History of the Christmas Celebration

While Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, many of the symbols and rituals associated with the holiday go back far beyond this important event. To learn more about the earlier origins of the holiday click here to read aboutYule Celebrations.

The practice of celebrating December 25th as the day of birth of the Christ child originated with the Roman Catholics. Gradually, many non-Catholic Christians joined in as well. 　　

Christmas is a relatively new celebration, especially in the 　　United States　　. In wasn't until the first half of the 19th century that American Sunday schools began to host Christmas festivities for their students to learn about the birth of Jesus. In 1836, 　　Alabama　　 was the first state to grant legal recognition to Christmas, but is wasn't until 1893 that all the states and territories recognized the holiday. 　　

While Europe had already been celebrating Christmas for some time, the first recorded sighting of a Christmas tree in 　America　 came in 1830's 　　Pennsylvania　　. It seems a local church erected the tree as a fundraising effort. At the time, Christmas trees were generally not thought kindly of, as many people saw them as Pagan symbols, which is in fact, their origin. By the 1890's however, Christmas ornaments were being imported from 　　Germany　　 and Christmas trees were in high fashion. 　　

It is interesting to note that while Europeans generally favored smaller trees of about three to four feet in height, Americans, as usual, liked to do things big. Their trees proudly stretched from floor to ceiling.