Dating back to the 19th century, the German Protestants developed a tradition of counting down the days till Christmas by burning a candle for a day or marking twenty-four chalk lines on a door. One by one, each line was rubbed off until the long awaited Christmas morning arrived. 

According to Doing History in Public, the German people began hanging a devotional image every day, which ultimately led to the creation of the first known, wooden advent calendar, in 1851. Later in the early 20th century, the first advent calendar was printed with small doors as we see in modernized versions of the calendars. 

Unfortunately, during the time of Nazi Germany when a ban was placed on printing calendars with images, these advant calendars disappeared for some time. However, the concept has made a massive comeback and is now considered one of the most popular global phenomena across various countries. 

A classic Christmas tradition across America is spending time with your family to decorate a Christmas tree. With various lights, ornaments, and other festive decorations, the tradition of decorating the tree has become a go to when bonding over the holidays. But where did this tradition come from?

The History Channel explains that decorating a Christmas tree has many roots that range from Egypt to Rome to Germany. Before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green and lush throughout the harsh winter were seen with a special meaning for people. In ancient times, people would hang evergreen boughs over their doors and windows, which in some countries was suspected to keep evil spirits, witches, ghosts, and illness from entering the homes. 

Dec. 21 or 22 falls as the shortest and longest day in the Northern hemisphere, and was known in ancient times as the winter solstice. Many ancient civilizations believed that there was a sun god that would become sick and weakened during the winter. People would celebrate the solstice as it meant that the sun god would recover and become well once more. Evergreen represented the green plants that would grow again when the god had recovered and summer had arrived. 

For the ancient Egyptians, they worshiped a god known as Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, the Egyptians would fill their homes with green palms and papyrus reeds when it was believed that Ra had become well again. This symbolized life over death. 

Germany is the culture typically credited with the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree. According to the History Channel, it is widely believed that Martin Luther, the 16th century Protestant reformer, is the individual responsible for the idea of decorating a tree with lighted candles. A common version of this tale is that Luther had been walking home one night and stopped to admire the stars. When he arrived home, he lit and wired the candles to the tree to recapture the sight of the stars for his family. 

The tradition came to the United States in the 1800s and hadn’t been considered a common occurrence at that time. The first records of Christmas trees being cut for display comes from the 1820s in Pennsylvania’s German community, although trees may have been a tradition there even earlier. 

In the 1890s Christmas ornaments arrived from Germany and the popularity of the Christmas tree grew. Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to extend from floor to ceiling. 

“I like decorating the tree because it’s fun and my family has a tradition where we get a new ornament every year,” explains Norah McCabe, ’25.

Now the Christmas tree is one of the most commonly seen representations of Christmas. Decorating them has become a yearly tradition for hundreds of households across the country. 

Every culture has their own traditional dishes that are popular to make for Christmas time. Baking cookies and other tasty treats is a popular tendency in the United States. With the help of Food Trippers, let’s take a look at some popular treats around the world. 

France:

A rolling iced sponge cake in a cylinder shape is  decorated with chocolate buttercream icing, ganache, twigs, berries and other decorative embellishments. This delicious treat is known in French culture as bûche de noël. 

Often two bûche de noël are purchased by those of French origins, one edible and one not. One is a decorated wooden yule log that burns in the fireplace. The other is a highly edible cake that was traditionally eaten after midnight mass but is now enjoyed throughout the holiday season.

Portugal: 

Topped with colorful candied fruit, the circular brioche-like cake lines the shelves at pastry shops and markets throughout the country during an extended holiday season that goes to January 6th when Dia de Reis (Epiphany) is celebrated. This popular dessert is known as Bolo rei. 

Germany: 

Stollen is a flavorful treat of fruits, nuts, and spices all wrapped into a warm bread. Typically cranberries, raisins, candied citrus, and a tasty almond filling. Stollen bread is soft with the perfect chew. Stollen is the perfect combination of flavors and textures. It’s sweet, nutty, and fruity!

England:

One of the most popular holiday treats is eggnog! The holiday season is the prime time when revellers spike the milky, spicy beverage and top it with grated nutmeg. While eggnog’s history traces back to 15th century England and later involved George Washington, our personal eggnog history involves ladling the festive drink out of large punch bowls at holiday parties. 

Denmark:

While rice pudding is a common dessert around the world, it’s especially popular in Denmark around the holiday season! Risalamande is a rice pudding prepared with almonds, sugar, vanilla, and whipped cream. Red berries and a cherry sauce complete this festive Danish dessert. 

Italy:

The Italian Rainbow cookies are soft, fluffy, and colorful almond cake layers that have a tasty raspberry jam in between each layer. The top is coated with a smooth, rich chocolate layer and while they take a considerable amount of time, these tasty treats are a popular dessert in Italian culture. 

Greece: 

Melomakarona is one of the most popular Christmas treats in Greek culture. Made with olive oil, flour, honey, citrus, walnuts, and cinnamon, these cookies are irresistible. The origin of the scrumptious cookie dates back to ancient Greece. At funerals, the ancient Greeks would eat a barley mixture called makaria. This eventually became the most popular sweet treat during the twelve days of Christmas.

While many European countries have variations of Father Christmas (St. Nicholas) as their Christmas figure, the United States have their own. He’s typically dressed in a bright red suit, wears black, shiny boots, has a big, white beard, and a jolly laugh. Of course, it’s Santa Claus! 

The American depiction of Santa Claus differs greatly from the European version of this figure. In most of these other countries, St. Nicholas or Father Christmas is often dressed in an old fashioned cloak that resembles that of a bishop and has a thin, long beard. 

So where does this version of Santa Claus come from? The answer might surprise you. The modernized image of Santa Clause that can be seen in every American store across the country was actually created by Coca-Cola! 

In 1931, Coca-Cola had begun placing ads in popular magazines and newspapers. The company wanted to come up with a new marketing figure that would help sales of the soda boost. They turned to Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” or commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas” as inspiration for this new figure. The poem gave the image of a warm, friendly, jolly man, who would turn into the modern image of Santa Claus. Santa debuted that same year in Coke ads for The Saturday Evening Post as well as Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, The New Yorker, and more!

From 1931 to 1964, Coca‑Cola ads showed Santa delivering toys, pausing to read a letter and enjoy a Coke, visiting with the children who stayed up to greet him, and raiding the refrigerators at a number of homes. 

Since then, the image of Mr. Claus has evolved and turned into one of the biggest parts of the Christmas season. Santa Claus has become one of the most recognizable faces throughout the United States. 

Going back to 1823 Clement Clarke Moore or possibly Henry Livingston Jr. wrote “A Visit From Saint Nicholas,” stockings were hung near the fireplace, awaiting a visit from Santa Claus. Hanging stockings by the fireplace has become a holiday tradition, however there is a popular legend that surrounds it. 

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the legend goes that a widowed man who was the father of three girls was having a hard time making ends meet. Despite his daughter being extremely beautiful, he worried that his status would make it impossible for his daughters to marry. 

St. Nicholas had been wandering the streets of the town when the villagers were discussing the family’s plight. Knowing the man would refuse any of St. Nicholas’ help, he created a plan to help the man’s family. One night, he slid down the chimney of the home and filled the girls’ recently laundered stockings, which had been hanging by the fireplace to dry, with gold coins. He then disappeared. 

The girls awoke in the morning, overjoyed upon discovering the bounty. Because of St. Nick’s generosity, the daughters were now eligible to wed and their father could rest easy now that they wouldn’t fall into lonely despair. 

In modern day, these stockings have become extremely common in households that celebrate Christmas. These stockings have various decorations and personalized to the family. So families have even made their stockings homemade. Overall, the hanging of stockings can be considered one of the most popular holiday traditions.