Christmas Traditions > Christmas Ornaments
December 21, 2009
Filed under Christmas Ornaments
Tags: Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Traditions
In the early 1800’s, Christmas trees in Germany were typically decorated with candles, cookies, fruit, paper novelties, and candy.
Then, a glassblower in Lauscha, a district long recognized for the quality of its glass, crafted some small glass balls to hang on his family’s tree.
Within a few years, Lauscha glassblowers were filling orders by the thousands. In 1880, F. W. Woolworth brought the ornaments made in Lauscha to the United States.
Christmas Traditions > Christmas Tree
December 21, 2009
Filed under Christmas Trees
Tags: Christmas Traditions, Christmas Tree
One of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree is normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought in the house or used in the open and is decorated with lights and colourful ornaments during the days preceding and immediately following Christmas.
The tradition is most widely observed in the more northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere (north of about 45 degrees N latitude), where Christmas falls at a time when daylight hours are very short, and temperatures often below freezing (0 degrees C) with snow covering the ground. This is a continuance of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life at a time of death, darkness and cold at the winter solstice. A common decoration is a “Christmas ball”, a reflecting sphere of thin metal-coated glass, working as a reducing wide-angle mirror.
Like many other Christmas traditions, the universally-popular Christmas tree is derived from a fusion of Christian ideas with older pagan traditions. The custom originated in Germany. According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the Cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance.
The tradition of hanging decorations (representing fruit or gifts) on the trees is very old, with some early reports coming from Germany’s upper Rhine region, but the tradition of attaching candles is attributed to Martin Luther. A related tradition was hanging evergreen branches throughout the home. With time, these evergreen branches gave way to garlands, vines and wreaths.
Many cultures since then have expanded upon the use of the Christmas tree for celebrations. Residents of Strasbourg in the 16th century decorated fir trees during the Christmas season. The tradition seems to have spread throughout Europe and was most likely brought to the United States by German settlers. In 1923, United States president Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony now held every year on the White House lawn.
UPDATE > The practice of tree worship has been found in many ancient cultures. Often, trees were brought indoors and decorated to ensure a good crop for the coming year. Trees have also been linked to divinity. Egyptians associated a palm tree with the god Baal-Tamar, while the Greeks and Romans believed that the mother of Adonis was changed into a fir tree. Adonis was one of her branches brought to life.
The modern Christmas tree was likely born in the 8th century, when St. Boniface was converting the Germanic tribes. The tribes worshipped oak trees, decorating them for the winter solstice. St. Boniface cut down an enormous oak tree, that was central to the worship of a particular tribe, but a fir tree grew in its place. The evergreen was offered as a symbol of Christianity, which the newly converted Germans began decorating for Christmas.
Prince Albert, who was German, introduced the Christmas tree to England after his marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840. German immigrants to Pennsylvania brought Christmas trees to America.
Christmas Traditions > Mistletoe
December 21, 2009
Filed under Holly Ivy Mistletoe Yule
Tags: Christmas Traditions, Mistletoe
Mistletoe has long been a symbol of love, peace and goodwill. In the ancient Druid society, warring clans would stop their battles and claim a temporary truce when they would chance upon mistletoe.
The Druids believed mistletoe fell from heaven and grew onto a tree that sprang from Earth. Mistletoe thus represented the joining of heaven and earth, and God’s reconciliation with mankind. A kiss under mistletoe symbolized acceptance and reconciliation.
It is possible that this embrace of goodwill among enemies may have eventually led to the traditional kiss under the mistletoe. Some cultures say that if a man kisses a woman while she is standing under mistletoe, it is a proposal of marriage. Most cultures around the world however, now just view a person standing under mistletoe as being available for a kiss.
Mistletoe can usually be spotted fairly easily in trees. If the trees have lost most of its leaves, look for roundish clumps of foliage within the bare branches. That’s mistletoe.
Christmas Traditions > Christmas Carols
December 21, 2009
Filed under Christmas Carols
Tags: Christmas Carols, Christmas Music, Christmas Songs, Christmas Traditions
A Christmas carol is a carol (song or hymn) whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, or the winter season in general. They are traditionally sung in the period before and during Christmas.
The tradition of Christmas carols goes back as far as the thirteenth century, although carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvesttide as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas.
Traditional carols have a strong tune and consist of a verse and/or chorus for group singing. They are often based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. Some carols like ‘Personent hodie’ and ‘Angels from the Realms of Glory’ can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages, and are amongst the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. Carols suffered a decline in popularity after the Reformation, but survived in rural communities until the revival of interest in Carols in the 19th century. Composers like Arthur Sullivan helped to repopularise the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favorites as “Good King Wenceslas” and “It Came upon a Midnight Clear.”
Secular songs such as “White Christmas” and “Blue Christmas” are clearly not Christmas carols, though they are also popular in the period before Christmas, and should therefore be considered to be Christmas songs.
Carols can be sung by individual singers, but are also often sung by larger groups, including professionally trained choirs. Most churches have special services at which carols are sung, generally combined with readings from scripture about the birth of Christ, often this is based on the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Cambridge. Some of these services also include other music written for Christmas, such as Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” (for choir and harp), or excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah.”
There is also a tradition of performances of serious music relating to Christmas in the period around Christmas, including Handel’s “Messiah,” the “Christmas Oratorio” by J. S. Bach, “Midnight Mass for Christmas” by Charpentier, and “L’Enfance du Christ” by Berlioz.
In England there is a tradition of Christmas carolling (earlier known as wassailling), in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing carols, for which they are often rewarded with money, mince pies, or a glass of an appropriate drink. Money collected in this way is normally given to charity.
Christmas carols can also be played on musical instruments, and another tradition is for brass bands, such as the Salvation Army brass bands, to play carols before Christmas.
Christmas Traditions > Poinsettia
December 21, 2009
Filed under Christmas Poinsettia
Tags: Christmas Poinsettia, Christmas Traditions
The poinsettia, with its bright red leaves, is often used as a Christmas decorative plant.
Poinsettias, named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, are native southern Mexico and Central America plants, and can grow as tall as 16 feet.
Legend has it that a young Mexican child could not afford to offer Christ a gift on Christmas Eve, so he picked some weeds from the side of a road, in the belief that even his humble gift, given in love, would be worthy. When the weeds were brought into the church, they bloomed into red and green flowers, which the congregation agreed was a Christmas miracle.
Christmas Traditions > Yule Logs
December 21, 2009
Filed under Holly Ivy Mistletoe Yule
Tags: Christmas Traditions, Yule Log
The Yule log, or chocolate log, comes from the Yule festival, which gave rise to many other popular Christmas traditions.
The word “yule” means wheel, a symbol representing the Sun, and the yule tide was a festivity celebrating the fact that the days and warmth would now start to get longer and warmer again.
The yule log was a huge log (sometimes an entire tree) that was burned slowly throughout these days to herald the birth of this new sun. One end of the log would be placed in the fireplace with the rest sticking out into the room. The log was slowly fed into the fire over the course of several days until it was completely consumed.
UPDATE > Yule Log
The word yule meant “infant” in the language of the Chaldeans, who lived in the Middle East. The Germanic tribes of Northern Europe, including the Anglo Saxons, celebrated “Yule-day” or “Child’s Day.”
The custom of the Yule log has been noted in France and Italy as far back as the 1200s. It later spread throughout Europe. On Christmas Eve an enormous log would be cut and placed in the hearth. The log would be sprinkled with salt, oil, and mulled wine, and prayers said to protect the house from the Devil and lightning.
In some regions, the daughters of the family lit the log with splinters of the previous year’s log. In other regions, the lady of the house had the honor of lighting the log.
As iron stoves replaced giant hearths in the 1800s, Yule logs became decorative, often being used as Christmas centerpieces and decorated with evergreens and candles. Cooks began creating pastry Yule logs, rolled cakes covered in chocolate or coffee and decorated with sugared holly and roses.
How to make a homemade mulled wine
December 21, 2009
Filed under Festive Drinks, Festive Wines
Tags: Festive Drinks, Festive Wines
Ingredients >
350ml Port wine
750ml red wine
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
½ cup white cane sugar
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Orange slices/cinnamon sticks to serve
Method >
First pour red wine in a large pot. Then add the port and stir. Stir in all listed spices. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Place pot on low heat, stirring occasionally, so as not to allow the mixture to boil. Bringing the mixture to boil will ruin the final pleasant taste of the mulled wine. The mulled wine has to simmer for at least 25-30 minutes. When this time has elapsed, pass mixture through a fine strainer, so as to filter any amount of residue left by the spices. This should be repeated two to three times. Store in clean empty bottles of wine in a cool dry place.
Serving suggestion > homemade Mulled Wine
Serving suggestion >
Serve warm in a small glass, adding an orange slice or cinnamon stick, according to one’s taste.
Christmas Spirit 
You must be logged in to post a comment.