Fun Facts About Christmas!

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It’s definitely beginning to look and smell a lot like Christmas! The beautiful thing about Christmas is that it’s mandatory — like a pandemic lockdown — we all go through it together. Christmas has become such a necessity. And why not? There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else beside ourselves. It’s about being good to one another. Christmas is about doing a little something extra for someone.

When we think of Christmas, we think of fresh pine Christmas trees with lights and glitter. Christmas is about Christmas songs and drinking eggnogs. It’s about exchanging gifts and spending quality time with one another. It’s about stuffed turkey with all the trimmings, roasted chestnuts, and baked apple pies with cinnamon. We imagine a White Christmas and a winter wonderland. Our children get excited about Santa coming down from the chimney delivering their presents. Indeed, Christmas is all about the traditions we all grew up with.

But how did Christmas start? Here are a few fun facts about Christmas that may make you reflect about the most wonderful time of the year:

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Christmas origins. Christmas literally means “Mass on Christ’s Day.” Historians suggest that Christmas is celebrated on December 25 because Jesus’ conception was on March 25 and thus nine months later, Christ was born. In year 221, Sextus Julius Africanus —  a Christian historian known to produce a universal chronology, identified December 25 as the date of Jesus’ birth, which later became the universally accepted date.

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 Coca Cola was responsible for the image of Santa Claus we all grew up with. The original image of Santa Claus was a spooky elf. All that changed and Santa Claus had an amazing makeover when Coca Cola hired an illustrator, Haddon Sundblom for magazine ads in 1931

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“Jingle Bells” was originally a Thanksgiving song. James Lord Pierpont wrote a song called “One Horse Open Sleigh” for his church’s Thanksgiving concert in 1857. It was composed at the Simpson Tavern in Medford, Massachusetts. In 1859, the song was republished as “Jingle Bells.” It was an ode to his Massachusetts snowy upbringing.

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 Santa has a Canadian Postal Code! Canada has cemented its reputation as the world’s nicest country when kind-hearted Canadian postal workers set up a special postal code for Santa as part of a Santa Letter Writing Program initiative: H0H 0H0. Kids all over the world can now write to Santa and receive a response from the jolly elf himself!

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 Christmas Tree origins. It appears that fir trees decorated with apples were first known in Strasbourg in 1605. A Silesian duchess recorded the first use of candles on such trees in 1611. However, the Christmas tree that we know now started when Prince Albert of Germany gifted his wife, England’s Queen Victoria with an opulently decorated tree on Christmas Eve. A drawing of the couple with their children in front of a Christmas tree appeared in Illustrated London News in 1848 and the idea went viral.

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St. Nicolas was the inspiration for Santa Claus! Santa wasn’t always a bearded man who wore a red suit or a spooky elf. The idea of Santa came from St. Nicholas, the fourth-century Christian bishop who gave away his abundant inheritance to help the rescued women and the needy in servitude. Also, French historians wrote that a popular French song, the “Légende de Saint Nicolas”, dates back to the 16th century and is still sung by French children today. It tells the rather gruesome story of St. Nicholas rescuing three children from an evil butcher. St. Nicholas’ name was Sinter Klaas in Dutch, which eventually morphed into Santa Claus.

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Mistletoe is actually an aphrodisiac! The plant’s romantic overtones most likely started with the Celtic Druids of the 1st century A.D. Because mistletoe could blossom even during the frozen winter, the Druids came to view it as a sacred symbol of vivacity, and they administered it to humans and animals alike in the hope of restoring fertility. In winter, when all the trees are bare and many plants have died away, mistletoe stays green and you can still see it growing around tree branches quite happily. Therefore, it has become a symbol of fertility and this is why lovers kiss underneath the mistletoe.

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San Fernando City in Pampanga is the Christmas Capital of the Philippines. It is where the Giant Lantern Festival is held each year on the Saturday before Christmas Eve. The festival attracts spectators from all over the country and across the globe. Eleven villages take part in the festival’s competition; everyone pitches in trying to build the most elaborate lantern. In the past, the original lanterns were made of Japanese origami paper and lit by candles. Today, the lanterns are made from a variety of materials and illuminated by electric bulbs that sparkle in a kaleidoscope of patterns.

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Norwegians hide their brooms on Christmas Eve. It’s an unorthodox tradition that dates back centuries to when people believed that witches and evil spirits came out on Christmas Eve looking for brooms to ride on. To this day, Norwegians still hide their brooms to stop them from being stolen!

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Rollerblading to Church every Christmas Eve in Caracas, Venezuela! Every Christmas Eve, Caracas residents head to church in the early morning — on roller skates! It’s become such a popular tradition over the years; the roads across the city are closed to cars so that people can skate to church in safety, before heading home for the less-than-traditional Christmas dinner of ‘tamales’.

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Little Candles Day across Colombia. Día de las Velitas or Little Candles Day mark the start of the Christmas season across Colombia. Colombians place candles and paper lanterns in their windows, balconies and front yards to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary. The best candle displays are found in Quimbaya, where neighbourhoods compete to see who can create the most spectacular arrangement.

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Toronto’s Cavalcade of Lights. This annual celebration marks the official start to the holiday season in wintry Toronto. More than 300,000 energy-efficient LED lights that shine from dusk until 11 pm until the New Year illuminate the Nathan Phillips Square and a giant Christmas tree. There are fireworks and outdoor ice-skating too!

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The Carol Ship Parade in Vancouver. For over fifty years, dozens of private and commercial vessels decked out in their finest Christmas lights, decorations, and sound systems, take to the inland waterways around Vancouver for three weeks each December to start the festive season.

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Japan’s KFC Christmas Dinner tradition. In Japan, a new and quirky “tradition” has emerged in recent years – a Christmas Day feast of the Colonel’s very own Kentucky Fried Chicken. Even if you don’t understand or speak Japanese, the pictures on the KFC Japanese website food menu will look appetizing and tempting with everything from a premium roast-bird feast to a Christmas-themed standard.

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St. Nicholas Day in Germany! St. Nicholas travels by donkey in the middle of the night on December 6 and leaves special treats like chocolates, Christmas candies, gold coins, toys and fruits in the shoes of good children all over Germany, and specifically in the region of Bavaria. But it’s not all fun and games — St. Nicholas brings his sidekick, Farmhand Rupert, a devil-like character dressed in dark clothes covered with bells and a dirty beard. Farmhand Rupert carries a small whip in hand to punish any children who misbehave. It pays to be good, children!

As we celebrate this Christmas, take a moment to remember why we kiss underneath the mistletoe. Think of Coca Cola when you see Santa. When you buy KFC, think of the Japanese people enjoying the Colonel’s scrumptious fried chicken on Christmas Day! When you buy a Christmas lantern, think of the giant lantern festival in San Fernando, Pampanga. You might want to roller skate to church just like the residents of Caracas. Above all, remind yourself and your family that Christmas is about the birth of our saviour in a manger in Bethlehem.