Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Christmas Velvet Alexander inspired by Christmas!
Christmas has a long history of blending Christian traditions with pre-Christian winter solstice festivals from various cultures. The date of December 25th was chosen by early church officials to coincide with the Roman festival of Saturnalia and the birthday of the sun god Sol Invictus, merging these traditions with the commemoration of Jesus’ birth.
Over centuries, the celebration evolved, incorporating traditions like evergreen trees from Germanic tribes and gift-giving customs, which became the foundation for the modern, family-centered holiday celebrated today.
Christmas evolved from a variety of pre-Christian winter festivals held to celebrate the winter solstice.
The Roman festival honoring the god Saturn was a week-long celebration of feasting, gift-giving, and merriment from December 17-23.
The Roman festival for the “Unconquered Sun” was celebrated on December 25th and was also assimilated into the Christmas celebration.
Germanic and Norse traditions:
The practice of bringing evergreen trees into the home and decorating them comes from the Germanic tribes and Norse traditions, such as their worship of the god Woden. Mistletoe was also adopted from Viking traditions.
The early church appointed December 25th as the birthday of Jesus, and many pagan traditions were adapted and merged into the celebration to help with the transition to Christianity.
Christmas was a period of feasting and entertainment, often involving community celebrations. In some places, like colonial New England, it was even banned because it was considered too pagan, according to the Boston Public Library.
The holiday transformed into a more family-centered, sentimental event, influenced by figures like the writer Washington Irving and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Congress made it a federal holiday in 1870, and immigrants brought their own traditions, which helped create a more uniform celebration, says National Geographic.
The modern figure of Santa Claus developed from various traditions, including the Dutch “Sinter Klaas,” Saint Nicholas, and the Norse god Odin, who was sometimes depicted as a long-bearded, gift-giving figure, according to CNN and Wikipedia.
With all these different traditions & more wrapped up in what Christmas means today, we’re thankful to share at least a small part of your day today, and that you’re making stopping by The Politics Bar part of your holiday tradition.
On that note, we raise a glass of the Drink Of The Day, a Christmas Velvet Alexander, to celebrate this festive holiday with you.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
