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Christmas History
 
Known as the legendary bringer of gifts at Christmas, Santa Claus is generally portrayed as a fat, jolly man with a white beard, dressed in a red suit pruned with white, and driving a sleigh full of toys drawn through the air by eight reindeers. Santa (also called Saint Nicholas and Saint Nick) is said to visit on Christmas Eve, entering houses through the chimney to leave presents under the
Christmas tree and in the stockings of all good children.

Although this familiar image of Santa Claus is a North American invention of the 19th century, it has ancient European roots and continues to influence the celebration of Christmas throughout the world.

Long ago, in a land, which is now called Turkey, there was a bishop named Nicholas who lived in the fourth century A.D. He was very wealthy and generous, and he loved to make children happy. Often, he would give gifts to very poor children -- sometimes by throwing them into their windows.

As the story goes, Saint Nicholas once helped a man's daughter with her dowry by anonymously dropping a bag of gold down the chimney. After helping the man's second and third daughters in similar manner, he was caught in the act. In recognition of his generosity, the practice of dropping gifts down the chimney was established.

After Nicholas died, he was canonized as a saint. His feast day is December 6 -- a holiday in many countries. He is the patron saint of children and seafarers. In the Netherlands, the saint's name, Sinter Nikolass, became shortened to Sinter Klaas. And as Dutch people immigrated to the United States, the name evolved into what it is today - Santa Claus!



Christmas Tree

Germany is recognized with starting the Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce.

The Christmas tree custom gradually became popular in other parts of Europe. In England Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria made Christmas trees fashionable by decorating the first English Christmas tree at Windsor castle with candles and a variety of sweets, fruits and gingerbread in 1841. Of course, soon other wealthy English families followed suit, using all kinds of extravagant items as decorations. Most of the 19th century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania. They put one on show to raise money for a local church. In 1851 a tree was set up outside of a church. The people of the parish thought it such an outrage and a return to paganism and asked the minister to take it down.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas to reach from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly

with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed in bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts.

Electricity helped introduce Christmas lights making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country. All important buildings, private and public, signaled the beginning of the Christmas holiday with the tree ceremony.

Early Christmas trees had, in place of angels, figures of fairies - the good spirits, though horns and bells were once used to frighten off evil spirits.

In Poland, Christmas trees used to be adorned with angels, peacocks and other birds as well as many, many stars. In Sweden, trees are decorated with brightly painted wooden ornaments and straw figures of animals and children. In Denmark, tiny Danish flags along with mobiles of bells stars, snowflakes and hearts are hung on Christmas trees. Japanese Christians prefer tiny fans and paper lanterns. Lithuanians cover their trees with straw birdcages, stars, and geometric shapes. The straw sends a wish for good crops in the coming year. A Ukrainian Christmas tree has a spider and web for good luck. Legend has it that a poor woman with nothing to put on her children's tree woke on Christmas morning to find the branches covered with spider webs turned to silver by the rising sun.