Thomas Nast
Origin Of Christmas Traditions And Why We Exchange Gifts
The year couldn’t be possibly complete without Christmas. It is usually a time that families get to meet up and update each other after a full year apart. It is also characterized by a lot of stress and giving. For a good number of Christians throughout the world, Christmas is all about spreading goodwill to fellow men as well as celebrating the birth of Christ. However, lately, Christmas has been highly commercialized which has resulted in the overlooking of its religious side. This hasn’t helped in any way people who are puzzled as to the origins of Christmas and how the gift giving tradition of Christmas came to be. The winter festivals are touted as the origin of Christmas celebrations. It is during this time that crusades were being waged all over the land. The crusaders came to one conclusion. It would be much easier to convert their subjects to Christianity if only they allowed them to retain the winter festivals which they so loved. The date of birth of Jesus is not definitive in the holy book which led to the festival of Sol Invictus to lay claim to 25th of December as the date of birth of Jesus.
Carousing was practiced in pagan Scandinavia during the festival of Yule until the burning out of the Yule log which lasted up to 12 days. The mid winter night was the equivalent of Yule festival in pagan Germania. Bouts of drinking, caroling and feasting characterized Christmas during the middle ages. Back then, there was nothing like getting Christmas gifts for him or even looking for some splendid gifts for her. This form of carousing in the middle ages was vehemently opposed by puritans. All this was opposed in the name of Christ which led to the cancellation of Christmas sometimes in 1645 by Oliver Cromwell who was a lord protector of Christmas. The New Year’s Day in England served as the day of exchanging gifts in this period. At some point, Christmas fell out of favor in America after the revolution since it was considered to be a British thing. Later on, it was accepted back some carols printed to that effect. 26th of December was also adopted as Boxing Day and a holiday at that.
The three wise men or magi are credited with being the fathers of the gift giving tradition observed during Christmas. This is because they brought some gifts to baby Jesus. These gifts included frankincense, gold and myrrh. The story of Christmas would not be complete without mentioning Santa Claus. In 1863, Thomas Nast who was a cartoonist created the image of Santa. This was standardized in the 1920s and he is now the embodiment of gift giving during Christmas. Gift giving has evolved into the practice of finding the best gifts for her and getting practical Christmas gifts for him. The tradition of gift giving is all about reminding people of the three wise men’s gift to baby Jesus upon his birth as well as mankind’s gift of Jesus from God.
Boss Tweed – Thomas Nast
Rare 1881 Madison WISCONSIN newspaper w description of cartoonist THOMAS NAST 
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