History of Christmas
One day a year, children all over the world wake up bright and early to gather around sparkling Christmas trees to see what Santa has brought them. There are squeals of delight as they tear through shiny reindeer paper and ribbon to reveal their gifts. The day is then fulfilled with some attending church services before heading home to indulge in large quantities of glorious food and drink until they’re about to burst!
Have you ever wondered where Christmas has come from? Here we have some historical information regarding the origin of Christmas and history of traditional practices.
Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. While the actual birthday of Jesus is not known, the early Church Fathers in the 4th century fixed the day around the old Roman Saturnalia festival (17 – 21 December).
The word ‘Christmas’ comes from Cristes Masses, an early English phrase meaning Mass of Christ.
The popularity of Christmas grew until the Reformation in the 1500′s. Many Christians believed during this period Christmas was a celebration of pagan beliefs as it included non-religious customs. In the 1600′s, as a result of these feelings, Christmas celebrations were outlawed in England and in parts of the English colonies in America. However, the celebration soon reappeared with more Christian tradition incorporated.
Gift Giving
The custom of gift giving goes back to Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Calends. The very first gifts were small items such as twigs, which were symbols of luck. It soon escalated to items such as food, small pieces of jewelry, candles and items of gold. In the early church, gift giving was frowned upon, as it was derived from the pagan tradition. However, gift giving was justified by the original giving of the Magi or Saint Nicholas, by the Middle Ages it was viewed as an acceptable ritual.
Christmas Stockings
The tradition from hanging stockings on the mantelpiece comes from the story of three Italian maidens. Legend has it that a very poor man had three daughters, he could not afford the dowries necessary for them to marry. He was considering selling one daughter into slavery so the other two could marry. When St. Nicholas heard of this, he secretly tossed three bags of gold down their chimney, and the bags miraculously fell into the three stockings that the sisters had hung out to dry on the fireplace. All the daughters then had enough dowries to marry.
