Wherever you are in the world, Christmas is a magical holiday. It's a moment of family rejoicing, a great opportunity to meet, share, decorate and share a good meal. Christmas is synonymous with traditions.
From one country to another, Christmas traditions go back centuries . This family friendly party is associated with the Christmas tree decorated with beautiful garlands and Christmas balls, socks hanging from the fireplace, gifts that we discover the D-day or the ice log that we eat.
But what are the origins of all these traditions?
The creation of a festive atmosphere in the homes goes through each of these traditions which are part of the memories or ideas that are made of Christmas.
The Christmas tree
According to tradition, the tree has always been a symbol of life and renewal . The pagans would have been the first to give an important place to the traditional fir tree. The Celts, meanwhile, used to associate each lunar month with a tree, so the spruce, symbol of birth, would have been chosen for the month of December.
In France, the real Christmas tree would have made its first appearance in 1521, in Alsace, at the time when the fir trees could still be cut during the Saint Thomas (December 21). They were then decorated with apples, flowers, cakes or confectionery . This tradition then spread throughout the country thanks to immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine after the War of 1870 and the illuminations began to adorn the fir trees. And it was in the nineteenth century that the first electric decorations were developed in the United States.
The balls of the Christmas tree
Until the nineteenth century, the fir was adorned with seasonal fruits and sweet treats as offerings to the gods and red apples to symbolize the tree of paradise.
It was in 1847 that in Germany, in the city of Lausha, a glassblower came up with the idea of creating glass balls to decorate the fir trees. In France, it was because of a great drought that affected the harvest in 1958, that a glassmaker from Moselle, had the same idea to replace the fruit with glass balls , an idea that then spread around the world over the years.
The Christmas log
In the Middle Ages, families gathered on Christmas Eve around the hearth, where a large log of divination wood burned to celebrate the birth of Jesus. According to tradition, the log had to come from a fruit tree trunk to ensure a good harvest for the following year. It could for example be decorated with ribbons and foliage or sprinkled with wine during its combustion, to ensure a good harvest, or sprinkled with salt to ward off bad luck. The ashes were finally conserved to protect the home from lightning.
The appearance of cast iron stoves ended this tradition in the nineteenth century The big log of fireplace was then replaced by a small log of wood, sometimes decorated with candles, which was arranged in the center of the Christmas table as a decoration .
It was much later that the Christmas log became the famous dessert we know. Traditionally rolled and based on butter cream , it was created by French pastry chefs between the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Christmas socks hanging on the fireplace
The Christmas atmosphere is also the crackle of the fireplace where we enjoy warming up.
According to tradition, Saint Nicolas let three pieces of gold slip into the chimney of the house of three sisters living in misery. The rooms would then have fallen into the socks of the little girls who were drying by the fire . This story, told to children, has traveled the centuries and today are Christmas socks, red and white most often, which decorate the homes, and it is the chocolate pieces and gifts that fill them.
Gifts
Among the Romans, the end of year festivities were an opportunity to exchange small gifts, including terracotta figurines or wax. Then, in the nineteenth century, the children received an orange, sign, at the time, of prosperity : the orange was still a rare fruit, so expensive. And it is only in the twentieth century with the arrival of the consumer society that simple treats will turn into toys.
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