What Is Christmas All About

Very few people are aware of the connection between Santa Claus and another legendary gift-giver and saint of children – St Nicholas, or Sinterklaas as he is known in Holland. The name Santa Claus is actually the American version of Sinterklaas and it originated in 18th-century New York City, a former Dutch colonial town. In the UK he is better known as Father Christmas. Today, both Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are still doing the same business, the only difference being that St Nicholas comes in through the window, while Santa Claus falls down the chimney, probably reflecting St Nicholas his manner of entrance.

In the olden days, Santa Claus was dressed in a whole range of different colours – green, purple, pale blue, blue-black, brown or red. This all changed in the 1930s, when Coca Cola hired artist Haddon Sundblom to re-design and standardize the old man’s image. He chose a red and white suit because these colours are the official colours of Coca Cola, which has greatly contributed to the success of both Coca Cola as a brand and Santa as a household name.

One theory is that this date was chosen by the early Christian leaders all the way back in year 336 A.D., to coincide with the ancient Roman holiday of Saturnalia, celebrating the winter solstice. It originally involved only a simple mass, but over time it has replaced a number of other holidays in many different countries, and a variety of traditions has been incorporated into the celebration in the process.

Where does the Christmas tree come from? Why is it a triangular tree? It came from Germany and was chosen because of its triangular shape, which represents the Holy Trinity. Originally it used to be an oak tree and it was decorated outside the house. The reason why people decorated the tree outside the house was the belief in the existence of tree spirits. When trees became bare of leaves in the autumn, it was believed that the tree spirits had abandoned them. To encourage the spirits to return to the trees, decorations of painted stones or coloured cloth were attached to the trees in midwinter. When the new custom of bringing the trees indoors was started, it was only natural to decorate them in a similar way.

Why do people in some countries have a custom of kissing under the mistletoe? This custom originated in 14th-century Britain. The mistletoe surrounded the small wooden effigies of the Holy Family hung inside the door of the house. Anyone entering the house during the Christmas period had to be embraced. Over time, the effigies were removed because they were considered inappropriate and an embrace was replaced by a kiss. Every time a visitor was kissed, one of the berries was removed from the mistletoe. When all the berries were gone, the kissing had to stop.

And finally, let’s see why we eat turkey at the Christmas table. It is amazing that Europeans didn’t know anything about turkey until the 16th century, when Spanish explorer Cortes brought back home turkeys presented to him by the Aztecs of Central America. The birds were soon shipped to Spain in larger quantities and became an expensive delicacy eaten only on special occasions. And what could be more special than Christmas?