the most recognized and celebrated holiday globally celebrated by 91% Americans and other countries
History
- c. 7-4 B.C.: Birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
- A.D. 336-350: Pope Julius I formally proclaims December 25th as the Feast of the Nativity in Rome, merging it with winter solstice festivals.
- Middle Ages: Christmas becomes popular across Europe, often combining church services with wild pagan traditions.
- 1659-1681: Massachusetts bans Christmas, viewing it as a decadent, non-biblical holiday.
- Early 1800s: Modern American Christmas traditions begin emerging, including the 1823 publication of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (Twas the Night Before Christmas).
- 1843: First commercial Christmas card produced in England; Dickens publishes A Christmas Carol.
- June 26, 1870: US Congress declares Christmas a federal holiday.
- 1931: Coca-Cola begins using modern Santa Claus ads, solidifying the modern image of Santa.
- Modern Era: Christmas becomes a global holiday celebrated with a mix of religious, secular, and commercial traditions.
The Gift of Santa
Every year Santa “visits” 300 to 600 million households to give them gifts, in exchange the kids might lay out cookies with milk or carrots for the reindeer. Households also put up a Christmas tree decorated with lights, ornaments and more for Santa to put the gifts under along with the parents’ gifts to the kids. Another part of it is putting out a stocking, one for each member of the family. Santa puts small gifts into the kids’ stockings as an extra addition. Lastly, the kids might send letters to Santa about what they want.
My Christmas experience
When I was ages ~4-10, every night on Christmas eve I would lay out cookies and milk for Santa. In the following morning, Christmas, I would wake up at 7am, sometimes earlier to see that Santa ate the cookies with the milk that I laid out for him on the dining room counter. I then went to check under the tree to see if there were new presents waiting for me under the tree and I felt happy every time there was. I then went to rush to wake up my parents so that we could all open presents and see what we got for each other. These days we obviously still celebrate it every year.
The Real Rudolph
Rudolph was created in 1939 as a promotional character for the Montgomery Ward department store. The creator, Robert L. May, almost named him Rollo or Reginald before settling on the underdog with the glowing nose. While the story was a hit, Rudolph didn’t become a global superstar until 1949, when the famous song was recorded and sold millions of copies.
Interestingly, there’s a bit of real world science behind the legend. Real reindeer have a high density of blood vessels in their noses to protect them from the Arctic cold, which can actually cause their noses to look flushed or reddish. Additionally, because male reindeer usually lose their antlers by early December while females keep theirs all winter, many people point out that Rudolph and the rest of the team are likely female since they are always pictured with a full set of antlers on Christmas Eve.
Famous Christmas Candies
The Gingerbread House
Gingerbread itself has been around for centuries, but the tradition of building edible houses started in Germany during the early 1800s. It became a massive trend after the Brothers Grimm published the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, which featured a witch living in a house made of bread and sugar. German bakers began creating elaborate “gingerbread cottages” to match the story, and the tradition eventually spread across the globe. Today, the world’s largest gingerbread house was built in Texas, it was big enough to house a family of five and contained over 35 million calories!
The Candy Cane
Legend says the candy cane was invented in 1670 by a choirmaster in Germany who wanted to keep children quiet during long church services. He asked a local candy maker for white sugar sticks, but had them bent into “shepherd’s crooks” to give them a religious meaning. For over 200 years, candy canes were only solid white. The famous red stripes and peppermint flavor didn’t appear until the early 1900s. Today, candy canes are so popular that roughly 1.76 billion of them are made every year, which is enough to wrap around the Earth several times.