WE all know there’s a lot more to Christmas than giving and receiving gifts, donning Christmas sweaters and decorating our home like Santa’s workshop. It’s an age-old celebration with centuries of tradition and meaning behind virtually every aspect of the holiday that will have you saying, “Huh! I never knew that!” Here are some fun facts. The date While Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, there is no mention of Dec. 25 in the Bible. Most historians actually posit that Jesus was born in the spring. And his birthday itself didn’t become the official holiday until the third century. Some historians believe the date was actually chosen because it coincided with the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which honored the agricultural god Saturn with celebrating and gift-giving. Evergreens The tradition of Christmas trees goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, who marked the winter solstice with evergreens as a reminder that spring would return. You might want to brew a cup of tea when trimming your tree this year to pay homage to its origins. When Prince Albert of Germany introduced a tree to his new wife, Queen Victoria of England, it really took off across the pond. A drawing of the couple in front of a Christmas tree appeared in Illustrated London News in 1848 and as we say, the idea went viral. St. Nick You probably already knew that the idea of Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas, but the real saint wasn’t a bearded man who wore a red suit. That came much later. According to legend, the fourth-century Christian bishop gave away his abundant inheritance to help the needy and rescued women from servitude. His name was Sinter Klaas in Dutch, which later morphed into Santa Claus. Before Coca-Cola got in on it, Santa used to look a lot less jolly — even spooky. It wasn’t until 1931, when the beverage company hired an illustrator named Haddon Sundblom for magazine ads that we got the jolly old elf. Hanging stockings According to legend, we hang stockings by the chimney thanks to a poor man who didn’t have enough money for his three daughters’ dowries. Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night, where the girls had hung their stockings to dry. That’s where the gold ended up, and how the tradition began. Rudolph Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in 1939 when the Montgomery Ward department store asked one of its copywriters to create a Christmas story the store could give away as a promotional gimmick. The store had been giving away coloring books for years, and decided to make its own to save money. Christmas wreaths The Christmas wreath originated as a symbol of Christ. The holly represents the crown of thorns Jesus wore at his crucifixion, and the red berries symbolize the blood he shed. “Jingle Bells” James Lord Pierpont wrote a song called “One Horse Open Sleigh” for his church’s Thanksgiving concert. Then in 1857, the song was re-published under the title it still holds today, and it eventually became one of the most popular Christmas songs. Eggnog The Jamestown settlers created the first American batch of eggnog, although it may not have tasted the way we know and love today. The word nog comes from the word grog; or any drink made with rum. So technically, an early nog didn’t require the rich, milky base we now ladle out of grandma’s cut-crystal punch bowl. Mistletoe The holiday flora is an ancient symbol of fertility and virility — and the Druids considered it an aphrodisiac. The name itself has a meaning that might not inspire as many warm fuzzies, however. Mistle thrush birds eat the plant’s berries, digest the seeds, and then the droppings eventually grow into new plants. So, the Germanic word for mistletoe literally means “dung on a twig.” Candy canes The U.S. National Confectioners Association says a choirmaster used to give the candies to young children to keep them quiet during long church services. But it wasn’t until a German-Swedish immigrant decorated his tree with candy canes in 1847 that they became popular as a Christmas candy. Legends and stories You may know Washington Irving best for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and his headless horseman, but he wrote a lot about St. Nicholas, too. In fact, he bestowed eight tiny reindeer on the big man. He loved Santa Claus so much that in 1835, he helped found the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, serving as its secretary until 1841. During World War II, The United States Playing Card Company joined forces with U.S. and British intelligence agencies to create a very special deck of cards. They gave them out as Christmas gifts that helped allied prisoners of war escape from German POW camps. Individual cards peeled apart when moistened, to reveal maps of escape routes. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. (SD-Agencies) | 