When it comes to the magic of the festive season, Christmas Eve is just as important as the big day itself.
It is the vital day – and night – of anticipation that helps children get excited for Christmas Day. So, when did we start recognising the night before Christmas as a key date?
Perhaps we should not be surprised to learn that celebrating Christmas Eve has its origins in Christianity. During the fourth century, the 25th of December was decreed as the date for the birth of Christ, which immediately made the night before that special. Around that time, Christians started to organise midnight masses and vigils to mark the momentous occasion.
This was a much more serious and solemn version of the day than what we are used to now, of course. A secular tone started to creep in during the Renaissance, when giving gifts, playing music and feasting became part of the Christmas Eve celebrations. Then, the Victorian period provided us with the rest of our current Christmas Eve traditions.
This was when people started to put Christmas lights and trees up to mark the event. It was also when the idea of swapping presents and of families getting together became more popular.
There was a concerted effort during the Victorian era to rebrand Christmas as a family holiday – mainly out of concerns about drunkenness and debauchery. This proved successful, and still informs a lot of the ideas we know and love about the season now.
