The British Academy

On the Christmas Eve, churches around the world hold evening services.

At midnight, most Catholic and many Protestant churches hold special candlelight services. The Catholic “Midnight Mass” was first introduced by the Roman Catholic Church in the 5th century.

Christmas Masses are sometimes solemn and sometimes buoyant, depending on the particular culture that conducts them.

On this day the worshipers enter the church in communal processions.Church services often feature candlelight and music. Some also include a dramatization of the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth.

The evergreen holly symbolises eternal life.

Druids believed the holly or ilex was sacred.

They thought this plant stayed green year round because it was especially favored by the sun.

Christian legend says one winter night, the holly miraculously grew leaves out of season in order to hide the Holy Family from Herod’s soldiers.

Since then, it has been an evergreen as a token of Christ’s gratitude

Mistletoe has long been a symbol of love, peace and goodwill.

Mistletoe is an aerial parasite that has no roots of its own and lives off the tree that it attaches itself to. Without that tree it would die.

Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Druids used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter.

Even the warring clans would stop their battles and claim a temporary truce when they would chance upon mistletoe.

They believed the plant had special healing powers for everything from female infertility to poison ingestion.

During Advent, Christians make preparations for the commemoration of Jesus’ birth on December 25.

Each of the four weeks symbolizes a different way in which believers perceive Christ: through the flesh, the Holy Spirit, death, and Christ’s judgment of the dead.

The Advent wreath, which consists of four candles anchored in a circle of evergreen branches, originated with German Lutherans; the tradition has been adopted by many churches and families.

At the beginning of each of the four weeks preceding Christmas, Christians light an Advent candle as they say a prayer.

There are many varieties of evergreen trees around the world, and finding the first variety used is a matter of myth.

Some of the oldest legends include fir trees.

Some older, verifiable accounts include hemlocks, though hemlock branches are often too frail to support most ornaments.

There are approximately 50 different kinds of conifers sold to eager holiday shoppers.

Common types include pines, spruces and other firs.

The Significance of Christmas is known to men, all over the world.

Though it is true that Christmas is celebrated as the day of the Birth of Christ into this world, yet it also symbolizes a very deeply significant truth of the spiritual life.

Jesus Christ is the very personification of Divinity.

He was born at a time when ignorance, superstition, greed, hatred and hypocrisy prevailed upon the land.
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The story goes that Mistletoe was the sacred plant of Frigga, goddess of love and the mother of Balder, the god of the summer sun.

Balder had a dream of death, which greatly alarmed his mother, for should he die, all life on earth would end.

Balder could not be hurt by anything on earth or under the earth. But Balder had one enemy, Loki, god of evil and he knew of one plant that grew neither on the earth nor under the earth, but on apple and oak trees.

It was lowly mistletoe. So Loki made an arrow tip of the mistletoe, gave to the blind god of winter, Hoder, who shot it, striking Balder dead.

For three days each element of universe tried to bring Balder back to life. Frigga, the goddess and his mother finally restored him.

It is said the tears she shed for her son turned into the pearly white berries on the mistletoe plant and in her joy Frigga kissed everyone who passed beneath the tree on which it grew.

The story ends with a decree that who should ever stand under the humble mistletoe, no harm should befall them, only a kiss, a token of love.

Christmas observances have also assimilated remnants of ancient rituals such as the custom of burning Yule logs; the Yule log symbolizes the victory of light over the darkness of winter.

The tradition of lighting the Yule log is still observed, especially by Europeans.

Families light the log on Christmas Eve and keep it burning until Epiphany.

Father Christmas is based on a real person, St. Nicholas, which explains his other name ‘Santa Claus’ which comes from the Dutch ‘Sinterklaas’.

Nicholas was a Christian leader from Myra (in modern-day Turkey) in the 4th century AD.

He was very shy, and wanted to give money to poor people without them knowing about it.

It is said that one day, he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney.

It landed in the stocking which a girl had put to dry by the fire! This may explain the belief that Father Christmas comes down the chimney and places gifts in children’s stockings.

Once the right kind of tree is secured, the next step is to source various ornamental items for its decorations.

It is up to the taste and preference of individual to decide the kind of look wanted to give to the tree.

This is true time to showcase the creativity with the help of color and style theme.

The Christmas tree is decorated with colorful ribbons, ornaments, glistening garland and blinking lights.

No matter how the tree is decorated it still symbolizes a timeless Christmas tradition of families gathered together exchanging presents and love.