Here are the origins of some holiday traditions:
Santa Claus
Santa Clause is the version of a legend that began in the fourth
century in Asia Minor. The bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, was
universally loved for his generosity. Sporting a long white beard,
he is said to have given good children presents on his feast day,
December 6th. During the Reformation, the celebration of this homey
character was struck from the church calendar and was widely replaced
by the Christmas Man, a secular Yuletide cheer supplier known in
England as Father Christmas. But Nicholas had also been the patron
of sailors, and the sea-going Dutch kept on celebrating him. In the
Netherlands he was called Sint Nikolaas or Sinterklaas.
Today's Santa was the creation of Dr. Clement Moore who wrote "The
Night Before Christmas" in 1822. He described a toy-toting pipe
smoker, the driver of a reindeer-drawn sleigh, and a fancier of
chimneys. It is unclear which of these elements were Moore's own and
which he borrowed from the stories of Dutch friends. Thomas Nast
provided illustrations for the book, giving us the image of the jolly,
rotund character we know today.
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Christmas Gifts
The custom of exchanging presents at Christmas is commonly linked to
the Maji's visit to the infant Jesus and their gifts to him of gold,
frankincense and myrrh. Gift-giving at the time of the winter solstice
was also a Roman custom before Jesus' time. The custom is related to
the generosity of the fourth century's St. Nicholas and the gifts that
the baby Jesus is supposed to bring on his birthday. But these gifts
were always small tokens, noothing like the lavish items exchanged in
America. The American version began around the same time as the modern
Santa with the nineteenth century commercialization of the holiday.
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The Christmas Tree
In the 14th century, the popular miracle play presented on December
24th was the story of Adam and Eve. In this play the chief prop was
an apple-hung evergreen called the paradise tree, dramatically evoking
the lost innocence of Eden. German families picked up on this symbol
and began bringing evergreens into their homes during the holiday
season. They decorated them with fruit, candies, cookies and other
items.
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Caroling
The association of joyous songs with Christmas dates back to St.
Francis, an early proponent of religious singing. Christmas songs
spread through Europe, but were banned during the Reformation of the
17th century. Many of the original songs were lost. That is why most
of the carols we sing today date from the 18th century.
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Red and Green for Christmas
The dominant color scheme of the holiday season reflects the ancient
popularity of holly among both the Britons and the Romans. Holly was
commonly used as a winter decoration in the hope that the plant's
remarkable ability to survive through winter would lend a similar
strength to people's homes.
The red and green ppoinsettia, native to Central America, has been
a Christmas symbol in the U.S. since the 1820's when it was first
shipped north by Joel Poinsett, the American Minister to Mexico.
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Hanukkah Lights
In 165 B.C. Jewish revolutionaries under Judas Maccabeus succeeded in
driving from Jerusalem the occupying army of the Syrian King Antiochus
IV. In his subsequent rededication of the temple, Judas could find only
enough undefiled oil to light the sacred lamps for one day, but
miraculously they burned for eiight days. The eight-branched menorah,
or candlelabrum, is lit at the annual feast known as Hanukkah. On the
first night of the eight-day celebration, one candle is lit; on the
second, two; and so on until all are burning in commemoration.
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The Seven Kwanzaa Candles
In 1966, Maulana (Ron) Karenga, a university professor in the U.S.,
developed Kwanzaa as a week-long celebration of African ancestry. The
celebration calls for a candle to be lit each night to symbolize seven
principles: unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative
economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
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The History of Christmas Cards
The practice of sending Christmas cards to friends and loved ones was
begun in 1843 in England, reportedly by Sir Henry Cole. The first card,
which depicted a family celebrating Christmas, was designed by J.C.
Horsley. More than 1,000 copies of the card were sold commercially.
By the latter part of that century, the exchange of Christmas cards
was commonplace. Today, Christmas card sales account for about 35
percent of the more than 7 billion greeting cards sold annually in
the United States, according to the Greeting Card Association. This
translates to approximately $2.4 billion spent on Christmas cards
each year.
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Origin of Boxing Day
Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th, got its name from the
19th-century English tradition of giving boxes of food or money to
service people such as the postman, lamplighter and other public
servants on the day after Christmas.
Boxing Day is a legal holiday in Canada, the United Kingdom and
many other countries, and has typically been a day to relax after
the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. However, a growing
contingent uses this day to check out the after-Christmas sales at
department stores and specialty shops.
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Happy New Year
People across the world will celebrate December 31st by ringing out
the old and ringing in the new in a wide variety of rituals and
celebrations.
The observance of New Year's Eve on that date began in the sixteenth
century when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582. The
conversion from the Julian calendar, which observed New Year's day on
March 25th, was gradual in Roman Catholic countries. Scotland made
the switch in 1600; Germany, Denmark and Sweden changed over in 1700.
England did not convert until 1752.
Traditional New Year's celebrations include a feast and have religious
overtones. Today, however, many use the occasion to eat, drink and be
merry until the wee hours of the morning of January 1st.
One of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations takes place in Times
Square in New York City, where more than a million people have
gathered in recent years to count down to the New Year.
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