The tradition of Christmas celebration is very old. It slowly evolved with time. All the traditions and customs are started with the initiation of Roman Pagan to Christian ceremonial. Traditionally, it involves 12 days of Christmas with several elements included within. The dazzling fires, the Yule log, exchange of gifts, the feasts, carols, and the church processions are the integral components of Christmas traditions.
The concept of Christmas traditions is not at all static. In the due course of time, it changes dynamically and quite dramatically as well. Almost every New Year comes with a promise of new or moderated mode of Christmas traditions. Christmas, originally celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ, has changed from a religious issue into a cheery hearted affair exclusively incorporating carnivals, bonfire, cookies and Santa Clause.
Yule Log
It is a form of sun worshipping. The idea is very old. Yule Logs are a part of red oak trees. They are burned during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In modern days, it can be expressed also in the form of log-shaped Christmas cakes. If the preparation is with chocolate, it is known as chocolate logs.
Snow
Snow has an important significance in Christmas traditions. So the Christmas days are full with fun activities that are largely based on snow playing such as skiing, snow boarding, sled riding, hiking and many more.
Wreath
Christmas days exclusively represent greenness. It promises the exhibition of green full of life and vitality. In these days, evergreen is worshipped as a holy entity representing eternal life as it never becomes brown or leafless. Evergreen holy is worshipped as religious groups believe that the crown of Jesus was made up of this evergreen holy. It is said that originally the berries were red but it became red with the blood of Jesus Christ.
Mistletoe
The use of mistletoe is not very common. It is actually derived from the ancient Druid ritual rejoicing winter solstice. This tradition is believed to be started when a young girl was standing under a tree and a young boy while passing her picked up a fruit and kissed the girl.
Biscuits
No historical or mythological evidence has been found yet to support the exact time of inclusion of this tradition in the history of Christmas. It is assumed that the biscuits are left for Santa during 1930’s. It used to be an exciting activity for naughty kids for bribing their Santa, even at the last minute. On the other hand, nice kids prefer to use this as part of their thanksgiving occasion. They wish to thank Santa for his wonderful but hard contribution at the time of Christmas Eve.
Santa Clause
When we are talking about Christmas traditions, if we do not discuss about Santa Clause, it seems that our discussion becomes incomplete. This tradition is as old as 4th century. Santa Clause was born on the memory of Saint Nicholas who was worshipped and loved by everyone for his loving and caring nature towards children.
That’s all for today, folks. Tomorrow I’ll bring you another Christmas recipe and a farewell for the holidays. Stay tuned!
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