The Story of Christmas
by Justina Washington -
December 23, 2009
Presents wrapped, trees lit, and children filled with excitement eagerly await this worldwide holiday of cheer and generosity. Every year Christmas is celebrated with gift giving and family feasts, but this isn't exactly how it all began.
From trees and decorative lights to Santa Claus and his reindeer, the Christmas celebration came from many different areas and origins in world history. Good ole' St. Nick himself can be traced hundreds of years ago to a monk named St. Nicholas from modern-day Turkey. He was known as a protector of sailors and children and also for helping the sick and poor and giving away all of his inherited wealth. December 6th, whichis the anniversary of his death was considered a "feast day," also traditionally considered as a "lucky day to make purchases or to get married" in Europe. In the 1700's St. Nicholas' reputation made it's way into America. Groups of Dutch families began to gather and honor his death. His name evolved into today's" Santa Claus from his Dutch nickname, "Sinter Klaas" which is a short form of Sint Nikolaas.
As time went on a man by the name of John Pintard began to issue woodcuts of St. Nick every year at the New York Historical Society's annual meetings. From these woodcuts became the image of our red waist coated Santa Claus and the tradition of stockings filled with toys.
Although Rudolph the red nosed reindeer doesn't have nearly as much of a background as Santa, his character is still widely known. Created by Robert L. May in 1939 to bring holiday traffic into his store, May wrote a Christmas story about Rudolph that later became translated into 25 different languages and transposed into movies, books, and poems that are enjoyed by many all around the world. Over 4,000 years ago Romans celebrated their God Saturn with a festival called Saturnalia which began in the middle of December and ended the beginning of January.
They would masquerade the streets, visit friends, exchange good-luck gifts and have festive meals. They would also decorate with garlands and green trees lit with candles. Early Christians considered this celebration to be an abomination honoring a pagan God and decided that they would tame and make it into a celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ as a solemn and religious holiday. They took the gifts, merriment, and lights from the saturnalia festival and brought them to the celebration of Christmas.
The actual birthday of Christ has not been identified but in 350AD the Bishop of Rome, Julius I chose December 25th as the remembrance date of Jesus' Birth. "Christ" being Jesus Christ and "mass" or "massa" known as a holy day or feast, when put together becomes Christmas.
Thousands of years later Christmas is here and families are still gathering to honor a holiday that is widely practiced, originating from different countries and customs, brought together for one purpose under each roof, to celebrate Jesus to give, love, and share to all people in every community.
From trees and decorative lights to Santa Claus and his reindeer, the Christmas celebration came from many different areas and origins in world history. Good ole' St. Nick himself can be traced hundreds of years ago to a monk named St. Nicholas from modern-day Turkey. He was known as a protector of sailors and children and also for helping the sick and poor and giving away all of his inherited wealth. December 6th, whichis the anniversary of his death was considered a "feast day," also traditionally considered as a "lucky day to make purchases or to get married" in Europe. In the 1700's St. Nicholas' reputation made it's way into America. Groups of Dutch families began to gather and honor his death. His name evolved into today's" Santa Claus from his Dutch nickname, "Sinter Klaas" which is a short form of Sint Nikolaas.
As time went on a man by the name of John Pintard began to issue woodcuts of St. Nick every year at the New York Historical Society's annual meetings. From these woodcuts became the image of our red waist coated Santa Claus and the tradition of stockings filled with toys.
Although Rudolph the red nosed reindeer doesn't have nearly as much of a background as Santa, his character is still widely known. Created by Robert L. May in 1939 to bring holiday traffic into his store, May wrote a Christmas story about Rudolph that later became translated into 25 different languages and transposed into movies, books, and poems that are enjoyed by many all around the world. Over 4,000 years ago Romans celebrated their God Saturn with a festival called Saturnalia which began in the middle of December and ended the beginning of January.
They would masquerade the streets, visit friends, exchange good-luck gifts and have festive meals. They would also decorate with garlands and green trees lit with candles. Early Christians considered this celebration to be an abomination honoring a pagan God and decided that they would tame and make it into a celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ as a solemn and religious holiday. They took the gifts, merriment, and lights from the saturnalia festival and brought them to the celebration of Christmas.
The actual birthday of Christ has not been identified but in 350AD the Bishop of Rome, Julius I chose December 25th as the remembrance date of Jesus' Birth. "Christ" being Jesus Christ and "mass" or "massa" known as a holy day or feast, when put together becomes Christmas.
Thousands of years later Christmas is here and families are still gathering to honor a holiday that is widely practiced, originating from different countries and customs, brought together for one purpose under each roof, to celebrate Jesus to give, love, and share to all people in every community.
