WEBVTT - How Christmas Worked 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.520 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:16.760 from house Stuff Works dot com? Ho ho ho, and 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.279 welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.639 always is Charles W. Shuck. I heart Christmas time, Briant, 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.520 Yours is way better than mine. Mine. Sounded like a 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:37.880 an Irish priest leprin. Yeah, terrible, going great, Yeah, this 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.720 should be coming out right at Christmas. Yeah, we're gonna 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.639 We're gonna plan for that. So if it is, it's 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.600 all of you listening out there in podcast land. We 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.879 hope you're having a great holiday season. Yeah, yeah, and 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.400 safe and well and with family and and uh we 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.360 wish you all a merry Christmas and Hanukah and Kwanza 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:03.280 and whatever each used to celebrate ted what's that? I 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.759 think that's a Buddhist New Year. Um, there's all sorts 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.000 of stuff going on this time of year. Yeah, big time. Yeah, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.840 but we chose to talk about Christmas. Chuck was brought Baptist, 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.880 I was raised Catholic. It's what we know. And it's 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.440 a pretty interesting story too. And if you're Jewish and 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.000 you hate Christmas. You're gonna stick around because you're gonna 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.200 love this one, right, Yeah, and you know what, next year, 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.480 we will do one on Hanakah. Okay, deal, Yeah, I 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.440 actually know a significant amount about Hankka. Well, let's do 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.720 it next year, and then a book it and we'll 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.880 eventually do Quansa too. Yeah, we'll do that in eleven maybe, 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.080 or maybe we'll do like a holiday extravaganza. Buddy. If 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.080 if we're still around in two thousand eleven, then we're 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.800 either doing something right or something wrong. Haven't decided which. Okay, 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:51.240 all right, Josh Chromas, is that what we're calling it? Christmas? Okay? So, Chuck, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.880 have you ever engaged in um Christmas? Yes, Josh, what's 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.520 a year? I've engaged in thirty eight of them? Wow? 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:02.360 That pretty nice, Thank you? That was my int alright, 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:06.040 let's talk about this man. It's so ubiquitous. There's um 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.280 people who are usually drunk, dressed up as Santa Claus, 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.680 ringing bells asking for donations. There's little kids like screeching 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:18.440 in the middle of aisles and toy stores. There are 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.880 um minds like elbowing one another in the face. To 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.920 get to that last line, and then there's people who 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.120 are um punching Walmart greeters in the stomach for saying 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.760 Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. It's the most contentious 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.240 time of the year. Do you know where I am. 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.040 I'm at home and I am shopping online. Dude, it 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.200 is the way to go. Never again. And you know 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:42.959 what we got to Ohio. I just had the gifts 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.959 ship straight to my in law's house. Very smart, no must, 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.880 no fuss. Yeah, it's as long as you order early 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.040 enough to make sure you're not spending the last week 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.960 biting your nails when they arrive in time. I can 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:58.280 tell you, um by experience, that people are very forgiving 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.280 if their gifts aren't there. All you do was you 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.440 get a little card, you right it inside like you're 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.200 getting this, or you print out a picture of it. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.920 It's like it's coming, I promise, and then a coupon 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.239 for a free BackRub. I did do coupons once. One year. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.520 I was so broken. I had a friend take a 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.200 picture of me standing there with my pockets turned out, 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.679 me going like it's like, no, it wasn't last year. 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:23.480 It was like five years ago. And um that was that, 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:25.840 Like everybody kept it. No one turned it in. They 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.160 just like they're sure tickets so much. I made birdhouses 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.799 one year when I was broken. They were good to sure, 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.120 they're nice alright. So let's talk about Christis How do this? 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.600 How did this jam get started? Well, Josh, the roots 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.280 of Christmas are varied, to say the least. You cannot 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.200 riotously very You cannot point to one single thing and 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:50.040 say Christmas was born out of this Jesus's birthday on December. 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.200 You can't even point to the aspects of Christmas and 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.280 say that each one was born out of this. You can't. Basically, 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:02.560 Christmas is a bunch of different groups that are from 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:07.840 antiquity brought together, right, Yeah. Like, Uh. Most of these 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:11.000 early um versions of Christmas, I guess, if you even 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.520 want to call it that were festivals that marked the 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:19.719 winter solstice in Europe, mainly Uh and um Rome. True 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:24.680 Rome had a big one called Saturnalia German pagans. They 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:29.039 honored Odin, who was a god who flew over settlements 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:33.039 at night, blessing some houses and cursing others. Sounds like 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.960 coal and switches or treats to me. So that was 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:43.599 a pagan god. Yeah, yeah, Germanic um and then also 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.800 you have the Druids who like to contribute um things 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.800 like garland and holly to the whole mix. Kissing under 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:57.720 the mistletoe actually is apparently a um euphemism for some 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.839 of the sexual practices that went on to the Druidic 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.800 Winter Solstice festivals. People probably didn't think they were going 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.240 to hear those words in the Christmas podcast. Yeah it's 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.720 true though, Oh yeah, um, Christmas was rife with sexuality 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.720 and one could even say perversion and and just crazy 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.520 parties and in some cases, are you're talking about Rome? That? Yeah, 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.440 the Druids were big into it too, apparently the Celts right, 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.400 But in Rome they celebrated the pretty Rockets festival called 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:29.400 the Saturnalia from December seventeen. Is that now how you 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.640 pronounce it? Okay? I thought you're gonna correct me. And 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.160 that honors Saturn, the god of agriculture. And they had 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.760 a big carnival and they feasted and gambled and gave 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:44.039 gifts and corrals and got drunk wasted for days. This 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.080 is Rome, Yeah, one party like they did. They also 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:51.880 apparently love to stuff um Jews with food until they 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.240 were like so full that they could barely move and 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.560 then make them raise each other naked through the streets 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:01.360 for everyone else's enjoyment. So there's Christmas. Um, these are 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:03.600 the roots of it. And then, of course, um, you 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.599 have Christianity, which effectively took it over in the fourth 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.040 century a D. Yeah, they say, we need our own 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.440 holiday to rival all these winter solstice shenanigans, right the 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.200 fourth the fourth century a D. Really and we are 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.719 ce depending on who you are, Um, really kind of 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.200 change things. This is when Christianity stepped it up a bit. 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:27.520 That's been saying Augustine was supposedly issuing all these proclamations. Um. Basically, 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.040 the Church just made some moves and it it worked. 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.520 And they chose December, the day of the Feast of 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.600 the Nativity is what it was originally called. And since 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.160 they said, hey, pagans, you come over to our religion, 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.160 we've got something over here. Uh. It celebrates the birth 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.640 of our savior and all that. But you can still 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.040 throw down. We're just gonna this is gonna be the 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.919 last day. Much like um, fat to ash Wednesday, right 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.040 right right fat to Marty gral leads up to ash 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.600 Wednesday and the party stops on ash Wednesday, but they 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.200 go crazy ahead of time, very much the same thing. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.440 And it can any like this for many many centuries. Yeah, 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.680 and and initially it wasn't um. It still wasn't the 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.640 big daddy, I mean, Eastern Good Friday still ruled in 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.760 the feast, and the Nativity was kind of the lesser 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:15.000 of the three. And um, the Puritans had some problems 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.760 with this though they did pretty much any group that 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:23.880 was very doer about um about religion. And we're Christians, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:29.400 uh outlawed or banned Christmas festivities because yeah, he did 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.800 when he took Christmas in and the Puritans in New 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.240 England outlawed it. Uh what from sixteen fifty nine to 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.920 sixteen eighty one in Boston, no Christmas none And actually 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:46.680 Cromwell um had soldiers patrolling the streets to make sure 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.239 there was no revelry whatsoever. And we're told to arrest 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.119 anybody they found celebrating Christmas when he outlawed it, um. 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:59.720 And still today Jehovah's witnesses, Christians Christian sect um don't 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.280 sell lebrate Christmas because they clearly see it as or 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.240 they see it as a clearly pagan holiday. And that 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.040 all of these roots have have all these pagan roots 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.160 have come together and just got a Christian stamp of approval. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:16.160 But it ain't. It's really just pagan, right. Yeah. So, uh, 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:18.120 let's move forward a little bit in our in our 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.640 time machine to the eighteenth and nineteenth century. This is 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:22.720 when things start to calm down a little bit and 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:24.680 it becomes a little bit more like the Christmas we 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:30.680 know and love, including eighteen forty six when Queen Victoria's 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.720 German husband Albert, Prince Albert, he introduced a Christmas tree 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:38.839 to the castle and they essentially got their picture made 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.160 in front of it. It was an engraving at the time. 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.360 Of course they had to stand there for four weeks. Yeah, 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.160 but it was their children in them in front of 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.040 the tree, and that's kind of may have been the 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.720 first Christmas card like we do today. That's nice. You 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.800 send Christmas cards. No, I don't even know. I'm such 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.120 a slacker. I've never sent Christmas cards. Yeah, so don't 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.360 be offended. Friends who listened. None of my friends listen 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.400 to this. But when I don't see Christmas cards, I 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.240 just don't do it. I haven't done it. I'll do 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.079 that one day. Um, okay, So Chuck, let's talk about 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:12.319 gift giving. Okay. In two thousand seven, Consumer Reports said 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.880 that they issued an article in November of two seven, 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.079 I said twelve million Americans were still paying off Christmas 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.160 from the year prior. Just a year later, twelve million 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.840 Americans were still making payments on their credit card gifts. 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.000 So in addition to hearing is that Santas slagh and 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.040 jingle bells, I hear Josh flying overhead? I think you're hallucinating, 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:35.800 am I. I don't hear anything. In addition to that, 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:37.480 do you know what I hear is the sound of 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:42.120 credit card machines being well, yeah that's old, but yeah, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.920 the swipe of the credit cards over a number of things. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.880 Thank you. That's what I hear. It is decidedly commercial 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.880 now and one of the reasons why people are still 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.840 paying it off is, um, we spend an ass load 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.800 of money on Christmas presents and decorations, eight billion dollars 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:01.320 on lights alone. Nuts. Listen to this dude in the 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.360 National Retail Federation, which likes to come out with their 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.520 annual forecast of how much Americans are going to spend 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.120 on holiday gifts and just anything that has to do 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.839 with the holidays. They forecasted a hundred and seventy three 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:18.520 billion in nineteen ninety eight. Wow, this is this is 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.720 the height of the dot com bubble and everybody was 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:27.240 rich back then. Everybody You weren't rich either, should uh? 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:31.719 Two thousand nine, this year, the National Retail Federation projects 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.319 that we will spend four hundred and thirty seven point 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:39.559 six billion dollars in a recession. That's not Yeah, I 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.560 don't drop that much on Christmas. We're gonna spend half 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.840 a trillion dollars on Christmas in a recession. That's a 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.000 bad year. I know. And you know what, I think. 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.600 They've said that during recessions even sometimes you go out 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:54.760 of your way to make Christmas special because you've pinched 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:56.960 all year long, So that might infinitely do it. You've 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.960 done what because you pinched your pennies all year long? 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:04.240 You pinched all year long? Yes, I didn't hear that. Okay, 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:06.679 But gift giving, Josh, what is this? Where did it 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.440 come from? Well, like I said, a lot of these 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.680 pagan rituals they gave gifts, but uh, the roots almost 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.880 all of them did, Strange, Lena, But the roots are 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:19.360 generally traced to Um the Bible and Jesus being born 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.000 and the Three Kings, the Magi that traveled to Bethlehem 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.840 with their three gifts of gold. Frankinsincein mur right and 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:31.560 actually um Eastern Orthodox Christians tend to celebrate Three Kings 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.280 Day in January six, which is the day they think 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.000 that the magi arrived with their gifts. Yeah, okay, because 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.560 it took them a while. Sure, yeah, yeah, everybody's writing 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.920 mules back then, answer forever. Things kind of progressed like 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.880 this for a while, and then in eighteen twenty, do 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.880 you know what first appeared? Josh stores began placing Christmas 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.520 themed ads and newspapers and magazines. Yeah, and for the 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.760 first time even before then, though, um Macy's stayed open 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.760 I think for the first time until midnight Christmas Eve 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.880 in eighteen sixty seven. That was after that. But yeah, 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:08.240 I thought you said, I'm sorry, that's losing my mind here, 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.800 But yeah, in eighteen sixty seven, they they stayed open 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.280 for those last minute Christmas shoppers. So by the by 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.440 eighteen sixty seven, it was already a frenzy. Should we 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.160 talk about Boxing Day real quick? Sure? Just cover that 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:24.640 for all the Brits out there, if you're in England, Australia, 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:31.000 Canada or New Zealand. Uh, Christmas does not end on No, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.000 it continues on to the twenty six Boxing Day. So 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.720 what is that, Josh? Well, apparently it grew out of 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.719 a tradition where servants who had to work on Christmas 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:46.200 all day serving the rich families of New England or 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:50.959 New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain and Canada. Um, they 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.360 were given the next day off, the twenty six. They 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:57.280 have their own Christmas, their own servant version of Christmas. 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.160 And apparently that was taken over by the rich at 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.800 cats as well. Right, so there's a Boxing Day and Christmas, 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.079 I take it in those countries. That's the way I 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.120 understand it, Chuck, Josh, let's keep going on with this 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.160 origin stuff. This stuff is very interesting. Can can we 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.200 talk about St Nick for a second? Yeah? So you 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:18.920 know there really was a St. Nick? Right? I do know? 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.760 School me. Uh he was actually canonized in the I 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:28.800 think nineteenth century. But he was born in two seventy 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:34.520 CE in Turkey. Uh. He was a Mediterranean dude. Turkish 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.040 was he He was Turkish? And I think he died 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:43.520 in three forty, so he was old. Um. He was 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.720 worshiped by a group of sailors who formed a cult 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.480 around him, the St. Nicholas Cult or the Nicholas cult. 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.880 Before he was canonized, a group of sailors, a group 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:56.959 of sailors just idolized this guy, like literally, so these sailors, actually, 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.760 I guess, sailed to Turkey and said, we're gonna take 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.840 Nick's bones where they're being kept in a shrine in Turkey, 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.840 bring his bones out exactly, okay. Or they went in 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.480 and got them themselves, one of the two. Uh, and 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.679 then they take it back to They take the bones 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.120 back to Italy and place him in a shrine. But 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.040 when they do so, they displaced this pagan idol known 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:23.840 as the Grandmother capital T capital g. The Grandmother had 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:30.920 a reputation for placing um gifts in children's stockings. St. Nick, 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.120 who was who was a real person, was a Christian 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.880 martyr I believe takes over this lady's shrine and the 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.600 association with gifts and him giving gifts and even gifts 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.800 and stockings her. Her reputation goes to him. So it 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.200 originally started with a woman huh in ten seven. That's 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.160 when the sailors went, we're not done yet here. My 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.480 friend Santa Claus has a very long, in circuitous route. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.400 But it's amazing how it all comes together. I'm roasting chestnuts, 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.600 by the way, while I'm listening to this. Because the 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.600 in the Nicholas Colt gave each other gifts, right um. 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.800 And since they gave, they were known for giving gifts. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.080 They were one of the more popular cults around. So 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.480 when they spread north, people were like, hey, you're kind 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.200 of cool, let's hang out. And um they were converted. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.080 They were a very powerful cult. And when they moved 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.720 into Germany or the Germanic areas. Uh, Odin remember you 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:26.320 mentioned him earlier, Long white Beard blew over houses, right. Uh. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:28.680 Santa Claus as we know it today is the collision 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.720 of Odin and St. Nick and the Grandmother. Technically I 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.240 had something to do with Germany. I remember hearing that one. 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.240 So Santa Claus was um I think a Dutch word 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.080 for this conception. But it wasn't until eighteen o nine 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:48.680 that Washington Irving wrote a satire of Dutch culture and said, um. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.120 He used the name Santa Claus, the Dutch name which 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.960 introduced the name to the English. A few decades after that, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.640 guy named Thomas Nast, an illustrator, starts drawing his conception. 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:03.160 Santa Claus. Adds the the north pole, the elves, the workshop, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.720 all that stuff, and then finally Santa Claus, who we 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.560 know and love today, the jolly fat man with the 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.000 red coat and the white trimming. All these things have 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.160 accumulated up to this point, and then our image are 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:21.000 iconic image of Santa Claus was thanks to an illustrator 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.120 who was contracted by the Coca Cola company in n 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.400 and seen, there's Santa Claus and that crazy. That is crazy. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.160 What a cool history? I think, so too and slightly 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:36.280 disappointing a little bit. Where's the magic? There's no magic? No, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.120 al right, Okay, so go ahead, Chuck. I've talked way 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.320 too much for now. I guess we should talk about 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:46.960 trees a little bit. Um evergreen trees and garlands. We're 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:51.480 used to decorate symbols of eternal life by everyone from 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:57.040 ancient Chinese to Hebrews and Egyptians and European Pagans even 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.760 worship these trees. Yeah, I remember we talked about the 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.159 ruids and u sexual proclivities right, So fast forward a 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.680 little bit. When Western Germans used fir trees to represent 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.440 the Tree of Paradise and plays about Adam and Eve. 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.280 They decorated these trees with apples and wafers and stuff, 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.679 and that got more and more popular until they were 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.080 introduced in North America in the seventeenth century, and then 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.760 people started decorating them with mistletoe and holly and stuff 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.600 like that, and like you said, they really took off 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.639 thanks to Prince Albert and that engraving. Yeah, and in 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.639 Christmas lights clearly, which were introduced in eighteen ninety or 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.280 in the eighteen nineties. And also, as I understand that 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:42.640 gingerbread men, Yeah, that is based on a Saturnalia tradition 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:48.320 from the ancient Romans where they would eat human shaped biscuits. Yeah, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.919 I think about that's what a ginger modes. Yeah. I 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.800 love ginger cookies. Do you like those? Yeah? Are you 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.880 with us? Okay, I'm having trouble enunciating during this one. 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.840 I know it's strange, So Chuck, I think we've reached 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:05.119 the uh, the big finish, the finale it was Jesus 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:07.920 born on December is that we're gonna talk about and also, 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.640 do you want to pop into quick facts. Yeah, So 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:14.719 where's the word Christmas come from? Uh? It comes from Mars. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:18.840 It comes from an old English word or term Christ's 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:23.159 mass right um or put together Christmas? And do you 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:28.480 know where xmus came from? No, X was the standard 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.919 abbreviation of capital X was the standard abbreviation to represent Christ. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.760 So really it's not taking Christ out of Christmas when 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.400 you say x mess was an abbreviated version of christs. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:40.080 Did not know that because a lot of people take 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.199 offense when you write xmus. People get really runtled up 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.720 about this stuff. They do. They just need to drink 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:50.720 a little egg nog, right, yeah, with rum, right delicious rum. So, Josh, 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:55.160 let's talk about December and was Jesus really born on December. 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.359 There is a one in three hundred and sixty five 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.840 or one and three hundred and sixty six chance, depending 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:05.399 on whether or not it was leap here, that he 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.960 was born on December twenty Yeah, because the Bible doesn't 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.680 say that Jesus was born on December twenty one. Thing 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.200 I learned from this wonderful article written by our colleague 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.080 Sarah Dowdy, who hosts Stuff You missed in history class 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:20.760 um is that the early Church didn't care much about 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.920 the Nativity about Jesus being born, that there was no celebration, 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:26.880 didn't pick up, like we said, until the fourth century 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.520 a d. Right, right, So yeah, there wasn't a lot 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:34.040 of effort made to really date his birth early on. Yeah. Uh. 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:38.480 There's some clues though that it was probably not on December. Uh. 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.280 In the chapter of Luke, they say that the shepherds 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.679 are keeping watch over their flock by night day in night. Well, no, 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.280 it just says they're flocked by night in the Bible. Whatever. 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:52.560 Don't challenge me on the Bible, buddy, I know my Bible. 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:55.359 But this suggests that it may have been actually in 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.640 the spring, during spring lambing, because that is the only 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.679 time of year where they you keep watch today and night. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:03.920 Otherwise it's just during the day, so day and night 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.399 in that case, yes, okay, and you're waiting on that. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.639 So this one Bible scholar, his first name was Dionysus, 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:15.800 I can't remember his last name. Uh, he calculated that, Um. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:19.879 I think he was the one that calculated December twenty Yes, Josh, chronographers. 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:24.480 Here's another theory here that chronographers reckon that the world 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.760 was created on the spring equinox, and then four days later, 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:32.960 on March, light was created because the earth was created 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.400 then got created light according to the Bible in Genesis, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.080 and since the existence of Jesus UH signaled the beginning 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:42.280 of a new era of Christianity or creation Uh, the 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:46.200 chronographers assumed that jesus conception would have fallen on March 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:52.360 twenty five, which nine months after that would be which 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.200 would be his birthday. Yeah, there's a modern Bible scholar 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.440 who has gone a little broader trying to hammer out 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.800 the extra a year and um by his reckoning, thanks 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.440 to Um the presence of Herod King Herod was still alive. 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.639 He dated it back and figured out that Jesus is 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:16.960 probably born in four BC. Four BC, so not too 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.880 far off as far as the year goes. Not bad. 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.440 And again we should remind people that this December twenty 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.480 thing was largely an attempt to steal um the winter 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:29.560 solstice from the Pagans to convert them over to Christianity, 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.199 So no one knows when Jesus was born. Yeah, and 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:34.200 you know we're not saying all this to Pooh Pooh 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.199 Christmas or the fact that Jesus may or may not 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.880 have been born on December twenty. None of that matters. 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.240 The origin doesn't matter. What matters is is that is 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.480 the day that we celebrate it. And uh, all over 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:49.600 the world, they're different traditions. Some people open their gifts 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.520 and Christmas Eve, some people do it Christmas Day. Some 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:54.840 people don't do Christmas at all. Some people don't celebrate 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.040 it at all. You know, there's other religions out there. 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:00.000 You heard about these, yeah, and and we're gonna cut 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.440 over these at some other point. But this one is 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:06.080 about Christmas. Yeah. Um. And if you think about it, 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.760 from the true origins of Christmas, all of these disparate 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.600 cultures being brought together and molded into this. Sure, you 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:17.800 know it was done surreptitiously and a little sneakily, but 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:20.359 it kind of reminds you, at the very least, it 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:23.439 explains how this whole season it's based around Christmas in 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:28.239 the United States. Um, kind of touches everybody. Sure, So 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:32.480 that's Christmas, Chuck, Do we have any listener mail today? Oh? Yeah? 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:34.440 If you want to know more about Christmas, you can 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:36.320 type the end the handy search bar at how Stuff 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.639 Works dot com uh, which then I guess leads us 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.639 to listener mayo. Indeed, Josh, we have a couple of 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:45.399 requests which we don't often honor here on the show. 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:48.560 We're gonna this year. We love turning down people's requests 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:50.320 because I feel bad for people that are born right 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:54.440 around Christmas. Do because that just thinks. So, Hey, Josh 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:57.960 Chuck and Jerry Chucker and Jerry, I have a sad 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:00.920 Christmas story followed by a huge favor. My story starts 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:06.119 almost twenty four years ago, the day after Christmas. That 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.080 was the day my husband Ian was born. The unfortunate 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:11.320 timing of his birth has caused a ton of bitterness 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:14.000 over the years. It's all the gloom that comes after 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.160 the presents are open. We are faced with the fact 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:18.600 that Christmas is gone for a whole year, and then 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.680