Q: Why are the traditional Christmas colors red and green? Before writing to you, I asked about 20 people this question and no one seems to know.
Answer: No one can say definitely why red and green are looked upon as the traditional Christmas colors.
One theory is that it comes from green holly with its red berries. Holly bears its fruit in the wintertime, which is considered a symbol of eternal life. Also, holly is regarded as a symbol of the passion of Christ because its thorny leaves resemble the crown of thorns that Christ wore at his crucifixion.
Finally, the bright red and green of holly seen against the cold whiteness of snow could be considered a promise of spring to come.
Q: What are the Twelve Days of Christmas we hear so much about?
Answer: The 12 days are those from Dec. 26 through Jan. 6. Jan. 6 is Epiphany, which commemorates the revealing of Jesus to the Magi who traveled to find him.
"The Church's explanation of the Twelve Days of Christmas ... was that they represented the coming of men to God, " according to "Christmas Customs and Traditions" by Frank Muir. "Advent, the weeks before Christmas, represented the coming of God to men. The culmination of Twelve Days was the arrival of the Three Kings at Epiphany."
Q: What else is mistletoe used for, and when did it become associated with kissing?
Answer: According to Scandinavian legend, the god Loki killed the handsome god Balder in envy with a dart made from mistletoe. All other plants had vowed not to harm Balder, but the mistletoe, having been overlooked, was used.
The mistletoe dart was plucked out of Balder's fatal wound and given to the goddess of love, Freya. From this came the custom that a man may kiss a woman if he sees her under the mistletoe.
Mistletoe's magical and mystical powers were a part of other cultures during the Middle Ages. Pagans would hang both the mistletoe and wreaths of holly in windows and doorways for their supposed curative and protective powers, to keep witches and evil spirits from entering.
The fact that mistletoe grows not from the ground but from another tree (it is a parasitic plant) was seen as a sign of its power.
Kissing under the mistletoe became popular in Victorian England. The mistletoe was placed in the house, along with fruit and greenery, as holiday decorations before the arrival of the Christmas tree.
Q: What is the origin of the spelling of "Xmas"? Why do some people find it offensive?
Answer: "The familiar abbreviation for Christmas originated with the Greeks," according to "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" by Charles Panati. X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Xristos. By the 16th century, "Xmas" was popular throughout Europe.
"Whereas early Christians had understood that the term merely was Greek for 'Christ's mass,' later Christians, unfamiliar with the Greek reference, mistook the X as a sign of disrespect, an attempt by heathens to rid Christmas of its central meaning."
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December 23, 2020 at 05:30PM
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Ask SAM: Why are red, green the colors of Christmas? - Winston-Salem Journal
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