History of American Christmas Traditions – St Aiden’s Homeschool, South Africa | CurrClick

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via History of American Christmas Traditions – St Aiden’s Homeschool, South Africa | CurrClick.

It is an accepted fact that the Christmas tree tradition is one that was brought to the shores of America by German immigrants who continued a practice that was popular in their former homeland. Today, a Christmas tree, even a miniature one, is present in just about every home at Christmas. It is therefore interesting to note some little-know facts about the Christmas Tree and other traditions related to Christmas.

The first interesting fact is the source of real Christmas Trees for some Americans. These can be bought at a Christmas Tree Farm or at many local stores and other places of business in just about every town and city across the country around Christmas time. But according to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans buy about 330,000 Christmas trees that are real through

e-commerce or from a catalogue and have them shipped by mail-order.

The scent of real Christmas trees is the reason they are so popular. But as they stand silently in their decorative wonder, they also are providing anotherbenefit. The Christmas Tree Association says the amount of oxygen produced on a daily basis by one acre of Christmas tree is enough to provide enough oxygen for 18 people. And during the first week, a Christmas Tree at home will use up toone quart of water each day to help retain its longevity for the many days of Christmas.

Since Christmas celebrations gained popularity in merica, the Christmas Tree has always been a big tradition. During the 1950s however, artificial Christmas trees were not always green. It was very popular during those times to have artificial trees with other colours such as silver, pink and aqua. The appeal in having these coloured Christmas trees may have been due to the fact that they

looked shiny and bright and appeared like tinsel instead of green foliage.

An important ceremony related to the Christmas tree that gains national attention during the Christmas season is the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House. This tradition can be credited to President Calvin

Coolidge who lit the first decorated Christmas tree outside at the White Housein 1923.

The lighting of the National Christmas Tree has also been used to convey some symbolic meaning not related to Christmas. It was not lighted until Dec. 22 in 1963 because of a national mourning period of 30 days for the assassination of President Kennedy. And while Teddy Roosevelt was President he gave an order that banned the Christmas tree from the White House, not for the assassination of President McKinley in 1901, which caused him to become president, but for reasons related to the environment.

Also of note is that when the National Christmas Tree was lighted on Dec. 13 in 1984, temperatures were in the 70s during an unusually warm December. Christmas has been celebrated in the United States since the 1600s although it wasn’t always very popular. It took more than two centuries into the mid-late 1860s for Christmas to become a popular holiday season all across America. So

maybe the rest of the country owes the holiday of Christmas Day to the state of Alabama, which in 1836 became the first state to declare Dec. 25 a legal

holiday.

It is interesting to note that on Christmas Day of 1789 Congress was in session.And to show how far ahead of the game Alabama was, it wasn’t until June 26, 1870

that the federal government declared Christmas as a federal holiday.

Although Christmas is based on the Christian religion, not all Christian groups celebrate the season. Among the Christian groups who do not celebrate Christmas

and related traditions such as sending greeting cards are Jehovah Witnesses. Jehovah Witnesses and other non-participating Christian groups say Christmas

isn’t specifically mentioned in the Bible as a time or reason to celebrate and since they strictly adhere to the word of the Bible, they refuse to celebrate Christmas.

This book is written in US English

History of American Christmas Traditions – St Aiden’s Homeschool, South Africa | CurrClick.

The Christmas Tree. Hanging Stockings. Christmas Cards. Caroling. Santa Claus. Gift Giving. Eggnog. The Yule Log.

Do you know where these traditions came from? Are you someone that believes they’ve simply “always existed” and is something we, as a Nation have always done every year around December 24th? Or do you believe that we simply “created” them ourselves?

Have you ever wondered why we do the things we do when the snow begins to fall and the air becomes oh so chilly?

There is a reason we perform every single Christmas tradition we know today. And some of them may not be why you think!

Throughout these pages, you will discover why certain Christmas traditions are performed every year, and where exactly in the world they came from. Here’s a secret you may not know. . . .Many of the Christmas traditions we use to celebrate our National Holiday didn’t even originate in our country! Hard to believe? Well, it’s 100%, without a doubt F-A-C-T.

This book takes an amusing, yet factually intriguing in-depth look into our most favored and popular Christmas Traditions and is well worth any Christmas Collection.

Donnette Davis

St Aidens Homeschool

via History of American Christmas Traditions – St Aiden’s Homeschool, South Africa | CurrClick.