During my youth in the Netherlands, the holiday season lasted from November 11 to December 5, from Saint Martin’s Day to Saint Nicholas’ Day, milestones for a child.
Saint Martin, Roman soldier of the IVe century, cut his coat in half to help a poor beggar. That’s why he became the patron of charity. Thus, on November 11, the children built paper lanterns, with a real candle. In the evening, they dressed up and wandered around the houses in the neighborhood. In order to receive delicacies, the children sang the song of Saint Martin.
For centuries, this quest for Saint Martin was made by the poor, who emptied a sugar beet, with holes in the walls to put a candle in and go around the houses.
When the Dutch settled along the Hudson River in the 17the century, they probably kept their traditions. But it is rather the Scots and the Irish, immigrants in the 19e century who imposed their tradition of All Hallows’ Eve.
It is obvious that in the absence of sugar beets, we are lucky to have pumpkins for our Halloween. But I assure you that, for children, Saint-Martin is less gloomy and more convivial than Halloween.
For Saint-Nicolas on the other hand, there really was a transfer of tradition. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Turkey, in the IVe century too, had an eventful life, even after his death: during the Crusades, his corpse was saved to be reburied in Bari, Italy. He became the patron saint of children in several European countries, including some French regions.
The official date of Saint Nicholas is December 6, the anniversary of his death. The day before, so on December 5, the Dutch children stay up late and have a snack. If they have behaved well, the saint will come by in person to deliver the gifts. He will ask the child to sit on his lap and sing a song in his honor.
A few weeks earlier, he had come to town in a parade, dressed in red and white, with a white beard, on his white horse. Since then, the excitement was mounting among the children. On the evenings of the week before Saint Nicholas, the children would put their shoes on by the fireplace, with a carrot for the horse, and sing a song for the saint.
At night, Nicolas passed on the roofs, on his horse, and the carrot disappeared, replaced by a delicacy or an orange, proof of the usefulness of virtue and faith.
Still along the Hudson, everything has been integrated with these two other European traditions of December, namely the Nativity and the pagan festival of light, embodied by an illuminated fir tree. Then, Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus, modeled on Saint Nicolas. The horse has been replaced by flying reindeer, the shoe by stockings. In Quebec, we adopted this American Christmas, with the tree, even in the church.
Merging of traditions
This fusion of traditions, in order to create the modern Christmas, and its subsequent dilution have meant that today the event is characterized above all by the Christmas tree, by the family meal and the Christmas Eve gifts and by the purchases Boxing Day. It is perhaps the confrontation with other beliefs, religious and otherwise, that makes us only wish each other “Happy Holidays”.
But there are those who maintain the tradition. Many of my neighbors in Montreal are immigrants from the Middle East and neighboring regions. Egyptians, Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians and, above all, Armenians and Lebanese. All Christians, with a tradition dating back sometimes more than 15 centuries. Driven out of their country by civil wars or by the persecution of Christians, they respect Christian holidays, which have become as much an identity for them as their language or their native land.
When I wish happy holidays to my Lebanese-born doctor, it would be easy to miss the disapproving look of this respectful man. His assistant is more direct. She explains to me that they are here because of their faith and she wishes me a Merry Christmas. So, back to the origin of things, I say to you: Merry Christmas!