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Why Charles Dickens is the real inventor of Christmas

2022-12-26 09:50:50Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Why Charles Dickens is the real inventor of Christmas
Charles Dickens

Not everyone knows that many of the Christmas traditions we still practice today have an exact origin: Charles Dickens

Christmas is coming, bringing with it a long series of traditions: the lights, the search for presents, the tree, the preparations for dinner.

Not everyone knows that all that for us are well-established traditions are actually quite new in time and have a very specific origin: Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens introduces the secular Christmas

Me siguri nuk mund të thuhet se Dickens shpiku këngët e Krishtlindjeve apo pemët e Krishtlindjeve, por është falë tij dhe disa prej veprave të tij që ne i festojmë festat e Krishtlindjeve në këtë mënyrë.

Në kohën e Charles Dickens, në Anglinë Viktoriane, Krishtlindjet nuk festoheshin përveçse si një festë e shenjtë, sepse puritanët fetarë nuk i miratonin festat e tepërta dhe ndikimet pagane në festime.

Për më tepër, shumica e aktiviteteve industriale dhe tregtare nuk lejonin pushime gjatë periudhës së Krishtlindjeve, dhe një pjesë e madhe e popullsisë jetonte në kushte aq të këqija sa nuk kishte para të mjaftueshme për të shpenzuar për festime dhe dhurata.

Puna te fëmijët ishte shumë e shpeshtë, punëtorët jetonin në ndërtesa industriale pa asnjë shërbim, shfrytëzimi i punës ishte shumë i lartë.

Charles Dickens në mbështetje të më të varfërve

Dhe këtu hyn në lojë Charles Dickens, tashmë një shkrimtar i njohur në 1843 dhe jashtëzakonisht kundër kushteve të jetesës në të cilat jetonin shumica e punëtorëve dhe familjet e tyre, edhe nga përvoja personale.

Në fakt, ai vetë është rritur duke punuar në një fabrikë. Për të ngritur opinionin publik mbi këtë temë, ai shkroi një ese politike me titull “Një apel për popullin anglez, në emër të fëmijëve të varfër”.

Megjithatë, nga frika se eseja nuk do të kishte efektin e dëshiruar, ai vendosi të përcjellë të njëjtat ide përmes një tregimi, dhe veçanërisht përmes një historie me fantazma: libri u publikua më 19 dhjetor 1843 dhe titullohej “Një këngë e Krishtlindjeve”.

It was a stunning success: within a few days, all the first copies were sold. The book immediately created a collective passion for Christmas, so much so that the population began to revive some traditions that had fallen into disuse.

Christmas Carols by Charles Dickens

Christmas carols already existed in Dickens's time, but they were perceived as old and out of fashion. It was definitely unusual to have choirs in the streets, no one sang them anymore.

Dickens carelessly portrayed choristers in his Christmas book as an essential part of the holiday season.

One of the opening scenes of the book is just Scrooge moaning against the carolers, and from that moment Christmas music began to become synonymous with joy, with the typical warmth of Christmas, and they began to come back into fashion.

Christmas trees

Dickens shares credit for reviving the Christmas tree with Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband. The prince's wife brought the first Christmas tree to England in 1840, as is a tradition typical of his native Germany.

The English were rather lukewarm about it, considering it a foreign and even slightly pagan custom. In 1850, after the acclaimed success of A Christmas Carol, Dickens wrote another short story, entitled The Christmas Tree, in which he described the intimate and family atmosphere created by decorating the Christmas tree, and this book was also a popular success.

Decorating the tree became a beloved tradition and is still fashionable today.

Exchange of gifts

Gift exchange was already a practiced tradition, but not for Christmas, but for the New Year. Ever since Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol," in which he described the exchange of gifts — and especially the giving of toys to children — as an integral part of Christmas, the tradition began to shift from January 1 to December 25.

The big dinner

In Victorian England, throwing a big party complete with a hearty dinner was frowned upon because it gave the impression of wanting to flaunt wealth.

In his narrative, Dickens reverses this mentality: celebrating Christmas with plenty of food is not a show, but a love of family and a desire to give thanks and celebrate, and above all to give to those who have less.

Scrooge at the end of the story, when he is visited by the Christmas Spirits, decides to become a Christmas spirit and buys a large turkey to give to the Cratchit family.

Santa

Santa Claus: there are different religious and folk traditions based on who our actual Santa Claus is.

Dickens' 'The Spirit of Christmas' is one of them: a jolly old man with a long white beard who dances and rejoices in celebrating the holidays and blames capitalism for not being attentive to the welfare of children.

As is well known, our fat red-clad Santa Claus is different from Dickens's, and his origins are closely linked to mid-twentieth-century Coca Cola advertising.

However, we owe to Dickens the invention of a figure who somehow represents and embodies Christmas, an unholy figure who embodies all the ideals of goodness and generosity that characterize Christmas.

Feast of Generosity

To Dickens we owe the celebration of Christmas as a celebration of generosity, mutual love and altruism.

Of course, they were traditions already present in the genesis of the Christmas holiday, or the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, but it is thanks to the book "A Christmas Carol" that the holiday was effectively sanctified as a celebration of love for one's neighbor, of the generosity of mutual, of exchanging gifts and greetings.

In short, we owe Dickens the invention of the Christmas spirit.


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