The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas: The Story Behind the Nativity, Candy Canes, Caroling, and All Things Christmas Read Online Free
Author: David McLaughlan
Tags: Religion & Spirituality, Christmas, Holidays, Christian Books & Bibles, Christian Living
close, there is a lull in the chaos of organization, a time when often only churches are open. With no other distractions, people find time to give God their full attention.
Different churches observe the evening in different ways; some have a watch-night service, some vespers. In many churches the only illumination will come from candles, helping to create a mood of prayer and contemplation.
Where?
The very first Christmas Eve happened in the same place every Christmas Eve has happened since. Just outside Bethlehem—and all around the world! The only difference is on that first evening very few were aware of the importance of the event; now people celebrate it all around the world.
On Christmas Eve, 1968, the tradition moved beyond this world when astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders read an extract from the Book of Genesis from on board the spaceship Apollo 8. The twentieth century’s equivalent of the three Wise Men did indeed “traverse afar.” They broadcast their message to the world from the moon’s orbit!
When?
Although the name implies an event that takes place in the evening, the term
Christmas Eve
generally applies to the whole of December 24. It ends at midnight.
So when was the first Christmas Eve? No one knows for sure. Dates for the birth of Jesus range from 3 BC to 29 AD. The reference to the shepherds still being on the hills with their sheep makes it seem unlikely the first Christmas Eve took place in midwinter.
What does it matter? As a time of anticipation of the arrival of Jesus, December 24 simply serves as a reminder that the whole year round—every year—might be spent in similar anticipation.
Why?
For many children, getting to sleep will be nearly impossible on Christmas Eve, so excited will they be about the gifts they hope to get in the morning! Hints may have been given as to the nature of those brightly wrapped boxes and clues offered just to tease. Then, of course, there is the opening of those presents!
The world waited a long time for Jesus to arrive. We were given all too brief a visit. And now it waits for him to return.
Christmas Eve is a reminder of those times of waiting, waiting for the gift we already know so much about but that will surely outstrip all expectations.
10
Christmas Lights
Who?
Before the coming of electricity, church services would only have been illuminated by daylight or candlelight. Some churches even resisted installing their own candelabras, asking families to bring their own candles or lamps, as
they
were the true lights of the church!
A woodcut picture of Queen Victoria’s candlelit Christmas tree helped bring the tradition of tree lights to the United States.
Sir Joseph Swan decorated actors playing angels in an operetta with electric lighting, inspiring the term “fairy lights.”
President Grover Cleveland switched on the first electrically lit Christmas tree at the White House.
Now electric Christmas lights appear in most homes and many public spaces as part of the celebrations.
What?
It’s no coincidence that so many of our Christmas lights look like candles. That’s exactly what they would have been once upon a time, real candles sitting on the branches of real trees! But, of course, as the tradition moved indoors, that became a dangerous option.
Now tiny electrical lights can be produced in strings, nets, and even made into sculpture shapes. They can shine steadily, flash intermittently, or even switch on and off in time to music.
The reduction in price caused by mass production (way down from the $300 cost to light a tree in the early 1900s) has led to “fairy lights” being used for all kinds of events.
Where?
The idea of lighting up a tree with candles came from Germany and moved to England with the German-born relatives (and husband) of Queen Victoria.
American Thomas Edison’s work with electric light was directly
Different churches observe the evening in different ways; some have a watch-night service, some vespers. In many churches the only illumination will come from candles, helping to create a mood of prayer and contemplation.
Where?
The very first Christmas Eve happened in the same place every Christmas Eve has happened since. Just outside Bethlehem—and all around the world! The only difference is on that first evening very few were aware of the importance of the event; now people celebrate it all around the world.
On Christmas Eve, 1968, the tradition moved beyond this world when astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders read an extract from the Book of Genesis from on board the spaceship Apollo 8. The twentieth century’s equivalent of the three Wise Men did indeed “traverse afar.” They broadcast their message to the world from the moon’s orbit!
When?
Although the name implies an event that takes place in the evening, the term
Christmas Eve
generally applies to the whole of December 24. It ends at midnight.
So when was the first Christmas Eve? No one knows for sure. Dates for the birth of Jesus range from 3 BC to 29 AD. The reference to the shepherds still being on the hills with their sheep makes it seem unlikely the first Christmas Eve took place in midwinter.
What does it matter? As a time of anticipation of the arrival of Jesus, December 24 simply serves as a reminder that the whole year round—every year—might be spent in similar anticipation.
Why?
For many children, getting to sleep will be nearly impossible on Christmas Eve, so excited will they be about the gifts they hope to get in the morning! Hints may have been given as to the nature of those brightly wrapped boxes and clues offered just to tease. Then, of course, there is the opening of those presents!
The world waited a long time for Jesus to arrive. We were given all too brief a visit. And now it waits for him to return.
Christmas Eve is a reminder of those times of waiting, waiting for the gift we already know so much about but that will surely outstrip all expectations.
10
Christmas Lights
Who?
Before the coming of electricity, church services would only have been illuminated by daylight or candlelight. Some churches even resisted installing their own candelabras, asking families to bring their own candles or lamps, as
they
were the true lights of the church!
A woodcut picture of Queen Victoria’s candlelit Christmas tree helped bring the tradition of tree lights to the United States.
Sir Joseph Swan decorated actors playing angels in an operetta with electric lighting, inspiring the term “fairy lights.”
President Grover Cleveland switched on the first electrically lit Christmas tree at the White House.
Now electric Christmas lights appear in most homes and many public spaces as part of the celebrations.
What?
It’s no coincidence that so many of our Christmas lights look like candles. That’s exactly what they would have been once upon a time, real candles sitting on the branches of real trees! But, of course, as the tradition moved indoors, that became a dangerous option.
Now tiny electrical lights can be produced in strings, nets, and even made into sculpture shapes. They can shine steadily, flash intermittently, or even switch on and off in time to music.
The reduction in price caused by mass production (way down from the $300 cost to light a tree in the early 1900s) has led to “fairy lights” being used for all kinds of events.
Where?
The idea of lighting up a tree with candles came from Germany and moved to England with the German-born relatives (and husband) of Queen Victoria.
American Thomas Edison’s work with electric light was directly
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