A general question on the Celebration of Christmas in U.S.A and some other places....

[Stuart G]

This is not meant against anybody, I say so in advance, but I would like to know an answer.

Jesus I understand was born in the summer. That is what both astronomers say was the possible time of
the star, and historians say summer was the time when people went back to places of birth to be counted or taxed.

Now...How did we get all this winter, snow, rituals, trees, ..Santa, sleighs, etc.
Where did all that come from?
thanks in advance for those that know. I hope I have not offended anyone by asking..thank you.

[laconicsax]

1. Co-opted Roman and other pagan holidays.

[tama]

2. Winter solstice

and local traditions about it given Christian interpretation - and the day changed bit off.

[uriel1972]

3. heh in Australia and other Southern Hemisphere countries it is the middle of Summer

But here, we have all the Winter trappings, the trees, reindeer etc. while people wander about in shortsleeves and shorts.

[iris27]

4. In order to ease the cultural spread of Christianity, existing holidays around the time of the

winter solstice were co-opted as the celebration of Jesus' birth. The general poetry fits...celebrations of the (re)birth of the sun become celebrations of the birth of the "Son".

Santa came later - the kind acts of one priest sometime around the 3rd century AD became legend, mixed with other gods and legends, including Woden, and eventually morphed into Father Christmas/Santa Claus.

[Quartermass]

5. It was Roman Emperor Constantine who decided that Jesus's birthday was on December 25.

And he did that because he wanted to combine pagan festivities in order to convert more people to Christianity and displace non-Christians who worshiped other deities on that day.

He ruled from 306 A.D to 337 A.D..

[LeftishBrit]

6. So far as I know, Christmas was grafted onto existing Winter Solstice celebrations

However, even taking this into account, the emphasis on snow, sleighs, White Christmas, etc. is a bit bizarre. Even if Jesus had really been born in December, he was a Middle Eastern Jew, not a Scandinavian. It rarely snows in the Middle East! It can happen on rare occasions in some places, but it's VERY unusual and certainly not a main feature of wintertime.

It's understandable that Christmas celebrations would be adapted to the country doing the celebrations, rather than to typical events in the region of Jesus' birth. Nevertheless: not all Europaean countries or American states are snowbound at that time. In southern England, snow is unusual at this time. We don't get much snow anyway, and when we do, it's usually a bit later in January or February. And yet, snow is somehow seen as a key part of Christmas, and kids are encouraged to feel shortchanged if they don't get a white Christmas!

It's even more bizarre in some other countries: according to friends in New Zealand and Australia, where December is high summer, Christmas may be celebrated on the beach, and yet houses are decorated with artificial snow!

I have been told that current Christmas traditions in the UK owe a lot to the German heritage of our current Monarchy, and that Christmas wasn't quite so snow-oriented before King George came over from Hanover. But this wouldn't explain the emphasis on snow for Christmas seemingly *everywhere*.

[MarkCharles]

7. Northern European and Scandanavian celebrations of the Yule

are more influential to the American celebration of Christmas with an emphasis upon snow, lights, fires, and even trees inside, Holy, and feasts with roasts of animal meats which are slaughtered because there is not enough food to preserve too many animals into the spring.

Christmas celebrations and customs borrow from many separate, mostly European cultures who held festivities and celebrations and preserved customs from before the time of Christ, including up until the introduction and validation of an indoor tree in the palace of Queen Victoria in the 19th century. Santa Claus, introduced into American culture in the 1800's, came about as a result of a poem widely circulated:

"A visit from Saint Nicholas" or "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by..
"Clement Clarke Moore Miniature Biography

Clement Clarke Moore (1799 - 1863) came from a prominent family and his father Benjamin Moore was the Bishop of New York who was famous for officiating at the inauguration of George Washington. The tradition of reading Twas the night before Christmas poem on Christmas Eve is now a Worldwide institution and tradition."

The poem was a then modern interpretation of the story of Saint Nicholas, (Christkindl, the Austrian and German Christmas gift-bringer, or Sinterklaas, in Holland and Dutch colonies worldwide )