Christmas tales from Sussex: author gives talk to Burgess Hill u3a
Chris Horlock recently gave an interesting presentation to Burgess Hill u3a . His opening remark that according to legend, a Sussex man or woman would never be hanged or drowned certainly caught everyone’s attention.
Christmas these days is a mix of pagan, Christian and commercial traditions and we cherry pick what we like. Many of our traditions are built around Roman Saturnalia and the Yule celebrations in Germany. The winter solstice on the 21st December was always a big day of the year and many view that as when the agricultural year starts. In Brighton the burning of the clocks symbolises warmth and the coming of more light.
As we have no specific date for the birth of Christ, it seems to have been added to the midwinter festival, thus all the celebrations. In the Bible when Matthew explains the birth of Christ, he does not specifically mention that there were three magi. The assumption is that there were three because they bought three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The first Christmas cards for purchase were in 1843, with crackers about a decade later and then advent calendars. Chocolate advent calendars didn’t arrive till 1958.
Amongst the many tales from Sussex one of the most fascinating was involved two young Sussex children lost in a horrendous snowstorm in January 1881. They were rescued by a Shepherd carrying a crook, with a hat and scarf covering his face. The Shepherd was never traced and for the rest of their lives in the local villages the two lads who were saved were referred to as the heavenly twins.
There were many interesting tales Chris told in his illustrated talk, and it was an excellent start to the Christmas season that is nearly upon us.