The Roman Road to Walmart: Christmas through the Ages

Alina Page

Christmas is a time when families come together and celebrate. It can be a stressful time but also one replete with colorful rituals and traditions: Santa Claus and his nine reindeer; waking up to presents under the tree, stockings full of candy, and half-eaten cookies and milk on the kitchen table. Christmas, of course, is also a time for commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, at least for the devout among us. Whatever Christmas is to you, a time of gathering, a time of prayer, or an excuse to shop, it is a holiday that, more than any other, marks the passing of the year. 

The first evidence of Christmas was in Rome in 336 AD. The word "Christmas" originated from two archaic words: Christes maesse,"the Mass of Christ," the Catholic Mass during which the priest re-offers the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross during the time of Communion. But Christmas was not the sole, original winter celebration in the Roman Empire, in fact, the Saturnalia, or winter festival, was a pagan-inspired holiday that had long been observed and established. 

Early in the 4th Century, the Roman Catholic Church, which was the dominant church in Europe, adopted the holiday and tried to convert it into a Christian celebration, declaring December 25 to be the day of the Lord's birth, calling it the Feast of the Nativity. While Christmas may be a religious holiday for many Christians, the Christmas holiday in the American culture isn't that religious at all. Christmas in the American culture is very secular, and that may be, ironically, because of Santa Claus. 

Santa Claus is the anglicized form of the Dutch name St. Nicholas Sinterklaas. Although the modern Santa Claus is associated with a world of fantasy, the historical St. Nicholas was a pious man known for his charity and generosity. There are many stories about Nicholas’s life, many of them emphasizing his kindness. It is said that Nicholas’s parents were devout believers who had long prayed for a child. When Nicholas was finally born, they devoted him to God. However, when Nicholas was still a young boy, a plague struck his city, and both of his parents died. In most cases, a loss like this might turn some away from God, but this drew Nicholas closer to him. After his death on December 6, 343 AD, a tradition of gift giving began in his honor. The custom of hanging stockings also comes from the story of St. Nicholas. 

1,500 years later, popular images of Santa Claus were being circulated by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast, who drew a new image of the character every year. By the 1880s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the old, cherry-cheeked man we now recognize. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920s. Today, Santa Claus is not a religious figure or symbol, Santa is a little bit of Christianity, a little bit of pre-Christian paganism, and a whole lot of modern, secular myth-making. Santa Claus as a Christmas figure has always been relatively secular, and this has only intensified over time. 

With the adaptation of Santa Claus, people also embraced the practice of decorating  trees. It was known that the evergreen tree was an ancient symbol of life in the midst of winter, Romans would therefore decorate their houses with evergreen branches during the New Year, and ancient inhabitants of northern Europe would cut evergreen trees and plant them in boxes inside their houses. However, by the early Middle Ages, the legend had grown that when Christ was born in the dead of winter, every tree throughout the world miraculously shook off its ice and snow and produced new shoots of green. With this legend, a star was affixed on the top of a tree to represent the star in the east that shone where the baby Jesus laid in a manger, and the lights and ornaments on a tree came to represent the stars and planets in the sky. Some Christians even place a manger at the base of the Christmas tree.

The works of O. Henry, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Nast all helped to shape our concepts of Santa Claus and other aspects of the holiday. The custom of giving and receiving presents at Christmas, in the Christian religion, is to remind us of the presents given to Jesus by the three Magi. The magi were kings from the East, wise men who traveled a great distance following a star, to find the Christ child and to bring him gifts. They brought Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh. Frankincense was a perfume used in Jewish worship and, as a gift, it showed that people would worship Jesus. Gold was associated with Kings and Christians believe that Jesus is the King of Kings. Myrrh was a perfume that was put on dead bodies to make them smell nice and, as a gift, it showed that Jesus would suffer and die. 

For some, Christmas is a way to celebrate the Christian holy day. For others, it is a special time to let family and friends know that you care by giving gifts. At times, giving gifts at Christmas becomes almost as a chore. When this happens, it is worth stepping aside for a few moments and considering why exactly we give gifts at Christmas. 

Merry Christmas!

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