physics613

Due to the obliquity of the ecliptic, the Earth’s equator is inclined at 23° 27′ to its orbit, tilting the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere alternately towards the Sun, as the Earth revolves around it yearly, giving summer and winter, with spring and autumn in between. The ecliptic is the apparent great circle of the annual path of the Sun in the celestial sphere, as seen from Earth. It is so named because eclipses occur only when the Moon is on or near this path. The plane of this path, called the plane of the ecliptic, intersects the celestial sphere at an angle of about 23° 27′. The celestial sphere comes from an ancient belief that all the stars were printed on the interior surface of a giant sphere with Earth at the center. Today it’s used metaphorically, meaning the apparent celestial sphere. The two points at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator are called equinoxes. The Sun is at the vernal equinox about March 21, and the autumnal equinox about September 23. Halfway on the ecliptic between these points are the summer and winter solstices. The Sun arrives at these points about June 21, and December 22 respectively. Today the equinoxes and solstices mark the official beginning of these seasons in the northern hemisphere. The solstices are the two points on the ecliptic at which the Sun is farthest from the celestial equator. The solstice north of the celestial equator is called the summer solstice, and the solstice south of the celestial equator is called the winter solstice. Of course, in the southern hemisphere, the actual seasons are reversed from the official name. The name “solstice” means “Sun stands still” because at these times the Sun changes little in declination from one day to the next, and appears to stay in one place north or south of the equator.

During the winter, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, so the northern hemisphere experiences a period of prolonged cold. By “winter”, I mean the official winter, around the winter solstice. Of course, the southern hemisphere experiences summer at that time. The winter in temperate zones is a period of prolonged cold. Temperatures drop below the freezing point of water. Without liquid water plants can’t grow, so plants go dormant. The absence of green leaves causes a food shortage among animals, which causes many to hibernate or migrate. It’s a time where it’s easy to starve or freeze to death. Imagine a group of primitive humans living in such an environment. Even if they had agriculture, life would be very difficult. You can’t produce food during the winter, so you have to produce an oversupply of food during harvest, and then save it all up so you’ll have enough to survive the winter. Hoping you have enough food to survive the winter is risky business indeed. Primitive people knew nothing of the real cause of winter, and invented imaginative stories to explain it. For instance, there is the Greek Myth of Persephone, in which she spends half the year in the Underworld, autumn and winter, and half the year on Olympus, spring and summer. Primitive people had to possess a vast knowledge of astronomy to know when to plant and harvest their crops. Thus, they of course would be familiar with the winter solstice, which was the depth of winter, although today it’s officially the beginning of winter. They considered the winter solstice to be when the Sun was farthest from Earth, or at its dimmest. It was when life was at its harshest.

Primitive people were at the mercy of forces they could not understand. Their survival depended on things over which they had no control. They attached a supernatural significance to these things that they did not understand and on which their survival depended. If whether or not you will live or die is at stake, you will do absolutely everything you can to survive. Even if there’s nothing you can do, it’s worth it to do whatever you can. From the point of view of these people “doing whatever you can” involves simply begging the supernatural forces involved to enable them to survive. Therefore, on the winter solstice, primitive agricultural people throughout the temperate zones of the northern hemisphere would get on their knees and plaintively beg for the gods to spare them. The winter solstice became surrounded with elaborate rituals in which the people would go through a big show of devotion to the gods, hoping that this would please them so they would take pity on them, and enable them to survive the winter. For instance, at Stonehenge, two stones line up with the precise point on the horizon at which the Sun rises on the winter solstice. At Newgrange in Ireland, sunlight reaches the end of the passage tomb on the winter solstice. These sort of people usually primarily worship some variation of the Mother Earth Goddess. They would pray to her to bring the world back to life. These rituals were not happy. You were pleading with the supernatural forces that be to help you through this difficult time.

One group of people whose deity associated with the winter solstice was not female were the Romans. Their winter solstice was associated with Saturn, the God of Agriculture. If this is a period of time in which you can not engage in agriculture, then it is logical that you would pray to the God of Agriculture in order to rectify the situation. Later, when the Romans made contact with the Greeks, Saturn was associated with the Greek god Cronos. In Greek Mythology, Cronos was Zeus’ father. The first line of Hesiod’s Theogony reads, “First there was Eros. Then there was Nyx”. These beings presumably created Oranos, the father sky god, and Gaia, the mother earth goddess. Oranos and Gaia had a son Cronos and a daughter Theia. Cronos castrated his father and became the new father sky god. Theia became his wife and the new mother earth goddess. They had many children: the Titans, the Gods, and the hundred-handed creatures. Cronos predicted his son would do to him what he did to his own father. Therefore he swallowed each of his children as they were being born. However, when Zeus was born, his mother replaced him with a rock in swaddling clothes, which Cronos swallowed. Zeus grew up on Crete. Zeus later fed his father a poison which caused him to vomit up his other children, Zeus’ brothers and sisters. Then Zeus castrated his father and became the new father sky god. Zeus’ sister Hera became his wife. The Roman name for Cronos is Saturn. The Romans added on to the story by saying that after Saturn was dethroned by his son Jove, he moved to Italy and reigned over a Golden Age. Since Saturn was already associated with the winter solstice, they decided that at that time, they would try to recreate this Golden Age. This festival became known as the Saturnalia.

The Saturnalia started on December 17 and went on for seven days until December 23. The Golden Age that Saturn ruled over was supposed to be a time of great plenty and prosperity. People would try to replicate this during the Saturnalia. During the Golden Age, people didn’t have to work so during the Saturnalia, all business stopped. The Golden Age was a time of peace so during the Saturnalia, all military operations were suspended. During the Golden Age, all men were equal, so during the Saturnalia, slaves were granted temporary freedom for the duration of the festival. The slaves were given the places of honor at their master’s dinner table, and were served and waited on by their masters. The Saturnalia was a time of good will, devoted to banquets and the exchange of visits and gifts. People would give gifts to each other wrapped in brightly colored decorative paper. All executions were postponed until after the Saturnalia. Originally, the Saturnalia was a devoutly religious holiday. As time went on, it became less religious, and more of a celebration. The original religious significance was lost and it was viewed as a party. By the first century B. C., it was a secular holiday. As time went on, the Saturnalia involved not just the seven days of the festival itself, but several days of preparation. A Roman senator complained that the holiday had become “overly commercial” and consumed the entire month of December. Also, one of the days of the Saturnalia was devoted to children.

The Romans were always very superstitious people, and were very open to adopting other people’s beliefs. This was especially true during times of crisis when many people felt their old beliefs weren’t working for them. The eastern part of the Roman Empire, around what is now Turkey, the Middle East, and Egypt, was always a hot bed for mysticism and the occult. They were famous for believing heavily in mysticism. Later, this sort of eastern mysticism became popular in Rome. Many Romans felt that since the East had been the location of many ancient cultures, the people there possessed some ancient knowledge that the Romans did not possess. The east seemed mysterious and exotic which was appealing. Especially when the Empire was in decline, these eastern cults became incredibly popular in Rome. New cults sprung up to meet the demand. People were looking for any type of guidance. There were charlatans who took advantage of this. One of the eastern cults were the Pythagoreans who believed that certain numbers were magic. There actually sprung up a cult devoted to the Egyptian goddess Isis, and containers of Nile water were brought to Rome.

One of the most successful of the eastern cults was the Mithric cult. Mithra was originally the Persian God of Light and Wisdom. He appears in the Avesta, the prayer book of the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianism was founded by the Persian religious prophet Zoroaster (630 B. C. – 550 B. C.). Its basic tenets consist of monotheistic worship of Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, and an ethical dualism between Truth , “Asha”, and Lie, which permeates the Universe. The doctrines of this ancient belief, and a record of the customs of the earliest period of Persian history are preserved in the Avesta.

In the Avesta, Mithra appears as the chief yazata, or good spirit, to the world. He was supposed to have slain the divine bull, from whose dying body sprung all the plants and animals beneficial to humanity. After the conquest of Assyria in the 7th Century B. C., and of Babylonia in the 6th Century B. C., Mithra became the God of the Sun. The Greeks identified Mithra with Phoebus, whose Roman name was Helios, which contributed to the spread of his cult. Mithraism was introduced into Rome in 68 B. C. by Cicilian pirates whom Pompey had captured. It spread rapidly through Italy and the provinces. According to the Mithric cult, the holiest day of the year was December 25, which was the day on which Mithra was born. Throughout the Empire, followers of Mithra would solemnly mark this sacred day as the day on which the great savior was born, who was destined to save all of humanity. According to the story of Mithra’s birth, he was born in humble circumstances. Shepherds came to pay tribute to the future savior. There’s an image of shepherds huddled around and kneeling before this divine infant. His followers considered December 25 to be sacred since they claimed that this was the exact day on which this occurred. The similarities between the Mithric cult and early Christianity are so striking, it surprises even me. The Mithric cult had the ideals of humility and brotherly love, baptism, the rite of communion, the use of holy water, the adoration of the shepherds at Mithra’s birth, the adoption of Sundays and December 25, Mithra’s birthday, as holy days, the belief in the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, and the resurrection. The architecture of their temples was so similar that an archeologist can’t tell if a temple was for Mithra or Christ. There is absolutely no historical or archeological evidence that the character of Jesus was based on any real person to have ever lived.

All of these things were established aspects of the Mithric cult by 100 B. C. Therefore, later the early Christians must have simply stolen them all. Why did they do this? The reason is obvious. If you’re trying to start up a cult, you want to get as many members as possible. Therefore, you want to make it as easy to convert to your cult as possible. The more similar the beliefs and practices of your religion are to the religion of the people whom you want to convert to your religion, the easier it will be for them to convert. You want to make it as similar as possible, so the transition will be as unwrenching as possible, so they will be more likely to convert. Therefore, the early Christians adopted many of the aspects of the Mithric cult, to make it as easy as possible for followers of Mithra to convert to Christianity. They wanted to maximize the likelihood of members of the Mithric cult converting to Christianity, so they could get as members as possible. They took the birth of the leader on December 25, and the holiday on that day commemorating this event. They called it “Christ’s Mass” or “Christmas”. With the classical world in decline, Christianity spread through the Roman Empire like wildfire. In the second century A. D., Telesphorus, an early Christian in Rome, declared that public church services should be held to celebrate “The Nativity of the Lord and Savior”. In 320 A. D., pope Julius I and other religious leaders specified December 25 as the official date of the birth of Jesus.

The Greek word for Christ begins with the Greek letter “chi”, which looks like “X”. For that reason, the letter “X” was a symbol for Christianity. It could also represent the cross that Christ was crucified on. This fell into disuse, but it did come down to us as the word “Xmas” for Christmas. The three wise men or magi were probably inspired by analogous figures in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. The reason Bethlehem was selected as a birthplace is because the Old Testament King David was born in Bethlehem, and it was prophesied that the Messiah would be descended from King David. The people making up the story of Jesus wanted to associate him with King David, so they had him born in the same place.

The Star of Bethlehem was originally imagined to be a comet. The fact that there was no comet in the sky at this time isn’t relevant because we’re talking about a fictional comet that was imagined to exist. The Gospel of Matthew describes the Star of Bethlehem as hanging over Bethlehem, which is terminology typically used for comets. Keep in mind that throughout most of history, the word “star” was used to refer anything in the sky. Meteors were called “falling stars”. The reason for the comet’s inclusion in the story is because comets were always considered portents of momentous events. Comets are rare spectacular phenomena. When primitive people would see one, they would think it was put there for a reason. Comets were taken as omens. If you see one, that means a big thing was about to happen. This became so deeply ingrained in people’s minds that if you were to make up a fictional story about a major event, you would include a comet. Otherwise, people would think, “It couldn’t have been that big a thing if it didn’t even warrant a comet”. Thus a comet was included in the story of the Nativity. The 14th century artist Giotto, in his painting “The Adoration of the Magi”, now hanging in the Scrovesni Chapel in Padua, Italy, portrays the Star of Bethlehem as Halley’s Comet. The modern Christmas carol “Do you see what I see?” says the star “has a tail as big as a kite”. The Star of Bethlehem was also probably influenced by the fact that a star was mentioned in the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament.

As Rome became a Christian society, the holiday of Christmas was associated with the Saturnalia, and assimilated many of its characteristics. Later, Christianity spread into northwestern Europe, into what became Spain, France, Britain, and the Germanic states. The Celtic and Germanic people living in those areas were still practicing the ancient rites surrounding the winter solstice. These rites and practices were also assimilated into Christmas. The Christians did this for the same reason that centuries earlier they had imitated the Mithric cult. By making Christianity more similar to the religions of the Celtic and Germanic people, they make it easier for these people to convert to Christianity.

During the summer, the world is green. During the winter, it is not. Therefore, from the point of view of Celtic and Germanic people, the problem with the world on the winter solstice is that it is not green. Therefore, they try to encourage the world to become green again. If they could find a plant that was green, they would use it as an example of what the other plants should be like. Essentially, they would find a plant that was still green in the winter, hold it up as an example for the other plants, point to it, and tell the other plants, “You should be like this”. Therefore, evergreen plants were given special significance. Examples include pine trees, fir trees, holly, ivy, and mistletoe. Therefore, these plants figured prominently in the winter solstice rituals of the Celtic and Germanic people. Therefore, these plants have always been associated with Christmas. Also, in ancient Egypt, they would bring palm fronds into their houses on the winter solstice, which they considered the anniversary of when the god Osiris was killed by his brother Set.

Holly and ivy were associated with the Mother Earth Goddess in two different ways. First of all, they have to do with the natural world. Wild plants and green foliage were examples of nature’s bounty and the fertility of the Earth. Second of all, they had to do with fertility in the sense of human reproduction which was also associated with the Mother Earth Goddess. Holly was associated with male, and ivy was associated with female. Holly and ivy together was a combination of male and female, which was a powerful combination. Also, holly by itself was considered a combination of male and female. The leaves of holly are long and thin, and thus phyllic. The red berries symbolized female since the red color was a reference to blood resulting from menstruation or loss of virginity. Any combination of male and female is considered magical and powerful. A triangle pointed up is a phyllic symbol. A triangle pointed down is a yonic or gynecological symbol. The combination of these is the Star of David, which is a fertility symbol. The number three symbolizes male, and four symbolizes female. You have 3 + 4 = 7 and 3 x 4 = 12, and 7 and 12 are magic numbers. Agriculture and human reproduction were considered analogous to each other. You place a seed in the ground, and it magically transforms into a plant. You place semen in a woman, and it magically transforms into an infant. These two transformations were analogous. Thus human reproduction fell under the domain of the Mother Earth Goddess. Thus holly and ivy were associated with the Mother Earth Goddess in two different ways and were displayed in rituals for the winter solstice. Later, these were appropriated by the Christians. The Christians said that the pointed leaves of holly symbolized the crown of thorns, and the red berries symbolized the blood of Christ as he hung on the cross. The fact that holly is green and red is why green and red are considered Christmas colors today.

From the point of view of these primitive people, the problem facing the world at the winter solstice is that it is too cold. Since heat comes from the Sun, the Sun was therefore to blame. For some reason, the Sun was failing to warm the Earth. The Sun had grown distant, dim, and cold. There was a belief that the Sun was dying. They tried to call back the dying Sun. Often they would build a fire to show the Sun what it was supposed to do. This was similar to using evergreen plants to show the other plants what to do. You build a bonfire, point to it, and say “You’re supposed to do this”. This also involved the idea that you were helping the Sun to warm the Earth. Celtic people had the practice of the Yule log. You take a log from a sacred tree such as an oak. From that, you build a sacred fire that is kept burning throughout the year. All other fires are lit from it. Once a year, you get a new log, and light it from the previous fire. The Yule log was supposedly supernatural, and was used to help the Sun warm the Earth during the coldest months, especially on the winter solstice. The Christians adopted the Yule log, claiming the light from the fire symbolized the everlasting light of salvation, etc. In medieval southern France, they had a Yule log, and part of the wood was saved to make part of the plow. As late as the 19th Century, people would put an extra large log in their fireplace on Christmas as a special treat. Most celebrations marking the winter solstice, and many Christmas traditions, somehow involve fire. The Mithric cult used fire to celebrate Mithra’s birthday. Hanukkah involves lighting a menorah. Today, in Mexico and the American southwest, they light “luminaries” or “farolitos” which are rows of candles which line pathways on Christmas Eve. Candles of all sorts are frequently used at Christmas. Even modern Christmas lights are descended from this concept. In many places in Europe, bonfires are a traditional way to celebrate Christmas, and this is done today in Louisiana.

A common Christmas tradition in medieval England was wassailing. It was done throughout the season and especially on New Year’s. It became identified with a type of drink called lambswool which was a mixture of hot ale, roasted apples, sugar, and spices. It was served in a large wooden bowl decorated with ribbons and garlands. Whenever there was a party, it would be passed around among the participants. There was also a custom where young men and women would go from house to house with the wassail bowl, and drink to the health of all the inhabitants. Everyone in the household was supposed to drink from the bowl. Also, each household was supposed to add a small amount of ale and other ingredients to the bowl so it wouldn’t be depleted. In Devon and Somerset, on Twelfth Night, there was a tradition of apple tree wassailing. Cider was drunk from the wassail bowl and then sprinkled on apple trees to ensure fruitfulness during the coming year. The word “wassail” comes from the Anglo-Saxon words “waes” and “hael”. “Waes” is a form of the word “is”. We use it as a past tense of the word. “Hael” is a form of the word “health”. Thus “wassail” means “is health” or “I hope you is in health”, meaning you’re toasting to the person’s health. The English invented a folktale to explain the origin of wassailing. A beautiful Saxon princess named Rowena presented Prince Vortigen with a bowl of wine, toasting him with the words “Waes hael”.

The medieval church invented elaborate calendars of holidays surrounding both Christmas and Easter. The fourth, third, second, and first Sundays before Christmas are the first, second, third, and fourth Sundays of Advent respectively. According to medieval tradition, Jesus was born on Dec 25, and held court in the manger for 13 days from Dec 25 to Jan 6. The 12 days of Christmas were Dec 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, Jan 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The next day Jan 6, was the Epiphany. The night before the Epiphany, Jan 5, was Twelfth Night. The three wise men, later elevated to kings, saw the Star of Bethlehem on Dec 25. They then followed the star. It’s unclear what this means since stars and comets rise on the eastern horizon, travel across the sky, and set on the western horizon. At any rate, it took them 12 days to reach the manger from wherever it was they left from when they were when they first saw the star. They were on route from Dec 25 to Jan 5, and reached the manger on Jan 6. On that day, they presented the Christ Child with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Frankincense is fragrant gum resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, and is used for burning as incense. Myrrh is a gum resin with a sweet smell and bitter taste, obtained from the bark of trees of the genus Commiphora. It has various uses including embalming dead bodies, and thus is the perfect gift for an infant. Also, it was said that on the Epiphany, animals had the ability to talk. According to some stories, Jesus was circumcised on Jan 1, and baptized on Feb 2. According to this view, our calendar system is actually dated according to Jesus’ circumcision. An enormous amount of folklore grew up around the three kings. They were given the names of Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. Often, one of them was portrayed as a black man.

In ancient Greece, during the winter, they had the festival of Lenaea, in honor of Dionysus, where women would go into the forest, get drunk, and dance with wild abandon. In the modern calendar, this festival would have taken place around what we now call the Epiphany. The Roman Saturnalia was a wild party. It was a time of role reversals, where slaves were given the place of honor at their master’s table. This general atmosphere was carried over into the medieval Christmas, and was especially associated with Twelfth Night and the Epiphany. They would bake a special cake for the evening called Twelfth Night Cake. Baked into the cake would be a bean, a pea, and some coins. Whoever found the bean in their slice would become the Lord of Misrule. The Lord of Misrule was a mischievous figure who commonly presided over banquets, revels, masked balls, and plays in medieval and Renaissance Europe. The Twelfth Night Lord of Misrule was a combination of jester and king. He could supposedly order anyone to do anything whatsoever. He could take the highest ranking person present, and have them do something utterly ridiculous or humiliating. In medieval England, groups of people called “mummers” put on masks and performed plays. Today, in Spain and Italy, gifts are given to children on Twelfth Night. In France, on Twelfth Night, they still eat a special cake called the Galette de Rois.

You’ve probably noticed by now that Twelfth Night had a very striking resemblance to Mardi Gras. This is not a coincidence. The entire Epiphany season lasts from the Epiphany itself to Mardi Gras. In that sense, Mardi Gras could be considered part of the Epiphany. In many places today, the Carnival Season is considered to last from the Epiphany to Mardi Gras, with the largest celebrations at the very beginning and end of this season. On Mardi Gras, they also have a wild crazy atmosphere, a satirical king, and a special cake with things baked in it. Today, sometimes the king cakes they have on Mardi Gras contain a small plastic baby that supposed to represent the Christ Child. The medieval Christmas had this same Mardi Gras atmosphere. Combine that with the practice of wassailing, and references to fertility, and for many people, Christmas was a time to get horribly drunk and engage in other socially unacceptable behavior. This is part of the reason why the Protestants would later be against Christmas. Vestiges of this early wild side of Christmas were retained, in mild form, in the Victorian Christmas, in the practices of the kissing bough, and kissing under the mistletoe.

In medieval Europe, they liked the idea of a low person being treated like a high person. The story of the Nativity is like that. You have an infant, and not just an infant but an infant in a manger surrounded by animals, and several kings are kneeling before him, giving him expensive gifts, and he’s being exalted by angels. Portraying one of the three kings as black is another example of someone they would consider very low, being treated like a high person. The Lord of Misrule is another example of a low person being treated like a high person. This idea could be the manifestation of the frustration of the poverty stricken masses in a highly stratified society with little possible social mobility. Another example of poor people being given unusual power on Christmas was a custom in medieval Europe in which rowdy bands of poor people would pound on the doors of wealthy people and demand that they hand over their best food and drink. This actually was an important safety valve for public discontent. Without this, frustration and resentment will build up until it exploded in violence. It was actually in the long term best interests of the rich people for it to be released in a semi-controlled fashion. The lord of the manor could make up for a year of oppression by simply handing over a few casks of wine to the rabble at the gate. You can see a subtle reference to this practice in the modern song “We wish you a merry Christmas” where it says “Bring us some figgy pudding, and bring it right here. We won’t leave until we get some.” Another Christmas song says “Down come butler, bowl, and all.”

In 1210, a papal edict forbade members of the clergy from appearing on stage in public, and this gave rise to the mystery plays. These were crude medieval plays portraying scenes from the Old or New Testament, or the lives of saints. There was an idea that any given story in the Old Testament had some sort of counterpart in the New Testament, and vice versa. The story of Adam and Eve was considered somehow associated with the story of the Nativity, because in the former, the stain was placed on humanity, and in the latter, it was lifted. In Germany, on Dec 24, they put on a mystery play about Adam and Eve. The tree from which the forbidden fruit was picked was represented by a chopped down evergreen tree. There was an apple attached to it to represent the forbidden fruit. It was just a prop for the play. Performing the mystery play, which included this prop, became an annual Christmas tradition. The tree was very popular, and people would continue to put it up even after the play was no longer performed. It was associated with the tree of life and other sacred trees from pagan beliefs. In Strasbourg, France, in the 17th Century, they started decorating evergreens for Christmas. From there, it spread throughout Germany. However, Christmas trees remained very rare outside of Germany until the 1870’s.

Wooden replicas of the nativity scene, called “cribs”, were invented in 649 A. D. In 1224, St. Francis of Assissi asked the pope’s permission to celebrate Christmas by recreating the nativity scene. St. Francis asked a man named Giovanni Vellita of the village of Greccio to create a manger scene. Giovanni created a nativity scene at Greccio complete with a live ox and ass, meaning a donkey. St. Francis performed mass in front of this early Nativity scene, and it was very well received. Wooden replicas of the Nativity became immensely popular. The production of cribs became a genre of folkart, and they became common not only in churches around Christmas, but common household objects. The little wooden figures in the Nativity scene were called “santons”, or “little saints”, and they became a genre of folk art in and of themselves. Some of the cribs became very ornate and elaborate, containing gold, clockwork, and music boxes.

In 12th Century Europe, there were a great number of folk songs that were simply secular songs to sung and danced to on festive occasions. The church wanted to make religion more popular with the average person. Therefore, the church took these songs, kept the music the same, and wrote new religious lyrics to them. These were the first carols. They were not specifically associated with Christmas. They were associated with religious holidays throughout the year, or were just about religion in general, analogous to modern gospel music. In the 16th Century, they began to be more popular around Christmas than at any other time. In the 16th Century, old and new carols were sung in every European language. The word “carol” means “song of joy”. In medieval England, groups of serenaders called “waits” would travel from house to house singing ancient carols, and spreading the holiday spirit.

In medieval and Renaissance England, they would eat a roasted boar’s head at Christmas. The custom goes back to a Norse tradition of celebrating the winter solstice by sacrificing a boar to Freyr, the Norse god of the Sun. However, in medieval England, they were unaware of the origin of the custom, and invented a folktale to explain it. One Christmas, a student at Queen College at Oxford was attacked by a wild boar. The only way he could defend himself was to shove his copy of the works of Aristotle down the animal’s throat. The animal choked and died. Afterward, he was unable to retrieve the valuable book. Therefore, he cut off the boar’s head, and carried the head, containing the book, back to Oxford.

In 1517, Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses attacking the indiscriminate sale of indulgences to finance the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Martin Luther, an Augustine monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, had been unable to find assurance of salvation in traditional church teaching. Luther was excommunicated. Protected by Frederick III of West Saxony, he wrote a series of books and pamphlets and his idea spread rapidly throughout Germany, and then throughout Europe. He said that salvation was a purely personal matter and did not require the church. This tied in with, and encouraged, the Renaissance emphasis placed on the self, and humanity. This movement was called Protestantism. Other writers such as John Calvin fed the movement. The reason this was so popular is because of the enormous corruption of the Catholic church at this time. The movement was a grave threat to the Catholic church which did everything in its power to confront it. Many people felt that the Catholic church was what unified western civilization. There were the religious wars in which a very large number of people were killed. Both Catholics and Protestants accused the other of being on the side of Satan.

In this environment, the Protestants detested anything Catholic. Since the Catholics were very big on Christmas, the Protestants therefore hated Christmas. In addition, many Protestants were followers of John Calvin who declared that you are forbidden from doing anything remotely fun, which of course included Christmas. The most extreme Protestants particularly abhorred Christmas since it was Catholic, pagan, and a time of great merry-making, all of which they detested. In 1642, when the Puritans came to power in Britain, Christmas was banned. Under Oliver Cromwell, the streets on London resounded to the sound of the town criers’ shouts of “No Christmas! No Christmas!” When Londoners decked their streets with greenery, the Lord Mayor had the boughs burned. Parliament declared that on the day “commonly called Christmas, no observance shall be had, nor any solemnity used or exercised in churches in respect thereof”. One of the primary motivations for restoring the monarchy was so that people could have Christmas back again. Christmas was also banned in New England. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, there was a five shilling fine for “observing any such day as Christmas”. Even after the ban was lifted, it was not widely celebrated. In New England, they didn’t commonly celebrate Christmas until after the American Civil War.

There was an inverse relation between how extreme your form of Protestantism, and the extent to which you celebrated Christmas. The Puritans made Christmas illegal. They did not even go to church on Christmas, or in any way acknowledge its existence. Less extreme Protestants would celebrate Christmas but not make a big deal of it. The Anglican church was very similar to the Catholic church. The only reason Henry VIII broke from the church of Rome was so he could get a divorce. Therefore, they continued to celebrate Christmas in Britain but it was a relatively subdued holiday. Of course, the most elaborate Christmas celebrations were in Catholic countries, where the iron butt congregation would prove their devotion to the church by sitting through a long tedious Catholic mass that would drone on for hours in a language which no one could understand. In many countries, the Christmas mass would begin on midnight Christmas Eve, and continue until late Christmas morning.

Candy canes were invented in 1670, when the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, bent the sugar-sticks into canes to represent a shepherd’s staff.

Christmas continued to be celebrated as a relatively minor holiday in Britain and America, outside of New England, until the early 19th Century. In the late 18th and early 19th Century, there was the industrial revolution. There was increasing mechanization and mass production. People moved from farms into the cities to work in the factories and mills, often in wretched conditions. Factories belched thick black smoke into the air. The steam engine and the telegraph brought rapid transportation and instant communication. Society was completely revolutionized. There was enormous social upheaval. People longed for stability in their lives. This triggered a backlash against this new modern world. Many people considered the pre-industrial world to be the good old days. They invented an idealized version of their own past, and longed wistfully for it. This created what is known as the English country revivalist movement. This took many forms. Poets wrote about an idealized English country life. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote epic poetry about King Arthur. They invented the highland games in Scotland. People started envying gypsies as having some sort of perfect free life. Folklorists went out to record the fast disappearing folktales and other traditions of the English countryside. One aspect of this movement was to try recapture the Old English Christmas. They hearkened back to almost forgotten Christmas traditions along with other traditions as part of their nostalgia for pre-industrial society. In the process of doing so, they invented the Victorian Christmas which was actually quite different from any previous form the holiday had taken.

Queen Victoria came to power in 1837. Victorian England was not a religious society, and the Victorian Christmas was not a religious holiday. They reinvented Christmas as a completely secular holiday. This enabled Christmas to become a much bigger holiday. If you have a religious holiday, only religious people celebrate it, and usually in somber tones. When a holiday is secularized, then everyone can celebrate it, and you can drop any pretense of being somber, and so everyone can just enjoy it. Therefore the Victorian Christmas became a huge holiday. A large number of new Christmas carols were written. The Victorian Christmas had new emphasis on family and children. Although it was very different from our Christmas in many respects, you could make a strong argument that the modern Christmas originated in the Victorian Christmas more than any of its previous incarnations, as evidenced by the amount of 19th Century imagery we continue to associate with the holiday.

The centerpiece of the Victorian Christmas was plum pudding. In the 17th Century, plum pudding contained spices, dried fruit, and meat. It was not associated with Christmas. Plum pudding was considered an English delicacy by foreigners. Therefore, in 1714, the new English king, first king of the House of Hanover, George I, a German prince, wanted to eat plum pudding at his first English Christmas. From then on, in imitation, everyone ate plum pudding on Christmas. In the 19th Century, it no longer contained meat, and was sweeter than its earlier version. They never contained plums. Originally “plum” was a word for dried fruit of any sort.

In Victorian England, plum pudding was the focal point of the holiday. It was eaten with much fanfare in all but the most impoverished households. Preparations began several days before Christmas. The fourth Sunday of Advent was also called Stir-up Sunday. This was the day on which the plum pudding would be ceremoniously stirred. First it was stirred by the wife, then the husband, then the male children, in order of descending age, female children, in order of descending age, other relatives, other guests, and then the servants in order of descending rank. Each member of the household must stir exactly seven times, stirring only in a counterclockwise direction. The reason for the counterclockwise direction is because if you face north, the Sun rises on your right, and sets on your left, and thus appears to move in a counterclockwise direction. Therefore counterclockwise was considered the more natural direction in the Universe. A twopence, and perhaps silver coins or charms were placed in the pudding. The pudding was wrapped in cloth and boiled for exactly seven hours. After the Christmas feast would be an elaborate ceremony presenting the plum pudding. It was shaped into a sphere, and a sprig of holly would be placed on top. The plum pudding was soaked in brandy, and then ignited. All candles, lamps, and other lights were extinguished. The flaming plum pudding was carried in. The husband tasted it first. Everyone hoped to find the twopence in their piece. The monetary value of a twopence is negligible but it supposedly brought good luck. The idea of finding something baked in food was similar to the Epiphany cake.

In Victorian England, the main course at Christmas dinner was a goose. The reason a goose was eaten is because there was nothing else you would rather eat, or nothing else you would prefer that you would have any hope to afford. First of all, a goose was the largest bird available. It was larger than a chicken, turkey, or duck. Second of all, geese contain a large amount of fat. Therefore for the most important meal of the year, you would have a goose as a special treat. Many poor families would not normally be able to afford a goose. They would therefore band together and buy in bulk. Let’s say ten poor people got together and pooled their resources. They would each contribute the same amount to a fund which would then be used to buy geese. The poulterer would sell ten geese simultaneously for less than he would sell ten geese individually. Then each of the ten poor people would get a goose. In this way, poor people would be able to get geese that wouldn’t be able to get them otherwise. These consumer collectives were known as “goose clubs” and were usually set up by pubs. Then, as now, pubs were the fundamental social economic unit of British society. There existed a few bible-thumping moralists who condemned pubs, and were thus against goose clubs also.

Another dilemma facing lower income people is once you get your goose, where do you cook it? You needed a large fireplace, and poor people often lacked the facilities. Therefore on Christmas morning, long queues would form outside the local bakery. The baker would charge each housewife a small fee for the use of his oven. Since each goose took a long time to cook, there was a long line in front of each bakery, and people showed up before dawn to get a good place in line. It’s touching to see how even poor families would go to such enormous effort to keep Christmas at least in some small way. Geese were mostly eaten in southern England. In northern England, they would eat beef on Christmas. In the 1870’s, they shifted to eating turkey on Christmas.

At a formal Christmas dinner, you should have a large number of plates and bowls at each table setting. You would have a very large number of eating utensils. Every course would need its own utensil, and there were such things as an oyster fork. The servants would spend all day polishing up the silver. At each place setting, there was a written list of the evening’s menu, written in French of course. The oysters were left off the menu because it went without saying that of course you would have oysters at the beginning of the meal. Since this was in the winter, the fruit and vegetables either had to be preserved in some way, or be of a type that they had in the winter. Often this dinner was extremely formal, and required very precise etiquette. This is one of the reasons why the Victorians enjoyed afternoon tea since it required less formality, although it was still very formal by our standards.

In 1840, Queen Victoria married her first cousin Albert, prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, whom she had known for about four years. His first Christmas in Britain was in 1841, and that year, since he was German, he put a Christmas tree in Windsor Castle. The tree was physically brought from Germany. It wasn’t the first Christmas tree in Britain. German immigrants did Christmas trees in Britain and America prior to that. However, Prince Albert’s tree captured the public imagination. Many aristocratic families imitated the royal family by putting up a tree also. Despite this, Christmas trees were very rare before the 1870’s. When a custom reaches a certain threshold of popularity, it reaches a critical mass that causes most of the remaining people to do it just because it was popular. By the 1890’s, one Covent Garden retailer supplied trees up to 40 feet tall, and could boast sales up to 30,000 a year.

The first Christmas trees were like those they had in Germany. They were small, and placed on top of a table. They had natural ornaments such as dried fruit, or gilded nuts. Later they would have a gift tree. This was a small tree in which small gifts for children were physically placed on the tree itself which had few other ornaments. The parents would make up the tree, and then open the doors to the parlor, and the children would come running in. The tree would be stripped bare, as the kids took their presents. In the late 19th Century, people would have a large tree on the floor. They had the first mass produced ornaments such as glass balls. Color printing was a recent invention, and they were mesmerized by it. Therefore, they would cut out colored pictures of angels and other things, and use them as ornaments. The main decorations on late Victorian trees were these colored paper ornaments. In Dresden, Germany, they produced very beautiful and elaborate ornaments made of paper. There were some expensive ornaments made in the 19th Century. The trees had actual candles on them. The candle holders had large counterweights at the bottom to keep them upright. Keep in mind that the tree would only be put up on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The candles were only lit for about ten minutes. There was always an adult keeping watch over the tree when the candles were lit. They had a bucket of water, and a stick with a sponge on the end to snuff out any flare ups on the tree. Sometimes they would hang an ornament that looked like a pickle somewhere on the tree. The child who found the pickle first would get a special gift. Sometimes they would hang on one of the lowest branches an ornament that looked like a devil, called the “Devil of York”. This was supposed to be a counterpoint to the angel at the top of the tree. Throughout the 19th Century, they had peppermint sticks. However, it was at the very end of the 19th Century, when most people got Christmas trees, that they thought up the idea of shaping them into a hook so you could hang them on the tree. The first large decorated outdoor Christmas tree intended for an entire city was in New York in 1910. In the 19th Century, you had the first artificial trees which were made of feathers dyed green.

During the 19th Century, there was a rise in the middle class. For the first time, there were a large number of people who had leisure time. Later, people would spend their free time listening to the radio or watching TV, but in the 19th Century, people had to think up other things to do to fill the hours. A very popular form of recreation was to play games. They played board games, games with dice or dominoes, or outdoor sports. They played a wide variety of card games, many of which, such as Wist, have since fallen into obscurity. Unique to the 19th Century were what may be called parlor games. These might be word games that are done verbally, such as Simile. They might be games that are physically acted out in some way. There was a wide variety of such games, and they were immensely popular. Only a few parlor games survived into the 20th Century such as Hide-and-seek and Charades. There were games that the Victorians would traditionally play on Christmas. Examples include Blindman’s Bluff, which actually dates from medieval times, Hunt the Slipper, Forfeits, and Musical Chairs. The most famous Victorian Christmas game was called Snapdragon. It was traditionally played by children on Christmas Eve. Raisins are placed in a bowl filled with brandy. The brandy is then ignited, and all other lights are turned out. The people playing then try to snatch the raisins out without burning their fingers. One person would chant the following refrain, “Here he comes with flaming bowl. Don’t he mean to take his toll. Snip! Snap! Dragon! Take care you don’t take to much. Be not greedy in your clutch.” This does point out the difference between their society and ours, since few parents in our society would allow their children to play a game in which they are suppose to deliberately stick their hands in a fire.

Another way in which people in the 19th Century would entertain themselves was with music. Every middle class household had a piano. Throughout the year, they would gather around the piano to sing songs. Sometimes when you went to someone’s house, you would bring sheet music with you, and leave it in the cloak room with the top hats and coats, and then fetch it after dinner. Parents forced their children to take piano lessons so they could participate socially, and some parents continued to do this into the 20th Century, when it was a complete anachronism. Obviously, music figured very prominently in how they celebrated Christmas. The family would gather around the piano to sing Christmas carols. Also, people would go caroling from house to house. In the 19th Century, if you wanted to hear music, you could either go to a concert performed by other people, or stay at home and perform it yourself. The only time that you would ever hear music or songs while in the comfort of your own home, without having to physically play or sing it yourself, was when you were being serenaded by carolers outside your house on Christmas. We don’t fully appreciate what a special treat this would have been for them.

In the 19th Century, when Christmas became a big thing, a large number of Christmas carols were written, rediscovered, or translated into English. “Jingle Bells” was written by James Pierpont in 1857. “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” was originally a poem written by Charles Wesley in 1739, but the music was written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840. The words to “Silent Night” was written by Joseph Mohr in 1816, and the music was written by Franz Gruber in 1818. There is a fictional story that says it was written because mice had eaten the bellows of the organ in the church. “Deck the Halls” was originally medieval Welsh but the modern words are 19th Century American. “The First Noel”, originally 16th or 17th Century French, was translated into English by Sir John Stainer in 1833. The words to “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” were written by Unitarian minister Dr. Edmund Sears in 1849, and the music was written by Richard Starrs Willis in 1850. “O Holy Night”, originally in French, was translated into English by John Sullivan Dwight. “We Three Kings of Orient Are” was written by John Henry Hopkins in 1857. The words to “What Child is this?” were written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865. The music was taken from “Greensleeves”, a baudy Elizabethan song. The first written version of “Away in a Manger” dates from 1885. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written in 1868, with words by Philip Brooks, and music by Lewis Redner. “O Come All Ye Faithful” was translated from the original Latin into English by Reverend Frederick Oakley in 1853. “Good King Wenceslas” was written by Jason Mason Neale in the 19th Century. Of course, they also had a large number of Christmas carols which are no longer sung today.

The first Christmas card was produced in 1846 by Sir Henry Cole, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and designed by his friend John Horsely. It showed a family raising their glasses in toast, and said, “A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You”. It sold only 1,000 copies. In 1851, an English company was printing Christmas cards for the mass market. In 1870, the halfpenny post was introduced for cards in unsealed envelopes. The post office would say, “post early for Christmas”. Sending out Christmas cards was a natural for the Victorians since they both loved Christmas, and loved doing their correspondence. The first Christmas cards were simply decorated calling cards but soon they showed sentimental snow scenes, angels, robins, and nativity scenes.

In the 19th Century, gift giving became a much bigger part of the holiday, although obviously not on the scale of our Christmas today. Before that, only children might get candy or a small toy. In the 19th Century, adults started giving each other gifts. The Victorians wrapped their gifts in brown paper. Therefore they had to decorate them themselves. Many Victorians bought “scraps” which were albums of printed sheets of decorative alphabets and pictures, usually produced in Germany. The letters and pictures were then cut out and glued on packages. A handwritten message and glossy ribbon completed the effect. By the late 19th Century, pretty colored borders and cut-out angels were being produced. It was only in the 20th Century, with increasingly cheaper color printing that you had pre-printed gift wrapping paper.

In the late 19th Century, Tom Smith, a younger baker, was holidaying in France, and saw bon-bons. He decided to sell them in Britain. After a while, the sale of his novelty sweets declined, and he tried to think up some way to boost sales. The image of two children fighting over the bon-bons, having a tug-of-war, inspired him to incorporate a tiny explosive charge, a chemically treated strip of paper, into the candy. When children fought over the candy, it was explode with a loud pop. They were called “crackers” and were a huge success. Then instead of putting candy in the crackers, he put in other things, such as tiny phials of perfume, miniature toys, games, and then a printed love message, motto, or riddle. It became common to include a paper crown. In 1900, he sold 13 million crackers worldwide. They are still popular in Britain at Christmas today.

In 1828, the United States sent its first ambassador to Mexico. His name was Joel Roberts Poinsett, and he just happened to be an amateur botanist. He was exploring the Mexican state of Taxco, when he found an unusual plant. The Aztec name for it was “cuetlaxochitl”, which means something like “leathery petals”. He sent cuttings back to the U. S. Botanists named it “Euphorbia pulcherrima” which means “the prettiest euphorbia”. It was grown on the east coast as a greenhouse plant, and acquired the common name “poinsettia”. Since it was red and green, and bloomed in the middle of winter, it came to be considered a Christmas plant.

Distilled sugar cane is called rum. Any drink made with rum is called grog. In the colonial south, they invented what sounds like a nauseating concoction of rum with eggs in it, which they called “egg grog”. In the 19th Century, this evolved into eggnog. It was also influenced by various dessert drinks and medicinal drinks.

Gentle Reader, that man must be a misanthrope indeed, in whose breast something like a jovial feeling is not aroused, in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened, by the recurrence of Christmas. So wrote Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870), considered one of the greatest writers of the English language. Although difficult to read today, because of his dense Victorian purple prose, he was immensely popular when he lived. In his enormous body of works, Dickens combined storytelling, humor, pathos, irony, sharp social criticism, and acute observation of people and places. He wrote 55 major works including “The Pickwick Papers” (1836), “Oliver Twist” (1837 – 38) “David Copperfield” (1849 – 50), “Bleak House” (1852), “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859), and “Great Expectations” (1860 – 61). He was also an outspoken advocate of Christmas. He obviously felt passionately about the holiday, since he never passed up a chance to extol it, and wax eloquently about how wonderful it is. He glorified Christmas in a large number of works. In “The Pickwick Papers”, he described the scene of great merriment, as Mr. Pickwick kisses the ladies under the mistletoe at Mr. Wardle’s Christmas Eve party. The quote at the beginning of this paragraph is from “A Christmas Dinner”, where he goes on and on describing how glorious a Christmas dinner is, and says, “Who can be insensible to the out-pourings of good feeling, and the honest interchange of affectionate attachment, which abound at this season of the year? A Christmas family party! We know of nothing in nature more delightful! There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas! Petty jealousies and discords are forgotten. Social feelings are awakened in bosoms to which they have been long strangers. Father and son, brother and sister, who have met and passed with averted gaze, or a look of cold recognition months before, proffer and return the cordial embrace, and bury their past animosities in their present happiness”. He can and does go on like this at extraordinary length.

Charles Dickens’ most famous work is “A Christmas Carol”, written in 1843. In that year, he visited one of the Ragged Schools in the slums of London. These were institutions where dedicated teachers worked in appalling conditions to give poor children a basic education. Dickens was profoundly moved by the visit, and decided to write a pamphlet exposing the hardships of the poor. Then he realized that far more people would read it if it was in the form of a short story. He wrote the story in six weeks, and published it at his own expense in time for Christmas. It was a huge success, and sold 6,000 copies on the first day of publication. Charles Dickens would go on reading tours in Britain and America where he would read “A Christmas Carol” out loud. On the way home from such a reading, a factory owner in Vermont said to his wife, “I feel that after listening to Mr. Dickens’ reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’, I should break the custom we have hitherto observed of opening the works on Christmas Day”. Keep in mind that it was Scrooge’s evil self at the beginning of the story who gave Bob Cratchit Christmas Day off, with pay. Despite that, most factory workers did have to work on Christmas Day, so at least one factory owner was moved to emulate Scrooge’s evil self at the beginning by giving them Christmas Day off. Aside from that, “A Christmas Carolâ€� alerted the world to the terrible conditions of the Victorian poor, and inspired many benevolent acts.

Giving to charity became a part of Christmas. However, this was taken to the extreme of saying that you were required to give money to anyone poorer than yourself. In other words, everyone felt entitled to receive money from anyone richer than themselves. There was a serious problem of people being accosted by aggressive pan-handlers. You were especially supposed to give tips to tradesmen. Therefore people would pretend to be tradesmen, and aggressively solicit tips. To try to reign this in, Boxing Day was encouraged as an alternative. The name comes from the “Dole of the Christmas Box”, a custom dating from medieval times, when alms boxes were placed in churches at Christmas to collect money for the poor. These were then opened on the day after Christmas, and the money distributed to the needy of the parish. Instead of giving money to every poor person you meet, you put money in the box in the church, and they’ll give it to whoever truly needs it. Servants, apprentices, and tradesmen had their own boxes, which were actually earthenware containers with a slit at the top. When they got tips and gifts, they would put it in the box. They would especially get tips in the days leading up to Christmas. On the day after Christmas, they weren’t expected to get anything else, so they would break it open. Until the late 20th Century, December 26 was called “Boxing Day” in Britain, and was the day for giving money to the dustman, postman, paper boy, and other tradesmen.

Until the middle of the 19th Century, many people in New England refused to allow themselves to celebrate Christmas, reeking as it did of popery. Yet, as they watched it become a big holiday for everyone else, they felt very sad and left out that they couldn’t celebrate it. They wanted to somehow celebrate it without officially celebrating it. Their solution to this dilemma was to celebrate it but call it a different name, and thereby officially be celebrating a different holiday. The name they chose was Thanksgiving. They imitated every detail of Christmas. Remember what Christmas was like in the very early 19th Century. The main thing about the holiday was the dinner. The entire family would get together and have a huge dinner. This was before most people had Christmas trees, and before gift giving became a big part of the holiday. In the early 19th Century, Thanksgiving was usually held in December. They even went as far as to write Thanksgiving carols, such as “Harvest Home”, which are never sung today. In other words, the holiday of Thanksgiving, only celebrated in New England, was virtually identical to the early 19th Century Christmas, which was celebrated everywhere else. Ironically, our Thanksgiving has a striking resemblance to an early 19th Century Christmas, although Christmas itself has since evolved into something very different. In the middle of the 19th Century, Christmas became less associated with Catholicism, and New Englanders became less anti-Catholic anyway, and finally allowed themselves to celebrate Christmas, which by that time had become too big to ignore. Thanksgiving itself may have disappeared, having become unnecessary, if it wasn’t for the valiant efforts of Sarah Joespha Hale, who led a one woman crusade to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Of course in our time, Thanksgiving has essentially been incorporated into Christmas, since the Christmas season now starts long before that.

There was a very similar phenomenon in the late 20th Century concerning Hanukkah. At that time, some Jews, for some incomprehensible reason, decided that they would not allow themselves to celebrate Christmas. However, they felt very sad and left out that they couldn’t celebrate it, especially considering that the late 20th Century Christmas was infinitely larger than the Victorian Christmas. Therefore, they decided to take an extremely minor Jewish holiday, and try to turn it into some sort of Jewish Christmas. They imitated the massive gift giving that typified the 20th Century Christmas. Some of them even went so far as to put “Hanukkah bushes” inside their houses.

Some of you are probably surprised that I managed to get this far into a history of Christmas without mentioning Santa Claus. However, it was in the 19th Century that Santa Claus exploded on the scene as the personification of Christmas. The Council of Nicea was held in 325 A. D. The official purpose was to select the date of Easter but it expanded into trying to make the church’s official position on theological matters more consistent. For instance, there was a debate as to whether Christ had a physical body or if he was a noncorporeal spiritual being. There was a list of names of people who attended this conference, and one of the names on the list was “Nicholas of Myra”. This is very important evidence because from this one mention of the name on this list, it’s safe to assume that there was in fact a man by this name. If a name appears on an official document, you can assume there was such a person. If a name doesn’t appear anywhere, it’s safe to assume there was no such person. For instance, the name “Jesus” does not appear anywhere in any official document or contemporary source. However, there was someone named Nicholas from Myra at the Council of Nicea in 325 A. D. However, that one name that appears once on the list is the only reference to the real man named Nicholas. He is not mentioned anywhere else by any contemporary source. Therefore, we know absolutely nothing whatsoever about the real man. This real man, of which nothing is known, inspired a fictional character called Saint Nicholas. You must remember that the medieval character of Saint Nicholas was a completely fictional character. Saint Nicholas is a fictional character very different from, but as fictional as, the later Santa Claus.

An enormous amount of folklore grew up surrounding this character. Nicholas was said to be born to wealthy parents in the city of Patara in modern Turkey in 270 A. D. When he was an infant, he would not breastfeed on Wednesdays and Fridays, which were fast days. He was able to stand up when he was only an infant. When the Bishop of Myra died, the religious leaders gathered in the church to choose a successor. One of them said that the next person who walked in the door would be the next bishop. Nicholas was the next person to walk in the door, and was made Bishop of Myra. In 303 A. D. , the Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered a brutal persecution of all Christians, and Nicholas did the Christian martyr thing. Nicholas participated in the famous Council of Nicea in 325 A. D. At one point, he walked up to a fellow participant and slapped him across the face because he disagreed with what he was saying. He died on December 6, 343 A. D. December 6 then became Saint Nicholas Day.

One day, Nicholas learned that there was a poor family that no dowry for their three daughters. With no dowry, no man could be bribed to marry them, and they would have to become prostitutes. Nicholas snuck to their house in the middle of the night. He threw a bag of gold in the window, and it landed in one of the oldest girl’s stockings which were drying by the fire. Therefore they had money for her dowry, and she was saved from prostitution. He returned two more times, and did the same thing for the other two girls. On the third time, the father was waiting in hiding, and grabbed Nicholas. Nicholas begged the father not to tell anyone, but the father did tell people and Nicholas became famous.

Another time, three boys were walking home, and they stopped at an inn. The evil innkeeper murdered them, and chopped them into little pieces. He put their dismembered body parts into a pickle barrel. Nicholas showed up, and magically reassembled their bodies and brought them back to life. This story is why the Victorians would hang an ornament on their Christmas tree that looked like a pickle. In another story, a sailor fell overboard, and then Nicholas, walking on water, picked him up, and carried him back to the ship.

After Nicholas died, his coffin was said to ooze a liquid that had magic healing properties. People would tell stories that touching his coffin caused to lame to walk and the blind to see. Pilgrims would come from throughout Europe for this miraculous cure. It obviously benefited the fame and economy of a city to have his body. In 1087, soldiers and merchants from Italy stole what they claimed to be his remains from the his grave in Myra. They built a church in honor of him in the town of Bari, a port town in southern Italy, which became a site of pilgrimage. Whatever eventually happened to his remains, or what was claimed to be his remains, is not known but people continued to make pilgrimages to both Bari and Myra.

The legends of Nicholas made him so popular that more European churches bore his name than that of all of the apostles combined. He was made patron saint of Greece and Russia. He was also made patron saint of banking and pawnbroking at a time when the two trades were closely related. The 3-ball symbol of pawnshops represents the three bags of gold he threw as dowries. He became the patron saint of everything under the sun, everything from pawnbrokers to sailors to children. In 1969, the Catholic church declared that he wasn’t a real saint partly because the legends about Saint Nicholas are so incredible.

In medieval Europe, Saint Nicholas became a mythical figure who was fully incorporated into European folklore. He was combined with various other characters from folklore, including pagan deities. The most important of these was the Norse god Odin, the father-sky god of the Norse pantheon. Every year at night on the winter solstice, Odin would fly through the air in a chariot. He would look down on them from above, and judge their behavior throughout the entire year. Those who were good were rewarded, and those who were bad were punished. You see how the later Santa Claus contained these elements. You have the night time rider who flies through the air, dispensing reward and punishment.

Among other things, Nicholas was the patron saint of children. A group of 12th Century French nuns started giving candy to children on Saint Nicholas Day, December 6. There then started a belief that Saint Nicholas himself was giving out the candy. There developed a practice of parents giving their children candy or toys on Saint Nicholas Day, and telling them they were brought by Saint Nicholas.

Later, Martin Luther was of course totally against Saint Nicholas, who was more popular than Jesus or any other character. He tried to shift the focus from Nicholas back to Christ. However, at the same, he realized that if he just forced people to quit cold turkey, it would be much more difficult for them to convert from Protestantism. It’s the old thing that if you’re trying to get someone to convert from their religion to yours, you want to make your new religion as similar to their own religion as possible, so it will be a less wrenching transition. Therefore, he had to replace Saint Nicholas with something analogous. He chose to replace Saint Nicholas with the Christ Child. Whereas Saint Nicholas brought gifts on Saint Nicholas Day, December 6, the Christ Child brought gifts on Christmas, December 25. Many people did switch to saying the Christ Child brought the gifts, and there are places in Europe that still practice that tradition. Most people clung to Saint Nicholas. The characters of Saint Nicholas and the Christ Child were also confused with each other. The German name for the Christ Child is “Christ Kinder” which became “Christkindl”, which became “Chris Kringle”, another name for Santa Claus. For many people who did continue to imagine Saint Nicholas as the gift giver, the date of his arrival was shifted from Dec 6 to Dec 25.

One group of people who would not give up Saint Nicholas were the Dutch. Nicholas was patron saint of sailors, and Dutch sailors refused to give up their saint. The Dutch name for Saint Nicholas was “Sinter Klaas”, which would eventually become “Santa Claus”. Dutch children would put shoes by the fireplace for Sinter Klaas and leave food out for his horse. He’d gallop on his horse between the rooftops and drop candy down the chimneys into the children’s shoes. The Dutch brought these customs with them when they came to the New World, and founded the city of New Amsterdam, later called New York.

During and shortly after the American Revolution, everything British was out of fashion. They wanted their own customs and traditions separate from the British. Anything that wasn’t British was touted as American. In New York, this took the form of looking to the cities’ Dutch past. The country’s first man of letters was Washington Irving (1783 – 1859). He created the fictional characters of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. In 1809, he wrote a comic satirical work titled “History of New York”, ostensibly about New York during the Dutch occupation. He wrote it in the voice of the fictional Diedrich Knickerbocker. In it, he mentions the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas two dozen times. It certainly increased public awareness throughout the U. S. of the character.

Clement Clark Moore (1779 – 1863) was a professor of Oriental and Greek literature at the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in New York City. On Christmas Eve 1822, he went out to buy a turkey for the families’ Christmas dinner. On the way, inspired by the driver and the sleigh, he started composing a poem in his head. When he got back he wrote a poem titled, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”. He read it to his children that night. He never intended for anyone else to hear it. In 1823, it was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel. He tried to keep it a secret that he had written it because he thought it was childish subject matter that would tarnish his image as a serious distinguished professor. When it was so immensely popular, he did own up to it. The poem began, “Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house…”. It immediately set off a sensation. It’s hard to put into words how influential this little poem was. Before that, there was much more variation in the character. The poem established one version of the character, and engraved it in stone. You establish the reindeer. You establish the sleigh. You establish that he definitely comes in and out by going up and down the chimney. The poem marks the transition where Saint Nicholas turns into Santa Claus. After that, Santa Claus became so immensely popular that any writer who needed money from getting writing published, took a whack at Santa Claus. Kathryne Lee Bates invented Mrs. Claus.

It fell to Thomas Nast to show us what Santa Claus looked like. Thomas Nast (1840 – 1902) was a cartoonist for “Harper’s Weeklyâ€�. He invented the political symbols of the donkey for the Democratic party, and the elephant for the Republican party. He also loved drawing Santa Claus. He established that Santa lives at the North Pole. He drew Santa at his workshop. He drew Santa looking through a long telescope so he could keep an eye on children. Nast’s Santa was short and fat, almost spherical. He was small and gnome-like. In 1931, Coca-Cola hired Haddon Sundblom to draw Santa Claus in advertisements. He drew him as tall, part grandfather and part superhero, in other words, the Santa we all know and love.

This is, of course, the American version of Santa Claus. However, every country imagined Saint Nicholas differently. In Britain, he was Father Christmas. In France, he was Pere Noel. He was usually portrayed as thin and austere instead of fat and jolly. Sometimes, he walked on foot. Sometimes, he rode a donkey. Sometimes, he rode a white goat. There was enormous variation in the character of Saint Nicholas over a thousand years of history, and over the geography of Europe at any given time. It’s more complex than that because one version of the character doesn’t automatically stop at a national boundary, and then another start. Often one version gradually turns into another. How different do two versions of a character have to be before they are different characters? Often different characters influence each other, or are combined together. It’s very complicated. You see this whenever studying folklore, and Saint Nicholas is no exception. Sometimes, he’s portrayed as a Catholic saint. Other times, he’s greatly influenced by pre-Christian pagan belief. In Russia, St. Nicholas rides a goat. In the Netherlands, he’s on horseback, with baskets full of toys on either side. Also, in the Netherlands, they think that he lives in Spain. In different places, he’s imagined as wearing different clothes. The red suit that we imagine him wearing is derived from the fact that bishops wore red robes. The most variation in how Santa Claus is portrayed is in Germany. Almost every village had their own version of the character. I described how Saint Nicholas has been combined with other characters such as Odin or the Christ Child. In one particularly unusual version in eastern Germany, the character of Saint Nicholas was actually combined with the character of the Devil. This unusual character was called Shaggy Goat, and was a hairy, cloven hoofed, and horned version of Saint Nicholas.

The primary motivation for telling stories about whatever version of the Santa Claus character you are using is to make children be good. There are two ways to modify someone’s behavior. One way is to reward good behavior. The other way is to punish bad behavior. These two methods are equivalent, and simply two sides of the same coin. Often the Santa Claus character employed both methods, perhaps by leaving toys for good children, and leaving switches to intimidate the bad ones. However, often these two roles were delegated to two different characters. Essentially, the Santa Claus character was divided in half. The more traditional Santa Claus character rewards good children. However, there is also a second character whose purpose is punish bad children. This second character was usually called Black Peter. This was an immensely popular character throughout Europe, although probably not popular with children, and nearly every country in Europe had a version of him. There was at least as much variation in how the Black Peter character was portrayed throughout Europe as in how the Santa Claus character was portrayed throughout Europe.

Sometimes Black Peter was portrayed as looking exactly the same as Santa Claus except dressed in black. Sometimes, he’s a swashbuckling swordsman. Sometimes, he’s an imp. Black Peter much more frequently had the misfortune of being combined with the Devil. He was very frequently portrayed as a black man. Often, he was portrayed as a Spanish Moor. His personality varied greatly. Sometimes, he was evil. Sometimes, he was a bogeyman used to terrify children. In other versions, he wasn’t evil but was instead a stern disciplinarian. Often, he was simply a dispenser of justice. Our law enforcement, judicial and penal systems are not evil because they exist for the purpose of punishing the guilty, and thereby deterring bad behavior. In some versions, the Black Peter character traveled around with the Santa Claus character like a side kick. Usually, Black Peter would whip bad children, but in more benign versions, he would simply leave coal for them.

In France, Santa Claus and Black Peter were called Pere Noel and Pere Fouettard respectively. The French word “fouetter” is a verb meaning “to whip, to slash, to flog”. In Germany, Santa Claus was usually called Father Christmas but is also called Klaasbuur, Burklaas, Rauklas, Bullerklaas, and Sunnercla. In eastern Germany, Santa Claus was much more pagan and was called Ash Man, Shaggy Goat, or Rider. In Germany, Black Peter was usually called Knecht Ruprecht but was also called Krampus, Pelzebock, Pelznickel, Hans Muff, Bartel, and Gumphinkel. He’s a frightening figure, carrying a bundle of switches. Probably the reason for so many different names and descriptions for Santa Claus and Black Peter throughout Germany is because throughout most of history, Germany was many different countries. In the Netherlands, they imagined that the Santa Claus character wears bishop’s robes, and the Black Peter character wears Spanish robes. They imagined Black Peter as a Spanish Moor, who travels around with Santa Claus like a sidekick. This explains why they assumed that Sinter Klaas lived in Spain. In Czechoslovakia, which is now two countries, Santa Claus is called Svanty Mikalas, and is believed to climb down to Earth from Heaven on a golden rope, along with his two companions, an angel and a whip-carrying devil. If by now you’ve caught on to how folklore works, you should be able to guess that the devil was influenced by Black Peter, and the angel was influenced by the Christ Child. In many countries, the Santa Claus character was imagined to have various traveling companions, with versions of Black Peter or the Christ Child being the most common. In Austria, the Black Peter character is none other than the actual Devil himself, although in this particular version, he’s portrayed an one of the Santa Claus character’s minions. It’s certainly an interesting belief system.

Of course, in many stories, the supernatural character that gives gifts on or near Christmas is not primarily based on Saint Nicholas. Of the non-Nicholas characters, the most common is the Christ Child. Although obviously based on the biblical Jesus, the Christ Child was essentially invented by Martin Luther as an alternative to Saint Nicholas to make it easier for Catholics to convert to Protestantism. The Christ Child became a very popular character. Throughout Europe, there developed many different versions of this character also. There is a Christ Child tradition in France where he’s called “Le Petit Jsus”. Often the Christ Child is portrayed as an angel. In some unusual versions, the Christ Child is actually female. Again in Germany, there are many versions of the Christ Child that bring gifts on Christmas. One example is Christkind, who is a little girl. It ends up being very unusual theologically. Whereas most Christians say they are waiting for the Second Coming, these people claim that he has already been back a thousand times, and briefly comes back every year in the body of a small child, perhaps a little girl, to give gifts to other children.

There are also regional traditions of other characters who give gifts. The most famous of these is Befana in Italy. According to the story, the three kings were on their way to see the Christ Child, and for some reason, they were traveling through Italy. They stopped at the house of an old woman named Befana. Until recently, hotels were very rare, and when traveling, you would often knock on a stranger’s door, and ask to spend the night. When the wise men were leaving, they asked Befana if she wanted to come with them, and give a gift to the Christ Child also. She said, “Yeah sure, just wait until I finish sweeping my hovel”. The three kings waited outside, got tired of waiting, decided she changed her mind, and left without her. When she finally finished, she came out only to find that they had gone. Thinking they were only a little ways down the road, she chased after them, crying “Wait! Wait!”. Unfortunately, the three kings had gone a great distance, and she never caught up with them. She didn’t know where they were headed, so she wandered aimlessly, hoping she would run into them. She desperately wanted to give a gift to the Christ Child but she didn’t know which child was the Christ Child, so therefore she gave a gift to every child she saw, in case it was the Christ Child. She still does this today. The tradition of Befana has a major advantage over the tradition of Santa Claus in that it explains why she gives gifts to children. With Santa Claus, there’s no explanation other than that he’s a philanthropist.

Befana is usually portrayed as an old crone but also sometimes as a good witch or a faerie queen. Her name “Le Befana” means “Epiphany” since the three kings reached the Christ Child on the Epiphany. According to some versions, she had refused to come with the three kings, or even give them food and shelter in the first place, and that’s why she was punished with never finding the Christ Child. In Russia, they also have a tradition of a similar old woman named “Babouschka”, which in Russian, originally meant “grandmother”, but has come to mean any old woman. Her story is similar to that of Befana, and may have been inspired by it.

In Sweden, the tradition is somewhat different. They believe that the gifts are brought by a gnome called the “tomte”. However, they do not believe that there is a single gnome that brings gifts to all children. Rather, they believe that each household has its own specific gift bearing gnome. They believe that there is a secret underground chamber beneath the floor boards of the house or barn, containing a single gnome. The gnome stays in this underground room throughout the entire year, and comes out only once a year on Christmas Eve to leave gifts for children. Then it returns to its secret room. In Denmark, they use a combination of the Santa Claus and tomte tradition. They believe that the gifts are brought by a Santa Claus type figure named “Julemanden”. They also believe that every house has special elves that live in attic called “Jule Nisse” who come out only once a year to assist Julemanden in his duties. On Christmas Eve, children leave out saucers of milk or rice pudding for the Jule Nisse, and find the food gone the next morning. This is another example of pacifying supernatural beings with food. A similar practice gave rise to trick-or-treating on Halloween, with the children representing the supernatural spirits of the dead. In Finland, there was a pagan evil spirit named Joulupukki or “Yule Buck” which was combined with Saint Nicholas, and would bring gifts to children. It was portrayed as a goat-like creature.

In Spain, the gifts are given by the three kings. Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar are traveling through Spain, on their way to Bethlehem, to give gifts to the Christ Child. On their way there, they give gifts to other children also. The gifts are especially given by Balthazar, who rides a donkey, and is a favorite among children. They leave the gifts for children on the Epiphany, January 6, which is supposed to be when they arrived at the manger. On Twelfth Night, children leave their shoes on the window sill filled with straw, barley, and carrots for the two horses, and Balthazar’s donkey. When they wake up the next morning, the stuff they put in them is gone, and the shoes are filled with candy and small toys.

Many of these traditions contain some flaw in their logic. In the traditions of Befana, Babouschka, and the three kings, how can they be on their way to see the Christ Child today, if this supposedly happened 2000 years ago? Sociologists have recognized that if you have a holiday commemorating some mythological event, it’s as if it happens again every year. In Ancient Mesopotamia, they had a holiday about a mythological story where the goddess Ianna descended into the Underworld, and then Tammuz exchanged his life for hers. People got so caught up in the story and the ceremony, it’s as if it happened again every year. Similarly, for some people, it’s as if the story of the Nativity happens again every year.

Another serious problem that exists with almost all of these stories is how can the gift giving character possibly visit so many houses in one night? The major advantage of the Swedish tradition of having your own personal gnome under your house is that it avoids this problem, although their tradition is not without its own illogic. This problem is most apparent with the 20th Century American Santa Claus who is imagined to travel to every house on Earth in one night.

How much time does Santa Claus have to deliver gifts? How many hours of darkness are there between sunset on Christmas Eve, and sunrise on Christmas Day? At any one location, it’s about 12 hours. However, it takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once, rotating counter-clockwise, always with one half in darkness. Now let’s say you have the International Dateline, with the eastern side on Dec 23, and the western side on Dec 24. Imagine it passes into the night side of the Earth. That’s the first time that somewhere in the world experiences sunset on Dec 24. Then it takes 24 hours for the Earth to rotate once. Then the International Dateline approaches the dark side of the Earth again, this time with eastern side on Dec 24, and the western side on Dec 25. As it enters the dark side, that’s the last time that somewhere in the world experiences sunset on Dec 24. Twelve hours later, that part of the world will leave the night time side, and enter the daytime side. That is the last time that somewhere in the world will experience sunrise on Christmas morning. 24 + 12 = 36 Therefore, there is a 36 hour interval of time in which at least somewhere in the world is experiencing darkness between sunset on Christmas Eve and sunrise on Christmas Day. During the first 12 hours, places in the world are entering darkness. During the middle 12 hours, there are places in the world entering darkness, and other places in the world leaving darkness. During the last 12 hours, there are places in the world leaving darkness. Also, due to the inclination of the Earth, the Sun doesn’t rise at the north pole at all during the winter, so he can leisurely travel back and between the north pole and the inhabited parts of the world, so we can ignore those legs of his journey.

Let’s say Santa Claus spends, on average, five minutes at each house, and five minutes traveling from one house to the next. Then he would only be able to visit six houses in one hour. 36 x 6 = 216. Therefore, he would only be able to visit 216 houses in one night. How many houses with kids are there in countries that have a tradition of a Santa Claus type character delivering gifts on Christmas? Even if you not include large parts of world that don’t have Santa Claus, such as China, which is one billion people, it’s impossible. Not only that, but it’s impossible to even imagine as fantasy. With all fairness, it would have been less ridiculous originally. Throughout most of history, most people spent most of their lives in one village. They were scarcely aware of a world beyond their village. Therefore, kids would imagine the character delivering gifts just to their own village, which would have been possible. When you expand it from one small village to the entire planet, it becomes impossible to imagine.

One famous character in Christmas folklore who did not bring gifts was Santa Lucia in Sweden. According to the story, Lucia was a beautiful girl who lived in Sicily in the 3rd Century A. D. She was a devout Christian in a time when Christians were persecuted. Christians were hiding in caves to avoid being captured by the Romans. They would have had no food if Lucia had not brought food to them. Since it’s dark inside the caves, she needed some way to light her way. She couldn’t carry a torch or oil lamp since she needed both hands to carry the food. Therefore she started wearing candles on her head. When she was 20 years old, she was arrested by the Romans. Like a good little Christian, she chose to be tortured to death rather than renounce her faith. She joined the ranks of the Christian martyrs, and was made a saint. A thousand years later, in 13th Century Sweden, there was a terrible famine. Many people starved. In the depth of the coldest winter on record, in the middle of night, several starving peasants were huddled on the shore of Lake Vannem in Sweden. Then they saw a bright light in the middle of the lake. Nobody knew what it was. Then the light got closer and closer. The light turned out to emanate from a crown of radiant candles on the head of Santa Lucia, dressed in flowing white robes, and the helm of a giant golden Viking ship laden with food. The beautiful Santa Lucia distributed food to the destitute Swedes. Once again, she had brought food to the poor and huddled masses.

The Santa Lucia tradition doesn’t have much to do with Christmas other than the fact that her feast day is on December 13 which is during the Christmas season. Of course the fire, in the form of the crown of candles, lighting the night in the middle of winter is another reference to Winter Solstice celebrations. In Sweden, they commemorate Santa Lucia on Santa Lucia Day, on December 13. That morning, the oldest daughter in the family comes into her parent’s bedroom wearing a white dress, and a crown of candles on her head. She serves them coffee and special saffron buns. She also sings a special Santa Lucia song that goes:

Now the light is carried forth
proud on its crown
in every house and home
the song shall ring
Now the light is carried forth
proud on its crown
in every house and home
the song shall ring
On this Lucia Day
our circle of friendship is greeted
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
our circle of friendship is greeted
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia

Of course there was no such person as Santa Lucia which as evidenced by the fact that her name means “light”. Whenever a character has a descriptive name like that, it’s a dead give away that the character was entirely made up. Another example is Longinus, the Roman soldier who stuck his spear in Jesus’ side. The name Longinus means “spear”. Another example is Joseph of Arimethea who took Jesus’ body to the tomb, as well as taking the Holy Grail to Glastonbury, England. The word Arimethea is derived from the Greek word for “tomb”.

In 1816, E. T. A. Hoffman wrote a gothic fairy tale called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”. Later, Alexandre Dumas did a French version of the story called “Casse-Nioselle”. When he revised the story, he made it mush less dark. Then this version was used as the basis of a ballet put on by the Kirov Ballet. They hired master choreographer Maximus Petipa to do the choreography. However, he became ill, and most of the work was actually done by his overworked downtrodden assistant Lev Ivonov. Then in 1890, they offered Peter Tchaikovsky the assignment of writing the music. He thought the original story was ill-suited to a ballet, but after reading this version, he reluctantly accepted. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) was a homosexual Russian composer who wrote 8 operas, 3 ballets, 7 symphonies, 3 piano concertos, a violin concerto, symphonic poems, overtures, chamber music, keyboard music, choral music, and songs. His three ballets were Swan Lake (1877), Sleeping Beauty (1890), and Nutcracker (1892). He worked on Nutcracker for over two years while traveling a great deal, and working on other projects. He had to write it to fit choreography that had already been decided upon. The opening night was December 17, 1892. It was torn apart by critics, and Tchaikovsky himself was always dissatisfied with it. However, music historians now say it’s beautifully written, and it remains the most popular ballet. For the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, Tchaikovsky used a newly invented instrument called a celesta that had tuned metal plates and was played by a keyboard. The ballet is about a girl named Clare who receives a nutcracker as a gift from her godfather Drosselmeyer. She has a dream where she shrinks down, and the nutcracker and toy soldiers battle rats. The Nutcracker turns into a handsome prince, and they travel through a fantasy world.

“The Nutcracker” debuted on December 17, 1892, in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, home of the Kirov Ballet. The original cast included ballet students. Although popular inside of Russia, “The Nutcracker” was not performed outside of Russia until 1934, when Nicholas Sergeyev staged it at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in England. By that time in Russia, after the Revolution, the Russian presentation had been restaged by V. Vainonen. Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo debuted a shortened version of “The Nutcracker” in the United States in 1940. The full-length ballet had to wait until the Kirov-trained George Balanchine created a new staging in 1954, which became the Nutcracker most American audiences came to know. The Balanchine production inspired many other versions throughout the world.

In 1897, a letter supposedly written by an 8 year old girl named Virginia O’Hanlen was sent to the New York Sun. It said, “I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in the Sun, it’s so’”. The Editor of the New York Sun, named Francis Pharcellus Church, gave a famous long-winded answer that began, “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they can see.” This whole incident is referred to by Francis Church’s line “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”. First of all, the letter was so obviously written by her father, I’m astonished some people don’t know that. It’s one of the most badly faked letters I’ve ever seen. The phrase “little friends” was used by adults to refer to their children’s friends but never by children to refer to their own friends. Second of all, the response by the editor has got to be the most utterly bizarre ludicrous thing ever written. He says that just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there. Yeah well, if it can’t be seen, meaning detected even indirectly in any way at all, then there is no reason to think it might exist. We think up explanations for what we observe. If something doesn’t explain anything you observe, meaning it can’t be detected in any way, then there is no reason to ever suggest it. There is no benefit to the theory. If you are open to the possibility of anything whatsoever, no matter what the evidence or lack thereof, you have to be open to the possibility that Santa Claus is real, or that faeries are dancing on your lawn. It’s sheer insanity.

Before they had refrigeration or high speed transportation, the food people ate during the winter had to be preserved in some way. It could be smoked or salted meat, dried fruit, roots stored in root cellar, or preserved with alcohol. Fruitcake and gingerbread could both last a long time, and thus could be eaten in the winter. Also, both fruitcake and gingerbread were made with spices which had to be imported over great distances, and were thus very expensive. Therefore, you would only have it on special occasions such as Christmas. The first gingerbread houses were made in Germany, where bakers used lebkuchen, a dry gingerbread cake, to make gingerbread houses called Hexenhaeusle, which were supposed to represent the witch’s house from the story of Hansel and Gretel. In the 20th Century, the highly preserved nature of fruitcake, which was part of the original reason why it was eaten on Christmas, became the butt of jokes, when people were accustomed to less durable food.

A group of 12th Century French nuns handed out candy on St. Nicholas Day which people started saying was handed out by St. Nicholas himself. This started the practice of children receiving candy and small toys from St. Nicholas. This continued into the 19th Century when Christmas trees became common in Britain and America. The trees were initially small, and placed on a table top. The candy and small toys for the children were then hung on the Christmas tree itself. These trees with candy hanging on them were sometimes called “sugar trees”. From our point of view, they didn’t get very many gifts. The gifts were, by definition, small, since they were hung on tree. There were precious few gifts for adults. In the late 19th Century, gift giving at Christmas was very similar to gift giving on Easter today. In our world, on Easter, children get candy and small toys, clothes, and Easter-themed gifts. On Easter, kids get a tiny fraction of the number of gifts they receive at Christmas. On Easter, most adults don’t get any gifts at all. This is the form that gift giving at Christmas took in the late 19th Century.

However, as time went on, the industrial revolution produced more and more manufactured toys. People gave their children more gifts, larger gifts, and it became more common for adults to receive gifts. The gifts became too large and numerous to hang on the tree, and so they were placed underneath the tree. As more people bought more toys, companies realized this could be a big money maker, and so they promoted the practice of giving gifts. There came about a powerful dynamic between customers and companies which caused gift giving to become a bigger and bigger thing, and ultimately caused Christmas itself to become a bigger and bigger thing. Stores promoted gift giving in their advertising. This caused people to buy more gifts. At the same, the more people bought gifts, the greater the motivation for stores to further promote Christmas shopping to tap into this lucrative potential market. The more stores promoted the practice of buying gifts, the more gifts people bought. The more gifts people bought, the more stores promoted the practice of buying gifts. This created a feedback mechanism that spun out of control.

In the process, Christmas itself became a bigger and bigger and bigger thing. Stores put up Christmas decorations to try to lure people into the store to do their Christmas shopping. As time went on, stores started putting up their decorations earlier and earlier, hoping people would start their Christmas shopping earlier, and ultimately end up buying more. City governments would put up decorations, and put on Christmas parades and other events, at least partly out of the hope that it would boost the local economy. Almost every aspect of the 20th Century Christmas you can think of is in some way tied in with a profit motive. The 20th Century Christmas was created and driven by commercialism. Eventually, Christmas became such a huge gigantic titanic thing, you can’t put it into words. The 20th Century Christmas became far larger than the Victorian Christmas, the Roman Saturnalia, or any other holiday to ever existed anywhere in the world throughout all of human history.

In the 19th Century, Christmas trees were small, and placed on a table top. The candy and toys were hung directly onto the tree itself. The tree had no other decorations. As the gifts became larger, and more numerous, you could no longer hang them on the tree. Therefore, the gifts were placed under the tree. Girls might receive a china doll or a needlepoint set. Gifts for boys were usually military in nature. They might receive toy soldiers or a pop gun. Although we don’t think of it today, in the 19th Century, horns and drums were considered military paraphernalia. Therefore these became stereotypical gifts for boys, much to the dismay of parents who may have otherwise hoped for a quiet Christmas morning. This is why the modern song “Santa Claus is coming to town” mentions “rooty-toot-toots and rummy-tum-tums”.

When the gifts were taken off the tree, and instead placed underneath it, this created a new problem which is that the branches of the tree were now bare. Previously the gifts themselves were the decorations on the tree. When the gifts were instead placed under the tree, they needed new decorations to place on the tree itself. In the 1880’s in eastern Germany, they started producing hand-blown glass ornaments. Frank Winfield Wolworth, who founded Wolworths stores, started importing them to the U.S. around that same time. They were all handmade, and thus very expensive. In 1939, a light bulb company called Corning Glass Factory in upstate New York modified their machines to produce Christmas balls. They were marketed under the name “Shiny Bright”. They were much simpler than the handmade ones, but could be mass produced in enormous quantities, and were much cheaper. Soon everyone had glass Christmas balls on their tree. During World War II, Christmas balls had to be produced without any metal parts since the metal was needed for the war effort.

In the 19th Century, people put live candles on their Christmas trees. Of course, this was an obvious fire hazard. The trees were only kept lit for about 10 minutes, and they always had a bucket of water nearby. In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb. One of the first uses of the light bulb was Christmas lights. Only three years after the light bulb was invented, in 1882, the vice president of Edison’s company, Edward Johnson, had 80 electric lights added to the tree in his parlor. However, it wasn’t until the 1920’s, when most people got electricity, that electric lights on Christmas trees became common. Throughout the 20th Century, Christmas tree light bulbs still retained sort of a pointy shape to suggest the flame of a candle. In the 1940’s, they got bubble lights which also suggested a flickering candle flame. Once, you have a long string of Christmas lights, there is no logical reason why it should be restricted to only Christmas trees. In the 1950’s, people started putting these lights on the outside of their houses. As time went on, these outdoor light displays became more and more elaborate.

President Theodore Roosevelt thought that Christmas trees were a wasteful depletion of the trees in our nation’s forests. Therefore, in 1901, he did not have a Christmas tree in the White House. His young son wanted a Christmas tree so badly, he bought his own tree, and hid it in the closet. When Teddy Roosevelt discovered this, he was so moved, he let the family have a Christmas tree after all. However, still concerned about the depletion of trees from forests, he started the first Christmas tree farms.

In the 19th Century, Christmas gifts were usually wrapped in white paper. In 1918, a small store owned by Joyce Hall, ran out of this white paper. He went to the warehouse, and got fancy paper that was intended as lining for envelopes. He tried selling that instead, and it sold out immediately. Cheaper printing techniques made it possible for elaborate gift wrap to be mass produced. In 1910, Joyce Hall started selling Christmas postcards, and later founded Hallmark.

Normally in store windows, they just showed the merchandise. Then in the 1870’s, R. H. Macy thought up the idea of putting elaborate Christmas decorations in the windows to draw people into the store. He had mechanical Santas and other figures. In the 20th Century, it became common for stores to put up elaborate window displays during the Christmas season.

In 1924, Macy’s held a parade called the Macy’s Christmas Parade. Later, the name was changed to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. It’s frequently claimed that the employees spontaneously did it on their own but really it was organized by the company to encourage people to go to the store. They had floats, bands, clowns, and live animals from the Central Park Zoo. In 1927, the animals were replaced with a giant helium balloon version of Felix the Cat. From then on, they had giant helium filled balloons. In 1928, they released the balloons into the sky after the parade. When they reached the thin air of the upper atmosphere, they burst. In 1929, they were released with safety valves. They offered prizes for those who located them. The parade was suspended during World War II. Aside from that, it’s been held every year on Thanksgiving.

The other major parade, which takes place at the end of the Christmas season, is the Rose Parade on New Year’s in Pasadena, California. The first Tournament of Roses parade was staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club, former residents of the East and Midwest eager to showcase their new home’s mild winter weather. More than 2,000 people turned out on New Year’s Day to watch a parade of flower-covered carriages, followed by foot races, polo matches and tugs-of-war on the town lot. The abundance of flowers prompted Professor Holder to suggest “Tournament of Roses” as a suitable name for the festival. During the next few years, the festival expanded to include marching bands and motorized floats. The games on the town lot, which was re-named Tournament Park in 1900, included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and a race between a camel and an elephant. In 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to take charge of the festival, which had grown too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle.

In the late 19th Century, in Brocken, Massachusetts, there was a small general store owned by a man named James Edgar. As a publicity stunt, he frequently dressed up as famous people. He dressed up as all the Civil War generals. He dressed up as clowns and Uncle Sam. In December 1890, he decided to dress up as Santa Claus. He could not have imagined the reaction. It set off a sensation. Children flocked to his store. People traveled from all over the surrounding area just to see him. Other stores were quick to pounce on this potential money maker. It soon became customary for stores to have a man dressed up as Santa Claus.

Other stores came up with other ways of drawing customers into their store. In 1939, Montgomery Wards decided to give away a promotional gift to their customers to encourage them to go their stores. They decided on a children’s book. In 1939, Robert L. May wrote a children’s book called “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer”. Anyone who bought something at Montgomery Wards would receive it as a free gift. They could not have imagined the reaction. The story became immensely popular. Rudolf became the second most popular Christmas character, second only to Santa Claus himself. In 1949, Johnny Marks wrote the song “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer” which is one of the most popular Christmas songs. Clement C. Moore invented the names of the reindeer, and one was named “Donder” which was German for “thunder”. Another one was named “Blitzen” which was German for “lightning”. However, the song by Johnny Marks has the name “Donner” instead of “Donder”. Over time, “Donder” changed into “Donner”.

Of course, “Rudolf” was not the only famous Christmas song written in the 20th Century. “Frosty the Snowman” was written by Steve Nelson and Walter E. Rollins in 1950. “The Christmas Song” is the official title of the Christmas song that begins “Chestnuts roasting over an open fire”. The words were written by Robert Wells, and the music was written by Mel Torme, in 1945. They wrote it in a sweltering July for the purpose of cooling off. “Winter Wonderland” was written in 1934, with words by Richard B. Smith, and music by Felix Bernard. “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” is usually attributed to Wilf Carter who was a cowboy singer who went by the name Montana Slim. “Sleigh Ride” was written in 1948, with words by Mitchell Parish, and music by Leroy Anderson. “White Christmas” was written by Irving Berlin in 1942, for the movie “Holiday Inn”. The first verse is usually left off today. The words to “Do you hear what I hear?” were written by Noel Regney, and the music was by Gloria Shayne. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” was written in 1934, with words by Haven Gillespie, and music by J. Fred Coots. The words to “Here Comes Santa Claus” were written by Gene Autry when he was in a parade, and kids started shouting “Here Comes Santa Claus” because they thought he was Santa Claus. “Let it Snow” was written in 1945, with words by Sammy Cahn, and music by Jule Styne. “Silver Bells” was written in 1950 by Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans.

Another invention of Thomas Edison that was rapidly employed for the purpose of Christmas was the motion picture. In 1903, a movie was made about Santa Claus. Since then, hundreds of Christmas movies have been made. There have been some very strange ones, such as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964). Holiday Inn (1942) directed by Mark Sandrich is a song and dance movie with Fred Astaire. The Bells of Saint Mary (1945) directed by Leo McCarey is about a rivalry between a priest and nun at a Catholic school. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) directed by Frank Capra is about an angel who helps a despairing man see the positive impact he has had on the community. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) directed by George Seaton is about when the real Santa Claus shows up. People say he’s insane but he goes to court to prove he’s the real Santa Claus. It starred Natalie Wood as a little girl. There were remakes in 1973 and 1994. There were versions of the Christmas Carol made in 1917, 1938, 1951, 1954, 1972, 1984, and 1995. There were versions of Heidi made in 1937, 1952, 1965, 1968, and 1993. A few modern Christmas movies are Ernest Saves Christmas (1988), National Lampoon Christmas Vacation (1989), Prancer (1989), Home Alone (1990), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), The Santa Clause (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).

When television became common in the 1950’s, that medium was also quickly utilized for Christmas. People such as Bing Crosby, Perry Cuomo, and Andy Williams had Christmas music specials. Television series had Christmas episodes. There were many Christmas specials that were aired every year, and became perennial favorites. Examples include Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), Frosty the Snowman (1969), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1975), The Little Drummer Boy (1968), The Little Drummer Boy Book II (1976), The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey Nestor (1977), Pinocchio’s Christmas (1980), A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986), A Wish for Wings That Work (1991), and Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991). Many specials were made by Rankin & Bass.

Just as there is tremendous variation throughout European folklore concerning Saint Nicholas and other characters who leave gifts, there is also great variation of other Christmas traditions throughout the world. I’ve already discussed Christmas traditions in England and the United States. In Ireland, they celebrate St. Stephan Day on December 26. Young men in extravagant dress, sometimes wearing masks, parade noisily through the streets in the Wren Boys’ Procession. They carry a long pole on top of which is attached a holly bush. The bush supposedly contains a captured wren, for whose sake the young men beg for money. The money is then donated to charity. In Scotland, they celebrate Christmas rather somberly, and reserve their merriment for New Year’s Eve which is called Hogmanay. The word derives from a type of oat cake traditionally given to children on New Year’s Eve. The first person to set foot in a residence on New Year’s Day is thought to profoundly affect the fortunes of the inhabitants. Generally, strangers are thought to bring good luck. Depending on the area, it may be thought better to have a dark haired or fair haired person set foot in the house. This tradition is called “first footing”. In Wales, caroling is particularly popular. It is called “eisteddfodde” and is often accompanied by a harp. In some rural areas, a villager is chosen to be the “Mari Hwyd”. This person travels around the town draped in white, and carrying a long pole with a horse’s skull on the end. Anyone touched by the skull is officially “bitten” and must pay a fine. Another Welsh custom is to leave your doors and windows unlocked on Christmas Eve, in case Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary were to show up needing a room for the night, they’d be able to get in.

In France, around Christmas, nearly every home has a nativity scene or crèche which serves as the focus of the Christmas celebration. The crèche is often peopled with little clay figures called “santons” or “little saints”. An extensive tradition has evolved around these little figures which are made by craftsmen in southern France throughout the year. In addition to the usual Holy Family, shepherds, Magi, and angels, the craftsmen also produce figures in the form of local dignitaries and other characters. Although the practice of the Yule log has faded,, the French make a traditional Yule-log shaped cake called “buche de Nol” or “Christmas log”. The cake, along with other food in great abundance, is served at the grand feast of the season which is called “le rveillion”. This is a very late dinner eaten after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. What is eaten varies by region. In Alsace, goose is the main course. In Burgundy, it is turkey with chestnuts. The Parisians feast on oysters and pat de foie gras. In the Netherlands, farmers blow long horns at sunset throughout the Christmas season.

In Germany, the Christmas season begins on the first Sunday of Advent known simply as “Advent”. The Advent wreath originated with the German Lutherans. Today, Advent wreaths are popular throughout Germany and Austria. The Advent calendar, an elaborate calendar with windows used to count down the days until Christmas, also originated in Germany. The Christmas tree owes its widespread popularity to Germany. In 1880, glassmakers in Thuringia discovered how to make blown glass balls and bells which became the decorations used to trim Christmas trees all over the world. In many German cities, special festive markets with decorated booths and stalls are set up weeks before Christmas. The most famous of these is Christmas Market in Nuremberg which has a history of more than 400 years, and is attended by people from many countries. Only items related to Christmas may be sold there. The festival lasts for three weeks from early December until Christmas. In Germany, the highpoint of the Christmas season is the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated by both Catholics and Protestants. German cooks begin baking honey and almond cookies called “Dauergebach”, and gingerbread called “Pfefferkuchen” as early as July. They are still edible at Christmas. Other Christmas treats include “Springerle” which are little hard cakes with designs on top, and chocolate pretzels called “Brezel”. For some reason, the Germans make things called “prune people” which are dolls where the head is a walnut, the body is a fig, and the arms and legs are raisons or prunes. A more impressive example of German folk art are these wooden things called “pyramids” that contain little wooden figures such as a nativity scene. Hot air rising from candles turn a propeller on top, which make the figures and scenes spin around.

In Austria and Bavaria, groups of children called “Star Singers” go caroling door to door on the Epiphany, January 6. Three of them are dressed up as the Three Kings, and one of them carries a long pole with a giant star hanging off the end of it. They sing a special Three Kings song. You’re supposed to give them candy. Today, they sometimes collect money for charity.

In Spain, Christmas is a deeply religious holiday. The country’s patron saint is the Virgin Mary, and the Christmas season officially begins on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is celebrated each year in front of the great Gothic cathedral in Seville with a ceremony called “los Seises” or the “dance of six”. Oddly, the elaborate ritual dance performed by not six but ten elaborately costumed boys. It is a series of precise movements and gestures that is supposed to be incredibly beautiful. There are people in the audience who are literally moved to tears. Christmas Eve is known as “Nochebuena” or “The Good Night”. It is a time for family members to gather together to rejoice and feast around the nativity scenes that are present in nearly every home. A traditional Christmas treat is “turron”, a kind of almond candy. December 28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Young boys in rural villages light bonfires. In each village, one of the young boys acts as the mayor, and orders the townspeople to perform civic chores, such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to help pay for the celebration. Also in Spain, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, you are supposed to eat exactly twelve grapes as the clock strikes twelve.

In Portugal, Christmas is celebrated similar to how it is in Spain. In addition, the Portuguese have a feast called “consoada” in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. They set extra places at the table for “alminhas a penar” or “the souls of the dead”. In some areas, crumbs are left on the hearth for these souls, a custom that derives from the ancient practice of entrusting seeds to the dead in hopes that they will provide a good harvest.

Throughout Russia and Eastern Europe, people go on a long fast ending on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In Russia, Christmas Eve dinner is meatless, and includes a special porridge called “kutya”. In Poland, the “Wigilia” is a 24 hour fast beginning on Christmas Eve, and ending in a huge Christmas feast. The feast consists of 12 courses, one for each of the 12 Apostles. The dinner is officially meatless. However, they did not consider fish or other seafood to be meat, so they are allowed. The table is always set with an empty chair and empty place setting either for departed relatives or the Holy Ghost. Straw is sometimes placed under the table cloth in remembrance of the manger. In honor of the Star of Bethlehem, the meal can not begin until the first star appears in the sky that night. In Poland, a star is a very common symbol for Christmas.

In Mexico, the word for crèche is “nacimiento�. The crèche includes uniquely Mexican elements such as a rooster that crowed to announce the birth of the Christ Child, fish in the river, and the Devil trying to tempt the shepherds from their journey. On the Epiphany, Jan 6, they have a special ring-shaped bread called “rosca�. Baked into it are little plastic figures of the Christ Child. If you get one in your piece of bread, you are declared Godparent to the Christ Child. It is the responsibility of the Godparents to host a party on Feb 2, when Jesus was baptized. The nacimento is kept up until then.

In Mexico, they have a series of nine processions called “Posadas�. They do it every night for nine days from December 16 to December 24. They were invented by San Ignacio de Loyola to teach the Indians the story of the Nativity. These are detailed reenactments of the journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The procession includes Mary riding a donkey, Jopseph, shepherds, angels, the three kings, etc. The participants are called “peregrinos�. Sometimes, all of the participants are children. Sometimes, there is an audience participation aspect as they knock on the doors of houses, and ask if there is room at the inn. You are supposed to say no. At the end of the procession on the last day, they arrive at a preselected location, perhaps a live nativity scene, and the peregrinos break into two groups, the pilgrims and innkeepers. In a ritualized exchange, the pilgrims ask repeatedly to spend the night, and finally the innkeepers relent and let them stay. This is followed by a huge party. Part of the reason for luminaries is to light the way for Mary and Joseph.

Since you see a piñata every time you go in a Mexican restaurant, you forget they were originally for Christmas. The piñata was invented in China. Then sailors brought it Italy. From there it went to Spain. They brought it to Mexico where it became more popular than anywhere else. It’s a hanging cardboard thing filled with candy. Children are blindfolded, and try to hit it with a stick. The traditional shape of the piñata is a sphere with seven conical points which represent the seven deadly sins. Breaking the piñata represents defeating these sins, and resisting their temptation.

There is no country in the world more obsessed with Christmas than the United States. In New York City, holiday shoppers stop to watch skaters on the ice beneath the tree at Rockefeller Center while others gaze in awe at the magnificent Neapolitan Baroque figures on the Angel Tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Texas, you can join a Tex-Mex “posada” in San Antonio or travel 70 miles north to Fredericksburg for a German-style Christmas Market. The South has a long Christmas tradition going back to the first English Christmas at Jamestown. Today in New Orleans, thousands of carolers gather each year in Jackson Square for a huge community sing while bonfires are lit all along the Mississippi River. In Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, an enchanted forest of 43 international trees and three crèches decorated by the city’s cultural community groups is on display through January 7. Appropriate ethnic food is served in the cafeteria and various ethnic groups present folk dances and story hours throughout the season. In Washington, D. C., the focal point of the season is the lighting of the National Tree on the Ellipse. A large tree represents the nation with smaller trees representing each state. While the Kennedy Center presents a wide-variety of Christmas programs, and a very popular event is the “Messiah” sing-in at the concert hall. Boston is also famous for its annual Christmas presentation of “Messiah” by the Handel-Haydn Society as well as the caroling festivities on Beacon Hill. The “Nation’s Christmas Tree” in California’s Kings Canyon National Park is the site of a special annual celebration. Carolers sing at the base of the 267-foot sequoia each year and the size of the group depends on the depth of the heavy snows in the park. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, founded by Moravian missionaries on Christmas Eve, 1741 starts off the season with a huge Christmas Market. The holiday decorations in most buildings in the city consist of a single candle in each window. A giant lighted star can be seen on top of South Mountain and is visible for twenty miles. St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in the U. S., has the entire historic area draped in white lights. There is a city ordinance which prevents anyone from displaying outdoor Christmas lights that are not white. The one exception is a colorfully decorated tree in the town square that is set up under the white lights hung in ancient live oak trees. Thousands of people flock to Hollywood, California for the annual Parade of Stars while others converge on Balboa Park in San Diego for Christmas concerts on the what is supposedly world’s largest outdoor pipe organ. In Salt Lake City, the great classical music of Christmas is presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir while a small choir in St. Joseph’s Church in Washington, New Jersey sings “Silent Night” while bathed in the light of an antique stained glass window depicting the Nativity.