If you are the type of person to get excited three months before Christmas and then start having panic attacks the moment it is in sight, this post is for you. The idea of Christmas is a beautiful, cozy one, the kind that warms our entire being with nothing but a thought. The smell of freshly baked cookies and evergreens instantaneously transfers us to easier times, when our only worry used to be “Was I good enough this year for Santa to visit me?”. As we grow older, these feelings linger but are often suffocated by the not so whimsical problems of daily adult life. Christmas is not just presents and magic anymore and, more often than not, we become responsible for that on top of our daily life.

Instead of a whimsical month culminating in a much awaited gathering in the heart of the family, December turns into a run with endless to dos and to buys. There are so many people you have to buy a gift for,then you get hit once again by the realization that Christmas has been turned into marketing and your savings will take a hit trying to find gifts to please everybody. Then there is that dread of going back home, the ultimate test to see whether this year’s therapy was worth it or your family can still trigger you in less than 10 minutes upon arrival.

This story begins as any other modern Christmas love story, with the big city girl (me) needing a break from the real world and fleeing into the Austrian mountains…

Of course, I am not saying it is like this for everybody and far be it from me to cast any kind of shadow on Christmas. What I am trying to say, in a lot of words apparently, is that if you are feeling overwhelmed this Christmas season, I invite you to make yourself a cup of tea and join me for a journey to the heart of Christmas.

This story begins as any other modern Christmas love story, with the big city girl (me) needing a break from the real world and fleeing into the Austrian mountains. Spoiler alert, I did not fall in love with a flannel wearing tree farmer but I did rediscover and fall in love anew with the true spirit of Christmas.

Depending on where you live, you might or might not be familiar with Krampus and the Krampus runs. Essentially, it is a tradition originating from the Alpine region, where young men from the villages dress as Krampus, traditionally with carved wooden masks with horns, fangs, and long lolling tongues, and costumes with long fur, and spend their evenings terrorizing the streets with rattling chains and bells. It might sound like fun and games, but given that Krampus is seen as the counterpart of Saint Nikolaus, who rewards the good children, one of its main purposes nowadays is to scare children into behaving properly. I have even heard stories from grown men still traumatized from when they were six and were taken by Krampus. However, it obviously worked given that these people turned out great and proudly carry this tradition.

It seems like today I have a knack for getting sidetracked, but that is okay, we are going to embrace it. Now let us get back to our story. As I was standing there in the middle of the Krampus run, with people in scary masks running all over the place, it felt more like spooky season than Christmas season and I felt so intrigued that once I got home I decided to start researching. That research eventually led to me rediscovering the true meaning of Christmas and regaining access to those blissful winter days I used to have when I was little, days that only a week ago seemed so far away.

Now, in the hopes that my research will have the same effect on you, I want to share some of the information I have come across. We will start, as I did, with Krampus. This tradition has its roots in pre Christian Alpine beliefs and it is tied to the Alpine Goddess Perchta. She is associated with winter, fate, the balance of reward and punishment, and, funnily enough, the souls of the dead. She is said to have two faces: Schönperchten and Schiachperchten. The first can be translated as “the beautiful Perchten”, angelic and benevolent, rewarding good behavior. This eventually evolved, once Christianity began to spread, into the image of Saint Nikolaus. The other side of the goddess is the “ugly Perchten”, wild, horned, animalistic, covered in fur, punishing bad behavior and, you guessed it, the proto Krampus figure.

Another core Alpine tradition that eventually got woven into what we now know as Christmas are the Rauhnächte or “rough nights”. These are the 12 nights between Christmas and Epiphany (25 December to 6 January). These nights were believed to be the darkest and most dangerous of the year, with food and light being scarce and the veil between worlds thin, with all kinds of spirits free to roam the earth. And these core themes are exactly where many of our known Christmas traditions started.

An interesting thing I found while researching German and Nordic folklore is that these Christmas predecessor traditions are very similar to Samhain, or now Halloween, in Celtic or druid folklore. There it is said that on Samhain night, between 31 October and 1 November, the veil is the thinnest and people used to wear scary masks and carve pumpkins to leave outside their doors with candles inside in order to scare evil spirits away and stop them from entering their houses. Mumming was also a widespread tradition, which is what we now know as trick or treating. Getting dressed up, going from house to house, performing and getting food or drinks in return. Much like what carol singers are doing.

I would now like to go over some Christmas traditions or traditional items and tell you more about where it all started. My hope is that by the time I am done, you will have realized that you do not need all those expensive baubles and candles to have a magical Christmas. You just need to rediscover that childlike joy and play in your heart and you can turn anything you put your hands on into the perfect Christmas ornament.

Light was also a core theme during these days….

Let us start with the most obvious item on the list: the Christmas tree. Evergreens used to be brought inside the house during the darkest nights of winter, either as the tree we know today or as wreaths or garlands, as a symbol of immortality and winter’s endurance. A reminder of life, a budding spring of hope for the light that will eventually return after winter’s darkness. Evergreens were also said to carry benevolent, protective spirits. Bringing these inside your house would extend these spirits’ protection on your home.

Light was also a core theme during these days. A reminder that the sun would be reborn once again and the dark days would be over. Light, and subsequently fire, did not only symbolize hope but was also seen as protection from the darkness. From this we now have candles and fairy lights and cozy Christmas fires burning in the fireplace. The star that we put on top of our tree is also a light symbol, a baby sun, the twinkly shine of hope that lights the night sky. Its use can be traced all the way back to pre Christian pagan traditions, just like any other ornament we put on our trees.

People used to carve wooden figurine charms representing protective spirits and once Yule, the pagan version of Christmas, was blended with Christian traditions, this turned into angels. The round baubles we put on our tree get their round shape and red color from apples, which used to be hung on trees as a symbol of life and rebirth, reminding of the round shape of the sun as well and honoring the cycles of the season. Bells were used to repel harmful forces and keep evil spirits away, the same use as in the Krampus tradition. Figurines depicting certain animals as symbols were also carried into our modern tradition, such as birds as symbols for the soul or deer for the Norse goddess Freya. Red ribbons or magical knots were hung on trees as a symbol for the red blood force of life that still flows even in the dead of winter and were also said to be binding or protection spells.

Even our tradition to leave out cookies and milk for Santa can be traced all the way back to Norse tradition, where offerings for Odin and his horse Sleipnir were made during the Wild Hunt. This is one of the oldest European supernatural beliefs and it says that during the dark winter nights you can hear a procession of ghosts and gods flying in the sky, banishing evil spirits and protecting the people. Even the gift exchange that we have made such an important part of our Christmas tradition is rooted in the practices people used to do during winter. They used to gift each other carved wooden figurines or talismans in order to stay protected from these evil spirits.

You may ask yourself how all this turned into the Christmas we know now. And that is a very good question. Yule is the skeleton of Christmas. Focusing on what is now Europe, given that at the time Christianity began to spread there were several traditions or religions in this area, the only way for this new religion to spread was through syncretism, which basically means that the old beliefs were adopted by the Church and rebranded.

So the birth of the Sun turned into the birth of the Son, even though most scholars agree that Jesus was born sometime in spring or summer. The 25th of December was chosen because the Romans were already celebrating Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, on that day. In the story of Jesus’s birth we can find some of the previously mentioned symbols as well as others which are also not uncommon in pagan tradition. We have the guiding star, to be traced all the way back to the North Star in Norse mythology, guiding the travelers on their journey. Furthermore, in most pagan folklore, the birth of a divine child is witnessed by animals and shepherds are quite often present given that they are seen as liminal beings walking the line between the worlds. And then of course we have the spirit visitors, the magi. You see, everything is tied together, somehow different but in the end coming from the same place. And this very seed happens to reside in you as well.

What we now call Christmas is a tapestry woven from countless winter traditions, pagan, folkloric, spiritual, and modern, all stitched together by our timeless human longing for warmth, safety, and wonder in the darkest nights of the year. So this season, instead of worrying about perfect gifts, spotless houses, or magazine-worthy decorations, I invite you to honor the oldest Christmas tradition of all: finding light in the dark. Brew a cup of something warm, wrap yourself in a blanket, sit with the people (or pets) you love, and remember that the magic of this season was never about glitter or grandeur. It has always been about the small, cozy moments that make us feel held, the tiny sparks of sun we carry inside until spring returns.