The hidden secretive origins of a Merry Christmas

CAIRO – 25 December 2017: Christmas comes every year with a special spirit spread across the world as children can hardly contain their excitement, decorating Christmas trees and waiting for the presents from Santa Claus. Christmas traditions have passed on from one generation to another; however has developed over the years, creating unrecognizable festive traditions to old generations of the 1880’s. Egypt Today gives a quick “merry” glimpse at the origins of the festive holdidays.

Who was the original Santa Claus?

The story of Santa Claus was originated from the Saint Nicolas, who was a Greek bishop during the third century. After his wealthy parents died, he dedicated his inheritance to the sick, the poor and the suffering. One of the poor men St Nicolas has helped was a poor father of three daughters who struggled to maintain a decent financial amount of dowries for his daughters’ marriages of else they’re doomed to be sold in a slavery market. Consequently, St Nicolas mysteriously tossed three bags of gold through an open window of the man’s house.


Caption: Saint Nicolas- Courtesy from Orthocath

Why are stockings hung upon chimneys during Christmas?

In efforts to generously help the poor father, St Nicolas has thrown the bags of many into the man’s house where it landed in shoes or stockings left near the fire to dry. Many years later these three bags of gold became a tradition, where children hung their socks near the fire to receive gifts from St Nicolas.

Sometimes the golden balls have been added in the stockings instead of the original bags of gold. From this time, children used to hang gold balls on Christmas trees and stockings, as a symbol of remembering St. Nicolas as a gift-giver.

Many years later, the date of St Nicolas’s death on December 6,343 had been widely observed throughout Europe In UK St Nicolas became ‘Father Christmas’ or ‘Old Man Christmas’ while in some countries including Austria and Germany, St Nicolas became the 'Christkind' a golden-haired baby, with wings.

US didn’t celebrate Christmas during that time as it was banned. Consequently, an antiquarian John Pintard transferred Europe’s traditions and grafted them in celebration for Christmas, emerging Santa Claus as a gift giver in Christmas.

During that period, there wasn’t any images of St. Nicolas where all sketched images created by the artist Alexander Anderson for St Nicholas Day dinner in 1810 – remained in black and white and decidedly episcopal, showing St Nicholas in one frame and some sleepy children hanging up their stockings next to the fireplace in an adjoining one.

This was until 1823 when a poem called “A Visit from St. Nicolas,” better known as “The Night Before Christmas,” or Christmas Eve was anonymously published in a semi weekly newspaper between 1823-1832 in New York the Troy Sentinel. The poem describes has recreated a fictional version of St Nicolas as a man with rosy cheeks and cherry nose, riding in carriage with eight reindeers, carrying toys and gifts on his flying carriage for well-behaved children.

This poem reflects the idea about the notion of Santa Claus, but during the time where that depiction emerged Santa Claus wasn’t perceived as an old man wearing a red outfit as he was more likely dressed in brown customs.

The image of Santa standardized as a full-size adult, dressed in red with white fur trim, venturing out from the North Pole in a reindeer-driven sleigh began in 1870s with the American cartoonist Thomas Nast. Before reaching the final version of Santa Claus, he first produced several drawings. In 1881, he drew an image similar to the well-known portrait.


Old Santa Claus by Thomas Nast, from the 1881 edition of Harper’s Weekly-Courtesy from Santa's Whiskers

Yet, Nast’s choice of portraying Santa in the red outfit has remained ambiguous to this day. Some suggested that he had taken an iconography of St Nicolas, which is often depicted through red robes. He was more likely inspired by the rosy-cheeked, red-nosed Santa of the poem with the red outfit playing off the whiteness of the fur, beard and snow.

Later, the idea of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who did not like Christmas, appeared with the ghosts of Christmas after the Victorian author Charles Dickens had released his great work of Christmas in December 1843 called ‘A Christmas Carol’.

The legend behind the Christmas Tree

Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees. The tradition of the Christmas tree came from Germany, introduced first in British and American societies by Queen Victoria’s husband. , the German-born Prince Albert. He has put up a decorated Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, at the English county of Berkshire in 1841.

The woodcut illustrations of the Royal Family’s tree appeared in London magazines in 1848. Those illustrations were published in America a year later and created a fashionable impression of the Christmas tree in upper class homes.

The first electric Christmas tree lights appeared in 1880s thanks to an of Thomas Edison’s discovery of electricity, but they were too expensive for the households, and as a result people replaced lights with candles. , making candles among Christmas symbols.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

The well-known loyal friend of Santa Claus has been a warm symbol throughout history; however originated from a comic book! The Montgomery Ward department store thought of creating a new character to be drawn within coloring books that were delivered to children who paid Santa a visit. As a result “Rudolph the Deer” was created and grew popular among children where the department has given out 2.4 million copies of the coloring booklet during the first year the character was launched.

Rudolph the friendly deer was the brainchild of a copywriter named May in Montgomery Ward department who was experiencing a tough personal time throughout his life. The copywriter began the creation process in 1939 following the death of his wife who suffered cancer and left a four-year old daughter.




CAPTION: Santa Claus' Reindeer - Pixabay

He was inspired by the character and mentioned later in his life that the deer helped him heal; the company has later dedicated financial rights to May following the growing popularity of the character.

The company’s decision further emphasizes the generous spirit that continued to live among communities through the years during the festive season.