The Gospels
No day is named
Matthew 1 to 2 and Luke 1 to 2 tell the birth of Jesus. They name Bethlehem. They do not name a month or a day.
The Timeline
The history line cites its sources at the bottom. The other lines open the Almanac, the Station or the Music Hall, where the longer account is kept.
Slide the line, or use the arrow keys.
History
How the feast took shape
The story
The day is named
354
December 25, written in Rome
A Roman calendar made in 354 lists December 25 as the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. It is the earliest notice that has survived of that day being kept in Rome.[1][2]
January 7
Another calendar, another day
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church keeps Christmas, called Ganna, on January 7. In its calendar that is the 29th of Tahsas. Since 2023 Ukraine keeps Christmas on December 25. Before that, many families there kept January 7, and some parishes still do.
The middle ages
567
Every day a festival
In 567 a church council at Tours set fasting rules for monks. From Christmas to Epiphany they were to eat a midday meal, because every day in between was already a festival. The council did not create the twelve days. It treated them as already there.[3]
1223
A manger people could see
At Christmas in 1223, Francis of Assisi set up a manger of straw with an ox and a donkey at Greccio, in Italy. Thomas of Celano wrote it down. A Franciscan teacher says there were no figures of Mary or Joseph that night.
Banned, then restored
1647
England orders the feast stopped
On June 8, 1647, Parliament ordered that Christmas no longer be kept as a festival in England and Wales. Easter and the other holy days were in the same order. When the king returned in 1660, people kept Christmas again.[4][5]
1659
A five-shilling fine
In 1659 the Massachusetts Bay Colony fined people five shillings for keeping Christmas, by stopping work, by a feast, or in any other way. The law was repealed in 1681.[6][7][8]
The home holiday
1843
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843. You can read it in Story Corner. In it the Cratchits carry in a pudding with holly on top.
1870
A holiday in the capital
On June 28, 1870, President Grant signed a law that made Christmas a holiday in the District of Columbia. It covered federal workers there, and banks treated the day like Sunday when a note came due. In 1885 Congress extended that holiday pay to federal workers across the country.[9][10]
1880
Nine lessons and carols
The first service of Nine Lessons and Carols was at Truro, in Cornwall, on Christmas Eve 1880. King’s College, Cambridge, held its first in 1918. It has been broadcast every year since 1928, except 1930.
Traditions
When each custom was first written down
To the year 1000
about 304
St Lucia
Lucy of Syracuse died for her faith about the year 304. Her name comes from the Latin word for light. In Sweden, the oldest report of a girl bringing candles on her morning is from 1764.
the 300s
St Nicholas
Nicholas was a bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey, in the 300s. Almost nothing else about his life is certain. His day is December 6. In the Netherlands, children set a shoe out on the evening of December 5.
the 380s
Candlemas
In the 380s a pilgrim named Egeria described a procession in Jerusalem on the fortieth day, with sermons about Simeon and Anna. The feast is now February 2, forty days after December 25.
1000 to 1500
1184
The Yule log
A German record from 1184 mentions a tree for a Christmas Eve fire. No old Norse text describes a Yule log. A rolled cake shaped like a log came in the 1800s. A television fireplace first aired in New York on December 24, 1966.
1223
The Christmas crib
Francis of Assisi is credited with a living manger at Greccio in 1223. Nativity pictures are older. A catacomb painting in Rome from about the year 380 shows the scene.
1296
Gingerbread
Lebkuchen bakers are recorded in Ulm in 1296. The Brothers Grimm printed a bread house, not a gingerbread one, in 1812. Historians disagree about when the iced houses began.
1426
Carols written down
A manuscript of 1426 by John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, holds 25 English carols. The first service of Nine Lessons and Carols was at Truro on Christmas Eve 1880.
1434
Christmas markets
Dresden’s Striezelmarkt is first mentioned in 1434, a one-day market for the Christmas meal. Bautzen claims a meat market in 1384. Strasbourg dates its Christkindelsmarik to 1570. Which market is the oldest depends on what you count.
1444
Holly, ivy and mistletoe
A London account of 1444 lists holly, ivy and bay for winter decoration. Kissing under the mistletoe is first recorded in England in the 1780s. A link from Christmas mistletoe to British druids is an idea of the 1800s, and it is unproven.
1500 to 1800
1527
The Christmas tree
A forest record from Stockstadt, Germany, in 1527 names a Christmas tree. In 1605 Strasbourg wrote of trees in homes, hung with paper figures, apples, wafers and sugar. An 1848 picture of a tree at Windsor made the custom fashionable in Britain.
the 1580s
Las Posadas
In the 1580s, Friar Diego de Soria was allowed to hold special masses on the nine days before Christmas at Acolman, near Mexico City. Sources say 1586 or 1587. The walks from house to house came later.
1599
A rose in winter
The German hymn “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” was printed in 1599. The plant called a Christmas rose is a hellebore, not a rose, and it is poisonous if eaten.
1660
A cake with a bean
Epiphany is January 6, the visit of the wise men in Western churches. Matthew does not say how many there were, or that they were kings. In January 1660 Samuel Pepys wrote about a cake with a hidden bean.
1686
Julotta
A Swedish church law of 1686 set the early Christmas service at 6 a.m. Before that, many people left home around 4 a.m.
1714
The Christmas pudding
Mary Kettilby’s cookbook of 1714 has an early plum pudding. Eliza Acton’s cookbook of 1845 uses the name Christmas pudding. Dickens described one in 1843, with holly on top.
1743
Boxing Day
The name Boxing Day shows up in a London court record of January 17, 1743. The day is also St Stephen’s Day. It became a bank holiday in England, Wales and Ireland in 1871.
The 1800s
1816
The Nutcracker
E. T. A. Hoffmann’s nutcracker story is from 1816. Tchaikovsky’s ballet opened in 1892.
the 1820s
The poinsettia
Joel Roberts Poinsett sent the plant from Mexico to South Carolina in the 1820s. Sources say 1825 or 1828. The red parts are leaves, not flowers.
1839
The Advent wreath
In 1839 Johann Hinrich Wichern hung a wooden ring of candles in a children’s home in Hamburg. The children kept asking when Christmas would come. Names such as hope and peace were given to the candles long after.
1843
The Christmas card
In 1843 Henry Cole had the first commercial Christmas card printed in London. A handmade greeting had been sent to King James I in 1611, so Cole’s card was the first one made to sell, not the first card ever.
the 1840s
The Christmas cracker
In the 1840s Tom Smith, a London sweet-maker, sold sugared almonds in a paper twist at Christmas. The bang came later. One account says 1847. Another says about 1860.
1866
The candy cane
A legend is told about this
The earliest known printed mention of a candy cane is an 1866 story. Red stripes show up on cards around 1900. A tale that a candymaker shaped a J for Jesus comes from the 1990s. It is not the record.
about 1878
Tinsel
The usual first date is not on record
A date of 1610 in Nuremberg is often repeated, and no archive record of it has been found. A Bavarian business archive puts this shining metal on the market around 1878.
Since 1900
1903
The Advent calendar
A Munich printer, Gerhard Lang, is credited with the first printed Advent calendar, in 1903 or 1908. It had pictures to glue in, not doors. Doors became common after 1920. Chocolate behind them dates from 1958.
1998
The Christmas pickle
Often called German
People often call the hidden glass pickle an old German custom. Historians do not find support for that. The oldest printed mentions found so far are from 1998 and 1999.
No sure year
No sure year
Christmas stockings
Nobody knows who started it
A stocking hung up on Christmas Eve has no known starting point.
Cultures
When each country keeps the day
From Advent
The four Sundays
Germany
The candle wreath began in Hamburg in 1839, and German towns open Christmas markets through Advent.
December 8 to January 6
Italy
The season runs from December 8 to January 6. Homes and churches set up a presepe, a nativity in miniature.
December 13
Sweden
On December 13 a Lucia in a white gown and a crown of candles leads the singers, with saffron buns. Christmas morning has an early service called Julotta.
Middle of December
December 16 to 24
Mexico
For nine evenings, neighbors walk from house to house as Mary and Joseph looking for a room. The walk is called Las Posadas.
December 16 to 24, before dawn
Philippines
For nine mornings, many families go to church before sunrise. The services are called Simbang Gabi. The star lantern of the season is the parol.
December 20 to early January
Ghana
Many people travel home from about December 20 into the first week of January. Christmas Eve services can run all night, with drumming, dancing and choirs.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
December 24, at the first star
Poland
Supper, called Wigilia, begins when the first star shows. One place at the table is left empty.
December 24, in summer
Australia
Christmas comes in summer. Outdoor carols by candlelight began in Melbourne in 1938, when about 10,000 people came to the first one.
Christmas Eve
Ukraine
The Holy Supper begins after the first star. Since 2023 Ukraine keeps Christmas on December 25. Before that, many families kept January 7, and some parishes still do.
Christmas Eve, late
Brazil
Many homes set up a presépio, a nativity scene. The supper comes late on Christmas Eve, around 10 or 11 at night.
December 24 and 25
Japan
Christmas is not a national holiday, and only a small number of people are Christian. The best known custom is a sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries.
January
January 7
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church keeps Christmas, called Ganna, on January 7. Many people fast for 43 days before it.
Carols
When the songs were written
Before 1700
the 1200s
Good King Wenceslas
The Music Hall dates the tune to the 1200s. It was first printed in 1582. John Mason Neale wrote the words in 1853, for St Stephen’s Day.
15th century
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
The Music Hall prints this as plainsong from the 15th century.
1592
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
The Music Hall dates the tune, Winchester Old, to 1592.
1599
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
The German hymn was printed in Cologne in 1599. Theodore Baker made the best known English words in 1894.
The 1700s
1719
Joy to the World
Isaac Watts published the words in 1719.
the 1700s
O Come, All Ye Faithful
The Music Hall dates Adeste Fideles to the 1700s.
The 1800s
1818
Silent Night
Franz Gruber wrote the tune in 1818. The Music Hall plays it on Christmas Eve.
1840
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
The Music Hall dates the tune to Mendelssohn, 1840.
1849
Once in Royal David’s City
Henry Gauntlett wrote the tune in 1849.
1857
Jingle Bells
James Pierpont published it in 1857. It is a sleigh song, not a church carol.
1880
Nine Lessons and Carols
The first service was at Truro, in Cornwall, on Christmas Eve 1880. King’s College, Cambridge, held its first in 1918 and has broadcast it most years since 1928.
1895
Away in a Manger
The Music Hall dates the tune to Kirkpatrick, 1895.
No single year
Traditional
O Little Town of Bethlehem
The Music Hall prints the tune as English traditional. No single year is given.
Traditional
Go, Tell It on the Mountain
The Music Hall prints it as a spiritual. No single year is given.
Traditional
The Holly and the Ivy
The Music Hall prints it as English traditional. Printed sheets go back only to the early 1800s, and Cecil Sharp published the sung version in 1911.
Traditional
Deck the Halls
The Music Hall prints it as Welsh traditional. No single year is given.
Traditional
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
The Music Hall prints it as English traditional. No single year is given.
Traditional
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
The Music Hall prints it as English traditional. No single year is given.
Sources for the history line
- Depositio martyrum, the Chronography of 354 (Roger Pearse, from Mommsen)
- Chronograph of 354, Wikipedia
- A canon of the 2nd Council of Tours, 567 (Roger Pearse)
- June 1647: An Ordinance for Abolishing of Festivals, British History Online
- Christmastime in England: Prohibitions and Permissions, Library of Congress
- Penalty for Keeping Christmas, 1659, Massachusetts archives
- Massachusetts law banning Christmas, Mass.gov
- How the Puritans banned Christmas in Massachusetts, WBUR (the 1681 repeal)
- 16 Stat. 168, the holiday law signed June 28, 1870, GovInfo
- Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices, Congressional Research Service
Each custom’s sources are on its Almanac page. Each country names its sources at the Station. Carol dates follow the Music Hall playbill, and the longer carol history is on the Almanac page for carols.