Origin of Christmas Part 2

How did Christmas become the predominant holiday in the U.S.?

1) Spiritual - A strong spiritual desire by Protestant Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ in their churches. Pressured their churches to offer Christmas services.

2) Greater emphasis on family due to emergence of the middle class – Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, Americans became more and more wealthy. Consequently, wives and children did not have to work in the factories to meet needs. They stayed home. Consequently, the home and not the factory became the center of American life. The growing middle class was more family-centric. Parents paid more attention to their children/took joy in their children. Christmas became the holiday for children. Christmas with its many traditions (feasts, exchanging of gifts, decorations) had a strong appeal to the middle class because they promoted family. Two works of literature played an important role in the appeal of Christmas by the middle class – a) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with its theme of Christmas being a time when people should be helping out/giving to the less fortunate (poor, sick, orphans, etc.). Having heard Dickens read A Christmas Carol at a local playhouse, an American factory owner informed his wife that he would be closing the factory on Christmas Day from now on. b) “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” or as it is more popularly known “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (For more see “Origin of Santa Claus” below.)

3) Commercialism – As Christmas grew in popularity among the middle class, commercial businesses discovered a spike in spending during the Christmas season. Businesses quickly viewed Christmas as a money maker. Commercial businesses promoted the Christmas season in order to make a profit. Incorporated Christmas traditions (Christmas tree, Santa Claus) into their advertising and created new ones (Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer) in order to encourage people to buy their merchandise.

After 1700 years, Christmas still has a multiple personality disorder nature to it – part pious/part profit; part religious/part secular; part Christian/part commercial. Because of its multiple personality disorder, many people, Christians and non-Christians, question the legitimacy of Christmas. Is it about celebrating the birth of the Christ child? Is it an excuse to party? Is it about family? Is it about making a profit? Is Christmas a creation of men designed to advance a religion? Christians also have problems with other aspects of Christmas such as the pagan traditions and the whole Santa Claus thing that seemingly undermine the true reason for celebrating Christmas.

As Christians, how are we to perceive Christmas? As it was intended by the early Church leaders, to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The fact that the date they set for Jesus’ birth was the same as a popular pagan celebration should not detract from that. Their intentions were good and Biblical. Read I Corinthians 9:19-23. I don’t think the Apostle Paul would have a problem with the decision made by the early Church leaders. In order to win the pagans to Christ, the Church allowed them to keep their winter solstice celebration except now it honored Christ and not Saturn or Odin. The fact that the revelry often got out of control speaks more to the more weakness of humanity than the holiday itself. The same is true today. Do not perceive the commercialism of Christmas today as a failure of the holiday but more as a moral weakness of humanity. In other words, don’t blame Christmas for its multiple personality disorder; blame human nature. I for one enjoy Christmas. I enjoy everything about Christmas - the traditions, the decorations, the lights, the gifts, the music, Santa Claus, Rudolph, etc. For me, they do not detract from the true reason for celebrating Christmas - the birth of Jesus. They add to the joy

Origin of the Christmas tree

According to legend, the Christmas tree tradition began in the 1500’s with the father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. While walking through the forest on Christmas Eve, Luther was so moved by the beauty of the starlit fir trees that he brought one indoors and decorated it with candles to remind his children of God’s creation. The Christmas tree did not gain world wide popularity until the 1840’s. In 1841 Prince Albert of Germany gave his wife, Queen Victoria of England, a gift of a Christmas tree. This was reputedly the first Christmas tree in England. In 1848, a London newspaper published an engraving of the British royal family standing in front of a decorated Christmas tree. Afterwards, the custom spread quickly in Britain, U.S., and Canada.

Origin of the Nativity

The Nativity is a dramatization of the biblical story of Jesus’ birth, a practice begun by Saint Francis of Assisi in the 1220’s A.D. in Gretchio, Italy. He used figurines, candles, hay, and live animals. Quickly grew in popularity. Most Europeans were illiterate. They could not read the story of Christ’s birth. The Nativity scene enabled them to see and learn the story.

Origin of Santa Claus

The story of Saint Nicholas has many variations. The most popular is the following. St. Nicholas was a bishop in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) in the early 300’s A.D. A widowed man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man's plight, Nicholas decided to help him but being too modest to help the man in public, (or to save the man the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the man's house. In another version, Nicholas learns of the poor man's plight and drops the bags of gold down the chimney instead; a variant holds that the daughter had washed her stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of gold fell into the stocking. In honor of St. Nicholas, the Church set December 6 has St. Nicholas’ Day. Overtime, it became a day when parents gave gifts to their children. The children were told the gifts came from St. Nicholas. Good children awoke to gifts from St. Nicholas. Bad children received nothing. The legend of St. Nicholas travelled to Holland where he became known as Sinterklaas. Good children received gifts in their shoes on St. Nicholas Day. When many people from Holland immigrated to New England in the 1600’s and 1700’s, they brought the legend of Sinterklaas with them. In 1823, a newspaper published a poem called “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”, or as it is better known today, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” written by an anonymous author. The poem set the mold for the Santa Claus we know today. In this poem Santa is established as a heavyset man pulled in a sleigh by eight reindeer (who are named for the first time.) He comes down the chimney, brings gifts to children, and puts the gifts in stockings. The poem was a huge success and was quickly printed in newspapers throughout the country. The story appealed to the middle class’ emphasis on family and taking joy in children. Children began looking out their windows on Christmas Eve to see Santa Claus and his reindeer. The author turned out to be an Episcopal minister named Clement C. Moore who based it on a story he told to his daughter on Christmas Eve. Moore’s wife was of Dutch descent and was familiar with the Sinterklaas legend. Santa Claus's modern image was further defined by Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist of the 19th century. In 1863, a picture of Santa illustrated by Nast appeared in Harper's Weekly, one of the nation’s leading newspapers.

Origin of Hannukah

Commencing on the 25th day of the Hebrew month Kislev, Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the Syrians. In 168 BC, members of the Jewish family Maccabee led a revolt against the Greek Syrians due to the policies of Syrian King Antiochus IV which were aimed at nullifying the Jewish faith. Part of this strategem included changing the Beit HaMikdash - the Holy Temple in Jerusalem - to a Greek temple complete with idolatry. Led by Judah Maccabee, the Jews won victory over the Syrians in 165 BC and reclaimed their temple.After cleansing the temple and preparing for its rededication, it was found there was not enough oil to light the N'er Tamid, an oil lamp present in Jewish houses of worship which represents eternal light. Once lit, the lamp should never be extinguished.

A search of the temple produced a small vial of undefiled oil -- enough for only one day. Miraculously, the Temple lights burned for eight days until a new supply of oil was brought. In remembrance of this miracle, one candle of the Menorah - an eight branched candelabra - is lit each of the eight days of Hanukkah. Hanukkah, which means dedication, is a Hebrew word when translated is commonly spelled Hanukah, Chanukah, and Hannukah due to different translations and customs.The tradition of receiving gifts on each of the eight days of Hanukkah is relatively new and due in part to the celebration's proximity to the Christmas season.