There are many fun facts that individuals know about Christmas. However, there are those that are even unknown to most Christians. They are as follows:
1) Jesus Christ wasn’t actually born on December 25th.
a. Christians don’t actually know when Jesus was born. The Bible never mentions a specific day but we do know that it was cold. December 25th was chosen by Pope Julius I about 300 years after Jesus had been crucified.
2) It is completely normal for Christians to not go to church if Christmas falls on a Sunday.
a. The pastor usually understands that you want to be with your family all day but it’s important that Jesus isn’t forgotten on Christmas.
3) Christians don’t know exactly where Christ was born.
a. We know that he was born in Bethlehem, however, we don’t know much more after that. The odds of anyone ever finding the exact manger or even the exact stable is impossible.
4) Gifts are given on Christmas because of the Three Wise Men.
a. The tradition of gift-giving during Christmas has originated from the Three Wise Men, who brought presents to Jesus, when he was born. Luckily, the gifts received today aren’t along the lines of gold, frankincense, or myrrh.
5) What are frankincense and myrrh?
a. Frankincense is a substance from sap that is highly demanded for its smell when burned. Myrrh is also wanted for its aroma, however, it is a resin from a thorny tree species and is a natural gum.
6) A Cathedral was one of the first places to use candy canes as decoration.
a. Cologne Cathedral in… were the ones who actually bent the ends of candy canes to give it the look of a Shepard’s crook since “The Lord is my Shepard I shall not want” (). At this time, Candy Canes were still white as they didn’t get their red stripes until the 20th Century.
7) There is a belief that the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ song was influenced by Jesus.
a. It is believed that it took the Three Wise Men twelve days to reach Bethlehem. I am not certain how true this could be but I don’t think that it only took the Three Wise Men twelve days to reach Bethlehem from Babylon.
8) “Silent Night” was originally meant to be played by a pipe organ.
a. In Austria, when it was first performed, the organ in the church was thoroughly rusted and so a guitar was played instead.
9) The Puritans refused to sing Christmas carols.
a. When the Puritans arrived in North America, they wanted to strip away from Catholicism entirely. This included leaving behind the carols that were adamantly sung in the Roman Catholic Church. Some were shunned because they couldn’t stop caroling as they had in Europe.
10) Johann Sebastian Bach would inscribe “In the Name of Jesus” in his musical scores.
a. J.S. Bach composed many different concerto’s and orchestral pieces. He even composed a song entitled “Jesus Joy of Man’s Desiring” which is a Christmas song. This composition was played by the Lander University Wind Ensemble during their November 2016 performance.
