Where Holiday Traditions Come From

Check out Where Holiday Traditions Come From:

There's a Strange Man Under Our Tree!

Believe it or not, there was once a time when there was no Santa, no Christmas gifts, no menorah, no Valentine's Day, and no New Year's Eve ball drop. So where did they come from? Well, in the case of Christmas, the holiday we know now is believed to be a melding of both a celebration of the birth of Christ and earlier, pagan winter celebrations like Saturnalia, the Roman sun-god holiday of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, and the Germanic Yule.

Bloodless Day

Originally called Decoration Day and inspired by a local celebration to honor the military dead in Waterloo, N.Y., Memorial Day was first celebrated on May 30, 1868, by order of Gen. John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. He chose the date because it was not the anniversary of a major battle.

My Bloody Valentine

Many of the romantic aspects of Valentine's Day probably come from the Roman fertility celebration known as Lupercalia, celebration, in which men sacrificed goats and beat the young women of the village with whips to make them more fecund. Turned into a much less graphic Christian holiday by a 5th-century pope, the holiday became more and more a celebration of romantic love over the centuries thanks to later poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and the scribes at Hallmark Cards.

The Real St. Nick

St. Nicholas didn't originally live in the North Pole, but in what is now Turkey, in the 4th century. Just as now, he was portrayed as extremely generous, but his most famous deed isn't a tale you'd tell your grandchildren. A man was so poor that he couldn't afford dowries for his three daughters, who would have to become prostitutes. Under cover of night, St. Nicholas snuck by the family's house and threw three gold-filled sacks into the window -- one for each girl.

Here Comes Santa Claus

The jolly old elf we now think of as Santa Claus is mostly a relatively modern invention, created in tandem by forces including the British author Charles Dickens (whose Ghost of Christmas Present was a kind of hearty Santa Claus prototype), the American cartoonist Thomas Nash, American author Frank L. Baum, and a hugely popular 1930s Coca-Cola advertising campaign that solidified the image of Santa we have now.

Dasher, Dancer, Etc

The idea that Santa drove a flying sleigh pulled by eight magical reindeer originated in the anonymous 1823 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas." Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer joined the cast thanks to the business savvy of the Montgomery Ward store, which in 1939 decided it could save money on its traditional Christmas-coloring-book giveaway by coming up with its own children's book.

O Pagan Tree

There's no more obvious sign of the pagan origins of Christmas than the Christmas tree. In pre-Christian Rome and northern Europe, evergreens became indoor winter fixtures as reminders that spring was just around the corner. By the 15th century, the tree had become part of the Christmas tradition in the Baltic region, and spread from there.

Stuff We All Get

The tradition of gift-giving at Christmas also predates Christ, and is rooted firmly in pagan celebrations like the ancient Romans' Saturnalia. In fact, the practice of handing out presents on Christmas was forbidden by the Church for centuries precisely because it smacked of paganism.

Kiss Me, You Fool

Kissing someone under the mistletoe may put a smile on his or her face, but it makes baby Jesus cry. Well not really, but it certainly isn't anything early Church fathers had in mind. The tradition stems (no pun intended) from its hallowed place as a symbol of fertility in many European traditions. Mistletoe's profile also got a boost from the Norse legend of the god Baldur, who was killed by a sprig of the stuff thanks to the machinations of the malicious trickster god Loki. When Baldur died, every living and dead thing on earth wept for him -- i.e., winter descended on the world.

Hang Up the Stocking

There are a couple theories about why Christian children hang up stockings on Christmas. One is that they represent the sacks of gold that St. Nicholas gave away to prevent the poor man's three daughters from sliding into prostitution. Another is that it was originally a Norse tradition, and that children used their socks as makeshifts feedbags, filling them with straw for Odin's flying horse, Sleipner. In gratitude, the ruler of Asgard left gifts and candy in the stockings.

Going Nativity

Finally, a Christmas tradition that's firmly Christian. St. Francis of Assisi is legendarily the man behind history's first creche, commissioning one in 1223 in a bid to make Christmas more about Jesus's birth and less about getting stuff. So how'd that work out? Here: Pope Benedict XVI kneels to pray in front of the traditional crib in St. Peter's Square in 2009.

Season's Greetings

Commercially available printed Christmas cards first went on the market in 1843 and offered only one message: "A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you." It showed a family (including a small child) drinking wine around a festive table, flanked by smaller images of people performing good deeds.

Let's Talk Turkey

Turkeys -- a New World bird -- definitely weren't on the menu in Jesus's time. So why is it the go-to dish in so many homes for Christmas? Part of the blame goes to Charles Dickens, whose Ebenezer Scrooge famously gifts the Cratchit family with the big bird (much meatier than a goose) after his transformation into London's biggest pushover. The rest of the responsibility probably lies with 20th-century mass-farming techniques, which made turkeys cheaper for average families.

Keep a Light On for Me

The Jewish tradition of lighting the menorah for Hanukkah comes from the tale of the Maccabees, who only had enough olive oil to light the lamp for one day as they rededicated the Temple in Solomon, but who miraculously saw their light stay lit for eight days -- just enough time for new supplies to come in.

Poinsettias in Principle

According to legend, poinsettias became part of the Christmas tradition in Mexico in the 16th century, when a poor peasant girl who couldn't afford a gift was instead angelically inspired to lay the flowers at the church altar -- the star shape of the flower representing the Star of Bethlehem, and its red color symbolizing the blood of Christ.

Fruits of the Harvest

American academic and Black Power activist (and secular humanist) Maulana Karenga created the Kwanzaa holiday in 1966 as a way to empower African Americans "to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." He meant the celebration to be pan-African, but took the name from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "fruits of the harvest."

Candy Canes and Christmas

According to one popular legend, candy canes got their distinctive shape when the choirmaster in the Cologne Cathedral formed the candy sticks into Js to represent the Christian symbol of a shepherd's staff -- and to bribe the children of the choir into staying still during long Masses. German immigrants introduced America to the idea of hanging candy canes from Christmas trees in the mid-19th century.

O Come All Ye Tuneful

The practice of singing chants at Christmas originated as early as the 4th century, but they were sacred Latin hymns meant for solemn worship inside monasteries. It was -- yes, that guy again -- St. Francis of Assisi who is often given credit for making Christmas carols more accessible to the average worshiper. He introduced the idea of making songs in the vulgar tongue part of Christmas celebrations in the 13th century. Later, Protestant reformers like Martin Luther did their best to keep the tunes going.

Anyone Home?

It was Queen Elizabeth I of England who popularized gingerbread men, famously having them shaped like important guests. Later, according to some, the Brothers Grimm made gingerbread houses all the rage when they described the "house of bread and cakes" in "Hansel and Gretel." The gingerbread trends dovetailed nicely with the existing tradition of Christmas cookies -- itself brought to the U.S. by the Dutch in the 1600s.

Have a Ball

The tradition of dropping a ball on Times Square to mark New Year's (here in 1942) came about in 1907 when New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs asked for a spectacular show to create publicity for Times Square -- renamed from Longacre Square three years earlier -- and thus his newspaper.

The Grandaddy of All Bowl Games

The Rose Bowl Game -- aka the New Year's Day college football game in the Pasadena Rose Bowl -- was first played as the Tournament East-West football game in 1902. The University of Michigan gave Stanford such a whupping -- 49-0 -- that the football game was called off for the next 15 years in favor of ostrich races and the like.

Source: Life