From Santa to holly wreaths, angels and Wise Men, the traditions of Christmas are legion. The Rev Peter Mullen attempts to unravel its mysteries.

Angels

These creatures did not get their wings until the medieval painters came along. Originally an angel just meant a messenger, a go-between for God and humankind. The theologians of the Middle Ages arranged a whole hierarchy of angelic beings, including the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Powers and Principalities. The devil is reckoned to be the fallen angel Lucifer - a name which, interestingly, means bringer of light. There are also chief angels known as Archangels and it was one of these, the Archangel Gabriel, who told Mary that she would give birth to the Saviour.

Star

There is an ancient tradition that great events on earth are accompanied by signs in the sky. So, for instance, Shakespeare says in Julius Caesar: "When beggars die there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes". The Bethlehem Star, followed by the Wise Men, was thought by the great astronomer Kepler (1571-1630) to have been a conjunction between the planets Jupiter and Saturn.

The Three Kings

Also known as the Three Wise Men or the Magi. The Bible does not actually say that there were three of them. The number three was probably inferred because the Bible does say that they brought three gifts. The Magi were from Persia, and probably members of the Zoroastrian religion. In the Middle Ages they were given names: Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

Three Gifts

traditionally brought by the Wise Men to Jesus. Gold represents kingship, frankincense indicates that Jesus was worthy of our worship, myrrh, originally for embalming, is a prophecy of Jesus' death on the cross.

Bethlehem

A small town five miles south of Jerusalem. It was originally the city of King David and Jesus is called David's Son. One of the world's most ancient churches was built there in 330 AD - the Church of the Holy Nativity by Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire, who was crowned at York.

Virgin Birth

The prophet Isaiah declared 700 years before the first Christmas: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace".

Shepherds

The shepherds who left their flocks to go to the manger and pay homage to Jesus recall the fact that David, the most famous ancestor of Jesus, was himself once a shepherd-boy.

The Ox and the Ass

Their presence in the stable when Jesus was born is all part of a picture in which all creation - the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals as well as human beings - will one day return to a perfect Paradise.

King Herod

He was a member of a royal family notorious for their cruelty. He would have regarded the Infant King Jesus as a rival. When Herod could not trick the Magi into telling him where Jesus was to be born, he had all the new male babies in Israel put to death in an atrocity known as The Massacre of the Innocents.

Joseph

He was the husband of Mary and a descendant of King David. That is why he went to Bethlehem for the census declared throughout the Roman Empire by Caesar Augustus. Joseph's permanent home was in Nazareth where he was a carpenter. The word "carpenter" probably indicates someone who was of a higher rank than a tradesman joiner. Joseph was a member of the middle class and certainly not poor.

The Christmas Tree

The tree is derived from the Paradise Tree which symbolises the bliss of the Garden of Eden in medieval German mystery plays. In modern times the Christmas tree was first seen in Strasbourg in the 17th century. In 1841 Prince Albert made a gift of a Christmas tree to his wife Queen Victoria and that was the beginning of its popularity in Britain.

Yule

AN old German word for "noise" or "clamour", it was originally connected with a pagan Scandinavian feast to mark the new year when there was the ceremonial burning of the yule log on an open fire.

Wassailing

THIS was the custom of drinking and making merry in the dark time of the year to raise the spirits in winter and to ask blessings on the next year's crops. For instance, there was the ceremony in England of "wassailing the apple trees".

Santa Claus

HE is the anglicised version of the Dutch Sinterklaas which is itself a form of the name St Nicholas, the traditional bringer of gifts to children in wintertime. St Nicholas' day (December 6) was simply adopted and transferred to 25th to become part of the Christmas festivities in Britain.

Emmanuel

the angel Gabriel told Mary that Jesus's name should be Emmanuel, which means God With Us.

Mistletoe

THE parasitic plant which grows on the apple tree was particularly venerated as an emblem of love by the druids.

Christmas

No one knows for certain the exact date of Christ's birth and it is likely that European Christians simply took over the old pagan mid-winter feast and made it their own. It was originally a festival to the sun and an occasion when people gathered to pray for the return of the light and the warmth after the darkness and cold of the winter months. In the 1640s, Cromwell's Puritans tried to ban Christmas because: "It provides the occasion for lewd enjoyments". When I phoned Downing Street this morning, a spokesman told me that not even the politically-correct government of Tony Blair has any intention of repeating Cromwell's mistake.