Christmas History

Christmas History

Various religions held celebrations around the same time of year as the solstice. Persians built fires on December 25th to worship their God of Light, Mithras; Egyptians honoured Isis, mother of their Sun God; Jews lit candles to celebrate Hanukkah, known as the Feast of Lights. Hanukkah is not celebrating the solstice, although it is a custom using fire and held around the solstice time.

In mid-December ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia with feasting, revelry, gift-giving, lit candles and decorating using berries and evergreens. There was a moratorium on was and personal enmity, and reversal of ranks and suspension of many workaday restrictions. As this time, masters waited on their servants. Some parts of these practices, called misrule, survive in certain parts of England to this day.

By the advent of the Middle Ages in Europe, Christmas became established as a great sacred holiday. The twelfth to the sixteenth centuries were the peak of celebration in homes as well as churches.

In the 1800s, glass ornaments were first made in the Lauscha, Germany. This cottage industry involved the entire family. Generally, men did the glassblowing, women did the silvering and the children helped to paint and finish them. These beautiful new glass ornaments began to replace edible decorations.