What is the meaning of the word Christmas?
Everybody knows that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus CHRIST. What people don't know is that the second part of the word means mass. So the real meaning of the word is Christ's mass, not his birthday party.
This holiday is considered one of the most important for Christians all over the world. Let's check how people celebrate it.
How do people celebrate Christmas?
The Christmas celebrations usually start on the 1st day of Advent - fourth Sunday before Christmas - when families get together to put up their Christmas decorations.
Another traditional way to celebrate is to host a dinner with the loved ones on the Christmas Eve - 24th December. The traditional meal includes turkey, roast potatoes, Christmas gravy and sprouts. A lot of people serve yule log for dessert at the end of the meal. However, some families may have some of their own family's traditional dishes for dinner. The decoration of the table is also important and people usually use some red or golden baubles, tinsel and pine cones!
Another old tradition which seems to come from England is the custom of kissing under Mistletoe. This custom appears to have started in the early Georgian period around the 1720s.
The name mistletoe is the combination of two Anglo Saxon words: "Mistel" and "tan". The first one means "dung" - solid waste from animals, especially cattle and horses. The other one means "twig" or "stick". So Mistletoe can be translated as "poo on a stick". One may be asking: what does this have to do with a romantic tradition?
Well, the Druids considered it a sacred symbol of vivacity and fertility because this semi-parasitic plant with small white berries blooms in the trees during the harsh winter. So they performed rituals under it. However, there is no sign of kissing and love.
The possible explanation may come from the Norse mythology. The goddess Figg lost her son - god Baldur - to an arrow made of mistletoe. After his death, she swore that the plant would kiss anyone who passed beneath it instead of being used as a weapon. There it is!
Enjoy this important moment of the year with some of the ideas that I selected for you. Just click on the buttons below and have fun!
What are Christmas crackers?
Traditionally this is a segmented colourful cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated paper. Inside, there is a small toy or gift, a crown-shaped paper hat, and a joke. Sometimes it contais a game. It is considered a festive table decoration in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.
Two people have to pull each end of the cracker and it breaks with a small bang. The sound is produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip.
The cracker was created by Tom Smith, a sweet maker from London, in 1847. He designed the crackers to sell his bon-bon sweets with love messages inserted into the wrappers of the sweets. He thought of including the sound after hearing the crackle of a log he had put on a fire. The other elements - the hat and the gifts - were developed by Tom's Smith's son, Walter Smith, in order to differentiate his cracker from the others which started being produced by other companies.
Why are robins associated with Christmas?
This red-breasted songbird has been Britain's national bird since 1960. But why is it associated with Christmas? Why has it appeared on Christmas cards, decorations, tableware and even Christmas jumpers since Victorian times? It's hard to explain this symbolism and some legends date back to the time of Christ's birth.
According to these legends from early Christianity, when Jesus was born a fire was lit in the stable to keep him warm. Then, a small brown bird appeared to visit and settled itself between the flames and the manger where the baby was. As a consequence, it scorched its breast feathers which became flame-red.
Another possible explanation is associated with the Victorian uniform of postal workers. They used to wear a red jacket and started delivering commercially produced Christmas cards which had been created by Sir Henry Cole in 1843. As these workers kept running from one place to another with their bright red jackets similar to the bird's feathers people started calling them "robins". This contributed to the popularity of the bird as a Christmas symbol and it soon began to feature on Christmas greetings cards.
Despite the fact that people don't exchange paper Christmas cards so often anymore, the bird is still considered a symbol of Christmas and it can now be found on wrapping paper, candles and candle-holders, baubles, garlands, decorations, tableware, the fronts of Christmas jumpers, bobble hats, scarves and Christmassy baby clothes.
Have you ever heard of this? Have you ever seen a Christmas card with a robin printed on it?
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