I was in church with my family on Sunday morning and the Minister told us the story of the candy cane, how it was shaped like the staff of a shepherd to symbolize the important role of the then-lowly shepherds in announcing Jesus’s birth to the world. At the time shepherds were considered unclean and unfit for enlightened life. The fact that they were chosen as the first people to greet the new-born king is no coincidence, and the idea of fairness and equality are themes echoed through out Christmas teachings. I’ve enjoyed numerous candy canes over the years and never thought twice about why they had that specific shape or how they came to be. That got me thinking about folklore and how many ideas and concepts have roots very different from our current understanding of their meaning.
I took the liberty of doing some holiday research to uncover the origins of several popular Christmas terms that have cool stories on par with the candy cane story I heard in church. Many thanks to Wikipedia for its endless collection of little known tidbits. Enjoy!
Sugar plum: what makes them so tantalizing that they’d be dancing in children’s heads? “Plum” in the name of this confection does not mean plum in the sense of the fruit of the same name. At one time, “plum” was used to denote any dried fruit. Sugar plums can be made from any combination of dried plums (aka prunes), dried figs, dried apricots, dried dates, and dried cherries. The dried fruit is chopped fine and combined with chopped almonds, honey, and aromatic spices, such as anise seed, fennel seed, caraway seeds, and cardamom. This mixture would then be rolled into balls, often then coated in sugar or shredded coconut. Okay, I get it. Sounds delicious!
Yuletide: turns out that Christians know a good party when they see it! Yule or Yule-tide (“Yule-time”) is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas.
Figgy pudding: with or without bacon (thank you John Denver and The Muppets), is this dish really as simple as it sounds? Figgy pudding is a pudding resembling something like a white Christmas pudding containing figs. The pudding may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried.
The history of figgy pudding dates back to 16th century England. Its possible ancestors include savory puddings such as crustades, fygeye or figge (a potage of mashed figs thickened with bread), creme boiled (a kind of stirred custard), and sippets. In any case, its methods and ingredients appear in diverse older recipes. Today, the term figgy pudding is known mainly because of the Christmas carol “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” which repeats, “Now bring us some figgy pudding” in the chorus, indicating that it was a Christmas traditional dish served during the season and thus might potentially be given to Christmas carolers.
Tempted to make your own figgy pudding for your holiday table? Try this recipe.
Christmas stockings: why did Santa decide to tuck presents into wet socks? While there are no written records of the origin of the Christmas Stocking, there are popular legends that attempt to tell the history of this Christmas tradition. One such legend has several variations, but the following is a good example: Very long ago, there lived a poor man and his three very beautiful daughters. He had no money to get his daughters married, and he was worried what would happen to them after his death.
Saint Nicholas was passing through when he heard the villagers talking about the girls. St. Nicholas wanted to help, but knew that the old man wouldn`t accept charity. He decided to help in secret. He waited until it was night and crept through the chimney.
He had three bags of gold coins with him, one for each girl. As he was looking for a place to keep those three bags, he noticed stockings of the three girls that were hung over the mantelpiece for drying. He put one bag in each stocking and off he went. When the girls and their father woke up the next morning, they found the bags of gold coins and were of course, overjoyed. The girls were able to get married and live happily ever after.
This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas.
Silent Night: I love this story behind one of the most loved Christmas songs of all time. The carol was first performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. Mohr had composed the words two years earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service.
In his written account regarding the composition of the carol, Gruber gives no mention of the specific inspiration for creating the song. According to the song’s history provided by Austria’s Silent Night Society, one supposition is that the church organ was no longer working so that Mohr and Gruber therefore created a song for accompaniment by guitar. Silent Night historian, Renate Ebeling-Winkler Berenguer says that the first mention of a broken organ was in a book published in the U.S.
Some believe that Mohr simply wanted a new Christmas carol that he could play on his guitar. The Silent Night Society says that there are “many romantic stories and legends” that add their own anecdotal details to the known facts. You can still visit the chapel today, and its is known popularly as The Silent Night Chapel.
I’d love to hear any other Christmas time legends and stories you may uncover this holiday season!
The photo above depicts traditional figgy pudding.
