History of christmas :: essays research papers

History of the Celebration of delivery boymasPeople have celebrated a mid-winter festival since pre-historic times. They marked the beginning of longer hours of daylight with fires and religious rite offerings. The Roman festival of Saturnalia -- a time for feasting and gambling -- lasted for weeks in December. Germanic tribes of northernmostern Europe also celebrated mid-winter with feasting, drinking and religious rituals. Its thought that Jesus of Nazareth was born in springtime. A Pope, Julius I, chose December 25th for the celebration of his birth in the 4th century -- to include a Christian element in the long-established mid-winter festivals. Also in the 4th century, a bishop in Turkey who came to be called St. Nicholas was known for good deeds involving children. St. Nicholas is illustrated in medieval and metempsychosis paintings as a tall, dignified and severe man. His feast day on December 6 was celebrated through issue Europe until about the 16th century. Afterwards, he continued to be known in Protestant Holland. Dutch children would put shoes by the fireplace for St. Nicholas or "Sinter Klaas" and leave food out for his horse. Hed gallop on his horse between the rooftops and drop candy down the chimneys into the childrens shoes. Meanwhile, his assistant, Black Peter, was the one who popped down the chimneys to leave gifts behind. Dutch settlers brought the legend of Sinter Klaas to North America -- where we came to know him as Santa Claus. Clement Clarke Moore first described the jolly old elf with his sleigh drawn by reindeer, in the poem "The darkness Before Christmas.Although it was never celebrated in biblical times, Christmas is celebrated in local churches here in Visalia, California in praise of the fact that paragon loved us so much he sent his one and only son to earth. He was wholey god and wholey man. Whereas we have succumbed to the temptations of this earth, Jesus was able to master all temptations and live a sinles s life. He was then crucified as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. One cannot understand why we celebrate the birth of Christ without seeing the other end of his life. He was crucified for our sins and resurrected. Christmas was declared a Federal Holiday in America on June 26, 1870 under the government headed by death chair Ulysses S.