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Christmas
Traditions
By Colleen Moulding
Father
Christmas
Call him what you will, Father Christmas, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas
- children all over the world will be waiting for his visit on December
25th. Trying to get off to sleep, yet listening for the sleigh bells
as Rudolph and his friends pull Santa's sleigh swiftly through the
night sky. There are many stories about the origins of Santa Claus.
One is that the real St. Nicholas was a Christian leader in a place
called Myra - the country we now know as Turkey.
The
story goes that St. Nicholas wanted to give money to the poor without
them knowing who had done it, so he climbed on to the roof of a
house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. A little girl
had earlier placed a stocking near the fire to dry and the purse
full of money fell into it.
From
then on children have hung stockings by the fire in the hope that
St. Nicholas will fill them, and somehow he always seems to manage
it!
Christmas
Day
The celebrating of the birth of Jesus on 25th December is quite
a strange custom as although the date of His birth is not known
for sure, it is clear from the scriptures that it was not in December.
Shepherds did not spend the chilly December nights on the hills
in that part of the world, they took their sheep inside to shelter
overnight and out again in the morning.
The
25th December was a date picked by the Catholic church to appease
the pagans who they were trying to convert, but who were none to
keen to give up their traditional holidays and festivals. Saturnalia
was one of the popular Roman pagan festivals of celebration, drunkeness
and making merry which ran from the 17th to the 24th of December.
Gifts were exchanged on the 23rd and 24th. On the 25th December
they would celebrate "The Birth of The Unconquerable Sun."
It
was decided that this would be a day for celebrating the birth of
Jesus instead. Many of the pagan traditions such as decorating the
house with trees and greenery were banned at this time, but they
have crept back into our Christmas traditions.
Yuletide
and Yule Logs
The tradition of burning a yule log on the fire for twelve days
between Christmas and Epiphany comes from the custom of offering
a sacrifice on each of the twelve days to the Scandinavian pagan
fertility god Jul or Jule.
The
Christmas Tree
Bringing an evergreen tree into the house is another pagan tradition
relating to the worship of evergreen plants as symbols of fertility,
life and reproduction. The pagans decorated their trees with fruit,
and placed other foods underneath it as offerings to the tree.
Boxing
Day
The day after Christmas Day is known as Boxing Day. This has it's
origins not as some people think in the giving of presents, Christmas
Boxes on that day, but from a custom dating back to the Middle Ages,
when churches would open their "alms" boxes and share out the donated
money among the poor of the parish.
Christmas
Cards
A combination of the Penny Post postal service in 1840 and the industrialization
of the printing industry led to the popularity of sending Christmas
cards. Later, when cards in unsealed envelopes could be posted for
half a penny the craze really caught on. Incidentally these very
decorative documents of social history can still be found here in
the UK for between 50p and £1, and the messages make fascinating
reading.
About
the author: Colleen Moulding is a freelance writer from England
where she has had many features on parenting, childcare, travel,
the Internet and lots more published in national magazines and newspapers.
She has also published a variety of women's and children's fiction.
Her work frequently appears at many sites on the Internet and at
her own site for women and children All That Women Want.com a magazine,
web guide and resource for women everywhere. http://www.allthatwomenwant.com
Why not drop by? It was made for you! Subscribe to the free monthly
e-zine containing articles, ideas, tips, site reviews and lots more
by sending a blank e-mail to: allthatwomenwant-subscribe@egroups.com
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