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History Of Christmas

● Christmas

Christmas:

The Bible does not mention of birth for Jesus Christ. However some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring – why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter (Luke 1: 1-8)? If you allow two months or more for the events between the birth of Christ and the murder of the Innocents by Herod, the Nativity must be at least around February. Many chronologist agree that Jesus Christ was born around 150 AU (or 4 BCE).

Many Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. The 12 days of Christmas, the giving of gifts, the bright fires, the holiday feasts, the yule log, carnivals (parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, spirituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn and the festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. The "Jo Saturnalia!" celebration would include masquerades in the streets, visiting friends, big festive meals and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). They decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. The masters and slaves would exchange places as part of the celebration. In addition, around the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. Members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. For some Romans, Mithra's birthday was the most sacred day of the year.

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. However, in 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast and in 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. Some say it was chosen as a way of “not conflicting” with the pagan holiday. By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders believed it increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced – and the pagan holiday could continue. The festivity was first called the Feast of the Nativity.

As Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts and forbade this kind of celebration. However, 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 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. They believe that this is the day the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

During the early 17th century, 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 their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.

Christmas was not a holiday in early America. English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. In fact, from 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. Furthermore, Congress was actually in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution.

It wasn't until the 19th century that Americans as a whole began to embrace Christmas. 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. Also around this time, English author Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. The story's message—the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind—struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday. Christmas was declared a federal holiday June 26, 1870.

As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a family holiday, old customs were unearthed. People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated.

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Santa Claus:

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back to a wealthy monk named 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 pity and kindness, 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. Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. After his death Nicholas was canonized as a saint. 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.

St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death. In the Netherlands, the saint's name, Sinter Nikolass, became shortened to Sinter Klaas. And as Dutch people immigrated to the United States, the name evolved into what it is today - Santa Claus.

In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society's annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York.

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 is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a "right jolly old elf" with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney.

Although some of Moore's imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped to popularize Christmas Eve - Santa Claus waiting for the children to get to sleep and 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 filled with toys for lucky children. It is 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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Christmas Trees:

In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. As previously stated, Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

In the US, the Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans. In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Today in the US, mainly out of tradition, many Christians celebrate Christmas as Christ's birthday. Due in large part to commercialism and the non-belief of Christianity, others celebrate Christmas as a day of gift-giving and/or joy and the love for loved ones.

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Sources:

HistoryChannel.com – 12/29/05; http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/christmas/real.html; http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/christmas/santa.html; http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/christmas/trees.html

Locksley.com – 12/29/05; http://www.locksley.com/6696/xmas.htm

Holidays.net – 12/29/05; http://www.holidays.net/christmas/story.htm

WowCom.neet – 12/29/05; http://www.wowcom.net/christmas97/day16/

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