James Debono
The Christmas tree, a staunch survivor of the pagan roots of Christmas from Northern Europe, is more popular than the nativity crib and statues of baby Jesus, which owe their origins to Catholic and Mediterranean traditions.
A MaltaToday survey carried out among 300 respondents shows that while 69% of respondents have a tree at home, 65% also have a baby Jesus statuette and 54% have a crib. Only 10% decorate their homes with models of Santa Claus.
The tree retains its popularity among those aged under 55, while the infant Jesus is most popular decoration among those above this age.
It is younger respondents who mostly decorate their homes with depictions of Santa Claus, which like the Christmas tree is another Nordic tradition.
While only 7% of those aged over 55 have a Santa Claus at home, 18% of those aged between 18 and 34 have one at home.
The Christmas tree owes its origins to the Christianisation of pagan tradition and rituals surrounding the Winter Solstice and pagan tree worship.
But according to the German Pope Benedict XVI, the Christmas tree is also a meaningful symbol of Christ’s birth, “because its evergreen branches recall for us the life that does not die.”
The crib, surprisingly more popular among 18-54 year-olds than those aged over 55, owes its origins to medieval Italy. After his return to Italy from a voyage to Egypt and Acre in 1220, St Francis of Assisi introduced three-dimensional nativity scenes. Some accounts state he used the statue or costumed people, but Thomas of Celano, the biographer of Francis, tells how he only used a straw-filled manger set between a real ox and donkey. According to Thomas, it was beautiful in its simplicity with the manger acting as the altar for the Christmas Mass.
Santa Claus, whose red outfit owes its origins to a Coca Cola advert, is the most commercialised image of Christmas and is more popular among younger people.
Pictures of Father Christmas from the 17th century portray him as a well-nourished bearded man dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe. Images of Santa Claus were popularized through Haddon Sundblom’s depiction of him for the Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising in the 1930s. Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilise the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising – White Rock Beverages used Santa to sell mineral water in 1915 and then in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923.
But the massive campaign by Coca-Cola simply popularised the depiction of Santa as wearing red and white, in contrast to the variety of colours he wore prior to that campaign.
In contrast to Santa Claus, the most indigenous Maltese tradition is that of exhibiting statues of the infant Jesus. The tradition is related to the Christmas Eve Procession, started 86 years ago by St George Preca in which members of the Society for Christian Doctrine (MUSEUM) walk in procession with the statue of Baby Jesus from the church to each catechism class.
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