[ [34] Browning's great poem, “Christmas Eve,” is philosophical rather than devotional, and hardly comes within the scope of this chapter.
[ [35] The first mention of a season corresponding to Advent is at the Council of Tours, about 567, when a fast for monks in December is vaguely indicated. At the Council of Mâcon (581) it is enjoined that from Martinmas the second, fourth, and sixth days of the week should be fasting days; and at the close of the sixth century Rome, under Gregory the Great, adopted the rule of the four Sundays in Advent. In the next century it became prevalent in the West. In the Greek Church, forty days of fasting are observed before Christmas; this custom appears to have been established in the thirteenth century. In the Roman Church the practice as to fasting varies: in the British Isles Wednesday and Friday are observed, but in some countries no distinction is made between Advent and ordinary weeks of the year.[{2}]
[ [36] Anthony Beck, Bishop of Durham, bequeathed to his cathedral a Christmas candlestick of silver-gilt, on the base of which was an image of St. Mary with her Son lying in the crib.
[ [37] “Joseph, dear nephew mine, help me to rock the Child.” “Gladly, dear aunt, will I help thee to rock thy Child.” (Note the curious words of relationship; Joseph and Mary were both of the seed of David.)
[ [38] “Let us rock the Child and bow our hearts before the crib! Let us delight our spirits and bless the Child: sweet little Jesu! sweet little Jesu!... Let us greet His little hands and feet, His little heart of fire, and reverence Him humbly as our Lord and God! Sweet little Jesu! sweet little Jesu!”
[ [39] Turning for a moment from Sicilian domestic celebrations to a public and communal action, I may mention a strange ceremony that takes place at Messina in the dead of night; at two o'clock on Christmas morning a naked Bambino is carried in procession from the church of Santa Lucia to the cathedral and back.[{65}]
[ [40] Or on the Sunday following the Octave, if the Octave itself is a week-day.
[ [41] Tempting as it is to connect these dolls with the crib, it is possible that their origin should be sought rather in anthropomorphic representations of the spirits of vegetation, and that they are of the same nature as the images carried about with garlands in May and at other seasons.[{77}]
[ [42] Though no texts are extant of religious plays in English acted at Christmastide, there are occasional records of such performances:—at Tintinhull for instance in 1451 and at Dublin in 1528, while at Aberdeen a processional “Nativity” was performed at Candlemas. And the “Stella,” whether in English or Latin it is uncertain, is found at various places between 1462 and 1579.[{10}]
[ [43] Lodging.