Fancy Tales
Related to Christmas
A lot of what
is widely regarded as true about Christmas or held
as a
tradition cannot or has not been verified, or, has
changed through the years. Even Christmas Day
itself, Dec. 25, has been questioned about whether
that is the exact day on which Jesus was born.
Skeptics have asked why would shepherds be out in
the cold watching their flocks by night during the
winter. Those skeptics have put forward the thought
that Jesus may really have been born in the spring
instead. It is therefore little wonder that there
are many fancy stories and tales that are told about
Christmas and the Christmas season.
The most common fancy tale that everyone tells,
particularly to children, is about Santa Claus, also
called St. Nicholas. But even if it were accepted
that Santa Claus existed, where does he live and how
is he able to get to all the houses of good boys and
girls on Christmas Eve?
In the United States, Santa Claus is said to have
two homes. There is a
home in Torrington, Connecticut, which is used as a
distribution point for Santa and his many helpers,
who are elves, to hand out gifts. And then, a second
home is said to be located in Wilmington, New York,
and that is where Santa Claus and his delivery
reindeer crew are located.
But Santa can be visited in Cyberspace at anytime
and what about the
widely held belief that Santa Claus really lives in
a village at the North Pole?
The people of Finland also claim that their country
is the official
residence of Santa Claus. That's because in Finland,
you can actually visit a village any time during the
year and see Santa's workshop and observe Santa and
his elves hard at work as they prepare for their
very important Christmas gift delivery job on
Christmas Eve. The only day when Santa's workshop is
closed to visitors is of course, on Christmas Eve.
Maybe a very smart visitor could visit Santa's
workshop on the day before Christmas Eve to see if
there are any clues to how Santa and his reindeers
plan to make their trip the next day. That's because
as the tale goes, in Finland Santa Claus and his
reindeers do not reach their destinations around the
globe by flying. Finland welcomes visitors to
Santa's workshop but there is nothing said about
whether visitors actually have any chance of having
a word with the man himself.
While the
chances of doing so are believed to be non-existent,
among the questions that inquiring minds could ask
Santa is whether Rudolph is the son of Donner (and
to confirm the spelling - Donner or Donder) or
whether Santa spotted him in a different reindeer
village one foggy Christmas Eve when he had already
started on his Christmas toy-delivery mission.
If mere mortals got a chance to question Santa, then
he also would likely have some questions for us
humans. He may want to know whose idea was it to
have Christmas trees and for the gifts to be placed
under them.
The tradition of Christmas tree as it exists today
comes from Germany by way of immigrants. But it
isn't clear how the tradition really gained a
foothold in Germany. One story is that Christians in
Germany during the 16th century started to bring
trees that were decorated into their homes. Some of
those Christians would build pyramids for Christmas.
The pyramids were made of wood and would be
decorated with evergreens and candles if wood was in
short supply.
It is however Martin Luther, a Protestant reformer,
who is said to have been the first to add lighted
candles as decoration to a tree based on his
inspiration from the brilliant light of twinkling
stars that shone through evergreen trees as he
walked home one winter evening.
As the legend goes, Martin Luther placed a tree in a
primary room of his house and placed wires with
small, lighted candles around the branches of the
tree. And that is how, as the tale goes, the
Christmas tree as known today, was started.