Christmas Ghosts

As I was preparing for the last show of 2019, I wondered why spirits, angels and ghosts were prevalent in Christmas stories.

The most famous story of all, the nativity, talks about an angel appearing to Mary to let her know she’d conceive a child, an angel appearing to the shepherds to let them know the Christ child had been born and an angel appearing to Joseph to tell him to go home via a different route because King Herod was killing male babies.

And then, we all know the famous Dickens Christmas Carol published in 1843 about a snarky old man named Ebenezer Scrooge who was visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

In recent years, many movies and television shows utilize the Christmas ghost theme. Downton Abbey did a Christmas episode that featured a Ouija board that communicated a message from a dead character and the Hallmark channel had several Christmas movies depicting spirits and deceased loved ones showing up.

It seems our fascination with ghostly tales around Christmas time goes back thousands of years and is rooted in ancient celebrations of the winter solstice. In the depths of winter, pagan traditions included a belief in a ghostly procession across the sky, known as the Wild Hunt. The Germanic people celebrated a Yuletide festival during the Wild Hunt and yule logs were burned by the Celts during the winter solstice to ward off evil spirits.

Likewise, the Victorians popularized many familiar British Christmas traditions that have been emulated in America including Christmas trees (originated in Germany), cards, carols and roast turkey. They also customized the winter ghost story, relating it specifically to the festive season.

It seems from the beginning of time, all civilizations, religions and cultures reference ghosts, spirits, and angels. And whether or not a person believes in these entities, everyone knows about them. Why is that?

I believe it’s because talking about ghosts, spirits and angels connects us to the past, present and future just like Charles Dickens did in his Christmas Carol story. Our humanness is fleeting while our spirits are eternal. They’re who we really are … limitless beings of pure love.

Thank you for enhancing my life and for allowing me to be a tiny part of your life. I’m grateful our paths have crossed and look forward to shared adventures ahead.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!