Christmas Symbols

Mistletoe and Holly

     Around two hundred years prior to the birth of Christ, the Druids would utilize mistletoe in order to celebrate the coming of winter.  They would then gather all the mistletoe they could find and use it to decorate their homes.  Their belief was that the mistletoe had healing powers that could fix many problems.  Additionally, the Scandinavians linked mistletoe to their goddess of love.  This is probably where the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe came from.  Mistletoe had been banned from the celebrations of Christmas from the early church because it had pagan origins.  Today it is used as Christmas greenery.

The Christmas Tree

     The Christmas tree has its beginnings in Germany during the 16th century.  the German people normally decorated the trees with colored paper, roses, and apples.  Martin Luther, who was the Protestant reformer, was thought to be the first to use candles to light a Christmas tree.  The Christmas tree was not used as a symbol of Christmas until later in the 19th century.  It came to America as a result of the Pennsylvania Germans in the 1820s. 

The Candy Cane

      You might wonder why we celebrate Christmas on December 25.  This date came into effect in the 4th century.  The idea of celebrating Christmas has to do with how the Catholic Church attempted to compete with the festivities involved with a pagan religion's celebration of their sun god.  It wasn't considered proper to celebrate birthdays at this point in history, but church leaders decided that they would begin a festival that celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.  The birth of Jesus is thought to actually occur in the spring, but the date of December 25 was determined as the date because the Catholics wanted to compete with the other celebration.  Did you know that this holiday was slow to catch on in America?  In fact, the early colonists actually considered the holiday to be a pagan ritual.  Celebrating Christmas was even banned in Massachussetts in the colonial days by law.

Reindeer

     Reindeer have been associated with Santa Claus and his delivering of presents.  Up to around 12,000 years ago, reindeer actually were grazing over a large area in Europe.  There were rock paintings that featured them from long ago cultures. Santa's reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen,and of course Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Elves

      Elves are pictured as dwarf-like creatures that have pointed ears.  They are immortal and seem to have magical powers.  Who are these elves, and what is their origin?  Elves were originally the creation of paganism in Germany who believed that elves were creatures of light who lived in heaven.  Scandinavian people thought that elves were house gnomes that were responsible for guarding their homes against evil forces.  Good people were rewarded by elves being good to them, but if you were bad, these elves would play tricks on you and cause problems, and some of the tricks could get nasty.  People thought that if they left a bowl of porridge on their doorsteps at night, the elves would be content and not play tricks on them.  During the mid-1800s, the elves began to gain a reputation of being the Christmas elves who helped Santa design presents and make toys and gifts.  They are supposed to be the secret agents of Santa.  They would not only help Santa with his duties, but also help him observe which kids were being naughty and nice. 

Christmas Cards

    Christmas cards have been popular during Christmas to send good tidings to friends and families.  This is thought to have begun in 1843 when SIr Henry Cole had 1000 cards printed.

Christmas Caroling

      This is a medieval custom of dancing and singing around the Christmas tree.  The early Christmas carols were not holy enough to sing inside a church, so the caroling was done instead outside. 

Christmas Stocking

     The story is that St. Nick did not want anyone to know who he was, so when he tried to help a poor family by throwing gold coins down their chimney, the coins fell into a stocking that was hanging there to dry.  This is how the stocking tradition began.