As the weather is starting to get cold, everyone is beginning to get into the holiday spirit. Christmas trees are being set up along with all of the Christmas decorations. 

On Christmas, Dec. 25, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas has always been a time for families and friends to get together and exchange gifts. Santa Claus, a fictional character, plays a role in this particular Christmas celebration by putting gifts under the tree depending on whether or not you were on the “naughty or nice list”. 

The relationship between the Christian festival and family holiday is further established in other nations, such as Austria and Germany, by designating the Christ Child as the giver of presents to the family. On Dec. 6, St. Nicholas’ feast day, he makes an appearance in certain European nations, bringing children small gifts of candy and other items. Other countries, like Mexico, will spend a whole month celebrating the life of Christ and the mother Mary for being able to carry Jesus in the womb. Each day, they will have a dedication by doing a show of fireworks. While these are all heartwarming celebrations, they are very different from how the U.S. celebrates Christmas.

Sebastian Brant, a Renaissance humanist, wrote about the tradition of putting Christmas trees inside homes. Although the tradition’s exact origin and date are unknown, it is believed that the first apple-decorated trees appeared in Strasbourg in 1605. Christmas trees were first mentioned in America in the 1830s by a German immigrant to Pennsylvania. Christmas ornaments began to arrive from Germany in the 1890s and became more and more popular across the United States. It was observed that whereas Americans preferred their Christmas trees to extend all the way to the ceiling, many Europeans preferred smaller trees, typically no taller than four feet.

Christmas began to be widely celebrated. Almost every part of Christmas traditions have roots in Roman tradition and religion. Roman Saturnalia, a harvest festival that celebrated the winter solstice, is thought to have inspired the first Christmas celebration. Christmas was created as a way to switch from sun worship to Son worship. Emperor Justinian declared Christmas a public holiday in 529 A.D., after Christianity was accepted as the official religion of the Roman Empire. The first Christmas service is held at midnight in Roman Catholic churches, and Christmas is traditionally celebrated in the late evening of Dec. 24 in Protestant churches. 

The custom of giving gifts to family members became well-established by the end of the 18th century. Even though when the Wise Men came to visit Bethlehem they implied that Christmas was somehow tied to gifts when they gave gifts to Jesus, the feast day served to remind Christian’s of God’s gift of Jesus to humankind.

The Advent wreath, which consists of fir branches and four candles, dates back to the 19th century. It originally had roots in the 16th century with a fir wreath of  24 candles, but this was later lowered to four due to the inconvenience of having so many candles. Authorities believe that the use of Christmas wreaths can be linked to paganic practices of adorning structures and places of worship. European pagans took holly wreaths inside their homes and offered them to forest fairies as a haven from the bitter winter. During Saturnalia, holly branches were traded as amulets of friendship. Nowadays, the majority of people use a holly wreath to decorate their house for the Christmas season.

We cannot forget about  “kissing under the mistletoe.” The paganism believed that this occurred only natural on a night filled with excessive drinking and revelry. Similar to now, “kissing” would typically take place at the start of any Christmas festivity. For individuals who “reveled” under the mistletoes, it was believed to have extraordinary healing properties. In Europe, mistletoe is thought to have once held a unique ritual in Druid ceremonies and folklore. 

Another tradition of Christmas is the increasing amount of Christmas carols, such as “Deck the Halls.” They were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but they were not Christmas Carols. They were pre-Christian songs sung at Winter Solstice celebrations as people would dance round stone circles. Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and would take place around Dec. 22. The word Carol, means to dance or sing of praise and joy. 

Christmas is a time to enjoy being around family and friends. It is the happiest season where people can enjoy the cold weather, sitting on their couch with hot cocoa, and enjoying Christmas movies. It is a celebration of Christ. Along, with doing all of the Christmas traditions that have been around for centuries or in the family.