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Question: History of Christmas!?
How did it start!? When did it come to the US!? Who brought it here!? How did the whole Santa thing start!? Any other facts!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Celebrations around this time of year are present in almost every primitive culture!. It makes sense, since this is when the Winter Solstice (year's shortest day) takes place!. When the Catholic church was gaining momentum it tried to do away with a lot of these pagan holidays!. Sometimes they would simply outlaw the holiday, other times relabel it in Christian tones!. That's what they did with Christmas, in about 440 AD!.

Our Christmas has its origins in the Roman's Saturnalia and the German Yule!. From the Romans came the partying, bright colors and feasting!. From the Yule came the tree, the tradition of snow, etc!.

As the centuries went by the partying got completely out of control!. Villages would engage in mock combat and people were killed!. No amount of trying to control it worked!. Finally, in England during the 1600's Christmas was outlawed!. That only lasted about 40 years!. It came back, only slightly subdued!.

When the US became a nation it didn't recognize Christmas - it was celebrated in England and we hated anything English!. But many, many people celebrated it underground!. The government outlawed it and offered fines for anyone eating Christmas foods or behaving in a Christmassy fashion!. Go figure!. It took about 30 years or so for public opinion to bring it back!.

But it was still a rowdy, partying, college spring break kind of holiday!. England and the US found the answer at about the same time!. Popular authors were asked to write very sentimental stories about Christmas!. "Christmas Carol" with Scrooge, etc!. was one of these!. It worked!. People wanted very much to have a holiday like they read about!.

Santa came shortly after that!. The Catholic church has many feast days for saints throughout the year!. Early in December is the feast day for St!. Nicholas, famous for feeding the poor hundreds of years ago!. He remained famous as a local folk hero in Denmark and, because his day was so close to Christmas it gradually got sucked in!. "Santa Claus" is simply a heavily accented way of saying "St!. Nicolas"!. It was the poem "Night Before Christmas" which defined him as we know him today!.

The Christmas Tree came to England in the 1800's!. Queen Victoria of England married a prince from Germany!. When he moved to London he brought his customs with him!. This included the tree!. The royal couple sent out Christmas cards featuring a family portrait of Queen, husband and kids sitting around the Christmas tree!. It caught on immediately on both sides of the Atlantic!. Everyone wants to do what the Queen does, after all!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The Santa thing started in Germany, with Saint Nicholas - but he wasn't quite the same as Santa!. He did, however, bring a gift for good girls and boys, but left a lump of coal in the shoe of bad girls and boys!.
The Santa legend dates back to the fourth century AD, with the Bishop of Myra - who became the first St!. Nicholas!. The good bishop was noted for his generosity!.
If you would like to learn more about him, google up Bishop of Myra!.
The Santa Claus we know today came from a poem, "T'was the Night before Christmas, and all through the house!.!.!.!." written by Clement Moore, in 1822!. The combination of Moore's poem, the St!. Nicholas legend, the German customs, and a huge dose of Madison Avenue advertising, have joined together to create Christmas as we know it today!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

santa originated from st!.nicholas who was a real guy!. "st!.nick" would give presents to poor kids on christmas!. and santa originated from that!.

christmas is originally meant to celebrate jesus's birthday!. but some people say it isn't jesus's birthday because there were sheppards, and the sheppards were usually out in the spring, not winter!. so lots of people (including priests) believe that jesus was born in the spring time!.

then christmas became commercialized!. some people think it became commercialize first by coca-cola because they put santa claus in their advertisements and on their bottles around christmas!. now people spend tonnes of money on gifts because of the commercialization of christmasWww@QuestionHome@Com