The Customs of Christmas

For years I followed traditions set down by my birth family and incorporated into those traditions those of my husbands when we were married. Over the years it has become a blend of our two diverse cultures. His Polish Catholic background and my Irish Catholic background; it is a unique blending of cultures.

But I have an inquisitive mind about customs and traditions. So I decided to do a little research into the celebration of Christmas. All Christians know why we celebrate the holiday, but do you know the customs behind the customs?

Did you know that many of the customs that we associate with Christmas come from pagan or pre-Christian backgrounds? For instance: Mistletoe played an important role in the traditions of the Druids and in the folklore of northern Europe; the Norse word for a the twelve day celebration is “yule”; the Romans used holly as a decoration in their twelve day holiday known as Saturnalia, which ended on January 1 (this is where the twelve days of Christmas comes from); and that “X” in “Xmas” doesn’t stand for a cross, but it represents “chi” which when written looks like our “x” and is the first letter in the Greek word “christos” which is similar to the Hebrew word for “messiah” meaning the “anointed one”.

As for Christmas being celebrated during the month of December with snow on the ground, it entirely possible that snow was on the ground when Christ was born. Palestine does get snow. But it is interesting to note that the day we celebrate Christmas, at least here in the west, was not agreed upon until the early 5th century. Actually, no one really celebrated the birth until around the 4th century when the feast of Christmas began. The Eastern Church celebrates Christmas on January 6. There is some speculation that the date for Christmas was set to come before the Roman holiday of Saturnalia and as I have learned that Roman holiday was celebrated in much the same way as we celebrate Christmas.

There is another thought that the reason December 25 was chosen was that the Romans believed that December 25 was the birthday of the “unconquerable sun”, which was their date for their winter solstice and it was the day when the sun had reached its southernmost point and began its northern climb
in the skies and the days grew longer, making December 25 known as the day of the unconquerable Son.

I find facts like this fascinating. Everyone should get to know the origins of traditions whether they are family traditions or ones that are celebrated worldwide. My father always said, “if you don’t know your past, how will you live your future.”

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Nancy has worked online for eight years as an Affiliate Marketer. Her website www.hmewrk4u.com is just one of four sites.

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