Day 15 – Snow and Ice
“For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.”
Job 37:6
Snow, ice and Christmas often go together, although why it should is a bit strange.
There is no snow or ice in the Christmas story told in the Bible. However, snow does fall in Israel. Bethlehem and Jerusalem are on a range of hills that go north to south between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan valley.
The top of these hills is about 1600 ft (500 m) high. The hills can have very cold weather from November to April and snow can often fall. Although the Bible story may not have snow in it, Jesus may well have seen some snow in His life.
The reason that we think of snow and ice at Christmas is probably due to the Victorians.
Although some traditions we associate with Christmas were taken over from the winter solstice festivals in Europe, it was the Victorians who gave us our ‘traditional’ Christmas in Europe and the USA. At the start of the Victorian era, (1837) Britain was in a mini-ice age that was from about 1550 to 1850.
During this time, in London, a winter fair was often held on the frozen River Thames! One of the main reasons that the Victorians put snow and Christmas together was a book.
A Christmas Carol written in 1843 by Charles Dickens.
It tells the story of a mean old business man called Ebenezer Scrooge who hates Christmas. During the night of Christmas Eve, he is visited by three ghosts, one of Christmas past, one of Christmas present and one of Christmas yet to come. They show him how mean he really is. He realizes that making friends is more important than making money.
When he wakes up on Christmas Day, he is a changed man and give lots of money and presents away. (If you don’t know the story, I recommend that you read the book or see a film of the story.)
When Charles Dickens was a child, Britain had very heavy snow falls around Christmas, so when he wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ he put lots of snow and ice in it.
He also put snow at Christmas in some of his other books like ‘The Pickwick Papers’. Charles Dickens books were very popular so when the Victorians read the books, they thought of snow and Christmas together.
One of the other reasons that snow and ice became popular in Victorian times is because Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, came from Germany where it was colder and he was used to lots of snow and ice being around at Christmas. He made Christmas trees popular in England as well as lots of other Christmas traditions. Christmas cards also started in Victorian times with pictures of snowy scenes becoming very popular.