TOP 10 Christmas Spooky Facts
- 6 years ago
TOP 10 Fascinating and Spooky Facts About Christmas :
10. The Nativity Scene :
Everyone knows who Saint Francis is, the famed saint who had an apparent miraculous control over animals. What most people don’t know is that Saint Francis invented the nativity set in the 13th century!
9. Christmas Crackers :
I was recently surprised to discover that Americans don’t generally have Christmas crackers at Christmas. In the UK and many commonwealth countries, Christmas crackers are placed on the table and everyone pairs up to “pull” one. Crackers were invented by Tom Smith (a seller of candy), in 1847.
8. Xmas Word :
That one small word causes anger amongst many people; many Christians consider it to be disrespectful to replace Christ’s name with an ‘x’. However, Xmas is almost as old as the feast, the ‘x’ is actually the Greek letter c,h which is the first letter of Christ’s name.
7. Christmas Gifts :
Gift giving, Christmas drinks, Christmas Cards and many other Christmas traditions are come to us via the Ancient Romans who exchanged all of those things on New Year’s Day. This was initially shunned by the Church but old habits die hard and it eventually transferred to Christmas.
6. Candy Canes :
In the late 1800s, a candy maker in Indiana invented Candy Cane. The color white symbolizes the purity and sinless nature of Jesus. the three small stripes symbolize the pain inflicted upon Jesus before His death on the cross. the bold stripe represent the blood Jesus shed for mankind.
5. Christmas Tree :
Most people have heard the tale of how Martin Luther, gave the world the Christmas tree. It is not true. The first association of trees with Christmas comes from Saint Boniface in the 7th century AD, when he chopped down a tree sacred to Thor to prove to the local villagers that the Norse gods were not legitimate.
4. Misconceptions :
As often happens with very ancient traditions, many myths have sprung up surrounding Christmas. The most popular is that the entire nativity did not happen and is based on the pagan Mithras character (a sun god). Many aspects of Mithra’s life are given as proof but it is only in fairly recent times that this notion has been promoted.
3. Banned! :
In England, Christmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1644. a lot of groups condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
2. Santa Claus :
Santa Claus is actually based on the early Church Bishop Saint Nicholas. He was born during the third century (around 270 AD), in the village of Patara in Turkey, and was known for secretly giving gifts of money to the poor. The modern image of him as a jolly man in red most likely comes from the 1823 poem “A visit from St Nicholas” also known as “The Night before Christmas”.
1. The Date :
In the early Church, Christmas was not celebrated as a major feast. the theologians in Alexandria church decided that Christ’s birth was the 20th of May. By the 380s, the Church in Rome was attempting to unite the various regions in using December 25th as the universal feast day, and eventually that is the day that stuck.
10. The Nativity Scene :
Everyone knows who Saint Francis is, the famed saint who had an apparent miraculous control over animals. What most people don’t know is that Saint Francis invented the nativity set in the 13th century!
9. Christmas Crackers :
I was recently surprised to discover that Americans don’t generally have Christmas crackers at Christmas. In the UK and many commonwealth countries, Christmas crackers are placed on the table and everyone pairs up to “pull” one. Crackers were invented by Tom Smith (a seller of candy), in 1847.
8. Xmas Word :
That one small word causes anger amongst many people; many Christians consider it to be disrespectful to replace Christ’s name with an ‘x’. However, Xmas is almost as old as the feast, the ‘x’ is actually the Greek letter c,h which is the first letter of Christ’s name.
7. Christmas Gifts :
Gift giving, Christmas drinks, Christmas Cards and many other Christmas traditions are come to us via the Ancient Romans who exchanged all of those things on New Year’s Day. This was initially shunned by the Church but old habits die hard and it eventually transferred to Christmas.
6. Candy Canes :
In the late 1800s, a candy maker in Indiana invented Candy Cane. The color white symbolizes the purity and sinless nature of Jesus. the three small stripes symbolize the pain inflicted upon Jesus before His death on the cross. the bold stripe represent the blood Jesus shed for mankind.
5. Christmas Tree :
Most people have heard the tale of how Martin Luther, gave the world the Christmas tree. It is not true. The first association of trees with Christmas comes from Saint Boniface in the 7th century AD, when he chopped down a tree sacred to Thor to prove to the local villagers that the Norse gods were not legitimate.
4. Misconceptions :
As often happens with very ancient traditions, many myths have sprung up surrounding Christmas. The most popular is that the entire nativity did not happen and is based on the pagan Mithras character (a sun god). Many aspects of Mithra’s life are given as proof but it is only in fairly recent times that this notion has been promoted.
3. Banned! :
In England, Christmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1644. a lot of groups condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
2. Santa Claus :
Santa Claus is actually based on the early Church Bishop Saint Nicholas. He was born during the third century (around 270 AD), in the village of Patara in Turkey, and was known for secretly giving gifts of money to the poor. The modern image of him as a jolly man in red most likely comes from the 1823 poem “A visit from St Nicholas” also known as “The Night before Christmas”.
1. The Date :
In the early Church, Christmas was not celebrated as a major feast. the theologians in Alexandria church decided that Christ’s birth was the 20th of May. By the 380s, the Church in Rome was attempting to unite the various regions in using December 25th as the universal feast day, and eventually that is the day that stuck.