Lolo and Galago’s Short History of Christmas

Lolo and Galago’s Short History of Christmas

It’s less than a month until Christmas, and although at Lolo and Galago we’re counting down until we launch our jewellery collections as much as we are until the festivities, we believe in embracing and understanding our culture and surroundings to help us come up with all sorts of fantastic inspiration for our designer pieces. So we wanted to learn a little more about Christmas- where did Santa come from? Why do we have Robins on Christmas cards?

Here are our findings on what is truly a remarkable and inspiring day.

Where did Santa come from? 

Most of us know St Nicholas- a Saint living over 1,700 years ago who was famed for using his wealth to give to the poor. He became even more famous when he refused to worship Emperor Diocletian and endured years of imprisonment before being released. 

Over the years, St Nicholas (Sinter Klass in Dutch- which became Santa Klass and eventually Santa Claus) and his generosity and kindness became well known and transformed him into one of the World’s best known bringers of joy. 

Why do we hang up stockings for presents?
One of the more famous stories surrounding St Nicholas was that of a poor man who couldn’t give his daughters presents for their wedding day. According to tradition, St Nicholas left them presents in their stockings which had been hung up to dry for the big occasion. The story stuck, and since then we all hang our stockings up in hope of receiving a gift. 

Why do we have to be asleep to get presents?
Ahem. The reason for this is because good old Saint Nicholas did not like his fame, and deliberately tried to avoid crowds seeing him doing his good deeds. And so it was said that, if you were asleep, you stood a better chance of being on the receiving end of his generosity. 

Why do we have Christmas Trees?
At any other time of year, the prospect of putting up a tree inside our house would be very odd indeed. However, bringing foliage into our houses has been practiced by the Egyptians, Romans and even European Druids- often as a means of symbolising future harvests. It was Germany, some 500 years ago, that introduced actual trees rather than branches and shrubs, and, according to legend, Martin Luther who first added candles to the tree to capture the beautiful star-lit sky he saw one night for his family.

Whether true or not, we were touched by Luther’s desire to provide his family with some of the beauty nature had to offer. And in many ways, that’s an attitude not too dissimilar to what we do at Lolo and Galago.

As we approach the festive season, we wish you all the very happiest of Decembers.