Christmas isn’t just a time that is filled with baking cookies wrapping gifts, making crafts with your kids, and enjoying large Christmas dinners or brunches with friends and family. It’s also a celebration of traditional values that the majority of people who celebrate this joyful holiday don’t know the details about, but enjoy each year. There’s also some interesting history behind some of the most memorable aspects of the holiday season along with its significance in religion that you’d never believe.
If you’re trying to teach yourself better or just want an edge so that you’re able to win your annual trivia game with your loved ones You’ll be delighted by our compilation of the most intriguing and interesting Christmas facts that will provide a fresh view of everything from trimming the tree and decorating, to evergreen wreaths, and eggnog.
Find out more about the way Coca-Cola has actually created the exact representation of Santa Claus that we believe is the symbol of Christmas today. You can also learn about the way a royalty family was the main reason Americans have Christmas trees in their homes.
Are you already a whiz at facts? Drink a glass of wine, light an open fire, and test your guests. The person who can answer the correct question gets the first chance to take part in White elephant swap!
Christmas didn’t always fall on the 25th day of December
Although Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birth Jesus Christ, the actual date of the moment is not recorded in history. There is no reference to December 25th in the Bible and numerous historians suggest Jesus was likely born in springtime. Some historians suggest that the date was selected because it was a time of Pagan festivals like Saturnalia that celebrated the god of agriculture Saturn by giving gifts and celebrations.
Gifts are of both Christian as well as Pagan sources
Christians might have grown in the tradition of giving presents at Christmas time to resemble the gifts the Three Wise Men brought the newborn Jesus however, like numerous other customs, it is also rooted in Saturnalia. The first time that pagans made offerings was to gods as well.
Evergreens are a long-standing tradition.
The custom of Christmas trees dates all the way to the time of the ancient Egyptians and Romans who decorated the trees with evergreens on the winter solstice, to symbolize spring was coming back. Evergreens evoked memories of the other green plants that would grow after the sun was back.
You can also thank Prince Albert for the Christmas tree
Make a steaming cup tea while cutting your trees this season in order to remember its history. In 1848, when Prince Albert from Germany bought a tree to his bride queen Victoria of England and the custom really was born across the ocean. A picture of the couple posing in front of their Christmas tree first was published within the Illustrated London News in 1848. Following that many more people began to follow suit.
Nick was more generous than Jolly
You may have already guessed that the concept of Santa Claus was derived out of St. Nicholas. He wasn’t actually an untidy man wearing the red suit. That appearance came later. The fourth century was when the Christian bishop donated his wealth to the poor and saved women from the shackles of. In Dutch his name, he was Sinter Klaas, which later changed to Santa Claus.
Coca-Cola was an integral part of Santa’s image
Before Coca-Cola chose to use Santa’s image in marketing, Santa looked more spooky than cheerful. In 1931, the beverage firm employed an illustrator named Haddon Sundblom, who illustrated the cheerful old man in magazine advertisements. Today, children see images of sugarplums, not nightmares of Santa.
Hanging stockings that were hung accidentally started
The legend says that that we hang our stockings up by the chimney with care, because one time a widower didn’t have enough money to pay for the dowries of his three daughters which made it difficult to marry them. The generous Old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold on their chimney at night and deposited it into freshly cleaned stockings that the girls had put up on the fire to dry. The tradition was ad infinitum!
Rudolph was a ploy to market
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first was introduced in 1939, when the Montgomery Ward department store asked one of its copywriters write a Christmas tale for children that the store could offer as a promotional item. In the initial year, 2.4 million copies of the book were sold, and later in 1949, Gene Autry recorded the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. The charming film that featured the misfit toys of the island along with Herbie the elf swept on the radio (and the hearts of us) in 1964.
The tiny reindeer of eight have received a variety of names
Rudolph was nearly named Rollo and Reginald and his crew included a variety of names. They’ve been known as Flossie, Glossie, Racer, Pacer, Scratcher, Feckless, Ready, Steady and Fireball.
Christmas wreaths are symbols of religion
The tradition of carrying evergreens into homes was first observed during the sixteenth century the northern and eastern Europeans mostly Germans to serve as a method to tidy their Christmas decorations and keeping it uniform. Instead of throwing away cut-off greens, people woven the remainder into wreaths.
The significance of the religion is that the shape and the evergreen materials of the wreath symbolise eternal life. The circular shape, which has no beginning nor end, “symbolizes the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul and the everlasting life we find in Christ.