All Things Christmas (17 page)

The Torah states, “
This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.” (Gen 17:10) Likewise, Leviticus 12:3 says, “And on the eighth day the flesh of his f
oreskin shall be circumcised.”

For a child born on the 25
th
of December
, the eighth day would be January, 1
st
. The day of circumcision was also the day on which the child was named. Recall the somewhat comical scene surrounding the naming of John the Baptist in Luke 1:59-64. “And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “None of your kindred is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loose
d, and he spoke, blessing God.”

The second of these Feast Day
s is the Feast of the Epiphany…
from the Greek
ἐπιφάνεια
,
epiphaneia
— appearance or manifestation.
An epiphany is a
sudden realization about the nature or meaning of something. This Feast celebrates the
revelation of the Christ along with the
appearance of the Magi. The prophet, Isaiah, anticipated their coming when he wrote, “A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of
Midian
and
Ephah
; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall pr
oclaim the praise of the LORD.”
(Is 6:60) Likewise, Balaam, the prophet hired by the King of Moab to curse Israel said, “…a star shall come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall r
ise out of Israel…” (Num 24:17)

The Epiphany is a season of light and joy, a time of offering praise to God who did not leave mankind in darkness but sent his Son with the good news of salvation. The gifts we g
i
ve at Christmas are done in imitation of the Magi. However, there is one
important
difference; the Magi brought gifts to Jesus, not each other. So even as the Christmas lights are coming down, the light of Christ continues to shine down on us and we are called to reflect that light. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give gl
ory to your Father in heaven.”
(Matt 5:16)

We spoke earlier of an epiphany being an infusion of knowledge, a sudden realization. Through the Epiphany we are led to understand that Jesus Christ came not merely as King o
f
the Jews, but King of the world and all that is in it. Just as those few shepherds were representative of the Jewish nation, in coming to Bethlehem the Magi represent the rest of mankind. If one views Christmas as the manifestation of the birth of the Messiah to the Jews, then the Epiphany
can be seen as
its
Gentile equivalent…a Gentile Christmas, if you will. The
underlying
message of the Epiphany, of the Magi, is that Jesus Christ came not to save a
select few, but all of mankind.

Chapter T
wenty-Two

HERE COME THE MUMMERS

Ghouls and a Jester-like Devil in the Mu
mmer Parade

On New Year’s Day everyone on the West Coast lines up in sunny Pasadena to watch the Rose Parade. Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent folks in Philadelphia, despite the frigid weather, are enjoying their
own event,
the Mummers’ Parade.

The Mummers and their parade continue a tradition that extends back to about 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalia. A time of topsy-turvy turn around, during Saturnalia the slaves became the masters and the masters the slaves. People wore masks, celebrated with charades and satire, sang and danced in the streets, and exchanged gifts. When the Roman Empire forced its way into Britannia, the Celts and Druids gave the festival their own twist. Time passed, and by the Middle Ages this day of festivity had become an integral part of most Christmas celebrations.

The word Mummer comes from the term for silence...as in Mum’s the word. Going further back in history, we find the ancient Greek god, Momus, who was the personification of mockery, blame, ridicule, scorn, and stinging criticism. In Greek mythology Momus was expelled from heaven for criticizing and ridiculing the other gods. In other words, Momus was silenced.

Clowns and Jesters Entertain

Before the festival moved to New Year’s Day, boys trapped a wren on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26th) and killed it. A legend held that St. Stephen hid from his attackers in a bush and his position was given away by a wren perched in the branches. The boys were punishing the
wren for its part in the stoning of St. Stephen 1,500 or so years earlier. Having killed the wren, the boys tied its body to a stick and blackened their faces with charcoal, presumably so they wouldn’t be recognized. Then they went door to door in a sort of trick or treat mode, waving the dead bird in people’s faces and waiting for them to give them some reward. You’ll be happy to know that in the few places where this part of the festival is still reenac
ted, they now use a fake bird.

A second part of the celebration is the presence of Morris Dancers or Mummers. These groups dressed in wildly outrageous costumes and performed what came to be called the Mummer's Play. The play’s cast consists of a King, usually Saint George, who expresses the need to kill someone, typically a Saracen knight. Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people, ethnically distinct from the Arabs, who inhabited the deserts near the Roman province of Syria. One of earliest references to them is in Ptolemy's Geography, in which he uses the Greek term
Sarakenoi
when referring to a non-Arabic people living in the northwestern Arabian
peninsula
.

In Christian writing, the name came to be interpreted to mean “
those empty of Sarah
” or “
not from Sarah
.
” In the Eighth Century St. John of Damascus wrote, “
There is also
a
people-deceiving cult of the
Ishmaelites
, the forerunner of the Antichrist, which prevails until now. It derives from Ishmael, who was born to Abraham from Hagar, wherefore they are called
Hagarenes
and
Ishmaelites
. And
we
call them Saracens, inasmuch as they were
sent away empty-handed by Sarah;
for it was said to the angel by Hagar
,
‘
Sara
h has sent me away empty-handed.’”

Returning to our play; as it turns out, just such a Saracen Knight happens to be available, often with the name of
Slasher
. The two go at it until
Slasher
is mortally wounded. At this point, either
Slasher's
mother appears, wailing for a doctor, or the
King
George character has a change of heart and requests the aid of a doctor himself. The call goes out for a ten dollar doctor, but a voice from offstage replies, “There is no ten dollar doctor.” The request is then changed to a five dollar doctor. The less expensive doctor appear
s and cures the injured Knight.

Stepping out in Style in Philadelphia

While the play itself is still “preformed” in some parts of England, Mummers in Philadelphia have opted for a lavish, and suitably garish, parade instead. Their huge fan of feathers and electric colors brings to mind Rio de Janeiro’s
Carnaval
rather than a
Medieval
morality play, though the Mummers Parade features decidedly fewer women and no nudity. They have also dispensed with the now politically incorrect blackface.

The Mummers has a long and proud history in the city of Brotherly Love. Reports of rowdy groups
parading
on New Year’s Day in Philadelphia date back to before the American
Revolution. Prizes were offered by merchants in the late 1800’s. In January, 1901 the first official parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.

The Mummers Parade is serious business in Philadelphia. Like its companion, The Rose Parade, clubs and organizations work on the costumes and practice all year for their one day in the sun, or as is the case in Philadelphia, the wind, rain
and/
or snow. Performances and costumes are judged and there is a complicated set of rules the marchers
must follow when being judged.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bonus Supplement

The Christmas Story from
WITNESS

Book One of
The
Seeds of Christianity
™
Series

As a
young shepherdess,
Rivkah,
accompanies her father to Bethlehem
where, with Mary’s help, she
hold
s
her son. But Mary, Joseph and Jesus are soon gone and Herod’s soldiers begin killing the children of her village. Then her intended, Shemu’el, is dragged away into slavery. Divided by fate, united by love, these two young people grow to separate adulthood, each with their dreams and desires unfulfilled, while the world of Rome and conquest moves inexorably on.