Christmas

B

The Christmas Tree

While Santa Claus became increasingly familiar to Americans, the German Christmas tree also acquired popularity in North America. As early as the 17th century, Germans had transformed this pagan symbol of fertility into a Christian symbol of rebirth. According to legend, the Christmas tree tradition began with the founder of German Protestantism, 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. 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, but the custom spread quickly. German immigrants took the Christmas tree to other parts of Europe and to the United States and Canada, where it soon became a popular tradition. Blown-glass ornaments, tin angels, paper chains, candles, cornucopias filled with sugarplums, and other decorations made the simple evergreen tree into a beautiful parlor centerpiece at Christmastime.

C

Christmas Cards

The practice of exchanging Christmas cards also became a widespread custom in the 19th century. Europeans had distributed wood prints of religious themes for Christmas during the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century). In 1843 English illustrator John Callcott Horsley created the first modern Christmas card. The card depicted a family celebration and its caption read, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” In the United States, German-born printer Louis Prang made advances in color lithography that enabled him to mass-produce a colorful Christmas card in 1875. The card sold extremely well, and soon the custom of exchanging Christmas cards spread throughout the country.

IV

In the United States Today

The inhabitants of the United States have emigrated from all over the world. As a result, many traditions have mingled to form modern American Christmas celebrations and folklore. Some Swedish American communities hold Santa Lucia festivals to honor a young girl who was killed in the 4th century for her Christian beliefs. German Americans in Pennsylvania create elaborate landscapes, called putzes, beneath their Christmas trees. These displays—made of moss, pine branches, stones, and logs—depict the birth of Christ. Christmas Eve bonfires illuminate the banks of the Mississippi River in Louisiana so that Papa Noël (French for “Father Christmas”) will be able to find his way to the homes of the local Cajun children. In the southwestern United States, Mexican Americans hold festivals called posadas that recreate Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to stay where Mary could give birth to Jesus (see Virgin Mary and Joseph). In addition to these Christian celebrations, the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah and the seven-day African American festival of Kwanzaa are popular celebrations that coincide with the Christmas season.

Despite this variety of people and faiths, there is a striking unity to Christmas celebrations in the United States. For many people, the holiday season begins with the arrival of Santa Claus in the annual Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City sponsored by Macy’s department store. Television advertisements heralding the beginning of the Christmas shopping season can begin even earlier in autumn. Many Americans participate in a communal sense of holiday spirit: Cities decorate their streets with Christmas lights; stores fill their shelves with extra merchandise; friends and relatives exchange holiday cards; communities decorate public Christmas trees; and volunteers from the Salvation Army ring bells on city streets to solicit charity donations.

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Most people who celebrate Christmas also participate in special holiday rituals in their homes. Families often decorate evergreen trees and place colorfully wrapped presents beneath them. A family member might give a reading of “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” or read passages from the Bible. Or families might gather around the television to watch old movie favorites such as It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947), or holiday cartoons such as “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Each year as Christmas approaches, many families attend church pageants that recount the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. On Christmas Eve, children often hang stockings; they awake in the morning to find the stockings filled with gifts from Santa Claus. Many families attend church on Christmas Eve and open their gifts that evening. Others wait until the next morning to exchange gifts.

V

In Canada Today

Canada, like the United States, combines sacred and secular customs brought from many parts of the world. Canadians with an English Protestant heritage are likely to enjoy a feast of turkey and plum pudding and focus their holiday celebrations on December 25. The French Catholic population generally attends midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, then holds a Christmas feast known as a réveillon. Many Dutch Canadians begin their Christmas on December 6, when children leave their shoes filled with grain for Santa’s horse, Sleipner. Ukrainian Canadians in the western part of the country celebrate the season much as their ancestors in the Eastern Orthodox church did, by feasting on a 12–course dinner and distributing gifts on January 6.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, an old English custom called mummering has shown signs of being revived. Mummering takes place sometime during the 12 days of Christmas, usually on the night of January 5, the eve of Epiphany which is usually referred to as the Old Twelfth, or Twelfth Night. Adults practice the custom by disguising themselves with masks or by dressing in the clothing of the opposite sex. They visit the homes of friends and neighbors, where they perform a short song or dance while trying not to be identified. In return for their performance, they receive small cakes and wine or perhaps a glass of eggnog, which is a blend of eggs, cream, sugar, and alcohol.

Despite these varied customs, Canadians share the traditions of most modern Christmas celebrations around the world. The holiday helps create a sense of unity among Canadians as they decorate Christmas trees, attend church, shop for and exchange gifts, and join in Christmas feasts.

VI

Religious Practice and Popular Customs

The Bible provides no guidelines that explain how Christmas should be observed, nor does it even suggest that it should be considered a religious holiday. Because of the lack of biblical instructions, Christmas rituals have been shaped by the religious and popular traditions of each culture that celebrates the holiday. Traditionally, the sacred Christmas season starts with Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and continues to Christmas Day. The sacred season ends on Epiphany, January 6. During Advent, Christians make preparations for the commemoration of Jesus’ birth on December 25, and also look forward to the Second Coming of Christ. Each of the four weeks symbolizes a different way in which believers perceive Christ: through the flesh, the Holy Spirit, death, and Christ’s judgment of the dead. The Advent wreath, which consists of four candles anchored in a circle of evergreen branches, originated with German Lutherans; the tradition has been adopted by many churches and families. At the beginning of each of the four weeks preceding Christmas, Christians light an Advent candle as they say a prayer.

On Christmas Eve, churches around the world hold evening services. At midnight, most Catholic and many Protestant churches hold special candlelight services. The Catholic midnight Mass was first introduced by the Roman Catholic Church in the 5th century. Christmas Masses are sometimes solemn and sometimes buoyant, depending on the particular culture that conducts them. Among some congregations, worshipers enter the church in communal processions. Church services often feature candlelight and organ music. Some also include a dramatization of the biblical story of Jesus’ birth, a practice begun by Saint Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.

Christmas observances have also assimilated remnants of ancient midwinter rituals that celebrate the returning light of the sun following the winter solstice. For example, many cultures continue the pre-Christian custom of burning Yule logs during the midwinter season; the Yule log symbolizes the victory of light over the darkness of winter. The tradition of lighting the Yule log is still observed, especially by Europeans. Families light the log on Christmas Eve and keep it burning until Epiphany. Some families save the remains of the Yule log to help kindle the fire the following year. According to ancient tradition, the ashes provide protection against bad luck during the year.

Christians traditionally exchange gifts as a reminder of God’s gift of a savior to humankind. Gift giving also recalls an ancient Roman custom of exchanging gifts to bring good fortune for the new year. In most cultures that celebrate Christmas, a mythical figure delivers gifts to children. Many of these legendary gift givers bear a passing resemblance to pre-Christian elves and pranksters, who would distribute gifts while also making mischief in the community. As cultures adapted to Christianity, however, the gift givers often required that children behave well in order to receive their treats. This good behavior usually entailed obedience to parents and recitation of verses from the Bible. If the children misbehaved, they might receive a lump of coal or a switch rather than sweets and toys. Since the 19th century, Santa Claus and other mythical gift givers have become increasingly gentle, generous, and forgiving.

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