History of Christmas Traditions

Christmas Trees: Decorating trees for Christmas is a custom that dates all the way back to the mid 16th Century! A popular passion play performed annually on December 24 in medieval Germany retold the story of Adam and Eve. This production called for a tree decorated with apples. Locals found the tree so pretty that they began putting trees in their own homes every December.

Lights: Martin Luther is actually credited with the idea of Christmas tree lights. According to legend the Sainted Luther was taking a walk one night and looking at all the stars in the sky. The stars in the sky made him think of the Christmas Star and the night the three wise men saw that star and it led them to the Holy Child. He brought a small tree home from the forest and decorated it with candles, to symbolize the stars in the night sky, and told his family the story of the Christmas Star. Candles in the window at Christmas is also a medieval custom, not credited to Luther by the way. In the Middle Ages candles came to symbolize Christ as the "light of the world". Candles were left in the window at Christmas to guide the Christ Child to the home so that he could leave his blessings for those inside. The Christ Child also left gifts in some medieval towns, possibly leading to custom of gift giving

Gift Giving: The tradition of gift giving is traditionally attributed to the three wise men who offered the baby Jesus gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. However, gift giving was not really very popular until after the American Civil War. Queen Victoria, who expected gifts on all occasions, may have had something to do with the growth of the gift-giving tradition.

Stockings Hung By the Chimney With Care: According to Christian legend the tradition of hanging stockings by the chimney dates all the way back to 300 C.E. According to the legend a poor miller had three daughters, none of whom could afford to get married because their father was so poor he could not offer a dowry for the girls. The sisters were quite upset about this. St. Nicholas somehow heard of their situation and was touched by their plight. He traveled to their house in the middle of the night and tossed three bags filled with gold coins through their open window. The coins landed in the stockings the girls had hung by the fire to dry.

St. Nick to some, Santa Claus to others!: For those of you who are unaware, there actually was a real life St. Nicholas. He was born in 280 C.E. in a small town called Patara located in Asia Minor. Several miracles were attributed to St. Nicholas. According to legend his prayers often healed the sick, helped an old man conceive a child, brought a ship safely to harbor through a severe storm, and saved three separate individuals from execution. It is also said that St. Nicholas often gave gifts to needy children.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Robert May, a copywriter at Montgomery Ward Department Store in Chicago, was assigned the task of writing a Christmas story that could be given to children visiting Santa Clause in the store. It was a genius advertising ploy, but Ward struggled to complete his task. He was told the tale must be about an animal and he decided that there was no better animal for a Christmas story than a reindeer, and thus Rudolph was born. Over 2 million copies were given away at the Montgomery Ward department stores in 1939. 10 years later Johnny Marks, May's brother-in-law wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" which was later recorded by Gene Autry.

I hope you have enjoyed learning where popular American Christmas traditions come from. Pass the information on to someone else and keep these valued traditions alive.

Stone Age Burial Site Yields Social Clues

Researchers discovered a 4,600 year old burial site in Germany earlier this month, a find that is especially significant as it yields the earliest known evidence of people living together in family units.

Four nearly identical Stone Age burial sites were located in Eulau, Saxony-Anhalt. Through DNA analysis researchers were able to prove that the graves were actually family burials. The remains of a mother, father, and two children were found carefully buried together. Another grave contained two siblings and an unrelated female. Researchers believe this female was likely a paternal aunt. The individuals were buried facing each other and all remains dated to the same time period.

Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide commented, "By establishing the genetic links between the two adults and two children buried together in one grave, we have established the presence of the classic nuclear family in a prehistoric context in Central Europe--to our knowledge the oldest authentic molecular genetic evidence so far."

While tools and artifacts dating to the Stone Age have been studied in depth, not much is currently known about the societal norms of Stone Age life. This find is particularly significant because it proves that early peoples recognized nuclear families, and perhaps even resided in nuclear family units.

Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the individuals located were victims of a raid. Researchers believe that the survivors of this raid returned once their attackers had left in order to bury their dead. Burial is significant because it often suggests a belief in the afterlife, or in the very least a reverence for the dead. Burying family units together suggests that such units were recognized and important to early peoples. The uniformity of the burials suggests that the ritual of burying the dead had already been established, something previously unknown.

This find is incredible. If you would like to read more please click here.

History Trivia: Today in History...

On November 18th:

1863--President Lincoln began his journey to Gettysburg to deliver his famous Address on November 19, 1863.

1883-- Due to railroads, the United States adopted time zones for the first time in history.

1928--The very first successful animated cartoon with sound was released by Walt Disney. It was called "Steamboat Willy", starred Mickey Mouse, and premiered in NYC!

1966--Roman Catholic Bishops in the United States repealed the Catholic rule against eating meat on Fridays. Nowadays most Roman Catholics revert back to meatless Fridays during Lent.

The Jack-O-Lantern

Pumpkin carving as become a kind of modern art. People take it seriously. This year people are even carving images of presidential candidates in their pumpkins to make political statements. A girl I went to high school with carved Barak Obama into her pumpkin. Others stick to the traditional scary faces with triangular eyes and leering toothy grins.

Some places like Keene, NH for instance even have pumpkin festivals. Carving Jack O'Lanterns has become an integral part of American Culture.

The annual festival in Keene draws tourists from all over the world. The locals take their festival seriously, carving hundreds of pumpkins up to create a glowing spectacle not seen elsewhere.

Aren't those Jack O'Lanterns fabulous?

But where did this tradition come from? Why do we carve pumpkins into leering monsters on Halloween? Do other people do it?

Turns out the tradition of carving gourds into sneering leering monstrous faces comes from medieval Scotland and Ireland. The Irish have a folk tale called "Stingy Jack" and most historians believe this particular tradition arose in response to this little story.

Stingy Jack, as it turns out, was a very stingy man. He didn't like to spend his money. One night he invited the devil to have a drink with him at a local tavern. So they drink their ale and wracked up a hefty tab, and Stingy Jack being stingy as he was did not want to pay the barkeep. So he tricked the devil into turning himself into a coin to pay for their ale. And the devil did. And Stingy Jack stole the coin back and placed it in his pocket next to silver cross so that the devil couldn't change himself back. Jack eventually decided to free the devil, but only under the condition that the devil would not bother Jack again for at least one whole year and that if Jack died the devil would not claim his soul. The devil agreed and left good old Stingy Jack alone. A year later the two came into contact once more. This time Stingy Jack tricked the devil into climbing up a tree to pick some fruit. While the devil was high up in the tree Jack decided it would be funny to carve a cross into the trunk, neatly trapping the devil up in that fruit tree. Again Jack bargained with the devil and the devil agreed to the same terms as before: to leave Jack alone for a year and not to claim his soul if he died. So Jack helped the devil get down from the tree. Then one day Jack died. God didn't want such a conniving and dishonest soul in heaven so he refused to take him. The devil, bound by his original pledge, refused to claim Jack too. And so the devil sent Jack off into the inky blackness of the night with naught but a burning coal to light his way. Jack, being the smart man he was, put the coal into a carved out turnip. And so Jack roams the earth with his glowing turnip because neither God nor the Devil wants him.

The Irish began calling Jack "Jack of the Lantern" or "Jack O'Lantern". The Irish and Scottish started to carve frightening faces into turnips and potatoes, which they stuck a candle in, to ward off Jack and other wandering souls like him. These "Jack O'Lanterns" were placed near doors and windows to keep evil spirits out of Scotch-Irish homes. When the Scottish and Irish migrated to the other places, like the United States where native pumpkins replaced turnips, they brought their folk tale and the tradition of carving Jack O'Lanterns with them. The story of "Stingy Jack" has since faded, but leering faces of Jack O'Lanterns glow brightly on doorsteps across the United States every October.

Big Find Off Coast of Namibia

A 500 year old shipwreck was recently discovered off the coast of Southern Namibia. This find may possibly be the 2nd largest find in Africa, the pyramids in Egypt remaining the largest. The ship is believed to be Portuguese in origin and Francisco Alves, maritime archaeologist, stated that "the cultural uniqueness of this find is priceless".

The ship is remarkably well preserved and contains many historical treasures. The ships cargo included elephant tusks, a variety of weaponry, pewter tableware, several tonnes of copper and tin, and navigational instrument. The ship also contained more than $100 million dollars worth of gold and silver coins. The coins were minted in both Spain and Portugal as late as 1525. The coinage makes this find more significant, and is the reason archaeologists are speculating that this ship may be the "largest" (meaning wealthiest) find since Egypt.

The ship is located in a mining district and the costs of sea-walling to protect the excavation site cannot be maintained after October 10th. Archaeologists believe there is still more to be found, but they are running out of time.

The Namibian government intends to open a museum to display this rare find.

Mythical City Found!

A Russian archaeologist claims to have discovered the capital city of a mythical tribe, the Khazars. The Khazars were a nomadic tribe that roamed from Russia to the Aral Sea in Central Asia more than 1,000 years ago. According to Russian legend the Khazars adopted Judaism and became an imperial superpower. Under Soviet rule study of the Khazars was strictly discouraged and it is only recently that scholars have begun digging into this part of the Russian past.

Dmitri Vasilyev, who has been excavating along the Caspian Sea for nine years, discovered a triangular fortress of flamed brick and knew he had hit pay dirt. It was illegal to use flamed brick anywhere but the Khazarian capital city of Itil. So far his team has unearthed jewelery, decorative ceramics and pottery, armor, and lamps. They have yet to locate any Jewish artifacts.

Other archaeologists remain skeptical, awaiting further evidence that this city is indeed Itil.

For more information see the article below:

Scholar claims to find medieval Jewish capital

By MANSUR MIROVALEV, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 20, 2:13 PM ET

MOSCOW - A Russian archaeologist says he has found the lost capital of the Khazars, a powerful nation that adopted Judaism as its official religion more than 1,000 years ago, only to disappear leaving little trace of its culture.

Dmitry Vasilyev, a professor at Astrakhan State University, said his nine-year excavation near the Caspian Sea has finally unearthed the foundations of a triangular fortress of flamed brick, along with modest yurt-shaped dwellings, and he believes these are part of what was once Itil, the Khazar capital.

By law Khazars could use flamed bricks only in the capital, Vasilyev said. The general location of the city on the Silk Road was confirmed in medieval chronicles by Arab, Jewish and European authors.

"The discovery of the capital of Eastern Europe's first feudal state is of great significance," he told The Associated Press. "We should view it as part of Russian history."

Kevin Brook, the American author of "The Jews of Khazaria," e-mailed Wednesday that he has followed the Itil dig over the years, and even though it has yielded no Jewish artifacts, "Now I'm as confident as the archaeological team is that they've truly found the long-lost city,

The Khazars were a Turkic tribe that roamed the steppes from Northern China to the Black Sea. Between the 7th and 10th centuries they conquered huge swaths of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea.

Itil, about 800 miles south of Moscow, had a population of up to 60,000 and occupied 0.8 square miles of marshy plains southwest of the Russian Caspian Sea port of Astrakhan, Vasilyev said.

It lay at a major junction of the Silk Road, the trade route between Europe and China, which "helped Khazars amass giant profits," he said.

The Khazar empire was once a regional superpower, and Vasilyev said his team has found "luxurious collections" of well-preserved ceramics that help identify cultural ties of the Khazar state with Europe, the Byzantine Empire and even Northern Africa. They also found armor, wooden kitchenware, glass lamps and cups, jewelry and vessels for transporting precious balms dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries, he said.

But a scholar in Israel, while calling the excavations interesting, said the challenge was to find Khazar inscriptions.

"If they found a few buildings, or remains of buildings, that's interesting but does not make a big difference," said Dr. Simon Kraiz, an expert on Eastern European Jewry at Haifa University. "If they found Khazar writings, that would be very important."

Vasilyev says no Jewish artifacts have been found at the site, and in general, most of what is known about the Khazars comes from chroniclers from other, sometimes competing cultures and empires.

"We know a lot about them, and yet we know almost nothing: Jews wrote about them, and so did Russians, Georgians, and Armenians, to name a few," said Kraiz. "But from the Khazars themselves we have nearly nothing."

The Khazars' ruling dynasty and nobility converted to Judaism sometime in the 8th or 9th centuries. Vasilyev said the limited number of Jewish religious artifacts such as mezuzas and Stars of David found at other Khazar sites prove that ordinary Khazars preferred traditional beliefs such as shamanism, or newly introduced religions including Islam.

Yevgeny Satanovsky, director of the Middle Eastern Institute in Moscow, said he believes the Khazar elite chose Judaism out of political expediency — to remain independent of neighboring Muslim and Christian states. "They embraced Judaism because they wanted to remain neutral, like Switzerland these days," he said.

In particular, he said, the Khazars opposed the Arab advance into the Caucasus Mountains and were instrumental in containing a Muslim push toward eastern Europe. He compared their role in eastern Europe to that of the French knights who defeated Arab forces at the Battle of Tours in France in 732.

The Khazars succeeded in holding off the Arabs, but a young, expanding Russian state vanquished the Khazar empire in the late 10th century. Medieval Russian epic poems mention Russian warriors fighting the "Jewish Giant."

"In many ways, Russia is a successor of the Khazar state," Vasilyev said.

He said his dig revealed traces of a large fire that was probably caused by the Russian conquest. He said Itil was rebuilt following the fall of the Khazar empire, when ethnic Khazars were slowly assimilated by Turkic-speaking tribes, Tatars and Mongols, who inhabited the city until it was flooded by the rising Caspian Sea around the 14th century.

The study of the Khazar empire was discouraged in the Soviet Union. The dictator Josef Stalin, in particular, detested the idea that a Jewish empire had come before Russia's own. He ordered references to Khazar history removed from textbooks because they "disproved his theory of Russian statehood," Satanovsky said.

Only now are Russian scholars free to explore Khazar culture. The Itil excavations have been sponsored by the Russian-Jewish Congress, a nonprofit organization that supports cultural projects in Russia.

"Khazar studies are just beginning," Satanovsky said.

The Sea Queen

Grainne Ni Mhaille was born in Connaught, Ireland sometime between 1520 and 1530. Over time Grainne Ni Mhaille's actions grew to legend and her name became the anglicized Grace O'Malley.

Grace was the daughter of a clan chief and her family controlled much of modern Murrisk near Clew Bay. Her father taxed anyone who wanted to fish off their coast. Grace's father taught her about international trade and often took her aboard his many vessels. At an early age Grace became an adept seafarer and it is likely this familiarity with sailing had much to do with her later career as one of the most notorious pirates England ever saw.

As custom dictated, Grace was married to Donal O'Flaherty, heir to the O'Flaherty Chieftain title. She was 16. She bore him three children: Owen, Murrough, and Maeve. When Donal was killed in battle Grace was expected to give up the O'Flaherty castles and return home. Grace rarely did what anyone expected. When the Joyce clan (part of the O'Flaherty line) came to reclaim "Cock's Castle", Grace's favorite, Grace successfully defended it against them. The Joyce's were so impressed with Grace that they renamed the castle "Hen's Castle", which it is called to this day. When she finally left she returned to her family lands and having earned the loyalty of many O'Flaherty's many of her husband's kin went with her.

Shortly after her father's death Grace set up headquarters at Clare Island in Clew Bay.
She continued to tax ships that wanted to sail in O'Malley waters, but there was a catch: Grace expanded O'Malley nautical territory. For the most part the crown turned a blind eye to Grace's activity. Well they did until she started attacking English vessels. She was known for boarding ships in and around Clew Bay, sometimes as far away as Waterford, and "taxing" the ship's captain by taking most of his cargo. Sometimes she even acquired his ship in return for his life, a fair bargain she thought.

Grace O'Malley's exploits were so legendary that she caught the notice of Queen Elizabeth. When Grace's son was taken captive by Richard Bingham, English governor of Connaught, O'Malley sailed to England to petition good Queen Elizabeth herself. During the meeting the two women spoke Latin, as Grace did not speak English and the Queen did not speak Gaelic. Grace did not recognize Elizabeth as the Queen of Ireland and as a result she refused to bow to the Queen as custom dictated. Elizabeth took it all in stride. The meeting was successful, her son was released and Bingham was temporarily removed from his post in Connaught.

Grace's courage, her lack of regard for convention, her odd choice of career have all made Grace O'Malley an Irish legend.

If you are interested in learning more about Grace O'Malley try reading The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea by Barbara Sjoholm printed by Seal Press.

Today in History

On September 14, 1814 Francis Scott Key penned "The Star Spangled Banner" as he watched the Battle of Baltimore at Fort McHenry unfold. This poem later became our national anthem.

Key was a prominent lawyer, son to a prominent Maryland judge. He traveled to Fort McHenry to negotiate the release of an American prisoner, Dr. William Beanes, from the British. The British released Beanes into Francis Scott Key and Col. John Skinner's custody, but because the three men were now privy to the British plan to attack America they were not permitted to leave their sloop. Key, Skinner, and Beanes had no course of action but to sit and watch the surprise British attack on America. But as Key so famously wrote when the smoke cleared, "the flag was still there."

And so the American National Anthem was born from a little known battle in history on this day in 1814.

My Favorite Hooker

I recently visited Charleston, SC. Charleston just happens to be one of my favorite places in the world. It was also home to my favorite prostitute (in history of course): Grace Piexotto.

Grace Piexotto was likely born sometime in the late 1700s, but we cannot really be sure of the exact date. In fact, Grace herself may not have known the exact date of her birth. We know from Grace's own recollections that she witnessed a speech by George Washington at a young age and this particular appearance by our first president occurred after the Revolutionary war. Thus Grace must have been born sometime in the late 1700s. According to some records Grace was the daughter of Selomoh Piexotto, a music leader at Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston, SC. According to others, Grace did not know who her parents were and she was raised in a brothel. Then again Grace was fairly notorious in her time and notoriety breeds legend. It is much more likely that Grace was the daughter of a religious Jew than that she was raised in a brothel.

In any case Grace grew up to be a brazen and bold businesswoman. She defied convention. She did what society forbade her. By 1852 Grace had somehow come up with enough money to build a brothel. This was no small feat my friends. First, it was very difficult for a woman to have anything constructed in the mid 1800s. Women simply did not have buildings built and should a woman decide she wanted to have a building constructed gender norms of the time made it nearly impossible for her to do so. Second, Grace hardly hid the fact that she intended to use this new building as a brothel. She would have had to possess not only enough money to construct the building, buy the materials, and pay the laborers; Grace would have needed enough money to bribe city officials for a building permit. Somehow, despite all the obstacles against her, Grace had one of the most infamous brothels in all of Charleston, SC raised from the ground up in 1852.

This brothel came to be called the "Big Brick", likely because the structure itself was made of big red bricks. So in 1852 Grace opened the doors of 11 Beresford Street, currently called Fulton Street, and set her girls to work. The Big Brick offered patrons something most other brothels did not: privacy. The upper floors were divided into several very small rooms. These rooms were just large enough for a bed, after all Grace was a wise businesswoman and she knew a bed was all her clients required. She also knew that the men who frequented her establishment would appreciate the privacy afforded by a wall. Most brothels had several beds crammed in larger rooms and such an arrangement often meant that men would quite literally see their friends and relatives "going about their business" if you will. Of course no man wanted his comrades to know that he frequented a whore house, so you can see why Grace's innovation was much appreciated.

Grace also required discretion of all her girls. She would fire anyone foolish enough to publicly greet a client. Upper crust gentleman appreciated such discretion and Grace's Red Brick was soon the brothel of choice among the higher classes. The Red Brick quickly became a popular port of call for sailors and free blacks as well. If you could pay Grace would give you a good time. If you couldn't pay--well Grace would just see to it that you didn't come back. In fact, brazen Grace Piexotto was so upset by students from the College of Charleston that she wrote the faculty of the college a letter asking them to keep their students away from her establishment.

City leaders turned a blind eye to Grace's establishment, likely because many of them were frequent customers. Grace was well educated and pretty savvy so she became quite wealthy. She lived in style.

Grace also died in style. When Grace died the local churches argued over who was going to have to bury her. None of the churches wanted to be responsible for burying the most notorious Madam in the South. The Unitarian Church finally stepped up and paid for Grace to have a funerary service. Of course who could attend a hooker's funeral? No man could dare show his face at Grace's service because then the whole town would know how he knew her. No woman would socialize with a prostitute, even a wealthy one. What about the "ladies" who worked for Grace? Well they figured the men in the town would need consoling so they went to work and were otherwise disposed at the time of her service. They figured Grace would understand, and she probably would have too.

So no one came to Grace's funeral. However, Charleston has a quite a strange tradition. If you find yourself unable to attend a friend's funeral then you can send your empty carriage to be a part of the funeral procession in your place. The longer the funeral procession, the more loved you were by the town. Apparently local men saw nothing wrong with sending their empty carriages to be part of Grace's procession. Grace had the 2nd longest funeral procession in the history of Charleston, SC--topped only by John Calhoun, a politician.

The Big Brick was the hub of Charlestonian prostitution until the 1940s when the city finally shut it down. The infamous building still stands and is currently home to an upscale retailer.