So, What is Christmas?

The Nativity (The Birth of Jesus)

   I'm sure everyone knows what Christmas is, but not everyone knows where it originated. The holiday has religious background, it celebrates the day Jesus Christ was born. But did you know that Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25th?  In the early days of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday. In the 4th century the church decided to celebrate the day Jesus was born, but there was no date mentioned in the bible. The Christian church decided to celebrate his birth at the end of December, to ensure the population would want to celebrate it. During this part of December, many feasts were celebrated in Europe to celebrate the winter solstice, like Yule in Scandinavia and Saturnalia in Rome. It was originally named Feast of the Nativity, and by the eigth century the celebration had spread around the world. During this time, believers went to church then to a carnival-like festival similar to Mardi Gras. The poor would go to the houses of the wealthy and demand the best food they had in the house. Under the Puritans and Pilgrims, Christmas was cancelled; in Boston it was even outlawed, and anyone celebrating had to pay five shillings.

   When America was formed, they ignored many of the English traditions, including Christmas. On December 25th, 1789, Congress stayed in session. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until the summer of 1870. In the 19th century, Americans reinvented Christmas to the peaceful, family-oriented holiday we think of it today. There was turmoil in America during the early 1800's, many were unemployed and gang rioted occured often during the Christmas season. In 1819, Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffery Crayon, gent. This book described Christmas in an English Manor house, where peasants would come into the home and the two classes would celebrate together effortlessly. Irving displayed christmas as a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday which brought people together. In the story, they celebrated "ancient customs" that people believe Irving created himself. Also during this time, Charles Dickens published his classic story A Christmas Carol. This also held the theme of kindness and charity toward humankind that showed the benifits of celebrating Christmas. During this time period, parents became more focused on their children's emontional needs, and Christmas created a day where they could give their kids presents without looking like they were spoiling them. Quickly all these ideas created new traditions for the newly reformed Christmas, that we still celebrate today.