Christmas Fun Facts

 

Did you know...?

 

·     Today, December 6, is a holiday in Germany called Nicholastag.  Children of all denominations put their shoes out overnight in anticipation of  gifts from St. Nicholas.  This is much like Santa Clause filling children stockings with toys.  Similarly to coal in the stockings of a naughty child, bad children will receive sticks from St. Nicholas.

·        When people say Xmas, they aren’t “taking the Christ out of Christmas” like many people claim they are.  X is the Greek symbol meaning Christ. 

·        82% percent of countries are considered Christmas celebrating countries.  That’s 160 out of 196 countries.

·        If someone gave you every single gift listed in the song “Twelve Days of Christmas, you would have 364 new things, people, and animals to find a place for in your house. 

·        Telling scary ghost stories used to be a Christmas Eve tradition that should definitely be brought back.

·        Scandinavians celebrate St Lucia's Day around Christmas time by honoring Saint Lucia, a young girl celebrated for bringing persecuted Christians food in prison. She wore a headdress of candles so she could fill her hands with food. 

     Just a side note: I have some Scandinavian blood in me on my mother’s side, and every year my grandma would take us to a Scandinavian Christmas party.  During this party, my favorite part was a candlelit sing-a-long, where all the children would dress in white robes, and perform a number of songs in Swedish. The star of the show was always the oldest girl who would play Saint Lucia, and she would lead us all with the sing-a-long.  When I was 14, it was finally my turn to be Lucia.  In previous years I would mumble through the Swedish and rely on the older kids.  Well, everyone was relying on me, and I had to learn about ten songs in Swedish in less than a month.  I had rehearsals, listened to the music in the car, and sang it in the shower. After all that practicing, I have to say, I was still almost offensively bad at it. In my defense, I was moderately worried about the dozen burning flames dripping hot wax around my head. So to whoever had to hear me that night, I’m sincerely apologetic.

 

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