Christmas in the 20^th century 

Christianity is one of the oldest religious concepts in this world. In order to symbolize an everlasting life, in the earlier days, the Christians used to have evergreen plants in their house. Herbs like bay and rosemary, which were holly, ivy and evergreen, got to be used with their symbolism. To specify, rosemary and bay were there to symbolize remembrance and valor respectively.

Interestingly, a kissing-bough consisting of a round-ball of twigs and decorated with some special fruits was placed to be hung from the ceiling. Mistletoe, which succeeded this, was sacred to the Druids. There could be no denying of a kiss under a kissing bough. Mistletoe was thought to bring fortune and push out futility protecting from witchcraft.

20^th century witnessed a brand new type of Christmas ornament, as a sort of convention on the part of the Christians, which was hung on a tree with some sort of food being covered with some sort of colorful papers for its decorative effect. Now, the crucial point is that these things have been undergoing changes and as a result of which, a fairy being a popular object on the top of the Christmas tree, have got replaced by some other Christmas ornaments taking pride at the pinnacle.

Having mentioned these ongoing changes, we should also point towards the fact that Christmas decorations have got bigger, better and developed with the marching process of time. Variety is the spice of life and in connection with this, in some areas of Christians they decorate their houses with absolute attractions. Because of such arrangements displayed by them, they become well known in the corpus of Christmas display. As for an instance, in the Philippines, some localities have become of well repute because of their pompous displays.

Exchange of gifts has been one of the popular traditions of Christmas celebration and this statement becomes aptly justified if we cast a glance at the London streets crowded by a variety of gifts meant to be sold. This huge celebration is put to its use to the extreme by the manufactures and shopkeepers as well. To denote this fact, we can say about Gamages, a vast department store in Helborn, which offered nearly 500 pages of gifts in their Christmas bazaar catalogue of 1913.

Children are always considered to be at the helm of affairs and the sell of toys gets its momentum on the eve of Christmas. In spite of this fact , there are certain gift items that can encourage both the sexes like rocking horses, wooden farmyard animals, board games and many more. To clarify this aspect, we can site the example of Gamages, which, in 1911, filled its window with stuffed animals made by Steiff, including the popular teddy bears.

Amongst these gifts, some were left under the Christmas tree, whereas, small treats could be left in a stocking to be filled by Father Christmas. This custom, where children fill their shoes with straw as a gift for Saint Nicholas’s horse, is borrowed from the Dutch tradition.