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Christmas Stories, traditions, and facts
The Beginning of Christmas Celebrations (Christ's Mass)
Because the bible didn't actually specify the date when Jesus was born, Pope Juleps I of the fourth century designated December 25 as the official date for the feast of Jesus'nativity. This celebration of Jesus'birth soon became widespread and touched the hearts of many. The very first Christmas carols ever written were composed by the Christians of this period. The Christmas Tree In the 16th century,
it was common for the people of Germany to decorate fir
Saint Nicholas -- Sint Nickolaas -- Sinter Klaas -- Santa Claus
When the Dutch families came to America many of them settled in New York which introduced their rich heritage to the settlers who had come there before them. Their traditional celebrations of the feast day of St. Nicholas caught the attention of many. The Dutch called St. Nicholas, Sint Nikolaas, which later was shortened to Sinter Klaas, and because the Sinter Klaas stories of their past generations were an important part of their celebrations, they retold these entertaining stories year after year to the delight of all that heard them. Through the years the stories
of Sinter Klaas began to grow, and Sinter Klaas
The stores began advertising Christmas shopping in 1820 as more and more people adopted the tradition of gift giving at Christmas. Then in 1822 Clemente Clarke Moore wrote and published the Christmas poem, "An Account of a Visit From St. Nicholas", depicting Santa as a jolly old elf that flew from house to house in his miniature sleigh with eight flying reindeer who delivered presents to all the good boys and girls on Christmas Eve. By 1840 the images of this popular new Santa Claus started popping up in newspaper advertisements, and a shop in Philadelphia placed the first life-size model of Santa in front of their shop which drew thousands of children and parents. Then other stores copied the Philadelphia store's use of a live Santa in hopes of drawing more customers to their shops. And by 1846 the first Christmas cards were made for purchase. By 1850 it became fashionable to adopt the foreign custom of bringing an evergreen tree indoors and decorating it with lighted candles, much like the one first introduced by Martin Luther in the 16th century when he brought one indoors and put candles on it to illustrate to his children how the stars twinkled through the trees in the woods at night. The evergreen tree represented the Holy Trinity according to the legend of a monk who had used the shape of a fir tree to explain the Holy Trinity to the people in Germany during the 7th century. It was revered as God's tree by the converted people. Then in 1881 Santa inherited another new look to go along with the sleigh and the eight flying reindeer that Clemente Moore's story had given to him. He was now given a red suit trimmed in white fir with a matching cap, and a wife, Mrs. Claus, plus some elves and a workshop located at the North Pole. A political cartoonist named Thomas Nast is who gave him these things when he published a cartoon interpretation of Clement Moore's poem. In the early 1890's the Salvation
army thought up another great use for Santa The legends of St. Nicholas' life of giving traveled far and wide. They became the inspiration behind the many other Christmastime bearers of gifts that followed, such as Kris Kringle or Christkind of Switzerland and Germany, Father Christmas of England, La Befana of Italy, Jultomten of Scandinavia, Pere Noel of France, and Babouschka of Russia. The Origin
of the Candy Cane
A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a special kind of candy that would tell the story of Christmas. He decided to begin with a stick of pure, white, hard candy. The white would symbolize Jesus birth from a virgin, and His sinless life. He made it hard to let us know that Jesus is the "Solid Rock," and to symbolize the firm promises of God. Next he bent it into the form of a "J" to stand for Jesus. Turned upside down, it looks like a shepherds staff, reminding us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Finally, he decided to put stripes on it to remind us that Jesus suffered and died for us three thin stripes to represent the scourging that Jesus received before His death, and one thick one to represent the blood that He shed for us on the cross. Every true candy cane will have these symbols on them, reminding us that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, who came to earth so that we could be with our Heavenly Father forever.
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Last Updated: February 22, 2002