Christmas History
This ballet premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892, and has has been regularly performed ever since, particularly around the Christmas season.
In America, this holiday has most famously been celebrated with a big spectacle in Times Square in New York since 1907.
What is New Year's Eve?
Christmas Trees
Pagan! The tradition of decorating evergreens boughs with fruit and candles is a tradition that dates back to the Germanic pagan festival of Yule.
Who is Ježíšek (Baby Jesus)?
This song about a misjudged reindeer was written in 1939 by an American jingle (advertisement) writer who was hired as a part of a holiday marketing stunt for a department store.
What is "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"?
This empire was the first society to practice the celebration of Christmas in Europe, after its adoption of Christianity as its official religion under their emperor Constantine in the 400s.
What is Rome?
Though this is a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish religion, it became more popularly celebrated among American Jewish communities in the 1920s in response to the hyper-focus in American culture on the Christian holiday of Christmas
What is Hanukkah?
Yule Logs
Pagan! Yule Logs were first created by Germanic pagan cultures for their winter festivals celebrating the Winter Solstice. The log would be lit at sundown, and kept burning all night long. It was thought to protect people from evil spirits who hid in the dark, who would be especially powerful on the longest night of the year.
The first recipe for THIS traditional fried Czech Christmas dish was written by Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, the mother of Czech cuisine, in her 1826 cookbook A Household Cookery Book (Domácí kuchařka).
What is Carp?
This now iconic Christmas song was written by American composer James Pierpont in 1856, who was inspired by his childhood memories of dashing through the snow in one-horse open sleighs around his hometown in Massachusetts.
What is "Jingle Bells"?
In medieval Catholic Europe, Christmas was traditionally celebrated for this many days (made famous by a beloved Christmas song about lots of birds)
What is 12?
This very controversial American holiday supposedly commemorates a harvest feast attended by English colonists and Native Americans (but the history behind it was much more complicated than the holiday suggests)
What is Thanksgiving?
Gingerbread Man Cookies
Not Pagan! Gingerbread was first created in 16th century Germany, and the practice of cutting them in the shape of men was popularized in England during Queen Elizabeth I's rule (she liked to have gingerbread men that resembled the noblemen of her court served at her royal banquets!)
Czech tradition states that there must always be a ______ number of plates on the dinner table (odd or even), even if it does not match the number of guests!
What is even?
This musical Christmas tradition dates back to the middle ages, though in those days it was called wassailing, and involved dressing up in costumes and going door to door singing Christmas hymns in exchange for beer and treats.
What is Christmas Caroling?
Christmas was not widely celebrated in England, being thought an obscure and very Catholic holiday, until the publication of this ghost-filled book in 1843 by Charles Dickens made it popular.
What is A Christmas Carol?
This holiday, celebrated in the UK on December 26th, was created to give servants in Britain a day off, as most domestic servants were expected to work on Christmas Day. Like Christmas, it is a holiday that was meant to celebrate charity and good will, making its name rather misleading.
What is Boxing Day?
Giving Gifts
Pagan! The Romans were the first to give gifts as a part of Christmas celebrations, mainly because gift-giving was an important part of Saturnalia, the pagan festival they had celebrated in December before they adopted Christianity.
Jan Karel Liebich was the first person to put up and decorate one of these in Prague in 1812, where he made it the centrepiece for his Christmas Party that year.
What is a Christmas Tree?
The earliest Christmas carols were written and sung in this language, probably because they were more like religious hymns than holiday songs.
What is Latin?
Prince Albert brought the tradition of Christmas trees from Germany to England in the 1850s when he married THIS famous queen.
Who is Queen Victoria?
This astrological event was the central feature of festivals for multiple Pagan cultures, including Roman, Germanic, Norse, and Britannic
What is the Winter Solstice?
Elves Making Toys in Santa's Workshop at the North Pole
Not Pagan! The idea that elves make the toys was created by American author Louisa May Alcott in her 1855 book The Christmas Elves, the concept of Santa's Workshop was first mentioned in a short story in a Philadelphia magazine published in 1873, and cartoonist Thomas Nast was the first to depict Santa living at the North Pole when he drew a cartoon of it in 1879.
This Soviet Dictator banned Christmas is Czechoslovakia in 1929, but allowed it to resume in 1935.
Who is Josef Stalin?
This is the language in which "Silent Night" was originally written and recorded in 1818.
(Bonus: Can you say the name of the song in the original language?)
What is German?
(Bonus: "Stille Nacht")
The Christmas spirit inspired opposing German and English armies to call a temporary truce and celebrate the holiday together during THIS major war in 1914.
What is World War I?
This holiday was first created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor of Black Studies at CSU, Long Beach. Named for a Swahili phrase meaning “first fruits", it honors African-American culture.
What is Kwanzaa?
Charity to The Poor
Not Pagan! The tradition of giving "alms" or donations to the needy started in Medieval Europe as a way of atoning for their sins before partying hard on Christmas Eve.
One of the oldest Christmas traditions in the Czech Republic features young girls throwing THIS at a door on Christmas Eve to see if she will be married in the new year.
What is a shoe? (if the shoe lands with the toe pointing towards the door, she'll find her husband before next Christmas)
This classic Christmas carol tells the story of a Duke of Bohemia, who lived from about A.D. 907 to 929. Unfortunately, the song isn't very accurate, as this guy wasn't a king, his name was Václav, and he wasn't even that particularly good.
What is "Good King Wenceslas"?
Christmas was banned in England and America between 1659 and 1681 by this controversial English Puritan leader after he and his Puritan army overthrew (and beheaded) King Charles I.
Who is Oliver Cromwell? (Puritans hated Christmas- thought it was too Catholic)
Ōmisoka, meaning "the great thirtieth", is the celebration of this in Japan.
What is New Year?
New Year's Day
Pagan! Roman Emperor Julius Caesar officially declared January 1st as the start of the new calendar year, as it was the first day of the month dedicated to Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. Guess Caesar figured it just made sense that the year should start at the start of the month of the god of starting things.
What is a golden piglet (zlaté prasátko)?
This Christmas carol uses the same melody as Greensleeves, a 16th century English ballad that people mistakenly believe was written by Henry VIII
(I'll accept you just humming the tune if you can't remember of the name)
What is "What Child Is This"
In medieval Europe, this was what they called the 28 days leading up to Christmas, in which Christians engaged in a prolonged period of fasting, prayer, and giving to the poor.
What is Advent?
Bodhi Day, a holiday that celebrates the day that the Siddharta Gautama experienced enlightenment, is celebrated on December 6 by practitioners of this religion.
What is Buddhism?
Santa Claus
Trick Question: Both. The jolly old elf we know and love today is an amalgamation of both the Christian saint Nicholas of Myra, a bearded priest who was said to bring gifts to children, and Odin, a Norse pagan god who was said to fly across the night sky in a sleigh on the winter solstice
Gingerbread baking first came to Bohemia from Germany in 1355, but Czech bakers made their version special by adding this spice to the recipe.
What is pepř (pepper)?
The first ever Christmas album was released by THIS popular American singer in 1942, who's song "White Christmas" is STILL the best selling holiday single of all time (sorry Mariah Carey)
Who is Bing Crosby?