A Christmas Origin Story

Once upon a time, there was a community. It was made up of many families who lived and traveled together, from the youngest babies to the oldest elders. They lived without the technologies of today we can take for granted — no cars and planes to get places faster than our feet can take us, no phones and computers to share information in an instant, no grocery stores to bring us food and toys from far away, no electricity to light the dark nights with the flip of a switch.

Yet somehow, they found ways to look after everyone’s needs and fulfill their heart’s desires. It wasn’t always easy. Everyone had to pitch in to keep the community running smoothly, without fighting and hunger. They had to hunt animals, gather nuts and berries, collect water from the rivers, harvest trees to make houses and furniture, knit clothes, gather dry wood for fires, and roam far and wide to get all these things right when and where they grew.

What they could eat and make at any given time all depended on the climate and seasons, the movement of the earth and stars around the sun. To remember all this information that helped them thrive, they told stories. So when one of the elders in the community passed on, there was always someone who remembered their stories that showed them how to get what they needed when they needed it.