Started in Rome, pagan origin. There are biblical origins of Christmas obviously when Christ the Son of God was born. But centuries before the birth of Christ there was Yule, the winter solstice. They brought in logs and evergreens to prove that life existed in struggling times. The evergreen is impervious to the coming of winter and diminishing of the sun. The yule log burned for 12 days-feasting and revelry reigned. In Germany the pagan God Oden lent his name to the winter holiday. Oden decided who would prosper and who would perish in the coming years. It was a frightening time of the year so people stayed inside.
In Rome the winter festivals were just as hectic, a month long orgie of food and drink, after a god they worshiped, a time of turning the social order upside down with revelry. They celebrated the children of Rome as well, children had their place in the drunken celebrations. Rome worshiped the sun-god Mithrah, the holiest day of the year, December 25th, the birthday of Mithrah. A new religion was taking hold though. Christians did not celebrate December 25th, but the holy birth became impossible to ignore.
The bible does not say when the exact date of when Christ was born , but most likely it was in the spring (when the shepherds were out watching their flocks by night). Mithrah was already being celebrated so they then declared the feast day of the nativity to honor Jesus as well. The sun-god celebration was about fertility so it made sense then for the church to adopt the celebration for themselves. The church gave up the ways in which that celebration would be done when they declared the nativity birth December 25th just like the Mithrah celebration.
By the middle ages in Europe Christianity had largely replaced the old pagan celebrations. They made Christ-mass in the church. But out in the streets it was still very Halloween-like. Much like a carnival. Brawling drunken villagers, engaging in orgies, and a beggar was put on spot light to be head over all. The poor would bang on the doors of the rich and they would take the best food, beer, best of everything. If they did not give them anything they would perform a trick (must like Halloween). This was how the celebrations of Christmas were. One Christmas song says that if you don't give us what we want down will come butler bowl and all.
Religious reforms swept through England in the 17th century. Led by Oliver Cromwell. They vowed to take away all Christmas celebrations. The people never really stopped celebrating it, they did so underground. The monarchy was restored with Charles the 2nd, they could live without a king but not without Christmas. They brought back the carousals and rituals.
The puritans in 1620 in Massachusetts they were very Orthodox so 1659 they followed English brethren by outlawing Christmas, fining anyone who celebrated it. But still it never stopped underground.
All things English fell out of favor in America. But people wanted to populate the calendar, they wanted holidays. They worked hard and wanted celebration. America then invented their own Christmas, reinventing Christmas for the whole world. NY 1820 New York had become the main commerce, making the poor very obvious. Industrial capitalism was beginning. The menace became very obvious, by 1820s the Christmas season was a time of rioting. The upper class was worried so changed the way the holiday was celebrated. Imaginary stories began to be popular including Dickins with the Christmas Carol, making the image of inviting peasants to celebrate with the rich. They had fears of inequality at this time. So the themes are set around this. 19th century Americans were rediscovering Christmas. The family was designed to have the children work hard, but then all of a sudden the family became a children's nursery so that they could grow up sensitive and in touch with family and the world itself. People started to invent quality time from Christmas, the joy of presents and spoiling children with an excuse. The old pagan revelry was clearly out of the question, but some traditions were thought to be good to bring back like the evergreen tree on the table but became a large evergreen tree to gather around. The custom began to be adopted by every home, a decorated Christmas tree, thinking it was the way it always had been when really it just began in England. It was the way it was done in Germany years before, and now English were doing it too. They then brought back the mistletoe and every other thing you see we use in Christmas. Christmas songs began to be put in the churches. The lay people began to expect it in every church service no matter Catholic or Protestant.
One Christmas icon was developed right here in America, Santa Clause. There was Saint Nicholas a Greek orthodox bishop who became one of the most popular saints of the middle ages, long before Santa Clause. Good children woke to gifts from the kindly saint but bad children woke to nothing. Dutch brought with them stories of Saint Nick. So they came up with dreamed up reindeer and Santa coming down the chimney. By Clement Moore. Every child began to scan the horizon for Santa Clause. 1863 Thomas Nass made Santa look like a round jolly man of his times. Instead of taking from the less fortunate, he gave to the less fortunate and gets rid of wealth yearly. Santa Clause provided a way for children and parents to see buying gifts as not a commerce type of thing but a good fuzzy selfless thing. Santa has been showing up in department stores since 1800s. Montgomery Ward department store then came up with a reindeer with a big red nose to boost their sales at Christmas time. Rudolph really enhanced Christmas sales and celebration. Christmas was a battle fought and won by kids. By 1920s the only thing left like a carnival was the Christmas parade. By 1950s Christmas was a family affair. A load of presents and eggnog which gets its origin from gogg which was rum, but most just thought it was the sweet egg drink.
The buying frenzy totally takes out the birth of the Christ-child. The children grow up not realizing what the real meaning is. It has become less family and Gift oriented, more about commercialism and materialism. There is a struggle of what the real meaning is. It is a combination of secular and religious.
Why do we hold onto traditions? Just because it is how we grew up? There is a nostalgia about the holidays. But what are we celebrating? Are we celebrating the Christ who has come to the world to save us? Is He even the reason for the season when the Christmas celebration started years before Christ was even born? Is it best to just say, oh it doesn't matter how it began, we will just celebrate His birth as if He were the reason anyways? Very interesting to look into some of this and re-examine some of these things we take so lightly because it is what we have always done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5T5ibb2E9I
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