Many of us might enjoy the holiday traditions of Mistletoe, the Christmas tree, ornaments and Santa Claus, but do we really know why they are staples of our favorite winter holiday?  Continue reading for some helpful history on each and why we use them today.

Mistletoe

Mistletoe has long been a symbol of love, peace and goodwill. In the ancient Druid society, warring clans would stop their battles and claim a temporary truce when they would chance upon mistletoe. It is possible that this embrace of goodwill among enemies may have eventually led to the traditional kiss under the mistletoe. Some cultures say that if a man kisses a woman while she is standing under mistletoe, it is a proposal of marriage! Most cultures around the world however, now just view a person standing under mistletoe as being available for a kiss.

Mistletoe can usually be spotted fairly easily in trees. If the trees have lost most of its leaves, look for roundish clumps of foliage within the bare branches, as can be seen in this photo. That’s mistletoe!

Below is a photo of what mistletoe looks like up close. If you see this hanging above your head, you may suddenly find yourself locked in a kiss with someone! Happy Holidays!

Why Do We Have Christmas Trees?

One of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree, is normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought in the house or used in the open and is decorated with lights and colorful ornaments during the days preceding and immediately following Christmas. The tradition is most widely observed in the more northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere (north of about 45 degrees N latitude), where Christmas falls at a time when daylight hours are very short, and temperatures often below freezing (0 degrees C) with snow covering the ground. This is a continuance of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life at a time of death, darkness and cold at the winter solstice. A common decoration is a “Christmas ball”, a reflecting sphere of thin metal-coated glass, working as a reducing wide-angle mirror.

Like many other Christmas traditions, the universally-popular Christmas tree is derived from a fusion of Christian ideas with older pagan traditions. The custom originated in Germany. According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the Cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance. The tradition of hanging decorations (representing fruit or gifts) on the trees is very old, with some early reports coming from Germany’s upper Rhine region, but the tradition of attaching candles is attributed to Martin Luther. A related tradition was hanging evergreen branches throughout the home. With time, these evergreen branches gave way to garlands, vines and wreaths.

Many cultures since then have expanded upon the use of the Christmas tree for celebrations. Residents of Strasbourg in the 16th century decorated fir trees during the Christmas season. The tradition seems to have spread throughout Europe and was most likely brought to the United States by German settlers. In 1923, United States president Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony now held every year on the White House lawn.

In the early 1800’s, Christmas trees in Germany were typically decorated with candles, cookies, fruit, paper novelties, and candy. Then, a glassblower in Lauscha (a district long recognized for the quality of its glass) crafted some small glass balls to hang on his family’s tree.

Within a few years, Lauscha glassblowers were filling orders by the thousands. In 1880, F. W. Woolworth brought the ornaments made in Lauscha to the United States

Santa Claus (also known as Father Christmas) is the American and British variant of the European folk myth of Saint Nicholas, explaining the source of Christmas presents given to children on Christmas Day. The Japanese also observe Santa Claus in Christmas, although the holiday is different.

Conventionally, Santa Claus is portrayed as a kindly, round bellied, merry bespectacled man in a red suit trimmed with white fur, with a long white beard. On Christmas eve, he rides in his flying sleigh (pulled by reindeer) from house to house to give presents to children. During the rest of the year, he lives at the North Pole, in Finnish Lapland, or Dalecarlia in Sweden (traditions vary) together with his wife, Mrs. Claus, and his elves who serve as his toy production staff.

Traditionally, the names of his reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Rudolph, ‘the red-nosed reindeer’, was not one of the original reindeer, but has featured in many modern aspects of the Santa Claus myth, including the song of the same name.

The modern Santa Claus is a composite character, made up from the merging of two quite separate figures. The first of these is Saint Nicholas a bishop of Byzantine Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, famous for generous gifts to the poor. In Europe he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. The second character is Father Christmas, which remains the British name for Santa Claus. Father Christmas dates back at least as far as the 1600s in Britain, and pictures survive of him from that era, portrayed as a well-nourished bearded man, dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe. He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, and is reflected in the ‘Spirit of Christmas Present’ in Charles Dickens famous story, A Christmas Carol’.

When the Dutch still owned the land that later became New York, they brought the Saint Nicholas’ eve legend with them to the Americas; however without the red mantle and other symbols. Note that in Dutch, the feast is called ’sinterklaas feest’, it celebrates the birthday of sinterklaas during sinterklaasavond (“sinterklaas’s evening”) December 5th or in Belgium at December 6th. Sinterklaas was Americanized to Santa Claus, but lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Santa Claus appeared in various colored costumes, as he gradually became amalgamated with the figure of Father Christmas, but red soon became popular after he appeared wearing such on an 1885 Christmas card. The horse was converted to reindeers and a sleigh. In an attempt to move the origin of the festivities away from their pagan background to a more Christian one, the date was moved a few weeks to the celebrated day of the birth of Jesus, Christmas.

Santa’s image was further modernized by the Coca-Cola company, who at the turn of the 20th Century featured the character in a variety of advertising campaigns. These campaigns helped establish a “uniform” Santa character, whereas prior to this his appearance and costume had varied from artist to artist.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, has been immortalized in a song which is frequently played at Christmas. The other names, outside Rudolph, were invented in a poem, A Visit From St. Nicholas (better known today as The Night Before Christmas), ascribed to Clement Moore, although there is some question as to his authorship. It is suspected that the names Donner and Blitzen come from the German phrase Donner und Blitze which means Thunder and Lightning. An alternative explanation is that Donder is the original name of the seventh reindeer, as Donder en bliksem is Dutch for Thunder and Lightning. The reindeer are traditionally pictured with antlers, although male reindeer shed their antlers in the winter. Female reindeer keep their antlers until spring.

Many Christian churches dislike the secular focus on Santa and the materialist focus that present-giving gives to the holiday. They would prefer that focus be given to the birth of Jesus, their nominal reason for the Christmas celebration. It should be noted that the festivities at this time of year are predated by the pagan Yule festivals which were subsumed within Christianity. A history of Santa Claus was written by L. Frank Baum, the same man who wrote the Wizard of Oz. However, the historical basis for Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas of Myra.

Historically, one of the first artists to capture Santa Claus’ image as we know him today was Thomas Nast, a cartoonist of the 19th century. In 1862, a picture of Santa appeared in Harper’s Weekly by Nast. It is believed the inspiration for his image came from a mythical German character called Pelznickel (Furry Nicholas) who visited mischevious children in their sleep. The Coca-Cola Company featured in its advertising a Santa Claus designed by artist Haddon Sundblom, which helped to popularize the design of Santa that Moore and Nast originated. (Urban legend has it that Santa Claus in his current guise was in fact created by Coca-Cola, though this is highly unlikely.) To this day, Santa Claus still appears on Coca-Cola products each year around Christmastime.

In addition, the depiction of Santa at the North Pole also reflected toward the popular opinion about industry. In early images in the early 1900s, Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman. Eventually, the image changed to the idea that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys, but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner. By the end of the century, the reality of mass mechanized production became more fully accepted by the Western public. That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa’s residence which is often humorously depicted as a fully mechanized production facility equipped with the latest manufacturing technology overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as managers. Many TV commercials reflect this depiction with humorous business with the elves as a sometimes michieviously disgruntled workforce cracking jokes and pulling pranks on the boss.

History of Glass Christmas Ornaments

In the early 1800’s, Christmas trees in Germany were typically decorated with candles, cookies, fruit, paper novelties, and candy. Then, a glassblower in Lauscha (a district long recognized for the quality of its glass) crafted some small glass balls to hang on his family’s tree.

Within a few years, Lauscha glassblowers were filling orders by the thousands. In 1880, F. W. Woolworth brought the ornaments made in Lauscha to the United States

History of Santa Claus

Santa Claus (also known as Father Christmas) is the American and British variant of the European folk myth of Saint Nicholas, explaining the source of Christmas presents given to children on Christmas Day. The Japanese also observe Santa Claus in Christmas, although the holiday is different.

Conventionally, Santa Claus is portrayed as a kindly, round bellied, merry bespectacled man in a red suit trimmed with white fur, with a long white beard. On Christmas eve, he rides in his flying sleigh (pulled by reindeer) from house to house to give presents to children. During the rest of the year, he lives at the North Pole, in Finnish Lapland, or Dalecarlia in Sweden (traditions vary) together with his wife, Mrs. Claus, and his elves who serve as his toy production staff.

Traditionally, the names of his reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Rudolph, ‘the red-nosed reindeer’, was not one of the original reindeer, but has featured in many modern aspects of the Santa Claus myth, including the song of the same name.

The modern Santa Claus is a composite character, made up from the merging of two quite separate figures. The first of these is Saint Nicholas a bishop of Byzantine Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, famous for generous gifts to the poor. In Europe he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. The second character is Father Christmas, which remains the British name for Santa Claus. Father Christmas dates back at least as far as the 1600s in Britain, and pictures survive of him from that era, portrayed as a well-nourished bearded man, dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe. He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, and is reflected in the ‘Spirit of Christmas Present’ in Charles Dickens famous story, A Christmas Carol’.

When the Dutch still owned the land that later became New York, they brought the Saint Nicholas’ eve legend with them to the Americas; however without the red mantle and other symbols. Note that in Dutch, the feast is called ’sinterklaas feest’, it celebrates the birthday of sinterklaas during sinterklaasavond (“sinterklaas’s evening”) December 5th or in Belgium at December 6th. Sinterklaas was Americanized to Santa Claus, but lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Santa Claus appeared in various colored costumes, as he gradually became amalgamated with the figure of Father Christmas, but red soon became popular after he appeared wearing such on an 1885 Christmas card. The horse was converted to reindeers and a sleigh. In an attempt to move the origin of the festivities away from their pagan background to a more Christian one, the date was moved a few weeks to the celebrated day of the birth of Jesus, Christmas.

Santa’s image was further modernized by the Coca-Cola company, who at the turn of the 20th Century featured the character in a variety of advertising campaigns. These campaigns helped establish a “uniform” Santa character, whereas prior to this his appearance and costume had varied from artist to artist.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, has been immortalized in a song which is frequently played at Christmas. The other names, outside Rudolph, were invented in a poem, A Visit From St. Nicholas (better known today as The Night Before Christmas), ascribed to Clement Moore, although there is some question as to his authorship. It is suspected that the names Donner and Blitzen come from the German phrase Donner und Blitze which means Thunder and Lightning. An alternative explanation is that Donder is the original name of the seventh reindeer, as Donder en bliksem is Dutch for Thunder and Lightning. The reindeer are traditionally pictured with antlers, although male reindeer shed their antlers in the winter. Female reindeer keep their antlers until spring.

Many Christian churches dislike the secular focus on Santa and the materialist focus that present-giving gives to the holiday. They would prefer that focus be given to the birth of Jesus, their nominal reason for the Christmas celebration. It should be noted that the festivities at this time of year are predated by the pagan Yule festivals which were subsumed within Christianity. A history of Santa Claus was written by L. Frank Baum, the same man who wrote the Wizard of Oz. However, the historical basis for Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas of Myra.

Historically, one of the first artists to capture Santa Claus’ image as we know him today was Thomas Nast, a cartoonist of the 19th century. In 1862, a picture of Santa appeared in Harper’s Weekly by Nast. It is believed the inspiration for his image came from a mythical German character called Pelznickel (Furry Nicholas) who visited mischevious children in their sleep. The Coca-Cola Company featured in its advertising a Santa Claus designed by artist Haddon Sundblom, which helped to popularize the design of Santa that Moore and Nast originated. (Urban legend has it that Santa Claus in his current guise was in fact created by Coca-Cola, though this is highly unlikely.) To this day, Santa Claus still appears on Coca-Cola products each year around Christmastime.

In addition, the depiction of Santa at the North Pole also reflected toward the popular opinion about industry. In early images in the early 1900s, Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman. Eventually, the image changed to the idea that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys, but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner. By the end of the century, the reality of mass mechanized production became more fully accepted by the Western public. That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa’s residence which is often humorously depicted as a fully mechanized production facility equipped with the latest manufacturing technology overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as managers. Many TV commercials reflect this depiction with humorous business with the elves as a sometimes michieviously disgruntled workforce cracking jokes and pulling pranks on the boss.

All this information was found on http://www.christmas-corner.com/sandie-traditions.php

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