Christmastide

Christmastide is a special season of celebration during the larger season of Wintertide.   Wintertide is a time of isolation and loneliness. With snow on the ground, it is hard to travel to places. With blizzards potentially en route, it is dangerous weather to get lost in.   Winter brings out the depression and fear of things unknown. Winter is a season of indoor activities and stories around fireplaces.   Explaining Winter will take too long. But I hope this helps set the scene.   Christmas, or Christmastide as it also has been called, is time for joy, hope, love, peace and forgiveness. It is time to celebrate the gathering of family, more food, and to give of yourself spreading Light and Life wherever people roam.  

Traditions

There are many traditions within this season of giving and family.   The first is decorations.   Many traditions come to us as reminders with Christmas Décor.   One of the biggest is a home’s Christmas Tree. This decoration has much history and other decorations on it. Either live or dead, it is a symbol of Nature and Unity and Strength with warmth surrounding you. Below a tree, a tree skirt or tree kilt is placed on the floor to help liven it up!   The star on top also represents light.   There are nutcrackers, tinsel, and other cool things inside houses.   Beside lights on the house, modern blow-ups and outside décor decorate the lawns.   Most people in the snowy places also build snow people and snow angels. We go back inside.   The fireplace also has socks, most mortals call these stockings, hanging. This represents the beginning of Santa Claus who found sock drying via the fire in the fireplace.   Other traditions, like Santa Claus and activities, also exist.  

Santa CLaus

Santa Claus is a person that is part of Christmas Traditions and History. His mythos is impossible to not talk about but it is complicated. Sufficient to say, this man is a giver and someone who is pure of heart. His kindness is well-known and like his generosity follows him everywhere he goes.   Santa in today’s modern world drives a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and delivers toys and sweets. The naughty kids, unlike the nice kids, get coal.   Santa Claus is not the only Gift-giver. Others, based on the culture of a country’s Christmas Eve, are said to deliver in that country.   Christmas is also celebrated on three famous days. These coincide with a country’s arrival of their Gift-giver.   December 6th is the earliest. St. Nicholas Day, said to be the day of St. Nicholas’s death, is the day before. It is a European (Spain mostly) day. January 6th is the last day. This is often seen in Russia and countries that belonged to the USSR and others who practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity.   And course the infamous day, December 25th! The supposed day that is actually Christmas. In the US, Canada, United Kingdom and other countries, this is when Santa Claus arrives.   Christmas is held on various days and Santa Claus has many friends.   Many cultures also celebrate Christmas differently.   Children are excited for their presents at Christmas. Those are hidden beneath the tree. As tradition dictates in many households, one present may be open on Christmas Eve unless families open all.   On Christmas [Day], children awaken to find presents all over and stockings filled to the brim. Parents, on the hand, do NOT awaken at 5AM. Noon is their preferred time.   Children do eventually and still excitedly open their presents without a care about wrapping. Stockings too.  

Activities

There are three activities. The first is caroling.   Caroling, or singing in Harmony and Unity, is said to keep the evil spirits and beings away. It spreads Christmas Cheer or least helps to.   The second activity is giving. Christmas is about giving to those in need. Time, something you can never take back, is important for the sake of Holiday Togetherness. People giving money is also important but it means more to spend time with people.   The last activity is eating.  

Food

For many during the holiday, Christmas is glutenous.   The tons of food served at family dinners are more than those visiting can handle. Sometimes, it is given away to organizations or to neighbors and friends.   Food is a large part of the holiday season. Santa, in different cultures, receives a snack on his rounds. What that is depends on which culture or country he is in.   Cultures also have different meals on the eve of a holiday.  

Twelvetide

Christmas Day is the start of the Twelvetide. Lasting until January 6th, this celebrates a continuance of Christmas Spirit into the New Year. We start and end the year with Christmas everywhere!   Christmas is a time for giving, for Hope, for Love, for Joy, for Peace, and so kindness and Light endure!   “Nativity Story” and History:   Christmas is the Christian version of Saturnalia.   Christmas, as Christianity says. began with the birth of Jesus Christ. We often call it “The Story the First Christmas” or “First Night of Holy Birth”or “Nativity Story”. A lot of Christmas Traditions and Décor are from or take their meaning from this story.