Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Yearly, households celebrating Christmas beautify their bushes and dangle stockings in anticipation of Santa Claus’s arrival. However how is that this associated to the non secular vacation itself?
Tracing how the celebration of Jesus’s delivery advanced into at present’s festivities is difficult. But, there are clues to the cultural origins of recent Christmas, in response to U of T Mississauga Historical past of Religions professor Kyle Smith. Whereas pinpointing a single beginning second is tough, he notes that vital modifications in Christmas celebrations occurred within the second half of the nineteenth century.
“Dutch immigrants to america, particularly to New York, are actually essential for the historical past of Christmas,” Smith says.
As immigrants from the Netherlands, Germany and different components of Europe arrived in New York, they introduced with them their very own Christmas traditions. As a result of North America and Europe are located within the Northern Hemisphere, the place December is a chilly month, these traditions mirror that.
Santa Claus is an apparent characteristic of recent Christmas celebrations. His origins relate to the Catholic St. Nicholas of Myra. St. Nicholas’ feast day within the Catholic Church is Dec. 6, near Christmas time. Referred to as a “reward giver,” he’s been honored since late antiquity.
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