Let's Find Out - The History of Christmas | ASMR

Episode Date: November 30, 2019

Why do we buy Christmas trees? Santa is a 4th Century Saint from Turkey? Celebrating Christmas used to be illegal?... Christmas has a longer history than you might think. But it's also not as rigid either. From pagan, winter solstice rituals and festivities, to Madison Avenue marketing of Old St. Nick, Christmas is defined by humans, and we seem to always try to have a good time. Let's find out the history of Christmas. Thanks for watching. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #ASMR #history #Christmas

To me, the Christmas tradition conjures warm feelings and nostalgic memories, and it's hard not to associate it with good times when values like spreading Christmas cheer and spending time with our family and our friends lie at its core. We decorate our houses, inside and out, with sparkling lights and festively colored knick-knacks and candy canes. We light apple-cinemone candles and cook elaborate Christmas dinners. we set up evergreen trees, garlands, and wreaths, adding that extra touch of Christmas aroma to our homes. And of course, even these don't escape our decorating fever.

And rounding out this collective fantasy of good spirits and ornate decorations and hearty meals is a national holiday off work. And one in which we exchange gifts with those closest to us to boot. Word Christianity itself has as its root the centerpiece of the Christian religion, Christ. But interestingly, most of the traditions I just described have little to do with an historical Jewish boy born on the east banks of the Mediterranean over 2,000 years ago. And especially in the 20th century, the Christmas holiday has become increasingly secularized, meaning non-religious assimilating modern art

and now marketing into what appears to be a collective agreement to buy gifts, dress our homes up and partake in one last celebration before the new year but long before the birth of Jesus

the depths of winter were celebrated for another reason and many of the ideas and behaviors we think of as synonymous with Christmas were actually shunned by the church until only a century ago. So how did a fat, bearded North Pole native come to clandestinely deliver gifts and sometimes coal down the chimneys of billions of homes in a single night and be celebrated alongside the newborn baby Jesus?

Well, let's find out. Jesus, I'm sure most of you know, is an historical first century. Jewish preacher and religious prophet from Nazareth, the capital in the largest city in the northern district of modern day Israel. Being central to Christianity, most Christians believe he is the actual incarnation of God in human flesh. This actually is an interesting logical argument, once I looked into it for the divinity of an apparent man. Briefly, if you consider what the definition of God is, is a deity omnipotent, omniscient, all-knowing, all-present,

he doesn't seem to lack anything except, as one rabbi commented on the Torah, saying, the one thing he does lack is, limitation itself. And this is actually remedied by having a mortal son. So by this logic, the ultimate unity or oneness of the Judeo-Christian God is theoretically fulfilled by manifesting himself in the human form called the Christ, meaning the Messiah, as prophesized in the Old Testament of the Bible. So, that's a long, extremely brief precursor to, you know, who Christ is even. The name Christmas, now, as you can imagine, has the root of Christ in it,

is a shortened form of the phrase Christ's mass, Christ's mass. Mass in this sense, apparently has multiple origins from what I found. The English noun mass is derived from the, Middle Latin, Misa. I just thought of Jarger-Rubanks there. That's sad. The Latin term Misa itself was in use by the 6th century. It's most likely derived from the concluding formula,

Ite Misa ist, or Go, the dismissal is made, to which is said at the end of a priest's sermon, often in Latin, and to which the mass of people traditionally respond, deo gratius, or gracious, thanks be to God. I also found some other explanations for the term mass, not derived from that formula, Ite Misa est. Fortescue, a philologist, I believe,

or religious critic, Fortescue, from the early 20th century, 19, cites older etymological explanations such as the Latinization of the Hebrew matza which even

I remember my Jewish friends talking you know about eating and during their holidays unleavened bread which means it doesn't rise or the term

oblation which I actually don't know what thing presented or offered to God it's almost like a Oh, okay. Almost like a libation. That's what I think of the Greek term. So, Matza might be an origin of mass.

Greek meases or initiation. Might be another origin. Or even the Germanic Mise or Mese means assembly. In the modern understanding, though, it's a church service, sometimes called the communion or Eucharist. That's actually an important reenactment in accordance when Jesus' instruction in the last supper before his death, the night before his death.

A request then as followers do this in remembrance of when he gave his disciples bread saying this is my body and wine saying this is my blood. the word Christ was given to Jesus of Nazareth When his contemporaries began to believe that he was actually the prophesized coming of God In human flesh As predicted in

The thousand or two thousand years of Jewish religious tradition up to that point It comes from the Hebrew word Messiah I think very very roughly that might be how it's pronounced like extremely roughly, I think very roughly that might be how it's pronounced like extremely roughly. That's where the word Christ, initially Christ Jesus, was called the Hebrew word for Messiah, which means, or the Hebrew word for anointed, which is roughly pronounced Messiah.

And then that was translated into ancient Greek, which was modern Greek at the time. Anointed in Greek is Christos. And you can imagine the further. progression towards Christ. So, the traditional Christmas Eve church service then represents a congregation or a mass of Christians at a church mass or a sermon service, as well as the celebration of Jesus' birth as God's incarnation in the form of a human body of matter or mass. if you're scientifically oriented,

being the technical definition of mass, the mass of an object. And his body was sacrificed. Conjunctions of the word mass come kind of inform the modern day meaning of mass. Christmas is a phrase recorded almost a thousand years ago in 1038,

AD. But the origins of a mid-winter holiday go much further back in time. The middle of winter has long been a time celebrated around the world, and there's a lot of reasons for this. Centuries before the arrival of a man named Jesus, early Europeans celebrated the light in birth in the darkest days of winter. Current astronomy recognizes the winter solstice being the midwinter day with the shortest number of daylight hours roughly around December 21st to 23rd it varies fluctuates many people rejoiced during the winter solstice when the worst winter was behind them so they could take they could look forward into longer days and extended hours of sunlight and i thought about this you know in a prehistoric

pre-scientific, mythology, saturated environment. In these epics, everybody interpreted the world. It's easy to see the metaphorical significance, a shift in the decreasing of the daylight hours, the lengthening of the night. At a point exactly in the dead of winter, the careful astronomers, the priests, those who worshipped the celestial bodies,

would undoubtedly have noticed. The day started lengthening by a couple minutes each day, but over a week or two, it's noticeable. You know, it turns into half hour, then an hour, until by the middle of summer, you are at the point of the year, which is the summer solstice, at which the day is significantly longer than the night.

So the daylight hours are at a maximum. Winter solstice is the opposite. where the night, the darkness, the darkness in the depths of winter to boot, is at a maximum. Imagine this being a significant point in the year, in the shift in the seasons. In the same way a glimmer of hope given by the vision of a better, brighter, optimistic, positive future might revitalize us after overcoming a tragic. obstacle in life. Same vein, the collective observation of our stars' victory over the encroaching darkness of night at this point in the year signifies the coming fertility of spring

and the nourishing warmth that precedes it. Although watching a drama unfold, um, as though, sorry, as though watching a drama unfold between the good light and the evil darkness, it was no doubt worth celebrating something of such cosmic significance. In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated this turning point in their celestial battle between light and darkness as Ewell. It's a robotic when I just think in December. In the Eastern Europe, the Midwinter Festival, marking this roughly the same date, is called Kooleda. In recognition of the re-emergence of the sun, fathers and sons and their sons would bring home large logs, eulogs, which would be set on fire.

The people would then feast until the log burned out. Sometimes it would take as many as 12 days. As with many rituals in the past, the miracle of conception and childbirth. And it truly is a miracle. You know, I know doctrines obviously know a lot more than the average Joe about, but nonetheless, the way our brains and our bodies work and how we all just

help of cells, that's the closest thing to magic I could point to, really. So, of course, such a phenomenon would be celebrated and incorporated into festivals and rituals and something worth worshipping and being happy about, you know, This was incorporated into the Yule tradition. The Yule log symbolized the phallic shape and the transmutation of its essence through fire. In fact, they actually believe that each spark, the Norse did, each spark from the fire from the log,

represented a new pig or a calf that was to be born during the coming spring. The end of December was a perfect time for celebration of most areas of Europe, because at that time most cattle were slaughtered so they wouldn't have to be fed during winter when the supply of grain was undoubtedly pretty short. For many was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat because of that.

So in addition to that, it was also the time in which most wine and barley had perfectly fermented to drink and provide a nice warming beverage to celebrate. that time of year with. So you can imagine all these things coales, coincide for a nice, for a nice winter vacation. In Rome, where winters weren't as harsh.

And nowhere near, you know, didn't even touch those of the far north, North Germany and France, England, and Scandinavia. Saturnalia, a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of Earth. agriculture. Oh, I'm sick of earth. Saturnalia was undoubtedly going to be on our god of agriculture. The pivotal point at which the sun starts to emerge ever more, increasingly longer. You know, the duration of the day starts to grow. No doubt they would think that the winter solstice marked the point at which the forces, they would allow spring to occur or starting to be in effect

so they would worship the beginnings of that and beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month Saturnalia was actually a hedonistic time where food and drink were plentiful in the Norman normal Roman social order

was actually turned upside down for a month. Slaves would become masters. Peasants were in command of the city. I mean, I don't know how legitimate their authority would be, but it's actually interesting that they kind of played this little fantasy out. They acted it out. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could join in the fun.

And also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome, the juvenile. Classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun on December 25th. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra's birthday was the most sacred day of the... year. Christianity, the celebration of Christ's few centuries to be instantiated. In the early years of Christianity, Easter, his death, subsequent resurrection was actually the focal point of celebration. In fact, during the first two centuries of Christianity, there was actually strong opposition

to recognizing the actual birthdays of martyrs, or even Jesus. martyrs, you know, being people who have died, particularly for a religious cause. And numerous church fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when in fact, saints in martyrs should be celebrated for what ultimately defined their life, which was their death, as their actual birthday in the religious sense. However, in the context of so many existing celebrations of the rebirth of the star, the sun, the celestial sun, at the darkest point, it's not a surprise that the birth of Jesus, being the God's literal son in human form and a symbol of hope for humanity was eventually incorporated. It wasn't a surprise that he was ultimately made the sense. of this important time of the year.

December 25th was first identified as the date of Jesus' birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 21, and later became universally accepted as the date, but not without a little bit of a struggle. Linguistic son and son, S-U-N-S-O-N, and metaphorical connection of, you know, the birth, the re-emerth, of longer days and the you know kind of a that being symbolic for hope you know for getting through another harsh winter and looking forward to warmer climates and more you know fertile lands although you have those connections a second view suggests that December 25th became the date of Jesus's birth by a priori reasoning that identified the bring equinox as the date of the creation of the world and the fourth day of creation which was

when the light was created so you see the connection between light their emergence of a of a light bearer of a of a hopeful figure revivification the thawing out of the people's hopes and dreams, I guess, in the depths, the darkest depths of winter. Astronomically, I guess you can see how that would be, how that might emerge as a system of beliefs. Equinox, I just mentioned the equinox. Just like the winter in summer solstice being significant days wherein the winter is the darkest night of the year, sorry, the longest night, really. It's dead of winter, December 21st, second-ish, it's when the day is shortest. Summer solstice is the exact opposite.

In the northern hemisphere, of course. The southern hemisphere is the opposite of that. And I just saw E.R's notification pop-up, ASMR for people who hate Christmas, which might be a few of you, if you haven't watched it, after you watch this. Yeah, so the solstices are the shortest and longest days of the year. The equinoxes happen in March, the late March and late September. The spring and fall equinoxes are, as you can imagine, the word equal.

I forget who you were, but you correct to me on one of my videos the other day about this. And that, it's the day at the days in the year which the day is equal in length to the night. And this was traditionally thought of as the day of actual creation. in the biblical sense. And so they actually tied this in with the date of Jesus' conception. And this is significant because if Jesus was conceived

during the spring equinox, which is late March, nine months later would be late December. And of course, Jesus would then be born. So that's the general rationale for at least one, one rationale for why we celebrate Christ's birthday in late December. It's, uh, and, you know, there's multiple reasons, but I thought that was the most interesting one that I found. Now, despite this reasoning, um, there's also some evidence that he wasn't

born in December, because in the stories of his birth, there were a lot of shepherds, um, there's a lot of animals being hurted and you might ask why there are shepherds hurting in the middle of winter. But that's, that's beyond me. I honestly don't know what to make of any of that. Regardless though, December 25th is obviously what the church arrived at for the date of the birth of Jesus. This pretty much became canon, set in stone, wind, Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor, declared December 25th, as Jesus' birthday all the way back in 336 AD.

And then this was further cemented when only a couple years later, the actual Pope, Julius I first, around 340 AD, I guess, officially made this, like a papal decree, made it official, through the Vatican. So, now it's commonly believed that the church chose the state in an effort to adopt and absorb some of the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia Festival.

First called the Feast of the Nativity. The custom spread to Egypt by 432 and then to England by the end of the 6th century. By the end of the 8th century in the 700s, Christianity actually the celebration of Christmas

at spread all the way into Scandinavia supplanting a lot of the pagan winter solstice holidays. Today in the Greek in Russian Orthodox churches Christmas is actually celebrated 13 days

after the 25th which is also referred to as the Epiphany or the Three Kings Days. Three Kings Day. This is the actually marijuana. Willing Christmas at the same time

as traditional winter solstice festivals. You can imagine it's another motivation of this. It increased the chances that Christmas would be properly, popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate exactly how it was celebrated

because even though you try to rename the traditions and effusing the melting pot, you're undoubtedly going, to if you thought the original product was pure, now it's going to be a little impure. It's going to be tainted by some things that you undoubtedly, if you're biased on one side or the other, are not going to want. But that was the price they paid for trying to subvert the original pagan holidays, to Christianize it. By the Middle Ages, actually, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced all,

religion. On Christmas, believers attended church, but then they celebrated ecstatically in a drunken carnival-like manner. In the atmosphere, it's kind of like similar to today's Mardi Gras, really. Each year a beggar, and get this, this is pretty wild, or a student would be crowned the Lord of Miss Rule. In eager celebrants, played the bar. Owners failed to comply. Their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief. Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay the real or imagined debt to society by entertaining the less fortunate citizens of this ritual still exist, still very much alive in the form of charity and gift giving to organizations today. And so moving forward from the Middle Ages, that, that, uh, and how that evolved, you can imagine

600 years later, about in 1652, following the execution of King Charles I, Christmas, the Christ's Mass holiday, was actually finally outlawed, led by the Puritan, all mandates seriously, which commanded that Christianity remained pure and separate from paganism. That means all their holidays as well.

Despite their noble efforts, despite their noble efforts, celebration simply went underground and by 1656, only four years later, under that ban, the public's demand for the legalization, legalization of Christ's Mass Christmas. Yeah, the demand just became insurmountable, celebration of Christ's Mass. So the Puritans had lost in England, but what they held were very high hopes for the new world, over, I guess, here. when the first settlers came from England

they were for the most part Puritans so they came over here mostly actually entirely for religious freedom they came here to be free to worship God without a hierarchy without the corruption of the organized church as they saw it

that they had known in England and with its ties to Europe and it actually becomes so dear to the hearts of their ancestors Bolognese of the America, as outlawed Christmas for two. The clergy in New England actually battled to keep the riot celebrations,

honoring the pagan gods Saturn from infiltrating the New World. From Cotton Mather, who played a significant role in the Salem witch trials. This day's sermon, 1712, the Savior is honored by hard drinking, lewd, reveling, and by a mass,

fit for none but Bacchus, the god of wine, or Saturn. But the public states for sin and revelry persisted during the Saturnalia-like Christmas celebrations. It got so bad that New York actually had to instantiate a professional police force for the first time in order to control the number. It was not only not widely celebrated, but in many places it was actually outlawed because of the behavior it instigated. And this was, because of the attitude towards it, by many of the churches,

who regarded it as primarily, you know, a pagan celebration, and therefore a reproach to the Lord. By the mid-19th century American churches, though, were the last, so the mid-1800s, they had crept into popular, popular celebration, really. A large institution called the American Sunday School argued that children could actually be taught about the birth of Christ through the reenactment of the nativity. So they offered some candy and treats as well as a means of kind of trying to, you know, ride on the coattails of the already celebrated holiday in order to re-Christianize it and use its innate popularity to try to inquire to inquire to.

incorporate the message of the birth of Jesus. We catch on the holiday despite it's notorious. The successful technique of bribing children with candy, actually. It's a whole new story. I never got around to do in a history of Halloween, but it actually ties hand in hand with the origins, in America, at least, of kids dressing up as spooky, demon's ghoul, evil characters,

to go knock on people's doors to get candy. The popularization of making Christmas what it is today was actually Charles Dickens in his story, a Christmas Carol. Dickens' story made the pagan Christmas feasts, the shining trees, the glittering shops, and the family warmth irresistible to the American public, wanting to experience the holiday.

coming to America about 25 years later in 1867 wrote his work Charles Dickens packed theaters to read stories of the Christmas Carol in a crypt America he destroyed ultimately any final resolve to ban it and stop in the evolution of Christmas as a national holiday by 1875 the Puritans and all but been beaten and by 1890 had voted to make Christmas a legal holiday so it's it's interesting that we think of it as I just I would have guessed it it was like this for hundreds and hundreds of years but it was actually banned just outright banned in America until really just an established

an officially recognized holiday until a hundred and twenty eight years ago I guess So, all right, that's the story of the actual holo tape. Now, what about the specifics to the gifts, to the characters that we're all familiar with? As for the Christmas tree, the fir tree, the mistletoe, the wreath, they typically come from overtly pagan traditions all across northern Europe. Evergreen trees have always represented sex and fertility in peasant. pagan cultures. During the winter solstice, trees would be chopped down, brought inside, set up, and decorated as idols for worship. And there's actually a little passage in the body. It originated from the pagans regarded these evergreen trees, being ever green and not ever

dying like most other trees do. Trees in the entire groves of trees, as you can imagine, as being sacred. So the bringing of the tree into the house Would be a way of bringing the supernatural source A blessing into your home The whole idea was that there were spirits Who resided in these trees Even though there is some uncertainty

About the precise date and origin of the Christmas tree It appears that the fir trees Decorating with apples Were the first known in Strasbourg In Germany in 1605 The first use of candles on such trees is recorded, which is crazy. But I doubt she had the affluencey and it took that risk.

The advent of the reef made of fir branches of even more recent origin, especially in North America. In the Middle Ages, though, the tradition of the winter solstice Christmas tree primarily took place in Germany. During his ring, King George I, the first, King George I, himself a German extract. brought the custom to settling Pennsylvania, did the same in America in the early 1800.

In 1848, the London Illustrated News published a famous engraving depicted the Queen, Queen Victoria, and a royal family beside a decorated Christmas tree, and within a few years nearly every English household had their own tree in allegiance to the Monarch. In 100, the U.S. Forest Service, estimated that at least, least one in five homes in America had adopted the Christmas tree tradition. So that's still only 20%, like 115 years ago, 118 years. Yeah, definitely, as we'll find out in just a little bit, Odin and other gods were thought to live amongst the German forests. They're so full, so dense with, saturated with mythology. So you can imagine bringing home.

a tree that always stays green would be a sign of letting in a hopefully good spirits into your home, especially when they're pretty much a ticking, opening your dormant with gasoline or something. I feel like that's definitely pretty risky, especially if you don't have much in your house is made of actual Kindle. Anyways, Santa Claus is another good example of the pagan element of Christmas. Santa Claus is, we know that. today is an amalgamation of several different traditions. But in most cultures throughout the world, you'll find the existence of what is known as hearth gods.

And these are gods who guard the hearth in the chimney and keep the fires burning, make sure the food cooks, the people were warm. Typically, the hearth god dressed in red will come down the chimney and they're going to reward those who are have pleased them throughout the course of the previous year. It crushes or axes or other forms of true punishment upon those who have displeased them. And the concept of San Claus has a really, really long history, though, just beyond that. Beginning once again in Scandinavia, Santa's original incarnation was in the form of Odin, the pagan god of thunder, which traditionally was a tall fellow with Othens. nor terrified of Odin.

As they believed, he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people and then decide who would prosper and who would. Because of his presence, many people actually chose to stay inside. Travels the countryside, getting roaring. The festival frequently, he would be accompanied by a horned goat. Ironically, this is pretty much the symbol of Satan. the biblical symbol the devil influencing those who reject

the salvation of Jesus Christ according to the church of Rome traditionally also there was a Turkish bishop named Nicholas now this was one of the more officially recognized origins

of Santa Claus there was a Turkish bishop or Asia Minor I should have said that the other way around but modern day turkey ancient asia minor where troy is across the way from greece there was a bishop in the third i think it's three hundredth fourth century a turkish bishop named nicholas who hailed from mera during the fourth century he was known as the patron saint of seafaring men in his story one of the best known st nicholas stories is that

He saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. A dowry being a gift that the women traditionally had to pay were the woman's father. If he had it, pay, you know, of course, that's a crude way of putting it, you know, it's deeper than that. It's as a gift of being faithful to his daughter for the rest of his life. St. Nicholas provided the dowry for three females, three daughters, to avoid potential slavery and prostitution. Over the course of many years, Nicholas' popularity then spread, and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6th, and this was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or even get married. By the Renaissance, a thousand years later, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in all of Europe.

Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began being very much discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland, apparently. And over the centuries, the legend began to unfold, as it was rumored that St. Nicholas had actually kept, the devil himself, put him in chains, and made him a servant. Recognized in various cultures, the assistant of Sinterklaas, is best known by his German name Ruprecht. Idius, the servant Ruprecht was a dark and sinister figure who stood in stark contrast to the saintly Nicholas.

Somehow Father Christmas's companion, the horned goat, had metamorphized. to house. From this story that we get our traditional hanging of stockings on the mantle, we'll to recite a verse or demonstrate a skill for St. Nicholas, the child wouldn't receive a gift if unable to. He or she would receive a switch or a whip, as it's now called. And Ruprecht, by the way, also carried a large sack in which to stuff children and take them away if they'd been really bad. Christian churches began combining pagan rituals with the winter solstice celebration. Christian churches began combining the pagan rituals of the winter solstice with the birth of Christ.

The emphasis on St. Nicholas' role began to shift a thousand years ago. St. Nicholas made his first inroads in America into the popular culture of America towards the end of the 18th. century. In December 1773 and then again a year later, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families from Holland gathered to honor the anniversary of St. Nicholas's death. By 1809, the famous writer, Washington Irving, actually helped popularize Centro Claus stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York. Significance, Spopalian minister Clement Clark Moore

penned a decidedly secular tale. So it wasn't really a religious tale. Called a visit from St. Nicholas, later retitled the night before twas the night before, not just the night before Christmas. Tales of German and Dunley for only his own children. The story was published in the Troy Sentinel of New York and became an overnight sensation.

Now a jolly old elf imbued with supernatural power. Nicholas's companion, the horned devil rubric. There's also a whole other part about how there's even a lot of modern Christians fighting the concept of Santa Claus because children, in essence, almost worships Santa Claus. Instead, of worshiping Jesus.

You know, they have, he's a gift bearer, he's jolly, he keeps track of your morality throughout the year, he's omniscient, he's magical, um, there's a lot of overlapping qualities that they think take away from what is supposed to be the primary focus of Christmas, which is the birth, a savior of the human race, Jesus Christ. So there's that little side note, but I didn't want to bore Anteana Claus traditions all around the world, including. Jolly elf named Yolto Mint delivers gifts from a sled pulled by goats. Pierre Nol, good children, who leave their shoes by, what doesn't say? I feel like I remember it was like outdoors or something, filling them with. In Russia, it's believed that an elderly woman named Babushka purposely gave the wise men going to give gifts to Jesus. The wrong she felt remorseful.

but couldn't find them to undo her harm, undo the damage. So to this day on January 5th, Babushka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus, and she will be forgiven. In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rods broomstick-down chimneys of Italian homes, to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children. As for the modern look of Santa Claus in the West, it wasn't until the late 19th century

that the image of Santa became standardized as a full-sized adult, dressed in red with white fur trim. The jolly, chubby, grandfatherly face of this Santa was largely created by Thomas Nast, great political partunus of the 1800s. However, Nas did leave him half-sized in homage to his elf origins. It's interesting that Santa was, uh, he's pretty much an overgrown elf. He's like the king of the elves. And lastly, it's the tradition of giving gifts. Towards the end of the 18th century, the 1700s,

the practice of giving gifts to family members became well established. Theologically, the feast day, reminded Christians of God's gift to Jesus. God's gift up that Christmas. This was one reason why Puritans in old and New England opposed that celebration. I thought it was too secular. But in most European countries today, gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve. I actually didn't know that. I always thought it was always Christmas morning.

In keeping with the notion that the baby Jesus was born on the night, undoubtedly he's in theatrical i figured i'd stop there i thought that was a pretty thorough and um there's great movies like elf christmas vacation which probably my favorite um christmas story all these great movies home alone too that that kind of made my childhood but uh i think the deeper past is pretty interesting now it's it's a slow consensus of what it is and um regardless of whether Christian or not, and even if you are Christian, whether you celebrate Santa Claus and gift giving or just purely stick to just worshiping and the nativity and the birth of Jesus, I think we can all recognize that Christmas is a time of sharing good memories and good spirits

in the hopes that we can make this world a little bit better. And I hope I can play a small part in that as well with this. in this whole episode. So if you guys loved it, that's a gift enough for me. Other than that, I just want to wish you all Merry Christmas. Happy New Year,

and my best to you and your family.