SECULAR CHRISTMAS
Bonus (+100): In 2008, Nat King Cole's daughter famously mixed her own vocals into her father's recording, creating a father-daughter duet. What is his daughter's name?
This major prophet foretold that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a son, and the virgin "shall call his name Immanuel".
Who is Isaiah?
Jesus was born in this town.
What is Bethlehem?
St. Nicholas.
#315 (Three notes)
What is "Silent Night"?
What is Japan?
A.I.: In Japan, it's a massive tradition to order special Christmas chicken buckets, a custom started in the 1970s by KFC's marketing to fill the lack of traditional turkey and become "Kentucky for Christmas" (Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii). Millions of Japanese families pre-order KFC meals months in advance for December 25th, making it a quintessential part of the holiday...
This minor prophet foretold that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
Who is Micah?
This king was troubled by a report of a newborn king, and took murderous action.
Who is Herod?
This song was famously sung during a "christmas truce" during World War I.
What is Silent Night?
What is O Come O Come Emmanuel?
Buddy the elf thinks says are the four major food groups.
Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.
In this Bible verse, the first advent promise, God promised an offspring of the woman would crush satan's head.
What is Genesis 3:15? (Or, what is the protoevangelion?)
The wisemen knew the king's hometown by citing this Bible verse.
What is Micah 5:2 (cf. Matthew 2:6).
Legend (not the Bible) says there were three wisemen. What detail in the story of the wisemen might make us think there were three wisemen?
What are three gifts.
This legend has been articulated by many church fathers, and solidified in our minds through songs like "We Three Kings".
Bonus +100: What were the three gifts?
#308 (Three Notes)
Scrooge is haunted by this many (e.g., number) spirits in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol.
What are four spirits?
Bonus (+50 per spirit): Name the four spirits.
What is Psalm 98?
The angels announced this sign to the wisemen when they said, "and this will be a sign to you".
This famous emperor was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire on Christmas day.
Who is Charlemagne?
#299 (ONE Note)
What is "Joy to the World the Lord is Come!"?
In a tradition linked to Queen Elizabeth I, young women seeking a husband used what food during Christmas as a superstition (or even cultish practice) for good luck for a suitor?
What are gingerbread men (or gingerbread husbands)?
Handel's Messiah quotes a major prophet who describes the coming Messiah with these five (arguably four) titles.
What is "wonderful, counselor, mighty God, the everlasting father, the Prince of peace"?
(Bonus +100).
Prompt: These titles are found in this verse.
God promised this man that he would not see death until he had seen Christ.
Who is Simeon. (cf. Luke 2:22–35)
For these reasons (name at least one), December 25th became the traditional date of Christmas and/or Jesus's birth.
What is "Winter Soltice" (astrological calendar)? Generally speaking, winter solstice provides a date which grounds many theories—secular and Christian—in the dating of Christmas.
What is the "calculation theory"? In early christianity, from the likes of Hippolytus, a theory was based off the conjecture that great figures died on the same day they were conceived. The early church suggested that Jesus died on March 25th. Thus, he was conceived on March 25th and (nine months later) born on December 25th.
What is "co-opt" theory? As pagans had their own winter solstice festivals, so Christians countered with their own by celebrating Jesus coming as the "light of the world".
NOTE that while astronomy has identified astronomical details on the night of Dec 25, that would not account for Dec 25 *historically* being celebrated before our astronomical technology.
What is "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent"?