Being Santa Claus
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The History of Santa Claus and Christmas










The Christmas carol starts: “Here we come a’wassailing among the leaves so green…” But what the heck is a wassail? As it turns out, wassail is both a noun and a verb…and a greeting! The greeting came first, as the old Norse “Ves Heill” (which became the Anglo-Saxon “Waes Hael”) meant “Be in good health.” The proper response was “Drinc Hael” (“Drink in good health”). And this led to the noun wassail, which first appeared in written form in the old English epic poem “Beowulf” (written between 700 and 1000 A.D.) as the sweet, spiced mead or ale that was consumed…often in very liberal quantities!
What’s much more interesting, though, is how wassail became a verb. During the early middle ages throughout Europe, farmers would go out to their orchards during the winter months and pour cider and other alcohols onto the roots of their fruit trees in the hope that those trees would produce more fruit in the next harvest. This was known as wassailing and often included the singing of songs to frighten away evil spirits that might be living in the trees. As Christmas traditions spread throughout Europe later in the middle ages, wassailing began to be done on the twelfth night of Christmas, as farmers asked the baby Jesus to bless their trees. And that is how wassailing (the verb) came to be connected with Christmas and singing carols.

The origin of the Christmas tree
Although the Scandinavians brought trees into their homes for Juul, Christmas trees didn’t become a tradition in the rest of Europe until the 16th century. However, we have to go back 800 years earlier for the first-ever Christmas tree. One Christmas eve in the 8th century, St. Boniface, a Catholic missionary to the Germans from Britain, chopped down a large oak tree that the Germans used for pagan worship. He told them the fir tree represented peace and eternal life and to gather around evergreen trees in the spirit of kindness and love, saying that the triangular shape of the evergreen represented the Holy Trinity. Devout Germans quickly embraced this idea, initially decorating their “paradise trees” with apples, nuts, berries, and white candles.
In the 15th century, more elaborate ornaments began to be incorporated onto the trees. In Latvia around 1600, roses were used to represent the Virgin Mary. In 1605 in Strasbourg, a tree was brought indoors for the first time in Germany and decorated with paper roses, wafers, candies, and candles. In 1610, tinsel made of pure silver was introduced. The tradition of taking trees inside the home and decorating them then began to quickly spread throughout Europe. Christmas trees took longer to catch on in America, however, as strict Puritanical groups initially saw the trees as pagan customs. Still, German settlers were more than happy to enjoy Christmas trees in the 1700s and 1800s until the rest of America caught on to all the fun!






















What’s the difference between Santa Claus and Father Christmas?





