Now that Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is upon us, Christmas is right around the corner, or so it seems, and is considered one of our favorite holidays. In fact, many people have already decorated their home in festive red and green and decorated their trees with flashing lights and tinsel.
Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. An earlier term, Yule May, is derived from the Germanic Jol or the Anglo-Saxons. Christmas Day has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870, and since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday. We exchange gifts in this secular Christmas celebration delivered by a mythical figure named “Santa Claus”. We greet friends with “Merry Christmas”, or a version of it, around the world. Spanish-speakers say “Feliz Navidad”, Italian’s wish “Buon Natale”, “Joyeux Noel” is the French phrase, and in German “Frohe Weihnachten”. In the state of Hawaii, you will hear “Mele Kalikimaka” at this time of year. You can even sign along with Bing Crosby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob4LT_gUSFQ
A few fun facts about Christmas:
-Each year 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the US
-Christmas was cancelled from 1659-1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston, lawbreakers were fined 5 shillings
- The first eggnog made in the US was consumed in Captain John Smith’s 1607 Jamestown Settlement
- Construction workers started the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in 1931
- Rudolph was the product of Robert L. May’s imagination in 1939
- Christmas trees were first used by ancient Egyptians and Romans
- “Jingle Bells” was written for Thanksgiving not Christmas
- In Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a spider or a spider’s web on a Christmas tree is believed to be a harbinger of good luck.
- In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce, and Spinach
However you choose to spend the holidays, be sure to be thankful and wish all those around you Merry Christmas!
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