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As hectic 2020 draws to a close, the holiday season has finally arrived to bring much needed joy to all. It’s nice to have a day where troubles can be forgotten to enjoy the season.
Most people know the history of Christmas, but it is also common knowledge that the holiday itself has many non-Christian elements. The celebration is inspired by pagan rituals that have been incorporated into the traditions of the season.
So how did Christmas come this way? Why is it celebrated on December 25? And why the Christmas tree?
First, let’s discuss why Christmas is celebrated on December 25. While Christmas focuses on the birth of Jesus Christ to Mary in the city of Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, some people believe that this day is celebrated because the Roman holiday that celebrates the sun god, Sol Invictus, fell on this date.
The celebration of Christmas on December 25 was possibly a way of appropriating the pre-existing festivities.
But this Roman festival is probably one of the many European winter festivals that influenced the Christmas celebrations. Saturnalia, another Roman holiday, could also have caught on from Christmas celebrations as it included parties, gift giving, and the use of evergreen wreaths.
There was also a Germanic holiday in honor of the god Odin, called Yule, which probably had an even greater influence on how Christmas is celebrated today. Once again, this festivity was marked by a great feast and the sacrifice of a Christmas boar that may be the origin of Christmas ham in the West.
Yule was also often associated with the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession that rode through the sky led by Odin himself.
Perhaps this is the origin of the idea of a bearded old man flying through the sky with his reindeer?
Another festival that may have left its mark on the Christmas holiday was the Koliada, a Slavic festival during which celebrants went out singing Christmas carols and placing an evergreen decorative piece in their homes.
Interestingly, stereotypical Christmas parties did not exist before 300 AD.Before that, the holidays were considered inappropriate on such a holy day.
Even for some conservative Christians, celebrating Christmas was unacceptable, and in 1647 Puritan-ruled England banned Christmas entirely.
This was not well received and the people rioted, seized the city of Canterbury and decorated it with Christmas wreaths.
In Scotland, the Parliament abolished Christmas as a public holiday in 1640, and it did not become a public holiday again until 1958.
Many Puritans settled in the Americas, which meant that their aversion to Christmas continued in early colonial America.
In fact, after the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783, Christmas was considered a foreign and British celebration. During the war itself, on December 26, George Washington led an attack on German mercenaries who had gotten drunk at his Christmas party.
However, Christmas finally gained prominence in the United States thanks to the classic Charles Dickens novel, ‘A Christmas Carol’.
It was also during this time that the Christmas tree tradition began to grow, beginning as an early modern German tradition. Queen Victoria of Great Britain married a German and Prince Albert is believed to have brought the custom to the UK and eventually crossed the Atlantic.
However, where this German tradition originated is a different question. Some believe that Christmas trees began as medieval theater decorations.
But no representation of Christmas would be complete without the jolly red-clad bearded old man with a sack of gifts.
Like the holiday, Santa Claus is a combination of several different holiday figures, although the main influence would definitely be Saint Nicholas.
The man was a 4th century Christian bishop in what is now Turkey, known for his generosity and is the patron saint of children. It has been combined with Santa Claus, the English personification of Christmas itself.
The idea that Santa Claus has a wife and elves as assistants probably comes from the Finnish version of him, called Joulupukki. And the night of the Norse god Odin has again been infected with the popular image of Santa Claus, since Odin had a habit of entering houses through chimneys.
But, as you may have known, it was a Coca-Cola ad from the 1930s that cemented the image of Santa Claus as people know him today.
Now, with all this information, it is clear that Christmas is an interesting mix of different traditions from different times and different cultures that revolve around enjoying the season as a family.
There is no wrong way to celebrate the season, and no right way, so celebrate it any way you want, as long as you have fun with your family.
