Tis the season to be well
informed. We all love
Christmas, but how much do
any of us actually know
about why Christmas is the
way it is? Here are 31 facts about Christmas trees,
Santa Claus, and Rudolph
that you (probably) didn't
know. Smarten up!

1. Christmas supposedly
marks the birth of Jesus
Christ on December 25. But there is no mention of December 25 in the Bible and
most historians actually
believe he was born in the
spring.

2. December 25 was probably
chosen because it coincided
with the ancient pagan
festival Saturnalia, which
celebrated the agricultural
god Saturn with partying, gambling, and gift-giving.


3. Many of the popular
Christmas traditions today
found their roots in
Saturnalia: Branches from
evergreen trees were used
during winter solstice as a reminder of the green plants that would grow in spring
when the sun gods grew
strong.


4. These evergreen branches became the foundation of our Christmas tree. Germans
are thought to be the first
to bring "Christmas trees"
into their homes at the
holidays and decorate them
with cookies and lights.


5. The Christmas tree made
its way to America in the
1830s but wasn't popular
until 1846, after Germany's
Prince Albert brought it to England when he married Queen Victoria. The two
were sketched in front of a
Christmas tree and the
tradition instantly became
popular. Royal fever was real
even back then.


6. The well-known reason we give presents at Christmas is
to symbolize the gifts given to baby Jesus by the three wise men. But it may also stem from the Saturnalia tradition that required revelers to offer up rituals to the gods.


7. Because of its roots in
pagan festivals, Christmas
was not immediately
accepted by the religious. In fact, from 1659 to 1681, it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Boston. You were fined if you were caught celebrating.


8. Santa Claus comes from
St. Nicholas, a Christian
bishop living in (what is now)
Turkey in the fourth
century AD. St. Nicholas had
inherited a great deal of wealth and was known for giving it away to help the needy. When sainted, he
became the protector of
children.


9. After his death, the
legend of St. Nicholas spread.
St. Nick's name became Sint-
Nicolaas in Dutch, or Sinter Klaas for short. Which is only a hop, skip, and jump to
Santa Claus.

10. Santa Claus delivering
presents comes from
Holland's celebration of St.
Nicholas' feast day on
December 6. Children would
leave shoes out the night before and, in the morning,
would find little gifts that St. Nicholas would leave them.


11. And stockings come from
this story: A poor man with
three daughters couldn't
afford the dowry to have
them married. One night, St.
Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down the man's chimney
so that his oldest daughter
would be able to get
married, and the bag fell into a stocking that was drying by the fire.


12. One of the reasons we
leave milk and cookies for
Santa is because Dutch kids
would leave food and drink for St. Nicholas on his feast
day.


13. And we leave carrots for
Santa Claus' reindeer
because, in Norse mythology,
people left hay and treats for Odin's eight-legged horse
Sleipnir "in hopes the god
would stop by their home
during his Yule hunting
adventures." Dutch children
adopted this tradition too, and would treats for St.
Nick's horse.


14. The look of Santa Claus
we have today was created
at an 1804 meeting of the New York Historical Society,
where member John Pintard
handed out wooden cutouts
of jolly old St. Nick in front
of stockings filled with toys.


15. Though Santa Claus has
worn blue and white and
green in the past, his
traditional red suit came
from a 1930s ad by Coca
Cola.


16. And the image of him
Santa Claus flying in a sleigh
started in 1819...and was
dreamt up by the same author who created the Headless Horseman,
Washington Irving.


17. Rudolph was actually
conceived by a department
store, Montgomery Ward, as
a marketing gimmick to get
kids to buy holiday coloring
books.


18. Rudolph almost didn't
have a red nose either: At
the time, a red nose was a sign of chronic alcoholism and Montgomery Ward thought
he would look like a
drunkard.


19. Rudolph was almost
named Rollo or Reginald.
Reginald the Red-Nosed
Reindeer doesn't quite have
the same ring to it.


20. The poem that
introduced us to the other
eight reindeer, "A Visit From
St. Nicholas," actually named
dropped Dasher, Dancer,
Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Duner and Blixem. (Which, like
Donner and Blitzen, come
from the German words for
thunder and lightning.)


21. Over the years, other
reindeer have been name
checked on Santa's sleigh
team, such as: Flossie,
Glossie, Racer, Pacer,
Scratcher, Feckless, Ready, Steady, and Fireball (no
relation to the whiskey).


22. The first batch of
eggnog in America was crafted at Captain John Smith's Jameston settlement
in 1607, and the name
eggnog comes from the
word "grog," which refers to
any drink made with rum.


23. "Silent Night" is the most recorded Christmas song in history, with over 733
different versions
copyrighted since 1978.


24. Legend has it that "Silent
Night" was written by a
Father Joseph Mohr in
Austria, who was determined
to have music at his
Christmas service after his organ broke. In reality, a priest wrote it while
stationed at a pilgrim church
in Austria.


25. Meanwhile, "White
Christmas" is the best-selling
song of all time.


26. "Santa Claus Is Coming to
Town" actually has a truly depressing back-story: songwriter James "Haven"
Gillespie was broke, jobless,
and his brother had just
died when he was asked to
write a Christmas song. He
was originally too overcome with grief, but eventually
found inspiration in his
brother's death and the
Christmas memories they
had together.


27. The original lyrics to
"Hark! The Herald Angel
Sings" were "Hark! How the
Welkin rings!" Welkin is an old,
English term for Heaven. A
preacher later tweaked the lyric.


28. "Jingle Bells" was
originally supposed to be a Thanksgiving song.


29. Boston church leaders
tried to have the song "I
Saw Mommy Kissing Santa
Claus" banned in the 1950s
because they thought it "promoted physical intimacy." Singer Jimmy Boyd had to fly
to Boston and explain to
them why it wasn't obscene.



30.Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is
considered to be the most
popular Christmas song now.
In the music video, Santa is
played by Mariah's then-
husband,Tommy Mottola.



31. And the highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time is
How the Grinch Stole
Christmas. TheJim Carrey version. Who knew? Now you know. Or at least
have a bunch of random
facts to rattle off to your
family when you run out of
things to talk about. Merry
(almost) Christmas!
http://www.m.etonline.com/news/155454_31_facts_you_didn_t_know_about_christmas/

Noted. Hope all the chicken are still in cage, I no wan hear story o

in case

I knew all these a long time ago.

CrazyScientist:
I knew all these a long time ago.

#YIMU You try o Mr know all. Be forming google there.

Olusharp:
#YIMU You try o Mr know all. Be forming google there.

am serious. I was asking a Jehovah witness why they don't celebrate Christmas & he said cause it has a pagan origin so I researched it.

CrazyScientist:


am serious. I was asking a Jehovah witness why they don't celebrate Christmas & he said cause it has a pagan origin so I researched it.

bro so sorry.

As from nos. 11 downward your work looks muddled up, try to space them appropriately.

many people do not care about this facts,
as long as there is enough turkey and chicken
to be had, among other things.

MizAusta:
As from nos. 11 downward your work looks muddled up, try to space them appropriately.

many people do not care about this facts,
as long as there is enough turkey and chicken
to be had, among other things.

modified