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A History of Christmas

Rockefeller Christmas tree

As we all do our shopping or back our luggage in preparation for our holiday adventures, full of mulled wine and Christmas cookies frosted like Santa Claus and Christmas trees, it might be time to stop and think about the beginning of this tradition. The holiday has been celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ by Christians from as early as the time of the Romans.

Our Christmas tree decorations have roots in Roman and Jewish traditions of decorating the house with evergreen branches and other plant leaves during the winter. Decorating the house with plants was then taken up in places like England where homes were adorned with holly and ivy. The thorns of the holly leaves represented the crown thorns on Christ's head during Crucifixion and the holly berries represented his blood sacrifice. The heart shaped ivy leaves were meant to represent the coming of Jesus to earth. Christmas trees got their start in the 18th century in Germany as an extension of pagan tradition of decorating a home with evergreen boughs for the Winter Solstice.

Christmas carols have been around since in the 4th century in Rome but were originally very sober pieces of music. What we recognise as carols sung by all manner of carol singer each year began in the medieval period. In fact, the old classics "Good King Wenceslaus" and "The Holly and the Ivy" come from this period. The rise of the secular carol was an American phenomenon cemented by the likes of Irving Berlin.

The practice of gift giving is as old as Rome, although it was largely outlawed during the Middle Ages by the Catholic Church as too pagan. In the last couple decades the act of gift giving has taken over as one of the most important parts of this holiday, especially among Non-Christians who celebrate this holiday secularly.

Christmas decorations

Much of the traditions associated with this holiday are specific to certain countries and cultures. In the United States, every child kicks off its Christmas celebrations watching the Macy's ™ Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Japanese celebrate with a white cream cake with strawberries while in Malta they have Honey Rings. Many Catholic countries attend midnight mass and take communion with their family and friends. In Nigeria, they will throw masques and it is expected that the more fortunate give gifts of money and food to those who are less fortunate than them. In Mexico they celebrate with the feast of Guadalupe.

About the Author

This brief article on the history of Christmas is brought to you by St Georges Language School. Although they spend most of their time teaching the Spanish course London's™ premier language school would still like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday, full of family, friends and maybe some mince pies too.

SGI offers a wide range of English courses at their English School in London as well as at their Oxford and Cambridge Partner schools. Available at all centres are group courses for General English, Business English and Academic English and Private Tuition, as well as more specialist options such as Corporate Language Training, Home Tuition and Online Learning.

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