12 Things I Learned Today About Christmas

Thank you Wikipedia...

1.

commons.wikimedia.org / Via commons.wikimedia.org

Being 'born of a virgin' wasn't that an original move by Jesus. Horus in Egyptian mythology, Perseus and Dionysus in the ancient Greek stories, and Mithra - a Persian deity - all started their God-careers in this manner.

2.

from-the-doghouse.com / Via from-the-doghouse.com

We don't know why Christmas is on December 25th. That date is 9 months after Gabriel told Mary she was going to get knocked up by the Holy Spirit (the feast of Annunciation) but neither date is the Bible. A popular theory is that the church fathers put it on the 25th December so it would coincide with the winter solstice (when the nights start getting shorter), the feast of Saturnalia (which involved gift-giving, standard Roman debauchery, and at one point, human sacrifice) or the birthday of the Roman sun god, Sol Invictus. (By the way, Saturday - Saturn day - and Sunday are named after these two gods.)

3. Before and after the make over...

St Nicholas didn't come from the North Pole or Lapland in Finland. He was a Greek guy living in Turkey (so probably looked more like the guy on the left than the right). In one story he came across an evil butcher who had chopped up three children and put in their remains in a barrel with the plan of selling their meat as ham. St Nick brought the children back to life. Today he's the patron saint of archers, thieves and pawnbrokers.

4.

The Bible talks about laying Jesus in a manger, a livestock feeding tray. But there's no mention of a stable or animals.

5.

inventorspot.com / Via inventorspot.com

Turkeys aren't from Turkey but from Mexico. In Turkish they are called hindi, named after India because they came from the 'West Indies'.

Interestingly, partenogenesis (nature's version of a virgin birth) does occasionally occur in turkeys.

6.

Rembrandt

We don't know how many wise men (Zoroastrian astrologers) there were or even that they were men. The names of the magi (from which we get the word "magic") are mentioned in the Bible, but according to tradition they represent three parts of the East: Melchior is Persian, Caspar is Indian, and Balthazar is Arabian.

7.

gadailynews.com / Via gadailynews.com

In the Netherlands, Santa Claus has a sidekick called Black Peter ("Zwarte Piet"). As part of the tradition, every year Dutch people black up, paint on big red lips, and put on afro wigs.

8.

K K Hansen / Via bbc.co.uk

Rudolph must be a lady-reindeer. Males lose their antlers at the beginning of winter, while females keep theirs until the spring.

9.

Via blogger.com

It's an urban myth that a Japanese department store ever displayed a crucified Santa Claus in confusion between Easter and Christmas, but it does seem to happen in America.

10.

Via img.addfunny.com

In Finland it's traditional to go for a sauna on Christmas Eve. Traditionally it was believed that the spirits of dead ancestors came to bathe in sauna after sunset.

11.

Via tumblr.com

Mistletoe - important to Celtic druids and Norse mythology - basically means 'poo on a stick', from the German mist ("dung") and tang ("branch").

12.

In Canada Father Christmas has his own postcode: HOH OHO