- Customs and celebrations of Christmas - Holiday Ideas for every occasion

An enormous number of customs, with either secular, religious, or national aspects, surround Christmas, and vary from country to country.

Most of the familiar traditional practices and symbols of Christmas, such as the Christmas tree, the Christmas ham, the Yule Log, holly, mistletoe, and the giving of presents, were adapted or appropriated by Christian missionaries from the earlier Germanic pagan midwinter holiday of Yule.

This celebration of the winter solstice was widespread and popular in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity, and the word for Christmas in the Scandinavian languages is still today the pagan jul (=yule). The Christmas tree is believed to have first been used in Germany.

Rather than attempting to suppress every tradition owned by pagans, Pope Gregory I allowed Christian missionaries to allow the innocuous ones as a means to make things already familiar ready aids to reeducation through such props for illustrating new understandings of things long before them but ignorantly perceived, giving a rich Christian significance to things that, for lack of such Understanding, stood to bear the reflection of heathen culture.

The give and take between religious and governmental authorities and celebrators of Christmas continued through the years. Places where conservative Christian theocracies flourished, as in Cromwellian England and in the early New England colonies, were among those where celebrations were suppressed.

After the Russian Revolution, Christmas celebrations were banned in the Soviet Union for the next 75 years.

A few newer religions, notably the Jehovah's Witnesses, some Puritan groups, and some ultraconservative fundamentalist denominations, view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible, and do not celebrate it (although they are coming at it from a view detached from the historic Church).

Secular customs

A house decorated for Christmas in Yate, EnglandSince the customs of Christmas celebration largely evolved in northern Europe, many are associated with the Northern Hemisphere winter, the motifs of which are prominent in Christmas decorations and in the Santa Claustale.

Santa Claus and other bringers of gifts

Gift-giving is a near-universal part of Christmas celebrations. The concept of a folklore figure who brings gifts to children derives from Saint Nicholas, a good hearted bishop of 4th-century Asia Minor.

The Dutch modeled a gift-giving Saint Nicholas around his death on December 5. In North America, other colonists adopted the feast of Sinterklaas brought by the Dutch into their Christmas holiday, and Sinterklaas became Santa Claus, or Saint Nick.

In the UK, whilst this name is widely known, "Father Christmas" is more common, and is also used in many West African countries. In the Anglo-American tradition, this jovial fellow arrives on Christmas Eve on a sleigh pulled by reindeer, and lands on the roofs of houses.

He then climbs down the chimney, leaves gifts for the children, and eats the food they leave for him. He spends the rest of the year making toys and keeping lists on the behavior of the children.

One belief in the United Kingdom and United States which has been passed down the generations, is the idea of "good" and "bad" lists of children. Throughout the year, Santa would add names of children to either the good or bad list depending on their behaviour.

When it got closer to Christmastime, parents would use the belief to encourage children to behave well. Those who were on the bad list and whose behaviour did not improve before Christmas were said to receive a booby prize of sorts, such as a piece of coal or a a switch with which their parents would hit them, rather than presents.

The French equivalent of Santa, Père Noël, evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image Haddon Sundblom painted for a worldwide Coca-Cola advertising campaign in the 1930s.

In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter.

In some versions, elves in a toy workshop make the holiday toys, and in some he is married to Mrs. Claus.

Many shopping malls in North America and the United Kingdom have a holiday mall Santa Claus whom children can visit to ask for presents.

A classic image of jolly old Saint Nick

In many countries, children leave empty containers for Santa to fill with small gifts such as toys, candy, or fruit.

In both the United Kingdom and the United States, children hang a Christmas stocking by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, because Santa is said to come down the chimney the night before Christmas to fill them.

In other countries, children place their empty shoes out for Santa to fill on the night before Christmas, or for Saint Nicholas on December 5. Gift giving is not restricted to these special gift-bringers, as family members and friends also bestow gifts on each other.

Timing of gifts

In many countries, Saint Nicholas Day remains the principal day for gift giving. In much of Germany, children put shoes out on window sills on the night of December 5, and find them filled with candy and small gifts the next morning.

In such places, including the Netherlands, Christmas day remains more a religious holiday.

In other countries, including Spain, gifts are brought by the Magi at Epiphany on 6 January.

In Poland, Santa Claus (Polish: Święty Mikołaj) gives gifts at two occasions: on the night of 5 December (so that children find them on the morning of 6 December), and on Christmas Eve, 24 December, (when children finds gifts that same day).

In Russia, Grandfather Frost brings presents on New Years Eve, and these are opened on this night.

One of the many customs of gift timing is suggested by the song "Twelve Days of Christmas," celebrating an old British tradition of gifts each day from Christmas to Epiphany.

In most of the world, Christmas gifts are given at night on Christmas Eve, or in the morning on Christmas Day. Until the recent past, gifts were given in the UK to nonfamily members on Boxing Day.

Christmas cards

Christmas cards are extremely popular in the United States and Europe, in part as a way to maintain relationships with distant relatives and friends, and with business acquaintances.

Many families enclose an annual family photograph, or a family newsletter telling activities of family members during the preceding year.

Decorations

Decorating a Christmas tree with lights and ornaments, and the decoration of the interior of the home with garlands and evergreen foliage, particularly holly and mistletoe, are common traditions. This tradition is thought to have started first in Germany.

In North and South America and to a lesser extent Europe, it is traditional to decorate the outside of houses with lights, and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures.

Since the 19th century, the traditional Christmas flower is the winter-blooming poinsettia. Other popular holiday plants are holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis and Christmas cactus.

Municipalities often sponsor decorations as well, hanging Christmas banners from street lights or placing Christmas trees in the town square. In the United States, decorations once commonly included religious themes.

This practice has led to much adjudication, as Jews insist that it amounts to the government endorsing one particular religious faith. In 1984 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (Lynch v. Donnelly) that a city-owned Christmas display including a Christian nativity scene was depicting the historical origins of Christmas, and was not in violation of the First Amendment ("establishment of religion").

Social aspects and entertainment

In many countries, businesses, schools, and communities have Christmas parties and dances during the several weeks before Christmas Day. Christmas pageants, common in Latin America, may include a retelling of the story of the birth of Christ.

Groups may go caroling, visiting neighborhood homes to sing Christmas songs. Others are reminded by the holiday of man's fellowship with man, and do volunteer work, or hold fundraising drives for charities.

On Christmas Day or on Christmas Eve, a special meal of Christmas dishes is usually served, for which there are traditional menus in each country. In some regions, particularly in Eastern Europe, these family feasts are preceded by a period of fasting.

Candy and treats are also part of the Christmas celebration in many countries.