Weird facts that you probably didn’t know about Christmas

Christmas is one of the most nationally celebrated holiday around the world, it fills people with joy. As we all know, many families and friends love giving gifts to each other. But it has some mind blowing things which you probably weren’t aware of.

December 25, 366 was Christmas’s first celebration. It was instituted by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Augustus. The date was made official a couple of years later, by Pope Julius I who declared it the birthday of Jesus Christ.

When kids received presents, they used to get only 3 Christmas gifts. This is a rule for children because many parents thought buying more than 3 gifts was too much. This rule was never created by a person, it was created by people when kids would get “too many presents.” They thought it would be too overwhelming for kids, so they gave a rule for only 3 gifts. According to a survey of my peers, actually don’t mind about having 3 gifts. I think 3 gifts is a good amount of gifts and if I had too many gifts, I would be overwhelmed and favour only one of them. Most of my peers receive 5-10 gifts every year.

A lot of people during Christmas sing classic songs like “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night” (which was based on Jesus Christ’s birth). The classic song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” may seem like a non-violent song, but it was originally a joke. In the olden days, servants would demand their masters’ wine and booze. If the masters refused, the servants would annoy them with their singing until they got what they wanted.

Everyone knows the popular song, “Jingle Bells” as a Christmas carol, but it was originally written for Thanksgiving. James Lord Pierpont, a musician, first performed a song he wrote, “The One Horse Open Sleigh,” at his church’s Thanksgiving concert. The song was re-published in 1857 and the title was changed to “Jingle bells”. This song is the first ever song to be broadcast from space. On December 16, 1965, the Gemini 6 (a group/crew of astronauts associated with NASA) sang “Jingle Bells” over Mission Control after they reported seeing an astronaut in a red suit.

Obviously young children think that Santa Claus is real, but they don’t know how Santa was “created.” The depiction of Santa may be related to the Norse god, Odin. They both wear either a red or blue cloak and a white beard with a hat or hood. They both visit houses during the night to leave gifts for children. The first image that solidified our image of Santa Claus was created by a political cartoonist named Thomas Nast. In 1881, Thomas Nast drew an illustration of Santa Claus for a publication of the poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” which was published in Harper’s Weekly. Nast designed Santa Claus as a chubby, cheerful man who had lots of love and joy, with a white beard holding a big red sack full of toys for good children.

Another thing you probably didn’t know was that Christmas was once illegal. From 1659-1681 in America i(after the Revolutionary War), Christmas was outlawed. You would have to face a fine for celebrating a holiday. I guess they really hated carollers!

I can’t wait to sing “Jingle Bells” next Thanksgiving. And I don’t know about you, but when I heard that Christmas was celebrated on January 7th, I was very surprised. If Christmas was celebrated later than December, I would be very unhappy having to wait that long. So let’s count ourselves extra lucky when Christmas rolls around.