opinion
Page A4| Monday, December 9, 2013 | valleyvanguardonline.com | The Valley Vanguard
Column
Beyond the Valley
Editorial
Vanguard Vision
Supporting each other in the time of grief, finals and stress
The history behind Christmas traditions
By Hannah Meyer Vanguard Columnist First, good luck to everyone with finals. Whether it’s an exam, paper, presentation, project or anything in between, I hope you get the grade you were striving for. I hope that whoever celebrated it had a happy Hanukkah. For those of you who are going to celebrate it, I hope you have a joyous Kwanzaa and a merry Christmas. And to everyone, Happy New Year. I’m sure you’ve all been exposed to Christmas already since it seemed to have started way before Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays because, one, there’s no homework and, two, I get to spend time with family. Christmas has been celebrated for about two millennia (although the number is debated) for both being a religious sacred holiday and a commercial phenomenon. It is important to remember that Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nicholas. He was born in the third century in the village of Patara, which was Greek at the time. A devout Christian, Nicholas would use his whole inheritance after his parents’ deaths to assist the needy, sick and suffering. During the 1500s, history shows that people in England stopped worshipping St. Nicholas and favored the gift-giving figure of Father Christmas. St. Nicholas, in Dutch, is pronounced as “Sinter Klass” which lead to the derivation of the name Santa Claus. It wasn’t until 1822 that Saint Nicholas was portrayed as Santa Claus, an elf with a miniature sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. The standard image we see today with Santa as a bearded, overweight, jolly man dressed in a red suit with white fur trim wasn’t until the 1920s. The Coca-Cola company would draw a series of Santa images for its Christmas ads from 1931 until 1964, and they still hold the trademark for that design, which we still see today. However, that’s not to say that Christmas is entirely a Christian holiday. It is mostly composed of pagan rites and practices, predating the birth of Jesus by a few centuries. Decorating Christmas trees, singing Christmas carols and exchanging Christmas gifts are rooted in pagan traditions. Eighty-eight percent of Americans surveyed by the U.S. Census Bureau put up a Christmas tree. We
buy 25 million to 30 million real trees and 8 million to 13 million artificial trees each Christmas season. Our favorite Christmas tree species are Douglas fir, white pine and blue spruce. About 93 percent of all Americans exchange gifts. The U.S. Postal Service sells 1.3 billion holiday stamps each year, and delivers more than 15.8 billion cards, letters and packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Of that number, about 1.5 billion are Christmas cards. But Christmas traditions also range by country. Denmark, where a part of my family is from, begins Christmas Eve dinner with rice pudding that has one whole almond inside it. Whoever finds the almond receives a prize. Parents decorate the tree in secret, and the children don’t see the tree until dinner on Christmas Eve. Then the tree is lit up, and the family gathers around it to sing carols and hymns. Another popular item is the candy cane. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the U.S. produces more than 1.76 billion candy canes each year. But not many people know where the origin of the item comes from. According to Christian stories, craftsmen in the 17th century made white sticks of candy in the shape of shepherd’s crooks, which were given to children to keep them quiet during ceremonies at the living Nativity scene. The National Confectioner’s Association believes that, in 1847, a German immigrant was the first to use a candy cane to decorate a Christmas tree. A Catholic priest, Gregory Keller, would invent a machine in the 1950s that automated the production of candy canes to eliminate the laborious process of creating the treats. While factual evidence doesn’t exist, many believe the colors of white and red are to represent Christ’s purity and the blood he shed. Mistletoe is another popular item. It was in the 18th century when the exchanging of kisses was adopted. Back then, it was believed that if a woman remained unkissed, she could not expect to marry the following year. The modern tradition goes that a woman under the mistletoe cannot refuse to be kissed, and the kiss can have three different meanings: a deep romance, a lasting friendship or goodwill. As a kid, I know that one of my favorite things to do was the make cookies to leave out for Santa. And to eat myself. According to Nabisco, the most popular cookie children leave for Santa is the Oreo. No exact date can be found, but the idea of leaving cookies is said to have started around the 1930s. Naughty children were using them to bribe Santa at the last minute and nice children used them as a way of thanking him for all his hard work. As we say in my hometown, don’t forget to be awesome.
By Tyler Bradley Vanguard Editor-in-Chief Last week proved a tough week for the Cardinal community. We saw the losses of alumnus and Tau Kappa Epsilon and Great Lakes Bay Region Hispanic Leadership Institute member Jesse Martinez, as well as Phi Kappa Tau, Living Leader and Model U.N. member John Schmidt. Both were prominent members of the SVSU community and very influential parts of organizations they were involved with. Even for those who didn’t know these two, there has been the stress of preparing for finals. There are those struggling getting along with their roommates, their significant others and those who have to deal with a dreaded group project for a final presentation. We also can’t forget the winter semester tuition payment deadline was last week, as well. And there’s also payments and stress for those affected by the D-Lot car fire. When all of these things happen in such a crunched time period, it’s important that we
come together as a community and support each other. Some individuals have organized an online donation to benefit the family of Martinez. The contributions have already exceeded $2,000. We recognize that college isn’t easy. Nor is life always easy, for that matter. But we need to remember that we’re not alone. The same stresses that you have are being shared in similar capacities by others around you. You won’t know their stories. You won’t know their stressors just by looking at them. But know, that everyone is undergoing hardships. We’re not mind readers, and that’s O.K. While some of you are preparing for passing a final which will determine if you pass the class, and for some if you’re even able to maintain your financial aid, don’t forget to check in and see how others are doing. Ask them how finals are coming. Ask them what their plans are for winter break. Engage in a deep philosophical conversation while you’re recovering from a caffeine crash from too much Starbucks. You’ve made it this far, and that is something that is worthy of recognition. Even if you barely made it, whether that be you barely got an A, barely could get the classes you needed or barely got out of bed this morning, you’re here. And who says you can’t celebrate that?
Visit valleyvanguardonline.com for more opinion articles: Why Captain Picard is better than Captain Kirk By Chris Oliver As the day warms, be sure to capture what the sun gives. Open your shades instead of turning on the furnace.
Lily Allen single gives cultural commentary on misogyny By Landon Defever
Hannah Meyer is a history junior. Reach her at hmmeyer@svsu.edu
Editorial Cartoon
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Evan Poirier and Logan Mooney are graphic design seniors and the Vanguard’s cartoonists. Reach them at empoirie@ svsu.edu and ltmooney@ svsu.edu.
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