the mere rising and setting of the sun was a magical feat. In winter, the nights are long and the sun is low. The winter solstice is the longest night of the year and it is a pivot point from which the light of the sun will grow stronger.  Many viewed this time of year as a representation of the death and subsequent re-birth of Sun and Light. The Romans called it Dies Natalis Invicti Solis or the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. They celebrated this midwinter holiday with the festival of Saturnalia. Riotous, and somewhat promiscuous, merry making took place, for during this time no criminal was prosecuted and one could anything he or she pleased. Houses were decked with boughs of laurel and evergreen trees. Friends visited one another, bringing good-luck gifts and processions of people danced through the streets wearing masks. Sound somewhat familiar?

The continued darkness also prompted people to believe that winter solstice was a time when the spirits were able to travel and roam the earth. This led to the lighting of candles and lanterns to keep the spirits at bay and bells were also used as protection from the evil spirits. While many people believe that ghosts and ghost stories are centered on Halloween, in Victorian times, Halloween was only the beginning of the season of the dead. My thoughts can’t help but be drawn to the 1963 classical song “It’s the Most Wonderful time of the Year”… “There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago….. It was common practice to gather around the fire on Christmas Eve and tell ghost stories. This goes hand in hand with the belief that you must wait till midnight on Christmas Eve and swing open the doors of your home to let out all the unwanted spirits.

Many of the Christmas traditions that we adhere to today took root long ago in the beliefs of Viking, Celtic, and Roman Gods. The Vikings used to burn a giant Sunwheel which, after being set on fire, was rolled down a hill to entice the Sun into returning and according to some, this can be attributed to the origin of the Christmas wreath. The Vikings decorated evergreens to entice the tree spirits to come back in the spring and they even burned the traditional Yulelog after carving runes on it to ask the God’s for protection of misfortune.  The ancient Celtics celebrated the festival of Alban Arthuan which is also known as Yule. They held to the belief that burning the Yule Log to honor the Great Mother Goddess would bring good luck. They frequently decorated pine trees with various stellar objects to represent the souls of those who had died in the previous year.

Anyone with a little curiosity can discover a whole treasure trove of Christmas lore across the ages. From the Krampus to the White Lady, Kris Kringle to Belsnickle the histories are endless. This season while amidst the holiday craziness find a minute to just stop and take it all in. Take a minute to enjoy the wonder and mystery of a holiday that is about so much more than we all know. Take a few minutes to discover for yourself, the true meaning of Christmas.

There was probably no one else who loved Christmas ghost stories more than Charles Dickens.  In fact, majority of the Victorian Era brought forth a new fascination of ghosts, spirits, apparitions, and all things weird.  The rise of Spiritualism was also during this same time.  So it is to no surprise that the holiday season would have experienced a spooky twist.  Whilst in the reign of Spiritualism, by 1855 Dickens himself was a practicing mesmeric doctor, as well as a member of The Ghost Club (founded in 1862)

Dickens is most famous for his beloved novella, A Christmas Carol, first published on December 17th, 1843.  In fact, we are just a week shy of the book’s 170th birthday.  Considering the popularity of the tale of old Ebenezer Scrooge, there are seldom few who know of the moving story of a stingy old man’s change of heart after visitations from spirits, and they lessons they taught him.

Illustration by John Leech from the first edition of “A Christmas Carol”

It may be hard to fathom, but the Christmas that we know today, was not the Christmas that happened in the 19th century, especially in London.  While there were “12 days of Christmas”, seldom did people take the day off and many worked during the Christmas holiday.  Christians strictly followed the Bible, which believe it or not, didn’t condone the celebration of Christmas.  It didn’t have the Christian ties that it has today, and was often just a time for parties and sexual liberties.  The Puritans even attempted to ban Christmas during the 17th century.  But to bring the point home, the Christmas that Charles Dickens experienced was not like Christmas today.

In a sense, we can give regards to Dickens for inventing the Christmas that we know and love.  This is likely why A Christmas Carol became so popular.  While this classic tale certainly remains as Dickens’ most famous holiday work, it certainly was not the only piece of literature he wrote with spirits and the weird intertwined in the Christmas holiday. Many regard Dickens as the father of the Christmas tradition we know now.

In 1836, seven years before A Christmas Carol was written, Dickens wrote a short story for The Pickwick Papers called, The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton, and it tells the story of a man named Gabriel Grub who drinks and works on Christmas day as a caretaker and gravedigger.  He is then kidnapped by goblins and taken to an underground cave where they show him his fellow humans, including a small boy belonging to a poor family that dies.  One could say that Gabriel Grub is Scrooge and the small boy was Tiny Tim.  The goblins also beat Gabriel mercilessly, and the next morning, he is a changed man.

Cover of “The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain”

In 1848, Dickens wrote his final Christmas novella called, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.  Unlike its predecessor, Haunted Man was a much more grisly tale.  It tells the story of a chemist named, Redlaw.  For him, and many others, Christmas is a grim reminder of lost loves, hurts, and regrets.  He is then visited by a Phantom who offers to cancel out his hurts.  Redlaw is amazed and intrigued as to how this visitor can erase such a thing.  But Redlaw soon learns that in order to forget the past hurts, he has to let go of the treasured people who caused the hurts and regrets in the first place.  And the lesson becomes that you can not forget one without affecting the other.  It’s truly a moving tale, and if you would like to read it for free, just click on the following link: The Haunted Man.  Charles Dickens wrote several more Christmas ghost stories for The Pickwick Papers as well as other publications.

After Dickens published A Christmas Carol, he began a tradition of publishing works each Christmas after.  In 1859, Dickens wrote The Haunted House, in collaboration with several authors, for the weekly periodical All Year Round.  Once again, this was a Christmas ghost story that featured the spiritual and the weird.  There are numerous other Christmas ghost stories written by Charles Dickens that are available on the web for free and very enjoyable.

If you would like to buy a book called, Christmas Ghost Stories with A Christmas Carol, The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, and The Haunted House, you can purchase it on Amazon here for less than $15, and it qualifies for Prime shipping.

Sources/Links of Interest

• Christmas According to Dickens
• Why Did Charles Dickens Write Ghost Stories for Christmas?
• Ghoultide Greetings: The Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens
• The Victorian Web: Featuring The Haunted House

You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout….not because Santa Claus will put you on the naughty list, but because you’ll get a swat from a scary incubus with claws, known as Krampus, and possibly dragged into hell in a basket.  Depending on where you live, the holidays may not be all about holiday cheer and positivity, but instead, a rather terrifying one if you weren’t a good boy or girl this year!

If you’re from Germany or Bavaria, or any Alpine region, the legend of Krampus may be a familiar one.  In fact, December 6th marks a day known as Krampusnacht (Night of Krampus), also regarded as the “night before St. Nicholas”.  To celebrate, people will have parties featuring men dressed as the holiday devil himself.  Costumes include sheepskin, claws, horns, and switches so that they can swat unsuspecting children and maybe a few ladies.   Other costumes will also include witches, devils, wild-men, and other scary get-ups while bearing torches and copious amounts of alcohol and an event called Krampuslauf (Krampus Run).  In fact, these men are encouraged to terrorize the children.  Interestingly enough, the Pennsylvania Dutch culture has a figure very similar to Krampus called, Pelsnickel or Belznickel.  So some traditions stayed after the migration from Germany to North America.

Krampus means, “claw”, and he is the darker counterpart of Saint Nicholas.  While Santa Claus will reward nice children, Krampus will swat naughty children, terrify them with his cloven hooves and monstrous tongue that would make Gene Simmons blush, and tying them to baskets with chains and taken down to hell.  If that’s not motivation to behave, I don’t know what is!

The belief and lore of Krampus is actually older than Jesus.  Krampus was born from an Alpine Pagan tradition during winter solstice that dates back to pre-Christian times.  In fact, the origin of Krampus has a performance element to it due to villagers dressing up as mythic creatures, animals, wild-men, and devils and performing in parades and plays (known as mummery).  It is believed that this was one of the early inspirations for Halloween.  And here’s another fun fact, the common figures in these rituals was Old Man Winter and a horned Goat-Man.  Sound familiar?  Santa actually has more pagan roots associated with winter solstice than our traditional Christian-themed Christmas holiday.

It’s not only the men who get to have “fun” during this season, women can also have their share as well.  Many women will wear masks and dress up as the Nordic goddess Perchta, otherwise known as Frau Perchta.

It would have been a sin to deprive you of this image of Krampus and Santa riding it SOA style.

One of my favorite parts about the Krampus tradition is the Krampus cards, holiday greeting cards with a humorous and dark twist featuring our favorite holiday devil.  These booomed in the mid-1800’s as Christmas cards became popular in Europe.  Of course there needed to be balance between the good and evil, light and dark, grim and cheerful…right?

In the last 10 years, Krampus has been featured on the series, Supernatural, and has even paid a visit to The Colbert Report.  Monte Beauchamp has played a large role in resurrecting Krampus in American culture by reintroducing the figure in his books and shedding light on the vintage art.

Here’s a video of a Krampusleuf from 2010:

If you want to learn more about Krampus, take a gander at these websites:

Krampus.com

Krampus: Devil of Christmas

10 Fun Facts About Krampus