This is Christmas Day - the day of the big reveal. What was that day?
Scholars have tried to figure this out and the closest that can be determined and not debunked is somewhere in the month of September. We know now that the date of December 25 was established overtly by the Roman Catholic Church, and became the most significant of the Christmas traditions.
There is much writing about the stories that became traditions rather than having a source in the Bible.
For example, the popular Nativity Scene is said to have started in the seventh century, and then made really popular by St. Francis of Assisi who set up a Nativity in his town where "miracles' were said to happen - healing sick animals, etc. I guess that culminated in the Saint aspect. The paintings of the Nativity reveal got more and more ornate over time. One painting has a peacock that peers over the top of the manger to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
One visual representation of Christmas settled on Three Wise Men/Kings/Magi along with the Star of Bethlehem. The visual depictions over the centuries have developed to include camels (not likely say the historians) and how many kings remains unknown.
Our gift-giving at Christmas is generally traced back to the gifts of the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus. That's a tradition many people appreciate.
We'd have to zig-zag to get to Santa where the tradition follows another track. I did find this excellent Santa joke:
The 3 stages of man: He believes in Santa Claus. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus. He is Santa Claus.
It is a rainy day here today so I went to last year's archives and found a snowy orchard scene on John Street followed by Millie the puppy racing about in the snow.
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