Vintage S.s. Sarna Santa Christmas Sculpture / Candelholder W/ Pinecone Candle

$17.65 Buy It Now or Best Offer, Click to see shipping cost, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: resinups ✉️ (3,539) 100%, Location: Hewitt, New Jersey, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 295238987879 VINTAGE S.S. SARNA SANTA CHRISTMAS SCULPTURE / CANDELHOLDER W/ PINECONE CANDLE . VINTAGE ASIAN S.S. SARNA SANTA CHRISTMAS SCULPTURE / CANDELHOLDER W/ PINECONE CANDLE    SARNA SANTA CANDLEHOLDER IS IN BRAND NEW CONDITION WITH TAG (AS SHOWN)    *DETAILED PICTURES PROVIDED - WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT U GET* *INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING DONE THROUGH EBAY GLOBAL SHIP*  *HAPPY BIDDING!!!*

Santa Claus , also known as Father Christmas , Saint Nicholas , Saint Nick , Kris Kringle , or simply Santa , is a legendary [1]  character  originating in Western Christian culture  who is said to bring children gifts on Christmas Eve  of toys and candy or coal or nothing, depending on whether they are "naughty or nice".[2] [3]  He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves , who make the toys in his workshop  at the North Pole , and flying reindeer  who pull his sleigh  through the air.[4] [5]

The modern character of Santa is based on traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas , the English figure of Father Christmas  and the Dutch  figure of Sinterklaas .

Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded  man, often with spectacles , wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, red hat with white fur, and black leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts for children. He is commonly portrayed as laughing in a way that sounds like "ho ho ho". This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas ". Caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast  also played a role in the creation of Santa's image.[6] [7] [8]  This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books, family Christmas traditions, films, and advertising.

Predecessor figures A 13th-century depiction of St. Nicholas from Saint Catherine's Monastery , Sinai

Saint Nicholas Main article: Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century Greek  Christian bishop of Myra  (now Demre ) in the region of Lycia  in the Roman Empire , today in Turkey. Nicholas was known for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries  so that they would not have to become prostitutes.[9]  He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany), he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes.

In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants  of Myra were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuq dynasty , and soon after their Greek Orthodox  church had been declared to be in schism  by the Catholic church (1054 AD), a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari  removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the Greek church in Myra. Over the objection of the monks of Myra the sailors took the bones of St. Nicholas to Bari, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola . Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the church sarcophagus. These were later taken by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade  and placed in Venice , where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San Nicolò al Lido . St. Nicholas' vandalized sarcophagus can still be seen in the St. Nicholas Church  in Myra. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari  and Venice , which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint  of many diverse groups, from archers , sailors, and children to pawnbrokers .[9] [10]  He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam  and Moscow .[11]

During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children, which moved in the course of the Reformation  and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on 24 and 25 December. The custom of gifting to children at Christmas has been propagated by Martin Luther  as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints. Martin Luther first suggested the Christkind  as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people.[12] [13] [14]

Father Christmas "Ghost of Christmas Present", an illustration by John Leech  made for Charles Dickens 's festive A Christmas Carol  (1843) Main article: Father Christmas

Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England  during the reign of Henry VIII , when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur.[15]  He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas , bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry.[15]  As England no longer kept the feast day  of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day.[15]  The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer.[16]  His physical appearance was variable,[17]  with one image being John Leech's  illustration of the "Ghost of Christmas Present " in Charles Dickens 's festive story A Christmas Carol  (1843), as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.[15] [16]

Dutch, Belgian and Swiss folklore Sinterklaas, Netherlands (2009) on his horse called Amerigo 1850 illustration of Saint Nicolas with his servant Père Fouettard /Zwarte Piet See also: Sinterklaas  and Saint Nicholas

In the Netherlands and Belgium, the character of Santa Claus competes with that of Sinterklaas , based on Saint Nicolas. Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman  in Dutch ("the Christmas man") and Père Noël  ("Father Christmas") in French. For children in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas remains the predominant gift-giver in December; 36% of the Dutch only give presents on Sinterklaas evening or the day itself, 6 December,[18]  while Christmas, 25 December, is used by another 21% to give presents. Some 26% of the Dutch population gives presents on both days.[19]  In Belgium, presents are offered exclusively to children on 6 December, and on Christmas Day all ages may receive presents. Saint Nicolas/Sinterklaas' assistants are called "Pieten " (in Dutch) or "Père Fouettard " (in French), so they are not elves.[20]  In Switzerland, Père Fouettard  accompanies Père Noël in the French speaking region, while the sinister Schmutzli accompanies Samichlaus in the Swiss German  region. Schmutzli carries a twig broom to spank the naughty children.[21]

Germanic paganism, Wodan, and Christianization An 1886 depiction of the long-bearded Norse god Odin  by Georg von Rosen

Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples  (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule  (Old English geola  or giuli ).[22]  With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas.[23]  During this period, supernatural and ghostly occurrences were said to increase in frequency, such as the Wild Hunt , a ghostly procession through the sky.[citation needed ] The leader of the Wild Hunt is frequently attested as the god Odin  (Wodan), bearing (among many names ) the names Jólnir , meaning "Yule figure", and Langbarðr , meaning "long-beard", in Old Norse .[24]

Wodan's role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St. Nicholas in a variety of facets, including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides (compare Odin's horse Sleipnir ) or his reindeer in North American tradition.[25]  Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that "the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day is the 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas  and the Christchild , became a leading player on the Christmas stage."[26]

In Finland, Santa Claus is called Joulupukki  (direct translation 'Christmas Goat').[27]  The flying reindeer  could symbolize the use of fly agaric  by Sámi  shamans.[28]

History

Origins

Early representations of the gift-giver from Church history and folklore, especially St Nicholas, merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the mythical character known to the rest of the English-speaking world as "Santa Claus" (a phonetic derivation of "Sinterklaas " in Dutch ).

In the English  and later British colonies of North America , and later in the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving 's History of New York  (1809), Sinterklaas  was Anglicized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the U.S. press in 1773)[29]  but lost his bishop's apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving's book was a parody  of the Dutch culture of New York, and much of this portrait is his joking invention.[30]  Irving's interpretation of Santa Claus was part of a broader movement to tone down the increasingly wild Christmas celebrations of the era, which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing , substantial premarital sex (leading to shotgun weddings  in areas where the Puritans , waning in power and firmly opposed to Christmas, still held some influence) and public displays of sexual deviancy; the celebrations of the era were derided by both upper-class merchants and Christian purists.[30]

19th century Illustration to verse 1 of Old Santeclaus with Much Delight

In 1821, the book A New-year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve  was published in New York. It contained Old Santeclaus with Much Delight , an anonymous poem describing Santeclaus on a reindeer sleigh, bringing rewards to children.[31]  Some modern ideas of Santa Claus seemingly became canon  after the anonymous publication of the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas " (better known today as "The Night Before Christmas") in the Troy, New York , Sentinel  on 23 December 1823; Clement Clarke Moore  later claimed authorship, though some scholars argue that Henry Livingston, Jr.  (who died nine years before Moore's claim) was the author.[9] [32]  St. Nick is described as being "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly", that "shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly", in spite of which the "miniature sleigh" and "tiny reindeer" still indicate that he is physically diminutive. The reindeer  were also named: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem (Dunder and Blixem came from the old Dutch words for thunder and lightning, which were later changed to the more German sounding Donner and Blitzen).[33]

By 1845, "Kris Kringle" was a common variant of Santa in parts of the United States.[34]  A magazine article from 1853, describing American Christmas customs to British readers, refers to children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve for "a fabulous personage" whose name varies: in Pennsylvania he is usually called "Krishkinkle", but in New York he is "St. Nicholas" or "Santa Claus". The author[35]  quotes Moore's poem in its entirety, saying that its descriptions apply to Krishkinkle too.[36]

1881 illustration by Thomas Nast  who, along with Clement Clarke Moore's  1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas ", helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus.

As the years passed, Santa Claus evolved into a large, heavyset person. One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was Thomas Nast , an American cartoonist  of the 19th century who immortalized Santa Claus with an illustration for the 3 January 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly  in which Santa was dressed in an American flag , and had a puppet with the name "Jeff " written on it, reflecting its Civil War context. In this drawing, Santa is also in a sleigh pulled by reindeers.[citation needed ]

The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been a Nast creation. His Christmas image in the Harper's  issue dated 29 December 1866 was a collage of engravings titled Santa Claus and His Works , which included the caption "Santa Claussville, N.P."[37]  A color collection of Nast's pictures, published in 1869, had a poem also titled "Santa Claus and His Works" by George P. Webster, who wrote that Santa Claus's home was "near the North Pole, in the ice and snow".[38]  The tale had become well known by the 1870s. A boy from Colorado  writing to the children's magazine The Nursery  in late 1874 said, "If we did not live so very far from the North Pole, I should ask Santa Claus to bring me a donkey."[39]

The idea of a wife for Santa Claus may have been the creation of American authors, beginning in the mid-19th century. In 1889, the poet Katharine Lee Bates  popularized Mrs. Claus  in the poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride".

"Is There a Santa Claus?"  was the title of an editorial appearing in the 21 September 1897 edition of The New York Sun . The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus ", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States and Canada.

In Russia, Ded Moroz emerged as a Santa Claus figure around the late 19th century[40]  where Christmas for the Eastern Orthodox Church  is kept on 7 January.

20th century A man dressed as Santa Claus fundraising  for Volunteers of America  on the sidewalk  of street in Chicago, Illinois , in 1902. He is wearing a mask with a beard attached.

L. Frank Baum 's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , a children's book , was published in 1902. Much of Santa Claus's mythos was not firmly established at the time, leaving Baum to give his "Neclaus" (Necile's Little One) a variety of immortal support, a home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho, and ten  reindeer—who could not fly, but leapt in enormous, flight-like bounds. Claus's immortality  was earned, much like his title ("Santa"), decided by a vote of those naturally immortal. This work also established Claus's motives: a happy childhood among immortals. When Ak, Master Woodsman of the World, exposes him to the misery and poverty of children in the outside world, Santa strives to find a way to bring joy into the lives of all children, and eventually invents toys as a principal means. Santa later appears in The Road to Oz  as an honored guest at Ozma's birthday party, stated to be famous and beloved enough for everyone to bow even before he is announced as "The most Mighty and Loyal Friend of Children, His Supreme Highness – Santa Claus".

Rose O'Neill 's illustration for the 1903 issue of Puck

Images of Santa Claus were conveyed through Haddon Sundblom 's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company 's Christmas advertising in the 1930s.[9] [41]  The image spawned urban legends  that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca-Cola brand.[42]  Coca-Cola's competitor Pepsi-Cola  used similar Santa Claus paintings in its advertisements in the 1940s and 1950s. Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink  company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising—White Rock Beverages  had already used a red and white Santa to sell mineral water  in 1915 and then in advertisements for its ginger ale  in 1923.[43] [44] [45]  Earlier, Santa Claus had appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of Puck  magazine in the first few years of the 20th century.[46]

Santa Claus portrayed by Nick Tribuzio  in 1961 (Kent Studio, Hayward, CA)

The image of Santa Claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy, particularly by organizations such as the Salvation Army . Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus typically became part of fundraising  drives to aid needy families at Christmas time.

In 1937, Charles W. Howard , who played Santa Claus in department stores and parades, established the Charles W. Howard Santa School, the oldest continuously-run such school in the world.[47]

In some images from the early 20th century, Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman. Eventually, the idea emerged that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys, but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner.

The 1956 popular song by George Melachrino , "Mrs. Santa Claus", and the 1963 children's book How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas , by Phyllis McGinley , helped standardize and establish the character and role of Mrs. Claus  in the US.[48]

Seabury Quinn 's 1948 novel Roads  draws from historical legends to tell the story of Santa and the origins of Christmas. Other modern additions to the "story" of Santa include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , the 9th and lead reindeer created in 1939 by Robert L. May , a Montgomery Ward  copywriter, and immortalized in a 1949 song  by Gene Autry .

In popular culture Santa on the cover of Puck  magazine , v. 58, no. 1501 See also: Santa Claus in film  and SantaCon

Elves had been portrayed as using assembly lines  to produce toys early in the 20th century. That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa's residence—now often humorously portrayed as a fully mechanized production and distribution facility, equipped with the latest manufacturing technology, and overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as executives or managers.[49]  An excerpt from a 2004 article, from a supply chain managers' trade magazine, aptly illustrates this depiction:

Santa's main distribution center  is a sight to behold. At 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 m2), it's one of the world's largest facilities. A real-time warehouse management system  (WMS) is of course required to run such a complex. The facility makes extensive use of task interleaving, literally combining dozens of DC activities (putaway, replenishing, order picking, sleigh loading, cycle counting) in a dynamic queue the DC elves have been on engineered standards and incentives for three years, leading to a 12% gain in productivity . The WMS and transportation system are fully integrated, allowing (the elves) to make optimal decisions that balance transportation and order picking and other DC costs. Unbeknownst to many, Santa actually has to use many sleighs and fake Santa drivers to get the job done Christmas Eve, and the transportation management system (TMS)  optimally builds thousands of consolidated sacks that maximize cube utilization and minimize total air miles.[50]

In 1912, the actor Leedham Bantock  became the first actor to be identified as having played Santa Claus in a film. Santa Claus , which he also directed, included scenes photographed in a limited, two-tone color process and featured the use of detailed models.[51] [52]  Since then many feature films have featured Santa Claus as a protagonist, including Miracle on 34th Street , The Santa Clause  and Elf . Santa Claus is also a meetable character at all of the Disney Parks and Resorts  during the Holiday season , and can be seen during various parades throughout the parks. His grotto is usually located in Fantasyland .

In the cartoon base, Santa has been voiced by several people, including Stan Francis, Mickey Rooney , Ed Asner , John Goodman , and Keith Wickham .

Santa has been described as a positive male cultural icon :

Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in a culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future.

— TV producer Jonathan Meath  who portrays Santa, 2011[53]

Norman Corwin 's 1938 comic radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas , set entirely in rhyme, details a conspiracy of the Devil  Mephistopheles  and damned figures of history to defeat the good will among men of Christmas, by sending the Roman emperor Nero  to the North Pole to assassinate Santa Claus. Through a battle of wits, Santa saves himself by winning Nero over to the joys of Christmas, and gives him a Stradivarius  violin. The play was re-produced in 1940 and 1944.

Many television commercials, comic strips  and other media depict this as a sort of humorous business, with Santa's elves  acting as a sometimes mischievously disgruntled workforce, cracking jokes and pulling pranks on their boss. For instance, a Bloom County  story from 15 December 1981 through 24 December 1981 has Santa rejecting the demands of PETCO (Professional Elves Toy-Making and Craft Organization) for higher wages, a hot tub in the locker room, and "short broads," with the elves then going on strike. President Reagan  steps in, fires all of Santa's helpers, and replaces them with out-of-work air traffic controllers  (an obvious reference to the 1981 air traffic controllers' strike ), resulting in a riot before Santa vindictively rehires them in humiliating new positions such as his reindeer.[54]  In The Sopranos  episode, "To Save Us All from Satan's Power ", Paulie Gualtieri  says he "Used to think Santa and Mrs. Claus were running a sweatshop  over there. The original elves were ugly, traveled with Santa to throw bad kids a beatin', and gave the good ones toys."

2009 Liverpool Santa Dash

In Kyrgyzstan, a mountain peak was named after Santa Claus, after a Swedish company had suggested the location be a more efficient starting place for present-delivering journeys all over the world, than Lapland. In the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek , a Santa Claus Festival was held on 30 December 2007, with government officials attending. 2008 was officially declared the Year of Santa Claus in the country. The events are seen as moves to boost tourism in Kyrgyzstan.[55]

The Guinness World Record  for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses is held by Thrissur , Kerala , India  where on 27 December 2014, 18,112 Santas overtook the previous record. Derry City, Northern Ireland had held the record since 9 September 2007, when a total of 12,965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa's helpers. Prior to that, the record was 3,921, which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre in 2005.[56]  A gathering of Santas in 2009 in Bucharest, Romania attempted to top the world record, but failed with only 3,939 Santas.[57]

In professional wrestling , on the 23 December 2019 edition of Monday Night Raw  (filmed on 22 December), independent wrestler Bear Bronson dressed up as Santa Claus to win the WWE 24/7 Championship  from Akira Tozawa  at Columbus Circle  in New York  during a sightseeing trip. Santa later lost the championship to R-Truth  via a roll-up at the Lincoln Center .[58]

Like other forms of popular culture, Santa Claus also appears in a few video games .[59]

Traditions and rituals

Chimneys The Feast of Saint Nicholas  by Jan Steen  (c. 1665–1668)

The tradition of Santa Claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers. In pre-Christian Norse tradition, Odin would often enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice.[citation needed ] In the Italian Befana  tradition, the gift-giving witch is perpetually covered with soot from her trips down the chimneys of children's homes. In the tale of Saint Nicholas, the saint tossed coins through a window, and, in a later version of the tale, down a chimney when he finds the window locked. In Dutch artist Jan Steen 's painting, The Feast of Saint Nicholas , adults and toddlers are glancing up a chimney with amazement on their faces while other children play with their toys. The hearth was held sacred in primitive belief as a source of beneficence, and popular belief had elves and fairies bringing gifts to the house through this portal. Santa's entrance into homes on Christmas Eve via the chimney was made part of American tradition through the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas"  where the author described him as an elf.[60]

Christmas Eve A man dressed as Santa Claus waves to children from an annual holiday train  in Chicago, 2012.

In the United States and Canada, children traditionally leave a glass of milk and a plate of cookies  intended for Santa to consume; in Britain and Australia, sherry  or beer, and mince pies  are left instead. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, it is common for children to leave him rice porridge with sugar and cinnamon instead. In Ireland it is popular to leave Guinness  or milk, along with Christmas pudding  or mince pies.

In Hungary, St. Nicolaus (Mikulás) comes on the night of 5 December and the children get their gifts the next morning. They get sweets in a bag if they were good, and a golden colored birch switch if not. On Christmas Eve "Little Jesus" comes and gives gifts for everyone.[61]

In Slovenia, Saint Nicholas (Miklavž) also brings small gifts for good children on the eve of 6 December. Božiček (Christmas Man) brings gifts on the eve of 25 December, and Dedek Mraz (Grandfather Frost) brings gifts in the evening of 31 December to be opened on New Years Day.

Hanging up stockings for Santa Claus, Ohio, 1928

New Zealander, British, Australian, Irish, Canadian, and American children also leave a carrot for Santa's reindeer, and are told that if they are not good all year round that they will receive a lump of coal in their stockings, although the actual practice of giving coal is now considered archaic. Children following the Dutch custom for sinterklaas  will "put out their shoe" (leave hay and a carrot for his horse in a shoe before going to bed, sometimes weeks before the sinterklaas avond ). The next morning they will find the hay and carrot replaced by a gift; often, this is a marzipan  figurine . Naughty children were once told that they would be left a roe  (a bundle of sticks) instead of sweets, but this practice has been discontinued.

After the children have fallen asleep , parents play the role of Santa Claus and leave their gifts under the Christmas tree . Tags on gifts for children are sometimes signed by their parents "From Santa Claus" before the gifts are laid beneath the tree.[62] [63] [64]

A classic American image of Santa Claus.

Ho, ho, ho "Ho ho ho" redirects here. For other uses, see Ho ho ho (disambiguation) .

Ho ho ho  is the way that many languages write out how Santa Claus laughs. "Ho, ho, ho ! Merry Christmas!" It is the textual rendition of a particular type of deep-throated laugh  or chuckle, most associated today with Santa Claus and Father Christmas .

The laughter  of Santa Claus has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified, but it also does not appear in many non-English -speaking countries. The traditional 1823 Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas  relates that Santa has:

"a little round belly That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly"

Home See also: Santa's workshop § Location The Santa Claus Village  in Lapland Santa's House at Jerusalem Old City, St. Peter Street

Santa Claus's home is traditionally said to include a residence and a workshop where he is said to create—often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings—the gifts he is said to deliver to good children at Christmas. Some stories and legends include a village, inhabited by his helpers, surrounding his home and shop.

In North American tradition (in the United States  and Canada ), Santa is said to live at the North Pole, which according to Canada Post  lies within Canadian jurisdiction in postal code  H0H 0H0[65]  (a reference to "ho ho ho", Santa's notable saying, although postal codes starting with H are usually reserved for the island of Montréal  in Québec ). On 23 December 2008, Jason Kenney , Canada's minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism , formally awarded Canadian citizenship  status to Santa Claus. "The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete, " Kenney said in an official statement.[66]

There is also a city named North Pole  in Alaska  where a tourist attraction known as the "Santa Claus House" has been established. The United States Postal Service  uses the city's ZIP code  of 99705 as their advertised postal code for Santa Claus. A Wendy's  in North Pole, AK has also claimed to have a "sleigh fly through".[67]

Each Nordic country  claims Santa's residence to be within their territory. Norway claims he lives in Drøbak . In Denmark, he is said to live in Greenland (near Uummannaq ). In Sweden, the town of Mora  has a theme park named Tomteland . The national postal terminal in Tomteboda  in Stockholm receives children's letters for Santa. In Finland, Korvatunturi  has long been known as Santa's home, and two theme parks, Santa Claus Village  and Santa Park  are located near Rovaniemi . In Belarus , there is a home of Ded Moroz  in Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park .[68]

In France , Santa is believed to reside in 1 Chemin des Nuages, Pôle Nord (1 Alley of Clouds, North Pole). The French national postal service has operated a service that allows children to send letters to Père Noël since 1962.[69]  In the period before Christmas, any physical letter in the country that is addressed to Santa Claus is sent to a specific location, where responses for the children’s letters are written and sent back to the children.[70]

Parades, department stores, and shopping malls See also: Santa's workshop § Santa Claus grottos/department stores Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, 1918, Toronto, Canada. Having arrived at the Eaton's  department store, Santa is readying his ladder to climb up onto the building. Representation of Santa Claus in Italy.

Actors portraying Santa Claus appear in the weeks before Christmas in department stores  or shopping malls, or at parties. The practice of this has been credited[dubious  – discuss ] to James Edgar , as he started doing this in 1890 in his Brockton, Massachusetts  department store.[71]  The actor dressed up as Santa is usually helped by other actors (often mall employees) dressed as elves or other creatures of folklore associated with Santa. His function is either to promote the store's image by distributing small gifts to children, or to provide a seasonal experience to children by listening to their wishlist while having them sit on his knee (a practice now under review by some organisations in Britain,[72]  and Switzerland[73] ). Sometimes a photograph of the child and actor portraying Santa are taken. Having a Santa actor set up to take pictures with children is a ritual that dates back at least to 1918.[74]

The area set up for this purpose is festively decorated, usually with a large throne, and is called variously "Santa's Grotto", "Santa's Workshop" or a similar term. In the United States, the most notable of these is the Santa at the flagship Macy's  store in New York City—he arrives at the store by sleigh in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade  on the last float, and his court takes over a large portion of one floor in the store. The Macy's Santa Claus in New York City  is often said to be "the real Santa." This was popularized by the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street  with Santa Claus being called Kris Kringle. Essayist David Sedaris  is known for the satirical SantaLand Diaries  he kept while working as an elf in the Macy's display, which were turned into a famous radio segment and later published.

In Canada, malls operated by Oxford Properties  established a process by which autistic  children could "visit Santa Claus" at the mall without having to contend with crowds.[75]  The malls open early to allow entry only to families with autistic children, who have a private visit with the actor portraying Santa Claus. In 2012, the Southcentre Mall  in Calgary was the first mall to offer this service.[76]

In the United Kingdom , discount store Poundland  changes the voice of its self-service checkouts  to that of Santa Claus throughout the Christmas retail period.[77]

There are schools offering instruction on how to act as Santa Claus. For example, children's television producer Jonathan Meath  studied at the International School of Santa Claus and earned the degree Master of Santa Claus  in 2006. It blossomed into a second career for him, and after appearing in parades and malls,[78]  he appeared on the cover of the American monthly Boston Magazine  as Santa.[79]  There are associations with members who portray Santa; for example, Mr. Meath was a board member of the international organization called Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas. [80]

Letter writing "Letters to Santa" redirects here. For the Muppet television film, see A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa . For the Polish film, see Letters to Santa (film) .

Writing letters to Santa Claus has been a Christmas tradition for children for many years. These letters normally contain a wishlist  of toys and assertions of good behavior. Some social scientists  have found that boys and girls write different types of letters. Girls generally write longer but more polite lists and express the nature of Christmas more in their letters than in letters written by boys. Girls also more often request gifts for other people.[83]

Many postal services  allow children to send letters to Santa Claus. These letters may be answered by postal workers or outside volunteers.[84]  Writing letters to Santa Claus has the educational benefits of promoting literacy, computer literacy, and e-mail literacy. A letter to Santa is often a child's first experience of correspondence. Written and sent with the help of a parent or teacher, children learn about the structure of a letter, salutations, and the use of an address and postcode .[85]

According to the Universal Postal Union  (UPU)'s 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, the United States Postal Service  (USPS) has the oldest Santa letter answering effort by a national postal system. The USPS  Santa letter answering effort started in 1912 out of the historic James Farley Post Office [86]  in New York, and since 1940 has been called "Operation Santa" to ensure that letters to Santa are adopted by charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and individuals in order to fulfill the wishes of children.[84]  Those seeking a North Pole  holiday postmark through the USPS , are told to send their letter from Santa or a holiday greeting card by 10 December to: North Pole Holiday Postmark, Postmaster, 4141 Postmark Dr, Anchorage, AK 99530–9998.[87]

In 2006, according to the UPU's  2007 study and survey of national postal operations, France's Postal Service  received the most letters for Santa Claus or "Père Noël " with 1,220,000 letters received from 126 countries.[88]  France's Postal Service  in 2007 specially recruited someone to answer the enormous volume of mail that was coming from Russia for Santa Claus.[84]

Other Santa letter processing information, according to the UPU's  2007 study and survey of national postal operations, include:[84]

  • Countries whose national postal operators answer letters to Santa and other end-of-year holiday figures, and the number of letters received in 2006: Germany (500,000), Australia (117,000), Austria (6,000), Bulgaria (500), Canada (1,060,000), Spain (232,000), United States (no figure, as statistics are not kept centrally), Finland (750,000), France (1,220,000), Ireland (100,000), New Zealand (110,000), Portugal (255,000), Poland (3,000), Slovakia (85,000), Sweden (150,000), Switzerland (17,863), Ukraine (5,019), United Kingdom (750,000).
  • In 2006, Finland's national postal operation  received letters from 150 countries (representing 90% of the letters received), France's Postal Service  from 126 countries, Germany from 80 countries, and Slovakia from 20 countries.
  • In 2007, Canada Post  replied to letters in 26 languages and Deutsche Post  in 16 languages.
  • Some national postal operators make it possible to send in e-mail messages which are answered by physical mail. All the same, Santa still receives far more letters than e-mail through the national postal operators, proving that children still write letters. National postal operators offering the ability to use an on-line web form  (with or without a return e-mail address) to Santa and obtain a reply include Canada Post [89]  (on-line web request form in English and French), France's Postal Service  (on-line web request form in French),[90] [91]  and New Zealand Post [92]  (on-line web request form in English).[93]  In France, by 6 December 2010, a team of 60 postal elves had sent out reply cards in response to 80,000 e-mail on-line request forms and more than 500,000 physical letters.[85]

Canada Post  has a special postal code  for letters to Santa Claus, and since 1982 over 13,000 Canadian postal workers have volunteered to write responses. His address is: Santa Claus, North Pole, Canada , H0H 0H0 ; no postage is required.[94]  (see also: Ho ho ho ). (This postal code, in which zeroes are used for the letter "O", is consistent with the alternating letter-number format of all Canadian postal codes.) Sometimes children's charities answer letters in poor communities, or from children's hospitals, and give them presents they would not otherwise receive. From 2002 to 2014, the program replied to approximately "one million letters or more a year, and in total answered more than 24.7 million letters";[95]  as of 2015, it responds to more than 1.5 million letters per year, "in over 30 languages, including Braille answering them all in the language they are written".[96]

In Britain it is traditional for some to burn the Christmas letters on the fire, magically transporting them by wind to the North Pole.[97]  According to the Royal Mail website, Santa's address for letters from British children is: Santa/Father Christmas, Santa's Grotto, Reindeerland, XM4 5HQ[98]

In Mexico and other Latin American countries, besides using the mail, sometimes children wrap their letters to a small helium balloon, releasing them into the air so Santa magically receives them.[97]

In 2010, the Brazilian National Post Service, "Correios " formed partnerships with public schools and social institutions to encourage children to write letters and make use of postcodes and stamps. In 2009, the Brazilian National Post Service, "Correios " answered almost two million children's letters, and spread some seasonal cheer by donating 414,000 Christmas gifts to some of Brazil's neediest citizens.[85]

Through the years, the Finnish Santa Claus (Joulupukki  or "Yule Goat ") has received over eight million letters. He receives over 600,000 letters every year from over 198 different countries with Togo being the most recent country added to the list.[85]  Children from Great Britain, Poland and Japan are the busiest writers. The Finnish Santa Claus lives in Korvatunturi , near the Santa Claus Main Post Office in Rovaniemi  precisely at the Arctic circle . His mailing address is: Santa Claus' Main Post Office, Santa Claus Village , FIN-96930 Arctic Circle. The post office welcomes 300,000 visitors a year, with 70,000 visitors in December alone.[85]

Children can also receive a letter from Santa through a variety of private agencies and organizations, and on occasion public and private cooperative ventures. An example of a public and private cooperative venture is the opportunity for expatriate  and local children and parents to receive postmarked mail and greeting cards from Santa during December in the Finnish Embassy in Beijing , People's Republic of China ,[99]  Santa Claus Village  in Rovaniemi , Finland, and the People's Republic of China Postal System's  Beijing  International Post Office.[100] [101] [102]  Parents can order a personalized "Santa letter" to be sent to their child, often with a North Pole postmark. The "Santa Letter" market generally relies on the Internet as a medium for ordering such letters rather than retail stores .[undue weight?  – discuss ]

Tracking The Christmas issue of NOAA 's Weather Bureau Topics  with "Santa Claus" streaking across a weather radar  screen, 1958

A number of websites created by various organizations claim to track Santa Claus each year. Some, such as NORAD Tracks Santa , the Google Santa Tracker , the emailSanta.com Tracker[103]  and the Santa Update Project, have endured. Others, such as the Airservices Australia Tracks Santa Project,[104] [105] [106]  the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport 's Tracks Santa Project,[107] [108] [109]  the NASA Tracks Santa Project,[110]  and the Bing Maps Platform  Tracks Santa Project,[111] [112]  no longer actively track Santa.

1955 Sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the creation of the NORAD Tracks Santa program

The origins of the NORAD Tracks Santa programme began in the United States in 1955, when a Sears Roebuck  store in Colorado Springs, Colorado , gave children a number to call a "Santa hotline ". The number was mistyped, resulting in children calling the Continental Air Defense Command  (CONAD) on Christmas Eve instead. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first call for Santa and responded by claiming to children that there were signs on the radar that Santa was indeed heading south from the North Pole. A tradition began which continued under the name NORAD Tracks Santa when in 1958 Canada and the United States jointly created the North American Air Defense Command  (NORAD).[113] [114]  This "tracking" can now be done via the Internet and NORAD's website.

In the past, many local television stations in the United States and Canada likewise claimed they "tracked Santa Claus" in their own metropolitan areas  through the stations' meteorologists . In December 2000, the Weather Channel  built upon these local efforts to provide a national Christmas Eve "Santa tracking" effort, called "SantaWatch" in cooperation with NASA , the International Space Station , and Silicon Valley -based new multimedia  firm Dreamtime Holdings.[115]  In the 21st century, most local television stations in the United States and Canada rely upon outside established "Santa tracking" efforts, such as NORAD Tracks Santa.[116]

Many other websites became available year-round, devoted to Santa Claus and purport to keep tabs on his activities in his workshop. Many of these websites also include email addresses or web forms which claim to allow children to send email to Santa Claus. One particular website called emailSanta.com  was created when a 1997 Canada Post  strike  prevented Alan Kerr's young niece and nephews from sending their letters to Santa; in a few weeks, over 1,000 emails to Santa were received, and the site had received 1,000 emails a day one year later.[117] [118]  Some websites, such as Santa's page on Microsoft's former Windows Live Spaces  or emailSanta.com, have used or still use "bots " or other automated programs to compose and send personalized and realistic replies.[119] [120]  Microsoft's website has given occasional profane results.[121] [122]

In addition to providing holiday-themed entertainment, "Santa tracking" websites raise interest in space technology  and exploration ,[123]  serve to educate children in geography[124]  and encourage them to take an interest in science.[125]

Criticism See also: Christmas controversy

Opposition from some Christian denominations

Santa Claus has partial Christian roots in Saint Nicholas , particularly in the high church  denominations that practice the veneration  of him, in addition to other saints . In light of this, the character has sometimes been the focus of controversy over the holiday and its meanings. A number of denominations of Christians have varying concerns about Santa Claus, which range from acceptance to denouncement.[126] [127]  Some Christians, particularly Calvinists  such as the Puritans , disliked the idea of Santa Claus, as well as Christmas in general, believing that the lavish celebrations were not in accordance with their faith.[128]  Other nonconformist  Christians condemn the materialist focus of contemporary gift giving and see Santa Claus as the symbol of that culture.[129]

Condemnation of Christmas was prevalent among the 17th-century English Puritans and Dutch Calvinists who banned the holiday as either pagan  or Roman Catholic . The American colonies established by these groups reflected this view. Tolerance for Christmas increased after the Restoration  but the Puritan opposition to the holiday persisted in New England for almost two centuries.[130]  In the Dutch New Netherland  colony, season celebrations focused on New Year's Day.

Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Father Christmas  (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England; Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

Following the Restoration  of the monarchy and with Puritans out of power in England,[131]  the ban on Christmas was satirized in works such as Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas ; Together with his Clearing by the Jury  (1686).[132]

Reverend Paul Nedergaard, a clergyman in Copenhagen, Denmark , attracted controversy in 1958 when he declared Santa to be a "heathen goblin" ("en hedensk trold" in Danish ) after Santa's image was used on the annual Christmas stamp ("julemærke") for a Danish children's welfare organization.[133]

Mary Baker Eddy , the founder of the Christian Science  movement, wrote: "the children should not be taught that Santa Claus has aught to do with this [Christmas] pastime. A deceit or falsehood is never wise. Too much cannot be done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating and inclining thought of childhood. To mould aright the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetuating purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man in His image and likeness."[134]

Opposition under state atheism

Under the Marxist–Leninist  doctrine of state atheism  in the Soviet Union after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet antireligious campaign .[135] [136]  The League of Militant Atheists  encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being Santa Claus and the Christmas tree , as well as other Christian holidays including Easter ; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[137] [138]

In December 2018, the city management office of Langfang  in Hebei province  released a statement stating that people caught selling Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings or Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished.[139]

Symbol of commercialism

In his book Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus , writer Jeremy Seal describes how the commercialization of the Santa Claus figure began in the 19th century. "In the 1820s he began to acquire the recognizable trappings: reindeer, sleigh , bells," said Seal in an interview.[140]  "They are simply the actual bearings in the world from which he emerged. At that time, sleighs were how you got about Manhattan ."

Writing in Mothering , writer Carol Jean-Swanson makes similar points, noting that the original figure of St. Nicholas gave only to those who were needy and that today Santa Claus seems to be more about conspicuous consumption :

Our jolly old Saint Nicholas reflects our culture to a T, for he is fanciful, exuberant, bountiful, over-weight, and highly commercial. He also mirrors some of our highest ideals: childhood purity and innocence, selfless giving, unfaltering love, justice, and mercy. (What child has ever received a coal for Christmas?) The problem is that, in the process, he has become burdened with some of society's greatest challenges: materialism, corporate greed, and domination by the media. Here, Santa carries more in his baggage than toys alone![141]

In the Czech Republic, a group of advertising professionals started a website against Santa Claus, a relatively recent phenomenon in that country.[142]  "Czech Christmases are intimate and magical. All that Santa stuff seems to me like cheap show business," said David König of the Creative Copywriters Club, pointing out that it is primarily an American and British tradition. "I'm not against Santa himself. I'm against Santa in my country only." In the Czech tradition, presents are delivered by Ježíšek , which translates as Baby Jesus .

In the United Kingdom, Father Christmas  was historically depicted wearing a green cloak.[citation needed ] As Father Christmas has been increasingly merged into the image of Santa Claus, that has been changed to the more commonly known red suit.[143]  Santa had been portrayed in a red suit in the 19th century by Thomas Nast  among others.[144]

A law in the U.S. state of Ohio  prohibits the usage of Santa Claus or his image to sell alcoholic beverages. The law came to attention when the beer brand Bud Light  attempted to use its mascot Spuds MacKenzie  in a Santa Claus outfit during a December 1987 ad campaign; Bud Light was forced to stop using the imagery.[145]

Controversy about deceiving children See also: Paternalistic deception

Psychologists generally differentiate between telling fictional stories that feature Santa Claus and actively deceiving a child into believing that Santa Claus is real. Imaginative play , in which children know that Santa Claus is only a character in a story, but pretend that he is real, just like they pretend that superheroes or other fictional characters are real, is valuable. Actively deceiving a child into believing in Santa Claus's real-world existence, sometimes even to the extent of fabricating false evidence to convince them despite their growing natural doubts, does not result in imaginative play and can promote credulity  in the face of strong evidence against Santa Claus's existence.[146] [147]  Children will eventually know that their parents deceived them.[148]

Various psychologists and researchers have wrestled with the ways that young children are convinced of the existence of Santa Claus, and have wondered whether children's abilities to critically weigh real-world evidence may be undermined by their belief in this or other imaginary figures. For example, University of Texas  psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley helped conduct a study that found, to the contrary, that children seemed competent in their use of logic, evidence, and comparative reasoning even though they might conclude that Santa Claus or other fanciful creatures were real:

The adults they count on to provide reliable information about the world introduce them to Santa. Then his existence is affirmed by friends, books, TV and movies. It is also validated by hard evidence: the half-eaten cookies and empty milk glasses by the tree on Christmas morning. In other words, children do a great job of scientifically evaluating Santa. And adults do a great job of duping them.[149]

— Jacqueline Wooley

Woolley posited that it is perhaps "kinship with the adult world" that causes children not to be angry that they were lied to for so long.[149]  Austin Cline argued the problem is not with length, but with a complicated series of very large lies.[150]

Typical objections to presenting Santa Claus as a literally real person, rather than a story, include:

  • that lying  is normally bad ,[147]
  • that parents intentionally lying to their children promotes distrust,[147]
  • that it promotes selfishness , greed , and materialism ,[151]
  • that it associates good behavior with being materially rewarded with presents from Santa Claus,[151]  and
  • that tricking children into believing falsehoods interferes with the development of critical thinking .[150] [146]

With no greater good than having some fun, some have charged that the deception is more about the parents, their short-term happiness in seeing children excited about Santa Claus, and their nostalgic willingness to prolong the age of magical thinking , than it is about the children.[147]  Philosopher  David Kyle Johnson  wrote, "It's a lie, it degrades your parental trustworthiness, it encourages credulity, it does not encourage imagination, and it's equivalent to bribing your kids for good behavior."[152]

Others see little harm in the belief in Santa Claus. Psychologist Tamar Murachver said that because it is a cultural, not parental, lie, it does not usually undermine parental trust.[153]  The New Zealand Skeptics  also see no harm in parents telling their children that Santa is real. Spokesperson Vicki Hyde  said, "It would be a hard-hearted parent indeed who frowned upon the innocent joys of our children's cultural heritage. We save our bah humbugs for the things that exploit the vulnerable."[153]

Most children do not remain angry or embarrassed about the deception for very long. John Condry of Cornell University  interviewed more than 500 children for a study of the issue and found that not a single child was angry at their parents for telling them Santa Claus was real. According to Dr. Condry, "The most common response to finding out the truth was that they felt older and more mature. They now knew something that the younger kids did not".[154]  In other studies, a small fraction of children felt betrayed by their parents, but disappointment was a more common response.[147]  Some children have reacted strongly, including rejecting the family's religious beliefs  on the grounds that if the parents lied about the unprovable existence of Santa Claus, then they might lie about the unprovable existence of God  as well.[147]

Christmas  is an annual festival commemorating the birth  of Jesus Christ , observed primarily on December 25[a]  as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world .[2] [3] [4]  A feast  central to the Christian  liturgical year , it is preceded by the season of Advent  or the Nativity Fast  and initiates the season of Christmastide , which historically in the West lasts twelve days  and culminates on Twelfth Night .[5]  Christmas Day is a public holiday  in many countries ,[6] [7] [8]  is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians,[9]  as well as culturally  by many non-Christians,[1] [10]  and forms an integral part of the holiday season  organized around it.

The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament , known as the Nativity of Jesus , says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem , in accordance with messianic prophecies .[11]  When Joseph  and Mary  arrived in the city, the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable  where the Christ Child  was soon born, with angels  proclaiming this news to shepherds who then spread the word.[12]

There are different hypotheses regarding the date of Jesus' birth and in the early fourth century, the church fixed the date as December 25.[b] [13] [14] [15]  This corresponds to the date of the winter solstice  on the Roman calendar.[16]  It is exactly nine months after Annunciation  on March 25, also the date of the spring equinox. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar , which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars  used in countries throughout the world. However, part of the Eastern Christian Churches  celebrate Christmas on December 25 of the older Julian calendar , which currently corresponds to January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God  came into the world in the form of man  to atone  for the sins  of humanity, rather than knowing Jesus' exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas.[17] [18] [19]

The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian , Christian, and secular  themes and origins.[20]  Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving ; completing an Advent calendar  or Advent wreath ; Christmas music  and caroling ; viewing a Nativity play ; an exchange of Christmas cards ; church services ; a special meal ; and the display of various Christmas decorations , including Christmas trees , Christmas lights , nativity scenes , garlands , wreaths , mistletoe , and holly . In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus , Father Christmas , Saint Nicholas , and Christkind , are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and have their own body of traditions  and lore.[21]  Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. Over the past few centuries, Christmas has had a steadily growing economic effect  in many regions of the world.

Etymology

The English word "Christmas" is a shortened form of "Christ 's Mass ". The word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse  in 1038 and Cristes-messe  in 1131.[22]  Crīst  (genitive  Crīstes ) is from Greek Khrīstos  (Χριστός), a translation of Hebrew  Māšîaḥ  (מָשִׁיחַ), "Messiah ", meaning "anointed";[23] [24]  and mæsse  is from Latin missa , the celebration of the Eucharist .[25]

The form Christenmas  was also used during some periods, but is now considered archaic and dialectal.[26]  The term derives from Middle English Cristenmasse , meaning "Christian mass".[27]  Xmas  is an abbreviation of Christmas  found particularly in print, based on the initial letter chi  (Χ) in Greek Khrīstos  (Χριστός) ("Christ"), although numerous style guides  discourage its use.[28]  This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse  (where "Χρ̄" is an abbreviation for Χριστός).[27]

Other names

In addition to "Christmas", the holiday has had various other English names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons  referred to the feast as "midwinter",[29] [30]  or, more rarely, as Nātiuiteð  (from Latin  nātīvitās  below).[29] [31]  "Nativity ", meaning "birth", is from Latin nātīvitās .[32]  In Old English, Gēola  (Yule ) referred to the period corresponding to December and January, which was eventually equated with Christian Christmas.[33]  "Noel" (also "Nowel" or "Nowell", as in "The First Nowell ") entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël  or naël , itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis (diēs)  meaning "birth (day)".[34]

Nativity

Main article: Nativity of Jesus

The gospels of Luke  and Matthew  describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem  to the Virgin Mary . In the book of Luke, Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth  to Bethlehem for the census, and Jesus was born there and placed in a manger.[35]  Angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. The book of Matthew adds that the magi followed a star  to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the king of the Jews . King Herod  ordered the massacre of all the boys  less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family fled to Egypt and later returned to Nazareth.[36]

History

See also: Date of birth of Jesus Eastern Orthodox  icon  of the birth of Christ by Saint Andrei Rublev , 15th century Nativity of Christ , medieval illustration from the Hortus deliciarum  of Herrad of Landsberg  (12th century) Adoration of the Shepherds  (1622) by Gerard van Honthorst  depicts the nativity of Jesus

The nativity sequences included in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke prompted early Christian writers to suggest various dates for the anniversary.[37]  Although no date is indicated in the gospels, early Christians connected Jesus to the Sun through the use of such phrases as "Sun of righteousness."[37] [38]  The Romans marked the winter solstice on December 25.[16]  The first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome on December 25, AD 336.[39]  In the 3rd century, the date of the nativity was the subject of great interest. Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria  wrote:

There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20] ... Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].[40]

Various factors contributed to the selection of December 25 as a date of celebration: it was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar and it was nine months after March 25, the date of the vernal equinox and a date linked to the conception of Jesus (celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation ).[41]

Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy  of the fourth century. After this controversy ran its course, the prominence of the holiday declined for a few centuries. The feast regained prominence after 800 when Charlemagne  was crowned emperor on Christmas Day.

In Puritan England, Christmas was banned due to being associated with drunkenness and other misbehaviour.[42]  It was restored as a legal holiday in England in 1660, but remained disreputable in the minds of many people. In the early 19th century, Christmas festivities and services became widespread with the rise of the Oxford Movement  in the Church of England  that emphasized the centrality of Christmas in Christianity and charity to the poor,[43]  along with Washington Irving , Charles Dickens , and other authors emphasizing family, children, kind-heartedness, gift-giving, and Santa Claus  (for Irving),[44]  or Father Christmas  (for Dickens).[45]

Introduction

At the time of the 2nd century, the "earliest church records" indicate that "Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord", an "observance [that] sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers."[46]  Though Christmas did not appear on the lists of festivals given by the early Christian writers Irenaeus and Tertullian,[22]  the Chronograph of 354  records that a Christmas celebration took place in Rome eight days before the calends  of January.[47]  This section was written in AD 336, during the brief pontificate of Pope Mark .[48]

In the East , the birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the Epiphany  on January 6.[49] [50]  This holiday was not primarily about the nativity, but rather the baptism of Jesus .[51]  Christmas was promoted in the East as part of the revival of Orthodox Christianity  that followed the death of the pro-Arian  Emperor Valens  at the Battle of Adrianople  in 378. The feast was introduced in Constantinople  in 379, in Antioch  by John Chrysostom  towards the end of the fourth century,[50]  probably in 388, and in Alexandria  in the following century.[52]

Calculation hypothesis

Further information: Chronology of Jesus Mosaic in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica  in Rome, interpreted by some as Jesus represented as Christus Sol  (Christ the Sun).[53]

The calculation hypothesis suggests that an earlier holiday, the Annunciation , held on March 25 became associated with the Incarnation.[54]  Christmas was then calculated as nine months later. The calculation hypothesis was proposed by French writer Louis Duchesne  in 1889.[55] [56]  The Bible in Luke 1:26  records the annunciation to Mary to be at the time when Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist , was in her the sixth month of pregnancy (cf. Nativity of Saint John the Baptist ).[57] [58]  The ecclesiastical holiday was created in the seventh century and was assigned to be celebrated on March 25; this date is nine months before Christmas, in addition to being the traditional date of the equinox.[58]  It is unrelated to the Quartodeciman , which had been forgotten by this time.[59]  Forgotten by everyone except the Jews, of course, who continued to observe Passover ; also a Quartodeciman feast.

Early Christians celebrated the life of Jesus on a date considered equivalent to 14 Nisan (Passover) on the local calendar. Because Passover was held on the 14th of the month, this feast is referred to as the Quartodeciman. All the major events of Christ's life, especially the passion, were celebrated on this date. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions Passover, presumably celebrated according to the local calendar in Corinth.[60]  Tertullian (d. 220), who lived in Latin-speaking North Africa, gives the date of passion celebration as March 25.[61]  The date of the passion was moved to Good Friday in 165 when Pope Soter  created Easter by reassigning the Resurrection to a Sunday. According to the calculation hypothesis, the celebration of the Quartodeciman continued in some areas and the feast became associated with Incarnation.[62]

The calculation hypothesis is considered academically to be "a thoroughly viable hypothesis", though not certain.[63]  It was a traditional Jewish belief that great men were born and died on the same day, so lived a whole number of years, without fractions: Jesus was therefore considered to have been conceived on March 25, as he died on March 25, which was calculated to have coincided with 14 Nisan.[64]  A passage in Commentary on the Prophet Daniel  (204) by Hippolytus of Rome  identifies December 25 as the date of the nativity. This passage is generally considered a late interpolation. But the manuscript includes another passage, one that is more likely to be authentic, that gives the passion as March 25.[65]

In 221, Sextus Julius Africanus  (c. 160 – c. 240) gave March 25 as the day of creation and of the conception of Jesus in his universal history. This conclusion was based on solar symbolism, with March 25 the date of the equinox. As this implies a birth in December, it is sometimes claimed to be the earliest identification of December 25 as the nativity. However, Africanus was not such an influential writer that it is likely he determined the date of Christmas.[66]

The treatise De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis Domini nostri Iesu Christi et Iohannis Baptistae,  pseudepigraphically attributed to John Chrysostom  and dating to the early fourth century,[67] [68]  also argued that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the same day of the year and calculated this as March 25.[69] [70]  This anonymous tract also states: "But Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December ... the eight before the calends of January [25 December] ..., But they call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord...? Or, if they say that it is the birthday of the Sun, He is the Sun of Justice."[22]

Solstice date hypothesis

December 25 was the date of the winter solstice  in the Roman calendar.[16] [71]  A late fourth-century sermon by Saint Augustine  explains why this was a fitting day to celebrate Christ's nativity: "Hence it is that He was born on the day which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the one whence light begins to increase."[72]

Linking Jesus to the Sun was supported by various Biblical passages. Jesus was considered to be the "Sun of righteousness" prophesied by Malachi : "Unto you shall the sun of righteousness arise, and healing is in his wings."[38]

Such solar symbolism could support more than one date of birth. An anonymous work known as De Pascha Computus  (243) linked the idea that creation began at the spring equinox, on March 25, with the conception or birth (the word nascor  can mean either) of Jesus on March 28, the day of the creation of the sun in the Genesis account. One translation reads: "O the splendid and divine providence of the Lord, that on that day, the very day, on which the sun was made, March 28, a Wednesday, Christ should be born".[22] [73]

In the 17th century, Isaac Newton , who, coincidentally, was born on December 25, argued that the date of Christmas may have been selected to correspond with the solstice.[74]

Conversely, according to Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta, "It is cosmic symbolism ... which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice , December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the northern solstice  as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception."[75]

History of religions hypothesis

See also: Saturnalia

The rival "History of Religions" hypothesis suggests that the Church selected December 25 date to appropriate festivities held by the Romans in honor of the Sun god Sol Invictus .[54]  This cult was established by Aurelian  in 274. An explicit expression of this theory appears in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi . The scribe who added it wrote:

It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries, the Christians also took part. Accordingly, when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day.[76]

In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti  and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church.[77]  However, it has been also argued that, on the contrary, the Emperor Aurelian , who in 274 instituted the holiday of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti , did so partly as an attempt to give a pagan significance to a date already important for Christians in Rome.[78]

Hermann Usener [79]  and others[22]  proposed that the Christians chose this day because it was the Roman feast celebrating the birthday of Sol Invictus. Modern scholar S. E. Hijmans, however, states that "While they were aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas."[75]  Moreover, Thomas J. Talley holds that the Roman Emperor Aurelian  placed a festival of Sol Invictus on December 25 in order to compete with the growing rate of the Christian Church, which had already been celebrating Christmas on that date first.[80]  In the judgement of the Church of England Liturgical Commission, the History of Religions hypothesis has been challenged[81]  by a view based on an old tradition, according to which the date of Christmas was fixed at nine months after March 25, the date of the vernal equinox, on which the Annunciation  was celebrated.[69]  Adam C. English, Professor of Religion at Campbell University, writes:[46]

We have evidence from the second century, less than fifty years after the close of the New Testament, that Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord. It is not true to say that the observance of the nativity was imposed on Christians hundreds of years later by imperial decree or by a magisterial church ruling. The observance sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers.[46]

With regard to a December religious feast of the deified Sun (Sol), as distinct from a solstice feast of the birth (or rebirth) of the astronomical sun, Hijmans has commented that "while the winter solstice on or around December 25 was well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there is no evidence that a religious celebration of Sol on that day antedated the celebration of Christmas".[82]  "Thomas Talley has shown that, although the Emperor Aurelian's dedication of a temple to the sun god in the Campus Martius (C.E. 274) probably took place on the 'Birthday of the Invincible Sun' on December 25, the cult of the sun in pagan Rome ironically did not celebrate the winter solstice nor any of the other quarter-tense days, as one might expect."[83]  The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought  remarks on the uncertainty about the order of precedence between the religious celebrations of the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun and of the birthday of Jesus, stating that the hypothesis that December 25 was chosen for celebrating the birth of Jesus on the basis of the belief that his conception occurred on March 25 "potentially establishes 25 December as a Christian festival before Aurelian's decree, which, when promulgated, might have provided for the Christian feast both opportunity and challenge".[84]

Relation to concurrent celebrations

Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with some claiming that certain elements have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity . The prevailing atmosphere of Christmas has also continually evolved since the holiday's inception, ranging from a sometimes raucous, drunken, carnival -like state in the Middle Ages ,[85]  to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century transformation.[86] [87]  The celebration of Christmas was banned on more than one occasion within certain groups, such as the Puritans  and Jehovah's Witnesses  (who do not celebrate birthdays in general), due to concerns that it was too unbiblical.[88] [42] [89]

Prior to and through the early Christian  centuries, winter festivals  were the most popular of the year in many European pagan cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needed to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.[90]  Celtic  winter herbs such as mistletoe  and ivy , and the custom of kissing under a mistletoe, are common in modern Christmas celebrations in the English-speaking countries.

The pre-Christian Germanic peoples —including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse—celebrated a winter festival called Yule , held in the late December to early January period, yielding modern English yule , today used as a synonym for Christmas .[91]  In Germanic language-speaking areas, numerous elements of modern Christmas folk custom and iconography may have originated from Yule, including the Yule log , Yule boar , and the Yule goat .[92] [91]  Often leading a ghostly procession through the sky (the Wild Hunt ), the long-bearded god Odin  is referred to as "the Yule one" and "Yule father" in Old Norse texts, while other gods are referred to as "Yule beings".[93]  On the other hand, as there are no reliable existing references to a Christmas log prior to the 16th century, the burning of the Christmas block may have been an early modern invention by Christians unrelated to the pagan practice.[94]

In eastern Europe also, old pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations, an example being the Koleda ,[95]  which was incorporated into the Christmas carol .

Post-classical history

The Nativity , from a 14th-century Missal ; a liturgical book containing texts and music necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year

In the Early Middle Ages , Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in western Christianity  focused on the visit of the magi . But the medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours ), now known as Advent.[85]  In Italy, former Saturnalian  traditions were attached to Advent.[85]  Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas  (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.[85]

The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne  was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr  was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England  was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.

The coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas of 800 helped promote the popularity of the holiday

By the High Middle Ages , the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates  celebrated Christmas. King Richard II  of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28 oxen and 300 sheep were eaten.[85]  The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling  also became popular, and was originally performed by a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.[85]  "Misrule "—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day , and there was special Christmas ale.[85]

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy , holly , and other evergreens.[96]  Christmas gift-giving  during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[96]  The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques, and pageants. In 1607, King James I  insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games.[97]  It was during the Reformation  in 16th–17th-century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child  or Christkindl , and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[98]

Modern history

Associating it with drunkenness and other misbehaviour, the Puritans banned Christmas in England in the 17th century.[42]  It was restored as a legal holiday in 1660, but remained disreputable. In the early 19th century, the Oxford Movement  in the Anglican Church  ushered in "the development of richer and more symbolic forms of worship, the building of neo-Gothic churches, and the revival and increasing centrality of the keeping of Christmas itself as a Christian festival" as well as "special charities for the poor" in addition to "special services and musical events".[43]  Charles Dickens  and other writers helped in this revival of the holiday by "changing consciousness of Christmas and the way in which it was celebrated" as they emphasized family, religion, gift-giving, and social reconciliation as opposed to the historic revelry common in some places.[43]

17th and 18th centuries

Following the Protestant Reformation , many of the new denominations, including the Anglican Church  and Lutheran Church , continued to celebrate Christmas.[99]  In 1629, the Anglican poet John Milton  penned On the Morning of Christ's Nativity , a poem that has since been read by many during Christmastide.[100] [101]  Donald Heinz, a professor at California State University , states that Martin Luther  "inaugurated a period in which Germany would produce a unique culture of Christmas, much copied in North America."[102]  Among the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church , Christmas was celebrated as one of the principal evangelical feasts .[103]

However, in 17th century England, some groups such as the Puritans  strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery " or the "rags of the Beast ".[42]  In contrast, the established Anglican Church  "pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons, and saints' days. The calendar reform became a major point of tension between the Anglican party and the Puritan party."[104]  The Catholic Church  also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England  directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old-style Christmas generosity.[97]  Following the Parliamentarian  victory over Charles I during the English Civil War , England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647.[42] [105]

Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury  was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly  and shouted royalist  slogans.[42]  The book, The Vindication of Christmas  (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", old Father Christmas and carol singing.[106]

The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas , (1686), published after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England

The Restoration  of King Charles II  in 1660 ended the ban, but many Calvinist clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. As such, in Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland  discouraged the observance of Christmas, and though James VI  commanded its celebration in 1618, attendance at church  was scant.[107]  The Parliament of Scotland  officially abolished the observance of Christmas in 1640, claiming that the church had been "purged of all superstitious observation of days".[108]  It was not until 1958 that Christmas again became a Scottish public holiday.[109]

Following the Restoration of Charles II, Poor Robin's Almanack  contained the lines: "Now thanks to God for Charles return, / Whose absence made old Christmas mourn. / For then we scarcely did it know, / Whether it Christmas were or no."[110]  The diary of James Woodforde, from the latter half of the 18th century, details the observance of Christmas and celebrations associated with the season over a number of years.[111]

In Colonial America , the Pilgrims  of New England shared the Puritanical disapproval of Christmas.[89]  The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World working – thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day.[89]  Non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England.[112]  Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston  in 1659.[89]  The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by English governor Edmund Andros , however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.[113]

At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia  and New York  observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German  Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian  settlers of Bethlehem , Nazareth  and Lititz  in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia  Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes.[114]  Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution , when it was considered an English custom.[115]  George Washington  attacked Hessian  (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton  on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.

With the atheistic Cult of Reason  in power during the era of Revolutionary France , Christian Christmas religious services  were banned and the three kings cake  was renamed the "equality cake" under anticlerical government policies .[116] [117]

19th century

Ebenezer Scrooge  and the Ghost of Christmas Present . From Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol , 1843.

In the UK, Christmas Day became a bank holiday  in 1834. Boxing Day , the day after Christmas, was added in 1871.[118]

In the early-19th century, writers imagined Tudor  Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration. In 1843, Charles Dickens  wrote the novel A Christmas Carol , which helped revive the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal merriment.[86] [87]  Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.[44]

Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, linking "worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation."[119]  Superimposing his humanitarian vision of the holiday, in what has been termed "Carol Philosophy",[120]  Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit.[121]  A prominent phrase from the tale, "Merry Christmas" , was popularized following the appearance of the story.[122]  This coincided with the appearance of the Oxford Movement  and the growth of Anglo-Catholicism , which led a revival in traditional rituals and religious observances.[123]

The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle , published in the Illustrated London News , 1848

The term Scrooge  became a synonym for miser , with "Bah! Humbug!"  dismissive of the festive spirit.[124]  In 1843, the first commercial Christmas card  was produced by Sir Henry Cole .[125]  The revival of the Christmas Carol  began with William Sandys 's "Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern" (1833), with the first appearance in print of "The First Noel ", "I Saw Three Ships ", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing " and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen ", popularized in Dickens' A Christmas Carol .

In Britain, the Christmas tree  was introduced in the early 19th century by the German-born Queen Charlotte . In 1832, the future Queen Victoria  wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights , ornaments , and presents  placed round it.[126]  After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert , by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain.[127]

An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created a sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News  in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in Godey's Lady's Book , Philadelphia in 1850.[128] [129]  By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.[128]

In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several short stories  by Washington Irving  which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.  and "Old Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in Aston Hall , Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned,[130]  and he used the tract Vindication of Christmas  (1652) of Old English Christmas traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories.[97]

A Norwegian Christmas, 1846 painting by Adolph Tidemand

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore  wrote the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas  (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas ).[131]  The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[132]  This also started the cultural conflict between the holiday's spiritual significance and its associated commercialism  that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book The First Christmas in New England , Harriet Beecher Stowe  includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas  was lost in a shopping spree.[133]

While the celebration of Christmas was not yet customary in some regions in the U.S., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in 1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so."[134]  In Reading, Pennsylvania , a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas—threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the Savior's birth."[134]

The First Congregational Church of Rockford, Illinois , "although of genuine Puritan stock", was 'preparing for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in 1864.[134]  By 1860, fourteen states including several from New England  had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.[135]  In 1875, Louis Prang  introduced the Christmas card  to Americans. He has been called the "father of the American Christmas card".[136]  On June 28, 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States federal holiday .[137]

20th century

The Christmas Visit. Postcard, c.1910

During the First World War  and particularly (but not exclusively)[138]  in 1914, a series of informal truces  took place for Christmas between opposing armies. The truces, which were organised spontaneously by fighting men, ranged from promises not to shoot shouted at a distance in order to ease the pressure of war for the day to friendly socializing, gift giving and even sport between enemies.[139]  These incidents became a well known and semi-mythologised part of popular memory.[140]  They have been described as a symbol of common humanity even in the darkest of situations and used to demonstrate to children the ideals of Christmas.[141]

Up to the 1950s in the UK, many Christmas customs were restricted to the upper classes and better-off families. The mass of the population had not adopted many of the Christmas rituals that later became general. The Christmas tree  was rare. Christmas dinner might be beef or goose – certainly not turkey. In their stockings children might get an apple, orange, and sweets. Full celebration of a family Christmas with all the trimmings only became widespread with increased prosperity from the 1950s.[142]  National papers were published on Christmas Day until 1912. Post was still delivered on Christmas Day until 1961. League football matches continued in Scotland until the 1970s while in England they ceased at the end of the 1950s.[143] [144]

Under the state atheism  of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were prohibited in public.[145]  During the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, the League of Militant Atheists  encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[146]  At the height of this persecution, in 1929, on Christmas Day, children in Moscow were encouraged to spit on crucifixes  as a protest against the holiday.[147]  Instead, the importance of the holiday and all its trappings, such as the Christmas tree and gift-giving, was transferred to the New Year .[148]  It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union  in 1991 that the persecution  ended and Orthodox Christmas became a state holiday again for the first time in Russia after seven decades.[149]

European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that likewise, in Nazi Germany , "because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime's racial ideologies."[150]

As Christmas celebrations began to be held around the world even outside traditional Christian cultures in the 20th century, some Muslim-majority countries subsequently banned the practice of Christmas, claiming it undermines Islam .[151]

  • Condition: New

PicClick Insights - Vintage S.s. Sarna Santa Christmas Sculpture / Candelholder W/ Pinecone Candle PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 1 watcher, 0.0 new watchers per day, 550 days for sale on eBay. Normal amount watching. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 3,539+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Great seller with very good positive feedback and over 50 ratings.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive