ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS
This season had been celebrated long before Christianity as a time of light and rebirth.
What is the middle of winter / winter solstice?
During Saturnalia, schools and businesses were closed so people could do this.
What is celebrate / take part in festivities?
The main Christian holiday before Christmas was this event.
What is Easter?
Finding this item in a cake made you king for a day.
What is a bean?
This group cancelled Christmas in England in 1645.
Who were the Puritans?
This Scandinavian festival was celebrated from December 21 to January.
What is Yule?
During Saturnalia, this group was temporarily treated as equals.
Who were slaves?
In many parts of Europe, this practical winter necessity made late December an ideal time for communal feasting and celebration.
What is the slaughtering of cattle before winter?
This animal’s head was considered the most impressive Christmas dish.
What is a boar?
Christmas was outlawed in this American city between 1659 and 1681.
What is Boston?
Norse families burned this item for up to 12 days to celebrate the return of the sun.
What is a Yule log?
In Germanic midwinter belief, this god’s feared nocturnal flights were thought to determine people’s fate, discouraging outdoor celebration.
Who is Oden?
The Bible does NOT mention this detail about Jesus’s birth.
What is the exact date?
Drunken singing with mulled cider was known by this name.
What is wassailing?
This author promoted the idea of Christmas as a peaceful, class-bridging holiday.
Who is Washington Irving?
This Roman god of agriculture was honoured during a month-long winter festival.
Who is Saturn?
Romans exchanged these two popular items as gifts during Saturnalia.
What are wax candles and figurines?
This pope officially chose December 25 as Jesus’s birthday.
Who is Pope Julius I?
This figure ruled chaotic celebrations where social order was reversed.
Who is the Lord of Misrule?
By the 19th century, Americans transformed Christmas into this type of holiday.
What is a family-centred holiday?
This god, believed to be born from a rock, was celebrated on December 25 by Romans.
Who is Mithra?
This happened to Roman social order during Saturnalia.
What is it was turned upside down?
December 25 was chosen partly to absorb traditions from this pagan festival.
What is Saturnalia?
This tradition involved masked, often drunk adults going door-to-door in Scandinavia.
What is julebukking?
Nineteenth-century Christmas riots in New York became so severe that the city council responded by establishing this institution to maintain public order.
What is the first police force?