Christmas Day: the day we all should be prepared with presents for our loved ones. Since basically forever, people have gathered at the homes of their family and friends, on a cold December 25. Some decorate the Christmas tree, some watch sports, some bake cookies, but the one thing everyone associates with Christmas is gift-giving.
While Christmas is celebrated on December 25, Jesus was actually born around November of the year 3 AD, around 194 years before the death of Roman Emperor Commodus. In churches you can see a model of Jesus’s nativity scene, displaying figures of Mother Mary, Joseph, shepherds and baby Jesus lying in the manger. But the characters in the scene that still affect the people celebrating Christmas today are the Three Magis, or more commonly known as the Three Wisemen or Kings. These three figures are shown giving Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; they are also the ones who inspired the commercialized gift-giving day that Christmas is today.
The first Christmas was celebrated by the Romans on December 25, 336 AD. The most popular explanation on the date of December 25 was because it aligned with other Pagan holidays like the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun and the Festival for Saturn, which was celebrated before December 25.
Santa Claus, the gift-giving, North Pole living, chimney living, fat, old man we all know and love, was derived from a 4th century monk named Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children and sailors. He was sainted for his generosity, like giving gold to three girls whose poverty could force them into prostitution, and miracles, healing three boys who were pronounced dead after being cut by a butcher. After the multiple reforms of the Catholic Church, a large portion of Europe believed that Nicholas, and many other Catholic saints, should no longer be a saint. However, Nicholas’s story was still kept by the Dutch who called him Sinterklaas, or more commonly known as Santa Claus. The Story brought by immigrants from the Netherlands and into New Amsterdam (New York), which made Santa Claus into a world wide global part of Christmas.
Arguably the best part of Christmas is the thrill of waking up early in the morning on December 25. Hurrying down the stairs, shaking the house with every step, running to the presents under the tree. Whether you believe Santa went down your chimney or your parents were the ones who bought you the presents, ripping the gift wrapper is worth a year’s wait. Although we’ll never know where those gifts came from, we should all give thanks for Saint Nicholas and the Three Magis.
