Exploring Christmas

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Exploring Christmas

As the year draws to an end, the holiday spirit is in the air (quite

literally we are waiting for the actual ‘holiday’ to start) Well,

jokes aside Christmas is surely just around the corner and the spirit

of Christmas is once again present among us. But what is this ‘Spirit

of Christmas’? In fact what is Christmas?

When a person thinks of Christmas, the first thing that most probably

comes to mind is the Christmas tree or Santa Claus or even presents.

Christmas can be described in many ways but it is usually celebrated

by millions of people according to tradition. Tradition dictates to

put up a Christmas tree, decorate the house for ‘Santa Claus to come

and visit’ exchange gifts with one another and the list goes on. There

are other ancient traditions that have become part of many families

around the world. But have you ever wondered how these traditions

started?

The tradition of the Christmas tree has certainly come a long way

dating back to the ancient Egyptians who were part of a long line of

cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the winter

solstice arrived, the brought green date palm leaves into their homes

to symbolize life’s triumph over death.

There have been festivals of every sort around the winter solstice

going back to the Romans. But it was the Emperor Aurelian who fixed

the actual date. He called December 25th ‘The Birthday of the

Unconquered Sub,’ and put it right in the middle of the feast of

Saturnalia in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture. This was

always a time of great merry making. There were big dinners, halls

bedecked with laurels and green trees, peopl...

... middle of paper ...

...friends, Moore

published his poem calling it ‘The Night before Christmas,’ in the New

York Sentinel. This well loved poem is the foundation of our present

day Santa Claus.

We must keep one thing in mind. All of the folk legend and practices

have sufficiently taken Christ out of Christmas.

Christmas is a time of celebration which is why we partake so many

traditions that help create the wonderful atmosphere, but we should

not forget the true purpose of Christmas. On December 25th the entire

Christian world comes together putting aside petty quarrels and minor

differences to commemorate the birth of Jesus. It is a joyous occasion

when families and friends are gathered together exchanging presents

and love.

Be it with family or be it with friends, let us all have a truly MERRY

CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

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