Merry Christmas fellow earthlings!! Here is a "Yuletide" ambigram to celebrate Christmas. The Wreath design is courtesy of Bazaar Designs.
Yule or Yuletide ("Yule time") was a religious festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples which was later absorbed into and equated with the Christian festival of Christmas. So...Greetings of the Yuletide, people!!
It's been some time since I posted any trivia...so here goes...
- It is said that the traditional Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as a secret teaching tool to instruct children in the meaning of the Christian faith. From 1558 to 1829 Roman Catholics in England were, apparently, forbidden from openly practicing their religion. So, this carol was devised to get the message across without upsetting the Protestants. My true love - God
Me - The Christian
Partridge in a pear tree - Jesus
Two Turtle Doves - The old and new testaments
Three French hens - Faith, hope and love
Four calling birds - The four gospels
Five gold rings - The first five books of the Bible
Six geese a-laying - The six days of creation
Seven swans a-swimming - The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
Eight maids a-milking - The beatitudes
Nine ladies dancing - The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
Ten lords a-leaping - The ten commandments
Eleven pipers piping - The eleven faithful disciples
Twelve drummers drumming - The twelve points of the apostle - During the 17th century, craftsmen created white sticks of candy in the shape of shepherds' crooks at the suggestion of the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. The candy treats were given to children to keep them quiet during ceremonies at the living creche, or Nativity scene, and the custom of passing out the candy crooks at such ceremonies soon spread throughout Europe.
- The early Christmas music compositions are regarded as chants and hymns. The original carols. Christmas carols referred to a circle dance which did not have any singing - that came later. As the church struggled against the influences of pagan customs, the singing of carols was barred from sacred services. However, outside the church, Nativity carols were written and became popular. Nearly all were simple folk songs created by people from the countryside.
Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with bringing carols into the formal worship of the church during a Christmas Midnight Mass in a cave in Greccio, in the province of Umbria in 1223. It's said that the music sung that night was more akin to what we know as carols than to hymns. Carols enjoyed further development and popularity when they were used in the mystery plays of the Middle Ages.
Wandering minstrels traveled from hamlet to castle, performing carols in the distant past. In later years, villages had their own bands of waits.
Waits were originally watchmen who patrolled the streets and byways of the old walled cities keeping guard against fire and singing out the hours of the night. During the holiday season, they would include some carols for the people along the way, although some folks complained that they would rather get a good nights sleep than have somebody singing under their window. Eventually the term was used to describe groups of musicians who sang and played for various civic events during the Christmas season. - Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas. It is derived from the word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, transliterated as Christos, which is Greek for Christ. Greek is the language in which the whole New Testament was written.
Originally, Xmas was an abbreviation where the X represents the Greek letter chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name. However, because of the modern interpretations of the letter X, many people are unaware of this and assume that this abbreviation is meant to drop Christ from Christmas. - In 1647, the English parliament passed a law made Christmas illegal. The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral, banned the Christmas festivities. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660.
- America’s official national Christmas tree is located in King’s Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the “General Grant Tree”, is over 90 meters (300 feet) high, and was made the official Christmas tree in 1925.
- The first department store to feature a visit with Santa was the J. W. Parkinson’s store in Philadelphia in 1841. Astonishingly, no other department stores copied this event until 1890 when a store in Boston repeated it. Before long lines of children formed at stores across America to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him their Christmas wish list. The department store Santa has been immortalized in films such as Miracle on 34th Street and Christmas Story.
- The most popular Christmas song of all time is Bing Crosby’s version of “White Christmas.” And “Silent Night”-arguably the most recognizable Christmas hymn-was written in 1818, by an Austrian pastor, Joseph Mohr. As Christmas Eve came, that year, the organ in his church was broken, so together with his friend, Franz Gruber, he wrote this new tune for the service that night, and played it on his guitar for his congregation.
- “Jingle Bells” was originally written for a Thanksgiving celebration, in 1857.
- According to the Bible, the magi brought myrrh as a gift to the infant Jesus, along with gold and frankincense. Myrrh (dried tree sap) was used as an embalming ointment or as incense for funerals and cremations (to mask the smells).
According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, myrrh trees originated as a result of Myrrha’s lust for her father, Cinyras. With the connivance of her nursemaid, Myrrha repeatedly had sex with her unsuspecting father. When her father realized Myrrha’s identity and that he had been boinking his daughter, he attempted to kill her but she escaped. The gods took pity on her and to release her from her shame, turned her into a myrrh tree. So that's how Christmas is linked to INCEST and EMBALMED CORPSES. Enjoy the image!! - US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second
- Despite the tale of three wise men paying homage to baby Jesus, the Bible never gives a number. Matthew's Gospel refers to merely "wise men".
- The word Noel derives from the French expression "les bonnes nouvelles" or "the good news".
- Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space when Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sang it on December 16, 1965.
- Since 1947 Oslo has sent an Xmas tree to London to thank us for our help in the Second World War.
- Kissing under the mistletoe is thought to spring from Frigga, the Norse goddess of love, who was associated with the plant.
- The Beatles hold the record for most Xmas number 1 singles, topping the charts in 1963, 65 and 67.
- There are 13 Santas in Iceland, each leaving a gift for children. They come down from the mountain one by one, starting on December 12 and have names like Spoon Licker, Door Sniffer and Meat Hook.
- In Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany, workers get a Christmas bonus of one month's salary by law.
