Around the World
In Syria, instead of reindeer, St. Nick uses these animals to guide his sleigh in honor of their contribution to bringing gifts to Jesus.
What are camels?
These four books in the Bible encompass most of the nativity scene.
What is the Four Gospels? (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
This monk from Turkey gave away all of his inherited wealth and became known as the protector of children and sailors. He is where we get the legend of Santa Claus.
Who is Saint Nicholas?
This country was the first to make artificial Christmas trees in the 19th century.
What is Germany?
This reindeer was a marketing ploy for Montgomery Ward Department Stores.
Who is Rudolph?
The Swedes watch this classic cartoon character on Christmas (heh, alliteration)
Who is Donald Duck?
We likely celebrate Christmas on December 25th because of this pagan holiday.
What is Saturnalia?
In the early 1950s, this company launched “operation Santa Drop” to deliver 50,000 bottles of their soda to isolated military outposts and research stations at the North Pole.
Who is Coca Cola?
While Germany started the gingerbread house tradition, this 1800’s famous fairy tale is what really popularized it.
What is Grimm's Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel?
The pastor snowman the couple builds in the meadow
Who is Parson Brown?
In this biblical city, the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria celebrates mass simultaneously in different languages, echoing Christmas sentiments of peace, harmony, and unity.
What is Bethlehem?
The “mas” in Christmas is an abbreviation for this Catholic tradition.
What is Catholic Christ Mass?
In the 18th century, this group honored the anniversary of the death of Sint Nikolaas. Today, we get Santa Claus’s name from their abbreviation of Sint Nikolaas, Sinter Klaas.
Who are Dutch-Americans?
This popular Christmas tradition was started because St. Nick threw money down a chimney for a father who couldn't pay the dowry of his daughters, and it landed in a specific item of their clothes.
What is hanging stockings?
In the famous 12 days of Christmas song, the true love receives 184 of this animal.
What is birds?
This ancient and present culture used green palms to mark the winter solstice, symbolizing that spring and Ra would return with new life.
What is Ancient Egypt?
Dating back to 1100, the X in X-mas means Chi, or Christ in this group’s language.
Who are the Greek?
This famous cartoonist, inspired by Clement Clark Moore, is responsible for the depiction of Santa that we know in the US today.
Who is Thomas Nast?
This popular tradition from Germany is a month-long symbol of daily spiritual reflection on what it must have been like to wait for the promised Messiah, a joyful anticipation.
What are advent calendars?
The first song to mention Santa Claus.
What is "Up on a Housetop" (1864) by Benjamin Hanby?
In this Middle Eastern country, children recite the nativity story, light some thorns on fire, and hope they turn completely to ash to signify the year ahead will be filled with good fortune.
What is Iraq?
Christmas wasn’t a national holiday in the US until June 26, 1870, due to this religious group led by Oliver Cromwell. They popularized the argument that Jesus wasn’t born in the winter.
Who are the Puritans?
While the tradition of gift-giving started with St. Nicholas, this famous protestant reformer disliked that the church was honoring a saint so close to Jesus’ birthday. So, he changed the gift-giving of St. Nick to the Christ Child, who would deliver gifts to children in honor of Jesus.
Who is Martin Luther?
In Norse mythology, this holiday plant/tradition became a symbol of peace and love after the goddess of love lost her son to an arrow made from the plant’s stem.
What is mistletoe?
This is the most recorded Christmas song in history, with over 733 versions copyrighted since 1978.
What is "Silent Night?"