Christmas Traditions

Christmas is one of the two great holy days in the Christian world. It celebrates the birth of Christ, the Christian God,  two thousand years ago. But the history of Christmas starts even earlier than this.

Christ was born in the Middle East (modern Israel). His followers brought the teachings into Europe, which at that time was ruled by the Romans (modern day Italians).

The Romans had an important pagan (non-religious) holiday called "the birthday of the unconquered sun"  which they celebrated on December 25. It honored two things: farmers and the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

As Christianity grew,  the pagan celebration was replaced with the Christian one. By 336 AD Christmas was the accepted holiday in Rome. Today December 25 is still celebrated as Christmas.

Christmas borrowed customs from other Roman holidays too. One was Saturnalia. Held on December 17, Saturnalia was a time of parties and gift giving.

The Roman New Year, on January 1, also gave traditions to Christmas. Houses were decorated with evergreen tree branches, plants and lights. Gifts were given to children and the poor. Today we put wreaths of evergreen branches on our doors, string lights around the house and display the poinsettia flower. This is also a time for helping those less fortunate than us. Good will is a theme of Christmas.

Even before the Romans, evergreen trees and other greenery were used as a symbol of eternal life. The use of greenery goes back to the ancient customs of the Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews.

Other countries lent traditions to Christmas too. In the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark) people decorated their houses and barns with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil. They set up a tree with food on it for the birds during Christmas.

The Swedish word for Christmas is Jul, pronounced Yule. We use the word Yule today to describe the Yuletide season, Christmas. The Yule log, a special log cut from a tree and burned in the fireplace is part of the modern tradidion in some countries. The tradition of burning the Yule log doesn't come from Sweden, though. It comes from Germany.

When the early German tribes moved into Britain and Europe, they brought with them Yule traditions. Beside the Yule log there were special foods like Yule cakes. There were plant greenery and fir trees (evergreens), gift giving and sending greetings. The Christmas cards of today originated from that time.

In Germany, placing a Yule tree at an entrance or inside the house in the midwinter holidays eventually became our Christmas tree custom.

Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and long life, have always been part of the winter festivals, both pagan and Christian. Today we decorate the house with candles and string lights on the Christmas tree. And of course, nothing is more festive than a fire going in the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

Christmas, the season of caring and good wishes, has borrowed from many countries and many ages in history. May your holiday season be full of peace and happiness.

Reference: "Christmas" Britannica Online.

Want to learn more about winter holiday customs around the world?  You can start here: http://www.maui.net/~mcculc/xmas.htm

This was sent to EFI teacher Joyce Griffith Butler from her student Audrone in Lithuania:

Dear Joyse Griffith Butler,

This my essay has just corrected my good friend from NC (US). We are not acquainted but I correspond with her for a year. In such case, if my this "Christmas tradition in Lithuania" will be published, I would like to advertise her home page on the WEB: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4251/  It is really worth to visit. He is a teacher. Here is a lot of various information

Christmas tradition in Lithuania.

Christmas Eve is more important that Christmas day in Lithuania. Dec. 24th is the shortest day of the year. All traditions are related to it. Supper on Christmas Eve is special and traditional. The whole family gathers together. If you know that there is a person alone anywhere, you must invite him/her to Christmas Eve supper. Eating together and sharing with others is the most important thing. In earlier times, the man of the house always took food from the Christmas Eve table for the animals to the cattle shed. The belief was that people and animals would be friendly in the year to come, doing nothing bad to each other.

This night is always mysterious. Even the animals begin to speak in the cattle shed at midnight. You can go and listen to them. The family starts to eat when the first star comes up in the sky. It starts the last night of the year. It is a tradition to place a little hay under the tablecloth on the table. The oldest family member greets everyone and wishes everyone all the best.

On Dec. 24, nobody may eat meat. The dishes are special and traditional. The main dishes are herrings and fish and dried boletus, for cooking or salad which is served only with oil.

For a hot meal, I usually prepare dumplings, shaping them into ears, with dried boletus inside. These dumplings are served with hot broth make from red beet roots and boletus broth. It is particularly tasty. As soon as we eat the main dishes, we pause to wait for the coming of Christmas Man (your Santa Claus. When the children were small, he used to come with a big sack full of gifts. Now that our family are all adults, he leaves the sack behind the door. Everyone gets many gifts which we have prepared for each other.

Everyone is very pleased. After this large dinner, we eat special sweet courses: very sour thick cranberry kissel (jelly made with potato flour), mixed, stewed fruit compote, and a special Christmas Eve dish of poppy milk with very small dumplings (lumps).

The night is very full of lots. It is a tradition to cast lots. As soon a the family has supper, the mother pours grains of wheat on the table. The more you pick up, the richer you will be next year. The girls draw straws from under the tablecloth. The shortest straw mean the girl will marry, the thickest meant the girl will be happy. If you are angry with someone on Christmas Eve, you will be angry in the new year.

If it is a starry night after supper, it means the new year will be good. Hens will lay many eggs, forest mushrooms will be plentiful, the apple and nut harvests will be large next year. If it snows after supper, the cows will give lots of milk. There are lots of other lots that night.

Sincerely
Audra

This is from Nadir Tomasini Junior in Brazil about Christmas:   

Hello dear teacher Margaret! Hello Folks!!   

How are you?   

I'm imagining you are watching the snow fall, I know that is strange, but I love SNOW, and unhappily (for me of course) here where I live snow is very rare. How I would like to be there watching and playing in the snow. [editors note: It was snowing in Germany, where his teacher lives!]   

Well, about any special celebration of harvest, we don't have one. :((((    So, I will go to talk about Christmas celebration, Ok?   

Our Christmas celebration is very like with American Christmas celebration, because we put light on every place in the houses and buildings as well as in the gardens and trees.   

Since last Christmas our parish and community adorn the square in front of the church, and today (11/29/97) is the begining of the festivity. I hope be there and enjoy the lights and fireworks.   

We have Santa Claus too, here we calling him: Papai Noel. Hehehe in these warm days, our Santas lose weight a lot.   

We give the presents each other in the Christmas Eve, and in the supper we eat turkey, a cake called "Panetone", fruits a lot of them and chesnut-brown too of course.   

I think that is it, folks and teacher Margaret.   

Bye bye!   
Nadir Tomasini Junior - Brazil 

A student from Margaret Ann Doty's class of beginner grammar/writing shares this from Taiwan:

Hi everyone:   

I am Hui-Ling. Nice to see you again. I have lived in Taiwan for 30 years and never went abroad during Christmas season. I am not a christian, so I don't make any celebration in the day. But I still get one day off on Dec. 25, it is my country's constitutionalized commemoration day.   

However, on the Taipei City Hall Square there stands a Christmas tree, it will be decorated and lighted up on Christmas Eve. Maybe a dancing party will be held.   

Many years ago, I went to the church watching people celebrate Christmas. It was peaceful and warm. I hope one day I will have the chance to see the real Christmas around the world.