Christmas Activities

Outdoor light displays and other decorating traditions have created Christmas activities of their own. Decorators sometimes compete over the most ornate lighting displays and spectators walk or drive through neighborhoods to marvel at the exhibits. Schools and churches often stage Christmas pageants that reenact the Nativity. Saint Francis of Assisi started this custom in 1223, believing a life-size staging of the Crèche would make Jesus' story clear and accessible. Christmas pageants might also include traditional carols which are still sometimes sung door to door by groups of friends or neighbors.

Christmas food

Traditional Christmas food often gets a bad rap -- there's green beans soaked in mushroom soup, potentially primordial fruitcake and blob-like figgy pudding that, for some reason, made carolers sing "we won't leave until we get some." But Christmas fare is also a delicious combination of harvest feast foods, like turkey, squashes and potatoes; winter festival foods like roasted meats and an array of baked goods that outdoes any other time of year. Many novelty treats mimic other Christmas traditions: the Bûche de Nöel imitates the Yule log, gingerbread houses copy well-trimmed colorful chalets and cookie cutters turn out legions of trees, stars and Santas.

Of course, Christmas traditions center on the assumption that Jesus was born on Christmas Day -- the 25th of December. In the next section, we'll learn the history behind the nativity's date.