The History And Ancient Origins Of The Christmas Holiday

Christmas - An Ancient Holiday

Background Based on the Christian calendar, [Christ's Mass] is the feast of the nativity of Jesus (Dec. 25). In importance it ranks after Easter, Pentecost, and Epiphany and did not become a widespread celebration until the 4th century. The customs of the yule log, carolling, mistletoe, and gifts at Christmas are an English tradition.  Elsewhere in the world, gifts are given at other times such as Epiphany in Spain. Christmas cards appeared c.1846. Santa Claus:  The concept of a jolly Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) was first made popular in 19th-century in New York City. The Christmas tree was a medieval German tradition. The Midnight Mass is a familiar religious observance among Roman Catholics and some protestants. An ancient Holiday People all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th. But why is the Saviour's nativity marked by gift giving, and was He really born on that day? History tells us the emergence of Christmas came from pagan festivals like the Roman Saturnalia, which celebrated the winter solstice. Going back to ancient times, the middle of winter has long been a time of various celebrations around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man known as Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many people rejoiced during the winter solstice when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to the start of longer days and extended hours of sunlight. In Scandinavia the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the start of the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, and that could take as many as twelve days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year. The end of December was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered so that they did not have to be fed during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer that had been made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking. In Germany people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of him for it was well-known that his nocturnal flights through the sky would help him decide which of his people would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to say inside.

The Decline of Christmas In the early seventeenth century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645 they vowed to rid England of decadence and as part of this effort, Christmas was cancelled.  However, by popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.  The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681 the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.  After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favour and this included  Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday in the US until June 26, 1870.

Christmas Returns It wasn't until the nineteenth century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. They re-invented Christmas and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. But what about the 1800s peaked American interest in the holiday? The early nineteenth century was a period of class conflict and turmoil. During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the "lower" classes often occurred during what had been the Christmas season. In 1828, the New York city council organized the city's first police force in response to a Christmas riot. This forced certain members of the upper classes to begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America.  In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. These sketches featured a squire who invited peasants into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly.  In Irving's mind, Christmas should be a peaceful and  warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status. Irving's fictitious celebrants enjoyed "ancient customs," including the crowning of a Lord of Misrule. Irving's book, however, was not based on any holiday celebration he had attended.  In fact, many historians agree that Irving's account actually "invented" tradition through implication in his sketches that they described the true customs of the season.

The Roman Celebration of Saturnalia

In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia, a holiday in honour of Saturn the god of agriculture, was celebrated. 

Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month Saturnalia was a hedonistic time. Food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, slaves would become masters. peasants were in command of the city, business and schools were closed so that everyone could join in the fun.

In addition, around the time of the winter solstice Romans observed Juvenilia, a feast honouring the children of Rome. As well, the members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25th. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra's birthday was the most sacred day of the year.

The Early Years

In the early years of Christianity Easter, or resurrection, was the main holiday and the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. However, in the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday in an attempt to draw people away from the Roman celebration of the same day.  Unfortunately the bible does not mention any date for Christ's birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration).

Although some evidence suggests that Christ's birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I arbitrarily chose December 25. It is commonly believed the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. At first this holiday was called the Feast of the Nativity and the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread all the way to Scandinavia. 

Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated on January 6, which is also referred to as Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day they believe that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger. 

By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion. 

On Christmas believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today's Mardi Gras. 

Each year a beggar or student would be crowned the "lord of misrule" and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief. Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined "debt" to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens.

World Traditions

Christmas as we know it today is a Victorian invention of the 1860s.  As probably the most celebrated holiday in the world,  Christmas today is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions from around the globe. For more information about how various countries in the world celebrate this Yule Time Holiday and Feast, check out the A&E History Channel Site related to the Year End Holidays. 

The map below is from the History Channel Site  and shows the areas covered in the section on World Traditions. 

Most Canadian Christmas traditions are very similar to those practiced in the United States. In the far north of the country, the Eskimos celebrate a winter festival called sinck tuck, which features parties with dancing and the exchanging of gifts.

According to reports by Captain John Smith, the first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in his 1607 Jamestown settlement. Nog comes from the word grog, which refers to any drink made with rum.

 

Decorating evergreen trees had always been a part of the German winter solstice tradition. The first "Christmas trees," that is, trees explicitly decorated and named after the Christian holiday, appeared in Strasbourg, in Alsace in the beginning of the seventeenth century. After 1750, Christmas trees began showing up in other parts of Germany, and even more so after 1771, when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited Strasbourg and promptly included a Christmas tree is his novel, The Suffering of Young Werther. In the 1820s, the first German immigrants decorated Christmas trees in Pennsylvania. After Germany's Prince Albert married Queen Victoria, he introduced the Christmas tree tradition to England. In 1848, the first American newspaper carried a picture of a Christmas tree and the custom spread to nearly every home in just a few years.

CHRISTMAS TREES

·        Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United states since about 1850.

·         In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament. This was done in honor of the American hostages in Iran.

·         Between 1887-1933 a fishing schooner called the "Christmas Ship" would tie up at the Clark Street bridge and sell spruce trees from Michigan to Chicagoans.

·         The tallest living Christmas tree is believed to be the 122-foot, 91-year-old Douglas fir in the town of Woodinville, Washington.

·        The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition began in 1933.

·        Franklin Pierce, the 14th President, brought the Christmas tree tradition to the White House.

·         In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony now held every year on the White House lawn.

·        Since 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has given a Christmas tree to the President and first family.

·         Most Christmas trees are cut weeks before they get to a retail outlet.

·         In 1912, the first community Christmas tree in the United States was erected in New York City.

·         Christmas trees generally take 6-8 years to mature.

·         Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.

·         100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry.

·         98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms.

·         More than 1,000,000 acres of land have been planted with Christmas trees.

·         77 million Christmas trees are planted each year.

·         On average, over 2,000 Christmas trees are planted per acre.

·        You should never burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace. It can contribute to creosote buildup.

·        Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past.

·        Thomas Edison's assistants came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.

·        In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lit until December 22nd because of a national 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.

·         Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons.

·         In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day.

·         Tinsel was once banned by the government. Tinsel contained lead at one time, now it's made of plastic.

·         In 1984, the National Christmas Tree was lit on December 13th with temperatures in the 70's, making it one of the warmest tree lightings in history.

·        Thirty-four to thirty-six million Christmas trees are produced each year and 95 percent are shipped or sold directly from Christmas tree farms.

·        California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are the top Christmas tree producing states.

·        The best selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas Fir, Fraser Fir, Balsam Fir and White Pine.

 

·        German settlers migrated to Canada from the United States in the 1700's and they brought with them many of the things that we associate with Christmas today: Advent calendars, gingerbread houses, cookies--and Christmas trees.

·        When Queen Victoria's German husband, Prince Albert, put up a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1848, the Christmas tree became a tradition throughout England, the United States, and Canada.

·         Many Christmas traditions practiced around the world today started in Germany.

·        It has been long thought that Martin Luther began the tradition of bringing a fir tree into the home. According to one legend, late one evening Martin Luther was walking home through the woods and noticed how beautifully the stars shined through the trees. He wanted to share the beauty with his wife so he cut down a fir tree and took it home. Once inside he placed small lighted candles on the branches and said that it would be a symbol of the beautiful Christmas sky. Hence, the Christmas tree.

·         Another legend says that in the early sixteenth Century, people in Germany combined two customs that had been practiced in different countries around the globe. The Paradise tree (a fir tree decorated with apples) represented the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The Christmas Light, a small pyramid-like frame, usually decorated with glass balls and tinsel and with a candle on top, was a symbol of the birth of Christ as the Light of the World. Changing the tree's apples to tinsel balls and cookies; and combining this new tree with the Light placed on top, the Germans created the tree that many of us know now.

·        Today, the Tannenbaum (Christmas tree) is traditionally decorated in secret with lights, tinsel, and ornaments by the mother and is lit and revealed on Christmas Eve with cookies, nuts, and gifts under its branches.

 

For additional information please visit the A&E History Channel Site related to Holidays.

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The History Of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. 

It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married.

Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. 

By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

The many faces of St.Nick

Eighteenth-century America's Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmas Time. Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning "Christ child," Christkind is an angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions.

In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats.

English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children's stockings with holiday treats. 

Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children.

In Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka purposely gave the wise men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn't find Jesus. Later, she felt bad, but could not find the men to undo the damage. To this day, on January 5, Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven.

In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

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TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled, "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore's poem, which he was hesitant to publish due to the frivolous nature of its subject, is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a "right jolly old elf" and a supernatural ability to ascend up a chimney with a mere nod of his head! 

Although some of Moore's imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped to popularize the now-familiar idea of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve in "a miniature sleigh" led by eight flying reindeer, whom he also named, leaving presents for deserving children.

"An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," created a new and immediately popular American icon. In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore's poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper's Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It was Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Claus.

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