The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas: The Story Behind the Nativity, Candy Canes, Caroling, and All Things Christmas (7 page)

Who?

Despite its being a Christian tradition, people of faith, no faith, and other faiths all recognize wishing others a Merry Christmas as an established fact. And while some may object to being wished a Merry Christmas because it is seen as not being of their tradition, most people recognize and share in the warmth and good feeling that is conveyed in the greeting. Friends can share it with a hug, children with an excited squeal, and strangers with a handshake or a happy wave.

We might add “and a Happy New Year” to the end of the greeting, but only Santa Claus is allowed to add the “Ho, ho, ho!” at the beginning!

What?

In the festive season you might be wished a Merry Christmas or a Happy Christmas. Why the difference?

Well,
merry
was an Old English word for “pleasant.” But this changed during the reign of Queen Victoria. Strong drink was playing a disruptive role in the newly industrialized society. People who were drunk enough to be troublesome were referred to as being “merry.”

Queen Victoria disliked sending Christmas greetings tainted with such a disreputable image. She started sending “Happy Christmas” cards, and others followed her example.

Another explanation suggests that the greeting is a mispronunciation of “Mary Christmas,” encouraging us to celebrate the event as Mary did—by presenting Jesus to the world.

Where?

As with so many old traditions, we can trace this one back to “Merry Olde England.”

These days we think of the word
merry
as meaning joyful, just a bit above ordinary happiness, but back then it was spelled
mirige
or
myrige
and simply meant “pleasant.” Hence Merry Olde England was a time when the summers were warm, the fields were producing plenty of food, taxes were low, and there were no more than the normal number of wars going on. Life was good!

Now the tradition and the greeting are known around the world—and are especially valued in lands where conditions aren’t so merry.

When?

When did people first start wishing each other a Merry Christmas? The answer to that is lost in time, but we do know that the carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” was being sung in the fifteen hundreds. For it to have been given a tune and written down, the greeting itself must have been firmly established and so is probably very much older.

Different versions of
Merry Christmas
in different languages have probably been exchanged for as long as Christmas has been celebrated.

There is no set time to begin wishing people a Merry Christmas, but usually sometime in the second half of December is acceptable.

Why?

There are lots of special or holy days in the calendar. Very few of them have a greeting of their own. But isn’t it fitting that a day of such significance should have a form of words that can be exchanged by friends and strangers alike? After all, the first Christmas was for all mankind!

Given the variety of holidays and festivals now taking their place in the “holiday season,” wishing someone a Merry Christmas might be a statement of Christian faith, but its usage is wider than that these days and is often simply a way of wishing someone a pleasant and peaceful time at Christmas.

Who?

Edmund Gwenn was an English actor, born in 1877. His career, spanning over eighty films and innumerable stage plays, was interrupted by both world wars. Two years after World War II he won an Oscar for his portrayal of Kris Kringle.

Maureen O’Hara was already a successful actress, but
Miracle on 34th Street
established the Irish redhead as an American favorite. One of her abiding memories of the movie was the close relationship she formed with her on-screen daughter, Natalie Wood.

At the tender age of nine, Natalie Wood already had five films to her credit before playing Susan Walker, the little girl who believes Kris Kringle really is Santa Claus.

What?

There have been several versions of
Miracle on 34th Street
, including one in 1994, in which Richard Attenborough played Santa.

The movie tells of Kris Kringle, an elderly, white-haired, bearded gentleman living in a nursing home. He discovers the man playing Santa Claus in the Macy’s parade is drunk, and the event’s organizer, Doris Walker, asks Kris to replace him. Doris’s daughter, Susan, is delighted to meet Santa. Her cynical, world-weary mom asks Kringle to tell her daughter he isn’t really Santa. But Kringle insists he is!

His insistence leads to a court case in which Santa has to prove his existence. The dreams of a little girl depend on it!

Where?

The story grew in Valentine Davies’s imagination while he served in the Coast Guard during World War II. And New York City, where the film is set, was his hometown.

Thirty-fourth Street is the home of Macy’s department store, and it is just before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, held between Seventy-seventh Street and Thirty-fourth Street, that Kris Kringle discovers the department store’s hired Santa is worse the wear for drink!

In the 1994 remake starring Richard Attenborough, the store’s name was changed to Cole’s, although the Thirty-fourth Street location remained the same.

The trial that proves that Santa Claus really does exist takes place in the New York Supreme Court.

When?

The original
Miracle on 34th Street
was released in 1947—in the summer! The studio decided more people went to the movies in the summer than at Christmas. The posters featured Maureen O’Hara and John Payne and a distinct lack of anything Christmassy.

Previews showed studio executives trying to decide how to pitch this wonderful film to the public. Through a series of “chance” encounters with real-life film stars, they come to the conclusion that the movie has everything and will appeal to everyone. The words blazoned across the screen declare it to be “Hilarious! Romantic! Delightful! Charming! Tender! Exciting! Yes, and groovy! No kidding … it’s a good picture!”

Why?

Valentine Davies had achieved some success as a screenwriter before World War II. He developed the story for
Miracle on 34th Street
during the hostilities and pitched it after the war. He wrote it up as a novel as it was being adapted into a screenplay.

Davies had two children and like most parents would undoubtedly have had to answer the question “Does Santa Claus really exist?” His story helped answer that question for parents ever since!

Perhaps Davies had heard of the time in “Olde England” when Father Christmas was put “on tryall for inciting good people to drunkenness, gluttony, gaming and other licentious behaviour.” He was acquitted of all charges!

Who?

The Celts of prehistoric Europe were perhaps the first to find a use for mistletoe, although their uses were more practical than romantic. Pliny the Elder, the Roman philosopher and naturalist, wrote that the Celts used the plants as an antidote to poison and to increase the fertility of their cattle.

Mistletoe also featured in Scandinavian mythology, being the one living thing that could be used to kill the god Baldur, the son of Odin and brother of Thor. Baldur was so loved by everyone (except his slayer, his half-brother Loki) that the mistletoe’s leaves hang their heads and weep because of their part in his death.

What?

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on, and out of, a variety of trees. Birds eat the plant and then drop the seeds on the branches of other trees. The seeds stick to the branches and grow there.

The growth of the mistletoe does affect the host plant, and too much mistletoe can kill a tree, but this particular parasite has been granted a special dispensation.

Mistletoe has been classified as an “ecological keystone species,” meaning that an inordinate number of plants or creatures depend on it or benefit from it. Thanks to its association with Christmas decoration, it has also acquired a degree of cultural importance.

Where?

Mistletoe (
Viscus album
) once grew wild all across northern Europe, but these days it is mainly grown commercially for the Christmas market. It seems to prefer apple trees as a host.

Viscus album
does not grow naturally in North America, but “Eastern” Mistletoe does. The only differences the casual observer would notice are that Eastern Mistletoe has shorter leaves and more berries.

As for where the mistletoe should be hung amidst the Christmas decorations, well, doorways seem to be a favorite place, and there is always a good chance of a man and woman meeting there, but it really depends on who has the mistletoe and whom they wish to kiss.

When?

The uses of mistletoe date back to the days when people lived more closely with nature and depended on wild plants more than we do now. It would undoubtedly have been noticed and thought special when the leaves fell from the trees in the fall but the mistletoe stayed green.

Pliny the Elder recorded its medicinal use among the Celts in the first century AD, but it had undoubtedly been used for centuries before that.

Washington Irving wrote about the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe in 1802.

Mistletoe should be hung with the rest of the Christmas decorations and taken down when the other decorations are taken down.

Why?

The ancient Celts used the evergreen plant to increase fertility in livestock and neutralize poisons in humans, despite the fact that eating it raw would make most people very sick.

These days it is still an ingredient in some homeopathic medicines, but the most common use for mistletoe involves claiming kisses at Christmas!

In Washington Irving’s
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon
, he states that a man may claim a kiss if he catches a woman standing under the mistletoe. According to Irving, the man should pluck a berry from the sprig each time he claims a kiss. When the berries run out, so do his kissing privileges!

Who?

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a joint initiative set up by the governments of Canada and the United States in anticipation of a possible Soviet nuclear missile strike during the Cold War. The shortest and quickest route for these missiles would have been across the North Pole and over Canada. Presumably Santa would have been the first to spot them, which makes it all the more ironic and appropriate that NORAD technology is now used to track Santa himself.

Colonel Harry Shoup was the right man in the right place when an unusual call to his command center gave him the chance to create a modern Christmas tradition.

What?

Each year NORAD keeps children the world over updated on Santa Claus’s epic journey around the world. A team of volunteers (taking the place of the original military personnel) have staffed phone lines, produced newspaper stories, recorded messages, and answered e-mails. Corporate sponsorships cover the costs.

These days NORAD Tracks Santa has a strong online presence (
www.noradsanta.org
) and features on various social media platforms. Those children (of all ages) with Internet access can now log on and see “real-time” footage of Santa flying his sleigh past well-known landmarks in cities all around the world. Sometimes Santa even takes the time to wave at the camera!

Where?

Well, the tracking is done by NORAD, whose headquarters are in Colorado Springs. But the journey itself covers every country in the world. All in a single night! Once Santa has completed his mission of joy, NORAD advises viewers, “Santa has completed his flight this year. Come back next December to see him fly again!”

While the first “operators” to answer the phone were USAF personnel, we needn’t worry about defense budgets being spent on the project these days. Various companies sponsor the operation, and a large team of dedicated friends of Santa Claus sit by the phones and operate the necessary technology on a voluntary basis.

When?

In 1955 a store advertised a phone number that they promised would get children through to Santa Claus. But someone somewhere in the advertising process made a mistake and published the number of CONAD, the Continental Air Defense Command (which became NORAD three years later).

The Santa-tracker program, which began in an unofficial way on that day, has continued, using various technologies.

As December begins, the NORAD Santa tracker begins a countdown to Christmas. On Christmas Eve the site updates each hour as midnight moves around the world.