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Christmas remains
the most observed and most popular among all the festivals and
holidays of the Christian Church year, especially among Christians,
but for any who seek a time of renewal. Though the roots of
the modern day Christmas began with the birth of Jesus Christ in a
manger in the town of Bethlehem, the time of the winter celebration
extends further back to celebrate the solstice and the "coming of
the new light" at Yuletide. The best estimate is that Jesus was
probably born in the springtime, somewhere between the years of 6
and 4 BC. Due to an error in the Gregorian calendar, our
actual "A.D." year may perhaps be an additional 4 years! Celebrating
at the Yuletide allowed the Church to expand the Christian rolls by
establishing Jesus Christ as the coming light.
 Christmas
traditions are varied between countries and even regions within
countries. The use of evergreens and Yule logs harkens back to
the pagan traditions adopted by the Christian Church. Traditions
have been born out of a mix of the old Yule celebrations with the
newer Christian icons such as....
St. Nicholas (Santa, Father Christmas,
Père Noël, Christmas
Daddy?)
 Father Christmas is the
ancient being named St. Nicholas, who was at
one time the Christian leader and the Bishop from Myra (now
Turkey) in the 4th century AD. Known affectionately as
Kris Kringle from the German Christkindl or Christkindlein
and among the Pennsylvania Dutch he was also known as Belsnickle, a derivative of the German
"Pelz-nickle", which means "Furry
Nicholas". He is most widely known today in
America as Santa Claus which comes from the Dutch 'Sinterklaas'
for,
of course, Saint
Nicholas. The modus operandi of our 1600 year old
saint may have come from the story
that St. Nicholas, in the 4th century climbed the
roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney,
landing in the stocking of a girl who had placed it by the fire to
dry!
Still being quite shy, our dear Santa resides at (or close to) the
North Pole. To make his yearly quest he has eight reindeer as
rendered by Clement Clark Moore, though he is known to use a spare
reindeer for inclement weather. He delivers only to believers! |
