246 – Do You Know the Origin of Our Christmas Traditions? Some Will Surprise You!

Gift biz unwrapped episode 246 At Tinton,

gifters, bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you

have an established business or looking to start one now you

are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights Pope.

Oh, Hi there.

It's Sue and thanks for joining me today on this special

holiday episode of gift biz on wrapped.

My son says,

I turn into a 10 year old at Christmas.

He's probably right,

but what other time of year can you add fantasy and

all the traditions into your life without excuse as much as

you can on Christmas?

Traditions are so special.

They bond us to one another and provide comfort and excitement

with that expectation of familiar and heartwarming events.

Those remembered from childhood.

It's a time when we can celebrate memories of past relatives

too. Since many of our individual family traditions have been handed

down from them.

In my family,

we have a special four foot Christmas tree that we've lovingly

called the sugar plum tree.

and went into the forest to find the perfect branch,

one with lots of little baby branch extensions.

He brought it home,

painted it silver and made a solid wooden base for it.

All my life I've seen this beautiful branch decorated with lights

and ornaments,

our sugar Palm tree with the passing of my mom this

year. I'm now the owner and protector of this cherished family

tradition. Our sugar Palm tree holds a prime position in our

living room now for all to see.

I have more family traditions and I bet you do too.

They're so worth sharing with future generations to experience,

enjoy and connect with those who came before.

I thought it would be fun to go back and learn

how some of the well known traditions of Christmas got started.

It's fascinating to discover the beginnings of symbols and activities.

I've always accepted,

but never really questioned.

Taking into account all of our listeners.

I'm limiting the focus as much as possible to nonreligious traditions.

Some of these I think are going to surprise you.

Are you ready to discover things about Christmas you never knew

before? Whoa,

Whoa, Whoa.

Here we go.

It's beginning.

Look a lot Like Christmas.

It all starts with setting the stage,

which seems to always include snow.

Why is that?

Of course,

the origin story of Christmas started in Bethlehem,

so the idea of snow seems to be a little confusing,

but the truth is both Bethlehem and Jerusalem are on a

range of Hills and there can indeed be snow from November

to April,

so it really is plausible.

But the true connection with snow is from the Victorians.

They were the ones who created the traditional Christmas.

Britain was in a mini ice age and often a winter

fair was held on the river Thames.

This is how snow,

ice and cold weather became associated with the Christmas season.

As the holiday approaches Christmas cards begin arriving.

of sir Henry Cole,

a British government worker who helped set up the first public

record office,

what we now call the post office.

He thought the service should be used by people of the

community for things over and above government services.

So he and an artist friend John Horsley designed the first

card which caused a little bit of controversy.

Surprise, surprise,

not because of the idea of holiday cards,

but because one of the images on the card was a

child being served a glass of wine.

It would cause controversy today too.

I think they're right.

Those first cards sold for one shilling,

which would equate to about 8 cents today.

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy.

So when the car and got pipe and a button nose

and two I've made out of coal,

frosty, the snowman is a fairy tale.

They say he was made of snow,

but the children know how we came to that one day

Earlier and earlier,

but some time as the season approaches,

Carol's begin to be heard.

Not many holidays have traditional songs attached to them the way

Christmas does,

and it's the act of Carolyn that makes it unique.

Carol's have been song for thousands of years in Europe,

but they were pagan songs,

song for the winter solstice.

They actually were used for all seasons,

but only Christmas.

Caroline survived.

Christians took over the tradition in one 29 when a Roman

Bishop said that a song called angels him,

it should be song for Christmas service in seven 60 comas

of Jerusalem wrote another Christian him for the Greek Orthodox church.

After that,

many composers everywhere started creating and forming what is now our

Christmas caroling tradition.

I just love the images that you see with family gathered

around the piano,

singing out all the Christmas carols and just enjoying being together.

When else do we do this?

During the year as a child,

some of my friends and I would make a party of

getting all bundled up,

going out to houses,

knocking on the door,

singing Christmas carols,

going to the next house,

doing the same thing,

and then hopping back to the originators house for hot chocolate

and marshmallows.

Oh my gosh.

What great memories.

Also part of setting the scene are all the decorations.

As the years have gone on.

Some may say it's getting a little bit out of hand.

I just think it's all in such good fun,

but where did it start?

Oh Whoa.

The mistletoe mistletoe grows on a number of trees like Willow,

Apple, and Oak.

The ancient droids believed it possessed mystical power and brought good

luck and fended off evil spirits for your household.

It's also a sign of love and friendship according to Norse

mythology. That's where kissing under the mistletoe came from.

The mistletoe is really easy to hang,

but then comes the Christmas tree and as we all know,

that's a bigger job.

Deck the halls with thousa,

Holly TIS the season to be jolly,

Don,. Nobody's exactly sure where the Christmas tree originated.

Trees and branches have been used throughout time to celebrate winter

festivals, also to decorate homes during the winter.

As a reminder that spring will come and Christians use it

as a sign of everlasting life with God,

most likely Christmas trees began about a thousand years ago in

Northern Europe.

Funny enough,

at that time,

they were hung upside down from the ceiling,

just like chandelier's.

So in whatever form it comes,

we now have a tree.

But what about the ornaments?

These originated in Germany in the 16th century,

200 years later,

the tradition came to America where it was initially rejected by

Puritans because of its pagan origins,

but the German settlers were persistent and decorating for the holidays.

Started catch on.

celebrating Christmas with her German born husband,

Prince Albert,

and their family included was a decorated evergreen tree,

and as many times happens with Royal family practices,

Christmas tree decorating then began in earnest and daughter commercialism in

which is an old US-based retailer.

Some of you young ones may not know.

Sold German hand-blown glass ornaments that evolved into decorating trees with

tinsel, silk,

and even wool.

In the olden days,

limited edition specials created and collected by millions every year.

And of course,

we can't have Christmas without all the lights.

In the olden days,

accompanying ornaments on the trees would be lit candles.

I remember when I was a little girl,

I went for piano lessons to my European piano teacher.

True to tradition.

There would be a beautiful tree,

a glow with these tall,

thin candles,

and yes,

lit with real flames.

Oh my gosh.

It was so beautiful.

But all I can think of now is all of the

fires these were sure to have caused back then enter Thomas

his office.

It was actually his colleague,

Edward Johnson,

who's strong,

80 red,

white and blue lights together for his New York apartment.

And that began the Christmas tree lights that we know today.

At that time though only rich people could afford electric lights

on their trees because very few even had electricity.

when he used them in the white house.

The tradition of the national Christmas tree and the white house

Coolidge back then,

a string of 24 lights cost $12 that may sound cheap,

but we're talking about only 24 lights.

I just purchased a string of 200 lights this year for

the same price.

All right,

now the stage is set.

We've got snow,

Christmas cards,

and Caroline,

the mistletoe is hung.

The tree is lit and decorated.

What's next?

The main characters,

of course,

we've got so many to choose from.

They're Scrooge,

that Grinch and frosty to name a few,

but let's focus on the top two.

Nicholas Lean.

You're here this way.

Ah, Santa Claus.

Father Christmas,

Pierre, Noel,

Kris Kringle.

This figure is known by many names across the land.

Here's the most famous story about how Santa Claus came to

be. Once upon a time there was a very poor man

with three daughters.

He couldn't afford a dowery,

which meant his daughters could never get married.

One night,

a man named Nicholas secretly dropped a bag of gold down

the poor man's chimney.

It fell into a stocking that had been hung by the

fire to dry.

This allowed the first daughter to be married.

Nicholas repeated this gesture again for daughter number two.

Now the poor man desperately wanted to know who was doing

this, so he hit by the fire every night until he

caught Nicholas in the act.

Nicholas didn't want people to know it was him,

but the secret couldn't be kept.

Once word got out,

anytime someone received a secret gift,

they thought it was from Nicholas.

There are other ideas about the chimney entrance.

In pagan lore,

hearths were thought to contain spirits or gods important to the

prosperity of the household and the fire itself was sacred.

There was also the belief that supernatural creatures like elves and

fairies entered the house through chimneys.

There are various extensions of this story and its evolution.

But suffice it to say that this character,

regardless of his name in origin story,

stands for giving to others and providing happiness and Goodwill.

But now Santo needs to get around.

He's got a lot to do in just one night,

enter Rudolph the red nose.

Reindeer had a very shiny nose,

and if you ever saw him,

you would even say it glows.

Rudolph was born okay.

a 33 year old copywriter with Chicago based retailer,

Montgomery ward.

This was shortly after the decade long,

great depression,

and there were rumblings of an upcoming war,

so the spirits at the time weren't altogether bright.

Robert was tasked with creating an animal story for the following

Christmas to brighten everyone's mood.

Hm. What to do.

He and his daughter,

Barbara, loved going to the zoo.

Her favorite animal was the reindeer.

So naturally that would be the animal for Robert's new assignment.

Gazing over Lake Michigan.

One day he got the idea of a misfit reindeer with

the now famous oversize,

glowing nose.

Side note.

Rudolph's name was almost Rolo,

Reginald Rodney or Romeo.

I think Rudolph was the right choice,

don't you?

Robert could relate to Rudolf as a child.

He was the smallest in the class,

frail, uncoordinated,

and never asked to join school teams.

The story was created as a 32 page illustrated booklet given

as a free gift to children when they visited one of

Montgomery wards,

620 department stores during the holidays.

Obviously this was a very successful commercial strategy.

2.4 million copies were distributed that year,

but the following year,

the 1.6

million planned didn't come true due to the paper shortages of

world war two.

he was more popular than ever.

Robert May eventually was given full copyright to Rudolf and we

know what's happened since then.

Rudolf is a beloved holiday reindeer known for overcoming obstacles,

embracing differences,

and recognizing everyone's unique potential.

Meanwhile, he's busy,

busy, busy as Santas helper delivering gifts.

On Christmas Eve.

He lands on the roof with the other reindeer and the

sleigh, and this is where our direction shifts to the fireplace.

Now in this fireplace,

are you a logs?

Once again,

this can be traced back to Nordic tradition and the winter

solstice festivals in Scandinavia and Europe.

Believe it or not,

the UL log was originally the entire tree.

Isn't that crazy?

It was chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony.

Then the largest end of the log would be placed into

the fireplace with the rest of the tree reaching out into

the whole room.

The burnt log from the prior year,

which had been carefully stored,

of course,

was used to light this new UL log you a log,

but remember it was the whole jury Christmas leaving cookies and

milk for Santa is a more recent tradition starting in the

1930s and the great depression.

This was a time of real hardship,

but parents wanted to instill in their children how important it

is to give to others and show gratitude for gifts they

receive no matter how meager the offerings available.

Well, there were other origins to this practice from other countries.

I'm going to leave it at this for now because we

need to move on to the gifts.

The custom of giving and receiving gifts goes back to the

days of Jesus.

The wise men came to him bearing the gifts of frankincense,

gold and mirth.

As the years go by,

gifting becomes more and more commercialized,

but the really important thing is that it's the thought and

the act of giving that is so much more important than

the actual physical gift.

It's a potent lesson that needs to be stressed again and

again. What else do we see in our mind's eye when

we think of Christmas year are some other symbols that we

immediately connect to Christmas,

Jingle bells,

jingle bells,

jingle all the way.

Oh well it is to ride in a one horse open

sleigh. Hey,

You just can't hear jingle bells without thinking of Christmas and

they're everywhere from slays to doors to decorations once used to

call everyone to church in the ancient times,

these bells also signaled the start of sunset.

Sunset represented the end of the current day and the start

of the new day.

So church services would be the entrance to a new day,

which meant right after sunset In Victorian times people would go

caroling with small bells to accompany their voices.

Sometimes they even use the bells without singing.

Today handbell ringing is still very popular.

One other fun fact,

jingle bells was the first song broadcast from space from the

the astronauts on that mission even say they spotted a sleigh

in space,

could it have possibly been a Santa citing ah,

the good old USA Massachusets to be exact claims ownership of

sticks at first because it was just a straight white sugar

stick, but no cost Costa frat very quickly thereafter,

stripes were added.

pure sugar to the winter green or the most popular peppermint

flavor of today.

There's some dispute here though.

historical. When a choir master at the cologne cathedral in Germany

bent the sugar sticks into canes to appear as shepherd hooks.

Something else red and white traditionally seen for the holidays are

poinsettias. I'm dreaming of a,

I used to know these plants are native to central America

and they flower in the winter.

It was the first ambassador from the U S to Mexico,

Joel Robert point set who brought the flowers to his Southern

Carolina plantation and then started sharing them with his friends.

There's also a story about how they came to be associated

with Christmas.

You want to hear it.

Once upon a time,

a poor Mexican girl named puppy de wanted to give baby

Jesus a gift.

She was heartbroken though because her family could barely afford feeding

themselves much less having an extra money for a gift.

A cousin tried to comfort pepita by telling her that any

small gesture would make baby Jesus happy.

It didn't need to cost a lot.

So pepita set out to meet baby Jesus and gathered weeds

along the path on her way.

Something would be better than nothing.

She thought by the time she reached her destination,

she had a sizeable grouping of green foliage as she placed

it beside baby Jesus.

It miraculously blossomed into a bouquet of bright red flowers ever

after. These plants are known as the flowers of the Holy

night. Back to my house,

the Mon hight residents,

we started a new tradition about four years ago.

Every Christmas Eve we have a gingerbread house decorating contest.

We divide into two teams.

Most of the time girls versus boys and build,

decorate and name our houses.

Then we put them on Facebook for everyone to vote on

their favorite house.

It's now something we look forward to and yes,

it's getting a little bit competitive.

All in good fun of chorus.

If you'd like to see this in action,

watch my Facebook account and you can even join in on

the voting.

If you like To dive a little bit deeper into the

story of a gingerbread house.

Ginger root was first cultivated in China over 5,000

years ago.

The Europeans first baked gingerbread in the 11th century when the

crusaders brought back the idea of spicy bread from the middle

East. Ginger is also a natural preservative,

which of course was so important back then.

Since then,

it has been an interesting evolution,

including Swedish nuns using it to aid in digestion.

shapes when she created likenesses of her guests in cookie form.

The tradition of gingerbread houses,

however, comes from Germany in the early 18 hundreds shortly after

the appearance of the new fairy tale,

Hansel and Gretel,

there's a walled medieval town called Dingles bull that looks like

a village full of real life,

colorful gingerbread homes complete with a small town square and cobblestone

pathways and streets.

Here's a brand new tradition.

recent and a story created by Carol oversold and her daughter

Shonda bell.

Do you know what it is?

It's a rhyming story explaining how Santa knows whether you've been

naughty or nice.

The elf on the shelf.

Of course,

this is a special spy who is sent from the North

pole to keep watch over your behaviors and encourages you to

be nice.

He watches you during the day and goes back to report

his findings each night,

naughty or nice.

Which list are you on?

Okay. Have the Holly jolly Christmas.

It's the best time of the year.

I don't know if they'll smelled.

Have a cup of cheer.

Have a Holly jolly Christmas.

And when you walked down this street,

say hello dear friends.

You know,

and everyone you meet,

Traditions, the ones we cherish from the past and the ones

we create for the future are away.

We pulled together,

connect deeper and love in the most genuine way this year.

I hope I've given you some inspiration on this show.

You've heard some beautiful voices from some young ladies that would

be ever lastly and Addie together.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas.

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of

my, Belize Navi.

Dad dad,

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas.