The Ripple Effect of Christmas

The Ripple Effect of Christmas

Our modernization of what we know as Christmas, does not incapsulate how Christmas originated or became to be. The so called "most wonderful time of the year" was first recorded by a list of Roman Bishops, in the time period A.D. 336, on December 25th, by Natus Christus in Bethlehem Judeae, meaning Christ being born in Bethelehem, Judea. This special day in December, 336, was the first ever recorded celebration of Christmas, other known as the birthday of our savior, Jesus Christ. Over hundreds of years, this day has been modified through the birth and evolution of new traditions that we now know today, such as what we know as Christmas trees, the traditional Christmas colors of red and green, and the infamous Santa Clause. Despite popular belief, these traditions were not always around and celebrated as they are today due to what is called, the ripple effect.

A popular tradition around the month of December, as we all may know, is to decorate a Christmas tree with bright lights and beautiful ornaments and display it for all to see. This tradition seems to be the most common for the holiday season, but what most of our generation doesn't know is that this so called essential preparatory task for the holiday season was not always around, or how we even began to think of bringing a tree into our homes. Pagans started the tradition of using the Evergreen Fir Tree, which most people typically use as their so called Christmas tree. Different to how we do today, these pagans decorated their homes with not the whole Evergreen Fir Tree, but with its' branches. These branches in their homes represented that spring was to come soon as they struggle through cold winter nights. Romans also used these branches to decorate temples, while Christians also decorated their churches with these branches because they believed the nature was a sign of life with God. It wasn't until the 16th century when the first decoration of the full Evergreen tree was recorded. It is said that a German preacher, Martin Luther, on the night before Christmas, was walking through the forest and saw beautiful lights shine thought the Evergreen tree branches. This light blew him away, and made him want to bring the whole tree into his house to display, rather than just the branches. Martin Luther then chopped the tree down, brought it into his home, and showed his wife and children that it reminded him of Jesus. Luther believed this light was a way to show how Jesus left the stars of heaven to come to earth on Christmas that night, and every year afterwards brought the same tree into his house hoping for that light to shine again, thus creating the popular tradition of bringing the Evergreen tree into the house to display on Christmas. 

Not only is the Christmas tree as we know to today a more modernized tradition, but the beautiful lights and ornaments that we decorate the tree are as well. During the 16th to the 18th century, electricity was not around, therefore people of that time period could not decorate their trees with the long strings of lights that we all know today, thus creating our concept of ornaments. During the 16th-18th century, after the popularizing of the Christmas tree, it was very common for families to decorate their trees with edible things such as gingerbread and gold covered apples. It wasn't until a few years later when glassmakers started to modernize these edible ornaments with small delicate glass ornaments, as they believed it was more practical and could be used year after year. Along with our idea of ornaments, the first recorded Christmas trees also did not have the popular golden star in the top of the tree. It was more common to see a baby figure of Jesus on the top of the tree, for it was believed it further symbolized the celebration of his birth. It was not until the 18th century when people and families started decorating the top of their tree with a star, representing the golden star the wise men saw. Also during the late 18th century is when lights started to become a popular item to put on your tree, for electricity had been discovered. There were many legends of how lights came to be. One of which was in the year 1880, by the famous inventor, Thomas Edison, who put electric lights in his office. In 1882, a colleague of Thomas Edison, Edward Johnson, hand-strung red, white, and blue bulbs together and put them on his tree. The two men were mesmerized by the lights so much that in 1890, the Edison company published brochures of lighting services and offered the string lights as we know today that you could rent for the Christmas season you could put on your tree. This trend created by Edison and Johnson became well popularized very fast, for it was also a way to show off your wealth, for the Christmas lights at the time were around $300, which comes to about $2,000 today just to decorate your tree. 

Some people say Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the colors red and green, but how did those colors come to be? Dating back in time to when the Christmas tree was becoming popularized, other holiday plants such as missile toe, ivy, and especially holly was coming into play. Similar to the Evergreen Fir Christmas tree, people would use these plants to decorate and brighten their homes as a reminder that spring would come soon. Typically the holly plant was the most common, for mass amounts of this plant could be produced during this time period. This green flowering plant with bright red berries plays a huge role in he red and green association with Christmas. Holly was said to look similar to Jesus's crown of thorns, which further popularized the plant making people and families want to have it on display for special occasions and holidays such as Christmas. Other colors such as silver and gold, also are known to play a significant part in Christmas. Silver and Gold are the colors of sun and light, which were said to keep you warm during the winter, similarly to how the Christmas tree reminded people of how spring was to come soon. Gold was also a present brought to baby Jesus by one of the wise men, along with it being the color of the star that the wise men followed.

Another Christmas tradition, which to our modernization of Christmas seems to be the most popular one, is the legend of Santa Clause. As many people know, every year on Christmas morning, a jolly old man with a long white beard, red suit, and big black boots squeezes his way down your chimney baring gifts to good boys and girls all around the world. Despite this tale that seems to be known and understood by anyone during this time period, not everyone understands how these legends came to be. It is all traced down to a monk named St.Nicholas. St.Nicholas was born in 280 A.D. modern day Turkey, and was loved by all due to piety and kindness. Similar to our Santa Clause, there were also many legends about him. It was said that he gave away his wealth, and traveled to help the sick and poor, along with his most popular story, which was how he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery and prostitution. His loving nature was so highly appreciated that people still reminisced over him hundreds and hundreds of years after his death. In fact, in the year 1773, the New York newspaper reported Dutch families who gathered in honor to celebrate St.Nicholas's death on December 6th. In 1804, a man named John Pintard distributed woodcuts, which was a technique of printmaking, of Santa at a New York annual society meeting. These woodcuts showed Santa filling stalkings with toys, and shoving presents under a Christmas tree, which plays a substantial role in how we see St.Nicholas today. Although this is important, the real culprit that is responsible for the modern image of St.Nicholas is Clement Clark Moore, who wrote the poem, Twas The Night Before Christmas. Clement was an Episcopal minister who wrote the poem for his three daughters. This poem incapsulates the popular images of St.Nicholas flying to houses delivering presents on Christmas Eve on a sleigh by 8 flying reindeer. Later in the year 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nest, drew Clement's poem and brought the images of St.Nicholas to life. These images appeared on Harper's weekly, where Thomas made the image of St.Nicholas to be the larger, cheerful man with a white beard, holding a bag of toys for lucky children. Not long afterward, the name Santa Clause evolved from the Dutch name Sinter Klaas which was the shortened name for St.Nicholas, which is how we recognize him today.

Through hundreds and hundreds of years of modernization, it is mind-blowing to see how traditions, such as Christmas has evolved. Through the first ever Christmas tree, what we know as Christmas colors, and the beloved Santa Clause, each of these Christmas necessities were not always around and celebrated due to evolution. It seems as if each tradition built off of another, such as the trees and plants symbolized warmth, which lead to decorations and colors. Along with how the idea of Santa was created in a poem, then surely became known worldwide. These are all examples of the so called ripple effect, and how it effected the worlds favorite holiday, Christmas. 

Here is an image of a Christmas tree during the early 18-1900s. As you can see, the evolution of Christmas lights of the tree has evolved since this time period, along with other traditional decoration techniques such as with modernization of ornaments.

Here is an image if the Christmas associated plant, holly. This plant is categorized with Christmas due to the plant looking similar Jesus Christ's crown of thorns, leading to our the color of Christmas to be red and green.

Here is an image of St.Nicholas. As you can see, this is not the traditional version of our modernized Santa Clause we are used to.

Sources:
whychristmas.com: The History of Christmas Trees/Color
History.com: The Legend of St.Nicholas
NationalPublicRadio: Hoe Red and Green Became the Colors of Christmas
simpletoremember.com: The Origins of Christmas Customs
Christianity.com: 1st Recorded Celebration of Christmas
Biography.com: St.Nicholas
christmasfm.com: Why is Holly Associated with Christmas
oldchristmastree.com: The Earliest Light Sets