I did watch that interview from 2015, if the copyright at the end of the interview reflects the date accurately. I noted that all three of the movies were also mentioned, so read the book again to see if
the Narnian Code, too, mentioned at least the first two movies. Apparently, Michael Ward talked about the woods in LWW the movie being rather too pretty and not dreary enough as well as what he said in the book about the relevance of Father Christmas. However, I never had a problem with that.
Right through the series there are children from the present world from 1901 to 1949 in all the books and even if later Narnia did not have a Christmas tradition of its own doesn't mean it wouldn't have had one at any time in the past.
Magician's Nephew has a London Cabbie from the turn of the century becoming King Frank of Narnia. This particular character seems to be the sort of person who likes church hymns, such as for the harvest, and would have enjoyed perpetuating a tradition of Christmas parties and singing Christmas carols. Maybe a Christmas Carol about, say,
We three kings of Orient are. Or,
Good King Wenceslas, who "first looked out, on the Feast of Stephen, where the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even". What is more, King Frank was quite as well acquainted with the White Witch as he ever wanted to be, having come from the same Victorian era as did C.S.Lewis' Professor, most of Dickens' novels and Sherlock Holmes, whose statue is around the corner from Baker Street in London.
We, where we have Christmas in Summer, have a Church of St Stephen the Martyr (Feast day 26th December) and 100 metres away down the road, another one called St Nicholas of Myra, (feast day 6th December?) the original bishop from Lycia, now part of Turkey, whose career led to both the original notion of Father Christmas and to the present very secular Santa Claus (Dutch Sinterklaas).
In both Calormen and Harfang we hear about Autumn feasts, and though Christmas, itself, does not appear elsewhere in any other seasonal Narnian festivities mentioned, doesn't mean it might not have been as much of a secular and seasonal tradition there as finding a decorated Christmas tree on display in Beijing in the Foreigner's shop a week after Christmas in 1986. The point Michael Ward is making about the planets is about the influence and atmosphere each planet in Medieval Cosmology brings to each Narnian book. In LWW that planet is Jupiter, the kingly,
jovial, festivity loving Spirit of Christmas present in Charles Dicken's
A Christmas Carol, and in other similar works of literature, medieval folklore, and music, specifically Gustav Holst's suite,
The Planets.
In LWW Tumnus tells Lucy right at the start that the White Witch has made Narnia all winter and no Christmas, that she has specifically banned Christmas, refers to the Christmas feast as gluttony, waste and frivolity and petrifies the participants. The result of the White Witch's reign is a dreary, threatening, wet and cold land which feels like it has been like that for a hundred years even if it hasn't. Father Christmas' arrival is actually to show that Aslan is on the move and that the White Witch's power is waning.
I found what Michael Ward said rather interesting, in particular, what he said about
the Silver Chair, water, mirrors, reflections and the "upside down" state of Rilian when he is finally located within the Dark Castle. I'm intrigued.
What do other people think about how
the Narnia Code might apply to that book?