There’s no disputing the fact that Christmas, the season of goodwill, is by now a sociocultural phenomenon. It’s positively brimming with colorful décor, jubilant carols, and grin-inducing holiday cards, all of which seem to take center stage worldwide every December. It’s hard to even conceive of a world without Christmas: it’s an integral part of Western culture that seems to have existed as long as there have been trees to decorate and mistletoe to pluck.
But why exactly do we decorate those trees and pluck that mistletoe? As it happens, these customs are centuries-old, and they continued to evolve until reaching their current 21st-century manifestations. In the following article, then, we’re going to consult Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty the Snowman to determine where these Christmas traditions came from. If you’ve always wondered why we drink eggnog, hang stockings, and build snowmen at this time of year, well wonder no more!
So dig out that ill-fitting elf costume, leave out some milk and cookies, and memorize the words to ‘All I Want for Christmas is You,’ because here are some things you didn’t know about everyone’s favorite holiday!
Christmas Trees
The centerpiece of any Christmas scene is surely the brightly lit tree, isn’t it? Surrounded by gifts, ornaments, and sleep-deprived parents, it’s perhaps our most important Christmas custom. But the significance of evergreen trees and plants was noticed by ancient societies as well, like the Egyptians and Chinese. These cultures believed that verdant green boughs served as a reminder in winter that spring was on its way.
When Christmas was celebrated in medieval Germany, candles were added to enhance the appearance of the trees, and these would eventually become the lights and tinsel we know today. And in the 1800s, a surge in the popularity of this tradition took place in Europe, when members of the British royal family, such as the German-born Prince Albert, installed beautifully adorned trees at their residences. It’s no surprise, then, that it was German settlers who popularized the tradition in the U.S., beginning with New York and the first Christmas tree store.
Mistletoe
Mistletoe was considered sacred by the Celts due to its supposed healing properties and ability to withstand even the Grinchiest winter. However, no one is entirely sure where the practice of kissing under the mistletoe arose from – other than the fact it was commonly seen as a symbol of love and fertility by the Celtic and Norse peoples.
In Victorian England, the parasitic plant, which was also believed to bring good luck, became associated with other traditions and superstitions. If a person in the 1800s planned to kiss someone under the mistletoe, they would have to remove a berry from the branch when they did so; when the berries on the plant ran out, so too had the opportunity to plant a kiss. It was also considered bad luck to demur because if you refused a mistletoe-blessed kiss, you were unlikely to get married any time soon!
Snowmen
Snowmen are more of a winter tradition than a Christmas tradition, but they’re a staple of most modern ornaments and holiday cards. According to Bob Eckstein, author of The History of the Snowman (2007), the earliest recorded example of a snowman is in a manuscript dated 1380. Other historic snowmen include one built by Renaissance artist Michelangelo in 1494 and over a hundred snowmen constructed in Brussels during a winter celebration in 1511.
It’s not altogether surprising that we enjoy building snowmen. After all, people love drawing or crafting things in their own likeness, as any number of matchstick men doodles the world over can attest. But in the Middle Ages, it was the opportunity to create art, with unlimited resources, that proved most appealing. The materials were abundant, there were no restrictions or censors, and no expertise or training was required!
Eggnog
Eggnog is another ingredient in the recipe for a wonderful Christmas; chances are you’ll buy at least one multicolored carton over the holiday season! Like many other Christmas traditions, its origins are in Europe, where a drink known as posset, comprised of milk, eggs, and sherry was drunk in medieval Britain. When posset was introduced to the U.S., however, a cheaper alcoholic substitute, rum, was added to the mixture instead.
Have you been scratching your noggin over the origins of the word, by the way? Apparently, the word ‘eggnog’ is a portmanteau of the words ‘egg’ and ‘noggin,’ the latter referring to a kind of wooden cup.
Santa Claus
You may have heard of Santa Claus being referred to as ‘St. Nick’ in the past, but who exactly was St. Nicholas? In the 3rd century, Nicholas was a bishop in Myra, a town located in what is known as Turkey. While he was known for his role in protecting people from religious persecution, he was also admired for his generosity, and the most famous story about St. Nicholas was ‘The Tale of the Three Daughters.’
When passing the house of a nobleman around 300 AD, Nicholas overheard how the man had once been wealthy but had recently lost his fortune. Reduced to poverty, the father was unable to provide dowries for his daughters, meaning they were unlikely to marry. Upon hearing this sad tale, Nicholas proceeded to drop three gold coins down the chimney of the house, with each coin acting as a dowry for the daughters’ marriages. Some versions of the story even suggest that the coins landed in the daughters’ socks, drying by the fire, and this is why we now hang Christmas stockings!
While this story is clearly outlandish, it was used as an exemplar of Nicholas’s legendary altruism, and thus St. Nicholas became the model for our modern-day Santa Claus.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our brief history of Christmas-time and that it’s put you in the festive spirit! If your family has some unusual Christmas traditions, or if you have other ideas about what makes Christmas… ‘Christmassy,’ then we’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below and tell us what you think!
Eoin is a Content Specialist at Zazzle in Cork. He’s recently bought a house with his fiancée, and thus most of his time these days is spent trying to keep the walls from caving in and the wolves from the door. Still, he’s always open to book, game, and movie recommendations, so if you have some, let him know: he’ll add them to a very, very long list.
