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 Many of the Christmas traditions which we take for granted have quite an interesting history, as well as having very special meanings. So just in case the Millennium Bug knocks out all data connected with Christmas, here is what the traditions are all about.

SANTA CLAUS

Santa Claus was a mythical figure from Lapland.

 Not true! Santa Claus was a real person whose true name was St Nicholas. He grew up to become Bishop of Myra, Turkey, around the middle of the 4th Century. Dressed in his Bishop’s robes of red cassock and wearing a mitre, the traditional Bishop’s hat, he looked a pale lean figure. Legend has it that he met a very poor man who did not have enough money for a dowry to marry off his three daughters. St. Nicholas, having just inherited his parents wealth, wanted to help the father without drawing attention to himself. So he climbed on to the poor man’s roof and dropped a bag of gold down the chimney. It fell into one of the daughter’s stockings which was hanging up to dry, and was enough to provide each daughter with a dowry and so prevent them being sold into slavery. The name St. Nicholas is more popular in Europe than in England, where we prefer to call him Father Christmas. This name dates back to the middle ages when Father Christmas first appeared in plays based on the activities of St. Nicholas, and in the 19th. century their identities gradually merged. Today we see Santa Claus as a fat,jolly fellow with a long white beard.

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Christmas Cards are of the 20th Century

 Not true! Like many things associated with Christmas, the sending of cards and the Christmas cracker belong to the Victorian age. Cards were invented at the beginning of the 19th Century by an Englishman, Sir Henry Cole, who did not have time to write letters to all his relatives. So he asked an artist friend to design a card with a Christmas theme. About 1000 cards were produced, and those not used by Sir Henry were sold by the printer. When the 

Penny Post was introduced by Rowland Hill in 1840 it became very cheap to send mail, and the custom of sending Christmas cards soon caught on.

CHRISTMAS TREES 

The origin of the Christmas Tree is a mystery

Not true! The Christmas tree is part of tradition in a number of countries. In ancient Rome all evergreen trees were thought to have special powers, and were used for decoration in the home. In Scandinavian countries fir and ash trees were hung with war trophies to bring good luck. Modern Christmas trees evolved in Germany in the 16th Century, when merchants carried a fir tree decorated with paper flowers through the streets on Christmas eve. This was followed by a great feast with music and dancing round the tree, which was then ceremoniously burnt. Some people took fir branches into their homes and decorated them with paper roses, nuts and apples. Sometimes only the tops of fir trees were used, hung upside down over doorways.

CANDLES

Candles on trees started in Jerusalem

Not true! According to legend the founder of the German Protestant Church in the 16th Century, Martin Luther, was the first person to place candles on a Christmas tree. He was out walking one evening when he noticed the stars twinkling through the branches of trees. He was so inspired that when he arrived home he set up a tree and decorated it with candles. Then in 1879 when Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb, one of his staff had some coloured lamps made which he displayed on a tree outside his New York home. They were greatly admired long before the mass production of special Christmas tree lights.

DECORATIONS

Used to mark important religious events

Quite correct. Holly has always been a favourite English evergreen for Christmas decorations. It has been said that holly berries were originally white, but were turned red by Christ’s blood during his crucifixion. Mistletoe, a parasitic evergreen which grows on other trees such as willow, apple and poplar, has a long history as a decoration. It was even considered a sacred plant in Celtic Britain. Tinsel is of more recent origin. In 16th Century France there was a fabric called Lamé, made by a secret process in which gold and silver threads were woven into material for soldiers uniforms. But when the secret of how to make these glittering threads leaked out, they were used to give a sparkling effect on Christmas decorations and called Tinsel.