For most of us, Christmas is a time for peace and goodwill towards all of humanity, and for exchanging gifts and sharing happy times with our friends and families. Christmas decorating traditions are rooted in customs which date back many centuries, and provide us with an important continuing link with our cultural and spiritual heritage.
To a devout Christian, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, and along with Easter it is the most important event in the religious calendar. The word ?Christmas? comes from the old English ?Cristes Maesse?, meaning ?Christ?s Mass?.
The Christmas tradition also has its origins in Pagan customs and beliefs which date back well before the Christian era.
Pagan Romans honored Saturn, the god of agriculture, with a seven day harvest festival beginning on December 17. Having completed the harvest, people would celebrate by eating, drinking, hunting, and exchanging gifts. In the 4th Century AD, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church decided to establish the birthday of Jesus at the same time of year as Saturn?s festival, to encourage people to honor Jesus and celebrate his birth in place of their traditional Pagan gods. The actual date of Christ?s birth is unknown.
As Christianity spread across Europe, the celebration of Christmas also combined with the Norse pagan celebration known as Yule, or the Winter Solstice. This festival was held on the shortest day of the year, to commemorate the return of the sun, and the symbolic death of the old year and birth of the new. The tradition of the burning of the Yule log, still popular particularly in Europe, comes from this ancient custom.
Christmas traditions have developed and changed throughout many centuries, and continue to do so today. Much of the joy of Christmas comes from imagination, creativity, and finding new and exciting ways to celebrate the season, particularly for children.
Although some Christmas traditions have roots dating back thousands of years, many of the more familiar ones have much more recent origins. The custom of celebrating Christmas only began to be adopted in North America in the 19th Century.
The Christmas tree
One of the most important Christmas traditions is the Christmas tree. The tree is the centerpiece for our Christmas decorating, and we place our gifts under it, so it becomes a kind of focal point for our expressions of the Christmas spirit in the home.
There are many legends which explain the religious and spiritual significance of evergreen trees, linked to both Pagan and Christian traditions. A very popular story holds that Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Church, was walking in the woods one Christmas Eve, and was captivated by the beauty of the stars shining through the branches of the trees. He cut down a small fir tree, took it home to his family, and decorated it with candles to recreate the image of the twinkling starlight.
The tradition of the Christmas tree is thought to have originated in Germany in the 16th Century. Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, is often credited with popularizing decorated Christmas trees in England in the mid 19th Century. His tree at Windsor Castle was decorated with gingerbread, fruits and sweets.
The Christmas tree custom began to be adopted in North America in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. While their European cousins used small trees around three to four feet in height, people in North America preferred grand Christmas trees which reached from floor to ceiling. Americans also preferred to decorate the tree with home-made ornaments, although the European tradition of using candies, nuts and fruits as tree decorations has continued, particularly among families of German heritage. Using painted strings of popcorn to festoon the tree is a uniquely American tradition.
Lights and glass ornaments
The custom of decorating the Christmas tree with lights is connected with the Martin Luther legend. Trees were originally decorated with candles, and later using strings of electric lights. Beautifully crafted lighted glass ornaments have been an important part of the Christmas tradition in Germany, where decorative glass blowing developed into a fine art throughout the 19th Century. These glittering ornaments became popular in North America and elsewhere in the late 1940?s.
Mistletoe, boughs, wreaths and evergreens
Kissing under the mistletoe is a favorite tradition of many, and symbolizes the warmth, love, affection and goodwill which is at the heart of the Christmas spirit. Placing a Christmas wreath on the door or above the hearth is also a symbol of the welcoming and embracing of friends, family and neighbors.
Many believe that the tradition of bringing evergreen boughs into the home during the dark months of winter dates back to pre-Christian times. Pagans believed that they were giving shelter and warmth to the spirits of nature by bringing them into their homes until the first signs of spring.
The tradition of the Christmas wreath dates back to the Middle Ages, when people would make a hoop of evergreen boughs, usually with a symbol of the Holy Family in the center, and decorated it with fruits, nuts and ribbons. These Holy Boughs would be blessed by the parish priest at a special ceremony, then placed on a beam near the entrance to the house. Every visitor who came to the house would be embraced under the Holy Bough as an expression of goodwill and friendship.
Mistletoe was thought by ancient Celts to have magical healing powers, and used it to ward off evil spirits. The plant is also associated with the Norse goddess of love, Frigga. Pagans believed that kissing under the mistletoe would bring good luck for the rest of the year.
Queen Victoria was displeased with what she considered to be the more vulgar customs surrounding Christmas, and made efforts to restrict them. She began a new custom that for every kiss under the mistletoe, a berry would be plucked from the wreath. When there were no more berries left, no more kissing was allowed!
Creche or Nativity Scene
A model depicting the story of the birth of Christ is a reminder of the importance of the holiday to the Christian faith. The tradition is believed to have begun with St Francis of Assisi in the early 13th century. St Francis held mass in front of a Nativity scene made by a local craftsman in the Italian village of Greccio.
Leanne Tremblay is the successful author and publisher of http://www.hooked-on-department-56.com, a resource for collectors of Department 56 Christmas miniature villages, figurines, and accessories.
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