首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
5 Questions on the Origins of Christmas The traditions we associate with Christmas have evolved over the centuries. Here are
5 Questions on the Origins of Christmas The traditions we associate with Christmas have evolved over the centuries. Here are
admin
2012-12-26
76
问题
5 Questions on the Origins of Christmas
The traditions we associate with Christmas have evolved over the centuries. Here are answers to five questions about these traditions, from the date we choose to celebrate to the origin of Santa. 1. Why do we celebrate on December 25th?
The Bible makes no mention of Jesus being born on December 25th and, as more than one historian has pointed out, why would shepherds be tending to their flock in the middle of winter? So why is that the day we celebrate? Well, either Christian holidays miraculously fall on the same days as pagan ones or the Christians have been crafty in converting pagan populations to religion by placing important Christian holidays on the same days as pagan ones. And people had been celebrating on December 25th (and the surrounding weeks) for centuries by the time Jesus showed up.
The Winter Solstice, falling on or around December 21st, was and is celebrated around the world as the beginning of the end of winter. It is the shortest day and longest night and its passing signifies that spring is on the way. In Scandinavian countries, they celebrated the solstice with a holiday called Yule last from the 21st until January and burned a Yule log the whole time.
In Rome, Saturnalia—a celebration of Saturn, the God of agriculture—lasted the entire end of the year and was marked by mass intoxication. In the middle of this, the Romans celebrated the birth of another God, Mithra (a child God), whose holiday celebrated the children of Rome.
When the Christianity became the official religion of Rome, there was no Christmas. It was not until the 4th century that Pope Julius I declared the birth of Jesus to be a holiday and picked December 25th as the celebration day. By the middle ages, most people celebrated the holiday we know as Christmas.
2. How did Americans come to love the holiday?
The American Christmas is, like most American holidays, a mishmash of Old World customs mixed with American inventions. While Christmas was celebrated in America from the time of the Jamestown settlement, our modern idea of the holiday didn’t take root until the 19th century. The History Channel credits Washington Irving with getting the ball rolling. In 1819 he published The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., an account of a Christmas celebration in which a rich family invites poor folk into their house to celebrate the holiday.
The problem was that many of the activities described in Irving’s work, such as crowning a Lord of Misrule, were entirely fictional. Nonetheless, Irving began to steer Christmas celebrations away from drunken debauchery (放荡) and towards wholesome, charitable fun. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, Christmas gained popularity and Americans adopted old customs or invented new ones, such as Christmas trees, greeting cards, giving gifts and eating a whole roasted pig.
3. Who popularized Christmas trees?
Since time immortal, humans have been fascinated with the color green and plants that stay green through winter. Many ancient societies—from Romans to Vikings—would decorate their Homes and temples with evergreens in the winter as a symbol of the returning growing season.
But the Christmas tree didn’t get going until some intrepid (无畏的) German dragged home and decorated a tree in the 16th century. Legend has it that Martin Luther himself added lighted candles to his family’s tree, starting the trend (and leading to countless fires through the years). In America, the Christmas tree didn’t catch on until 1846 when the British royals, Queen Victoria and the German Prince Albert, were shown with a Christmas tree in a newspaper. Fashionable people in America mimicked the Royals and the tree thing spread outside of German enclaves (被围领土) in America. Ornaments, courtesy of Germany, and electric lights, courtesy of Thomas Edison’s assistants, were added over the years and we haven’t changed much since.
4. What’s the deal with Santa Claus?
The jolly, red-suited man who sneaks into your home every year to leave you gifts hasn’t always been so jolly. The real Saint Nick was a Turkish monk who lived in the 3rd century. According to legend, he was a rich man thanks to an inheritance from his parents, but he gave it all away in the form of gifts to the less-fortunate. He eventually became the most popular saint in Europe and, through his alter ego, Santa Claus, remains so to this day. But how did a long-dead Turkish monk become a big, fat, reindeer-riding pole dweller?
The Dutch got the ball rolling by celebrating the saint—called Sinter Klaas—in New York in the late-18th century. Our old friend, Washington Irving, included the legend of Saint Nick in his seminal History of New-York as well, but at the turn of the 18th century, Saint Nick was still a rather obscure figure in America.
On December 23, 1823, though, a man named Clement Clarke Moore published a poem he had written for his daughters called "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," better known now as "T’was the Night Before Christmas." Nobody knows how much of the poem Moore invented, but we do know that it was the spark that eventually lit the Santa fire. Many of the things we associate with Santa—a sleigh, reindeer, Christmas Eve visits—came from Moore’s poem.
From 1863 to 1886, Thomas Nast’s illustrations of Santa Claus appeared in Harper’s Weekly—including a scene with Santa giving gifts to Union soldiers. Not much has changed since the second half of the 19th century: Santa still gets pulled in a sleigh by flying reindeer, he still wears the big red suit and he still sneaks down chimneys to drop off presents.
5. Who invented Rudolph?
Santa did get one more friend in 1939. Robert May, a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store chain, wrote a little story about a 9th reindeer with a disturbing red nose for a booklet to give customers during the holiday season. Ten years later, May’s brother would put the story to music, writing the lyrics and melody.
What Santa Claus does nowadays can be traced back to one of Clement Clarke Moore’s______
选项
答案
poems
解析
空白处应为名词性成分。根据该句可知与圣诞老人有关的很多东西都源于Clement ClarkeMoore写给他女儿的一首“诗”,可见,本题应填写“诗”(poems)。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/9iw7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Everyonemusthavehadatleastonepersonalexperiencewithacomputererrorbythistime.Bankbalancesaresuddenlyreported
WhyDIY?ThereasonswhypeopleengageinDIYhavealwaysbeennumerousandcomplex.Forsome,DIYhasprovidedarareoppor
A、He’seagertostarthisnewjob.B、Hisjobstartsearlynextweek.C、Hebelievesthejobinterviewwentwell.D、Hisprofessor
Theotherdaymysonaskedmeifhecouldrideuptohiselementaryschoolonhisbikeandmeethisfriend.Hewantedthebotho
Theotherdaymysonaskedmeifhecouldrideuptohiselementaryschoolonhisbikeandmeethisfriend.Hewantedthebotho
Theotherdaymysonaskedmeifhecouldrideuptohiselementaryschoolonhisbikeandmeethisfriend.Hewantedthebotho
Onmylastvisit,aboutthreemonthsago,mydoctorhadtoldmethatasa6-foot-tall,39-year-oldman,Ishouldweigharound18
StudiesoftheeffectthatmakesmanyofusslumberorfeelsleepyduringtheQueen’sspeechonChristmasDayhaverevealedthat
Waffles?Frenchtoast?Bacon?Bigbreakfastsmaybeathingofthepast.AccordingtotheAssociatedPress,moreAmericansarec
随机试题
可致左心室后负荷过重的疾病是
跨国公司的市场信息系统与一般的市场信息系统有哪些异同点?
以下哪项不是漏出液的特点
脓胸患者并发支气管胸膜瘘时宜采用
有关超声波雾化吸入的目的,正确的叙述是
监理(业主)超过约定的支付时间不支付工程进度款,承包商应及时向业主发出要求付款的通知,监理(业主)收到承包商通知后仍不能按要求付款,可与承包商协商签订延期付款协议,经承包商同意后可延期支付。协议应明确延期支付的时间和从工程量计量结果确认后第(
现阶段,构建我国综合交通运输体系所遵循的原则是()
案例一:某外语学院德语系学生吴某先后两次报名参加导游资格考试,均未合格。他急于从事导游工作,遂与某国际旅行社多次联系,希望能给予带团实习机会。次年7月,正值旅游旺季,该国际社导游不足,遂聘用吴某充任导游人员。被旅游行政管理部门查获,以其未经导游资格考试合格
军队是要准备打仗的,一切工作都必须坚持()标准,向能打仗、打胜仗聚焦。
设f(x,y)在(0,0)处连续,且=4,则().
最新回复
(
0
)