Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Christmas Tradition Origins Unique

Ever wonder how the various Christmas traditions observed began?

It's a well known fact Christmas is celebrated in honor of the birth of Christ. The very name translates into Cristes Mass, or the Mass of Christ.

Everyone is also familiar with the story of Christ's birth in a manger. The story can be found in the Bible in the gospels of St. Luke and St. Matthew.

However, the first mention of an actual date for Christ's birth being Dec. 25, didn't come until 336 A.D. This date, though, was probably influenced by midwinter festivals held by pagan colonies at the time.

In fact, most pagan communities held midwinter festivals, celebrating the end of the harvest season and the hope for a bountiful harvest next year.

The ancient Romans held their year-end celebration to honor Saturn, their god of harvest, and Mithra, their god of light.

Celebrations in midwinter were also held in northern European countries at the end of their harvests as well.

At these festivals, special foods were prepared, with homes decorated, songs sang and gifts exchanged. Sound familiar?

By 1100 A.D., Christmas had become the most important of all religious festivals in Europe.

But, all was not well for this holiday. During the Reformation of the 1500s, Christmas was considered a pagan celebration because of the non-religious customs involved.

In the 1600s, Christmas was actually outlawed in England and the American colonies.

Fortunately, though, all this changed and the celebration of Christmas returned even though there were those "outlaws" who celebrated the holiday in spite of the laws prohibiting it.

During the English Reformation, merchants were told to look upon Christmas as "just another day" and keep their doors open. Churches were not allowed to hold special services either. And anyone found observing Christmas could be fined or imprisoned.

So much for jolly old England.

There are those purists now who say Christmas should never be abbreviated Xmas. However, use of this shortened version actually began in the early Christian churches. In the Greek alphabet, X is the first letter in Christ's name, hence Xmas. X, at the time, was also frequently used as a religious symbol.

Leaders of the early Christian movement did all in their power to convert pagans to the Christian way of life. However, they were unable to get rid of many pagan observances during the year, especially the midwinter festival.

Because of this, they incorporated Christian ethics into these celebrations and festivals. The pagans enjoyed having wild parties, filled with unbridled passion, alcoholic spirits and revelry. These "parties" were toned down as they were assimilated into the Christian way of life.

Following the Restoration, these celebrations were further toned down.

Of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, as he is also known.

While there are those who believe there is no Santa, they are the one's who are mistaken, and sadly so.

St. Nicholas was a bishop in the early Christian church, born in the late 3rd century in Asia Minor in what is now Turkey.

Known as the "Boy Bishop," St. Nicholas found himself in prison following a religious trek to the holy land in the East, but was released and returned home to Patara, a province in the province of Lycia.

Here, his legend was born and grew. In fact, the legend of St. Nicholas became positively mythical.

According to the mythos of the tale, there was an impoverished nobleman who had three daughters. Because of his financial problems, he was unable to provide a dowry for his girls and they couldn't get married.

At the time, the custom was for fathers to have dowries for their daughters as added incentive for the potential grooms. According to the legend, the father was considering selling his daughters into prostitution as he had no money for their dowries.

Bishop Nicholas learned of the family's plight and, legend has it, in the dead of night threw three bags of gold into the nobleman's home to be used as dowries for the girls. Here the legend gets a bit confused, with some reports stating the gold-filled bags landed in stockings hanging by the fireplace overnight to dry.

This, though, is where the legend of the Christmas stocking begins.

Still, St. Nick is known for much more than just tossing a few bags of gold in a window.

He became the patron saint of children after he allegedly brought three boys back to life after they had been hacked apart and their body parts placed in a barrel of brine.

He is also the patron saint of sailors, getting this honor after reportedly being on a ship caught in a storm on the open sea. When St. Nicholas offered a prayer, the story goes, the seas calmed and the ship safely reached port.

Nicholas, himself, was the only child of wealthy parents, who were, themselves, Christian in a time when belief in Christ was punishable by death. His parents died during an epidemic while Nicholas was a young child.

His mother had, though, taught him the scriptures and Nicholas, after his parents died, dedicated himself in the service of God.

He moved to Myra where he was made a bishop. The "boy bishop," as he was called, was popular with his parishioners, who believed he could perform miracles.

Following the incident with the nobleman's daughters, Nicholas would travel around in disguise, passing out presents to people, especially children.

Bishop Nicholas died around 341 A.D. After his death, some 600 churches in Europe were named in his honor. The first such recognition came from Emperor Justinian in Constantinople.

St. Nicholas was honored by the church with a day named in his honor. The day, December 6 , was celebrated for many years as the time when presents were given by Christian families. Non-Christians still exchanged gifts during the midwinter festival.

From there, his legend grew and most major cultures developed versions of gift givers, along with different names.

At one time, Odin, ruler of the Norse Gods, was considered to be a kind of Santa Claus. Legends state Odin rode through the world at midwinter on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, bringing both rewards and punishments, depending on which was deserved by the recipient.

After Christianity came to the northern climes, Odin was replaced by Santa Claus.

In the British Isles, Santa is known as Father Christmas, in France he is Pere Noel. Germany calls him Weihnactsmann, while in Italy he is an old woman, La Befana. The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden use the names Jultomten and Julenissen for jolly old St. Nick.

To the Dutch he is Sinter Klass. This name came to America to the English colonies. When the Dutch talked