The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas: The Story Behind the Nativity, Candy Canes, Caroling, and All Things Christmas (3 page)

In 1756 the practice reached the New World, with the first American Christingle service being held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

In 1968 it was introduced to the Anglican Church as a part of their Christmas celebrations.

There is no fixed date in the calendar for the Christingle service. When the service takes place is usually left up to the individual churches. It may be held any time between Advent and Epiphany, but it is often held on Christmas Eve.

Why?

The name
Christingle
means “Christ’s light.” It is significant that the ceremony is aimed at children, as Jesus asked us to come to Him like little children. It is a very effective way of reminding the little ones of the spiritual truth behind the decorations and the gifts.

The orange represents the world. The candle is the light of the world, or Jesus. The red ribbon reminds us that blood was spilled for our salvation. The fruits and candies represent God’s blessings, and the four toothpicks symbolize either the four seasons, reminding us that God is with us all year round, or the four quarters of the world, reminding us that He is everywhere.

Who?

Francis of Assisi, that joyful man of God, is said to have been responsible for popularizing the idea of Christmas carols. Before his time there would have been chants or hymns sung in churches and abbeys. They would often have been complex arrangements that were never sung outside of church. Saint Francis is said to have taken them beyond cloister walls and made them easier for ordinary people to sing.

John Audelay, an English priest, wrote (or compiled) the first collection of “caroles of Cristemas.”

Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation embraced the singing of carols, with Luther personally authoring several.

Oliver Cromwell banned the singing of Christmas carols. It didn’t last!

What?

What defines a carol? It is generally considered to be a song with religious content set to a joyful tune and arranged in a way that is easy for a crowd to sing. Of course, you wouldn’t have to look far to find Christmas carols with no religious content or even a joyful tune. Popular usage at that time of year tends to determine what qualifies as a carol.

In the Middle Ages a carol was a circular dance during which the dancers also sang; so we have the group aspect, the joyful aspect, and, depending on the time of year, the songs may well have had religious significance.

Where?

The first songs with a specifically Christmas theme were written in Latin and sung in Rome. As the church spread across Europe, Christmas songs went with it. The twelfth-century French monk Adam of Saint Victor was the first to take religious lyrics and put them together with popular contemporary tunes, an important step on the journey from “Christmas song” to “Christmas carol.” But his songs were in Latin, not French.

English hymnists, like nineteenth-century minister and poorhouse warden John Mason Neale, translated many Latin and French carols into English, paving the way for their eventual arrival in the New World. Not restricted by European traditions, American writers have added considerably to the canon of Christmas carols.

When?

The church in Rome sang Christmas songs as far back as the fourth century AD. One of those, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” was written by a poet who died around 413 AD and is still being sung to this day.

In the thirteenth century a tradition of carols being sung in “local” languages flourished. Carols, either written in English or translated into that language, first appeared in England in 1426.

In 1833 the English lawyer William Sandys brought together his compilation
Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern.

The song believed to be the first American Christmas carol is “Jesus Is Born,” written by Reverend John de Brébeuf.

Why?

If there is an emotion more appropriate to Christmas than any other, it must surely be joy. And can there be a better way to express joy than through song? Saint Francis of Assisi thought so when he made carols part of church services and encouraged their translation into the languages of the ordinary people.

For many people carols will simply be happy, catchy tunes to share in a party atmosphere. For others all that applies, but there will be a deeper meaning summed up in Psalm 30:4, which says, “Sing unto the L
ORD,
O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”

Who?

Mothers! For as long as mothers have been baking, they have been coming up with sweet little somethings for special occasions. (Of course, chefs and cooks of both sexes have taken up the tradition.)

Amazingly, the Crusaders of the Middle Ages played a part in the development of the cookie. Returning to Europe after fighting in the Holy Land, they brought with them a variety of exotic ingredients that made their way into Christmas cookies and into children’s bellies.

The enthusiasm of the aforementioned children will have played a considerable part in keeping the tradition going!

Christmas cookies are now a major industry as well as a homemade treat.

What?

The word
cookie
comes from the Dutch word
koekje
, meaning “little cake,” and cookies come in a wonderful variety of tastes and shapes.

American Cookery
by Amelia Simmons, published in 1796, gave the ingredients for cookies, then advised, “Kneed all together well, roll three quarters of an inch thick, and cut or stamp into shape and slice you please, bake slowly fifteen or twenty minutes; tho’ hard and dry at first, if put in an earthen pot, and dry cellar, or damp room, they will be finer, softer and better when six months old.”

The question has to be asked, would the children ever be prepared to wait that long?

Where?

Many nationalities have their own specialty cookie. The Norwegian Christmas cookie is called
Krumkake.
A waffle-type cookie, it is baked on a hot iron, then formed into a conical shape.

Sweden has
Pepparkakor
, thin gingersnap-style cookies that can be cut into any shape.

Pepernoten
were originally baked in Holland, specifically for Saint Nicholas, on the fifth of December. Small, ball-shaped treats, they often contain aniseed and cinnamon.

Mexico has the
Reposteria
, which is a shortbread-style cookie coated in sugar and cinnamon.

Springerle
are aniseed-flavored cookies from Germany and Austria.

Pennsylvania even has an official state cookie. It adopted the sugar cookie, brought to the United States by German immigrants, in 2001.

When?

Their size, durability and the fact that they are small enough to put into a travel bag mean that cookies have been a part of baking for as long as baking has existed. The inclusion of sugar in cookies first occurred in ancient Persia and spread from there across Europe.

By the fourteenth century cookies could be found at all levels of European society.

The introduction of cookie cutters to the United States from Germany at the end of the nineteenth century opened the way for cookies shaped like Christmas trees, candy canes, holly leaves, and so on.

The tradition of leaving cookies and milk out for Santa only became popular in the 1930s.

Why?

While gingerbread and other types of cookies have almost always been popular in Europe, their inclusion in Queen Victoria’s Christmas Day meals caused some of them to make the transition from ordinary baked treats to full-blown Christmas cookies.

The fact that the tradition of leaving them for Santa became popular during the Great Depression would suggest that cookies were the ideal way for children to show they enjoyed sharing treats, even if they might not be receiving any.

And, when all else has been said and done, do we really need a reason to enjoy beautiful, delicious cookies at Christmastime?

Who?

The shepherds who were told of the birth of Christ didn’t have much time to anticipate the event, but the Magi, or Wise Men, traveled far in anticipation, and, approaching Bethlehem, there must have been a night when they thought, “Tomorrow is the day!” Though it’s unlikely they got there on the day of Jesus’s birth, could they still be said to be the very first people to observe Christmas Eve?

In modern times Christmas Eve is a time for parents to breathe a sigh of relief and for children to excitedly pretend to be fast asleep (while actually listening for the sound of reindeer hooves on the roof!).

On this day churchgoers usually attend a service for private or communal devotions.

What?

Strangely, the night before Christmas Day is often more spiritual than the day itself. All the shopping has been done, all the arrangements made, and everything has been set in place for the next day. Once the shops close, there is a lull in the chaos of organization, a time when often only churches are open. With no other distractions, people find time to give God their full attention.

Different churches observe the evening in different ways; some have a watch-night service, some vespers. In many churches the only illumination will come from candles, helping to create a mood of prayer and contemplation.

Where?

The very first Christmas Eve happened in the same place every Christmas Eve has happened since. Just outside Bethlehem—and all around the world! The only difference is on that first evening very few were aware of the importance of the event; now people celebrate it all around the world.

On Christmas Eve, 1968, the tradition moved beyond this world when astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders read an extract from the Book of Genesis from on board the spaceship Apollo 8. The twentieth century’s equivalent of the three Wise Men did indeed “traverse afar.” They broadcast their message to the world from the moon’s orbit!

When?

Although the name implies an event that takes place in the evening, the term
Christmas Eve
generally applies to the whole of December 24. It ends at midnight.

So when was the first Christmas Eve? No one knows for sure. Dates for the birth of Jesus range from 3 BC to 29 AD. The reference to the shepherds still being on the hills with their sheep makes it seem unlikely the first Christmas Eve took place in midwinter.

What does it matter? As a time of anticipation of the arrival of Jesus, December 24 simply serves as a reminder that the whole year round—every year—might be spent in similar anticipation.

Why?

For many children, getting to sleep will be nearly impossible on Christmas Eve, so excited will they be about the gifts they hope to get in the morning! Hints may have been given as to the nature of those brightly wrapped boxes and clues offered just to tease. Then, of course, there is the opening of those presents!

The world waited a long time for Jesus to arrive. We were given all too brief a visit. And now it waits for him to return.

Christmas Eve is a reminder of those times of waiting, waiting for the gift we already know so much about but that will surely outstrip all expectations.

Who?

Before the coming of electricity, church services would only have been illuminated by daylight or candlelight. Some churches even resisted installing their own candelabras, asking families to bring their own candles or lamps, as
they
were the true lights of the church!

A woodcut picture of Queen Victoria’s candlelit Christmas tree helped bring the tradition of tree lights to the United States.

Sir Joseph Swan decorated actors playing angels in an operetta with electric lighting, inspiring the term “fairy lights.”

President Grover Cleveland switched on the first electrically lit Christmas tree at the White House.

Now electric Christmas lights appear in most homes and many public spaces as part of the celebrations.

What?

It’s no coincidence that so many of our Christmas lights look like candles. That’s exactly what they would have been once upon a time, real candles sitting on the branches of real trees! But, of course, as the tradition moved indoors, that became a dangerous option.

Now tiny electrical lights can be produced in strings, nets, and even made into sculpture shapes. They can shine steadily, flash intermittently, or even switch on and off in time to music.