tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/christmas-story-46226/articlesChristmas story – The Conversation2020-12-20T21:12:48Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1495272020-12-20T21:12:48Z2020-12-20T21:12:48ZThe borrowed customs and traditions of Christmas celebrations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372195/original/file-20201201-18-1fl360e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=297%2C595%2C2738%2C1418&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ruslan Kalnitsky/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Not long to go now before many of us get to spread some good tidings and joy as we celebrate Christmas.</p>
<p>The main ways we understand and mark the occasion seem to be rather <a href="https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/">similar across the world</a>. It’s about time with community, family, food-sharing, gift-giving and overall merry festivities.</p>
<p>But while Christmas is ostensibly a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus, many of the rituals and customs come from other traditions, both spiritual and secular.</p>
<h2>The first Christmas</h2>
<p>The journey of Christmas into the celebration we know and recognise today is not a straight line.</p>
<p>The first Christmas celebrations were <a href="https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/the-1st-recorded-celebration-of-christmas-11629658.html">recorded</a> in Ancient Rome in the fourth century. Christmas was placed in December, around the time of the northern <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/winter-solstice.html">winter solstice</a>.</p>
<p>It is not difficult to spot the similarities between our now long-standing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas">Christmas</a> traditions and the Roman festival of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saturnalia-Roman-festival">Saturnalia</a>, which was also celebrated in December and co-existed with Christian belief for a period of time.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/feeling-pressured-to-buy-christmas-presents-read-this-and-think-twice-before-buying-candles-150174">Feeling pressured to buy Christmas presents? Read this (and think twice before buying candles)</a>
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<p>Saturnalia placed an emphasis on the sharing of food and drink, and spending time with loved ones as the colder winter period arrived. There is even evidence that the Romans exchanged little gifts of food to mark the occasion.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A table with food, wine and candles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372457/original/file-20201202-22-ipw85o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Some people still celebrate Saturnalia today with food and drink.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/38396036234/">Carole Raddato/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>As Christianity took greater hold in the Roman world and the old polytheistic religion was left behind, we can see the cultural imprint of Saturnalia traditions in the ways in which our well-known Christmas celebrations established themselves across the board.</p>
<h2>A Yule celebration</h2>
<p>Turning an eye to the Germanic-Scandinavian context also provides intriguing connections. In the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas">Norse religion</a>, Yule was a winter festival celebrated during the period we now roughly associate with December.</p>
<p>The beginning of Yule was marked by the arrival of the Wild Hunt, a spiritual occurrence when the Norse god Odin would ride across the sky on his eight-legged white horse.</p>
<p>While the hunt was a frightening sight to behold, it also brought excitement for families, and especially children, as Odin was known to leave little gifts at each household as he rode past.</p>
<p>Like the Roman Saturnalia, Yule was a time of drawing in for the winter months, during which copious amounts of food and drink would be consumed.</p>
<p>The Yule festivities included bringing tree branches inside the home and decorating them with food and trinkets, likely opening the way for the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees">Christmas tree</a> as we know it today.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A decorated Christmas tree in a home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372477/original/file-20201202-16-m4og1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The decorated Christmas tree can trace its roots back to Northern Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfsavard/3145328220/">Laura LaRose/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The influence of Yule on the festive season of Northern European countries is still evident in linguistic expression too, with “Jul” being the word for Christmas in Danish and Norwegian. The English language also maintains this connection, by referring to the Christmas period as “Yuletide”.</p>
<h2>Here comes Santa</h2>
<p>Through the idea of gift-giving, we see the obvious connections between Odin and Santa Claus, even though the latter is somewhat of a popular culture invention, as put forward by the famous poem <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43171/a-visit-from-st-nicholas">A Visit from St Nicholas</a> (also known as The Night Before Christmas), attributed to American poet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clement-Clarke-Moore">Clement Clarke Moore</a> in 1837 (although <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/86071888/who-really-named-santas-reindeer-its-not-who-you-thought">debate continues</a> over <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/night-before-christmas-poem-1.4446455">who actually wrote the poem</a>).</p>
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<p>The poem was very well-received and its popularity spread immediately, going well beyond the American context and reaching global fame. The poem gave us much of the staple imagery we associate with Santa today, including the first ever mention of his reindeer.</p>
<p>But even the figure of Santa Claus is evidence of the constant mixture and mingling of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33574172-christmas">traditions, customs and representations</a>.</p>
<p>Santa’s evolution <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1493195.Christmas">carries echoes</a> of not only Odin, but also historical figures such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Nicholas">Saint Nicholas of Myra</a> — a fourth-century bishop known for his charitable work — and the legendary Dutch figure of <a href="https://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/11/ten-things-you-need-to-know-to-celebrate-sinterklaas/">Sinterklaas</a> that derived from it.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sinterklaas has a white beard and is dressed in a red jacket, speaking with some children." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372717/original/file-20201203-19-mc5oyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Dutch figure Sinterklaas looks a lot like Santa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archeon/4141592110/">Hans Splinter/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Christmas down under in the summer</h2>
<p>The idea of connecting Christmas to winter festivals and drawing in customs makes the most sense in the colder months of the Northern hemisphere.</p>
<p>In the Southern hemisphere, in countries such as New Zealand and Australia, the traditional Christmas celebrations have evolved into their own specific brand, which is much more suited to the warmer summer months.</p>
<p>Christmas is an imported event in these areas and acts as a constant reminder of the spread of European colonialism in the 18th and 19th centuries.</p>
<p>Celebrating Christmas still carries the influence of European contexts, being a time for merriment, gift-giving and community spirit.</p>
<p>Even some of the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45310198-christmas-food-and-feasting">traditional foods</a> of the season here are still indebted to Euro-British traditions, with <a href="https://thisnzlife.co.nz/12-tips-cooking-perfect-christmas-turkey/">turkey</a> and <a href="https://dish.co.nz/recipes/raspberry-glazed-christmas-ham">ham</a> taking centre stage.</p>
<p>All the same, as Christmas falls in the summer down under, there are also different ways to <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/kiwi-christmas">celebrate it in New Zealand</a> and <a href="https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/">other regions</a> that clearly have nothing to do with winter festivals.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-choose-the-right-christmas-gift-tips-from-psychological-research-149739">How to choose the right Christmas gift: tips from psychological research</a>
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<p>Barbecues and beach days are prominent new traditions, as borrowed practices co-exist with novel ways of adapting the event to a different context. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A plate of mini tropical fruit pavlovas with berries" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372759/original/file-20201203-13-no0rb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Try a pavlova, something more summery for Christmas in New Zealand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/50194313052/">Marco Verch Professional/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The wintery Christmas puddings are often exchanged for more summery pavlovas, whose fresh fruit toppings and meringue base certainly befit the warmer season to a greater extent.</p>
<p>The transition to outdoor Christmas celebrations in the Southern hemisphere is obviously locked in common sense because of the warmer weather.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it also shows how both cultural and geographical drivers can influence the evolution of celebrating important festivals. And if you really want to experience a cold Christmas down under, there is always a mid-year Christmas in July to look forward to.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149527/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorna Piatti-Farnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Christmas we celebrate today around the world, whether in northern winter or southern summer, has its roots in many cultures and traditions.Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Professor of Popular Culture, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1089462018-12-20T12:40:13Z2018-12-20T12:40:13ZThomas Hardy’s little-known Christmas story for children (with a happy ending)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251735/original/file-20181220-45385-16rfoly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">B Calkins via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you are looking forward to curling up with a heartwarming story this Christmas, you might not necessarily choose anything by Thomas Hardy – you’d be more likely to turn to the seasonal staples of <a href="https://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/christmas-carol/">Charles Dickens</a> or <a href="https://www.thesnowman.com/about/raymond-briggs/">Raymond Briggs</a>. While Hardy is renowned for his tragic tales of Wessex life, his brief foray into the world of children’s Christmas fiction is largely unknown. </p>
<p>Published in the Christmas annual Father Christmas: Our little Ones’ Budget, Hardy’s story <a href="http://www.hardysociety.org/stories/5.%20Uncollected%20and%20Collaborative%20Stories/The%20Thieves%20Who%20Couldn't%20Help%20Sneezing.docx">The Thieves Who Couldn’t Help Sneezing</a> is a tale for children which also has much to delight adult enthusiasts of his work.</p>
<p>Hardy’s story made its appearance in the first edition of the annual in December 1877. By this time, he was working on The Return of the Native (1878), having already published five novels – including Far From The Madding Crowd (1874), which first appeared anonymously and established his career as a successful novelist.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, his contribution to the annual could easily be overlooked. In this extract from the Illustrated London News (December 8, 1877) Hardy’s name is sandwiched between lesser-known literary figures:</p>
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<p>A new claimant, entitled “Father Christmas: Our Little Ones’ Budget”, is announced to appear shortly. It comes with weighty claims on the favour of the rising generation, being crowded with amusing tales, songs, riddles and acrostics, by its fair editor, Miss N. Danvers, Austin Dobson, Thomas Hardy, W.H.G. Kingston, Reginald Gatty, and other writers of note in this special field of literature.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251706/original/file-20181220-45391-dx81xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Thomas Hardy (1923) by Reginald Eves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Portrait Gallery</span></span>
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<p>The story has received scant critical attention, despite the wealth of Hardy scholarship that exists. Hardy himself does not mention it in his autobiography, although it is included in a list of works compiled by his wife Emma in 1880 (which is available at Dorset County Museum) and categorised as a “Child’s story”.</p>
<p>Unlike Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) where social commentary is cosily bound up within a supernatural fantasy world, Hardy does not spare the reader his trademark realism. The action takes place in the “Vale of Blackmore”, which was described as “a fertile and somewhat lonely district” later to become the famous backdrop for the tragic events of Tess of the D'Urbevilles.</p>
<h2>‘Twas the night before Christmas</h2>
<p>It is Christmas Eve and the 14-year-old protagonist, Hubert, courageous but “a little vain”, is making his way home on “his stout-legged cob Jerry and singing a Christmas carol”. There is barely time for the reader to reach for a mince pie before Hubert is attacked by robbers with “artificially blackened” faces, tied up and thrown into a ditch. </p>
<p>Disorientated and upset that his horse has been stolen, Hubert extricates his legs from their bonds and wanders on until he chances on “a large mansion with flanking wings, gables, and towers, the battlements and chimneys showing their shapes against the stars”. </p>
<p>He enters the house, hoping to find assistance there but – like a scene from a modern-day thriller – suddenly hears the familiar voices of his attackers. Hubert quickly dives under the dining room table and listens as the thieves discuss their plans. It seems they have created a “false alarm” to get the wealthy occupants briefly “out of the house”, giving them time to find a hiding place where they can wait until everyone is in bed before robbing the mansion.</p>
<p>Before long, the “ladies and gentlemen” return to continue their festive celebrations, unaware of the thieves biding their time in a disused closet. Hubert then makes his appearance and starts to tell his story. However, it is met with disbelief – and he is even accused of being a robber himself as there is “a curiously wild wicked look about him…” So the resourceful lad hatches a plan to expose the thieves by pretending to be a magician with the power to “conjure up a tempest in a cupboard”. </p>
<p>While lacking the seasonal sumptuousness of Dickens, Hardy’s tale serves up its own socially subversive Christmas punch. Hubert, a yeoman’s son, manages to singlehandedly outsmart the upper-class family he encounters residing in the mansion. Though the reader is told he feels shame at their mistrust of his story, he accepts their hospitality. Hardy evokes a child’s sense of triumph at being a part of a privileged adult world:</p>
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<p>Hubert, in spite of his hurt feelings at their doubts of his honesty, could not help being warmed both in mind and in body by the good cheer, the scene, and the example of hilarity set by his neighbours. At last he laughed as heartily at their stories and repartees as the old Baronet, Sir Simon, himself.</p>
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<h2>Class conflict</h2>
<p>Although the story’s main action concerns a none-too festive attack on a young boy, the tale deals with wider social issues. Born into a working-class family, Hardy did not attend university and felt himself to be an outsider to London’s literary elite. An acute awareness of the divisions between rich and poor colours his work and The Thieves is no exception. </p>
<p>Hubert, outsider to the wealthy party he encounters, not only exposes the thieves through filling their hiding place with sneeze-inducing snuff, he manages to persuade Sir Simon and his guests that he is a magician. Ultimately, it is a child’s successful navigation of an exclusive adult world that is at the heart of Hardy’s narrative.</p>
<p>The Thieves is not Hardy’s only children’s story. <a href="http://darlynthomas.com/exploits.htm">Our Exploits in West Poley: A Story For Boys</a> (1883), serialised in The Household ( November 1892-April 1893) lay in obscurity until its discovery in 1952. While Hardy is certainly not known for his children’s fiction, it can provide valuable insights into his career, as writer and poet, which had a foot in both the 19th and 20th centuries. </p>
<p>Writing for children in 1877, Hardy gives us a message, as relevant now as it was in his own time: however young, poor or seemingly unimportant a person is, they are still capable of doing great things.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108946/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Meek receives funding from The South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.</span></em></p>If you are tired of A Christmas Carol, why not try one of the few Hardy stories where all’s well that ends well.Stephanie Meek, Full time PhD candidate, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874222017-11-15T00:14:44Z2017-11-15T00:14:44ZDid early Christians believe that Mary was a teenager? It’s complicated<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194640/original/file-20171114-26420-1txgrhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The holy family.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Nov. 13, a fifth Alabama woman came forward <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/us/politics/roy-moore-alabama-senate.html">to accuse Roy Moore</a>, former judge and current GOP Senate candidate, of sexual assault when she was 16. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/14/politics/paul-ryan-roy-moore/index.html">Condemnation of Moore</a> has been widespread, but Moore himself <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/13/roy-moore-allegations-alabama-senate-244860">vehemently denies</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.6aa6185d3a00">these allegations</a>. He has backing from many in Alabama. </p>
<p>One of his most controversial statements of support came from Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler, <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/alabama-state-auditor-defends-roy-moore-against-sexual-allegations-invokes-mary-and-joseph/article/2640217">who declared</a>: “there’s nothing immoral or illegal here…Maybe just a little unusual.” Ziegler went on to appeal to the Christian story of Mary and Joseph:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I find the allegations against Moore repulsive. But, in addition, as a scholar of early Christianity, Ziegler’s remarks took my breath away. As most Christians would know, an important tenet of Christian theology is that Jesus was born of a virgin mother. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Hal Yeager</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, there are many other little-known details in early Christian storytelling about the relationship between Mary and Joseph that I learned while researching my book, <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15736.html">“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: Family Trouble in the Infancy Gospels</a>.” Early Christians believed that Mary and Joseph did not have sex, but there was much more that was worth learning from that relationship. </p>
<p>Listen up, Jim Ziegler. </p>
<h2>The gospel narratives</h2>
<p>The Christian Bible includes four gospels, or narratives, of the life of Jesus. Two of them, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, include accounts of Jesus’s birth. These two versions of the “Christmas story” supply almost all of the details about Mary and Joseph that can be found in the Christian Bible.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1-2&version=NRSV">In Matthew 1-2</a>, readers learn about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the visit of the Magi or “wise men” to see the newborn and the flight of the holy family to Egypt in order to escape King Herod’s killing of infants. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1-2&version=NRSV">Luke 1-2</a> describes the birth of John (the cousin of Jesus), an imperial census under the Roman Emperor Augustus and the appearance of angels celebrating the birth of Jesus in the skies above Bethlehem.</p>
<p>Both the gospels seem to agree that Mary conceived by supernatural means, not through sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, whatever Zeigler claims, neither the Gospel of Matthew nor the Gospel of Luke specifies the ages of Mary and Joseph.</p>
<h2>The Proto-gospel of James</h2>
<p>The earliest source to mention ages is another ancient Christian gospel: the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a>. This gospel is a prequel to the more familiar stories of the first Christmas found in the Christian Bible. It was written in the second century A.D., a hundred years or so after the gospels of the Christian New Testament. Critically, it is mostly unknown to Christians because it is not found in their Bibles. </p>
<p>Even so, the Proto-gospel of James is an important witness to the things that mattered to early Christians. The relationship of Mary and Joseph is one of them.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a> tends to fill in gaps left by the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This, for example, is where readers can learn about the parents of Mary – Joachim and Anna – and about the divine intervention that leads to Anna’s conception of Mary.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">This gospel</a> also recounts the story of when Mary met Joseph, details absent from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In this telling, Joseph, an elderly widower, is chosen by lottery to take care of Mary, who is 12 years old at the time. </p>
<p>Like the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a> reports that Mary does not conceive through sexual intercourse. She receives news from the angel Gabriel that she will become pregnant and bear a son, Jesus. But the Proto-gospel of James’s account adds a new wrinkle: Mary forgets about her encounter with the angel. When she realizes that she’s pregnant, she’s overcome with fear and confusion. Joseph is likewise confused by Mary’s pregnancy. He nevertheless remains loyal and protects the 12-year-old girl. He takes her to a cave outside of Bethlehem. Soon there is a blinding flash of light. As it recedes, a child appears. </p>
<p>Jesus has arrived.</p>
<h2>Familiar and unfamiliar</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Testament.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bc-burnslibrary/9161643118/in/photolist-eXzPj7-VT5EuQ-TNXD8h-Weqscg-npy3yc-UmXpFo-TjFJFS-WWDTWB-X9szg4-VxsQMu-UX1mGB-VL9ghz-UqDpEJ-Ur1f1L-VwCxbn-UtAfEu-VnqE49-W2UC42-VC2gJi-VSXnZu-U5QDEo-XjFNxi-V8KYXA-TEJwjw-TEJwxs-Gd5Xa8-W6ko8R-UuEuJP-UouHfe-VyszHQ-Ukj3Y9-6ZDrYC-W3rMs4-TGfufU-UrqNib-TzjURn-eXzPgU-TEF8R1-W6kob6-AxWWh6-eXzPfY-UUjAC6-UyywVY-VnWPC7-mUrzrb-UyywxU-UxaMAv-UZEsDE-VC2gLT-VyqHGj">Burns Library, Boston College Follow</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of these details will be familiar to readers of the New Testament: the town of Bethlehem, for example, and the angelic announcement to Mary – the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1-2&version=NRSV">Annunciation</a> – that she will become pregnant. </p>
<p>Other details, however, will come as a surprise: Wasn’t Jesus born in Bethlehem, and not, as the Proto-gospel of James reports, outside of Bethlehem in a cave? And what about the story of how Mary met Joseph? The Proto-gospel of James adds to and changes elements of the earlier accounts of Matthew and Luke. </p>
<p>And then there are details that some Christians know from their religion that other Christians do not. Most Orthodox and Roman <a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=22">Catholics</a>, for example, know the names of <a href="https://orthodoxwiki.org/Joachim_and_Anna">Anna and Joachim</a>, the parents of Mary, even though they do not include the Proto-gospel of James in their Bibles. Most Protestant Christians, by contrast, will be unfamiliar with these figures. </p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a> is just one example of a wide range of gospels and other early Christian writings that are not included in the Christian Bible. The storytelling about the holy family alone could fill a bookshelf: There is the <a href="http://www.tonyburke.ca/infancy-gospel-of-thomas/the-childhood-of-the-saviour-infancy-gospel-of-thomas-a-new-translation/">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</a>, the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0848.htm">Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew</a> and the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0805.htm">History of Joseph the Carpenter</a>. Written at different times in different places, these accounts reflect the early Christian fascination with the household of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. </p>
<h2>Love is not predatory</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Holy family with the lamb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARaphael_Holy_Family_with_the_Lamb.jpg">Raphael via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One final observation that is relevant to Jim Ziegler’s comments: The Proto-gospel of James goes a step further than the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in making the point that there was no sexual contact between Mary and Joseph.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1-2&version=NRSV">Gospel of Matthew</a>, Joseph overcomes personal anxiety about Mary’s pregnancy. In the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a>, the pregnancy of Mary becomes a matter of public scrutiny: Both Mary and Joseph must drink the “water of refutation,” a life-and-death ordeal designed to test the truth of their claims of not having had sex with one another. Both pass the test.</p>
<p>But the Proto-gospel of James is not just a story about the virginity of Mary, nor is it just about Joseph’s lack of involvement in the conception of Jesus. Mostly, it is a story about two people being swept up in events that they do not understand. </p>
<p>Together, Mary and Joseph risk everything despite not knowing what it all means. Amid the chaos, they learn to lean on each other. While Mary and Joseph do not, according to the Proto-gospel of James, have a physical relationship, they do love one another.</p>
<p>And love should not be compared to the predatory behavior alleged against Roy Moore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher A. Frilingos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Alabama state auditor defended Roy Moore, citing Mary and Joseph. A scholar goes back to early Christian texts texts to explain lesser-known beliefs about the relationship.Christopher A. Frilingos, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.