Christmas Myths

Every year at about this time, a particular story seems to find its way into my mind, the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 in WWI. I think that I drift towards this story because it captures in some way the concept I have of how Christmas should transform us.

If you look into the myths and lore of Christmas, you find a collection of stories, some fact, some fiction, which attempt to draw out a moral of positive individual transformation. And, in this post, I'm not talking about the biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus, instead, I'm referring to the later, culturally spawned "true meaning of Christmas" stories.

Stories like Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," or "Charlie Brown's Christmas," or an episode of some awful sitcom that purveys a story of a Christmas turned disaster, turned "best Christmas ever." These types of Christmas myths exist across all of the Christian cultures, and each has a slightly different emphasis because of that, but the underlying elements are still present.

What's interesting to me is the cultural palatability of this message of transformation and rebirth. Each year, the same basic theme is churned out in literally hundreds of new forms and we all still enjoy the message, a message of the core value and strength of gentleness, generosity, and love.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to offer a brief telling of my understanding of the Christmas truce of 1914. Accept that this is neither neccesarily wholly accurate in its facts or characterization. I recognize that this is a romanticized view of these events stripped clean from their historical context, but that is precisely my point. I view this event as a Christmas myth which reaffirms some core belief that I have about the true nature of the holiday.

In WWI, 1914, the fighting in Belgium had bogged down after a week of rain. This was the era of trench warfare, before the use of mustard gas, and the British and French faced off against the Germans in stagnant trenches in places a mere 75 yards apart. The deaths and casualties had been significant, and if you were to stick so much as a hand above the trenchline, there is a fair chance you would have it shot off.

Then, on the night of Christmas Eve, beleagured German soldiers longing for home started putting small trees lit by candles, an ancient German tradition, along the lip of their trenches. The British and French soldiers seeing this across such a distance became confused and began to fear some sort of surprise action and began firing rifles and artillery acrosss the fields. After several hours, when no German attack materialized, the firing died down.

Later in the night, or perhaps early in the morning, the British and French began to hear the sounds of singing and merry making coming across the fields and occasionally accented shouts of 'A happy Christmas to you, Englishmen!' Faced with this, the Brits belted out a chorus of "The First Noel" and when that ended, the Germans responded with "O Tannenbaum." They didn't recognize the words, but they knew the tunes.

This continued for quite awhile, until finally a few men from each side crept out of their trenches, unarmed, to the midpoint line between them. They exchanged a few words and then returned to their respective sides. Shortly, a few more men scrambled out from each side to do the same. And slowly, ever so slowly, the trenches on both sides began to empty.

The men gathered in the middle of the field, still wearing their uniforms. They mixed together, joked as best they could, exchanged stories and small food items. There is even a report of a soccer match breaking out. This "Christmas Truce" stretched along almost the entire line.

The officers were horrified as they looked in their abandoned trenches and out into the middle of the field where their soldiers were joking and sharing cigarrettes with the enemy. After many hours, the men each found their way back to their opposing positions, and the "truce" lasted another day through Boxing Day. And on the 27th, the war was on again.

This stands to me as a great Christmas myth. Although they returned to fighting, there was a moment of recognition of the humanity of the other side. A moment, in the middle of a very bloody war, when the opposing soldiers found that they had more in common with each other than with the governments that sent them to fight.

Do you have a Christmas myth that resonates with you? Some story of transformation that you find particularly meaningful? Do you cry when they all decorate Charlie Brown's sad little tree?

(And if I could ask, if you comment on this post, please don't turn this into an argument over Christianity or Jesus. This post is intended to be about the positive philosophy surrounding this holiday, and a catfight would just spoil my mood.)

It seems to me that the news cycle is beginning to putter out for the holidays, or maybe it's just me. I'll still post news, but I decided in the periodic lulls to throw up a couple of longer form "soft posts" to talk about some things in a more meandering form. I have a couple of different topics in mind for the next several days, so, even if there's not much news, if you want something to read, come on by. And I'll still be putting up pictures.

And, if you don't like this softer side of Mike, just tune out for a couple of days. I would wager that the Christmas cheer will be quickly replaced by the usual sputtering outrage by Monday or Tuesday.

In the meantime, we'll call this my Christmas Truce. Come meet me in the middle and we can find the good in each other.

Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.

Mike