Unwrapping History: The Christmas Timeline
By: John Magbitang
As you take a walk through the streets of your neighborhood, you can’t help but notice the twinkling and colorful lights that your neighbors have put up for decoration, painting the chilly nights of December with a warm and endearing glow. However, it raises the question: How did Christmas become the day we know it as today? Back then, the concept of Santa Claus and his reindeers were not associated with the holiday at all. Even Christmas trees and carols weren’t around until more than a thousand years later. In this article, we will go over the origins of traditions and customs held during our favorite holiday.
The Birth of Christ
The Nativity story is crucial to the development of the Christian religion and, subsequently, the Christmas holiday. It tells the story of Jesus Christ's birth from the Virgin Mary in the town of Bethlehem. The reason the day takes place on December 25th is still unclear with many theories attempting to offer an explanation. The Roman emperor Constantine converted himself to Christianity in 312 A.D.. Later that century, the empire—which was predominantly pagan—would adopt it as their religion. Around the same time, the Roman pagans celebrated the holiday of Saturnalia. In order to christianize the Germanic celebrations, they incorporated the celebration of Yule, held on December 25th, into Christmas.
By the end of the middle ages, many Germanic countries still continued to call the day “Yule." In Anglo-Saxon England, meanwhile, the day was known as Christ’s mass. This, of course, is where we get the word Christmas in modern English.
Sinterklaas, Stockings and Sleighs
The identity of Santa Claus can be best described as a mosaic of a number of identities from different cultures assimilating into one. However, the main inspiration for his character would be St. Nicholas. He was born around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. He was known to be kind and generous, with many stories and legends revolving around his great character.
Among the number of stories about him, the most famous one would be about the story where he saved three daughters from being sold into slavery. A father needed dowry to get her daughters married so that they would not get sold, but he did not have enough money. It is said that St. Nicholas tossed a bag of gold coins for the girls’ dowry through an open window through the father’s house, and the gold coins landed by the socks drying by the fire. Since then, people started hanging stockings by their chimneys in hopes that St. Nicholas would toss gifts for them. St. Nicholas remained popular throughout Europe, with many countries creating their own stories about him. He went by many names throughout the continent such as Father Christmas, Kris Kingle and Sinterklaas. As Dutch colonists arrived to settle in Early America, they brought their traditions with them including the story of Sinterklaas, which eventually morphed into Santa Claus in modern English. The author Clement Moore is largely responsible for creating the image of a white-bearded Santa Claus riding in the night sky on a sleigh drawn by eight reindeers in his work “The Night Before Christmas”. Moore gave each reindeer a specific name: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blitzen. Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, would be later added to Santa’s sleigh and become the ninth reindeer after the rising popularity of Robert L. May’s work. In 1931, the beverage company Coca-Cola hired illustrator Haddon Sundblom to depict Santa Claus as a warm, jolly and rotund man dressed in a red suit accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Claus. This version of Santa Claus was embedded in American culture through the advertisements by the company.
Haddon “Sunny” Sundblom / The Coca-Cola Company
Christmas in America
In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation began and spread throughout Western Europe. This movement created new varieties of Christianity that formed new perspectives on Christmas. The early Puritan settlers in the north, in particular, grew disdain for the holiday because of its Catholic influence. They even went as far as to ban the holiday in 1659 and anyone found celebrating it would have to pay a fine. On the contrary, Christmas remained popular with the settlers in the southern colonies.
The holiday that we are all familiar with today was shaped during the Victorian era in the 19th century in countries like the United States, England, and Germany. Before the 1800s, the celebration was seen as raucous which explains why certain people like the Puritans grew distaste for it. Throughout the 19th century, Christmas would transform from a celebration of wild and drunken parties to a calmer holiday that focused on family, religion, and good behavior.
The Christmas Tree
Similar to gift-giving, decorating trees is a tradition that has been incorporated into different festivals and celebrations in the past and therefore it is hard to pinpoint the exact origin of the custom and likely rose independently on its own. Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition. Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, was awed by the stars in the night sky. He erected a tree in his own house and decorated it with candles, which represented the stars in heaven, for his family to see. From there onwards, the German people would decorate their Christmas trees with different items such as sweets, apples, and lights. It is also hypothesized that pagan people placed candles on evergreen during December because it is when the darkest nights fell, and these lights reminded them of their way home.
Today, Christmas is seen as a simple but wonderful time to spend with friends and family whether it is for religious or cultural purposes. From its pagan roots and raucous nature to the influences of story writers and its transformation to a calm night, the holiday has seen countless changes throughout a millenia. One thing is for certain, however, and that is that it never lost its power to bring people together.
Comments