Photo Christmas Cards
There is no other universal tradition with the capacity of unify the majority of human beings like Christmas season. The mere mention of Christmas arouses emotions such as excitement and joy on children and adults, as well as happy memories and the hope of gathering the whole family and friends again. Christmas celebration has a pagan origin and used to be celebrated during the Winter Solstice, but on the III century after Christ it was adapted by the Catholic Church, in order to commemorate the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Christmas along with Easter, are the most important Christian celebrations of the year.
Christmas as is celebrated today is a result of the traditions acquired during XIX century, since during that time the custom of exchanging gifts and cards became popular, Santa Claus became famous and the Christmas tree became a very important symbol for these celebrations. The range of symbols of Christmas is complete with the tradition of building the Nativity scene, Christmas carols and advent wreaths.
There are a variety of symbols used on Christmas cards and motives, and each one of them has a special meaning, below you can find the meaning and origin for each symbol in order to design your own Christmas Cards.
Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas)
Santa Claus is a legendary character based on the figure of Nikolaos of Bari which was also known as Nikolaos of Myra which was a Christian bishop of Myra during the IV century. He was born on Patara, a region of Lycia within a wealthy family, and since he was a child was noted for his pious and generous character. There are many legends around this bishop related to his generosity and big hearth, and the love he used to profess for children.
There is a variety of miracles are attributed to Nicolas. His mythical reputation of gifts distributor is based on a story that says there were three humble sisters who were daughters of a very poor man who couldn’t keep maintaining them because of their poorness, so he decided to sale them. When the bishop found out about the intensions of the man, in secret entered inside their house by the window and placed a bag full of gold inside the socks of each girl, which were hanged over the fireplace to get dried. But one of the most outstanding miracles performed by Santa Claus would be the resurrection of three children by his intercession; these kids fell from a tree dying instantly. There were also some kids that were sacrificed to feed the customers of an innkeeper and were resurrected also by the intercession of Santa Claus.
Each December, Santa Claus was dedicated to receive the “Christmas spirit” celebrating the 24th as the birth of Christ and therefore distributing gifts among the people, especially among children. The fame of Santa Claus was spread across the world, and a lot of churches were consecrated after him. He became the protector of children, sailors and Christmas holidays, and since there were no cameras during his time, most of the representations of his appearance are reflected in paintings.
The current image of Santa Claus is the one chosen by the Coca-Cola Company to represent their brand on the commercials, it was created by the painter Habdon Sudblom, and this is the most famous figure that can be found on every card and on every Christmas motive. Although Santa Claus is very famous figure of Christmas, he also has a special date as his feastday and it is on December 6.
Christmas tree
It has been said that the origins of Christmas tree can be found on the Germanic native villages, and it was part of their pagan rituals dedicated to their sun god known as Frey, and it was Saint Boniface, a German evangelist who decided to take the idea of the tree to celebrate the birth of Christ, but changing the original signification of the tree completely. The first Christmas tree was decorated with apples and lights, apples used to represent the temptations and the lights used to symbolize the light of Christ. In recent years was added the tradition of placing gifts at the foot of the tree.
Nativity scene
The Nativity scene is also called as Manger Scene and it represents the birth of Christ, it is exposed on every single place where Christmas celebration takes place such as houses, churches, and many public places like schools, shops, squares and parks. The construction and exposure of a Nativity scene is very important part of Christmas traditions around the world. The first Nativity scene was built by Saint Francis of Assisi on 1223, which was a living Nativity scene since real persons represented each character of it. It was built on a cave near the chapel of Greccio.
The structure of the Nativity scene is based on the description of the birth of Jesus made in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. In the narrative of the Gospel of Luke an angel announces the birth of Jesus Christ to the humble visitors of the site where the baby was found lying in a manger. The Gospel of Matthew tell us about the three “wise men” that visited the newborn bringing as gifts incense, gold and myrrh, and he describes how the star of Bethlehem guided them to find the place where was the messiah.
On the Nativity scene can also be found the ox and the donkey which are reclining at the foot of the crib, it has been said that their representations have their origins on the apocryphal Gospels.
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