Archive for July, 2006

Joel Roberts Poinsett, who was then the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, imported the first poinsettia plant from Mexico in 1828.  According to Encyclopedia Britannica:     
In warm climates, the poinsettia grows outdoors as a winter-flowering
leggy shrub about 3 metres (10 feet) high; as a potted plant in
northern areas it rarely grows beyond 1 meter. What […]

"Yuletide" for "Christmastime" is a term
derived from the Yule Log, according to "Dictionary of Word and Phrase
Origins," by William and Mary Morris. In the old days, the Yule log was
used as the foundation of holiday fires. As recently as the 19th century,
bringing in the Yule log was as much a part of the pre-Christmas festivities […]

There is so much history about mistletoe, that I will never be able to cover it all here but I will try to skim the surface then give you a reference in the end if you are interested in reading more.
Hanging mistletoe over a doorway during the Christmas holidays is a tradition most of […]

Mistletoe has been associated with many pagan rituals and
apparently has been used as a decoration at Christmas time for many thousands of years. According
to the book by Charles Panati, "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things,"
the church forbade the use of mistletoe in any form, because of its idolatrous
associations.
Holly was suggested as a substitute as a […]

The first store to even sell Christmas tree ornaments was Woolworths back in 1880. They caught on very quickly and were soon added to the candies and cakes previously hung by ribbon from the Victorian times.
In the 16th century, Martin Luther is credited as being the first person to put candles on a tree. The […]

Setting up an evergreen tree in our great room at Christmas time is a German tradition which started as early as 700 AD. In the 1800’s the tradition of a Christmas tree was widespread in Germany, then it spread to England and the on to America through German immigrants who settled primarily in PA.
Christmas trees […]

Allegedly, no one really knows if Jesus was actually born
exactly on December 25th. December is the winter solstice and what is known, is
that some Christian leaders back in 336 C.E. set the date to December 25 in an
attempt to coincide and other wise eclipse a popular pagan holiday in Rome
known as Saturnalia that celebrated "Natalis […]

Gift giving has become a central focus of Christmas tradition, but it has not always been that way. The first record of gift giving, and hense the beginning of a new tradition, was when the Wise Men (Magi) brought gifts to Jesus as recorded in the book of Matthew in the Bible. "On coming to […]

According to Daniel Boorstin in his book "The Americans", Christmas was not such a big deal, in fact it was pretty much a "non-event" in the US until the 1860s. In 1867, Macy’s department store in New York City led the way by remaining oopen until midnight on Christmas Eve. 1874 was the first year […]