Holiday Traditions III

Ugly Sweaters: This fun little custom sprang from those wonderful, odd, and often over-

decorated sweaters that were knitted by a beloved grandmother or aunt. The recipients of such wonderful gifts probably tucked away their delightful present in a drawer never to be seen again. That was until someone decided to through a party and invite their guests to wear these forgotten sweaters. It’s now become a holiday custom with clothing companies creating their own ugly sweaters. The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On has even been published to honor this yearly tradition.

Christmas Crackers: This British custom dates to the late 1800s. It’s a short cardboard tube wrapped in festive wrapping paper with a hidden surprise inside the tube. When they are pulled apart, they make a popping, cracking noise, hence the name, and their surprises are revealed to the individual.

Gingerbread Houses: Like many holiday traditions, this one has a unique beginning as its based on a line from the Hansel and Gretel fairy: “When they came nearer, they saw that the house was built of bread, and roofed with cakes, and the window was of transparent sugar.” The next year, a German bakers decided to bake a house as described in the story it was an instant success and he repeated it the following year, and an annual tradition of gingerbread houses began. In recent years, top chefs in grand hotels throughout the United States, Canda and Britian, create elaborate houses, castles, and in some cases, villages from gingerbread. Thanks to the advent of gingerbread house kits, many families are now able to make them at home with the whole family.

Door wreaths: This custom can be traced to ancient Greek and Roman times when wreaths made from fruits and berries were hung on people’s doors during pagan festivities, which of course were then appropriated by the Catholics and incorporated into the Christmas holiday. The modern-day door wreath is made from evergreen plants, because green is symbolic of eternal life and the circle of the wreath is said to represent the eternal never ending God. These days it’s just a pretty decoration that people put on their doors made from a variety of materials.

Department store Santa: This commercialized tradition came about as a way for department stores to entice people into their stores to spend their hard-earned money on toys for the little ones. This first store Santa came into existence in 1890 when James Edgar of Brockton MA had a Santa suite made for himself so he could dress up as the jolly fellow to entice people to visit his store. The gimmick worked, and Santa would soon become a staple in many department stores, malls, and city centers.

Santa Con: This fun, although drunken tradition, started in San Francisco in 1994. It was inspired by a Danish theater company as a street performance to make fun of Christmas and the commercialism that surrounds the holiday. The first event was a guy getting dressed as Santa going on a pub crawl. While this tradition began as a joke, others decided to repeat it again the following year and hence a new tradition was born. Portland followed suit in 1996, Seattle in 1997 and Los Angeles and New York in 1998. Soon several cities throughout the world began to hold their own Santa Cons.

What are your holiday traditions?