The meanings of the Great Traditions of Christmas (distilled from the history channel and an interview with Ace Collins):
In all of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, most people tend to forget the real meaning of Christmas. Despite the pagan origins of some Christmas traditions (Check the articles linked in "the history of Christmas" below), it is fairly widely known that the literal meaning of the word Christmas is "Christ mass," referring to a service held in honor of Christ. And some Christmas traditions do have Christian roots or actually symbolize spiritual things!
I. The Candy Cane: The candy cane was invented in 1670 in Germany as a reward and teaching aid for a children's choir. Later, Bob McCormick added colour, turning it into a world-wide reminder of the real meaning of Christmas --Here are a few of the symbolic meanings of the candy cane, abbreviated "The Legend of the Candy Cane."
- from firmness=the church's solid foundation on Christ
- white=the purity of Jesus
- red stripes=Jesus’ stripes (blood from whipping)
- shape=shepherd’s crook or ‘J” for Jesus
- peppermint=tastes like hyssop, used in cleansing
- sweetness=the sweetness of Christ
II Christmas colors: Since gold.is precious it speaks of Christ's kingship, but it also represents His Divinity. Green speaks of the eternal life which is ours through faith in Christ [The evergreen of the Christmas tree especially represents this, showing how life continues in the midst of winter], and red represents the blood of Jesus which was shed for our sins,...
III. The date of Christmas: The date of Christmas was set about 350 years ago as December 25 by the church in an effort to do away with the pagan Roman celebration, Saturnela which involved a lot of drinking and sin. But, it didn't work. While the Roman holiday was forgotten, in England and other places, the Christmas partying with the drinking and violence went on for more than 1,000 years
IV. Gift giving:..The practice of giving gifts obviously relates back to the magi, or wise men, giving gifts to Jesus as recorded in the 2nd chapter of Matthew's gospel. .[the gist of more from Ace Collins:] Originally gifts were tied to the tree..and..opened when it was taken down, ... on the feast of Epiphany.... Later..Nikolaos of Myra. a 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor .started secretly putting small gifts into shoes and stockings of needy children. That evolved into Christmas gift giving and Santa Clause. Of course Clement Moore's poem ['The Night Before Christmas'] had something to do with the latter as well. .
V. Santa Clause:
2 wonderful Christian men began the Santa Claus legend through their faith and selflessness , Nicholas, who gave presents to poor children..., and..Good King Wenceslas' who would go through the snow giving out gifts to his poorest subjects.
VI. Xmas:.. X or Chi is the first letter of Christ.in Greek. [So, as Ace puts it:], for more than 1,000 years, the church spelled Christmas with just an X, ..not..to take Christ out of Christmas, but to put Him there where everyone, even those who couldn't read, could understand that [it's His day].
Conclusion: So, you can see how many of the Christmas traditions actually point to Christ. Yet, those of us who hold to the Christian faith often lose sight of the real meaning or else do not take it far enough. Are you sure you know the real true meaning of Christmas? Do you know what is the full intent of His coming? Check out my article, “The Christmas Victory,” also in my Author’s Den articles.
