For those more secular, have a rip roaring, gift unwrapping, booze guzzling, hearty food feasting day!
The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before Jesus Christ was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals (parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to early Mesopotamia (yeah, you got that right, what is now present day Iraq).
Washington Irving, a leading figure in the New York literary world, created a tale of a pipe-smoking Saint Nicholas who road a magic horse through the air visiting all houses in New York with gifts for the good children and switches for the bad ones. The poem The Night Before Christmas (reputedly by Clement Moore) replaced the horse with a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer. Thomas Nast -- head cartoonist for Harper's Weekly magazine (the man who invented both the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant) -- depicted Santa Claus as a jolly, bearded fat man who lived at the North Pole and wore a furry suit & elfish sleeping cap. Finally, from 1931 to 1964, Haddon Sundblom created a new Santa each Christmas for Coca-Cola advertisements that appeared world-wide on the back covers of Post and National Geographic magazines. This is the Santa we know and love today with a red suit trimmed with white fur, leather boots and belt, long white beard and a pack of toys slung onto his back.
Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer was invented in 1939 by a staff copywriter for Montgomery Ward. The story was patterned after The Ugly Duckling, turning a genetically defective glowing nose into a foggy-night navigation asset.
Mrs. Claus was introduced to us way back in 1899 when Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote the words to America The Beautiful, wrote of her in Goody Santa Claus, A Sleigh Ride. This was apparently the first appearance of Mrs. Santa Claus.
A beautifully decorated evergreen tree, with colored lights ablaze inspires in many warm memories of Christmases long past. The Christmas tree has become one of the most beloved and well know holiday symbols. The tradition of a holiday tree has been around since ancient times and has played an important part in winter celebrations for many centuries. Many pagan festivals used trees when honoring their gods and spirits. The use of a Christmas tree indoors appears to have begun in Germany. German Christians would bring trees into their homes to decorate. In some areas evergreen trees were scarce so the families would build a Christmas pyramid, simple wooden structures which they decorated with branches and candles.
The tradition of the Christmas tree eventually spread through out Europe. The English Royalty help popularize the tree in England by decorating the first Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1841. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, decorated the first English Christmas Tree with candles, candies, fruits, and gingerbread. When the German immigrants went to American they also brought along their Christmas trees. In the 1830's most Americans still considered the Christmas tree an oddity. One of the first public displays of a Christmas tree was set up by German Settlers in Pennsylvania. At the time many still considered the tree to be a symbol of pagans and it wasn't until the late 1800's that Americans began accepting the Christmas tree.
Early Christmas trees were often decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored popcorn and candles. The invention of electricity in the early 20th century and use of electrical Christmas lights helped spread the use of the Christmas tree. It is now common in most communities throughout the US to feature public displays of Christmas trees. Every year the President of the United States lights the National Christmas Tree in Washington and in New York skaters spin beneath the lighted tree of Rockefeller Center. Through Europe and the rest of the world the Christmas tree has also become readily accepted and adored.
A beautifully decorated evergreen tree, with colored lights ablaze inspires in many warm memories of Christmases long past. The Christmas tree has become one of the most beloved and well know holiday symbols. The tradition of a holiday tree has been around since ancient times and has played an important part in winter celebrations for many centuries. Many pagan festivals used trees when honoring their gods and spirits. The use of a Christmas tree indoors appears to have begun in Germany. German Christians would bring trees into their homes to decorate. In some areas evergreen trees were scarce so the families would build a Christmas pyramid, simple wooden structures which they decorated with branches and candles.
The tradition of the Christmas tree eventually spread through out Europe. The English Royalty help popularize the tree in England by decorating the first Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1841. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, decorated the first English Christmas Tree with candles, candies, fruits, and gingerbread. When the German immigrants went to American they also brought along their Christmas trees. In the 1830's most Americans still considered the Christmas tree an oddity. One of the first public displays of a Christmas tree was set up by German Settlers in Pennsylvania. At the time many still considered the tree to be a symbol of pagans and it wasn't until the late 1800's that Americans began accepting the Christmas tree.
Early Christmas trees were often decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored popcorn and candles. The invention of electricity in the early 20th century and use of electrical Christmas lights helped spread the use of the Christmas tree. It is now common in most communities throughout the US to feature public displays of Christmas trees. Every year the President of the United States lights the National Christmas Tree in Washington and in New York skaters spin beneath the lighted tree of Rockefeller Center. Through Europe and the rest of the world the Christmas tree has also become readily accepted and adored.
Joyeux Noel, Froehliche Weihnachten, Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Buone Feste Natalizie, Sung Tan Chuk Ha, Feliz Navidad
2 comments:
Reminds us the so-called "War On Christmas" was declared 150 years ago when Americans began inflating it to the current level of commercialized insanity; our economy would collapse if we actually did treat the holiday with modesty. There's no better symbol of it than the invention of Santa Claus.
Ya mean Santa Claus was "invented?"
GASP!
What will I tell the children?
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