Christmas is one of the biggest Christian holidays and is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus.
The Christmas celebration is a tradition with very old historical roots. Ever since the fourth century AD, the celebration has been associated with the birth of Jesus. It was only in 354 AD that the Catholic Church chose to place Jesus’ birth on December 25th. This date thus has no basis in the Gospels.
There is also disagreement between the Catholic and Orthodox churches about the date Jesus was born. Within the Orthodox Church, which still uses the Julian calendar, the Christmas celebration is moved to January 6… (Unfortunately, Christmas has been the cause of many wars, in dispute of what is true.)
The Christian Christmas replaced a holiday that the Romans celebrated in connection with the winter solstice, which falls in the last weeks of December. This was also the case in the Nordic countries (see pre-Nordic religion), and just as in the Roman Empire – and in many other places – the Christian celebration of Christmas came to replace a holiday that the church considered to be a pagan tradition.
The custom of handing out gifts to each other during Christmas already existed in the Middle Ages, but it would take until the 18th and 19th centuries before it became commonplace. From the beginning, it was about giving away simple, often self-made gifts. The Christmas gifts have their origins in the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12, according to which the baby Jesus received gifts from the eastern zodiac signs. That it was “three wise men” who distributed the gifts is a later construction. )The number of astrologers who distributed gifts is not stated in the Gospel.)
The very word Christmas gift comes from the fact that in farming society people went around knocking on doors, and when the door was opened a wrapped gift was thrown into the house.
During the 19th century and early 20th century, it was customary for the father of the house to dress up as a Santa and hand out the Christmas presents. The children were probably quite frightened when the Christmas goat arrived, which is documented in illustrations painted by, among others, the Swedish artist and writer Elsa Beskow. Today, many families have a Christmas goat in straw under or next to the Christmas tree.
That it is Santa Claus who distributes the Christmas presents is not an old tradition.
It was only at the end of the 19th century that the modern site began to take shape. The artist Jenny Nyström’s fantastic illustrations of Santa created the image of a kind figure, unlike the house elf with gray clothes and red hood that has existed in folklore for centuries. During the 20th century, Santa Claus became commercialized with Coca-Cola’s Santa advertising from the 1930s. Therefore, one could say that our present-day Swedish Santa is a combination of Jenny Nyström’s Santa and the American Santa.
Another phenomenon that many people associate with Christmas is the Christmas tree.
Bringing a tree into the home during Christmas already happened in the Middle Ages, mainly in Germany, and it was supposed to protect against evil forces. The Christmas tree began to appear in Swedish noble homes during the 18th century, and a century later the tree became a popular phenomenon. From the beginning, the tree was decorated with self-made decorations, but already in the 1880s you could buy Christmas ornaments to dress your tree with.
Regardless of who and when Christmas exists, I wish you a nice and long “weekend” during these days, as well as a good end of this year. Wherever you live, enjoy the delicious traditional food that belongs this Christmas.
I will be back before new year!
Windmush/Curt
