It is Christmastime and do we really all know what it is about? Not only that but what about what is fast appearing to be the most important aspect of Christmas and that is the favourite toys for kids at Christmas and more importantly the Bakugan Toys.
Well let’s take a look at what Christmas is all about first and get to the toys later.
Christmas day or Christmastide or just plain good old Christmas is arguably the most popular of all public holidays and is celebrated on the 25th of December and marks the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Contrary to popular belief, the actual date of Christmas in relation to Christ’s birth actually may be slightly different in that some 1500 years later the known world changed it calendar system from the Julian system to the Gregorian Calendar named after the then Pope of the day, Pope Gregory XVIII.
Nowadays to be brutally blunt, the holiday is all about commercialism, the purchasing of gifts and the giving of these gifts but lets not create too much of a downer on the entire season, who doesn’t like receiving gifts? The giving of gifts, the display of various decorations including the lighting up of lights on the Christmas tree with mistletoe etc are more representative of what Christmas actually means to us nowadays.
Also celebrated as a secular festival as well as being honoured by the worlds Christian population, the percentage of those who celebrate Christmas continues to rise. The holiday is widely celebrated around the world, including in the United States, where it is celebrated by 96% of the population. As has been mentioned the number of those worldwide celebrating Christmas has grown almost exponentially to appoint where for example, in the USA, it is reckoned that Christmas is celebrated by over 96% of the population.
It is the gift giving element that has turned Christmas , as far as the retailers are concerned into one of the most important times of the year. To sum up, Christmas is now big business whether we like it or not and it is one of the facts of modern day life that we are going to have to get used to.
Taking the historical angle away from it, where did the tradition of the giving of gifts originate from in the first place?
It has been argued that though originating from an interpretation of Christmas as seen through the eyes of the Western world characterized by the giving of gifts, these gifts have been attributed to the character called Father Christmas (otherwise accredited or known as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas or St Nikolaus, Sinterklaas or Kris Kringle amongst others). The popular image of Santa Claus was created by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast, who drew a new image annually, beginning in 1863. It took until the 1880’s for the images created by Naast to evolve into the image we all now recognise.
Running alongside the largely Western European tradition of Father Christmas is the Latin American tradition whereby it is supposed that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives these toys to the baby Jesus who in turn actually delivers the gifts to the children’s homes. This story is meant to be a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and modern day globalization, most notably the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.
So to arguably this years must have toys, the Bakugan Toys. One of the real surprise toys this Christmas is going to be the Bakugan toys. The Bakugan toys are a new group of toys that has made the old fashioned game of marbles fashionable and exciting again. The real difference is that with these toys, the “marbles” actually open up and feature mini action figures so it is quite easy to see why these toys are in fact so popular with boys.
Steve Morgan writes regularly on children’s issues and if you would like to find out more information about any more about Bakugan Toys then click here: of the Top Christmas toys for Boys
