Christmas

Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December in England, with a Christmas dinner for
the whole family.
During the weeks before Christmas Day, we send cards, watch nativity plays and go to
carol services. We also decorate our homes and churches with green leaves, paper
decorations and colorful electric lights.
Many of our Christmas customs began long before Jesus was born. They came from
earlier festivals which had nothing to do with the Christian church. Long time ago people
had mid-winter festivals when the days were shortest and the sunlight weakest. They
believed that their ceremonies would give the sun back its power. The Romans, for
example, held the festival of Saturnalia around 25 December. They decorated their homes
with evergreens to remind them of Saturn, their harvest god, to return the following
spring.
Some of these customs and traditions were adopted by early Christians as part of their
celebrations of Jesus' birthday.
In Victorian times some new ideas such as Father Christmas, Christmas cards and
crackers were added to the celebrations.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is also Saint Stephens Day, on the 26th of December. In medieval times
every church had an alms box, in which the worshippers could put a gift for the poor of
the parish. The box was always opened one day after Christmas and the contents were
always shared among the needy. Today the box is usually no more than an envelope
containing money. Gifts are given to individual tradesmen (the milkman, the postman, the
delivery boy)

Carol
The term comes from Greek meaning chorus a round dance or song. The earliest
English Christmas carols go far back as the 13th century and they originally came from
France. The congregation of small churches was unable to read the solemn music which
was particularly sung in monasteries. So carols provided a cheerful alternative form of
singing for the great population. Carols were accompanied by play-acting, which in time
became more and more down-to-earth. Finally the church authorities banned carols from
church premises. The carol-singers started singing their songs while wandering around
towns and villages. This custom explains why today we still have traditional visits from
door-to-door carol-singers before Christmas.
Christmas Cards
Sir Henry Cole, a busy, energetic and inventive man realized he could not send hand-
written letters at Christmas to all the members of his huge circle of family. In 1843 he
asked a member of the Royal Academy to design a Christmas card for him. Cole had
1000 printed on stiff cardboard by lithography and then hand-coloured. Although Cole
was not successful from the very beginning, by 1860s Christmas cards became extremely
popular. Coles very first card showed a cheerful family, and on either side pictures of
poor people as a reminder of those in need. The written message states: A Merry
Christmas and a happy New Year to you! a wording that has remained ever since.
Christmas Glass Baubles
About one hundred years ago, some glass-blowers in Bohemia, in a playful mood at the
end of the day, started a contest to see who could blow the largest glass bubbles. When
the contest was ready they discarded them, but their wives took them to local Christmas
markets where they were sold as novelties. They were called Spirit Balls and it was
said that the Evil Eye could not enter the house where they were hung.

Christmas crackers:
A Christmas Cracker is a brightly coloured paper tube, twisted at both ends. There is a
banger inside the cracker and when two people pull it, the cracker snaps in half with a
bang. Traditionally a Christmas cracker is placed next to each plate on the Christmas
dinner table. Inside the cracker there is a paper hat, a joke and a little gift or toy.

Christmas Tree
Originally the tree that was worshipped was the oak. The Christian missionaries in
Germany succeeded to turn the pagan custom of revering the oak to that of worshipping
the fir-tree. With its triangular shape, the fir symbolizes God Father at the top, God the
Son and God the Spirit at the two lower points. The first Christmas tree was brought over
to England from Germany in 1846 by Prince Albert, Queen Victorias husband.
Mistletoe
Mistletoe was a special plant for the druids who believed that it kept alive the spirit of the
oak tree on which it grew. Among its many supposed magical powers, mistletoe was said
to protect against sorcery and witchcraft. A string of mistletoe hung in a house keeps
away evil spirits. Kissing under the mistletoe is a British custom and originally the
mistletoe could be any plant round a small effigy of the Holly Family. Any person
visiting the house during the Christmas period had to be embraced as they crossed the
threshold to demonstrate that, in the holly season, everyone was loved in a Christian way.
Father Christmas and Santa Claus
In ancient times people feared the forces of nature. Winter meant a lot of hardships for
them. To persuade it to be milder, they dressed up to represent Winter and made him as
welcome as possible. The British took up this custom and called him Old Winter, Old
Christmas, or Old Father Christmas. Much later, he became confused with Santa
Claus.
Long ago Father Christmas was dressed in a whole range of different colours. In 1930s
Coca-Cola decided to use Santa Claus in their winter advertising campaigns and the
colours were the official trade colours of Coca-Cola red and white. His name comes
from the Dutch for St. Nicholas which is Sinterklaas. St. Nicolas was the Bishop of
Myra in Asia Minor in the 4th century. He was rich and used to help others. One story
about him is that he liked to give money to the needy, but as he was a shy person he
offered it anonymously. One day, he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of
money down the chimney of a family of needy girls. The purse landed in the stockings
which the girls had hung up by the fire to dry. In memory of him it became customary to
give gifts on the eve of St. Nicholas Day, the 6th of December. The Americans gave Santa
Claus a sleigh and a team of reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid,
Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph).