We all celebrate Christmas joyfully; It is a day when parents, mothers, and their children and other relatives gather. Some serve a turkey, others a pig. And as children we once enjoyed that beautiful awakening in the morning to run away when we saw some of our gifts. These gifts are true. But ... What is it that we really celebrate this December 25th? Where do these traditions come from? I made this Post for this day, now I am going to show you:
One of the most characteristic data is that Christmas Day can be traced back more than 2000 years in the Nordic lands, and in those places it coincides with the winter solstice in all of Northern Europe, this was a reason for celebration, since by that time the days would last longer than the nights meant a greater quantity and quality in the crops, which represented a source of well-being for Nordic peoples. This festival was called the Yule Festival that lasted 12 days, collected the crops and was a time of slaughter, in which the tribes met to eat and drink beer. The Norsemen also burned a giant Yule trunk for the 12 holidays, in which they filled their houses with all kinds of ornaments. So you can imagine where the tradition of placing a tree comes from.
The evidences in the bible about the birth of Jesus are diffuse, only some references in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke, however, both contradict each other. While Matthew tells us about the star that passed through Bethlehem, and the three wise men who gave gifts to the newborn. (That is why it is usually given to children), however, the first Christians did not celebrate Christmas. So...
So how was the birth of Jesus celebrated on December 25?
Many years before he and his parents were born, other pagan gods were already celebrated at that time, and it was those pagan dates that were widely spread in Romas that they gave as the birth of Jesus at that time. (Associating the birth of Jesus with the day when the sun is at its highest point, perhaps even when Matthew talks about the star that passed through Bethlehem, perhaps he talks about the sun at its highest point, who knows.
But going to the point. Some of the Roman holidays were the adornarles, which began on December 17 and several parties between 3 and 5 days or 7, where gifts were changed in those celebrations, in the same way that we do. It was a great festival, which also celebrated the birth of two gods, one of them is Mithra and the other Sol Invictus, both were used to celebrate on December 25, in which both were Gods referring to the Sun. (So that, we already understand that the Nordic tribes and Rome celebrated the same date).
In Rome they used to light bonfires and candles to scare the darkness, (something very similar to what we do with Christmas lights today). And this for Rome represented as one of the greatest festivities of the year.
So what happened?
In the 4th century AD, Christianity returned to Rome as its official religion and, instead of trying to destroy other pagan beliefs, it decided to couple Roman beliefs with Christianity, which is why the Church decided that the day of Jesus' birth would coincide with his previous festivity already mentioned, on December 25.
And then where does San Nicolás or Santa Claus come from?
They come from Santo San Nicolás de Bari, in which it was customary to give toys to children with an average. That was later deformed by Sinterklaas by the Dutch who arrived in New Yord, who were little by little transformed by American writers like the writer Washington Irving, who wrote a story in which he narrated the story of the goblin but in a satirical way, in a way of criticism to the new beliefs that came from the other continent, the satire was called "The Story of New Yord".
Then the poet Clement Clarke Moore writes a poem that tells about that same character, but giving the physical form that we know today. As also in which he gave toys to children through 8 reindeer; After that comes the cartoonist Thomas Nast to give the characteristic attire, which was inspired by the clothes that had the ancient bishops, however, the similarity with San Nicolás de Bari had been forgotten.
The United States, in their creativity of the time create Santa Claus. This idea was eventually transported to England or France with the name of Bonhomme Noël (hence the name, Papá noel). And it had a great reception on the part of the society of the time.
Then came the company called Lomen Company creating an announcement saying that Santa Claus, San Nicolás (or whatever you want to call him), lived in the North Pole. And then came the Coca-Cola that for the year 1931 began a large advertising campaign to use the image of Santa Claus to popularize their sales, and in this way helped to increase their popularity.
Other Data that might interest you.
The Christmas lights came to our homes thanks to Thomas Edison, Edward Johnson (1880 & 1882) and Albert Sadacca (1917). The first created the electric bulb, and the second turned them into colors to be placed on a Christmas tree. However, given the mistrust of electricity in those times, it was not until 1917 that Albert Sadacca wanted to create a company around them. This took popularity when the president of the United States placed in his white house a tree with Christmas lights included, this he called it, the National pine of Christmas.
It was from the Netherlands that the tradition came that to put a shoe, since in those days a shoe was put on December 5 in the church and the obtained from the alms of the richest citizens was distributed among the poorest.
The reindeer comes from the poem A visit From St. Nicolas in 1823, where the story is told with a beautiful prose story of a reindeer with a red nose that illuminated, this caused the other reindeers to make fun of him; nevertheless a storm devastated with the step of San Nicolás that did not doubt in opting in using the luminous nose of Rodolfo. And so he managed to save Christmas.
And well, that has been everything. Now it's your turn to Steemit's partner, how do you celebrate Christmas? Do you think it's an absurd celebration or do you feel that it makes much more sense than what you have? If you liked the post, please vote and follow me or tell me if you want more Christmas publications. I usually publish issues of literature, biographies, art, music, philosophy, history, and all topics of deep scope culture
Thank you very much and merry christmas!