Red, green, and white: These are the colors of Christmas, but it wasn’t always that way. Once, there were others: red and green, blue and red, blue and green, blue and white. The reason this color combination outlived all the others is largely due to Holly, Christ, and Coca-Cola.
Red is the color of Christ’s blood, Holly berries, and Coca-Cola, whose Christmas advertising is largely responsible for our modern images of Santa. For green, it reminded some of holly leaves and of Jesus’s crown of thorns. More pragmatically, to the mind of Coca-Cola advertising artists, green is the opposite of red on the color wheel, so it makes for a striking contrast. Of course, this is only the first festive factoid this article has in store for you.
How did Christmas traditions start?
Modern Christmas traditions come from one of three places: Yule, Saturnalia, and the Catholic holiday Christmas. Pagan Germanic people would celebrate Yule from the 21st of December to the first of January. If you were to name a stereotypical Christmas plant, other than the Christmas tree, it’s probably a Yule plant. The holiday began with giant logs of ash wood being set in a hearth to burn from one end to the other. This was a symbol of the winter darkness being driven out by the light and life of a New Year. Yule gives us the warm image of Christmas that fills our hearts: the crackling fire, the decorated tree, the wreath, the boughs of holly, and the mistletoe.
While Yule holds the image of Christmas, Saturnalia gives us the vibe. Moreover, Saturnalia was a Roman festival celebrating Saturn, their god of the harvest. The festival began on the seventeenth of December and ended on the 23rd, with preparations often starting a week in advance.
This holiday upended social structures, as those celebrating would crown a lower-class citizen king. Even households treated slaves as people: They ate with the family they usually served and could heckle the homeowner. Christmas is a special time, when different rules and norms prevail, and I think we can trace that feeling back to this festival.
Finally, Christmas, the Christian holiday, is the wrapping paper for our modern celebration. Though Christ was almost certainly born in the spring or summer, we celebrate on the 25th. Why? Probably because it falls 9 months after March 25th, which, according to tradition, is when God created the universe. As Christianity prevailed in the Western world, it wrapped pagan traditions in religious ceremony and tied them to December 25th.
1) The Christmas hat
The icon of the body’s north pole is certainly the Christmas Hat. However, what exactly is a Christmas hat? It depends on what you’re talking about. The hat often attributed to Santa, with the large floppy cone and the ball at the end, is almost certainly based on the Victorian nightcap. Yet, his hat, as well as those of his little helpers, may also have their origin in a far more politically charged piece of headwear: the Phrygian cap.
This is a brimless, soft cap probably originating in Anatolia. Anyone could wear this hat in theory, but in practice, two particular groups wore it. The first of these groups was freedmen living in the Roman Empire. Given its meaning as a symbol of freedom from oppression, it is unsurprising that the sans-culottes, the most extreme branch of the French revolutionaries, wore them. Another group that wore this hat was medieval bishops, a fashion which started roughly in the middle of the Middle Ages, unfortunately, after Saint Nicholas’s death.
2) Festive feet
Think of Christmas, and you’re likely to think of elves. We’ll talk more about the festive little fellows later, but first we’ll talk about their shoes. Elvish attire is inspired by medieval outfits, with the shoes probably being based either on French poulaines or Polish crakows.
Both of these trends began in the twelfth century. Like with many fashions, they began as a high-class fashion choice but trickled down. Poulaines were considered especially risqué because they showed off *gasp* the ankle. Both were, ironically, given whom they became attached to, symbols of wealth and leisure, since they were deliberately impractical and extravagant. Both shoes fell out of fashion in the fifteenth century.
Another iconic item of festive foot-related frivolity is inarguably the Christmas stocking. The vertically-advantaged sock has its roots in the Christian tradition of Saint Nicholas leaving golden globes in the stockings of three poor maidens as a dowry to secure their marriage prospects.
Originally, Christmas stockings were normal stockings. People would hang these, waiting for Santa to come along and fill them, as in the Clement Clark Moore poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Alternatively, people might leave stockings full of offerings to Santa, who would hang them once he arrived at the house and left presents under the tree. This was how it was for a long time: Stocking and tree coexisted peacefully. Although, for a brief period, stockings were abandoned in favor of the Christmas tree, a trend which quickly reversed as companies made stockings specially designed to hold Christmas presents.
3) Wreaths
Another iconic Christmas tradition is the greenery. The Christians and the Germanics contribute the most to Christmas as we know it, and the clearest example of this confluence is the wreaths. For Germanics, they represented the infinity of goodwill, while Christians took the symbol and made it their own.
The first account of wreaths in the context of Christmas comes from 1833, which described German Protestants hanging “Advent Wreaths,” a tradition probably appropriated from their pagan forefathers. The tradition likely made it to America through German immigrants, or through the Dutch, who developed a similar tradition of “welcome rings” in the same century.
4) Boughs of holly
Holly also has roots in all three religions. The pagan Germanics believed the prickly leaves would ward off evil spirits as the winter wore on. The Romans, meanwhile, hung holly on their doors as an offering to Saturn during Saturnalia.
During the period of Roman pantheistic ascendancy, the Christians probably hung holly in order to deflect prejudice. As time went on, however, holly became a powerful Christian motif: a defense against ghosts and a symbol of Christ. The red berries actually represent his blood, and the leaves represent eternal life in heaven.
6) Kissing under the mistletoe
Mistletoe as a Christmas tradition finds its origins in pagan Germanic and early modern traditions. Druids would harvest Mistletoe as a fertility symbol. It may also have roots as a memorial to the death of Baldur in Norse mythology. However, while all of these indicate the significance of Mistletoe, nothing attaches it to Christmas.
The earliest source describing mistletoe as a Christmas tradition comes from the late 17th century. The offhanded nature of the reference indicates the association may be much older. Meanwhile, the first attachment of mistletoe to kissing comes in the 1784 comedic opera Two to One. Whatever the origin, by the Victorian era, a robust tradition existed: So long as there were berries on the mistletoe, a man might ask to kiss a woman, plucking a berry off for each kiss. It was also considered bad luck for the woman to refuse.
5) The Christmas tree
As you might guess by now, the Christmas tree also has its roots in pagan Germanic ritual. The druids would see evergreens, singularly vibrant in the dormancy of dead midwinter. Naturally, they found this vibrancy to be significant. Setting up the Tree and decorating it would be a multigenerational affair, as the whole village would help deck the tree in holly and offerings to the gods.
Many Christians claimed the tree as a Christian symbol: the evergreen of eternal life, the triangular shape representing the Holy Trinity. While it is irrefutable that Christians claimed the tree, some experts dispute where the tradition’s roots lie. Some claim it has its origins in the “paradise tree” featured in plays about Adam and Eve, which would be performed around Christmastime. Others protest that it was always meant as a symbol of Christianity, agnostic of sectarian division.
The traditions of decorating and presents are clearer. Decorating the tree, first with communion wafers, then with other foods, and finally with ornaments, began in the 17th century. Moreover, the tradition of presents began as a separate tradition of a pyramidal shelf next to the tree, which held presents.
The tradition of a Christmas tree had roots in Germanic territories as early as the 9th century, but it really flourished once it spread to England. King George and his wife, not Queen Victoria, set up the first Christmas tree in England. While not the first, Victoria absolutely popularized it. A doctored image of her and her husband beside a Christmas tree sparked an American craze for the trees. Ever since, Christmas trees have been a venerable, tenacious tradition. It is fitting that the last great innovation in the tradition came in 1940, with the introduction of the synthetic tree.
6) Little helpers
You can find elves in cultures from Germany to Scotland. In Anglo-Saxon cultures, they were impish mischief makers who caused nightmares and hiccups. In Scandinavia, they are fickle household protectors who rot crops and break dishes when displeased. The Scottish Brownies are small, shy, mischievous creatures. Not all of these creatures are short. None of them makes toys. So, how did they end up working as unpaid laborers for Saint Nick?
There are a couple of different answers to this question. Some point to the Christmas Elves, by Little Women author Louisa May Alcott, as the first instance of Elves pairing with Christmas. This manuscript, however, was never published and has been lost.
Another possible origin is in a story recorded by the Grimm Brothers. In this story, elves help a shoemaker fulfill orders near Christmastime. For my part, I think it is a combination of this idea and the racist Dutch tradition of Swart Pete. In the Dutch version of Christmas, Santa comes over from Spain on a steamboat with a Moorish servant/slave. I think the idea of helpful little workers, combined with the idea of Santa’s servant, has coalesced into the image we have now.
Their image, thankfully, is a little easier to pin down. Why do elves have pointy ears? No one seems to agree. I favor this explanation: It is an easy way to denote them as nonhuman; of two worlds. Humans might not have pointy ears, but some animals do. Their stereotypical outfit was inspired by medieval dress, hence the pointy shoe. Also, their image was solidified in popular culture by the iconic Rankin and Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stop-motion film.
7) Santa’s bowlful of jelly
Saint Nicholas is a strange, secular Christmas deity. For starters, he was almost certainly a real person. I say “almost” because all the sources attesting to him date from after his death. Saint Nicholas was a Catholic bishop from Turkey, noted as much for his generosity as for his physical violence. Yet, when he died, he somehow wound up as the patron Saint of Amsterdam and of schoolchildren. But, with his prominent hat, bushy beard, and magical abilities, some wonder if Santa Claus owes as much to Odin as he does to this Catholic Saint.
The Dutch continued celebrating his feast day, even after the Protestant Reformation abolished such frivolous activities. Sinterklaas accompanied the Dutch to America, where his modern image came to fruition. This modern image is a combination of the Dutch Sinterklaas with the British Father Christmas, a different figure from Saint Nicholas. The first example of this merging is in Moore’s poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
The first visual merging came from Cartoonist Thomas Nast, who portrayed Santa essentially as he is now, but in miniature. For Nast, Santa was an elf rather than a human. All it took was for someone to upsize him. That’s exactly what Coca-Cola artist Haddon Sundblom did, giving us the final iteration of our jolly, gift-giving demigod.
8) Santa the gift dispenser
We take for granted that Santa gives out gifts, but this was not always the case. In the Netherlands, he left that task up to the Kristkind. This was an angelic figure who collaborated with Santa to deliver presents to good children. In Scandinavia, this role was taken up by the Jultoman, a jolly elf in a sleigh drawn by a goat who delivered presents to good children. In Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark, he rides in a sleigh drawn by horses. Either one of these could easily be the origin of Santa’s flying sleigh.
We’ve tackled almost every tradition, but one remains: Why do we leave offerings for Santa and his furry companions? This tradition has roots in two places: Christian lore and Pagan Germanic myth. During Yule, Germanic peoples would leave out offerings to Sleipnir, Odin’s flying, eight-legged horse.
The Christian story goes something like this: Two children were up late. They were hoping to intercept Saint Nicholas when he arrived in their town. But children, even in the 4th century BCE, had bedtimes. Realizing that they would not be allowed to stay up, the children left food outside their front door for Santa.
This tradition of leaving food has evolved very differently across countries. In America, the food of choice is milk and cookies. This tradition has its roots in the 1930s, when chocolate chip cookies were invented, as parents wanted to emphasize the importance of giving even in the destitution of the Great Depression. In England, they leave the big man a mince pie and a glass of sherry. The French leave wine, and the Germans leave handwritten notes. Swedish children leave out a cup of coffee for Santa’s presumably harried gnomish helper.
9) Gift giving
Gift-giving is a tradition as old as humanity. Thus, it’s unsurprising that both the Romans and the Pagan Germanic people gave gifts at midwinter celebrations. Pagan German gift-giving was rather simple. Druids would give out sprigs of mistletoe to herald a hopeful start to the new year. Gift-giving in early Rome was very much the same. At the beginning of the new year, they would exchange gifts of twigs and branches. This was in honor of Strenia, the goddess of health and good fortune. When Saturnalia came to as a festival, friends would exchange gifts during the festivities. The gifts given at Saturnalia were cheap joke gifts, meant to confuse and amuse. True friends got the cheapest gifts.
Gift-giving remained even as Christianity dominated. Adults would exchange gifts on New Year’s, while children would receive gifts on December 6th, Saint Nicholas’s feast day. The Protestant Reformation brought the gift-giving of Saint Nicholas’s day and New Year’s together on the date of Christmas.
Many of our modern traditions derive from English ones. However, for much of history, English Christmas was a rowdy, public affair. Young men would go caroling from house to house, offering to drink from a bowl in exchange for gifts. The social order would, for a time, be upended.
As cities grew, corporate interests also grew, and they increasingly resisted the idea of upending capitalist social orders. Middle-class and elite parents similarly came to believe the city streets corrupted their children. In reaction, a group calling themselves the Knickerbockers sought to move Christmas from the streets to the living room. Among the works of this movement is the poem A Visit From Saint Nick. With such popular works, it’s unsurprising that they eventually prevailed, and Christmas became a family affair.
