Christmas Traditions and Customs - Origins » Gift Giving and Christmas Decoration Ideas

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Christmas Traditions and Customs - Origins

Thursday, November 8th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

The Christmas season is full of Christmas traditions and customs many of which have been around for many years, some for centuries. Often these Christmas traditions were begun based on a religious or cultural belief and, in time, have been embraced by the general populous.

Popular Christmas Traditions and Customs

Probably one of the most popular and enduring of Christmas traditions and customs is the sending of greeting cards. This tradition originated in Great Britain just after the advent of the postal services. Greeting cards were often sent to family and friends during the Christmas holiday season. Generally these greeting cards depicted religious images of the Nativity scene or that of the Holy Family.

Another longstanding Christmas tradition is the belief in Santa Claus. Santa Claus, also known to others as Father Christmas, is the ‘human face’ of the Christmas holiday season. Santa is believed to travel the world on Christmas Eve and every child who has bee good during the year a present. He is often depicted as a rotund elderly gentleman with white hair and beard dressed in red clothes, carrying a sack full of gifts. He is also believed to climb down chimneys and ride in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.

Another of the well known Christmas traditions and customs is the Christmas stocking. It is believed that this tradition began as a tribute to St. Nicholas, considered by many to be the real life Santa Claus. St Nicholas was thought to be a shy man who wished to share his good fortune with people. However he did not want the people to know that he was the one giving them money, so folklore has it that he would climb up on to their roof and drop a bag of money down their chimney. It is suggested that one of the St Nicholas’s bags of money supposedly dropped into a stocking that a child had hung in the chimney to dry. Thus the tradition of hanging stockings on Christmas eve began.

Another classic Christmas tradition that most people can relate to is the ornamental Christmas tree and mistletoe. Christmas traditions and customs involving the Christmas trees began during the sixteenth century in Germany when trees, specifically fir trees, were decorated with fruits, flowers, candles and colored paper to celebrate the Christmas festivities. As with other Christmas traditions, this particular custom was later exported around the world when people from Germany went to other countries and celebrated Christmas there. It is said that Prince Albert of Germany, who later married Queen Victoria of England, brought the practice of decorating Christmas trees to Great Britain.

The hanging of the mistletoe bush is among the most celebrated of all Christmas traditions. This is because it gives lovers an opportunity to express their love and affection when they are caught under the mistletoe. Traditionally, people caught under the hanging mistletoe should kiss. It is believed that his tradition originated in Scandinavia where the people from that region associated their goddess of love with the mistletoe plant.

These Christmas traditions and customs are but a few of the many that are celebrated by millions of families around the globe during the Christmas festive season. Get into the traditions this festive season for, as the the saying goes, ’tis the season to be jolly’ - Enjoy!!

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