Christmas History and Legends
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The legend of the Christmas spider.
Once upon a time, long ago, in Germany, there lived a poor widow and her children in a tiny cottage. The mother had no money to buy her children a lot of gifts but she so wanted them to have a tree. After putting the kids to bed she went and cut a tree down and placed it in the house and decorated it with fruits, nuts, and cookies she had made. The gentle mother then busily cleaned her house, in preparation for the most wonderful tradition of the year, the coming of the Christ Child, bringing gifts for Christmas Eve. She then fell into her bed exhausted and worried that her children would not have a happy Christmas.
Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had fled their corner and gone to the attic. At last the time drew near. The tree was decorated and the children were delighted. The poor spiders however were frantic!! They could not see the tree. The oldest and wisest spider suggested they creep out of the attic and peek through a crack in the threshold. Soon, the door opened and they quickly sneaked into the room. The tree towered so high, they could only see one ornament at the top, so they scurried along each branch, admiring the glittering beauty. Every place they went, they left a train of dusty gray web, until finally the entire tree was covered with it.
When the Christ Child saw this, he was happy that the spiders had seen the tree, but, he knew the mother would be broken hearted about it's dusty gray appearance. He reached out and touched the webs and blessed them and they all turned a lovely shimmering gold and silver. On Christmas morning the family awoke to such a lovely sight and all were happy. A beautiful sight to behold, a tree glittering in tinsel. And so, it became a custom of the Christmas season to decorate their trees with tinsel and to have a spider among the other decorations on the tree.
St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, scholars, virgins, sailors, and merchants. In the Middle Ages, he was regarded b y thieves as their patron saint. Legends tells of the secret gifts to the the three daughters of a poor man, who unable to give them dowries, was about to abandon them to a life of sin. From this tale has grown the custom of secretly giving on the Eve of Saint Nicholas (December 6).
History of Christmas celebrations
Christmas is an annual festival in the Christian religion, held on December 25th . It is to celebrate the nativity or the birth of Christ. The origin of the festival is unknown, however, some schools believe that it is derived in part from the pre-Christian rites of Germanic or Celtic tribesman held in celebration of the winter solstice (Yule). Christmas festival, generally observed by Christians since the 4th century, include heathen customs such as the use of holly, mistletoes, Yule logs, and wassail bowls. The use of Christmas trees probably originated among the Romans of pre-Christian times from whom it spread to the Germanic peoples and thence to the peoples of the British Isles. In later times Christmas celebrations acquired a wide secular and social significance, expressed in many countries in the exchange of gifts and greeting cards and the suspension of school and work. Dutch settlers brought the New World the custom of celebration of St. Nicholas' (Santa Claus') day on Christmas Eve.
It was during the Victorian Era that the way we celebrate Christmas changed. During the reign of Queen Victoria Christmas became a happy holiday instead of the somber one of old. Trees where brought inside and decorated with pretty hand blown glass ornaments, popcorn and cranberries strong together, lots of hand made ornaments, which were the most plentiful of the times. The young girls would crochet snowflake ornaments as well. The houses were all decked in greenery brought in by the men. The trees would be lighted only two times, as back then they used candles and they were a great fire hazard. Trees were lit on Christmas eve, when they were put up and then again on Christmas night. It was not until the light bulb was invented that strings of lights were used to light a tree.
CHRISTMAS ROSE
A little girl named Madelon was a shepherdess who saw her fellow shepherds heading to Bethlehem, and asked what was going on. They were on there way to bring gifts to the Christ Child. Madelon so wanted to bring a gift but had nothing to give. She knelt crying and when an angel saw her tears the angel turned them to pink roses. The child soon was happy and picked the roses to take a bouquet for the Christ Child and gave them to Mary. Now in December the Christmas Rose blooms as a reminder the love a simple gift can bring.
THE POINTSETTIA
Many years ago in Mexico a small girl stood outside a church on Christmas Eve, watching all the people taking gifts inside to place before the statue of Baby Jesus. She wanted to give a gift but had none to give and was sad and crying as angel saw her the angel said go and gather the weeds along side of the road and take to the Christ Child. She did so and as she walked in all just laughed at her until they saw the miracle of the weeds turning red as she laid them beside the Baby Jesus.
CHRISTMAS CARDS
They have only been around for about 150 years. The first ones were made by school boys in England in the nineteenth century. The first cards had painted boarders and written messages on them to the parents. Later a business man in 1843 named Henry Cole sent out illustrated greeting cards to his friends rather than the long hand written message.
From England
From England we have acquired two customs. The first is the use of Christmas trees. This was made popular during the rein of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Prince Albert came from the country of Germany and missed his native practice of bringing in trees to place on the tables in the house, therefore one Christmas the royal couple brought a tree inside the Palace and decorated it with apples and other pretty items.
The second custom is what is known as Boxing Day. It is celebrated the first weekday after Christmas. What this means is that small wrapped boxes with food and sweets, or small gifts, coins are given to anyone who comes calling that day.
ADVENT CALENDAR
The Advent Calendar is a way for all people to keep track of the Christmas season. The more elaborate calendars have pretty scenes on them with little doors, that have the date on them. The dates have been scrambled and you must look for the right date on the door, when you find that you open the door to see that day’s surprise.
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