Yuletide

YULETIDE: A popular, somewhat poetic designation of the Christmastide. The name of the central festival in Greek is hemera genethlios, to genethlia lesou Christou (ton Soteros) (" the birthday of Jesus Christ [or, of the Savior] "), though Gregory Nazianzen (Oratio, xxxviii. [MPG, xxxvi. 312-313]) unsuocessfully sought to introduce the name Theophany to distinguish this festival from that of the Epiphany (q.v.), celebrated separately on Jan. 6. In Latin, the name is Natalis (dies), Natalitia, Nativitas Domini (Jesu Christi), whence the Italian Natale and the Spanish Nadal, Natividad. The French

Noel may be derived from natalis, or The Name. possibly from noe, a cry of rejoicing on

the occasion of the birth of a prince. The Anglo-Saxon geol, yole, yule is thought to signify the solstice. In Scandinavia, the period from Christmas to Epiphany is called Jolafridr, Jola hrilgh. Yule and Yuletide are still used in Scotland, while in England this alder designation has been replaced by Christmas (" Christ mass "), which appears in Dutch as Kerstmisse, Kersmis. The German Weihnachten represents the Middle High German Wihen Nahten (" Holy Nights "). The festival either includes the whole period from Dec. 25 to Jan. 6 (the twelve nights, since the ancient Germans reckoned by nights and not by days), the Christmas week up to Dec. 31, the four days Dec. 25-28 (the feasts of the Nativity, St. Stephan, St. John the Evangelist, and Holy Innocents), or, finally, the Christ day alone. For Jan. 6 as the feast of the birth and of the baptism of Christ see Epiphany, Feast of the.

The choice of Dec. 25 as the birthday of Christ must be clearly distinguished from the celebration of the Christmas festival. Long before there was any question of a festival of Christ's birth, the date of his birth had been sought and determined. The Church of the first two centuries had no thought of celebrating it as a festival. Origen (In Lev. hom., viii. 3, In Matt. xiv. 6 [MPG, xii. 495, xiii. 893-894]), followed by Jerome (In Matt. xiv. 6 [MPL, xxvi. 97]), pronounced decisively against the celebration

of birthdays of saints and martyrs, for Relation to the days of their death should rather the Vernal be considered their natales dies. Clem-

Equinox. ent of Alexandria (Strom., i. 21 [MPG,

viii. 885-8861) says that from the birth of the Lord to the death of Commodus (Dec. 31, 192) 194 years, 1 month, and 13 days had passed,

491

so that Nov. 18, 751 n.u.c., was the birthday of Christ. Probably we should read 23 instead of 13 days, so that the date becomes Nov. 8. In the De Pascha computes, incorrectly ascribed to Cyprian (dated by Uaener in 243 A.D.), the day of the spring equinox (Mar. 25) is reckoned as the first day of creation, and Mar. 28, the day on which the sun and the moon were made, is the birthday of Jesus; in the year 1549 after the Exodus; while the Clementine Homilies set this day on the vernal equinox itself. In his chronography Julius Africanus, in 221, choosing the same day as that of the conception of Jesus, is the first to give Dec. 25, exactly nine months later, as the date of his birth; and Hippolytus, in the fourth book of his commentary on Daniel, gives Dec. 25, 4 s.c., as the day of Christ's birth, and Mar. 25, 29 A.D., as the day of his death. In all these computations the spring equinox plays a part, as the time both of the creation of the world and of the incarnation or conception of Jesus; in the latter case the birthday follows nine months later. Duchesne assumes that Dec. 25 was chosen in the West and Jan. 6 in the East as the day of Christ's birth through a reckoning which gave Mar. 25 (Tertullian, Adv. Judceos, viii.; Hippolytus, Acta Pilau) or Apr. 6 as the day of his death, and also as the day of his conception, so that nine months laterin one case Dec.- 25, in the other, Jan. 6-became the date of his birth, although Duchesne himself admits that a celebration of Apr. 6 as the day of Christ's death appears only in a Montanist sect (Sozomen, Hist. eccl., vii. 18).

It has also been conjectured that the day was selected because of its significance in the Roman calendar, where it bore the name of dies invicti solis (" the day of the unconquered sun "), since on this day the sun began to regain its power and overcame the night. This view is supported by Polydore Vergil (De rerum inventoribus, v.,

Alleged Lyons, 1558), J. A. Fabricius, D. E.

Relation to Jablonski, E. F. Wernsdorf, J. A. W. Sun-cult and Neander, K. A. Hase, and others; and

Saturnalia. it is true that, after the introduction of the Christmas festival, the coming of Christ as the Light of the world was often compared with the dies invicti solis of the Romans, as by Augustine (Sermo in. nativitatem Domini, vii., and in nativitatem Johannis Baptista [MPL, xxxviii. 1007, 1302]), Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus of Turin (Sermo, iii. and iv. De nativitate Domini, MPL, lvii. 535, 537), etc. It is, however, unlikely that the birthday of Jesus was first determined by this heathen festival. Nor can Christmas be assumed to owe its origin to the Roman Saturnalia, since they lasted from Dec. 17 to Dec. 19, and even with the later prolongation to seven days, ended on Dec. 23. Still less can the origin be sought in the Germanic solar festival, since the Christmas festival arose long before the Christianizing of the Germans, although some popular usages connected with Christmas may have a Roman or Teutonic source.

The chief question in relation to Christmas is when the birthday festival, originally combined with the baptismal festival on Jan. 6, was first celebrated separately on Dec. 25, Uaener has made an ex-

fS ENCYCLOPEDIA yui'e ~de

haustive investigation of this matter, starting with the chronography of Philocalus (354 A.D.), which contains a list of memorial days of the

Date of Church (dePositio martyrum), the first Earliest entry being: "viii. of the Calends of Roman January; Christ born in Bethlehem of Celebra- Judea." Usener then adduces an adtion in dress delivered by Pope Liberius (conDecember. secrated May 22, 352) when Marcellina, the sister of Ambrose, took the vow of virginity (Ambrose, De virginitate, iii. 1, [MPL, xvi. 219-220]). Liberius begins by alluding to the day as the birthday of the Lord, and then proceeds to treat of the miracle at the marriage of Cans and of that of the loaves and fishes. Usener insists that the words must have been spoken on Jan. 6 and not on Dec. 25, because the marriage at Cans and the miracle of the loaves and fishes were always connected with the festival of the Epiphany. Besides, according to an ancient usage of the Church, a vow of virginity could be pronounced only on either Epiphany or Easter, as the two baptismal days, so that the earliest date for this event must have been Jan. 6, 353; and since in the chronography of 354, Dec. 25 is already given as the day of Christ's birth, that day must have been observed for the first time in Rome in 354. This theory of Usener has gained much approval, and P. Lagarde and A. Harnack look upon the proofs as irrefutable. Duchesne, however (Bulletin critique, xi. 41 sqq.), regards Usener's argumentation as " more ingenious than correct." No proof is given that Marcellina took the vows before the exile of Liberius (355-358); the report of the discourse was not written down by Ambrose until twenty-four years after its delivery; even if the report is absolutely correct, Ambrose himself declares that Liberius spoke on the "birthday of the Savior," and in 377, when he wrote, this could only be understood as Dec. 25. The moat important point, however, is that, in the cbronography preceding the depositio martyrum, there is a depositio episcoPorum, i.e.,of the last twelve bishops of Rome. The names are not given in chronological order, but according to the days of the calendar year. The last two bishops, however, Marcus (d: Oct. 7, 336) and Julius (d. Apr. 12, 352), are entered after Eutychianus, who died in Dec., 283, and this shows that the chronography was already completed before Oct., 336, the last names being added in 354. Hence the date of Dec. 25, given in the depositio martyrum, proves that the Christmas festival must have been observed in Rome at the latest in 335.

Thus all that can be stated positively is that the festival was first celebrated in Rome in the fourth century, and not later than 354. For a long time it yielded to other festivals in importance, and even in 389 Valentinian did not include it among the church days on which legal proceedings were interdicted. How tenaciously many still clung to Jan. 6 as the birthday of Jesus, even after Dec. 25 had become usual in the West, is shown by Maximua of Turin (first half of the fifth century), who says in a sermon for the Epiphany: "On this day the Lord Jesus was either born or baptized; different opinions are held in the world" (,Sernco, vi; If PL,

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lvii. 545). From Rome, Christmas, as a festival distinct from that of the Epiphany, spread to the East, according to the express testimony of Chrysostom (Hom. in nativilatem Domini;

Stubborn MPG, xlix. 353), especially as conConnection firming orthodoxy against Arianism. with Epiph- Gregory Nazianzen first celebrated it any in in Constantinople in 378, and Chrysos-

the East. tom delivered an eloquent Christmas sermon in Antioch in 388 or 387, in which he says: " It is not yet ten years that this day has been clearly known to us." There can be no doubt that this Christmas celebration by Chrysostom was of peculiar significance, and that the whole population now participated for the first time. In 352, Gregory of Nyssa celebrated Christmas and the Epiphany together in Cappadocia (MPG, xlvi. 580, 701), and in Egypt, at the close of the fifth century, accord ing to Caasianus (Collationes, x. 2 [CSEL, xiii. 286]), the birth and baptism of Jesus were still combined with the Epiphany. Only after the Council of Ephesus, in 431, did Paul of Emesa preach a Christ mas sermon in the chief church of Alexandria. The land of Christ's birth, Palestine, long resisted the introduction of this festival, and is blamed for its stubbornness by Jerome (Commentarium in Ezek., i. 3 [MPL, xxv. 18]). In a sermon delivered on St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26), Basil of Seleucia praises Juvenal of Jerusalem for having celebrated Christ mas (MPG, lxxxv. 469), although, on the other hand, Cosmas Indicopleustes (e. 550) expressly states that in his day both the nativity and the baptism of Christ were celebrated together on Epiphany at Jerusalem, while Dec. 25 was the feast of the family of Jesus (i.e., David, his ancestor, and James, his brother and first bishop of Jerusalem), the precise nature of this festival being somewhat uncertain. The birth and baptism of Christ are still celebrated together on Jan. 6 by the Armenians (F. C. Conybeare, Rituale Armenorum, pp. 181, 517 518, London, 1905). [Dr. Enrico Masini, a learned Italian scholar, in his elaborate "Chronography of the Life of Christ," maintains that the true date of the nativity of Jesus was Sunday, Nov. 28, 748, year of Rome. He also gives Mar. 18, 782, year of Rome, as the date of his death.]

The Missale Romanum especially distinguishes this festival by assigning to it three masses, the first celebrated in nocte (after the Te Deum in matins), the second in aurora (after lauds and prime), and the third in die (after terce). Every priest is not required to say all these masses, although he may do so. The liturgical color of the altar covering and of the chasuble is white until In the Ro- the octave of the Epiphany. At an man Rite. early date a manger was set up in the church with the appropriate figures. In the church of S. Maria ad prTsepe (later called Maria Maggiore), built by Liberius and entirely renovated by Sixtus III. (432-440), there was, in the right transept, a chapel for the sacred manger. This usage led to the manger-plays, with songs and dialogue, first given in the churches and later outside of them (cf. Religious Drama). Of the popular obaervanm, the Christmas-tree does not owe its origin, as many suppose, to old, German custom,

for the first notice of it is in Strasburg, in the seven teenth century. The octave of Christmas is ob served on Jan. 1, the feast of the Circumcision, a substitute for the heathen new year's festival (am NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION; for further details cf. Christmas).

(Georg Rietschel.)

Bibliography: Besides the literature under Christmas, consult: W. Sandys, Christmastide, its Hist., Festivities and Carols, London, 1852; J. W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen MUthologie, 2 vols., Göttingen, 1852-57; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 4th ed., Berlin, 1875, D' ng. transl., Teutonic Mythology, 3 vols., London, 1880-83; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen and Arer Nachbarstdmme, Berlin, 1875; J. Sepp, Die Religion der olden Deutschen und ihr Fortatand in Volkasapen . . . bis star Gegenwart, Munich, 1890; J. de Kersaint-Gilly, Ffea do Noel en Provence, Paris, 1900; G. Bilfinger, Untersuehungen aber die Zeitrechnung der alten Germanen, part II., Das permanische Julfest, Stuttgart, 1901; W. F. Dawson. Christmas: its Origin and Associations, London, 1902; G. Hager, Die Weihnachtakrippe, Munich, 1902; T. A. Janvier, The Christmas Kalenda of Provence, London, 1902; G. Rietachel, Weihnachten in Kirche, Kunst and Voiksleben, pp. 13 sqq., Bielefeld, 1902; N. HervS, Lee Nods francais, Niort, 1905; M. HSfler, Weihnachtapdbdcls, Vienna, 1905.