A History of the Holidays

Dec 25, 2018 News

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By Kemol King

Though the Christmas season is one that is, in modern times, based mainly on the Judeo-Christian story of the birth of Jesus Christ, the season is celebrated today by people of many diverse cultures, religions, creeds, and ethnicities.

The basis for the celebration of Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ, a baby who was prophesied and signaled hope for the salvation of a sinful world.
However, even before the birth of Christ, people from all walks of life celebrated the season differently. Centuries before the arrival of Jesus Christ, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter.
During the winter solstice, a period which marked the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year, the early Europeans took the season to begin rejoicing because it was a sign that the longest periods of darkness were over, and that they could look forward to more sunshine.
In the Scandinavian region, the Germanic people celebrated Yule starting on December 21, through to January. To recognize the arrival of longer days, it was common for fathers to bring home large logs for their sons. They would set the log on fire and, until it burned out, would celebrate and feast for as long as 12 days. The Norse believed that every spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born in the coming year. For them, Yule was a time to celebrate with family and friends, and share the spirit of giving during the holidays. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
The end of December served as a celebratory season for many Europeans who would slaughter their cattle so they didn’t have to provide food for them during the harsh winter season. It was a favourable time of year, because it meant that they would have a wealthy supply of meat. Most wine and beer that was made throughout the year was also finally ready to be had.
In Germany, the season meant paying homage to Odin, the Norse God of wisdom, poetry and war. They believed that he would make nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, in a bid to decide who would prosper or perish. So, many chose to stay inside.
In Rome, winters were not as harsh as those in the North. They celebrated the God Saturn, of Agriculture. The season was called Saturnalia, a hedonistic time that involved the plentiful consumption of food and drink. The normal Roman social order was upturned; masters became servants and servants became masters. Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined “debt” to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens. Businesses and schools were closed so that everyone could enjoy the festivities. It was common for the people to engage in adventurous sexual escapades.

Additionally, around the time of the Winter Solstice, Rome would celebrate Juvenalia, when children were honoured. The members of the upper classes would celebrate Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. They believed that the infant god, Mithra was born from a rock. They had regarded his birthday as the most sacred day of the year.
Even in the early years of Christianity, the birth of Christ was not celebrated. Rather, Easter was the more popular celebration of the Christ’s resurrection, since it had always been regarded as miraculous. Though a specific date for his birth was not mentioned in the bible, the mention of shepherds herding led many to believe that Jesus was born in the Spring. It was Pope Julius I, who assigned December 25 as the day to celebrate Christ’s birth. It is commonly believed that the Church chose this day to absorb the traditions of the Roman Festival of Saturnalia.
The occasion, which was called the Feast of the Nativity, had reached Egypt by the early fourth century and England by the end of the sixth. Then, by the end of the eighth century, the festival had spread all throughout Scandinavia, countries we know as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
Holding Christmas at the same time as traditional Winter Solstice festivals made it easier for Christians to capitalize on the enthusiasm of the seasons. However, this meant giving up on their power to dictate how it was celebrated.
Russian and Greek Orthodox churches celebrate Christ’s birth on January 6. Instead, they call it Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day, after the three men who found Christ 12 days after his birth by following a star in the sky. It is because they discovered Christ 12 days after his birth that they celebrate God incarnate 12 days after December 25.
By the Middle Ages, Christmas had become the mainstream mode of celebration during the Winter Solstice, essentially replacing the traditional/pagan religions. On Christmas day, believers would go to church, then celebrate after, with raucous and merriment.
As for the Christmas tree, while the trees are traditionally associated with Christian symbolism, their modern use is largely secular. Many families place presents around an indoor Christmas tree to be opened on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the Devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime. It survived further in the custom, also observed in Germany, of placing a Yule tree at an entrance or inside the house during the midwinter holidays.

The modern Christmas tree, though, originated in western Germany. The main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a “paradise tree,” a fir tree hung with apples, that represented the Garden of Eden. The Germans set up a paradise tree in their homes on December 24, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. They hung wafers on it (symbolizing the Eucharistic host, the Christian sign of redemption); in a later tradition the wafers were replaced by cookies of various shapes. Candles, symbolic of Christ as the light of the world, were often added. In the same room was the “Christmas pyramid,” a triangular construction of wood that had shelves to hold Christmas figurines and was decorated with evergreens, candles, and a star. By the 16th century the Christmas pyramid and the paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree.
In the early 17th century, English Statesman and Soldier took over England, with the aid of his puritanical forces, sparking a wave of religious reform – including the way Christmas was celebrated – across Europe. The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to “purify” the Church of England from its “Catholic” practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed. singing and related Christmas festivities were not only abhorrent but sinful. According to historical sources, they viewed the celebration of Christ’s birth on 25 December as a “popish” and wasteful tradition that derived – with no biblical justification – from the Roman Catholic Church (‘Christ’s Mass’), thus threatening their core Christian beliefs. Nowhere, they argued, had God called upon mankind to celebrate Christ’s nativity in such fashion. In 1644, an Act of Parliament effectively banned the festival and in June 1647, the Long Parliament passed an ordinance confirming the abolition of the feast of Christmas.
However, when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, by popular demand, the celebration returned with him. It was his ascension to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland that caused the return of Christmas celebration to the continent.
The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. In some places, it was illegal to celebrate Christmas. Anyone partaking in such festivities would be fined, though some celebrated anyway.
After 1783, as the American Revolution ended, the Thirteen Colonies won independence from Great Britain and, as a result, British customs like Christmas fell even more out of favour.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that Christmas started to be embraced by Americans, who changed the celebration from a raucous festival to a day of peace and family.

In 1843, English Author, Charles Dickens, published A Christmas Carol, the story of how a rich man, Ebenezer Scrooge, was supernaturally scared into sharing. The story struck a chord throughout America and Europe, teaching people the importance of charity and goodwill towards all of humanity.
Santa Claus had made his way into American popular culture in the late 18th century when A New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to celebrate the birth of St. Nicholas, a saint who was popularly celebrated in Europe, during the Renaissance period. His name evolved from St. Nicholas to Sinter Klaas, from the Dutch translation of Saint Nicholas, Sint Nikolaas. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a “rascal” with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a “huge pair of Flemish trunk hose.” However, the real Saint Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. Because Europe celebrated his birthday on December 6, the proximity of the celebration to Christmas eventually caused celebrants in America to conflate his birthday celebrations with Christmas festivities.
Christmas only became a federal holiday in the United States of America in June, 1870.
In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving. The newer customs were influenced by Catholic and Episcopalian Immigrants.
Today, the most iconic Christmas tree is the Rockefeller Christmas tree in New York City. Although the first official Rockefeller Christmas tree was erected in 1933, the first was lit in 1931. It was during a time of economic downturn in the United States of America called The Great Depression. Though they didn’t have much, construction workers decorated the first 20-foot tree with garlands, cranberries and tin cans, because they were not going to let The Great Depression stop them from celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.
The power and influence America wields caused traditions to spread throughout the world. Even in countries like Guyana, where there is no winter, the concept of Santa Claus “dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh” has been romanticised by and for many children.

Today, most families believe that they are celebrating Christmas the way it always was. Many don’t know the history; that Christmas isn’t just about the birth of Christ, but an amalgamation of many different cultures the season picked up along the way. This makes the season a truly multicultural occasion, for everyone under the sun.

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