I Can’t Sleep - Christmas | Gentle Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: December 24, 2020

Unwind with this calm bedtime reading on Christmas, a peaceful way to ease insomnia and settle into sleep. Benjamin’s soothing voice explores the holiday’s history, traditions, and cultural significance, from its Christian origins to the many customs celebrated around the world today. His gentle cadence turns festive details into soft, fact-filled narration that relaxes the mind. This is not whispering or hypnosis—just calm storytelling and education designed to reduce stress, ease anxiety, and help with sleepless nights. Press play, close your eyes, and let the quiet story of Christmas guide you into dreams. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Christmas, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Christmas. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled, Christmas.

Christmas, or the Feast of the Nativity, is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25th, as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity fast, and initiates the season of Christmas Tide, which historically in the West last 12 days and accumulates on 12th night. In some traditions, Christmas Tide includes an octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians,

as well as culturally by many non-concathes, Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it. The traditional Christmas narrative, the nativity of Jesus, delineated in the New Testament, says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in accordance with messianic prophecies. When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room, and so they were offered a stable, where the Christ child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds, who then further disseminated the information. Although the month and date of Jesus' birth are unknown, the church in the early 4th century fixed the date as December 25th. This corresponds to the date

of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. Most Christians celebrate on December 20, 25th in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. However, part of the Eastern Christian churches celebrate Christmas on December 25th of the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7th in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than knowing Jesus's exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas. The celebratory customs associated in various countries

with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, completing an Advent calendar, or Advent wreath, Christmas music and caroling, viewing a nativity play, an exchange of Christmas cards, church services, a special meal, and the display of various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and other interchangeable figures known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, and Christkind are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season, and have their own body of traditions and lore. Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, The holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

Christmas is a shortened form of Christ's Mass. The word is recorded as Christismath. in 1038 and Christus Mesa in 1131. Christ, genitive Christus, is from Greek Christos, a translation of Hebrew, Messiah, meaning anointed. The Mesa is from Latin Misa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christen Moss was also historical. used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal.

The term derives from Middle English, Christian Massa, meaning Christian Mass. X-Mus is an abbreviation of Christmas found particularly in print, based on the initial letter, Key, X, in Greek, Christos, Christos, Christ, though numerous style guides, discourage its use. This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English. Other names. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by various other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons

referred to the feast as midwinter, or more rarely as natuities from Latin nativitas below. Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin Nativitas. In old English, Jeola, Yule, referred to the period corresponding to December and January, which was eventually equated with Christian Christmas. Noel, or Noel, entered English in the late 14th century, and is from the old French Noel, or Neel, itself ultimately. from the Latin Natales, Diaz, meaning birthday. Nativity. The Gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus as being born in Besslehem to the Virgin Mary.

In Luke, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Besslehem for the census, and Jesus is born there and laid in a manger. Angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. Matthew adds that the Magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the king of the Jews. King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later returns to Nazareth. History

The nativity sequences included in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke prompted early Christian writers to suggest various dates for the anniversary. Although no date is indicated in the Gospels, early Christians connected Jesus to the sun through the use of such phrases as Son of righteousness. The Romans marked the winter solstice on December 25th. The first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome on December 25th, AD 336. In the third century, the date of the nativity was the subject of great interest.

Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote, There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day, and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 28th day of the Egyptian month, Pachan, May 20th. Further, others say that he was born on the 24th or 25th of Farmouti, April 20th or 21st. Various factors contributed to the selection of December 25th as a date of celebration. It was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar, and it was nine months after March 25th.

the date of the Vernal Echonox, and a date linked to the conception of Jesus, now annunciation. Christmas played a role in the Aryan controversy of the 4th century. After this controversy ran its course, the prominence of the holiday declined for a few centuries. The feast regained prominence after 800 when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day. Later, during the Protestant Reformation, the Puritans banned Christmas in England, associating it with the drunkenness and other misbehavior. It was restored as a legal holiday in England in 1660, but remained disreputable in the minds of many people.

In the early 19th century, Christmas was reconceived by Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, and other authors as a holiday emphasizing family, children, kind-heartedness, gift-giving, and Santa Claus. Introduction of the Festival Christmas does not appear on the lists of festivals given by the early Christian writers, Arunus and Tertullian. Origin and Arnobius both fault the pagans for celebrating birthdays, which suggests that Christmas was not celebrated in their time.

Arnobius wrote after AD 297, the chronography of 354 records at a Christmas celebration took place in Rome and 336. In the east, the birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6. This holiday was not primarily about the nativity, but rather the baptism of Jesus. Christmas was promoted in the East as part of the revival of Orthodox Christianity that followed the death of pro-Aryan Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianopoly in 378. The feast was introduced in Constantinople in 379, in Antioch by John Chrysostom towards the end of the 4th century, probably in 388,

and in Alexandria in the following century. Solstice date. December 25th was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. A late 4th century sermon by St. Augustine explains why this was a fitting day to celebrate Christ's nativity. Hence it is that he was born on the day, which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning, and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the one once light begins to increase.

Linking Jesus to the sun was supported by various biblical passages. Jesus was considered to be the Son of Righteousness, prophesied by Malachi. unto you shall the sun of righteousness arise, and healing is in his wings. Such solar symbolism could support more than one date of birth. An anonymous work known as De Paska Camputus linked the idea that creation began at the spring equinox on March 25th. With the conception or birth, the word Nascore can mean either of Jesus on March 28th. the day of the creation of the sun in the Genesis account. One translation reads,

O the splendid and divine providence of the Lord, that on that day, the very day on which the sun was made, March 28th, a Wednesday, Christ should be born. In the 17th century, Isaac Newton, who coincidentally was born on December 25th, argued that the date of Christmas may have been selected to correspond with the solstice. According to Stephen Hyman's of the University of Alberta, it is cosmic symbolism which inspired the church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice,

December 25th, as the birthday of Christ, and the northern solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception. Calculation hypothesis The calculation hypothesis suggests that an earlier holiday held on March 25th became associated with the incarnation. Christmas was then calculated as nine months later. The calculation hypothesis was proposed by French writer Louis Duchain

in 1889. In modern times, March 25th is celebrated as anunciation. This holiday was created in the 7th century and was assigned to a date that is nine months before Christmas, in addition to being the traditional date of the equinox. It is unrelated to the quarto decimine, which had been forgotten by this time, forgotten by everyone except the Jews, of course, who continued to observe Passover, also a quartadeciman feast. Early Christians celebrated the life of Jesus on a date considered equivalent to 14 Nissan Passover on the local calendar. Because Passover was held on the 14th of the month, this feast is referred to as a quarter decimen. All the major events of Christ's life, especially the Passion, were celebrated on this date.

In his letter to Corinthians, Paul mentions Passover, presumably celebrated according to the local calendar in Corinth. Turtulian, who lived in Latin-speaking North Africa, gives the date of passion celebration as March 25th. The date of the Passion was moved to Good Friday in 165, when Pope Soter created Easter by reassigning the resurrection to a Sunday. According to the calculation hypothesis, the celebration of the quartadicemen continued in some areas, and the feast became associated with incarnation. The calculation hypothesis is considered academically to be a thoroughly viable hypothesis. pathosos, though not certain. It was a traditional Jewish belief that great men were born and died on the same day, so lived a whole number of years without fractions. Jesus was therefore considered to have been conceived on March 25th as he died on March 25th, which was calculated to have

coincided with 14 Nissan. A passage in commentary on the prophet Daniel by a Hippolytus of Rome identifies December 25th as the date of the Nativity. This passage is generally considered a late interpolation, but the manuscript includes another passage, one that is more likely to be authentic, that gives the passion as March 25th. In 221, Sextus Julius Afrikanus gave March 25th as the day of creation and the conception of Jesus in his universal history.

This conclusion was based on solar symbolism with March 25th the date of the equinox. As this implies a birth in December, it is sometimes claimed to be the earliest identification of December 25th as the nativity. However, Afrikanus was not such an influential writer that it is likely he determined the date of Christ. Christmas. The Tractate de Solsticia and Equinoctia Concepcionis and Nativitati's Domini Nostri, Lesu Christi and Loanis Baptiste, falsely attributed to John Chrysostim, also argued that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the same day of the year, and calculated this as March 25th. synonymous tract also states,

But Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December, the eight before the calendar of January, 25th December. But they call it the birthday of the unconquered. Who indeed is so unconquered as our Lord? Or if they say that it is the birthday of the sun, he is the son of justice. History of religious hypothesis. The rival history of religion's hypothesis suggests that the church selected December 25th date to appropriate festivities held by the Romans in honor of the sun god Sol Invictus. This cult was established by Aurelian in 274. An explicit expression of this theory appears in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript of a work by 12th century Syrian bishop.

Jacob Bar Sullyby. A scribe who added it wrote, It was a custom of the pagans to celebrate on the same 25th December, the birthday of the sun at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries, the Christians also took part. Accordingly, when the doctors of the church perceived the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel. and resolved that the true nativity should be solemnized on that day. In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablanski argued Christmas was placed on December 25th to correspond with the Roman solar holiday, Dias Natalis Solis Invicti,

and was therefore a paganization that debased the true church. It has been argued that, in the contrary, the Emperor Aurelian, who, and 274 instituted the holiday of the Dias Natales Solis Invicti, did so partly as an attempt to give a pagan significance to a date already important to Christians in Rome. Hermann Usenor and others proposed that the Christians chose this day because it was the Roman feast celebrating the births Sol Invictus. Modern scholar S. E. Heimans, however, states that while they were aware that pagans called this day the birthday of Solenvictus, this did not concern them, and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas. Moreover, Thomas J. Talley holds that the Roman

Emperor Orelian placed a festival of Sol Invictus on December 25th in order to compete with the growing rate of the Christian Church, which had already been celebrating Christmas on that date first. In the judgment of the Church of England liturgical commission, the history of religion's hypothesis has been challenged by a view based on an old tradition, according to which the date of Christmas was fixed at nine months after March 25th, the date of the vernal equinox on which the enunciation was celebrated. With regard to a December religious feast of the deified sun, soul, as distinct from a solstice feast of the birth or rebirth of the astronomical sun,

one scholar has commented that, while the winter solstice on or around December 25th was well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there is no evidence that a religious celebration of soul on that day antedated the celebration of Christmas. Thomas Talley has shown that, although the Emperor Aurelian's dedication of a temple to the sun god in the campus, Matius, probably took place on the birthday of the Invincible Sun on December 25th. A cult of the sun in pagan Rome ironically did not celebrate the winter solstice,

nor any of the other quarter-tenth days, as one might expect. The Oxford companion to Christian thought remarks on the uncertainty about the order of precedence between the religious celebrations of the birthday of the Unconquered Son and of the birthday of Jesus, stating that the hypothesis that December 25th was chosen for celebrating the birth of Jesus on the basis of the belief that his conception occurred on March 25th, potentially establishes 25th December as a Christian festival before Aurelian's decree, which when promulgated might have provided for the Christian feast both opportunity and challenge. Relation to concurrent celebrations. Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently

of the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with some claiming that certain elements have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity. The prevailing atmosphere of Christmas has also continually evolved since the holiday's inception, ranging from a sometimes raucous, drunken, carnival-like state in the Middle Ages, to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme, introduced in a 19th century transformation. The celebration of Christmas was banned on more than one occasion within certain groups, such as the Puritans and Jehovah's Witnesses, who do not celebrate birthdays in general due to concerns that it was too unbiblical. Prior to and through the early Christian centuries,

winter festivals were the most popular of the year in many European pagan cultures. Reasons include the fact that less agricultural work needed to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached. Celtic winter herbs such as mistletoe and ivy and the custom of kissing under a mistletoe are common and modern Christmas celebrations in the English-speaking countries. The pre-Christian Germanic peoples, including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse, celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. yielding modern English Yule, today used as a synonym for Christmas.

In Germanic language-speaking areas, numerous elements of modern Christmas folk, custom, and iconography, may have originated from Yule, including the Yule Log, Yule Boar, and the Yule Goat. Often leading a ghostly procession through the sky, the wild, hunt. The long-bearded god Odin is referred to as the Yule one and Yule Father in Old Norse texts, while other gods are referred to as Yule beings. On the other hand, as there are no reliable existing references to a Christmas log prior to the 16th century, the burning of the Christmas block may have been an early modern invention by Christians unrelated to the page.

pagan practice. In Eastern Europe also, old pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations, an example being the Kaleda, which was incorporated into the Christmas Carol. Post-classical history, in the early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in Western Christianity focused on the visit of the Magi. But the medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The 40 days before Christmas became the 40 days of St. Martin, which began on November 11th, the Feast of St. Martin of Tours, now known as Advent. In Italy, former Saturnilian traditions were attached to Advent.

Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the 12 days of Christmas. December 25th to January 5th, a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmas-tide or 12 holy days. The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 1800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855, and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066. By the high Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted were various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377, at which 28 oxen and 300 sheep were eaten. The Yule Boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts.

Carolyn also became popular and was originally performed by a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned Carolyn as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form. misrule, drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling, was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale. Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated Ivy, Holly, and other evergreens. Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships

such as tenant and landlord. The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England. And by the 17th century, the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masks, and pageants. In 1607, King James I first insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night, and that the court indulge in games. It was during the Reformation in 16th to 17th century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift-bringer to the Christchild or Christkindle, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve. Modern History Associating it with drunkenness and other misbehavior, the Puritans banned Christmas in England in the 17th century.

It was restored as a legal holiday in 1660 but remained disreputable. In the early 19th century, the Oxford movement in the Anglican Church ushered in the development of richer and more symbolic forms of worship, the building of neo-Gothic churches, and the revival and increasing centrality of the keeping of Christmas itself as a Christian festival, as well as special charities for the poor, in addition to special services and musical events. Charles Dickens and other writers helped in this revival of the holiday by changing consciousness of Christmas and the way in which it was celebrated, as they emphasized family, religion, gift-giving, and social reconciliation, as opposed to the historic revelry common in some places. 18th century. Following the Protestant Reformation, many of the new denominations, including the Anglican Church

and Lutheran Church, continued to celebrate Christmas. In 1629, the Anglican poet John Milton penned, on the morning of Christ's nativity, a poem that has since been read by many during Christmas died. Donald Hines, a professor at California State University, states that Martin Luther inaugurated a period in which Germany would produce a unique culture of Christmas, much copied in North America. Among the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church, Christmas was celebrated as one of the principal evangelical feasts. However, in 17th century England, some groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering a Catholic invention and the trappings of popery or the rags of the beast.

In contrast, the established Anglican Church pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons, and saints' days. The calendar reform became a major point of tension between the Anglican Party and the Puritan. Party. The Catholic Church also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in Wind Winter to keep up their old-style Christmas generosity. Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas and security.

1747. Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities, and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters who decorated doorways with holly and shattered royalist slogans. The book, The Vindication of Christmas, London, 1652, argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card-beckoned, playing, dances with plowboys and maid servants, old Father Christmas, and Carol singing. The restoration of King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many Calvinist clergymen still disapproved a Christmas celebration. As such, in Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland discouraged the observance of Christmas, and though James VI commanded its celebration,

and 1618, attendance at church was scant. The Parliament of Scotland officially abolished the observance of Christmas in 1640, claiming that the church had been purged of all superstitious observation of days. It was not until 1958 that Christmas again became a Scottish public holiday. Following the restoration of Charles II, poor Robbins' almanac contained the lines. Now, thanks to God for Charles return, whose absence made all Christmas mourn, for then we scarcely did it know, whether it Christmas were or no. A diary of James Woodford from the latter half of the 18th century details the observance of Christmas and celebrations associated with the season over a number of years. In colonial America, the pilgrims of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval

of Christmas. The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World working, thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day. Non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England. Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659. The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by English Governor Edmund Andros. However, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region. At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German settlers, preeminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Liddeds,

in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia settlements in North Carolina were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Morovians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America, as well as the first nativity scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian German mercenaries on the day after Christmas, during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time. With the aesthetic cult of reason in power during the era of Revolutionary France, Christian Christmas religious services were banned and the Three Kings

cake was renamed the Equality Cake under anti-clerical government policies. 19th century. In the UK, Christmas Day became a bank holiday in 1834. Boxing Day the day after Christmas was added in 1871. In the early 19th century, writers imagined Tudor Christmas was a time of heartfelt celebration. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol, which helped revive the spirit of Christmas and seasonal merriment. its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion. Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, linking worship and feasting within a context of social reconciliation.

Superimposing his humanitarian vision of the holiday and what has been termed Carroll philosophy, Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit. A prominent phrase from the tale, Merry Christmas, was popularized following the appearance of the story. This coincided with the appearance of the Oxford movement and the growth of Anglo-Catholicism, which led a revival in traditional rituals and religious observances. The term Scrooge became a synonym for Miser, with bah humbug, dismissive of the festive spirit. In 1843, the first commercial Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole.

The revival of the Christmas Carol began with William Sandy's Christmas Carol, ancient and modern, 1833. But the first appearance in print of the First Noel, I saw three ships, Hark the Herald Angels sing, and God rest ye, merry gentlemen, popularized in Dickens a Christmas Carol. In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in early 19th century, following the personal union with the Kingdom of Hanover, by Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Streliott's wife of King George III. In 1832, the future Queen Victoria wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights, ornaments, and presents placed around it. After her marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert, by 1841,

the custom became more widespread throughout Britain. An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created a sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in the United States in 1850. By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America. In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving, which appear in his The Sketchbook of Jeffrey Crayon, Jen, and Old Christmas. Irving's stories depicted harmonious, warm-hearted English Christmas festivities

he experienced while staying in Aston Hall, Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned, and he used the tract vindication of Christmas, 1652, of Old English Christmas Traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories. In 1822, Clement Clark Moore wrote the poem. poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, popularly known by its first line, twas the night before Christmas. The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance. This also started the cultural conflict between the holiday's spiritual significance and its associated commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850s,

50 book, The First Christmas in New England, Harriet Beatrice Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree. While the celebration of Christmas was not yet customary in some regions in the U.S., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected a transition state about Christmas here in New England in 1856. The old Puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday, though every year makes it more so. In reading Pennsylvania, a newspaper remarked in 1861. Even our Presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the

Savior's birth. The first Congregational Church of Rockford, Illinois, although of genuine Puritan stock, was preparing for a grand Christmas Jubilee, a news correspondent reported in 1864. By 1860, 14 states, including several from New England, had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday. In 1875, Louis Prong introduced the Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the father of the American Christmas card. On June 28, 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States federal holiday.