Christmas Customs that Are Not What They Seem

There are a number of Christmas customs and traditions we accept at face value. For instance we accept that Christmas is a quiet day to be spent with the family when actually for most of it's history it was a nearly two week long festival spent partying with the neighbors. Reforms made by Protestants who wanted to do away with Christmas inevitably changed it into the holiday we know today. Some other Christmas traditions we think of as always being part of the holiday are not quite what they seem.

White Christmas
Our media makes it sound like the ideal Christmas is one where the ground is covered in snow. But the idea of a white Christmas is very recent, only about sixty years old. While many regions experienced Christmas with snow on the ground, many others were regions where it was too warm for snow. Most live in areas where there was a fifty/fifty chance that any precipitation near December 25th would either be snow or rain, and usually precipitation on or around Christmas would be snow at night changing over to rain in the morning. There is even reason to believe that many would have preferred it did not snow on Christmas. Long ago the big event on Christmas day was the trip to church for Christmas services. In the days before proper roads and snow removal this would mean having to walk through acres of snow drifts to get to the church. While the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ( a.k.a. "Twas the Night Before Christmas" ) established that Santa did ride a sleigh pulled by "eight tiny rein-deer" and that there was new fallen snow on the ground, many assumed that Santa could arrive anywhere on his sled, snow or no snow. It was Bing Crosby's hit 1942 song ":White Christmas" written by Irving Berlin that popularized the idea of a white Christmas. The original song began with lyrics about how nice and warm the weather was in Beverly Hills before going into memories of the white Christmas. The song was more about missing one's home town than about longing for snowy weather, a sentiment shared by many in the film industry who had all left their homes and moved out to Hollywood, and were all spending their Christmas away from home. The song "White Christmas" became so popular that weather men felt compelled to forecast if there would be snow on Christmas day or not.

Jingle Bells
While on the topic of Christmas songs, one should point out that a number of our most favorite have nothing to do with the holiday. The most popular Christmas song ever "Jingle Bells" actually never once mentions Christmas. Written in 1857 by James Pierpont it's actual title is "One Horse Open Sleigh", has several other verses, and was composed for a Thanksgiving concert. Another sleigh song that has nothing to do with Christmas is "Sleigh Ride" written by Leroy Anderson in 1946 during a heat wave. Anderson wrote the song in an attempt to keep his mind off the heat. Another song written to keep the lyricist's mind off the weather was "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" written by Sammy Cahn in California in July of 1945 on a day that had record breaking heat. Not only does this song not mention Christmas but Sammy Cahn was Jewish.

Birth of Jesus
While Christmas is looked at as the celebration of the Birthday of Jesus Christ, his date of birth was never actually recorded. Close examination of the Gospels suggest his birth was in late spring or summer. The Roman Catholic Church assigned his official birth date to December 25th around 330 A.D., most likely to replace the already popular festival of Saturnalia, the Roman version of the winter festival. Prior to this many had celebrated the birthday of Jesus on January 6, also known as the Day of Epiphany when an annual Christian feast was held. It must also be noted that because the roman calender did not have a leap year early on December 25 began to drift away from it's actual date. This is because a year is actually 365 days and six hours long. By sticking to the calendar we lose a quarter day every year, and in time something like the winter solstice ( the shortest day of the year ) would move from January 1st to December 31st in four years. In fact the winter solstice is now on December 21st. This means that the day celebrated as Christmas also drifted. Leap years are the one extra day put on a calendar every four years to make up for the accumulated lost day and resets the calender, otherwise right now December 25th would be mid summer and July 4th would be in the middle of winter.

Fruit Cake
Fruit Cakes were originally made as a way to preserve food for a long duration of time. Their recipe called for them to be soaked in brandy which prevented mold. Long before the invention of canned foods or preservatives fruit cakes were seen as the only way to preserve fruit and nuts long after harvest and deep into the winter. By Christmas time any fruit not preserved in a fruit cake would have spoiled, which is why instead of pies that late in the year the only fruit available would be in the fruit cake. Some cultures would store the fruit cake as long as a whole year, eating it on the night of the harvest so that they were eating last years fruit as part of a ceremony. It was never exclusively a Christmas food, but became the butt of Christmas jokes around the 80's. This is usually credited to Johnny Carson who detested fruit cake, especially when he received one as a Christmas gift. Joking about how whenever he got a fruit cake as a gift he would quickly re-gift it giving it to someone he did not like he claimed that there was actually only one fruit cake in existence which keeps getting passed around as a gift that no one wants to keep. Inevitably fruit cakes began to be thought of as exclusively a Christmas delicacy.

Mistletoe and Kissing
One of the more popular customs of Christmas has really nothing to do with the holiday at all. It is the act of kissing when two members of the opposite sex meet each other under hanging mistletoe. This is actually the result of pagan rituals combined with Norwegian folklore. Mistletoe is a weed like plant that grows high in the branches of trees where it lives off the tree like a parasite. Mistletoe has leaves which remain green throughout the year much like the leaves of pine trees. It is also capable of bearing small fruit during the winter. This is what got mistletoe noticed by pagans, along with pine trees and holly trees which also remained green during the winter. Inevitably all three plants were cut down and brought into homes during the winter as mystical decorations. All three would eventually become associated with Christmas, although they were originally used for any festive winter holiday. A Norwegian myth tells the story of how Baldr who was god of plants ended up being killed by a spear made of mistletoe, his death causing winter. After Baldr was brought back to life by the other gods, his mother Frigga made a declaration that from now on mistletoe be used for love rather than killing. This resulted in the Norwegian tradition of kissing if passing beneath mistletoe hanging in a tree. America was the country that mixed traditions thanks to it's melting pot of immigrants. The tradition of mistletoe as a Christmas decoration came from England while later Scandinavian immigrants began kissing under the decoration. This custom quickly spread like wildfire as horny young couples everywhere used mistletoe as an excuse for making out, especially at the office party where hanging mistletoe often lead to a quickie in the supply room.

Stocking Stuffers
These are those small gifts that are given as bonuses to the real gifts. Stocking stuffers range from candy to small toys, but are rarely the anticipated toy. In other words if a girl wants the new barbie doll it would be wrapped under the tree instead of being placed in a stocking. Similarly boys asking for action figures or video games would get them under the tree rather than inside the stocking even though they would fit there. For adults the stocking stuffers would be accessories, such as earphones for that iPod, or perhaps the iPod itself now that what everyone really wants is the iPhone. Inexpensive perfumes and soaps, articles of clothing, small bottles of liquor, and paperback books. Many stores have begun pushing slow selling items and overstocked items that were popular last year as this years stocking stuffers. In recent years the idea of a stocking stuffer has transcended stockings itself. Stocking stuffer gifts are exchanged without placing them inside a stocking. This has lead to some gifts too large for a normal Christmas stocking to be called a stocking stuffer. This year, for instance, the Slanket was being advertised as a "great stocking stuffer". Last year when it was still very popular it was still being advertised as a great Christmas gift idea. The Monopoly board game is also being promoted by many merchants as a stocking stuffer, not the novelty mini game version, the actual full size version. As our culture is gradually beginning to call less desirable gifts stocking stuffers while gradually doing away with the custom of even bothering to hang stockings, lets not forget that gifts found in stockings were once more important. The custom came from the legend of St Nicholas. A man he knew needed money but refused to accept charity. One night while the man was sleeping Nicholas snuck into his house intending to leave a stack of gold coins on his table. But once inside Nicholas noticed the man's stockings hanging above the fireplace to dry off. Nicholas dropped the coins into the stocking and left the house. This legend lead to the custom of children finding small gifts in their shoes or stockings left behind by St Nicholas. By the 15th century the customs of St Nicholas Day began to be adopted by Christmas. Adults began leaving gifts for each other beneath the tree, and as kids began asking for toys much too large to fit into stockings they also began ending up under the tree. Eventually Stockings were reduced to an afterthought, candy and small inexpensive toys like marbles or those little green army men. It has been decades since anyone has owned a single thick pair of stockings. Today we have socks which go into the laundry the night after being worn. Our fire places replaced by radiators, space heaters, and hot air vents. As the custom of placing gifts in stockings is gradually disappearing from our culture, the term stocking stuffer for those secondary gifts remains.