Christmas in 12th Century Wales
By
David Pryce
Wales; a land of stunning scenery, imposing
fortresses, lyrical prose and uplifting song; at this time of year you’re also
likely to see Christmas lights and in more recent years a proliferation of
inflatable snowmen, angels and reindeer. You’ll also be bombarded with
advertisements for items you didn’t realize you needed, whist the jingle of
‘traditional’ Christmas music is never far from your ears… Slade anyone? For better or for worse, this is Christmas in
the twenty first century, but what would Christmas have been like in the time
of my novel? How would late twelfth century Welshmen and women have celebrated
this most magical time of the year? With more religious fervor than is
commonplace in modern society I would wager.
From its origins as a Pagan celebration of the
winter solstice, Christmas had, by the time of Prince Madoc become the most
prominent religious celebration of the year. One of only two days in the
Christian calendar (the other being Easter) when three masses were performed on
a single day; towards the end of the twelfth century, the importance of
Christmas mass was being highlighted by the addition of visual images, such as
displaying a crib in the church to represent the place where Jesus was
born. The liturgy would likely also have
included dramatic scenes, such as angels singing.
All this did not mean some sort of Cromwellian style
ban on fun and frolics however; on the contrary, by 1170 Christmas was
established as a time of excess, with great feasts, gifts for rich and poor and
general indulgence in eating, drinking, dancing, poetry recital and singing.
Many of our Christmas traditions can trace their
roots back to this period; for example, if you enjoy carol singers serenading
you at the door then you can thank irate priests who ejected singers from their
masses for taking the word ‘carol’ at little too literally. Singing and dance
in a circle during a serious religious service was just not the ‘done thing’ as
far as the church was concerned.
I’m sure we all love a mince pie or three at
this time of the year; well in Madoc’s time the pies were baked in rectangular
cases to represent the infant Jesus’ crib. The cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg were
meant to symbolise the gifts bestowed by the three wise men, and eating one on
each of the twelve days of Christmas was considered good luck, which seems like
as good an excuse as any; although back in the twelfth century, mince pies as
the name implies literally contained minced meat along with the spices and
fruit.
With the discovery of America still in Madoc’s
future, his Christmas table in North Wales would likely have been festooned
with a goose or two – the turkey of course being a North American native. Perhaps
some trout from the fresh mountains streams? Venison was also a popular alternative
and in the Christmas spirit, a generous Prince of Gwynedd may have shared his
bounty with those less fortunate than himself, though not the best cuts of meat.
The unwanted parts of the family’s Christmas deer, the offal (or ‘umbles’) were
mixed with other ingredients to make a Christmas pie. The poor would literally
find themselves eating ‘umble’ pie.
Most definitely a simpler time then, but one of
joy and thankfulness…perhaps we could all learn a little from that?
David Pryce was born and bred in North Wales; after graduating with a Mining Engineering degree he spent the next seven years living and working in Southern Africa.
He currently resides in Colorado, but returns to North Wales on a regular basis to visit family and rediscover his intrinsic ‘Welshness’. This also affords him the opportunity to eat some decent fish and chips and sink a pint or three of real beer!
Native American folklore tells us of a brave
group of pale skinned explorers who many, many generations ago crossed a 'Great
Water' to reach their lands. These people called themselves 'Welsh' and this is
their story...
Join Prince Madoc and his intrepid band of
followers as they turn their backs on treachery and duplicity to undertake a
voyage that will test their togetherness, belief and fighting spirit; taking
them beyond the known boundaries of civilization to distant lands far to the
west.
An adventure story at
heart, '1170' evokes the spirit of that bygone era of Saturday morning matinee
serial film.
Fabulous post, David! Thank you for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure Mary, thank you for the invite.
DeleteI've learned something new almost every day of this blog. I had know idea about the significance of the ingrediants in mince pies! I simply thought it was because they taste good together. Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteAny excuse to eat Mince Pies ~ I never knew that!
ReplyDelete