Christmas History

Christmas, celebrated on December 25th every year in the U.S., is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ of the Christian religion. The word Christmas comes from the words Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass."

Christmas is both a U.S. national holiday and a holy day for Christians and overall one of the biggest events of the year. Although it’s a religious holiday, Christmas is marked also by folklore and many traditions, some dating back centuries other modern day.

One of the most popular traditions today is gift-giving. It is believed to have stemmed from the story of the Wise Men who brought gifts to Jesus, although it wasn’t until much later that the habit of exchanging elaborate gifts became prominent. A poem written by poet Clement Clarke Moore in 1822 called A Visit from Saint Nicholas popularized the tradition of exchanging gifts and seasonal Christmas shopping started to assume economic importance.

The poem also transformed the earlier image of Father Christmas, who predates the Santa Claus character we know today as a jovial merrymaker traveling the world to come down chimneys and bear gifts to good little girls and boys. Later the famous Charles Dickens’ tale, A Christmas Carol, was published in 1843, and emphasized family, goodwill, and compassion over communal celebration and commercialism.

It is said that the 1860s was a turning point for how Christmas was celebrated in the U.S.; Macy's department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve for the first time in 1867. And later 1874 was the year of the first window displays with a Christmas theme at Macy's. It quickly escalated from there.

The Santa Claus story combined with an amazing retailing phenomenon that has grown since the turn of the century has made gift giving a central focus of the Christmas tradition. Christmas was declared a United States Federal holiday in 1870.

Christmas traditions have come to include the display of Nativity Scenes representing the birth of Jesus Christ and characters such as snowmen, Santa Claus and even Rudolph the Red-nosed-reindeer. Symbols like sleighs, bells, stars, candy canes, candles and Christmas villages are used to accentuate the festivities. And cookie baking, gift giving, caroling, listening to Christmas music, hanging stockings at the chimney, exchanging gifts and cards, drinking eggnog, eating a large feast (or two), and sharing stories of Jesus and Santa Clause’s arrival Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning are all common Christmas activities.

Decorations for Christmas include many types of plants/foliage such as Christmas Trees that have lights and decorations and are usually topped with a star or angel, Garland, Wreaths, and Christmas Flowers. Poinsettias have been associated with Christmas since the 19th century. Other popular plants include Mistletoe, Red Amaryllis, Holly and Christmas Cactus. Public streets are often decorated with holiday lights, banners and figurines.