Blog

Never Miss a Beat

Five Fun Facts About Christmas Traditions

This holiday season is filled with fun events and cool family traditions. But do you ever wonder where some of the traditions we take for granted originated from?

Us too! Here are Five Fun Facts About Christmas Traditions.

Five Fun Facts About Christmas Traditions.

.\

Stripes on a Candy Cane: The first canes were created in 1670 by a German choirmaster, who gave out all-white sugar sticks—bent like the shape of a shepherd\’s staff—to keep children in his congregation occupied between hymns. In the U.S., the treat began as a straight, white stick of sugar until the turn of the century. The jury\’s out on who exactly brought the stripes and shape to America. –

Lumps of Coal: This tradition originated in Holland. If a child was bad, they got lumps of coal. If they were good they got a small tin of cookies or candy and a toy. Some think the tradition originated in Italy where a kindly old witch visits children on the eve of the Epiphany (January 6th) and leave toys and candy for the children in every house. If the child has been naughty during the previous year, she leaves a lump of coal instead of candy.

Santa Claus: The origin of Santa Claus begins in the 4th century with Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, an are in present day Turkey. By all accounts St. Nicholas was a generous man who was devoted to children.  The fat-guy-in-a suite image of Santa we know today came mostly from a political cartoonist of the 1880′s named Thomas Nast. Nast, chubbed St Nick up, gave him a pipe and added some little elves running about. An aggressive advertising campaign by the Coca Cola company in the 1930′s ingrained the image into pop culture.

Christmas Lights: The first electric Christmas tree lights were created by Edward H. Johnson in 1882. For about 20 years, only the wealthy could afford to hang Christmas lights in their homes. In 1903, lower-priced, pre-assembled Christmas light sets were offered for sale by General Electric. By the 1920s, the popularity of electric holiday lights had spread across the nation. 

Kissing Under The Mistletoe:Tracing the history of mistletoe-induced kissing means going back to ancient Scandinavia — to custom and the Norse myths. The custom was that if, while out in the woods, you happened to find yourself standing under mistletoe upon encountering a foe, you both had to lay down your arms until the following day. This ancient Scandinavian custom led to the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. But this tradition went hand-in-hand with one of the Norse myths, namely, the myth of Baldur. Baldur\’s death and resurrection is one of the most fascinating Norse myths and stands at the beginning of the history of mistletoe as a \”kissing\” plant.