Christmas Traditions

The Jan Brady of holidays is over, (If I have to explain what that means, you should probably

A Christmas Scene

ask your parents), Mariah Carrie has thawed and her song has been on repeat since midnight Thanksgiving evening, and #Whamageddon lurks around the corner, eagerly waiting to claim its first victim. It’s time to make the annual trek to the attic to retrieve the dozen upon dozen boxes of Christmas decorations, which will inevitably lead to the annual guessing game: do these lights work? How did they get so tangled? Where is the wrapping paper we bought on sale last year? Do we hang that ugly decoration our kids made in school? While we sort through the string of lights and arrange decorations throughout the house, we also must create the guest list for the annual family get together and start placing bets on who will have a meltdown, how soon grandpa falls asleep after dinner, and pray that Aunt Sue doesn’t bring her annual horrible dessert to dinner. Yes, it’s the fabulous, heartwarming, cozy, wonderful time of year when mom’s fret about the cooking and the shopping, and dads do their best to outdo their neighbors’ decorations; Christmas, such a joyful time of year.

Each year we find ourselves emersed in holiday traditions and customs that trace their beginning back a thousand years. We decorate the house, the tree, sing Christmas carols, exchange presents, mail Christmas cards, and oh yeah, celebrate the birth of a fictional little baby who the holiday is supposed to be celebrating; however, the true beginning of this festive season is not what many think it is.

Christmas Day: The reason for the season is to celebrate the birth of a little baby. According to legend, perpetuated by religious leaders, Mary and Joseph were traveling to attend a Jewish festival that takes place in the spring. They couldn’t find lodging, and had to spend the night in a barn, where Mary gave birth to a baby. This tale would become known as the birth of Christ. Scholars have been unable to pinpoint when Jesus was born, or for that matter if he even existed. What is known is that scholars found a record of his birth on an almanac created sometime in the 4^th Century during the Roman Empire. It’s believed the December 25th date was selected by Pope Julius I as the day fell on the same day as the Winter Solstice, a pagan holiday celebrating the shortest day of the year and the upcoming return of spring and a renewal of life. What better way to unite pagans and the emerging religion than to appropriate an established custom and declare it as their own. The season received its name from the old English phrase of “Chris’s Mass.” Mass, of course is when the Catholic religion would hold mass celebrating the birth of Jesus. People shortened the name, and it became known as Christmas.

Christmas colors: Why red and green? Why not blue and gold? Or Yellow and silver? Or purple and green? Red and green became the Christmas colors based on the ancient meanings given to each color: red was associated with the blood of Christ, (that’s a pleasant thought) and green is associated with evergreen trees, which symbolizes eternal life, and it’s also the only bright color visible during the dull, cold, drab wintery months.

The Christmas Tree: Came to be in the 16^th century during the early days of the newly formed Protestant religion. This recently established faith was looking to create their own customs and break away from those of the Catholic church. They found their inspiration by incorporating the popular pagan practice of decorating trees into their new religion. The pagans decorated trees with colorful berries and other objects as a way of honoring the tree for its eternal life. (This is where the color green came from.) In the early days of this custom, it was primarily to be found in Germany and was isolated to only churches and other religious houses. It wasn’t until German nobility married into other European royal families that the tradition expanded. The German born Queen Charlotte introduced it to the British nobility when she became Queen in the 1700s. Under the reign of Queen Victoria and her German husband, the tree would grow in popularity. When this custom reached the shores of America, it quickly became the custom throughout the country.

Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle: Whatever he is called, he’s the little jolly man who hands out presents every year at Christmas. This is the only holiday custom that is based on a real person. St. Nicholas was a Greek Bishop who lived in Myra, a city in the Roman Province of Lycia in the 4^th century. Throughout the bishop’s life he was known to take care of children and his generosity of giving gifts every year. After his death, which scholars believe was December 6^th, the residents of his hometown would honor his life by following his lead and present presents to one another to mark his passing. Over time the custom of gift giving would be combined with the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

Red Santa Suite: During Saint Nicholas life, he appeared dressed in traditional bishops’ attire, red robes. It was also customary at the time that men had long beards, and as he aged, his beard naturally turned white. See the correlation? The modern-day image of St. Nicholas was created in America in the late 1800’s by a gentleman named Thomas Nast. His illustrations of St. Nicholas were based on England’s Father Christmas, which was another rendition of the original St. Nicholas. The English Father Christmas was a stout, jolly bearded man of good cheer. (His good cheer was associated with drunkenness and not gift giving. This might explain the modern-day Santa pub crawl held in many metro cities.) Nast combined the two images to create the universal image that eventually became the Santa Clause used in marketing and department stores.

Elves and the naughty or Nice List: It’s also believed that St. Nicholas would appear in public accompanied by assistants who helped with the distribution of presents. It was also their responsibility to ensure the children were well-behaved. (Notice the origins of the holiday folklore of Santa knowing if the kids are naughty or nice, and his assistance representing elves?)

Decorations: The practice of decorating one’s home can be traced to 15^th century England. In London it was customary for households and churches to be “decked” (decorated) with holy, ivy, and other green or bright colors. The heart shaped leaves of ivy symbolized the arrival of the baby Jesus. Holly was thought to protect individuals against pagans and witches. (Which is ironic as many of the holiday customs are based on pagan rituals.) And the thorns of the ivy plant and red berries came to represent the crown of thorns worn by Jesus when he was on the cross and the red of course stood for his blood. With the introduction of the tree in England, and other countries, the tradition of decorating changed, candles were carefully added to trees, as well as other colorful bulbs. With the advent of electricity, the holiday decorating took on a whole new life of its own. Now it’s about brightness, pretty colors, and who can outdo their neighbor!

Christmas stockings: “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there.” A line from the popular poem The Night Before Christmas. While this has become part of the annual holiday tradition, no one knows how it became part of the narrative. It is believed the origins of this custom is associated with St. Nicholas. It’s thought he dropped bags of gold down a poor family’s chimney and the bags landed in their stockings which were drying by the fire. In time the story changed to be small toys, candy fruit, or coins or other small gifts being left in the stockings. The Christmas cartoon, Santa Claus is Coming to Town does a great job of explaining this custom.