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How did Christmas start?
The Many Faces of Santa
Christmas cards
Reindeer
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| How did
Christmas start? |
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 Since about 400 AD,
Christians have celebrated the birth of Jesus. 'Christ' means 'Messiah' or
'Anointed One' - the title given to Jesus - and 'Mass' was a religious festival.
In the West today, the real meaning of Christmas is often forgotten. It has
become a non-religious holiday! More children believe in Father Christmas than
in Jesus. Christmas Day is a time for eating and drinking too much and watching
television. But the real Christmas story is found in the Christian Bible. It is
told in two different books: Matthew and Luke chapters 1 and 2. If you have no
Bible, you can read these chapters online. You may think that the story of the
birth of Jesus, and the way that the West celebrates Christmas today, do not
seem to have many connections.
To read Mathews
story click here »
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| The Many
Faces of Santa |
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| On the night before
Christmas, all across the world, millions of children will be tucked in their
beds while "visions of sugarplums dance in their heads." When they awake they
will check their stockings to see if Santa Claus has come
Santa Claus has become the most beloved of Christmas symbols and traditions.
The image of the jolly old elf flying in a sleigh pulled by reindeers and
leaving toys and gifts for every child is know worldwide.
The history of Santa Claus begins with a man called Saint Nicholas, the
Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. Saint Nicholas was know for
his charity and wisdom. Legends tell of him coming from a wealthy family and
giving all his money to the poor. He also was said to posses magical powers. He
died in 340 AD and was buried in Myra.
To
read the remainder of the article click here »
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| Christmas
cards |
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 The custom of sending
Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public
postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new railway system, the public postal
service was the 19th century's communication revolution, just as email is for us
today.) As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large
numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card
could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one half-penny - half the price of
an ordinary letter.
Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures - Mary, Joseph and
baby Jesus, or other parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often
jokes, winter pictures, Father Christmas, or romantic scenes of life in past
times.
To read more and
more about things you thought you knew click here »
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| Reindeer |
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| Reindeer has come to be
associated with the Christmas riding the tradition of the Santa Claus. As Santa
is believed to have from the far away North, what else than a reindeer drawn
sledge can serve as a better carriage?
It is man's most ancient herd animal, the first animals being raised around
15,000 years ago. Up until about 12,000 years ago, reindeer grazed over a vast
area of Europe. Rock paintings by primitive peoples featuring them are
widespread, as are discoveries of tools made from reindeer horn. there was even
a period of European prehistory in a part of France called Dordogne that is
sometimes called "the civilization of reindeer." The only surviving part of such
a civilization might be found in Lapland, which is the northern part of Norway,
Sweden and Finland. There are only a few thousand Lapps, but they own herds of
many thousands of reindeer. From them the Lapps obtain meat, milk, hair for
weaving, hides to make tents and clothing, and horn, from which they make
households. They are also used to pull heavily laden sleds. It is all these
multiple uses that have made reindeer so endearing to people in the North.
Caribou, the name by which the Americans are more familiar with reindeer, comes
from an Indian word.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent, the
arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms. It's a
mind-set that assumes (or hopes) that today's realities will continue tomorrow
in a tidy, linear and predictable fashion. Pure fantasy. In this sort of
culture, you won't find people who pro-actively take steps to solve problems as
they emerge. Here's a little tip: don't invest in these companies.
Follow
the Reindeer ----------->>>>>>>>> »
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| Merry
Christmas and a prosperous New Year |
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| In
this most unusual and what for many has been a difficult year may we at Elite
Selection Services hope that all your dreams, ambitions and wishes are fulfilled
in 2003. Have an enjoyable holiday and we will be back in the New Year with our
normal newsletter, which by now we hope you are finding interesting and thought
provoking. Anyway it's time to address a new year deal with the project at hand
yet resolve not to dwell on past take each day, as it's dealt. Now take a
deeeeeeeeep contemplative breath you're alive - aren't you?
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