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I am quite surprised at how many people really have no knoweldge on the the real history of the comings of the traditions of Christmas. Each year, more and more information is available to find and we do our best to teach your children how the traditions came to be.
Well, it turns out that the red and white suit that today's santa wears actually come from the clothes that shaman use to wear up in cold northern tribes of Europe. Apparently, the shaman, a spirtual guide for his tribe had a huge part of the all this. He would carry a large bag on his back, bringing medicine, foods, ect to the people of the tribe. There was a world tree that they believed in that they thought was the source of all a life. I was so tall that it was believed to touch the north star. The shaman being the spirtual guide of the people would climb to the top of the tree, reaching the heavens, to consult with their spirts above them and bring back knowledge. Under this big tree grew red and white mushrooms, which were collected and used. Not only were did they make the indigenous people trip, but I guess reindeer enjoy eating them as well, also getting a trip from it, prancing and dancing funny which was a source of amusement for the people.
Another was that St. Nicholas, the "real" one from long ago was also made up to take over the pagan god nikar.
Anyway, I thought it was really interesting and thought that maybe some here might as well.
I dunno about that, I think that by the time the Germanic and Celtic peoples were Christianized they were long past having shamans, I'm not sure about the Slavs. Maybe Laps and Fins might've had them but then those people had very little influence on the civilization to the south.
The shaman business seems like an unnecessary - and to me, quite a dubious - stretch.
St. Nicolas of Myra had a number of pious legends associated with his gift-giving, and his feast day on Dec. 6 has been celebrated by Christians of various kinds for many centuries.
That Christmas (Dec. 25) has been overlaid onto previous non-Christian celebrations at year end seem hardly in doubt.
But Santa Claus has been largely a New World invention based on the Dutch Sinterklaas, who was depicted in the bishop's robes of St. Nicolas of Myra (predominantly red). His costume as we presently know it was largely the creation of the American 19th century cartoonists who tinkered with the image that had been appropriated from the Dutch of the New York/New Jersey area, and had been combined with the imagery from Clement Moore's popular A Visit from Saint Nicholas/ or bettern know as Twas the Night Before Christmas, which was inspired by the customs of the Kickerbockers.
The cobbling together of St. Nicholas Day and Christmas to finally arrive at our Santa Claus in a red, fur-trimmed snow suit is a fairly modern thing.
The traditions preceed st nicholas because he did not even exist.
Quote:
Most religious historians agree that St Nicholas did not actually exist as a real person, and was instead a Christianized version of earlier Pagan gods. Nicholas' legends were mainly created out of stories about the Teutonic god called Hold Nickar, known as Poseidon to the Greeks. This powerful sea god was known to gallop through the sky during the winter solstice, granting boons to his worshippers below. When the Catholic Church created the character of St Nicholas, they took his name from "Nickar" and gave him Poseidon's title of "the Sailor." http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=5514
That Christmas (Dec. 25) has been overlaid onto previous non-Christian celebrations at year end seem hardly in doubt.
There was never actually any doubt about that; December 25 was the date for the original celebration known as Saturnalia--which may not have started this way, but eventually wound up featuring tremendous orgies of both food and sex. The early Church could not get people to stop observing this occasion, and so it hit upon the strategy of co-opting. It was declared (a miracle!) that Jesus was actually born on December 25, and so very patiently, the Church transformed Saturnalia into Christmas.
Is the English "Father Christmas" a borrowing from our Santa Claus?
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