How Christmas Came to Be

Sophie Amalfitano ’20

Christmas is celebrated by 2.2 billion in the world today. It is a time where families decorate magical Christmas trees, light purple and pink advent candles, hang up stockings, exchange gifts, and make delicious holiday food and desserts. Santa Claus represents giving which is a secular celebration. People from all over the world have been celebrating Christmas traditions for over 1,000 years. But where did these traditions come from and who started it?

Prior to Christianity, many cultures have had celebrations for the winter solstice. The winter solstice marks the end of autumn and is the longest day of darkness in the year for the Northern Hemisphere. The celebration of winter solstice allowed people to look forward to longer days of sunlight again. It was often celebrated with food, wine, dancing, and parties.

In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule on December 21st, the winter solstice, to January. Men and boys would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire to celebrate the sun, light, and birth in the darkest days. The Norse would feast until the fire burned out since they believed that each spark from the fire represented a pig or a calf that would be born in the new year. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. It began the week leading up to the winter solstice and continued for a whole month. It was a time where there were large amounts of food and drinks. It also was a time where the social order was reversed as slaves would become the masters and peasants would be in charge of the city.

Originally, Christianity’s main holiday was Easter, but in the fourth century, church officials decided to name the birthday of Jesus Christ a holiday. The Bible does not mention a date of birth, so Pope Julius decided to make it December 25th. It is believed he did this so the holiday could adopt the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.

Santa Claus originated from St. Nicholas, who was a bishop in the Catholic Church in the fourth century. St. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor (now Turkey). In his time the bride and her family would need to pay a dowry to her groom in order for a marriage to proceed. The legend goes that “St. Nichols wanted to help a poor nobleman with three daughters, but he wanted to do it anonymously because he did not want to be praised for his generosity”. Three bags of gold were given to the nobleman, but he found out who had given daughters’ dowries. This is also how people began to put up stockings as the young girls put up their stockings to dry and the gold coins were thrown into them.

Purple and Pink advent candles are a Catholic tradition. There are 3 purple candles and one pink candle. One candle is lit each Sunday of December. The pink candle is the last candle to be lit, representing the coming of joy.

Many traditions of Christmas are universal but many of Ridge’s students have their own unique traditions. Some students celebrate Three Kings Day on January 6th. “We leave gifts by our shoes by the winter and we leave food for the camels”, describes Alex Ballard ‘20. Three Kings Day is a holiday in Hispanic countries that takes place on January 6th that marks when, according to biblical lore, the three kings found baby Jesus. They offered gold, Frankincense, and myrrh. Gold is symbolic of Jesus’ royal standing, frankincense represents Jesus’ divine nature, and myrrh was to symbolize Jesus’ mortality. Many cities have parades, and in Mexico, they taste a mile long “Rosca de Reyes” (Kings Bread).  Other traditions are being with family and having a big dinner. “Dinner is like the Christmas version of Thanksgiving” notes David Kim ‘18. Many people open gifts and go to their Christmas service, and are surrounded by family.