Interesting Christmas Facts

milli milli

I was reading a bit about Christmas and thought it would be interesting to relate a few facts.

* It was in North America that the modern image of Santa Claus was born. Washington Irving translated Sinterklaas (Dutch name for St Nicholas) as Santa Claus.
'The Night before Christmas' (Originally known as 'A Visit from St. Nicholas') was first published in a New York newspaper in 1823 and introduced Santa's reindeer.
In 1885 a Christmas card by printer Louis Prang went on sale depicting Santa in his red costume. (Coca Cola popularized the image in the 1930s but they didn't invent it.)





* Male reindeer (uncastrated) shed their antlers at the start of winter and females shed theirs in Spring. So Santa's reindeer were either female or castrated males.



I will post some more facts later. Anybody care to add some more?

littlemis

More please!:D

dvae

Not really a fact but more of an observation

The of star of Bethlehem led the three wise men (astrologers/Magi) to Jesus.
King Herod asked the wise men to find out were Jesus was born/lived.
King Herod's plan was to find out where Jesus was, and have him killed.
When the wise men were returning from meeting Jesus, an angel appeared and stopped them from returning to Herod.
Given that Herod wanted Jesus dead, would God have really put a star in the sky so that the three wise men could find Jesus?

star-pants

dvae wrote: »

Given that Herod wanted Jesus dead, would God have really put a star in the sky so that the three wise men could find Jesus?

Well... as you said - Herod was going to get the information from the wise men but an angel stopped them from returning so Herod couldn't have gotten any directions from them. So it all kinda makes sense in it's own right.

dvae

star-pants wrote: »

Well... as you said - Herod was going to get the information from the wise men but an angel stopped them from returning so Herod couldn't have gotten any directions from them. So it all kinda makes sense in it's own right.

O.k. so. Another fact about the three wise men.
At Christmas we sometimes see the three wise men in the crib or manger with Jesus and Mary, but biblically this never happened.
It is believed that the wise men arrived some time after Jesus was born, perhaps even months later.
Also when they arrived they came to see Jesus at a house not a manger

Matt 2:11
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

star-pants

Interesting fact, I assume it just made a better story for them to have arrived around the time of birth.

Calibos

Does everyone realise that in a little over 2 weeks we'll be closer to Christmas 2011 than to Christmas 2010 !! :eek:

Dude111

Quite interesting......

http://web.archive.org/web/20030409092829/http://www.heavenlywebs.net/Holidays/christmas/facts.html

I knew some of these but hardily ALL OF IT!!

MrStuffins

samtsirhC is Christmas backwards!

hondasam

The placing of a lighted candle in the window of a house on Christmas Eve is still practiced today. It has a number of purposes but primarily it was a symbol of welcome to Mary and Joseph as they traveled looking for shelter. In times past, the candle also indicated a safe place for priests to perform mass as, during penal times in Ireland, this was not allowed.

One of the most common Christmas traditions in Ireland is to attend Church either at midnight on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning. Christmas carols are sung at these ceremonies.

Many homes display a Christmas crib, which contains Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus as well as shepherds and animals.

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Mince pies or a slice of Christmas cake and a glass of milk or whiskey are usually left out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve along with some carrots for Rudolph.

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It’s considered bad luck to take down holiday decorations before "Little Christmas" on January 6th.

Skid

RTE do not broadcast any adverts on Christmas Day. (Handy if you want to record their Christmas Movie!)

Dude111

Calibos wrote:

Does everyone realise that in a little over 2 weeks we'll be closer to Christmas 2011 than to Christmas 2010 !! :eek:

Yes time really flies doesnt it??

leahyl

Skid wrote: »

RTE do not broadcast any adverts on Christmas Day. (Handy if you want to record their Christmas Movie!)

Really?! I never really took any notice! Must keep a look our this year :-)

leahyl

leahyl wrote: »

Really?! I never really took any notice! Must keep a look our this year :-)

It's been like that for donkey's years apparently.

Skid

leahyl wrote: »

Really?! I never really took any notice! Must keep a look our this year :-)

Deleted User wrote: »

It's been like that for donkey's years apparently.

Yeah, I lost a bet on it to my Dad a few years ago.

I didn't believe it, watched RTE all night and no ads came on at all.

I've always checked since, still no ads on RTE1 on Christmas Day

Skid

Skid wrote: »

Yeah, I lost a bet on it to my Dad a few years ago.

I didn't believe it, watched RTE all night and no ads came on at all.

I've always checked since, still no ads on RTE1 on Christmas Day

That's the same way I was. Watched RTE at Christmas forever and then one Christmas the topic of ads somehow came up. I didn't believe my brother when he said there's never any ads. Felt a bit silly!

herrys

Interesting....... I would like to see more........

milli milli

Dude111 wrote: »

Quite interesting......

http://web.archive.org/web/20030409092829/http://www.heavenlywebs.net/Holidays/christmas/facts.html

I knew some of these but hardily ALL OF IT!!

I only got around to reading this now. Very interesting. Thanks Dude!

The original Miracle on 34th Street was released in May! This was because the producers felt more people went to the cinema in the summer.

The NORAD tracking of Santa came about due to a store called Sears incorrectly printing NORAD's number as a hotline to find out Santa's location.

In Greek "X" means "Christ". Therefore the term "Xmas" is not taking "Christ" out of "Christmas"!

ZX7R

The first artifical christmas tree was made in germany,they were made from goose feathers that were dyed green.

If you recieved all the gifts in the song 12 days of christmas you would receive...364 gifts:eek:

Electric lights were first used as christmas tree lights in 1854

The 12 day of christmas is tought to come from the idea that it took the 3 wise men 12 days to find christ the baby .

In britain,the holy days and fasting days act 1551,witch has not yet been repealed,stats that every citizen must attened a christian church service on christmas day,and must not use any kind of vehicle to get to the service. I am sure there is a simalure act here in ireland too.

Love2love

In the late 1700's and early 1800's Christmas wasn't celebrated in England. In 1843 Charles Dicken's wrote A Christmas Carol and popilarize the holiday once more. Some credit Charles Dicken's with inventing the Christmas we know today

Loughc

Love2love wrote: »

In the late 1700's and early 1800's Christmas wasn't celebrated in England. In 1843 Charles Dicken's wrote A Christmas Carol and popilarize the holiday once more. Some credit Charles Dicken's with inventing the Christmas we know today

Between that and Coca Cola popularizing the red suit, one would have to wonder what Christmas would be like without Advertisers! Quiet bland I'd imagine!