What is the source of the tradition that animals can speak on Christmas Eve?
score:2
Further research found this page with interesting highlights:
This is primarily a Northern European/Scandanavian myth, based in the Christmas story
This is a syncretic pagan tradition that melded with the Christmas story
I imagine that the talking animals business is somehow connected to the general "world turned upside down" idea of traditional winter solstice festivals, e.g. Twelfth Night:
In medieval and Tudor England, the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve — now more commonly known as Halloween. The Lord of Misrule symbolizes the world turning upside down. On this day the King and all those who were high would become the peasants and vice versa. At the beginning of the Twelfth Night festival, a cake that contained a bean was eaten. The person who found the bean would rule the feast. Midnight signaled the end of his rule and the world would return to normal. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition dates back to pre-Christian European festivals such as the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.
True to the "magnificat" animals get the upper hand, and humans often do not like what they hear. It is often used as a lesson to be kind to those lesser than themselves.
It apparently works from sunset until midnight, although some variations put it at once every hundred years.
Upvote:-2
Its not Christmas eve, its the 12th Night or eve of Epiphany were all beasts were gifted with speech until the dawn of Epiphany. I don't know where it came from, but this is a common belief in most of europe. We celebrated this when I was a child.
More post
- 📝 What does the Catholic church say about its own presence or absence when the tribulation starts?
- 📝 Did Jesus mislead his followers when he claimed that kingdom of God would come to Earth during their lifetime?
- 📝 What is the spiritual significance of a patron saint?
- 📝 Are you unguilty of sin if you never heard the gospel?
- 📝 How do sola-scriptura adherents reconcile the role of the Holy Spirit as a teacher?
- 📝 The time of Abraham
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses interpret Jesus' words in Matthew 24:1–34, about the generation that would not pass away before great tribulation?
- 📝 How many different people in the New Testament are called or claim to be "Brothers" or "Sisters" of Jesus?
- 📝 Explain to those knowing only of the Ordinary Form of Mass, what incense is and why it is used during the Liturgy at Mass?
- 📝 Where do Mormons believe heaven is right now?
- 📝 What is the difference between these versions of the KJV?
- 📝 How can anointing the sick confer forgiveness of sins in Catholicism?
- 📝 Why is the Gospel of Thomas considered heretical by Nicene Christians?
- 📝 According to Protestants, must clergy be ordained by other ordained clergy?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, does any child have the "right" to be baptized?
- 📝 Do any theologians argue that in the Fall, Adam sacrificed himself out of love for Eve?
- 📝 What support is there for the Jehovah’s Witness translation of John 1:1?
- 📝 Are there any authors that who believe Eph. 4:11 is not describing titles but general characteristics of how God created the church to work together?
- 📝 When did Satan get cast out of heaven? Or is that yet to come?
- 📝 How is God's rest on the 7th day traditionally understood?
- 📝 Who exactly is resurrected and reigns in the millennial city in premillennialisim?
- 📝 What should a Christian do when the state permits something the church does not?
- 📝 Is Asia in the Bible the Asia of today?
- 📝 Is Meister Eckhart's teaching condemned by the Roman Catholic Church?
- 📝 If God set the maximum age to 120, then how could Jacob be 130 years old?
- 📝 If Jesus was sinless then why was he baptized?
- 📝 Are sinners in Satan's kingdom?
- 📝 How can Heaven exist if we know that people in Hell will suffer?
- 📝 According to a Catholic interpretation of the Bible, was Jesus being glib in Matthew 6:34?
- 📝 Were there provisions for salvation for non-Hebrews in the OT?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the source of the tradition that animals can speak on Christmas Eve?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying that wives can divorce their physically abusive husbands?
- 📝 What is the basis for the claim that the entire New Testament can be reconstructed apart from original and copied manuscripts?
- 📝 What is the source of the belief that the deceased become angels?
- 📝 What is the basis for the belief by some groups that a Christian can live a sinless life?
- 📝 What is the source of the quote attributed to Origen, that "the soul has neither beginning nor end"?
- 📝 What is the scriptural basis for the idea that salvation can still be obtained after death?
- 📝 What is the origin of the tradition that Thaddeus founded the Armenian Church?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the doctrine that salvation can be lost?
- 📝 What is the origin of the tradition that Mary lived in Turkey after John took her there?
- 📝 What is the reasoning behind the belief that Eve was NOT created on the sixth day?
- 📝 What is the basis for the belief that Eve was created on the sixth day, like Adam?
- 📝 What is the origin for the tradition that Judas Iscariot is the twin brother of St. Thomas the Apostle?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for asserting that infants can have faith in Christ under a Calvinistic framework?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis that individual gifts can be revoked by God?
- 📝 LDS teaching about man being able to become God, and the snake telling Eve that she can become "like God"
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying that God can annihilate human souls?
- 📝 What is the origin of the tradition that priests had a rope tired around them when they went into the Holy of Holies?
- 📝 What is the basis of the teaching that souls in purgatory can intercede for the living?
- 📝 What is the basis for the Catechism saying that one can always be forgiven by perfect contrition come from?
- 📝 How can the translators of the New World Translation say that their version is near what was originally written?
- 📝 What is the source of the idea that there will be a window in heaven to watch your enemies burn in hell?
- 📝 What is the Old Testament Biblical basis to the idea that only God can forgive sins?
- 📝 What's the source of "I can only give what I have"?
- 📝 What are all the things that can contain the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 What significance do Catholics see in the fact that Adam and Eve 'knew each other' only after original sin?
- 📝 According to the Westminster Confession, what is the Biblical basis for the belief that the guilt of Adam and Eve was imputed to all mankind?
- 📝 Based on what verse did Luther know that no sin can separate the believers from God?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis of the idea that men can be given authority to forgive sins?
- 📝 Given that Jesus can read minds. Why did God need to observe external behavior to know what was in the heart?