seven | always winter, never christmas

Story: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

When Lucy Pevensie happens upon the land of Narnia through the passageway of the wardrobe and spare room, she is greeted by falling snow and deep winter. The moment Lucy notices she is touching snow-covered trees instead of winter coats is when she realizes that she is no longer home in England where it is a rainy summer day. 

Lucy soon learns that not only is it currently winter in Narnia, but it has been winter in Narnia for a very long time. For one hundred years, the White Witch has ruled the land and decreed constant winter. 

Mr. Tumnus explains the severity and darkness of the situation to Lucy by clarifying that one hundred years of winter does not include Christmas.

“Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!”

The White Witch’s curse does not merely imply an eternal cold and dormant winter. One hundred years of winter means there are no seasons. Without seasons, there is little to wait or look forward to. Seasons are the physical manifestation of change and time. The disappearance of seasons implies the disappearance of time itself. Not only does our only way to understand the passage of time vanish, but so do holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, harvest, endings, and beginnings.

In a world where seasons cease to exist, there is no possibility of Christmas. Most certainly, there is no possibility for Advent. The beauty of Advent is waiting for what is promised and surely coming. If Christmas never comes, Advent loses its story.

Thankfully, Christmas comes at long last for all the eager animals and creatures in Narnia who have been waiting with hope. Despite how desolate things seemed, Aslan has returned and spring is coming again to Narnia.

After making their way through the snow and on the chase from the White Witch, Lucy and the rest of the Pevensies find themselves hiding from the sound of a sleigh they assume is the Witch herself. To their surprise, the sleigh instead belongs to someone “everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him.”

-

“‘Come on!’ cried Mr Beaver, who was almost dancing with delight. ‘Come and see! This is a nasty knock for the Witch! It looks as if her power is already crumbling.’

‘What do you mean, Mr Beaver?’ panted Peter as they all scrambled up the steep bank of the valley together.

‘Didn’t I tell you,’ answered Mr Beaver, ‘that she’d made it always winter and never Christmas? Didn’t I tell you? Well, just come and see!’

And then they were all at the top and did see.

It was a sledge, and it was reindeer with bells on their harness. But they were far bigger than the Witch’s reindeer, and they were not white but brown. And on the sledge sat a person whom everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him. He was a huge man. in a bright red robe (bright as hollyberries) with a hood that had fur inside it and a great white beard, that fell like a foamy waterfall over his chest.

Everyone knew him because, though you see people of his sort only in Narnia, you see pictures of them and hear them talked about even in our world — the world on this side of the wardrobe door. But when you really see them in Narnia it is rather different. Some of the pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But now that the children actually stood looking at him they didn’t find it quite like that. He was so big, and so glad, and so real, that they all became quite still. They felt very glad, but also solemn.

‘I’ve come at last,’ said he. ‘She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The Witch’s magic is weakening.’

And Lucy felt running through her that deep shiver of gladness which you only get if you are being solemn and still.

-

Father Christmas is not necessarily a savior figure in Narnia. After all, he can only arrive after Aslan begins to make things right again.

But he does represent the joy of Christmas after years of waiting and longing for winter to end. 

“I’ve come at last,” he says. 

And Lucy, who might understand faith better than any fictional character I know, feels a rush through her, which is described as a “deep shiver of gladness which you only get if you are being solemn and still.”

While it feels impossible to sum up the feeling of Advent in one sentence, this description comes pretty close. When we are face-to-face with the gladness of the season around us, it bestows on us a deep gladness (glad tidings of comfort and joy). Yet, we cannot feel that gladness if we spend the season rushing around or chasing an artificial Christmas “spirit” that does not satisfy. 

If we approach the season—the lights, the music, the stories, the decorations, the celebrations, the feasting, the togetherness—with a solemn and still heart, we can begin to understand the deep magic behind the waiting and wondering. This stillness leads to more joy, rather than dulling it. 

After Father Christmas gives each of the Pevensie children (and the Beavers, of course) Christmas gifts, he gives them one last present that they all can celebrate. He gives them warm tea.

-

“‘And now’ — here he suddenly looked less grave — ‘here is something for the moment for you all!’ and he brought out (I suppose from the big bag at his back, but nobody quite saw him do it) a large tray containing five cups and saucers, a bowl of lump sugar, a jug of cream, and a great big teapot all sizzling and piping hot. Then he cried out ‘Merry Christmas! Long live the true King!’  and cracked his whip, and he and the reindeer and the sledge and all were out of sight before anyone realised that they had started.”

-

Warm tea, though a simple gesture, is a small holiday feast for the weary travelers. With the return of Aslan, and Christmas alongside him, comes the promise of joyful celebration together. Christmas calls for togetherness and feasting, no matter how small the feast. 

“Merry Christmas! Long live the true King!” Father Christmas says before disappearing to likely visit other creatures who have long waited for their own Christmas gifts and greetings. 

In the land of the true King, the changing of the seasons is sure no matter how long the winter. Winter will always end and spring will always arrive. And there will never be a time where Christmas doesn’t come. 

~

Read: Chapter Ten of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Watch: Father Christmas (2005)

Listen: Father Christmas by Harry Gregson-Williams