Christmas traditions – Where do they come from?

December is, of course, the month of Christmas and the 12th and last month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars. It is one of seven months containing 31 days.

December starts on the same day of the week as September every year and ends on the same day as April every year. It is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

The abbreviation Xmas isn’t irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ. During the 20th century there were only seven official white Christmases in the United Kingdom.

The term Yuletide comes from a Norse tradition of cutting and burning a tree to bring in the Winter Solstice. This was to last through 12 days later known as the 12 days of Christmas. It is also the origin of the English custom of burning a Yule log in the fireplace over the Christmas period.

The modern Christmas tree was developed in early modern Germany (where it is today called Weihnachtsbaum or Christbaum). The tree was originally decorated with roses made of coloured paper, apples, wafers, tinsel, and sweetmeats.

The traditional tree decorations we are perhaps now more familiar with include candles, representing the light of the world. The Star at the top is a reminder of the first Christmas night and Candy canes are to represent the Shepherd’s cane.

Did you know that many parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin C? Brings a whole new meaning to eating up your greens!

The origins of Santa Claus, or Father Christmas

St. Nicholas was a Bishop who lived in the fourth century in a place called Myra in Asia Minor (now called Turkey). He was a very rich man because his parents died when he was young and left him a lot of money. He was also a very kind man and had a reputation for helping the poor and giving secret gifts to people who needed it.

In one legend this included dropping gold down a chimney for a poor family that needed money for their daughter’s marriage dowry, and the gold apparently fell into a stocking hanging up at the fireplace. This is said to be the origin of putting a gold-coloured tangerine in the stocking toe as a replacement or symbol.

But the tangerine tradition is also attributed to 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor. 

In the UK, particularly in England, St Nicholas became first Santa Claus and also ‘Father Christmas’ or ‘Old Man Christmas’, an old character from stories plays during the middle ages in the UK and parts of northern Europe. In France, he was then known as ‘Père Nöel’.

Boxing Day gets its name from all the money collected in church alms-boxes for the poor.

Hanging stockings out comes from the Dutch custom of leaving shoes packed with food for St Nicholas’s donkeys. He would leave small gifts in return.

Why do we choose the colours red, gold and green at this time of year? Green has long been a symbol of life and rebirth; red symbolizes the blood of Christ, and gold represents light as well as wealth and royalty. Holly and Ivy have been used to decorate homes since the 9th century because they symbolise everlasting life. The holly represents Christ’s crown of thorns and the berries his blood.

Christmas food

In Victorian times, in a reversal of modern UK tradition, turkey was seen as an expensive meat to eat on Christmas day, and goose was often eaten by poorer families.

According to tradition, you should eat one mince pie on each of the 12 days of Christmas to bring good luck but it’s technically illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas Day in England. In the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas pudding, mince pies and anything to do with gluttony. The law has never been rescinded!

And finally! The bestselling Christmas single ever is Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, selling over 50 million copies worldwide since 1942.