But before we get to talking of pagan festivities, let’s take a little detour to another springtime celebration: Passover – I promise, if you stick with me, it will all tie in together in the end.

The Time of Year Easter is celebrated is related to the celebration of Passover

Around the Spring time, Jews celebrate the holiday of Passover
(in Aramaic: פסחא or Pascha). Part of the Passover story is that the blood of sacrificial lambs was used to indicate to God to pass-over the God-abiding Jewish houses, to protect them from the plague that God cast over the area. Early Syrian Christians living alongside the Jews saw a connection between the blood of the sacrificial lambs in the Passover story and the figurative sacrificial lamb of Jesus Christ, so they celebrated the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ at the same time of the year as the Jewish celebration of Passover.

This ancient Easter-Passover-connection explains why in many non-English countries, the word for Easter is a variant of the word “Pascha” (Passover).
Examples of these related names for Easter:
Bulgarian: Paskha
Danish: Passke
Dutch: Pasen
Greek: Pascha
Italian: Pasqua
Finnish: Pääsiäinen
Indonesian: Paskah
Portuguese: Páscoa

How celebrating Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection at this time of year led to the naming of “Easter”

Ok, so what does this Passover connection have to do with pagans and the very different looking word “Easter”?

Well, around 325 AD, Christian bishops held a council (“the Council of Nicaea”) to help set a standard date to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Prior to this council meeting there had been some confusion amongst Christians regarding when the holiday should be celebrated and Christians in different countries held the celebration at different times. The Passover-related date that was being used in Syria and Alexandria, helped determine that the celebration should be held in the spring time.

It would seem understandable that the fact that spring time and the Spring Equinox is a time of rebirth for plants and flowers may have helped tie in the symbolic link to resurrection, though this is speculation and there is no evidence that the bishops in the council took this into consideration.

In any case, the result of this council meeting was that the holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ should be celebrated in the spring time, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox.

Meanwhile, in Northern Europe and in Anglo-Saxon England, another festival was being held around the Spring Equinox: The festival of Eostre.

Thanks to an ancient English scholar called Bede, who lived around 673-735 AD, we know that Anglo-Saxon English pagans worshipped a pagan goddess called “Eostre” (sometimes called Estre, Estara, Eastre or Ostara) and Eostre’s festival was celebrated in the Springtime during the Spring Equinox. Eostre was the goddess of dawn (the rebirth of a new day), fertility and spring (rebirth of plants & flowers), and it is believed that the word Easter originates from her name.

It is likely that since the Christian celebration of Christ’s resurrection was also celebrated during this time of year, Christians who were living alongside pagans, were influenced in seeing this time of year as being the time of the festival of Eostre. And so the name of this Christian holiday that was celebrated alongside Eostre’s festival, came to be called Easter.

These days, with an emphasis on saving energy and on being more aware of our environment, inventions like LED Christmas lights are being used more and more. Because LED lights use up less energy, don’t get hot like traditional lights and last longer, their use has changed the face of Christmas lighting and lighting in general. But when did the idea to put lights up for the holidays first arise?

History of Christmas lights

The idea of using lights as decoration at Christmas was something that had been taking place for some time.

The first illuminated Christmas trees were lit with candles, but even before the age of Christmas, light played an important part in ancient festivities that took place around this time of the year. Sun-worshiping pagans lit candles during the festivals of the Winter solstice, which coincide with the modern Christmas period, because they hoped that providing light from candles and bonfires would encourage the sun’s warmth and light to return after the cold, dark winter.

With the Christianization of pagan holidays, the candle-lighting tradition was incorporated into Christmas customs although it seems that this tradition really regained major popularity after the 18th century.

Around the 18th century it became a popular tradition in many Protestant upper-class German homes to honor Christmas by decorating their Christmas trees with many small miniature candles. The candles were sometimes glued to the tree with melted wax and at other homes they were attached to the trees with pins.

Because of the fire hazard that the flickering candles presented, by the early 1900s lantern-like glass balls were used to hold the illuminated candles, and after the invention of the light bulb, eventually the glass balls of light evolved into the traditional Christmas lights we know today. In spite of the modernization of Christmas lights there are still some places in the world that continue to utilize the old-fashioned candle lights.

What do the Christmas lights symbolise to Christians?

Regardless of their pagan origins, the Christmas lights have amassed new symbolism and meaning since becoming a Christian Christmas tradition. What do the Christmas lights symbolise in Christianity?

I did have a chuckle when I heard the joke that the Christmas lights are put up to help Santa Claus find your house and easily locate the tree in order to put presents under it, but the Christmas lights also have a more meaningful religious symbolism:

• Symbol of the starry night on which Christ was born:
  Some people like to think of the lights representing the Star of Bethlehem, the sign that marked that Christ was born.
• Symbol of the light of Christ:
  In Christian tradition, candles are a symbol for Jesus and the light he brings to earth even in the darkest times. Some believe that the light is symbolic of the eternal light of Jesus’ spirit that is particularly kept in mind over Christmas. Different colored candles also represented different qualities, for example a white candle represents the purity of Christ whilst a pink candle represents joy.
• Symbol of the light, hope and good in the world:
  The Christmas lights also served to remind good Christians to provide light to others.
• Symbol of following the enlightened path:
  Some suggest that the Christmas lights are a reminder to follow the way of Christ. The path of lights that wind around the tree leading to the star at the top may be symbolic of the enlighted path to salvation.

Credits:
Article contributions from Robert Lobitz

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- Why do we put up Christmas wreaths?
- Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th?
- Why do we eat Turkey at Christmas?
- Why are robins on Christmas cards?

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Most of us have heard of people who have made religious pilgrimages but for those who are not particularly religious or those who know little about the details of a pilgrimage, the idea of what drives a person to walk for days to get to a holy site can be quite mysterious when in our day and age they could get there through modern transportation. Why do people go on pilgrimages?

Reasons for pilgrimage:

The motivation is usually different for each person, but there are some basic common underlying themes behind why people go on pilgrimages:

1.) Pilgrimage as an act of penance for sins

You know how some people say “I’d do anything for you to forgive me!”? Well, pilgrimages are some people’s way of “doing anything” for the sake of forgiveness.

People who are truly sorry for something they’ve done may demonstrate how rependant they are by dedicating time and effort to go on a long pilgrimage which usually includes many hours walking on foot. Although many modern religions no longer promote suffering as a means of repentance, some religions still abide by these ancient customs, seeing the suffering of a person as they go on a gruelling journey as a form of penance for their sins. The idea is that God will see this action as a clear sign that they are sincerely sorry and can then be forgiven. God’s forgiveness is sought in the hope of improving their chances of going to heaven.

2.) Pilgrimage as an act of devotion to God in exchange for a miracle

Those who seek something that seems very difficult or almost impossible to achieve, like receiving a healing from a long-term incurable problem like illness or infertility, or finding success in a field of their life which up until now has evaded them, be it work, romance or anything else, may all look for a miracle from God. In exchange for the miracle, they demonstrate their devotion to God by going on a pilgrimage. Henry VIII is said to have made such a pilgrimage (to Walsingham) when he implored God to give him a male heir.

Many stories of miracles occurring to pilgrims during or after a pilgrimage exist. One source for example, notes that the Catholic Church recognizes 65 miracles to have taken place at the pilgrimage hotspot, Lourdes.

3.) Pilgrimages in order to touch a holy relic which can bring good fortune

Many of the religious sites sought out by pilgrims were made were popular because they housed some religious relic, such as a cloth soaked in the blood of a saint, or a piece of a saint’s skeleton, or a part of Jesus’s cross. Some believed that coming in close proximity to artefacts touched by holy people could rub some luck off on them, especially if the artefact belonged to someone with traits that are desired, such as being famous for great courage or for healing abilities.

4.) To experience the joyous feeling of spiritual connection and being close to God

Some people go on pilgrimages simply because it is an opportunity for them to enjoy the feeling of connection with God and all His creations.

Joy can be experienced in every little thing that is usually taken for granted. The joy of waking up to a fresh day, delighting in the observation of your life-giving breath, experiencing all the wonders around you – the trees, flowers, sky, mountains, the unique aromas in your surroundings, the sounds, the sensation of the soft breeze on your skin.. Pleasure can be felt as you observe yourself, your environment and the people around you, feeling how everything is connected by being one creation of God.

It can make you realise how we are all equal and no-one is superior or inferior to one another. On a pilgrimage, there is a feeling that all are equal in the eyes of God, regardless of their status in the everyday world. This can bring a wonderful sense of “togetherness” and belonging.

All this awareness and appreciation can be tremendously exhilarating and fill you with a delicious feeling of bliss.

5.) Pilgrimages as a form of escapism from distractions to give an opportunity to reflect and to receive God-given guidance

A pilgrimage is an opportunity to have some quiet time away from the demands of daily life, to reflect. In everyday life people are often preoccupied by their relationships, work, leaky roofs and other niggling troubles. As a result many find little time to take a step back and reflect on the most important things in their life. By presenting a break from such worries, a pilgrimage gives a person a much needed chance to clear their head, focus positively and gain a renewed perspective on life.

Devout pilgrims would consider any new insights and solutions gained on a pilgrimage to be God-given. It is generally believed that without the distractions of the mundane it is easier to hear Divine guidance.

6.) Pilgrimages as an adventure

A more modern, non-religious reason for pilgrimages is because it can be seen as a fun adventure. It provides an opportunity to meet people of your faith, have an enjoyable time stretching your legs, exercising those muscles and being out in the great outdoors.

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If you’re British or are familiar with British customs, you’ll know that in the UK there is a different date for Mother’s Day celebrations than in the States. What’s more, traditionally the British day of celebration is not known as Mother’s day, but rather as Mothering Sunday. With all these differences, it’s not surprising that the history of Mothering Sunday is a very different one from the American Mother’s Day. This article explores the story behind the origin of Mothering Sunday.

When is Mothering Sunday?

Whilst the American Mother’s Day which occurs in May, Mothering Sunday usually takes place in March. The exact Mothering Sunday date is always the fourth Sunday of Lent, which means that it falls on slightly different days each year. If you want to pencil it into your diary, Mothering Sunday falls on the following dates in the coming years:

• 2012 :: 18 March
• 2013 :: 10 March
• 2014 :: 30 March
• 2015 :: 15 March
• 2016 :: 6 March

Why is Mothering Sunday celebrated on this date?

Historical records seem to suggest that Mothering Sunday has been celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent since at least the 16th century, however, it is likely that it was celebrated long before then because the history of its celebration may well date far earlier than this.

To further understand its allocated date of celebration, let’s journey into the history of Mothering Sunday.

The first Mothering Sunday may have been for a Greek or Roman mother goddess

Some suggest that the modern British Mother’s day celebrations evolved from a far earlier pagan celebration of a different kind of mother: a mother goddess.

Many early civilizations had a “mother goddess” figure that was honored and celebrated at certain times of the year. In Ancient Greece the Mother of the Gods (or the Magna Mater) was called Rhea, and it may be that celebrations held for this goddess around the 6th century BC were the earliest form of “Mother’s day” celebrations.

Later, around the 3rd century BC, the Greek traditions were adopted by Ancient Romans, and similar celebrations took place in honor of Rhea’s Roman equivalent, the mother goddess, Cybele. Interestingly enough, the celebrations for Cybele occurred in March, around the same time that we celebrate Mothering Sunday today.

Romans celebrated Cybele in a festival called: Hilaria. Why did they celebrate on this particular date in March? Because it was around the time of the Vernal Equinox, (where Vernal Equinox literally means: Vernal = Spring; Equinox = equal night and day). It was a celebration of the first day which had a longer day than night, marking the end of the gloomy winter, and the onset of a more joyous, sunny spring.

From “Mother’s day” celebrations of Mother goddesses to celebrations of the Holy Mother and the Mother Church

Many festivals celebrated by the Ancient Romans were converted into Christian celebrations when Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire and of most of Europe. This adaptation of existing Roman festivals was done to help the people adapt more easily to the new Christian religion.

The Roman festival of Saturnalia became Christmas, the Roman celebrations of Juno Februa and Lupercalia eventually became Saint Valentine’s Day, and although the evidence is not unequivocal, it is possible that Cybele’s Hilaria celebrations became Mothering Sunday. In order to make the festival more Christian, the heads of the church may have deemed this “mother goddess” celebration to be an appropriate time at which to replace pagan customs with their own, honoring Mother Mary and the Mother Church. (Mother Church was the term given to the biggest church in the area, often where local Christians would have been baptised.) The date of the celebration was also Christianized to relate directly to Easter and Lent, setting the date of this new festival to fall on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The church services held on this day are likely to have been themed around a Motherly theme, talking about Mary’s maternal love, and of maternal love in general.

Mother Church congregations became an occasion for family reunions with an emphasis on the maternal member of the family

By the 16th century, it was customary to visit the Mother Church for a special service on Mothering Sunday. Visiting the Mother Church on this day was colloquially known as “going a-mothering”.

Although this was a holy day and had little to do with celebrating mothers in any way, the congregating of people at their Mother Church celebrated the joyous coming together again of families. In those days it was common for children as young as ten to be put to work as apprentices, maids and domestic servants, working and living in various country manors, sometimes a fair distance from home. Being given a day off for a reunion with their mothers (and the rest of the family) was an exciting occasion (particularly since some sources suggest that for many working children this was amongst the only days off they had).

On their way home from their work posts, some children would pick flowers to give as a gift to their mothers.

Others would bring home a cake from the manor house where they worked. The most common cakes that were thought to have been made were fruit cakes known as simnel cakes, which are to this day the traditional Mothering Sunday cake that is made.

In some churches, the happy reunion was integrated into the Mother-themed church service where the spring flowers that were picked by the children would be blessed by the church before being presented to the mothers. To this day, flower bouquets are amongst the most common gifts given to mothers on Mothering Sunday.

By the 1940s Mothering Sunday Traditions underwent a transformation to resemble the American Mother’s Day

Somewhere along the line between the 16th century and the early 20th century, Mothering Sunday celebrations began to fade and celebrations became more subdued. But around the 1940s two main things occured which led to the revival of Mothering Sunday and its rebirth as the official Mother’s day celebration we know today:

The first thing that happened was that in the United States, a lady called Anna Jarvis campaigned for an American celebration of mothers throughout the country. Her success resulted in the first national American celebration of Mother’s Day in 1908. Some of her enthusiasm made its way to Britain to a woman called Constance Penswick-Smith who, inspired by Anna Jarvis, campaigned for the closest British equivalent Mother’s day celebration, Mothering Sunday, to be revived. Constance’s Mothering Sunday Movement campaign lasted a good few years, all the way from 1914 to the early 1920s. Although this served to prick up a few ears, nothing much changed in Britain. What did make a huge impact on the resurgence of celebrating Mothering Sunday in Britain, was the second event that happened around this time: World War II.

During World War II, English, American and Canadian soldiers worked alongside one another and had a chance to socialize and talk. One thing that they all had in common was missing their mothers, wives and girlfriends back home. With this newly realized appreciation for their mothers in the darkness of war, at some point (perhaps even on American Mother’s day itself) conversation turned to the American tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day. Inspired by the American celebrations, the British soldiers brought back with them a new found eagerness and desire to celebrate their mothers using the closest thing they had to Mother’s Day: Mothering Sunday.

By the 1950s, Mothering Sunday was once again celebrated throughout Britain with great enthusiasm; an enthusiasm that may have been helped by the exuberant marketing of the festival by merchants selling Mother’s Day related gifts.

A merging occurred between new American traditions and old Mothering Sunday traditions as British mothers began being shown love and appreciation on Mothering Sunday. The merging of traditions was so strong that people even began calling Mothering Sunday, “Mother’s Day”.

Today many people believe that Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day are one and the same thing, and although the two celebrations have distinctly different origins, they share the same principles at their core: a celebration and appreciation of mothers, be they holy, human or otherwise.

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If you’re ever in Britain around Christmas time, you’ll find pictures of robin red breasts adorning Christmas cards, ornaments, stamps, chocolate boxes, shop windows and Christmas wrapping paper. Their images can even be found decorating Christmas cakes. How did the humble European robin become the Christmas robin?

Why Robins are on Christmas cards

Although robin folklore existed for many years, the robin became far more widely associated with Christmas after it was depicted on Christmas cards in 19th century England; a tradition that has been retained to this day. (1)

Why are robins on Christmas cards? It’s all inspired by the robins who used to deliver the Christmas cards in 19th century Britain.

In the 1800s, British postmen wore bright red uniforms. They wore red in honor of the crown since red is considered both a Royal color and an important color on the English flag. (Incidentally, this may also be one of the reasons why British post boxes were eventually standardized to be red). The postmen in their red-breasted coats resembled the much-loved British bird, the robin red-breast, earning Victorian postmen the nick-name: Robins.

Around Christmas time, people would eagerly await the Robins’ delivery of Christmas cards from near and far. Some greeting card artists were inspired by this to illustrate their cards with the joyous delivery of letters, and instead of drawing a postman, one artist decided to draw the Robins’ namesake, the robin birds, delivering letters in their little beaks. The trend caught on and survives to this day despite the fact that the postmen’s red coat uniforms and the postmen’s Robin nickname have long been retired to the history books.

Robin Folklore

Aside from the postman-robin association explaining the robin’s presence on Christmas cards, the robins already had a rich association with Christmas because various folklore stories exist surrounding the Christmas robin. Below are three of the most popular Christian tales of robin folklore regarding how the robin got its red breast:

1.) The kind-hearted Robin who got its red breast tending to baby Jesus’s fire

One tale from robin folklore is that when Mary was giving birth to Jesus, the fire that was burning to keep the stable warm and comfortable was about to go out. Just as Mary was starting to worry about the chill of the night descending upon her and her newborn, a tiny brown bird alighted by the fire, singing and flapping its little wings. The flapping made the embers glow brightly, re-igniting the fire. In some versions of this tale, the little bird also brought small twigs in its beak to help feed the fire.

As the robin flew around, tending to the fire, the flames crackled and snapped, and a stray red-hot ember flew from the hearth, landing on the brown bird’s breast, making it glow bright red. When Mary saw all this, she declared that the red breast was a sign of the bird’s kind heart and that the bird and all its descendants would wear a red breast proudly for evermore. (2)

2.) The robin who got its red breast trying to help Christ at the crucifixion

Another story about how the robin got its red breast is based on Christ’s crucifixion. The story goes that as Christ was dying on the cross a little brown bird flew beside him, trying to comfort him with its song. The bird clamped its little beak on Jesus’ thorny crown, trying to remove it, and although the bird was not strong enough, in its passionate attempts pulling on the thorns, a little bit of Christ’s blood stained the bird’s breast red. (3)

3.) The robin who got its red breast when giving water to souls in Purgatory

A less popular bit of robin folklore tells of the robin who was kind enough to fetch water for the souls in Purgatory or hell. As it flew in this fiery place, its breast was accidentally scorched, giving the robin its red breast. (1)

Today the robin is considered by some to be Britain’s favorite bird. (4) With the existence of so many positive tales about the robin red breast in folklore and also in everyday life with its cheerful song and its role in keeping gardeners company, it is easy to understand why the robins were well-liked enough to be retained as decorations for Christmas cards and decorations well after their original meaning was forgotten. Well… forgotten until now!

References
(1) de Vries, A. 2004. Elsevier’s Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Emerald Group Publishing.
(2) Egan L.B. 1988. A Christmas Stocking: A Child’s Treasury for the Festive Season. Simon & Schuster Ltd
(3) Cooper J.C. 1992. Symbolic and Mythological Animals. Harpercollins
(4) British Bird Lovers website

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Every March 17^th, many places around the globe celebrate St Patrick’s Day with parades, costumes, wearing green, glugging down Irish beer and  generally having some good old craic! Why do we wear green on this day? And more importantly, what are we actually celebrating?

St Patrick’s Day History

Why do we celebrate St Patrick’s day? Basically it’s because we’re celebrating the bringing of Christianity to Ireland.

St Patrick was a British priest living in the 4^th Century. It is said that around 432AD he had a vision in a dream that he would go to Ireland and preach to the Irish to Christianize the pagans who were living there. He embarked on a 30-year missionary operation to convert the pagans to Christianity, and in spite of some problems with the druids, he eventually succeeded gloriously. He was strategic in his efforts and preached to highly influential, powerful people and to nobles whose example was likely to be followed, to help bring on a smooth shift into the new religion.  It is largely thanks to him that to this day Ireland is a strongly Christian country, decorated with beautiful churches, monasteries and religious art. For this reason, St Patrick is known as the Patron Saint of Ireland, and for this reason his death-day anniversary is celebrated every March 17^th.

Why do people wear green on St Patrick’s day?

On St Patrick’s day you might see people wearing green clothes, drinking green beer, and if you’re in Chicago you’ll even see the Chicago River being dyed green in honour of St Patrick’s day! Why green on St Patrick’s day?

The Chicago River has been dyed green every year since 1962 in honour of St Patrick's Day.

Image by Mike Boehmer

Possible Reason 1: Green is associated with Saint Patrick because of the green Shamrock he used to teach about Christianity:

The connection of St Patrick’s Day to the color green may be linked to the role of the shamrock in Saint Patrick’s life story.  Legend has it that Saint Patrick used a green shamrock to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to the pagans. It illustrated the idea of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as *one* entity, one God. This is just like how the three leaves are part of one shamrock – but you need all the parts to make it complete.

Possible Reason 2: St Patrick’s day celebrates an Irish tradition and green is the color that is most representative of Ireland:

Because St Patrick’s day culturally evolved into a celebration of Irishness more than of Christianity, this may have led to celebrating with a color that represented the “Emerald Isle” most fittingly. People say that the Irish landscape has 40 shades of green with its lush pastures throughout its countryside, so no color is more appropriate in representing Ireland really!

Possible Reason 3: Green on the Irish flag represents Catholicism, and Saint Patrick was Catholic

The color green has been used historically to represent various groups in Ireland, particularly the Irish Catholic nationalists of the south, and eventually this color was adopted as part of the official country’s flag in 1919. The Irish flag is a tri-color of green, white and orange. The green is said to be representative of the Catholics in the country, the orange signifies the Protestants, and the white stands for the peace between them. It is appropriate then that St Patrick’s day, a Catholic celebration, is represented by the color green.

If St Patrick’s day is such an Irish-centred celebration, why do we celebrate it all over the world?

It is likely that the reason the celebrations reached far and wide is due to Irish immigrants spreading their traditions where-ever they went, as they tried to rekindle a taste of home. The fun of the celebrations was so enticing that, as the cheeky Irish saying goes: “There are only two kinds of people in the world: the Irish and those who wish they were!” Judging by the global celebrations of St Patrick’s Day, there may indeed be some truth to this saying!

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Once a year it is customary to stuff our faces with pancakes. Yes, I’m talking about Pancake Day! Or as it’s more correctly known by it’s Christian name, Shrove Tuesday. But how did “Pancake Day” arise? Why do we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?

Pancake Day is always the day before Ash Wednesday, where Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian period of Lent. To understand why we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, it’s important to understand one thing about Lent: Lent has traditionally been a period marked by abstaining from certain foods. There were different variations of the fasting custom but one of the most popular ones was abstaining from animal products, such as meat, lard, eggs, and dairy. Sometimes sugar was also removed.

Hold on: eggs and dairy? This is beginning to sound a lot like the ingredients for pancake mix! In preparation for the period of Lent, Christian households wanted to finish off all the produce they would be unable to use over Lent, and because pancakes required many of these soon-to-be-forbidden foods, since their invention around the 1400s, a pancake feast was common in many households on the Tuesday before Lent began.

In many countries pancakes are the traditional food to be eaten, but different Christian countries around the world have varying traditional foods which they eat with the aim of using up all their animal products, eaten every Shrove Tuesday (and sometimes on the related pre-Lent feast day, Fat Thursday). For example:

• In Sweden they make a sweet bun called “semla” or “fettisdag buller“, which is made with butter, milk and eggs, filled with marzipan, topped off with whipped cream, and served with a steaming mug of hot milk. Estonia, Finland and Denmark have a similar Shrove Tuesday traditional food.
• In Germany they make a diamond-shaped, deep-fried pastry called a fasnacht which is made from milk, lard and mashed potatoes.
• In Portugal, they eat Malasadas, which are doughnuts made from lard or butter, eggs and sugar amongst other ingredients. Sometimes they are filled with cream, and they function very well in helping to use up animal products that are lying around.
• In Scotland they eat bannocks of eggs and meal, and rather than calling the day Pancake day, they call it “Bannocky Day”.
• In Italy, they have a special dove-shaped pastry called a “colomba“.
• In Iceland, they feast on salted meat which is another animal product traditionally abstained from during Lent.
• In Poland it is customary to eat special doughnuts called “pączki” and a special crispy pastry called “faworki” on Fat Thursday.
• In France, traditionally, Lyon cold meat shops sold a special crispy pastry similar to the Polish “faworki”, called “bugnes” on Fat Thursday in the buildup to Lent.

With all this eating, it’s not surprising that Pancake Day is also known as Fat Tuesday (“Mardi Gras” in France, “Terça-feira gorda” in Brazil and Portugal, “Fettisdagen” in Sweden) and Bursting day (Sprengidagur in Iceland)!

Why aren’t you supposed to eat animal products during Lent?

Ok, so the great pancake feast is all to do with using up foods which are forbidden during Lent. But why aren’t you allowed to eat these foods during Lent in the first place?

The 40 day self-denial of selected pleasures (like animal products) in the countdown to Easter, is meant to be a spiritual experience in which Christians empathize with Jesus in the story of “the temptation of Christ“. This story is described in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and they speak of Jesus fasting in the desert for 40 days and nights after being baptized. During his time in the wilderness, he was subjected to temptations by the devil, but Jesus held strong and didn’t give in to temptation. Fasting from certain foods during Lent is a symbol of self-control against temptation, and the idea is that by imitating Jesus, you draw closer to him so that you can learn to think and act like him, to live a better life.

Some believe that you don’t need to fast to demonstrate self-control nor to learn Jesus teachings or live a better life. As one article put it, “Fasting, of and by itself, cannot produce godly self-control.”

In any case, the tradition of fasting during Lent is far less common today than it was in the past.

The tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday however is still going strong! And in some places, it has even lead to offshoot traditions like the “Pancake Day Race” in which contestants must run whilst tossing a pancake in a frying pan!

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- Why do Jews eat Challah, the special Jewish Bread?
- Why do we celebrate Boxing Day?
- Why do we eat Turkey at Christmas?

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Valentine’s Day is almost a worldwide phenomenon, celebrating romance and love every February 14th. In spite of celebrating it, many of us don’t really know the origins of Valentine’s Day nor why it’s celebrated. What is the history of Valentine’s Day and why do we celebrate it?

The first hints of Valentine’s Day celebrations began in Roman Times
Much like many Christian holiday origins, the history of Valentine’s Day began in Ancient Rome. At this time it wasn’t known as Valentine’s Day, but as the pagan festivals of Juno Februa and Lupercalia.

Juno Februa was celebrated on February 14th, after which there was the feast of Lupercalia. Juno Februa means “Juno the purifier” and it is thought that these festivals which both involved rituals of Februa (purifying) are behind the origin of the month’s name. Amongst several things, this festive period celebrated a purification from evil spirits, poor health, the barrenness of winter, and infertility. The Roman calendar was a little different from ours, so February would have been far closer to springtime than it is today. The festival’s association with increasing fertility may have contributed to the its link with love. Juno’s role as the goddess of women and marriage may have further helped link these festivals to the idea of love.

What exactly was this Lupercalia festival?
Lupercalia was an unusual festival because even the Romans seemed to be unsure which gods it was dedicated to. Some candidates are Lupercus, who protected flocks from wolves, Faunus, the god of agriculture and shepherds, or Rumina (also known as Lupa), the she-wolf who nurtured and looked after the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

The festivities involved two interesting traditions:

1. The Love Lottery: In everyday life, boys and girls were kept separate, but on Lupercalia there was a “love lottery” of sorts, where the names of the available young ladies were written on pieces of paper and put in jars, urns or boxes. The young men would then draw a strip of paper, and custom demanded that they would be partners for the festival. Sometimes these pairings were the bud from which long-lasting love partnerships would blossom.
2. Flagellation for Fertility’s sake: After sacrificing a goat and a dog, and after a grand feast, young men would dash around and “beat” the bad spirits, bad luck and impurities out of things by whipping anything in the vicinity with goat skins. Women hoping for a baby would present their hands to be struck to help them beat infertility out of their system, in a type of fertility blessing, in the hope of blessing married couples with children. A whip with the goat skin was also believed to ease the pain of any imminent childbirth.

These customs, and the association of February 14th as a day celebrating things like love, fertility and marriage, mushroomed into other countries as the Roman Empire spread across the world.

How did Lupercalia evolve into Valentine’s Day?
When Christianity became powerful throughout the Roman Empire, church officials tried to stamp out Un-Christian Roman festivals and paganism. To aid in the transition, some Roman festivals were absorbed into Christianity by retaining some form of acknowledged celebration on the old festival days, but attaching new Christian symbolism and meaning to them.

Conveniently, a few saints by the name of Valentine were mentioned in martyrologies on February the 14th, so in 496AD Pope Gelsasius banned Lupercalia and proclaimed this date to be a Christain saint day: Saint Valentine’s Day.

Instead of the un-Christian love lottery, the church started a lottery of Saints where instead of pulling love partners from a jar or box, a saint’s name was pulled out, and the aim was to model your actions for the next year on the chosen Saint’s revered and admirable behaviour. This didn’t really catch on and this tradition died out after a few hundred years. But the name Saint Valentine’s Day, and the old Lupercalian traditions of associating the day with love, fertility and marriage, stuck to this day.

So did Saint Valentine have nothing to do with love?

There are legends about possible connections of Saint Valentine with love:

Legend 1:
Some say that Saint Valentine deserves his name as the patron Saint of love. This story goes that Emperor Claudius II needed men to go to war to fight for Rome, and since married men didn’t want to leave their families, they weren’t good potential soldiers. Thus Claudius allegedly banned marriages and engagements.
Valentine, a priest at the time, is said to have gone against Emperor Claudius’ wishes and married lovers in secret, and was punished for this, earning him the title of the patron saint of lovers.

Legend 2:
Others say that just before he was about to be martyred for preaching Christianity at a time when Emperor Claudius II banned Christianity, he wrote a note to a girl to reveal his love for her, signing it “From your Valentine”, which lead to him becoming the patron Saint of love. It seems this story has no historical basis however.

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Some say that Saint Valentine didn’t particularly have a strong love story behind his tale of martyrdom, and that it is most likely that any connection to love links back to the Roman era prior to St Valentine’s existence.

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Why do I have the day off on Boxing Day?
If you live in the UK, the reason that Boxing Day is a day off from work is down to the 1871 Bank Holidays Act. It was only after 1871 that the 26th December (or the closest day after Christmas that wasn’t a weekend day) was announced to be a Bank Holiday. It was largely through the work of Liberal MP Sir John Lubbock that Bank Holidays like Boxing day became a thing, since it was he who campaigned for the rights of shop workers and was a driving force behind the passing of the 1871 Act.

But where does the idea of taking the day off come from?
There are several theories about this.

We take the day after Christmas off because it’s St Stephen’s day, a lesser known name for Boxing day.

Incidentally, St Stephen’s day has everything to do with the “Feast of Stephen” to which we refer to in the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” that goes:

‘Good King Wenceslas looked out,
On the Feast of Stephen…’

St Stephen was the first Christian martyr. He was also the first Deacon in the Church, and because one of the main roles of a Church Deacon is to look after the poor, St. Stephen’s Day is often considered a day for giving food, money, and other items to servants, sevice workers, and the needy.

St Stephen’s message of helping the poor also reveals why we call his day Boxing Day. The boxes it refers to are almsboxes used to collect money for the poor. Christians carried out St Stephen’s message by collecting money in a number of different ways including a special collection day on Christmas Day. Sailors would drop money into a box throughout their voyage, as a donation to God to ensure their safe journey. Once safely back on land, the money would be donated to the Church.

Since early Christianity (which includes during Roman times), the day after Christmas was the day that Churches gave all the money they’d collected in almsboxes to the needy. The opening of the almsboxes is one of the strongest theories behind why we call St Stephen’s day, Boxing Day.

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In a similar spirit, employers often gave servants December 26th off to spend the day with their families. The theory goes that employers would give their servants a box of bonuses, or gifts, and sometimes leftover Christmas food. In Victorian times, tradesmen too profited from Boxing day as a day when they collected their Christmas boxes and gifts from happy clients, giving thanks for their good service throughout the year.

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Today, the spirit of giving is on the whole no longer really a part of Boxing Day, since most schools today don’t teach what the day was originally about, so most people never learned about St Stephen and his day of giving. But a similar Giving Spirit is often quite palpable in the air around Christmas time. So perhaps St Stephen’s noble generous spirit and giving nature still lives on in us around this festive season, regardless of whether we attribute this to St Stephen and the official Boxing Day, or whether we attribute it to a deeply ingrained, long-held tradition of maintaining the generous, giving, Christmas Spirit.

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It’s probably a good idea to work out a bit before December rolls round so that you’ll be able to carry home the biggest turkey in the supermarket home with you.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a roast turkey; but why do we eat turkey at Christmas?

To answer this, let’s start with another question:

Did we always eat Turkey at Christmas?

No. Christmas Turkey is an English tradition, but turkeys didn’t even exist in the UK until 1526 when William Strickland imported the first turkeys into the country. Before that, on Christmas day, traditional meat dishes were things like geese, peacocks and boars’ head (yum!).

In spite of this, turkeys only overtook goose as the #1 Christmas focal food in the mid-20th century.

Ok… but why turkey *specifically* on Christmas day?

There are a few theories:

Theory 1: To have a special type of meat to mark a special day.

If you eat chicken, or beef, or pork every day of the year, it feels a lot more festive to enjoy a different flavour of meat which you associate as being “Christmassy”. This is also why unusual dishes like peacock and boars’ head were so popular around Christmas back in the 16th century.

Theory 2: Big turkeys can supply the big family get-togethers!

One chicken or goose wouldn’t feed a table of all your favourite 100 relatives or so as they gather around the table. A big turkey is far more likely to go further. And even leaves enough for leftovers!

Theory 3: It became popular after Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol”

Dickens advertised the turkey-eating tradition in his famous “A Christmas Carol” which was published in 1843. This may partly explain the rise in turkey consumption specifically in the 20th century, when Christmas turkey sales really took off.

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This site is working in affiliation with Amazon.com (for USA visitors) and zazzle. If you like a product that was recommended anywhere on this website, please consider buying these products via the links on this site, to help keep this website running. Thanks