Christmas is a time to be happy and merry and full of joy (as I understand it). Christmas is essentially a Christian celebration celebrating the birth of Jesus, the clue is in the name. However many of the Christian traditions seem to have all but disappeared. We have religious songs, some people do still go to church on Christmas day and we celebrate advent without knowing what it's actually about, but most Christmas traditions these days are from the Pagan celebration of Yuletide which have survived. Christmas is celebrated in December because early Christians were trying to replace the Pagan celebrations with Christian ones. They were most successful with Christmas of course, but it wasn't the only one. Easter they tried to replace with the crucifixion and resurrection, that didn't really take. Christmas still has a lot of religious aspects, not least the name, but there are people who refer to it as Yuletide, keeping with Pagan tradition. Often Pagans are seen as satanic and dark witches but that is a misconception. It is not Pagan traditions however, that make up the dark things associated with 'the most wonderful time of the year'.
Krampus
There are variations of course, sometimes he simply punishes the children by thrashing them with a whip of some kind, in others he carries the children off to kill them. Either way, while Saint Nicholas gives rewards of gifts to good children, bad children are given a terrible fate by Krampus.*
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is about a young girl named Clara, who receives a nutcracker for Christmas and discovers at night that he is alive and battling a mouse king. When the mouse king is defeated, the Nutcracker transforms into a handsome prince and takes Clara to his kingdom. It is implied she and the prince stay together and are happy.
Sometimes it is a dream or alternate reality but one thing that stays the same from the original story is that Clara is a child. This makes her relationship with the nutcracker a little inappropriate. While young girls sometimes dream of meeting a handsome prince, actually being with one at such a young age would be inadvisable to say the least. In the original story, Clara is only seven and marries the Nutcracker within a year. Also, they can't be together in the real world so Clara leaves all her friends and family to live in the doll world.
This may sound like a story of true love but at seven, should she really be making that decision? Child marriage is a little dark even with her being transported to the land of the dolls.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve, similarly to All Hallows Eve, is a night when spirits roam the earth. Restless ghosts walk the earth on Christmas Eve. It makes sense. In 'A Christmas Carol' Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet To Come on Christmas Eve. If you are brave enough to venture to a graveyard on Christmas Eve and dig a hole (far from the graves don't dig people up) you are supposed to find gold. However upon leaving you a likely to see ghosts passing by and may even hear animals speaking like a human. You know, in the dark, on your own, near a graveyard. Just saying.
Good and Bad Luck
There is dispute over what is good luck and bad luck during Christmas. Of course, finding the sixpence in a Christmas pudding is good luck, just try not to break your teeth or choke on it. It's supposed to be bad luck to sing Christmas songs pre December 1st post January 6th. January 6th is actually the last day of Christmas so is the day you're supposed to take all your decorations down. If we're being technical, you're not supposed to put anything up, including the tree, until Christmas Eve. Things such as holly and fir trees are good luck as they represent life and rebirth due in spring. When so many plants seem to be dead bringing live ones into the home dates back to Ancient Egyptian custom when they would bring palm leaves into the home in the winter. Mistletoe is a tricky one. some believe it's good luck some bad, whether you plan to kiss under it or not. The only ones I observe with any regularity and superstition are the Christmas songs and taking down the decorations on the twelfth night. All the conflicting ideas on other things is too confusing.
Father Christmas
Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Pére Noel, St Nick, whatever you call him, the jolly man in red has become a big part of Christmas. While there is discussion about where he came from originally, he's actually a collection of lots of different characters and folklore. With so many different people from different countries and cultures travelling to and settling in the New World, the Americas put it all in a melting pot, so to speak, and Santa Claus was born.
In 1822 "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" was published and it gave us the description of Santa that we all know today. Prior to this, many of the depictions of a St Nicholas type was fairly lean. Now Santa is a portly man in red, thanks in no small part to the Coca-Cola illustration.
England's Father Christmas is the one who lived in the north pole and was originally dressed in green. While most if not all of the Santa-like depictions are happy and benevolent elves, the Santa of Finland started off a lot darker.
Before Christmas, we had the winter celebration of Yule. Of course, yuletide traditions have lasted and make up more of the Christmas season than the religious side these days. In Finland, evil spirits would visit houses during Yule and demand gifts and leftovers from the feasts and celebrations. In the 19th century, the evil Yule Goat was combined with the Coca-Cola Santa to become a benevolent figure and give gifts rather than take them. In Finland, rather than coming down the chimney the Santa rings the bell and asks if good children live in the house. If they do, he leaves them gifts. Of course, there is a little darkness to Santa now. Does he really watch us and our children sleep? Creepy.
Enjoy the most wonderful time of the year when people come down our chimney when we're asleep....yeah.
* In season 3 of the TV series Grimm, Krampus kidnaps teenagers who have been stealing, hangs them in baskets from the highest tree at the highest point and keeps them there before consuming them on 21st December, the eve of the winter solstice. He leaves lumps of coal in the areas he abducts the kids from. At midnight he disappears until the following year.
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