The History of Christmas & Christmas Traditions By: Rhonda Chisholm

Table Of Contents What is Christmas? Why Use Holly? Why Such A Big Deal? Who Is Santa? Why Exchange Gifts? Why 12 Days of X’mas Other Traditions Christmas Songs Credits Who Is Rudolph?

What is Christmas? It is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on December 25 each year. The first celebration was in Rome in 336 AD. It is both a holiday and a Holy Day The word Christmas comes from the words Cristes Maesse or Christ’s Mass.

Why is Christmas Such a Big Deal? There are two main reasons: There are 1.8 million Christians in the world. The weeks leading up to Christmas is the biggest shopping weeks of the year.

Who Is This Santa Claus Person? The first well-known gift-giver, St. Nicholas lived in Turkey about 300A.D He was orphaned and later became a priest. He gave to the needy, especially children. He later became a bishop - hence the hat, long gown, white beard and red cape. When the Church started to celebrate Christmas, St. Nick was incorporated into the season.

Why Do People Exchange Gifts? The tradition started with the gifts that the wisemen brought to Jesus. After seeing Jesus with his mother, they opened up their treasures of gold and of incense and myrrh. However, no one was in the habit of giving elaborate gifts until late 1800’s. The Santa Claus story (descibed above) combined with a retail phenomenon has made gift giving the central focus of the Chrismas tradition.

Who is Rudolph? The whole story of Rudolph appeared in It was written by Robert Ward who worked in the advertising department at a retail chain. His original name was Rollo, but executives did not like it so it was changed. The name was choosen by the author’s young daughter. Gene Autry turned the poem into a song in 1949.

Why Do We have Holly Draped Over The Mantel & Staircase? The church banned the traditional use of mistletoe. As a substitute it suggested holly. The sharply pointed leaves were to symbolize the thorns in Christ’s crown. The red berries symbolize the drops of his blood.

Why 12 Days of Christmas? The 12 days between Dec. 25 th & Jan. 6 th Jan. 6 th represents the day Jesus was baptized and the day he was visited by the wisemen. In the past, the tradition was to give gifts throughout the twelve days instead of all on one day.

Other Traditions Stockings - date back to time of original St. Nicholas around 300 A.D. Christmas Tree - German tradition started in 700A.D. Christmas Cards - started in England in 1843 and America in Pointsettias - in 1828 Joel Pointset imported the plant to America from Mexico.

Christmas Songs There is a set of songs that are played continuously during the christmas season. To play the Christmas Song Game, click on Santa Click the wreath to see a list of X’mas Songs

Credits Christmas Song Game How Stuff Works History of Santa Web Graphics ClipArt AAA ClipArt Click on Candy Cane to go to Table of Contents