Exchange gifts, carols, ol' Santa Claus: Can't Christmas exist without them?!

We dream of gifts, candies in our specially-washed stockings, and money on the privilege of having a handful of godparents. But our shameful innocence is equally undeniable: we know little about the essence--even the history--of Christmas.


While reading Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I heard one of TV Patrol's everyday "doomed" news: a 14-year-old lad hanged himself to death because he hadn't received any gift this Christmas, his grandmother said.

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So Christmas is now to be blamed for the death of some teenage boy? Living in this modern yet too intoxicating era we have seen Christmas evolve from mere parol-making contests to exchange gifts to suicides because of gifts. What then, might Christmas be famous for in the next five or ten years? In the first place, most people never even bothered to confirm if Jesus' birthday was December 25.

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Dating back as far as 280 A.D., one can easily conclude such Christmas norms are not originally intended for the Christmas celebration itself. From old Mr. Santa Claus to Christmas carols to stockings by the fireplace and candy canes, ancient people from Europe invented such practices based on religious and mythological and practical purposes.


DECEMBER 25 AS CHRISTMAS DAY


While it's still a debate on when kuya Jesus was really born, December 25 as Christmas Day in ancient times became more of its parallelism to the holiest celebrations. Early Europeans always marked the coming of light and sun during the darkest winter solstices, supposedly during December.


Scandinavia celebrated the sun's return from December 21 to January, naming it as the Yule season, where people would collect and burn Yule logs in merriment. Romans on the other hand observed Saturnalia and Juvenalia in honor of their gods Saturn and Mithra on December 25.


Such commemorations already served as gay festivities involving no costly gifts or potluck parties at all. Moreover, Christian people in the early years celebrated more of Jesus' resurrection, not his birth.

SANTA CLAUS AS OLD ST. NICK


But of course, I’d forever believe my parents had been Santa Claus, after I accidentally made a funny discovery of seeing the candy pack of Santa's candies he supposedly gave to us in our old basement.


One thing is for sure (and this is not intended for making children cry or disappointed): St. Nicholas as Santa Claus was real; the Santa Claus with the sleigh ride and eight flying reindeers plus Rudolph is certainly not.

St. Nick was born in 280 A.D. and was summoned to be a gift giver. Rich indeed, he traveled the world and distributed gifts to children. Just like Santa, he gave gifts late at night so as to not be publicly identified and gate-crashed at his own house, maybe. From there the parents' threats to their children sleeping late and Santa not coming was real after all.


The name Santa Claus came from the Dutch's translation of St. Nick to Sinter Klass, evolving to Santa Klass and eventually Santa Claus.


He died a saint, and even considered the third most beloved religious figure after Jesus and Mary in the 1400's.

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CHRISTMAS CAROLS AS SIDE LINES


The concept of carols being widely considered as a yearly job side line to earn easy money might've just evolved during the birth of our own modern era. Originally carols served as religious chants and rituals only involving "circle dances", not singing.


Pagans first performed these carols. The early Church then banned these but was unsuccessful. So in 1223, St. Francis of Assisi made the move to credit carols as a formal worship of the Church.


12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AS SECRET CODE


It was quite amusing of the Roman Catholics of England to make such a song part of a religious history. Between 1558 and 1829, Protestants banned Christians from professing their faith allegedly subject to rudeness and offense. So the Catholics invented the song 12 Days of Christmas to secretly spread their Christian beliefs.


My true love  = God
Me = true Christian
Partridge in a pear tree = Jesus
2 turtle doves = Old and New Testament
3 French hens = faith, hope and love
4 Calling birds = 4 Gospels
5 Golden rings = first 5 books of Bible
6 Geese-a-laying = 6 days of Creation
7 Swans-a-swimming     = 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
8 Maids-a-milking = 8 Beatitudes
9 Ladies dancing = 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords-a-leaping = 10 Commandments
11 Pipers piping = 11 faithful disciples
12 Drummers drumming = 12 Points in Apostles' Creed

CANDY CANES AS A SMART SOLUTION


Those sweet-sour colorful candy canes were primarily invented to practically shut children up during masses and Nativity tableaus in German churches, seriously. At the request of a choirmaster in the 17th century, a craftsman made white candy sticks with the shape of a shepherd's crook for the noisy children.


In 1847 someone made candy canes as Christmas tree decorations and later made it a popular candy treat for both children and adults--noisy or not.

CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS AS COINCIDENCE


The idea became more amusing when in ancient times people didn't have dryers, the weather was darn freezing in winter, and there was no way one can dry his/her clothes (yes, including stockings) without hanging them by the fireplace.


By accident we suppose, old St. Nick developed a habit of dropping off his gifts in the chimneys, and that was how the legend of gifts in stockings originated.


XMAS AS SHORTCUT


This isn't exactly true. X in Xmas represents the Greek letter chi, replacing Christ. 


Can't Christmas just exist without these things?! We must remember such traditions were not even meant for Christmas in the first place!


It must all be cliché that Christmas should be one of those days of pure giving, pure merriment, pure love, but it's all true. The best things for this to be worth celebrating include uniting a broken family, gathering the young, the adult and the old generations in one place, ending minor and major fights, and perceiving something worth looking forward to.


Maybe the thought of celebrating something extra special and the faith that something will either end or start for the better are what Christmas mainly gives. We all know this: Christmas is never measured in soon-to-die gifts; Christmas is only real when it is shared, just like real happiness.