The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 5: Seasonal Symbols and Traditions
Inside: Signs of the Christmas season are all around us, but did you ever wonder how some of our beloved traditions came to be?
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From fruitcake to fat jolly men, the season is rich with symbols. While I’ve only scratched the surface concerning this topic, it’s been fun to learn the history of some of the Christmas traditions we hold dear, and, well, have strong opinions about. Read on and you’ll see what I mean.
Santa Claus
Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop, was famous for giving gifts to children. His feast day, December 6, became a children’s holiday in Holland, though they refer to him as Sint Nikolaas, or Sinter Klass. English colonists living in New York–the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam–called him Santa Claus because the Dutch name was too hard to pronounce. The English then began celebrating the feast day on December 25.
The German version of Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, developed in the 1600s. German Protestants recognized the birth of the Christ Child (Christkindl) as the time to give gifts. Christkindl eventually became Kriss Kringle. In the Netherlands and Germany, their Santa often rode through the sky on a horse to deliver presents.
Our modern American version is largely due to Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” (think, ‘Twas the night before Christmas) which created quite a stir after it was published in 1822. Stores were quick to capitalize on the popularity of the Santa Claus figure, using him in their Christmas ads, and in the late 1800s, political cartoonist Thomas Nast, inspired by Moore’s poem, gave Americans their first glimpse of the Santa Claus we know today, adding in the red suit with white-trimmed fur, North Pole workshop equipped with elves, and Mrs. Claus.
Stockings
Legend has it that St. Nicholas placed homemade food and clothes in the children’s freshly laundered stockings as they hung by the fire to dry. In one account, he heard of a poor widower who worried about his three beautiful daughters and their slim chances of marriage due to being impoverished. Knowing the man would not accept charity, St. Nick slid down the chimney and placed gold coins in the girls’ stockings as they hung by–you guessed it–the fireplace.
Candy Canes
The story goes that a confectioner created the candy cane to represent Jesus. The shape of the letter “J” stood for Jesus as well as the staff reminiscent of His role as the Good Shepherd. The color white symbolized purity and Christ’s lack of sin. Red symbolized His blood shed for us on the cross. The peppermint flavor is similar to hyssop, a Middle Eastern mint that is mentioned in the Bible.
Another version of the story told of a German choirmaster who wanted to keep children quiet during Christmas Eve mass. He decided candy might help him achieve his objective, so he asked a local candy maker to put a bend in the candy to remind the children of a shepherd’s staff and to make the candy white to reflect the sinless life of Christ. There is no mention as to whether his method worked.
The Christmas Tree
While the practice of bringing greenery indoors is an ancient one, the modern Christmas tree can be traced back to the eighth century and a man by the name of St. Boniface who was converting the Germanic tribes to Christianity. The tribes worshipped and decorated oak trees for the winter solstice, and it was Boniface who chose to chop down one particular enormous oak tree, the center of their worship. In the place where that oak tree had been, a fir tree grew, which was offered as a symbol of Christianity, and the new converts began decorating the evergreens.
Prince Albert, who was German, introduced the Christmas tree to England after his marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840, and it became all the rage in London. Back then, it was common to put burning candles on the trees. (Can you say fire marshal?) German immigrants settling in Pennsylvania brought the tradition of the Christmas tree to America.
Poinsettia
Called “The Flower of the Holy Night” (Flores de Noche Buena), the plant is found growing naturally in Mexico for only a short time during the Advent season. The red bracts of the flower represent the Star of Bethlehem which led the wise men to the Christ Child, and seventeenth-century Franciscan priests in Mexico placed the flowers around the manger in their Nativity celebrations.
In 1828 Dr. Joel Poinsett, the American ambassador to Mexico, introduced the plant to America after cultivating it in greenhouses. Currently poinsettias make up 88 percent of Christmas plant sales.
Fruitcake
The cake everyone loves–or loves to hate! Who knows when someone came up with the idea of combining fruit, honey, nuts, and alcohol into an edible gift, but records dating back to before Jesus’ birth reveal a Roman concoction of barley, pomegranate seeds, nuts, and raisins. In the Middle Ages, as dried fruit became more available, Western Europe embraced the fruited bread. The ingredients greatly reduced spoilage, particularly as folks traveled long distances with the dense cake.
The fruitcake we know today finds its origin in English plum cake recipes. The tradition of reserving fruitcake for special occasions gained in popularity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries due to the costly ingredients.
Perhaps it was the “make in advance” quality that resulted in fruitcake as a food to serve for Christmas. Months and months in advance in some cases. Or maybe it was the convenience of mail-order fruitcakes, dating back to 1913 and still going strong today. Whichever side you come down on concerning this controversial subject, fruitcakes are likely here to stay. I’m hoping Mom picks up a small one so I can sample a little (or big) slice sometime over the Christmas holiday.
Yep, I’m one of those people.
My favorite fruitcake.
What are your favorite traditions? Tell us about it in the comments.
Tomorrow, The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 6: My Top Ten Christmas Movie Picks
Related posts:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: A Simple Song
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Spiced Nuts
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: Our Prim Christmas Tree Forest
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 4: A Truly Southern Christmas
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 4: A Truly Southern Christmas
Inside: Christmas memories from my favorite essayist, Joy Wooderson.
*This post contains affiliate links.
A Truly Southern Christmas
by Joy Wooderson
The chairs in the living room were all occupied, with the overflow squatting on the carpet. In one corner, Mom sat at the organ. In the other, Aunt Hope ran her fingers over the keys of the piano. Aunt Beryl rested on the sofa, trying to stir up a breeze with a songbook, while Uncle Basil pulled out a handkerchief to mop his brow. This was a bit undignified for Dad, so he chose to ignore the beads of perspiration in the creases of his face and neck. The rest of us fit somewhere on the continuum of either pretending it wasn’t hot, or simply allowing ourselves to wilt.
At the signal from Mom, we perked up and began lustily singing, “Winter Wonderland.” Nobody seemed to notice the incongruity between the words and the setting. It didn’t matter—it was Christmas!
***
Christmas started in our home on December 16, a holiday in sunny South Africa. Devout Afrikaners called it the “Day of the Covenant” and went to church in remembrance of the victory of the early settlers over the impis at the battle of Blood River. The rest of us irreverently called it Dingaan’s Day—the name of the Zulu chief who tried to slaughter the settlers—and used the day to begin holiday preparations.
We were trendsetters in Durban. Having visited the United States and seen the ideal Christmas tree, we had to have one. With no “John’s Tree Sales” on vacant lots around the city—mid summer is not conducive to Christmas trees—this presented quite a challenge. I don’t know whose idea it had been to plant small Norfolk pines along the edge of our property, but in time these grew tall, inspiring hope of being quite presentable Christmas trees. At least this was Mom’s view. She organized Dad and a helper to climb high into a tree each year and lop off the top.
What we then propped in a stand in the corner of the living room was a spiky green thing, with unevenly spaced branches and inconvenient gaps in the tiers. Undeterred, Mom sent Dad out to cut branches to specific sizes, which she then affixed in place with string and picture wire.
The next task was to transform this apparition into a thing of beauty. After considerable effort—lights still get tangled in the southern hemisphere—we had a Christmas tree. It bore no resemblance whatsoever to the one on the White House lawn, but twinkling lights, tinsel, and ornaments magically hid most of its defects. Our tree stood proudly, ready to gather presents at its feet.
The next item on the agenda was a favorite of mine—the annual carol singing program on Christmas Eve. Rehearsals began three weeks before Christmas. To my musician mother, this would be no ordinary sing-a-long group—she wanted a choir! With Mom pounding out notes on the piano, thirty people learned four-part harmony. I sang alto, Dad sang tenor, and Uncle Basil added to the basses. Mom had a difficult time with Uncle Basil as he tended to slur and slide, leading all the other basses astray. I noted many a glare going in his direction—which he blithely ignored. What younger brother pays attention to his sister? Finally, the big night arrived and we set off in cars and on a flat-bed truck.
A gentle breeze stirred the humid night air, carrying the tang of salt from the Indian Ocean nearby. It ruffled strands of Grandma Connie’s neatly coiled hair as she sat, ramrod straight, at the pump organ. There were few lights on in the hospital at 11:00 p.m., and nobody paid attention to the group that formed around the organ.
I stood among the altos in front of choir-leader Mom. With baton raised, she waited expectantly for that single, introductory sound from the organ. Then it happened. The strains of “Joy to the World” sung in four-part harmony burst forth. Soon a figure appeared in an upstairs window. Lights went on, patients in hospital gowns clustered around each other, heads hung out of windows.
Maintaining total silence between items, we worked our way through our repertoire. Then, after a slightly longer pause, Grandma Connie hit her single note, and the African night filled with the unparalleled beauty of Franz Gruber’s timeless “Silent Night.” It was magical.
The designated bearers folded the pump organ, picked up the music stand, and we moved quietly to the next stop. The schedule called for us to finish up around 3:00 a.m., allowing just enough time to go home and catnap before the 8:00 a.m. Christmas Day service.
As the years passed, Grandma Connie was replaced by Aunt Hope at the accordion, I drove my friends in Dad’s car, and anyone with energy left proceeded to the beachfront. There is no ocean in the world to compare with the Indian, and Durban had its share of magnificent beaches. Soon we were bouncing and laughing in the white-tipped waves, until pink and gold streaked the dark sky and the sun peeked over the vast horizon of the sea. Then it was home to shower and change before church. My concentration was never at its peak in that early Christmas morning service.
General Mom was in charge of dinner, with First Lieutenant Aunt Mabel at her side, and James as her helper. We organized tables and chairs for the family and several guests, placing Christmas crackers filled with cheap trinkets at each setting. Dad carried the turkey to a table already overflowing with fresh vegetables and salads. When Grandpa Archie finished his interminable prayer over the food, crackers popped, paper hats were unfurled, and the celebratory meal began.
Our traditional dessert was English plum pudding with almond sauce—brandy was prohibited. I scrubbed tickeys clean so they could be inserted in certain servings. A tickey was a silver coin, smaller than a dime and worth less than a nickel. I never cared much for the pudding, but I took my helping and assiduously poked around in case it was my lucky day.
A somnolent afternoon ended as car doors slammed and the invasion of extended family members and additional friends began. Mom was the eldest of eight siblings, and most of them produced offspring. We had between 30-35 people of all ages over on Christmas evening.
The adults played badminton in the back yard under colored lights while an assortment of children worked up a sweat chasing each other around the tree. Once more, Mom, Aunt Mabel, James, and other elves came through and created a cold buffet that made my eyes sparkle. The evening dessert was always English trifle—my favorite.
When the shrieks from the children reached a certain pitch, Mom summoned everyone inside for the grand finale. The lights from “the Christmas tree” cast a soft glow in the living-room. Each person received a song book, and once the musicians were in place, the performance began. Since most of us had sung the carols in four parts a good portion of the previous night, we found our harmony note one more time.
The first songs were lively and upbeat, including “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Soon, the younger children slipped lower on a parent’s lap or curled up on the carpet and drifted off to sleep. The mood quieted as once again we reflected through song on the reason for celebrating Christmas. As the last notes of “Silent Night” died away, people stirred, gathered children, said their goodbyes, and drifted out into the steamy night. Another Christmas was over.
Many years have passed and Christmas present is vastly different for me. Climate, geography, and the loss of loved ones brought changes in holiday celebrations. Each year I join with some congregation in singing those enduring Christmas carols and valiantly carry the alto note by myself. However, on “The First Noel” I deviate. I sing the bass line in memory of Uncle Basil—and try not to slur and slide! My body is in the U.S., but myriad scenes of long-past Christmases flash onto the screen of my mind, and I can almost smell the salty sea air.
Born in Durban, South Africa, Joy Wooderson emigrated to the U.S. in 1971. She writes creative nonfiction and is the author of Finding Joy: One Woman’s Journey Back to Faith and Like a Hermit Crab in Search of a Home. Both are ebooks available from Amazon Kindle. Her essays have appeared in journals and anthologies.
Do you have a favorite Christmas memory? Tell us about it in the comments.
Tomorrow, The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 5: Seasonal Symbols and Traditions
Related posts:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: A Simple Song
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Spiced Nuts
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: Our Prim Christmas Tree Forest
A Rural Girl’s Favorite Things Christmas Gift Guide
The Story of the Hillbilly Christmas Wreath
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: Our Prim Christmas Tree Forest
Inside: Feeling craft-y? Know how to wield a glue gun? Have we got a Christmas project for you! Make our Prim Christmas Tree Forest to celebrate the season. It’s inexpensive to make, doesn’t require any special talents, and you’ll likely find most of the materials in your front yard.
Blame it on Pinterest again! They are so darned inspiring that we can’t help ourselves. So we saw some stick trees and got to thinking how we could do a riff on them. Now I’d like to tell you the project from start to finish was easy peasy, but we had some challenges along the way.
Early on we decided to do a forest of trees of various sizes. Remembering a common garden design principle, I figured we’d need to do an odd number (three, five, seven, or nine) of trees. We stopped by Walmart for a few materials, namely a base for the project. Dry floral foam did the trick. We brought home a rectangular section 1.8 inches by 11.8 inches by 17.8 and cut it down to about 11.8 inches by 13 inches with a serrated knife. We weren’t looking to necessarily do a perfect square. I confess we do a lot of “eyeball measuring.”
We talked about making the trees a different day. At that point it was before Thanksgiving, and we like to take our holidays one at a time, so we figured we’d start the project some time after turkey day. Well Mom got an itch that only a pile of sticks could scratch, and next thing I knew she had a small forest of flat trees to show me. They looked great!
Several days later we started poking them into the dry floral foam, and they weren’t bad by any means. But something was missing. Although we’d already settled on the idea of a blanket of poly fill for snow, the trees needed some umph. We toyed with the idea of painting the trees with a washed out white or green, and even red, but none of the attempts caught our eye. She also mocked up some trees with buttons, and although these were cute, they didn’t fit the project. She hauled the forest back home and added a three-dimensional element to some of the trees for a total of nine altogether. She also made three stars. The addition of these brought it up a level, and our little forest was close but still not there.
After more discussion we figured that leftover maize chalk paint might work well on the stars. More experimenting and hauling the project home by Mom followed. Then it occurred to me to spatter white paint on the trees, as I’ve used that effect before and loved it. I also thought the stars might be improved with a little distressing, so I sanded the stars. Mom had warned me that they might be too fragile, and they were! She had to glue the pieces of stars back together with my apologies!
Finally it came time to assemble the trees and glue the white poly fill on to the base. We stood back to evaluate, and there it was–our perfect little Prim Christmas Tree Forest with all its imperfections! That’s the beauty of folk art–perfect equals imperfect. My daughter Emily photographed the project to make it look it even better.
All in all lots of fun but lots of work, too!
How We Did It
You will need:
- Dry floral foam
- Poly fill
- White tempera paint
- Maize (or yellow) chalk paint
- Sticks of various widths
- Glue gun and glue sticks
- Paint brush
- Sandpaper
- Pruning sheers (for cutting sticks into pieces)
- Paper, pen, and scissors for making tree templates
Make four triangle templates for your different sizes of trees. (This is optional, but it’s helpful to keep the branches tapering properly.) The height of our large trees is approximately 10 – 12 inches, medium trees 8 – 10 inches, small 4 – 6 inches, and tiny 3 – 4 inches. I say approximately because this isn’t rocket science. Every project will be unique. You want your own personal style to show through in the sizes, bark, and placement of the trees. For example, Mom chose a curved stick for a trunk on one of the trees, and I loved how it gave the tree character.
Cut different sized branches, using the triangle template as a guide. Glue the tapered sticks (branches) on your vertical trunk, spacing between the branches for the flat trees. The challenging part of this is that sometimes the pieces fall of because the bark doesn’t adhere well to the trunk. Be patient. Reapplying hot glue a second time generally does the trick.
For the 3-D trees, Mom glued sticks at various angles every other tapered stick or so, spacing less for these trees. Again, experiment with placing the sticks if you wish. It’s your project.
For spattering white paint on trees to simulate snow, I strongly advise you to do this in an area that is either easy to clean or that you’re not particular about the stray white spatters–or lay down a large drop cloth. (I laid down newspaper, and though I held the paint brush about an inch above the trees, spatters landed five feet away against the wall.) To create the spatter effect, I watered down the tempera paint about two parts paint and one part water, dipped the brush in the paint, and ran my finger over the bristles, flicking paint on the trees to make the white spots.
Push the trees into the dry floral foam. We did the three tall ones in the back row, two medium trees in the next row on either side, then the next row we placed a small tree with two tiny trees in front of it on the left side. On the right side we did a small tree with a tiny 3-D tree in front of that. (Look at the picture for help on how we did this.) We ended up putting glue into the holes to keep them firmly in place. We also pushed some of the poly fill in some of the holes if we needed to steady them better. (We had pretty much swiss-cheesed the dry floral foam with experimenting, so we had to do more filling in of holes.
For shaping stars, keep in mind it’s hard to get a “perfect” star. Start with five sticks about four inches each. Paint these maize (or yellow) chalk paint first, and sand off some of the paint to give it a distressed look. Fashion the sticks into a five-point star and glue together. Repeat the process for the small stars, only use thinner sticks that are about two inches each. When the stars are finished, glue the big star on a fourteen-inch stick to tower above and behind the tallest tree, back row center, and add smaller sticks to glue small stars to and then attach them to two middle trees, one left side, the other right.
For the snow, place tufts of poly fill on the base–no need to glue it unless you want to because it stays in place on top of the dry floral base and between all of the trees. Glue poly fill onto the sides.
Finally, stand back and admire you’re own Prim Christmas Tree Forest!
Do you make your own Christmas decorations? Tell us about it in the comments.
Tomorrow, The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 4: A Truly Southern Christmas
Related posts: The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: A Simple Song
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Spiced Nuts
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Spiced Nuts
Inside: Need something quick and simple to bring to that Christmas party you forgot about? Look no further! Spiced Nuts are ready in no time, and you’ll love the aroma wafting from your kitchen, not to mention the taste!
So you’ve been busy all day with last-minute Christmas to-dos when you remember you promised to bring a festive food to the party!
Enter Spiced Nuts.
Great for so many occasions as well as being easy to make, and the spicy goodness wafting from the kitchen is heavenly! I have given these as gifts and been asked for the recipe many times, and while it didn’t originate with me, it has become “my thing” to bring to Christmas parties and gatherings.
I also like the versatility of these. If you’re doing keto or low carb, use a stevia erythritol blend instead of sugar. Almonds work equally well as pecans for a less expensive option, and although I haven’t tried walnuts with this recipe, I imagine they’re just as good.
Give ’em a try. You’ll thank me.
Without further ado, here is the simple recipe.
- 1 cup of sugar (or sweetener to equal this amount)
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. allspice
- ½ tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. cloves
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
- 4 cups of pecan halves (or almonds or walnuts)
- 2 egg whites, slightly beaten
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In a small bowl combine the six spices and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix sugar (or sweetener) with egg whites.
- Add nuts and stir until they are coated well.
- Next toss in the spices, making sure they are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
- Spread out nuts on a foil-lined baking pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes and stir them.
- Bake for 10 more minutes.
- Let cool and store in airtight container.
- Enjoy!
Do you have a favorite go-to recipe for Christmas? Tell us about it in the comments.
Tomorrow, The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 3: Our Prim Christmas Tree Forest
Related posts: The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: A Simple Song
A Rural Girl’s Favorite Things Christmas Gift Guide
The Story of the Hillbilly Christmas Wreath
Winter Skies, Making and Baking, and Other News Fresh From the Farm