The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas: The Story Behind the Nativity, Candy Canes, Caroling, and All Things Christmas (11 page)

It appeared on Bing Crosby’s 1948 Christmas album, an album that has never been out of production since then. It’s also featured on Christmas albums by Andy Williams, Doris Day, Barbra Streisand, Elvis, Jim Reeves, Dean Martin, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sedaka, and many, many others.

When?

Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas” in 1940.

Its first radio outing took place on Christmas Day, 1941.
Holiday Inn
, which featured the song, was released in 1942. “White Christmas” won that year’s Academy Award for the best original song. In the same year it topped the Billboard Chart and the Harlem Hit Parade. It was the Christmas Number One for Crosby in 1942, 1945, and 1946.

In 1954 the song appeared on the silver screen again when Crosby sang it in the movie named after the song,
White Christmas.

In 2002 the Library of Congress included it in the National Recordings Registry as a song of cultural significance.

Why?

Irving Berlin was a prolific songwriter with an estimated fifteen hundred songs to his credit. An immigrant from Russia, he was fascinated by American culture, and it would have been strange indeed if one of his compositions had not featured the traditional American Christmas.

The combined talents of Berlin and Crosby ought to have been enough to guarantee the song’s success. Adding a large dose of nostalgia at a time when the country was going to war and many would be separated from home and family seems to have made it into something of a phenomenon. It will probably be associated with Christmas as long as there
is
a Christmas.

Who?

Who writes to Santa Claus? Well, it is almost exclusively children who hope to get specific presents at Christmas. Of course, Santa is far too busy making toys to personally answer all those letters, but most major postal operations have teams of volunteers willing to help out with that.

Often the only answer a child gets is the toy itself.

The writer Mark Twain once presented his daughter with a letter written by Santa Claus, “also known as The Man in the Moon.” Specific instructions were given on what she was to do to receive the presents Santa would be bringing from his base on the moon.

What?

Letters to Santa Claus can take many forms. Traditionally they were actual letters, often the very first letters a child would write. Sometimes they were posted, and sometimes they were burned. In this modern age it is perfectly acceptable for a child to e-mail Santa, although this may lack a little of the glamour of a real letter.

Failing writing materials or electronic devices, wishes or prayers are thought to work as well. Although, in the case of prayers, it is not certain whether God passes them on to Santa or Santa’s helpers (the parents) overhear them from the other side of the bedroom door.

Where?

Wherever a child believes in Santa Claus, there needs to be a way to communicate with him. In many countries children would traditionally write their letters by the fireside, and then they would, very carefully, put their letters in the flames. The idea was that while the paper would burn away, the message would last and go up the chimney. Then the wind would blow it to the North Pole. These days most children use the postal service. No matter where the letters originate or which intermediate address is used, they generally end up at either Santa’s base in Lapland or at his home at the North Pole.

When?

Amazingly most of the letters to Santa will have been posted in the week before Christmas. In the case of letters burned in the fire, they will often be sent on Christmas Eve. Yet Santa, who has been making toys all year round, will still have the right toy for the right girl or boy. No one has yet explained how this can be so. It just is.

Answers to those letters, if they come via other organizations working for Santa, may take some time to be delivered. But the ultimate answer to any child’s letter to Santa, the gift, will usually be delivered by Christmas Day morning.

Why?

How is Santa going to know what the child wants without a letter of some sort? Sure, the parents can suggest things, but what do they know? A letter from the child is sure to ask for the right thing.

Letter-writing is the perfect way to involve children in the wonder of that side of Christmas. They learn how to ask politely, be specific about what they want, and to add an appreciative thank you.

And if they think their behavior might have earned them a place on the naughty list, then a neat and polite letter might just change Santa’s impression of them for the better.

Who?

Christmas, or Xmas. It’s all about Jesus!

It may also be about people who want to celebrate Christmas without any spiritual content, so they cross “Christ” out—but they are making a big mistake.

The first people to use the letter
X
for Christ were early Jews, either Hellenistic Jews or simply those who read Greek.
X
, or the Greek letter
chi
(which translates into English as
ch
), is the first part of the Greek word
Christos
, or “Christ.” Sometimes
XP
was used, adding the Greek letter
rho
(the English r), the next letter in “Christos.” This symbol is called the
Chi-Rho.

The poet Samuel Coleridge; the writer Lewis Carroll (who was actually church deacon Charles Dodgson); and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the Supreme Court judge; all used the term Xmas at one time or another. They were probably not being disrespectful in the matter.

Prominent faith leaders have called for the word to be avoided.

What?

Every year people send or receive cards with the words “Merry Xmas” either written inside or printed on the front. A few will be making a point about a Christmas without faith, but most won’t even have thought about it. For them it will just be a quick, convenient way of wishing someone a happy holiday. But for others it will be a thoughtless, perhaps offensive, way of crossing Christ out of Christmas.

While the usage of the term may have changed in the modern era, the term itself has a long history, going back to a time long before greeting cards were even invented.

Where?

According to popular legend, early Christians used
X
or
XP
as a code for Jesus, to help them avoid identification and persecution. Once Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, however, the symbol became much more mainstream, since a golden
XP
often topped his personal standard.

With that kind of backing, the symbol spread right across the empire and was even mentioned in
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
in the west. At no point was it intended as a replacement for the name of Jesus.

Today, shops and businesses may use it in their displays or promotional literature, but generally only for space-saving reasons.

When?

Since the first century, when people started writing about Jesus, they would refer to the Lord as
Christos
and use the abbreviations
X
or
XP.

The term
Christmas
only really became popular in the Middle Ages, when it was spelled
Christemasse
or
Cristes maesse.

In 1100 AD
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
used the term “Xpes maesse” for Christmas.

The Emperor Constantine adopted the
Chi-Rho
symbol in 312 AD, after his whole army had a vision from God.

So, Xmas is not a new invention. It has probably been used as long as the word
Christmas
, and using
X
for Jesus predates even that.

Why?

Is “Xmas” a cultural phenomenon? Is it deliberate snub? Is it thoughtless or accidental? It might be all of those things, but, traditionally, it has been used as a shortening of the word
Christmas
rather than any snub to the Man concerned.

But should we worry over its use? Could Jesus ever be crossed out? Of course not! Jesus doesn’t live in a word; He is
the
Word! Neither can He be confined to one day, whether it be Christmas Day or Xmas Day. So let’s worry less about “crossing Christ out of Christmas” and more about including Him in every other day of the year.

Who?

Father Christmas, a very big man according to English folklore, is often depicted carrying a Yule log on his shoulder.

In many cultures the eldest male of the house is sent, in his best clothes as a mark of respect, to chop down the tree selected that year. Other men will then be required, since, as tradition dictates, the Yule log should be carried home at shoulder height. The women of the house or the village play their part by decorating the felled tree with ribbons.

People visiting the house after the log is burning are encouraged to hit it and raise sparks for good luck.

What?

While some eastern European cultures use the Yule log as part of religious practices, the log itself has no real spiritual significance. It is simply a large log, preferably one of the harder woods, which will burn for a long time and keep a family or a village warm.

Sometimes whole trees were used as the Yule log. In houses with big enough rooms, the base of the tree would be fed into the fireplace and the log moved farther in as it burned.

In modern times families are more likely to have a chocolate cake representing a Yule log in their house than the real thing.

Where?

The Yule log is another tradition from the cold, dark northern European lands. The word
Yule
is an old Viking word for the midwinter celebrations.

While the tradition does come to America from the United Kingdom, there is evidence that it was popular with the Germanic peoples and the Slavs long before it ever came to the United Kingdom.

In Catalan homes, the Yule log was not burned. Instead it would be wrapped in a blanket and fed grass! When the time for presents arrived, the father of the house would beat the tree then take the blanket off it, exposing gifts that had apparently been expelled from the body of the tree.

When?

The Celtic peoples of Europe burned Yule logs for centuries before Christianity reached them. The tradition didn’t change much afterward. The log is traditionally brought into the home on Christmas Eve and set alight. A good Yule log will be long enough and hard enough to keep burning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas. For the sake of tradition, continuity, and good luck, the new Yule log should be lit with a piece of wood saved from the previous year’s log.

Of course, the modern chocolate Yule logs are usually laid out for Christmas dinner and rarely last longer than the dinner itself!

Why?

In the short, cold days of midwinter, people dependant on the seasons for their survival must have occasionally wondered if the long, warm days of summer would ever return. Keeping a good fire, or a Yule log, burning was seen as a way of encouraging the sun to come back. More practically it was a good way of not freezing.

Keeping one fire burning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas would have been conducive to long parties and a general air of merrymaking.

Where a religious meaning was looked for, it was suggested the burning log might symbolize keeping the Lord’s stable warm between Christmas and Epiphany.

David McLaughlan used to write whatever turned a buck, but now he writes about faith and God. It doesn’t pay as well—but it does make his heart sing! He lives in bonnie Scotland with Julie and a whole “clan” of children.

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David McLaughlan