It’s Christmas Time

Who is Santa Claus? Very few people are aware of his connection with another legendary gift-giver and patron saint of children – St Nicholas, or Sinterklaas as he is known in Holland. The name Santa Claus is actually the American mispronunciation 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 to envy St Nicholas his manner of entrance. Back 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 match the official colours of Coca Cola. Santa hasn’t changed his clothes since, and his ‘joint venture’ with Coca Cola has greatly contributed to the success of both Coca Cola as a brand and Santa as a household name.

Do you think that we celebrate Christmas on 25th December because Jesus was really born on that day? Nobody actually knows that. 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 pagan 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 absorbed into the celebration in the process.

Of course, we mustn’t forget Christmas trees. The Christmas tree is a fir 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 they did this 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.

The custom of kissing under the mistletoe originated in 14th-century Britain. The mistletoe was used as decorative greenery surrounding 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 idolatrous 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, have you wondered why we eat turkey at the Christmas table? It is amazing that Europeans didn’t know anything about turkey until 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?