THE OLDTIME YULETIDE ADVENT CALENDAR - Day 09

Welcome dear friends back to the Hypnogoria Old-time Yuletide Advent Calendar! Today we open Door 9 and discover what I shall stand for. And it’s not ice, icicles, nor the inn at Bethlehem had no room, for I shall stand for holly’s famous other half, ivy! 

Ivy or Hedera Helix to give its Latin designation - is an exceedingly common plant .And while holly was thought to be traditionally male, ivy was seen as female, and the two have often been paired in Christmas symbolism and décor. Of course, most famously there is the well-loved carol The Holly and the Ivy, which certainly sound very ancient and pagan to many listeners.

However, surprisingly, we are not entirely sure how old this carol is, and Christmas historians do wonder whether it is genuinely ancient at all, despite all those stags, deer, and rising suns. For the earliest references we have found to this carol only date to the early 19th century. Although one early printing of the carol -  in Joshua Sylvester’s 1861 book A Garland of Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern - did claim that it was being reprinted from “an old broadside, printed a century and a half since” which would date the song as far back as 1711.  

Certainly the imagery sounds a little pre-Christian and the merry tune would very much suit the way the oldest carols were originally sung - while dancing in a circle. However, given there were many traditions invented as recreations of older lost lore, we cannot be sure if this well-loved carol is genuinely ancient or merely deftly fashioned in a later age to sound old and pagan. 

However despite its close links with holly, ivy does have something of a darker reputation, as it was associated with graveyards and tombs. And even today, when we picture a spooky old churchyard, we imagine blasted trees with ivy creeping over the branches, across the ground and even up the headstones themselves. Hence it was considered to be unlucky to bring it into the household at any time other than Christmas. And there is a dark folk charm associated with ivy too from Cornwall, which was practised on Twelfth Night. Each member of the family would pick an ivy leaf and label it as their own. The ivy leaves were then left in a bowl of water overnight. In the morning, any member of the family who was fated to die in the coming year would find their leaf marked with black spots, or even the shape of a coffin.

But, ivy did have other more widely cherished and pleasanter properties. Like holly, it had the reputation of giving protection from lightning, and in Germany, a sprig was often affixed to the doors of churches for this very purpose. Also due to the fact that it is a climbing vine that clings, it was seen as a symbol of friendship, marriage and faithfulness. Furthermore, as an evergreen, it was also thought to confer fertility upon a house. However as ivy was also the symbol of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry, possibly ivy helped out folks to, ahem, shall we say, feel like getting fruitful in a somewhat different way! 

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THE OLDTIME YULETIDE ADVENT CALENDAR - Day 08

Welcome dear friends back to the Hypnogoria Old-time Yuletide Advent Calendar! It is time to open Door 8 and find what H awaits us. Well, I can now reveal H stands for Holly, that most festive plant. 

Holly is probably the plant we most associate with Christmas, rivalling only the Christmas Tree itself in the iconography of the season. However the decorated fir tree is a mere whippersnapper, being only a few centuries old, whereas holly - ilex aquifolium for any botanists or Latin scholars out there - has been around since time immemorial. Certainly the use of holly as decorations probably predates Christianity, for we know it was an important plant in both ancient Scandinavian and Celtic traditions. The Romans too favoured this favourite prickly bush, with the ancient scholar Pliny stating that a holly tree near a house would drive away evil spirits, and protect the house from lightning strikes. Furthermore Pliny claimed that sprigs of holly provided good protection against witches too.

And thanks to Pliny’s continued influence after the fall of Rome, holly retained this belief in its protective powers into later centuries. For example in mediaeval times it was thought a good protection against goblins and mischievous spirits such as Robin Goodfellow. And this belief lingered on into even modern times ,with the notion that it was very bad luck to cut down a holly bush or tree. 

With regards to Christianity, its evergreen properties symbolised eternal life, while the prickly leaves could represent the crown of thorns, and the red berries, the blood of Christ. Some mediaeval legends went further, claiming variously that the crown of thorns had been made from holly, and that the wood that the cross was made of came from a holly tree. Indeed so strong were these associations that it has been claimed that “holly” is a shortening of “holy tree”. However in fact the name would appear to come from the ancient Celtic name for this festive favourite.  

And indeed there is much lore associated with this plant. To begin with it comes in both male and female varieties, and one must have both if you want your holly to produce those vivid red berries. A common folk belief related to the berries states that the more plentiful the berries in autumn, the harder and colder the winter will be. 

Another old superstition in the British Isles relates to the two sexes of the plant. This folk belief held that whichever sort of holly was first brought into the house at Christmas time would determine who would rule the roost in the coming year. If it was male, the master, or if it was female, the mistress. 

Now speaking of bringing holly into the house, traditionally the day for putting up the decorations was Christmas Eve, however when they came down was another matter. While now we tend to favour Twelfth Night, in previous centuries the greenery stayed in place until Candlemas - February 2nd. However, whatever day the halls ceased to be decked with boughs of holly, folklore is unanimous on one point - the holly and other greenery must be burnt, lest ill luck and attacks by evil spirits result. 

Of course, in the iconography of Christmas, holly is usually paired with ivy… And we will learn about the folklore of the holly tree’s long-time companion tomorrow! 

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THE OLDTIME YULETIDE ADVENT CALENDAR - Day 02

Welcome dear friends back to the Hypnogoria Old-time Yuletide Advent Calendar! Today we are opening Door No.2 and discover what B is for in our festive A to Z! Now there are a fair few candidates for this letter - bells, Bethlehem, Boxing Day or even Bah! Humbug! 

More in keeping with our theme of old time traditions and lore is the Boar’s Head Carol which dates back at least as far of the 15th century and celebrates what was once the centrepiece of many a Christmas feast! However I have picked a different B, although one which was to quote the aforementioned old carol was also “bedeck'd with bays and rosemary” and indeed “a gay garland”.

For our B shall be for Bough. In particular the now almost forgotten Christmas decoration that was known as the Christmas Bough, the Kissing Bough or sometimes the Kissing Bunch. 

Now we all know how in Victorian times, the German custom of having a Christmas tree was popularised by none other than Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. But the custom of bringing in often large amounts of evergreen leaves and boughs into the home to decorate for Yuletide is a very old one. For example during the Roman midwinter festival of Saturnalia it was customary to send boughs of firs and evergreens as symbols of good wishes for the season. 

We also know that many of our more northern European ancestors revered evergreens at this time of year too. Hence when Christmas came along, evergreens were soon part of the celebrations. 

However over the years it became customary to have some sort of centrepiece. In some parts of Europe the tip of a fir tree was decorated and hung, point downwards, from the centre of the ceiling, with the triangular shape symbolising the Holy Trinity and radiating good blessings to all beneath. And in some parts of Eastern Europe this upside-side pendant Christmas tree can still be seen! 

However in Britain from at least Tudor times, the Yuletide centrepiece was the aforementioned Kissing Bough. Now this wasn’t an actual limb of a tree. Rather it was an elaborate decoration constructed around a huge hoop. In some versions this hoop was woven with evergreen of all varieties - holly and ivy and fir branches, but also bay, box, rosehips, laurels and rosemary, and bedecked with fruits and berries, and often candles too, creating a huge crown or wreath that was hung from the ceiling.

Other Kissing Boughs were even more elaborate, built around two hoops to form a massive sphere which was then decorated with the usual suspects. However there was one evergreen that was most important, and indeed is probably responsible for these decorations having kissing rather than Christmas in their names - mistletoe! However we learn of the legends and lore of this iconic plant behind a later door… 

With the advent of Christmas trees, the popularity of these boughs began to wane. However it is thought they have survived in smaller forms. For some historians of the festive season have suggested that the more modern tradition of having a Christmas wreath is a descendant of these large festive evergreen decorations.  Plus there are the Advent crowns too, smaller decorations of evergreens and tinsel, which feature four candles, one to be lit every Sunday in Advent, which appears to be a more pious close relation. But the lore of candles and Christmas is a tale for another day and another door! 

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