The Grotto Gazette

Volume 8 Issue 1

December 6, 2005

Founder’s Day celebration successful to spite Mother Nature

By Bradford Pelletier

Thursday November 10^th came engulfed in anticipation for the Historical Society’s annual Bittle’s Birthday Bash. Harnessing the same ambition, Mother Nature pounded the back quad with her oppressive winds. Much to the dismay of the 150 members of the organization and numerous faculty, the City of Salem rebuked in the face of Her fury, thus canceling the proposed and prepared bonfire because of the wind.

Despite this ridiculous and dreadful beginning to the Founder’s Day festivities, the Historical Society marched on, as their mentality insists and for which their tradition calls. The streets of Salem were silenced while the procession, led by the gracious President O’Hara, moseyed from campus and down College Avenue to the hallowed resting place of our first president Dr. David Bittle.

Oh the winds of the Roanoke Valley could not disturb the Historical highlights handed down by the professors of the History Department nor the brilliant interpretation of the “Alma Mater Hymn” by Tom Schaefer accompanied by the procession. With the close of proceedings at East Hill Cemetery, the group of noble strollers made their way back to the Cavern and kicked off a night of song and splendor.

The karaoke jam session commenced with the vocal stylings of Doctors Van Valen and Leeson. For two hours the Historical Society rocked campus with everything from Steve Miller to Mark Miller. For a special goodnight performance that was perhaps the highlight of the evening, Doctors Willingham and Van Valen saw us off with a stunning rendition, in costume, of “Stayin’ Alive.”

Laughter and delight resounded from the bowels of the Colket Center rendering, yet again, another Bittle’s Birthday Bash success. All in all, the trials and tribulations of early in the day evaporated in the face of our Society’s determination to honor our tradition, and indeed, have a great night on campus. Thanks to all those who came and participated. As always I plead…BEWARE OF UPCOMING EVENTS!

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Two new hires to be made in Spring:Latin America and East Asia

By Meghan Kurtz

The History Department has begun its nationwide search for two new tenure-track Assistant Professors at Roanoke in an effort to expand our flourishing History community. The College is seeking a professor of Latin America for the first vacancy and a professor of Pre-Modern East Asia for the second. Applications for both positions will be accepted until December 1. An initial screening will take place, and each position has a search committee in charge of reviewing and making recommendations to the entire faculty. Composing the Latin America committee will are Dr. Henold, Dr. Leeson, and Dr. Hakkeberg; Dr. Millinger, Dr. Willingham, and Dr. Selby will compose the East Asian committee. Then as many as seven members of the faculty will head off to the American Historical Association’s Annual Convention in Philadelphia. There the faculty will conduct interviews previously set up with applicants and also have the chance to meet new contenders at the convention. With two pools to chose from afterward, the search will be narrowed down in early January to three impressive candidates in each pool and set up a campus visit. Campus visits last a few days, and include the candidate teaching a class, leading a faculty seminar, and meeting with students, the President of the College Dr. Sabine O’Hara, and other administrators. The final decision will hopefully be made by Spring Break, after which the College can offer the positions.

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The History of Christmas and its Tree

By Tara Hall

Have you ever wondered where our Christmas traditions come from, or even why we celebrate it when we do? Traditions of winter celebrations go back millennia, long before the birth of Jesus or the celebration thereof.

Celebrations of the Winter Solstice (December 21 this year for the northern hemisphere) have gone on since before written history in cultures around the world. The solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Also, during the day the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky. (The word “solstice” comes from the Latin solstitium, which comes from sol, meaning “sun,” and sistere or “to stand still.”)

The Romans celebrated a festival called Saturnalia on the solstice to honor the god Saturn, god of agriculture (among other things). The solstice is the worst day of winter, and after that the days get longer until the summer solstice (June 21, 2006). The festival celebrated the anticipation of the next planting season. During this celebration, which lasted for a month, society shut down and everyone celebrated with food and drink aplenty. School and business was put on hold so that everyone could celebrate; even the slaves joined in the fun.

In Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other Pagan areas, they celebrated the holiday of Yule from the winter solstice until January. The men and their sons would go out into the wilderness and find the biggest log they could carry, which they would set on fire in honor of the returning sun. The people would feast until the log went out, which sometimes was longer than ten days. This is where we get the term “yuletide” and where the tradition of the Yule log comes from. It’s also where we get our holiday eating habits from. In some Pagan areas, they also decorated the trees around their settlements with candles or other shiny things, the predecessors of the Christmas tree.

So when Christianity started to spread outward from the Roman Empire into Pagan areas, many changes in Christian tradition were made to make conversion more comfortable. Pope Julius I wanted to institute a celebration for the birth of Jesus, but there is no clear indication in the Bible of when Jesus was born. Logically, it was sometime in the Spring because that is when shepherds are herding. Pope Julius chose December 25 instead in an effort to encompass the Saturnalia festival and the celebration of Yule by Pagan peoples into Christian tradition (Easter may also have been adjusted to be closer to the Spring equinox, another important day for Pagan peoples).

For millennia, evergreens have held great importance to people in the winter seasons. In many cultures the onset of winter was caused by the illness or weakness of their sun god. For instance, in Egypt it was believed that in the winter Ra fell ill. This was reinforced by the increased illness among the population during that season. However, the evergreen boughs of certain plants reminded people that Ra would get well soon. Evergreen plants are reminders of the Spring to come. Druids in Pagan cultures decorated with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. Romans decorated for Saturnalia with evergreens as well. Norse peoples believed that evergreens were the special plant of their sun god, Balder.

The Christmas tree tradition that we know today, however, started in Germany. The shape of an evergreen tree was used to symbolize the trinity by some monks converting Pagan populations in the seventh century. Particularly fir trees there came to be regarded as God’s trees. They carried on traditions of decorating the trees, and they were brought inside their homes as early as 1510. Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small tree with candles to show how the stars twinkled through the night.

The Christmas tree came to England with the Georgian kings. The tradition did not take hold until 1846 when Queen Victoria and her German Prince Albert were depicted by the British press with their children around the Christmas tree. At this time it also spread to America, where it had previously been abhorred by Puritan populations and seen only in pockets of German immigrants throughout the country. Prior to the trees’ arrival in Britain and America the decorations were mostly only tinsel, usually made from real silver, but British and American women began to make homemade ornaments from lots of different materials to hang on the tree. In this way it was possible for less wealthy families to have a tree as well, since they couldn’t afford silver tinsel. Most trees that were in individual homes were tabletop trees, but some communities decorated large trees to keep outdoors for all to see.

Following the World Wars, Christmas trees boomed in Europe. People were comforted by their glow; communities came together to put up large communal trees in the midst of reconstruction. Trees were decorated with sparse, modernist styles much of the time, and in the 1950s something like a fiber-optic tree was invented, with a revolving multi-colored light source under it, and “windows” for the light to shine from on the branches. It wasn’t until the 1970s that it became popular to have an artificial tree, due in part to the increasing environmental motions of the time, but also because artificial trees make much less of a mess.

The holiday season and the tree itself are seen today as symbols of Christian religious practice. But the next time you see a Christmas tree, or see an evergreen wreath on someone’s door, think about what it meant before Christianity, what it still means today to some people, and how the blending of the religions created such beautiful decorations!