If one googles animals talking on Christmas Eve a wide number of hits will mention this practice.

I get the connection to the animals in the manager, but I'm trying to ascertain the origin of this Christmas legend.

Who practiced it first and when?

How widespread is it?

And, at what time does it work?

  • Is this a serious question? – BYE Dec 25 '14 at 16:58
  • 2
    Yes. This is on the "fringe" edge to be sure. But it is an old and established folk belief about Christmas that was held by Christians for many years. Like I said, I still run into it, and even I have some fun with it. – Affable Geek Dec 25 '14 at 17:01
  • Sounds more like some trickster father after reading about Balaam's donkey made it up to get the kids out in the barn while Santa Claus came. Just a thought. – BYE Dec 25 '14 at 23:03

Further research found this page with interesting highlights:

  1. This is primarily a Northern European/Scandanavian myth, based in the Christmas story

  2. This is a syncretic pagan tradition that melded with the Christmas story

I imagine that the talking animals business is somehow connected to the general "world turned upside down" idea of traditional winter solstice festivals, e.g. Twelfth Night:


  1. True to the "magnificat" animals get the upper hand, and humans often do not like what they hear. It is often used as a lesson to be kind to those lesser than themselves.

  2. It apparently works from sunset until midnight, although some variations put it at once every hundred years.

Your Answer

