Origins of Christmas

Christmas is the short form for "Christ's mass", or a "mass for the church". Christmas is also written as Xmas, dating back to an old custom. Early Christians often wrote in Greek. In the Greek language, X is the first letter in Christ, so it came to be used as a holy symbol. Yule has Anglo-Saxon origins, while Noel comes from French.

200 years after Christ's birthday, Christians thought about celebrating it. The exact date is not known, so the 25^th was chosen to turn people away from other holiday celebrations around this time. 25^th December in 440 AD was fixed by the Christian church for celebrating Christmas.

Christmas celebrations come from older customs of winter festivals: Saturnalia, Natalis Solis Invicti and Yule. Festivals have been held during the winter solstice for centuries; the short days and long nights meant that there was less harvesting or agricultural activities, so people had time to celebrate, and gradually the celebrations mingled with the Christian celebrations.

The Romans had a holiday called Saturnalia in December, marked by gaiety and feasting. In northern Europe, the holiday was "Yule". People made great fires with huge logs, and then danced around them, yelling and shouting, to end winter, and call back the sun! The Yule log originated from the Druids, who considered it a good luck charm. It was burnt on all twelve days, and a piece from the previous year kept as a lucky talisman.

Gradually, Christmas took the place of holidays like Saturnalia and Yule, but the old customs of burning a yule log and having parties were maintained. New customs and features were added, like the fir tree from Germany. Santa's elves is a modern version of the "Nature folk" while his reindeer represent the Horned God, a pagan deity.

Victorian influences in England made the celebrations elaborate, with the introduction of Christmas cards and crackers in the mid 1800s.

Some countries had different traditions, and gifts were exchanged on December 6^th (the Feast of St.Nicholas) or January 6^th, instead of Christmas day.

An interesting idea originated around 1905. People deposited a fixed amount of money regularly in an unusual savings account, called "A Christmas club", and this was used for shopping at Christmas time.

Though customs and traditions of Christmas have evolved through the ages, the essence of it remains unchanged, and the festival is celebrated with the same fervor and gaiety worldwide.

Sources:

http://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions.html

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/christmas

http://www.worldofchristmas.net

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