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Mythology Worlds
The Holiday Season
Festive Folktales
The History of the Holidays
Christmas has its roots in the Roman festival of Saturnalia, as well as the Germanic festival of Yule.
Even today, "Yule" refers to the holiday season.
Mistletoe was sacred to the Celts, and druids would harvest the plant to use in their rituals.
Early Christian missionaries in Northern Europe made efforts to convert the locals by transforming their sacred rites into a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
In reality, no one knows exactly when Jesus was born, and general consensus agrees that he was likely born in the springtime.
I was taught in university that Jesus was born in the year 4 B.C.E...which means that this Son of God (or prophet if you are Muslim) would have been 4 or 5 years old during the Gregorian Year Zero.
In Medieval Europe, Christmas was a party festival led by a figure of revelry known as the Lord of Misrule.
For that reason, Christmas was outlawed by the Puritans of Colonial Massachusetts.
Christmas was not really celebrated in the U.S. of A. until the 1800s, when immigrants from all over Europe brought with them their wintertide traditions.
Hanukkah is a celebration of the Maccabean revolt against the Hellenistic king Antiochus IV and the rededication of the Second Temple (where the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is now).
The oil in the temple was supposed to last only one day, but it actually lasted eight days!
That's why the Hanukkah celebration is over a week long.
Kwanzaa is a relatively recent celebration.
It was invented in 1966 as part of the American Civil Rights movement of the time.
Designed as a way for African-descended people to remember their roots, it hearkens back to African harvest festivals.
Kwanzaa itself means "first fruits" in Swahili.
It lasts from the day after Christmas Day to Gregorian New Year
Santa Claus and other gift-givers
Once upon a time in 300s C.E. Asia Minor, there was a bishop named St. Nicholas of Myra, known for his generosity towards the impoverished.
One time, he saved three young ladies from pleasure servitude by presenting them with dowries.
As Europe became Christianized in the Early Medieval era, St. Nicholas merged with the Norse god Odin, the All-Father of Asgard.
For more information about him, see the webpage on Norse mythology.
From there, Ancient Germanic spirituality merged with the Christian legend of St. Nick to create the figure known as Father Christmas or Sinterklaas (later evolved into Santa Claus).
In the U.S. of A. in the 1800s C.E. (when the country finally began to embrace Christmas thanks to European immigration), Santa Claus began to take on his modern appearance.
Contrary to popular belief, the modern image of Father Christmas was not invented by Coca-Cola; he already looked the way he does today by the start of the 20th century C.E.
Even in contemporary times, Santa Claus retains his ancient roots.
His generosity comes from St. Nicholas.
His sleigh pulled by reindeer is perhaps an evolution of Odin's eight-legged steed Sleipnir.
His elves originate from Germanic mythology.
In Iceland, they are called "Huldufolk".
Sinterklaas is accompanied by helpers known as Zwarte Piets, who are too offensive to depict on this website and (in my opinion) need to go away.
Holiday Folklore Around the World
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and the Grinch who stole Christmas do not count.
As the holiday season continues to evolve, perhaps we will one day see new non-European holiday figures as well.
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