Oh Bosh. Dec. 25 was the celebration of the Birth of Mirthra, celebrated about 1st century BC. Christianity adopted Dec. 25 about 4th cent. AD when Mithraism was viewed as a serious threat to Christianity. (It was declared the
Mistletoe dates to about 2nd cent BC, in the British Isles. Druids burned it to celebrate the start of winter and as a sacrifice to their gods. Sprigs were hung in homes to ensure good fortune for the coming year and it also had various medicinal purposes. Scandinavians viewed it as a plant of peace and harmony. Romans used it in feasts of Saturnalia. When the Christian church adopted Dec. 25 it banned the use of mistletoe and subsbreastuted holly, the thorns of which symbolized those in Christ's crown.
The poinsettia was adopted in the early 1820s, when it was brought back to the US from Mexico by an American ambbuttador.
The Christmas tree - fir - (decorated) was in general use in the 16th cent (AD) in Germany. (Note that the Druids believed the oak was sacred and inviolable.) Early decorations included paper, apples, wafers. Hardly elaborate. Prior to that (from about 8th cent AD) fir saplings were planted (not decorated) to celebrate Christmas in Germany.
Christmas cards - 1840s, England.
Santa Claus - St. Nicholas, born 4th cent AD, Turkey. He arrived Dec. 6 (not Christmas Eve) and left fruits, nuts, hard candies, wood and clay figures. During the Protestant Reformation, St. Nicholas was banished from most European countries, replaced by secular figures such as Father Christmas, Pere Noel, etc. The Dutch called him Sint Nikolbutt, which became Sinterklbutt to the Dutch in America, later Americanized to Santa Claus. Most certainly not known as Santa Claus to pre-Christians.
