Lands of Red and Gold Interlude #2: Tales of Christ’s Mass
In the spirit of the festive season, this is a glimpse of how Christmas may be viewed in the future of the Lands of Red and Gold timeline. As with other Christmas specials, this should be taken in a light-hearted vein.
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For the prevention of disorders, as have arisen in diverse places within this dominion by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and offense of others: it is therefore ordered by my authority that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or All Hallows’ Eve or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or in any other way, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offence a fine, not exceeding six shilling, as shall be set by the court of each county.
Set this day by my hand and seal,
Martin Armstrong
Governor of New England
4 July 1697
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Taken from The Westmoreland [Williamsburg, Virginia] Courant
26 December 1954
CHRISTMAS TRUCE HOLDS!
With the passing of midnight, Alleghania has reason to celebrate. The old proverb has been confirmed: no news is good news. No reports of acts of terrorism have been received from anywhere in the country.
This proves a fact which many found hard to credit, including your humble commentator. The CJP [1] were sincere in their announcement of a truce. For the first time in more than a decade, they have refrained from their traditional Christmas bombing campaign...
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23 December 1962
Shrewsbury, Pembroke [Cambridge, Maryland]
Two dozen men, with varying skin tone and varying height, but all dressed in similar attire: forest green jackets and pointed caps, with chestnut pants. The traditional costume of a wassailer out to sing evening noëls [Christmas carols].
Jamet Byrne is third from the front as the group moves on to the next house. A large two-level white building, almost a mansion, with four mature chestnut trees growing in its front garden. No point going wassailing in a poor district, of course. What would they gain from that?
“This is the true spirit of Christmas,” Byrne murmurs, to quiet sounds of acclamation around him. Wassailing is a grand old tradition, and part of a proper Christmas as far as he is concerned. Not like all of the new-fangled gimmicks which are celebrated these days, which are driven by traders and merchants. Scarcely Christian in most cases, and explicitly non-Christian in a few cases. Why, for the last few years, the Christmas decorations around the Shrewsbury town hall had included chimes, of all godless things.
No, Christmas should be celebrated in the proper way, with hearty singing, drinking, gifts, and wassailing.
The wassailers reach the front of the white building, which now he sees really should be called a mansion. So much the better. With loud but marvellous harmony, the wassailers begin their performance:
“Noël, noël, noël, noël.
Who is there that sings so: Noël, noël, noël?
I am here, Father Christmas.
Welcome, my lord, Father Christmas!
Welcome to us all, both more and less!
Come near, Noël.” [2]
The wassailers continue with the noël, describing the story of the Nativity, while Jamet hopes that the owners will come out soon. Wassailing is an exhausting task, and requires the traditional gifts of pudding and good sweet wine for the wassailers to recover from their efforts before they move on to the next house.
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17 December 1976
Offices of Wyatt & Rolfe Shipbuilding
Newport News, Virginia
Friday night a week before Christmas Eve: the perfect time for an office Christmas party, in John Thomas Rolfe’s not so humble opinion. His fellow director Edmund Wyatt had disagreed, which was why he was nowhere to be found tonight, along with virtually all of the workers who were directly involved in ship construction. Those who had come to the party were the office workers: finance, office administration, sales, and manpower [personnel].
For all of that, Rolfe thought that he organised a damned fine party. Quiet music played in the background; instrumental tunes only that had a suitably festive feel if not actually Christmas songs. Gifts for everyone who came, as befit a good host: candies, chocolates, perfume. Food enough for all who came – two roast turkeys had pride of place on the table – and, most of all, alcohol. Wine, ale, duranj [gum cider], brandy, whiskey... something for everyone, or so he hoped.
Everything seemed to be going well. Until he heard raised voices coming from the other side of the room. Very raised voices, of the kind which could only not be called shouting because it was nearly Christmas and he was feeling kind.
As he strode over, Rolfe saw there were two people involved in the argument: William Beal and Generosity Enoli. A handful of other men and women looked on, with expressions ranging from amusement to horror. But it was the two men in the middle who held his attention: short, pale, blond and muscular William looked up at tall, thin, dark and black-haired Generosity with no sign of backing down, either literally or metaphorically.
They were arguing something about the merits of the Populists. Of course, the content of their argument mattered nothing to Rolfe, only their volume. “Come on, partners, cool it down. Show some Christmas spirit.”
Generosity raised an eyebrow. “What, assume that someone will show up and magically make everything right for you, rather than taking responsibility for your own actions?”
“This isn’t the place to start religious arguments,” Rolfe said.
“Then why did you bring it up?” Generosity said. “I don’t expect you to celebrate Mamabula [3]; Rene here doesn’t expect you to celebrate Passover. Why do you think we should care about the day your holy man was born?”
For the first time, Rolfe understood why Wyatt had not wanted to hold a Christmas party.
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Song list for “It’s Christmas Time”, a popular Christmas album released by Yvonne [4] in 1987
1. Messiah
2. Feliz Navidad
3. Desire of Ages
4. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
5. See the Mistletoe?
6. Yuletide Hunt
7. Big, Fat Father Christmas
8. Glory to the King
9. Hear Heaven Sing
10. Coming Home for Christmas
11. Three Red Candles
12. Blue Wine
13. Night of Nights
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24 December 1994
Université de Bourbon
Chaleurs, Louisiana [Alexandria, Louisiana]
Mid-afternoon on the eve of Noël. The sandstone buildings and courtyards of Bourbon University, so crowded with students only the day before, are nearly deserted now. Only a relative handful of students and faculty remain here, those who for one reason or another have not returned to their homes and family over the week’s break.
Alix Bourque is one of those. Except for her youngest sister, none of her family would not welcome her at any time. They would tolerate her attending a funeral, she muses briefly, even if a couple would be secretly hoping that she had been the guest of honour at that event.
The thought is only a passing one, though. Alix returns her focus to the immediate surroundings, which are much more pleasant. She nestles her head against Tsiyu’s welcoming shoulder, leaving her long black hair to fall over his arm.
A slight breeze blows across the courtyard, carrying a sweet lemony fragrance with it. The university is set just outside the town limits of Chaleurs proper, and ringed on three sides by groves of lemon verbena [lemon myrtle]. That distinctive odour is one of the most pleasant aspects of life at Bourbon University, although the spice farmers have hardly planted the trees for the students’ benefit.
Tsiyu starts to run his fingers along her shoulder in that electric touch which she knows so well. She murmurs softly in response, in that way where the words do not matter so much as the tone in which they are said.
Before his fingers or lips can move much further, though, the breeze shifts and brings a fresh set of smells with it: the odours of cooking. Frying fish, pork or some similar meat being smoked, and boiling mixtures of seafood and vegetables, with the smell of onions predominating.
She glances over at the kitchen window; fortunately, it does not mean she needs to move her head much or disturb Tsiyu’s actions. “It’ll be a change, celebrating Christmas properly,” she says.
“How so?” he murmurs, though his fingers keep moving.
“I’ve missed réveillon,” Alix says. All of the students and lecturers who are still at the university are automatically invited to the long dinner-cum-party that will last past midnight and the proper arrival of Noël. A much more attractive prospect than a caustic evening with her parents and sisters, even setting aside Tsiyu’s attentions.
“It happens every year,” he says, bemused.
“Not everywhere,” she says. “The last two years, I was at the Panipat [5]. A place to learn, like few others, but I missed Noël. They don’t care about it at all there; it’s just another day on the calendar.”
“How odd,” Tsiyu says, but a moment later he moves his lips to kiss her. Alix forgets, for the moment, about her sojourn overseas and even about the coming réveillon feast.
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25 December 1996
Reading, Berkshire
Getting up before the children is always a challenge on Christmas morning. Fortunately for Jerome Duke’s sanity, getting them to sleep early on Christmas Eve is not. So he and Anne set everything out ready the night before, and only need to wake up at a suitably early hour. This is still difficult, with two boys who have internal alarm clocks more efficient than any mere human construction, and a girl who could sneak up on a werewolf.
This year, at least, something has worked properly. Jerome wakes up in the winter darkness, and quietly moves back out to the living room. He flicks on a lamp and gives everything one final check.
The Christmas fir tree is in place, with the bulkier gifts stored beneath it. By the front door, four boots have been filled with small toys and candies; four because Electra, with impeccable eight-year-old logic, argues that fairness requires that the boys and girls divide equal numbers of presents. The four-branched candlestick is in place opposite the fir tree, with four rows of three candles pointing in each cardinal direction, and the larger thirteenth candle in the centre.
The candlestick is the only task that remains undone, so he lights the candles, starting with the central candle, then the east, south and western branches, and finally the northern branch. Thank God that the children are old enough nowadays that he doesn’t need to dress up in bright green and act as Father Christmas any more.
Now, he needs only to wait for the storm that will begin when the children come out.
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Taken from Intellipedia.
Christmas (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, literally “Christ's mass”) is an annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, generally conducted on 25 December. Commemorated as a religious and cultural holiday by billions around the globe, and a legal holiday in many nations, Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian world, and by growing numbers of non-Christians. Although only rarely in predominantly Muslim nations, and virtually never in the Plirite world [citation needed]. However, Plirites in majority-Christian nations often celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday. Christmas is a fundamental part of the festive season.
The date of Jesus’ birth is not known [discuss]. The celebration of Christmas on 25 December is first recorded in the early fourth century. Christianity adopted the date of the Roman winter solstice and linked it to ancient pre-Christian winter festivals to incorporate those of pagan faith into Christianity, and reduce the appeal of pagan holdouts. [This sentence has been tagged as offensive and flagged for removal. Refer to the discussion page.]
Celebratory customs associated with Christmas include a hodge-podge of pagan, Christian and secular themes which have been blended into the modern event [informal tone: discuss]. Popular modern holiday customs include giving or exchange of Christmas gifts and cards, Christmas music both religious and secular, special meals, church commemorations, wassailing, evening vigils, and displaying a variety of special decorations, including Christmas trees and candles, Christmas lights, religious scenes (usually of the Nativity), mistletoe, wreaths, holly and chimes. [This sentence has been locked due to repeated attempted vandalism to remove the reference to chimes. Refer to the discussion page.]
Also, several related figures are associated with bringing gifts during the Christmas season, and have their own body of traditions and lore. These figures are variously known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and the Christkind. In the English-speaking world, Father Christmas is the traditional figure: an old man dressed in a bright green suit trimmed with white fur, and associated with drinking, singing and merry-making. And gifts.
Due to gift-giving and associated festival aspects of Christmas, economic activity grows during the holiday say, and this is a critical sales period for the retail sector. However, this increasing trend of commercialisation is widely regarded [by whom?] as harming the religious aspects of Christmas [bias: discuss].
Name
The word “Christmas” originated as a compound meaning “Christ’s mass”. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse. The form “Christenmas” was also historically used, but is now considered archaic.
In addition to “Christmas”, the holiday has been known by various other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as Midwinter, or, more rarely as Nativity. Yule (or Yuletide) was previously used to refer to the December-January period, and the name has been revived as a secular alternative to refer to the holiday season, although rarely to refer to Christmas Day itself. Noel (or Nowell or Noël) entered English in the late 14th century, derived from Old French.
Celebration
Main article: Christmas globewards [worldwide]
Christmas Day is a major festival and public holiday in many countries around the world, including some whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some non-Christian countries, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration, while in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. In such countries, the main secular aspects of Christmas which have been adopted include gift-giving, Christmas trees and candlesticks.
Christmas celebrations around the world vary considerably, based on different cultural and national traditions. In countries with a strong Christian tradition, participating in a religious service is usually an important part of the season. Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance.
In Catholic and Orthodox countries, a range of religious processions or parades are held in the days leading up to Christmas. In Protestant and non-Christian countries, secular processions or parades featuring Father Christmas and other seasonal figures are often held.
Family reunions are an integral part of Christmas in most traditions; Christmas is usually held to be the day when dispersed families reunite. Exchange of gifts is likewise a major feature of the season, either on Christmas Day or on a nearby religiously significant day (eg 6 December, Saint Nicholas Day, is used in Tigeria).
While many non-Christian countries observe Christmas as a secular holiday, in some non-Christian countries, public celebration of Christmas is considered offensive [by whom?]. In particular, in several Plirite countries, Christmas Day is not a public holiday and public Christmas displays are stigmatised. Plirite minorities in some majority-Christian countries have adopted Christmas as a secular holiday (eg the Kogung), while in other countries, Plirite non-observation of Christmas has become a mark of cultural identity (eg the Congxie).
Also, even in some countries with a strong Christmas tradition, celebration of Christmas is predominantly secular. In New England, the early colonists strongly disapproved of public celebrations of Christmas, based on religious objections. Observation of Christmas was legally forbidden, and later socially prohibited even when no longer outlawed. Recent adoption of Christmas traditions in New England has focused on the secular aspects of gift-giving and decoration, rather than religious celebrations...
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[1] Congxie Jamaane Pliri, or roughly translated into in English, Congxie Homeland and Harmony. Congxie comes from the most widespread name which that people use for themselves. Jamaane is a Congxie word adapted from the Soninke language, which in a Congxie sense means something like “territory” or “homeland”. Pliri is from a Gunnagalic root (via the Nangu and Nuttana) which means “harmony”, although in this context it is used in a largely non-religious sense to mean stability or security.
[2] This is a historical carol, with words slightly changed by the passage of allohistorical time. It was composed by Robert Smert sometime in the fifteenth century, although the real modern form has changed considerably.
[3] Mamabula, or Liberty Day, is a celebration of the day when the forefathers (and foremothers) of the Congxie revolted in Cavendia (*South Carolina/Georgia) and began their flight to freedom in the uplands. It is celebrated on the June new moon, to mark the historical use of that new moon as a sign to trigger a unified revolt.
[4] Her full name is Yvonne Martin, but her musical career has been successful enough that she simply goes by Yvonne.
[5] In full, the Tjagarr Panipat. This is a Gunnagalic name which, literally translated, means “Place of Great Disputation”.
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Thoughts?
