The rich history of Christmas

Christmas is a time for family, an occasion to reconnect with your loved ones and remind ourselves that we have so much to be grateful for than we think.

No holiday has a richer and, more varied tradition and history than Christmas.

Christmas is when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. That, in itself is a very big deal.

Christianity, in all its myriad iterations, remains the most practiced religion in the world, with two billion followers.
Besides from its obvious religious significance, the first ‘Christmas’ stands as the great divide for the recording of human history.

Until recently, history has been divided between Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD), which means Year of our Lord.

Now, you’ll most likely see Before the Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE), no matter, the reason is still Jesus’ birth.

The great kings of the first millennium recognised the significance of the day, and attached themselves to it. Charles the Great, Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror, among many others were either baptised or crowned on December 25.

The idea of Christmas as a time of gift-giving goes back to the earliest days of Christianity.

The story is told that a third century church bishop, Nicholas of Bari, anonymously threw bags of gold coins into windows of the poor.

The coins supposedly landed in the shoes and stockings that happened to be drying by the fireplace, thus the tradition of stocking stuffings and socks began.

Due to his actions, Nicholas of Bari was declared a saint.

His popularity and positive Christmas message quickly spread across Europe, with each nation adding its own unique contributions.

In Germany, the winter tradition of placing evergreen trees in their homes, took on a new significance in the 16th century, when Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, put candles in the branches. He told his children that the lights were like ‘skies above Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth’.

The idea being or ‘good or bad’ during Christmas time, stems from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament which depicts Christ as returning to earth riding a white horse.

In the Middle Ages, the legend sprang up that St Nicholas had been chosen as some sort of saviour from heaven who would come to earth (also on horseback) and check up on people and return to heaven to deliver a report.
This, however, was problem in Norway as they had no horses. They did, however, have many Reindeer.

And of course, Norway is close the Arctic Circle and the North Pole, so St Nicholas found himself a new home there.

All these European traditions came to the great melting pot of America.

In early 19th Century in the state of New York, a priest, Clement Moore, wrote a poem for his children, ‘Twas the night before Christmas, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hope that St Nicholas soon would be there’.

The poem soon became a Christmas staple every school child across America could recite. In 1843, the holiday received another push when the great British writer, Charles Dickens, published his short novel, A Christmas Carol.

In the novella, the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge, perfectly captures what we now refer to as the Christmas Spirit, the idea that the holiday brings out the best in all of us and ‘redeems’ of all the wrongdoings we may have committed during the year.

By the 20th century, Hollywood adopted the tradition, and, almost as soon as there were movies, there were movies celebrating Christmas.

To this day, a year doesn’t seem to go by without a new one!

Madison Avenue also capitalised on the tradition, when in 1931 Coca-Cola hired artist Harold Sundblom to create a Christmas ad of Santa Claus, which is Dutch for Saint Nicholas, drinking Coke.

The jolly bearded fellow in a red suit remains the personification of St Nicholas that is instantly recognisable to almost everyone around the world.

Irving Berlin wrote the definitive Christmas carol, White Christmas in 1954.

Many people today feel that the Christmas spirit has been overwhelmed by commerce and has all but lost its meaning.

However, despite this, the majority of people, religious and non-religious love Christmas and love all that comes with it – the lights, the trees, the songs, the movies and, obviously, the gifts.

And it is difficult to deny that people act a little bit nicer and more charitable during the time that this wonderful day draws near.

In a world that feels increasingly divided, and as families with grown up children slowly starts to grow apart, Christmas is something that has the potential to unite us all to some degree.

So, for all its beautiful history, rich stories and tradition, especially the one above, Christmas remains the greatest holiday of them all.