At my country, today is the 5th of December 2014 in about 4.25 pm. When I think of December, I mostly think about Christmas Day where there will be tons of wonderful smells in the house, colourful lights on the Christmas tree, families gather around on the table until midnight and of course, Santa Claus! Well, I know Santa doesn't exist (I believed he existed until my parents told me when I was 10! ~.~), the spirit of Christmas makes children all over the world can't sleep or put a plate of cookies and a a glass of hot, warm milk under the tree. Don't forget, the Christmas wish list. However, this Santa Claus tradition originally comes from who, where and how it could spread all over the world? Let me tell of this unique tradition.
Santa Claus has many known names; Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kingles or even Santa. He is mostly known by his spirit on giving gifts on the night of Christmas Eve who in many Western cultures. However, in European cultures, on St. Nicholas Day, children will also receive presents on that day, 6 December. Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas and Sinterklaas, merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the character known to Americans and the rest of the English-speaking world as Santa Claus.In the English and later British colonies of North America, and later in the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving's History of New York (1809), Sinterklaas was Americanized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the American press in 1773) but lost his bishop's apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving's book was a lampoon of the Dutch culture of New York, and much of this portrait is his joking invention. With a new name of this Santa, Americans 'famoused' it with wonderful songs such as "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "I Had Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" etc, joyous story books and even Christmas ornaments. This new invention spreads worldwide and presto! A new tradition of Christmas.
However, Christmas is the day where Jesus Christ is born on the 25th December. His labour is estimated among modern historians to have been between 7 and 2 BC while the exact month and day are unknown.
The birth of Jesus Christ is related as He is born in the winter solstice or in the winter festival. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached. Many modern Christmas customs have been directly influenced by such festivals, including gift-giving and merrymaking from the Roman Saturnalia, greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year, and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts.
No matter what we do, Christmas to me is the spirit of gathering with the love ones while eating blessed meals on the table. Before signing off, Merry Christmas, fellow readers! xCor.
 |
| 1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who, along with Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus. |
 |
| A depiction of the Nativity with a Christmas treebackdrop |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
No comments:
Post a Comment