- Photo:
- Viggo Johansen
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
- Photo:
- Viggo Johansen
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
The Christmas Tree Was Initially An Ancient Winter Solstice Tradition
For millennia, diverse cultures - including ancient Egyptian and Celtic groups - celebrated the winter solstice with evergreens. Romans even used evergreen plants in their wintertime Saturnalia festival, the date of which roughly coincides with Christian Christmas.
Christians adapted this pagan tradition to their own uses. By the 16th and 17th centuries, Germans had begun decorating indoor evergreen trees at Christmas. This tradition became popular outside of the region thanks to migrations to other parts of the world. In particular, Germans who married into the British royal family were said to have brought it across the English Channel.
King George III's wife, Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, introduced the indoor Christmas tree to Windsor in 1800. Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, further popularized it a few decades later.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Michele di Baldovino
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Santa Claus Derived From The Benevolent Gift-Giver Saint Nicholas
The white-bearded, North-Pole-dwelling Santa Claus of popular imagination traces his roots to an early Christian, Mediterranean saint. St. Nicholas of Myra was active in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries in what is modern-day Turkey.
Nicholas was famously generous: He gave dowries to strangers and even brought pickled children back to life. Nicholas thus became a legendary gift-giver in Christian stories. Since his feast day falls on December 6 and embodies the spirit of giving, Nicholas became associated with Christmas - and eventually the modern-day Santa Claus.
Dutch and German Christians in particular revered Nicholas and helped spread his popularity around the world.
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Many Cultures Associated The Mistletoe With Fertility
The parasitic and poisonous mistletoe may seem like an odd addition to Christmas traditions. Yet, communities across ancient Europe associated the mistletoe with fertility.
Druids used mistletoe, an evergreen, in winter festivals. Mistletoes also appear in Norse mythology, and one story connects them to Frigga, goddess of beauty, love, and marriage.
As symbols of fertility, mistletoes had connections to love and romance - and this association may have been enough for people to start kissing beneath them in the late 18th century.
- Photo:
- Clement C. Moore
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Stockings Only Became Popular Due To A Story About Saint Nicholas
The tradition of hanging Christmas stockings above fireplaces can be traced to a legend about an early Christian saint, the real-life St. Nicholas of Myra.
As one story has it, Nicholas - known for giving gifts - climbed down a family's chimney one night and deposited money in their stockings, which they had hung up to dry above the fire. As Nicholas increasingly became associated with Christmas, so did the tradition of leaving stockings out for Santa Claus to fill.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Souvenir Post Card Company
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Reindeer Were Popularized By The Meat Industry
Reindeer were introduced as a food and fur source to Alaska in the 19th century. Carl Lomen - a businessman and photographer - thought reindeer could be a popular meat throughout the United States.
Lomen believed there was no better salesman for reindeer meat than Santa Claus, a man who - like reindeer - hailed from the snowy north. Lomen provided a fanciful backstory to explain why:
Hit by the high cost of living, Santa Claus - whose herds in Alaska have increased to more than 325,000 animals - is now placing some of his choicest animals on the market, to secure funds to buy gifts for his sack, and also to supply the good people of these United States with an additional and welcome food product.
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England's Queen Elizabeth I Popularized Shaping Gingerbread Into Decorations
Recipes for gingerbread can be traced back to at least 2400 BCE in Greece - but gingerbread men and objects have a slightly more recent history.
It only seems to have been in the early modern era when gingerbread was formed into decorative shapes. Emperor Frederick III of the Holy Roman Empire once requested that his likeness be made in the form of gingerbread in the 15th century. Queen Elizabeth I of England (who reigned in the 16th century) similarly commissioned her cooks to bake gingerbread in molds so that they resembled her courtiers and important dignitaries.
Though Elizabeth is credited with popularizing gingerbread men, she was not responsible for gingerbread houses. They didn't become popular until the 19th century, after the Brothers Grimm brought the folktale of Hansel and Gretel to wider audiences.
- Photo:
- Norman Rockwell
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Though Many Cultures Had Stories About Elves, They've Only Been Associated With Christmas Since The 19th Century
Elves have existed in folklore for centuries. In traditional folklore, elves appear as mischievous and evil.
By the 19th century, however, elves had become Santa's friendly helpers. In the 1823 Christmas poem, "A Visit From St. Nicholas," Santa Claus is described as a "jolly old elf."
Other writers and artists continued the association between Santa Claus and elves.
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Red And Green Are The Colors Of Holly - But Coca-Cola Advertisements Associated The Colors With Christmas
Though pre-Christian and pagan cultures used holly in festivals and rituals, the plant became associated with Christmas because many took it to represent Jesus's crown of thorns. As a result, the holly's green and red colors were connected to Christmas - but they were not the signature colors of the holiday.
That all changed in the 1930s. The Coca-Cola Company popularized red and green as the quintessential Christmas colors through its advertising campaign featuring a fat and jolly Santa Claus.
- Photo:
- Alfred Henry Forrester
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
The Yule Log Came From Winter Solstice Celebrations During The Iron Age
Though it goes by different names - yule log or bûche de Noël - a log-shaped sponge cake appears on many Christmas tables. The history of this holiday dessert is complicated.
Yule logs were once actual logs that were burned in winter. From as early as 1200 BCE, Celtic and Gaelic communities celebrated winter solstice by using logs to symbolically burn away the past. This ritual was usually accompanied by feasting.
Christianized Europe continued to celebrate this tradition in the 16th and 17th centuries, but adapted it to Christmas. The pagan feast and log-burning merged into the decadent yule log dessert.
- Photo:
- Photo:
Holly And Ivy Were Winter Plants Used By Pagans To Represent Fertility And Rebirth
Holly and ivy have deep roots in wintertime celebrations. As evergreen plants, holly and ivy were available in winter. They weren't exclusively used in winter, however.
Ancient Gaelic communities used the plants in their springtime Beltane festival, since they believed holly and ivy symbolized fertility and rebirth.
- Photo:
- National Archive
- Wikimedia Commons
- No Restrictions
Electric Lights Were Designed As A Safer Alternative To Candles
Germans developed the modern Christmas tree and, in the 16th century, illuminated their holiday trees with flickering candles. Some even claim that Protestant firebrand Martin Luther was the first to light a Christmas tree.
As the popularity of Christmas trees spread throughout Christian communities, so too did the risk of fire. Evergreen trees could go up in flames, thanks to all those burning candles.
To offer an alternative to risky candles, businessman and innovator Edward Johnson - who was also a partner in Thomas Edison's Edison Illumination Company - developed electric lights for Christmas trees in the 1880s. Since electricity was expensive at this time, they were not widely used.
Once the cost of electricity decreased by the 1920s, electric light kits were increasingly sold.
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Manuel Perez Paredes
- Wikimedia Commons
- CC BY-SA 3.0
Christmas Stars Came From The Star Of Bethlehem
From tree toppers to cookie cutters, stars are everywhere at Christmastime. Unlike many Christmas traditions that have their roots in pagan celebrations or modern inventions, the appearance of a star during the birth of Jesus really does appear in the Bible.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, a bright, shining star appeared in the night sky and led three wise men to Bethlehem, where they could pay homage to the divine infant.
Though there is a religious and literary precedent for the Star of Bethlehem, it remains an astronomical mystery.
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Wreaths In The 16th Century Came To Represent 'Divine Perfection'
One of the most public symbols of Christmas are wreaths hung on doors. Wreaths were meaningful objects in the pre-Christian and Christian worlds.
In ancient times, rings of plants signaled victory and triumph. From the 16th century, Christmas wreaths made from evergreen plants symbolized rebirth, and their circular shape represented "divine perfection."
- Photo:
- Fanny Chambers Gooch Iglehart
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
Poinsettias Originally Came From Mexican Folklore But Were Popularized In The US By Bob Hope
The red-leafed plant most associated with Christmas is the poinsettia. Known in Mexico as the "Christmas Eve flower," poinsettias have deep roots in Central America and Aztec culture. Spanish missionaries used the wintry plant for their own purposes, thereby Christianizing it.
Poinsettias arrived in the United States only in the 19th century, after the American minister to Mexico John Roberts Poinsett brought them north of the Rio Grande. But poinsettias didn't catch on as a Christmas plant until the middle of the 20th century.
The Ecke family made poinsettias their business and promoted them as a plant for the Christmas holiday. They went so far as to send poinsettias to Bob Hope's television show, a move that introduced poinsettias to millions of Americans.
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Tinsel Was A Means To Show Off Wealth
Tinsel has a surprisingly long history. Starting in the 16th century, wealthy Germans who celebrated Christmas in Nuremberg sometimes added thin strips of silver - tinsel in its earliest form - to their Christmas trees to display their wealth.
Not everyone could afford real silver, however. By the beginning of the 20th century, tinsel made mostly from less expensive materials - including lead - was widely available.
- Photo:
- Sunshine Publishing Company Philadelphia
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public Domain
The Candy Cane Mysteriously Became Popular In The 17th Century
Candy canes have a murky origin story. Though no one really knows why or how they were first made, by the 17th century, candy in the form of sticks had become popular. One story claims that this hard candy was invented to keep choir boys quiet in Germany.
The practice of using candy canes as a tree decoration has been a relatively recent tradition, beginning in the 19th century.
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Bells Were Traditionally Rung During Mass
Bells herald the Christmas season in popular imagination. But their association with Christmastime gradually developed over centuries.
Bells were attached to sleighs as a means of announcing the approach of the vehicle. Bells were also rung before and during mass. Thanks to their seasonal and religious connotations, bells became a symbol of Christmas.
