All festivals have specific traditions and rituals associated with them, and Christmas is no exception. What is the origin of Christmas?Like the ** religious communities that celebrate the holidays around the world, Christmas has a variety of roots.
Many of the things we initially associated with Christmas had nothing to do with the religious feast that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Instead, some of them come from centuries-old European traditions to commemorate the winter solstice. These pagan, pre-religious traditions were repurposed and renamed as pagan holidays, such as the pagan Christmas tree. Others were created during the 19th and 20th centuries.
From the origins of Christmas to the true origins of Christmas stockings and the history of Christmas decorations, many of the holiday backstories are both surprising and complex.
For thousands of years, diverse cultures, including ancient Egyptians and Celts, have celebrated the winter solstice with evergreens. The Romans even used evergreens during the winter Saturnalia festival, the date of which roughly coincided with the Church Christmas.
* Apostles adapted this pagan tradition for their own use. By the 16th and 17th centuries, Germans began to decorate indoor evergreens for Christmas. Due to immigration to other parts of the world, this tradition became popular outside the region. In particular, it is said that the Germans who married into the British royal family brought it to the English Channel.
The white-bearded, Arctic-dwelling Santa Claus can be traced back to an early Mediterranean saint in the popular imagination. St. Nicholas of Myra was active in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, in modern Turkey.
Nicholas was notoriously generous: he gave dowries to strangers and even brought children back to life. Nicholas thus became a legend in the story of the **Teachings. Because of his holiday spirit of dedication, Nicholas was associated with Christmas – and eventually became the modern-day Santa Claus.
Fertility seems to be a strange addition to the Christmas tradition. However, communities in ancient Europe tied fertility together.
Druids use mistletoe, an evergreen plant, at winter festivals. Mistletoe toes also appear in Norse mythology, and one story connects them to Friggia, the goddess of beauty, love, and marriage.
As a symbol of fertility, mistletoe is associated with love and romance – a connection that may have been enough for people to start in the late 18th century.
The tradition of hanging Christmas stockings above the fireplace can be traced back to a legend about an early Christian saint, the real-life Nicholas.
As one story goes, Nicholas, who was known for giving gifts, climbed down a family's chimney one night and put money in their stockings, which they hung on the fire to dry. As Nicholas became more and more associated with Christmas, so did the tradition of leaving socks for Santa Claus to fill.
Reindeer were introduced to Alaska in the 19th century as food and fur**. Businessman and photographer Carl Lohmen believes that reindeer could become a popular meat across the United States.
Lohmon thinks there's no better reindeer meat salesman than Santa Claus, who, like the reindeer, comes from the snowy north. Lohmon offers a peculiar backstory to explain why: due to the high cost of living, Santa Claus — whose deer herd in Alaska has grown to more than 325,000 — is now putting some of his favorite animals on the market to secure funds to buy gifts for his sack and provide these good American people with extra popular treats.
The recipe for gingerbread dates back to Greece at least 2400 BC.
It seems that it was only in the early modern period that gingerbread was made into decorative shapes. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III had requested that his portrait be made in the form of gingerbread in the 15th century. Queen Elizabeth I of England (reigned in the 16th century) similarly commissioned her chef to bake gingerbread in molds to resemble her courtiers and important dignitaries.
Although Elizabeth is credited with promoting gingerbread. It wasn't until the 19th century, when the Brothers Grimm brought Hansel and Gretel's folk tales to a wider audience, that they became popular.
Elves have been around in folklore for centuries. In traditional folklore, elves behave as mischiefs and **.
However, by the 19th century, the elves had become Santa's friendly helpers. In the 1823 Christmas hymn "The Visit of St. Nicholas", Santa Claus is described as a "jolly old elf". Other writers and artists continue the connection between Santa Claus and the elves.
Although holly was used in festivals and ceremonies in pre-religious and pagan cultures, this plant is associated with Christmas because many believe it represents the crown of thorns of Jesus. As a result, the green and red colors of holly are associated with Christmas – but they are not the signature colors of the holiday.
That all changed in the 1930s. The Coca-Cola Company popularized red and green as the typical Christmas colors through its advertising campaign featuring a chubby, merry Santa Claus.
Although it has a different name – Christmas tree or some other translation meaning – a sponge cake in the shape of a log appears on many Christmas tables. The history of this festive dessert is complicated.
Christmas logs used to be actual logs that were burned in the winter. As early as 1200 BC, Celtic and Gaelic communities celebrated the winter solstice by symbolically burning the past with logs. This ritual is usually accompanied by a feast.
* Indoctrination Europe continued to celebrate this tradition in the 16th and 17th centuries, but adapted it for Christmas. Pagan feasts and wood-fired fuse into decadent Christmas log desserts.
Holly and ivy have deep roots in winter celebrations. As evergreens, holly and ivy are available in winter. However, they are not specifically used in winter.
The ancient Gaelic community used these plants during the festival of Bertan in the spring, as they believed that holly and ivy symbolized fertility and rebirth.
Unlike many Christmas traditions that originated in pagan celebrations or modern inventions, the appearance of the stars at the time of Jesus' birth does appear in the Bible.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, a bright and shining star appeared in the night sky and led the three wise men to Bethlehem, where they could pay homage to the divine baby. Despite its religious and literary precedents, the Star of Bethlehem remains an astronomical mystery.
One of the most public symbols of Christmas is the wreath that hangs on the door. Wreaths are meaningful items in the pre-Teach and Teach worlds.
In ancient times, the plant ring symbolized victory and victory. From the 16th century, a Christmas wreath made of evergreens symbolizes rebirth, and its round shape represents "divine perfection".
Cane candy has a vague origin story. While no one really knows why or how they were made in the first place, by the 17th century, stick candy had become popular. One story claims that this hard candy was invented to keep choir boys quiet in Germany.
The practice of using cane candy as a tree decoration is a relatively new tradition that began in the 19th century.
The sound of the bell heralds Christmas in the popular imagination. But over the centuries, their association with Christmas has gradually developed.
Bells were fastened to the sleigh as a means of announcing the approach of the vehicle. The bells were also rung before and during the Mass. Due to their seasonal and religious connotations, the bells became a symbol of Christmas.
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