Christmas has quite a few weird legends and traditions in addition to gravity-defying reindeer. Some bizarre Christmas myths are even stranger than others, such as the one that says that on Christmas Eve at midnight, animals acquire the ability to speak.
Animals may converse on Christmas Eve, according to a famous holiday fable from across the pond. It is predicated on the idea that the Baby Jesus was born at exactly midnight on Christmas Day, and that by becoming a man, he not only resolved the issue of everlasting salvation but also brought about the fantastical phenomena of giving all animals, domesticated and wild, the ability to speak.
One story shared claimed that “once upon a time there was a woman who starved her cat and dog. At midnight on Christmas Eve, she heard the dog say to the cat, ‘It is quite a time we lost our mistress; she is a regular miser. Tonight burglars are coming to steal her money, and if she cries out they will break her head.’ ‘Twill be a good deed,’ the cat replied. The woman in terror got up to go to a neighbor’s house; as she went out the burglars opened the door, and when she shouted for help they broke her head.”
Another story, this one from the German Alps, involves animals predicting the demise of their caregivers. A young farm worker hides in the stables on Christmas Eve in the hopes of hearing the animals speak, and she does hear a horse say:
“We shall have hard work to do this week.” “Yes, the farmer’s servant is heavy,” replies another horse. “And the way to the churchyard is long and steep,” says the first.
A few days later, the servant passes away, leaving the horses to carry the bulk of the load.
A more contemporary telling of the story debuted on ABC in 1970, and despite being animated and intended for kids, it is nevertheless rather bleak. You can bicker with whomever you loathe / It’s lovely to converse, the animals sing in the made-for-TV cartoon “The Night The Animals Talked,” after discovering they have the ability to speak. It’s already too late for the animals to realize that they have been given the capacity to disseminate the news of Jesus’ birth. They all become speechless as they sprint through Bethlehem’s streets. Last, to lose the ability, the ox is left to lament the fact that so many people appear to waste the ability to speak.
Then there is “The Friendly Beasts,” a Christmas carol that presents a softer take on the subject. In contrast to the “talking animals” idea, the hymn emphasizes the significance of each animal to the birth of Jesus: “‘I,’ said the cow, all white and red, ‘I gave Him my manger for His head,'” and so on with the sheep and the dove. “‘I,’ said the donkey, shaggy and brown ‘I carried His mother uphill and down; ‘I,’ said the cow, all white and red, ‘I gave Him my manger for His head,’” and so on with the sheep and dove. The song’s origins purportedly lie in a mostly-forgotten French medieval feast day, The Fete de L’Ane, or “The Feast of the Ass,” which honors Mary, Jesus, and Joseph’s flight into Egypt, and the donkey who transported them. The carol was born from an early Latin hymn commonly sung at the feast,
There are many and varied Christmas legends regarding unusual or paranormal animal behavior; not all of them necessarily involve animals communicating. According to a Native American who spoke with John Howison for his 1821 book Sketches of Upper Canada, “[It’s] Christmas night, and all deer fall upon their knees to the Great Spirit.” Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and Their Borders by William Henderson, published in 1879, details the myth that, on Christmas Eve, bees gather to form a sort of choir.
The power of Christmas Eve is illustrated by flying reindeer, singing bees, scheming animals, clairvoyant horses, praying oxen, and more. While it lacks supernatural power, Christmas Eve has a tremendous hold on our imaginations.