December has many traditions going back to medieval and even ancient times.
This month, I will have a look at various Christmas traditions and mythological figures (yes, like Santa) that originated and/or were popular during the Middle Ages. I will also look at what people actually did back then, in various places (traditions could vary enormously) and some of the art that has come out of that period, especially surviving carols and other music, as well as reviews of collections of medieval Christmas music.
Christmas, even in the Middle Ages, was a muddled period of pagan and local traditions, saints and martyrs, like St. Stephen the ProtoMartyr and St. Thomas Becket. The current tradition of seeing it as only one day or even one week has truncated the very old traditions of a Christmastide that lasted closer to two or three months.
My colleague, Kerry Kubilius, is doing Eastern European traditions, if you are interested in the Orthodox and old pagan Christmas traditions in those areas, especially Russia.
