Here are the origins of some holiday traditions:

Santa Claus

Santa Clause is the version of a legend that began in the fourth 
century in Asia Minor. The bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, was 
universally loved for his generosity. Sporting a long white beard, 
he is said to have given good children presents on his feast day, 
December 6th. During the Reformation, the celebration of this homey 
character was struck from the church calendar and was widely replaced 
by the Christmas Man, a secular Yuletide cheer supplier known in 
England as Father Christmas. But Nicholas had also been the patron 
of sailors, and the sea-going Dutch kept on celebrating him. In the 
Netherlands he was called Sint Nikolaas or Sinterklaas.

Today's Santa was the creation of Dr. Clement Moore who wrote "The 
Night Before Christmas" in 1822. He described a toy-toting pipe 
smoker, the driver of a reindeer-drawn sleigh, and a fancier of 
chimneys. It is unclear which of these elements were Moore's own and 
which he borrowed from the stories of Dutch friends. Thomas Nast 
provided illustrations for the book, giving us the image of the jolly, 
rotund character we know today.
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Christmas Gifts

The custom of exchanging presents at Christmas is commonly linked to 
the Maji's visit to the infant Jesus and their gifts to him of gold, 
frankincense and myrrh. Gift-giving at the time of the winter solstice 
was also a Roman custom before Jesus' time. The custom is related to 
the generosity of the fourth century's St. Nicholas and the gifts that 
the baby Jesus is supposed to bring on his birthday. But these gifts 
were always small tokens, noothing like the lavish items exchanged in 
America. The American version began around the same time as the modern 
Santa with the nineteenth century commercialization of the holiday.
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The Christmas Tree

In the 14th century, the popular miracle play presented on December 
24th was the story of Adam and Eve. In this play the chief prop was 
an apple-hung evergreen called the paradise tree, dramatically evoking 
the lost innocence of Eden. German families picked up on this symbol 
and began bringing evergreens into their homes during the holiday 
season. They decorated them with fruit, candies, cookies and other 
items.
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Caroling

The association of joyous songs with Christmas dates back to St. 
Francis, an early proponent of religious singing. Christmas songs 
spread through Europe, but were banned during the Reformation of the 
17th century. Many of the original songs were lost. That is why most 
of the carols we sing today date from the 18th century.
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Red and Green for Christmas

The dominant color scheme of the holiday season reflects the ancient 
popularity of holly among both the Britons and the Romans. Holly was 
commonly used as a winter decoration in the hope that the plant's 
remarkable ability to survive through winter would lend a similar 
strength to people's homes.

The red and green ppoinsettia, native to Central America, has been 
a Christmas symbol in the U.S. since the 1820's when it was first 
shipped north by Joel Poinsett, the American Minister to Mexico.
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Hanukkah Lights

In 165 B.C. Jewish revolutionaries under Judas Maccabeus succeeded in 
driving from Jerusalem the occupying army of the Syrian King Antiochus 
IV. In his subsequent rededication of the temple, Judas could find only 
enough undefiled oil to light the sacred lamps for one day, but 
miraculously they burned for eiight days. The eight-branched menorah, 
or candlelabrum, is lit at the annual feast known as Hanukkah. On the 
first night of the eight-day celebration, one candle is lit; on the 
second, two; and so on until all are burning in commemoration.
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The Seven Kwanzaa Candles

In 1966, Maulana (Ron) Karenga, a university professor in the U.S., 
developed Kwanzaa as a week-long celebration of African ancestry. The 
celebration calls for a candle to be lit each night to symbolize seven 
principles: unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative 
economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
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The History of Christmas Cards

The practice of sending Christmas cards to friends and loved ones was 
begun in 1843 in England, reportedly by Sir Henry Cole. The first card, 
which depicted a family celebrating Christmas, was designed by J.C. 
Horsley. More than 1,000 copies of the card were sold commercially.

By the latter part of that century, the exchange of Christmas cards 
was commonplace. Today, Christmas card sales account for about 35 
percent of the more than 7 billion greeting cards sold annually in 
the United States, according to the Greeting Card Association. This 
translates to approximately $2.4 billion spent on Christmas cards 
each year.
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Origin of Boxing Day

Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th, got its name from the 
19th-century English tradition of giving boxes of food or money to 
service people such as the postman, lamplighter and other public 
servants on the day after Christmas.

Boxing Day is a legal holiday in Canada, the United Kingdom and 
many other countries, and has typically been a day to relax after 
the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. However, a growing 
contingent uses this day to check out the after-Christmas sales at 
department stores and specialty shops.
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Happy New Year

People across the world will celebrate December 31st by ringing out 
the old and ringing in the new in a wide variety of rituals and 
celebrations. 

The observance of New Year's Eve on that date began in the sixteenth 
century when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582. The 
conversion from the Julian calendar, which observed New Year's day on 
March 25th, was gradual in Roman Catholic countries. Scotland made 
the switch in 1600; Germany, Denmark and Sweden changed over in 1700.
England did not convert until 1752.

Traditional New Year's celebrations include a feast and have religious 
overtones. Today, however, many use the occasion to eat, drink and be 
merry until the wee hours of the morning of January 1st.

One of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations takes place in Times 
Square in New York City, where more than a million people have 
gathered in recent years to count down to the New Year.
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