It’s that happy time of the year again! Christmas is today! If you’re not enamoured of the festival, are not particularly religious or are an extreme rightwing fanatic who believes western things like this and dating should be outlawed, then you can look forward to the New Year (unless, again… Oh, never mind).
For the rest of us, here’s some fun facts around the festival.
1. The word originates from ‘Christ’s Mass’. While commonly believed to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, the exact date of His birth is unknown – the Bible doesn’t mention one.
2. Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas, or St Nicholas, a Greek bishop famous for his generosity and gift-giving.
3. The famous trees are usually confiers – such as spruce, pine or fir. It’s not unusual to see plastic trees though, especially in countries where it’s hard to find confiers! There are also biodegradable versions.
4. If you grew up reading Archie, you turned red at the sight of mistletoe – that almost definitely meant a kiss (or a botched one!) was afoot. The legend goes that, in mythology, Balder was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe. His mother, Frigga, wept tears of white berries – this brought Balder back to life.
In a script befitting of a Ram Gopal Verma remake, Frigga was overjoyed and she blessed the plant, devoting the rest of her life to kiss to all who passed beneath it. This is Celtic legend.
5. Apparently, in Finland, Santa ditches his sleigh for something a little more unconventional – a goat. We’re not sure what the physics behind this is, though.
6. Cricket fans around the world know the day after Christmas, 26 December as Boxing Day because of the famous MCG Boxing Day Tests (in which, hopefully, India won’t get pummeled this year). This has nothing to do with the ring sport, but the fact that tradespersons and servants got gifts in a box from their employers on this day (or, boxed up the leftovers of their rich employers – depending on which account you choose to believe!)
7. Jingle Bells was originally written for Thanksgiving. Oops!
8. There’s a National Christmas Tree in America! It’s a large evergreen tree near the White House.
9. The first time Christmas was celebrated was in 336 AD in Rome. Long before retailers started offering year-end sales.
10. In the 17th century, the English parliament briefly passed a law making Christmas illegal – the logic being revelry on a holy day was considered immoral.
11. Unsurprisingly, Christmas is a major season for retailers. In 2014, retail sales in the US are forecast to increase to $616 billion (!). Phew. The average US shopper spends $800, 73% of which is estimated to be gifts.
12. You’ve probably heard of the song, 12 Days Of Christmas. Did you know there’s something called the Christmas Price Index which actually calculates the total amount of money, year on year, needed to purchase the items? Don’t believe me? Here!
13. A touching moment in the World War was when there was a truce during WW1, German and Allied troops singing to each other and exchanging cigarettes as gifts!
14. We all know that one friend born on Christmas – poor fellow. Public figures born on that day include English cricketers Marcus Trescothick and Alastair Cook, popular DJ Armin van Buuren, actor Humphrey Bogart, English musician Noel Redding (famous for playing bass with Jimi Hendrix) and Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif
15. Charmingly, the US postal service would direct all letters addressed to Santa Claus to a small Alaskan town called North Pole. Volunteers would reply as Santa’s helpers. How cool is that?
src:sify.com