Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. I love time with family, all the food and of course, presents. If you are stuck for something to talk about at your next holiday party here is a list of 10 Interesting Christmas facts you may have not known.
Christmas originates from pagan traditions.
In the early days of Christianity, many pagan traditions, celebrations, and beliefs were merged into the newer Christian ones. One of the most well-known is Christmas. A lot of the current traditions surrounding Christmas are old pagan traditions, just changed to suit the beliefs of Christians to get rid of the old beliefs that many people had.
Krampus is the anti-Santa
This figure from Austrian folklore is said to be the punisher of bad or misbehaving children. In some places, adults would dress up as Krampus to frighten children into behaving or to run through the streets drunkenly dressed as the frightening figure.
Santa tracker happened because of a mistake
In 1955 a misprint in a Sears ad was meant to give children the number to the store. Instead, they printed the number to the U.S. National Air Defense Hotline. The staff was told to give those that called updates on the whereabouts of Santa, and a tradition was born.
Eggnog
Eggnog has been around since the early settlers came to the Americas. The first eggnog was probably a bit different then what we enjoy today. The word nog has its base in grog, which is basically any drink that is made with rum.
Abbreviating Christmas to Xmas is not wrong
The term goes back as far as the 1500s. X is the Greek letter chi, which was used in the 1500s in different ways to describe Christians in a shorter form. So it is technically correct to abbreviate Christmas to Xmas.
One gift during WWII had a special significance
Special decks of playing cards were given to POWs as Christmas Gifts. When the cards became wet, they revealed maps of escape routes out of German prisoner camps
St. Nikolas is the basis for Santa Claus.
St. Nikolas lived in the 4th century. Because this kindly man was known to give to those that had little, there have been many cultures that share stories of him. There are other figures in history that are thought to contribute to the myth of Santa Claus as well. They include the Norse God Odin and his eight-legged horse who would fly around the night sky.
In the Middle Ages Christmas was more of a party than a religious holiday.
People went to church in the morning, then drunkenly celebrated later in the day. Some of the customs of that time included the wealthy paying their “debt” to the poor by opening their homes to them and treating them to their best food and drink.
Ugly Christmas Sweaters
The ugly Christmas sweater has its origins in the 80’s thanks to popular on-screen dads. The trend died in the 90s, to see a resurgence in 2001. Since then the sweaters have been a large part of Christmas, with ugly sweater themed parties among other things.
Santas Flying Reindeer
The idea behind Santas reindeer came from Washington Irving. This means that the same mind that brought us the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow also thought up the idea of Santas sleigh and eight reindeer.
So there you have it. My list of 10 interesting facts about Christmas.
If there are any others that you know feel free to let me know in the comments.
Other Lists: 10 Interesting Facts about Candy and 10 Interesting Facts about Thanksgiving