No. The best version of Robin Hood is Mel Brooks classic, Robin Hood Men In Tights. No, you can't change my mind on that fact either. Just accept you're wrong and move on. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours, btw. 😊
Your content is a joy to watch and absorb. A shining light of well researched knowledge amongst all the cacophony of bells and whistles that choke the web. All the best for the festive season and for 2024. I eagerly await more.
8:40 Not only does Sinterklaas bring a switch for naughty kids (according to family legend one of my uncles actually did this to his kids once), the really bad ones are put in Piet's sack and taken away. This was always a source of hilarity for children if Sint and Piet showed up somewhere and asked if a particular kid had been nice and they would be met with cries of "In the bag! In the bag!"
Great video thank you! One minor thing, though, my understanding is that the link between Christmas and Saturnalia is likely overstated (with maybe some cross-pollination re: specific traditions) and that 25th December was identified due to an older tradition that calculated the date of someone's death based on the date of their conception. Can you speak to this at all?
At the very start of the video he says “there’s almost no connection between the practice of Christmas and Saturnalia”…or are you saying there’s more connection than what he’s representing (which he says scholars would not agree with)? Regarding your question on the nativity, sounds like a topic for a separate video.
Another great video that I didn't know I needed until I heard it. Your catalog of work is one that I look forward to showing my kids as they get older. Thank you for all your effort and dedication to the truth, God bless.
I just had this chat with my 12 year old daughter. Our Santa doesnt have a naughty and nice list...everyone is on the naughty list. Santa gives because Christ gave to him. His giving is his response to the Gospel. You're right to wrap up, Santa is very malleable.
Was “the night before Christmas” originally meant to refer to December 5th? I don’t think it’s mentioned when the transition to the holiday being on the 25th first happened
Great question. Depends on country initially. So Germany and a few others they make that move quickly with the Christ Child thing. In New York they are celebrating St Nicholas’ day but when they invent the new modern Santa Claus stories they make it Christmas Eve.
Thanks for this Ryan, very historical and informative. Could you please do one on the origins of Easter? The historically inaccurate narrative that it was a pagan holiday has become has become mainstream, even among Christians.
A fellow I know has an ugly Christmas sweater with both Jesus and Saint Nicholas. A friend sacrilegiously said to me: Look at the sweater with two fictional characters. I responded: wrong and wrong! As a new Catholic (converted from Protestantism) it continues to amaze me how effectively the reformers have scrubbed away not just the saints but also the true meanings. Yet our culture celebrates St Patrick’s Day, Saint Valentines Day, all Hallows Eve and yes Christmas with no remembrance of why we do these things.
Thank you for another awesome video. You are incredible! Sending you many blessings and best wishes for a very merry Christmas and happy new year. Peace from the blind guy!
In my own research I came across a fella by the name of Thomas Nast who produced the first image of Santa clause in 1863 and went on in 1866 to produce “The Works of Santa Clause” which contained much of the lore you mentioned and what we now associate with Santa. Another thing I found was that the song “Santa Clause is coming to town” produced in the same time period as the coke ads was one of that factors that led to a fully formed American Christmas tradition
I love that you go for quality over quantity with your channel but I think we're due for a new video. Some more content on religious art like your Rembrandt video would be great. Would also love to hear you get into the relationship between some classical composers and religion as well.
Best version of Robin Hood is the 1938 version featuring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and the best version of A Christmas Carol is the Alastair Sim film 1951. Merry Christmas to one and all!
Would love if you could pick up where you left off with the church history series. Tracing the modern church through the Jesus culture movement and the emergent church.
@@RyanReevesM Glad you are back. I first saw your videos in 2016. Have you considered doing a series on American based Christianity such as JW, LDS and or 7 day Adventism? 👍
What about Thomas Nast, J.C. Leyendecker, and Norman Rockwell, all of whom pretty much created the look of Santa prior to Haddon Sundblom? History doesn't happen at stops in time--it is ongoing even when historians aren't noticing. I'm sure it is hard to explore all of Santa in 26 minutes. But there is a lot here that was left out.
That was very informative. Over here in the UK some of us tend to cling to the name Father Christmas as opposed to Santa Claus but he really has no separate identity.
Thomas Nast also had an important role in the image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man given how widely his cartoons were published. Many late 19th century newspapers also contributed to the lore around Santa over time like the fact that he lived at the North Pole or had a wife.
@@RyanReevesM I learned so much years ago from your channel. I would get home from work, start cooking and just listen to your lectures. I learned so much. If I had more $$ right now I'd donate. Keep up the great work.
"Modern Turkey" in stead of "The Byzantine Empire" sounds a bit odd in this story. The oldest reference to "Black Pete" in the Netherlands is found in the works of a school teacher from around 1850. In other European countries, Saint Nicholas was then still travelling with a devil (Krampus) as companion.
Fascinating video. I enjoyed that it gave this cozy feeling as well how apropos. Indeed it seems while having the kernel of European winter season traditions, Santa Clause is a product of modernity and forming new traditions for a relatively nascent culture in America. Right down to the iconic imagery coming from commercialization.
Another idea Dr. Reeves for a video is about The Shroud of Turin . Probably you can give us more Historical Context of this particular piece of history.
Three different Church Fathers calculated December 25 as Christ's birthday, and they did it from Scripture. It has to do with the timing of Zechariah's service as priest in Luke chapter 1. There isn't any evidence that it had anything to do with Saturnalia.
I live in the former Soviet Union where they traditionally have Father Winter, or Ded Moroz who comes on New Year's Day. But due to Americanization you're now seeing more and more of the Coke-a-cola Santa replace Ded Moroz.
Do you have a video on the early churches' understanding of spiritual gifts? If not that would be amazing. A series of Christian canonization would be great too. Thank you 🙇
Dear Ryan , relative, relatable research. Refreshing in recognizing reality from rumoured ramblings. ( Hmmmm....) wRapped with red ribbons of rationality.
Just one aspect that you left out: the contributions to theSanta Claus mythology by political cartoonist Thomas Nast in the mid 19th century. It was his drawings that gradually changed the image from the elf like guy to the tall standing jolly old man who lived in the North Pole.
Hi, I enjoyed this summary. The title could us an adjective. "The Secret History...", "The Real History...", "The True History...", something to make it a little less dry.
I did know most of these little facts about Saint Nick already, but another one, which hasnt been mentioned is that the 8 reindeers and Santa's sleigh is based on odins 8 legged horse pulling his sleigh through the sky on Yuletide?? Also wassailing was the original pagan version of carol singing
Like this song, (there are several more verses)? Sometimes people sing caroling instead of wassailing. "Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green; Here we come a-wand'ring So fair to be seen. Love and joy come to you, And to you your wassail too; And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year And God send you a Happy New Year."
Hey Mr. Reeves. I heard that German Lutherans invented the Christmas Tree by combining the Paradise Tree with the Christmas Pyramid, but now I'm hearing that Catholics invented it when they adopted the evergreen after the story of St. Boniface and started hanging wafers representing the eucharist from it. Do you know which one came first?
The 1552 BCP kept the season of Advent which is a very pennitential season. Was the Anglican Church trying to stomp down the partying during this seasom or in general?
Absolutely. They want to keep it about Jesus and liked Advent (even though they were pretty restrictive about keeping medieval traditions). London was sort of infamous for da parties.
@@RyanReevesM I'm sure the priests and monks of the monasteries enjoyed plenty of beer and fruit cake during the Christmas season as well. Thank you so much for the wonderful lectures. Merry Christmas!
There is no connection between Saturnalia and the original Christmas i.e. the mass celebrating the birth of Christ (except for the date) but aspects of the Saturnalian festival continued to be practiced. I agree that Christmas didn't evolve out of Saturnalia or some Norse tradition but in the popular celebrations of Christian holidays, pre-Christian (what came to be known as "folk") traditions did indeed survive which happens in all religions since there is always something that came before. If anything, it seems the reverse is true whereby overt aspects of Saturnalia has been _added_ to the Christmas celebration and this somewhat recently.
How does all this fit with C.S. Lewis use of Jovial themes? Lewis felt the need to use Santa/Father Christmas. I am curious what influence Jupiter had on clement moore
Could you please do a video about the origins and rise of Evangelical eschatology? Particularly premillennial dispensationalism? Things in the vein of rapture theology or Revelations/Daniel end times prophecy.
"Deeply problematic..." With all due respect, this comment about Black Pete seems to miss the mark. Because some people in the 19th century Mississippi Delta used to dress up and imitate Black Americans, Dutch people can't imitate a medieval Moor out of genuine honor? They have to have sensitivities to historical contexts completely alien to their own? This seems like making claims based on the emotional intuition of certain people steeped in certain discourses, rather than well-reasoned thought. Any way, your channel is great and I appreciate your thoughts, in general!
I agree. In fact, the so-called "Black Face" was a make-up worn _by_ Black entertainers i.e. Minstrels. The absurd amount of virtue signaling by Whites whenever a non-Black blacken their face is pathetic and ridiculous. No one throws a fit over the the Wayans' brothers movie _White Girls_ and many, many other things... Western Europe is falling victim to American weakness.
Small correction: Arius did not deny the divinity of Christ. He claimed that God the father and Jesus were not of the same substance because Jesus was “begotten.”
Manufactured "controversy", as usual. If you can dress up like some version of "Santa', then you can dress up as "Black Pete." (Or however it's spelled.) You'd think it would be more "problematic" to eliminate him from the story, entirely. Y'know, like they did to Aunt Jemima. People need to grow up. Anyway, this was great fun! If you are ever bored, I'd love to hear the Russian strand of the story.
I'm from the Dutch Reformed tradition. I don't like Santa Claus and gift giving on Christmas, because I think it distracts too much from celebrating the incarnation of Christ. So I'm trying to revive Sinterklaas for my kids, but we're putting more focus on generosity and gratitude. I also try to remove the later Sinterklaas legends, focusing on the history of Nicholas of Myra, and how he was a Christian man that exemplified generosity. I think we protestants should celebrate the saints more, and we can do that without venerating the Saints ifykwim
Learn better from audio book Jeff Guinn - The Autobiography Of Santa Claus. From about 400AD as a monk then a bishop. But he that is too tedious and he would rather send give to the less fortunate. Fascinating how famous history people. I highly recommend listening or a copy of the book if you can find it. To me I was disabled before 2000 and I had to give up reading. I have audio books from cassettes, to text file and epub then Text to speech software then online and download audio books like this current book. I lost count I tears from the wonderful story about the history and how he (they) become what is now. Please! I hope you can love this as much I love this book.
