The date of December 25th was selected to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, since birthdays were not celebrated nor recorded in His time. But the majority of traditions that surround Christmas date back to ancient celebrations of the winter solstice in northern countries, when the longest night of the year gave way to a slowly returning sun. As such, that long night was filled with storytelling, of dark forces and otherworldly spirits. Ghosts, in other words.
Our modern conception of a Christmas celebration largely comes from Victorian England, where telling ghost stories for the holiday was common. Publishers printed up new ghost stories each year for families to share, the most famous being A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In that story, four fearsome ghosts force Ebenezer Scrooge into a change of heart concerning generosity at Christmas and year-round. In America, most ghost stories got shunted off to Halloween, but there's no reason not to bring them back for Christmas.
Some folks are doing their best to preserve the tradition in England and to spread it in the United States. Read about Christmas ghost stories and where you can find them. If you do not have access to the New York Times, use this link.
(Image credit: Arthur Rackham)
