John Stow reports on the Lord of Misrule. Memorial in St Andrew’s Church
On the sixth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me 6 Geese a Laying; 5 Golden Rings. 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
The Lord of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops
The Roman festival of Saturnalia reversed the rules so that slaves, ruled and masters served. It was held between 7th and 23rd of December. It also included giving gifts. In the medieval period, the disorders of Saturnalia was continued. Monarchs, Lords and Gentlemen, City Institutions elected Lords of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops. John Stow was London’s first great historian. In his Survey of London, he wrote of the Lords of Misrule in London. They were chooses at Halloween and continued until Candlemas, in early February. See my post here for more details on Candlemas.
From John Stow’s Survey of London
This is what Stow says:
Now for sports and pastimes yearly used.
First, in the feast of Christmas, there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he was lodged, a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal. Amongst the which the mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.
These lords beginning their rule on Alhollon eve, continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas day. In all which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain.
Against the feast of Christmas every man’s house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; (…) , at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people…
Holm is an evergreen oak. Its Latin name is Quercus ilex. The Tree in Leadenhall Street was also used as the Maypole. And he tells us it was destroyed in the great wind of 1444. You can read all about that here. You might also like to see my posts. These include information about John Stoww and midsummer celebrations and Boy Bishops, and l Stow’s Memorial.
Murder of Becket at Canterbury Cathedral on 29th December 1170 (Late 12th Century Manuscript from British Museum)
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 5 Golden Rings; 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
St Thomas Becket
The fifth day of Christmas is dedicated to Thomas Becket, our most famous Archbishop of Canterbury. He was martyred at Canterbury on this day in 1170. But, he was made a Saint in 1173. This is double-quick time, as the Pope was determined to rub Henry II’s nose in his complicity with the murder.
Becket was a Londoner from a well-known London family, who became a friend of Henry II. Henry was troubled by the freedoms and fees owed to the Catholic Church. So he thought it would be a good idea to make his friend Archbishop. But as soon as Becket became Archbishop he went ‘native’, became a very stubborn and adamant defender of the Pope’s privileges in Britain. After various confrontations, Henry said, in anger, ‘Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?’ And three knights took him at his word, so Becket was murdered in the Cathedral in Canterbury.
Illustration from ‘an old manuscript’ showing Henry II being scourged in penance for his part in the death of Becket
Lousy Saints
In November 2023 Katherine Harvey wrote an article, in History Today’ called ‘Lousy Saints’. It began with the discovery that Becket wore a hair shirt. This is how it was described:
‘This goat hair underwear was swarming, inside and out, with minute fleas and lice, masses of them all over in large parches, so voraciously attacking his flesh that it was nothing short of a miracle that he was able to tolerate such punishment.’
Becket was a former sophisticated courtier. The assumption is that Becket sought this discomfort deliberately. He also concealed the horror under magnificent clothes. The monks duly cited the lice as evidence of the piety of the man who was willing to suffer for his religion. They even suggested that the daily agony of the lice was worse than the swift death at the hands of the Knights.
Many other pious clerics were similarly lousy by choice. Society as a whole found uncleanliness of this magnitude disgusting. They had the technology to avoid it too. Becket himself had a manservant to look after his clothes and access to a bath. But he limited his baths to once every 40 days by choice. The fact that it was a choice is why people admired such discipline on the part of people like Becket. Altogether very strange and disturbing to this modern reader.
Bridge and Pilgrimage
Soon, a new, magnificent bridge was built to replace the wooden London Bridge. In the centre of that Bridge was a grand Chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket. It was refurbished by the renowned architect Henry Yevele (c. 1320 – 1400). It was here that pilgrims began their pilgrimage to Canterbury. That is, they travelled from where he was born, to where he was martyred.
Stained Glass window showing St Thomas’s Chapel on London Bridge (this window is in St Magnus the Martyr’s Church on the site of the approach to London Bridge
The Legend of the Epic Walk of Mathilda Becket
In London, there was a legend that his mother, Mathilda, was a Muslim who fell in love with Thomas’s dad, Gilbert, during the Crusades. She helped him escape captivity. He abandoned her and return to England. She then found her own way from Acre to London. She made the journey knowing only the name ‘London’ in English and walked most of the way. On St Thomas Day, people walked around St Paul’s multiple times to commemorate her epic walk of love.
The story was told as true from the 13th Century until the 19th Century. Then researchers found that Mathilda had more prosaic Norman origins. The speculation is that the foundation of the Hospital St Thomas of Acre on the site of Becket’s birthplace led to the story of his connection with Acre. I was quite disappointed to find out the tale I told was a myth which is told in full here:
Medieval St Thomas’s Pilgrim’s Badge showing the murder of Becket. The ampullae contained holy water.
Henry VIII’s hatred of Becket
When Henry VIII began the reform of the Church of England, he was particularly keen to end the cult of Becket. This rebel against one of the great Kings of England.
‘Thomas Becket, sometime archbishop of Canterbury, shall no longer be named a saint, as he was really a rebel who fled the realm to France and to the bishop of Rome to procure the abrogation of wholesome laws, and was slain upon a rescue made with resistance to those who counselled him to leave his stubbornness. His pictures throughout the realm are to be plucked down and his festival shall no longer be kept, and the services in his name shall be razed out of all books.‘
Westminster, 16 Nov. 30 Hen. VIII’
A blog post by the British Museum highlights some fascinating research. Henry’s government ordered the deleting of unacceptable content in church service books. Research into the deletion of content found that it was very varied in extent, except where it concerned Becket. The vast majority of references to him were either completely defaced or mostly defaced, suggesting that Henry had a particular hatred of Becket.
Henry made a lot of money from the gold and jewels that were stripped from Becket’s magnificent shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.
Another of my posts is on Becket and can be read here.
Wassailing
Bringing in the Wassail Bowl (from Washington Irving’s ‘Old Christmas’)
The Twelve Days of Christmas are full of wassailing.
Was hail Drinc hail
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon version of ‘Cheers’ or good health. Its ceremonial use is described by Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in 1135.
‘From that day to this, the tradition has endured in Britain that the one who drinks first at a banquet says “was hail” and he who drinks next says “drinc hail.”‘
Geoffrey is explaining how Vortigern, in the 5th Century, betrayed Britain for the love of Rowena. She was the Saxon King Hengist’s daughter, and, only incidentally, speculating on the origins of the tradition of wassail.
Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that the word means ‘Good Health’ or as we would say ‘Cheers!’
This has at least two different facets. Firstly, it is a formal drinking tradition at the centre of Christmas hospitality. Secondly, it is part of the tradition of the Waits, the Mummers, and Carol Singers. These are groups who go around the village singing or performing in exchange for a drink or some food, or money.
Wassailing is either a lovely gentle social activity, or it is an anti-social custom in which the drunkards get to stand outside your house caterwauling. In effect they are demanding drink with menaces. Imagine a Trick or Treat with the drunkards from the pub instead of children!
A Wassail bowl would be full of some form of mulled alcohol or hot punch. A couple of pints of ale or cider, a pint of wine/brandy/mead. Add sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. You should have an apple or crab-apple floating in the bowl. To find out more, look at ‘British Food, a History’ here.
‘Into the bowl is first placed half a pound of sugar in which is one pint of warm beer; a little nutmeg and ginger are then grated over the mixture, and 4 glasses of sherry and 5 pints of beer added to it. It is then stirred, sweetened to taste and allowed to stand covered for 2 to 3 hours. Roasted apples are then floated on the creaming mixture and the wassail bowl is ready.‘
The Curiosities of Ale and Beer, by John Bickerdike, published about 1860 from a Jesus College, Oxford recipe of 1732. (From Recipes of Old England by Bernard N. Bessunger
On the fourth day of Christmas My true love sent to me Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves And a partridge in a pear tree.
Holy Innocents Day or Childermas is dedicated to children on the day Herod ordered the slaughter of children aged two or under, in an attempt to kill the prophesied Messiah. However, the massacre is only mentioned by Matthew, and other classical sources, despite being anti-Herod, don’t mention it. It is thought to be ‘modelled’ on the massacre of young children mentioned in Exodus when the Pharoah hears about the birth of Moses.
It is, therefore, as far as folklore is concerned, an ill-omened day so don’t begin any new enterprise or, indeed, attempt to go back to work. And remember, as Childermas falls on a Sunday this year, Sundays throughout the year are all ill-omened days. There was a medieval tradition that people should avoid work on the day of the week that Childermas fell until the next childermas. Bad luck this year as it’s a Sunday!
Weather wise, according to a 17th formulae, as the fourth day of Christmas is warm, expect the fourth month, April to be similarly warm.
Christmas Games
So, no sloping off to the Study, it’s best to spend the time playing Christmas Games. The one I remember, most fondly, is pick-up-sticks or spillikins. You drop a pile of sticks onto a table-top or the floor. Then have to pick up as many sticks as you can without disturbing any others. Your turn ends when you move a stick. Different sticks have different values. We also played Dominoes, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders.
But, to get the whole room joining in, we played two card games. Participants could sit in their comfy armchairs rather than at a table. Chase the Ace. Newmarket.
Chase the Ace is, apparently, also, rather unpleasantly, called Screw Your Neighbour in the US! Each person is dealt a card. In turn, they choose to swap it with their neighbour. At the end of the round, the lowest cardholder (ace is low) loses a life. A player is excluded after losing 3 lives. Last one standing is the winner.
Newmarket (or Michigan) is a gambling game in which everyone places a stake on 4 picture cards. Theare are placed in the centre of the room. If your cards comes out in the play, you win the money staked on the card. The point of both these games is that any number of people can play, and they are simple and fast.
Another game we played at parties was Bullet Pudding. Players cut off bits of a flour pudding until the coin or bullet falls into the basin. The unlucky player (me last time I played) has to pick it up with his teeth.
Here is a photo of the one we played on 24th December,2024. My 97-year-old dad is in the background. You can see what a messy game it can be!
Apparently, the development of the American Santa Klaus was a way for the elite to keep control of the rowdy working class in New York. The argument, in a nutshell, is that the folk Christmas was outside and rowdy. Then Clement Moore wrote “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. This introduced a domesticated indoor middle-class version of Father Christmas. It’s a fascinating spin on the traditional story.
On the third day of Christmas My true love sent to me: 3 French Hens 2 Turtle Doves And a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Folklore is full of risible methods of forecasting the future and Gervase Markham’s ‘The English Husbandman of 1635 is no exception. He says:
‘What weather shall be on the sixth and twentieth day of December, the like weather will be all the month of January.’
Then and so on for the 12 days of Christmas. Please note that he numbers the 12 days from the 26th, not as I have done from the 25th. I deal with this in one of the forthcoming posts.
So the weather today, the 27th, will be the weather for ‘the following February’ if you follow Markham, or March if you follow me. And so on until the 12th Day when that will give you the weather on December 2026.
According to Gervase’s method, then weather in early 2026 will be cold but sunny.
The St Johns
This is St, John’s Day, he who was loved by Jesus and, possibly also wrote the Gospel. So, he is the patron saint of booksellers, publishers, printers, writers and friendship. Lecterns in the Church of England are normally shaped as an Eagle as this is the symbol of St John.
19th Century Ecclesiastical Suppliers Catalogue
John was the brother of James, and with Peter the three were Jesus inner support group. In the Gospel, an unnamed disciple is called ‘the disciple who Jesus loved’. This is thought to be John. The loved one is said to have ‘borne witness and wrote’ the gospel according to John. John the Evangelist is often identified as John the Apostle. There are also three letters attributed to John, as well as the Book of Revelations. It is still a controversial subject, but Revelations is generally thought to be by a different John. Some believe the letter writer was another John. There could be as many as 4 Johns or as few as one. ‘He’ appears to have lived to a grey haired old age, was not martyred, although escaping death from a poisoned chalice. He was supposed to have been challenged by a pagan to drink a poison potion. He took on the challenge and, not only survived, but resurrected two people killed by the poison.
It worries me all these saints who resurrect people. There is St Winifred whose head St Bono successfully put back on her shoulder. Then St Werburgh of Chester who’s favourite goose had been cooked, and she managed to resurrect him. Surely, if you are a believer then the Resurrection is the central miracle (along with the virgin birth) which ‘legitimises’ your faith? And these other miracles make it somewhat ‘trivial’? In the case of the Goose almost a party trick? Although maybe the Goose and St Winifred thought differently about it? Please read my post on St Bono and St Winifred here.
In the beginning was the Word
The Gospel opens with these famous words:
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.’
John is normally depicted with an Eagle, or at the bottom of the Cross with Mary. Or with a palm frond which I always think of as a quill (he being a writer). Or with a chalice.
The use of the Eagle as a symbol goes back to
‘Jerome’s Commentary on Matthew, which says it signifies “John the Evangelist who, having taken up eagle’s wings and hastening toward higher matters, discusses the Word of God”‘
Today, is the day, Freemasons install their Grand Master. I wonder if this has anything to do with the Holy Grail being a chalice?
Ring in the New Year.
Remember, on 1st January 7.30 I am doing my annual ‘Ring in the New Year’ virtual walk for London Walks where I look at all things New Year. To see more details, click here:
First Published in December 2021, revised and republished in December 2023, 2024,2025
St Stephens, Walbrook. This view of the Church is not normally visible. The brown brick area to the right is much ‘cruder’ than the left. Christopher Wren was saving money by not ‘finishing off’ parts that were not visible from the public thoroughfare. Photo by the Author in 2008
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Feast Day of St Stephens
It is the Feast day of St Stephen. He was the first Christian Martyr and was stoned to death not long after Jesus’ apotheosis. He was a deacon in the early Church, brought before the Sanhedrin for blasphemy. At the trial, he made a long speech outraging the audience. St Paul was in the audience (also known as Saul).
Stephen attacked the importance of the Temple to Judaism, making parallels with idolatry. Perhaps, I wonder, this explains why there are so few early Christian Churches identified in the archaeological record? Were they consciously avoiding large Temple Basilican structures to differentiate themselves from pagan religions?
Wrens & Presents
The 26th is the day when Wrens could be hunted. Read my post about Robins and Wrens and their seasonal importance here. Also, the day, people gave presents (Boxes) to servants and working people. Other days for presents included St Nicholas’s Day (December 6th), Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and Twelfth Night.
St Stephens Walbrook
Wren’s most beautiful Parish Church is dedicated to St Stephen. It is one of the first Parish Churches to have a dome. There is also a splendid Altar designed by Henry Moore. I took a Swedish Choir around the City of London on a guided walk. St Stephen’s was open, and, once inside, they just fancied the acoustics. So, they sang. I recorded. Listen below:
In 1858, James Ewing Richie wrote about ‘Boxing Night’ in ‘The Night Side of London’. I’ve mixed it up with another source. So here is a list of the people who might come knocking at the door for their traditional Boxing Day Box.
Richie’s advice was to tie up your knocker to avoid paying these people:
The Chimney sweep. Then varlets playing French Horns pretending to be the Waits – {The Waits were licensed musical beggars}
Then came the Turncock, who switched the water supply to your side of the street on alternative days. Followed by the Postman, the Dustman; the Road Waterer in summer, and the Road Scrapper in Winter. After this, the real Waits turned up for a musical turn. Then the Lamplighter, the Grocer’s Boy and the Butcher’s Boy.
I imagine the Knocker-upper also got a Box. My grandmother told me about the knocker-upper in Old Street in the early Twentieth Century. He would tap on the window with his long stick to wake up those people without a reliable clock.
Google search image of the ‘knocker-upper’, the lady at top left worked in Limehouse and is using a pea-shooter.
Richie records that he had to give a tip to 6 people who wished him a Happy Christmas on his way to work. The tip he gave was half a crown each. He thought his wife would be lucky to get away with a shilling per person for the trade men listed above. Strange that he gave more than twice as much to random strangers than his wife gave to people who served them all year. Perhaps this reflects his belief that the size of his tip reflected his position in society. It is all curmudgeonly. This is probably because he believed it would be spent on drink, leading to the miseries of drunkenness.
The Drunkards Children by Cruikshank 1848. Cruikshank was a famous illustrator from a dynasty of visual satirists and one of Dickens illustrators. The story shows the effect of alcoholism on a family. It ends with the suicide from London Bridge of the mother.
First Published on Dec 26th 2022, Republished December 2023, 2024, 2025
The First Day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Nebra Sun disc. Photo from Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum (photo Kevin Flude) The Disc shows the Sun, the Moon, the Pleides, and illustrates the Summer and Winter Solstice movements of the Sun.
On the 25th December were born Jesus, Mithras, Attis, Saturn, Apollo, and the Invincible Sun.
The Sun Gods have quite a complicated interrelationship. Zeus, and Apollo are both also considered to be Sun Gods. Apollo is particularly interrelated to Helios, the Greek God who drives the Chariot that carries the Sun across the skies every day. The Romans had a God called Sol who some say was a deity but who declined to be of minor importance. Then Sol was championed by the transexual Emperor Elagabalas. Aurelian revived the cult in 274 AD. Sol Invictus was the focus of Constantine the Great. Sol has been suggested as a response of the Romans to a trend towards monotheism in the later Roman period. Sol for Constantine was a gateway God to Christianity.
It is also notable that early worship of Jesus is full of solar metaphors, Jesus being, for example, the light of the world. Churches are also virtually all orientated East West, aligned with the rising and setting suns. The Altar is always at the East End, and effigies on tombs face the rising sun.
Celtic Sun Gods?
The Golden Wheel from Haute Marne in France, (Public Domain, Wikipedia)
Did the Celts have a sun-god? Belenos is a contender, but linguists are proposing his name does not come from words meaning bright but from strong. The God Lugh’s name is suggested to mean ‘shining’ but his attributes are more of a warrior than a sun god. Taranis is probably the best candidate, but he is more of a sky or thunder god than specifically a sun god. However, his symbol is a 8 spoked wheel is said to be symbolic of the Sun. It also represents the division of the year by the 4 quarterly sun festivals (Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox) and the 4 cross-quarter festivals, (Samhain or Halloween, Imbolc or Candlemas, Beltane or May Day, Lughnasa or Harvest Festival).
December 25th is a few days after our reckoning of the Solstice. But, as we have previously seen, Christians believed the world was created on the Spring Equinox, and humans on the 4th day, so Adam was created on March 25th. Mary conceived on the same day, and therefore Jesus, after a perfect labour was born 9 Months later on December 25th. (See my post on March 25th and the Creation)
Christmas Cake
Today, you might be tucking into a Christmas Cake (originally eaten on Twelfth Night). Now, I know many Americans have a bizarre belief that fruit cake is the cake of the devil. Something you receive as a gift and give away to someone else, as most Americans hate it. More fool them for missing out on one of the delights of the Christmas period, that and cold turkey sandwiches. Christmas Cake is made on stir up Sunday, the last Sunday in November, to let the ingredients develop their flavour. They are then covered with marzipan and decorative icing.
19th Century Christmas Cake, generally now the icing continues down the side of the cake.
In Germany, they also eat a fruit bread called Stollen or Weihnachtsstollen. The tradition is said to have been started in the 15th Century, when the Pope gave dispensation to allow the use of butter in the fasting period of Advent. Previously, the Germans had to use oil to replace the banned butter, but they could only make oil from turnips, so eventually the Pope allowed the use of butter, with which they made bread with added dried fruits.
Stollen By Gürgi – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3720379
In Italy, they eat Panettone, a fruit bread/cake. It is a sourdough, and a cross between a brioche and a cake. It often comes in a beautiful decorative tin, and is delicious. The centre of panettone production is Milan. Last year was the 200th Anniversary of Milan’s famous Marchesi 1824 which makes artisanal Panettone. It used ‘fine ingredients such as six-crown sultan as, naturally candied fruit, Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar, Italian honey and eggs from free-range hens, blended in a slow-rising dough with the exclusive use of Marchesi 1824 sourdough starter‘. Thank you, Mara from Milan, for the heads-up.
Screen shot from website – does not click through to sales!
Which is best? The only way to find out is to eat several slices of each. America, you don’t know what you are missing.
For stir up sunday see the second half of this post of mine.
Helios Colossus of Rhodes, artist’s impression, 1880
The Eve of the Day
Tomorrow is the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birth of the Invincible Sun. In some calendars, such as the Celtic & the Anglo Saxon, the day begins at dusk. So Christmas Eve is not the evening before Christmas Day. It is the beginning of Christmas Day itself.
So some countries celebrate the eve as much or more than the day. The Church would have encouraged this to accommodate former pagan belief into newly converted societies. (the most obvious example is Halloween see my post here).
But the Church also suggests celebration of the Eve derives from the Jewish tradition of the beginning of the day at dusk. In Genesis are the words;
‘And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.’
Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born on the holy night and thus is celebrated by the midnight mass.
When does the day begin?
This seems a silly question. In our society, the day officially begins at midnight. But it clearly begins at dawn. This was the normal start of day for Ancient Egypt, Republican Romans, and Western Europe till the coming of clocks in about 1400. We have already seen there are calendars that start the day at Sunset: Muslim, Jews, Celts, and the Saxons. In Britain, astronomers started the day at midday until an Act of Parliament reset it to midnight as recently as 1925.
Dawn seems the obvious choice, it’s called daybreak after all. But the problem is that the first light is so variable. It is an opinion when the light arrives and will vary depending on clouds, hills and height above sea level etc. Midnight is halfway between dawn and dusk, and I assume can be determined mathematically and astronomically. So Julius Caesar changed the Roman start of day to midnight when he reformed the Roman Calendar. (See my post on the Julian Calendar here).
Dusk is a counterintuitive choice, I think. The reasoning is that the Sun has gone down. It is finished for the day. Sunset is the end of the day. So it is also the start of the next daily cycle.
The Celts started their year at Halloween for similar reasons. In autumn, the various harvests have been collected. Most plants have ended their growing cycle and shed their leaves. Therefore, November 1st (or its eve) is the end of the growing year. On the ground, the seeds are ready and waiting to begin sprouting to bring new life. So, this is the new year. Sort of makes sense?
Christmas Eve Celebrations
In Britain, among the general population, there are no special customs except for preparing for the arrival of Father Christmas, and perhaps going to Midnight Mass. In Germany, Heiliger Abend is when Gifts are exchanged. Afterwards, is a relatively light dinner, often consisting of potato salad and sausages.
In my experience, Christmas Eve is a relaxing evening in front of the TV while wrapping presents. (After the children have gone to bed of course). Sometimes in front of the first roaring fire of the winter.
Then the filling of pillow cases or stockings full of presents. Last thing is tip-toeing upstairs placing a plate in the hall upstairs with a mince pie, shot of brandy for Father Christmas and a carrot for the reindeer. Then the crinkle of the wrapping paper as the presents are placed on the children’s bed. Now, the little darlings are finally fast asleep after an overexcited bedtime. These are the precious moments of family life.
Mothers of God’s Eve
December 24th is a day for Mothers, as tomorrow, the 25th, will be born Jesus, Mithras, Attis, Saturn, Apollo, and the Day of the Birth of the Invincible Sun, Solis Invictus. And so we think of Mary, Isis, Theia, the Three Mother Goddesses and mothers everywhere.
First Published 24th December 2022, Republished 2023,2024,2025
1653 Illustration of Old Christmas being rejected by the Puritan from London and welcome from the rustic from Dorset
23rd December 1652 Resolved by Parliament. : ‘That no Observation shall be had of the five-and-twentieth day of December, commonly called Christmas-Day.’
This was one of several bans on Christmas that Parliament introduced. (Parliament not Cromwell). It banned Christmas Services and ordered that shops be kept open, but it was, at least, inside people’s homes, largely unenforceable.
The logic for banning it was that Christmas is not mentioned in the Bible and was thus a Catholic superstition.
Christmas struggled through the Commonwealth, and then came back with a bang in 1660 on the Restoration of Charles II. However, it did shorten the period of Christmas festivities and make it more low-key, really all the way till the 19th Century when Dickens and Washington Irving revived the traditions of Christmas.
Drink at a Georgian Christmas might well be port. Then the next favourites would brandy, claret, punch, rum, porter. So says my source Henry Jeffreys in his book ‘Empire of Booze’ and in this Guardian article:
Claret, probably, originally outsold port. But the wars against France and the difficulty of importing French wine, saw a transfer to wines from our ‘oldest ally’ Portugal. But the travel distance was longer, so the wine was fortified to help preserve it better. Hence, the British addiction to port. Sherry was also popular for similar reasons, being a fortified white wine. Shakespeare calls it ‘sack’ and sometimes ‘Canary’. (Toby Belch ‘says thou lack’st a cup of canary ‘ in ‘Twelfth Night’, which is a Christmas play.) See below for more on Sack and Shakespeare.
Louis Philippe Boitard‘s satirical engraving ‘Imports from France’ Looking east towards the Tower of London. Barrels at the front right are marked Claret, Burgundy and Champagne.
Georgian Alcohol consumption was prodigious. Samuel Johnson said, ‘All the decent people in Lichfield (where Johnson came from) got drunk every night and were not the worst thought of‘. The Prime Minister. William Pitt the Younger said, ‘I have drunk three bottles of port without being the worst for it. University College has witnessed this.’ He is referring to his college at the Oxford University. He might be considered to be another of our Prime Ministers who have first disgraced themselves at Oxbridge only to rise to rule the unfortunate British nation? However, in those days, Port was sold in pint measures (45cl) and was 16%, while now it is 20% and sold in 75cl bottles. So, maybe we are almost as bad?
Even so, three bottles is still a lot. A drunken population would have not only increased the death rate but also increased violence and abuse. Gout was one result of too much drinking and a rich diet.
Gout. 18th Century Bath
However, this is Christmas so let’s end on a high note, so here are a couple of recipes!
To make ye best punch
“Put 1½ a pound of sugar in a quart of water, stir it well yn put in a pint of Brandy, a quarter of a pint of Lime Juice, & a nutmeg grated, yn put in yr tosts or Biskets well toasted.”
And Gin? The cheap gin panic had calmed down by the 1770s after no less than eight Gin Acts of Parliament. Booths and Gordon’s Gins were established in London during this period and Gin almost a respectable drink.
There appears to have been a shortage of Gin punch recipes in the 18th Century, but by the end of that century this recipe survives from London’s Garrick Club
– half a pint of gin, lemon peel, lemon juice, sugar, maraschino, a pint and a quarter of water and two bottles of iced soda water.
You would not need many of these to become quite relaxed quite quickly!
Sack and Falstaff.
Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV eulogies on sack saying it not only makes for excellent wit but also the best soldiers:
“A good sherris sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain, dries me there all the dull and crudy vapors which environ it, makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes, which, delivered o’er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit“.
The second your excellent sherris is the warming of the blood; which cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris warms and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extremes. illumineth the face, which, as a beacon, gives warning to all rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puff’d up with this doth any deed of courage—and this valour comes of sherris. that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that it a-work; and learning, a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil till sack commences it and sets it in act and use. Hereof it that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile, bare land, manured, husbanded, and till’d, with excellent endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand the first humane principle I would teach them should be to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.
Merry Wives of Windsor
In the Merry wives of Windsor Falstaff is still always drinking sack. He asks Bardolph ‘Go fetch me a quart of sack; put a toast in’t.‘ Toast is thought to freshen up stale sack. Also, it could be drunk hot as suggested by Falstaff asking for:
‘Go brew me a pottle of sack finely.’
Bardolph asks if he wants the sack with eggs but Falstaff refuses asking for his sack to be a
‘Simple of itself; I’ll have no pullet-sperm in my brewage.’
A simple is the opposite of a compound, so pure with no additions (apart from the toast!). Pullet sperm is, in think, a dismissive reference to eggs. Sack posset was original a medicine but later a popular treat made with eggs, cream, spices and sack. Once concocted, the top would be a foamy or crusty cap, the middle a custard and the bottom a spicy hot alcohol.
First Published in 2022 and revised December 2023, 2024, 2025
The Solstice and the East Pediment of the Parthenon
British Museum Shop, reproductions of Hestia and Selene’s Horse from the Parthenon Marbles
At the Summer Solstice, I took a group to the British Museum and, a few days later, to Stonehenge, and managed to ‘integrate’ the two into a solstice narrative. At the BM, over years of trying to explain the sculptures, I have been building in my mind an interpretation of the Pediment that gives, I hope, an original insight into the possible intentions of the sculptors. I don’t know how ‘true’ it is, but I do think it gives an insight into metaphor and symbolism in great works of art. Bear in mind that there is a lot of uncertainty about some of the attributions, and, that the male and female virtues that I am talking about are traditional ones, not necessarily how we would express it in the modern world.
At the left of the above photography, you see the horses that take Helios chariot into the sky to bring up the sun to light the world every day. Most sun deities are male, and the Sun gives light and life to the world, without it this earth is an inert block of ice cold stone. The next statue is casually laying back and looking fit, relaxed and not looking as if he is in that position because of the impossible triangular Pediment space he inhabits. He is the epitome of male strength, usually identified with Hercules but other people have other ideas and a young Dionysus is another suggestion. Whoever he is he represents male beauty and strength. So this end of the pediment represents the Sun and male virtues. This is the East Pediment of the Parthenon which is orientated to the rising sun, a little north of east.
Next figure is Demeter, the goddess of fertility, the goddess of the earth. Placed here to remind us that the Sun needs the Earth to create life and sustenance. It reminds us that the universe is not male, the male only works in conjunction with the female. Demeter is cuddling her daughter Persephone, the Goddess of Hades. She reminds us that life is a cycle of death and life. Plants die, turn into soil and create the conditions for future life.
Next is Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, wife of Heracles (Hercules). She is the cupbearer to the Gods and gives them the ambrosia that keeps them forever young. She is the Goddess of Immortality, a reminder that the universe is eternal.
Next to Hebe is a void where there was the central statue of the east pediment depicting the Birth of Athena (according to Pausanias who wrote a guide in the 2nd Century BC to the Temple). Athena was born from the head of her father Zeus- a virgin birth. Athena therefore is, in some ways, the greatest of the Olympians, as she has the virtues of her female sex and the virtues of her father’s masculinity (and, dear Gods, hopefully not the massive ‘Me Too’ vices of her father). She is therefore, wise, nurturing, just, intuitive, decisive, a leader; an ideal combination of male and female.
Zeus (sitting) Hephastus to right (looking back with Axe) Athena just visible above Zeus’s head
Her back story is that her dad, Zeus eats her mum, Metis, who is pregnant with her. Sometime later, he has a cracking headache. Hephaestus, the disabled artificer God hits Zeus over the head with an axe to clear the headache. Zeus gives birth to a fully formed Athena through the split in his head. She was known as Athena Parthenos, Athena the Virgin. Her name is originally Athene but it got changed to Athena in 500 BC.
Hestia, Dione, Aphrodite, Horse of Selene’s chariot
To Athene’s left is Hestia (Vesta for the Romans). Her name means “hearth, fireplace, altar” and she is the goddess of the domestic sphere, of the comforts of home, of a warm fire enjoyed by a loving family.
The next set are two beautifully draped women languidly leaning on each other, and these are Dione, with her daughter Aphrodite – the Goddess of Love. Dione is the daughter of Gaia and Uranus daughter of earth and sky. So, here, counterpoised to Hercules, are epitomes of women. Women of power, creation, and love.
Finally, we have the exhausted horse of Selene. Her chariot takes the moon into the sky, positioned opposite to Helios and the Sun. Selene is the Moon goddess, and the Moon is beautiful, powerful as it gives us the tides and fundamental to the life of humans as she presides over the menstrual cycle. Compared to the movements of the Sun which any fool can work out, and which are relentless (symbolising Justice) the movements of the Moon are mysterious to most of us. So Selene is beautiful, powerful, creative and the Goddess of Intuition.
So, if you put it all together, the East Pediment of the Parthenon shows that the world is a union of the male and the female, balanced between the two with Zeus and Athene in the middle, with Athene holding the main part because she, in her person, represents both the male and the female.
Of course, we know that the Athenian society was a patriarchal one with women mostly kept in the domestic sphere. But here, at least, women were given an equal billing in the organisation of the Cosmos.
Sculptures from the east pediment of the Parthenon
I must end by warning the reader that this is only my interpretation. I am not a scholar of Ancient Greece. I have come to my own conclusion based on spending a lot of time looking at the marbles, doing Solstice Virtual Tours, and mostly informed by the labels in the gallery, with of course, some reading including Mary Beard’s book entitled ‘Parthenon’ and the BM’s guidebook. In particular, I have not incorporated into my ‘story’ the sculptures that were in the gaps that do not survive or only in fragments scattered throughout the Museum world. However, what we do know is that in the centre is Zeus and Athene and at the edges are the chariots of the Sun and the Moon. And so fitting to celebrate the Solstice.
