There can be few more poignant times for Christians to celebrate Christmas than at times of war. Although the two World wars (see below) are memorable for their Christmas spirit, let’s not forget that wars continue and even today loved ones will be separated by hostilities.
Christmas in the 1940’s dolls house
Christmas 1914 must have been very special for those soldiers on both sides of the conflict in the trenches of Flanders, an area spanning parts of Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Research undertaken in the early 1980’s confirms that an informal armistice or ceasefire did occur on Christmas Eve 1914 which lasted until midnight Christmas Day. The land between the opposing trenches was termed ‘no mans land’ and had over the course of the fighting become littered with the bodies of soldiers from both sides. The Germans, who traditionally celebrated Christmas, had small tabletop sized trees with candles to decorate their trenches. As they began to light them and sing the traditional Christmas carol ‘Stille Nacht’ (Silent Night) the British, French and Belgium troops began to leave their trenches to watch and listen. No mans land varied between 70 and 100 yards wide, so it was soon evident to both sides that this area was safe for the first time. Informal truces had happened before in wars so that the dead could be buried; here again both sides took the opportunity to recover their dead for burial on Christmas morning. But what distinguished this event was the congregating of opposing troops and the exchanging of gifts, primarily food, cigarettes and chocolate. Some reports say that British and German troops went hunting for hares and rabbits together to provide fresh meat. A number of reports, including a British Medical Majors report, talk of a football match between the two sides. In a close fought game the Germans won 3-2, the likelihood is however, that due to the number of reports from a wide geographical area, there were a number of games played along the fighting front. The official line was to try to order the troops to continue fighting on Christmas Eve, but when this was ignored the official tack changed to it was a trick and Christmas day would see fresh fighting. Pre agreed signals, usually a flare, indicated the end of the truce and the soldiers returned to their trenches.
The Second World War typifies the fortitude of spirit shown during austere times. Technology had progressed since the largely hand-to-hand combat of WWI, so that air raids were common and for that reason traditional Christmas lights were banned after dusk. Christmas 1939 was to demonstrate to the British people the reasons they were fighting for so cinemas, theatres and other centres of entertainment were encouraged to open regularly over the Christmas period. Rationing had been imposed on most items including food, clothing and petrol. This made the choice of Christmas presents and food more difficult. In the early years of the war conflicting advice was given on what was appropriate for Christmas. Sir John Simon (Chancellor) said money should not be ‘wasted’ on presents. Some economists advocated spending to raise taxes to assist the war effort. Christmas presents became increasingly practical with Bakelite helmets, gas mask cases and shelter suits, which provided warmth for the times spent in the air raid shelter becoming popular. Naturally, with able-bodied men at the front, the celebration of Christmas at home was largely for women and children. Christmas parcels for the front were a must for much-missed husbands and fathers.
But as was mentioned at the start of this article Christmas at times of conflict is not solely a thing of the past. The British Royal Mail has already reported 46,000 mailbags of Christmas gifts were posted to troops abroad in October this year.