Here are the origins of some holiday traditions:

Santa Claus

Santa Claus is the version of a legend that began in the fourth century in Asia Minor. The bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, was universally loved for his generosity. Sporting a long white beard, he is said to have given good children presents on his feast day, December 6th. During the Reformation, the celebration of this homey character was struck from the church calendar and was widely replaced by the Christmas Man, a secular Yuletide cheer supplier known in England as Father Christmas. But Nicholas had also been the patron of sailors, and the sea-going Dutch kept on celebrating him. In the Netherlands he was called Saint Nikolaas or Sinterklaas.

Today's Santa was the creation of Dr. Clement Moore who wrote "The Night Before Christmas" in 1822. He described a toy-toting pipe smoker, the driver of a reindeer-drawn sleigh, and a fancier of chimneys. It is unclear which of these elements were Moore's own and which he borrowed from the stories of Dutch friends. Thomas Nast provided illustrations for the book, giving us the image of the jolly, rotund character we know today.

Christmas Gifts

The custom of exchanging presents at Christmas is commonly linked to the Maji's visit to the infant Jesus and their gifts to him of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gift-giving at the time of the winter solstice was also a Roman custom before Jesus' time. The custom is related to the generosity of the fourth century's St. Nicholas and the gifts that the baby Jesus is supposed to bring on his birthday. But these gifts were always small tokens, nothing like the lavish items exchanged in America. The American version began around the same time as the modern Santa with the nineteenth century commercialization of the holiday.

The Christmas Tree

In the 14th century, the popular miracle play presented on December 24th was the story of Adam and Eve. In this play the chief prop was an apple-hung evergreen called the paradise tree, dramatically evoking the lost innocence of Eden. German families picked up on this symbol and began bringing evergreens into their homes during the holiday season. They decorated them with fruit, candies, cookies and other items.

Caroling

The association of joyous songs with Christmas dates back to St. Francis, an early proponent of religious singing. Christmas songs spread through Europe, but were banned during the Reformation of the 17th century. Many of the original songs were lost. That is why most of the carols we sing today date from the 18th century.

Red and Green for Christmas

The dominant color scheme of the holiday season reflects the ancient popularity of holly among both the Britons and the Romans. Holly was commonly used as a winter decoration in the hope that the plant's remarkable ability to survive through winter would lend a similar strength to people's homes.

The red and green poinsettia, native to Central America, has been a Christmas symbol in the U.S. since the 1820's when it was first shipped north by Joel Poinsett, the American Minister to Mexico.

Hanukkah Lights

In 165 B.C. Jewish revolutionaries under Judas Maccabeus succeeded in driving from Jerusalem the occupying army of the Syrian King Antiochus IV. In his subsequent rededication of the temple, Judas could find only enough undefiled oil to light the sacred lamps for one day, but miraculously they burned for eight days. The eight-branched menorah, or candlelabrum, is lit at the annual feast known as Hanukkah. On the first night of the eight-day celebration, one candle is lit; on the second, two; and so on until all are burning in commemoration.

The Seven Kwanzaa Candles

In 1966, Maulana (Ron) Karenga, a university professor in the U.S., developed Kwanzaa as a week-long celebration of African ancestry. The celebration calls for a candle to be lit each night to symbolize seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

History of Christmas Cards

The practice of sending Christmas cards to friends and loved ones was begun in 1843 in England, reportedly by Sir Henry Cole. The first card, which depicted a family celebrating Christmas, was designed by J.C. Horsley. More than 1,000 copies of the card were sold commercially.

By the latter part of that century, the exchange of Christmas cards was commonplace. Today, Christmas card sales account for about 35 percent of the more than 7 billion greeting cards sold annually in the United States, according to the Greeting Card Association. This translates to approximately $2.4 billion spent on Christmas cards each year.

Origin of Boxing Day

Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th, got its name from the 19th-century English tradition of giving boxes of food or money to service people such as the postman, lamplighter and other public servants on the day after Christmas.

Boxing Day is a legal holiday in Canada, the United Kingdom and many other countries, and has typically been a day to relax after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. However, a growing contingent uses this day to check out the after-Christmas sales at department stores and specialty shops.

Happy New Year

People across the world will celebrate December 31st by ringing out the old and ringing in the new in a wide variety of rituals and celebrations.

The observance of New Year's Eve on that date began in the sixteenth century when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582. The conversion from the Julian calendar, which observed New Year's day on March 25th, was gradual in Roman Catholic countries. Scotland made the switch in 1600; Germany, Denmark and Sweden changed over in 1700. England did not convert until 1752. One of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations takes place in Times Square in New York City, where more than a million people have gathered in recent years to count down to the New Year.

Valentine's Day

As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite to passage to the God Lupercus. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice. They found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage. This was around when the heyday of Roman Empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire's boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage. Valentine, a bishop, seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully. On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.

While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailer, Asterius. The jailer had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailer, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.

Valentine thus becomes a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.

The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.

Wedding Rituals

The traditional white color of the wedding gown is popular today because in ancient Roman times, white was a color of celebration.

The tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other on their wedding day stems from the ancient tradition of the bride not showing her face to the groom at all before the wedding.

Carrying the bride over the threshold comes from an old superstition that evil spirits collected on the threshold of the new home waiting to invade the bride through the soles of her feet, a disaster that could be avoided if she entered in her husband's arms.

The bride's veil is from a centuries-old practice of hiding the bride's face which was intended to preserve her modesty.

Groomsmen were friends of the groom that in ancient times when the bride was often captured by force, the new husband needed allies to help him fend off her family.

The bridal train dates back to the Middle Ages when the higher the bride's social standing, the longer the material she dragged down the aisle. Remember when Princess Diana got married and how long her train was.

Throwing rice comes from ancient times as well. Grains were thought to symbolize fertility, so scattering them over the bridal couple ensured they'd have many children.

The wedding ring being of circular shape symbolized endless love. The third finger of the left hand came from the Egyptians because they believed that the vein in that finger ran directly to the heart.

Tossing the bouquet - centuries ago, wedding guests would tear at the bride's flowers and clothes to share her happiness, so she tossed her bouquet to ensure she got away in one piece.

Tossing the garter - The scramble for the garter was a medieval tradition in which wedding guests invaded the bridal chamber to steal the bride's stockings for good luck. To avoid this calamity, a groom tossed the garter to his friends.

Home Page

Thank you for shopping with us!

Questions? Comments?

Helman Enterprises 403 Robbie Lee Road Magnolia, TX 77354 Phone - 281-259-5575 Fax - 281-259-9375
©1998 Helman Enterprises. All rights reserved.