{"id":388,"date":"2022-12-15T16:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/whats-the-true-history-of-christmas-should-i-be-scared-of-krampus-find-out-in-these-holiday-stories-from-our-scholars\/"},"modified":"2024-10-29T18:20:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T01:20:57","slug":"2022-holiday-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2022-holiday-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the true history of Christmas? Should I be scared of Krampus? Find out in these holiday stories from our scholars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3802-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3802-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"What\u2019s the true history of Christmas? Should I be scared of Krampus? Find out in these holiday stories from our scholars\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Vintage color lithograph from 1898 showing Father Christmas and his reindeer flying through the sky. (Image Source: iStock.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>What\u2019s the true history of Christmas? Should I be scared of Krampus? Find out in these holiday stories from our scholars<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Dive into the rich cultural history, myths and religious traditions surrounding this popular holiday.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Margaret Crable<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">December 15, 2022<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a 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<\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_bluesky\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#bluesky\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Bluesky\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_bluesky\">\n              <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">\n                <path fill=\"#00000\" d=\"M12 10.8c-1.087-2.114-4.046-6.053-6.798-7.995C2.566.944 1.561 1.266.902 1.565C.139 1.908 0 3.08 0 3.768c0 .69.378 5.65.624 6.479c.815 2.736 3.713 3.66 6.383 3.364c.136-.02.275-.039.415-.056c-.138.022-.276.04-.415.056c-3.912.58-7.387 2.005-2.83 7.078c5.013 5.19 6.87-1.113 7.823-4.308c.953 3.195 2.05 9.271 7.733 4.308c4.267-4.308 1.172-6.498-2.74-7.078a8.741 8.741 0 0 1-.415-.056c.14.017.279.036.415.056c2.67.297 5.568-.628 6.383-3.364c.246-.828.624-5.79.624-6.478c0-.69-.139-1.861-.902-2.206c-.659-.298-1.664-.62-4.3 1.24C16.046 4.748 13.087 8.687 12 10.8\"  fill-rule=\"evenodd\" \/>\n              <\/svg>\n           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class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>Christmas is practiced annually by 2 billion Christians and non-Christians alike around the globe. But, how did this holiday begin, has it always been so popular, and why do we associate it with a jolly man with a white beard?<\/p>\n<p>These stories from scholars at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences are here to answer your Christmas questions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_deHBSvUaXI&amp;t=2s&amp;ab_channel=USCDornsifeCollegeofLetters%2CArtsandSciences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How Christmas is celebrated around the world<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Christmas is an exceptionally popular holiday across many cultures, but not everyone celebrates it the same way.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_deHBSvUaXI&amp;t=2s&amp;ab_channel=USCDornsifeCollegeofLetters%2CArtsandSciences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This video<\/a>\u00a0featuring\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/staff\/\">Rev. Dorian Llywelyn<\/a>, president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC Dornsife,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/crcc.usc.edu\/people\/najuma-smith\/\">Rev. Najuma Smith-Pollard<\/a>, assistant director of community and public engagement at the USC Dornsife Center for Religion and Civic Culture, and Carlos Garcia Alayon of Notre Dame University, explores how Christmas began, the way different groups honor these holy days, and traditions like Advent and the 12th Night of Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2924\/this-christmas-tell-your-children-the-real-santa-claus-story\/\">Who is the real Santa Claus?<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Santa Claus is a staple of Christmas mythology, but did you know he was once a real person? St. Nicholas was a Catholic saint born in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Americanized name \u201cSanta Claus\u201d derives from the Dutch name for St. Nicholas, \u201cSinterklaus.\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1003109\">Lisa Bitel<\/a>, Dean\u2019s Professor of Religion and professor of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/religion\/\">religion<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/hist\/\">history<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2924\/this-christmas-tell-your-children-the-real-santa-claus-story\/\">explains St. Nick\u2019s backstory<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/3378\/puritans-christmas-crackdown\/\">Crackdown on Christmas<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Christmas parties are popular across America now, but the early puritan settlers weren\u2019t so keen on such joyous celebrations of the holiday.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1003494\">Peter Mancall<\/a>, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/emsi\/\">Early Modern Studies Institute<\/a>\u00a0and professor of history, anthropology and economics, explains\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/3378\/puritans-christmas-crackdown\/\">why the leaders of puritan colonies cracked down on Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2239\/on-the-naughty-list-beware-krampus-is-coming\/\">A very merry Krampus<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re on the naughty list this Christmas in the United States, you might end up with a lump of coal in your stocking. In some Alpine countries, you could get a visit from a terrifying creature with curved horns, one human foot and one cloven foot instead.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1008250\">Britta Bothe<\/a>, associate professor (teaching) of German,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2239\/on-the-naughty-list-beware-krampus-is-coming\/\">explains the story of Krampus<\/a>\u00a0and its origins in pagan Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/puritans-christmas-crackdown\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Why the Puritans cracked down on celebrating Christmas<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/on-the-naughty-list-beware-krampus-is-coming\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >On the naughty list? Beware, Krampus is coming!<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/who-is-ireland-patron-saint-brigid\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St.\u00a0Patrick<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dive into the rich cultural history, myths and religious traditions surrounding this popular holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,10],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-faculty","tag-holidays"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s the true history of Christmas? Should I be scared of Krampus? Find out in these holiday stories from our scholars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dive into the rich cultural history, myths and religious traditions surrounding the popular holiday of Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2022-holiday-roundup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s the true history of Christmas? Should I be scared of Krampus? Find out in these holiday stories from our scholars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dive into the rich cultural history, myths and religious traditions surrounding the popular holiday of Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2022-holiday-roundup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-16T00:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-30T01:20:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3802.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret Crable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2022-holiday-roundup\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2022-holiday-roundup\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Crable\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/079941d34348eaa3a2f145191f66290c\"},\"headline\":\"What\u2019s the true history of Christmas? Should I be scared of Krampus? 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