The Origin of the word: "Christmas"

Originally & Denotatively, "Christmas" means:  "Christ's mass".  It is a word of Catholic origin, meaning a special mass (worship service) for the birth of Christ.  To the Catholics it still means this.  To the rest of the Western World it has come to mean something quite different.

Modernly & Connotatively, "Christmas" has come to mean a time of gift-giving to loved-ones, regardless of one's religious beliefs.  It is also a time to spend with loved-ones.  Because of commerce, Christmas products start going on sale a month and a half before Christmas day.  Thus, the spirit of Christmas begins to be disseminated long before Christmas day.  People start putting up colorful lights and Christmas trees as much as a month before Christmas day.  So, the Christmas has evolved into a whole SEASON, which purposefully coincides with the Yuletide Season.

Who celebrates Christmas?

To some, it might seem more appropriate to ask, "Who doesn't celebrate Christmas?", because in North America (at least), it is not just a religious holiday, it is a season of philanthropy and giving, celebrated by all.  But, to answer the question more directly...

1.  Catholic Church.  The original "Christ's Mass" is still done by Catholics all over the world, on December 25^th. 

[It should be noted that December 25^th was originally the Sun's Birthday, changed by the Pope in conjunction with the Emperor Constantine to the Son's Birthday.  If I might elaborate further, December 21^th is the winter solstice (north of the equator).  A winter solstice is the shortest day of the year (in hours of daylight).  It was thought that the Sun remained "dead" for three days (until the 24^th), and was "resurrected" on the fourth day, which was December 25^th.  Interestingly, December 21, 2012 may be our last winter solstice, as the world may be ending for humankind. For more information, click here.]

2.  Christians of all sects.  Christians prefer to think of Christmas as Christ's birthday, (even though it isn't really the date of Christ's birth.  Unfortunately, if the Nazarene even was the Christ, as Christians claim, the actual date of his birth into mortality has been purposefully erased from history.  AND, the birth of the SUN was instituted as the birth of the SON.  Despite the powers that were and their manipulation of the data, you'd think that somewhere, a tradition would have survived attesting to the Nazarene's actual birth date.  OR, perhaps, it didn't really matter when he was born, so long as there was a celebration thereof.

3.  All people, regardless of religious beliefs.  It matters not your creed, nor your religion, people enjoy the time/season as a time of visiting family/relatives and of gift-giving, UNLESS one is a...

MY SOAPBOX:  To my sibling Jews, Muslims, and Jehovah's Witnesses.  If you cannot celebrate Christmas, then don't call it Christmas.  Call it "Yuletide";  Call it "Joy-Fest";  Call it, "An Extended Thanksgiving", but don't be anal retentive about it.  Come on.  Join the fun.  Don't be a Scrooge.

Christmas/Yuletide
Traditions

Foreword

Well, ironically, most of the current Christmas traditions in America are not related to Christianity at all.  Most come from Winter Solstice Traditions around the World.

          1.  Yule traditions (from Scandinavia)

          2.  Santa Claus (mixture of 4 historical personages)

          3.  Christmas trees

          4.  Christmas lights

          5.  Christmas Caroling

          6.  Christmas FAQs    (Why is Christmas written "X-mas"? and more)

          7.  Winter Solstice Traditions around the World

YULE TRADITIONS

Origin of the word, "Yule":

The word "Yule" was originally a Scandinavian word.  In Finnish, it is "Joul".  Scholars say that Yule probably means 'feast', and "Yuletide" means the season of feasting.  As the name implies, feasting is a major part of Yuletide traditions.  Coincidentally, both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are accompanied by huge feasts of a usually a BIG bird, like a goose (UK) or a turkey (US), possibly ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, stuffing, definitely Christmas cookies and pumpkin pie.

YULETIDE

Yuletide comes to us from our Scandinavian ancestors, probably 5,000 years ago.  Yuletide lasted for twelve days (in ancient times).  The days from December 13 to December 24 were days full of traditions that were instituted to insure the "resurrection" of the sun, as the days became shorter and shorter.  The shortest day of the year was December 21.  The sun was said to remain "dead" for three days: until the 24.  The 25th was the "birthday" of the sun; heralding its "return" to longer and longer days.  Some people have called yuletide a form of sun worship, but for me, the jury is still out on this one.  While some of the traditions associated with Yuletide have been lost over time, some remain to this day.  They are:

1.  Kissing under the mistletoe

2.  Burning of the Yule log.

3.  Feasting, feasting, feasting.

Origin of Kissing underneath the Mistletoe:

There is a Scandinavian legend, which is about the god Baldur (AKA: Balder), which explains this odd tradition.  Odin (king of the gods) and his wife, Frigga, had a son named Baldur.  Baldur's mother loved her son so much and was so protective, that she ordered each and every plant, animal and inanimate object to promise not to harm Baldur.  However, Frigga overlooked the mistletoe plant.  There was another god, named Loki, who was somewhat of a trouble-maker.  Loki was perhaps jealous of Baldur, but whatever his motivation, he took advantage of the fact that mistletoe was overlooked by Frigga.  The mischievous, prankster-god Loki tricked one of the other gods into killing Baldur with a spear fashioned from mistletoe. The demise of Baldur, a vegetation deity in the Norse myths, brought winter into the world.  The gods did eventually restore Baldur to life (and this may be linked to the birth of the sun on December 25).  After the whole ordeal was over, Frigga pronounced the mistletoe sacred, ordering that from now on it should bring love rather than death into the world.  That is how the tradition of kissing underneath the mistletoe began.

Origin of the Yule Log:

According to Scandinavian tradition, a log is suppose to be kept burning all night long on the eve of the birth of the sun (December 24-25).  This is one of the rituals of our ancestors, to insure the "resurrection" of the sun in the sky.  It is thought that the reason for this was to re-ignite the sun.

Origin of Feasting (and the Christmas Goose)

The origin of feasting?  Are you kidding me?  We humans feast for almost any occasion: birthdays, holidays, home-comings, farewells, even funerals.  Nearly every major human event is accompanied by feasting.  BUT, why a goose (or a turkey)?  Well, nobody seems to know.  I like this article, though.

The Tradition of making Christmas Cookies, clearly comes from Scandinavia, more especially Finland (see article below: "Bock Saga").

The modern-day Santa Claus appears to be a combination of 4 historical personages:

They are (in no particular order):

1.  An Evil Gnome (Joulupukki)
2.  A Finish Prince (Lemminkäinen)
3.  A Norse God (Thor)
4.  A Catholic Bishop (St. Nicholas)

The Christmas Tree:

The tradition of having and decorating a Christmas Tree is very, very old... at least 2,000 years older than Christ.  It dates back approximately four thousand years (according to some scholars).    It goes back to the time of a King named Nimrod.

The Torah (Jewish Bible) tells a story of how Nimrod (who was son of Cush, who was son of Ham, who was son of Noah) aspired to build a tower to reach heaven.    ...to stand face to face before his maker(s), and be able to converse with him/them as one person converses with another.  This "tower" may have been a rocket.

But something went terribly wrong; possibly a cataclysm, either natural or human-caused.  The author of the story attributed the failure of the "tower" to the gods.  After that, the Bible doesn't tell us what happened to Nimrod, but in an extra-biblical book, I read the rest of the story...

THE REST OF THE STORY:

Well, eventually Nimrod died.  How he died is not clear.  And, he was survived by his mother, who became the reigning Queen.  She loved her son so much, that she had an evergreen tree planted at his burial site and decorated it with silver and gold each December 25th, his birthday.  Then, one day, she commanded that everyone in her Queendom must have a tree in/at their home and decorate it with silver and gold on her son's birthday.

SOURCE:  [I think the title of the book was something like:  "The Cross in Ancient Religions"]

POST NOTE:  When I first wrote this page (including the story of Nimrod and the evergreen tree) in 2000, I searched on the internet, I could NOT  find anything to corroborate this story.  But, now (December 16, 2006) I Googled "Nimrod birthday December 25" and 56,600 websites come up.  So, I guess by now it has become an accepted fact.

Decorating the Houses with
 Lights:

Every year, right after Thanksgiving weekend (or during), Americans decorate the exterior (and interior) of their homes with lights, which stay up until after Christmas day (sometimes until New Year's Day).  This probably originated with the festival of lights, which occurred in December of each year.  

It seems to be the general consensus that this tradition came from the Roman winter solstice tradition called Saturnalia.

Here are some other references:

http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html

http://www.kate.net/holidays/christmas/holidays.html

Christmas Caroling

Singing and making merry with wine and song is part of nearly every culture.  Currently, in America, Christmas caroling is done by Christian groups as a form of proselyting... or... in some cases... just for heaven of it.

The following website suggests that the tradition of Christmas caroling for food/drink (as in the traditional carol: "We wish you a merry Christmas") comes from the Celtic tradition of Wassailing.  Wassailing apparently was the practice of singing to wish fellow farmers well in the upcoming planting season, for which they were rewarded by a cup of wine or alcoholic cider.  [It should be noted that in the UK, cider is alcoholic, whereas in the States, cider is non-alcoholic.  In Canada, I hear that so-called "hard cider" is alcoholic and so-called "soft cider" is non-alcoholic].

Source:  The Secular Web; Kiosk

For the lyrics of some modern Christmas carols/songs, click here.

Some Yuletide / X-mas
FAQs

Q₁: Why is Christmas sometimes written "X-mas"?

A:  Because Christ, in Greek, is written thusly: 

                         .

                           So, "X" is short for "Christ".

Q₂:  Why are green and red the colors of Christmas?

A:  Good question!  I don't think anybody really knows anymore.  Any answer from any source would only be an educated guess (at best).  If I had to guess, I'd say that they are recent "adoptions":  Green for the Christmas Tree and Red for Santa Claus.

Q₃:  Why does Santa come down chimneys and put presents in stockings hung on the chimney mantle piece?

A:  Coming down the chimney probably started because doors are usually locked at night.  Why the stockings?  I don't have a clue.

Q₄:  What if somebody lives in an apartment with NO chimney?

A:  Parents have to stay awake until Santa comes and let him in the door.

Q₅:  What is the best Christmas present?

A:  Put yourself in the shoes of the person for whom you want to give a present, and think about what he/she would like to receive for Christmas.  That is the best Christmas present.

Q₆:  What about family traditions associated with Christmas?

A:  Yes, each family has its own traditions for Christmas.  Each member of my family was allowed to open one gift on Christmas eve.  Also, we had a big feast on both Christmas eve AND Christmas day.

Q₇:  What are some traditional foods associated with Christmas?

A:  There are only a few foods that are particularly associated with Christmas.  They are:

          - Fruit cake (which I could live without)

          - Sugar cookies (which are cut into shapes of X-mas symbols)

          - Figgy pudding (as stated in the X-mas Carol: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas")

          - Goose (turkey, duck, or chicken can be substituted)

Q₈:  How do reindeer fly?

A:  I don't know.  Obviously, this idea comes from the Nordic traditions of a god that flies in a chariot pulled by four-legged beasts (Odin or Thor, I suppose).