2021 Home For the Holidays

Page 12 2021 Home for the Holidays Lincoln Daily News November 24, 2021 echnically, the Romans started the celebration of Christmas with the Roman Emperor Constantine in 336 BC. There was no specific religious ceremony and no certain rituals, but celebrations tended to be riotous with binge-drinking and excess eating. In 1843, A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, changed people’s view of Christmas placing the emphasis on kindness, charity, and families being together. The Victorians took his view to heart with new traditions including Christmas trees, Christmas cards, and gift- giving. By the late 1800’s most Americans were celebrating Christmas with the traditions brought by immigrants: Christmas trees and evergreen branches by the Germans, mistletoe by Norse and Celtic mythology, poinsettias from Mexico, the Yule log from Scandinavia, and more. In 1870, President Grant and Congress declared Christmas a national holiday to be celebrated on December 25th each year. Families celebrate Christmas with a multitude of traditions passed from generation to generation: hanging stockings, decorating Christmas trees, nativities, watching Christmas movies, baking cookies and decorating gingerbread houses, sending cards, visiting Santa, reading the account of Jesus’ birth, and the list goes on and on. A new Christmas tradition that is gaining in popularity year after year, is the Ugly Christmas Sweater. Buried in the back of The tawdry history (and future) of the T BY LISA RAMLOW Continued n