Christmas is above all a festivity, a time of joy and celebration, and its colours are most appropriate if they echo this. Amongst the brilliant and spirited colours of joy are the kaleidoscopic colours of the spectrum, the high toned primaries of light and of paint, the glitter of gold and the sparkel of tinsel. Then, a white Christmas is especially hoped for by the young. Traditionally it is the time of the celebration of the birth of a holy child, and the white shining light is a universal symbol of new life and innocence.

The white reindeer pulling accross the sky the red father-figure with a perpetually refilling sack of toys guarded by the black-faced man returns to the most ancient of colours attributed to the phases of the moon, as repeated in many different cultures: the new moon of the white god or goddess of birth and generation; the full moon or red god of passion or mutilation; and the black god of mystery, death, divination and rejuvenation.

Central to the zodiacal idea of Christmas is the white goat or Capricorn (sometimes half a goat and a dolphin), which begins the winter solstice, the gateway to the Gods in our old religion, a time when the death of nature was followed by a surge and flood of spiritual experience.

Bibliography

BRETONNE, R. De la (1930) Monsieur Nicholas, or the human heart unveiled. Six volumes edited by Havelock Ellis.

CAMPBELL, P. (1965) Santaclaustrophobia. Sunday Times 28.11.1965

HAWKINS, C. (1979) Father Christmas and his friends. London: WH Allen

INNOCENT iii (c.1200) De Sacro Altaris Mysterio

JONES, C.W. (1979) Saint Nicholas or Myra, Bari and Manhattan. Chicago: Chicago University Press

NASH,O. (1968) Santa, Go Home. London: Dent