{"id":1589,"date":"2012-12-04T09:04:19","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T14:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayspirituality\/?p=1589"},"modified":"2012-11-29T09:05:55","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T14:05:55","slug":"borrowed-christmas-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2012\/12\/borrowed-christmas-traditions.html","title":{"rendered":"Borrowed Christmas Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Santa Claus is a jolly reminder that many of the traditions engaged in during Christmas time were borrowed, maybe never to be returned. The traditions of gift-giving, tree decorating, feasting, and honoring gods, can be traced back to ancient Scandinavia, Germany, and Rome celebrating the winter solstice or New Year.<\/p>\n<p>Movie, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christmasflick.com\/documentary003.shtml\"><em>Christmas Unwrapped: A History of Christmas<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>documented how, for more years than not, Christmas was a rowdy event. Drinking, indulgence, and carousing went on for days. It was centuries <em>after <\/em>Christ Jesus\u2019 birth before churches stepped up as participants in the holiday.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas as we see it today was fine-tuned in the 19<sup>th<\/sup> century when children were recognized as important during the festivities. The \u201cfamily\u201d approach tempered the holiday. Christmas carols, stories, and cards also became popular in the 19<sup>th<\/sup> century along with the nativity of Christ Jesus as a focal point.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to put in a plug for Saint Nicholas\u2015though exorbitantly marketed today\u2015because the spirit of giving has truly been lived by individuals for centuries in many cultures. For example, in the 4<sup>th<\/sup> century A.D. <a href=\"http:\/\/graymonk.mu.nu\/archives\/2005\/12\/st_nicholas_bis.html\">Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna<\/a> lived in what is known today as Turkey. Bishop Nicholas was a wealthy and generous man who loved and gave gifts to children. He was later given the title of Saint Nicholas.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping Christmas in perspective, I hope you all have a blessed Holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santa Claus is a jolly reminder that many of the traditions engaged in during Christmas time were borrowed, maybe never to be returned. The traditions of gift-giving, tree decorating, feasting, and honoring gods, can be traced back to ancient Scandinavia, Germany, and Rome celebrating the winter solstice or New Year. Movie, Christmas Unwrapped: A History&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8,1],"tags":[750,747],"class_list":["post-1589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community_world","category-religion","category-smorgasbord","tag-celebrate-holidays","tag-meaning-of-christmas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Borrowed Christmas Traditions - Everyday Spirituality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2012\/12\/borrowed-christmas-traditions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Borrowed Christmas Traditions - Everyday Spirituality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Santa Claus is a jolly reminder that many of the traditions engaged in during Christmas time were borrowed, maybe never to be returned. The traditions of gift-giving, tree decorating, feasting, and honoring gods, can be traced back to ancient Scandinavia, Germany, and Rome celebrating the winter solstice or New Year. 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